Sadhana Forest

So, yesterday I went to New Creation Bilingual School (where I'll be working) and got to know some of the teachers and students there. Today I learned that I will be teaching English with Shankar (the coolest guy ever!) to eigth graders. I will also be working with a group of three teachers on a math project they are doing on multiplication. The real focus of this post, however, is last night.

I went to a place called Sadhana Forest. Rajan, a British man who teaches English at New Creation, recommended it to me. Friday nights are film night, where they watch a movie (usually about some kind of environmental topic) and they eat a vegan meal together. I took a taxi there with some people from a housing area called Aspiration. There was an Australian named Tim, an American mother named Ana and her two sons. It was breathtaking at Sadhana. They are replanting the forest there, living in these huge huts they have built away from (most) technology. They gather their own water there, wash their dishes with ash, use highly efficient wood stoves they built, power everything by solar panels and exercise bikes, and eat strictly vegan food. There are not enough people living there yet to grow all their own food, but they are getting close. All the while, they are replanting the forest around them. It's a pretty unique place.

It was difficult for me there, because the people were so different. There were people from all over the world there, India, America, Britain, Australia, France, Germany, Sweedan, China, and so forth. They were all very focused on environmental issues to the point where I felt like they basically worship the earth. I had a really hard time. I felt really out of place, and I was really judgemental. I don't want to be like that. I may have different ideas from them, but I want to love them with everything inside of me. I may judge people's actions to be wrong, but it is not okay for me to condemn them. I don't have that power. God loves them more than anything I will ever love on this earth, more than any love I will ever understand before I die. I want Him to teach me to love people I am uncomfortable with the same way He does.

Sometimes, like last night in Sadhana Forest, and when I wake up in the mornings, I really want to go home. It is a beautiful place here. I am treated so well. I am loved and taken care of. I am able to contribute to Auroville. I feel God with me while I'm here. Yet, I miss home so badly. I mostly miss my Family and I miss the Youth Group at Church. When I wake up in the morning, I want to go home so bad. Once I am out and about, working at the school, going to a meeting, eating with the people here, I love it. I feel like I belong, like this is where I will spend a large part of my life (maybe not Auroville, but India). It's places like Sadhana that are both beautiful and terrifying. They are such an amazing experience while being totally alienating. It is a strange feeling. I'm looking forward to when my professor arrives on Monday/Tuesday (?) so I can start to discuss some of these feelings and thoughts with her.

Anyway, please enjoy the new pictures and videos I've uploaded...

Sadhana Forest Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/magicalmatt/SadhanaForest#
Video of outside Roy's Boarding House: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xamilmr8cII&feature=channel_page
Video of Sadhana Forest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybPsEhcItko&feature=channel_page

New Prayer Request:
Please pray that God teaches me to understand his love for the people of Auroville and that He teaches me to love and serve them in the same fashion. Please pray that the Holy Spirit continues to remind me to seek after God and know Him more in my struggles and that as a result, I am overflowing with love for the people here.