History of Auroville during the Mother’s lifetime
Relations with the local villagers,
their integration, land acquisition,
no servants and other employees
Compiled by Gilles Guigan
April 2015 version
(Gilles is always happy to receive feedback and to add/correct any information.)
1954, July 10th: Mother writes an article in which she declares her intention to build a Labour Colony for Ashram employees:
CWM, XIII, p. 179-181
English (most probably)
To the Employees of Sri Aurobindo Ashram[1]
What I wish to do for you.
I shall tell you how I view the solution to your problems, both individual and collective, and what is the truth of the relation between us.
But for the working out of the program I am going to place before you, two essential conditions are necessary. First, I must have the financial means to execute my plan; secondly, you must show a minimum of sincerity, honesty and goodwill in your attitude towards me and your work. You have most unfortunately the habit of trying to deceive me. Bad advisers have taught you that that is the best thing to do in your relation with your employer. It may be that when the employer himself seeks to deceive you and exploit you, this attitude on your part is legitimate. But in regard to me it is foolishness and a blunder; first of all, because you cannot deceive me and your deceit becomes immediately obvious and takes away from me all desire to come to your aid, and secondly because I am not a “boss” and I do not seek to exploit you.
All my effort is towards realising in the world as much truth as actual circumstances allow; and with the increase of truth, the welfare and happiness of all will necessarily increase.
Differences of caste and class have no truth for me; all that counts is individual value. My aim is to create a big family in which it will be possible for each one to fully develop his capacities and express them. Each one will have its place and occupation in accordance with his capacities and in relation of goodwill and brotherhood.
As a consequence of such a family organisation there will be no need of remuneration or wages. Work should not be a means of earning one’s livelihood; its purpose should be two-fold: first to develop one’s nature and capacity for action, and, secondly, in proportion to one’s physical means and moral and intellectual aptitude, to give service to the family to which one belongs and to whose welfare it is but proper to contribute, as it is proper for the family to provide for the real needs of each of its members.
To give a concrete form to this ideal under the present conditions of life, my idea is to build a kind of city accommodating at the outset about two thousand persons. It will be built according to the most modern plans, meeting all the most up-to-date requirements of hygiene and public health. It will have not only residential houses, but also gardens and sports grounds for physical culture. Each family will be lodged in a separate house; bachelors will be grouped according to their occupations and affinities.
Nothing necessary to life will be forgotten. Kitchens equipped in the most modern way will supply equally to all simple and healthy food, assuring the energy necessary for the proper maintenance of the body. They will function on a co-operative basis of work in common and collaboration.
In the matter of education, what is necessary is to arrange for the moral and intellectual instruction and development of all, children and adults: various schools, technical institutions in different vocations, classes for music and dance, a cinema hall where educational films will be shown, a lecture hall, a library, a reading room, varied physical education, a sportsground and so on.
Each one can choose the kind of activity that is the most suitable to his nature and will receive the required training. Even small gardens will be provided where those who like cultivation can grow flowers, fruits and vegetables.
In the matter of health, there will be regular medical visits, a hospital, a dispensary, a nursing home for the segregation of contagious cases. A department of hygiene will have the exclusive function of inspecting all public and private buildings to see that the most rigorous rules of cleanliness are observed everywhere and by all. As natural adjuncts to this department public baths and common laundries will be put at the disposal of everyone.
Finally, big stores will be set up where one can find all the small “extras” which give life variety and pleasantness and which one will get against “coupons” that will be given in recompense for especially notable achievement in work or conduct. I shall not give a long description of the organisation and the working of the institution, although everything in it to the smallest details has already been foreseen.
It goes without saying that for admission to live in this ideal place the essential conditions that need to be fulfilled are good character, good conduct, honest, regular and efficient work and a general goodwill.
* * *
1954, August: The Bulletin publishes another article by Mother:
Bulletin, p. ;MoA, p.46; CWM, XII, p.94; IoA, p.5; MA, V, p.30; AMW, p.17, Gazette 2, 6, p. 16-17.
French, but published also in English.
It is possible that the fact of writing an article on an ideal Labour Colony for the employees of the Ashram brought back to Mother’s memory her old dream of creating an ideal society, which she describes in the following article one months after writing the one above:
A Dream
There should be somewhere on earth a place which no nation could claim as its own, where all human beings of goodwill who have a sincere aspiration could live freely as citizens of the world and obey one single authority, that of the supreme truth; a place of peace, concord and harmony where all the fighting instincts of man would be used exclusively to conquer the causes of his sufferings and miseries, to surmount his weaknesses and ignorance, to triumph over his limitations and incapacities; a place where the needs of the spirit and the concern for progress would take precedence over the satisfaction of desires and passions, the search for pleasure and material enjoyment. In this place, children would be able to grow and develop integrally without losing contact with their souls; education would be given not for passing examinations or obtaining certificates and posts but to enrich existing faculties and bring forth new ones. In this place, titles and positions would be replaced by opportunities to serve and organise; the bodily needs of each one would be equally provided for, and intellectual, moral and spiritual superiority would be expressed in the general organisation not by an increase in the pleasures and powers of life but by increased duties and responsibilities. Beauty in all its artistic forms, painting, sculpture, music, literature, would be equally accessible to all; the ability to share in the joy it brings would be limited only by the capacities of each one and not by social and financial position. For in this ideal place money would no longer be the sovereign lord; individual worth would have a far greater importance than that of material wealth and social standing. There, work would not be a way to earn one’s living but a way to express oneself and to develop one’s capacities and possibilities while being of service to the community as a whole, which, for its own part, would provide for each individual’s subsistence[2] and sphere of action. In short, it would be a place where human relationships, which are normally based almost exclusively on competition and strife, would be replaced by relationships of emulation in doing well, of collaboration and real brotherhood.
The earth is certainly not ready to realise such an ideal, for mankind does not yet possess sufficient knowledge to understand and adopt it nor the conscious force that is indispensable in order to execute it; that is why I call it a dream.
And yet this dream is in the course of becoming a reality; that is what we are striving for in Sri Aurobindo’s Ashram, on a very small scale, in proportion to our limited means. The realisation is certainly far from perfect, but it is progressive; little by little we are advancing towards our goal which we hope we may one day be able to present to the world as a practical and effective way to emerge from the present chaos, to be born into a new life that is more harmonious and true.
* * *
1965, June 23rd: Excerpt from a conversation with Satprem during which Mother draws for him Her plan of Auroville and comments it to him:
Outside the walls, in my first formation there was on one side the industrial estate, and on the other the fields, farms, etc., that were to supply the city. But that really meant a country – not a large one, but a country. Now it’s much more limited; it’s not my symbol anymore, there are only four zones, and no walls. And there will be money. The other formation, you know, was really an ideal attempt…. But I reckoned it would take many years before we began: at the time, I expected to begin only after twenty-four years. But now, it’s much more modest, it’s a transitional experiment. It’s much more realisable – the other plan was …
[…]
Oh, I’ve forgotten one thing in my plan: we wanted to build a Labour Colony[3]. But it should be part of the industrial section (perhaps an extension on the edge of the industrial section).
Labour
Colony
Note that, on this sketch, the Labour Colony is very small compared to the size of the city.
* * *
1965: Excerpts from two sets of questions – and proposed answers – presented to Mother by Gilbert Gauché:
Q.: Will money be used in Auroville?
As long as human habits will be such.[4]
Q.: Will it be easy to find servants in Auroville?
It is presently much easier to find servants in India than in most western countries.
[The proposed answer wasn’t published, probably because Mother hadn’t answered this question.]
* * *
1965, December: Excerpt from the first presentation of the Auroville project in “Mother India” – most probably reproducing some document published by the SAS.
OTHER FEATURES
A Colony for Employees who at present have not accepted this new way of life but who have a general good-will, good character and conduct, and are honest and efficient in work. The colony will have clean houses, community kitchens, sports grounds, schools, a medical clinic, a family planning centre, a common crèche, a vocational training centre, etc. Here too the workers can choose the kind of activity that is most suitable to their nature and they will receive the necessary training. As finance becomes available, it is our intention to provide them all with the basic necessities so that, as in a family organisation, there will be no need of wages and remuneration.
* * *
1966, September:Excerpt from an edited conversation:
Barb. p. 5; MoA p. 77; CWM, Vol XIII p. 267-68; Re-arranged: Gaz. Vol. 8 No 2, p. 15 & 17; AVMW, p. 72.
French. Text based on a talk by Mother.
Begging is not permitted in Auroville.
Persons found begging on the road will be distributed as follows: children to school, the old to a home, the sick to the hospital, the healthy to work.
A school, a home, a hospital and special work areas will be arranged for this. They will not be mixed with the others, because some people may come from outside and begin to beg in the street.
There are no police.
We have... we haven’t found the word... a band of guards, a battalion of guards, something like the firemen in Japan, who are gymnasts and who do everything when there are accidents – anything, earthquakes – they do everything. They climb up into houses. Instead of police, there will be a kind of battalion of guards, who will go out regularly into the various parts of the town to see if they are needed. And if they come across people begging, they will be distributed as I said.
There will be a school for the children, a home for the old, a hospital for the sick and disabled, and a place where work will be provided for all those who... there will be every possible kind of work, from sweeping to... anything, and work that is needed, they will do it, according to their abilities. This has to be organised.
A special school for the children to teach them to work, to teach them the things that are indispensable for them to be able to work.
No prison. No police[5].
* * *
1967, February 24th: Excerpt from the notes written by Shri Aravind Shankar Baan, I.C.S., after he met with Mother:
In Auroville there will be no domestic servants. All the modern amenities will be there so that people can do all their own work. Mother said that she approves of the old joint family system in India, where some used to attend to the material side of life, some were free to pursue the spiritual life, and some, the intellectual life. But Mother said that however much a person is occupied with spiritual maters it is necessary for him to do some material work of his won too. Unless people do some work for themselves their bodies lose fitness and strength.
* * *
1967, May 23rd: Letter from Navajata to Mrs. Anjani Dayanand:
Ref: N/Ind/110
Dear Sister Anjani,
The Mother has given you time on 28th morning at 10.am.
She says it is better you see Her alone.
She has seen the photo of Sri A.V. Sankara Menon. She does not approve of his paid appointment. In fact she has said that “from today no paid employees in Auroville”.
With my best wishes,
Yours sincerely
* * *
1968, March 4th: Mother answers several questions:[6]
Roger’s personal archives, AV Archives, AMW, p.130.
French
Q.: In the beginning of Auroville, will the houses of the Westerners be different from those planned for the Tamils (experimental huts)?
No, those who cannot accept to have the same houses are not ready to live in Auroville. The stinginess must stop. It is not only the houses but the condition of the soul which must be built in Auroville.
* * *
1968, December 28th: Letter from Dayanand to Mother – and Her answer:
Mother
In Bommaipalayam and Kuilapalayam, Auroville has about fifty acres of Cashew in small bits of 1, 2, or 3, acres spread over roughly three square miles. Hence it will be difficult to organise the collection of the Cashew seeds efficiently.
I feel that we may have to lease out the right of collection of seed for this season alone to some party in this area only.
Is this approach correct?
Pranams.
[signed] Dayanand
[Mother’s answer:]
It would be better to find among the people of Auroville some who will be happy to do this work.
Blessings
* * *
1969, January 24th: After a talk with Mother, Roger noted:
Roger personal archives; Gaz, I:5/6, p.32; AMW, p.164
French
Auromodèle: the inconvenience of the nearness of the Tamil village should be considered an advantage – like that it will be more difficult...
[Elsewhere in Roger’s notes, undated, appears the passage:]
The greater the difficulties, the more beautiful will be the experience.
[The first note appears to be incomplete, but taken together with the second, it corresponds with a report of Mother’s words published in the “Gazette Aurovilienne” in 1972:]
[Mother also says:] the nearness of Aspiration and Auromodèle to the Tamil village should be considered as an advantage. It will be more difficult but if the difficulties are greater, the experience also will be more beautiful.
* * *
1969, April: Answer to questions probably asked by Prem Mallik:
CWM, XIII, p.248 & 254; AMW, p.182-3
English
Mother Divine,
A few points on which Thy Divine guidance is requested.
1) There is resistance from the villagers in selling their lands. This may be because we have done nothing to integrate them with Auroville. They feel it is a foreign imposition on them which will do them no good but will drive them from their hearths and homes. Should we not demonstrate to them our real intentions by providing them with facilities such as a, a school, clean drinking water, etc.? This would be money well spent if it is done with love and humility and not as charity.
This is indispensable.
2) Has the time come to attempt approaching big finance around the world? If so, then we have to create a compact and cohesive management structure, which will be able to handle such finance and be answerable for its proper utilisation. Only after this is done can we approach international organisations and expect a favourable response. Has this Thy approval?
All right.
Blessings
* * *
1969, April 4th: Answer to a question from Frederick (who was involved in the Community Workers’ Kitchen near Aspiration):
CWM, XIII, p.248; AMW, p.186
English
Q.: Some would like to continue giving food to the workers, others feel that even if funds were available they could be utilised better elsewhere. Please give us your guidance.
Once you have started giving food to the workmen, you cannot stop doing so, otherwise you would lose their confidence.
This is imperative – show it to the others. I have underlined their names: Shyamsunder, Indra [Poddar], Bob [of Forecomers], Gérard, Dayanand.
Blessings to all.
* * *
1969, May 6th: Answer to a question from Dayanand:
Gaz, VIII, 2 p.17; AMW, p.195, MI, Feb. 2008, p. 122.
English
Q.: How can we know what the Truth is in case of difficulty? For example, one villager had agreed to collect and give us thirteen bags of cashew nuts from our plantation this season. Now due to drought he says he can give us only five bags.
The thing is false from the beginning. How can the man promise to give a fixed number of bags when he does not know how many he will get?