The visit of the President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, to Auroville today has proceeded well. On behalf of the Government of Tamil Nadu, Mrs. Patil was welcomed by Dr. (Tmt) Poongothai, Minister for Social Welfare. On behalf of the Auroville community she was welcomed by Aster Patel, Mr. Ramaswamy, Krishna Tewari, Shraddhavan, Gilles Guigan, and Hilde and Carel on behalf of the Working Committee.
Ms. Patil was accompanied by Mr. Mukut Mithi, Lt. Governor of Pondicherry, and Thiru. N. Rangasamy, Chief Minister of Pondicherry.
The President visited the ‘Progress’ meditation chamber in the petal and then went up to the Chamber, where she meditated for some time. She expressed a vivid interest in the Matrimandir and it was explained to her that the physical building is as a landscape of the inner journey.
On leaving the President issued the following message:
“Auroville is the atom which has the inherent power of filling the world with humanity, peace, progress, tolerance and harmony. It gives a chance to explore by the coming together of the right thinking people of different cultures all around the word.”