Auroville was conceived as a place where humanity could take a conscious step forward. Founded by the Mother on the vision of Sri Aurobindo, it is meant to be the City the Earth Needs—a living experiment in human unity.
Auroville exists to explore how individuals and collectives can grow beyond division—beyond nationality, belief, and habit—towards a wider, deeper, truer harmony of life, work, and consciousness. It is a place of unending education, spiritual and material research, and collective becoming.
Since 1968, the City has been under construction—and so has the human being. This is by design, because Auroville’s true purpose is to serve as a laboratory of conscious evolution.
My way of seeing is somewhat different. For my consciousness the whole life upon earth, including the human life and all its mentality, is a mass of vibrations, mostly vibrations of falsehood, ignorance and disorder, in which are more and more at work vibrations of Truth and Harmony coming from the higher regions and pushing their way through the resistance. In this vision the ego-sense and the individual assertion and separateness become quite unreal and illusory.
from Volume 13, Words of the Mother, p.95
The MotherAs Auroville approaches the Mother’s 150th birth anniversary, the work before us is not commemoration but manifestation. The Mother envisioned a city where spirit and matter meet—where Purusha (consciousness) guides Prakriti (nature), and inner transformation finds outer form. Inspired by Sri Aurobindo’s yoga, Auroville exists to explore this synthesis: material progress aligned with spiritual aspiration. Building the city is inseparable from building the being. The Mother’s Dream calls us to give shape, discipline, and durability to a new way of living on Earth.
Preparing the City of Dawn
Laying conscious foundations across the City Centre, Crown Corridor, City Areas, and Green Belt—so land, systems, and form support Auroville’s unfolding purpose and the practice of human unity.
Welfare of the Willing Servitors
Sustaining those who serve the city by nurturing servitors, strengthening unity, building bridges of support, and creating conditions for steady, dignified progress in collective life.
Auroville is a journey, not a destination. It is not a spectacle to be consumed, nor a monument to be visited passively. Auroville asks to be approached as a conscious experiment — a living pilgrimage toward peace, within and without.
Conceived as a City of Consciousness in the making, where material life and spiritual aspiration seek synthesis, Auroville is — and always has been — under construction. To visit Auroville is to slow down, to listen, and to encounter a different rhythm of life. To walk gently, observe quietly, and allow the place to reveal itself beyond appearances.
Many arrive curious. Few pause to ask why this place exists. Arrival offers a simple orientation — a moment to pause, ask questions, and glimpse the deeper purpose of this ongoing human experiment. Come with openness. Leave with reflection.
Volunteering is a right way to truly discover Auroville. It is an invitation to participate consciously in a living experiment dedicated to human unity. Volunteers are welcomed for a defined period to experience community life, contribute meaningfully, and discover whether a deeper commitment arises. Service here asks for sincerity, adaptability, and respect for context. Work unfolds within a collective guided by shared values rather than rigid hierarchies. Whether practical, creative, or organisational, contribution is paired with inner learning. The Discovery Programme supports this journey, helping volunteers align their goodwill with purpose, responsibility, and the evolving rhythm of Auroville.
A spiritual religion of humanity is the hope of the future. By this is not meant what is ordinarily called a universal religion, a system, a thing of creed and intellectual belief and dogma and outward rite. A religion of humanity means the growing realisation that there is a secret Spirit, a divine Reality, in which we are all one, that humanity is its highest present vehicle on earth, that the human race and the human being are the means by which it will progressively reveal itself here. It implies a growing attempt to live out this knowledge and bring about a kingdom of this divine Spirit upon earth.
The Ideal of Human Unity, Collected Works 25, p. 577
Sri AurobindoAuroville grows through people who understand why it exists, how it works, and what it asks of them.
ARE is the space where this understanding is cultivated. It prepares individuals to enter Auroville with clarity, supports inquiry that strengthens the city, and nurtures learning that serves collective evolution.
Through orientation pathways, research initiatives, and educational programmes, ARE helps transform curiosity into commitment, and ideas into responsible action.
This is where seekers become participants, questions become practice, and learning becomes a form of service.
We are a strategy and communication initiative serving Auroville’s deeper purpose. AWARE works to clarify, contextualise, and make accessible the City’s ideals, structures, and ongoing experiment in human unity.
Through various programmes, research, publications, and collective dialogue, it supports visitors, volunteers, newcomers, and residents in understanding Auroville beyond appearances. AWARE bridges vision and practice—helping the City speak truthfully to itself and to the world, while strengthening alignment between aspiration, articulation, and action, with collective responsibility.