In the quiet of an Auroville morning, when the air is still scented with the night jasmine and the red earth hums beneath your feet, a thought returns to me—gently, insistently:
Can fashion be a sacred act?
This question has followed me like a shadow, like a thread, for over two decades. Not a fashionable thread, not even a textile thread in the ordinary sense, but a sacred one—woven not just from fibres, but from intentions, from awareness, and from the deep feminine wisdom that listens before it speaks, feels before it acts.
Beginnings
When I arrived in Auroville, I didn’t come with a plan. I came with a longing.
A longing to live in truth. To create beauty that heals. To serve—not just people, not just culture—but something subtler and higher. Call it consciousness, call it the Divine, call it Love.
That’s where Upasana was born. Not from market research or branding, but from a silent invocation.
One day, as I sat on the studio floor with some fabric and a few women from the village, I said aloud: “Let’s begin.”
We didn’t know what we were beginning. But there was sincerity. And there was presence. That was enough.
The Real Fabric
Clothing, you see, is never just clothing. Especially in India. A sari is not merely six yards of cloth—it is memory, identity, offering, protection, and often, protest. A bindi, a dupatta, a handwoven shawl—these are not accessories. They are expressions of a living culture, of a relationship with time, space, and spirit.
When you touch the warp and weft of handspun khadi or the luminous silk of Varanasi, you touch the lives of many: the weaver, the farmer, the dyer, the mother who wraps her baby in the same fabric. You touch history. You touch soul.
And yet, somewhere along the way, fashion lost its soul.
It became speed, not spirit. Consumption, not communion. We outsourced not just our labour, but our sense of meaning.
That’s why Upasana never wanted to be a fashion brand in the traditional sense. We are a space of healing—using design as our medicine.
From Tragedy, Purpose
In 2004, when the tsunami struck the coast of Tamil Nadu, it devastated entire villages. I walked among the wreckage, not as a designer, but as a woman. I saw children without homes, mothers without work, lives swept away.
What does fashion have to do with this?
Everything—and nothing.
We began the Tsunamika project with no business model, no strategy. Only love. We invited the women to sit together, stitch small dolls, tell their stories. The dolls became symbols of resilience, of life stitched back together—thread by thread.
Over 6 million dolls have been shared worldwide since then, and not one has ever been sold. They are gifts, carriers of care. In this, we discovered something profound: design can be prayer.
Sri Aurobindo and The Mother
In the spiritual vision of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, work is yoga. True work is not mechanical—it is consecrated. It refines your nature, deepens your consciousness, connects the inner and outer worlds.
At Upasana, we try to live this.
Each garment, each design, each interaction with artisans is an opportunity—to align. To serve. To grow.
I often ask my team: Who are we when we create? What energy do we bring? Are we simply making a product—or are we participating in a transformation?
This shift—from doing to offering—is the sacred thread. And it changes everything.
The Feminine in Fashion
As a woman, I have witnessed both the oppression and the liberation that clothing can bring. In patriarchal societies, the female body is often either hidden or displayed—but rarely honoured.
Can fashion be a way to reclaim dignity?
Can a garment help a woman feel whole?
We design not to impress, but to express. Our silhouettes are not about perfection—they are about presence. We allow the cloth to breathe, to move, to listen to the body. We respect the skin. We honour modesty not as shame, but as sacredness.
There is a softness in our work that comes from the feminine. Not weakness, but shakti—the creative force of the universe.
Sustainability Is Not a Trend
Sustainability is a strange word. It often means less harm. But in our worldview, that is not enough.
We want to do good—not just less bad.
This is why we work with organic cotton, natural dyes, recycled materials, and zero-waste practices. But even deeper, we ask: Is this process healing? For the maker? For the Earth? For the wearer?
When you wear something made with care, you feel it. There is a vibration in it. You don’t throw it away. You cherish it.
Fashion can become a teacher of values. A carrier of intention. A holder of memory.
Designing for the Soul
Over the years, I’ve seen how a simple shift in awareness can change everything.
A stitch made with attention is stronger. A colour chosen with love radiates differently. A project birthed from silence reaches further.
This is not poetic indulgence. This is practical spirituality.
We have trained designers to pause before they sketch, to listen to the fabric, to visit the village, to know the weaver’s name. Not as charity—but as relationship.
When you live like this, everything becomes sacred. Even a button, even a label, even a loom.
Walking Forward Together
Upasana is not my creation alone. It belongs to every artisan who has woven with us, every customer who has worn our clothes mindfully, every intern who has been transformed by our approach, every woman who stitched her strength into a Tsunamika.
It is a collective body. A community of consciousness.
In Auroville, we are taught that the future belongs to the collective, not the individual. That evolution is not private, but shared. That true beauty is not what you see in the mirror, but what you reflect in the world.
So we walk together—makers, thinkers, wearers, seekers.
We walk slowly. But we walk truly.
An Invitation
Dear reader, I invite you to consider: What are you wearing today?
Not just the brand or colour—but the story, the energy, the impact.
Does it serve you? Does it serve others? Does it awaken your soul?
Let fashion not be a distraction from meaning, but a path toward it.
Let each garment be a reminder—that we are connected. That we are creative. That we are capable of beauty, of care, of consciousness.
This is the sacred thread I follow. And I hope, somewhere in your own way, you will pick it up too.
With love and presence,
Uma
Founder, Upasana
Auroville, India
