Last updated: 29 Aug, 2024

12 Meditation rooms inside the "Petals"

In January 1972, the Mother gave to the architect the following documents:

1) Sri Aurobindo’s instructions for the colours of her symbol,
2) a colour chart of her symbol and
3) the list of the Mother’s twelve ‘Virtues’.

“Centre and four powers, white.

The twelve all different colours in three groups:

top group red, passing to orange towards yellow;

next group, yellow passing through green towards blue; and

third group, blue passing through violet towards red

If white is not convenient, the centre may be gold (powder).”

Sri Aurobindo 20^th March 193420^th March 1934

The Mother wrote the following list of 12 Virtues in French and explained that the first eight represent attitudes towards the Divine and the last four attitudes towards humanity.

Sincerity, Humility, Gratitude,

Perseverance, Aspiration, Receptivity,

Progress, Courage, Kindness,

Generosity, Equality, Peace.

Inside petal - Sincerity

In July 1972, she told him verbally how to match the colours and the Virtues.

The colour light blue for Sincerity and dark blue for Peace.

Rotate counter-clockwise.[1]

[1] Note that the Gardens too rotate counter-clockwise and that so do the twin central staircases and twin spiral ramps.

Inside the petal - Humility

All 12 rooms have the same shape, a flattened sphere (like the Matrimandir itself but smaller). The insides of the shell of these rooms are painted in different colours: Sincerity is pale blue, Humility and Gratitude have different shades of green, Perseverance is yellow, Aspiration is golden yellow, Receptivity is orange, Courage is red, Generosity is violet and Peace is dark blue. All the other rooms have colours in between those mentioned above.

So, one sits and concentrates on a particular Virtue while being bathed in the light of the corresponding colour.

So, one sits on a concrete slab clad with white marble, which seems to float inside the flattened sphere. The rooms are air conditioned and there is an object of concentration at eye level (if one sits on the floor). This object is a translucent oval disc (made of Glass Reinforced Plastic) which is placed in front of a small window through which natural light enters at daytime. At night time electrical light produces a similar effect. An Auroville artist, Shanta, designed some geometrical patterns on these objects of concentration: a different pattern for each room.

Inside the petal - Aspiration

Inside the petal - Receptivity

A circular corridor gives access to these 12 meditation rooms. The outer wall of each one of these sections of corridor is clad with red sandstones and the architect has used the pattern created by the joints between the stones to try and express each particular Virtue. (For example, in the corridor of Peace, the joints between stones are horizontal and thick; but horizontal in the corridor of Humility, the joints are very discreet.)