What Is the Difference in Aims Between the Ashram and Auroville

Collective Yoga

(with special reference to the experiment of Auroville)

A presentation at Dr. Nadkarni’s Seminar on The Human Cycle

SriAurobindoSocietyBeach Office, April 18-23 2006

by Shraddhavan (Saturday April 22)

Some extracts for Carel

1. What is the difference in aims between the Ashram and Auroville ?

Some elucidations from the Mother

(Written for a UNESCO committee)

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

MCW 13

The Ashram is the central consciousness, Auroville is one of the outward expressions. In both places equally the work is done for the Divine.

MCW 13

In one of the ‘Matrimandir’ talks (1970), in response to a suggestion that the involvement of more people from the Ashram would be needed to create the proper atmosphere in Auroville the Mother clarified:

Oh no! He does not know. It is all in the mind, it is all mental. They do not know. Who knows? It is only when one sees. Not one of them sees. All thoughts, thoughts, thoughts.... Thoughts do not build.

The elements in Auroville can do the work?

I am working, working (kneading gesture) to bring together the energies that can do it. And there must be a sifting out there.…

You know, I do not believe in external decisions. I simply believe in one thing only: the force of the Consciousness which is making a pressure like that (crushing gesture). And the pressure goes on increasing... which means that it will sift out the people. I believe only in that—the pressure of the Consciousness. All the rest are things that men do. Theydo them more or less well, and then it lives, and then it dies, and then it changes, and then it gets distorted, and then... everything they have done. It is not worth the trouble. The power of execution must come from above, like that, imperative (gesture of descent)! And for that, this (Mother points to her forehead), this must keep quiet. Not to say, “Oh, that must not be, oh! this must be, oh! we ought to do...” Peace, peace, peace. He knows better than you do what is needed. There.

MCW 13

What is the fundamental difference between the ideal ofthe 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 November 1969

MCW 13

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 realization.

June 1968

MCW 13

… 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.

28.12.1972

MCW 13

Nevertheless, the Charter says that “to live in Auroville, one must be a willing servitor of the Divine” (Probably this is what Mother means by ‘goodwill’?)

And She mentioned too that although Aurovilians may not be practicing Yoga themselves, they should know something about Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga, “otherwise how will they know what we are trying to do?”

This is the last message given by the Mother for Auroville :

Auroville is created to realise the ideal of Sri Aurobindo who taught us the Karma Yoga. Auroville is for those who want to do the Yoga of work.

To live in Auroville means to do the Yoga of work. So all Aurovilians must take up a work and do it as Yoga.

27 March 1973

MCW 13

3. What are we / They trying to do in Auroville ?

The aims of Auroville have been briefly but powerfully indicated by the Mother as “Peace on Earth” and “Human Unity”. She gave the mission-state of Auroville in the Charter: (?read it?) : mentioning especially, unending education, the bridge between the past and the future, and material and spiritual research to find concrete external expression of the already existing unity of all mankind.

But according to the vision of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, these high aims cannot possibly be achieved by ordinary human effort, however full of goodwill. Our present human mentality, the present state of the collective consciousness of mankind is simply not capable of fulfilling these great aspirations - which nevertheless persist and keep their appeal, generation after generation.

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother join all other true spiritual teachers in telling us that a fundamental change in the human condition is only possible by a fundamental change in consciousness - a shift in dominance from the ordinary mental-vital-physical life we instinctively follow, to a deeper and truer spiritual living.

4. Collective Yoga

Few are the exceptional individuals who can become conscious sadhaks of the integral yoga. What do we mean when we speak of “Collective Yoga” ?

One answer might be : “When a group of sadhaks, or at least aspirants, are gathered together in a shared effort towards a common spiritual aim.” This might be a good characterization of the Ashram’s yoga, but it does not quite seem to apply to Auroville. And even for the Ashram, I think Mother and Sri Aurobindo seem to point us to another, complementary, concept - that of a representative sample of human individuals, drawn together into a small society, a group, a collective, as a point of concentration for the evolutionary work.

The Mother seems to have spoken about the role of the Earth, this tiny planet, circling a small sun, amid the immensities of the material universe, as having been created as such a point of concentration where the work of the redemption of Matter could be started. She mentioned too, that upon the earth, amongst the nations of the Earth, India was chosen as the base for this work - as if India represents the psychic being of the earth, just as the Earth represents the psychic being of the Universe. And here in India, when Sri Aurobindo and the Mother came together to undertake a great new step forward in the evolutionary journey - the Dual Avatar, embodying in human form both the earth’s aspiration and the response of the Supreme Divine Grace - they chose this sacred spot of Pondicherry, and allowed a small collectivity to gather round them. They have both been very explicit about the aim of their yoga - it was not the achievement of the Supramental Transformation in the physical for themselves personally. This, it seems, Sri Aurobindo could have achieved for himself, with consequent physical immortality. But their aim was to uplift the whole of mankind, the whole earth. And for that there had to be a centre where the work could be done, and from which it could radiate. So the family of the Mother grew and grew - from a handful of sadhaks to a couple of thousands, with the establishment of the School – an immensely important element in the process, that is often overlooked or underestimated; and then continuing on to the ‘more external’ experiment of Auroville - which is meant to provide models that could be spread throughout the world.

As the Mother said in 1930, speaking of this ‘ladder of sacrifice’ :

The work of achieving a continuity which permits one to go up and down and bring into the material what is above, is done inside the consciousness. He who is meant to do it, the Avatar, even if he were shut up in a prison and saw nobody and never moved out, still would he do the work, because it is a work in the consciousness, a work of connection between the Supermind and the material being. He does not need to be recognised, he need have no outward power in order to be able to establish this conscious connection. Once, however, the connection is made, it must have its effect in the outward world in the form of a new creation, beginning with a model town and ending with a perfect world.

MCW 3 :179

5. Auroville

Why did the Mother send her call, her invitation, out around the world? Why did she want to draw some chosen souls together in one spot, under Her influence?

When I first came in contact with Sri Aurobindo’s message and his writings, when I first started to read the Bases of Yoga and then the Synthesis, I felt clearly, “Oh, this is what I was looking for! Now I don’t need to go anywhere! I can just stay here where I am … “ It was in London. “… and do my best to live this, follow this path.” This is surely possible, and the Mother has confirmed it. Devotees all over the world are linked with Sri Aurobindo’s vision, Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga. So why was it a good idea to bring all these strange people together in one spot ? Shall we say, as a point of concentration, for the furtherance of the work: the work of the collective yoga of the Earth, the work of transforming earth-life into the Life Divine?

An individual who realizes a higher consciousness will always spread light around him wherever he is. But if he is alone in the midst of an ordinary society, he will have to adapt to the ways of that society. If a whole group of people can be influenced by the light of a higher consciousness, there is the possibility of creating a new model of human living, which might have a chance of spreading and being adopted by much larger groups of people, and possibly affecting the whole earth-life. It seems to me that in the Ashram, in the School, the Mother had created a strong enough base to enable her to see whether the achievements that had been realised there could be spread to a much more random sample of humanity.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Dr. Karan Singh, the Chairman of Auroville’s Governing Board, was in Auroville for a Governing Board Meeting. In the evening there was an open interaction between the Board members and the residents. I was not able to be there, but I’m told that the Chairman asked at one point “How many residents of Auroville are practicing yoga?” A disquieting question perhaps, for many … especially as, I’m told, he went on to imply that those who are not practicing yoga, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s yoga, perhaps ought not to be there. What do you feel?

I hope that after what I have said this afternoon, you might consider that some, perhaps all, of those residents of Auroville who would not describe themselves as sadhaks, fully dedicated to the search for the Divine and the Divine Life, could nevertheless be seen as participants in a very important and worthwhile collective yoga that is being carried forward by the action of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

But if we are sincere, we cannot allow ourselves to be soothed into complacency by this reflection. The opportunity and the responsibility, the mission we have been given, are too great to allow any self-satisfaction. Moreover the pressure of the Mother’s Force will not allow it.

In the course of my work, I often meet groups of guests or visiting students who want to know something about Auroville and the Vision of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. One of the most-frequently asked questions that comes up over and over again is, “Are you satisfied with the way in which Auroville has developed up to now? Are the ideals being fulfilled?” This is a very easy question to answer. How could anyone who has been attracted by the Mother’s Dream, by the Charter of Auroville, by her wonderful messages, by the glorious vision of Sri Aurobindo, possibly be satisfied with the state of Auroville as it is today? Part of the pain of being an Aurovilian is the sense of shame one too often feels about things that are being done or said in the name of Auroville, about the sometimes appalling quality of individual or group interactions. And even when we are not being faced by unworthy primitive expressions of brute human nature, on an objective measurement against the guidelines given by the Mother, how very very far we are from fulfilling the standards she set to inspire us. How painfully far we are from providing that “cradle of the superman” that she hoped for - that the Earth so desperately, urgently needs! There is no room for complacency at all.

But dissatisfaction is not an Aurobindonian virtue either. Despair or angry rebellion are not helpful movements for the Mother’s work. Instead, each one who feels called to be part of this great evolutionary adventure, the collective movement towards a greater light, a truer life, has to take up the challenge personally. Each of us has to offer the best we can manage, in all humility and sincerity, in the Mother’s Light.

Auroville will not become the fulfillment of the Mother’s Dream, the Dream of the Lord, until there are enough ‘true Aurovilians’. The thing cannot be done in any other way. The Mother has formulated the aspiration, the condition in her wonderful text “To be a True Aurovilian”

No effort of reorganization, no push to build the city, will fulfill the dream. Only this - that there are enough true Aurovilians to act as channels for the Mother’s action. How many is enough - enough to set first Auroville, and then the world, aflame? We have no idea - but we need as many as possible. The state of our present society is a clear indication that so far, there are not yet enough.

And yet we should give due weight to the fact that quite a significant number of people, inspired by the Mother’s Dream, the Charter, the possibility of Auroville, have chosen to leave all the normal aims of ordinary life, their families, their careers, some have even left very rewarding professions where they were doing very well, had lucrative posts … they have left all that to dedicated their energies, their capacities, their life to a higher ideal. This counts for something.

All who have done so have found that they had to face much greater difficulties than they could ever have imagined, they have found that the change of consciousness, the progress they hoped for was much slower in coming than they expected, and many have returned to where they came from. But all, Ibelieve, have been changed forever, and are unable to completely sever their links with the Dream of Auroville - they try to serve it in other ways. And some have stayed, and are continuing to do their best.

Whatever the individual shortcomings, however imperfect the sacrifice, this consecration also deserves due recognition and – I think – support. Surely this yagna of dedicated work, offered into the force-field of the Mother’s formation of Auroville, does have some positive effect.

6. Conclusion and Summary

In view of all the above, what can we say in general about the topic of “Collective Yoga” :

First, that all collectivities on earth, indeed all sentient beings, are part of the great collective yoga of the earth, the great upward evolutionary journey of Nature, which is infallibly guided and determined by the seed planted in the Manifestation when it was ordained : the marvel and mystery of the progressive self-revelation of the immanent Transcendence veiled by Matter, Life and Mind.

Second, that human beings have a special role to play in this process, because of their capacity for self-directed intelligent will, their possibility of a conscious participation, through the threefold sacrifice of aspiration, rejection and surrender.

Third, that the guides of our journey, the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, in order to hasten a new step upward in the process which will benefit not only all mankind but all earth-creatures, have created their Ashram as a focal point for intensifying the work, where conscious aspirants can come together to follow the necessary discipline in sufficient numbers to establish a conscious collective aspiration, a first attempt at a conscious collective yoga.

On this base, the Mother decided to create a further collective, “more external” as she says, that might become the model town she saw as the first step towards her new creation, a perfect world. Auroville is far from fulfilling the Mother’s dream of ‘The City at the Service of Truth, The City the Earth needs’. Yet its very existence still holds out the possibility and promise that that dream will be realised. The key to that realization will be the individual progress of a sufficient number of people, and the faithfulness of the community of Auroville in general to the ideals that have inspired it. Openness and receptivity and responsiveness to the Vision and Action of the Master and the Mother will be the key to the realization.