I had just completed my 18th year and I was living in Paris, France, the city of my birth, when I heard that a caravan of cars was driving from paris to Pondicherry. I had never heard of India, and had no interest in spirituality but something in me pushed me to go. It took us 6 weeks to cross ten countries and had many adventures, and we reached Delhi, in late september,

It spent my first night in India the delhi branch of the sri Aurobindo ashram.It was evening by the time we reached w reached the ashram, which in those days, there were still amongst fields. It was sunset and very peaceful. I had with me a book of Sri Aurobindo, called the Life divine, which I had never managed to read. I climbed on one if the vans with which we had come. It was a very beautiful sunset as you often see in India. I opened the book and read a few lines. Suddenly I had a strong spiritual experience, a feeling of intense peace and joy and in a few seconds an intuition of the worlds that were opening to me, also an immediate knowledge that I would live in India for the rest of my life.

This is believe was an experience of Mother India. As many yogis have said, India is not just a piece of land, it is the living Shakti, a body that, in spite of so many assaults over the centuries, as the Hindu Tolerance exhibition has shown, still radiates knowledge and power to whomsoever opens to it. My first guru was Mother India and to Her I dedicate this shrine and our Museum.

Of course, 2 weeks later in Pondicherry I met the Mother, Sri Aurobindo’s companion – and it was the turning point of my life. Since then, it is my strong belief that Mother India guided me whether to my beautiful wife here, or to His Holiness SSRS, who has uplifted our lives and taught us the meaning of sewa. Often also, I have felt spontaneously at home in some cities in India, as if I knew them from before. Places like Almora in the Himalayas, for instance, where we go every year; or even in Srinagar. I covered Kashmir as a journalist for the largest French political daily in the worst of its unrest, from the late eighties till the Kargil war where I was also present.
I encountered there some of the most dangerous incidents of my life where I acquired, some of which my wife knows about, some of which she does’ntI . It is al so there, I think, where I developed a little bit of fearlessness which has helped me till today. There was only one hotel opened for journalists in those days and it was on the banks of the river Jhelum. curfew was on most of the time but at night I would step out of the hotel and walk on the bund that stops the river Jhelum from overflowing into Srinagar. One could hear gunfire and sometimes even grenades in the distance, yet I could feel the presence of the millions of saints, yogis, avatars and simple people who had prayed and meditated for thousands of years in Kashmir. It seems today like an abstract experience, but on the spot, it was so strong and vivid and I felt that this was the very reason that India should keep Kashmir, for the Mother’s presence is still there in spite of all the strife.

I came to Pune 7 years ago for an Art of Living course in a beautiful Jain temple outside the city.. In the same way I immediately felt at home here.. I knew of course about Shivaji Maharaj, having researched him for my books and being a long standing admirer of him. I had some time after the course and I asked my driver to take me to the main Museum here, which is called Kelkar. I was surprised and shocked to find that there was not a single exhibit on Shivaji. Great men and women who walk this earth and are instruments of God, do most of their work while in their physical body. But when they die, I believe they leave something behind, a presence, a will. This day, the idea of a Museum of true Indian History, dedicated to Shivaji Maharaj started taking shape in my mind. Pune is the ideal place for this Museum: it’s Shivaji Maharaj’s realm, it is central to India and more than anything, Marathas have a stronger national fiber than in other states and I felt the Museum will be better protected here.

All this may sound a bit mystical to you. Yet, having spent the first 18 years of my life in France, I still believe in logic. What is then the purpose of this temple and of this Museum? Firstly, this also is a place of knowledge. People can come to the temple, meditate, pray or do a puja and come down a bit from their into their hearts. Then, they can learn something about the history of their country in these three temporary exhibition halls, while the main Museum, of which you see the foundations on top of the hill, comes-up. Programmes can also happen in our small amphitheater: films made by our foundation FACT, , satsangs can happen, or art of living courses. Some of the Pune youth can come out from this place being a little more knowledgeable about the history of this great civilization that is India. It is a tragedy that the Indian education system produces so many brilliant youth, who are just good for export, as they are not made to learn about their own history, poets, avatars, legends. We will rotate our exhibitions as we have about 15 of them now. we are just finishing For instance a very beautiful miniature painting exhibition on Sufism. It is based on the life of Dara Shukoh, Aurangzeb’s brother… If he had not been beheaded, the whole face of Islam in India and maybe of the world could have changed. But maybe it’s not too late. As for Shivaji, something of Dara’s Sukoh spirit still pervades and strives for the rebirth of true Sufism in India.

We would like to have many Bharat Mata temples such as this one, which would come attached with one exhibition hall, come up, first all over Maharashtra, then in Gujarat and eventually, all over India. It can be dedicated to different heroes and heroins: In Maharashtra for instance, it could also be dedicated to Dr Ambedkar, who is a true son of the soil; in Rajasthan it can be dedicated to Rana Pratap, in Madhya Padesh to Ahylyabai or Rani of Jhansi, in Karanataka to Chennamai, and so on. This would help the revival of the worship of Mother India, which in turn would raise a new generation of Indian youth, more proud of their inheritance

This is a difficult project. Whoever has never attempted to raise money for a Museum should give it a try.. I have met hundreds of potential donors, but when I say that I want to build a Musuem of true Indian History, it wipes off the smile of their faces and they say they have to consult their board haha… This is why we are most grateful to those here who believed in this project and gave the bulk of the funds and also to the dozens of NRI’s who know me through my writings and trusted me with their donations.

Trying to portray Indian History as it happened, not as it has been written, is also a very sensitive task and at nearly every step, we have encountered obstacles sometimes even from our own people. We even are facing threats from some Shivaji group, who objects to Shivaji Maharaj being associated with Mother India or the Vedas. Shivaji was an instrument of god and whoever binds him to a particular caste, or even a particular guru, demeans him and hampers his work, for he was a supra national figure and his qualities of dedication to Mother India, of respect of human rights and honest administration, are needed today. His extraordinary courage in front of adversity, should also be an example to Hindus, who today, at the slightest threat go underground.

.I am grateful to my wife Namrita, who has been such a support, _out of love, as this is not a project she would have taken on her own. Also to the members of our team: Prof V.S. Bhatnagar, who has curated 4 of our exhibitions, Gautam Vig who is one of the few who understands what is meant by Hindu-ness and does something practical to preserve it;  Gayatri Chauhan has been a faithful sewa worker since the beginning of FACT. Let me mention too Kukum Naren who has been FACT’s representative in Pune for many years and her ever helpful husband Yatin and Anand Mathur, who was there whenever we needed him. Also Ramesh Raman, who is such a support But most of all let me thank His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who from the very beginning encouraged FACT, inaugurated each of our exhibitions and gave us this land to build a Museum