One of my favorite people in the world, Mithra Katalunga, a young Sri Lankan studying at the University of Massachusetts, is coming to the Bedlam Farm Open House on Columbus Day Weekend in October – just a few weeks away – with the raucous Blue Star Equiculture contingent (Pamela Moshimer Rickenbach and four or five staffers and kids) and two big and beautiful draft horses, Merlin and Foxy.
He is the production manager of Blue Star and the founder of Blue Star’s magical flower and vegetable gardens.
Mithra spent the summer living in a tent outdoors and cultivating Blue Star’s gardens. He is a profoundly spiritual man who puts his values where his life is, unlike so many of the so-called leaders who spout so much anger and divisiveness. Mithra thinks about what he needs and doesn’t need, he is a gentle but fiercely individualistic spirit in a world that sometimes seems mad with greed, selfishness and rage.
Mithra is the person Pope Francis had in mind when he wrote that “human beings too are creatures of this world enjoying a right to life and happiness, and endowed with unique dignity. So we cannot fail to consider the effects on people’s lives of environmental deterioration, current models of development and the throwaway culture.”
In his encyclical on climate change, Pope Francis writes about the collision between media and the digital world, how new technology and conflict can stop people from learning to live wisely, think deeply and love generously. The great sages of the past and present go unheard amidst the noise and distractions of the information overload.
That is not the path Mithra has chosen. His life is not about money or devices. He grew up on a farm in Sri Lanka, he worked with elephants to tend the crops and the gardens there, he knows the value of working with animals. When he graduates, he plans to return to Sri Lanka to star a soil revolution, to teach the farmers and workers there the things he has learned about conservation.
He is a powerful testament to the Blue Star idea – encouragement, opportunity, harmony and love. When Pamela hired him, she told him if didn’t matter of nothing grew, all he had to do was what he loved and wanted to do. Much has grown.
Mithra’s gardens are spiritual, beautiful, inspiring. He is a genuine and profoundly intuitive soul, and I am excited he is coming to the Open House. I hope take some walks with him, show him my life, herd some sheep with him and find some time to talk. I think of him as a precious and valuable friend.
Mithra is a rare and exceptional human being, free of much of the materialism and anger that marks so much of our world. His parents must be the most wonderful people, they have helped raise a most wonderful child. He will teach me a lot about how to live wisely, think deeply and love generously. That is his life.
How great to have him at the Open House.