1976
(Amrit:) “Shortly after my visa interview, a message from Nolini-da was handed to me by Suresh Joshi, nick-named ‘The Messenger’, since he often conveyed messages from the Mother to other disciples in the Ashram. ... [The message said:] “You are not yet ready for your freedom. Go back to the status quo and surrender all to the Mother. If you can do this, you do not know what Grace will come to you.”
Though I passed Nolini-da's message to the other signatories of the new Auroville Society, all rejected it out of hand, deeming it unrealistic and impossible under the circumstances. Intransigent and closed to reconciliation, in my immaturity, arrogance and ignorance, I laughed off what in retrospect after many years of grueling but revelatory experiences came to be understood as the path that should have been taken.”[1]
(Amrit:) “My own indirect contact with Satprem commenced from 1976 after the beginning of the rebellion against the SAS. In his efforts to support the Auroville community in its unequal conflict with the SAS, Saprem sent as envoy to Auroville Luc Venet, his closest disciple. For whatever mysterious reason, Luc chose our Gratitude meditation group to be the initial recipient of the Mother's mantra ‘Om Namo Bhagavate’, meaning ‘I bow to the Supreme Lord’.
... Gathering the meditation group... on the terrace of my house in Certitude, Luc solemnly explained the unique privilege bestowed upon us by Satprem. In his words, we were specifically chosen to receive the Mother's mantra, not to be repeated or shared with anyone else. Only the selected few were to be so favored.”[2]
(Amrit:) “For whatever reason – perhaps the discomfort noted before – Navajata did not act on the threat to my visa, instead choosing to terminate the stay of two other Americans, Francis and Savitra. Both eventually were deported from India on 29th March 1976. Shortly before his departure, Savitra gave a music concert at the Bharat Nivas, the Pavilion of India. As he sang, the atmosphere grew remarkably powerful, and perceived was a shimmering shower of gemstones of all colors, sizes and shapes filling the air, descending like a rain of glowing grace bestowed upon the heads of all present.”[3]
(Savitra): “I smiled at the traveling companion beside me whose head lolled between two ear phones while his left hand switched through the seven channels that ran from Classical Indian music to Country & Western. Ah, Integral Yoga. After thirty exhausting hours spent at thirty thousand feet, we crossed a thin white strip bordering a field of emerald blue that marked the merger of the Atlantic Ocean and the United States of America. We made our final pass over the flat marshlands that flank Kennedy [Airport] and on a later March 30th afternoon, Eastern Standard Time, two incorrigible Aurovilians landed in Bicentennial America.
We collected our baggage and cleared through customs which left our suitcases deprived of their last vestiges of propriety. They especially gave Francis the eye when they came across his satchel full of funny-looking Ganesh beedies. What can you say to the guy except to offer him one?
We passed that next week in the City with Francis suffering from a sensory overdose and me from an acute emptiness that seemed to settle somewhere in the region of the chest. It surprised me. I thought I was a veteran of such circumstances. We never know ourselves as well as we think we do.
I spent a lot of the time on long walks through the park, boat rides around the Island and ferry trips up and back past the Statue of Liberty. But nothing was filling the void that was collapsing in upon itself. On the other trips my purpose, my direction was clear, but now I was simply here, indecipherably here. Even if I had wanted to repeat some of my old scenarios in America, how could I possibly represent Auroville, speak of Auroville now, under these circumstances?
My instinctive fields of action were blocked. I was simply an extract from there who suddenly found himself here.”[4]
(Savitra:) “Towards the end of that May, in our California retreat, we began getting delayed mail reports reminding us that the battle in that far-off corner of South India was still raging. ...
Visa pressure continued to be applied. The SAS was no longer, as a matter of course, renewing the yearly re-application of residence visas for Aurovilians whom it considered as undesirable. This placed up to thirty Aurovilians, who had assumed that their visas were being re-processed as usual, on the wrong side of the law. ...
On May 29th, 1976, the four arcing pillars of the Matrimandir were joined in the concreting of the ring, the symbol of that invincible aspiration towards unity. Thrice inscribed in its band was the Sanskrit mantra, “Om Namo Bhagavate]]”. ...
The latest news informed us that eight Aurovilians had been arrested in Aspiration on May 29th – the same day as the ring's completion – charged by the SAS with trespassing, house-breaking, theft and unlawful assembly. The letter went on to say that Navajata was publicly announcing his intention to close down Auroville.”[5]
(Amrit:) “On 13th July 1976 Diane fell from the Matrimandir. That day while working on the scaffolding embracing the Matrimandir construction, I glimpsed Diane climbing, making her way up several meters away. The immediate sound of something falling reached my ears, many suddenly observed scampering down. Glancing in their direction, I was startled to see Diane lying over twenty meters below in the Matrimandir construction pit, the scaffolding pipes bent in the path of her body's fall as she struck one after another. Apparently, Diane in her climb, grabbed a loose pipe, mistaking it for one secured, and fell. She survived, the pipes breaking the impact of her fall, though with her spinal column shattered and broken, resulting in paralysis from the waist down.
All of us remained stunned in shock and incomprehension. … In the days that followed, I stood at the edge of the Matrimandir construction crater, paralyzed and unable to climb the scaffolding to resume my efforts. Graven into mind's memory was the scene of Diane's body lying prone, broken and unconscious far down on the construction floor.”[6]
(Savitra:) “On the 24th of July, the then Union Minister for Home Affairs visited Auroville. It was through his offices that the investigation into our case which led to the subsequent probe into the general context was handled. Under the Banyan Tree before an open gathering of Auroville residents, he apologized for the injustices and assured us that the Government was preparing something which would protect us from further such harassments, particularly regarding the question of visa guarantees whose privilege had been misused by the SAS.”[7]
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