The Mother has created a special concentration of energy in Auroville to accelerate the yoga of evolution

Shraddhavan believes that, even if the aspiration to live a spiritual life is there, most of us still live like ordinary human beings most of the time, while some of us seem to be doing nothing else. “Our own ‘Aurobindonian' brand of spirituality is not strongly enough expressed here. It is still not a sufficiently dominant strand in our collective life,” she says.

“One reason is historical,” says Shraddhavan. “Some people miss having a living guru who gives daily guidance. And we had a difficult past when Auroville broke away from the Ashram.” She refers to the early days of Auroville when there was a strong feeling in some that all that was available from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram was just mumbo-jumbo; that all that was needed was The Adventure of Consciousness or Mother's Agenda. At the same time, there was a tendency to a zealous and excessive use of quotations, which resulted in a kind of ‘Mother-said' syndrome. Moreover, quotations were often used by people who themselves were not living up to what they quoted. Says Shraddhavan, “As a kind of inheritance from those years, some Aurovilians, and Auroville's youth in particular, developed a disgust and do not want to hear any more speeches about The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Many Aurovilians also have developed a healthy reluctance to speak about something they feel they cannot live up to. We do not want to be marked as a sect, we do not want to preach, and in consequence, we leave people free to their own inner development – but perhaps fail to pass on information about our own inspiring experiences that would be helpful to others.”

Another reason is that Auroville's path of Karma Yoga is probably not sufficiently understood. The Mother, in Her last message to Auroville, stressed that the particular yoga Aurovilians are supposed to be doing is Karma Yoga, which has as focal point the surrender of all one's activities to the Divine. But many people need help to understand and practice this path, and there is no one in Auroville who offers it. Individuals are left to themselves. Perhaps for this reason quite a few Aurovilians and Newcomers feel the need to visit other gurus or attend other disciplines. In recent years, Savitri Bhavan has been inviting lecturers from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and elsewhere, and their courses are increasingly well attended. “Those who have grown up in the Ashram carry something special,” says Shraddhavan, which is perhaps one of the reasons for the growing attendance. Another one may be an increasing inner need.

Finally there is the aspect of collective yoga. Says Shraddhavan: “I believe that The Mother has created a special concentration of energy in Auroville to accelerate the yoga of evolution. When she talked about collective yoga, she conveyed not only that everybody who connects gets affected, but also that the force field acts like a churn, making all that needs to change rise up. This may be one of the reasons why Auroville seems such an impossible society at times, with so many problems surfacing.” auroville.org/avtoday/May_2006 - Carel