The Ganapati Project
With a vision to bring arts to the village, the ashram is planning the ‘Ganapati Project’, a rural initiative to help create traditions of craft in village Telbaila. The project involves training select members of the Telbaila village community in the craft of creating Ganapati images that will:
- Sow the seeds of an art/craft tradition that can enrich their lives.
- Equip them to create their own Ganapati images for the upcoming Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
- In the long run train them to create beautiful images through which they can also earn their livelihood.
The Ganapati Project begins on a moderate scale where under the guidance of a Pune based Sculpting Studio – The I GA Studio; some members of the village community including a few children from the village will be trained to create well designed, aesthetic images of Ganapati in terracotta & paper mache at the gurukul.
The products will then be sold in Mumbai & Pune, the ashram’s craft center. The money raised there from will be shared with the village community while also being reinvested in future rural crafts projects so that in the years to come, Telbaila village can thrive as a handicraft village having an expertise in many forms of handicrafts.
A preliminary sculpting workshop was held in April 2017. The response was amazing.. The young, the old and children from Telbaila enthusiastically participated in the workshop and created many images of Ganapati. They even requested that more such workshops be conducted as they would love to learn the crafts.
We aim to produce 100 eco-friendly Ganapati Idols before 2017 Ganesh Caturthi.
These idols will be sold in Mumbai/Pune and the profit generated from the same will be shared with the village community.
Skill Building Partner : IGA Studio, Pune
Initiative supported by – The Kshirsagar Apte Foundation
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The Ashram
An educational-cultural centre dedicated to study and practice of classical Indian arts and sciences with a spiritual and environmental consciousness.
Shaktiyogashrama is committed to the values of living in a commune. But it is a commune that is held together not by dogmatic religious beliefs but by the humanitarian values of love, peace & universal brotherhood.At Shaktiyogashrama this very spirit of the Gurukul system is embodied within all that we are and all that we practice.
Participants are requested to not carry their urban stress, consumerism, extroversion, shallow entertainment forms and digital obsessions to the ashram so that learning can happen.
We are a drug, alcohol, smoking and meat free campus. The community abides by a few agreements and we ask for your help in continuing to abide by them.
We are taking some steps to make this gurukul a low waste zone and we request for your help in reducing waste (of all kinds) during your visit. Participants are requested do not bring packaged snacks or stuff that will generate waste here. In case if you do get them, then we request you to carry your waste out with you when you leave.
The ambience encourages living close to nature, living in simplicity and living with an inner discipline.
and emphasise the need for spiritual orientation in education.
The space is dedicated to study and practice of classical Indian arts and sciences with a spiritual and environmental consciousness.
The residential short term programs area an integration of spirituality, ecology, lifestyle and the classical arts – with an emphasize that yoga is the chief goal of all these disciplines.
The rural initiative is an integral area of the gurukul, with a view to empower, educate, to build self-esteem, inculcate the scientific temperament and to introduce an arts culture.
Babaji scouted the entire Peth, Shahpur, Telbaila and Bhamburde village in Maharashtra for days on end before he set his heart on the beautiful scenic land in Telbaila village that was surrounded by mountains on all sides. Located in the midst of nature in all its glory, the Ashram is placed 32 kms away from its closest urban dwelling, Lonavla.
The valley is situated in the midst of mango trees and bamboo forests with seasonal waterfalls. It is cradled by the serene yet formidable mountains that surround it on all sides. A Durga temple on the top of mountain is a popular trekking and hiking point.