About Us
A living laboratory for timeless wisdom.
From a small Sanskrit study circle in 2019 to transformational learning journeys, community practice spaces, and research — carrying India's spiritual gift forward in the context of Auroville.
Our Story
Vidyamandir Auroville began with a small activity called Samskritam Auroville in 2019, with a simple aspiration: to enliven the Sanskrit language and rediscover the wisdom of Indian knowledge traditions in the context of Auroville's experiment of unity in diversity.
What started as small study circles and classes gradually evolved into transformational learning journeys, community practice spaces, health camps, university immersions, research initiatives, and more.
Most importantly, countless spiritual friendships are blossoming through this work.
Inspiration from Sri Aurobindo
The spirit and guiding force behind our work.
“…the spiritual gift of India to the world has already begun. India's spirituality is entering Europe and America in an ever increasing measure. That movement will grow; amid the disasters of the time more and more eyes are turning towards her with hope and there is even an increasing resort not only to her teachings, but to her psychic and spiritual practice.”
“The recovery of the old spiritual knowledge and experience in all its splendour, depth and fullness is its first, most essential work; the flowing of this spirituality into new forms of philosophy, literature, art, science and critical knowledge is the second; an original dealing with modern problems in the light of the Indian spirit and the endeavour to formulate a greater synthesis of a spiritualised society is the third and most difficult. Its success on these three lines will be the measure of its help to the future of humanity.”
Why Auroville?
“There should be somewhere on earth a place which no nation could claim as its own, where all human beings of goodwill who have a sincere aspiration could live freely as citizens of the world and obey one single authority, that of the supreme truth.”
Auroville was born on 28 February 1968. Its founder, the Mother, created the Auroville Charter — four ideas that underpin her vision for Auroville:
- 01
Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But, to live in Auroville, one must be a willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness.
- 02
Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages.
- 03
Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations.
- 04
Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual human unity.
To know more about Auroville, visit www.auroville.org.
Team
The people behind the work.
Auroville was given birth by the force of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and as residents we are meant to work collaboratively as willing servitors of the Divine Consciousness. It is therefore hard to merely name a “team,” for the work runs by Divine Grace. Yet some of us have chosen to offer ourselves as instruments, and in that spirit we mention a few names.
Anandi Z, Aravinda and Deven began the efforts in 2019, with support from Tapas and Deepti from Bharat Nivas and Sampadbhai from Sri Aurobindo Society. Radhika and Shaalini soon joined and continue as part of the core team. Many Auroville residents have supported this work in visible and invisible ways — JeanYves, Shailaja, Chitra, Chandresh, Jasmin, Angelo, Nishtha, Martin, Naveen, Shankardevy, Sanjeev, Lijun, Nilima, Joy, Manoj, Jyoti, Aurelio, Mita, Aryamani, Yogini, to name a few.
Many sessions and workshops have been offered by well-wishers such as Dr Anuradha Choudry (IIT Kharagpur & IKS Division, Ministry of Education), Dr Sampadananda Mishra (Rishihood University), Ms Ojasi Parmeswaran, Shraddha (SAICE), Raghu Ananthanarayanan (Ritambhara Ashram), and Sriman Adinarayanan & Smriti Ananthalakshmi (Anaadi Foundation). We are grateful to the Auroville International (AVI) USA team for their continued support and encouragement.
Coordinator
Deven is the overall coordinator, executive, and servant of Vidyamandir Auroville, involved in its work since inception. Feel free to reach out with suggestions, feedback, or ideas for collaboration and new initiatives.
Sanskrit in Auroville
In February 2026 we contributed an article, “Sanskrit in Auroville,” to The Golden Chain — the Alumni Journal of SAICE (the Ashram School). It offers a glimpse into the evolution of Sanskrit work in Auroville and the many people who have contributed to it.
Read the articleIn essence, we are carrying the torch passed on to us by a lineage of Rishis and Rishikas across millennia — grateful to contribute our bit towards offering India's spiritual gift to the world.