Full text of "NO DESTINATION"
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No Destination is the fascinating story of Satish Kumar —
monk, peace activist, pilgrim extraordinaire and ecological
campaigner.
"Satish Kumar's unique story is stranger than
fiction." - Hazel Henderson
"Satish Kumar is among the most important
educators of the 20th century. His lifelong odyssey
adds a compelling flesh and blood reality to the
wisdom of the East." - Theodore Roszak
"Reading this book, you will have the rare pleasure
of meeting a warm and witty, thoroughly genuine
man, and one whose inspiration will not fail to
move you." - Kirkpatrick Sale
"Satish Kumar's life can be described as having no destination because he
has never* settled for limited destinations. There are no full stops in his life,
only commas, hyphens and semi-colons." - Vandana Shiva
When he was only nine years old, Satish Kumar renounced the world and
joined the wandering brotherhood of Jain monks. Dissuaded from this
path by an inner voice at the age of eighteen, he became a campaigner
for land reform, working to turn Gandhi's vision of a renewed and
peaceful world into reality.
Fired by the example of Bertrand Russell, he undertook an 8000-mile
peace pilgrimage, walking from India to America without any money,
through deserts, mountains, storms and snow. It was an adventure during
which he was thrown into jail in France, faced a loaded gun in America
and delivered packets of 'peace tea' to the leaders of the four nuclear
powers.
In 1973 he settled in England, taking on the editorship of Resurgence
magazine, and becoming the guiding spirit behind a number of
ecological, spiritual and educational ventures. Following Indian tradition,
in his fiftieth year, he walked to the holy places of Britain - Glastonbury,
Canterbury, Lindisfarne and Iona.
Written with a penetrating simplicity. No Destination is an exhilarating
account of an extraordinary life. First published in 1978, this revised
edition contains two new chapters, bringing his story up to date.
South Asia Edition
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An Autobiography
Satish Kumar
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Published in October 2003
by The Viveka Foundation
New Delhi
Originally published by
Green Books, U.K.
Copyright © Satish Kumar 1992, 2000
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FOREWORD
, write this foreword at the Bija Vdyapeeth in Doon Valley in the Ind.an
Himalayas. The Bija Vdyapeeth (School of the Seed) .s an instiWhon
that Satish Kumar and I co-founded in the year 2001Jt«
Navdanya's organic and biodiversity conservation farm in the Doon
Valley.
For years Satish had been suggesting I start a college for »>*«
living in India like the Schumacher College he started ,n Devon. But my
hands and head were full. And I kept putting it off. Bui• with Sabsft you
can’t put things off for too long. In December, he and his wife June
visited us in Dehradun. After a typical Carhwali lunch made with rogi
7olra and maarchu - the precious millets and grams of the
Himalayas we took a walk. And by the end of the walk, Satish had
identified the place where the dormitory would be, where the dining
hall would be .and thus the Bija Vidyapeeth was bom. We chose the
name, both because the school was on Navdanya's farm wh,c J sa ^
seeds and spreads seeds as a creative resistance to mdustna
monocultures and corporate monopolies and also because the seed is
“zing teacher for lessons in renewability, justice and non-violence
in our times.
Less than a month after 9/11, Satish, Mohammed Idris of World
Network, Sulak Suraksha of Thailand and Edward Goldsmith, founder
of The Ecologist were planting a 'forest of diversity' to inaugurated*
School of the Seed dedicated to sustainable living, peace and socia
justice In two years, an organic institution has grown fromSatishs
dea that a college like Schumacher College should be created in India.
Thank vou Satdh for your gentle persistence. Masanobu Fukuoka
Frances Moore Lappe, Herbert Girardet. Oscar OHvie^ EUi Gandhi and
many others have already taught courses^ Two charters to
Citizenship and Planetary Consensus — are becoming
new experiment in education and learning.
The Schumacher College, the green college that Satish started in
Devon as part of the Dartington Trust, has become an innovative,
creative model to provide an education that no school or fivers ty
providing, but is desperately in need of, for learning to live hopefully
times of hopelessness, generously in times of greed, fearlessly in times
of fear, compassionately in times of hate.
I have been teaching at the Schumacher College since it was started in
1991. Satish has drawn on the best hearts, spirits and minds of our
times as teachers — Fritjof Capra, Jonathon Porrit, Jane Goodall, Rupert
Sheldrake, Hazel Henderson, Wblfgang Sachs and Arne Naess, to name
just a few.
And, as in education, Satish has taken creative steps in communication.
The Resurgence magazine which he edits, combines ecology,
spirituality and beauty in such a way as to touch contemporary
consciousness in ways not tapped or stimulated before.
Resurgence, the Schumacher College and its sister institution, Bija
Vidyapeeth, are Satish’s legacy to the future. They are small in
structure, huge in impact. As Gandhi had said of the spinning wheel,
'anything that millions can do together, becomes charged with
unique power'. The spinning wheel became a symbol of such power.
'The wheel as such is lifeless, but when I invest it with symbolism, it
becomes a living thing for me'. Satish has walked Gandhi s path in
unleashing the quiet power and beauty of 'the small'. Every
December, Satish offers a course on Gandhi at Bija Vidyapeeth to
spread the ideas of peaceful but radical transformation.
It has been a joy working with Satish, teaching at Schumacher College,
building Bija Vidyapeeth and writing for Resurgence.
Satish's life can be described as having no destination because he has
never settled for limited destinations. There is always another
destination to strive towards, another creativity to unleash. There are
no full stops in Satish's life, only commas, hyphens and semi-colons. I
am happy to have shared some of those commas with him. I am sure
you too, will enjoy getting to know him through his autobiography.
Vandana Shiva
Bija Vidyapeeth
Doon Valley
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CONTENTS
1 Mother 7
2 Guru 21
3 Ashram 4 1
4 Benares ^7
5 Wanderer 79
6 Escape 121
7 Floating 12.5
8 Mukti 139
9 Maya M5
10 Hartland 157
11 Small School 165
12 Pilgrimage: Iona 173
13 Pilgrimage: Return *2.3
14 Japan 265
15 College 281
16 Mount Kailas 287
17 Influences 2.95
18 Realization 319
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