Which town?

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In R.’s indefinite absence in the role of commander of the physical creation of the town, some were of the view that one must wait for the Matrimandir and its gardens to be completed before starting any other construction within the assigned perimeter. Yet life was growing on all sides and activities multiplied, engendering new necessities. Thus a more pragmatic approach set in = at the service of a more harmonious future, the search for new forms of habitat and collective edifices was legitimate and must be welcomed and encouraged. The four zones would be respected as much as possible, as well as the main lines characterizing the inherited plan. Nonetheless, one would have to negotiate with the realities on the ground – and those of life itself.

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The account of what led each person to the threshold of this adventure was each time unique and singular and the reason or the cause of this initial encounter varied infinitely – from inexplicable chance to a tourist’s curiosity, from professional interest to the quest for meaning, from the vagaries of a personal relationship to the pursuits of a student, many of the new arrivals were ignorant of the foundation and fundaments of this incomparable site. For those who now arrived, the leading emphasis and the essential stake summed up as the voluntary service of human unity – this place was created with the aim of demonstrating that human unity is possible and can

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