New Consciousness
The city will be built by what is invisible to you. The men who have to act as instruments will do so despite themselves. They are only puppets in the hands of larger Forces. Nothing depends on human beings — neither the planning nor the execution — nothing! That is why one can laugh.
+Sep. 1969
Q: To what extent does the building of Auroville depend on man's acceptance of spirituality?
The opposition between spirituality and material life, the division between the two, has no meaning for me, for in truth life and the spirit are one and it is in and by physical work that the highest spirit must manifest.
19.4.1968
Humanity is not the last rung of the terrestrial creation. Evolution continues and man will be surpassed. It is for each individual to know whether he wants to participate in the advent of this new species.
For those who are satisfied with the world as it is, Auroville obviously has no reason to exist.
Aug. 1968
To work for Auroville is to hasten the advent of a more harmonious Future.
27.3.1971
the free international city.
No army, no police,
they are replaced by a battalion of Guards
consisting of athletes and gymnasts.
The night before last, I spent more than three hours with Sri Aurobindo and I was showing him all that was about to come down for Auroville. It was quite interesting. There were games, there was art, there was even cooking! But all that was very symbolic. And I was explaining to him as if on a table, in front of a vast landscape. I was explaining to him the principle on which physical exercises and games were going to be organised. It was very clear, very precise, I was even giving him a kind of demonstration, and it was as if I were showing him in miniature, a miniature representation of what was going to be done. I was moving people and things about (gesture, as if on a chess board). But it was very interesting, and he was very interested; he was giving broad lines of organisation (I do not know how to explain). There was art and it was beautiful, it was good. And how to make the houses pleasant and pretty, the principle of construction. And then the cooking too, it was a lot of fun, each one bringing his invention… This lasted for more than three hours—three hours in the night, that's a lot! Very interesting.
And yet, conditions on earth seem very far away from all that…
(After some hesitation) No… It was right there; it did not seem to be “foreign” to the earth. It was a harmony. A conscious harmony behind things: a conscious harmony behind the exercises and games; a conscious harmony behind the decoration, the art; a conscious harmony behind the food…
I mean that all this seems to be at the opposite pole to what exists now on earth.
Not…
No?
I saw X… today and I was telling him that the whole organisation of the arts and sports and food and all the rest was ready in the subtle physical—ready to come down and embody itself—and I told him: “It only needs a handful of earth, (Mother cups her hands) a handful of earth to grow the plant… We must find a handful of earth for it to grow…”
(silence) 31.5.1969
*
The task of giving a concrete form to Sri Aurobindo's vision was entrusted to the Mother. The creation of a new world, a new humanity, a new society expressing and embodying the new consciousness is the work she has undertaken. By the very nature of things, it is a collective ideal that calls for a collective effort so that it may be realised in the terms of an integral human perfection.
The Ashram founded and built by the Mother was the first step towards the accomplishment of this goal. The project of Auroville is the next step, more exterior, which seeks to widen the base of this attempt to establish harmony between soul and body, spirit and nature, heaven and earth, in the collective life of mankind.
1969
Q: What is the difference between the Ashram and Auroville?
The Ashram will retain its true role of pioneer, inspirer and guide. Auroville is the attempt towards collective realisation.
June 1968
Q: What is the fundamental difference between the ideal of the Ashram and the ideal of Auroville?
There is no fundamental difference in the attitude towards the future and the service of the Divine.
But the people in the Ashram are considered to have consecrated their lives to Yoga (except, of course, the students who are here only for their studies and who are not expected to have made their choice in life).
Whereas in Auroville simply the good will to make a collective experiment for the progress of humanity is sufficient to gain admittance.
10.11.1968
Q: Is Auroville the only solution to the misery of mankind and the disorders of society?
Not the only solution. It is a centre of transformation, a small nucleus of men who are transforming themselves and setting an example to the world. This is what Auroville hopes to be. As long as egoism and bad will exist in the world, a general transformation is impossible. 28.12.1972
Q: Will a day come when there will be no more poor people and no more suffering in the world?
That is absolutely certain for all those who understand Sri Aurobindo's teaching and have faith in him.
It is with the intention of creating a place where this could come about that we want to establish Auroville.
But for this realisation to be possible, each one of us must make an effort to transform himself; for most of the sufferings of men are the result of their own mistakes, both physical and moral.
8.11.1969
Q: How can you believe that in Auroville there will be no more suffering so long as the people who come to live there are men from the same world, born with the same weaknesses and faults?
I have never thought that there would no more be suffering in Auroville, because men, as they are, love suffering and call it to them even while they curse it.
But we shall try to teach them to truly love peace and to try to practice equality.
What I meant was involuntary poverty and begging.
Life in Auroville will be organised in such a way that this does not exist—and if beggars come from outside, either they will have to go away or they will be given shelter and taught the joy of work.
9.11.1969
One must have an absolutely transparent sincerity. Lack of sincerity is the cause of the difficulties we meet at present. Insincerity is in all men. There are perhaps a hundred men on earth who are totally sincere. Man's very nature makes him insincere—it is very complicated, for he is constantly deceiving himself, hiding the truth from himself, making excuses for himself. Yoga is the way to become sincere in all parts of the being.
It is difficult to be sincere, but at least one can be mentally sincere; this is what can be demanded of Aurovilians. The force is there, present as never before; man's insincerity prevents it from descending, from being felt. The world lives in falsehood, all relations between men have until now been based on falsehood and deceit. Diplomatic relations between nations are based on falsehood. They claim to want peace, and meanwhile they are arming themselves. Only a transparent sincerity in man and among nations can usher in a transformed world.
Auroville is the first attempt in this experiment. A new world will be born; if men are willing to make an effort for transformation, to seek sincerity, it is possible. From animal to man, thousands of years were needed; today, with his mind, man can will and hasten a transformation towards a man who shall be God.
This transformation by the help of the mind—by self-analysis—is a first step; afterwards, it is necessary to transform the vital impulses: that is much more difficult, and especially to transform the physical. Every cell in our bodies must become conscious. This is the work I am doing here; it will enable the conquest of death. That is another story; that will be the humanity of the future, perhaps after hundreds of years, perhaps sooner. It will depend on men, on nations.
Auroville is the first step towards this goal.
+Feb.1968
*
In modern civilisation, men work on the surface. The mind is the surface of existence; they work on the surface and they try to find the Truth that is behind by studying more and more deeply. Whereas the true method is to enter into direct contact with the inner Truth, and impelled by that, guided by that, to make an outer construction which is not a seeking for the Truth, but a creation of the Truth, that is to say, the Truth-force realises itself outwardly through the human instrument.
Men always make plans, mental constructions and attempt to create on that basis, but not one human creation is a total realisation of their mental construction. They always add something, or else it is always altered by a force they do not understand; they think it is chance, fortune, circumstances, all sorts of things, but it is in fact the Truth-force which is trying to manifest on earth and which is exerting a pressure and of course this changes the mental and vital creations which are only superficial ones. In the Bulletin there was a quotation from Sri Aurobindo on this subject. He said: first one must know, whereas men act and then try to know through their actions.
26.8.1966