1099 / 1424
1099
advises us is the only viable and lasting solution for the sphere, we can only
proceed with one the production of the gold and glass tiles.
Financially, the situation is grim.
Even though there are 1.5 crores specified for the Outer Skin and Discs, the cost of
the waterproofing of the sphere – which would have to be incurred whatever the
design and the materials – will consume 1/3 of that amount.
Further additional expenditures will be incurred if we opt for stainless steel supports
for the discs shields and supports.
And thanks to the various antagonistic campaigns, a rather effective blockade has
interrupted the flow of funds for the rest of the works, such as the Petals, the
infrastructure and the Gardens.
Our stand however remains, that the Matrimandir needs more than just a finished
cover for its sphere: it needs a complete environment.
We consider that the call for a Residents Assembly before the research that was
initiated through the Matrimandir Forum is finalised, is unjustified and would only
invite vain arguments.
We cannot help it if there are people who wish this research to be still-born and the
proposed design to be fully rejected.
The debate over the character and expression of the completed sphere of the
Matrimandir has gone on for 25 years and has been the occasion of endless rifts
and antagonisms between us all, but it has remained sterile and uncreative.
The fact is, to date, that no comprehensive alternative proposal, which could be
examined as critically and relentlessly as the current design, has been made.
And to argue that the Matrimandir is too costly and will require too much work in
future is rather like saying that the whole idea of Auroville is unsound, its scope too
vast and its aims beyond reach, and to recommend a down-grading of the entire
adventure to some kind of exotic communal experiment.
The point here being that the more we delay and the more costly it will all become,
and not only in terms of finance!
Thank you.”
***
Note: I was always “in love” with the photographs of Her. Every single photograph
of Her has always been to me an incomparable treasure. Every one of Her gestures,
of Her expressions, is a mine of consciousness, of presence, more eloquent than all
the books and treatises.
Over the years I have collected all the different photographs of Her I could find.
To my sense they bear a testimony to the incarnation of Her, to the avatar hood,
that has never been possible before and will never happen again in that way.
Every photograph taken of Her ought to be cherished and preserved over and
above almost everything else, apart from Her and Sri Aurobindo’s words.