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 Presently some thirty Russians are residing
in Auroville, while all together some sixty Aurovilians hail from
the former USSR. Staunchly stimulated by a longtime friend of
Auroville, the late Dimitri von Mohrenschildt - born in
Russia in 1902 and American citizen since 1926 where he lectured as 
Professor in Russian Studies at Stanford University, and who passed
away in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in June '02 at the age of 100 -
plans, ideas
and designs for a Pavilion of the Russian Culture have been coming
and going during the last ten years. They may now bear fruit..
From September 2001 onwards Russian residents of Auroville have
organised several meetings to take up the issue in a renewed effort
to get the Russian Pavilion off the ground. The following text is
based on a report published in the AVNews:
Concept of the Russian Pavilion
The ideal would be for every nation with
a well-defined culture to have a pavilion representing that culture,
built in a style that is most expressive of the customs of the
country; it will exhibit the nation's most representative products,
natural as well as manufactured, and also a best expressions of its
intellectual and artistic genius and its spiritual tendencies. ...
The Mother
 Just as each individual has a psychic
being which is his true self and which governs his destiny more or
less overtly so too each nation has a psychic being which is its
true being and moulds its destiny from behind the veil: it is the
soul of the country, the national genius, the spirit of the people,
the center of national aspiration, the fountainhead of all that is
beautiful, noble, great and generous in the life of the country.
The Mother
Aims of the Russian Pavilion
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The Russian Pavilion aims at establishing
the contact of the soul of Russia with Auroville. In this sense
it could be seen as an embassy of the true soul of Russia in
Auroville
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It will coordinate research being done in
the field of understanding of the true soul of Russia
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It will be the centre of educational and
cultural activities in Auroville related to our Motherland.
The first aim will therefore be to help
individuals to become aware of the fundamental genius of the nation
to which they belong, and at the same time to bring them into
contact with the ways of life of other nations, so that they learn
to know and respect equally the true spirit of all countries of the
world.
The Mother
Programme of the Russian Pavilion
Research
The soul of Russia has been trying to express
itself - sometimes being defeated and sometimes being successful. We
can have an understanding of this soul by observing the course of
historic events in the country, or the life of a politician, a
writer, a saint; we can try to understand it through an artistic
creation; we can see a reflection of it in some influential thought
which may, while originating in our country, have become a property
of humanity as a whole. Not often the soul of a nation can find a
perfect expression, as is the case in ordinary human life where a
person's soul rarely finds a pure expression. But even through an
imperfection, through a mistake or distortion, we can try and find
the truth of the soul which attempted to manifest but was distorted
in the process.
Research of this kind will be made in the
fields of history, culturology, literature, art, and will always
take into account the spiritual background and the relevant
knowledge given to us by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
Only if our spiritual development allows us, we can come into
contact with the soul of our country directly. The Russian Pavilion
invites everybody who sincerely loves the Russian culture to take
part in these researches. A deep understanding of the present and
the future of our country can result from this.
Education
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The Pavilion will make it possible for
Aurovilian children from Russian parentage to be educated in
their parent's mother tongue
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The Pavilion should enable Auroville to
get to know the true soul of Russia
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The educational programmes will be of a
general kind - the basic knowledge of the language, art, history
of the country - as well as a more special kind, based on the
research done in the Pavilion
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The Russian Pavilion, as all national
pavilions in the International Zone, is a part of the CIRHU
project (Centre for International Research in Human Unity)
Cultural activity
The Pavilion will be is organising
exhibitions, performances, film shows and other for the general
audience of Auroville.
Main tasks for the immediate present
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For the practical work of the Pavilion
lots of materials are needed. A library is in the process of
being created and it should eventually have all masterpieces of
literature, philosophy, spiritual writings and science which are
the brightest expressions of the Russian spirit
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For serious research to be done, widely
ranging reference material and other additional literature is
needed
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A representative collection of the Russian
music needs to be accumulated, as well as of Russian art and
movies
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Facilities for high quality teaching of
the Russian language need to be created. We have to strongly
support and stimulate this, and bring to Auroville textbooks,
tutoring programmes for computers, and good quality Russian
books (especially children literature)
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We need good Russian movies - with English
translation or subtitles - to show them regularly in Auroville
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The results of our work - the news of the
Pavilion, the news on Auroville life in Russian, as well as
results of research done by the Pavilion or coordinated by it -
will be published on the Internet
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