August 13, 1966
You know that scores of people have come for Auroville…. Instead of working, they spend their time talking and chatting! And they send me letters. Their whole mental ego is bubbling with excitement, all of them. Have you seen them?
No. I am afraid they may “summon” me!
They’ve already begun discussing what the city’s political situation will be – even before the first stone has been laid! And one of them, the one with a Communist creed (he is the one who has the greatest energy and power of realization), is scandalized: he wrote
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to me yesterday, saying he couldn’t take part in something that wasn’t “purely democratic”! … So I answered him this (Mother hands Satprem her note):
“Auroville must be at the service of the Truth, beyond all social, political and religious convictions.”
I told him many things (Mother makes a gesture of mental communication), but above all, I insisted a lot on the fact that it would be better to build the city first! And that we would see afterwards. Because he told me it was important for him that we should remain in the democratic system “until something better has been found.” I felt like answering him, “How do you know that something better hasn’t been found?” But I didn’t say anything.
Then I also wrote something for J. He had asked me for a “message” for his school (Mother hands another note):
“He who lives to serve the Truth is unaffected by any external circumstance.”
(Mother looks weary….)
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