AuroFilms
The Mother – On Films
“Films are permitted in the Ashram not as an amusement but as part of education. So we are faced with the problem of education. If we consider that the child should learn and know only what can keep him pure of every low, crude, violent and degrading movement, we would have to eliminate at a stroke all contact with the rest of humanity, beginning with all these stories of war and murder, of conflict and deception which go under the name of history; we would have to eliminate all present contact with family, relatives and friends; we would have to exercise control over all the vital impulses of their being.
“This was the idea behind the enclosed monastic life of convents, or the ascetic life in caves and forests. This remedy proved to be quite ineffectual and failed to pull mankind out of the mire.
“According to Sri Aurobindo, the remedy is quite different. We must face life as a whole, with all the ugliness, falsehood and cruelty it still contains, but we must take care to discover in ourselves the source of all goodness, all beauty, all light and all truth, in order to bring this source consciously into contact with the world so as to transform it.
“This is infinitely more difficult than running away or shutting our eyes so as not to see, but it is the only truly effective way—the way of those who are truly strong and pure and capable of manifesting the Truth.”
– 29 May 1968
Origins
The Mother set up a production unit for the making of films with a higher ideal and purpose. It was called ‘Aurofilms’ with the inspiring motto – ‘Aurofilms at the service of Beauty and Truth’.
The name AuroFilms was given by the Mother and was started with Her blessings, as part of the Sri Aurobindo Society, to make films with a higher ideal inspired by the vision of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
AuroFilms’ first three films were made to mark the occasion of Sri Aurobindo’s birth centenary in 1972. These were on Sri Aurobindo, the Ashram and on the Centre of Education. They contained rare shots of the Mother giving Darshan from the balcony.
AuroFilms
List of videos made under AuroFilms
The Transformation – Documentary (2022)
In 2022, Sri Aurobindo Society released the acclaimed documentary, ‘The Transformation’ which depicts the 1908-1909 period when Sri Aurobindo was in jail in Alipore.
Sri Aurobindo – Glimpses of His Life
This film highlights the major milestones in Sri Aurobindo's life from his childhood to his voyage to India in 1893 when he touched the soil of India. Wanting the liberation of India, he then launched Bande Mataram, and finally his arrival in Pondicherry on 4th April, 1910.
Sri Aurobindo and His Ashram
This film narrates the various stages of India's development from the beginning when spirituality was its very essence to modern times when humanity faces unsurmountable crises. It then goes on to recount how Sri Aurobindo Ashram was established in Pondicherry.
A New Experiment in Education
Sri Aurobindo says, "The first principle of true teaching is that nothing can be taught. The teacher is not an instructor or taskmaster, he is a helper and guide." This in-depth film introduces Integral Education as founded by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother which embodies a new system of education called "Free Progress Education".