– personal travel notes
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| BACKGROUND
Auroville is based on an idea of Sri Aurobendo (1872-1950) to realise human unity, and to a large extent it has been turned into what it is today – a 2,600 hectar township, (somewhat similar to Christiania) – by an energetic and charismatic woman, Mirra Alfassa, called “The Mother” (1878-1973).
1,500 people (of whom two thirds are foreigners) live inn Auroville in 80 different settlements spread over a distance of 20 kilometers.
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| WEBSITE
If you want to know more about Auroville, check their website at www.auroville.org.
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Auroville – universal township
The dream – back in the 1950ies – was that there should be upon Earth a place that no nation could claim as its sole property, a place where all human beings of good will, sincere in their aspiration, could live freely as citizens of the world. A place of peace, concord, harmony.
Sri Aurobindo established an ashram in Pondicherry in 1926 which seeked to do just that, and out of his partnership with “The Mother”, grew the international community Auroville on a piece of land which has been given by the Indian state to mankind.
At a ceremony when Auroville was founded in 1968, the ambassadors from 121 countries gathered there and each brought soil from their own country – as a contribution to a “universal township where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and nationalities.”
How it all began... back in the 1960ies.
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An impressive building covered with real gold is used for meditation. |
Most of the community
is based on alternative energy and technology, including solar power. |
The citizens of Auroville have their own private beach.
(These pictures were taken Wednesday. On Sunday morning, four days later, this coastline was hit by an earthquake and a huge tsunami wave from the sea which killed 500 people in Pondicherry.
More about the tsunami here.) |
posted by Mik Aidt on Dec 22 at 23:42
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