(Written by John Ransley, a friend of Swami Yogaratna who visited the ward to see one of her yoga classes for the children)
I am an Australian visiting Bangalore to meet with old students and devotees of Swami Muktananda, who taught yoga in Bangalore from 1978 to 1985. Together with Swami Buddhananda she established the Atma Darshan Yogashram which still provides yoga programs to this day.
Today was an unusual day at Samiksha. Five of us were there to tutor, read, talk to or share our time with the children at the ward. Only a small group of them showed up. Most were new faces. We talked about this among ourselves, as we realised that we needed to supply fresh school supplies and material for everyone there. We then decided to go around the ward and introduce ourselves to the new inpatients and their caregivers. As we went around we found many beds empty and cleaned out, it was quieter than usual. Truth is that most of the children in the ward had been discharged!
On the 22nd September 2009, World Peace Day, we had ‘circle time’ with our children. About 20 children and mentors took the pledge to participate in world peace and good citizenship. We signed our names to be included in the Global Peace Games initiatives too.
The Global Peace Games for Children and Youth were hosted in Bangalore, in DN Street in Sevanagar. Mr. Manmohan Iyer from New York, a basketball coach and sports journalist who is involved with many initiatives for children (including ours), organised the event.
We are going to be represented at the 2009 Global Peace Games for Children and Youth, at Bangalore. It is being held at Banaswadi- Maruti sevanagar, on the 19th of Sept.This is a whole day event with games such as football, hockey and other stall games. Everyone is welcome to participate. This will help us raise funds too.
