Village Action programmes emphasise community organisation, women's empowerment, and education of children.  There is a challenge before Auroville to practice human unity in the face of an enormous culture gap among the humans on the plateau here.  We are working on the consciousness of the village people, stimulating them to their own "peak experiences", encouraging them to take the steps in front of them to realise life as unending education.  And at the same time we are working on our own consciousness, expanding our awareness as we provide opportunities for them to do the same.

In support of village agriculture, Village Action runs a unit which processes organically grown food and supports a sustainable agriculture thrust, and a chemical laboratory which tests water for salinity, soil for nutrients, and food for pesticides. 

Village Action helps women to start meeting together, speak out among themselves, and take action in the community. This shows their effectiveness, which is a move toward changing the status quo of their opression in rural India. There are savings groups with the village women, which help them toward more financial independence. 

For children, Village Action helps educated village youth to run nightschools for the younger children, and sends "animators," trained in progressive methods of education, to the government schools to offer special classes. Village Action also runs three pre-schools, one day school for drop out children, and one vocational training programme for teenage girls. 

Village Action is looking to set up an economic programme to train and support with marketing new entrepreneurs making locally useful articles. The Village Action Group is an association of mostly self-motivated people who run the various programmes; Bhavana coordinates and raises funds. They are looking forward to a time when they can bring all the activities together on one campus. This would be a place of learning for the villagers, a place where the coordinators and staff can further intensify the community building among themselves. 

In this work she learned a lot from her Tamil colleagues and the local people about community organisation, and noticed the essential similarity between the skills and methods used by social development workers and by "new age" group practice. 

Bhavana writes: 

"In l990 I moved into Verité, an intentional community within Auroville focused on ecological lifestyle and spiritual community. Here, in community with ten others having a similar commitment to collective yoga,  it has been possible to further experience and understand the possibilities for community consciousness and its relation to the individual sadhana as well as the sadhana of the planet. These understandings are not at all intellectual, simply the result of practice and openness. This it will be delightful to share. 

In Verité Community I'm presently in charge of Guest bookings, and also with developing when possible a sense of community among the guests and between the guests and the members. 

In Auroville I have served on Working Committee and other all-Auroville bodies. I'm interested in evoking an awareness of group process and group spirit, which I believe allows a conscious group to tune into higher forces (in mobs we see how an unconsious group can tune into lower forces) which can help take our planet to its next stage in evolution."