Full recording of this event is available here.
AuroBharati invited Dr. Bhawana Badhe and Mr. Sushrut Badhe for a conversation on the topic: Krishna’s Butter – Taking Wisdom of Bhagavad Gita to Children and Youth. The session moderated by Dr. Beloo Mehra brings to light the inspiration behind Krishna’s Butter Project, its pedagogical approach, and its unique focus.
The conversation also explores other relevant questions including why Bhagavad Gita is for children and the youth; the significance of Bhagavad Gita as scripture for practical spirituality that helps one evolve and heal; and the resistance of formal educational institutions in introducing such practical insights from our scriptures in the overall curriculum.
Based out of Pondicherry, Krishna’s Butter is a thoughtfully and creatively designed learning programme which introduces children and youth to some of the foundational principles and essential truths of Bhagavad Gita. Through meaningful examples and illustrations, the programme tries to bring to learners’ attention practical insights from the Gita which they can begin to apply in their lives.
The project started with a group of 8th class students at one school, Vidya Niketan, in Pondicherry in 2015. Originally designed for 19 sessions of about half-hour each to not overwhelm the children, it has now reached several thousand children through online offerings in the last 2 years. A small selection of shlokas from the total of 700 verses of the Bhagavad Gita has been carefully made for these sessions.
Designed and conducted by Dr. Bhawana Badhe and Mr. Sushrut Badhe under the mentorship and guidance of Shri Madhusudan Damle ji, the programme is now also offered in multiple Indian languages. There is now an adult version of the programme also which runs for 29 days with each session running for 1 hour and 45 minutes.
In the past two years since the programme went online, more than 20 batches have been launched including 4 batches for adults with over 600 enrolments from participants in India, the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Dubai. Due to popularity through word of recommendation, waiting lists have been launched and parents who saw positive changes in their children have enrolled for teacher training sessions to conduct similar free sessions from their respective cities as per the Krishna’s Butter Module. Approximately 6 new batches are launched every month and more are expected once new teachers are ready.
About our guests:
Dr. Bhawana Badhe is a Senior pathologist and former HOD of Pathology at JIPMER. She is the author of ‘Krishna’s Butter for Champion Students’ – a book that came out of her experience of designing and conducting Gita classes for school children. She has since then conducted several batches of students online and offline and has also trained volunteer teachers for these Gita classes for children.
Sushrut Badhe studied mechanical engineering, but his heart led him to go deeper into exploring the truths of Indian spiritual culture. He is a poet and has authored several books, including Bhagavad Gita: Rhythm of Krishna, and Rhythm of the Veda. In addition to managing and conducting Gita classes, he also serves as CEO of KVM Research Laboratories which manufactures and exports 100% natural ayurvedic health and beauty products.
