Tourist places in and around Auroville
Green Drive
The site of Auroville was once a backward and impoverished rural area, surrounded by 13 villages with a population of over 40,000 people. Bare and eroded, it was mainly wasteland. A number of Aurovilians took up the task of 'bringing this land back to life' with the help of these villagers. After twenty years of hard work, they have succeeded in regenerating the soil on a long-term basis through biological farming methods without using any artificial fertilizers or chemical products. The two million trees planted by them on 2,800 acres of once-arid land have successfully created a lush green belt, which is beautiful to behold.Ashram
Outsiders often wonder how the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville are related. While the Mother founded both on the ideals of Sri Aurobindo, the two are separate legal entities that have been evolving independently. Broadly speaking, while the Ashram focuses on the inner development and transformation of individuals, Auroville's focus is the creation of a new society and city, which is global and universal, belonging to humanity as a whole.The Ashram, which originally comprised a small group of two-dozen disciples, has now grown into a large community with over 1,200 members, around 400 students belonging to the Center of Education and hundreds of devotees who live nearby. Sri Aurobindo had said, "This Ashram has been created … not for the renunciation of the world but as a center and a field of practice for another kind and form of life which would, in the end, be moved by a higher spiritual consciousness and embody a greater life of the spirit". In keeping with his words, the Ashram is not a quiet place of retreat secluded from the world but a vibrant center of life in a busy, urban setting. Work here is essentially karma yoga-an offering to the Divine. There is no obligatory practices, no rituals, no compulsory meditations, or systematic instructions in yoga. Each devotee is free to determine the kind and pace of his/her sadhana and decide what work he or she wants to do.