Gurukul Network

Under the auspices of Intercultural Sustainability Network and Swedish Academy of Sustainability, a workshop was held in Ljungskile and University West, located in Ed, Western Sweden in June.

Dr. Marcus Bussey and Dr. Dada Shambhushivananda were among the international participants which included scholars and action researchers from Africa, Latin America and Sweden.

Dr. Bussey led the Futures exercises while Dada shared spiritual exercises with participants. There was social-sculpturing, reflections on the state of the world and nature walks to identify voices from nature.

The Intercultural Sustainability Network is based on commonly agreed five principles:

1. Willingness towards collaborative learning with a universal perspective and becoming sensitive to "global story"

2. Engagement with "local stories"

3. Readiness to translate enlightened consciousness into "action projects"

4. Agreement to constantly reflect, learn from experiences and modify perspectives in order to align vision, actions and passions.

5. Develop competencies to nurture inter-cultural sustainabilities through most conducive forums such as study circles, university courses etc., irrespective of country, place, settings.

This international network builds upon horizontal structures and gives legitimacy to grass roots initiatives of Ananda Marga Gurukula. It embraces both formal and non-formal programs of different countries.

Learning the Art of Wholeness:

Challenges for Education and Human Development Madras Institute of Development Studies, India

July 2, 2011

This workshop was held to discuss solutions to the educational crisis that is evident in all levels of education - from the primary to higher levels. A major part of the problem lies in our education lacking a soul dimension and the realization of wholeness; pedagogical methods lacking a relation of love, mutuality and care among partners and fellow travelers; and educational objectives lacking the goal of integral development of individuals and societies.

Dr. Ananta Kumar Giri gave the opening remarks and spoke on Learning the Art of Wholeness: Education and Human Development. Among the many speakers, Dr Marcus Bussey, spoke on Neohumanist Education and Building Sustainable Futures; Dada Shambhushivananda, spoke on Psycho-Spiritual Foundations for Holistic Education; Professor Asha Mukherjee, Visva Bharati and Shantiniketan spoke on Education for Wholeness.

Meetings with

Center for Environmental Education

Ahmedabad, India

Kulapati met with Mrs. Rajeswari Gorana from the Center for Environmental (Education (CEE) in Ahmedabad and and Dr. Kiran Chhokar from CEE Delhi Office) and Editor of Journal of Education for Sustainable Development. CEE offered to share their resources and publications on environmental education with NHE schools throughout India. CEE and AMGK are exploring collaborating on the development of an Inner and Outer Ecology program for schools. From kindergarten to university level these courses would be designed to lay a strong foundation of healthy human beings who are sensitive to our environment. Inner ecology would take the help of medical science, moral science and intuitional science while Outer Ecology would bring together all essential seminal ideas about our environment.

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