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Between the surrounding wall and the building we are going to build now, we could
have the gardens and the Urn. And the wall will have one entrance – one, or
several, ordinary doors; people will be able to walk around the garden.
And then one should fulfil certain conditions to have the right to go down into the
underground passage and come out into the temple
…”
Here we have an extremely significant instance of the Mother choosing to adapt Her
vision to the prevailing conditions. There is no more lake and therefore no more
island. Instead, to ensure the isolation and the silence of a sanctuary, She now
describes a continuous wall that encloses both the entire garden area and the
Shrine itself. Access into the garden area is through one or several doors into that
boundary wall, while access to the Shrine itself is a sort of initiation, via an
underground passage starting very near the Urn, the Urn having now a critical role.
Yet, She goes on to say:
“
I said to Roger, we will see in twenty years! So that calmed him down. But the
original idea was to surround it with water, to make an island so that one would
have to cross the water to be able to reach the temple. It is quite possible to make
an island
…”
With this last sentence, the Mother makes it clear that She still much prefers to
have the Shrine on an islet, and the gardens around the lake, as initially envisaged.
What is common to both options is the need for the Shrine, for the Mandir, to have
its own privileged access, marking a real passage.
After one week, on 17-1-1970, another long conversation takes place between the
Mother and Satprem, when Satprem conveys more ideas and suggestions from
Paolo, concerning both the inside and the outside of the Mandir. The Mother
disapproves of many of those ideas, as being too mental, too complicated and
impractical.
However, when Satprem suggests to Her… “or perhaps we could make some kind of
a moat with water all around, clear water which would show the lower curve of the
shell, for example,”, the Mother answers:
“
Yes, this might be good
.”
This shows once more Her wish for having the Mandir itself surrounded with water.
On 28-3-1970, the Mother dictated the following letter for Huta:
“
It has been decided and will remain decided that the Matrimandir will be
surrounded with water. However, water is not available just now and will be
available only later, so it is decided to build the Matrimandir now and surround it
with water only later, perhaps in a few years time. As regards the Matrimandir itself
I have selected our plan, which agrees with the vision I had of the inside and have
myself approved. Therefore there is no need to worry. The Matrimandir will be built
now and water brought around it later
.”
Between March and August of 1970, the Mother received groups of Aurovilians.
In one of these talks, the Mother explained the idea of building the Matrimandir as
the centre of Auroville, saying there will be work for everyone.
“
There will be gardens. There will be everything, all the possibilities: engineers,
architects, all kinds of manual work
…”