India-Mexico Lab
Since 2004, the ‘OraWorldMandala Laboratory (Lab) for Research and Action to Promote Ahimsa through Art and Science’ based in the Peace Research Centre of Gujarat Vidyapith (University founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920), has experimented with a series of actions based in the eight areas of the Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace.
The experiments, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy, integrate the different cultures of the world through art, spirituality and science of the Mandala. They propose a series of actions performed by the people who share this vision of a peaceful planet, and who are willing to explore their inner evolution, as well as to initiate change in their own institutions, along the way.
Through the experiments, OraWorldMandala works as a participatory theatre for Peace and Nonviolence, building bridges of reconciliation between divided realities and their differences. All participants, regardless of their culture, gender or personal beliefs, can be the ‘Constructors of Ahimsa’. The development of the experiments points towards a Model of Education for Ahimsa through Art and Science, adaptable to different scales, depending on the needs of the peace process.
The Model of Education proposes an urban model in Ahmedabad, India, and a rural model in Real de Catorce, Mexico. The two sides are located on opposite sides of the globe along the Tropic of Cancer.
A ‘Constructor of Ahimsa’ is any individual who, through creativity and method, is educated and educates in Ahimsa, placing at the disposition of society his or her specific abilities for Sarvodaya.
Since 2008, OraWorldMandala has organized training seminars in India and Mexico for Constructors of Ahimsa originally referred to as ‘Artists of Ahimsa’ because of their artistic orientation.
