Our story
When like-minded people come together with a visionary person like Pujya Muktanandji (fondly known as Bapu), wonderful, positive things happen.
When you can see real poverty in front of you, how can you change the situation for better and how can you come up with solutions which are economically viable, practical and sustainable. This is our story of real compassion:
After the age of thirteen, Pujya Muktanandji (Bapu) lived in Surevdham ashram in Chaparda in Visavadar Taluka of Junagadh District with his guruji, Bhagvatinandji Bapu. After Bhagvatinandji Bapu passed away in 1975, running of the ashram became Bapu’s responsibility. It was a small ashram with 6 rooms, a hut as an outside kitchen, a covered area as dining hall and about a dozen residents. The focal point of the ashram was and still is, the 150 years old Pipal tree under which Bapu spends his time sitting on a swing, which has become his trademark.
Bhagvatinandji Education Trust (BET), named after Pujya Muktanandji’s Guruji, Bhagvatinandji Bapu was registered as a charitable trust in 1989. BET has been doing commendable charitable work like feeding cows during famines, doing relief work when floods came to Junagadh District and when cyclone came to Kutchh, holding eye camps and animal camps to ease the suffering and pain of the affected people.
It was under this tree that frequent casual meetings took place in the late 1990’s between Bapu, Shree Gijubhai Bharad, a renowned educationalist from Rajkot who use to come to Chaparda to spend time with Bapu and to write his books and Ajay Gudka from London, who was visiting the ashram annually with his family to spend some spiritual time with Bapu. All three had that like-minded feeling that they wanted to do something to alleviate the poverty from this area and they all agreed that Education was the only solution.
With Bapu’s vision and dynamic leadership, Shree Gijubhai’s vast experience in Education in ajkot and Gujarat and Ajay’s contacts with possible NRI donors, a plan was drawn up of starting a school based on traditional values and setting.
The plan was to build one building at a time as there was no ready funding available.
Soon a donor for the school was found and construction began in 2000 and finished in 2001.
After that, construction of one building after another continued as donors were sought and found and soon there were just under 2000 children studying in Brahmanand Vidya Campus.
What started off as a small project grew organically due to the demand for good education. BET can rightfully claim that it has initiated an education trend in Visavadar Taluka which will benefit its people for many generations.
