SEVA TIMESM o n t h l y R e p o r t O f Y LT P S e r v i c e A c t i v i t i e s F r o m A c r o s s T h e N a t i o n

December 2014

Arpit Vyas & Vandana 09632973883

Korba, Chhattisgarh: In Chattisgarh, some 8,000 people died in the state in the past 18 months due to liquor con-sumption. But liquor brings in a lot of revenue for the government which has been slow to act to this problem. In 2013-14, the state earned Rs 1,900 crore from liquor sales, which is Rs 900 crore more than the previous year.

In 2013, five Art of Living teach-ers and 10 yuvacharyas visited differ-ent areas of Chhattisgarh and worked towards the development of 18 villag-es of Korba district. They conducted Nav Chetna courses, Rural Happiness Program, and YLTP courses for the residents of these villages said Chan-drasekhar Baghel.

In 2011, Chandrasekhar Baghel, an Art of Living faculty, started de-addiction work in the tribal villages of Korba district of Chhattisgarh. He trained the locals in Nav Chetna shi-vir and conducted group satsangs. After he came across people under the influence of alcohol, he found out the residents prepared alcohol from home from ‘Mahua’ which is abundant in the area.

In Koi village, The Art of Living and NABARD volunteers formed a

group of women who were already trained by The Art of Living and cre-ated awareness on the abuse of alco-hol. The group also collected fines from people who made alcohol, and this gradually brought down the pro-duction.

Now people have stopped sell-ing alcohol and Chandrasekhar has taught them organic farming, which is an alternative source of income. In Koi village, where there are more than 940 people, no one drinks. The villag-ers have started farming in small gar-dens, and they grow mango, papaya, cashew nut, millets and nuts with fi-nancial help from NABARD.

Sri Sri visited Korba to meet the people. Since they had nothing to gift him, they made laddus from dried Mahua and other millets.

Rai Swaroop Sahu, a 31-year-old marketing executive with Bharti In-

dia Private Ltd., said: “I was mostly on field work. I used to leave my house at 8:30 a.m. and in the evening, instead of returning home, I used to sit with my friends and drink. I used to get irritated with the noise my children made and was so addicted that I could not sleep without drinking.”

Madan, another villager, said that after receiving organic farming train-ing from Chandrashekhar, he dug a pit and started a nursery in the back-yard of his house. “The Art of Living helped me to grow mango, papaya, pomo granet, cashew nuts, and also gave me the equipment for farming. They gave me organic seeds of on-ion, cauliflower and other vegetables and fruits. In the programme, they trained us in farming techniques. Earlier, when I was an alcoholic, no one respected me. But now things are different.”

Ajay Shukla, an art of living teach-er, said the Koi village model has been implemented in other villages also. Yuvacharaya Jitendra Nisad, a volun-teer, brought all the women together and the five sarpanchs of Doma and Bade Karela village and started an agi-tation against the sale of liquor. Now, even though the shops exist, no one buys liquor from there.

Chandra Bhan said after getting trained under Art of Living’s organic farming programme he started a nurs-ery. “I grow papaya, mango, lemons, and other plants in it now. My land was infertile, so I was trained in cultivating mixed crops. By growing fruits and vegetables, my land has become fertile and my income has gone up now.”

Chandrasekhar, 09892141665

18 villages in Chhattisgarh adopted for de-addiction

Alcoholics reformed : Cleaning of streets is done on regular bases. Villagers are earning more with the use of organic methods of farming. Free health checkups organized

Construction begins: Yuvacharya Arul Murugan (R) with volunteers

Bringing back childhood innocence : Children in Sonagachi school run by Art of Living volunteers. Women attending a free medical camp

H H Sri Sri Ravishankar says:

Alcohol consumption in India has in-creased three times in just a couple of years, this is alarming. For people in the low income group, it is such a menace. 99% of the crimes against women have happened under the influence of alco-hol. If you want women’s safety in soci-ety, it can never be achieved if alcohol is freely available all over the place.

Secondly, poverty elimination can-not be achieved until you put a stop on the liquor sale. 60% of a common man’s income goes off into just alcohol. Alco-hol is one of the ways to keep people in perennial poverty and violence. When something like alcohol brings ill health, poverty and violence, it disturbs the peace of the family, happiness of fam-ily and peace of society. Why should it not be banned? We must see what hap-pens when you ban it for some time.

There is a saying in Sanskrit, “Kavya Shastra Vinodena Kalo Gacchati Dheematam”. It means, an intelligent person spends his time in knowledge, music, literature, science, and in bring-ing people together. But the foolish al-ways enjoy spending their time indulging in addictions (vyasanam), altercations and fights. All these recreational drugs just destroy your body. It will temporarily give you a little high state that just takes you off from the mundane to a seem-ingly subtle feeling. Drinking alcohol ruins both, your health and your wealth.

Life is very complex, worries do come in life. Friendships break, jobs are lost, losses happen in the business. Such pres-sures are common these days. Today’s environment puts a lot of demands, one becomes stressed and worried. If you are used to social drinking that’s when you start drinking like a fish. When you are tense you want to drink more to get relief from that tension.

A ban should be applicable in India. Of course, alcohol and drugs are sold underground in India. You can’t legal-ize drugs because they are sold under-ground. Illegal things keep happening in the country. You cannot just make all those activities legal. Therefore, it is not the right logic to say “it will be anyway sold underground so why not we sell it openly”. Just compare it with drugs or smoking how they are injurious to health.

There was a time when smoking was a norm of the day. Smoking was never banned/prohibited anywhere. In every airplane, each seat had an ashtray in it meaning, “smoking is a way of life”. But today, we are done with that. Nobody smokes in the aero-plane and it has im-proved the health of the people to a great extent. Similarly alcohol needs to be banned so that it is not freely avail-able.

Alcohol should be banned to ensure safety of women

Project ‘Udaan’ helps sex workers to overcome social stigma in Kolkata

Rajesh Kundu 07762827109

Kolkata, West Bengal: There are approximately 11,000 sex workers in the brothels of Sonagachi and Kalighat in West Bengal, which includes men, transvestites and girls aged 13-20. The commu-nity battles abject poverty, the risk of contracting sexual diseases including HIV, physical torture, violence and premature ageing. Since 2012, Art of Living has worked with sex workers and their children though project Udaan, to bring about a change in their mindset. The deep rooted stigma attached to their work has conditioned them to live in a state of low self-esteem. The sex work-ers have been taught Sudarshan Kriya, yoga and pranayama which has helped them to overcome depression.

In collaboration with the Darbar Mahila Saman-waya Committee, medical check-ups are organised to scan for diseases like diabetes, HIV and other STDs and raise awareness on AIDS. A free learning centre for children studying up to class 4 has been opened, which organises mid-day meals for them.

At least 7000 people have benefitted from these pro-grammes.

The participants of the Happiness Programme and their children were taught yoga, meditation, pranayama and the Sudarshan Kriya. Free medical checkups and medicines were also organised for them.

This project is aimed at saving the next genera-tion from falling into the same trap. The team led by B B Chawla and Subhra Ray worked on the in-culcation of value systems in innocent children, especially girls, and also opened a school for them. At present, 15-20 students attend school and classes started from October 2014.

The project team is determined to establish a boarding school away from Kolkata so that such children can be groomed in a caring atmosphere. Chawlaji said a few devotees from the US have come forward to support the noble cause. Though the team knows that the road ahead is full of thorns and obstacles, they are confident that they will overcome all hurdles.

Project Cortdinator, Shubra Ray: 09830604867

Survey spearheads toilet construction Gurucharan Ambreshvar 09566328604

Coimbatore, Tamilnadu: People in eight panchay-ats have expressed willingness to build toilets, com-pared to any other basic amenity. A survey conduct-ed in these panchayats by Yuvacharyas revealed that people in these villages are willing to make it their top priority. Volunteers and the village authorities have decided to construct toilets in the maximum number of households possible, said Yuvacharya Arul Murgan, project cordinator (09487592891)

The toilet construction project started on 20th November, Thursday, at Sandhegoundanpalayam panchayat. Ten toilets under construction in dif-ferent panchayats have been completed till now. In future, the target is to build 108 toilets in 100 days. This initiative will be a boon for the women residing in these villages.

Providing a safe zone for girls was the other motto of these Yuvacharyas. So they selected fami-lies with more number of females. Volunteers have identified the panchayats of Thamaraikulam, Sand-hegoundanpalayam, Ponnayur and five more vil-lages for this project.

Home-made liquor

Women power

Seva Times2 THE ART OF LIVING, DECEMBER 2014

Arun Kumar 08476846197

Bulandshahar, Uttar Pradesh: In places like Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh, where Mus-lims and Hindus live together, the residents generally don’t take part freely in pro-grammes or activities. But Art of Living’s Hap-piness programme brought them together, irrespective of their religion.

The local volunteers worked towards promoting social interaction, and for the first time, people took part in the happiness pro-gramme. The participants learnt Sudarshan Kriya pranayama and meditation. Teach-ers Vikram Raghuvanshi and Madan Lal La-wania said that every participant enjoyed the programme. They were also thankful that they could de-stress their lives, and ex-perience unconditional happiness and relief from their illnesses.

Shahin, a participantof the programme, said she had high blood pressure. After she enrolled in the programme, she has given up medicines, and is normal now. A post graduate student who took part in the pro-gramme said, “My vision towards life has changed. I feel more confident now, and I can take on the challenges of life fearlessly.”

Jammu, Nov 20: To help women cope with the busy, tense and stressful lifestyle these days, Art of Living Foundation organised a yoga and spiritual camp at CRPF Group Centre, Bantalab, in association with Re-gional CWA (CRPF Family Welfare Asso-ciation). About 120 women from across the various ranks of CRPF families took part in the six-day camp, from November 17-22. Yoga and meditation were an integral part of the programme wherein the participants were taught stress-relieving courses, based on yoga, breathing, and meditation.

The course teacher, Arunima Sinha said Sudarashan Kriya is a powerful, rhythmic breathing technique which cleanses the body and removes deep-rooted physical, mental and emotional blocks. Practical spir-itual knowledge and meditation are taught through an interactive session. Participants experienced stress relief, peace and calm, which in turn promoted better sleep and health.

Asha, who recently lost her husband said, “Sudarshan Kriya helped me to over-come grief.” Seema found the course ben-eficial in dealing with negative emotions. Jayanti Sinha felt relaxed and wanted to repeat the course.

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan at Bilekallahalli

734 students attend ‘Bal Chetna Shivir’ in Manipur

Mallappa D Belamge 09900941479

Chickmagalur, Karnataka: It is im-portant to keep the house and sur-roundings clean. Art of Living vol-unteers, gram panchayat members, PDO (Panchayat Development Of-ficer) and school children partici-pated in cleaning Bilekallahhalli. The drains were clogged with dirt and stones, and about eight tractor-loads of waste were removed and shifted to dry wasteland.

On November 25, ‘Swaccha Bharat Abhiyan’ was kicked off at Bilekallahhalli by zillapanchayat CEO Priyanka Mari Francis. She inaugu-rated the campaign by lighting a lamp and addressed the gathering on clean-liness. She said, “If we keep our home and the surroundings clean, gods will reside in them”. She educated the chil-dren on hygiene and cleanliness and asked them to motivate their parents too. She encouraged the villagers to build toilets, and also created aware-

ness on the separate disposal of dry and wet wastes.

D M Shankar urged the village office and PDO to join hands and resolve issues, as they did not have coordinators. He visited three liquid waste management units in Bilekalla-halli, which were built by Art of Liv-ing volunteers in collaboration with the government.

Rekha Huliyappagowda said that proper disposal of wastes was the need of the hour, especially to keep our homes and the surroundings clean. Ramesh, manager of Corpora-tion Bank, Chikmagalur, spoke about the Jandhan Program. Nijagunamur-thy, president of gram panchayat, em-phasised on the importance of clean-liness.

Girija Shankar, editor of Janami-tra, who is also an environmentalist, was present. Bilekallahalli gram pan-chayat members Veena, Nethravathi, Geetha and PDO Thirupathi Nayak, and volunteers of Art of Living, Ra-maswamy, and school students at-tended the function.Project Cordinator, Nagaraj 9663085224

Rajesh Kundu 07762827109

Manipur: The Art of Living cel-ebrated ‘Bal Diwas’ on November 14, the day which is dedicated exclusively to children. Around 734 students from four different schools participated and attended the five-day ‘Bal Chetna Shivir’ in Manipur.

Bal Chetna Shivir is a dy-namic programme designed for the less privileged in the society. It aims to empower children and

helps them rise to their full po-tential, by making them partici-pate in interactive games, group discussions, creative assignments and stress elimination.

Children are like seeds on fertile soil. If the seed receives enough sunlight, water and air then it grows into a big tree,which in turn gives us fresh fruits, shel-ter and clean air. If children are spiritually inclined, they are willing to learn techniques like breathing, pranayama and medi-

tation. These will help them to suppress their negative emotions, and also groom them towards becoming successful individuals and responsible citizens.

With this in mind, Manipur YLTP coordinator E Anita and her team decided to celebrate Bal Diwas by observing the entire week as ‘Children’s Day Week.’ They organised ‘Bal Chetna Shi-vir’ at Chajing Kangjeibung Jr. High School, Halleey English School, Paree Imom Sindam Sang

in Imphal and the AOL school Sri SriGyanMandir (AOLS/MN/0001) in Bishnupur district. After the Shivir, many children became highly efficient in execut-ing their daily activities.

Among the teachers, E. Ani-ta, T. Shamananda Singh, Gour-das Singh, A Ngounu, D. Sharilla, L.Suman, K.Bhauaman, B. Jam-son Sharma took active part in this event.

Anita Elangbum: 9856138623

Bringing the communities together

Yoga camp for CRPF women at Bantlab

Santoshi Nimbadkar 09644458896

Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh: Art of Liv-ing programmes are taught in 151 countries around the world, and their reach is beyond culture and religion. “Stress is experienced equally across religions and castes, and therefore the remedy is also the same,” says Hamida Begam,who experienced great healing both physically and mentally, after at-tending the YLTP (youth leadership training programme) in her native vil-lage of Binora, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh.

Having realised the power of the programme, Hamida decided to spread awareness in her village and

help others benefit from it. She started teaching and training her fellow be-ings in her own village and the sur-rounding areas.

However, when she started or-ganising the programmes, her fam-ily members thought that she was under the influence of some Hindu saint, and she was forced to stop the activities for some time. But Hamida did not give up hope. She believed that someday they would understand that Sudarshan Kriya has nothing to do with religion. She said, “Disease knows no religion, and medicines can’t be communal. In the same way, stress-releasing techniques don’t have any religious barriers.”

Sometime later, her husband and mother-in-law realised that Hamida was regaining her health. She used

to fall sick very often but now it had stopped. The members of her fam-ily realised that Art of Living pro-grammes have nothing to do with religion, and they work towards strengthening the physical and mental health of an individual. Finally, they allowed Hamida to go ahead with the Art of Living workshops, and there was no looking back. Hamida started teaching the techniques to everyone in her native village as well as the neigh-bouring areas.

After teaching more than 20 such programmes in various parts of her village, Hamida is now gaining more confidence and self-esteem.

Regaining health and confidence

Unnikrishnan V. 09422400879

Calicut, Kerala: On November 10, the inmates of Yesubhavan old age home in Thamarassery, Kozhikode, were delighted. Yuvacharya Suren-dran and a few other volunteers dis-tributed blankets and walkers to the inmates and shared the most precious gift of love.“We can’t provide them high class living, with a bungalow and Mercedes car. All we can do is love and care. It’s free of cost and nobody has to pay for it,” said Surendran.

Most of the inmates have been abandoned by their own descend-ants, who have completely ignored their need for love and care, especially during old age. Each one of them had a story to tell about how they cared about their children in the past.

Arya Antharjanam, wife of Sankaran Nambudiri, a mother of three children, is waiting to meet them and her grandchildren. They abandoned her at the old age home

but now with the help of Art of Liv-ing, Surendran has managed to unite Arya Antharjanam and Sankaran-Nambudiri.

Yuvacharya Surendran is famous

for his projects, because he executes the Art of Living approach very well. About 30 inmates living there are awaiting their beloved sons and daughters, and longing to hear a kind word and see a smile. During his vis-its, Surendran realised their feelings and the longing for love in their eyes, and decided to do something.

Sister Molly, who is in-charge of the home said, “This is a precious mo-ment for them. Usually, if someone visits one of the inmates, the oth-ers feel sad. But Surendran and his team have brought happiness to the inmates. They now feel that there is someone to visit them and care for them even more than the staff mem-bers of the home.”

Project Cordinator, Surendran 09388469914.

Blankets and Walkers distributed to the aged

Cleaning Campaign: From right - Nagaraj, state project cordinator, DDC president DM Sankar, Zilla Panchayat CEO -Priyanka Meri Francis, gram panchayat president Nijagun Murthy and senior journalist Girija Sankar

Empowered: Hamida Begam

Share and Care: Surendran distributing blankets at Old age home

Inculcating values: Students participating in the shivir

Seva Times3 THE ART OF LIVING, DECEMBER 2014

Kumlin Engtipi 08904051603

Sunidhpur, Assam: Madan Das worked at various places right from the age of 17 but could not choose his career till he was 24. After he took part in a YLTP programme in 2000, he was clear in his thoughts and ac-tions, and got the confidence to move ahead. Until then, he was shy, timid and indecisive.

With the motivation of Sri Sri, he travelled far and wide to teach free programmes under Navchetna Shivir. During 2000-2001, he taught more than 1,500 people from differ-ent villages of Sonitpur district, in-cluding Bordubi. He helped people achieve physical and mental fitness with the help of pranayama. “When I organised the first Youth Leadership Training Programme for rural youth, of the 120 who participated, 60-70 were addicts. After the programme, about 80 percent of the participants have overcome their addiction.”

Madan said, “Teaching the vil-lagers was a great pleasure. Their re-sponse was overwhelming and they showered abundant love on us. They did not let us go and insisted that we continue our programme. Then I moved to Dulizan and the surround-ing areas where I taught more than 1000 people in 3 months.”

In 2003, he shifted to Guwahati, where he started programmes for the youth of the surrounding villages. He organised more than 20 programmes that helped transform the lives of around 1000 youths. Youth Leader-ship Training Programme imparts physical and emotional strength, and gives a glimpse of one’s own self. Most of the participants have started similar de-addiction services in their native villages.

In 2008, he became a rural course teacher and started teaching Su-darshan Kriya. In 2009, he went to BurdurBagan where he taught more

than 150 people, who worked in tea gardens. These villagers were so im-pressed by the programme that they recommended it for the future gen-eration as well.

Secondly, many students of the area were not going to school due to poverty, ignorance and lack of re-sources. He started a free school with the help of the youth who wanted to start an institute after undergoing the YLTP course. The school now has more than 250 students.

He organized a workshop on Zero Budget farming in Mirza, Kamroop district, wherein 1000 farmers took part

and benefited from it. Most of them have now taken up organic farming.

He is planning to introduce Ayurveda in most of the villages in Assam. To ensure the health and fi-nancial independence of the villagers, he wants to promote organic farming in a big way.

Madan Das is 38 now but he hardly remembers his past. “Had I not done the YLTP course, where would I have been now?” When he took part in the course 14 years ago, he had no idea that he has the poten-tial to transform so many lives.

Madan Das: 9577527519

YLTP crusader transforms lives of thousands of people in Assam

Dilip Kohli & Arpit Vyas09535497006

Bangalore: Sri Sri Institute of Agricultural Sciences & Tech-nology Trust organised a meet to provide a platform to farm-ers from different parts of the country. More than 2000 farm-ers shared their experiences and inspired each other at The Art of Living International Center, Bangalore. They resolved to save agricultural land from chemi-cals, and use organic and natu-ral products. They shared their research findings as well. Art of Living has been imparting train-ing in organic farming for more than eight years, but this meeting reflected the result of all that has been done in past 8 years.

Art of Living has trained 20 lakh farmers in organic farming,

using naturally available resourc-es. Volunteers have worked in ar-eas like Vidharba to help farmers who were on the verge of com-mitting suicide. Art of Living is also helping farmers by creating markets for organic products. This method removes the mid-dlemen and allows the farmers to earn more, said Dr. Ramkrishna

Mule, chairman and trustee of SSIAST (Sri Sri Institute of Agri-cultural Sciences & Technology) trust.

While inaugurating the meet, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of The Art of Living, said, “We need to form ‘Kisan Sangh’ (farm-ers’ association) in every village. More and more farmers need to

adopt and implement the tech-niques of Natural Farming. Our earth has plenty for everyone. We only have to manage its resources well. Chemical-free farming is a new hope to the farmers in India, and we will work with vigor to spread this knowledge.”

Prabhakar Rao, trustee SSIST, said “There were more

than 4,000 varieties of indig-enous seeds in India, but they are now endangered. We have started a seed bank in which people are encouraged to de-posit such seeds. The seeds are given back to the farmers after multiplying them. The bank also collects and stores pure seeds of different varieties from other countries. It now contains 360 varieties of pure seeds from India and abroad. This includes 16 va-rieties of Tulsi/Basil, different va-rieties of beans, tomatoes (from Bulgaria), sweet yellow-coloured lady’s finger, red capsicum, black capsicum.”

Experts from the field shared their experiences on how organic farming is helping them to save their lands and enhancing the production and how the organic markets help them. A farmer

from Madhya Pradesh, Keh-sav Vyas, said, “We are spend-ing very less and earning much more. In modern farming, pro-duction reduces every year, while production increases with organ-ic farming. I also grow sugarcane and make jaggery (gur) from the organic produce. I was fortunate that The Art of Living bought the entire jaggery produce.”

Many farmers also shared their experiences after practicing organic farming as Art of Living has opened markets for organic produce which helps farmers to earn more profit on their pro-duce. Vijay Suryavanshi from Maharashtra said: “For the past six years, “I have been practic-ing organic farming. I earn huge profits, as it uses less water.”

Project Coordinator, Prabha-kar Rao: 9611922480

National seminar draws organic farmers to Bangalore ashram

Kumlin Engtipi 08904051603

Bangalore, Karnatka: Painless tooth extrac-tion without anaesthesia or injections is now possible, thanks to Dr. Vivek’s Ayurve-dic technique called Jalandhara Bandha yoga. Jhalandhara Bandha means block-ing the nerve plexus, arteries and veins around the neck. The practice is becoming popular at the Sri Sri College of Ayurveda Science and Research Hospital, and Dr. Vivek. J is using this technique successfully.After completing B.A.M.S, he did his M.S. in Ayurveda from Bangalore and Danta vaid-ya visharada (post-graduation certificate course) from Gujarat University. He is now an assistant professor at Sri Sri Ayurveda Sci-ence & Research department of Shalyatan-tra eye and dental branch.

The technique benefits diabetics, asth-ma patients and those with high blood sug-ar and hypertension, who want to get their tooth extracted without any complications. Elaborating on the three types of bandha in yoga, he says bandha means blocking the neck for removing the tooth. While jaland-hara bandha is performed for the upper part of the body, mool uddiyana bandha is for the middle part and moola bandha for the lower part. He gives solutions to many Dantamoola Rogas (teeth diseases) such as infections of the gums (gingival) or peri-odontal problems and eight types of Danta Rogas (diseases of the teeth) like Krimidanta (dental caries), Danta Shoola (odontalgia-toothache) and Dantaharsha (sensitivity). Dr Vivek: 9945314963

2,000 farmers from 18 states gather to focus on ‘Natural Resources Management’ in farming

Painless tooth extraction with Jalandhara

Dilip Kumar Kohli 09535497006

Bangalore, Karnataka: Under the project titled, ‘Act now in slums,’ stu-dents of the Government School at Magadi Road and the Girls School Magadi Road were invited to attend special workshops aimed at creating awareness among teens on health and hygiene. They were also taught medi-tation and pranayama, said Rukmani Kalyanam, an Art of Living teacher.

A special workshop on personal hygiene was conducted for girls studying in standards 8 to 10 by Dr. Hema, who is also an Art of Living teacher. The question-answer session

was lively, with the teacher answering personal queries of the students and clearing their doubts on hygiene. The intention of the programme was to keep the students from committing juvenile crime, said Dr. Hema.

Rukmani Kalyanam, Art of Liv-ing teacher, said some of the students gathered there had a wrong notion regarding hygiene that one may fall sick by bathing daily. They were ad-vised to keep themselves clean eve-ryday, which would improve their overall health, and they pledged to do so.

Project Cordinator Rukmani Kalyanam: 09980094942

Hygiene workshop for teens in slums

Reaching out to rural folk: Madan Das teaching Bal Chetna Shivir to the students of Nahira Guimara Middle School in Kamrup district, Assam. He taught more than 4,000 people

‘Act now in slums’ : Girls of Magadi road govt. School participating in the programme on health and cleaniness

Healthy crops, healthy society: Sri Sri inaugrating the meet by lighting the lamp on the occasion. (Right) SSIAST Chairman enlightening the farmers on the topic.

Seva Times4 THE ART OF LIVING, DECEMBER 2014

Alcoholic becomes reformerMalappa D. Belamge 09900941479

Koppala, Karnataka: Deven-drappa Hichnal, 39, from Koppar, Karnataka, got a new direction in life after he took part in the YLTP programme. Addicted to alcohol and smoking for the past six years, he was a burden to his own family as he was the cause of financial losses. But after he par-ticipated in the programme in 2009, he turned over a new leaf and became a responsible citizen. He took the responsibility of the surroundings, taught children in Navchetna and Balchetna shivirs in the nearby villages, and also volunteered to run the sewing and stitching centre set up by SSRDP member Jawyesh Prakash in the village.

The centre trained several women in the village for about three years till he arranged for a building with the help of gram panchayat. His strong desire to serve the society brought him to Bagalkote after the 2009 floods. The locals in the area lost their homes and crops, and he was sent as part of a team to bring relief to the flood affected. He or-ganised medical camps to restore the health of the sick and ailing.

This gave Devendrappa a sense of satisfaction, and he dis-tributed blankets, clothes to the flood affected. He taught the res-idents to overcome their trauma by practising pranayama, yoga and meditation. He started a se-ries of free training programmes in different parts of Bagalkot and Koppala districts. In 2010, he opened a special centre in Bagalkot where women were trained in stitching and sewing. In Gondabal village of Koppaala taluka, more than 160 people participated and benefited from the programme. He visited al-most all villages of the taluka and conducted Nav Chetna and Bal Chetna shivirs for two years. This way, he was able to reach out to

more than 3000 people and make them physically, mentally and emotionally strong.

Devendrappa was now a transformed man, from an alco-holic to a social reformer, and he has dedicated his life for the welfare of the society. He also brought awareness among the people about Ayurveda, which does not have any side effects. He organised four Nadi pariksha camps in the villages.

In September 2010, he or-ganised a three-day rishi krishi workshop, and about 100 peo-ple from Nelogipur, Uppina-betagire, Kavalura took part in it. Nearly 10 participants have switched over to organic farming completely, and the others have partially incorporated it in their farming practices.

Devendrappa is thankful that his life is now worth living due to the grace of Sri Sri. “I was a spoilt brat. The work I do, espe-cially giving relief to the stressed and showing the right direction to youngsters, gives me a deep sense of satisfaction.” In 2011, he became an Art of Living teacher specialising in Sudarshan Kriya, which is a powerful stress reliev-er. “I have taught this technique to more than 600 people. I have changed my life for good, and that is Guruji’s gift to me. I am a full-time teacher now.”Devendrappa: 8904199703

Creating eco-friendly jobs for rural womenKumlin Engtipi 08904051603

Bangalore, Karnatka: Rad-heshyam Kakodia came to the ashram from Chhattisgarh to train villagers. He has trained more than 300 people to make eco-friendly plates using areca nut leaves and also in making smokeless chulhas. Radheshyam had this urge to serve society though his fam-ily and wanted him to join civil services. Even when he was a stu-dent attending coaching classes for the civil services exam, he wanted to do something to uplift poor people living in rural areas. Art of Living gave him an oppor-tunity to do so by starting a pro-ject called “rural development and awareness programme”.

Most of his family members and relatives are into civil servic-es, and his uncle wanted him also to opt for it. In 2012, he complet-ed his MBA and took up work in the HR field for about two years. After that he was motivated to take up civil services.

Since he lost his father at an early age of eight, his cousin Sanjeev Panwar, an Art of Liv-ing faculty, inspired him to join the programme. Later on,

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar influenced him to a great extent and he shifted to Bangalore ashram. These programmes touched him deeply and his personality underwent several transforma-tions. Finally, he could fulfil his dream of serving the rural poor. He came up with the idea of smokeless chulha (stove) for rural women, and his new de-sign has helped women over-come health issues. The stoves were distributed in the villages

of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and MP.

Radheshyam’s cousin Pan-war, an Art of Living teacher, started making eco-friendly plates with the help of areca nut. These plates are biodegradable, compostable and environment friendly. This also created em-ployment for the women in the villages. Radheyshyam and his

team trained women in making plates and once they were con-fident, they continued working from their homes and earned sufficient money.

Radheshyam said there are plans to manufacture these plates on a large scale especially in villag-es that have several areca nut trees. Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Assam are abundantly popu-lated with these trees, and procur-ing raw material would be easy.

Radheshyam, 8147956728

Uplifting rural women: Radheshyam (R) with Gurudev, during the inauguration of Keshala unit at Kanakpura Road, Bangalore on December 2013. The unit handles women empowerment projects include hand-rolled arecanut unit, agarbathi unit, tea candles unit etc. From left: Keshala in-charge Renu Priya, SSRDP Trustee Niran-jan, VVKI Chairman Commodore Sarvotham Rao. Right: Plate-making machines

Sports spirit: DM Shankar opens rural level volleyball tournament at Lakkya village, Karnataka. Cash prize of Rs 10,000 was awarded to the winner, 12 teams participated

Devendrappa Hichnal

Volleyball enthuses youth in ChickmagalurMalappa D. Belamge 09900941479

Chickmagalur, Karnataka: Sri Sri Sports Club organised vol-ley ball matches in Lakkya, Chikmagalur district, on Novem-ber 24, 2014. On the same day, new clubs were formed in Bel-vadi, Medarahalli, Sindigere and Kanivehalli. Inter-village tourna-ments were conducted in Kanive-helli later in the day.

In 2013, the inter-village tournament was inaugu-rated by former president of Chickmagalur panchayat, Rekha Huliyappagowda DDC president D M Shankar, the chief guest, said

games and sports are part and parcel of our lives. “Our youth should practise more. Coupled with better facilities, they will be able to participate in the state and

national level volleyball cham-pionship, in the near future.” Over 12 teams participated and the winner was awarded a cash prize of Rs. 10,000. The club was

initiated by Nagaraj, Art of living teacher Yogesh M and Yuvacha-rya Manjunath T.B

Project Cordinator Nagaraj 09611808086

Healing education: Free school started in Nagapattinam after the tsunami, now provides quality education

Gurucharan Ambreshvar09566328604

Nagapattanam, Tamilnadu: Started as a school offering free education to children in 2006, Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidhya Man-dir, Nagapattanam has become a full-fledged school that provides quality education to everyone. SSRVM School had only 15 teachers and 200 students when it started. Presently, there are 46 teachers and 700 students. It was open for students studying from first to 8th standards earlier but now caters to those studying from first standard to 10th.

The school was started in this area for those affected by the 2006 tsunami, when people hardly had any resources to fulfil even their basic needs. During those tough times, the school provided free education to the children of the village. Now, the economic con-dition of the village has improved

and the school collects a minimal fee to maintain its infrastructure. The teachers are given salaries by Sri Ram Trust, managed by Art of Living volunteers.

Until 2010, the school pro-vided free education, and 15 vol-unteers with prior experience in teaching provided their selfless services. But after that, the ad-ministration changed hands and it was handed over to Sri Ram Trust. The minimal fee plan was introduced to increase the stand-

ard of education. After the trust took over, the number of teach-ers and facilities has gone up.The fee is marginally more than the fee structure of any govern-ment school, and the students are imparted world-class educa-tion at a nominal charge. This is the only school offering quality education and good facilities in the area and most parents prefer to put their children here.

Volunteer, Ananda Muru-gan: 09443569917

SSRVM School offers quality education at a nominal fee

Bringing relief to thousands through Sudarshan KriyaSanjeevani Warkade 09822184791

Nashik, Maharashtra: “What-ever I am and whatever I have is due to the grace of my Mas-ter,” said Sager Aaher, who has reached out to more than 6,000 people throughout the state, to bring relief through Sudarshan Kriya.

A spoilt child of a rich family, Sager was addicted not only to alcohol but also other substances like tobacco and cigarette. He picked up street fights as early as when he was nine. His father felt very let down because sev-eral police cases were registered against him. Later, he wanted to get into politics and build a ca-reer in it using his father’s money.

After he experienced the power of Sudarshan Kriya (breathing exercises taught in Art of Living’s Happiness pro-gramme) in December 2005, he felt he could bring about the

same transformation in the so-ciety. Sudarshan Kriya helped him to quit all addictions, and soon he started motivating his family and friends to do the same.

In 2010, he started conduct-ing Art of Living workshops, and the young and old alike started experiencing transformation. His father was now proud of his son. Sagar’s interest in politics

has waned, and he wants to serve the society instead. He wants to listen to the grievances of people and promote good health and happiness.

He has conducted pro-grammes throughout the state, especially in Pune, Saangli, Na-shik, Kolhapur, Yavatmal and Ala. He has also taught in Uttar Pradesh.

Sager Aher: 09975177756

True service: Sagar Aher (3rd from left) with volunteers

Eco-friendly plates

Seva Times5 THE ART OF LIVING, DECEMBER 2014

Kicker: Students at Sri Sri Gnan Mandir, Durgapur, are performing varous activities

Machindra Magar conducting workshop in KBS school of Maharashtra, Harshul

Rajesh Kundu 07762827109

Durgapur, West Bengal: Sri Sri Gnan Mandir (SSGM) at Banskopa of Durgapur in Bardhhaman district, has come as a ray of hope for first-generation school children as it im-parts value-based holistic education in rural areas.

Art of Living’s schools under Ved Vigyan Maha Vidyapeeth pro-vide holistic, free education across 18 states, especially to children liv-ing in the slums, and tribal and rural belts where child labour and poverty are widespread. Thousands of students have benefited from the schools.

Sri Sri Gnan Mandir Banskopa is one of the 404 schools covered under the programme. It was opened on September 5, 2006 with 14 students and two teachers, with the help of YLTP volunteers. After VVMVP adopted the school in 2009, the school has grown. More than 200 students are now studying here, up to standard eight, and nine teachers are guiding them. The teacher-student ratio is 1:25.

Though the school is located close to the city of Panagardh, most of

the students come from 10-12 remote villages which include Banskopa, Gopalpur, Gosaidanga, Rajbandh, Sokna, Nutangram and Manikara. VVMVP covers 35 percent of the

transport cost, which is provided to the guardian.

During the initial stages, head-master of the school Jayanta Kundu (09734733374) and Art of Living

teacher Basudev Kha along with other Art of Living volunteers or-ganised a door-to-door campaign and conducted YLTP, Navachetna Shivir, Bal Chetna Shivir (stress-

free courses for rural people) in these areas. They decided to open the school at Banskopa, and more than 65 percent of the guardians have already undergone Art of Liv-

ing courses. Children come to school half

an hour before time to clean the premises, water the plants and start the day on a positive note. Bread and fruits are provided to the children, and they play cricket, kabaddi and soccer. Spiritual prac-tices like meditation and satsang also find a place in the daily rou-tine. Cultural activities like folk dance and drama are also organ-ised. Regular quiz competitions are conducted, which help increase the IQ of children.

Children have taken the addi-tional responsibility of de-addicting alcoholics and accompany teachers and volunteers in door-to-door cam-paigns. They encourage people to keep the surroundings clean.

VVMVP state coordinator Swarnalata Das (09433207553) and the SSGM team regularly invite the guardians for a satsang wherein they discuss about their children’s progress. Teachers get the guard-ians’ feedback and try to implement their suggestions. The SSGM team is planning to expand the school and include classes up to IX in 2015.

Free, holistic education in rural Bengal

Unnikrishnan V 09422400879

Mahe, Kerala: Thousands of people including women and children took part in a human chain on 7th December, 2014 from Mahe Bridge to Poozhitha-la. They showed their love for a liquor-free Mahe. This was a joint effort by Art of Living and Mayyazhi Pauravali to wipe out the liquor problem here.

Mahe/Mayyazhi is a small town surrounded by districts of Kerala but is part of the union territory of Puducherry. Recent-ly, it came to the spotlight be-cause of the complete liquor ban in Kerala. As it is part of Puduch-erry, Kerala’s laws do not apply to Mahe, and the low liquor rates attract people. After the liquor ban, people from Kerala visit Mahe for uninterrupted supply of liquor.

The people of Mahe are fed up with the menace, and are irri-tated by alcoholics who visit bars and other liquor outlets. Long distance buses don’t stop there. Recently, a person was found dead near a liquor shop. Shop owners didn’t pay attention till the body started decomposing.

Iyyacherry Kunjikrishnan, Madhya Nirodhana Samiti’s gen-eral secretary, addressed a pub-lic gathering at the municipal ground after the human chain. “Alcohol is the main reason be-

hind most of the family prob-lems. It is impossible to control or stop liquor consumption with awareness programmes alone, the government has to extend its full support,” he said.

The activists launched a sig-nature campaign to observe dry day at Mahe. They handed over the memorandum to Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy when he visited Mahe.

“This is the first step towards regaining the cultural richness and peace of Mahe,” said Sud-heer Babu, Art of Living Kerala Apex body secretary. Addiction-free Kerala state chairman K. Ra-machandran and Art of Living coordinators and teachers were present for Sri Sri Ravishankar’s dream project.

Project Cordinator, Diva-karan Chombala: 09895745432

Transforming lives in MaharashtraSanjeevani Warkade 09822184791

Trayambakeshwar, Harshul: The pleasure of bringing about transformation is greater when the area is more challenging. Af-ter choosing four tribal areas to be transformed into model vil-lages, there were many impedi-ments that came on the way, said Machindra Magar, Art of Living faculty working in Maharashtra. But he could continue his selfless work because of his hard work and the blessings of Sri Sri, Machindra said. He is now an ideal for many tribal youth and people.

In 2001, after experiencing the power of Sudarshan Kriya, he experienced a transforma-tion from within and wanted to do something for the society. Magar said he was forced by one of his friends to participate in the Art of Living programme, but didn’t expect it to transform him so drastically. The programme helped him to overcome his ad-diction to alcohol.

When he started teaching,

the transformation in the par-ticipants was palpable. This gave him much more happiness and satisfaction. “I was transforming many lives each day. That feeling of satisfaction motivated me to reach out to more people.”

After 2006, he taught more than 350 programmes, most of which were conducted in the tribal areas of Maharashtra. He had to face several challenges because most of the areas are not easily reachable or safe. He mo-tivated people to take up welfare work which would benefit the community as a whole.

Magar’s work was recog-nised by the village body, which honoured him with a certificate. Apart from Happiness pro-grammes, he organised aware-ness campaigns in 12 surround-ing villages. He was instrumental in creating awareness on female foeticide and encouraging vil-lagers to treat the girl child as an equal. Now, he has selected the four villages Bhutmongala, Sar-sasate, Mulwad and Devdongara from Tryambakeshwar district and has started work on making them model villages.

Devdongara’s residents had

to walk at least two kilometres to fetch water. The village now has enough water.

Balu Choudhari, 26, former sarpanch of Sarasate village said people have been de-addicted due to the efforts of Magar. He has created the awareness of us-ing toilets and has inspired the residents to build about 30 toi-lets. “We have a group sadhana and satsang every Thursday. We are cleaning our village every week. The village is now a model village because of his efforts.”

Macchindra Magar: 9421563521

Saving a water body: 40 volunteers worked for six hours in the campaign

Chain for a cause: Volunteers gathered at Mahe

Art of Living teacher Vava Suresh inaugurating the event ‘Alcohol free Mahe’

Sanjeevani Warkade09822184791

Nagpur, Maharashtra: Under the ‘Swachch Bharat Abhiyan,’ Art of Living volunteers of Nag-pur got together to clean the Sak-kardara Lake, which is a tourist attraction. The lake was built during the 18th century, during the reign of Bhosla, in present-day eastern Nagpur. Currently, the lake wears a dirty look and is clogged with polythene and other wastes. Though there is a beautiful garden, the lake is losing its charm because of the accumulating dirt, waste and debris, said Navin Khanolkar, an Art of Living teacher and re-gional coordinator.

Art of Living volunteers de-cided to clean the lake on No-

vember 18 and started work as early as 6:00 a.m.The work continued for six long hours, and MLA Sudhakar Kohli and municipal counselor Sanjay Ma-hakalkar also joined the cam-paign. Art of Living volunteers cleaned the lake while shout-ing slogans like, “Clean Nagpur,

Beautiful Nagpur, Healthy Nag-pur” and “Be clean, be healthy.”

MLA Sudhakar Kohli appre-ciated the volunteer team and en-couraged them to continue doing such good work in future.Locals liked the initiative and an NGO named ‘All is Well’ joined hands with Art of Living volunteers to

make the campaign a success.Nagpur regional teacher

and coordinator Navin Khanol-kar, Chandu Galgilkar, Manish Kotewar, Avinash Talamale and Rajashri Dhote took part in the cleaning project.

Project Cordinator Navin Khanolkar: 09373106671

Cleanliness drive in Nagpur to save Sakkardara Lake

Thousands unite to make Mahe alcohol-free

Seva Times

Project DirectorDr. Rajesh Trivedi

(National Director, YLTP)

Editorial teamMeenakshi Chauhan

Ram AsheeshVishnu Manoharan

AdvisorsM. Kalyanaraman

Saurabh BawejaKarthik KrishnaMansi Dharmraj

If you are working on any project or YLTP activities, please contact us on 08067433615, 08067433603, 09620169697, E mail: sevatimes@yltp.orgYouth Leadership Training Program (YLTP) and Dharma Sthamba Yojana (DSY) are service initiatives of Vyakti Vikas Kendra, India [The Art of Living], a registered charitable Trust, headquartered in Bangalore with its registered office at No. 19, 39th A Cross, 11th Main, IV T Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore - 560041

- Ph: 080-67433600 | www.artofliving.org | Email: yltp@artofliving.org -

“A portion of your earnings given in service, brings abundance”- H H SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR

Online Donation: Log on to www.dsyindia.orgE mail: info@dsyindia.org

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Seva Times6 THE ART OF LIVING, DECEMBER 2014

Cleaning drive in Muninagar village

Rainwater harvesting

Aadarsh Pune: A novel citizen campaign to rejuvenate the cityGauri Shitole 07030759157

Pune, Maharashtra: Art of Liv-ing teacher Shekhar Mundhra started the project ‘Aadarsh Pune’ with the thought that the city has given so much to its residents and therefore it was time to give something back to the city. It is every citizen’s responsibility to keep the city, clean, safe and in healthy condition. “We take care of our house but rarely do we spend time and resources to keep community clean, healthy and safe,” says Shekhar.

The project started with the cleaning of the river Mulla Mu-tha which is the main river of the city. Mulla and Mutha are the major source to meet the wa-ter needs of the city but they are now among the most polluted rivers in the nation. The Mula Mutha River cleaning drive started under the Adarsh Pune Abhiyan, more than 100 volun-teers came together and filled 32 huge bags with garbage from the river in two hours. MLA Vi-nayak Nimhan, BJP Secretary Sandeep Khardekar and edu-cation mandal member Manju Khardekar also came forward to serve Pune.

The day 29th June 2014 started full of excitement, cu-riosity, fear, with mixed emo-tions. That was the day for the first ever freeze mob that Pune was going to witness addressing environmental issues, said Swati Dawari. After eight clean up drives in Mulla Mutha from Feb 2014 to 29th june 2014, this time a unique way of making people aware of keeping the river and city clean.

The freeze mob, a group of people with different posters and banners, froze for a few minutes in public with different poses giv-ing justice to the poster that they held. They started at Sambhaji garden. “I could see the nerv-ousness on everyone’s face and a sense of uncertainty, what will happen? What I am supposed to do? What if I suddenly burst into laughter,” said a volunteer par-ticipating in the drive.

“With these thoughts, we started. We could see people pass-ing by, getting confused and curi-

ous at the same time. Then some 40-50 of us and froze with the posters in their hands saying ‘Save Mulla- Mutha,’ ‘Join us for Mulla-Mutha revival,’ ‘Save water, life or river is in your hands,’ said Swati working at an IT firm in Pune.

After this on July 13 a face book drive was done where the page got 212 shares in a day and 3217 likes. As a result of the cam-paign, youngsters became more aware of the issues with the river and why we have to save it

Project co-ordinator, Shek-har Mundhra: 09860755544

Kumlin Engtipi 08904051603

Bangalore, Karnataka: On 30th November, 2014 around 40 vol-unteers from RDP (Rural Devel-opment Programme) Trust start-ed a cleaning drive in Muninagar village. Many other similar activ-ities are also going on. More than 75 villagers took part in the drive, and there was a general aware-ness created about the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’. The programme concluded with Sudarshan Kriya and meditation initiated by Art of Living teachers.

Radheshyam Kakodia, man-aging director of the areca nut plates project, said, “We have been visiting the village regularly because we want to make it an ideal village. Many groups have been formed to keep the village clean. The members of these groups are taking care of the regular cleaning processes here.” The Art of Living has already dis-tributed solar lights to the villag-ers, especially to those that did not have any lights, he said.Project coordinator: Radheshyam - 8147956728.

Yogesh Pingale 07028043363

Dhule, Maharashtra: Rainwater harvesting helps villagers to wa-ter their fields even when there is scanty rainfall or drought. Art of Living volunteers from Tikhi, Ranmala and Dhule participated in this programme, to complete the unfinished construction work at Ranmala village.

Ashok Pawar, the village sar-panch said, “The construction of the wall will irrigate Rammala village and more than 10 farmers will benefit from this.”

The volunteers got together at 8 am, dug up the mud around the edges of the bank and placed cement bags filled with sand to block the water from flowing out of the village pond. The banks were broken and remained so for

a long time. This prevented the pond from getting completely filled with water. Once the lay-ing of sand bags is complete, the pond will retain more water after the rains.

Enthusiasm to keep the city clean: Volunteers with litter collected after cleaning the river standing under Mhatre bridge on Mulla-Mutha river

Clean villages : Volunteers removed garbege

Management in villages: (left) At the rural managers programme, onsite discus-sions on watershed management, (right) rural managers with Sri Sri on completion of programme. (Down) Learning through games

Volunteers on site

Kumlin Engtipi 08904051603

Bangalore, Karnatka: The training programme for rural managers that concluded in the last week of November at the Bangalore Art of living Interna-tional Centre was a package of information for its participants. During the 12-day programme, the participants were trained on the proper use of natural resources available in their vil-lages and the implementation of government plans, projects and schemes.

Art of Living faculty Som-nath Ramachand Asonawans, 34, from Pune, was the mentor of the “rural management training pro-gramme.” During the training, he highlighted instances from his 14 years of experience, which

came from working in rural ar-eas. Most of the participants were from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Ut-trakhand.

The participants gained knowledge in rainwater harvest-

ing, increasing crop production, animal nutrition to increase milk production, horticultural production, and significance of micro planning in empowering rural women.

Project Cordinator: Somnath Ramchand, 09922661563

Training programme enlightens rural managers

It’s time to freeze