To
Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan
Honourable Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry
Puducherry – 605002

Dear Madam,

Sub: Pressure on Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust for the alienation of the property housing Sri Aurobindo Sadhanalaya at Ayodhya

We deeply regret having to write to you that your office has been misused to suggest and thus indirectly pressurize the trustees of Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry to transfer their Ayodhya property to Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, Ayodhya. We are sure your good self will agree that the above is a matter to be resolved by the sincere devotees of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother according as they are inspired by them and it is not a matter in which your high office can at all play any legitimate role.
Last year the 75th year of India’s Independence was celebrated along with the 150th anniversary of Sri Aurobindo’s birth. The Government of India made unprecedented efforts to pay homage to Sri Aurobindo on this auspicious occasion. To emphasise and widely spread the vision of Sri Aurobindo, the Prime Minister and Home Minister gave speeches and the Ministry of Culture organised wide-ranging events to spread Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy. But it is an ironical travesty that at such an opportune moment there have been various attempts at alienating the Sri Aurobindo’s Relics Centre at Ayodhya built on a 3-acre piece of land gifted by the Rani of Amawa, the late Bhuvaneshwari Kuer to the Mother, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry, in the year 1959 as an offering for the work of Sri Aurobindo in Ayodhya. 
In the year 1989, the Chief Minister and the Government of Uttar Pradesh welcomed the arrival of the Relics of Sri Aurobindo with great enthusiasm when the Relics were enshrined at Sri Arvind Sadhanalaya in Ayodhya by Sri Ramakrushnadas Babaji. The Grace of the Mother and the stamp of approval of Sri Rama for this Sadhanalaya are evidenced by the fact that, after the events of 1992, when the Central Government acquired the majority of the land around Sri Rama Temple, this Sadhanalaya was deliberately exempted by the then Narasimha Rao Government.
An earlier attempt to alienate this property apparently did not succeed because of the strong objection raised by Sri Kishore Kunal, Secretary of Nikhil Bhartiya Teertha Vikas Samiti’, Ayodhya which looks after the estate of the Late Rani of Amawa. Even in his letter dated 30.9.2022 in response to the letter of Sri Champat Rai ji, General Secretary, Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, Ramkot, Ayodhya (written sometime before 30.9.2022) requesting the Trustees of Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry to provide Maharshi Sri Aurobindo’s ashram complex adjacent to the said Teerth Kshetra and in lieu of that to accept an alternative best site for building a new Ashram, Sri Manoj Das Gupta, the Managing Trustee, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry categorically made Ashram’s stand very clear that it had no intention of alienating the property in any way, saying that “Sri Aurobindo Sadhanalaya and the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir can co-exist.” (A copy of the letter attached)
But it is a fact known to all those in close contact with Ashram Trust that ever since there have been both internal and external pressures on the Ashram Trustees to abandon their original stand based upon devotion and loyalty to Sri Aurobindo and exchange the plot of land on which Sri Arvind Sadhanalaya is flourishing and Sri Aurobindo’s sacred relics are enshrined for some other land and money. 
Deeply concerned by it, a group of devotees of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother started a widespread online campaign in July this year calling the devotees of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, as well as the well-wishers of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, to join hands to show their strong disapproval for the attempts of alienation of the Relics Centre at Ayodhya. This campaign proved to be a great success. Thousands of people have signed the petition to strongly oppose any such act.
We, the devotees of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, would very much like to believe that involvement of your office in such an act and thus showing disrespect for Sri Aurobindo has been actuated not so much out of any ill-motive as the lack of clarity regarding the divine work of Sri Aurobindo and the historic significance of the Sadhanalaya, the great spiritual significance of Sri Aurobindo’s relics and the great importance that the Mother gave to the relics. Attached with this letter is some extra material for your consideration that should shed a better light on the whole matter.
Therefore, we would request you to see to it that your office is not misused to entertain such intentions as may in any way hurt the sentiments of the devotees of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. We, the devotees, ardently feel that the future of humanity hangs upon the vision of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother of a divine life upon earth and of the leading role that India and its culture has to play in the fulfilment of this vision.
Yours at the service of 
Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

Signed by some devotees of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother at Sri Aurobindo Divine Life Trust

Attached documents:     
1. Editorial printed on Sri Aurobindo Sadhanalaya in Amar Ujala Newspaper, National Edition, printed on 25 June 2023
2. A booklet on Sri Aurobindo Sadhanalaya published by Sri Aurobindo Divine Life Trust, Jhunjhunu
3. A copy of letter dt. 30.9.2022 by Managing Trustee Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry to RamJanmabhoomi Teerth Khestra, Ayodhya

Copy to:
1. The President of India
2. The Prime Minister of India
3. Home Minister of India
4. Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh
5. Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust Board, Pondicherry