1350 / 1424
1350
3)
The Outer Gardens or Park, with a flowing landscape, where various species
of tall trees from all over the world would help provide the natural
atmosphere of a sanctuary.
Roger A confirmed this configuration after studying again a number of alternatives
and rejecting them, in the late 80s.
The Matrimandir Nursery, which was started in 1970 by Narad under the Mother’s
direct instructions, has worked all these years since to develop and maintain as
many varieties of plants, shrubs, trees, orchids, cacti, etc. as it has been possible
towards the manifestation of the Matrimandir Gardens and Park.
And to this end hundreds of individuals have contributed their efforts in labour,
resources, expertise and financial means from 1970 to the present day.
Late 1999, Roger A sought to have a new, ambitious proposal for a very vast lake
around the oval island to be entered into the new Master Plan which was to be
legally endorsed by the Governing Board. The creation of this lake would effectively
nullify the entire environment of the Matrimandir, leaving no visual ‘obstacle’ such
as trees between the monument of the sphere with its twelve petals and the city.
As for the Inner Gardens, they would be reduced to symbolic renderings utilising
free-form sculptures, a few potted plants and some design elements.
This was indeed in keeping with early proposals made by Roger A to the Mother.
But it was not in keeping with any of the available, recorded descriptions given by
the Mother Herself of the central area of Auroville.
And it is on the basis of Her words that most everyone has aspired to serve the
construction of the Matrimandir and the manifestation of Her vision and dream.
Upon hearing the objections, the Governing Board agreed to add a qualifying clause
to the Master Plan.
. A situation has then developed in which apparently opposed viewpoints and
arguments have been expressed with reference to the Mother’s words.
Roger A’s supporters base their argument on the Mother’s written invitation to him,
back in 1965, to be ‘the man of the project’, and on Her having given her written
Blessings to a brochure which featured Roger A’s model of a barren sculptural and
monumental oval island, as also on statements reportedly made by the Mother, as
noted down from memory by SSJ in his diary, as late as 1972, to the effect that
‘Roger A is the best judge’ and that he has been given by Her all the details; it is
further argued that the Mother was ‘very flexible’ and turned towards the future,
and had accepted and welcomed all the changes suggested by Roger A.
However there is a large body of evidence in the form of tape-recorded
conversations and statements written by the Mother Herself that point to a
realisation for the environment of the Matrimandir which Roger A’s designs
contradict, both in essence and in form.
This realisation ‘of the most beautiful place from the point of view of physical,
material Nature’, is one of a sanctuary in which Nature’s and man’s efforts at
beauty and harmony are joined, an area of silence and conscious experiencing,
fairly secluded and self-contained, wherein the expression of the integrality of the
Universal Mother’s new creation is made tangible through clear and living symbols,