RECURRING EVENT

Towards the Sun

location_on Aurelec
access_time Every Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat @ 09:00 AM from Jan 30
visibility Published for Public
 

Towards the Sun 

From  Akhet - Aten, 
Amarna, Egypt to  Auroville, India

Photo Exhibition
Aurelec Cafeteria & Art Gallery

In Ancient Egypt they worshipped many gods. The Sun-God was called Aten. When Amenhotep IV became the Pharaoh he changed his name to Akhen-Aten, which means “One who serves Aten”, the Sun God. He tried his best to change Egyptian worship of many gods into worship of only one god, the Sun God.  Sri Aurobindo says that the Sun universally stands for the Supramental Truth, which is the New Consciousness that he and Mother brought for the earth and mankind. 
History tells us that Akhenaten was strongly influenced by his mother, Queen Tiye, who we now know was Mother. Pharaoh Akhenaten moved the whole capitol of Egypt from Thebes to a new city that he built, and there is even an inauguration date: February 22nd 1347 BCE (give or take a week or two). Akhenaten called his new city Akhet-Aten  which means “City of the Horizon”. We know that in the 1960’s Mother planned to build her new city called “New Horizon” near Ustery Lake, Pondicherry. 
Akhenaten founded his “City of the Horizon” with these words. “Here is the place that belongs to No person, No god. Nobody owns it. It is Everybody’s place. The earth will find its Joy in it. Hearts will be Happy in it.” 
In 1968 AD, three thousand, three hundred and thirty seven years later, Mother founded Auroville. She said Auroville meant “City of Dawn”. A city named for the time the sun comes up over the horizon. She used words very similar to the words Akhenaten used. Just like Akhenaten, Mother said, “Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole.” Mother also called Auroville “The City the Earth needs.” Akhenaten said, “The Earth will find its Joy in it.” In his new City of the Horizon, Pharao Akhenaten and his wife Queen Nefertiti built a temple to the Light. Up to that time, all Egyptian temples were filled with statues and paintings of gods and goddesses and people went there to worship their many gods. Akhenaten’s new temple was empty inside. There were no statues, no paintings; nothing for traditional worship. 
Mother put the Sun Temple Matrimandir in the centre of Auroville. She said the Matrimandir should not have any images or photographs and it should not be used for any form of worship or ritual. The Inner Chamber of the Matrimandir is lit by a ray of the sun at its centre. Akhenaten means one who serves the Sun God. We can see that long ago Akhenaten’s Temple to the Light, in his City of the Horizon was like Mother’s Matrimandir in Auroville, her City of Dawn
Mother explained that; “Akhenaten’s revelation aimed at revealing to the humanity of that time the Unity of the Divine with its Manifestation.” 
This is the Unity that the new beings in Auroville will also realize - the eternal Divine Truth of Love that they are and the Divine Truth of that Love which is also our physical universe. 
Mother said that Ahkhenaten’s attempt was premature – men were not ready for it. She said that it had to be expressed more than three thousand years ago, so it would keep on living on the Mental Plane. It has been in the Universal Mind, which is open to everyone, and it has come down through time to us here in Auroville and to people all over the world. Akhenaten and Mother were doing the same work when they each built their city. Mother was helping Akhenaten build his city in Ancient Egypt when she was his mother, Queen Tiye. 
 
(This text is an excerpt of an upcoming Prisma publication: The Mother on Egypt. From Akhen-Aten (Amarna) to Auroville, Towards the Sun.)