Auroville

12/13/2011

“Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities.  The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity” – The Mother

            Sounds great doesn’t it?!  We went to visit Auroville today, and after visiting, I have some mixed feelings about the place.  I love the concept – a place where everyone, no matter their background, can live together in peace and harmony.  It looks and sounds like quite the utopia; looking out over Auroville it almost felt as though I was dreaming or in some heavenly place.  They’ve tried to create the perfect world/society here…but is that really possible?

            One of the rules of living in Auroville is that you give up all of your possessions, but at the entry of the town is a little shopping area…they claim it’s for guests, but then they also claim that Auroville is NOT a tourist site. Weird.

            Another thing I found odd was that there is supposed to be no religion at this place, just accepting of all religions, but it’s almost as if the people there worship The Mother and Sri Aurobindo.  Are they creating a new religion even if they claim not to be? 

            The only requirements to live in Auroville are to be of ‘good will’ and to be able to physically contribute to the society.  But who is to decide if one is of ‘good will’??  And when we asked if there was a crippled man who was of ‘good will’, would he still be able to live there…the answer was that at this time no.

            Back to giving up all of your possessions – you don’t own anything when living at Auroville, not your home or even your clothes; these items belong to everyone.  So if you don’t own anything, one would think that you don’t have to pay for it, right?  Wrong, these people still have to buy clothes and pay for their housing, but technically none of that is theirs!

            I mean I don’t have the answer for creating a perfect society, I’m not really sure it’s possible.  As I said, I really love the concept and idea behind Auroville, I’m just not to sure it’s working out there.  I’ll end on more of a positive note…

            Auroville does strive to be a center of perpetual education and progress towards a more united future, where no one has jobs, but instead everyone gave their skills and service for the benefit of all residents.  Auroville is to foster the growth of citizens to reach their fullest potential. 

            There are special “cultural pavilions” that feature the architecture and cultural elements of some countries.  The main feature of Auroville is the gold-domed meditation hall called Matrimandir, “Mother’s Temple”.   

A map of Auroville 

My tourist picture with Matrimandir 

God or Gods?

12/12/2011

            Do you believe there is only one God or many Gods?  This was a question asked to us today.  Most of us sat there is silence, pondering what we had just been asked.  The man then gave us an example I had yet to think of…he asked us to write our names down at the top of a paper, and to then write down what our parents call us, what our siblings call us, and what our different friends call us.  We ended up with multiple names on our paper, but they were all for the same person.

            This idea represents that there is the possibility of there really being only one God, but that he is viewed differently and has different names from different groups of people.  I kind of liked this idea.  Food for thought anyway…

Chidambaram

12/12/2011

            What a day! Today we went on a field trip to Chidambaram!  It was about a 3 hour bus ride :/ but very much worth it!

            We had a little surprise when we got there and got to take some boats out through a swamp/jungle area!  It was so refreshing and beautiful to see this side of India!  We were able to see many birds, including some sort of eagle! 

            We then visited the Chidambaram Temple!  It is an enormous temple that was built for Lord Nataraj, Lord Shiva’s aspect as the cosmic dancer.  Chidambaram comes from the words “consciousness” and “stage”, as the temple is meant to serve as a stage where Lord Shiva dances.  Shiva is the God of destruction and death, and is also the God of time.  The temple covers 40 acres, and has 4 tall ornate towers that face the four cardinal directions.

            While at the temple, we were blessed and got to participate in a small ritual of some sort.  I was so amazed with the detail that went into every inch of this temple!  From the floor, to the towers, to the ceiling!  It was all detailed! 

            There was also a man and his bird there telling fortunes, so of course, some of us just had to!  He told me that I was supposed to be born a buy (haha) which is what makes me stubborn and makes me have to learn things my own way.  He said that I’m also very independent and ambitious, if I want something I make it happen.  The funniest part was that he said starting in January, I’ll have 6 months to get married otherwise I won’t get married at all, and that I’ll be really “into” my husband (I hope my friends are laughing! Haha).  And he said that the next 7 years of my life are going to be very successful ad wealthy!

            Tomorrow it’s back to work – we’ll finally be getting started on our projects! 

One of the eagles we saw

Our boat ride!

Chidambaram Temple

 Getting my fortune told by the old man and his bird!

Awe Struck

12/10/2011
           I stood on a rooftop in India with the sea breeze blowing through my hair and watched a lunar eclipse!  It took me a while to let that set in.  It was so surreal; something that made me feel so small and yet so big at the same time.  This was a once in a lifetime kind of thing, something I’ll tell my own kids about someday, and I was so excited, amazed, and humbled to get to be here, in India, to witness it.  

Art

12/10/2011

            We got an art lesson from some of the women today!  We were able to use chalk like dust to create pretty patterns and designs on the streets!  Using one of their techniques, I’ve decided I might even be able to do this myself!  I think I’m going to buy some to take home…maybe decorate some of the streets in Eugene, maybe my driveway at home too! (Of course when the weather is better that is) It sure is beautiful!  

Learning the "dot style" for making a design!

Our beautiful finished product and we colored it in! :) 

Troubles

12/10/2011

            There’s been a few things while learning about spirituality that I’ve had a hard time with.  For the most part I’ve really been enjoying learning and getting in touch with my spiritual side and have agreed and understood a lot of it.  Maybe it’s the science side of me, being a science teachers daughter, that is having trouble with these few things…

            The other day we were talking about creativity and where it comes from.  I don’t think of myself as a very creative person, I have my moments, but for the most part no; I came to the conclusion that it’s because creativity comes from the heart/soul, and I often times over-think things.  This meaning that my brain blocks my creativity.  At the end of this lesson, our instructors told us that it’s not that “we’re” creative, or that they’re “our” thoughts, but that the spirits are just using our bodies to carry out messages.  I didn’t like this; maybe because I don’t have a greater understanding or belief of Gods and what we as humans exactly even are, or maybe because I like thinking that I have control of my thoughts and actions because they’re “mine”.

            The second thing was something we did today, and it bothered me even more – we were practicing focus and concentration (which I thought was very important, understood the purpose, and enjoyed), but the lesson was that when we focus, we can control things.  We were each given a lit candle and told to become it’s friend…spending an entire hour in silence, just focused on the flame.  Supposedly once we had achieved this level of consciousness we would be able to tell the flame to get bigger, or smaller, to lean to the left and then to the right, that we would be able to calm the flames flicker with the calming of our thoughts.  Either I didn’t connect with my flame on a high enough level of focus, or my thought that this is literally impossible because of air flow, and differences is the wicks is true…I’d like to see someone move the candle across the room only using their thoughts.  I’m thinking it’s the second one, unless of course, I’m just spiritually naïve.  

Vent Sesh

12/10/2011

            I love India, but I’m going to complain about a few things real quick and then get over it….lines!  I hate lines here – because there’s no such thing!  You stand in “line” and wait and other people just push and cut right in front of you!  I don’t like having to be a pushy person, but apparently that’s going to have to start happening.

            Also, I miss fresh fruits and vegetables!  And anything with a crunch!  The first thing I’m having when I get back is a big, fresh, green salad, with lots of veggies and chicken breast!

            Ok enough of that now.  Moving on.