AUROVILLE

In March 1914 two people met in Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo, who had fled arrest by the British and sought refuge there and, Mirra Alfassa, later known as the Mother, the wife of a French politician. Their meeting led to an evolutionary step in spiritual consciousness and the birth of Auroville, heralded as the City of the Future. What kind of future? Auroville started from scratch across a barren plateau in South India in February 1968 with just two things: a Charter and a City plan, welcoming people from around the world to create a new life beyond national rivalries, social conventions, self-contradictory moralities and contending religions. Fifty years on, how far has it travelled? Does Auroville resonate with its founding vision? What are its material and spiritual challenges and what signposts mark it unambiguously as a city for the future? Told by someone who has lived the adventure for thirty-six years, this book explores not utopia but a living laboratory: a city being forged by many challenges and a dream.