Growing into Trees: YSP and Seeds of Peace (By Claire Bennett)

[chintamani yogi]

It is still amazing to me how quickly little seeds grow into trees. You plant the seed yourself, protect and nurture the sapling, and before you realise there stands a huge tree; now protecting and nurturing you under its branches.

Hindu Vidya Peeth (HVP) is a school based on the philosophy of love, peace and service, gently guiding its students to learn not only about academic subjects, but also about the nature of spirituality. Since the inception it has been guided and led by the eminent social worker Mr Chintamani Yogi, through whose love it has grown and developed into a movement encompassing three schools. When I first came into the HVP family, nearly three years ago now, I was impressed by the enthusiasm and energy of some of the students. How eager they were to learn from us, how accepting, how humble. Neither they or I questioned the relationship; they were the students, and we fed them with knowledge. This is why it came to me as such a shock to turn around and realise that these same students, the seeds which were planted and who I helped to grow, had turned into trees and were already blossoming.

Even during the time which I have spent in Nepal (coming up to one year now) the transformation has been quite remarkable. I remember talking to my ex-students Mridu Shrestha, Samrat Yogi, Jagannath Kandel and Abhishek KC a matter of months ago about their recently-founded organisation Youth Society for Peace, which was established under the guidance of our Guru Chintamani Yogi ji. It was brand new – a paper organisation – and my students were coming to me to ask for my thoughts and suggestions. I gladly encouraged them all the way. I could see that they all had inside them the restlessness of youth, the uncontainable desire to change society that many young people feel before the inertia of old age sets in. And I could also see quite clearly that their experience and training in HVP had ensured that these young people were channelling their energies into positive actions.

I mean, it is not quite possible (although it might sound humorous or ridiculous now) that Mridu and her friends could have established Youth Society for War? What with the current situation in Nepal, the political turmoil, the lack of development initiatives, corruption, instability, uncertainty... Isn't it to be expected that the young people, the inheritors of our mistakes, turn around and declare a war on all the evil set before them? A "People's War"? Indeed, it is overwhelmingly the frustrated and disillusioned young people which are fuelling the current conflict in Nepal, on both sides. It was truly encouraging to see that the ex-students and well-wishers of HVP were abandoning that path to tread the path of peace.

Amazingly, in just a few short months, from the seed of a wonderful idea, Youth Society for Peace has set down its roots and grown many branches. It started humbly, with some small programmes lighting the lamp of peace, and some community work supporting the street children of Kathmandu. As it gained ground YSP began working on a larger-scale, facilitating huge interaction programmes with students from colleges all over Kathmandu and hosting some important names, such as Shri Sai Das Baba Ji from India.

The most recent initiative to be undertaken by YSP is "Seeds of Peace"; a weekly programme held in Shanti Sewa Ashram for young children aged 3-15. They pray with the children, teach them 'Bhajans' (holy songs), play friendship games with them and tell them stories. Each week the number of children attending this programme grows, and the faces and pristine behaviour of the children reflect how much they love being there and how much they are learning.

I know that the description of the Seeds of Peace programme doesn't sound particularly grand. It might seem that gathering a small group of children together is hardly going to change the world. But this programme needs to be viewed at a different level. YSP is doing something completely positive and is achieving positive results. It is encouraging spiritual thought amongst those most impressionable and setting an example which is only likely to spread. The success can be gauged in the smiles of the children, in the amount of love they show towards the YSP members (whom they affectionately address as 'sister' and 'brother' ) and in the obvious effect that the words and the songs have on the way of thinking of the children. After all, it might be worth telling you that the HVP movement itself started in this exact way, on a tiny scale with weekly programmes for local kids. And no one can deny that this movement has not enjoyed a nation-wide, if not a global, impact.

Watching my students taking classes for themselves, organising the children and gaining so much respect from them, I was suddenly struck by the realisation that, without my noticing, my students were suddenly independent from me or my guidance and advice. They had grown into trees. And they even had their own seeds now, whom they were feeding and supporting. It was really amazing to me, how quickly this could happen. And I found myself awakening to the fact that now I had a lot to learn from those to whom I had previously given knowledge, in the same way as a tree that one plants soon can give you shade from the burning sun. I bowed my head and went to take tika from my ex-students, and although they found it odd they gave it to me anyway. I think they realise that from now onwards we will be sharing, working together towards the goals which HVP have inspired in us both.

(Graduate of Cambridge University, Miss Claire Bennett, UK worked at Hindu Vidyapeeth-Nepal as a volunteer teacher in 2001)