 Good morning. My name is Sanjeev. I have realized that the purpose of my life is to progress as a human being and become what I am meant to become. And Sri Aurobindo and Mother are guides to help me in this path. So actually growing up, parents always taught me to do the right thing. So they said do always the right thing. But what is the right thing to do and how do you decide it is a question. So I just accepted whatever I was expected to do. So I am expected to... We were a fairly conservative family. So I got my poonal as a secret thread. I got that early and said these are the things we are expected to do. I am a student. I am expected to study well. So I studied well. And so I just sort of leading up as to my introduction to Mother and Sri Aurobindo was actually through education. Through my work in education. But I didn't really have much time to myself because I was engaged with all the things I was expected to do and that I was doing. So I did quite well in school. And most of us were expected to do engineering. And not only expected I enjoyed it. I actually absolutely enjoyed electronics. I enjoyed programming. Whatever I could get I did. So even as a child I got a small book on digital logic and I started working on it. And I was quite young. Maybe I was in sixth or seventh grade. But it made sense. It was fun. I enjoyed it. And so in India if you want to be an engineer the right place to go is the IITs. They are supposed to prepare for it. So I did. I prepared my JEE. I got selected. I got into IIT. I didn't get electronics though. I got civil engineering. Civil engineering. But I would have really liked to do electronics because that's something I enjoyed. Somehow it turned out after the first year they have some brand changes. So I wanted to do that also. So whatever I thought I wanted and I should do, I did. So I did electronics. And then I wanted to teach because I had a professor who was really good. And he had an intuitive feel for things. It's not about working it out. He would just look at circuits. He could talk to them. I was like, I want to be like that. So I said I'm going to teach. I'm going to teach at IIT. When he retires I'll replace him. This was my expectation at that time. So I thought, okay, I should understand what research is in India. So most of my friends after the undergrad applied abroad. They went abroad. I said no, I want to understand the research here. First I want to experience industry. So I worked for a year. And then I did my masters. And then I applied for my PhD. I got my PhD. And I think it was, I've always known what is the next thing I needed to do in life. This is what I need to do. This is what I need to do next. And so the next thing was, I was doing my PhD. And there's something changed. Because I wasn't, it is open-ended. The first time you're not told you had to complete this. You had to complete that. You had to do this. You had to do that. No, it was open. So I said, work on what you want to work on. I was like, work on what I want to work on. This was a concept I was not familiar with. The freedom. I was not used to. And one of the things I found is, I actually, in spite of all, and I still have, I enjoy programming, electronics, all the techy stuff that I do, I do enjoy them. I don't want to do it all my life, but I enjoy them. But there I started exploring something else. I started exploring what is the education we have been given. What is it meant for? Does it help us lead a better life? And one of the ways I got into that was I started volunteering for a group called Asha for Education. It's a nonprofit that works mostly to support educational projects in India. So mostly we do fundraising. Then we do a little bit of activism related to education. I got into a few activist groups at some time. But mostly about understanding education and the first thing I started with was supporting an orphanage. So my goal was, what is it that the orphanage needs? Let's meet their needs. And so the first, at the very first level, it was about children just fitting in. Children, either orphans or single mother is there, can't take care of the child, they are in the orphanage. Somehow they have to get some education so that they fit into the society. And I think it was a good experience to start with because it gives the one extreme of what the purpose of education is. Just fit in, get a job. And then as I kept working with them for some time, I was like, is that enough? Is that really what education's purpose is? It's important. Sure, we should support children who are not privileged. That's fine. There is a sense of equity that comes from within. But can't we give something more to them? And then I started working with alternative education all across India. I visited over, I think, about 85 different schools over time that are doing different. There is no one alternative. There are alternatives. Each of them is different, depending on the background of the people who are involved. So there are alternative education schools that are based on art. There are alternative education schools that are based on programming. There are alternative education schools that are based, depending on the background of the person who is running it, it is structured a little differently. But it started asking one other question in education. Perhaps it's not only about fitting in. It's also about standing out. So I said, OK, wonderful. So I started working with them. But I noticed a certain arrogance that comes in, in some of the children because they are given freedom, they are given this idea for them to have responsibility. But many times it comes with sort of fake confidence. So I can't really do much, but I can present myself very well. So I became a little worried that it's actually enhancing the ego. It's not really helping the person become who they are meant to become. There's something more, there's something more. So I think that was one of the things that was developing over time. What is the purpose of this education we have been given? Because I'm supposed to become a teacher next, right? So I should at least know what education is about. If I don't know what education is about, what am I teaching? So I think it was more from the question of what are we doing? Why are we learning? And if we are going to support the next generation, what are we going to support the next generation do? What are we going to support the next generation become? So I think these were some of the questions that first got me to Auroville. Even in 2002 or 2003 I first came to Auroville. And I had come as part of, Asha had come to the Isai Ambulance School where I'm still teaching and one of the executors. And I had come there because we had organized a conference on education and Subash and Loods had come there and said, you know, we can have accelerated learning of children. So it was still about techniques. It was still about what is possible for children to learn, especially in a rural village. And we wanted to create a place for people to stay and experience it and contribute to the school as well as volunteer. So the idea was to build a space and I had been sent by Asha to make sure that this is not religious education because at that time one of our things was we are secular which means we should not promote any religion. Though I think again all these things are mental pictures we have at different times in our life that we see very differently over time. But at that time that's what it was. So I had come here to make sure that the children were not being taught religious things. Then apparently I left convinced that, okay, it's basically something that children are getting exposure to many things but it's not like we are being doctrineated with any particular thought or religion or otherwise. Yeah. Anyway. So that was one visit that I had and I continued. Because I came to the school and many of the teachers in the school would continue to come to educational conferences that relationship was continued. I continued meeting them whenever we hosted conferences and so on. I was still in the U.S. at the time. I hadn't moved to India yet. So I think it was, yeah. So I think one change happened for me in around 2007 once we moved back to India. I and my wife met in the U.S. We were married. We lived there for a few years. And then somehow there was this... At that time I had this thing that India is burning and I need to go and do something in India. So that's when we moved to India. And we immediately went to a tribal village. First thing when we landed, visit family, friends. I did that for about a week and then I realized this is not why I came back. So then I decided not attending any of these weddings and funerals and any of these things, let's go. And so I went to a tribal village. We were there for a couple of weeks and then it turned out that there was some need at home and there was some opportunity that happened with the same group I had worked with. They said, okay, why don't you move to Bangalore? Just a few years. And you explore and you figure out where you want to go. I said, okay, fine, we'll do that. And that time I did something called Vipassana which is a 10-day silent meditative course. So I think before that very honestly I had turned into a bit of an activist and I think I was reaching the point of an activist burnout. We had against coke and Pepsi and what they were doing in the village is mostly corporates. Of course even the government, where is anything left? So different people's struggles I had been involved with and I had seen a lot. So I have seen bonded labor in India and I have seen the conditions they live in and the inability of actually an excess of big money and politicians and police and everything not letting things move and how much of a struggle it is to break some of these. Even to rescue for 2,000 bonded laborers we freed and we created some sort of a system. It was a lot of work and it was so hard in the sense you feel exhausted. So I think I was doing a lot of things because I was so angry that there is just so much injustice in the world and I think doing the vipassana released something. It felt like yes there are the right things to do but we do them because there are the right things to do. We don't have to have anger, hatred, ill will, animosity against anyone because the reality is that we are all stuck, that's it. How can we become unstuck? That's all. So first start with me, how can I become unstuck? I can disapprove of people's actions, I can not accept them, I can have my own actions but I don't have to hold it against them. The human beings. So how can we hold everyone with love, with respect and disagree? And if there is someone who is really disagree, they are really stuck. They need more of our compassion, not less of our compassion. So I think some of these things were, for me it's a spiritual experience, I don't know if it is for others but you just release yourself of needing to have to judge anyone. You know the best person out there is me, because only I know me. So you know once you stop judging people, life becomes so easy, it's amazing. So for me that was, it released a lot of the anger and I think I would not have been able to even come to Orwell at that time. When I came, I visited, I said okay, we can do something here, this is not a place that I will live in. And then I actually, I did, I was doing one of the meditations, I saw every being connected, like all of us are connected. For me that was like, we are all connected, and not just human beings, I mean all beings, we are just a network. And I said yeah, okay, so we can all have a choice on what we want to believe in, this is what I choose to believe in, that we are all one. And how can I live a life in which it is in line with this one new faith, one new belief that I have. I have seen it and now I choose to believe I was meant to see it and I was supposed to act through it. So for me the purpose of education also became to know myself and to support any child that I work with, know themselves better, be more in line with who they are, truly. Not the superficial self, not the vital self, not the mental self, but something deeper, which we call the psychic being, at that time I did not know, I just knew it was something deeper, something deeper. So we were of course volunteering and figuring out where we should go and we had volunteered in the tribal village, I volunteered there for almost 9, 10 months we were there. And I felt I was not fully utilized. There is a lot I can do and it's a beautiful place to live, very nice people to interact with, a few children who I interacted with. I added value to their lives, I have no doubt. But this is not where I am meant to be. So even though we had a very nice place and we were very comfortable, we said okay, we need to move. In fact I was, usually I take decisions now after a vipassana. So I went for a vipassana and came back and said we are going back to Bangalore. So I called my manager and I said I went for a vipassana and I want to come back and work. He said you went for a vipassana and you want to come back and work. That seems though. He said alright fine usually when people go they want to withdraw. But you want to engage, wonderful, come. So and we started exploring other places we wanted to go. Actually my wife came to Auroville and spent some time here. At that time she was interested in farming, organic farming. So she went to different farms. And she said you know there is some possibility here. I was of course still in conversation with the Samlam school. But because Auroville is a city, there are so many activities. I said okay one thing doesn't work, something else will work. So finding something that we will do is higher. So okay fine. I still didn't know much about the mother and Shri Aurovandra at that time. I knew there that. I knew about Auroville. And I said okay I will come open. I will come and I will see there is an opportunity to learn. I will learn. We will see. I have moved all my life. The longest I have ever stayed in a place is Auroville continuously. I have never stayed in a place for nine years continuously. The next longest I have ever stayed in a place is five years. That's in New York City. And before that it's in Delhi. Maybe four, four and a half years. I have never stayed continuously in a place. My father was in the AFS. He always traveled. Okay we will go. We will see. If it is the right place, we will be there. If it is not, we will know. Somehow the process was long. My newcomer process lasted for two years which was interesting. But it's okay. I was not particularly interested whether I am called Aurovillean a newcomer or otherwise. Am I doing something worthwhile? Am I progressing in my life? Those are the only two criteria. But it was very smooth. In 2003 when we came and we set up a place for people to stay. 2005 it got built. 2007 it was active. 2009 it was sort of active. Then it was not used. By the time we came in 2013, Sugarshu was the executive. He said, that's the place you built. You stay there. So I actually had a place to stay which is difficult actually for many people in Auroville. Find a place to stay. Find a place to work. And he didn't place any constraints that you have to only work in Auroville. He said, you explore. So I think he said, you are here for a larger purpose. It's not limited to the school. You explore. You figure out what is it that you should be doing. Because I was staying there. So I said, half a day I will be here and the other half day I was at Udavi school. Initially I explored the Auroville instead of applied technology. And then over time I figured out what is it that I am adding value. So I was volunteering at the two schools. Now when I was teaching, I went into Udavi. They have a hall. And the top, you see, it says, nothing can be taught. It's engraved. So I was like, what is that? What am I doing? If nothing can be taught, I thought I am teaching. But if I am not teaching, what am I doing? So I actually started reading that, the three principles of true education. What are they? What is he saying? What does this mean? How can I apply it in my life? And then of course I had a lot of questions. And then mother has questions and answers. Wonderful. They are also to be preferred. Many of them are to Tara Devi. But essentially it's to a teacher. She is addressing a teacher. So for me I said that is very valuable. Whenever I had a question, answered in some form, that would be useful for me. And then of course you read. But you also have this thing that is always available as guidance. So I have this little, it's fact, it's about small one. The education nicely bound book that Subash had given me. And whenever I had a question, I would open and say, okay, is that question, you think I can relate it to what as a question I have? And is that answer something I can use? At that time, Sri Aurobindo and the mother for guidance. How can I be a better teacher? I am doing this. I want to be better at what I am doing. So at that time I had sort of rejected my technology part and the other work that I had done. And I was also introduced to the radical transformation leadership. At that time it was called stewardship for a new emergence. And this is all coincidences. I would never have gone to a management I thought it was a management course. I don't want to go to it. And then the head teacher at the time was Kavita and she said she needs company. It seems there's something that goes on around here which again I'm not used to because of, I guess I had stayed in the US for too long. I need someone to go with me. So someone has to come with me. Then I will go. I said you understand this is a leadership program. The entire point is you are alone. So she said that's okay. As long as you come with me it's fine. I said we will not sit together even one session. You will not see me there. She said okay that's fine. As long as you are there it's okay. So I think I was actually pulled in more because someone else was supposed to go. Yeah. So one of the things it asked in the very first session it asked what do you deeply care about? What do you want to come to? And I was like well this is the question I'm asking. Oh that's good. It's asking the same questions. So I went in more as a skeptic. I had seen all these. I have a general mistrust on a technical person. So I don't trust management and trust. I definitely don't trust sales people because you feel that they're always lying. So because I thought this was more for sales people and I associated management with it I had like completely rejected it initially. But within a few sessions I thought what they are saying makes sense. What is it that I'm here to do? I mean am I in the place of my most potential? These are some of the questions that it asked. And I said okay I guess I mean the children are learning. They're progressing. I'm enjoying myself. I have a good comfortable life. And then again lots of coincidences. I met some youth from Auroville who who had done this engineering. Electronics had turned out. They didn't have a job. I was like do I really want to do this? And I asked myself is this what I want to do? And I said no definitely not. I don't want to go back designing things doing things. This is not why I came here. And then by the time I had figured out that I need to quieten myself before I get an answer. So I meditated quietened myself. I said it has to be related to education. If I am going to work on something related to technology it still needs to be something that is associated with education. So then we came up with this sort of I don't know if I came up but okay. Yeah. It came that the youth could volunteer in schools work with children and I could work with them and train them at that time I had big programming because I thought that would be the easier thing to work on rather than electronics. The learning curve is a little steeper for electronics. So we created at that time what was called Aura Auro. The company I used to work for was called Aura Semiconductor A-U-R-A and Auroville is A-U-R-O. So I called it Aura Auro and people said well water coincidence? Okay. So we started with three youths. Of course over time it built up and there were many more youths. We even have a spin-off. It's called U-B-B. But one of the things that I realized is the same thing I did with education. I was now doing with youth. I'm making them more skilled. Yes, that's true. They have become more skilled at let's say programming. They have become more skilled at working with children or teaching. But there is also the other aspects. I want to develop their ability to notice what they care about and also do something. So you know let's say that's a functional part. The first part is just functional. You have to be able to function as a teacher. You have to be able to function as an engineer. The second part is more social. The environment you create has to be in line with what you care about. So I have seen the youth I work with speak up against alcoholism. I have seen them speak up against casteism. I have seen them get married into caste and have no one come to their wedding. But all the other people go to their weddings. It's okay. Yeah. I think there are some things that socially are not in line with who we are and you are able to speak up about it and you are able to align with what you care about. And then there is a third aspect of who I am to really work on who I am. So whether it's meditation, whether it is the same kind of tools I had that benefited me in RTL really ask these questions. Am I doing what I am meant to do? Am I able to do what I care about? Contribute to it. And then look for guidance. So for me Sri Aurobindo and the mother always guidance. I have to figure out where I would like to go but as always guidance are available. If I choose to ask for it and if I choose to take it all this is still our choice. But it's there. So yeah, it basically for me it is about having a space of growth constant progress unending education. Exactly the things that we talk about in the chat. Research. So we also do research even formal research. So again I think all the guidance is there. We have to do it and we have to choose to do it. So that's sort of what I do now in Auroville. I am running the Isayamalam school where we are again exploring the same questions. And we do with children mostly from the villages around Auroville. And it's amazing how deeply our culture is grounded in spirituality. And we can tap into what is cultural. The stories that we tell children the stories that we already have they are so rich whether it is a Naaymar story or it's Naaymar's are Shivabhaks and so we can approach it in any which way. But as we learn about our culture then we understand what is the synthesis that Acharya Vindo is referring to. And I think that is one thing that I am if I think about I guess I am grateful for what Auroville has created for me or yeah is basically the idea of need to synthesize my life, not reject any part of me but to make it make sense as part of the whole. So whether it was the years I volunteered and visited schools which comes into play and how what we do in things in the school whether it is even simple things like fundraising which I did for so many years which I do for the school now or for STEM land where we work with so many children we work with over 300 children in and around Auroville or it is a technical experience that I have I have a fairly I am not only a person who can program I can program, I can do electronics many skills and now we are doing all these areas all the areas that I am aware of we are actually involved with all of them so it is utilizing all my skills also and all the things that I learnt as part of organizing projects organizing even throughout the year supporting teams grow not just organizing teams managing teams I do not manage teams I am creating opportunities for people to grow that is how I look at it that is what I do and it is so much easier than managing people if you have to manage people you have to figure out why is that person not coming in today is he really unwell I do not have to do any of that my goal is to create for you to be the best that you can be that is it so even though I am technically involved with many activities I am at Sire, I am at Samdom school I am at WBVM I am in Stemland I am at C-Cube Streamland as well I am actually doing only one activity from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep I am working on my progress and I am creating an environment for others to progress that is it so there is only one job that I have and there is anything I do that is not aligned with that only one job I have I do not do it, simple so even our engagement with Aura for me is not about bringing employment to Aura I think employment will come to Aura one way or the other it is to take some value of Aura to Aura to Bangalore for people to be able to live a deeper, higher life even where they are they can come here I came here for a higher, deeper life if they cannot come here they can still live a higher, deeper life wherever you are so I think all my interactions are with only that one purpose how do I progress and how do I support others progress and for me in this Shri Irvendra and the mother are wonderful guides because the way I look at it is that there have been moments of perfect clarity in my life in everyone's life where we know what needs to be done we have all the all the knowledge that is needed to get it done and we simply have to make a choice to do it there is no effort there is no conflict there is no internal conflict there is no real emotion there is just the joy of being in service and what if we can do it all the time so for me that is how I look at what I learnt from Shri Irvendra and all how can I do it all the time not just once in a while and have that moment of saying that attunement I felt now but how can I have it all the time that is it