By Gunjan Sethi
What a privilege to write about a dear friend and a marvellous teacher on his birthday. For over three decades, Alok Ulfat has been a powerful living force actively involved in reform of human intention and action in India and abroad. He is a true epitome of determination and vision in a highly foggy environment of today. He has been standing firm and steady in front of this mammoth tornado of mass consumption, mass production centric systems continuing for over a century, that have disconnected societies from nature, both inner and outer, and declared mass abuse a normal way of life.
I reconnected with Alok after I resigned from my service in a corporate media company and had begun exploring and inquiring about Yog, indigenous innovation and Bharat as a whole. I was walking the path of decolonizing myself without even knowing that I was doing it.
What did he help me to see that I didn’t or couldn’t, otherwise? Observing him for these past years, I found out that, while Bharat was beginning to reexplore its roots, freeing itself from the shackles of colonization and post-colonial leftovers, here was Alok constantly creating real possibilities to interconnect individuals and communities from diverse backgrounds and cultures onto common platforms, visiting and resolving common concerns. He kept the dialogue going which otherwise seemed difficult as individuals tended to commit to their own ideologies so much that they would lose the capacity to tolerate others. With him I connected with individuals and initiatives from south-east Asia, Europe, UK, US who were deeply committed to making the planet and its family holistic.
What further kept me bedazzled was his ability to engage communities in activities and empower them by sparking creative productivity. One of the secrets behind his ability to create this collective sense of achievement, is his knack to help everyone see themselves as the other’s reflection, and momentarily as “one”. He sees what is impossible for most around. He has the fine ability to create environments where individuals could come in touch with their deeper self by working together.
It is with him I learnt – “teachers must be revered”. Bharat on its path to decolonize will have to revive the culture of recognising teachers in whatever form they appear. He did so with countless personal examples of connecting and cherishing his teachers throughout his life by constantly visiting them, inviting them, bringing gifts for them, taking his family, his students and his son to meet with them all along.
To me his true achievements have been his commitment to staying liberated while fulfilling his responsibilities (swadharma), in toughest circumstances. He, by training and by his inner drive, remains aware of the external traps that may be caused by social, institutional, professional, political mechanisms having oppressive tendencies. His awareness that every complex social mechanism that has sustained over long periods of times especially in a society like ours has a great capacity of being a very robust support system. He also knows that there is much baggage one has to deal with. He keeps addressing this relentlessly yet respectfully without rejecting the progressive ideas.
He works with developing the ability to dive deep into things and study it attentively before discarding. He humbly declined the offer of well-established placements in two of the very prestigious government institutions of India, one of which also offered him a very decisive position with a bright possibility of reaching the highest ranks. This commitment for direct human contact intentionally without depending on institutional frameworks earned him a great reputation among professionals as well as his peers. This quest also blessed him with uncountable wonderful students many of whom are professionally well established and who cherish his legacy very dearly.
“I know nothing” gives him the ability to begin from the beginning, gradually revisiting every minute learning, joining the smallest pieces together to finally relearning his own true knowing. This makes him brilliant with little children as well as teenagers because he exercises “simplicity” in communication and action and, constantly replenishes relationships.
It is through this vision of his, I realised something very deep about myself and the culture I am born in. This culture that we call Bharat has been the centre of education for values of life that are time tested and based on constant inquiry, deep learning from thorough reflection upon histories and greater visions of the sustainable future. This culture has also set immaculate examples of realizing the true human potential of an individual and communities, leading to a civilization that has sustained for tens of millennia.
He has always emphasized that our culture of celebration of diversity is what makes us connected.
His colossal body of work involves his persistent engagements with students, individuals, friends in designing and attending festivals, play & film productions, life courses, human development workshops, travel to seek and many such transformational events. His expertise in performing arts and working with people made him a master who cultivates and learns from “art, nature, science and spiritual life forces” – and sees his Avikal ‘Initiative for Life’ as a path of deeper learning and self-realization.
He has always emphasised on “Life” being THE source of complete education. By his own example he has proved, “If one is fully attentive to life around, one can master anything.” He very enthusiastically encourages individual human quest to self-train and develop the ultimate self- dependence.
To sum up Alok Ulfat’s legacy: The societies and systems are living by the term success literally, focusing on material achievement, while completely ignoring (sarthakta)—roughly explained by the English terms worthwhile.
I must say that anyone who is consciously driven to achieve true mastery, as Alok is striving to, would truly be a life worth living (Sarthak Jeevan). Material success follows. Happy Birthday Alok Ulfat.
