Words of Peace Global News
Report: Event in Lima, Perú - April 19, 2012
[Wed, 16 May 2012]On April 19, 2012, Maharaji arrived in Lima, the capital of Perú, for the first of two events. While his talk was held in Perú's largest city, the hall itself was relatively small, holding a maximum 500 guests. Perhaps this made the opportunity more precious in the minds of those who had the chance to attend. But this notion of preciousness — one that relies on scarcity to imbue something with value — is exactly the concept he called into question within the first few minutes of his address.
Here are some excerpts from his talk:
In this world, when we come across something that’s unique, something that there isn’t much of, we say, 'That’s precious.' The reason why diamonds are considered precious? Because there’s not that many of them around. Why gold is considered precious? There isn’t that much of it around.
So, something that is not abundant is precious. But how do you define something that is definitely precious and abundant? What rule do you apply? How do you qualify it? Certainly, if you had a plate full of rice, and one grain of rice fell, no big deal. But if you had a plate full of diamonds, and one diamond fell, big deal.
I am talking about breath. Is it precious? Of course it is precious. In fact, it is the most precious thing there is. But we don’t recognize its preciousness because it's also the most abundant. Most abundant. So you see my predicament? I talk about peace. I talk about the preciousness of life. I talk about that feeling inside. And I have to tell people, 'Your breath is precious.'
Water Day Campaign Surpasses Goal!
[Tue, 15 May 2012]
With many people contributing on the TPRF website or its Food for People Cause on Facebook, the Foundation’s initial World Water Day campaign goal of $25,000 was exceeded by almost three thousand, resulting in a grant of $28,000 to ensure clean water to hundreds of thousands of people in India.
TPRF’s World Water Day campaign offered matching funds to The Adventure Project’s (TAP) innovative program that will train mechanics to repair and maintain water wells in West Bengal and the District of Sheohar in the state of Bihar. This two-week campaign will train and equip 50 water-well mechanics, a significant contribution to TAPs goal of 186.
Why does this matter? It is reported that about one third of the water wells drilled in the last 20 years in India have broken down. What is innovative about the TAP approach? Two problems — the need for employment and the need for clean water — are combined into one solution. Train a mechanic, male or female, in well repair and maintenance, set them up with initial supplies and startup money and you have a person with a good job and also 5,000 people with a reliable source of clean water. Each mechanic can service 50 wells, keeping them in good working condition and making needed repairs.
Last year, TPRF contributed to a similar project; it’s now a proven success. In honor of World Water Day 2011, TPRF granted $23,000 to TAP to open two well mechanic shops in Bihar, each with a permanent staff of six. TAP reports that, in less than a year, those shops have become self-sufficient, needing no further outside investment.
TAP's approach to alleviating chronic shortages of clean water around the world is to invest in positive social enterprises. Its goal over 10 years, say founders Becky Straw and Jody Landers, is to create a million jobs in developing countries.
This year, TAP is focusing its efforts on West Bengal and the District of Sheohar in Bihar. The program will be administered on site through a partnership with Water for People India. TPRF's contribution will cover training, tools, and a one-year stipend for 50 mechanics. With each contribution of $10 providing water for an estimated 91 people, the TPRF grant adds up to almost 274,000 people who will be able to count on access to clean water. Freedom from waterborne diseases will in turn give them the ability to live healthier, more productive lives.
Becky Straw was speaking to all TPRF supporters when she said, "I cannot thank TPRF enough for all of its support, inspiration, and shared belief in investing with dignity."
Report: Event in Santiago, Chile - April 16, 2012
[Wed, 09 May 2012]On the evening of April 16th, Maharaji arrived at the CasaPiedra in Santiago to speak to approximately 1,800 people. Overall he spoke of the need for clarity in life, reminding his audience that clarity is what will give them strength. Towards the end of his talk, he added, "Through the eyes of clarity, embrace this time, this moment, this joy. And understand how blessed you are."
Here are some excerpts from his talk:
To live this life, you need one thing — and that one thing is clarity. If you don’t have clarity, you’re not going too far. If you don’t have clarity, you’re going to have everything, but nothing. If you don’t have clarity, you will not be able to understand the value of life, the value of existence, the value of peace.
There is always an excuse for everything we do. But there is no excuse for unconsciousness. There is no excuse for not having clarity in our lives. None! This is just a little play. We are here for a time that is way too limited. How limited? 25,550 days. That’s from the start to an average seventy years of age.
I want you to understand your fragility — and at the same time, I want you to understand your strength. Because there is a strength that you have that is unparalleled — but it lies in the realm of clarity. You become weak when you are in doubt. You become strong when you are in clarity. You become weak when you are in anger. But you become strong when you are in peace.
Report: Event in La Plata, Argentina - April 7, 2012
[Thu, 03 May 2012]On April 7, Maharaji came back to the Teatro Argentino for the second event of his South American tour. Among other topics, he spoke about the true nature of pain — how we fall into it, and how we can be free of it.
Here are some excerpts from his talk:
Pain is nothing in itself. It’s a consequence. You really have to understand this — that pain is not an entity in itself: it is a consequence. A consequence. You want to inflict pain on this skin? What do you have to do? You can easily pinch it. And then, you will have pain. If you don’t pinch it, it’s fine. It’s not hurting. Consequence!
You want blessings in your life? You don’t need blessings in your life. You only need to recognize what a blessing your life is. Is. Big difference! Why do you need to recognize the blessing, and not ask for more? Because once you recognize the blessing, you will see how blessed you are.
When you find yourself full of anger, full of fear, full of desperation, feel your breath and know that someone is still blessing you — somebody very important is still blessing you. And of all the realities, this one better be real. For you, this one better be real. And it is. It is sweet, it is simple, and it is beautiful. It is a gift, and it comes in every day, every moment. You need to be aware.
Prem Rawat Lights the Flame of Peace
[Tue, 01 May 2012]
Prem Rawat recently spoke at two events in São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil. While in Brazil, he was invited to light the flame that marks the beginning of the “Third Festival of Peace” at the International Festival of Peace to be celebrated in September. In a previous event at UNIPAZ (University of International Peace), Rector Pierre Weil awarded Prem Rawat the title of “Ambassador of Peace.”
Many of the people attending the event on April 11 came as a result of having watched the Words of Peace television programs featuring Prem Rawat’s international addresses. Some of them had traveled from distant cities for the opportunity to hear him speak. A number of attendees explained that they had been watching Prem Rawat on television for many years. In fact, since 2003 Words of Peace has been broadcast in Brazil continually.
Isabel Franchon Prado, a journalist who attended the event, wrote in her article, “Cheerful and playful, Prem Rawat involves the audience, tells stories interspersed with silence, makes people laugh and reflect — but the topic is serious: Peace is seen as more than absence of war, but true peace lies within, the result of constant learning.”
After the speech, the ceremony was simple. Prem Rawat lit the flame that will be carried across Brazil by runners from April to September, where it will end up at the Festival of Light in Florianopolis. Hosted by Network UNIPAZ, the Festival will bring together over two hundred solidarity networks that involve more than one million people around the world to work toward peace.
In the theater many guests expressed their sense of the importance of the event, including Secretary of the Environment Eduardo Jorge representing the government, many members of the NGO Peace of São Paulo, and other authorities. Congressman Coronel Edison Ferrarini commented that he too wanted to help to spread the message of peace.
UNIPAZ also expressed their gratitude in a letter written by Nelma Sa, coordinator of the Festival. “The generosity of Prem Rawat reserving time during his trip to South America to light the Flame of Peace in São Paulo was extremely relevant to the opening of the preparatory activities and the success of the World Peace Festival to be held next September 6 - 9.”
“We are confident in future bigger meetings and in the new opportunities for partnership. We renew our thanks and our desire that this flame can warm up and inhabit the heart of all mankind.”
For Zeinab, a Chance to Recover from Devastating Drought
[Thu, 26 Apr 2012]
The persistent drought that has devastated the Horn of Africa for the past several years made it difficult for Zeinab Ahmed to feed her six children. Without rain, the crops failed. When the large shallow lakes where some communities watered their animals dried up, livestock, on which the herdsmen of the area depend for their livelihood, began dying off. Most of the men in the region had left in search of work or grazing lands elsewhere. If Zeinab could not find a way to water her goats, she would have no income.
Borehole pumps that once brought water up from deep reserves were broken or inoperable because villagers could no longer afford the fuel to run them. Soon, the cost of drinking water became prohibitive.
Though widespread political turmoil and corruption played a part, the primary source of Zeinab's difficulties was the collapse of the water infrastructure. TPRF teamed with Mercy Corps, a nonprofit with an excellent reputation as a first responder in humanitarian crises, to fund an immediate intervention. Mercy Corps trucks supplies of fresh drinking water into the region's most severely affected communities, delivering about 16 gallons a day to each family.
”Thanks to Mercy Corps for quenching our thirst for water,” Zeinab said. ”The price of drinking water has dropped from 50 shillings to zero. It has been a big burden off our backs.”
Cully Lundgren, Mercy Corps’ director of development said the nonprofit extended its drought response to help stricken herdsmen get back on their feet by providing fuel for boreholes serving both people and livestock.
In 2011, he said, TPRF's contribution subsidized the distribution of 17,826 gallons of drinking water—enough for 3,895 households—and fuel to power 372 boreholes.
”With generous support from The Prem Rawat Foundation and its network of donors,” Lundgren said, ”Mercy Corps was the first NGO to respond to the drought emergency in Wajir County and provide lifesaving assistance. Mercy Corps continues to help the drought-stricken community improve their ability to cope with the disaster and recover from it by increasing access to water for people and their livestock.”
Photos courtesy of Mercy Corps.
Report: Event in La Plata, Argentina - April 6, 2012
[Wed, 18 Apr 2012]At the Teatro Argentino in La Plata, Maharaji gave an hour-long address to a fully-packed house. He began that address by saying he would speak about something "truly timeless," adding, "It is about feeling. It is about being fulfilled. And it is about that happiness and that joy that exists in the heart of every single human being."
Here are some excerpts from his talk:
In the midst of the ultimate illusion, there is a truth. And this truth is your reality. When you recognize this in your life, then you will have that smile that can only come from the heart. Then you will have a laughter that can only come from the relief and the joy of being alive.
All those times that you were not content, contentment was still within you. All those times in your life that you were not happy, happiness was still within you. All those times you were not in joy, the joy was within you. All that time that you were in doubt, clarity was within you. Did you know it? How come we succumb to doubt but not clarity, when clarity is within us?
If you have been looking for God on the outside, and didn’t find God on the outside, do something different. Look inside. If you have been looking for truth on the outside, and didn’t find it, do something different. Look on the inside. Good strategy. Very, very good strategy.
Holistic Care Brings Transformation to Zoliswa and Family
[Wed, 11 Apr 2012]
Zoliswa Nkcitha's world fell apart when her mother died. At 29, she became head of a family of five, none of them employed. She had no job skills, no identification papers. How was she to take care of them?
The Nkcithas — Zoliswa, her sisters Lulama, Nokuzola and Noxolo, and their brother Zanethemba — live in Cape Town's Mfuleni Township, a slum where Blacks were forcibly relocated during South Africa's apartheid government. Its 7,000 residents live in miserable, low-cost housing and makeshift shacks, sharing communal taps and toilets. There is no electricity. Life is a struggle for everyone. For Zoliswa and her siblings, all of whom are mentally challenged, that struggle was overwhelming.
Five years later, the family had grown to include five children between the ages of 8 months and four years. With no source of income, they lived in squalor, subsisting by begging for food on the streets. Some days there was nothing to eat. All of the children suffered from malnutrition and neglect.
Then the Nkcithas came to the attention of Afrika Tikkun (AT), a nonprofit that has been helping South African families secure their long-term nutritional needs since 1994. AT's Holistic Care Program is designed not only to feed the hungry, but also to get them whatever help they need to become self-sufficient.
AT's social workers enrolled the children in its Family Support Service (FSS) program. The whole family began receiving monthly food parcels that include staples such as mielie meal (a course flour made from maize), sugar, rice, dried corn, flour, cooking oil, canned peas and beans, tinned fish, soup, yeast, as well as cleaning supplies and toiletries.
The day caregivers delivered the first food parcel, Zoliswa shed tears of gratitude for the transformation in her life. “Thank you for your support and kindness,” she said. “Now we can look forward to a better tomorrow.”
Qhamisa, Zoliswa's eldest child, was immediately placed in a home-based Early Childhood Development (ECD) Program, and when a new ECD program opened up at AT's Mfuleni Community Centre last month, both her children were enrolled. There, they receive two meals and two snacks every day.
FSS caregivers helped with a family development plan, which included instruction in budgeting, hygiene and general housekeeping, and volunteers are working on individual development plans for the adults. With assistance from FSS, the Nkcithas have applied for child-support grants as well as disability assistance for Lulama. AT reports that the family now keeps its house clean, and the health of both children and adults is much improved.
Zoliswa now has a full-time job as a cleaner at a car wash in another part of Cape Town.
TPRF supports AT's food security program in Mfuleni Township. Since receiving TPRF's grant, reports social worker Siziwe Ndesi, AT has brought 300 families and 147 orphaned and vulnerable children into the program.
“Through the partnership created between TPRF and AT, families that would have gone hungry without any hope of where they would get their next meal have been saved from that torture,“ said Onyi Nwaneri, AT's development director. “We thank you for your initiative, which brings to life the most revered African philosophy of Ubuntu, a philosophy that supports the changes that are necessary to create a future that is economically and environmentally sustainable. We look forward to continuing to work with you towards eradicating poverty in our societies and nurturing the development of a new generation.”
Photos courtesy of Afrika Tikkun.
Report: Event in Las Palmas, Spain - March 18, 2012
[Thu, 05 Apr 2012]Maharaji was warmly welcomed to Las Palmas on Sunday, March 18th by a crowd that — for the most part — had only had the opportunity to see him on TV before that moment. Throughout his talk, he spoke with a great deal of humor about the difference between how we think about reality and reality itself.
Here are some excerpts from his talk:
Who are you? Are you the sum of all your thoughts? Are you the sum of all your actions? Are you the sum of what other people think about you? Who are you? Who, exactly, are you?
I say to people, 'The divine is inside of you!' And then people say, 'Well, why do I suffer?' It’s because you don’t know the divine is inside of you. That’s why you suffer. The day you — not just think — but experience that peace that is inside of you, the serenity that is inside of you, the reality that is inside of you — then you only need to suffer if you want to. Optional. Right now, it’s not optional. It happens. You are the victim.
In essence, what I have said you probably already knew. And I hope I have not told you anything new because I did not come here to challenge your mind. I came here to touch your heart. I’m not a musician, but this is my concert. My voice is my violin. That’s what I play, and I try to touch the heart of all those who will hear me. Because that is where your answers lie — and you know that. Of course, you know that. And of course, you have always known that.
Clean Water for Cambodia's Rural Poor
[Tue, 03 Apr 2012]
In Rokhakiri, a small district in Cambodia's Battambang province, access to water is not a problem. The 25,000 residents share three communal ponds, a small lake and a well at the village school. This may sound ideal, but the water quality is actually very poor. Samples from all these sources failed purification tests commissioned by All Ears Cambodia (AEC), a nonprofit working in the area. TPRF's recent gift of US$6,800 will pay for three solar-powered water-purification systems that should have far-reaching effects on village life.
Tucked in the southeast corner of the province, Rokhakiri endured several decades of occupation by Khmer Rouge troops and has only recently been officially reintegrated into Cambodia. Most of the residents of this rural area were displaced from refugee camps on the Thai-Cambodian border. They are very poor, with no access to healthcare and little understanding of basic hygiene.
AEC received a donation of land in Rokhakiri's Prey Tralach commune in 2009 and built an ear clinic there.
“Two million Cambodians suffer from some degree of deafness,” says AEC's Director Glyn Vaughan, an audiologist who gave up a London practice to open Cambodia's only ear clinic. “The need for basic primary healthcare and education has become increasingly evident as the service has evolved. All the risk factors for chronic middle ear disease, the commonest cause of deafness in Cambodia, are found in these communities and are intimately linked with poverty.”
“In this region, awareness about basic hygiene and sanitation is grossly inadequate. None of the local sources of water provide readily potable water.“
All the water samples tested ranked high- to very high-risk according to guidelines established by the World Health Organization for rural water—perhaps not surprising given that none of the water sources were fenced in. Cows and other livestock regularly used them for drinking or bathing.
“AEC has been developing its current services, which now include not only ear and hearing healthcare and education services but also primary healthcare education concerning hygiene, sanitation and nutrition,” says Vaughan. In time, he says, primary healthcare concerning eyes and teeth as well as preventative measures against malaria and dengue fever will be added.
The water-purification systems funded by TPRF are an important first step. Since they remove microbiological contamination at the point of use, there will no longer be a need to boil water before using it, a precaution many households practiced infrequently or not at all.
“The project has considerable potential to curb waterborne diseases that are all too common in this rural area and to significantly reduce the incidence of typhoid, gastrointestinal infections and diarrhea by establishing effective preventative measures,” Vaughan says. “In short, it will provide a very positive and sustainable difference to the quality of life of people in this less privileged part of the world.”
Report: Event in Barcelona, Spain - March 11, 2012
[Tue, 27 Mar 2012]Maharaji followed his talk on Saturday with another on Sunday — it was a full house, with almost 2,900 people in attendance. Throughout his address, he referred to the analogy of a box — just an ordinary-looking box — that contained a 40-carat diamond. If you knew what the contents were, that ordinary-looking box would suddenly become very, very precious. He added that we were each, in turn, like that box.
Here are some excerpts from his talk:
I'm here to tell you about the contents of this box. What I want you to decide is if this content — being in this box — would, does, should, could make this box precious. And the content that has been placed in this box is the divine. That beauty that was, is, and will be. That power that sustains this entire creation. That creates, that destroys, that manufactures from dust amazing, amazing things — and brings them back to dust. To call it powerful, to call it all-powerful, would be underrating its power, because its power is such that no human mind can even begin to comprehend it.
Being alive, bound by time, is called existence. My definition. So, I exist. But the question is: Do I know about the divinity inside this box or not? Period. The word is 'knowing.' How do you know? How do you know anything? It requires for you to be conscious. You have to be conscious to know, and you have to be unconscious to not know.
And so, do you celebrate this divine? Do you honor this existence? This is about standing on your own feet. This is about you knowing. This is not about hearsay, and this is not about, 'I read that in a book.' This is about you knowing your self.
Report: Event in Barcelona, Spain - March 10, 2012
[Thu, 22 Mar 2012]Due to popular demand, Prem Rawat kindly arrived in Barcelona a day early to speak at an additional event in Centro de Convenciones Internacional de Barcelona (CCIB)'s Forum Auditorium — he would be addressing 2,900 people there the following day. Despite the late notice, the hall wound up fully packed, with well over 1,000 people in attendance who hadn't been able to make it into that Sunday's event.
Here are some excerpts from his talk:
You know that you need to value your existence, but you don’t know how. You know you need to value your existence every single day. I’m being generous when I say 'day.' You need to value your life every single second. And we don’t know how — we're so caught up in this mesmerizing festival of colors, ideas, theories.
I’m not here to change your habit of wearing a suit and tie, wearing lipstick or having your hair perfect or imperfect — whatever your thing is. All I am saying is that, unless the inside is in order, too, the outside isn’t going to matter much. The turmoil will leak through. The train wrecks will be painful. And the shadow of confusion will be abundant in one’s life.
Understanding realization is a process of discovery — of what already is within you, of who you actually are. It is not that you create something. It is not that you create an understanding: 'Now I understand.' No, no, no. Your truth is within you. And your truth begins with one simple thing: That you are alive. That’s a truth. Do you know that? Or are you disappointed? 'Ha. Well, that’s too simple.' Oh, let me tell you. When you start discovering, you will find it incredibly simple. Learning and understanding — that’s what they’re all about.
TPRF Partnership Brings Clean Water into Niger Village
[Tue, 20 Mar 2012]
Residents of Ebagueye in the parched Azawak region of Niger danced in celebration last month as the first water gushed from a borehole that will provide them with a reliable source of clean water year-round. TPRF has contributed $40,000 to the nonprofit Amman Imman Water is Life to help fund the drilling and upkeep of the borehole, which brings pure, fresh water from a natural aquifer more than 600 feet underground.
The project is a collaboration with Vibrant Village Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides direct assistance to help people in vulnerable communities around the world. Ken DeLaski, VVF’s founder and director, also sits on TPRF’s board of directors.
Amman Imman was founded in 2006 by Executive Director Ariane Kirtley, then a Fulbright Scholar conducting public health research in the Azawak region, a dry plain about the size of Florida bordering the Sahara Desert. In recent years, drought and political turmoil have disrupted the traditional way of life to the point where half of the Azawak's children die before the age of five, mostly from dehydration and water-related illnesses.
Over the past decade, the rainy season has shrunk from five months to one. In the absence of rain, people rely on shallow marsh wells, though the water they yield is muddy. When these run dry, women and girls travel more than 30 miles each way to fetch brackish water from deeper wells.
Most of the year, up to 100,000 families scrape by with just a few quarts of muddy water per day for all their needs. Most don't even bathe for eight to ten months to conserve what little water they can find.
For generations, the people of the Azawak have been semi-nomadic herders, but with no water to feed their livestock, the herds are dying off. Most have abandoned the pastoral lifestyle to cluster in small villages of 100 to 4,000 people, trying to make a living on small-scale agriculture. The lack of water has thwarted that ambition as well, forcing many men to migrate to other areas in search of some way to support their families. Meanwhile, their wives and children struggle to survive.
Recently, political turmoil in Libya and Nigeria — neighboring countries where the men of the Arawak have gone to find work — has cut off this option, too. Worse, refugees from those areas are fleeing to Niger.
To most of these woes, there is one simple answer: water. Amman Imman, recognizing the dire need in an area so remote that government programs and other NGOs do not reach it, began drilling boreholes and educating local people in their maintenance. Reaching the aquifer requires drilling through solid bedrock — an expensive and technically demanding job. But the rewards are great. A properly maintained borehole can last up to 100 years.
The TPRF/VVF borehole, nearly complete, will provide clean water to a minimum of 6,000 residents, nomads, and refugees living in the villages and camps around Ebagueye. That number is expected to swell to as many as 25,000 at the height of the dry season, drawing people from as far away as 60 miles.
“We at Amman Imman are most grateful for the collaboration that has developed between our organization, TPRF, and the Vibrant Village Foundation,“ Kirtley said. “We will be prolonging our stay in Niger to document the population's use of the borehole once the fountains and troughs have begun functioning. Our local team will coordinate the year-long follow-up necessary to ascertain the borehole's sustainability.”
Report: Event in Surat, India - February 14, 2012
[Thu, 15 Mar 2012]Three days after the event in Bangalore, Maharaji arrived in Surat, India. He began his address by saying that people had come to listen as well as to understand something. He closed by asking if they had understood what they had heard, saying that — when they do — they will feel fulfilled.
Here are some excerpts from his talk:
Wherever I go, I speak. Today, in the time that we have — whether it’s one hour or even less than that — I will tell you something that can make you happy. Will you be happy? Instead of having no hope, there can be hope in your life. Instead of sorrow, joy can come into your life. Only then will my visit here be successful. So, truly it’s about good news. What is good news? The greatest news is that you are alive.
What I want to say to you is that, however fortunate you are, no one else can be more fortunate. However rich you are, no one else can be richer. No one has to be a beggar, or poor. Everyone is rich. You forgot to open the package that you've been given. That is why you have remained poor.
Remember, within you there is this lamp of breath. It is not unlit. There is a lot of light in it. It’s quite bright. And when you open it, even outside, there will be too much brightness. This is the good news that I came here to bring you. I have already told you the good news. Now you only have to do it in your life.
Report: Event in Bangalore, India - February 11, 2012
[Thu, 01 Mar 2012]On February 11th, Maharaji traveled to Bangalore: a major city sometimes termed the "Silicon Valley of India" for its technology industry. A field had been set up with stage, screen and seats, ready to accommodate hundreds of eager listeners. As the day faded, Maharaji spoke to his audience about the nature of true thirst — and how, while that thirst is innate, we can easily forget it's there.
Here are some excerpts from his talk:
If I tell you that you have a thirst but you do not understand your thirst, you will say, 'That’s impossible. If I’m thirsty, I would know!' But this is what happens with human beings. People do not understand what is right in front of them, though very simple. They forget about it.
When it comes to matters of the heart, how can you compromise? The heart will not accept it. The heart wants the reality. The heart wants experience. Not somebody sitting there and telling you that you’ve had food — you’ve eaten, and it’s done. What is done? So, I say that you’re thirsty. You are thirsty to experience that supreme bliss.
You look beautiful when peace dances on your face. That’s when you look beautiful. And that is your true form — you don’t know this form. This is your thirst, and you don’t know your thirst. This is your hunger, but you don’t know this hunger. And the day you recognize your true hunger, your true thirst, then everything will change for you. Because what you’re looking for, you will find within you, very close to you. That’s my message.
Report: Event in Kuala Lumpur - February 8, 2012
[Fri, 17 Feb 2012]On February 8th, Maharaji returned to the city of Kuala Lumpur; it had been nearly a year since he'd traveled to Malaysia. By 7:30 p.m., the hall had over 3,000 guests waiting to listen to what he had to say. He lightheartedly began his talk with a weighty subject — the struggle with doubt.
Here are some excerpts from his talk:
Peace is inside of you. You have the desire to feel it. But what gets in the way? Doubt. Now, here’s the interesting part. Do you have any idea how much doubting you do in a day? Any idea? You doubt, and you doubt, and you doubt. Relationships are broken because of doubt. Families are destroyed because of doubt. People fight because of doubt. Children fail because of doubt.
I’m here to tell you that you have a choice. And the choice is that you can doubt, or you can be clear — no doubt. The only way you can have no doubt is by knowing. Not conjecture. Not discussions.
You have to get rid of the doubt, and you cannot get rid of the doubt. Why? Because doubt is not an element in itself. It is just an absence of clarity. When there is knowing, doubt goes automatically! When there is no knowing? When there is ignorance? Doubt comes. How simple is that principle? That you don’t actually remove darkness. All you have to do is bring in the light, and the darkness disappears all by itself. If I told you that it’s very simple — the process of knowing is very simple — would you believe me?
A Visionary Program for Palestinian Children
[Wed, 15 Feb 2012]
In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Dr. Humam Rishmawi and Dr. Bashir Shaheen spend their days operating on children with congenital eye diseases, giving them a chance for a better start in life. They are the only two of 144 ophthalmologists qualified for pediatric surgery. Both work for the St John Eye Hospital Group (SJJEH), which has been providing eye care in the area since 1882. For the fourth year TPRF is partnering with SJJEH, providing $30,000 to help fund eye care for indigent patients.
Over the past decade the population of the OPT has swelled to just over four million — more than half of whom are under the age of 18. Crowded conditions and immobility have encouraged the widespread Middle Eastern custom of marriages between close relatives such as first cousins. The children of such marriages are prone to congenital abnormalities to which the eye is particularly susceptible. For the children affected there's a social cost as well. In their culture obvious eye defects are stigmatized, so their parents keep them hidden at home instead of sending them to school.
“Eighty percent of those treated at our Orthoptic Department in Jerusalem, which deals with congenital conditions such as amblyopia (lazy eye), defective binocular vision and diplopia (double vision), are under 18,” says Rod Bull, SJJEH's CEO.
Although the people of the OPT have a rate of blindness ten times higher than the West, 80% of blindness is preventable if these conditions are treated at the appropriate time in a child's development. However, according to Mr. Bull, “Ongoing hostilities obstruct the provision and development of a system of public services — including vital health services — and precipitate the need for humanitarian assistance.”
SJJEH has set a goal to eliminate preventable blindness throughout the OPT, a World Health Organization objective. As a non-partisan, peace-oriented organization, it treats patients regardless of ethnicity, religion, or ability to pay.
In addition to its main hospital in East Jerusalem, the nonprofit runs two satellite clinics in the West Bank and pediatric eye clinics in satellite centers in Hebron, Anabta, and Gaza. Its Mobile Outreach teams diagnose, treat, and educate patients in remote areas. Last year, Mr. Bull says, more than 107,000 patients were treated, nearly 36,000 of them children.
Looking to the future, the charity also operates a four-year Medical Residency Training Program for local ophthalmologists that is recognized by the Palestinian and Jordanian Boards of Ophthalmology. “In training local people,” Mr. Bull says, “we invest in the region and help to rebuild its fractured infrastructure.”
Photos of Jerusalem Hospital by Steve Sabella.
Report: Event in Long Beach - January 29, 2012
[Wed, 08 Feb 2012]On Sunday, January 29th, over 2,430 guests made their way to the Long Beach Convention Center in order to spend an evening with Maharaji. With his usual humor, he touched on diverse subjects such as the drama of human existence, the disease of unconsciousness, the relationship between questions and answers and ultimately the peace that lies within.
Here are some excerpts from his talk:
All I am trying to do this evening is to draw your attention to certain things that you usually don’t pay attention to — even though you know them. Like clarity, like understanding, like simplicity, like fulfillment. Like your heart. You know these things. But you don’t acknowledge them — not always.
Nobody has to bring peace to you. You have peace already inside of you. You have consciousness in you, and you have unconsciousness in you. You have hate in you, and you have love in you. You have clarity in you, and you have confusion in you. You have the mortal in you, and you have the immortal in you. Talk about everything. Right there, you've covered it — the mortal in you, and the immortal in you.
I can tell you one thing: Every person that has been within has called out to all of humanity and said, 'Wish you were here.' Because there is no place like home. And that’s your home. And because it is a reality, it works — even in the confines of a correctional institution. That’s just a façade. A human being is a human being — and as long as there is a human being, within them is this most precious thing that is available to them.
Report: Event in Miami Beach - January 22, 2012
[Wed, 01 Feb 2012]On January 22nd, Prem Rawat returned to the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami Beach to speak to almost 2,300 people. It was the first event of 2012, and he asked those who came to make a commitment this year to their own personal peace and happiness.
Here are some excerpts from his talk:
I’m here to tell you it all begins with personal peace — not world peace. It begins with personal peace: peace within you. Is there one? Yes. Then the question is: What does it feel like? And this question can only be answered with a question. Have you never felt it? Because if you haven’t, you should feel it.
If I wasted today, I’m not going to waste another second lamenting that I wasted today. But I’ll come up with a plan for tomorrow. I will try a little harder, and that’s all it takes. That’s all it takes to be a little more conscious. To see. To appreciate. Appreciation begins — not from other people — but from within yourself. To appreciate first that you are alive.
Make a difference this year. Of all the years you have been alive on the face of this earth, make a difference this year. Light up that lamp inside, because that’s the only way there can be light on the outside. It’s not about what you have accomplished or what you are going to accomplish — it's about what is already there.
Inmates, Jail Authorities and Academics Applaud Peace Education at San Antonio Jail
[Wed, 01 Feb 2012]
San Antonio, Texas: A Peace Education Program (PEP), based on Prem Rawat’s message of peace and sponsored by The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF), has been one of the most popular classes at the Fabian Dale Dominguez State Jail in San Antonio. Jail authorities have reported a significantly positive impact upon the over 1,000 inmates who have participated in the program since it began in 2007 and a marked reduction in recidivism.
The success of the program in San Antonio has recently attracted the attention of the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Texas, San Antonio (UTSA), where particular attention is being given to addressing the problem of repeated re-incarceration of released offenders.
Last week, Prem Rawat spent two days in San Antonio, first speaking to the PEP class at the jail on January 25 and the next day at an event called Peace on the Inside, hosted by the Criminal Justice Department at UTSA. Speaking to the inmates who had written to him of their appreciation of what they had discovered for themselves through the PEP classes, Mr. Rawat said, “Ultimately, you did not give up on yourself. And that’s the only thing that’s going to allow you to transform and rise above like the phoenix from the ashes. Not crumpled or slightly burnt but from the ashes rises the phoenix. Be the phoenix.”
After his talk, Prem Rawat responded to questions and expressions from nine of the inmates.
Prem Rawat was the keynote speaker at the Peace on the Inside event at UTSA for professors, students and representatives of local groups with an interest in criminal justice. Panel member Dr. Michael Gilbert, an expert in the new field of restorative justice, said of the PEP program, “We think something very positive is happening here. Offenders seem to find clarity. They seem to find understanding of themselves and a personal sense of inner peace, all of which may be needed for them to break destructive cycles and behavior patterns that have led them time and time again to jail and prison.”
In his address, Prem Rawat spoke of how honored he felt to have been invited by the inmates at Dominguez Jail to speak to them and how moved he was by their comments. Asked by a UTSA student what advice he gave to the inmates, he responded, “Not to forget themselves, because while their liberty might be gone, their humanity nobody can take away from them. They need to make that humanity prosper in their lives, to make sure that it grows.”
At the end of the event, State Representative Joaquin Castro awarded Mr. Rawat with a state resolution and the title of Honorary Mayor of San Antonio in recognition of his work with the Dominguez Jail inmates and his continued work in helping all humanity.
TPRF-sponsored Peace Education Programs are taking place in 25 prisons in 10 countries with over 3,000 inmates participating each month, and there is a growing demand for the program internationally.
(Last check for latest updates: 2 hr 15 min ago)courtesy: WOPG
