An experimental township!
Yesterday my friend went Auroville known as an experimental township which is placed near to the Pudhucherry which is a French Union state. Auroville is in Villupuram district in the state of Tamilnadu. My friend had collected more information from there. So I am sharing my friends experience.
The Auroville
It was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa (known as "The Mother") and designed by architect Roger Anger.She was spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, who believed that "man is a transitional being". Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville, one must be the 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 realization. Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual Human Unity.
Location
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| Auroville Beach |
Auroville is composed of a cluster of properties some 12 km (7.5 mi) north of Pondicherry. It can be easily reached via the East Coast Road (ECR) which connects Chennai and Pondicherry. Turning east leads directly to Auroville's private beach called Repos, several hundred metres away.
Society and population
In Auroville, population is very less. Men and women are same in count. Although originally intended to house 50,000, as of May 2014, the actual population today is 2,345 (1,804 adults and 541 minors), coming from 50 nationalities.The community is divided up into neighborhoods with Tamil, English, French and Sanskrit names like Aspiration, Arati, La Ferme, Auromodel and Isaiambalam.
The Matrimandir
In the middle of the town is the Matrimandir, which was conceived by "The Mother" as "a symbol of the Divine's answer to man's aspiration for perfection". Silence is maintained inside the Matrimandir to ensure the tranquility of the space and entire area surrounding the Matrimandir is called Peace area. Inside the Matrimandir, a spiraling ramp leads upwards to an air-conditioned chamber of polished white marble referred to as "a place to find one's consciousness". Matrimandir is equipped with a solar power plant and is surrounded by manicured gardens. When there is no sun or after the sunset, the sun ray on the globe is replaced by a beam from a solar powered light. Radiating from this center are four "zones" of the City Area: the "Residential Zone", "Industrial Zone", "Cultural (& Educational) Zone" and "International Zone". Around the City or the urban area, lies a Green Belt which is an environment research and resource area and includes farms and fores-tries, a botanical garden, seed bank, medicinal and herbal plants, water catchment bunds, and some communities.
Economy
Instead of paper and coin currency, residents are given account numbers to connect to their central account. Visitors, however, are requested to get a temporary account and an Aurocard (a debit card). Although the Government of India owns and manages the Auroville Foundation, it only finan
ces a small part of Auroville's budget, which is mainly formed by contributions from Auroville's commercial units which contribute 33% of their profits to Auroville's Central Fund, and by donations. There are guest houses, building construction units, information technology, small and medium scale businesses, producing and re-selling items such as handmade paper for stationery items, as well as producing its well-known incensesticks, which can be bought in Auroville's own shop in Puducherry, or are sold around India and abroad. Each of these units contributes a considerable part of their profits to the township. Over 5,000 people, mostly from the nearby localities, are employed in various sections and units of Auroville.
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| City hall of Auroville |
Communication and media
The Auroville website provides open as well as restricted forums for various projects, interests, organizations and outreach which make up the life of the community. The opinions expressed in these publications are not necessarily those of the community at large. Auroville radio website provides a lot of recordings and daily news covering events in Auroville. Auroville has a small
Films about Auroville
- City of the Dawn, full length, 80 min version, 2010.
- Aurovile , the outline of a world, full length, 25 minutes, 2009.
- Auroville - A Dream of the Divine (part 1 and 2), full length, 20 min in two parts, 2003.
- There are six 30 min videos on Auroville by Russian filmmakers.
- Interesting Auroville topics can also be seen on AurovilleTV, and the films about Auroville screened at the biennial Auroville Film Festival.