Pirates of the Royal Ship (Strife in Auroville & the Sri Aurobindo Ashram)

In a November exchange between Paulette Hadnagy of Auroville and Sunil of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram on Savitri Era Open Forum, Paulette wrote that the public (internet) infighting that has been sparked by Peter Heehs 2008 book has been a poisonous atmosphere for sadahks. She asked, ‘… who will ever want to come and live at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, with all that you people are spewing in the internet? Even Auroville is affected. People do ask questions.'

My first thought was, “Hallelujah people are asking questions! They should be asking questions. Specifically, they should be asking the question, ‘Where has the soul of the Integral and Supramental knowledge that used to inhabit the Sri Aurobindo Ashram fled to?’ And if they truly search with an open heart and mind, they will find the answer.

Paulette also wrote in reference to the forces she feels are destroying the spirit of the Ashram, 'Pirates can assault the royal ship and grab it, but this doesn’t make of them a king!'

But what happens if a group of hopeful yogis imagine that they have inherited the ‘royal ship’ when in actuality they know nothing of its true form, dimensions, dynamics, range, potentialities and destination? What if whole truth of the ship is actually beyond their comprehension, yet they still try to control its movements. This classic and miserable state in which the ignorant/egoic self possessively controls, or rather thinks it controls the Vessel, has as its trophy or monument, the Auroville Temple.

Before leaving her body, the Mother left behind as her greatest legacy, the blueprints of her temple, the Matrimandir. What hardly a soul noticed was that the Mother's blueprints simultaneously laid out the design of the Royal Vessel (i.e. the Divine Self) and IT’s Divine Journey (i.e. the Sanatana Dharma of Being and Becoming). As a result of this ignorance the design and dimensions were altered without giving heed to the protests of Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet who knew it was a grave mistake to alter the sacred geometries of the Mother’s Temple design. And now, 37 years later, there is still no scale-tipping, world-altering roar from those who espouse their love for Sri Aurobindo and the Mother for the REAL THING, the real Temple, the real Vessel, the real of knowledge of Self and the real relation-SHIP we are in with the One and the Many.  

Plenty of efforts have been made to reveal the astounding rhyme, reason and significance of the Sacred Vessel/Vedic Temple that Mother dropped into their laps with minimal explanation. [See the Matrimandir Action Committee’s website and The New Way, Volumes 1 & 2] But the majority have covered their ears, refusing to let the new information rock their boat, mistaking their refusal as an honorable defense against asuras, pirates, forces of darkness, etc. Their ‘love’ for Sri Aurobindo and the Mother is a sentimental and rigid attachment to their own hold on or grasp of the Yoga rather than a fluid, humble and open-hearted receptivity to the Supramental Play that has continued to SUCCEED after Sri Aurobindo and the Mother left their bodies. The strife in Auroville and in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram is the necessary and inevitable culmination of this lowly vein of ‘love’.     

It will be a refreshing and encouraging day when students of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s Yoga begin to discuss the Mother's actual legacy, her actual vision, her actual Temple design and what that means in terms of the dynamic progression of the Supramental Manifestation rather than fighting over control of a Royal Ship that they know not the head or tail nor even the whereabouts of.