Jean-Louis Guebourg

Auroville Jean-Louis Guebourg

Auroville was born of an old dream of Mirra Alfassa, a gifted French woman, who became in 1926 the person in charge of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondichery when Sri Aurobindo retreated from public life. The Mother inaugurated the City of Dawn on the 28th February 1968 under the gaze of 124 nations representatives. She read a charter which had a huge impact. With Roger Anger, her urban architect, she developed her vision of the city with four geographical sectors, overseeing complex details with uncommon energy. During the last five years of her life, she greeted many young Aurovilians especially on their birthday, providing practical guidance or spiritual approach according to their level of development. These young Westerners, driven by an undeniable aspiration, joined by other foreigners from 50 nations, built residences, nurturing farms, schools, clinics, created various companies, planted an evergreen forest; in short, they turned this desert plateau into a pleasant place to live dedicated to the Divine and to the transformation of the body and the psychic being. The current success of the city attracts every year many newcomers who will require accommodations, leading the City of Dawn to a second major stage of its development.