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The last dance

I pray that these words express to the best of my ability, Truth and clarity, and that I may be,

throughout this exercise, the most perfect channel for Light despite my innumerable shortcomings.

They, however, mostly came about before Bonke hurriedly and violently sent chainsaws and a

bulldozer into the first collectively managed forest sanctuary in Auroville, after I had made it clear to

him that I was strongly opposed to his plans and would not grant them access through Auroville forest

land of which I was responsible.

What follows was originally a letter that I was preparing for Bonke that attempted to provide a

detailed explanation of the reasons, spiritual and ecological, for my adamant refusal to collaborate

with his hill-project in the northern Green Belt. There is presently no reason to communicate with

Bonke, who has acted treacherously and violently, in utter disrespect of and contempt for the work

done out here by Aurovilians. He was very concerned about the speedy implementation of his plan,

placed upon me the ultimatum of either collaborating with him, or seeing the more powerful party

win. He also expressed his desire to avoid another “Darkali incident”, and wanted to rope in a few

forest stewards out here in order to avoid having the broader community even become aware of his

plans. Unfortunately, he managed with one, which allowed him access into the sanctuary.

It is evident that the most crucial question we need to answer as a community, is: Does the end justify

the means? Can Auroville ever realize itself if the means are not seen as the building blocks of this

spiritual endeavour?

What is his plan? It is to fundamentally alter the land-use of the northern greenbelt, to build a 30m

high hill over tens of acres of land within the Master Plan area, on Varuna land as well as on AV forest

land. The soil for the hill is from the lake being built around the Matrimandir. More than a hundred

acres of land within the Master Plan area, in the Green Belt, presently a mosaic of AV forests and

private land, has been labelled as “Matrimandir Team” land. The true intentions are obviously kept

obscure, but one needn’t be a genius to understand that the general idea is to open up large swaths of

land for infrastructure, energy and real-estate development at the expense of existing forest cover and

without the knowledge and consent of the community. The first step is to make a road that would

reach the site of the planned hill north of Fertile Field, where several acres of mature Auroville forest

is to be destroyed entirely. The access that was identified by the Matrimandir Team cuts through Nine

Palms, the NFA Sanctuary and Fertile Field. The section cutting through the NFA sanctuary has been

opened up already, without the stewards of the NFA being notified, except for one.

There is no public road in the entire area, which has kept development at bay because hundreds of

acres of land are not fed by a public road and all movement cuts through privately owned fields and

plantations. Access was needed for a project that would considerably and adversely affect the

environment and hydrology of the northern slopes of the plateau, a project that doesn’t have the

sanction of the community and which doesn’t figure on any planning document, and for which no

E.I.A had been prepared. I was first approached by Bonke to discuss this access. It was presented to

me as a fait-accompli. Time, however, was not on the side of these individuals who had to do things

quickly and with the least number of people being aware of them. Indeed, quite the divine manner of

acting, in opacity and darkness!

Either way, here is my position vis-a-vis all this that I intended on sharing with Bonke in writing.

Obviously, work is underway. The sanctuary has been pierced through for the road, and trees are

being felled to make room for the dirt.

• I was mandated by the community to steward Auroville land and restore it to forest, and the

project was sanctioned by the Forest Group, the Green Group and the FAMC that were

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composed of Aurovilians selected by the community. I am answerable to the residents of

Auroville, and therefore any change in land-use occurring on land for which I am responsible

must be run by them or the institutions representing them only.

• I strongly disagree with the hill project in the first place, and therefore granting the MM team

access through the forest I help manage would correspond to my agreeing in principle to it.

So even if I could make such a decision without the sanction of the Auroville community and

the pertinent institutions, even if the land were mine, I would deny the MM team access. By

forcefully making a road through the NFA sanctuary, they violated the authority that had been

bestowed upon me.

• More broadly, beyond mere access for trucks cutting through the forests for at least two years,

this hill project represents a massive change in land-use within the Auroville’s planning area

affecting several sub-watersheds, and therefore, it must be run by the community for

sanctioning. As long as I am a member of the community, I will abide by the simple principles

of its governance, namely that its residents have a say in the policies being implemented, in

the budgets being distributed, in the infrastructure being erected and in the landscapes being

created. There is not the shadow of doubt that the Auroville prerogative is for decision-making

to be structured around community participation, otherwise the whole thing beats the point

and one might as well hire a Chinese firm to build a city here within a fortnight.

I was made to understand that in Bonke’s mind, this hill project is a done-deal, that it has been

sanctioned by the powers-to-be, and that the only pertinence I have (and others working out here in

the forest) would be to help provide him with the best access route out there and to minimize potential

conflict.

I naturally don’t accept the premise of that assertion in the least. I don’t recognize the legitimacy of

the powers-to-be that may be sanctioning that project, and I certainly don’t accept the premise either

that this project has any more value for Auroville and the spiritualizing of the Earth than our work

out here does.

Justifying this project using Mother’s Name (as has been the habit over the decades in Auroville to

inflict violence onto others) and insinuating that building an artificial hill is actually Her idea, is not

only disturbing but highly dishonest. Mother, it is true, did mention a hill to some devotees close to a

century ago. But this, as you know, was at a time when She was vaguely contemplating the possibility

of settling, with Sri Aurobindo, on some land in the Deccan, where, in fact, there are natural hills

formed by the Deccan traps. She certainly did not ask her devotees to create an artificial hill on this

plateau by smothering existing forests and naturally regenerating Ebony so that they may enjoy the

view at sunset. And she certainly did not sanction such a project to be implemented against the will

and knowledge of the community at the behest of centralized government power. The sketch of Hers

that is being shared to justify the movements of oversized egos does in no way pin-point a particular

and definable geographical area. In fact, it indicates, if anything, a mound on top of the Town Hall.

It is a repulsive habit to cherry-pick things that Mother has said over the decades to her devotees,

always pronounced in context, to justify one’s egoistic desires cloaked in spiritual garb. She has said

countless things that directly contradict other things she has said. That is because She said those things

contextually, addressing specific souls across from her, in view of making them understand something

specific that was required at that particular time in their sadhana. There are many a thing She said

about trees and the need for planting them that one never hears about, obviously.

What better way to prevent the victory of Sri Aurobindo over Ignorance

than by destroying the life-support system of His children, the Material

Mother?

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There are numerous arguments (hydrologic, ecological, developmental and spiritual) that can be put

forth in opposition to Bonke’s project, but at this juncture in Auroville’s journey, shedding light on

what I take to be the central point of discord between Aurovilians is essential. Indeed, though we are

all actors on this stage, each with a particular role to play in this evolutionary process of impregnation

in matter of the Light Divine, the definition we have of Auroville is gapingly different.

One sees Auroville as a prefabricated township, perfect already in its subtle physical design and laden

with symbolism waiting to be literally manifested on these here lands, by any means possible.

Another sees Auroville as a journey of collective spiritual realization forged around a shared vision

of human unity and harmony in diversity and coalesced around the guiding principles of Sri

Aurobindo’s yoga of integral transformation. One understands Auroville’s mission to be the rapid

building of a township that, once complete, would physically house the brave souls taking on that

treacherous trail leading our species out of the Ignorance. Another understands Auroville as an

evolutionary process wherein the act of building this community itself represents the spiritual capital

needed for the ultimate spiritual transformation of this Earth and all its beings. One justifies the means

by the end. The other understands the means as the only tangibility and truth of the matter, the means

of building Auroville representing the actual building blocks of the new species to eventually come

about.

That which needs to be transcended, finally, is the illusory distinction perpetuated by the Mind

(ego) between Man and Nature, that false sense of separation between our species and the rest

of earthly creation which, in its totality, finds itself on this journey of spiritual transformation.

The experience of oneness with all beings on Earth is a prerequisite in order to climb that next rung

of consciousness.

In the subsequent pages, I will attempt to:

⚫ explain what work I and others have done and had set out to do in the NFA, for Auroville

⚫ explain what an evergreen forest is and what its role is in the regulation of the climate and

hydrology, and its pertinence for the Auroville project

⚫ delve into the intimate relationship between Nature and Sri Aurobindo’s yoga of integral

transformation and the problem of objective reality

My work and vision for the NFA

I’d like to take this opportunity to explain in some depth the forest restoration work that we have been

doing in Auroville and also to bring to light to the connection it has with Auroville and Sri

Aurobindo’s yoga of transformation. Not surprisingly, the ecological restoration work taking place in

Auroville is grossly misunderstood and the relationship between forests and the spiritual ideals of Sri

Aurobindo deserve considerably more exploration. That misperception dates from day one of the

Auroville adventure.

Nature and Sri Aurobindo’s task of terrestrial supramentalization: this relationship is clouded in

confusion.

The importance of this green work, and its spiritual significance, are paramount for the future of

Mother India. I am aware that only a handful will bother reading much farther, but that is fine. These

words will be a historical record, if anything. And they are addressed to those who will bother reading