On Auroville 2022 to 2025

The following discipline and agreement could be proposed for a period, say, of 5 years, after which it would be either extended, if it has been found useful enough, or changed or adapted according to a further, truer understanding. There are three major areas that are of immediate and permanent concern to the Government: visas – and admission; finances – how to earn or receive the funds needed for the development and maintenance of Auroville; and land – purchase, use and management. For each of these three areas, the Government could post an employee who would act both as an observer and as a relay, a channel between Auroville and the Central Government. These employees would be the Government‟s contribution to the work of Aurovill e. They would have no control and no authority over the internal affairs of Auroville or its general orientation. But they would be entitled to ask questions, to raise objections, and any decisions in any of their areas would have to be open to them before they would relay them to the Government with their endorsements. They would be permanently based in Auroville, but their functions would be clearly, unambiguously defined. Our internal means of organisation would not have to be changed; we already have them and if they are not satisfactory it is, as we well know, entirely our responsibility – they can be sufficient if we make them so, by contributing… the right attitudes. It certainly would require from us discipline, dedication, self- commitment… But we know that; and no external agency is about to pour these gifts on us. In the first area, we know how we can formulate our necessities: that, in the absence of an unquestioned spiritual authority, the only way to know whether someone is able to stay in Auroville is by experience, and therefore this probationary period after which a careful assessment can be recorded and recommendation for admission be made. In the second area, there are delicate issues that we must bring openly and separately to the Gov ernment‟s attention, such as: how on earth is Auroville ever going to support itself if, by law, its residents are forbidden to earn the money Auroville needs? And so it should perhaps be proposed that after, say, a couple of years of residence, any indivi dual who, being a “Foreigner” in India, feels inclined to try and earn money for Auroville should be allowed to do so, provided that the productive activity concerned is based in Auroville. In the third area we meet the necessity to legally acknowledge certain facts that are contingencies to the Charter of Auroville; as a Society, the SAS purchased so much land for Auroville; when it reached its legal limits it bought more land under individuals‟ names, for Auroville; in our time also, we have purchased more land, for Auroville , under other individuals‟ names. This practice ought to be made legal by the Government, given the unique aims and purposes of Auroville, and therefore all land purchased for Auroville, under whatever name, could legally be considered

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