Paulette Hadnagy
Paulette first reached the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, and visited Auroville, in 1973. Nurtured by the special atmosphere of some early sadhaks and their silent example, thanks to a special permission of the Ashram Trust she lived for a few months with a personal attendant of the Mother. This moulded her approach to Yoga, and subsequently to Auroville.
In 1977 Paulette started cycling from Pondicherry to participate in the monthly concreting, nonstop, on the roof of the Matrimandir. After twelve years back and forth from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, in 1985 she settled in Auroville and joined the team working at the ‘stars’ on the top.
From 1986 to 1990 Paulette was a researcher at the Laboratory of Evolution/Centre for Human Unity, in the Bharat Nivas campus; six compilations on archival documents and Mother's statements on the town, Matrimandir, and the guidelines for life in Auroville were the outcome. Funded with grants from the Government of India sponsoring the research on our community under Mother’s direct guidance, those compilations were distributed along with the News and Notes. To reintroduce Mother’s vision, with the support of her team she displayed two exhibitions with the original photographs (including one wall-size image of the Galaxy) and the three evolutionary layouts the Mother approved for her model town, car-free. Joyous serving and simple lifestyle were the spirit of that golden age; as a reminder major documents, signed by the Mother, were regularly displayed on the premises: Admission form, Auroville Prosperity and minimal needs, Auromodel’s organization, guidelines for industries and economic activities, integration instead of servants and paid labour etc.
Paulette has authored nine books compiled from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on Integral Yoga and the ideal society, along with three books on Mother's statements and archival material during Auroville’s formative years. She has also authored a Vedantin tale, profusely illustrated, for children of all ages. She has presented in a 500-page book the process of Integral Yoga and its triple transformation – psychic, spiritual and supramental; the psycho-physical transformation that follows Self-realisation (in Integral Yoga, the spiritual transformation) is her major subject of research, but she never submitted this material for publication, being far too advanced.
Some twenty exhibitions of her photographs on Matrimandir and other Auroville subjects, and another eight on contemporary architecture and design as an inspiration for “the Avatar’s model town” complete Paulette’s svadharma, at the service of Mother’s integral vision of the gnostic supramental society that Auroville foreruns.
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY PAULETTE HADNAGY
Auroville 1993-2024, in chronological order:
BOOKS ON INTEGRAL YOGA:
“At the Crossroads: the Evolution of the Spiritual Being”
Published on the occasion of “Humanity at the Crossroads: the Evolution of Consciousness” – for a UNESCO-sponsored seminar held in Auroville in 1993. Sri Aurobindo on evolution, 93 pages.
“Immortal India – Towards the Ideal Society” *
Selection of Sri Aurobindo’s texts on ethical and spiritual perfection by fulfilling the four varnas (orders of society) and ashramas (stages of life) as lived in ancient India. Constitutional monarchies, city-states, villages samiti. Moksha as collective dharma. Resurgence of the soul and genius of India. The book includes a Sanskrit Glossary. 224 pages. Second print.
“The Gnostic Cycle – Towards the Supermind” *
This selection of Sri Aurobindo’s texts, beginning with the three ages (symbolic, psychological, and conventional) of human evolution, and analyzing cultural mores, societal organizations and political ideals, focuses on the transition from an objective to a subjective mode of consciousness, and culminates with the ideal society of the gnostic, supramental beings. The book includes a presentation on the supraconscient realms of mind and a Sanskrit Glossary. 255 pages.
“Being of Gold – Our Goal of Self-Perfection” *
Texts by the Mother inquiring into the ontological nature of being and the goal of an ideal society. The ultimate social order – by necessity a reflection of one’s inner nature – is constituted by individuals who have achieved perfection of being. The psychic being is the lever. One’s spiritual journey is not for oneself alone, but ultimately to transform the world. 364 pages. Second print.
“Becoming One – The Psychology of Integral Yoga”
Mother’s texts relating to transformation as psychicisation. An Appendix presents comparative research between “the process of individuation” (C. G. Jung) and “individualization” that demands unifying our fragmented personalities under the leadership of the psychic being. Also reproduced are essays on the shadow and the evil persona by Satprem, Nolini Kanta Gupta and others. 446 pages. Fourth print.
“Sri Aurobindo – Compassionate Grace and Laughter”*
Sri Aurobindo’s ineffable humour, even under extreme circumstances, graciousness and ocean of compassion. 91 pages.
“Avatarhood – Human and Divine”
A selection of Sri Aurobindo’s texts highlights the dual nature of the Avatar. The Avatar’s mission is to restore the dharma or ethical law, leading society one step forward; in his divine humanness, the Avatar shows the way to mortals in the quest for perfection. 106 pages. Third print.
“The Process of the Integral Yoga”
Mother’s texts are divided into chapters focusing on major tenets of Integral Yoga and its three transformations: the psychic, the spiritual and the supramental, commencing where all other Paths end. Excerpts from Notes on the Way (vol. 11 of MCW) describe Mother’s work on the mind of matter and the cellular mind. In Sri Aurobindo's words, the Appendix Integral Yoga and the Triple Transformation highlights the transition from spiritualization to supramentalisation. 496 pages.
“Crossroad: A New Humanity”
Excerpts from the trilogy of “The Human Cycle”, “The Ideal of Human Unity” and “War and Self Determination” by Sri Aurobindo. The transition from irrational to rational, subjective and spiritual age, societal changes. Nation and group-soul, state and a World Union of all the people. The religion of humanity, the dawning of the spiritual age. 80 pages + 32 pages of black and white photographs on art paper (Sri Aurobindo Ashram and the Auroville pioneers).
BOOKS ON AUROVILLE DURING MOTHER’S YEARS:
“The Auroville Foundation Act and the Mother’s Guidelines: a Comparative Study” *
Behind the legal jargon of the Auroville Foundation Act (chapter one) there are striking similarities to the feeling tone of the archival documents, drafted under Mother’s direct guidance, reproduced in the successive chapters. 120 pages.
“The New Being and the New Society: A Compilation of Mother’s Words and Archival Material During the Formative Years of Auroville”
The Mother organized Auroville along the truth that the more one advances spiritually, the less the material needs. In her ideal society, everything belongs to the collective being for the well-being of all. Featured are work, economic activities, inner and outer organization, ‘Auroville Prosperity’ and the in-kind economy, relationship with the villagers (ideally, their integration), and the absence of servants and paid workers. The lever of transformation is the psychic being; when embodied collectively, the manifest ‘group-soul’ guides the community towards its collective realisation. 216 pages.
“Interacting with UNESCO during Mother’s Years”
In 1966 the Mother appointed Kailas Jhaveri as “Secretary-in-charge, UNESCO section”. These excerpts from her autobiography, I Am With You, show Mother’s determination to ensure UNESCO’s support, while allowing no outer interference. 154 pages; 22 pages present Mother’s handwritten messages regarding UNESCO. 32 extra pages of photographs featuring how the pioneers lived.
ADVAITA VEDANTA AND INTEGRAL YOGA:
“The Little Child and the Holy Knight: A Vedantin Tale”
Synthesizing Advaita Vedanta – the summit of Indian spirituality – and Integral Yoga as pathways to the gnostic society of supramental beings, the book portrays the experiences of a child as in a Vedantin tale and, as a youth, the visions she has of sages preparing for a new world and consciousness. The images by the greatest fairy tale illustrators, the photographs of Matrimandir and nature are a visual representation of the unfolding story. 56 pages, A4 size, most of them with photographs and images.
BOOKS PUBLISHED WITH GRANTS FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA:
- “Immortal India – Towards the Ideal Society”. 1997.
- “The Gnostic Cycle – Towards the Supermind”. 2000.
- “Being of Gold – Our Goal of Self-Perfection”. 2003.
- “The Auroville Foundation Act and the Mother’s Guidelines: a Comparative Study”. 2005.
- “Avatarhood – Human and Divine”. 2010.
- “The New Being and the New Society: A Compilation of the Mother’s Words and Archival Material During the Formative Years of Auroville”. 2012.
- “The Process of the Integral Yoga”. 2018.
Paulette Hadnagy, Auroville, 5th July 2024.
* The titles with an asterisk are out of print; only a few copies remain. These updated electronic versions may contain additional texts and images.
