- Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 25 February 2018 addressed the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Auroville International Township in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu.
- Envisaged by Mirra Alfassa (Originally from France), better known as the Mother, Auroville aims to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity.
- At the very centre of Auroville is the ‘soul of the city’, the Matrimandir or the Temple of the Mother.
- When the site for Auroville was identified, all that stood there was a Banyan tree. Nearly hundred years old this Banyan tree is an integral part of the soul of the city.
- As part of golden jubilee celebrations, Prime Minister released a commemorative stamp.
- In 1966 UNESCO passed a unanimous resolution commending it as a project of importance to the future of humanity, thereby giving their full encouragement.
- The Prime Minister visited the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Puducherry and paid homage to its founder Sri Aurobindo.
About Sri Aurobindo
- Sri Aurobindo was born in Calcutta on 15 August 1872. At the age of seven he was taken to England for education.
- He worked for the Princely State of Baroda in the service of the Maharaja and as a professor in Baroda College. During this period he also joined a revolutionary society and took a leading role in secret preparations for an uprising against the British Government in India.
- He was the first political leader in India to openly put forward, in his newspaper Bande Mataram, the idea of complete independence for the country.
- He was prosecuted two times for sedition and once for conspiracy.
- Leaving politics behind, in 1910 Sri Aurobindo went to Puducherry (Formerly Pondicherry) in order to devote himself entirely to his inner spiritual life and work. During his forty years in Puducherry he evolved a new method of spiritual practice, which he called the Integral Yoga.
- In 1926, with the help of the Mother, he founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Puducherry.
- Sri Aurobindo died on 5 December 1950 in Puducherry.
- Among his many writings are The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga and Savitri.
