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Tine, AVI's representative, is writing the following text during the presentations of the International Zone in the AVI-conference in St. Petersburg: "I am trying to let you participate directly in the events happening right now, June 19th. There are about 180 people present here."

Introductory talks

We are in the 'Town Hall' in St. Petersburg. It was a late start this morning due to rain and traffic jam. The 'Town Hall' is quite a distance away from our hotel in the outskirts and it took us almost one hour to reach downtown St. Petersburg. The introductory talks included a few opening sentences on the connection of Auroville and AVI with Russia and a welcome by Pourna Prema from Paris, who is the grand-daughter of the Mother, who gave her appreciations and told us a little story about the unpredictable and sweet ways of the Mother. Dimitry, the AVI liaison Russia, translated. Then three Russians were welcoming the assembly with a few words of insight:

• M. Grabilenkow, the vice-chief of the Department of Information technologies in Education of the Ministry of Education

• A. Rychkov, the chairman of the Committee of Science and Higher School of the Administraiton of St. Petersburg

• Rajiv K. Chander, the General Consul of India in St. Petersburg.

Auroville presentation, Matrimandir

Vladimir from Auroville - who studied Indian philosophy and Sanskrit at the university in St. Petersburg - gave a brief introduction to the ideas and goals of Auroville. Then Peter from Auroville gave a one-hour slide show on Auroville, and accompanied the slides with comments and his own experiences of Auroville. Translation was done by Sergei from Auroville. After lunch, the programme continued with a presentation of Matrimandir and the yoga in general by Bhaga, speaking about the importance of finding one's soul and being in contact with it, as without the inner connection the outer task in this life cannot really progress and fulfil its purpose. She emphasised the enormous help Mother gave us by gifting Matrimandir to us and to the world. Michael took up the thread by explaining the spiritual and symbolic meanings of Matrimandir. He explained how through active participation in the outer work and construction of Matrimandir, one connects to that energy so that Matrimandir is at the same time preparing the inner being and helping the person to progress.

International Zone

The next topic on the programme was the International Zone, presented by four Aurovilians and translated by Sergei, who is a member of the International Zone team in Auroville, representing Russia. Jill gave an overview of what the International Zone, which is so far the least developed zone in Auroville, means and represents. This year the International Zone got a big push with the start of the pavilion of the Americas and the planned laying of the foundation stone for the German pavilion in August 2001. Nearly 30 beautiful panels with photos and inspiring texts, each 1.40 x 90, have been prepared in Auroville on the International Zone and the Matrimandir and brought to St. Petersburg and they are hanging now here on the wall. Helmut, the architect of the International Zone, gave us an overview of the general concept of the International Zone with the help of an overhead projector. Jaya explained the role of the Unity Pavilion in Auroville and continued to speak about the meaning of the Nakashima Peace Table dedication in Moscow and the Hall of Peace in Auroville. Finally, Helmut gave a presentation on Savitri Bhavan.

Qestions & Answers

After the tea break which was not a real tea break, because someone had forgotten to order tea with the Town Hall catering management and they were not prepared to serve so many people, we split up in three groups for the question and answer sessions:

1) Auroville in general
2) Matrimandir
3) International Zone

The Matrimandir group consisted of Bhaga, Andrei, Roger Toll, Tineke and Michael with Vladimir as translator. Roger related his experiences during his Auroville years when he was working at Matrimandir. The Russian audience had now possibilities to ask questions and soon the range of questions moved into other areas.. They wanted to know why the growth of the soul is so slow in Auroville, why some Aurovilians leave Auroville after 20 years, and what kinds of inner experiments are made in Auroville. There was particular interest in education. One visitor also had a pointed question about Satprem's perception of the Ashramites.

Joyful ending of the day

In the evening we watched a slide show of Dominiqe Darr, '10 years of Matrimandir', shown by Michael. It was a meditative and silent show, accompanied by Holger's latest music with Joy singing, a CD which Joy had just sent us with some Aurovilians. People were delighted by the music. At the end of the show, Alain shared some old-timer stories and jokes about the early construction of Matrimandir, soon accompanied by Michael. Everybody roared with laughter and it was a happy and joyful ending of the day.

Greetings to you all, wherever you are..!

Tine

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