A place for trying to find one's consciousness

I'm on the probably nicest paved road in all of India, yet the only thing I can think about is whether my body would survive a crash on this beautifully paved road better than one on the dirt road I was on just ten minutes ago. I'm probably the only person wearing a helmet in all of India as I am sitting on the back of our field manager's motor bike going 40 mph in the dusky rain. I so know my mum would kill me if I died in a motorbike accident in Southeast Asia.

Anyway, I am on my way to Auroville, a very special community just north of Pondicherry. Here, 2000 people from over 40 countries have for 40 years lived (supposedly) in harmony. I feel it's a mix between Nimbin in Australia and the movie The Beach. Minus the surfers and a topless Leo. It's a surreal place, created on the idea of sharing and inner health instead of material wealth. Children are educated, not to pass exams or tests, but to connect with their sould and become citizens of a community who works together for the divine and superior truth. I can't really say I believe in it either.


Nevertheless, our field manager has some cool contacts and I was invited into the Matrimandir, the soul of the city. The Matrimandir is a massive golden globe (29*36 meters) in the middle of a large open space called Peace. There are meditation rooms all around and the world's largest crystal inside. Its construction started in 1970-something after visions of the Mother (their "leader", it is otherwise a place free of religion, discrimination etc., doubtfull), and is still ongoing today.

After a introductory movie we were divided into groups and given yet another talk, then told to be absolutely quiet as the room of the spiritual crystal is constructed so even the smallest sneeze will sound like thunder, and were led into the Matrimandir. I immediately felt as I entered a spaceship, Will Smith would have been happy if he flew one of these babies in Independece Day. We walked around a large spiral before entering the holiest of the holy, a massive crispy white room with 12 twelve-meter tall pillars with a hole in the ceiling to let the sunlight in and the massive crystal ball in the middle of the room.

I was one of the last to enter as I had daydreamed my way up the spiral and by then nearly all my companions were heavily into meditation already. I politely sat down for the compulsory 10-15 minutes absolutely flabbergasted by the surrender to the spiritual by the people around me, before I, as the first, got up and out. I didn't work out the closing mechanism on the door, so as the guard opened the door from the outside he jammed my finger, resulting in a large AUUU! I could hear the loud echo behind me as I walked back into real life.