By Praveen Rawat

This year I got one more opportunity to help  CCS during the Global Education trip to India. We got the chance to stay in a nice and beautiful resort called “BANYAN BY THE GANGES” in Vyas Ghat, upstream from Rishikesh. This place is situated next to the Ganga where it makes an “OM” sign. It’s a popular place for people who want to fish for Mahseer fish. 

The resort’s name is taken from a very old tree (more than 500 years old) that grows in front of the resort – a Banyan tree. 

When I saw this tree it looked like a very attractive tree and I wanted to know more about the tree and its signifance. 

This particular banyan is a giant with many roots hanging from tall branches and many people come to pray there and help the tree to send nutrition. Through people’s work, the new roots are so healthy that they are behaving like a main root.

The Banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis) is a signficant tree both scientifically and religiously. Scientifically, it plays a crucial ecological role by providing habitat, purifying air, and preventing the soil erosion. Culturally, especially in Hinduism, it symbolizes long life, and people use it as a sacred site for rituals and gatherings. Across India, the Banyan tree is a cherished symbol of natural and spiritual harmony.

When I saw this tree, I thought about how this tree grew from one single seed and now it has many branches and roots. I feel our world is the same – it came from one seed and now it has many branches and roots, each one looking as important as the original. Each root is connected from a different continent and subroots are countries and regions. And all roots work to provide fruits or better human life. 

Geography, Culture, language, economy, common values, norms, laws, and institutions that organize and govern their interactions and relationships etc are the trees nutrients. Like the worshippers who come to the tree by the resort, people around the world try to nourish their own root.

Travelling makes it possible to go underground and see, feel, sense and test the roots. This is what our trip this year was like – testing the roots of this place and also thinking about our own.

I believe that CCS students are the lucky people who get to learn this wisdom knowledge opportunity and apply it in life by travelling and thinking about what they see during trips like this. 

During our trip, I took a little time to go and sit by the tree and listen to the river and think. At that moment I tried to watch the banyan more deeply as an image I could use to compare life in different places. I wanted to understand where Agora Village students and where are all CCS students come from and how the conditions of their roots and soil might be different. 

When I think about Agora students going to school in a small, one-room school, I think they are growing in less compost. Each day they are grappling with many situations with unique challenges like educational, economic, etc. At the same time, Agora students are living the ancestral way and learning wisdom, knowledge and blessings from traditions and information shared by older generations. Students are eating own grown food, using most of the forest resources, and spending each day doing some physical work. These are the conditions of the Agora soil.

Other hand, CCS students and other kids from wealthy families all over the world are growing in what can be seen as good soil and compost. They’re living comfortably and facing complex problems, like Work-life balance, Social isolation, Health problems, lifestyle decisions, fatigue etc. They are eating in restaurants and using more carbon-producing resources while doing a lot less physical work. 

Sitting on the river, I found interesting things when picturing the soil of both sides. Each one seems to have some challenges and problems becoming a truly healthy root. Where are one side’s needs and the other side’s choices, which is best? It depends on what kind of life they want. 

I think Agora students do not have as many ways or opportunities to move freely around the world but CCS students have more ways to go and achieve their goals. At the same time, they might not know what the best goals or important things are. My suggestion is they should go towards less compost soil and become more connected with the sensory world and learn from there to make a better life and a better human based on the reality of the real world.

I am also a farmer and this is ancestral work for me, looking at the soil and thinking about how to treat it best. I see if we are over-composed in farming the crops can grow very long and look healthy but not return a good amount of seeds and fruits. They can take too much from the soil without having the real purpose of being a plant.

On the other hand, if we give less compost or expect plants to grow in difficult conditions, they will grow in very hard situations but the plants can be dwarfed and not healthy. It will not also return a good amount of seeds and fruits.

As a farmer, I think we need to understand the soil and the actual impact it’s having on the things that are supposed to grow there. In Agora, we have worked for almost 500 years to create ideal soil for our crops. Today, the weather and conditions are changing. Will our soil be enough? Will the CCS student find a good life? Will they find happiness and purpose and community? These are the questions for any good farmer.

I would like to say thanks to CCS which makes possible that wonderful time.