October 15, 2024 • 53 mins
In this episode, I am taking you to Sadhana Forest, on the outskirts of Auroville in the State of Tamil Nadu in south India.
Sadhana Forest has a community of volunteers who live completely off-grid, demonstrating an alternative way of living. 20 years ago Sadhana Forest was arid land, and over the years volunteers have successfully reforested 70 acres of land with indigenous Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest. Sadhana Forest has since spread its work within India and internationally with ecological projects in Haiti, Kenya and Namibia.
I was lucky to chat with Luke Marsh, originally from the UK and now a long-term volunteer of 7 years in Sadhana. I hope you enjoy hearing from Luke and learning more about what Sadhana Forest is all about.
Sadhana Forest Website:
Sadhana Forest Documentary:
https://youtu.be/dJLHc1dg2YE?si=CKMLxZXtmu9TpZU
Luke's Recommendations:
The Venus Project documentaries
- Paradise or Oblivian documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KphWsnhZ4Ag
- The Choice is Ours documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb5ivvcTvRQ
Book called 'Ishmael' by Daniel Quinn https://www.ishmael.org/books/
Auroville Website: https://auroville.org/
Follow Ripples of Humanity on:
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565167948365
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ripples_of_humanity_/
Listen where you get your podcasts or here: https://rss.com/podcasts/ripplesofhumanity/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello world family and welcome to Ripples of Humanity.
(00:06):
I'm Rachel Thompson and through this podcast I'm sharing interesting stories along my travels
of people, projects and initiatives I discover that are contributing to positive ripples
throughout humanity.
Today I'm taking you to Sardinia Forest, on the outskirts of Auroville in the state of
Tamil Nadu in the south of India.
(00:26):
Now this isn't a podcast about Auroville and I could talk all day about Auroville but
very briefly, Auroville is a universal township that was set up 55 years ago.
Now it has over 3000 people from both India and around the world attempting to live with
greater human unity basically.
There is so much information on Auroville's website so if you would like to learn more
(00:50):
you can go to their frequently asked questions section which is a good quick way to get some
basic information.
This is my second time in Auroville.
I was here five years ago and I'd always dreamed of coming back.
I really see it as the kind of place that I can see myself visiting throughout my life
to learn, come here and learn more about conscious living, absorbing information from the many
(01:16):
workshops, projects and people here and just get, just absorb the general energy of the
place and then bring it into my life wherever I go next.
So going back to Sardinia Forest, it's on the outskirts of Auroville and here there's
a whole community of people living very alternatively to modern day society and they're living completely
(01:39):
in the forest.
Twenty years ago Sardinia Forest was actually arid land and over the years volunteers have
successfully reforested 70 acres of land with indigenous tropical dry evergreen forest and
Sardinia Forest work has now actually spread within India and internationally with ecological
(02:03):
projects in Haiti, Kenya and Namibia and the Sardinia Forest movement I feel really impacts
on environmental, social and economical challenges we face in humanity today.
So this time in my adventure to Auroville I came some days to volunteer in the Sardinia
community.
I was helping cook food, preparing, planting trees and even cleaning the toilets which
(02:29):
are composting toilets and they actually use human compost to plant their trees which I
found very fascinating to learn about.
So I also learnt a lot about their way of living while I was there which felt very refreshing
and above all I really enjoyed connecting really meaningfully with other volunteers
(02:51):
from all over the world in the community.
I was lucky today to chat with Luke Marsh who is originally from the UK and is now a
long term volunteer having spent the last seven years in Sardinia Forest.
I hope you enjoy hearing from Luke and learning more about what Sardinia Forest is all about.
I'm here in the wonderful Sardinia Forest and lucky enough to be chatting with Luke
(03:15):
who lived in Sardinia Forest for seven years.
Thank you so much for making the time to chat with me today.
Thank you for having me.
I think a really nice place to start would be to get a bit of background into how Sardinia
Forest began and why, what was the intent behind it.
(03:36):
So what we see today was never meant to be like that.
It was just a small family came because they wanted to find a different way of living and
they tried to explore other places and they didn't find the place that was calling for
them so they decided to start their own place.
The intention was just to live in a more compassionate way and to plant trees.
So they came with their three year old daughter, they had another daughter later on who was
(03:59):
born inside the forest and they started planting trees and just living in a very simple way,
in a sustainable way after four days a volunteer showed up and said hey I heard you're living
here and you're planting trees, you want some help?
And then they came and helped and a few days later another volunteer came and within like
a month or a couple of months there was like 30 volunteers already here.
(04:22):
The word kind of got around and people were feeling very connected to this way of living
and when they started here it was a very dry barren land, it was like a desert that had
been deforested during colonisation and over the years as more and more people came here
this desertified land, this barren piece of land was restored back into a forest and we're
(04:46):
now living in that forest still doing the reforestation work because it's still an ongoing
process.
How many years ago was that?
Twenty years ago, yeah in December 19th it will be 21 years.
So that was the intention behind it and how has that evolved over time?
I think the main evolution was no one could have seen it to be what it is today, it was
(05:10):
just meant to be their family, it was never this intention to make this global movement
where now there are eight southern forests, five in India, three internationally, so one
in Haiti that was started in 2010 in response to the earthquake, 2014 in Kenya working with
the Samburu tribe, then we started four more in India and then last year we started another
(05:32):
project in Namibia working with the Himba tribe.
So I think the scale of it was not even contemplated, it was just meant to be a small family and
they kind of had this vision that maybe other families would come and want to live like
this as well, so maybe there would be other families living here but volunteers not so
much because many people when they were starting this place were saying that a vegan community
(05:54):
that's practicing substance free that's not selling anything, that you can't send your
children to school and we're collaborating rather than competing with each other, a place
like this no one's going to want to live like that and they said okay but we want to live
like it and maybe there's some other families out there that want to raise their children
in this kind of environment but it turned out actually a lot of people connected with
this way of living, there was something about it that maybe this wasn't the reason that
(06:17):
they came here but the energy that they felt, the experience in here, they connected with
it in a very deep and transformational way and it attracted many people, many thousands.
And if we look at the scale now, let's just go snapshot now, how many long term volunteers?
I think our long term team is very strong right now, specifically in this Sardinia forest
(06:40):
we're about 25 people, maybe even closest to 30, we have a few on vacation right now.
In the other centres it's much less, the teams are much smaller, this is like the mothership
here, this is where it all started and this is like the training centre, the launch pad
to send people to the other projects to start doing this action.
(07:03):
And I'm going to share some videos as well so listeners can get an idea of what it actually
is like here but what are some of the features that you think are really cool to highlight?
I think the way we're living, so looking at how we can live in a more sustainable way
and we're looking at it from sustainability in a very integral perspective, so every aspect
(07:26):
of our lives.
So the resources that we're using, so how we're living in natural buildings, so right
now we're in a hut, my office is a hut and it's powered Sardinia forest by solo and it's
an off grid community.
So yeah, using natural materials to make the buildings, using off grid living but then
(07:46):
looking more details, so we're using compost toilets here, so none of our, we don't use
the word waste here because waste is a human concept, this is something that we as a species
invented, you look at nature, it doesn't waste anything, the way we're living we're trying
to find a use for everything that we're using, so even what we would call human waste, that's
a resource for us, it's a one year process but it becomes compost that we use to plant
(08:09):
trees, the way we're using water here, everywhere you'll see water you'll see the water going
back to the plants and the trees around, so everything's being used and nothing goes to
waste.
So I think kind of these visual things when you start to see you can observe this, the
more physical, tangible aspects of it.
Once you start to go deeper you start to understand the social aspect, we talk about sustainable
(08:34):
architecture but also what we focus a lot here on is social architecture, how you can
design a place to naturally bring people together, to naturally engineer compassion inside of
people and this is a word that came from Avaram the founder when he was asked to describe
this place in two words, he said engineering compassion and that's kind of a fundamental
aspect of what we are as an organisation, so these things, these you start to see over
(08:59):
time of being here and then the more value based side of things, so we're living in a
way where we're not compromising, we're looking at how we want to live and with the
intention to do things in a more compassionate way and not compromising on that, being very
strong with it, so we're a vegan community, we don't want to cause harm to exploit, to
(09:23):
use, to take from animals, we try and be as sustainable as possible because we don't want
to take, exploit, use the environment, we practice gift culture because we want to give
to people, we don't want to take, use and exploit from people, we want to create this
culture of giving and sharing and we collaborate with each other instead of competing against
each other because with competition you always have a winner but you also have a loser, so
(09:46):
the more value based side of things is something that you can start to understand from a more
deeper perspective over a longer period of time.
Yeah you can really feel those different layers here of what it represents to be here, and
Luke I want to go into, because when I first met you and did the tour of Southern rainforest
and heard about your story, your personal story, I was, yeah, I found it really amazing
(10:10):
and I'd love for you to go into that a little bit if you don't mind.
So this way of living was new to me as well, like before coming here I'd never planted
a tree before, in a somewhat developed town not so far from London, working a corporate
job, working 55 hour weeks to make a rich person, even richer, and I wasn't feeling
(10:33):
this kind of strong sense of purpose in my life and I started to explore and I'd say
gather some sort of understanding of what the world is looking like and what's happening
in the world, seeing the suffering of people not just in other countries but even the people
around me living lives that they're not happy about, also relating that with what I was
(10:55):
feeling in these moments as well, us seeing what we were doing to the environment and
yeah, what was very clear for me was the way we're living is surely not the only way and
maybe there's a different way that we can do things and I started to speak to a lot
of my friends and family about this, like imagine if we could live in community and
(11:15):
harmony in a sustainable way together where we're working with each other and everyone
would laugh at me.
I was going to say they must have thought you were a bit...
Yeah, exactly, and they thought I was crazy and they say you're living in this lala land,
this is not how the world works and honestly there wasn't much I could say to them because
I didn't know there was a different way, that everyone around me, my friends, my family,
(11:37):
everyone I ever knew was living in this life, living in the same kind of direction, maybe
some had a few twists and turns in that kind of way of life but the fundamental aspect
was a commonality with everyone I knew and so I kept going back to my job and then I
didn't really have anything else to do but then I started doing more research and I started
(11:57):
to come across that actually there are other ways to live and maybe these people are crazy,
maybe it's not really possible and they're just talking about it but the reality is very
different but I wanted to go see that for myself, I wanted to really, before I commit
my life to living how everyone else is living around me, to at least see if there's a different
way that I could feel this sense of purpose, this happiness, this giving back to nature
(12:22):
rather than taking it and then I came across Auroville being kind of the most oldest kind
of established alternative community in the world, it was started more than 50 years ago
and has more than 3000 people living here so in my search of different places of living,
Auroville was the top of the list a lot of the time and I was looking for places to stay
(12:42):
in Auroville and I came across this small community, Sadano Forest and I was going to
be here for two weeks and yeah I guess what I was really looking for when I left was community,
sustainability and I really want to live in a way where I'm not just surrounded by money,
like I was really disconnected from that seeing that the effect that it had on people and
(13:06):
the world that we live in and I had a lot of clarity on that and I said okay if I can
live kind of more or less without money that's also an intention for me. I came here and
not only did I not stay for two weeks, I found my home here, I found so much more than I
was looking for because I was just looking for these kind of free things and I got introduced
(13:28):
to compassion towards people, how we can give and share and how we can collaborate and work
together rather than competing against each other. I looked at compassion towards children,
looking at how we raise children in the world, seeing having my personal experiences in this
institutionalized education system that didn't serve me in such a healthy way. I know it's
(13:50):
very relative, different people have different experiences but my experience wasn't so positive
inside this and so here I was able to be introduced to the ideas of unschooling where you allow
children to learn freely through their own curiosity what they want to learn, not having
adults forcing or telling children this is what you should do, to be, to act like. So
(14:13):
this was a new idea to me that was very powerful and very inspiring. Looking at how to explore
how to live in a substance free way before living here I was indulging in substances
more than my fair share and I felt like my time for that was over and I was feeling very
ready to explore a different way of being with myself and so substance free living was
(14:36):
very inspiring for me and then a huge transformational shift that happened to me here was understanding
how we can be more compassionate towards animals. Because you weren't vegan before were you?
Yeah exactly, so yeah San Loporos is a vegan community and I kind of knew that I think
(14:58):
a little bit before coming in here but I was only here for two weeks and I was like okay
how bad can vegan food really be I'm sure I'll survive two weeks I won't get protein
deficient in that short amount of time like even though these people are probably crazy
eating like this but then I came here as a hunter the last time I went hunting was about
four or five days before coming to San Loporos I was the biggest meat eater in my family
(15:22):
when my brother, when I would go to restaurants my brother would get the chicken dish my sister
would get the fish dish I would have the mixed grill I'd have as much meat as possible on
my plate and then when I was here starting to talk to people they didn't sound so crazy
because they were talking about yeah just not harming and taking from animals and the
way I could see myself living in the world I wanted to live in a way that where I'm giving
(15:45):
and caring and this togetherness this harmony and I was thinking from harmony with nature
and with harmony with people but I wasn't really extending that out to domesticated
farm animals and the more I observed why is because I was conditioned so socialized and
normalized at this idea that this is how animals are meant to be in this world and here I started
(16:09):
to see that there was actually a different relationship that we could have with animals
so one very powerful moment was I was talking about world peace just in our main hut we
were having a group discussion the discussions here always so interesting for me and as I
was talking about world peace someone came up to me just walked past he wasn't involved
in the conversation and he said Luke how can we ever achieve world peace when there's so
(16:31):
much violence in our diet and that was powerful for me because I think everyone can connect
with this idea of world peace if we could truly live in a peaceful world and hearing
that I didn't know what to say to it and it was kind of imprinted in my mind for the next
couple of days it just kept going through and I had a moment to myself I was really
trying to understand that in its deepest sense and trying to find a justification for how
(16:55):
I was living and it was very difficult and I had some maybe ideas that were kind of forming
but then the more I think about it I was like this doesn't make sense and then the big shift
happened to me where here we have an animal sanctuary we have rescued cows and they were
all destined to go to a slaughterhouse and we were able to give them a different opportunity
(17:16):
at life and one morning they said can we have someone help to feed the cows and I very innocently
put my hand up not quite realizing what I was about to experience where first off we
just prepare their food and that's quite nice you're around them you're seeing them they
look cute and happy and I was feeling this connection with them already and then why
(17:36):
they're eating we're collecting up their poop and that actually was very meditative
for me it was very peaceful I remember the sun rising very quiet just going around and
I was feeling very calm and very relaxed and that feeling kind of really kind of sat with
me it was a beautiful feeling and then afterwards they finished eating and they said okay we're
going to brush the cows now and can you brush this cow Vishnu he's like a brown cow with
(17:58):
a little white spot in his head he's very very sweet he's scared of children because
when he was a calf children burned his ears and he's got he became quite traumatized from
that and I was seeing these kind of scars on him and I think that was quite in itself
just powerful to seeing this relationship that humans have to this animal different
to us and as I was brushing him I started to feel this connection and I think anyone
(18:23):
who's grown up around like dogs or cats or whatever you know what I mean when I talk
about this kind of connection that you have when you're you're brushing them you're taking
care of them and you can see they're loving it they're enjoying it and you're feeling
that love towards them and they're responding that love back to you and in this moment of
brushing him I was thinking how am I feeling and I was like okay well one very clear thing
(18:45):
I'm not feeling is I'm not feeling hungry I'm not looking at this cow this Vishnu feeling
like I want to eat him I'm feeling just this love this care this this peace and it was
very it was very calming energy and then I started going around and I started to brush
him in his head and then as I was doing that he put his head up and he wanted to be brushing
(19:05):
the neck so I started brushing his neck and as I was doing it was moving his neck around
and his eyes rolled back to the back of his head and he made these noises I never knew
scouts could make and this was a very I guess intimidating moment for me because I kind
of was looking at him there just this innocent animal that was so full of love and I reflected
(19:27):
on how I'd lived my life where I spent my whole life eating them and taking from them
and it was like that I could see this ultimate betrayal that we've committed against these
animals so and that was just what I was feeling and so I started walking away because I wanted
a process I was feeling quite emotional and as I started walking away Vishnu started following
me and he started just nudging me in the side because he wanted to keep being brushed and
(19:49):
like this big cow there they're pretty intimidating animals when you see the size of them so if
they want to be brushed yeah I thought okay I better go back to brush him so I was just
brushing him on his head and just looking into his eyes and in that moment it was very
clear to me if I wanted to live my life I have a choice and I can choose to contribute
towards the suffering of animals or I can choose to reduce it as much as I could practically
(20:15):
possible and it was very clear that's how I want to live the rest of my life then and
that was a huge shift for me because it made me see the world in a complete different way
not just towards animals but towards the whole natural world and towards people as well because
yeah we may look different we may feel different and stuff like that but this feeling of love
(20:36):
I think it's something that's very shared across all of us and this was my moment where
I really changed the way I see things.
Wow what a transformation it's beautiful and in your time here have you had any low moments
or difficult moments or it's been the most challenging?
(20:57):
I think the most challenging for me here is we're in a community where many people are
coming and going we've got amazing incredible people here that have stayed many years and
they're like family for me a family here had two children that was born in the inside side
of the forest and I was here throughout their life like I was here when they were born so
that they're so close to me so I have this kind of connections but also the connections
(21:20):
of many people that have come here and these very deep strong connections and people leave
not everyone stays and that's always the hardest thing I've definitely developed more much
I've come to much more peace with it because it's also very enriching for me to know that
these people are out there in the world doing their amazing things in their ways in their
different different things and yeah sometimes it comes from a bit of a selfish perspective
(21:44):
where I'm like I wish they could all be doing it here with me but knowing that they're out
there in the world yeah it's very hopeful because the people I've met here just yeah
what's can't describe the amazing incredible inspiring motivating compassionate kind loving
people and to be able to be in an environment that attracts this energy yeah has this beauty
(22:07):
but it's very hard when people you dwell at these deep connections with go on their their
way and yeah you miss them and it had to be a real practice of not like not being attached
and just seeing the beauty of the relationship and then letting it go just to get an idea
to how many volunteers would come through suddenly in a year between 1300 to 1500 and
(22:31):
some of them are saying couple of weeks some of them are saying a couple of months some
yeah when you're here for like a year you see people coming and going but what now I've
been here for seven years I've seen like long-term volunteers come and go people have stayed
one year or two year or three year they've come and I've seen their journey and then
they go and again it's really hard for them to leave but the transformations I've seen
in people it's it's very powerful and I think this is very easy to get negative what's going
(22:57):
on in the world when we observe when we see what's happening but this place has given
me a lot of hope because I sometimes you feel like okay how are we ever gonna change society
to be to do things in a more positive way to have a more hopeful future but then the
shifts that I've seen in so many people here from their day one to maybe even just one
month later or one year later or more even multiple years this this transformation myself
(23:22):
being seeing that in myself but into so many other people as well it's like very hopeful
that okay we we can change this way of living that we see so predominant in modern-day society
isn't the only way there are other ways and we can we can change and we can when we connect
with what's important for us there's there's nothing that can stop us really that's been
(23:42):
very inspiring and hopeful for me definitely and even even people coming through just for
a tour yeah there might be one spark of something that they can take back then to their lives
which is so beautiful yeah a little seed planted maybe and yeah we have more than 15 000 people
that visit here every year so volunteers is one but yeah we have a huge traffic here yeah
(24:07):
people were able to see this other way and we've had people that have come here and said
yeah i came with this tour like seven years ago and it was just in me and then i got this
calling that i wanted to do something like this and then they've come yeah this is their
journey that they were ready in that moment so you never know what seed you're planting
exactly yeah i mean i was in orville five years ago and i it was the end of my trip
(24:30):
found out about sardinia forest and i wasn't able actually able to come that trip but for
five years i'd always spoke to people about oh there's this community in new orville that
lives like this even though i hadn't even been here and then this trip was like it's
non-negotiable i'm coming here the moment i get here so that's really yeah it's powerful
and a question like that was on my mind i'm sure might be on others minds is uh how is
(24:54):
sardinia forest funded like how do you because yeah yeah so it's funded through donations
so we have different donations coming from different places and the different projects
are funded in different ways like the different locations of sardinia forest so here haiti
and kenya is just through donations mostly of just different people that have come and
(25:15):
heard about this seen this they've maybe given their energy to it but um wasn't able to
physically stay here for as long as they wanted or help it in a more physical way but financially
that they had means to do it so they could be donating um five dollars a month or or
fifty dollars a month um we have uh yeah these these people we call sustaining members people
that have been out to support sardinia forest growing because they've come here and seen
(25:38):
something that they they they found saw the hope in that and wanted to support recently
we've been able to kind of diversify the the funding through having um organizations support
us so and governments so in the northeast of india we have three centers uh this is
funded by the state government of meghalaya and the world bank it's very difficult to
(26:00):
get this funding because we we don't want to compromise on on our integrity and our
vision so we've stayed very strong on that and yeah so it wasn't easy um we have a foundation
in the u.s that's funded funded our project in namibia uh project in madurai the south
of india as well about eight hours from here is funded by the city of geneva so it comes
(26:23):
from different different sources and yeah we're always trying to explore different avenues
to to be able to get the funding to to scale it up because we have a model now and it's
20 years old and it's very effective um we're all volunteers here so if you're looking at
cost effectiveness in NGO work everyone here is a volunteer from um someone who's here
(26:47):
for a couple of weeks or me myself seven years i'm just here to give i'm not doing this for
my salary or anything it's just this unconditional giving so yeah we're looking at more ways
to to get donations to to scale it up we have visions to start sardinia forest all over
the world and that's just funding's the question isn't it yeah funding and people and people
(27:07):
to help give funding yeah it's all connected yeah with the projects that are happening
overseas how how did that expand was it um like maybe you could give one example of an
interesting project yeah i can give just hatie the first one being the best example where
someone in around 2009 came and spoke to avram and you read the founders of sardinia forest
(27:28):
and said you realize this is a model right and they're like um this is how we're choosing
to live and there's like this is a model and it can be replicated and they said okay like
yeah maybe i let's see and then one and then they started looking okay if we were to do
this somewhere else where we would do it and hatie was one of the places that kind of came
up and then in early 2010 hatie received an earthquake that was the most deadly natural
(27:52):
disaster in um yeah recent modern day history so the team all met and avram the founder
said we're thinking of starting a project in hatie and at once everyone stood up together
and said yes and that was where it started and they they started sardinia forest hatie
with no land just a team with a thousand dollars that got donated through a woman who came
(28:17):
here on a tour and and then over the years it was able to establish itself into a project
that made many mistakes i think it was a big learning curve for sardinia forest to understand
how to intervene in in yeah very heavily deforested and malnourished areas with the socio-economic
political kind of challenges to to really understand the complexities of this then kenya
(28:42):
was able to be started much better namibia avram describes it as the the jewel of the
crown because we learned so much from all the different projects here in india and internationally
that this was able to be started started very well very effectively and and we feel really
ready now to to scale it up what's the vision for the future that i remember you spoke to
(29:05):
me briefly the other day about the bus yeah so one of the one of the models that we have
in india in is a district called verudanaga it's one hour south of madurai here in the
south of india and basically we have a team living in the bus and the bus is staying in
a village we have a truck and we basically plant trees in this village that we're staying
in and the truck goes around and plants trees in all the surrounding villages and we're
(29:28):
basically just planting food producing trees around people's homes it's in one of the
driest areas of tamonadu south of india and in an area where people are suffering from
malnutrition a lot so the idea is planting these food producing trees around their homes
to give them long-term food security and this model is very effective uh yeah we don't have
to buy land we don't know the infrastructure we just get this bus and then we can move
(29:49):
this bus from village to village as we go around building this relationship with the
local people while putting trees in the ground in a very efficient and effective way and
we're there to give the aftercare and give them share the knowledge and educate the local
people in tree planting and tree care yeah like the education part of it too yeah and
(30:11):
our vision is we can this is a scalable model as well this we can start more of these projects
in india and even the world we've got a mobile reforestation uh uh truck in kenya now where
they're kind of doing something similar so this is a model that we've been experimenting
with very effective having the permanent sensors is very important as well but yeah if we could
have more of these projects in india people could spend time in one bus in tamonadu and
(30:36):
let's say another bus in marestra we've looked at different locations are there looking at
the the aridity and malnutrition index to find out which is the area that would benefit
from the intervention of sadhana forest in the most effective way so there's a place
uh called nandabar uh which yeah has very high rates of deforestation malnutrition so
(30:58):
this we hope this will be potentially be the next one um and then yeah madhya pradesh and
all these kind of dry areas especially in central india could really benefit hugely
the local people there in these more vulnerable areas that are being affected by climate change
uh ecosystems collapsing um droughts and famines this model that we have by creating
(31:22):
drought planting drought resistant trees to create long-term food security these trees
will give food for for around 100 years sometimes so it's it's not just feeding them but for
generations so it's a long-term solution addressing these issues of deforestation and malnutrition
and it's very effective it's awesome yeah i want to go back down to the to the community
(31:42):
here yeah so you welcome volunteers and so what could you give a snapshot of what a day
in the life of a volunteer here in sadhana would look like yeah so first off we're all
volunteers here but we're not doing any work um so that means we're uh we're not doing
things to get an expectation for something in return so we're practicing savor so it's
a sanskrit word for selfless service so how we can give unconditionally without expecting
(32:06):
anything in return so coming in with that mindset i think is really important i'm here
to give and to to help to serve to support and then yeah we have a wake-up call at 5.30
in the morning someone goes around playing some music singing to gently wake us up for
the day and then we meet at 6 a.m we do some stretches together after that everyone goes
around and hugs each other if they want it's a very beautiful way to start the day and
(32:29):
then we go for the different activities in the morning so a team will stay back to prepare
breakfast another team will go and feed the cows in the animal sanctuary and the rest
of the people go to the forest depending on the season the um the forest work is different
from tree care to planting the trees to watering the trees different things like this and then
we come back and meet for breakfast at 8 45 and then at 9 45 we go out for what we call
(32:53):
second savor so we have first savor second savor that's when during second savor is when
we're doing less physical stuff in the community could be cooking lunch cleaning maintaining
firewood composting all these different things are kind of happening simultaneously around
the community and then we meet back for lunch and then the afternoons are more or less free
(33:14):
we have some support we need in different days in the afternoon from different people
we spread this out around with everyone in the community and then yeah then we have the
weekends where there are still some things that we need to do but again we spread this
out around everyone in the community because we still have to feed the cows and feed the
people the forest can can wait but yeah so so yeah we're doing this we spread this out
(33:39):
between the team everyone living here and then in the evenings we have different activities
happening so so Sunday night is kind of where we have our weekly meeting where we organise
ourselves as a community about what we're doing for the following week with all the
volunteers then Monday we have what's known as a core value talk after dinner it's a place
(34:00):
where we can discuss one of the values so it could be anything that I spoke about really
like the idea of veganism or unschooling sometimes free living gift economy collaboration and
yeah kind of picking one of these topics to go deeper with it and then Tuesday we have
a sharing circle so a space to practice deep sharing deep listening Wednesday we have our
(34:20):
open stage this is our the fun night of the week where people can just share and do whatever
they want the untalented show right yeah it's also a nickname the the non-talent show because
we have a lot of non-talented stuff to know what you mean you should come check it out
what's your non-talent Luke?
My non-talent?
Oh yeah different things depending on the on the day whereas you'll be surprised about
how many how many non-talents you can have.
(34:42):
Did you do one this week?
This week I didn't.
What was your last non-talent?
My last non-talent I think I just shared a story of something that happened to me that
was quite funny yeah probably and then so yeah that's a really fun evening in the week
and then Friday today is where we have our Friday tour so right now the community is
busy getting everything ready we're cooking a big dinner we're gonna have a lot of visitors
(35:04):
join us for dinner it's our deep clean day so we get with the community looking all tidy
and the kitchen team is making the food amazing dessert as well we'll have yeah a bus bring
people into southern forest or two two buses and we'll show them around we'll watch a movie
together and we'll eat dinner together today I think we're cooking for around 120 people
(35:25):
and yeah that's our week.
And then there's also like because you have a lot of people that come here to volunteer
you have different things to offer I notice that you have different work people just offer
different workshops like yoga or lots of things yeah yeah yeah I've seen the most crazy stuff
here over the years yeah people doing different things and yeah so much fun learning from
(35:48):
people this knowledge sharing again unconditionally so yeah people are sharing what they want
and that's that's really helps build this sense of community that we have here.
You can really feel the community and the positive culture here special and I guess
with that of course we're people and there might be conflict and there might be disagreements
and things but I'm interested to know how how that is resolved and yeah so I think our
(36:13):
preventative is kind of one of the very effective things a lot of people that come here they're
like why is there very little conflict here like how does that work and we haven't been
out to pinpoint for sure exactly what it is but we have our ideas and one thing is the
food that we're eating it's known as like very satvic food very calming when you're
eating a lot of like meat and animal products and stuff it kind of it can build a this kind
(36:34):
of fiery feeling inside you where you may be a bit more short tempered and and you're
you're eating these stress hormones or these animals that were being sent into a slaughterhouse
so you're going to be absorbing this as well so this is going to kind of heighten your
your your the intensity of these energies that you're putting inside you so I think
the food that we're eating it keeps us just relatively calm in a sense but even with saying
(36:56):
that there are still moments and it's all about the way everyone who comes to live here
is living in this way to with this intention to live in a more compassionate way and yeah
we're human so this is a this is a journey it's going to take a lot of commitment and
time for to to transform to evolve inside of each other so kind of respecting and understanding
(37:18):
each other's journeys but then yeah facilitating conversations with two people with his disagreements
how we can see it where because we're living in the same intention we have a common goal
of living in a more compassionate way and live in a community so when there are misunderstandings
it's mostly just coming from miscommunication not understanding and seeing the other person
so how we can sit people down it's not like two people here want to live different ways
(37:42):
because yeah let's say in the outside world you have someone that wants to live in a more
selfish way and someone wants to give more then okay there's always going to be this
conflict because there are two people choosing to live in a different way here we're all
kind of choosing to live this way it's a choice no one's forced to stay here everyone's making
the choice so with that kind of mindfulness to this I think there's this common understanding
(38:06):
and yeah we facilitate things discussions to kind of restore this kind of trust and
this understanding and yeah the environment is very mindful here so I can imagine how
that would yeah foster that yeah yeah yeah if you want to come here be really aggressive
to everyone and it's not it's not going to work yeah and you can find somewhere else
for that I'm sure people may have anger issues or something when they come here and it just
(38:31):
you just can't you just feel like it just the forest just washes it away and the food
and yeah yeah that's good I wanted to know what the most common question you get is from
people who come visit or volunteer like who are intrigued about the way of living how
did you adapt I think is a big one because this way of living is so different to I think
(38:55):
what most people understand when they they come into this place it's very different to
how people have lived so a lot of people ask how did you adapt and for me like I don't
feel like I can give a fair answer to this question because a lot of the long-term team
when they come here you ask them this and they've all found it very difficult not all
of them but a lot of them I came here I came in the middle of the night like 2 a.m. I arrived
(39:18):
and I just slept in the main hud because that there was no one to show me where I could
go because the taxi driver was very late to pick me up and so I came here in the middle
of the night and my first time in India my first night ever in India and in a forest
so it was a bit scary came here and I then the morning came and I started seeing people
waking up it was a weekend day so there wasn't so many people around there's a lot of people
(39:41):
they're chilling but I saw people in the breakfast preparing it together talking together meeting
each other and then just seeing the Sun come up and just feeling this calmness here and
I was like wow like beautiful and then yeah I was just fell in love like it was like love
at first sight for me and yeah it felt like home very quickly.
(40:03):
And what about other people that you've seen what's is there like a common challenge that
you see people have difficulty everything yeah everything like I can't say a common
challenge yeah but yeah the compost toilets that we have the living in huts living so
close to nature living in community yeah living we're only eating non-processed foods people
(40:24):
here maybe more yeah people would be going through a detox in ways and that can bring
up lots of stuff that's been that's been there but then it stirs up to the surface so yeah
for me this is a very interesting part of the the social aspect of it because so I had
this question like I was seeing people and people were getting very kind of emotional
here and I was a bit confused because I was feeling so happy here and then I was seeing
(40:48):
people go through these kind of deep emotional challenges here and I and I was like but why
is they responding to sign up for us like this and and the more I started speaking to
people understanding to people it was actually the only type in their life where they felt
safe to to to be open to that to to bring it to the surface to be vulnerable and because
there was a huge support network yeah yeah yeah yeah and when you're in a space where
(41:12):
you feel safe to to be your true self and to to be vulnerable and to allow that to come
to the surface it can be very very hard for people and but luckily the support supportive
environment here is this compassionate way designed to to support in this this journey
for people so yeah I think it's interesting yeah definitely for you and family I imagine
(41:37):
family would be a big one for people if they're living here very long yeah actually everyone
in India asked me what are your favourite things yeah that's actually the most common
question yeah I think it's that'd be really interesting one of you don't mind sharing
a bit about that yeah my family have always been very supportive they yeah they encouraged
me to to leave my job and to come experience this when I was considering it and I think
(41:58):
that was very unique because I had a good job and I was starting this career path that
I think a lot of parents would have this fear to for their child to leave something that
they were feeling quite stable in but they really encouraged this and yeah I I think
it's still quite hard for them to deeply understand why and the what's but at least they accept
(42:21):
it and know that I'm happy and I am very happy and that's very clear for them so they
they don't doubt that yeah have any of them come and visited you yeah yeah most of my
family I've just got one one brother still waiting to come my two other siblings have
Sam Sam yeah so he'll be here at some point maybe he'll come in February he was saying
(42:42):
yeah it's not the first February he said that so let's see there's a festival on yeah yeah
what's it called the vegan forest festival vegan forest third edition yeah yeah how many
people come for that so first year was like 400 last year was 700 this year we're gonna
aim for a thousand people cool that's great put on your calendar people yeah it's all
(43:04):
free we're cooking for everyone so we've never cooked for 700 people before until the last
one we've never cooked for a thousand people so we'll find out how that works and it's
not just cooking for a thousand people but doing that for three meals a day for three
days yeah it's really how we can push this idea of how much we can give to its limit
and the energy that is created in that space where everyone's just coming together it's
(43:28):
kind of like the Avengers assemble kind of idea where like all of our experienced volunteers
who may have gone to do with different things they all come back for this weekend and we're
like our absolute strongest and the enemy is just so vibrant yeah yeah and like you
see something that's so unique like a festival that is substance free that everyone who's
(43:51):
facilitating anything didn't get paid to do this they've come from different countries
all over India to do workshops and talks and cooking classes perform and yeah all the
suits food served as a gift not expecting anything in return and yeah everyone who's
holding a space here being an ethical vegan so showing that this is mainstream it's not
(44:14):
a niche movement anymore that this can be the normal that we can really create a culture
where yeah not harming animals and taking from them and using them can be yeah normal
yeah exactly and sorry I cut in there because you were talking about your family yeah and
they came and visited yeah yeah like my sister adapted pretty easily because she's traveled
(44:37):
a lot my dad really connected very emotionally to this place my mom it was a bit of a shock
for her my youngest brother he was definitely out of his comfort zone and yeah but I feel
like he will he will hopefully come back again last earlier this year I had my cousin come
and he came for six weeks and this was very powerful for me of course a lot of my family
(45:00):
like my family have come and they've seen how I live but he came he saw it but then
deeply understood it because he was here for longer and he was really able to embrace it
and then when he was leaving he he started getting quite emotional he started crying
and he said now I understand why you do what you do because yeah there's a lot of kind
of conceptions and ideas in my family and the people that even they even they see it
(45:23):
they don't like it's hard for them to deeply understand like why I've dedicated my life
the last seven years of my life to put all my energy into this place but he came away
understanding it and that was very powerful for me to have someone in my family to really
connect with it yeah beautiful for people who are listening who may never come to India
(45:44):
yeah what message would you give them or what question actually would you just pose to people
just to have them ponder about their way of living or yeah I think to be very mindful
of that and deeply consider that this gift of life that we have we have this opportunity
(46:06):
is in a very complicated world but we do have some sort of freedom to choose how we're living
and to really consider how you want to live and when you start to see how you can envision
it and to make this decision okay can I put this into action and can I truly live in a
way that I'm not compromising on my integrity my values because I feel like a lot of society
(46:32):
yeah unfortunately encourages this compromisation compromising on the way of living but there
are ways that you can live that you don't have to compromise and this is this is an
example that it's possible that yeah a small family came here and turned this dry piece
of land into a forest and now we have thousands of people coming here all the time and to
(46:54):
show that we can live with nature and not against it I think the story that is told
about humanity is where we're a cancer we're a parasite we're destroying and distracting
everywhere we go and here we can show people it doesn't have to be like that you can live
in a way that's not only sustainable but in a way that dramatically improves the environment
around you so if you're thinking okay how I want to live then really deeply consider
(47:17):
what's stopping me from doing that and the jump to reach that could be the scariest most
hardest thing that you've ever done but if you can truly arrive at that point to say
this is exactly how I want to live it's a very beautiful feeling of life and I feel
very grateful to have that.
Yeah thank you.
(47:39):
People can come here and volunteer and what's the process for that?
Just send us an email yeah everyone's welcome my youngest volunteer is a one and a half
year old who was born here, oldest volunteer is a 70 year old woman who's been here for
two years so age doesn't matter everyone's welcome and just send us an email and we'll
be so excited to welcome you.
(48:01):
Is there a time commitment?
Yeah so for foreigners it's 10 nights minimum it should be higher than that because I think
after around a week and stuff you just start settling into this place for a lot of people
I think if people can come for four weeks I think they can take this adjustment period
to settle and then start to really experience it I think that's important.
(48:26):
Do you have any recommendations of any kind of books or documentaries that people can
look into to look at alternative ways of living because there's so many southern forests represent
so many different areas is there anything that you have?
Yeah the most inspiring thing for me is what kind of set me on this journey to find a different
way of living is something called the Venus Project.
(48:46):
They've done a few documentaries one of them is called Paradise or Oblivion.
Oblivion is where we're heading if we keep living this way we are but Paradise is this
other option.
Oblivion isn't the only option and another one they've done there the more recent one
is called The Choice is Ours and yeah it really empowered me to really think about this question
(49:10):
that I asked that how do you want to live and they showed me that there was one way
of living that was more theorized it wasn't actually in physical practical form but it
made a lot of sense to me and I felt motivated to go and see what that meant and find different
ways of doing things so yeah the Venus Project two documentaries Paradise and Oblivion and
(49:31):
The Choice is Ours.
I'll link to those in the episode notes so people can see.
And a book I really like is Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.
How do you say that?
Ishmael.
Ishmael how do you spell that?
Ishmael Daniel Quinn.
It looks at a very powerful way to look at why humanity is living the way that we're
living from a non-human centric perspective because a lot of when we try and study and
(49:56):
understand why humanity is living we're always integrating our conditioning and our very
narrow understandings of that but when you take it out and explore it from a non-human
centric perspective I won't spoil the way the book works but it was done in a very clever
way and it really gave me a lot of insight to why we're living like this and it's not
(50:20):
we're inherently flawed as a species there was things that happened in our history and
reasons for that that led to this way of living and there's also reasons that we can change
that and there's different ways.
Cool you've added to my book list as well.
Is there anything else that you wanted to share before we wrap up?
(50:42):
Yeah I guess I would just like to share that yeah it can be very intimidating very scary
to look at changing your life but often on the other side of fear can be something very
beautiful and you don't know until you try and if you're feeling that you're a bit lost
in your life and you're maybe not having that sense of purpose I think it's a very relatable
feeling for a lot of people in the world right now.
(51:03):
I encourage you to go explore to find out what's out there because I feel so grateful
to find my purpose my what I'm doing and be able to put all my passion and energy into
that and I want everyone to be able to find their place and this is just one way to live
and we're not saying this is the best the right the only way and how everyone should
live this is just one way and this is right for me maybe it could be right for you as
(51:27):
well but there could be also many other ways out there of living that can connect with
you so don't take this opportunity of life that we got and just accept a standard that's
not meet that's not up to your expectations or your dreams or your visions but see how
you can reach that and coming here was how I was able to do that and yeah I hope everyone
can find find their place in the space.
(51:49):
It's very inspiring and I'm so happy that you did find your place because I see that
you bring a lot bring a lot of passion and pure and genuine love to this place so yeah
thank you thank you so much for sharing and I hope to come back here in the near future.
I'm not going anywhere.
Oh and that's one thing I want to just quickly you found you've found love here.
(52:14):
Yeah right.
Yeah.
Yes how long have you been?
Just over a year now.
Over a year that's that's so special did you ever think you would?
I was definitely hoping yeah yeah I definitely had the intention.
But you waited six years so patiently waiting.
Yeah it was a journey.
That's really special.
Yeah I'm feeling very happy.
That's really lovely.
Thanks Luke.
Thank you.
(52:37):
I hope you were able to gain something from learning more about Sardinia Forest and Luke's
story.
It really is a special place and just by spending a short period of time in the forest it's
amazing the shift it can create within.
And what I really love about Sardinia Forest is they aren't just living this way to isolate
themselves from the world challenges but nor are they aggressively shaming others for how
(53:01):
they are living.
They really are just showing what is possible by doing and are inviting people into their
way of life and by doing this I feel it invites people to maybe pause and think more about
how they can live this precious life more compassionately.
(53:21):
Thank you so much for taking the time to listen.
Please feel free to rate the podcast, share with any friends who this may interest.
Sending you love my fellow humans wherever you are.
Hello world family and welcome to Ripples of Humanity.
(00:06):
I'm Rachel Thompson and through this podcast I'm sharing interesting stories along my travels
of people, projects and initiatives I discover that are contributing to positive ripples
throughout humanity.
Today I'm taking you to Sardinia Forest, on the outskirts of Auroville in the state of
Tamil Nadu in the south of India.
(00:26):
Now this isn't a podcast about Auroville and I could talk all day about Auroville but
very briefly, Auroville is a universal township that was set up 55 years ago.
Now it has over 3000 people from both India and around the world attempting to live with
greater human unity basically.
There is so much information on Auroville's website so if you would like to learn more
(00:50):
you can go to their frequently asked questions section which is a good quick way to get some
basic information.
This is my second time in Auroville.
I was here five years ago and I'd always dreamed of coming back.
I really see it as the kind of place that I can see myself visiting throughout my life
to learn, come here and learn more about conscious living, absorbing information from the many
(01:16):
workshops, projects and people here and just get, just absorb the general energy of the
place and then bring it into my life wherever I go next.
So going back to Sardinia Forest, it's on the outskirts of Auroville and here there's
a whole community of people living very alternatively to modern day society and they're living completely
(01:39):
in the forest.
Twenty years ago Sardinia Forest was actually arid land and over the years volunteers have
successfully reforested 70 acres of land with indigenous tropical dry evergreen forest and
Sardinia Forest work has now actually spread within India and internationally with ecological
(02:03):
projects in Haiti, Kenya and Namibia and the Sardinia Forest movement I feel really impacts
on environmental, social and economical challenges we face in humanity today.
So this time in my adventure to Auroville I came some days to volunteer in the Sardinia
community.
I was helping cook food, preparing, planting trees and even cleaning the toilets which
(02:29):
are composting toilets and they actually use human compost to plant their trees which I
found very fascinating to learn about.
So I also learnt a lot about their way of living while I was there which felt very refreshing
and above all I really enjoyed connecting really meaningfully with other volunteers
(02:51):
from all over the world in the community.
I was lucky today to chat with Luke Marsh who is originally from the UK and is now a
long term volunteer having spent the last seven years in Sardinia Forest.
I hope you enjoy hearing from Luke and learning more about what Sardinia Forest is all about.
I'm here in the wonderful Sardinia Forest and lucky enough to be chatting with Luke
(03:15):
who lived in Sardinia Forest for seven years.
Thank you so much for making the time to chat with me today.
Thank you for having me.
I think a really nice place to start would be to get a bit of background into how Sardinia
Forest began and why, what was the intent behind it.
(03:36):
So what we see today was never meant to be like that.
It was just a small family came because they wanted to find a different way of living and
they tried to explore other places and they didn't find the place that was calling for
them so they decided to start their own place.
The intention was just to live in a more compassionate way and to plant trees.
So they came with their three year old daughter, they had another daughter later on who was
(03:59):
born inside the forest and they started planting trees and just living in a very simple way,
in a sustainable way after four days a volunteer showed up and said hey I heard you're living
here and you're planting trees, you want some help?
And then they came and helped and a few days later another volunteer came and within like
a month or a couple of months there was like 30 volunteers already here.
(04:22):
The word kind of got around and people were feeling very connected to this way of living
and when they started here it was a very dry barren land, it was like a desert that had
been deforested during colonisation and over the years as more and more people came here
this desertified land, this barren piece of land was restored back into a forest and we're
(04:46):
now living in that forest still doing the reforestation work because it's still an ongoing
process.
How many years ago was that?
Twenty years ago, yeah in December 19th it will be 21 years.
So that was the intention behind it and how has that evolved over time?
I think the main evolution was no one could have seen it to be what it is today, it was
(05:10):
just meant to be their family, it was never this intention to make this global movement
where now there are eight southern forests, five in India, three internationally, so one
in Haiti that was started in 2010 in response to the earthquake, 2014 in Kenya working with
the Samburu tribe, then we started four more in India and then last year we started another
(05:32):
project in Namibia working with the Himba tribe.
So I think the scale of it was not even contemplated, it was just meant to be a small family and
they kind of had this vision that maybe other families would come and want to live like
this as well, so maybe there would be other families living here but volunteers not so
much because many people when they were starting this place were saying that a vegan community
(05:54):
that's practicing substance free that's not selling anything, that you can't send your
children to school and we're collaborating rather than competing with each other, a place
like this no one's going to want to live like that and they said okay but we want to live
like it and maybe there's some other families out there that want to raise their children
in this kind of environment but it turned out actually a lot of people connected with
this way of living, there was something about it that maybe this wasn't the reason that
(06:17):
they came here but the energy that they felt, the experience in here, they connected with
it in a very deep and transformational way and it attracted many people, many thousands.
And if we look at the scale now, let's just go snapshot now, how many long term volunteers?
I think our long term team is very strong right now, specifically in this Sardinia forest
(06:40):
we're about 25 people, maybe even closest to 30, we have a few on vacation right now.
In the other centres it's much less, the teams are much smaller, this is like the mothership
here, this is where it all started and this is like the training centre, the launch pad
to send people to the other projects to start doing this action.
(07:03):
And I'm going to share some videos as well so listeners can get an idea of what it actually
is like here but what are some of the features that you think are really cool to highlight?
I think the way we're living, so looking at how we can live in a more sustainable way
and we're looking at it from sustainability in a very integral perspective, so every aspect
(07:26):
of our lives.
So the resources that we're using, so how we're living in natural buildings, so right
now we're in a hut, my office is a hut and it's powered Sardinia forest by solo and it's
an off grid community.
So yeah, using natural materials to make the buildings, using off grid living but then
(07:46):
looking more details, so we're using compost toilets here, so none of our, we don't use
the word waste here because waste is a human concept, this is something that we as a species
invented, you look at nature, it doesn't waste anything, the way we're living we're trying
to find a use for everything that we're using, so even what we would call human waste, that's
a resource for us, it's a one year process but it becomes compost that we use to plant
(08:09):
trees, the way we're using water here, everywhere you'll see water you'll see the water going
back to the plants and the trees around, so everything's being used and nothing goes to
waste.
So I think kind of these visual things when you start to see you can observe this, the
more physical, tangible aspects of it.
Once you start to go deeper you start to understand the social aspect, we talk about sustainable
(08:34):
architecture but also what we focus a lot here on is social architecture, how you can
design a place to naturally bring people together, to naturally engineer compassion inside of
people and this is a word that came from Avaram the founder when he was asked to describe
this place in two words, he said engineering compassion and that's kind of a fundamental
aspect of what we are as an organisation, so these things, these you start to see over
(08:59):
time of being here and then the more value based side of things, so we're living in a
way where we're not compromising, we're looking at how we want to live and with the
intention to do things in a more compassionate way and not compromising on that, being very
strong with it, so we're a vegan community, we don't want to cause harm to exploit, to
(09:23):
use, to take from animals, we try and be as sustainable as possible because we don't want
to take, exploit, use the environment, we practice gift culture because we want to give
to people, we don't want to take, use and exploit from people, we want to create this
culture of giving and sharing and we collaborate with each other instead of competing against
each other because with competition you always have a winner but you also have a loser, so
(09:46):
the more value based side of things is something that you can start to understand from a more
deeper perspective over a longer period of time.
Yeah you can really feel those different layers here of what it represents to be here, and
Luke I want to go into, because when I first met you and did the tour of Southern rainforest
and heard about your story, your personal story, I was, yeah, I found it really amazing
(10:10):
and I'd love for you to go into that a little bit if you don't mind.
So this way of living was new to me as well, like before coming here I'd never planted
a tree before, in a somewhat developed town not so far from London, working a corporate
job, working 55 hour weeks to make a rich person, even richer, and I wasn't feeling
(10:33):
this kind of strong sense of purpose in my life and I started to explore and I'd say
gather some sort of understanding of what the world is looking like and what's happening
in the world, seeing the suffering of people not just in other countries but even the people
around me living lives that they're not happy about, also relating that with what I was
(10:55):
feeling in these moments as well, us seeing what we were doing to the environment and
yeah, what was very clear for me was the way we're living is surely not the only way and
maybe there's a different way that we can do things and I started to speak to a lot
of my friends and family about this, like imagine if we could live in community and
(11:15):
harmony in a sustainable way together where we're working with each other and everyone
would laugh at me.
I was going to say they must have thought you were a bit...
Yeah, exactly, and they thought I was crazy and they say you're living in this lala land,
this is not how the world works and honestly there wasn't much I could say to them because
I didn't know there was a different way, that everyone around me, my friends, my family,
(11:37):
everyone I ever knew was living in this life, living in the same kind of direction, maybe
some had a few twists and turns in that kind of way of life but the fundamental aspect
was a commonality with everyone I knew and so I kept going back to my job and then I
didn't really have anything else to do but then I started doing more research and I started
(11:57):
to come across that actually there are other ways to live and maybe these people are crazy,
maybe it's not really possible and they're just talking about it but the reality is very
different but I wanted to go see that for myself, I wanted to really, before I commit
my life to living how everyone else is living around me, to at least see if there's a different
way that I could feel this sense of purpose, this happiness, this giving back to nature
(12:22):
rather than taking it and then I came across Auroville being kind of the most oldest kind
of established alternative community in the world, it was started more than 50 years ago
and has more than 3000 people living here so in my search of different places of living,
Auroville was the top of the list a lot of the time and I was looking for places to stay
(12:42):
in Auroville and I came across this small community, Sadano Forest and I was going to
be here for two weeks and yeah I guess what I was really looking for when I left was community,
sustainability and I really want to live in a way where I'm not just surrounded by money,
like I was really disconnected from that seeing that the effect that it had on people and
(13:06):
the world that we live in and I had a lot of clarity on that and I said okay if I can
live kind of more or less without money that's also an intention for me. I came here and
not only did I not stay for two weeks, I found my home here, I found so much more than I
was looking for because I was just looking for these kind of free things and I got introduced
(13:28):
to compassion towards people, how we can give and share and how we can collaborate and work
together rather than competing against each other. I looked at compassion towards children,
looking at how we raise children in the world, seeing having my personal experiences in this
institutionalized education system that didn't serve me in such a healthy way. I know it's
(13:50):
very relative, different people have different experiences but my experience wasn't so positive
inside this and so here I was able to be introduced to the ideas of unschooling where you allow
children to learn freely through their own curiosity what they want to learn, not having
adults forcing or telling children this is what you should do, to be, to act like. So
(14:13):
this was a new idea to me that was very powerful and very inspiring. Looking at how to explore
how to live in a substance free way before living here I was indulging in substances
more than my fair share and I felt like my time for that was over and I was feeling very
ready to explore a different way of being with myself and so substance free living was
(14:36):
very inspiring for me and then a huge transformational shift that happened to me here was understanding
how we can be more compassionate towards animals. Because you weren't vegan before were you?
Yeah exactly, so yeah San Loporos is a vegan community and I kind of knew that I think
(14:58):
a little bit before coming in here but I was only here for two weeks and I was like okay
how bad can vegan food really be I'm sure I'll survive two weeks I won't get protein
deficient in that short amount of time like even though these people are probably crazy
eating like this but then I came here as a hunter the last time I went hunting was about
four or five days before coming to San Loporos I was the biggest meat eater in my family
(15:22):
when my brother, when I would go to restaurants my brother would get the chicken dish my sister
would get the fish dish I would have the mixed grill I'd have as much meat as possible on
my plate and then when I was here starting to talk to people they didn't sound so crazy
because they were talking about yeah just not harming and taking from animals and the
way I could see myself living in the world I wanted to live in a way that where I'm giving
(15:45):
and caring and this togetherness this harmony and I was thinking from harmony with nature
and with harmony with people but I wasn't really extending that out to domesticated
farm animals and the more I observed why is because I was conditioned so socialized and
normalized at this idea that this is how animals are meant to be in this world and here I started
(16:09):
to see that there was actually a different relationship that we could have with animals
so one very powerful moment was I was talking about world peace just in our main hut we
were having a group discussion the discussions here always so interesting for me and as I
was talking about world peace someone came up to me just walked past he wasn't involved
in the conversation and he said Luke how can we ever achieve world peace when there's so
(16:31):
much violence in our diet and that was powerful for me because I think everyone can connect
with this idea of world peace if we could truly live in a peaceful world and hearing
that I didn't know what to say to it and it was kind of imprinted in my mind for the next
couple of days it just kept going through and I had a moment to myself I was really
trying to understand that in its deepest sense and trying to find a justification for how
(16:55):
I was living and it was very difficult and I had some maybe ideas that were kind of forming
but then the more I think about it I was like this doesn't make sense and then the big shift
happened to me where here we have an animal sanctuary we have rescued cows and they were
all destined to go to a slaughterhouse and we were able to give them a different opportunity
(17:16):
at life and one morning they said can we have someone help to feed the cows and I very innocently
put my hand up not quite realizing what I was about to experience where first off we
just prepare their food and that's quite nice you're around them you're seeing them they
look cute and happy and I was feeling this connection with them already and then why
(17:36):
they're eating we're collecting up their poop and that actually was very meditative
for me it was very peaceful I remember the sun rising very quiet just going around and
I was feeling very calm and very relaxed and that feeling kind of really kind of sat with
me it was a beautiful feeling and then afterwards they finished eating and they said okay we're
going to brush the cows now and can you brush this cow Vishnu he's like a brown cow with
(17:58):
a little white spot in his head he's very very sweet he's scared of children because
when he was a calf children burned his ears and he's got he became quite traumatized from
that and I was seeing these kind of scars on him and I think that was quite in itself
just powerful to seeing this relationship that humans have to this animal different
to us and as I was brushing him I started to feel this connection and I think anyone
(18:23):
who's grown up around like dogs or cats or whatever you know what I mean when I talk
about this kind of connection that you have when you're you're brushing them you're taking
care of them and you can see they're loving it they're enjoying it and you're feeling
that love towards them and they're responding that love back to you and in this moment of
brushing him I was thinking how am I feeling and I was like okay well one very clear thing
(18:45):
I'm not feeling is I'm not feeling hungry I'm not looking at this cow this Vishnu feeling
like I want to eat him I'm feeling just this love this care this this peace and it was
very it was very calming energy and then I started going around and I started to brush
him in his head and then as I was doing that he put his head up and he wanted to be brushing
(19:05):
the neck so I started brushing his neck and as I was doing it was moving his neck around
and his eyes rolled back to the back of his head and he made these noises I never knew
scouts could make and this was a very I guess intimidating moment for me because I kind
of was looking at him there just this innocent animal that was so full of love and I reflected
(19:27):
on how I'd lived my life where I spent my whole life eating them and taking from them
and it was like that I could see this ultimate betrayal that we've committed against these
animals so and that was just what I was feeling and so I started walking away because I wanted
a process I was feeling quite emotional and as I started walking away Vishnu started following
me and he started just nudging me in the side because he wanted to keep being brushed and
(19:49):
like this big cow there they're pretty intimidating animals when you see the size of them so if
they want to be brushed yeah I thought okay I better go back to brush him so I was just
brushing him on his head and just looking into his eyes and in that moment it was very
clear to me if I wanted to live my life I have a choice and I can choose to contribute
towards the suffering of animals or I can choose to reduce it as much as I could practically
(20:15):
possible and it was very clear that's how I want to live the rest of my life then and
that was a huge shift for me because it made me see the world in a complete different way
not just towards animals but towards the whole natural world and towards people as well because
yeah we may look different we may feel different and stuff like that but this feeling of love
(20:36):
I think it's something that's very shared across all of us and this was my moment where
I really changed the way I see things.
Wow what a transformation it's beautiful and in your time here have you had any low moments
or difficult moments or it's been the most challenging?
(20:57):
I think the most challenging for me here is we're in a community where many people are
coming and going we've got amazing incredible people here that have stayed many years and
they're like family for me a family here had two children that was born in the inside side
of the forest and I was here throughout their life like I was here when they were born so
that they're so close to me so I have this kind of connections but also the connections
(21:20):
of many people that have come here and these very deep strong connections and people leave
not everyone stays and that's always the hardest thing I've definitely developed more much
I've come to much more peace with it because it's also very enriching for me to know that
these people are out there in the world doing their amazing things in their ways in their
different different things and yeah sometimes it comes from a bit of a selfish perspective
(21:44):
where I'm like I wish they could all be doing it here with me but knowing that they're out
there in the world yeah it's very hopeful because the people I've met here just yeah
what's can't describe the amazing incredible inspiring motivating compassionate kind loving
people and to be able to be in an environment that attracts this energy yeah has this beauty
(22:07):
but it's very hard when people you dwell at these deep connections with go on their their
way and yeah you miss them and it had to be a real practice of not like not being attached
and just seeing the beauty of the relationship and then letting it go just to get an idea
to how many volunteers would come through suddenly in a year between 1300 to 1500 and
(22:31):
some of them are saying couple of weeks some of them are saying a couple of months some
yeah when you're here for like a year you see people coming and going but what now I've
been here for seven years I've seen like long-term volunteers come and go people have stayed
one year or two year or three year they've come and I've seen their journey and then
they go and again it's really hard for them to leave but the transformations I've seen
in people it's it's very powerful and I think this is very easy to get negative what's going
(22:57):
on in the world when we observe when we see what's happening but this place has given
me a lot of hope because I sometimes you feel like okay how are we ever gonna change society
to be to do things in a more positive way to have a more hopeful future but then the
shifts that I've seen in so many people here from their day one to maybe even just one
month later or one year later or more even multiple years this this transformation myself
(23:22):
being seeing that in myself but into so many other people as well it's like very hopeful
that okay we we can change this way of living that we see so predominant in modern-day society
isn't the only way there are other ways and we can we can change and we can when we connect
with what's important for us there's there's nothing that can stop us really that's been
(23:42):
very inspiring and hopeful for me definitely and even even people coming through just for
a tour yeah there might be one spark of something that they can take back then to their lives
which is so beautiful yeah a little seed planted maybe and yeah we have more than 15 000 people
that visit here every year so volunteers is one but yeah we have a huge traffic here yeah
(24:07):
people were able to see this other way and we've had people that have come here and said
yeah i came with this tour like seven years ago and it was just in me and then i got this
calling that i wanted to do something like this and then they've come yeah this is their
journey that they were ready in that moment so you never know what seed you're planting
exactly yeah i mean i was in orville five years ago and i it was the end of my trip
(24:30):
found out about sardinia forest and i wasn't able actually able to come that trip but for
five years i'd always spoke to people about oh there's this community in new orville that
lives like this even though i hadn't even been here and then this trip was like it's
non-negotiable i'm coming here the moment i get here so that's really yeah it's powerful
and a question like that was on my mind i'm sure might be on others minds is uh how is
(24:54):
sardinia forest funded like how do you because yeah yeah so it's funded through donations
so we have different donations coming from different places and the different projects
are funded in different ways like the different locations of sardinia forest so here haiti
and kenya is just through donations mostly of just different people that have come and
(25:15):
heard about this seen this they've maybe given their energy to it but um wasn't able to
physically stay here for as long as they wanted or help it in a more physical way but financially
that they had means to do it so they could be donating um five dollars a month or or
fifty dollars a month um we have uh yeah these these people we call sustaining members people
that have been out to support sardinia forest growing because they've come here and seen
(25:38):
something that they they they found saw the hope in that and wanted to support recently
we've been able to kind of diversify the the funding through having um organizations support
us so and governments so in the northeast of india we have three centers uh this is
funded by the state government of meghalaya and the world bank it's very difficult to
(26:00):
get this funding because we we don't want to compromise on on our integrity and our
vision so we've stayed very strong on that and yeah so it wasn't easy um we have a foundation
in the u.s that's funded funded our project in namibia uh project in madurai the south
of india as well about eight hours from here is funded by the city of geneva so it comes
(26:23):
from different different sources and yeah we're always trying to explore different avenues
to to be able to get the funding to to scale it up because we have a model now and it's
20 years old and it's very effective um we're all volunteers here so if you're looking at
cost effectiveness in NGO work everyone here is a volunteer from um someone who's here
(26:47):
for a couple of weeks or me myself seven years i'm just here to give i'm not doing this for
my salary or anything it's just this unconditional giving so yeah we're looking at more ways
to to get donations to to scale it up we have visions to start sardinia forest all over
the world and that's just funding's the question isn't it yeah funding and people and people
(27:07):
to help give funding yeah it's all connected yeah with the projects that are happening
overseas how how did that expand was it um like maybe you could give one example of an
interesting project yeah i can give just hatie the first one being the best example where
someone in around 2009 came and spoke to avram and you read the founders of sardinia forest
(27:28):
and said you realize this is a model right and they're like um this is how we're choosing
to live and there's like this is a model and it can be replicated and they said okay like
yeah maybe i let's see and then one and then they started looking okay if we were to do
this somewhere else where we would do it and hatie was one of the places that kind of came
up and then in early 2010 hatie received an earthquake that was the most deadly natural
(27:52):
disaster in um yeah recent modern day history so the team all met and avram the founder
said we're thinking of starting a project in hatie and at once everyone stood up together
and said yes and that was where it started and they they started sardinia forest hatie
with no land just a team with a thousand dollars that got donated through a woman who came
(28:17):
here on a tour and and then over the years it was able to establish itself into a project
that made many mistakes i think it was a big learning curve for sardinia forest to understand
how to intervene in in yeah very heavily deforested and malnourished areas with the socio-economic
political kind of challenges to to really understand the complexities of this then kenya
(28:42):
was able to be started much better namibia avram describes it as the the jewel of the
crown because we learned so much from all the different projects here in india and internationally
that this was able to be started started very well very effectively and and we feel really
ready now to to scale it up what's the vision for the future that i remember you spoke to
(29:05):
me briefly the other day about the bus yeah so one of the one of the models that we have
in india in is a district called verudanaga it's one hour south of madurai here in the
south of india and basically we have a team living in the bus and the bus is staying in
a village we have a truck and we basically plant trees in this village that we're staying
in and the truck goes around and plants trees in all the surrounding villages and we're
(29:28):
basically just planting food producing trees around people's homes it's in one of the
driest areas of tamonadu south of india and in an area where people are suffering from
malnutrition a lot so the idea is planting these food producing trees around their homes
to give them long-term food security and this model is very effective uh yeah we don't have
to buy land we don't know the infrastructure we just get this bus and then we can move
(29:49):
this bus from village to village as we go around building this relationship with the
local people while putting trees in the ground in a very efficient and effective way and
we're there to give the aftercare and give them share the knowledge and educate the local
people in tree planting and tree care yeah like the education part of it too yeah and
(30:11):
our vision is we can this is a scalable model as well this we can start more of these projects
in india and even the world we've got a mobile reforestation uh uh truck in kenya now where
they're kind of doing something similar so this is a model that we've been experimenting
with very effective having the permanent sensors is very important as well but yeah if we could
have more of these projects in india people could spend time in one bus in tamonadu and
(30:36):
let's say another bus in marestra we've looked at different locations are there looking at
the the aridity and malnutrition index to find out which is the area that would benefit
from the intervention of sadhana forest in the most effective way so there's a place
uh called nandabar uh which yeah has very high rates of deforestation malnutrition so
(30:58):
this we hope this will be potentially be the next one um and then yeah madhya pradesh and
all these kind of dry areas especially in central india could really benefit hugely
the local people there in these more vulnerable areas that are being affected by climate change
uh ecosystems collapsing um droughts and famines this model that we have by creating
(31:22):
drought planting drought resistant trees to create long-term food security these trees
will give food for for around 100 years sometimes so it's it's not just feeding them but for
generations so it's a long-term solution addressing these issues of deforestation and malnutrition
and it's very effective it's awesome yeah i want to go back down to the to the community
(31:42):
here yeah so you welcome volunteers and so what could you give a snapshot of what a day
in the life of a volunteer here in sadhana would look like yeah so first off we're all
volunteers here but we're not doing any work um so that means we're uh we're not doing
things to get an expectation for something in return so we're practicing savor so it's
a sanskrit word for selfless service so how we can give unconditionally without expecting
(32:06):
anything in return so coming in with that mindset i think is really important i'm here
to give and to to help to serve to support and then yeah we have a wake-up call at 5.30
in the morning someone goes around playing some music singing to gently wake us up for
the day and then we meet at 6 a.m we do some stretches together after that everyone goes
around and hugs each other if they want it's a very beautiful way to start the day and
(32:29):
then we go for the different activities in the morning so a team will stay back to prepare
breakfast another team will go and feed the cows in the animal sanctuary and the rest
of the people go to the forest depending on the season the um the forest work is different
from tree care to planting the trees to watering the trees different things like this and then
we come back and meet for breakfast at 8 45 and then at 9 45 we go out for what we call
(32:53):
second savor so we have first savor second savor that's when during second savor is when
we're doing less physical stuff in the community could be cooking lunch cleaning maintaining
firewood composting all these different things are kind of happening simultaneously around
the community and then we meet back for lunch and then the afternoons are more or less free
(33:14):
we have some support we need in different days in the afternoon from different people
we spread this out around with everyone in the community and then yeah then we have the
weekends where there are still some things that we need to do but again we spread this
out around everyone in the community because we still have to feed the cows and feed the
people the forest can can wait but yeah so so yeah we're doing this we spread this out
(33:39):
between the team everyone living here and then in the evenings we have different activities
happening so so Sunday night is kind of where we have our weekly meeting where we organise
ourselves as a community about what we're doing for the following week with all the
volunteers then Monday we have what's known as a core value talk after dinner it's a place
(34:00):
where we can discuss one of the values so it could be anything that I spoke about really
like the idea of veganism or unschooling sometimes free living gift economy collaboration and
yeah kind of picking one of these topics to go deeper with it and then Tuesday we have
a sharing circle so a space to practice deep sharing deep listening Wednesday we have our
(34:20):
open stage this is our the fun night of the week where people can just share and do whatever
they want the untalented show right yeah it's also a nickname the the non-talent show because
we have a lot of non-talented stuff to know what you mean you should come check it out
what's your non-talent Luke?
My non-talent?
Oh yeah different things depending on the on the day whereas you'll be surprised about
how many how many non-talents you can have.
(34:42):
Did you do one this week?
This week I didn't.
What was your last non-talent?
My last non-talent I think I just shared a story of something that happened to me that
was quite funny yeah probably and then so yeah that's a really fun evening in the week
and then Friday today is where we have our Friday tour so right now the community is
busy getting everything ready we're cooking a big dinner we're gonna have a lot of visitors
(35:04):
join us for dinner it's our deep clean day so we get with the community looking all tidy
and the kitchen team is making the food amazing dessert as well we'll have yeah a bus bring
people into southern forest or two two buses and we'll show them around we'll watch a movie
together and we'll eat dinner together today I think we're cooking for around 120 people
(35:25):
and yeah that's our week.
And then there's also like because you have a lot of people that come here to volunteer
you have different things to offer I notice that you have different work people just offer
different workshops like yoga or lots of things yeah yeah yeah I've seen the most crazy stuff
here over the years yeah people doing different things and yeah so much fun learning from
(35:48):
people this knowledge sharing again unconditionally so yeah people are sharing what they want
and that's that's really helps build this sense of community that we have here.
You can really feel the community and the positive culture here special and I guess
with that of course we're people and there might be conflict and there might be disagreements
and things but I'm interested to know how how that is resolved and yeah so I think our
(36:13):
preventative is kind of one of the very effective things a lot of people that come here they're
like why is there very little conflict here like how does that work and we haven't been
out to pinpoint for sure exactly what it is but we have our ideas and one thing is the
food that we're eating it's known as like very satvic food very calming when you're
eating a lot of like meat and animal products and stuff it kind of it can build a this kind
(36:34):
of fiery feeling inside you where you may be a bit more short tempered and and you're
you're eating these stress hormones or these animals that were being sent into a slaughterhouse
so you're going to be absorbing this as well so this is going to kind of heighten your
your your the intensity of these energies that you're putting inside you so I think
the food that we're eating it keeps us just relatively calm in a sense but even with saying
(36:56):
that there are still moments and it's all about the way everyone who comes to live here
is living in this way to with this intention to live in a more compassionate way and yeah
we're human so this is a this is a journey it's going to take a lot of commitment and
time for to to transform to evolve inside of each other so kind of respecting and understanding
(37:18):
each other's journeys but then yeah facilitating conversations with two people with his disagreements
how we can see it where because we're living in the same intention we have a common goal
of living in a more compassionate way and live in a community so when there are misunderstandings
it's mostly just coming from miscommunication not understanding and seeing the other person
so how we can sit people down it's not like two people here want to live different ways
(37:42):
because yeah let's say in the outside world you have someone that wants to live in a more
selfish way and someone wants to give more then okay there's always going to be this
conflict because there are two people choosing to live in a different way here we're all
kind of choosing to live this way it's a choice no one's forced to stay here everyone's making
the choice so with that kind of mindfulness to this I think there's this common understanding
(38:06):
and yeah we facilitate things discussions to kind of restore this kind of trust and
this understanding and yeah the environment is very mindful here so I can imagine how
that would yeah foster that yeah yeah yeah if you want to come here be really aggressive
to everyone and it's not it's not going to work yeah and you can find somewhere else
for that I'm sure people may have anger issues or something when they come here and it just
(38:31):
you just can't you just feel like it just the forest just washes it away and the food
and yeah yeah that's good I wanted to know what the most common question you get is from
people who come visit or volunteer like who are intrigued about the way of living how
did you adapt I think is a big one because this way of living is so different to I think
(38:55):
what most people understand when they they come into this place it's very different to
how people have lived so a lot of people ask how did you adapt and for me like I don't
feel like I can give a fair answer to this question because a lot of the long-term team
when they come here you ask them this and they've all found it very difficult not all
of them but a lot of them I came here I came in the middle of the night like 2 a.m. I arrived
(39:18):
and I just slept in the main hud because that there was no one to show me where I could
go because the taxi driver was very late to pick me up and so I came here in the middle
of the night and my first time in India my first night ever in India and in a forest
so it was a bit scary came here and I then the morning came and I started seeing people
waking up it was a weekend day so there wasn't so many people around there's a lot of people
(39:41):
they're chilling but I saw people in the breakfast preparing it together talking together meeting
each other and then just seeing the Sun come up and just feeling this calmness here and
I was like wow like beautiful and then yeah I was just fell in love like it was like love
at first sight for me and yeah it felt like home very quickly.
(40:03):
And what about other people that you've seen what's is there like a common challenge that
you see people have difficulty everything yeah everything like I can't say a common
challenge yeah but yeah the compost toilets that we have the living in huts living so
close to nature living in community yeah living we're only eating non-processed foods people
(40:24):
here maybe more yeah people would be going through a detox in ways and that can bring
up lots of stuff that's been that's been there but then it stirs up to the surface so yeah
for me this is a very interesting part of the the social aspect of it because so I had
this question like I was seeing people and people were getting very kind of emotional
here and I was a bit confused because I was feeling so happy here and then I was seeing
(40:48):
people go through these kind of deep emotional challenges here and I and I was like but why
is they responding to sign up for us like this and and the more I started speaking to
people understanding to people it was actually the only type in their life where they felt
safe to to to be open to that to to bring it to the surface to be vulnerable and because
there was a huge support network yeah yeah yeah yeah and when you're in a space where
(41:12):
you feel safe to to be your true self and to to be vulnerable and to allow that to come
to the surface it can be very very hard for people and but luckily the support supportive
environment here is this compassionate way designed to to support in this this journey
for people so yeah I think it's interesting yeah definitely for you and family I imagine
(41:37):
family would be a big one for people if they're living here very long yeah actually everyone
in India asked me what are your favourite things yeah that's actually the most common
question yeah I think it's that'd be really interesting one of you don't mind sharing
a bit about that yeah my family have always been very supportive they yeah they encouraged
me to to leave my job and to come experience this when I was considering it and I think
(41:58):
that was very unique because I had a good job and I was starting this career path that
I think a lot of parents would have this fear to for their child to leave something that
they were feeling quite stable in but they really encouraged this and yeah I I think
it's still quite hard for them to deeply understand why and the what's but at least they accept
(42:21):
it and know that I'm happy and I am very happy and that's very clear for them so they
they don't doubt that yeah have any of them come and visited you yeah yeah most of my
family I've just got one one brother still waiting to come my two other siblings have
Sam Sam yeah so he'll be here at some point maybe he'll come in February he was saying
(42:42):
yeah it's not the first February he said that so let's see there's a festival on yeah yeah
what's it called the vegan forest festival vegan forest third edition yeah yeah how many
people come for that so first year was like 400 last year was 700 this year we're gonna
aim for a thousand people cool that's great put on your calendar people yeah it's all
(43:04):
free we're cooking for everyone so we've never cooked for 700 people before until the last
one we've never cooked for a thousand people so we'll find out how that works and it's
not just cooking for a thousand people but doing that for three meals a day for three
days yeah it's really how we can push this idea of how much we can give to its limit
and the energy that is created in that space where everyone's just coming together it's
(43:28):
kind of like the Avengers assemble kind of idea where like all of our experienced volunteers
who may have gone to do with different things they all come back for this weekend and we're
like our absolute strongest and the enemy is just so vibrant yeah yeah and like you
see something that's so unique like a festival that is substance free that everyone who's
(43:51):
facilitating anything didn't get paid to do this they've come from different countries
all over India to do workshops and talks and cooking classes perform and yeah all the
suits food served as a gift not expecting anything in return and yeah everyone who's
holding a space here being an ethical vegan so showing that this is mainstream it's not
(44:14):
a niche movement anymore that this can be the normal that we can really create a culture
where yeah not harming animals and taking from them and using them can be yeah normal
yeah exactly and sorry I cut in there because you were talking about your family yeah and
they came and visited yeah yeah like my sister adapted pretty easily because she's traveled
(44:37):
a lot my dad really connected very emotionally to this place my mom it was a bit of a shock
for her my youngest brother he was definitely out of his comfort zone and yeah but I feel
like he will he will hopefully come back again last earlier this year I had my cousin come
and he came for six weeks and this was very powerful for me of course a lot of my family
(45:00):
like my family have come and they've seen how I live but he came he saw it but then
deeply understood it because he was here for longer and he was really able to embrace it
and then when he was leaving he he started getting quite emotional he started crying
and he said now I understand why you do what you do because yeah there's a lot of kind
of conceptions and ideas in my family and the people that even they even they see it
(45:23):
they don't like it's hard for them to deeply understand like why I've dedicated my life
the last seven years of my life to put all my energy into this place but he came away
understanding it and that was very powerful for me to have someone in my family to really
connect with it yeah beautiful for people who are listening who may never come to India
(45:44):
yeah what message would you give them or what question actually would you just pose to people
just to have them ponder about their way of living or yeah I think to be very mindful
of that and deeply consider that this gift of life that we have we have this opportunity
(46:06):
is in a very complicated world but we do have some sort of freedom to choose how we're living
and to really consider how you want to live and when you start to see how you can envision
it and to make this decision okay can I put this into action and can I truly live in a
way that I'm not compromising on my integrity my values because I feel like a lot of society
(46:32):
yeah unfortunately encourages this compromisation compromising on the way of living but there
are ways that you can live that you don't have to compromise and this is this is an
example that it's possible that yeah a small family came here and turned this dry piece
of land into a forest and now we have thousands of people coming here all the time and to
(46:54):
show that we can live with nature and not against it I think the story that is told
about humanity is where we're a cancer we're a parasite we're destroying and distracting
everywhere we go and here we can show people it doesn't have to be like that you can live
in a way that's not only sustainable but in a way that dramatically improves the environment
around you so if you're thinking okay how I want to live then really deeply consider
(47:17):
what's stopping me from doing that and the jump to reach that could be the scariest most
hardest thing that you've ever done but if you can truly arrive at that point to say
this is exactly how I want to live it's a very beautiful feeling of life and I feel
very grateful to have that.
Yeah thank you.
(47:39):
People can come here and volunteer and what's the process for that?
Just send us an email yeah everyone's welcome my youngest volunteer is a one and a half
year old who was born here, oldest volunteer is a 70 year old woman who's been here for
two years so age doesn't matter everyone's welcome and just send us an email and we'll
be so excited to welcome you.
(48:01):
Is there a time commitment?
Yeah so for foreigners it's 10 nights minimum it should be higher than that because I think
after around a week and stuff you just start settling into this place for a lot of people
I think if people can come for four weeks I think they can take this adjustment period
to settle and then start to really experience it I think that's important.
(48:26):
Do you have any recommendations of any kind of books or documentaries that people can
look into to look at alternative ways of living because there's so many southern forests represent
so many different areas is there anything that you have?
Yeah the most inspiring thing for me is what kind of set me on this journey to find a different
way of living is something called the Venus Project.
(48:46):
They've done a few documentaries one of them is called Paradise or Oblivion.
Oblivion is where we're heading if we keep living this way we are but Paradise is this
other option.
Oblivion isn't the only option and another one they've done there the more recent one
is called The Choice is Ours and yeah it really empowered me to really think about this question
(49:10):
that I asked that how do you want to live and they showed me that there was one way
of living that was more theorized it wasn't actually in physical practical form but it
made a lot of sense to me and I felt motivated to go and see what that meant and find different
ways of doing things so yeah the Venus Project two documentaries Paradise and Oblivion and
(49:31):
The Choice is Ours.
I'll link to those in the episode notes so people can see.
And a book I really like is Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.
How do you say that?
Ishmael.
Ishmael how do you spell that?
Ishmael Daniel Quinn.
It looks at a very powerful way to look at why humanity is living the way that we're
living from a non-human centric perspective because a lot of when we try and study and
(49:56):
understand why humanity is living we're always integrating our conditioning and our very
narrow understandings of that but when you take it out and explore it from a non-human
centric perspective I won't spoil the way the book works but it was done in a very clever
way and it really gave me a lot of insight to why we're living like this and it's not
(50:20):
we're inherently flawed as a species there was things that happened in our history and
reasons for that that led to this way of living and there's also reasons that we can change
that and there's different ways.
Cool you've added to my book list as well.
Is there anything else that you wanted to share before we wrap up?
(50:42):
Yeah I guess I would just like to share that yeah it can be very intimidating very scary
to look at changing your life but often on the other side of fear can be something very
beautiful and you don't know until you try and if you're feeling that you're a bit lost
in your life and you're maybe not having that sense of purpose I think it's a very relatable
feeling for a lot of people in the world right now.
(51:03):
I encourage you to go explore to find out what's out there because I feel so grateful
to find my purpose my what I'm doing and be able to put all my passion and energy into
that and I want everyone to be able to find their place and this is just one way to live
and we're not saying this is the best the right the only way and how everyone should
live this is just one way and this is right for me maybe it could be right for you as
(51:27):
well but there could be also many other ways out there of living that can connect with
you so don't take this opportunity of life that we got and just accept a standard that's
not meet that's not up to your expectations or your dreams or your visions but see how
you can reach that and coming here was how I was able to do that and yeah I hope everyone
can find find their place in the space.
(51:49):
It's very inspiring and I'm so happy that you did find your place because I see that
you bring a lot bring a lot of passion and pure and genuine love to this place so yeah
thank you thank you so much for sharing and I hope to come back here in the near future.
I'm not going anywhere.
Oh and that's one thing I want to just quickly you found you've found love here.
(52:14):
Yeah right.
Yeah.
Yes how long have you been?
Just over a year now.
Over a year that's that's so special did you ever think you would?
I was definitely hoping yeah yeah I definitely had the intention.
But you waited six years so patiently waiting.
Yeah it was a journey.
That's really special.
Yeah I'm feeling very happy.
That's really lovely.
Thanks Luke.
Thank you.
(52:37):
I hope you were able to gain something from learning more about Sardinia Forest and Luke's
story.
It really is a special place and just by spending a short period of time in the forest it's
amazing the shift it can create within.
And what I really love about Sardinia Forest is they aren't just living this way to isolate
themselves from the world challenges but nor are they aggressively shaming others for how
(53:01):
they are living.
They really are just showing what is possible by doing and are inviting people into their
way of life and by doing this I feel it invites people to maybe pause and think more about
how they can live this precious life more compassionately.
(53:21):
Thank you so much for taking the time to listen.
Please feel free to rate the podcast, share with any friends who this may interest.
Sending you love my fellow humans wherever you are.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.