Our call with Jayanti Ravi began with Radhika Sood Nayak’s soulful rendition of a beautiful song from the Sikh tradition honoring Kabir, Aval Allah, which says that we all come from the same Light.

Coincidentally, Jayanti shared that recently when she was on election duty in Rajasthan she came upon a singer in a gurudwara there and requested him to teach her a shabad kirtan (devotional song) so this offering brought back wonderful memories for her.

Early influences
Jayanti’s grandfather was deeply anchored spiritually and passed that on to her. Attending talks by J. Krishnamurti and Swami Chinmayananda at ten years of age built the context of what was to come later in her life. Jayanti’s unconventional childhood meant being transplanted to new towns and cities frequently and having to learn new languages and cultures while trying to make friends. It was a good lesson in how to adjust to change. Amid these changes the influence of her parents was a constant. Her mother was an epitome of patience and humility. She taught Jayanti in a very natural way, keeping her engaged even while in the middle of doing housework! Her father made her believe that nothing is impossible and steadfastly gave her the courage to believe in her dreams.

Kirit Joshi
Jayanti’s book “Symphony of Fraternity” is dedicated to a special person, Kirit Joshi, who came into her family’s lives much later in 2009. What drew her to him was that their conversation was about an inner calling, beliefs and aspirations for education and providing unexpected space for this dialogue to continue unfolding even after his physical body left this world. He was an answer to her prayer to finally work with someone who operated from the law of love. She says that certain people come into your life for a reason and that Kirit-bhai “sweetly stormed” into their lives and continues to make an impact.

The large-scale vs the individual
Jayanti compares her work in systems to cultivating a paddy field—while knowing that policy can have huge impact she said that sometimes you also just want to tend to an individual rose. While she is a well-known leader in so many fields, being an educator is a big part of who she is. She loves the feeling of seeing a child’s eyes light up when they understand something they couldn’t do before. She teaches dozens of students from her local community for an hour each day and she loved seeing the transformation when the emotional part of learning was included to give students confidence in being able to add bigger numbers. The key is to have the right teacher using the right method which is why teacher training is so important. Nipun shared a quote from Parker Palmer: “We teach who we are” and Jayanti concurred that the attitude of the teacher is most important!

Vision for a Multiversity
The idea for a multiversity took shape around 2011 based on work started from 2002 when the best lectures from the IIT’s were being shared with anyone in an open university format. The plan is to have multiple institutions under a loose structure that would allow students to cross-register and participate both in person and virtually in multiple programs.

There are many existing examples of integral education in Auroville, weaving between different domains of knowledge. For example, the Earth institute uses local materials, adobe, sundried bricks, etc. and can be opened up to students from around the world.

In the future a hybrid model of education can combine these threads of research, extension work, and training. This work in progress is geared towards a global audience.

Development work and surrender
Jayanti’s attitude of humility and surrender into “not knowing” came from her open-hearted curiosity and always looking to learn from everyone she meets. When she was a child she was fascinated by women construction workers and would think to herself “What can I learn from them”? She beams saying “Every day I’m astonished by how much I don’t know” and says that “When you work at such large scale, the system itself has things you cannot imagine or predict.” Her interactions with the construction workers taught her that you can always choose to be cheerful regardless of external circumstances. When you engage with people you have to find a bridge to get to the noor (Light) within them. She felt that at Harvard, math was that medium to connect her with her students. Seeing students “light up” is what brings her joy and that joy emanates from her trademark ever-present smile.

Staying rooted in the unknown, even when sitting in a seat of power
Having a “front-line” mindset even while being in high positions of power, Jayanti says that you need to stay open to listening to what is within you. “If you are comfortable in your own skin, you can be equally at home with the simple and the fancy environments and you trust your judgment so you can go with the flow and not disturb the balance of the collective group. Sometimes you yearn for the “real” experience since you are taken to sanitized/fancy things as a person in a position of power.”

“When you are in a difficult place, in a position to make decisions that have tremendous consequences for society, you have to try to connect with and dip into the space within you. Being reflective, spending time with yourself in moments of silence, and feeling that existence and the Divine is so helpful, kind and gracious.”
If you do what you think is correct and follow your intuition, grace will follow.

Q & A

Aarzoo: Working at scale/so many different contexts, has there been collateral damage to “goodness”? Good for one community might harm another. How has your experience been with that? (Huge intention of doing good with love)
Jayanti: Post-Godhra, we were trying to rehabilitate people in relief camps. We had to get the community back to a state of harmony. For healing to happen you can’t have a shortcut. Sometimes you want to win over support of some of the leaders so they ensure that nothing untoward happens to the minority group. They held the meeting in the leader’s house (who was from the majority/upper caste). One lady came and squatted at the threshold (because she belonged to the scheduled caste community)—she was respecting the local custom.

I had to pretend to be angry— and say why aren’t you walking in? So the onus was on the hosts to let her come in….even as the lady kept saying no. I felt unsure if I had exposed the lady. I checked to make sure it was ok for her and she was not victimized. You feel you are walking on eggshells. This work has to be subtle.

Vijayam: I’m sure in your time you have been torn between the rule book and law of love? How did you resolve that?
Jayanti: There have been many examples of this!
In one of our mid-day meal programs there was a girl serving food who was much younger than the required age. One could have taken action, but she came from a family with economic hardship. She was working to support her family and she was very bright. We got someone from the village to sponsor her studies so she did not have to work anymore.

Nilima: Auroville is a unique experiment in working out Human Unity. In your role as the Secretary of Auroville Foundation, which aspect of The Mother’s vision are you seeing manifesting smoothly and which seems more challenging? Why do you feel so and how are you looking to work with both?
Jayanti: The idea is to establish a place that would be a beacon for the rest of the world. There are many issues in Auroville that need to be harmonized. While figuring it out, we placed our finger on contentious issues—once you crack a hard problem..other things get solved.

Communication across different groups had gotten ossified.
We are a small community (3000 people)—everyone has their views… so it will take time to get healed.

Every institution in Auroville is full of possibilities for learning…we aim to make this available for everyone in the rest of the world and Auroville will also benefit.

Brinda: How do you renew yourself?
Jayanti: Fasting is a practice I do on every ekadasi day—it helps to focus inwards.

Nipun: An example of when you were moved by the law of love?
Jayanti: Polio vaccination in a village where they were frightened to get children vaccinated. We tried our best to cajole and encourage them but at the end of the day had not convinced them.
A primary school teacher showed up who was frail, soft-spoken and he got them vaccinated.

Books you are reading?
Bhagavad Gita (Eknath Ishwar translation )
Mother and Sri Aurobindo (Kirit Joshi gave it to her)

Favorite Gandhi anecdote?
He got a word wrong in spelling when the school inspector came….because he did not want to copy his neighbor’s work. Teacher scolded him and humiliated him in front of the class.
This was the beginning of his realization of the power of Truth. To follow what you think is right.

Favorite prayer to sing: Hari Tum Haro Jan Ki Peer.
Jayanti blessed us by singing this song to close out our time together…and left the space and stillness for it to all soak in at the end, with just the strumming of the tanpura.
In Jayanti’s words….

“In our own way—we can all make a difference.
It is a beautiful world.
Collectively there is so much we can do.
May the force be with all.”