The world is full of chaos and conflicts, and finding peace has become a dream for many. Especially after Russia invades Ukraine, many people have lost their homes and hopes. It feels like humankind has been trapped between practicing and preaching.
Even though today we consist of a single civilization or what we call a global village, war, ecological collapse, and technological disruption seem never-ending.
It is believed that our cultural differences have reduced over the years. “So in the 21st-century religions don’t bring rain, they don’t cure illness, they don’t build bombs-but they do get to determine who are ‘us’ and who are ‘them,’ who should we cure and who should we bomb”.- Yuval Noah Harari
The Living Idea Or An Utopia
Let me tell you about a journey back in the year 2018. It was when I decided to pursue my Master’s Degree from Pondicherry University. My family was suspicious about sending me off to a little-known place. Neither do I have any preconceived notion about the place except that Pondicherry is a tourist place. Well, the remarkable journey began then and there. And, if given a chance, I would settle down there forever. Even if not in this life, I will choose Pondicherry for my salvation.
Coming back to how and where it all started, there is still hope. In remote southernmost India, called Pondicherry, lies a place called Auroville(The City Of Dawn). The utopian Auroville was once little more than a barren land; when Mirra Alfassa, a French-born mystic, looked out on this strip of land just outside Pondicherry in India’s Tamil Nadu region, she saw home and hope. To build a community that practices and preaches spirituality that would be free from all external or materialistic factors.
Rooting universal liberalism and multiculturalism, Auroville today is home to over 2,500 permanent residents. The community consists of westerners in the land of the east to find their inner spirit and recall the unity of humankind. The idea behind Auroville was to give life a dream that knows no religion, caste, class, gender, creed, or even politics. And where oneness is the ultimate goal.
But the way of life there is under threat – and not only from industrialists but also from orthodox politics. In 1968, Auroville took its name from Sri Aurobindo, a Cambridge-educated Eastern philosopher and campaigner for Indian independence established an Ashram in the region.
The founding principles of Auroville are as follows:

“Auroville belongs to nobody in particular.
Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville, one must be a willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness.
Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages.
Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations.
Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual Human Unity.”
Aurovillians are committed to organic farming, sustainable energy sources, building materials, and recycling. That is not it; Auroville emphasizes holistic health and wellness- yoga and meditation to attain a state of peace and serenity, art and culture, green practices, city services, rural services, social enterprises, etc. The community believes that self-dependency and reliance is the best way to find themselves and stay connected to the root.
In the late 1960s, it was a land with red soil, hot and empty. Over the years, the trees were planted, which grew into the forest, ensuring a water supply to the surrounding area. However, none of that has stopped plans to construct a road through the very spirit of the Auroville forest. Today what you see there is all because of the efforts of every individual to build the community of all dreams.

I remember visiting Auroville every other evening along with my friends. Not just to enjoy the filter coffee or french cafes, to smell the steaming coffee beans, freshly baked buns, or organic farms but for the vibe that is so rare in a place like India. Once you take the curve from ECR and enter the red road, cross the temples with loud music tunneling along the forest of Auroville to reach the youth center amidst the forest. There is one favorite place for everyone, Dinesh. You can get here for a coffee or cola under the shades of huge trees, which gives you the perfect evening chill.
Once you enter, you see the happy foreign faces and local Tamilians living together in a remote place, setting the perfect example of co-existence and unity. Pondicherry is like a hubspot of different cultures and communities.
I remember Akkas draped in bright sarees and salwar with white fragrant flowers on their hair. And, on the other hand, women in cotton shorts but with no exception, both riding bikes and mopeds. The best part was that Tamil women were independent. You might see them in traditional wear and be confused but let me tell you if modernity is one’s mindset, and that was it. Their shared sense of respect and candor keeps the culture humming and happy.
Some cultures are better than others, and Auroville is one of them.
Setting The Right Example

An organization by Auroville called Eco Femme is a global women’s franchise. Rising from rural India and reaching out to women worldwide, they promote and revitalize menstrual practices that are healthy, dignified, affordable, and eco-friendly. Eco Femme produces and fosters washable cloth pads, an alternative menstrual product, which lasts for approximately 75 washes and can prevent 600 disposable pads (each taking 500-800 years to decompose) or tampons from being thrown away during that same time.
Whenever I visited Pondicherry town, I stopped by the Aura shop every time to buy handmade incense sticks. I used to buy them in bulk and bring them to my grandmother whenever I visited home. Lighting them up always gave the feeling of authenticity of Tamil Nadu and Auroville in Assam. Something is always special about Auroville, the impression they leave behind in creating a sustainable and unified world.
However, it is not limited to Eco Femme or Incense sticks; there is a long list of social enterprises run by the Aurovillians, from food to clothes. Auroville set a good example by not limiting life to color, religion, caste, class, gender, or creed.
Not forgetting the Aurobindo Ashram School, the only school with no exams inclusive of all curricula. Starting from gymnastics to language classes, the idea of an ashram school in today’s world is a place that does not intend to produce or encourage a rat race. I remember one of my friends was from Ashram school; even though they did not have any passing or degree certificates, they could get into Pondicherry University without any of them. He initially had problems with competition and examination as a determining factor of one’s identity at the university. He was different from all sorts of questions he used to ask our professors, and most of the time, he irritated them(on a funny note). That is also because of his high morality, knowledge, and ecclesiology, he was unbeatable.
One for all, all for one

And this is why we need to preserve such communities, especially when they are in India. A country built on the slogan, ‘Unity in diversity, a country that comes with so many varieties must prevail in its uniqueness as India’s soft power is an asset and its identity to the world.
Many still do not know that a self-governing place like Auroville exists beyond the French touch colonies and the East Coast Road. What’s threatening today is the deteriorating mindset dismantling the region’s harmony and its people. The recent case has been the worst.
“A blueprint based on ‘sacred geometry’ was designed to build Auroville, a perfect city of unity. But 50 years on, the Galaxy Plan has created anger and division”, this headline was a jaw-dropper. As I got to know, “On December 4th, 2021, local police, joined by a group of outsiders, began demolishing the Auroville Youth Centre – uprooting the surrounding trees with the help of JCBs and assaulting the youngsters who were sleeping inside the building”. It was unfortunate and disheartening for every individual who holds a soft corner for the place.
If you ever visit and interact with community members, you will truly experience a sense of belongingness, love for nature, and spirituality in all aspects. How can someone not let them live in peace and destroy something beautiful, almost impossible to build in the 21st century?
Auroville is not just a centre or community but a living idea. A city that puts an end to the rigid class and caste systems, leveraging freedom and pollution-free space with a symphony of love that excludes rubbish, social isolation, and suburban sprawl antagonizing modern society, is rare, even in western countries.
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