When I first visited Bodhgaya in 1990 to attend a 10 day silent Vipassana retreat (Insight Meditation Tradition) , there were no or hardly any NGOs (Non Government Organisations) on the ground. This has changed quite dramatically with over 50 organisations listed in Bodhgaya and several hundred in Gaya district. Small and large charitable trust organisations serve a very important role in the social, environmental and educational landscape of places such as Bodhgaya. In the bigger scheme the state of Bihar is sadly known for quite a number of (mostly negative) superlatives: the most illiterate; drought ridden; corrupt; poorest and backward in terms of women’s rights.

I recently visited some outreach programs by an organisation that the Bodhgaya Development Association is currently supporting. I have put together a Facebook page so that this NGO running since 1999 has some online presence. They are doing very good work and it was inspirational visiting one of the nine villages they provide educational, health and women’s empowerment programs for: https://www.facebook.com/JeevanDeepgbngo.

 

I am jumping to present day. I have been attempting to play catch up and will continue to do so but right now I will enter today’s events. India celebrated Republic Day. Wikipedia tells me that this is the day when the Indian Constitution came into effect in 1950 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_Day_(India)). Here in Bodhgaya I joined the celebrations at Prajna Vihar School (www.pvschool.in and http://www.dharma.org.au/bda/).

Apart from the flag raising, the children performed a very nice dance, did a all school yoga practice to the beat of a drum and one student talked very eloquently about the significance of Indian Republic Day. The students paid homage to a range of people; among them Dr B. R. Ambedkar who was an Indian jurist, economist and politician. In his role of social reformer he inspired the Modern Buddhist Movement and campaigned against social discrimination of Dalits and women. The PV school was initially started by Westerners attending Vipassana Meditation retreats in Bodhgaya in the early 90s and is funded primarily by people in, or connected to, the Buddhist Insight Meditation community. One of the key figures in setting up the school is ‘Burmese Bhante’ or Baba as he is lovingly known, a Burmese Abbott of the Burmese Vihara who has seen many changes in the past 53 years of living here in Bodhgaya.

 

The celebrations ended with every student receiving a popular Indian sweet, called a Jalebi made with and filled with liquid sugar (and in my humble opinion only to be consumed once a year!)

 

Some sights will haunt you. The long line of beggars for example, leading up to most religious or spiritual sites. Or anywhere in Indian townships for that matter. The desperation in someone’s eyes. The sheer humanity that becomes momentarily visible in someone who is clearly so much less fortunate than oneself and the array of emotions one feels when struggling with the injustice of it all.

 

    

The holy site of the Mahabodhi Temple, built at the site where the Buddha gained enlightenment over 2500 years ago, draws pilgrims from all over the world. All Buddhist nations have temples here. Monks in their orange and red robes walking along the main street is a very common sight. 

 

 

   

 

 

Just as the Yogananda Satsanga Society is deeply and historically involved in charity projects (at the time of special celebrations the Ashram in Ranchi feeds up to 11300 poor people, for example), so does the work of the Sister of the Queen of the Apostles. In 2013, the sisters took us to Mahugoan, a very remote village where tribal people and non-tribal people live. This very basic convent with no electricity and running water was the first place the sisters established in Jharkhand more than 30 years ago.

 

 

The journey to Mahugoan (although only 40 km away from Ranchi) takes nearly 2.5 hours as the road is just a dirt road and in places non-existent.

The rural scenery is achingly beautiful and the convent itself offers a stillness and quiet rarely found in noisy India. These are mere impressions by someone who does not to live the harsh live without comforts we in the West and other ‘developed’ places take for granted.

Sabina (my sister) has been raising funds for one of the projects the sisters have been supporting for the past 6 years. In these parts of Jharkhand tribal women are often in abject poverty and find themselves in a situation with no or little prospect of education or vocational training. The sisters started a weaving, sewing and handicraft vocational training project a number of years ago and young tribal women have come to Mahugoan to live and train there. Over the past 15 months they have renovated their hospital and have converted it into a large residential training centre. The funds raised in Germany will go towards a well so that water will be available at all times. The BDA (http://www.dharma.org.au/bda/) has only just recently decided to support a similar project in Gomia (http://www.dharma.org.au/bda/Ashap-Seva-Kendra.pdf).

 

During our visit most of the women were either in their villages helping with the harvest or with relatives as it is the wedding season.

The place does have solar panels supplying both, hot water and electricity. Their kitchen garden offers a wonderful wide range of vegetable and their fruit trees and coffee trees provides everyone who stays or lives there with all the food they need. This is a wonderful example of sustainable living and something so many of us in the West strive for. Here, of course, becoming completely self sufficient needs to happen out of necessity and not (like in the West) out of a desire to find alternative (better) ways of living more harmoniously.

When my sister and I last travelled to Ranchi in November 2013, we visited the Ashram and looked up Kiran Lama-jee’s friend Panda-jee who works in the hospital of the Ashram. Many of the monastic, spiritual and religious institutions have charitable projects they support. In the case of the Yogananda or the Self Realization Fellowship these programmes include educational, medical, women’s empowerment and outreach projects. The hospital that is situated in the Ashram grounds specializes in eye surgery.

 

There is also a school for girls right opposite the Ashram and another college that is run by donations from devotees and the Yogananda Satsanga Society (http://www.yogananda-srf.org/Yogoda_Satsanga_Society_of_India.aspx) in Ranchi itself. The Ashram grounds are beautiful and the various places where one can meditate are just divine. All things that need to function in a big centre like this are looked after by volunteers and devotees. The food in the Ashram is possibly the best I’ve ever eaten. One eats in silence (like in many meditation and yoga traditions) and one can literally feel the prana and love that went into the preparation and making of the food. A very shanti place despite the hustle and bustle; the continuous competition of who may have the loudest and biggest loudspeaker blaring announcements, spiritual songs and chants just beyond the Ashram walls. In short, this is a place I’d love to come back to….

 

After our brief sojourn in Bodhgaya we travelled back to Ranchi. If and when the average Indian travels it is by train or bus. With the increase of material wealth for some of the Indian population exploring their country is now done by car or plane; for tourists this also applies. When I first travelled to India in 1985 domestic flights were astronomically expensive and it most certainly was not within our reach or budget (we travelled on less than $10 a day). Now, however, some of the travelling I conduct when I’m in India is by hiring a driver and a car. If one times it when others want to travel as well then it is quite a pleasant way of exploring the country side or travelling from place to place.

I must say that I admire drivers in India. I would not dream of getting behind the wheel here. Anticipating where trucks, cars, auto- and bicycle rickshaws, pedestrians, cows, goats, pigs, water buffalos, ducks and dogs may drive, sway, cross or run is a never-ending mystery to me.

 

Then of course there is the question of “how many” of whatever/whoever one might fit into a vehicle or pile on top off. Again, endless opportunities for reflecting and comparing. As a teacher all too familiar with completing risk assessment forms, the mind boggles.

After the completion of speeches and a short break, the Bishop from Ranchi, Bishop D’Souza held the mass. Then the most delicious food was served and spontaneous dancing started. It was wonderful to see so many of the sisters dance and enjoy themselves. The festive mood enthralled all of us and we joined in the dancing as well.

 

The sisters had prepared for the celebrations in the most organised fashion. The tent had been erected the day before, chairs had been hired, a caterer had been hired and the data projector for the presentations and microphone system had been hooked up.

Sisters had been arriving from Jharkand and Bihar State to celebrate the 100th year of Father Bodewig’s passing (this the founder of their order). The joy and delight of the sisters’ meeting each other for this occasion was palpable. It was only here that I learnt of the connection and past history that the sisters had with their involvement of the PV school (www.pvschool.in). Father Bodewig’s mission was primarily to empower women who had very few rights at the time – incidence of widow burning and child brides were commonplace for instance. This focus has been maintained by the sisters. When Sr Laila was approached by Rick Peterson in 1993 who had been looking for a Christian order to take on the administration of the PV school, Sr Laila in return had to convince Sr Emalda that this project and involvement in running a school for the poorest of the poor children in Bodhgaya was a worthwhile endeavour.

 

Sr Emalda, who is in her mid- seventies spoke about the early beginnings of their work in Bodhgaya. In her inspirational speech she referred to meeting one of her teacher’s Christopher Titmuss who is one of the founders of the PV school. In the early 90’s she used to sit at the Thai Monastery practicing Vipassana Meditation just as Rick Peterson, nearly all BDA members and myself did (http://www.dharma.org.au/bda/ and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bodhgaya-Development-Association/232170313509366). Sr Emalda’s positive and supportive attitude towards the involvement of the Sisters of the Queen of the Apostle at that juncture in time has led to the sisters’ work at the school, their leadership, guidance and administration of the PV school.

During our two day stay in Bodhgaya at the convent of the Sister at Amar Jyoti we took the opportunity to drive in to Bodhgaya (the convent is 30 mins away by auto rickshaw) to go to ‘our’ Prajna Vihar school (www.pvschool.in). I had been most curious to see what progress had been made.

The building has been erected next to the existing school building and from its flat roof top one can see the Mahabodhi Stupa. The construction is nearly complete, plastering the walls, putting in all the fittings and windows and ….the end is in sight!

The first storey or rather ground floor contains two large class rooms, one of them can have a divider put in and therefore can be used for multiple purposes. These classrooms were needed because the lower Kindergarten and Kindergarten and Year 1 classes are very large. Sometimes these classes have up to 60 children in them. Many families plead with the sisters to enrol their sons and daughters. The entire school population from lower Kindergarten to Year 10 is around 530 students.

The second storey contains a small apartment for the principal and deputy principal of the school as well as a guest room so that visitors or volunteers who made be of service to the school may stay there. There is another classroom to the east of the building. A small kitchen, and a bathroom is within the apartment and an additional toilet which can be reached from the hallway. The roof top offers beautiful views over Bodhgaya. I’m always a little taken aback by the rapid progress of buildings which has transformed the ‘sleepy’ little township of my initial visits in the early 90s to the hustling township it is today.

I’ve uploaded all construction photos here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/evktwx1uenpc0h6/AACI6tzWXe47OAMl8mVWK2Cva?dl=0

OUr facebook pages contain also a range of photos we’ve recently uploaded; and of course the www.pvschool.in

 

 

for the next four days I will be enjoying the peaceful setting that is Yogananda Ashram (http://www.yssofindia.org/ashrams/Yogoda-Satsanga-Sakha-Ashram-Ranchi). I will resume with my postings upon our return to the world of wifi and connectivity :D.