Auroville around India

"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 realise human unity" The Mother, founder of Auroville.

On February 28th, 2018, Auroville will celebrate the anniversary of its 50th year. The occasion presents an unprecedented opportunity to honor the birth and vision of Auroville, to increase the recognition of its relevance for India and the world, to attract people of all ages from India and abroad to visit Auroville and participate in the events, and to document and share its journey of 50 years.

In the months leading up to Auroville's Golden Jubilee on 28 February 2018, Auroville residents and well-wishers worldwide have begun to plan and organize events and activities around the theme of Auroville’s raison d’etre. During and around the Auroville Birthday, a wide range of events aim to bring together local, national and international participants, to foster a renewed sense of connection, both within Auroville and with the world at large, as an expression of a collective aspiration for human unity.

To highlight this celebration, Auroville is organising three national events in Delhi, one in UNESCO, one in the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, and one in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Delhi, around the theme: “Auroville: City for Human Unity”.

IGNCA:

From the 22nd to the 25th of November, an Auroville exhibition and Auroville activities will take place in one of the beautiful outside garden areas, a conference room, and a library room, in the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts campus. The exhibition will display information and audiovisuals on the thematic areas of Auroville: The City, the International Zone and Pavilions, Sustainability and Green Practice, Outreach and Education, and Organisation. Each booth with posters displaying a full coverage of Auroville’s activities and visions in each of the thematic areas will have several Aurovilians engaged in that field present to explain, engage, stimulate and represent Auroville.

The exhibition will be opened on the 22nd at 2 30 pm, and the Chairman of the Auroville Foundation, Dr Karan Singh, will open the conference at 5 pm. The aim of this event is awareness-raising about Auroville in the Indian capital, as well as a sharing of knowledge and experience with the rest of India and the world, and paving the way for Auroville’s future. Besides an exhibition covering the thematic areas of Auroville, there will also be an area dedicated to “Experience Auroville” with tastes of Auroville products, foods, and interactive activities such as “Awareness Through the Body” workshops, WasteLess card game “Pick it UP” and Ecofemme stitching activity. There will also be opportunities for presentations and talks by people living and working in Auroville.

UNESCO:
UNESCO has passed four resolutions in support of Auroville, with a fifth one awaited. To celebrate 50 years of collaboration between Auroville and UNESCO, and to highlight the dimension that Auroville brings to UNESCO’s activities, the second national event will take place on the 24th of November at UNESCO in the form of a panel discussion on the theme of “Learning to Live Together: Translating SDG4.7 into Practice” on the occasion of 50th Anniversary of Auroville. The Sustainable Development Goal 4 of the new UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development states: “Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.”

Through the learning of Auroville’s 5 decades of experiments for integral and unending education, the Panel Discussion intends to trigger a reflection on concrete ways to achieve this critical goal of the new UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Delhi:

The Mother had once called the Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry a veritable laboratory to work out the future society. Its counterpart in the capital of India, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram - Delhi Branch, can best be understood as an extension of the centre of sadhana at Pondicherry. After the events in IGNCA and UNESCO, on the 26th of November, the traveling exhibition is envisaged to be presented for one week at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Delhi.