When we got this land in 1985, it was barren, rocky land. Even grass wouldn't grow here. One of our volunteers said Gurudev, let's go find some big, flat land and make our ashram there. I said, no let's do it here. He thought I was joking !
We took it as a challenge. We didn't have much finances, but we never worried about that. I lived under a thatched roof. Everytime it rained, I had to shift my bed from one corner of the room to another, because the roof would leak! There was barely any electricity or connection to the city in those days.
We started a free school for rural children. We had about 25-30 volunteers here. They planted all these trees. They would plant trees all day and nurture and nourish them for months. Protecting the plants was as important as planting them. Otherwise goats would come and eat them!
Now we have 146 types of plants, and 134 types of birds in the ashram !
