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• Personal Growth

March 2006

By Leslie Nazareth

The world-wide rise of intentional communities is a testimony that more and more are looking for simpler, more holistic and spiritual ways to live. In the process, they are proving to be a prototype of the new age

Nandita Shah was a homoeopath leading a harried life in Mumbai. However, an episode of paralysis brought on by stress persuaded her to realise one of her cherished dreams. Today, she lives an ideal life in Auroville, practicing her trade while living in a quaint thatched cottage surrounded by cats and dogs, eating vegan food and participating in many of the cutting edge practices and ideas that Auroville creates.

If proof is needed that society is turning on its axis, it can be found in the unprecedented number of ordinary, everyday people who have started to shift their lives into new models for living.

Their lifestyles usually include more than one of the following elements: intentional community, living by what one loves, ecological lifestyles, living simply, natural health and living, organic or natural farming, healing the earth, right livelihood, a personal spiritual practice, self-organization, decentralization, alternative and local economic- and social-support systems, multi-culture and diversity, groups which cut across boundaries of belief, faith, religion, nationality and race. Some focus more on one area than others but most are moving towards or are already active in all these fields.

What is common to all of them is a disillusionment with modern society with its materialistic, fragmentary and conflict-ridden systems, its artifice and exploitation of nature. They are also bound by a search for a more holistic and simpler way of life that is ecologically sound, meaningful and spiritually resonant. Most approach these ends through intentional community.

A web search yielded more than a 1000 listed intentional communities in every corner of the world. Most of them are unknown to me but those I do know were mostly not in those lists. This means that one can expect the actual number to be much greater. Some examples from India are Navadarshanam, the Timbaktu Collective and Vanwadi, to name just a few.

A New Vision
My first visit to Navadarshanam was about 15 years ago. At the time the land was quite bare and there were no residential facilities. So, we stayed some distance away at Atheetha Ashram, where I renewed my acquaintance with Pratap Agarwal, one of the many founders. Pratapji is well known in India for promoting natural farming and for publishing the book, One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka, the Japanese farmer-sage.

During my time there, I met many of the members of Navadarshanam and also was witness to a long string of young visitors, some of them couples. Well-qualified but unwilling to join the rat-race, they were wandering around the country looking for a simple but meaningful way of living.

The late Swami Sahajananda of the Atheetha Ashram was a most enthusiastic supporter of the group. He himself trained as an engineer but had found a calling as a social activist, a yogi and a Vedantin, a nature-curist and – above all – a Gandhian.

On this property of 110 acres of hilly land adjoining a reserve forest not far from Bangalore, there is now accommodation for about 30 people in seven ecologically designed houses. Once very barren, it is now a place full of life and greenery. Organic farming is practised here and a variety of organic products are offered for sale in a monthly market of health foods. There are residential programmes to explore the aims of the group and a study-circle in Bangalore hosted by the Ananthus, who are also founder members.

Their aims are: ‘Exploring and adopting holistic and natural ways of fulfilling our outer and inner needs; rediscovering our relationship with the creation and the Creative Power; giving up a path of development which fans consumerism, profiteering and growth measured purely in material terms; striving towards the transformation of self by reaching out to that Creative Energy which gives rise to all physical and mental phenomena.’ Perhaps over a dozen people now live here as the resident community, but such places always have a traffic of seekers, visitors and an extended community of active associates and even relatives.

Temple of Trees
Perhaps it is an emerging pattern around big cities, but a group of us from Mumbai too shared similar aspirations for a simple and meaningful life. When we discovered a large property which was in danger of being deforested and ravaged by property developers, about 30 people came together 12 years ago, with the hope that this land could be saved and also used as a base for an ecological community. It was called Vanwadi, and designated a Vriksha Mandir – temple of trees.

It has already been most successful in saving the forest. Vanwadi is yet another demonstration of nature’s power to heal itself and the human spirit. The dense natural forest which had previously been felled has returned and ponds beckon where once all was dry and rocky earth. It is becoming an inspiration for its members and gatherings of people in search of a new and harmonious way of living.

I was passing through the neighbouring village recently with Bharat Mansata, one of the founder members, when some speculators accosted us. ‘When are you going to sell the trees?’ they asked. It was unimaginable for them that people from the city should acquire land and have such a great ‘crop’ of timber and not cash in on it. The philosophy of the group is demonstrated right at the very first boundary of the land. Instead of barbed-wire fences, they have made extensive use of trenches, rough stone walls and, most importantly, green hedges to make sure that stray cattle don’t wander where they can cause damage. The hedges consist of shrubs and trees which can provide fuel, oils, medicine and other useful products. Neighbors, including the Adivasis, continue to have access through the property.

Recently a Van Utsav (Forest Festival) was held here to exchange skills, ideas and products which enable simple living. This drew about 80 people for a few days from all over the country. Most people had an immensely enjoyable time without any of the so-called necessities of modern life. Vanwadi does not have electricity, piped water or television and even mobile phones seldom work. Food was a delight both in the preparation and the eating, which was done collectively. We also had a chance to enjoy food prepared by another member, Vijaya Venkat, founder of Health Awareness Centre, Mumbai, and her team.

Great contributions to Vanwadi come from the tribals of the area. My organisation, Phase Five, recently conducted a work camp at Vanwadi, which involved building a shelter for use at the Forest Festival. I was astounded to hear Madhav Bua, a Thakur Adivasi elder, outline the philosophy of Vanwadi for our participants. He said, ‘Everyone’s ideas are considered here including the opinion of us, Adivasis. This has solved many problems and prevented some from even happening. When I visit villagers around here, I often say Adivasis, Maratha villagers and Mumbai city people need to sit together like we do.’ Madhav Bua does not write but with his daughter’s help he has put together a great list of the plants to be found at Vanwadi and their uses. This work has been complemented by other senior Adivasis and botanists. Precious knowledge like this and bio-diversity is a key to living successfully and harmoniously with nature.

Eco Community
The Timbaktu Collective started out from social activism and made a natural progression towards healing the earth and creating an inclusive community that is part of a larger one, far exceeding the number of those who live there. Its founder, Bablu, was also inspired by One-Straw Revolution.

The switch from activism to joining the production process as a farmer was a very difficult and trying one for the family. But this led them to care for their forest on the 32 acres of Timbaktu. From the success on their land, the work extended to a neighbouring 125 acres and now 8000 acres are covered – all because it was a replicable model. Decision-making, maintenance and protection remained in the hands of the villagers, using locally available resources and self-organization.

Timbaktu, say its creators, ‘is envisaged as an agro-forest habitat. It is an attempt to create an alternative eco-sensitive community. A community, while caring for nature and tending to its basic needs, can demonstrate a sustainable, alternative, decentralized, self-respecting, non-alienating way of life for all sections of society. Such a community can be the only starting point for building a just and peaceful world, as any vision of such a world, without an ecological perspective, is vacuous.’

The Collective Spirit
What is special about all these communities is that they arose from the convictions, personal resources and the local wisdom of ordinary people.

While these communities may have made ecology the starting point of their discovery of a life that works, there are others that arose out of a spiritual philosophy.

Auroville, arising from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s vision of a ‘new world’, is the first that comes to mind. It is a community of communities and perhaps the most extensive example of its kind in the whole world. Spread over about 20 sq km, it takes a geographer to reckon with it – and at least a bicycle, as I discovered on my first day there. With over 100 settlements, it has an economy of its own and a diversity of food production, livelihoods, alternative education, arts, crafts, products and skills to offer. In this sense it is not an ashram or a retreat from the world, as it is a way of living for many families. There are many communities of varying sizes and with different accents and callings joined by a basic charter of values. Even in its spirituality, there is a diverse range of practices that you can find here. On one of my visits I stayed with a community which practices Vipassana meditation. It was like a homecoming.

The website says, ‘To find one’s true place is an intrinsic part of the Auroville process, and a very important one. It is only when one has found one’s right place in the whole – be it on whatever level – that the real work can begin. Auroville has evolved a great variety of possible living situations for like-minded people to plug into. New patterns are still being sought – the process is never ending.’

I first landed up at the home of a couple of architects. This was very fortunate because I had no idea where I was going or how spread out Auroville is. I wanted to learn about low-cost shelter constructions – my first requirement in settling down on a piece of land. With their help and kindness I was shepherded from hand to hand and got to see exactly what I needed before the day was over. On one leg of my journey, I had a seemingly endless walk in the blazing heat. An elderly Tamil farmer on a bicycle got down and shared his water-melon with me. With sign language he then insisted on giving me a ride on the carrier.

Brotherhood of Man
Another group with spirituality as a starting point is the Ananda group of spiritual communities. Started by Swami Kriyananda, a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, it has been in existence since 1968, when he founded the first ‘world brotherhood community’ in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in northeastern California. Today, Ananda World Brotherhood Village encompasses 1000 acres, where about 400 people live a dynamic, fulfilling life based on the principles and Practices of spiritual, mental and physical development, cooperation, respect and divine friendship. The group has four other communities in the US, one in Italy and the most recent, Ananda Sangha, in Gurgaon, Delhi.

The economic basis of Ananda depends on the industry and creativity of each individual, and the understanding that each member is responsible for supporting the community, rather than being supported by it. Each person seeks or creates gainful employment, either within the community services structures or outside the community.

At Ananda Village in California, many of the residents work for such community services as The Expanding Light, which is a spiritual retreat that offers programmes year-round; the Living Wisdom Schools, which offers an ‘education for life’ curriculum to children from kindergarten through high school; the Institute for Alternative Living, a university-level programme with boarding students from around the world; Crystal Clarity Publishers, which publishes and distributes books by Kriyananda and other Ananda members; Kriya Sangha, which serves the spiritual needs of seekers through courses, literature, web sites and personal contact; administrative services, which include activities from accounting to village planning, roads and utilities maintenance and community spiritual and social events.

Each person working in these areas receives a monthly salary and from that salary contributes a monthly fee to the Village for its services. Each person is also responsible for his own house. Many of the residents have built homes on the community property. Should an individual wish to leave the community, he may sell his home to another community member or to the community, which reimburses the individual for the cost of the house. Today there are about 100 homes within the Village.

Learnings
Within the nucleus of these communities lie practical methods and holistic alternative systems for the New Age. Many of them practice the concept of bartering services and therefore free themselves from the cash economy; they also adopt a simple holistic way of life with low reliance on technology. A few abjure electricity and non-holistic technology altogether. Alternative forms of energy such as solar and wind are actively researched and used. Organic food and farming is the norm. Childbirth is quite often natural and with the aid of dais or midwives. Child-rearing too is practiced in novel ways, with children often being the responsibility of the entire community. Education, too, is holistic and draws upon the talents and knowledge of the entire community. A profusion of arts and crafts form a vital part of many communities, most visible in Auroville and Ananda. This is a natural byproduct of each individual’s blossoming and movement into self-expression. By practicing what is as yet a nascent way of life, these communities are silently giving birth to the New Age.

In doing so, they echo the words of the Hopi Nation Elders:

‘You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour. Now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour. And there are things to be considered:

Where are you living? What are you doing? What are your relationships? Are you in right relation?

Where is your water? Know your garden. It is time to speak your Truth. Create your community. Be good to each other. And do not look outside yourself for the leader. This could be a good time!

There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart…

At this time in history we are to take nothing personally, least of all, ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.

The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word ‘struggle’ from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.’ The Elders / Oraibi, Arizona / Hopi Nation

Contact: Navadarshanam: http://nd.piquant.us/; Timbaktu:
http://www.timbaktu.org/Vanwadi:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/van-utsav/
The author is founder of Phase Five, a movement working
towards the next phase of human progess.
He can be contacted at leslie@phasefive.org