Matrimandir – the Soul of Auroville

All quotes used in this photo essay are from Volume 13 of the Collected Works of the Mother.

Photographer: Suhas Mehra. Please do not reproduce or copy any of the photographs without explicit permission.

The Matrimandir wants to be the symbol of the Divine’s answer to man’s aspiration for perfection. Union with the Divine manifesting in a progressive human unity. (p. 223)

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The Golden Sun

Auroville, the City at the service of Truth

By late 1965, the time had come to define the centre of Auroville. Roger Anger, the French architect to whom the Mother had asked to design the future town, brought to her a map of the area north of Puducherry. She was in her room at the Ashram and had probably never set foot in that area, for at that time there was no motor able road leading to it. She concentrated and pointed to a particular area on the map.

The architect took a jeep and drove to the area she had pointed at and found there a solitary banyan tree in an almost totally barren plateau overlooking the Bay of Bengal. The Mother was very happy about the presence of a banyan tree, a tree regarded as sacred in India, and decided to make it Auroville’s geographical centre.

During Auroville’s Inauguration Ceremony, it provided shade to an exhibition on the future town and, at the Mother’s request, a stainless steel ring bearing the words (in Tamil and in French) “Auroville, the City at the Service of Truth” was placed around its trunk. (Source)

 

Under the Banyan Tree
Under the Banyan Tree

 

Let the Matrimandir be the living symbol of Auroville’s aspiration for the Divine. (p. 223)

(Message given by the Mother for the laying of the Matrimandir foundation stone, 21 Feb 1971)

Dawnfire on Auroville Foundation Day
Dawnfire on Auroville Foundation Day

 

….it will be a place for concentration. (p. 281)

… No fixed meditations, none of all that, but they must stay there in silence, in silence and concentration. (p. 285)

Early Morning View
Early Morning View

 

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. (p. 188)

The Urn of Human Unity
The Urn of Human Unity

For an extraordinarily beautiful aerial view of Matrimandir, do watch this video:

To read more about Auroville, click here.

To read more about Matrimandir, click here.

To see more photo-features, click here.

6 thoughts on “Matrimandir – the Soul of Auroville”

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  1. Lovely pictures . Last year when I went to Auroville with my children my little g.daughter 5 yrs. in age not exposed to religion or spirituality, came to me while I sat in silence on a rock and said,”Daadi I want to sit like you quietly with my eyes closed”. And she sat like that as long as I did —surely the wonder of the vibrations of Mother’s blessings. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thanks for sharing your grand-daughter’s experience. It is indeed a very special place with great vibrations of peace and serenity. Thanks for your comment. Please visit again, and this time visit us too.

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  2. This is the first time I have seen this shrine in such a light, pun intended 🙂 It is such a soothing sight that I am more and more impelled to come and bask in its serenity. The banyan tree is the jewel in the crown.

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