Sanctuary

Body is pure sensation
Sensations are product of the mind
When we observe body
We observe mind

Sensitivity varies
By quality of mind
If a tree falls...?
Observe self and it's clear

Shed illusion
Anchor in hereness, reality
Brick by brick
Build a sanctuary in your mind

Breath leads to body awareness
Observe the body through the breath
Observe the body breathe

Breath in for nourishment, vitality, life force
Breath out for healing, simplification, stillness
Savor the breath

Abstain from unskillful foods
Uncertainty
Perceptions and judgements
Control

Absorb skillful foods
Stillness
Reality
Wisdom

Stop seeking peace of mind
Start seeking peace from mind

Stop being ruled by sensations
Dwell in your sanctuary
And be free

Control

Disturbance
Tension
Anxiety
Stress

Chest pounding heartbeats
Skin on scalp creeps
Stomach feels unease
Hard to sleep

Fear of
Uncertainty
Insecurity
Isolation
Instability

Conflict

Addicted to
Perceptions
Approvals
Control

With control nowhere to be found

Instead
Don't catastrophize
Seek context
Your little problem isn't the end
Don't waste life being anxious or depressed
About what will never happen
Or isn't real

It's nothing personal
Not everyone must like
Or respect you
At all times

Don’t consume unskillful foods
No one can take your inner sanctuary
Keep faith in the Path

Let it go
Take it day by day
Keep it moving
Don't focus on uncertainty
Stay confident
Don't second guess yourself

Control is an illusion

Auroville

Auroville is a unique place in all the world. I have never seen such a deep and natural blending of race, ethnicity, language, and culture. In the US there is a melting pot, but baggage of hostility, exploitation, mistrust, and division between races and ethnicities. In AV there is a sense of not just tolerance but embrace and joy in diversity, borne from a strong intention of unity. There are white Europeans speaking fluent Tamil, and rural native Tamilians speaking French, drinking kombucha, and eating and serving stinky cheese and sourdough bread. There is a place in Pondy called White Town, which flips the dynamic and marginalizes the white people. The kids' dynamic was fasinating. The Tamil kids bully the white kids! A young Basque raised in AV says he has a 3,000 person family and is grateful to his parents for moving to AV from Spain when he was young. It is surreal and encouraging to witness.

Auroville is not a utopia, it is a microcosm. It has myriad issues and edges. There are factions and differences between foreginers and locals, with old and native-born youth generations, between those that to re-interpret Mother's vision and purists that believe there is a 5,000 year plan that isn't meant for modification 50 years in. While I was there the first election fraud occured where the voting box for committee membership was tampered with, and a revote was required.

It is a community built on practice of spirituality, though there is a wide spectrum of "practice" and "spirituality" followed by residents. If you have an intention to live a spiritual life, you will find plenty of people genuinely striving along their own path and can support your journey (and vice-versa). But you can also live in AV as a spiritual dabbler, spiritual in name and not in practice, not spiritual at all, all the way to living with amorality and vice. The freedom afforded in the Mothers' vision is both a gift and a challenge for achieving higher collective and individual conciousness.

To me the most notable and special contribution of AV to the world to this point is its relationship to nature. Every other city in the world is a city with nature sprinkled in. AV is nature with a city sprinkled in. There is modern amenties within the framework of and respect for nature, not in domination of it. You never forget that you are surrounded by forest, even as you enjoy the conveniences of concrete and glass, gym, cafe, and asphalt. Living there, especially in Bharat Nivas, surrounded by bodhi and banyan, hearing birds and breeze instead of horns, my body and mind were relaxed and quiet. The pace is slower and saner. There is no garbage, and there is an inherent understanding of reducing waste and minimizing footprint. I feel convinced that though AV is not perfect, it is definitely a step in the right direction from curent disfunctional state of human civilization.

While there for a six-week workation, I kept a photo diary. Enjoy!