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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