Auroville Foundation notified "Auroville Foundation (Framework for Selection of Working Committee) Regulations, 2024" on 12th January 2024 which mentions "Mother’s guidelines for organisers in Auroville which is the basis for the conduct expected of those who wish to serve in this administrative position as specified in Appendix 1". In the Appendix is published A Dream, an essay by the Mother in 1954 which opens with the statement, "There should be somewhere on earth a place which no nation could claim as its own..."
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| The Mother |
The Mother gave a Charter for Auroville when it was founded in 1968 and it doesn't say it belongs to 'no nation' or describes the residents as 'citizens' of the world. The Mother has explained that the nation and citizen were terms she avoided in the Charter, in a conversation published in the "Agenda of the Supramental Action on Earth". The Auroville Foundation Act enacted in 1988 does not mention A Dream but only the Charter of Auroville. Surprisingly the Foundation has gone out of the way to include 'A Dream' in its latest regulation - the first sentence of which has the terms 'nation' and 'citizen' and disregards the sovereignty of India. (Refer the relevant parts of the gazette appended herewith.) This is in contravention of the Act which stipulates that any rule or regulation made by the Foundation shall be consistent with the Act. Besides flouting the obvious that no organisation shall adopt a separatist ideal under the laws of India.
The foreign-dominated group that took control of Auroville after the departure of the Mother in 1973 was not satisfied with the Charter. They altered and adapted A Dream and it was propagated along with the Charter and a lot of foreigners and Westernised Indians attracted by the political ideal of absolute freedom rather than any aspiration for spiritual evolution joined Auroville. They blocked the development of Auroville according to the plan based on the design approved by the Mother and ignored the laws of India. When somebody painted graffiti on the town hall declaring "Auroville has to become independent nation now!" a couple of years ago, the troublemaker was not found and warned even though the area was under CCTV coverage.
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| The Graffiti found on Auroville Town Hall, Source: Auroville Files, Facebook |
The Governing Board and Secretary of the Auroville Foundation have ignored the Mother's example and her explanation of the Charter of Auroville, the lessons from Auroville's past, and their own dharma as officers appointed and members nominated and paid by the Govt. of India.
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| Excerpts from the notification |