11-14th December 2013, a three day meeting was held at Nagaloka between some members of the Triratna social organisations in India and trustees and others from the Karuna Trust. The first of these meetings had taken place in 2008 at the Madhyamarg Retreat Centre, Kondhanpur, near Pune, and was aimed at developing more mutual understanding between the two “sides”.
These meetings present an opportunity for face to face dialogue, and an introspection/awareness of the deeper conditions that affect our attitudes and communication. They help us to understand how to work with a relationship that transcends enormous social and cultural differences, and find ways to work in the situation that maximise the best of what we share and to minimise any negative fall outs from the very different conditions that both experience.
The subjects covered included:
1. The changing funding situation in UK.
2. The changing Dalit reality and the expansion of Dalit movement, and especially a fast increasing appreciation of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and his growing significance throughout India among all discriminated communities.
3. New challenges in developing Dhamma and social work throughout India.
Last and not least there was a very deep felt appreciation of the contribution of Karuna Trust since its inception in 1980, one of the few funding organisations that is dedicated to working with the structurally oppressed in India, especially those inspired by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar .
