Matrimandir Gardens and Nursery
A sequence of development
— Narad (Richard Eggenberger)
| Price: Rs 450 Pages: 225 Dimensions (in cms): 14x21 | Soft Cover |
| Publisher: PRISMA, Auroville | |
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About Matrimandir Gardens and Nursery
A semi-autobiographical and historical account of the development of the Matrimandir Nursery and Gardens by Narad, a central figure in both the planning and execution of the gardens, this is an eclectic collection of notes, letters, articles, and photos from a variety of sources. It includes correspondence between Narad and the Mother as well as notes and letters with other central workers and government agencies involved. The text covers joyful moments of harmony and progress, the recurring obstacles put forth by the nature of the physical work, and the complications that arose between factions that disagreed over vision and implementation. It also provides a wider perspective on life in and around the Matrimandir site, the Matrimandir Nursery, and the gardens.
REVIEW
In his beautiful Homage to the Service Tree Narad (Richard Eggenberger) remembers something from his youth that has stayed with him for decades, and which is still there with him: “I had pruned trees with my father for many years and learned from him the sanctity of Nature and the respect one must have when working with her.” Over the years not only did that sanctity mature, it has grown into a worshipping devotion, a dedication, a means of entering the inner realms of one’s being.
This horticulturist of exceptional quality and visionary of the Gardens of the Future had arrived on the scene to serve the Mother, to develop the Matrimandir’s twelve gardens envisioned and named by her. In his book Matrimandir Gardens and Nursery, we have Narad’s own account of the work entrusted to him, an account made precious by the addition of quotations from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother relevant to the names given to the different gardens. Here are the powers of the universal Mother in the terrestrial working, the fourfold order based on the fourfold nature of the soul in the evolutionary process. The key stipulation for human nature to change into the dynamic divine nature lies in the four powers of the Divine Mahashakti, founding their harmony and freedom of movement in the universal functioning.
The Grace is bestowed to work for the Matrimandir in its integrality, an extraordinary privilege, and Narad has received that Grace in its extraordinariness. The early pages of the book comprise Narad’s account of how the Gardens project started and how he applied himself to it. In a letter dated 14 January 1972, he wrote to friends: “The Mother has granted us a small monthly working fund which, due to our constant expansion, will not continue to serve us too much longer. There are many needs which are absolutely essential for this work in order to realize her vision and to bring it into full manifestation.” That is how financial help was sought.
About designs for the Matrimandir Gardens Narad writes: “I have seen many beautiful gardens in the world....They are often creative masterpieces... It will take designers who are essentially open to the Divine Vision...dedicated to the manifestation of supreme beauty...able to catch the Force that wants to descend and surround the Matrimandir.”
The Mother, an occult-spiritual Yogini par excellence, had a firm grounding in the fields of music and painting, and this she carried farther into their “Future”. Likewise, there shall be a future architecture, sculpture, choreography, sports discipline, and a future food for the new body. And we have another to add to the list, the Matrimandir Gardens, the Gardens of the Future, “dedicated to the manifestation of supreme beauty”. To quote Roger Anger, whom the Mother commissioned as the architect for the project of Auroville: “The Matrimandir Gardens as a whole cannot be compared or identified with the realisation of any past or present garden for they have to respond to the indications given by the Mother to manifest a specific beauty and various states of consciousness.… It will be more in the nature of a quest, to allow the manifestation of a vision, rather than a mental endeavour that seeks to achieve a symbiosis of the traditional gardening forms, be they Japanese or Western.” (https://auroville-learning.net/av_opportunity/gardens-design/)
Yet there are human factors involved in this endeavour. One of the saddest incidents narrated by Narad occurred during the early history of Auroville, just a handful of years after the Mother’s withdrawal from her body. A young girl came running to the Matrimandir Nursery, crying out “The gundas at Bharat Nivas are beating Frederick and David to death. Please help.” The lingering Christian/American humanism arose in Narad and he rushed to the spot, leaving aside his garden work. His intervention resulted in a rock being thrown by one of the thugs, causing a serious injury to his head. Afterwards, he was taken to see Nolini in the Ashram who “turned almost white on seeing the large bandages and gave me his blessing”.
There are forces active against the Mother’s vision and work, and the human instrument lends itself easily to that hostile work. Towards the end of his book Narad writes a note, on page 223: “Sri Aurobindo spoke of a perfect perfection and indeed the Matrimandir Gardens will exemplify this... In fact they are already built in the subtle physical and only await manifestation on the physical plane.”That is of course true, but there is a big leap from the subtle to the physical and one cannot be confident that the Gardens will be built exactly according to the Divine Will. Humans are still too human for that to necessarily happen.
There is a difference of opinion and execution of a plan connected with the Banyan Tree at the center of Auroville, which stood witness to the inauguration of the City of Dawn on 28 February 1968. Narad is careful in presenting his point of view. One foot of soil was put over the whole area to achieve the level Roger, the Mother’s Auroville architect, wanted. But Narad feels extremely disappointed about what they have done, that they have poured reinforced concrete over the roots, and laid Agra stone, and then put heavy granite benches on the top of that. “I feel that...what is being done under and around the Banyan is a sacrilege and an abomination.”
Whatever that may be, we must applaud the fact that Narad’s Matrimandir Gardens and Nursery is a valuable gift to future generations. It forms not only an authentic archival document of the time, but is enriched by his direct contact with the Mother, who had given him the name “Narad”. Even the play of diverse forces and individuals is educative and enlightening for the astute reader.
There are some dozen books on the Mother’s City of Tomorrow that have recently appeared, and among them Matrimandir Gardens and Nursery has an important place. It is a chronologically ordered collection of various notes, letters, articles, and photos taken by the author. It is a plain narrative of a personal nature and it has no intention of going into the ifs-and-buts or merits-and- demerits of various events and decisions that have impacted the story of Auroville.
We will celebrate along with Narad when he discloses on page 148: “Mary Helen and I made a world tour of botanical gardens in 1977 to collect the best species and hybrids of trees and shrubs for the Matrimandir Gardens.... No one ever refused to help... We reached Singapore so overloaded that the people looked at us with incredulity. Somehow, we contacted Devan Nair… and he had everything sent through without any duty.” The ‘moral’ is that when you work for the Mother, the Mother arranges everything for you, that is, for herself!
Included is a photograph of a jubilant young Narad seated on the ground in the august company of Nirodbaran and Champaklal and others from the Ashram. “There was joy of walking,” writes Narad, “with Champaklal and Nirodbaran during the flower show” at Matrimandir Nursery.
The blurb on the back cover of Matrimandir Gardens and Nursery describes Narad as “a highly regarded poet and author of numerous works on spiritual themes. Horticulturist, opera singer, musician, and tropical plant specialist, his Handbook on Plumeria Culture is a classic.” We must add that he is also a lexicographer who gave us a valuable dictionary on the words in Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri, titled Lexicon of an Infinite Mind, a phrase appropriately picked up from Savitri.
Congratulations to the Mother’s celebrated horticulturist. But she herself is the Divine Horticulturist! Let us conclude with the Mother’s assurance written in 1971: “I am always present, near you, in you, and my blessings come with me.… Be sure that I am always present among you to guide and help you in your work and your sadhana.”
—R.Y. Deshpande
Deshpande-ji, a research physicist and former professor of physics at SAICE, is a published poet and the author of several book-length studies of Savitri, in addition to other prose works. He also served as associate editor of Mother India for several years.
Reviewed in February, 2024
This horticulturist of exceptional quality and visionary of the Gardens of the Future had arrived on the scene to serve the Mother, to develop the Matrimandir’s twelve gardens envisioned and named by her. In his book Matrimandir Gardens and Nursery, we have Narad’s own account of the work entrusted to him, an account made precious by the addition of quotations from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother relevant to the names given to the different gardens. Here are the powers of the universal Mother in the terrestrial working, the fourfold order based on the fourfold nature of the soul in the evolutionary process. The key stipulation for human nature to change into the dynamic divine nature lies in the four powers of the Divine Mahashakti, founding their harmony and freedom of movement in the universal functioning.
The Grace is bestowed to work for the Matrimandir in its integrality, an extraordinary privilege, and Narad has received that Grace in its extraordinariness. The early pages of the book comprise Narad’s account of how the Gardens project started and how he applied himself to it. In a letter dated 14 January 1972, he wrote to friends: “The Mother has granted us a small monthly working fund which, due to our constant expansion, will not continue to serve us too much longer. There are many needs which are absolutely essential for this work in order to realize her vision and to bring it into full manifestation.” That is how financial help was sought.
About designs for the Matrimandir Gardens Narad writes: “I have seen many beautiful gardens in the world....They are often creative masterpieces... It will take designers who are essentially open to the Divine Vision...dedicated to the manifestation of supreme beauty...able to catch the Force that wants to descend and surround the Matrimandir.”
The Mother, an occult-spiritual Yogini par excellence, had a firm grounding in the fields of music and painting, and this she carried farther into their “Future”. Likewise, there shall be a future architecture, sculpture, choreography, sports discipline, and a future food for the new body. And we have another to add to the list, the Matrimandir Gardens, the Gardens of the Future, “dedicated to the manifestation of supreme beauty”. To quote Roger Anger, whom the Mother commissioned as the architect for the project of Auroville: “The Matrimandir Gardens as a whole cannot be compared or identified with the realisation of any past or present garden for they have to respond to the indications given by the Mother to manifest a specific beauty and various states of consciousness.… It will be more in the nature of a quest, to allow the manifestation of a vision, rather than a mental endeavour that seeks to achieve a symbiosis of the traditional gardening forms, be they Japanese or Western.” (https://auroville-learning.net/av_opportunity/gardens-design/)
Yet there are human factors involved in this endeavour. One of the saddest incidents narrated by Narad occurred during the early history of Auroville, just a handful of years after the Mother’s withdrawal from her body. A young girl came running to the Matrimandir Nursery, crying out “The gundas at Bharat Nivas are beating Frederick and David to death. Please help.” The lingering Christian/American humanism arose in Narad and he rushed to the spot, leaving aside his garden work. His intervention resulted in a rock being thrown by one of the thugs, causing a serious injury to his head. Afterwards, he was taken to see Nolini in the Ashram who “turned almost white on seeing the large bandages and gave me his blessing”.
There are forces active against the Mother’s vision and work, and the human instrument lends itself easily to that hostile work. Towards the end of his book Narad writes a note, on page 223: “Sri Aurobindo spoke of a perfect perfection and indeed the Matrimandir Gardens will exemplify this... In fact they are already built in the subtle physical and only await manifestation on the physical plane.”That is of course true, but there is a big leap from the subtle to the physical and one cannot be confident that the Gardens will be built exactly according to the Divine Will. Humans are still too human for that to necessarily happen.
There is a difference of opinion and execution of a plan connected with the Banyan Tree at the center of Auroville, which stood witness to the inauguration of the City of Dawn on 28 February 1968. Narad is careful in presenting his point of view. One foot of soil was put over the whole area to achieve the level Roger, the Mother’s Auroville architect, wanted. But Narad feels extremely disappointed about what they have done, that they have poured reinforced concrete over the roots, and laid Agra stone, and then put heavy granite benches on the top of that. “I feel that...what is being done under and around the Banyan is a sacrilege and an abomination.”
Whatever that may be, we must applaud the fact that Narad’s Matrimandir Gardens and Nursery is a valuable gift to future generations. It forms not only an authentic archival document of the time, but is enriched by his direct contact with the Mother, who had given him the name “Narad”. Even the play of diverse forces and individuals is educative and enlightening for the astute reader.
There are some dozen books on the Mother’s City of Tomorrow that have recently appeared, and among them Matrimandir Gardens and Nursery has an important place. It is a chronologically ordered collection of various notes, letters, articles, and photos taken by the author. It is a plain narrative of a personal nature and it has no intention of going into the ifs-and-buts or merits-and- demerits of various events and decisions that have impacted the story of Auroville.
We will celebrate along with Narad when he discloses on page 148: “Mary Helen and I made a world tour of botanical gardens in 1977 to collect the best species and hybrids of trees and shrubs for the Matrimandir Gardens.... No one ever refused to help... We reached Singapore so overloaded that the people looked at us with incredulity. Somehow, we contacted Devan Nair… and he had everything sent through without any duty.” The ‘moral’ is that when you work for the Mother, the Mother arranges everything for you, that is, for herself!
Included is a photograph of a jubilant young Narad seated on the ground in the august company of Nirodbaran and Champaklal and others from the Ashram. “There was joy of walking,” writes Narad, “with Champaklal and Nirodbaran during the flower show” at Matrimandir Nursery.
The blurb on the back cover of Matrimandir Gardens and Nursery describes Narad as “a highly regarded poet and author of numerous works on spiritual themes. Horticulturist, opera singer, musician, and tropical plant specialist, his Handbook on Plumeria Culture is a classic.” We must add that he is also a lexicographer who gave us a valuable dictionary on the words in Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri, titled Lexicon of an Infinite Mind, a phrase appropriately picked up from Savitri.
Congratulations to the Mother’s celebrated horticulturist. But she herself is the Divine Horticulturist! Let us conclude with the Mother’s assurance written in 1971: “I am always present, near you, in you, and my blessings come with me.… Be sure that I am always present among you to guide and help you in your work and your sadhana.”
—R.Y. Deshpande
Deshpande-ji, a research physicist and former professor of physics at SAICE, is a published poet and the author of several book-length studies of Savitri, in addition to other prose works. He also served as associate editor of Mother India for several years.
Reviewed in February, 2024
