Last night I was reading through the archives of their semi-internal weekly news sheet “News and Notes”, and I see that the township is still in turmoil; a situation that seemed to start at the end of last year when the new Secretary tried to roll over all objections to complete the Crown Road project.
The atmosphere of conflict has continued during the intervening months with the attempt by the secretary and chairman of the Auroville Foundation to replace the existing management teams with new people and to sack employees who had held key positions for decades. Workers were locked out of their offices, computers confiscated, hard-drives erased and the entire internal communications disrupted. Email accounts were compromised, FIRs were taken out against previous committee members, meaning they were threatened with jail; visa renewal recommendations were cancelled, and there were orders to put a stay on new decision-making.
Although it’s hard from the outside to understand all the nuances and intricacies, let alone the justifications, for all this, obviously the township is in crisis and the residents must be anxious about the viability of their continued existence in Auroville. I don’t envy them.
From the outside, the processes there seem to parallel what is happening in India as a whole. Under the guise of improving “law and order” and internal security, there is the attempt to undermine democracy, establish authoritarian rule, stifle opposition, etc.
Whatever justifications can be brought in in the case of a nation, this kind of behaviour is obviously not the way to advance a community that is based on spiritual values.
And yet in-fighting and bickering has been there from the beginning in Auroville. It seems that the community has not developed strategies to overcome this. Few spiritual and religious groups do, in fact manage to mitigate human failings through spiritual practices or community-building. Krishnamurti ridiculed the hypocrisy of these efforts.
If one is an aspirant caught in such a hostile spiritual environment, the only way to preserve one’s morale and sadhana may be to stay clear of all this negativity. But then, the question arises why one would stay in such an environment if it is not providing the mutual support that was the whole reason for establishing the community and for remaining there? It is probably better to strike out on one’s own.
Sadhaka Dharma
I think that a sadhaka should not have any truck with the politics of a country. He must, of necessity, live in some country because that is the way human society is arranged. He is entitled to choose the country of his habitation, but, having done so, should remain detached from the affairs of state and be, as it were, indifferent to its political processes and the machinations of its rulers.
For peace of mind, that has to be the way. There are responsibilities that fall to the general population but not to the sadhaka. I think the sadhaka needs to be aware of what’s happening but at the same time, must remain emotionally detached, as well as intellectually disengaged.
This is an elitist way of looking at the issue, perhaps. Certainly not everyone can enjoy the luxury of living in this way. It is to be hoped that citizen involvement will remain strong, in order to safeguard democracy and human rights. A sadhaka who exempts himself in this way lives a somewhat parasitical life, just as he is parasitical in some other ways. Nevertheless, the rules are different for a sadhaka.