Unity - An Open Letter to Auroville

To the sons and daughters of Auroville who disclaim their role as willing servitors of this great experiment, to the children of comfort and complacency, to the wooers of safety and ease over effort, to the fathers of doubt and disillusionment—greeting.

To those who, impugning the sacred ideals of Auroville, refuse to lift her out of the struggle, fearing to tarnish their own unsullied hands, to those who demand perfection of her before they will defend her from the sword of discord and division that threatens her very existence—greeting.

Lastly, to those who love and perhaps have laboured for Auroville, but who now, weary and disheartened, counsel others to boycott, despair, and cease their efforts—to them also, greeting.

Brothers and sisters—for whether you are misguided friends or indifferent adversaries of Auroville, you are still her children—there are voices among you spreading doubt and paralysis in our midst as if it matters. You whisper to each other and to anyone who still speaks of our shared dream, “Let us focus on our daily lives and leave these grand ideals behind. Auroville is broken, and nothing we do will change that. We are fallen and fragmented, and our flaws only grow deeper with every passing day. We are weak, divided, and oppressed by forces within and without. Conflict multiplies, discontent festers; the disease of fear decimates us, and with every decade poverty of imagination annihilates family after family. Where once there was hope on the horizon, now there is discord in the short distance, in every direction. The vision of Auroville—the city the Earth needs—was always too lofty, and now it is beyond saving. Let us at least salvage what little we can for ourselves before the experiment fails completely. Meanwhile, it is well that the RA stays mean, and the GB meets once a while & deceive ourselves with an appearance of development; that there should be posts for the children of the soil with enough maintenance to keep a few from starving, that a soulless education for certification should suck the vigour & sweetness out of body & heart & brain of our children while flattering them with the vain lie that they are Auroville educated & enlightened; for so shall the notion die peacefully of a sort of euthanasia lapped in lies & comforted with delusions and not violently & in a whirlwind of horror and a great darkness of fear & suffering.”

And so, with such songs of surrender, you sap the courage and slay the hearts of those who still believe, who still strive to manifest the Dream that brought us all here. You whisper that the Dream is dreary and dead and that there is no longer any hope of unity or progress. Yet I would believe that though you sow division, it is in ignorance of the harm you cause. 

Come therefore, let us reason calmly together.

It is indeed not fate that has brought Auroville to the brink of this crisis, nor some inevitable force that has doomed us to fail. It is our own lack of faith in the ideals we came here to serve. It is our refusal to believe in the possibility of Human Unity, our willingness to be swayed by fear, by ego, by division. You say that Auroville is lost, but it is we who have turned our backs on her. You say she is broken, but it is our own divisions that are tearing her apart. You say she is weak, but it is our reluctance to unite that weakens her.

Yes, we face trials—conflict, court cases, cowardness, and the pull of old patterns and ways of thinking. But these are not signs of failure; they are challenges that call us to rise higher. Auroville was never meant to be easy. The Dream we are here to manifest is not one that can be achieved without struggle, without sacrifice, without transformation. The sickness we face is not of Auroville’s body, but of her spirit, and it is only through coming together and collective action that she can be healed.

Do we not remember the ideals of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, who envisioned Auroville as a place where humanity could evolve beyond its divisions and limitations? A place where unity could be realized, not just spoken of? They certainly knew that the road would be difficult, and that the forces of division would be strong. But they believed in the possibility of a new world, and they trusted in us to carry that vision forward. Thus, She insisted, 'You must come together, and ACT.'

And now, at a moment of great need, when the very idea of Auroville is under threat, you would have us lay down our drawings, abandon our dream, and accept defeat? You would have us believe that no amount of effort, no amount of cooperation, no amount of faith in our collective strength can save Auroville?

I tell you, brothers and sisters, this is the greatest falsehood of all. For if we unite—if we come together with a single purpose, with a shared commitment to the ideals that brought us here—there is no obstacle that we cannot overcome. The strength of Auroville lies in its people, in the collectivity we have built, and it is through our unity that she will thrive.

Do not let fear or disillusionment blind you to this truth. Do not let personal grievances or comfort bind you to inaction. The destiny of Auroville is not written in stone; it is written in our hearts by the Lights shone, in our collective will to make this dream a reality. And if we choose, we can still write a new chapter—one of renewal, one of revival, one of re-unity.

The choice is before you. Will you continue to disclaim your responsibility and watch Auroville fall into disarray? Or will you stand with her, work for her, and see her rise as the City of Dawn, that she was always meant to be?

The hour of decision is at hand. Choose wisely.

In Unity, Aspiration, and Love,

Lakshay