The silhouette of the Matrimandir, the soul of the international township of Auroville, gradually crystallised into a magnificent golden orb, in the glow of a crackling bonfire and light from the first rays of dawn, as scores of Aurovillians and visitors celebrated the 146th birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo.
The second Banyan gate, which had been kept open since 4.15 a.m., was shut from 4.55 a.m. to 5.40 a.m. as the crowd that gathered at the amphitheatre sat in meditation.
The ceremony also featured a recording of The Mother reading from passages of Sri Aurobindo’s essay, ‘Hour of God’. Soft music composed by Sunil Bhattacharya, who created several scores since first obliging The Mother’s request for “music to accompany and frame” her readings of passages from Savitri, was also played.
By convention, the Auroville fraternity, which now has members from over 53 nations, has been congregating for the special pre-dawn bonfire ceremony on two special days of the year — February 28, to commemorate the founding of the City of Dawn in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa, spiritual associate of Sri Aurobindo and ‘The Mother’ to followers, and to mark Sri Aurobindo’s birth anniversary falling on Independence Day.
Auroville has a Matrimandir committee, which tasks a team of volunteers to carry out the preparations for the biannual bonfire ceremony. Floral decorations decked the floor in front of the bud-shaped urn, that contains a handful of soil from countries across the world that share The Mother’s vision for a universal township, where in her own words, “men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities” and strive to achieve the higher purpose of human unity.
What made this occasion even more special was that it coincided with the golden jubilee of the experimental township which The Mother envisaged, as “a place on earth that no nation could claim as its own” and “where all human beings of goodwill, sincere in their aspiration, could live freely as citizens of the world.”
Long-time attendees of the bonfire said they were surprised on being given a white rose, savouries and tea, in mint and chocolate flavours, as they made their way back. The Sri Aurobindo Ashram in the city also kept Sri Aurobindo’s room open, for darshan for devotees and organised a collective meditation session.