The Spirit of PLANET HARMONY
Envisioning a harmonious co-existence of mankind.
Have faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the whole ocean doesn’t become dirty. — — Mahatma Gandhi
At times amidst routine life we tend to miss out on its beautiful subtleties. The simple virtues that guide us and are the very essence of human existence are often forgotten. Peaceful and harmonious coexistence is not just needed at the macro level where one envisions a world free of war but in fact it is the state of our inner being. Peace and harmony are in — fact the very values that become the foundation of our relationship with ourselves, with those around us and with everything that we do.
Our recent experience with facilitating a leadership camp with young students of 9–12 grades opened our hearts to this reality. We were invited to facilitate the Planet Harmony 2016 program from the 6–12 June 2016 at Camp Panther, Rishikesh. The program is an initiative of the Snow Leopard Adventures Pvt. Ltd. and a ‘heart-child’ of chairman Mr. Ajeet Bajaj.
The program had 36 fellows, students of grades 9,10,11 & 12 along with 7 teachers who participated in the week long camp. The students were invited and flown in from J&K, Chattisgarh and the North East and were hosted by families in Delhi before they were all brought to the camp. The week long program was about leadership development, team building, communication skills, promoting a value based approach to life, adventure and of course loads of fun. It was the spirit behind Planet Harmony that distinguished this one clearly from all other leadership camps that are normally offered to students.
Here the students had an opportunity to mingle with each other thus getting to know and learn about a culture very different from their own. It was an opportunity for the so called ‘privileged’ urban kids to share and care for the so called ‘lesser privileged’ rural kids thus shaking off egos and false attitudes to blend together in wholeness. It was a platform for unity, freedom, fearlessness, openness, love and perfect harmony.
My intent of writing this is to also share how the whole experience was personally very enriching for us. It has moved us both very deeply and helped in discovering several aspects about ourselves to which we were blinded by our perceptions. Here is what I learnt on this beautiful journey:
a). Being Present : It was a fairly diverse group of participants coming from different backgrounds and cultures. What applied for one group did not make as much sense to another. I realized this after the first session and throughout the 6 days, life forced both of us to be very present, sense the deeper feelings of the room and the people in it, seeing what is needed and accordingly respond. All the activities, discussions, games, role plays and even the videos just flowed, re — organizing themselves around what was needed. Being Present was the key and the only thing that seemed to make sense.
b). Being Non — judgemental : There were a couple of kids in the group who were just not interested enough and enthusiastic enough about anything. All they wanted was to relax, chat and have fun. It was a challenge for us as trainers as their lack of enthusiasm at times did have an impact on others. Initially, it was easy to become judgemental but as the spirit of togetherness and harmony deepened, as the intention of the great program just pushed itself into the forefront, as we got time off sessions to know these kids better, we realized that they had their own reasons to feel the way they were feeling and it was perfectly ok. It was a wonderful feeling to be non — judgemental and in — fact appreciative about everyone and see how that energy manifested in our own personas as well as in the group.
c). Inspired : Though we have always been the kinds who are eager to explore life in un- conventional ways, trying to celebrate life’s gifts and contribute as much as we can. But Planet Harmony was truly another level of inspiration. It opened our eyes to the real problems that the nation faced, the issues of terrorism, poverty, inequality, blind faith and hypocrisy etc. We could see and clearly feel that the root of the solution lay in our own hearts.
We realized it is never about sorting out issues but about awakening the spirit of love, truth and respect within our hearts that inspire us to act towards a possible solution. It is in this spirit that all solutions flow. The spirit and the intention is all that matters.
Planet Harmony is a program that has the potential to change intentions, awaken inherent inspiration and thus provide a rock solid platform for the creation of value based, truly non — violent, inherently powerful, authentic leadership capable of making ‘harmonious co — existence’ a reality in the near future.
For more visit planetharmony.in
