Blessing of an elephant
A few Sundays ago, during a visit to Pondicherry I watched each member of our learning community walk up to the temple elephant, Lakshmi and offer a small coin, which was taken easily by her trunk and given to her trainer. Then, to the delight and laughter of all, the elephant raised her trunk and tapped each one of us on the head in blessing. Thus we have walked about Pondicherry and Auroville with the blessing of Ganesh, the elephant-headed god that offers protection, abundance and the removal of obstacles.
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A few Sundays ago, during a visit to Pondicherry I watched each member of our learning community walk up to the temple elephant, Lakshmi and offer a small coin, which was taken easily by her trunk and given to her trainer. Then, to the delight and laughter of all, the elephant raised her trunk and tapped each one of us on the head in blessing. Thus we have walked about Pondicherry and Auroville with the blessing of Ganesh, the elephant-headed god that offers protection, abundance and the removal of obstacles.
Later in the day we joined many Pondicherry residents for a Sunday walk along the sea wall that protected the city from the tsunami of late December. Along the way we paused to enjoy the sea air and listened to some classical Indian music performed in front of the Gandhi statue which local children were climbing and sliding down as if it was a playground slide .
Later again that week, we joined a group of volunteers organized by the Auroville Tsunami Relief Group to go out and help a seaside community clean up the extensive debris left by the ocean waves. We hauled broken trees and fallen thatch rooves off to burn piles on the beach, and helped village men shift their damaged fishing boats from the coconut trees to be closer to the ocean. The combined energy of villagers, Aurovillians and visitors like ourselves made for a significant work force that was later celebrated through the sharing of tea, biscuits, fresh coconut milk and shared smiles. It was a day of giving back to community and continuing a story of recovery from a disaster that impacted the world
In this complex cultural reality of Auroville (a community of over 40 nationalities which is situated within the state of Tamil Nadu and within India) we continue to encounter experiences such as our elephant blessing, which offer a contrast to our Western world views. These experiences reveal expectations, and challenge the stereotypes and generalizations that we have of India or the less industrialized world. We have directly explored the difference between these world views during various seminars and field trips.
During a recent seminar offered by Deepti, an Indian Aurovillian historian and teacher, we explored the ancient spiritual texts that have continued to shape present day life in India. These included the Vedas, Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, whose vision led to the foundation of Auroville. Shankar, a Tamil Aurovillia instructed us in Tamil language and culture, further illustrating differences in worldviews. Our community continues to explore and benefit from the opportunities and challenges of cross-cultural learning.
During the past two weeks, students were fully immersed in their internships. Christine, Casey, Byron and Heather have been working with Krishna on Solitude Farm, fertilizing and planting and learning about natural farming techniques. Lindsay, Dena and Janice have been learning about organic market gardening at Windarra Farm with Friederike, a dutch Aurovilliam. Emily and Gillian traveled to Pondicherry to see an Indian film with Zarina and the young women from the Life Education Centre, which works with Tamil village women on leadership, skill development and addressing issues in their homes and communities. Caleb and Michael explored a remnant patch of the original Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest that surrounds a local temple. With Johnny, the internship supervisor of Fertile Windfarm. Sophia has been making flutes at the Mohanam Cultural Centre, and helped out at a local village cultural festival. Tanya and Ali have been making organic health food products with Anandi at the Kottakarai Organic Food Processing Unit, and baked a cake for Michael’s birthday.
We have also been going on field trips including a visit to Auroville’s Centre for Scientific Research (CSR), where we learned about many of the different sustainable and appropriate technologies that Auroville has worked with including living machines, biogas production, solar technologies, earth building and water harvesting. We also visited Kaluvelli Tank, a small lake that is a key water source in Auroville’s ecological bioregion. There we saw a wide variety of birds including the Red-wattled Lapwing, explored the wetlands,and rediscovered the joy of playing in water and mud.
This week, in addition to internships and community work, we are participating in the UNESCO International Youth Conference, where over 100 youth delegates from the South Asian Region countries have come to Auroville to learn about Integral Sustainability and Human Unity. Our learning community is participating in sessions with the delegates on; Spirituality and Religion, Explorations in Education, Art and Culture, and Explorations in Integral Development. Films are also a part of this shared learning time, including Baraka and Winged Migration. Concurrently, this week also holds the celebration of the birthday of The Mother on February 21st, one of the key founders of Auroville and Auroville’s thirty-eigth birthday celebration on February 28th.
Yesterday, we met as a community to select future seminar topics. The group chose to hike through one of Auroville’s canyons to learn about natural history, ecology and reforestation work, a seminar on Mantras, Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy and an exploration into Body Awareness and the Art of Chi. Students will continue their internships and have begun working on their first reflection paper. It is amazing to witness the development of the learning community and the growth of individuals as each person finds their own way to connect to and explore Auroville, Tamil culture, India and what it means to be in such a unique, generative and rich place and culture.
brad and Abigail
Posted by: brad davis on Feb 26, 05 | 6:35 am
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