City of Dawn

'There should be somewhere upon earth a place that no nation could claim as its sole property, a place where all human beings of goodwill, sincere in their aspiration, could live freely as citizens of the world, obeying one single authority, that of the supreme Truth; a place of peace, concord, harmony, where all the fighting instincts of man would be used exclusively to conquer the causes of his suffering and misery, to surmount his weakness and ignorance, to triumph over his limitations and incapacities; a place where the needs of the spirit and the care for progress would get precedence over the satisfaction of desires and passions, the seeking for pleasures and material enjoyments.

In this place, children would be able to grow and develop integrally without losing contact with their soul. Education would be given, not with a view to passing examinations and getting certificates and posts, but for enriching the existing faculties and bringing forth new ones. In this place titles and positions would be supplanted by opportunities to serve and organize. The needs of the body will be provided for equally in the case of each and everyone. In the general organisation intellectual, moral and spiritual superiority will find expression not in the enhancement of the pleasures and powers of life but in the increase of duties and responsibilities.

Artistic beauty in all forms, painting, sculpture, music, literature, will be available equally to all, the opportunity to share in the joys they bring being limited solely by each one's capacities and not by social or financial position.For in this ideal place money would be no more the sovereign lord. Individual merit will have a greater importance than the value due to material wealth and social position. Work would not be there as the means of gaining one's livelihood, it would be the means whereby to express oneself, develop one's capacities and possibilities, while doing at the same time service to the whole group, which on its side would provide for each one's subsistence and for the field of his work.

In brief, it would be a place where the relations among human beings, usually based almost exclusively upon competition and strife, would be replaced by relations of emulation for doing better, for collaboration, relations of real brotherhood.'

What u just read were Mother Mirra's dream about a place on earth.If this was really inspiring,then you should know that such a place exists on earth.Not very far.If u are placed around chennai itz just 12 kms north of Pondicherry via the ECR road.At this location exists this city of dawn - Auroville, it is called.And now the long story short.Auroville is an experimental township meant to be an universal town where people from all countries could live in peace & progressive harmony baring all creeds,politics & their nationalities.The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity.

I visited this peace palace during my post teen years.Stepping in to auroville,something that has to be noticed in the middle of the town is a really huge golden globe which is called the Matrimandir.It was told that it was conceived by The Mother as 'a symbol of the Divine's answer to man's inspiration for perfection'. Silence is maintained inside Matrimandir to ensure tranquility of space and entire area surrounding the Matrimandir is called Peace area. The Peace area in which the structure is situated is characterized by three main features.Matrimandir itself with its twelve gardens,twelve petals and future lakes, Amphitheater and Banyan Tree.

Inside Matrimandir, a spiraling ramp leads upwards to an air-conditioned chamber polished with white marble - 'A place to find one's consciousness' the well informed say. At its centre, a spherical crystal ball almost the size of a swiss ball is placed in a golden mount.A single ray of sunlight is directed on the globe from the top of structure. According to The Mother, this represents 'a symbol of future realisation'.When there is no sun or after the sunset, the sun ray on the globe is replaced by beam from a solar powered light. The whole chamber receives light just from the reflection of a single ray of sun falling on this huge crystal ball.

Honestly in whatever frame of mind we enter in,there is a sure moment of clarity paving way to realisations on a higher plane followed by some angelic thoughts.If we are deeply engrossed right here during the meditation session at the dusk hour,our mind should open many doors to itself.From the moment we step on the soils of Matrimandir,no one is allowed to talk which we might initially assume to be a disciplinary rule.Breaking this rule will cease us from entering Matrimandir.The guards & volunteers will be watching every person in the queue.In fact this rule makes the whole experience holistic since we tend to talk to ourselves and in course of time to the higher self with in.The crystal ball concept will be truly awe-inspiring for the first timers.

There is much more on auroville, all of which should be explored & enjoyed while at the city of dawn.But as of now here are my final words of wisdom-when the mind floats in silence after the holistic experience inside Matrimandir,there is a general tendency to feel Shall i quit my life to become a part of this sensible world which in turn leads to a common quest in the minds of all the truly absorbed.what it takes to be a true aurovilian?.If this thought dwells in you as well,this is what The Mother has to say

-The first necessity is the inner discovery by which one learns who one really is behind the social, moral, cultural, racial and hereditary appearances. At our inmost centre there is a free being, wide and knowing, who awaits our discovery and who ought to become the acting centre of our being and our life in Auroville.

- One lives in Auroville in order to be free of moral and social conventions; but this liberty must not be a new slavery to the ego, its desires and its ambitions. The fulfilment of desires bars the route to the inner discovery which can only be attained in peace and the transparency of a perfect disinterestedness.

-The Aurovilian must lose the proprietary sense of possession. For our passage in the material world, that which is indispensable to our life and to our action is put at our disposal according to the place we should occupy there. The more conscious our contact is with our inner being, the more exact are the means given.

-Work, even manual work, is an indispensable thing for the inner discovery. If one does not work, if one does not inject his consciousness into matter, the latter will never develop. To let one’s consciousness organise a bit of matter by way of one’s body is very good. To establish order around oneself, helps to bring order within oneself. One should organise life not according to outer, artificial rules, but according to an organised, inner consciousness, because if one allows life to drift without imposing the control of a higher consciousness, life becomes inexpressive and irresolute. It is to waste one’s time in the sense that matter persists without a conscious utilisation.

-The whole earth must prepare itself for the advent of the new species, and Auroville wants to consciously work towards hastening that advent.

-Little by little it will be revealed to us what this new species should be, and meanwhile the best measure to take is to consecrate oneself entirely to the Divine.