We Surrendered Ourselves to the Project: A Family in Auroville

Details

• Interviewee: Renana and her family
• Role: Community Members
• Community: Auroville
• Date: 2026-01-14
• Language: en

Summary

The interview discusses the journey of two individuals from different backgrounds who came together through a community project in a guest house environment. They recount their meeting, marriage, and the development of a project aimed at supporting local children with education and family engagement. The project has grown over time, emphasizing the importance of communal contributions and the roles of volunteers in providing educational resources.

Key quotes

we surrendered ourselves to the project.

the main idea that's the main idea and now nowadays what is happening the sumposity is happening. Day everybody has TV at home.

the vision of the project because here, most of the parents are not educated.

Transcript

**Speaker 1:** Who's exactly come to know?
**Speaker 2:** Let's see how this is gonna work. So I think that starts from the beginning, let's say, because we just took a family portrait with you guys. And maybe you can sell the show the version of how you 2 fund yourself, we're going to be building a family in a little bit.
**Speaker 1:** For me, I start now, okay, I found my speaker. I'm born here in one at this film and I went to a school very days school and some title we were learning about mother and she has to go and then I was working in guest house. Try is to go often to a reveal and meet people coming, I would love the world.
**Speaker 1:** Then I stole the food and I started doing out of it. And in one of the gestures I met the organ, he said yeah, and then santucker's home for guestos. So I was close to the college guest house so I met him there in Central day of SOS, then he was I told about my project what I'm doing here.
**Speaker 1:** What you see now is totally different from what What we started at the beginning just to me like open area, there was no houses, only my house was there. Hello, and so you remember that you're gonna happen?
**Speaker 3:** In the fetch contact, she would say the umbrella was over. His computer before the rain was coming through her.
**Speaker 1:** Yeah, then also us the pioneer at the beginning 2 fundraise for the project and he was intensely involved. That's what we call him. Also the father of Nicolas, and then after time passed, then I also met her nanna, I guess those where I used to work there.
**Speaker 1:** I used to go in the weekend to read news and notes. So accidentally I met her Biden and tell her hello, to her, and she didn't tell me about? Then I met one guy from England what is his name?
**Speaker 1:** So um, then he told her, let's have 1 dinner 1 day. So on Friday, the invitor and she didn't come further on time, because he was talking to her parents. The phone, then we are waiting waiting, then she came then I met her then from that time, you didn't tell what happened.
**Speaker 4:** I was the cook.
**Speaker 3:** What's it called?
**Speaker 4:** I was the Coke that evening so actually they have a custom here in the guest house. When you live long time. So if you I continue your travel, so we do farewell dinner, oh some got in together and more than one of the fashion today and um and that evening that was Friday and we plan to have a dinner with 2 sister Germans, sisters.
**Speaker 4:** The day after the continue to travel, so we sat on the table of 2 sisters, German, uh, questions help me Israeli do subjek is actually uh Indian, but he born in England from Muslim family and pamao joined as indule. All of us together and very typical tour will sit together and up. And eat and so technically, I was the cook for this eve.
**Speaker 4:** And I spoke with my parents, weekly talk and and the fact I was late to that dinner and um suck and yeah, and it was a wonderful evening we went to see one of the orbital shows, let on kmadiscover that I'm joint, you on theater group. That I realized later on is all his colleagues and student from high school so it's become much more talking. Okay, I shot very much because I can make it from here to laugh.
**Speaker 4:** She's always lovely. I said Stevens, so the voice of my mother, you know and uh, yeah, so until that evening, I didn't know about him. I just said I heard about him and uh, okay, it's not a long little bit long story about.
**Speaker 4:** I want to make it short and we return from the show. And basically basically we had good chemistry, so it's not connecting to new cars, it is connecting between The 2 people I was curious about each other the differences and to find so many common my English was so
**Speaker 1:** I think we're in needs to stay, but
**Speaker 4:** In other words, disaster, yes, as maybe should not be the best. Now. Don't love and and yeah, so he kind of understood my in my mind, and as now I'm the most talkative compared to him, tell the story yeah, and we uh, become a couple and we got married 6 months later.
**Speaker 1:** Get in India.
**Speaker 4:** The family jerk is I create a ranch marriage between my husband to my family. So that time, 19 years ago, there was no good communications, and uh, yeah that's funny.
**Speaker 1:** But I then, after the marriage one year M, how do you think about to look here to go back to the stay in his head? It took one year that we were separated only arrival sharing or will then afterwards I made all the papers I leave there. You know, it's there for 2 years then, after?
**Speaker 1:** After when we're living in Israel, we freeze the project here before it was called, never-ending studies and there is a long name. Then, when we come back, can we change the name? As Nicolas, the children chose as name new colors, then in 2002.
**Speaker 1:** We started against the project and at present what you see is compresort. I started to do the 2. Then, again, we started again in 2010.
**Speaker 1:** So from the time almost rolled is low, a lot of things started to develop onto this piece of land we bought it in the building, though behind the extension room, I find that I can't leave to the front, I found that and the conference delivery. That we want to build library and other things we have big ideas there.
**Speaker 2:** And uh, how was it to please leave a family and raise a child? And I don't know this.
**Speaker 1:** It was difficult for me in Israel, actually because early morning, 630I go to work. I come in the evening at 6:30 against I sprinkle when I go I see a sleeping and I come back again, I see her sleeping I didn't spend much time only the weekend but then we work like a donkey. Then you see, in the end of the mud, you are still in minus and there was no family gathering and no like?
**Speaker 1:** 3F was together when my daughter was 9 years old, we came back here. 9 sorry, 9 months old, I feel like going back to Israel. Because a lot of things you know, like change is a new thing.
**Speaker 1:** Then we went to Oroville birthday and people had 28, and we heard about Mother's talking and one of the word watches a like, surrender yourself fully without expecting anything? In the sign, this divine will take that word stuck in our mind like a Mantra. Then we surrendered ourselves to the project.
**Speaker 1:** And so a lot of things started to change, and then it's like what we say that they as her saying, the divine was taken care of I still, we believe that.
**Speaker 4:** So what wonderful things happen is a few. So from that moment it's become our Mantra. And we repeat non-stop and um, yea, a short time later, like I don't remember 2 or 3 years later, uh, we had, uh, a wonderful volume, I'm a volunteer girl from Orland a few years later.
**Speaker 4:** In exactly in 28th of February well, we celebrating horrible and the moment we heard the mother voice. We receive parcel with a piece of tiles, a picture and drawings of the Mantra surround yourself with art expectations. So I will show you I hope whereas it's I serve it like in a safe place I think very careful, um, uh, um, uh, and it was the point where it decided to build the library.
**Speaker 4:** Actually, this was the moment of decisions that how we want to develop nucleus how we want to develop the things here. And we pack from meditations in the amphitheater and the possum with the piece of time. I said, okay, yes, please give us like more motivations continue to continue.
**Speaker 4:** We asked about education.
**Speaker 2:** So what's the care? What's the vision of the project?
**Speaker 1:** The vision of the project because here, most of the parents are not educated. I was the first generation, go to school. They're now they have the second generation, but in those days when we were there no one, we don't get any help at home.
**Speaker 1:** So then I thought I had a lot of difficulties from childhood and my mother is not educated. Then I thought of like, why don't I start something like the evening, their kids can come in. Studying in my place where I can also help them in their homework, hunting signage from that store should be started to do.
**Speaker 1:** And the open was also a very important question in that time. You know, he was really like fundraising for us there in Ireland and often every year after he comes here and his whole family also connected? Plus so you know each other more than 25 men.
**Speaker 1:** I don't trying to say yes, we know each other. So we aint notice to you for 25 years we know around it, so he knows all the ups and Downs in the probe is what we have gone through. And he has also his memory, a built a small stay for him, stay room for him or so it's called morning.
**Speaker 1:** So the main idea that's the main idea and now nowadays what is happening the sumposity is happening. Day everybody has TV at home. And the kids are having cell phone and still they don't have to do their homework.
**Speaker 1:** Also at present now, so you want them to come here whenever they do academic work and another about they do non-academic work like playing yoga. It depends on the body tests What kind of talent they bring to the kids? So in the past, we have had computer room and English class, a lot of things were happening here.
**Speaker 2:** If you want to involve the kids basically too search within themselves and have them bring out the Italian password.
**Speaker 1:** It's talent and also here only they have chance to meet the local people. They don't have a chance to meet international people. So the people coming for more will the one is they come and interact with the kids and what they learned when they come here at 3 for 6 months when they come here they can easily understand the English language, and also they can communicate some of they can manage and most of the kids now who study here.
**Speaker 1:** They are in good position. Some of them are in getting high salary. I was saying they're a good job there, I mean, and because of the COVID, it's a big turnover in our project now.
**Speaker 2:** And so what are the big challenges you're currently facing?
**Speaker 1:** I present with the project now. The situation for us is not like pleasant because we need the fund to finish the library and then we need to let it burn there, bringing the kids and things like that, because it's not what you say it's dangerous and they climb on the roof and study I also started in the beginning of the year, but it didn't much work. Of course we want to finish the library and then you've been feeling nice.
**Speaker 1:** We want to give them and safe environment where they can summon and access out the facilities here.
**Speaker 2:** So it's a question for all of you. What's the hopes of so 2025
**Speaker 1:** Oops, for me, the main thing is to finish this, we didn't then we work on how to focus from there. Do you right?
**Speaker 4:** So usually the academic here is that in middle June July, so similar to Kumar, more precise of dates that will be in July start academic year, we can welcome the kids all weekend, renew all the past experience that we had and bring it speaker and taking my life here.
**Speaker 1:** This project is not only for this village, the kids come from 5 different school. We have hits from first grade to ninth grade. They come to do their homework here and to have please learn the facilities yet, and sometimes we also get oral kids to come here, they come and use the facilities theory.
**Speaker 1:** They get health numbers. So also when people from different villages. Also, the parents they don't have any problem to drop them and pick them also, we start at 5, we finish at 7 good evening, so
**Speaker 2:** So just 2 questions that I'm gonna do this with a bunch of people in all of it. And there's a kind of 2 questions that I ask everyone. So one of them is what comes up for you, can you hear the world, the mother
**Speaker 1:** The mother from childhood. I heard I've heard about it. I've read about it, and her writings are much more easy for you done for me to understand also for many people.
**Speaker 1:** She has a good vision but so today we were also talking, I was talking in my class, had a dream of horror will the international community for the human unity to live together, which is amazing. And this happened, I hope you it will go in a successful way to respect her. And I don't much show having a photo in the package or praying to her.
**Speaker 1:** You can see in the heart That's what I believe I hope everything we can go. I'm going to positive in a little bit
**Speaker 2:** Good for you.
**Speaker 4:** So on the first moment it arrived, it's going the, actually to the ashram. I felt at home, some spirit of belonging and something that feeling that I come back home. Uh, put me in, uh, and from that moment I said, okay, this is the place that I want to stay so I fall in love in orover before.
**Speaker 4:** According I was Komar and new college project as come up, it's package. And so, uh, oh my love to the police. Basically, the moment I said, okay, this is a place for me, it's something that's familiar to my believe the way that I wants to I saw the community before and I saw the people as a TED.
**Speaker 4:** This is my place, and the moment I set this place I met walk.
**Speaker 1:** But she has also stayed in the village with a child and with her, and with it, she has seen all the mess. What is happening around village life. Also, she has experienced
**Speaker 2:** And when they say the word show window, what comes to mind, you
**Speaker 4:** Mm
**Speaker 1:** Parmisier Bindo. He was it, I know I've read again from tablish. He was a freedom fighter and um refund, it was a moderate.
**Speaker 1:** I guess the British, like in violence where you want to get freedom. But also Gandhi was in the non-violence communication, you want to get freedom, but he found the right way to get freedom for India in a spiritual way. So that he said, OK, we don't need to fight with violence of nonviolin in a spiritual world, because there is something beyond where human cans realize that then he realized that and he proved him.
**Speaker 1:** Also India got freedom place. Obeye's intense You work on the undid work. What he has done is also about the only reason India has got freedom You would have chosen, you would have chosen a different parents, or you choose this way to get freedom for India, which is really great.
**Speaker 1:** That's why my statue is also in the Parliament and I'm proud that he has done a lot of good work for for the parological and all those writings and everything is very inspiring, but it would be difficult to understand. But I respect him for whatever year then
**Speaker 4:** So sometimes sometimes do you have this feminine and demasculines energy? So sometimes they have time in your lab, a time and moment that I'm much more connecting to the mother, like the softness of contained things and belonging. And sometimes I'm like feeling more, I need to hire you are understanding more?
**Speaker 4:** Uh, uh, dip in in something else. Actually, there was time that I was reading the sabbatory and I was like, what slow is the depths of your inner being paid the depths of your inner being the depths of meat inside the process, to find something and from this from inside, bringing up whatever. I do or whatever I think.
**Speaker 4:** What time to do? So bring it out? So sometimes I see, it's like it, just remind me, so you're going to remind me, like, okay, um, awakening of something else more so for me, it's luxury, but I I'm not worship, I'm not really making the pujas ceremony care.
**Speaker 4:** I'm not date like with this, but when I see him or I'm talking about him was like, remind me, like, okay? This is the where is my? Where am I stuck in this path?
**Speaker 4:** It's where I can give back it was in dedication, yeah.
**Speaker 1:** Then we were in school from trying to days to tell mother, is it like mother, the mother and they used to tell serbienda's father. So we always from child who is now with his mother and father, we always thought, but they are not like husband and white. Afterwards, only I started to understand they are not as good white, because when children say, mother and father, you know this we think like they are really mother informed.
**Speaker 1:** Then after you grow up. But then, in a certain age, you understand that mother is someone like who has given birth to a child. We felt like that who's taking care of airs and thinking and father and to father, it will guide you in life.
**Speaker 1:** So I felt it like with mother and the father as ACR Pinker.
**Speaker 2:** Thank you, guys.