AVI USA 50 Years: The Lasting Legacy of June Maher
Introduction
2024 marks Auroville International USA’s 50th anniversary as a nonprofit organization. The gathering of friends working and dreaming of an Auroville of limitless possibilities received their official nonprofit designation from the state of California on April 5, 1974. The single moving force behind AVI USA was June Maher, a radiant being inspired by the Mother’s remarkable vision for the future of humanity and the Earth.
In 1974 June Maher rallied and inspired her humble, California based Savitri study group to become the nonprofit which first took on the name Auroville Association, and later, became the present Auroville International USA.
We have paid tribute to June’s life and work with a series of articles containing memories, tributes and photographs, all fittingly published in our 50th year of existence, all lovingly curated by Binah Thillairajah. We honor June’s life and work with a last article written by her a few years before her passing in 2014.
Plentitude is the Underlying Signature of the Earth
by June Maher
This article first published in the Spring/ Summer 1992 Issue of Collaboration Magazine.
‘I have also been bowled over by the confidence and generosity of donors of goodwill who see Auroville simply as the City the Earth Needs, a site and an adventure that belongs to humanity as a whole. The gifts given in this spirit have helped Auroville take a leap forward in its development not otherwise possible.’
-June Maher
It wouldn’t take much to convince me that money grows on trees. Despite the strictures in my own life, the often skimpy checkbook, this all-pervading sense of abundance and material well-being for myself and all others has never left me. And money is the outward form of the jet streams of plenty that engulf the planet.
I find it hard to reconcile this fundamental experience with the suffering and poverty rampant in this country and elsewhere. It’s gone wrong somehow. It is an appearance. It has to change. For me, Auroville’s being is a chance for that change to begin.
Auroville is inexorably intertwined with my experience of yoga and money. In the early 70’s, with the formation of the Auroville Association (now AVI-USA), I first began thinking about how the two are intertwined. The Mother’s only response to our appeal for a “message”in 1972 was, “No recruiting, but money may be obtained.”
Money and the spiritual life were separate kingdoms. Although this attitude has changed with the times, there was something not quite nice in mentioning money and spiritual practices in the same breath. It was hard to grab anyone’s attention when it was suggested that we form a non-profit organization for the purpose of collecting money for Auroville. We were busy focusing on meditation and the study of Mother and Sri Aurobindo’s works in a rapture of discovery.
Plunging Ahead
In the beginning, there was nothing except a bank account in the Auroville Association’s name and some papers filed by the lawyer with state and federal authorities. What to do next? Let people know that the channel was there waiting to be used.
I asked Al, my husband, to serve as our treasurer. He brought diligent attention and care to maintaining our records. It is one thing to feel confidence in money, but another to learn how to handle it with meticulous attention to detail. I was impatient and relaxed about such details, although always interested in economics that didn’t transfer to the nitty-gritty of accounting.
From Al we learned the necessity of maintaining a “paper trail,” not to mix accounts, an absolute tally of receipts, and to balance the checkbook to the last penny. In 1974, because of this precise record keeping, he was able to produce for us the documentation needed to obtain our final ruling from the IRS as a 501 (c) (3) educational, non-profit foundation. It has proven a most valuable tool in our on-going ability to raise money for Auroville. It is with this tool that we interface with the financial world at large.
Another teacher was Jyotipriya, founder of the East West Cultural Center in Los Angeles. She severely but laughingly admonished us on the necessity of a fine-tuned record in Mother’s work. “You never know when the IRS will appear and demand an accounting. Be prepared.” She could produce her records in 10 minutes for examination, and did.
We were also naive about money in other ways. When one sets out to “win money back all sorts of things are set in motion, including monumental battles with one’s own kind, revelations of personal egos, and, sometimes, attacks on the subtle physical that you become aware of as a physical unease that saps energy. Only Mother’s protection can take care of it, and you go on.
Such difficulties are by no means limited to this Yoga, but in this light, handling money becomes an instrument of consciousness rather than simply something to go through. On the other hand, I, along with my co-workers, have found handling money for Auroville a privilege. At times I’d feel bathed in a wave of gratitude that accompanied a gift.
The Gentle Penetrating Wind
In retrospect. it was one particular gift that quickened and deepened the newly formed money channel of the Auroville Association. I can’t remember when the first check came – it was in the early years when we had just opened for business. After the first check a donation to the Matrimandir, a check came every month without fail. We have never met the donor nor spoken with him. The donation, not large but getting larger over the years, is absolutely steady.
It reminds me of the spirit of the I Ching: the gentle penetrating wind. It is a gift whose “influence never lapses, always in the same direction” with an ardent aspiration. The check comes on the first of the month. I think it must be written first not after all the bills are paid like many of us, and continues to this day. Now that kind of giving has the power to break barriers.
I have also been bowled over by the confidence and generosity of donors of goodwill who see Aurovillc simply as the City the Earth Needs, a site and an adventure that belongs to humanity as a whole. The gifts given in this spirit have helped Auroville take a leap forward in its development not otherwise possible.
The experience of working with money via AVI-USA carries a different perspective than that Margo has seen with the FWE, where responding to requests for funds is the main experience. Although Auroville turns to AVI-USA and expects support, reflecting what Mother has said about America and its role, and we, in turn, have sought money through grants and other appeals, most of the donors give because they have been touched physically by Auroville. That direct experience inspires the gift
Going “Pucca”
In the 70’s it was unthinkable not to send 100%of donated money to Auroville. I felt my personal needs and the expenses of the fledgling organization would be taken care of, and they were. It was appropriate for a newly born Auroville. Gradually that changed as Auroville grew. A respected advisor pointed out that it was poor management not to set aside a percent of donations to help develop an organization.
Reluctantly I went with the shift. It has made a difference, a big difference and enabled AVI-USA to keep a pucca office, and strengthened our ability to serve Auroville not only in channeling funds but in communication and networking.
The latter while not producing a demonstrable income, does help build a reservoir of goodwill and understanding that comes to bear eventually on the money power. All these changes we, were greatly aided by Mary and Jack Alexander willingly taking on the major responsibility for our finances and offices in Sacramento.
Where Are the Magical Megabucks?
As for the large scale support Mother had seen coming from America for Auroville, why hasn’t it come full tide? I don’t have a ready answer. All of us have wrestled with that one and felt guilty, felt that we had fallen short of accomplishing what was expected, what was described as possible. This expectation has been a weight.
We have made many experiments in our organization and way of working, but none brought quite the expected results. Some months ago at a collective meeting where this was the main topic, we said, “OK”. This is what we are, truly, not what we wish we were; these are our time and responsibility constraints of the moment”
We decided that we would continue to go all out for those magical megabucks, but we would set aside the non-productive feelings of guilt. Collective handling of money and decisions concerning money are tough but can also lead to deepening bonds of support and growth not otherwise possible, I believe.
Also, until quite recently Auroville couldn’t have handled millions of dollars dropping down, as many there were the first to admit But that is changing. Now the Auroville community is ever more complex, more assured and clear in handling resources; willing to persevere to work through knots that continue to enclose money matters. So I expect the flow of funds will reflect Auroville’s increasing maturity, material depth, and ability to utilize abundance.
Yes, it does seem to me that people generally are more fearful of the future less willing to take risks, make adventures – more so than in the 70’s and 80’s. But I think that this mood is only temporary and will not stand in the way of giving to higher causes that are seen to enrich life. Putting out the call can lift people who harbor aspirations for a changed humanity out of these concerns through giving to something they feel will help make that change
.
At this stage, I think it would be interesting to join forces and energies to create an overall planned giving program that would generate bequests, trusts, and any other vehicles to benefit Auroville, FWE, and the USA centers to take the generation of money to another term reflecting the seamless whole.