From Kolkata I took a train fifteen hours west to Varanasi (India’s most holy city) where Rajani Kaur and her husband, Sukhdev, met me at the train station and took me to their apartment above her Amistad International funded school for 200 children from the slums. I awoke the next morning to witness Rajan’s students, more…
Visitor Stories
Bronwyn Finnigan
I first met Rajan Saini and her husband Sukhdev in 1999 when they were living in Ashapoor and I was visiting the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Sarnath. At that time, that which is now the Buddha’s Smile School was a bare patch of brown land, on the far side of which were more…
Heather Mason
The first thing that strikes me about this school is the name. What indeed would leave the Buddha Smiling? It would be the relinquishment of ignorance and suffering it would be compassion and wisdom….and succinctly, it is all the characteristics that define the philosophy of the Buddha Smile School and its founder Rajan whose instinct more…
Jake Fisher
I was fortunate enough to visit the incredible Buddha’s Smile School and the living Saint Rajan on my travels last year around the major Buddhist sites of northern India. A fellow Buddhist student recommended I visit Rajan’s school to see real compassion and devotion to others in action. Meeting those children and seeing the happiness more…
Mattia Silvani
My name is Mattia and I have recently spent time teaching Sanskrit at Buddha’s Smile School. Despite my broken Hindi, the small students actually listened to the lessons with interest. The children memorized Sanskrit verses and made an effort to learn the first steps in the language. Rajan is providing a rare opportunity for these more…
Vanessa Turner
Rajan, 35, originally came from Calcutta. As a young child, she had always been very sensitive to the suffering around her, so much so that she used to wake up before her mother did and prepare food and clothes to give to the beggars in her area. Rajan’s gentleness and love is what won the more…