Mr. Bhanu Kale

One longs to see Asia Plateau emerge as the finest expression of the role Initiatives of Change is meant to play in this world.

Everything about it - the way meetings are planned or conducted, rooms or flowers in them are arranged, the way food is prepared or served, the way men and women live- will inspire a vision of a cleaner, calmer, fairer world.

Its starlit and lush greenery will lift every visitor's spirit. Here the aimless will find a sense of mission and tormented souls will find solace. Great things happen when man and mountain meet. At Asia Plateau ordinary men of clay will catch a spark of greatness.

Though not acknowledged fully by the academicians, for over six decades now God has used our fellowship to nature some vital seeds. We are custodians a proud heritage.

On the other hand, today, one cannot escape a sense of an imminent crisis. To borrow a phrase of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), we may have "hit the bottom." Against the parabox one should discuss quotes like, "The choice before MRA is Nobel prize ten years from now - or death."

Buchman's early experiences demonstrate the significance of building a community which lives like a family and with unehearsed acts of care can become a prototype of a new world. Through all the transitions of his work, this one aspect remained unchanged. They also show how, by changing oneself, one can always become a part of the cure, rather than remain a part of the disease. One's life becomes one's message and by being what one is, one becomes an initiative of change. This change experience is like lighting a candle in the heart of a person and this really is the heart of our work.

The four standards, the practice of Quiet Time etc. were added subsequently and are basically the tools to reach this heart. The tools can change. Justice or harmony can also be effective standards and Quiet Time can be supplemented by other forms of meditation. We will have a new, fresh modules of programmes for transmitting this core message.

A corpus of fifty million rupees will allow Asia Plateau the financial freedom and flexibility. Hundred committed families will provide the backbone.

(The world is a family) will always be a guiding principle and it will work in close partnership with other communities which the Initiatives of Change could establish in other parts of the world. But while thinking globally, it will act locally. In meeting the needs of an individual it will be answering needs of the humanity. In being intimate and individual-focused it will truly remain global.

Here nobody will have special privileges but each will be considered special and unique. This community will not be deterred by opposition, from within and without, open or otherwise. The quality of life lived here will lit a candle in the heart of every person the community embraces.

Each such individual will be free and empowered to pursue his own calling in the flight of that candle. A person may promote breastfeeding or vernacular literature, export worldclass medical equipment or start a dedication center, work for strengthening family life or for justice to the minorities.

Two years from today Asia Plateau would have become an efficient greenhouse for planting, nurturing numerous such initiatives of change - each having a distinct role in cleaner, calmer, fairer world.

Bhanu Kale