Interfaith forum - 'PeaceNext'

'Help Us Make a World of Difference'

'PeaceNext.org is a free service provided by the

Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions.

Our work is all about creating spaces where people

can work together for a more just, peaceful,

and sustainable world'.

It's wonderful what you come across when you discover a passion and put out feelers to learn more about it! Especially today with social media - it's almost like the whole world is at your finger tips.

I am always on the lookout for useful information for this blog - things which inform me, deepen my knowledge and understanding, and which I think might interest my readers also.  I came across PeaceNext recently, had a good delve into what it's all about, and became a member - find me there in the members section, under the interfaith logo that heads the homepage of this blog - catch some of my posts there as well.

PeaceNext is the official social network for The Council of the Parliament of the World's Religion - once again check out Pages to learn more about the Parliament.  The Council was;

 'created to cultivate harmony among the world's religious and spiritual communities and foster their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions in order to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world. To accomplish this... (they) invite individuals and communities who are equally invested in attaining this goal'

As a social network site, the possibilities for 'PeaceNext' are endless. Rev. Lesher - the Council's current Chairman of the Board of Trustees, blogs on the post 'Welcoming Peacenext', that it is a place where:

'we will meet and get to know people and organisations engaged in the interreligious movement around the world.

interreligious organizations – big and small – can describe themselves and their unique roles.

reflections on Melbourne 2009 (Parliament) can be shared.

reports can be posted on how the themes of the Melbourne Parliament have inspired local actions.

issues that concern the whole interreligious community can be explored.

inspirational, educational and organizational ideas and resources can be shared.

announcements can be made and invitations extended.

Partner Cities are described, encouraged and related.

we can plan together, the sixth Parliament of the World’s Religions in 2014...'

It's very easy to join and once you have signed up you can do all the usual social networking things such as share/view photos and videos, start or join a discussion, group or forum, post your own blogs and events, and invite your friends to join.

And most importantly, you can learn from others while enriching your knowledge about faiths and traditions other than your own, by reading the blogs and posts from a broad and a diverse range of members who, through this format, have all come together for a common cause - the promotion of world peace and friendship.

To learn more, go to http://www.peacenext.org

Quiet Reflection - 'Evelyn Underhill'

image sourced: freedigitalphotos.net

'...the difference between God present and absent is merely a difference in our own awareness'

- Evelyn Underhill


click 'labels' below to see Quiet reflections by Rumi, Hafiz, Hildegard of Bingen and more

Interfaith tour - 'Tours to Places of Worship'

If you live in Melbourne and are interested in learning about some of our world faith traditions, then you may be interested in this tour. The City of Greater Dandenong Interfaith Network is conducting 'Tours to Places of Worship' on August 8th 2012.

imagesourced: freedigitalphotos.net

This worthwhile event will be an opportunity to visit the places of worship of the local faith communities, including:

- A Hindu Temple
- A Sikh Gurdwara
- A Mosque
- A Buddhist Temple
- A Christian Church
- Indigenous sacred sites or
- Spiritual traditions

The tour will also be an opportunity to see the diversity within the Melbourne area, focusing on the religious and spiritual dimension of multiculturalism. The group will be welcomed by a member/leader of each faith tradition and will be a great opportunity to learn something of the spiritual and religious beliefs and practises from a diverse range of tradition.


For more information, see www.interfaithnetwork.org.au

Find this...

...in June archives;

'Interfaith gathering' - World Peace prilgimage

'The practise of pure altruism' - a Buddhist perspective

'Aboriginal liturgy' - Maisie Cavanagh

'The Golden Rule' - through the ages

'Quiet Reflection' - Jung, Tariq Ramadan, Rumi

'Insight' - Dalai Lama, Swami Vivekananda

'Advocate for peace' - Mata Amritanandamayi

'Guest Post' - Global spirituality and interfaith ministry

'PeaceNext '- social media forum

'Charter of Commpassion' - sign the pledge

...and much more - check out 'popular posts' to find out what other people are reading!

.

Insight - 'Interspirituality'

imagesourced: freedigitalphotos.net

'Interspirituality is the common experience within all spirituality, a common experience where we lose our sense of separation and become aware of a profound interconnection of all beings and all things. This experience includes feelings of unconditional love, and non-separation, as well as an awareness of the unfolding and expansion of consciousness, continually moving our species towards the highest expression of Self'

- One Spirit Interfaith Seminary


Click 'labels' below to see insights by the Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King, Luther Standing Bear and more.

'smile'

Quiet reflection - 'Hildegard of Bingen'

"The fastest way To peace Is the transformation of the heart.  Healing or chaos radiate from the heart. The human heart is the centre of the world".


"Everything created has a visible and invisible quality. What one sees, is but a faint shadow; mightily alive is the invisible".


Hildegard of Bingen - Benedictine nun


click 'labels' below to see reflections by Jung, Martin Luther King, Rumi and more

Memoir of a pilgrim - 'Varanasi and the River Ganges'

As I mentioned in my first memoir post - which you can find in the June archives - I have always had a deep fascination with India.  It is an ancient holy land where sacred traditions and rituals are expressed and performed in much the same way as they were thousands of centuries ago.

I have visited India twice.  The first time I went as a pilgrim, visiting sacred Buddhist sites around the country.  The second time was for study and research.   Varanasi and the river Ganges holds a particular fascination for me.  I had dreamt of going there for years before I eventually did.  The experience was everything I hoped and more.

The following extracts are taken from a memoir I am working on about my time in that sacred land. And even though I was born in New Zealand and maintain strong cultural ties to my birth country and Australia, I consider India my spiritual home.   I hope this insight shows you why.

Varanasi is often referred to as India’s 'eternal city of light’.   Legends tell of how Lord Shiva - one of the most famous among a myriad of Hindu mythical deities, founded the city approximately 5,000 years ago, making Varanasi one of the most revered and significant pilgrimage sites in the country.

The city is also renowned as an ancient centre of learning. Every year thousands of students and scholars arrive from all over the country to study Pali, Sanskrit, Hindu philosophy and religion - along with 60,000 people who come to the city every day to bathe at the river Ganges.

One of the holiest places in India, the river is often referred to as ‘Great Mother’.  For millions of Hindus it offers an essential connection to their spirituality and sacred rituals associated with life and death take place at the waters edge every day, in intimate yet shared union.

Pilgrims come to the river to conduct puja and wash away their sins in the heavily polluted waters. Lining the Ganges western banks over seven kilometres, Varanasi’s famous Ghats or steps are the citys major attraction, along with thousands of temples that trail the rivers edge.

For Hindus, to die in Varanasi is considered highly auspicious as it provides the believer with liberation or moksha, from the endless cycle of life and death. Imbued with legends and mythologies, the majority of the Ghats are utilised for bathing rituals, while the Jalsain and Manikarnika Ghats - amongst the most ancient and revered, are used for burning and cremation ceremonies.

Throughout the day, bamboo litters bearing the dead are carried through the city. Drifting above the heads and shoulders of the crowds that choke the streets, shrouded bodies make their way down cramped, convoluted alleyways to their auspicious resting place at the funeral Ghats.  Before being placed on the pyre - and after cremation, corpses are often dipped in the water, and the ashes scattered on the river by relatives in order to receive Ganga's final blessing...

We clambered into two boats and drifted up river in silence.   It was like we all knew, without needing to express it in words, that we were about to experience a living magic. Boats drifted past carrying passengers who had come to view sunrise from the water. Like us, they sat watching the spectacle unfold before them, enthralled by a vision of the city transformed in the dawn light.

All along the Ganga, merging ghost like out the blue-grey mist, devotees gathered in silence at the feet of the Ghats where timeless acts of worship played out at the rivers edge.  Prayers whispered out over the river as handfuls of water were raised to the heavens.  Fingers wiped wet blessings over heads, arms and chests.  With faces turned to the sun, devotees remained oblivious to anything other than the immediate act of worship,  spiritually immune to any defilement's lurking in the watery interior as they cast themselves into the river for purification.

An elderly woman's faded orange and gold sari floated about her thin frame with a new, carefree life of its own, the clinging wet colours brightly liberated.  Filled with soiled cotton, the dobi-wallah's large wicker baskets waited on the steps while the women performed their rituals and ablutions.  Yoga devotees sleek, muscled torsos bent and stretched and flowed in fluid motion... 

Clothed in dust, sadhu’s sat in deep meditation on various stone platforms.   Smeared in ash, most wore only a loincloth and light shawl wrap. Long wooden staffs lay like trusty confidants on the ground beside them. Matted dreadlocks trailed the ground or wrapped across bare thighs, shielding their bodies in a hairy, filthy cloak. 

As India’s holy men, these spiritual renunciates have turned away from material possession and physical comfort, to follow an austere path in pursuit of Nirvana - a transcendent spiritual enlightenment that liberates their souls from all forms of attachment and future rebirth. 

 

Further along the river smoke from funeral pyres identified the cremation Ghats. We were told to avert our eyes when we passed the pyres - to stare at the deceased is considered highly offensive to relatives and friends...  

From the dark interiors of ornate carved temples, bells and cymbals tinkled and clashed, accompanying a range of different pujas and chants. Moghul styled buildings sat majestic in crumbling decay. Monkeys scampered over walls, down steps, through feet, chattering and squabbling for positions at many of the open shrines.

Brightly painted Hindu gods smeared in fresh vermilion and sandalwood pastes watched over their offerings. Spreading piles of smoky incense, garlands of orange marigolds, scarlet bougainvillea, pearl-white jasmine petals, bunches of herbs, coloured rice and freshly made pastries amassed beneath the statues. Prayers were intoned with soft humility, imbuing the small spaces with a sacred pungent air...

Shimmering saris in riots of colour, flitted about the Ghats like swarms of bright butterflies.   A small group of women clustered around a young girl dressed in vivid red and gold wedding silk. Heavy gold jewelry dangled from her forehead, nose and ears. Thick ornate bracelets encased her wrists. Anklets tinkled nervously. 

She seemed anxious and restless.  Her small hands, hennaed in intricate swirling patterns, fidgeted with the edge of her head veil.   As she tried to shield her face from curious onlookers, the women grouped about more tightly as though protecting her from some unspoken fate... 

Further up river, the boats edged between devotees and beached against a shallow mud bank. The boat-wallah called out to a stallholder who sent over several trays of hot chai and naam breads stuffed with an array of spicy filling. We had breakfast sitting in the boats, while dozens of people performed their morning rituals in the water around us.  

I felt self conscious and awkward sitting there, drinking tea and eating bread amongst those immersed in such reverent acts of worship.  Like we trespassed into their sacred space and acts too casually, without appropriate respect.   If this was indeed the situation, we remained ignorant to it - no-one said anything to us.   People continued their practises, smiled and stared and grouped around the boats to watch us eat...

Here on the river, life and death, in its entirety, was completely un-blanketed.  It was very present and very real.   India can confront and challenge. You can never get away from the dirt and dust, poverty and disease, the death and decay. You are seldom free of a stink and filth that tars your nostrils, gags your throat and clings to your skin. And if you allow it - as several students would later do, there can germinate within, the irrational fear that you will never be clean or free from it again, that unwillingly, your perception of life has been altered forever.

But drifting along the river that morning, I found a balm that permeated and salved. As the unexpected, un-thought of beauty of a place or moment or act spontaneously ruptured around me, I felt eased by a deep sense of peace. 

I realized that what had constantly pulled my thoughts to Varanasi - and now my body, was the living, breathing spirituality of the place. A spirituality that imbued itself in every aspect of daily life, that transcended above all else...


copyright of S.L. 2012 - not to be reproduced without expressed permission.

　

　

　

Wise words - 'Frank Baum'

'Many ages ago Budda came to enlighten the civilisation of the East.  The pure and beautiful doctrines he taught made ready converts, and to-day his followers outnumber those of any other religion.  To the fierce and warlike tribes of Arabia, Mohammed appeared.  His gentleness and bravery tamed their fierce natures. The followed him implicitly, as millions of their descendants follow him still.  Confucius with ready sophistry promulgated a 'religion of reason'.  His works are to this day the marvel of all intelligent people; his myriads of disciples have never wavered in their faith.  The sweet and tender teachings of Christ, together with the touching story of his life, have sunk deeply into the hearts of those nations which rank the highest in modern civilisation. In their separate domains all these religions flourish to-day.  Their converts are firm and unflinching, their temples cover the land, and each in its own way sends praises to a common Creator - a Universal God'.

- Frank Baum 1890  (Theosophist/author - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz)


click 'labels' below to see 'wise words' from Einstein, Martin Luther King, Luther Standing Bear and more

Essene gospel of peace - 'God speaks to man'

One of the wonderful things about being on the interfaith path, is the opportunities it brings.  I spend a lot of time delving into the writings of all the worlds religions and faith traditions; for my own personal growth and understanding, and for this blog. 

I am also very aware that there are people reading my posts that may not have had the opportunity to explore religions other than their own, so I look for information that will help inform and enlighten people about the beauty and wisdom, the simalarities that are found across all of our faith traditions.

I discovered this wonderful prayer yesterday and it resonated with me, much the same way as the Rig Veda prayer did - you can find that in the May archives.  I love the all encompassing connection to spirit that this prayer brings, the way it honours and reveres the magic that is contained in every moment.

sourced: freedigitalphotos.net

'God speaks to man'

I speak to you.
Be still, Know I am God.

I spoke to you when you were born.
Be still, Know I am God.

I spoke to you at your first sight.
Be still, Know I am God.

I spoke to you at your first word.
Be still, Know I am God.

I spoke to you at your first thought.
Be still, Know I am God.

I spoke to you at your first love.
Be still, Know I am God.

I spoke to you at your first song.
Be still, Know I am God.

I speak to you through the grass of the meadows.
Be still, Know I am God.

I speak to you through the trees of the forests.
Be still, Know I am God.

I speak to you through the valleys and the hills.
Be still, Know I am God.

I speak to you through the Holy Mountains.
Be still, Know I am God.

I speak to you through the rain and snow.
Be still, Know I am God.

I speak to you through the waves of the sea.
Be still, Know I am God.

I speak to you through the dew of the morning.
Be still, Know I am God.

I speak to you through the peace of the evening.
Be still, Know I am God.

I speak to you through the splendour of the sun.
Be still, Know I am God.

I speak to you through the brilliant stars.
Be still, Know I am God.

I speak to you through the storm and the clouds.
Be still, Know I am God.

I speak to you through the thunder and lightening.
Be still, Know I am God.

I speak to you through the mysterious rainbow.
Be still, Know I am God.

I will speak to you when you are alone
Be still, Know I am God.

I will speak to you through the Wisdom of the Ancients.
Be still, Know I am God.

I will speak to you at the end of time.
Be still, Know I am God.

I will speak to you when you have seen my Angels.
Be still, Know I am God.

I will speak to you throughout Eternity.
Be still, Know I am God.

I speak to you.
Be still, Know I am God.

- Essene gospel of peace


You might also like Rig Veda - 'a song about our eternal nature' in May archives or find it featured in 'popular posts'