“Children dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music.”
William Stafford
Finding light
Vishwalaya- the Universal Temple, also called Ram Ram’s Paradise for Children, which now houses and educates more than 30 children, began with a single child, no buildings and no funds. When Ram Ram first came to Ravugodlu, he was a wanderer in search of meanings. He sat on the granite slopes of the hills or in one of the many caves. The village women, who had to go a long way off to work or to fetch water, one day decided that he could take care of their children while they were away. Ram Ram had neither roof nor means at that time, but when more children were entrusted to him, he simply put his trust in life and over the next two and half decades a little ashram grew and functioned around Ram Ram.
Ram Ram used to say that he did not set up anything; he was only an instrument of a higher power. How could he have embarked on such a task, he would ask, when he himself did not know where his next meal - if at all any - was coming from?
The man and his mission:
Ram Ram was many things to many people but he did nothing to attract anybody. On the contrary, he could often be harsh, critical and downright rude if he thought you were not fit to be in the Paradise for Children. The one role he enjoyed was that of grandfather to the many children and the villagers of Ravugodlu. But many continued to regard him as a guru, a holy man, a sanyasi, whose potent blend of earthly wisdom and scriptural knowledge was a guide to life.
Vishwalaya takes formal shape:
Word spread and slowly Ram Ram’s place began to grow. Buildings came up; more children came, often from far off. More visitors, more funds. Through the years, children have come and gone, having sought shelter in Vishwalaya leaving only when they reached maturity or when reclaimed by parents. At present, there are over 30 children here; from one-year olds to early teenagers (Even the occasional grown-up who seeks shelter here is not turned away.) Ram Ram believed that every child has a right to paradise on earth. And so nearly three decades after the first child was given into his care, when he had neither home nor help, Vishwalaya was registered as a Trust.
A vision yet to be realized
After Ram Ram’s death three years ago, funds that come in the form of personal donations stopped coming in with the same regularity. When he was alive, visitors came in plenty and gave generously, now that he is no longer physically present, both visits and help have reduced, making the task of finding a regular source of funds has become a challenge.
But as Ram Ram points out, “When the flood of love arises and all the boundaries are crossed, then no destructive karma can happen, no negativity arises, love overflows unconditionally”
Changes:
Some changes have taken place in the daily lives of the children and the ashram. It was decided that the children and their caretakers would move to Bada, a village 8km from Dharwad, from Aug 14, 2007.
The main reason for this move was that the stone quarrying in the hills next to the ashram has intensified, due to a government decision to consider cancelling all quarrying licenses in the coming year. Apart from the danger of constant truck traffic on the paths, there is the added risk of debris flying down to the ashram, which is at the foot of the hills as well as the constant noise of blasting.
In Bada, we stay on a four-acre mango orchard, with a small farmhouse, which we have leased for the next two years for a nominal payment of RS 30000. The owners have been kind enough to make repairs with some extensions that can accommodate around thirty children and staff. We have cleared a small patch of land for a vegetable garden.
An added advantage of being here is that people are less busy than in Bangalore and are happy and willing to be involved in our activities.
A suitable methodology
Our approach to academics for the children and the methods we adopted, have not been drawn from formal pedagogical reserves, but have more or less evolved spontaneously in relation to the needs of the children.
It has not always been possible to find teachers willing to use alternate perspectives and also to work voluntarily or on he rather bar salary we could afford to pay, but we have worked on and through the last three-four years, have managed to identify, use and test the elements that we consider to be the core of our method of teaching.
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Theater as an interesting and effective means to educate children
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Language as a basic tool in learning.
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Traveling with a play as a means to see, understand and pass on an understanding of various aspects of History, Geography, Science and Mathematics
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Living and working on a farm provides a means for the children to work in and understand the workings of nature. It also helps us grow our own food and medicines.
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The main emphasis is on learning basic language such as the mother tongue, Hindi and English. In the process we will explore ways to impart language skills to diverse groups of children.
We do not follow any particular school of thought on education since our founder, Ram Ram insisted that education comes from the entire corpus of ideas on love and compassion and their every-day practice. We are not “against” any system, we are for all that nurtures a child’s growth
We will be following the agriculture calendar to dictate the time-frame for academics, theater, craft and traveling. The teachers, after three months of work with the children find it more comfortable to teach without the constraint of the prescribed syllabus.
We have had a volunteer from Finland teaching the children English and video-documenting the everyday life of the children.
Today the teachers feel that working for the next five years, we could evolve an alternative teaching-learning system, which would be of special value to children with a history of discontinued education at various levels, and do not have the support of a family system.( For more details, ask for our newsletter at vishwalaya@gmail.com)
Vision
To evolve a three- year course for our children and others like them, coming form unfortunate backgrounds. This is to enable them to get the basic qualification of S.S.L.C which will give them access and equal opportunity to make occupational choices and utilize the support provided by the government.
Our supporters
Ms Rie Goto has continued to support us in various ways, after initially completely sponsoring our needs here for the first three months. She recently sponsored a trip to Gokarna for two days. Lastly, she has decided to raise funds for the next one year from June ‘08 to March ’09, towards children’s education.
Mr. Roy has extended his support of our kitchen and the Finnish volunteer Mr Terotook care of the vegetable and milk bill.
We have a new bank account specifically for the children’s project with HDFC Bank Richmond circle branch and the account number is Vishwalaya-05232090000072. My mobilde number is still the same 9448374418.
Looking forward
Today, Ram Ram;s dream of the ashram where the children can grow their own food and are surrounded by all fruit and nut trees, a paradise for childhood seems near to being. It is by the grace of the Guru, that from last May till now, different aspects of our life here in Baad have been a step closer to Ram Ram’s paradise.
