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Friday the 22nd of June 2001
- Report by Bindu -
White night at the Neva River
It was 12 o'clock in the (Thursday) evening. The
sun was setting in the West lighting up the St. Petersburg historic
skyline. We were cruising down the Neva River, waiting to see the
drawbridges on the river open out, like giant mechanical jaws to let
ships pass through. Later, the Aurovilians decided that the Russians
needed to express their vital (!) and so with that excuse they led the
party to dance the night out at a disco on the banks of the Neva.
Friday morning
The AVI meeting understandably started late that
morning. A detailed report of all the AVI proceedings will be sent
later. Decisions taken on this morning were:
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The annual AVI meeting 2002 will be held in
California, USA.
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A resolution was passed that AVI would
actively support in the development of the International Zone and
the construction of the national pavilions.
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Alain G. gave the financial report for the
year 2000-2001. Rs. 10,000 was donated to the International Zone
group as a contribution towards the panels that they had prepared.
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Angiras and AuroTaranti have resigned as AVI
Board members.
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Dimitry of AVI-Russia and Sonia Dyne of AVI-UK
were voted as board members. Bill Leon of AVI-USA was voted as a
co-opted board member. Other members continue for a 2nd term.
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The Kazakhastan brothers, Nurlan and Ruslan
reported on their efforts to start an AVI-liaison center in
Kazakhstan. The AVI Board promised to give them slide material for
an Auroville presentation.
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Sonia Dyne explained that at the moment it was not
possible to step up efforts to make an AVI-liaison in Singapore. One
of the main blocks to this was that it is not possible to register
such centres as charities and seek tax exemption.
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The possibility of creating an AVI-India was
widely discussed by the group. In the end, it was decided that while
there was an increasingly inner need for such a centre, the effort
to do so should come from Indians themselves and not from the AVI
Board.
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Dimitry gave a detailed report on the
activities of the Russian AVI Liaison centre: there is a possibility
to create a branch in Moscow which will be an outlet for the sale of
books, an information centre and a meeting place for Sri Aurobindo
disciples; a monthly journal in Russian to be started by ADITI which
will offer both articles on the yoga and information on Auroville.
Russian Aurovilians plan to translate selected articles from
Auroville Today for the proposed journal. The possibilities of
officially registering the Russian centre are being explored.
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An AVI-Board member expressed that the
proposal to the UN for the registration of AVI as a NGO was still
pending and that it would be good if an official Russian centre
could still be included in the proposal.
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Bhaga led the group in a prayer for supporting
the movement of Integral Yoga in Africa and Argentina.
Personal memories of meetings with the Mother
The afternoon session on 22nd was truly special
with Poorna Prema, Manju, Alain G, Roger Toll and Nini sharing their
personal memories of their meetings with the Mother. This session gave a
sweet touch to this congress in St. Petersburg.
This was followed by presentations on India and Auroville by Harini and
Bindu which were very well received by the participants.
In the evening there was a grand banquet to celebrate the closing night
of this historical meeting with dancing and a live band!
Dosvidanya,
Bindu
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