The Auroville Township has a four-part charter which can be found on the home page of Auroville.org. What I would like to do is have everyone who is following this Blog dissect this charter with me before I leave so that I can hear what you all think about the place. Obviously the charter won't really give a complete picture of Auroville, but it is undoubtedly a very important piece.
Following is Part 1 of the Auroville Charter followed by an exerpt from an article on Auroville.org. Take a moment to read both. When you've had a good chance to think about what each says, comment. What do you think they mean? Do they make sense? What makes sense about them? What doesn't? Share your thoughts!
Auroville Charter Point 1 -
Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville, one must be the willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness.
Auroville and the Divine (exerpt from Auroville Today) -
"Auroville is for those who want to live a life essentially divine but who renounce all religions whether they be ancient, modern, new or future . . . No one ought to speak of the Divine unless he has had experience of the Divine. Get experience of the Divine, then alone will you have the right to speak of it."
4 comments:
I feel like the quote I used is a bit unfair. The first point in the Auroville charter is presented in its entirety, but the quote I used is from a much more extensive article, and I feel like the piece I used does not adequately represent what Auroville stands for.
I believe a lot can be explained by looking into the history of Hinduism in India. The "Divine Consciousness" sounds a lot like what I have been learning as I have study Hinduism. For the purposes of this Post, I think I will just quote the summary at the end of the article in its entirety here, and I'll put a link to the article. That should more fairly represent auroville. Following is the summary at the end of the article:
"Auroville and the Religions
~
We want the Truth.
For most men, it is what they want that they label truth.
The Aurovilians must want the Truth whatever it may be.
Auroville is for those who want to live a life essentially divine but who renounce all religions whether they be ancient, modern, new or future.
It is only in experience that there can be knowledge of the Truth.
No one ought to speak of the Divine unless he has had experience of the Divine.
Get experience of the Divine, then alone will you have the right to speak of it.
The objective study of religions will be a part of the historical study of the development of human consciousness.
Religions make up part of the history of mankind and it is in this guise that they will be studied at Auroville - not as beliefs to which one ought or ought not to adhere, but as part of a process in the development of human consciousness which should lead man towards his superior realization.
PROGRAMME
Research through experience of the
Supreme Truth
A life divine
but
NO RELIGIONS
Our research will not be a search effected by mystic means. It is in life itself that we wish to find the Divine. And it is through this discovery that life can really be transformed.
We call religion any concept of the world or the universe which is presented as the exclusive Truth in which one must have an absolute faith, generally because this Truth is declared to be the result of a revelation. Most of the religions affirm the existence of a God and the rules to follow to obey Him, but there are also Godless religions, such as socio-political organisations which, in the name of an Ideal or the State, claim the same right to be obeyed.
Man's right is a free pursuit of the Truth with the liberty to approach it in his own way. But each one must know that his discovery is good for him alone and it is not to be enforced upon others."
Quoted from: http://www.auroville.org/journals&media/avtoday/october_2003/beware%20_religion.htm
You're asking to much from us Matty. :P
I will pray for you.
That's okay, you don't have to comment, but just by reading it maybe you'll struggle with me through how weird this place is ( : Some people like to read huge long, deep stuff and comment on it.
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