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Early Talks June 1965
Have you heard of Auroville? For a long time, I had a plan of the “ideal town”, but that was during Sri Aurobindo’s lifetime, with Sri Aurobindo living at the centre. Afterwards, I was no longer interested. Then the idea of Auroville ― I gave the name ― Auroville was taken up again, but from the other end: instead of the formation having to find the place, it was the place ― near the lake ― which gave birth to the formation, and until now I took only a very minor interest in it, for I had received nothing directly. Then our little A took it into her head to have a house there, by the lake, and to have a house for me next to hers, and to offer it to me. And she wrote me all her dreams: one or two sentences suddenly stirred an old, old memory of something which had tried to manifest ― a creation ― when I was very young and which had again started trying to manifest at the very beginning of the century, when I was with Theon. Then all that was forgotten. It came back with this letter; all at once, I had my plan for Auroville. Now I have my overall plan, I am waiting for B to draw the detailed plans, for I had said from the beginning: “B will be the architect”, and I wrote to B. When he came here last year, he went to see Chandigarh, the town built by Le Corbusier, up there in the Punjab, and he was not very happy. It seems quite ordinary to me ― I know nothing about it, I haven’t seen it, I only saw some photographs which were horrible. And while he was speaking to me, I could see that he felt, “Oh, if only I had a town to build!…” So I wrote to him: “If you want, I have a town to build.” He is happy. He is coming. When he comes, I shall show him my plan and he will build the town. My plan is very simple. The place is up there, on the Madras road, on top of the Page – 257 hill. (Mother takes a paper and begins to draw.) We have here ― naturally, it is not like that in Nature, we shall have to adapt ourselves; it is like that up there on the ideal ― plane ― here, a central point. This central point is a park which I saw when I was very young ― perhaps the most beautiful thing in the world from the point of view of physical, material Nature ― a park with water and trees, like all parks, and flowers, but not many; flowers in the form of creepers, palms and ferns, all varieties of palms; water, if possible running water, and possibly a small cascade. From the practical point of view, it would be very good: at the far end, outside the park, we could build reservoirs which would be used to supply water to the residents. So in this park, I saw the “Pavilion of Love”. But I dislike this word, for man has turned it into something grotesque; I am speaking of the principle of Divine Love. But that has changed: it will be “The Pavilion of the Mother” ― but not this (Mother points to herself) ― the Mother, the true Mother, the principle of the Mother. I say “Mother” because Sri Aurobindo used that word, otherwise I would have put something else, I would have put “creative principle” or “principle of realisation” or ― I do not know… It will be a small building, not a big one, with only a meditation room downstairs, but with columns and probably a circular shape. I say probably, because I am leaving that for B to decide. Upstairs, the first floor will be a room and the roof will be a covered terrace. You know the ancient Indo-Moghul miniatures, with palaces where there are terraces with small roofs supported by columns? You know those old miniatures? Hundreds of them have come into my hands… But this pavilion is very, very beautiful, a small pavilion like this, with a roof on a terrace, and low walls with couches against them to sit on, to meditate in the open air in the evening, at night. And below, downstairs, at ground-level, a meditation room, simply ― something quite bare. There would probably be at the far end something which would be a living light, perhaps the symbol in living light, a constant light. Otherwise, a very Page – 258 peaceful, very silent place. Nearby, there would be a small dwelling, a small dwelling which would nevertheless have three floors, but not large-sized, and that would be the house of A, who would serve as a guardian. She would be the guardian of the pavilion. She wrote me a very nice letter but she did not understand all that, of course. That is the centre. All around, there is a circular road which separates the park from the rest of the town. There would probably be a gateway ― in fact there must be one ― in the park. A gateway with the guardian of the gate. The guardian of the gate is a new girl who has come from Africa, who wrote me a letter telling me that she wanted to be the guardian of Auroville in order to let only the “servants of Truth” enter (Mother laughs). It is a very nice plan. So I shall probably put her there as guardian of the park, with a small house on the road at the entrance. But the interesting thing is that around this central point, there are four big sections, like four big petals (Mother draws), but the corners of the petals are rounded and there are small intermediate ― zones four big sections and four zones… Naturally that is only in the air; on the ground, it will be an approximation. We have four big sections: the cultural section, to the North, that is to say, towards Madras; to the East, the industrial section; to the South, the international section; and to the West, that is to say, towards the lake, the residential section. To make myself clear: the residential section, where there will be the houses of the people who have already subscribed and of all the others who are coming in large numbers to have a plot in Auroville. That will be next to the lake. The international section: we have already approached a certain number of ambassadors and countries for each one to have its pavilion ― a pavilion from every country. It was an old idea. Some have already accepted, so it is on the way. Each pavilion has its own garden with, as far as possible, a repre- Page – 259 sentation of the plants and products of the country which it represents. If they have enough money and enough space, they can also have a sort of small museum or permanent exhibition of the country’s achievements. The buildings should be constructed according to the architecture of each country ― it should be like a document of information. Then, depending on the money they wish to spend, they could also have accommodation for students, conference-rooms, etc., a cuisine of the country, a restaurant of the country ― they could have all kinds of developments. Then the industrial section. Already many people, including the Government of Madras the Madras ― Government is loaning money ― want to start industries, which will be on a special basis. This industrial section is to the East and it is very big, there is plenty of space; it will go down towards the sea. In fact, to the North of Pondicherry there is quite a large area which is totally uninhabited and uncultivated; it is by the sea, going up the coast towards the North. So this industrial section would go down towards the sea, and if possible there would be a kind of wharf ― not exactly a port but a place where boats could come alongside; and all these industries, with the inland transportation they need, would have a possibility to export directly. And there, there would be a big hotel ― B has already made a plan for it; we wanted to build the hotel here, on the site of the “Messageries Maritimes”, but after having said yes, the owner said no; it is very good, it will be better over there a big hotel to receive visitors from outside. Already quite a number of industries have registered for this section; I do not know if there will be enough room, but we shall manage. Then, to the North ― that is where there is the most space, of course – towards Madras, the cultural section. There, an auditorium ― the auditorium which I have dreamt of building for a long time; plans had already been made ― an auditorium with a concert-hall and a grand organ, the best of its kind today. It seems they are making wonderful things. I want a grand Page – 260 organ. There will also be a stage with wings ― a rotating stage, etc., the best of its kind. So, a magnificent auditorium, there. There will be a library, there will be a museum with all sorts of exhibitions ― not inside the auditorium: in addition to it there will be a film-studio, a film-school; there will be a gliding club. Already we almost have authorisation from the Government, and the promise, so it is already well on the way. Then towards Madras, where there is plenty of space, a stadium. We want this stadium to be the most modern and the most perfect possible, with the idea ― it is an idea I have had for a long time ― that twelve years ― the Olympic Games take place every four years twelve years from 1968 ― in ’68 the Olympiads are taking place in Mexico twelve years later we would hold the Olympic Games in India, there. So we need space. Between these sections, there are intermediate zones, four intermediate zones: one for public services, post office, etc.; one zone for transport, railway station and possibly an aerodrome; one zone for food ― that one would be near the lake and would include dairies, poultry farms, orchards, cultivated lands, etc.; it would spread and include the Lake Estate: what they wanted to do separately would be within the framework of Auroville. Then a fourth zone. I have said: public services, transport, food, and the fourth zone: shops. We do not need many shops, but a few are necessary in order to obtain what we do not produce. They are like districts, you see.
And you will be there at the centre?
A hopes so (Mother laughs). I did not say no, I did not say yes; I told her, “The Lord will decide.” It depends on my state of health. A removal, no ― I am here because of the Samadhi, I shall stay here, that is quite sure. But I can go there on a visit; it is not so far, it takes five minutes by car. But A wants to be quiet, silent, aloof, and that is quite possible in her park, surrounded by a road, with someone to stop people from coming Page – 261 in; one can stay very quiet ― but if I am there, that is the end of it! There would be collective meditations, etc. That is to say that if I get a sign, first the physical sign, then the inner command to go out, I shall drive there and spend an hour, in the afternoon ― I can do that now and then. We still have time because, before everything is ready, it will take years.
That is to say that the disciples will stay here?
Ah! The Ashram stays here ― the Ashram stays here, I stay here, that is understood. Auroville is..
A satellite.
Yes, it is the contact with the outside world. The centre on my drawing is a symbolic centre. But that is what A expects: she wants a house where she would be all alone next to a house where I would be all alone. The second part is a dream, because myself all alone… You only have to see what is happening! It is true, isn’t it? So it does not go with the “all alone”. Solitude must be found within, it is the only way. But as far as living is concerned, I shall certainly not go and live there, because the Samadhi is here; but I could go there to visit. For example, I could go there for an inauguration or for certain ceremonies. We shall see. It will be years from now.
In short, Auroville is more for outside?
Oh yes! It is a town! Consequently, it is the whole contact with outside. An attempt to realise on earth a more ideal life. In the old formation which I had made, there had to be a hill and a river. There had to be a hill, because Sri Aurobindo’s house was on top of the hill. But Sri Aurobindo was there at the centre. It was arranged according to the plan of my Page – 262 symbol, that is to say, a point in the middle, with Sri Aurobindo and all that concerned Sri Aurobindo’s life, and four big petals ― which were not the same as on this drawing, it was something else ― and twelve all around, the town itself; and around that, there were the residences of the disciples; you know my symbol: instead of lines, there are bands; well, the last circular band formed the area for the disciples’ residences, and each one had his own house and garden ― a small house and a garden for each one. There was some means of transport, I wasn’t sure if it was individual transport or collective transport ― like those small open tramcars in the mountains, you know going in all directions to take the disciples back towards the centre of the town. And around all that, there was a wall, with a gateway and guardians at the gate, and one could not enter without authorisation. There was no money ― within the walls, no money; at the various entrances, there were banks or counters of some sort, where people could deposit their money and receive tickets in exchange, with which they could obtain lodging, food, this, that. But no money ― the tickets were only for visitors, who could not enter without a permit. It was a tremendous organisation… No money, I did not want any money. Look! In my plan I forgot one thing. I wanted to build a housing estate for workers, but the housing estate was to be part of the industrial section, perhaps an extension along the edge of the industrial section. Outside the walls, in my first formation, on one side there was an industrial town, and on the other, fields, farms, etc., to supply the town. But that represented a real country ― not a big country, but a country. Now it is much reduced. It is no longer my symbol; there are only four zones and there are no walls. And there will be money. You see, the other formation was truly an ideal endeavour…. But I counted on many years before trying to start. At that time I thought twenty-four years. But now it is much more modest, it is a transitional attempt, Page – 263 and it is much more realisable. The other plan was… I almost had the land; it was in the time of Sir Akbar, you remember, from Hyderabad. They sent me some photographs of the State of Hyderabad and there, in those photographs, I found my ideal spot: an isolated hill, quite a big hill, and below it, a large, flowing river. I told him, “I want this place”, and he arranged the matter. Everything was arranged. They sent me the plans, the papers and everything, saying that they were giving it to the Ashram. But they laid down one condition ― it was virgin forest, uncultivated land ― the place was given on condition, naturally, that we would cultivate it ― but the products must be utilised on the spot; for example, the crops, the wood, must be utilised on the spot, not transported; nothing could leave the State of Hyderabad. There was even C, who was a navigator, who said that he would obtain a sailing boat from England to go up the river to fetch the products and bring them to us here. Everything was very well planned! Then they set this condition. I asked if it was not possible to have it removed; then Sir Akbar died and that was the end of it, the matter was dropped. Afterwards, I was glad that it was not done because, now that Sri Aurobindo has departed, I cannot leave Pondicherry. I could only leave Pondicherry with him provided that he accepted to live in his ideal town. At that time, I had spoken of this project to D, the person who built Golconde; and he was enthusiastic, he told me, “As soon as you start to build, call me, I shall come.” I had shown him my plan; it was based on an enlargement of my symbol; he was most enthusiastic, he thought it was magnificent. It was dropped. But the other one, which is just a small intermediate attempt, we can try. I have no illusions that it will keep its original purity, but we shall try something.
Much depends on the financial organisation of the project? Page – 265 For the time being, E is taking care of that, because he receives the money through the Sri Aurobindo Society and he bought the land. A fair amount of land has already been bought. It is going well. Naturally, the difficulty is to find enough money. But, for example, the pavilions ― each country will bear the expenses for its own pavilion; the industries ― each industry will provide the money for its own business; the residents ― each one will give the money necessary for his land. The Government ― Madras has already given us the promise will give between sixty and eighty per cent: one part grant, that is to say, gift; one part loan, free of interest and repayable over ten years, twenty years, forty years ― a long-term repayment. E knows all about it, he has already had quite a few results. But according to whether the money comes in quickly or comes in little by little, it will go more or less quickly. From the construction point of view, it will depend on B’s plasticity; the details are all the same to me ― only I would like this pavilion to be very beautiful. I can see it. For I have seen it, I have had the vision of it; so I shall try to make him understand what I have seen. And the park too, I have seen it ― these are old visions which I had repeatedly. But that is not difficult. The greatest difficulty is the water, because there is no river nearby, up there. But they are already trying to channel the rivers; there was even a project to channel water from the Himalayas across the whole of India: F had made a plan and had spoken about it in Delhi; they objected that it would be rather expensive, obviously! But, anyway, even without such grandiose things, something must be done to supply the water. That will be the greatest difficulty; that will take the most time. All the rest, light, power, will be done on the spot in the industrial section ― but water cannot be made! The Americans have seriously thought of finding a way to use sea-water, because the earth no longer has enough drinking water for man ― the water which they call “fresh”: it is ironical; the amount of water is not enough for the needs of man, so they have already started Page – 265 chemical experiments on a large scale to transform sea-water and make it utilisable – obviously, that would be the solution to the problem.
But that already exists.
It exists, but not on a sufficiently large scale.
It does in Israel.
Do they do that in Israel? Do they use sea-water? Obviously, that would be the solution – the sea is there.
We shall see.
It would have to be brought up.
A yachting club would be rather nice?
Ah! Certainly, with the industrial section.
Near your port, there.
It will not be a “port” but, well… Yes, the visitors’ hotel with a yachting club nearby, that is an idea. I shall add that. (Mother writes it down.)
It will surely be a success.
Now look! A shower of letters, my child! From everywhere, from all over the world, people are writing to me: “At last! This is the project I was waiting for”, etc. A shower. There is also a gliding club. We have already been promised an instructor and a glider. It is a promise. It will be in the industrial section, on top of the hill. Of course, the yacht club will be on the sea, not on the lake; but I had thought ― because there is much talk of deepening the lake, it is almost filled up Page – 266 ― I was thinking of a hydroplane station, there.
We can also have boating on the lake?
Not if there are hydroplanes. It is not big enough for boating. But it would be very good for a hydroplane station. But that depends: if we have an airport, it is unnecessary; if we do not have an airport… But already, in the Lake Estate project, there was an airport. G, who has become a squadron leader, has sent me a plan for an airport too, but for small planes, whereas we want an airport which can handle a regular service to Madras, a passenger airport. There has already been much talk about it. There were discussions between Air India and another company; then they could not come to an agreement ― all sorts of petty, foolish difficulties. But all that, with the growth of Auroville, will fall away quite naturally ― people will be only too glad to have an airport. No, there are two difficulties. Small sums of money we have to be ― precise: what the Government can loan, what people give to have a plot ― it is coming. But it takes massive sums, you know, it takes billions to build a town! Page – 267 September 1966
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 Page – 267 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.
30 December 1967
Mother reads a disciple’s notation of comments she made about her conception of Auroville.
“Auroville will be a self-supporting township. “All who live there will participate in its life and development. “This participation may be passive or active. “There will be no taxes as such but each will contribute to the collective welfare in work, kind or money. “Sections like industries which participate actively will contribute part of their income towards the development of the township. “Or if they produce something (like foodstuffs) useful for the citizens, they will contribute in kind to Page – 268 the township, which is responsible for feeding its citizens. “No rules or laws are being framed. Things will get formulated as the underlying truth of the township emerges and takes shape progressively. We do not anticipate.”
I thought I had said more than that because I said a good deal about it, inwardly ― on the organisation, the food, etc. We are going to make experiments. Some things are really interesting; first of all, for example, I would like each country to have its pavilion, and in the pavilion there will be the cooking of that country ― that is, the Japanese will be able to eat Japanese food if they want to, etc. But in the town itself there will be food for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians, and there will also be some attempt to find the food of tomorrow. The whole process of assimilation which makes you so heavy ― it takes so much of a person’s time and energy ― that should be done beforehand, you should be given something which is immediately assimilable, like the things they are making now; for example they have vitamin pills and proteins which can be assimilated directly, nutritious elements which are found in one thing or another and which don’t have much volume ― a huge quantity is needed to assimilate very little. Now that they are skilful enough in chemistry, it could be simplified. People do not like this simply because they take an intense pleasure in eating; but when you no longer take pleasure in eating, you still need nourishment without wasting your time on it. An enormous amount of time is wasted ― time in eating, in digesting, and all the rest. And there, I would like an experimental kitchen, a kind of culinary laboratory for experimenting. People would go to one place or another according to their tastes and inclinations. And they don’t pay for their food, but they should offer Page – 269 their work or their produce: those who have fields, for example, should give the produce from their fields; those who have factories should give their products; or one gives one’s labour in exchange for food. That in itself eliminates much of the internal exchange of money. And for everything we would find things like this. Basically, it should be a city for study, for study and research into a way of life which is both simplified and in which the higher qualities will have more time to develop. It is only a small beginning.
Mother goes through the text sentence by sentence.
“Auroville will be a self-supporting township.”
I want to insist on the fact that it will be an experiment, it is for making experiments – experiments, research, study. Auroville will be a city that will try to be, or will tend to become, or attempt to be “self-supporting”, that is to say…
Autonomous?
“Autonomous” is understood to mean some kind of independence which breaks off relations with others, and that is not what I mean. For example, those who produce food, like Aurofood ― of course, when we are 50,000 it will be difficult to provide for all the needs, but for the moment we are only a few thousand at most ― well, a factory always produces far too much, so it will sell outside and receive money. Aurofood for example wants to have a special relationship with the workers ― not at all the old system, something which would be an improvement on the communist system, a more balanced organisation than sovietism, that is, something which does not err too much on one side at the expense of the other. Page – 270 There is one thing I wanted to say: the participation in the well-being and life of the town as a whole is not something calculated on an individual basis; that is, this individual should give so much, it is not like that. It is calculated according to the means, the activity, the capacity for production; it is not the democratic idea which cuts everything up into equal pieces, which is an absurd machinery. It is calculated according to one’s means: one who has much gives much, one who has little gives little; one who is strong works hard, one who is not strong does something else. You see, it is something truer, deeper. That is why I make no attempt to explain now, because people will start to make all kinds of complaints. All this must come about automatically, so to speak, with the growth of the city, in the true spirit. That is why this note is extremely concise. For example, this sentence:
“All who live there will participate in its life and development.”
All who live there will participate in its life and development according to their capacities and means, not mechanically ― so much per unit. That’s it, it must be something living and true, not a mechanical thing; and according to each one’s capacities: that is, one who has material means, such as those provided by a factory, should give in proportion to its production, not so much per individual, per head.
“The participation may be passive or active.”
I do not understand what “passive” means; I said it in French and it has been put into English. What could that mean, “passive”?… It would be something more like planes or different levels of consciousness.
You meant that those who are wise, who work within, do not need to… Page – 271 Yes, that’s it. Those who have a higher knowledge do not need to work with their hands, that is what I meant.
“There will be no taxes as such, but each one will contribute to the collective welfare in work, kind or money.”
So that is clear: there will be no taxes, but each one will have to contribute to the collective welfare by his work, in kind or in money. Those who have nothing but money will give money. But to tell the truth, “work” can be inner work ― but one cannot say that, because people are not honest enough. The work can be an occult, completely inner work; but for that, it must be absolutely sincere and true, and with the capacity for it: no pretension. But not necessarily a physical work.
“Sections like industries which participate actively will contribute part of their income towards the development of the township; or if they produce something (like foodstuffs) that is useful to the citizens, they will contribute in kind to the township, which is responsible for feeding its citizens.”
This is what we were just saying. The industries will participate actively, they will contribute. If these industries produce articles which are not constantly needed and therefore in amounts or quantities that are too great to be used within the city but which will sell outside, they, of course, should participate with money. And I give food as an example; those who produce food will give what they produce to the town ― in proportion to what they produce, of course ― and the town is responsible for feeding everyone. That means that people will not need to buy food with money; but it must be earned. It is a sort of adaptation of the communist system, but not in a spirit of levelling; according to the capacity, the position Page – 272 ― not the psychological or intellectual, but the inner position of each one. What is true is that materially every human being has the right ― but it is not a “right”… The organisation should be such, should be so arranged, that the material needs of everyone are assured, not according to ideas of rights and equality, but on the basis of the minimum needs. And once that is established, each one should be free to organise his life according to ― not according to his financial means, but his inner capacities.
“No rules or laws are being framed. Things will get formulated as the underlying truth of the township emerges and takes shape progressively. We do not anticipate.”
What I mean is that usually ― always so far, and now more and more ― men lay down mental rules according to their conceptions and ideals, and then they apply them (Mother brings down her fist to show the world in the grip of mind), and that is absolutely false, it is arbitrary, unreal ― and the result is that things revolt or wither and disappear… It is the experience of life itself that should slowly elaborate rules which are as flexible and wide as possible, to be always progressive. Nothing should be fixed. That is the great error of governments; they make a framework and say, “There you are, we have set this up and now we must live by it”, and so of course they crush life and prevent it from progressing. Life itself must develop more and more in a progression towards Light, Knowledge, Power, little by little establishing rules that are as general as possible, so that they can be extremely flexible and change with the need ― and change as quickly as the needs and habits do.
(Silence) Page – 273 The problem finally comes down to this: to replace the mental government of the intelligence by the government of a spiritualised consciousness.
February 1968
One must have an absolutely transparent sincerity. Lack of sincerity is the cause of the difficulties we meet at present. Insincerity is in all men. There are perhaps a hundred men on earth who are totally sincere. Man’s very nature makes him insincere ― it is very complicated, for he is constantly deceiving himself, hiding the truth from himself, making excuses for himself. Yoga is the way to become sincere in all parts of the being. It is difficult to be sincere, but at least one can be mentally sincere; this is what can be demanded of Aurovilians. The force is there, present as never before; man’s insincerity prevents it from descending, from being felt. The world lives in falsehood, all relations between men have until now been based on falsehood and deceit. Diplomatic relations between nations are based on falsehood. They claim to want peace, and meanwhile they are arming themselves. Only a transparent sincerity in man and among nations can usher in a transformed world. Auroville is the first attempt in this experiment. A new world will be born; if men are willing to make an effort for transformation, to seek for sincerity, it is possible. From animal to man, thousands of years were needed; today, with his mind, man can will and hasten a transformation towards a man who shall be God. This transformation by the help of the mind ― by self-analysis ― is a first step; afterwards, it is necessary to transform the vital impulses: that is much more difficult, and especially to transform the physical. Every cell in our bodies must become conscious. This is the work I am doing here; it will enable the Page – 274 conquest of death. That is another story; that will be the humanity of the future, perhaps after hundreds of years, perhaps sooner. It will depend on men, on nations. Auroville is the first step towards this goal. Page – 275 March 1968
About Section One of the Auroville Charter: “But to live in Auroville one must be the willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness.”
This is the big dispute at the moment about Auroville. In the Charter, I put “Divine Consciousness”, so they say, “It reminds us of God.” I said (Mother laughs), “It doesn’t remind me of God!” So some translate it as “the highest consciousness”, others put something else. I agreed with the Russians to put “perfect Consciousness”, but it is an approximation… And That ― which cannot be named and cannot be defined ― is the supreme Power. It is the Power that one finds. And the supreme Power is only an aspect: the aspect that concerns creation.
10 April 1968
Apropos Auroville: on money and government.
The conflict about money is what might be called a “conflict of ownership”, but the truth is that money belongs to no one. This idea of possessing money has warped everything. Money should not be a “possession”: like power it is a means of action which is given to you, but you must use it according to.. what we can call the “will of the Giver”, that is, in an impersonal and Page – 275 enlightened way. If you are a good instrument for diffusing and utilising money, then it comes to you, and it comes to you in proportion to your capacity to use it as it is meant to be used. That is the true mechanism. The true attitude is this: money is a force intended for the work on earth, the work required to prepare the earth to receive and manifest the divine forces, and it ― that is, the power of utilising it ― must come into the hands of those who have the clearest, most comprehensive and truest vision. To start with, the first thing (but this is elementary) is not to have the sense of possession ― what does it mean, “it is mine”?….Now, I don’t quite understand. Why do people want it to belong to them? ― so that they can use it as they like and do what they want with it and handle it according to their own conceptions? That’s how it is. On the other hand, yes, there are people who like to store it up somewhere…. but that is a disease. To be sure of always having some, they hoard it. But if people understood that one should be like a receiving and transmitting station and that the wider the range (just the opposite of personal), the more impersonal, comprehensive and wide it is, the most force it can hold (“force” that is translated materially: notes and coins). This power to hold is proportional to the capacity to use the money in the best way ― “best” in terms of the general progress: the widest vision, the greatest understanding and the most enlightened, exact and true usage, not according to the warped needs of the ego but according to the general need of the earth for its evolution and development. That is to say, the widest vision will have the largest capacity. Behind all wrong movements, there is a true movement; there is a joy in being able to direct, utilise, organise in such a way that there is a minimum of waste and the maximum of result. It is a very interesting vision to have. And this must be the true side in people who want to accumulate money: it is the capacity to use it on a very large scale. Then, there are those who very much like to have it and spend it; that is something Page – 276 else ― they are generous natures, neither regulated nor organised. But the joy of being able to satisfy all true needs, all necessities, is good. It is like the joy of changing a sickness into health, a falsehood into truth, a suffering into joy; it is the same thing: to change an artificial and foolish need ― which does not correspond to anything natural ― into a possibility which becomes something quite natural. So much money is needed to do this or that or the other, so much is needed to arrange this, to repair that, to build this, to organise that ― that is good. And I understand that people like to be the channels through which the money goes exactly where it is needed. That must be the true movement in people who like to…. translated into foolish egoism, who need to appropriate. When the need to accumulate and the need to spend (which are both blind and ignorant) are combined, they can lead to a clear vision and a most efficient utilisation. That is good. Then there comes, slowly and slowly, the possibility of putting it into practice. But, naturally, the need is for very clear heads and for intermediaries of high integrity (!) to be able to be everywhere at the same time and do all at the same time. Then this famous question of money would be solved. Money does not belong to anybody. Money is a collective possession which should be used only by those who have an integral, comprehensive and universal vision. I would add something to that: not only integral and comprehensive, but essentially true as well; a vision which can tell the difference between a use which is in accord with the universal progress, and a use which could be termed fanciful. But these are details, for even the mistakes, even, from a certain standpoint, the waste, help the general progress: these are lessons learned the hard way.
(Silence) I always remember what X used to say (X was completely Page – 277 opposed to philanthropy); he used to say: Philanthropy perpetuates human misery because without human misery philanthropy would have no more reason to exist!… And you know the great philanthropist, what was his name? ― during Mazarin’s time; he founded the Little Sisters of Charity….
Vincent de Paul?
That’s it. Mazarin once told him: There have never been so many poor people as since you started taking care of them! (Mother laughs.)
Later.
I have been rethinking what I said about money. That is how life in Auroville should be organised, but I doubt whether people are ready.
That is to say that it is possible so long as they accept the guidance of a sage?
Yes. The first thing that should be accepted and recognised by everyone is that the invisible and higher power that is, the power ― which belongs to a plane of consciousness that is mostly veiled, but which is within each; a consciousness which can be called anything, by any name, it does not matter, but which is integral and pure in the sense that it is not false, it is in the Truth ― that this power is capable of ordering material things in a way that is truer, happier and better for everyone than any material power. That is the first point. Once people agree on that.. It is not something one can pretend to have; an individual cannot pretend to have it, either he has it or he hasn’t, because (Mother laughs) in any circumstance of life, if it is a pretension, it will show clearly! On top of that, it does not give you Page – 278 any material power. There again, X once said ― he was speaking of the true hierarchy, the hierarchy based on each one’s power of consciousness ― the individual or individuals who are at the very summit necessarily have the least needs; their material needs become less as their capacity of material vision grows. And that is very true. It is automatic and spontaneous, not the result of an effort: the wider the consciousness, the more it embraces things and realities ― the less its material needs, automatically, because they lose all their importance and value. The need for material necessities is reduced to a minimum, which will itself change with the progressive development of Matter. And that is easily recognisable, isn’t it? It is difficult to act the part. And the second thing is the power of conviction; that is, the highest consciousness, when it is brought into contact with Matter, spontaneously has a greater power of conviction than all the intermediary planes. By mere contact, its power of conviction, that is, its power of transformation, is greater than that of all the intermediary planes. That is a fact. These two facts together make it impossible for any pretension to last long. I am looking at it from the standpoint of a collective organisation. As soon as you come down from this supreme Height, there is all the play of the various influences (gesture of mixture and conflict) and that in itself is a sure sign: even a slight descent ― even into the domain of higher mind, higher intelligence – and the whole conflict of influences begins. Only what is right at the very summit and is perfectly pure, has this power of spontaneous conviction. Therefore, whatever one may do instead of that is an approximation and it is not much better than democracy ― that is, the system which wants to rule by the greatest number and the lowest level ― I mean social democracy, the latest trend. If there is no representative of the supreme Consciousness ― that can happen, can’t it? ― if there isn’t any, there could be instead, it could be tried, government by a few ― a small Page – 279 number set between four and eight, something like that, four, seven, eight – who have an intuitive intelligence: “intuitive” is more important than intelligence – with an intuition that is manifested intellectually. This would have its drawbacks from the practical point of view, but it would perhaps be closer to the truth than the lowest level ― socialism or communism. Everything in between has proved to be incompetent: theocracy, aristocracy, democracy and plutocracy, all those have been a complete failure. The other one, the socialist or communist government is proving itself a failure as well. Basically socialism and communism correspond to a kind of absence of government, because they do not have the power to govern others; they are obliged to transfer their power to someone who exercises it, like a Lenin for example, because he was a brain. All this has been tried and proved to be incompetent. The only thing that could be competent is the Truth-Consciousness, which would choose instruments and express itself through a certain number of instruments in the absence of one “one” is not enough either, ― “one” would necessarily have to choose a group. Those who have this consciousness may belong to any social class: it is not a privilege of birth, but the outcome of personal effort and development. In fact, that is an outward sign, the obvious sign of a change from the political point of ― view it is no longer a matter of classes and categories nor of birth ― all that is obsolete. It is the individuals who have attained a certain higher consciousness who have the right to govern ― not others, regardless of their social class. This would be the true vision. All those who participate in the experiment should be absolutely convinced that the highest consciousness is the best judge of the most material things. What has ruined India is this idea that the higher consciousness deals with higher things and that lower things do not interest it at all, and that it understands Page – 280 nothing about them! That has been the ruin of India. Well, this error must be completely eradicated. It is the highest consciousness which sees most clearly ― most clearly and most truly ― what the needs of the most material things must be. With that, a new type of government could be tried.
31 May 1969
The night before last, I spent more than three hours with Sri Aurobindo and I was showing him all that was about to come down for Auroville. It was quite interesting. There were games, there was art, there was even cooking! But all that was very symbolic. And I was explaining to him as though on a table, in front of a vast landscape. I was explaining to him the principle on which physical exercises and games were going to be organised. It was very clear, very precise, I was giving as though a demonstration, and it was as though I was showing on a smaller scale a miniature representation of what was going to be done. I was moving people and things (gesture, as though on a chess-board). But it was very interesting, and he was very interested: he was laying down the broad laws of organisation (I do not know how to explain). There was art and it was beautiful, it was good. And how to make the houses pleasant and pretty, upon what principle of construction. And then even the kitchen; it was so amusing, each one brought forward his invention… This went on for three hours ― three hours of the night, it is a lot! Very interesting.
Yet conditions upon earth seem to be very far from all that..
(After some hesitation) No… it was right there, it did not seem to be foreign to earth. It was a harmony: a conscious harmony behind things; a conscious harmony Page – 281 behind the physical exercises and the games; a conscious harmony behind the decoration, the art; a conscious harmony behind the food..
I mean that all this seems to be at the opposite pole of what is now upon earth. Not… No?
I saw X today and I was telling him that the whole organisation of the arts and sports, even of food and all the rest, was ready in the subtle physical ― ready to come down and embody itself ― and I told him, “What is needed is just a handful of earth (gesture of cupping the hands), a handful of earth where one could grow the plant… One must find a handful of earth to let it grow.” Page – 282 |