Sri
Sri Ravi Shankar preaches peace to Iraqis
by KG Vasuki
Bangalore:
Art of Living Guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is teaching
the relevance of peace to the people in war-torn Iraq
and Israel. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said the month-long
course is a follow-up effort to his visit to Iraq
sometime back, and expressed a desire to see these
youth become messengers of peace. Over 55 men and
women are being trained spiritually and to eat a bland
vegetarian diet. The Sri Sri Foundation is already
involved in humanitarian activities in Iraq. In May,
he was invited by Iraqi authorities to preach his
prison rehabilitation programmes. The Art of Living
Foundation's main activity is to organize Art of Living
courses, yoga and meditation workshops. All humanitarian
programs, disaster relief efforts and training programs
are conducted in conjunction with its sister organisation,
the International Association for Human Values.
August 27, 2007
Mother
Teresa had a 'crisis of faith'
London:
It has now come to light that Mother Teresa's
was going through a crisis of faith during the last
40 years of her life. Some letters published in a
new book, 'Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light', point
to this fact. The Rev Brian Kolodiejchuk, a close
friend of Mother Teresa's, has edited the book. A
1979 letter to the Rev Michael Van Der Peet, a spiritual
confidant, written just a few weeks before she received
the Nobel Peace Prize for her charitable work, shows
that she felt increasingly alone, and in a state of
spiritual pain. "Jesus has a very special love for
you. As for me, the silence and emptiness is so great
that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear.
The tongue moves [in prayer] but does not speak,"
the Telegraph quotes her, as writing in the letter.
In another letter she writes: "The smile is a mask
or a cloak that covers everything. I spoke as if my
very heart was in love with God, a tender personal
love. If you were there you would have said, 'What
hypocrisy'." Rev Kolodiejchuk gathered the letters
as part of the process to make Mother Teresa a saint.
The letters, Rev Kolodiejchuk insists, are important
as they show that she was able to continue her work
even through her torment, that started from around
1949, roughly the time when she started taking care
of the poor and dying in Calcutta. This he says is
a sign of her spiritual heroism. Mother Teresa has
been beatified, and is awaiting canonisation.
August 24, 2007
Watches
as offerings at temple
by Rajni
Khaitan
Chirmolia
(Madhya Pradesh): Here is a unique way of making
offerings at temple. In Indore District's Chirmolia
village, devotees offer watches. The temple is existing
under a giant banyan tree. The watches are tied to
the branches of the tree. Located deep inside a jungle
near Afzal Marg, this five to six decades old temple
devoted to a man known as Shagad Babu, is today visited
by a large number of people for the fulfilment of
their wishes. Whenever anyone's wish gets fulfilled
a watch is tied to the branches of the banyan tree
adjacent to the tree. It is done as a thanksgiving
gesture to the sacred tree and the presiding deity
of the temple. Bagdi Rao, the village head of Chirmolia,
said: "No one returns without his or her wish being
fulfilled at this place. People offer watches and
other things here after their wishes get fulfilled.
Be it for a child, well-being, or just anything, people
from all walks of life come here to pray." Visitors
usually offer flowers, incense sticks, money and coconuts
at this temple. But the watches are offered only after
the fulfilment of one's wish. Kishore Dangi, one of
the believers, said: "I wished for something here
and my wish was fulfilled few days back, so I have
come here to offer a watch and thank the God." The
origin of this practice of tying watches is unknown,
but the villagers have deep faith in the custom. Over
the years, the number of believers visiting here has
steadily increased. Local residents say that although
there is no boundary wall or security man to guard
the temple or the tree, there has not been any incident
of watches getting stolen from the tree. The temple
is taken care of by villagers, as there is no priest
at the temple.
August 1, 2007
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