On Auroville

It matters not if a thousand voices speak to me of the hopelessness of Auroville's division, the rancour, hostility and absence of peace and harmony, for I have felt a Presence on her lands, and in her people a strength that resolves all doubt. I have looked into the faces of her children and glimpsed in them the future that shall be.

In all whom I have met I found a dedication and an openness to the Light that is working amongst us. I have walked beneath great trees and admired the beauty of her flowers and witnessed the slow and steady transformation of her earthly body.

Truly I have felt the Mother's love in so many Aurovilians, their perseverance in the face of endless challenges, their joy, their laughter, their dance and their music. I am blessed with a daughter, Chali, who has accomplished so much in education seeing to the building and guidance of the high school, Future School, labouring with all sincerity in the Working Committee, and raising her children who represent the new world. I have met with friends who have never forgotten the bond that existed as we first broke ground for the trees that would one day grace the Matrimandir Gardens Park and the roads and dwellings throughout Auroville, a bond with those early pioneers that continues and strengthens more than forty years later, and I live in the certitude that this city of human unity will, sooner than later, manifest the harmony for which the world cries.

The Divine Presence is ever with us and I am absolutely certain that the Mother's vision will be realized. If this seems like a hymn, a paean or a homage to Auroville then I have achieved my aspiration to express my gratitude to all who carry within their hearts the Flame, the Divine Dream, and who labour quietly and sincerely preparing for the decent of the New World and the "coming of the new and the Unknown"*

Song to Auroville

Breaking the iron grip of laterite,

Planting forests for the song-birds call,

Rescuing beauty from the clutch of night,

To free the prisoned One from darkness' thrall;

A city build to hold the spirit's dreams,

A Temple to the Mother of us all,

Gardens where a secret splendour gleams,

A greater harmony you shall install

That every soul advance towards the Light.

* from Savitri by Sri Aurobindo