A quiet revolution is tak- ing place in Phaltan, a small taluka, 100 km south-east of Pune. Leading the charge is environmentalist,social activist and spiritualist Anil K Rajvan- shi.A pioneer of the reverse flow from the US back to India, in early 80s, he gave up a well-paid professorship at the Institute of Solar Energy, Florida, and chose to settle in Phaltan to pursue a dream: to change the landscape of the rural poor.Thirty years on, the dream is becoming real. His dream child, the NARI Centre for Sustainable Devel- opment (NCSD), an NGO for sensi- tising corporations, R&D experts and leaders of civil society to the problems of rural India, was inaugurated in Phal- tan on April 12, 2011.“With their re- sources, reach and technological ex- pertise,big businesses can help improve rural life.The NARI Centre, a model of sustainable development,is the prod- uct of this belief,” says Rajvanshi.The focus is on innovation,particularly tech- nological innovation that is directed to rural needs. For example, the centre de- veloped indigenous technology for fer- mentation of sweet sorghum juice, so- lar distillation of ethanol and finally for its use as a cooking and lighting fuel in new and improved stoves and lanterns. Beyond Business Rajvanshi explains that the role models of rural people are the urban elite.“I’m trying to get this class involved in rural uplift in a manner that is sus- tainable.The ashram is an attempt in that direction.”Young corporate exec- utives — the future CEOs of the coun- try — and active members of civil so- ciety, will, through lectures, workshops and project participation, be persuaded to set an example of simple living and high thinking.’ The centre’s simple mantra is:Technology with spirituality for sustainable rural development. Looking back on years of hard work, Rajvanshi reminisces:“When I first came and settled here,the place was so badly connected that I had to take a bus and go all the way to Pune to make a phone call! Fresh from the US, I had job offers from IIT Bombay,IIC Ban- galore and from the Tatas, but I had come with a certain idealism and arro- gance that I’m going to change India. I soon realised that change is not going to come about so easily.The gov- ernment may put in a lot of money,but unless corporations, who provide the goods and services, are sensitised to the needs of the rural poor, real develop- ment will remain a dream. Phaltan aims to translate that dream into reality.” Problems And Solutions It provides a forum for profession- als from different fields to collaborate and generate solutions for rural India. “The key word here is experience.The rural setting of the centre will hopeful- ly inspire participants to think about ru- ral problems and come up with possi- ble solutions.For only if you see things for your self,will you feel strongly about them, and only when you feel strong- ly will you want to make things better,” says the committed green-tech guru. Business schools have be- gun to endorse the belief that ex- periential learning is important. De- bashis Sanyal, dean, School of Business Management of Narsee Mon- jee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai,says:“Only real-life exposure and training out there can make good managers”. Management experts are convinced that building EQ or emo- tional quotient is as important as IQ. And they are all for promoting SQ (Spiritual Quotient) as well.The Mum- bai-based SP Jain Institute of Man- agement and Research has compulso- ry courses on management that include insights from the Bhagavad Gita to fa- miliarise students with ethics and val- ues. According to S Sriram, director, Mumbai Business School, this helps build the ethical foundation of students and develops a sense of life beyond business.IIM Ahmedabad’s Shodh Ya- tra, an exploration-based course that takes students into remote villages, is part of the hardship familiarisation ex- ercise. It is reported that an increasing number of students are demanding such intense real-life training sessions. XLRI, Jamshedpur, encourages stu- dents to spend three nights in a village, interact with villagers and get to know their problems from first-hand ac- counts. “This is exactly what we are trying to do,” says Rajvanshi. Phaltan aims to give participants this sort of exposure. The NCSD will soon run a month- long internship for students of the Ma- nipal Institute of Management.They will be made conscious of the lack of basic amenities, poor resource utilisa- tion and non-sustainability in rural ar- eas.The centre is spread over 900 sq m with accommodation for 20 students, two faculty houses, a well-equipped kitchen and dining room and facilities for rainwater harvesting and energy conservation. It will be hosting regular conferences and workshops on sustain- ability and rural development, famil- iarising participants with rural India and providing them an intellectually stimulating environment,which would include meaningful interaction with international and local experts and res- idents, so that they can come up with innovative solutions and business and development plans best suited to local conditions.“We believe that the key to rural development is modern technol- ogy and research which convert scarce- ly available resources and materials into useful products. It makes life simple, so that you can focus on higher things,” says Rajvanshi. Spiritual Quotient Spirituality figures high in the centre’s philosophy. “We are all for simple liv- ing”, says Rajvanshi, “and you can live simple only if you are spiritual. When you become spiritual you stop try- ing to impress others and when that happens, you start reducing your greed, because greed is rooted in the human tendency to show off. I’ve seen it in my own case.When I returned from the US, I was a hard- core consumerist, greedy and aggres- sive,” he says.Today, he’s very differ- ent.The family hasn’t bought a big ticket item in 15 years. He moves around in his 1984 car, wears khadi and when clothes get worn-out, they are used as dusters.With such a spar- tan lifestyle, it is hardly surprising that the centre he set up should be called an ashram — the Phaltan Ashram. As Rajvanshi puts it:“What’s an ashram? It’s a place to learn — a place to learn higher things and that’s exactly what Phaltan is all about”. ■ With inputs from Neha Madaan inPune [email protected] A TIMES OF INDIA PUBLICATION HYDERABAD, SUNDAY, JUNE 5 , 2011 NUMBER OF PAGES: 8 PRICE 2.00 http://www.speakingtree.in Human consciousness was meant to shape society; now society is shaping human consciousness and that is being called education — Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev WORD GUIDE Pg 2 Pratyahara: Abstraction or bringing back. It is withdrawal of the powers of the senses from their r espective objects. — Swami Krishnananda First Temple Goebekli Tepe in Southern Turkey and other sites in the Middle East are changing ideas about how itinerant bands of hunter-gatherers settled into village life as farmers -- a turning point referred in history as the Neolithic Revolution. But 11,600 years ago — 7,000 before the Giza Pyramid was built and much before Stonehenge in England — it appears that a great limestone temple was created at Goebekli Tepe without the aid of wheels or draft animals.Archaeologists excavating what could turn out to be the world's first temple say that it suggests the human sense of the sacred — and the human love of a good spectacle — may have given rise to civilisation itself, rather than any post-Ice Age global climate change and the discovery of agriculture that led to cessation of the nomadic life as hunter-gatherer. — National Geographic No Cheating Belief in God doesn't deter a person from cheating on a test, unless that God is seen as a mean, punishing one, researchers say. On the flip side, psychology researchers Azim F Shariff at the University of Oregon and Ara Norenzayan at the University of British Columbia found that undergraduate college students who believe in a caring, forgiving God are more likely to cheat. The findings emerged from two experiments involving a mathematics test in which honesty was put to the test. Students were told about a software glitch in which the correct answer to each problem would appear. To avoid seeing the answer,they were told to press the space bar immediately after viewing each problem. No differences in cheating were found between self-described believers in God and non-believers. However, students who specifically perceived God as punitive, angry and vengeful showed significantly lower levels of cheating. "What matters more than whether you believe in a God is what kind of God you believe in," Shariff said. — uonews.uoregon.edu BRIEFLY 1 The first type of restlessness is due to the place you are in.When you move away from that place, street or house, you im- mediately feel better. Chanting, singing, chil- dren playing and laughing can change this at- mospheric restlessness.When you chant and sing, the vibration in the place changes. 2 The second type of restlessness is in the body.Eating vata or the wrong food or food that tends to aggravate; eating at odd times, not exercising,and overworking can all cause a physical rest- lessness.The remedy for this is exercise, moderation in work habits and going on a vegetable or juice diet for one or two days. 3 The third type of restlessness is mental restlessness. It is caused by ambition, disturbing thoughts, likes or dislikes. Knowledge alone can cure this restlessness. Seeing life from a broader per- spective,knowledge about the Self and the impermanence of every- thing. If you achieve everything, so what? After your achievement, you will die.Knowledge of your death or life,confidence in the Self, confidence in the Divine, can all help in calming the mind and re- duce restlessness. 4 Then there is emotional restlessness.Any amount of knowledge does not help here. Only kriya or action for purification, helps. All that emotional restlessness vanishes.Also the presence of the guru, a wise person, or a saint will help to calm your emotional rest- lessness. 5 The fifth type of restlessness is rare. It is the restlessness of the soul.When everything feels empty and meaningless,know you are very fortunate.That longing and restlessness is the restless- ness of the soul. Do not try to get rid of it. Embrace it! Welcome it! Usually to get rid of it, people do all sorts of things — they change places, jobs or partners; they do this, they do that. It seems to help for some time, but it does not last. Restlessness of the soul alone can bring authentic prayer in you. It brings siddhi or perfection and miracles in life. It is so precious to get that innermost longing for the Divine. Satsang, the sharing of ex- periences and thoughts in the presence of the enlightened one, soothes the restless soul. ■ www.artofliving.org F irst, Anna Hazare and now Baba Ramdev. Even before these two leaders, each of a different kind, took to fasting, there was of course M K Gandhi, for whom fasting was not just a way of resting the digestive system but more potently,a tool to snag popular and of- ficial attention, to fight for a common cause, whether for freedom from foreign political masters or to ensure communal har- mony.More recently,the com- mon cause is the fight against corruption and the need to speed up implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill. My resolve to fast at least once a fortnight, for general and personal well being, only got strengthened.Didn’t a colleague admit that he’d been fasting every ekadashi day (eleventh lu- nar day), abstaining from food and water for one whole day,ever since he was a child? I also learnt that early humans fasted during illness to get well sooner. Three friends and I began to pre- pare ourselves for the fast ahead… We decided that to fast regularly,our body and mind needed to get used to the idea slowly to get acclimatised.We de- cided to abstain from food for pro- gressively longer hours.That meant in- creasing the intervals between meals and giving up snacking. Initially, fasting tripped my con- centration and gave me headaches,but otherwise, it was a great experience, according to my friends.Then we re- alised we couldn’t focus on anything other than food.We learnt that our stomach reflexes had been used to eat- ing at regular intervals and that need- ed to be changed. We were used to morning coffee, breakfast, midday snacks and so on. Withdrawal from these — especially stimulants — resulted in headaches. We found that when our minds were occupied, we didn’t mind skipping meals.When idle,however,food crav- ings took over.Was eating more of a past time? “The minute you can push the plate away with food still on it, give yourself a pat on the back”, quotes An- thony Robbins in his book Awaken the Giant Within. As we went forward on our fasting path, we found our sensi- tivity to surroundings and nature get- ting heightened. Even the body seemed to adjust to the scorching heat, and we were no longer sweating pro- fusely. We were not tired either; the energy flow seemed to re- define itself in our veins as we let go of food, at last. Sleep be- came total relaxation and dreamless.Though on waking my legs felt weak, I found I could walk faster now that my stomach was lighter.We’d man- aged to remain food-less for 36 hours at a stretch! We felt inspired. “Breaking the fast had to be done carefully, with fruits and juicy food, before going for solids”, warned my mother. We tast- ed our first breakfast, mine being a sal- ad with carrots, lime and steamed ap- ples topped with almonds. A weird menu in comparison to the quotidian South Indian routines I’d had and yet, our taste buds were agog, having rest- ed for so long. Food, every drop and morsel of it, tasted delicious. I recalled what Greek philosopher Plutarch said on fasting: “Instead of medicine, fast for a day!”The 36-hour fast targeted at healing mind, body and spirit — on a fortnightly basis — seemed like a great idea. Perhaps a good place to begin on a different kind of journey. ■ [email protected] Fasting Experience SLEEP BECAME TOTAL RELAXATION AND DREAMLESS. THOUGH ON WAKING MY LEGS FELT WEAK, I FOUND I COULD WALK FASTER NOW THAT MY STOMACH WAS LIGHTER Inspired, ADITHYA RAGHAVAN resolves to practise fasting at least once a fortnight SAKINA YUSUF KHAN takes you to Phaltan Ashram where corporate leaders and future CEOs learn the art of simple living and high thinking Green Gyan ARU N D Y U T I D A S © C O R B I S © C O R B I S WHEN YOU BECOME SPIRITUAL YOU STOP TRYING TO IMPRESS OTHERS. THEN, YOU START REDUCING YOUR GREED, BECAUSE GREED IS ROOTED IN THE HUMAN TENDENCY TO SHOW OFF —ANIL K RAJVANSHI BABA RAMDEV AND ANNA HAZARE Are You Restless? SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR tells you how to curb the restlessness and become calm *spthH50611//01/K/1* *spthH50611//01/K/1* spthH50611/1R1/01/K/1 *spthH50611//01/Y/1* *spthH50611//01/Y/1* spthH50611/1R1/01/Y/1 *spthH50611//01/M/1* *spthH50611//01/M/1* spthH50611/1R1/01/M/1 *spthH50611//01/C/1* *spthH50611//01/C/1* spthH50611/1R1/01/C/1