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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
Visit the Auroville website in Russian language |
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