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Welcome to Auroville

auroville.org

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Re: Welcome to Auroville

#71

Post by ordiman85 »

billfruit wrote: post #63

Are atheists welcome there?

Auroville is open to everyone, but there are rules. In the visitor centre you can read that they claim to be religion-less. For example, religious cult (e.g. monotheist prayer) is forbidden in the Matrimandir, the central monument dedicated for the practice of yoga and meditation. However, the spiritual movement behind Auroville is a kind of cult of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. But I found Auroville habitants much less proselyte than religious communities in general. Actually it is easier to be kicked out of the community than to become one of them.

Re: Welcome to Auroville

#72

Post by hutzlibu »

mirimir wrote: post #66
CivBase wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allow me to reiterate for hutzlibu... If you believe that, why are you writing it then?

The point is to think for yourself, I think. "Question reality", as they say.

Sure. And writing it down, can help others reach that conclusion ..

Re: Welcome to Auroville

#74

Post by mapcars »

d3nj4l wrote: post #61
Ritsuko_akagi wrote: post #20

Funny I read about this place in r/india a few times and they seem to regard it as a racist hippie colony.

I've been there twice. I'd say it is very hippy, and there's a lot of bunk floating around - I saw a water cooler that dispensed "smart water enhanced with classical music" - but that's a given for any place that has to do with spiritual enlightenment. I wouldn't say it was racist, though, but from personal experience most of the foreigners I saw were white and seemed well off. IMO it's neither as bad as /r/india mak…

> but that's a given for any place that has to do with spiritual enlightenment.

Please don't say it unless you visited all of them. I've been to places where this is not true.

Re: Welcome to Auroville

#75

Post by as1mov »

krtkush wrote: post #60
Ritsuko_akagi wrote: post #20

Funny I read about this place in r/india a few times and they seem to regard it as a racist hippie colony.

I would take anything said by r/india with a pinch of salt. In fact, I would reccomend staying away from most main stream Indian subreddits. Each one is peddling some kind of disgusting agenda.

It's kind of sad what happened to r/india. I've been visiting the sub for almost a decade, it has turned from a rather relaxed community where people could talk to a hyper political fighting arena where you can only be a right/left wing shill.

The ban-hammer heavy moderation doesn't really help. I would post this criticism on the subreddit itself, but it would be removed as any criticism of the sub/mods is against the rules and is automatically caught by the AutoMod.

The sub seems to really be in favor of progressive skeptical thinking but the manner in which the mods operate the subreddit is exactly the opposite.

Re: Welcome to Auroville

#76

Post by vekker »

mapcars wrote: post #74
d3nj4l wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been there twice. I'd say it is very hippy, and there's a lot of bunk floating around - I saw a water cooler that dispensed "smart water enhanced with classical music" - but that's a given for any place that has to do with spiritual enlightenment. I wouldn't say it was racist, though, but from personal experience most of the foreigners I saw were white and seemed well off. IMO it's neither as bad as /r/india mak…

> but that's a given for any place that has to do with spiritual enlightenment. Please don't say it unless you visited all of them. I've been to places where this is not true.

Agreed. There are plenty of places where the people engage in spiritual inquiry & meditation while still having a very solid base rooted in reality.

Re: Welcome to Auroville

#77

Post by sswaner »

oriettaxx wrote: post #9
mothsonasloth wrote: post #6

Went to Auroville, really nice place along with Pondicherry. There is an element of cult to the place but their message is good

I went there, too. A lot, and only, black people working for 'illuminated' white (rich) ones: I was pretty shocked. Nothing new, really: and this is pretty sad.

That was my most distinct memory as well, stopped by the cafe for lunch and the European woman in charge was constantly yelling at the Indian staff.

Away from the residents, the place was very peaceful and serene. But, it felt like a few decades of social stratification had created a power hierarchy.

Re: Welcome to Auroville

#78

Post by weeksie »

So wild. I was there with some friends back in 2006. We didn’t go into the big orb because they were charging and we were cheap.

What a random memory to relive. Lovely :)

Re: Welcome to Auroville

#79

Post by andy_ppp »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #34
andy_ppp wrote: post #29

I went there, it’s pretty weird if I’m honest. I felt as if I was living in an Indian Hitchcock film. It felt as though there were people who were tourists and people who lived there and they were very separate. I have this feeling the whole place is a riddle, I’d like to go back and try to understand it again...

> I’d like to go back and try to understand it again There's a book called "Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness" by a guy named Satprem, which pretty much gives you the founding story of the place. Caveat - Satprem was a disciple, so this is not a view from the outside.

Seems the PDF is available freely here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9DdtF_uMk05NUhyM09MOXdTS1U...

Re: Welcome to Auroville

#80

Post by Erlich_Bachman »

0x8BADF00D wrote: post #73
hutzlibu wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. And writing it down, can help others reach that conclusion ..

Language itself is a distortion of your thoughts.

Well at least your thoughts seem very distorted because you seem to claim that using the tool of language is useless and no one should do it, and then still keep using it and even try to defend using it.

"Language itself is a distortion of your thoughts" is just one of those truths, one of the first things any growing human being sees when they start on a journey of spiritual growth. The point of it is not to stop using or stop trusting the language, stop communicating. The point is to see how it works and how it relates to the rest of the self, so that it can fulfill its great potential as a tool for spiritual growth and learning.

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