Arriving at Auroville

Afsanah Guest House

After landing in Chennai, we were picked up by a taxi for the 2.5 hour drive south to Auroville. Once again, we arrived after dark, so there was a surprise waiting for us when we woke up the next morning -- we opened our eyes and thought we were in Japan. As it turned out, our guesthouse was designed by a German architect in the sparse Japanese sukiya-style complete with lily ponds and a Zen garden. Are we still in India?

Our beautiful Afsanah Guesthouse was not the only surprise waiting for us. We had very little time to research Auroville, so we arrived with just a superficial understanding of the town. But even if we had read about Auroville extensively, nothing could have prepared us for actually being here.

Auroville is an experimental utopian community that was inaugurated in 1968 by devotees to Sri Aurobindo and his soul mate “The Mother.” Through meticulous planning and dedicated manual labor, these visionary people took 3000 acres of arid desert and transformed it into a green utopia in just a few decades. Real infrastructure development started in the 1990s and the momentum has been building since. Today, there are over 2000 “Aurovillians” living and working here in this vibrant community. Although over 45 different nationalities are represented in Auroville, the residents are mostly Indian nationals, French and German.

Where most 1960s idealistic communal living experiments have failed, Auroville has not only survived but prospered. Their goals are lofty – universal human unity, transformation of consciousness and research into “sustainable living and the future cultural, environmental, social and spiritual needs of mankind.” Their methods are radical and revolutionary -- decision-making by consensus, no hierarchical government, no exchange of money, communal ownership of property, and much more. The results are amazing. Although not all of these goals have been met, there has been great progress and tons of support from governments as well as individuals.

We’re not unfamiliar with Hindu Vedic traditions, gurus and ashrams, so it came as no surprise that being here felt like being inside a very powerful spiritual vortex. For Aurobindo devotees, Auroville is a pilgrimage site as powerful as Kaaba is for people of Islamic faith. The fact that Auroville can exist in today’s world is nothing short of a miracle and the sincere idealism of Aurovillians stirred up strong emotions in me that brought tears to my eyes. I’m typically quite skeptical of anything that’s too good to be true, but being in Auroville makes me want to sell everything I own and join this amazing community. We have no plans to leave, so let’s see what the next few days will bring.

(See more pictures of Auroville)