A Vehicle of Consciousness

"An exclusive interview of Mrs. Bhavani Lev- Founding partner of ORGANIC INDIA"

USP-AGE,
November, 2005
Raj Saran Varma

It was the summer of 1996 when Holly B. Lev, an American traveller, came to India in search for answers to the void she felt in her life. Hailing from a wealthy family of Virginia, her "search for the truth" began when she heard the teaching of Shri H W L Poonjaji, a spiritual guru hailing from Lucknow. She decided to come to India, to Lucknow, where Poonjaji gave satsangs in the verdant surroundings of the Kukrail forest.

Initially in India for 15 days, Lev left for the US after the death of 'Papaji' in September 1997. But, she soon returned to a life of simplicity with the farmers. After her marriage with Yoav Lev, also called Bharat Mitra, chairman and president of ORGANIC INDIA, the couple decided to make Lucknow their home...and their Karma Bhoomi.

In the villages surrounding Kukrail, Bhavani (her Indian name) is an enigma. The warm reception given to her by the former American President, Bill Clinton, during his recent trip to Lucknow has shown her in new light. But, to most villagers whose life she has turned around, she is an embodiment of Sakshat Bhavani, the slayer of evil and upholder of purity and justice. "She dresses like one of us, speaks the same language and follows all our traditions. In many ways, she is more Indian than any of us," says Rohit Sharma, ORGANIC INDIA's spokesperson.

The Levs founded their company in 1996, driven mainly by their concern for the ecological damage that was taking place due to chemical farming and the introduction of GE\GMO foods and seeds in India. " We developed a basic plan which could support organic agriculture and bring the products to the rapidly growing market in the West for clean, safe and organic food," says Bhavani.

The Levs soon realised that it took much more than just a change of image to convince farmers in the backward town of Azamgarh to adopt organic farming. Farmers had, by then, become accustomed to using pesticides and chemicals to treat their large farms. And, it took some cajoling from their friend and technical expert, Narendra Singh, who persuaded some of his farmer friends to begin organic farming.

Initially reluctant, they finally relented, especially after some of the older farmers realised that organic farming was just what their fore-fathers had been doing for centuries. Village after village had been devastated by the so-called 'green revolution', with many villagers steeped in debt, and left with no other option than to commit suicide, while many others were left destitute and hopeless.

Death and disease had been stalking the villages as a result of the toxic pesticides and fertilizers they had been using, as it got into every level of the food and water supply, and also the air, affecting all the villagers and their animals. Says Kailashnath, a marginal farmer of Azamgarh, who was the first to associate with ORGANIC INDIA in 1998, "Organic farming has come as a real blessing for our family. Our succeeding generations will reap the benefits and realise how the land has not lost its fertility due to heavy use of chemicals."