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| AHYMSIN newsletter, Issue - August 2011 | ||||||||
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World Peace and Prayer Day 2011By Jim Feketa and Swami Nityamuktananda SaraswatiThis is a daily summary that Swami Nityamuktananda and I wrote as World Peace and Prayer Day 2011 took place with a few statements at the end summarizing the experience. Three pictures are included. One is the poster which is very symbolic and its meaning is explained in the website included in the write up, the night picture is the third day and spirits are in it, the last is the end of WPPD 2011 FIRE, WATER, SILENCE with the TREE. I asked Swami Nitya to participate in WPPD 2011 and encouraged others to attend. She has seen parts of her past life with the LAKOTA, as I as well have. It was a time of reuniting and uniting people from different cultures. Part of my mission was also to bring "Silence" to WPPD 2011 as part of the theme and for people to experience it. This happened!!! June 18, First day WPPD2011A day of acclamation and feeling the way and people. The sacred fire was lit in ceremony and then transferred to St. Peter’s grounds for the rest of the festivities. By Jim Feketa June 19, Second day WPPD 2011Spirit at water ceremony held at Cold Water Springs was moving to say the least. Gracie, daughter of Chief Arvol Looking Horse, spoke of how the river where Arvol lives was polluted with mercury, and now after Gracie had shared in puja offerings of corn meal and prayers with another woman, the water was healed. Her story and the compassion in which it was delivered moved the people to tears. The scared horse ride held late at St Peter’s grounds in Mendota was awe inspiring. The Mother Earth has a circle from the horses that is full of healing spirit. I walked bare foot in the circle and felt its healing power. By Jim Feketa World Peace Prayer Day IIA small group gathered at an ancient spring, to perform Water purification ceremony. The site was the place where according to creation story the first couple of man and women came into being…it was a shock to see how such sacred springs of many indigenous nations was surrounded by dilapidated industrial buildings and full of slimy dirty water. These buildings are to be torn down. Stories were told, sacred songs chanted, and holy water poured into the spring to purify the water of life, again for the first time since 150 years! It was a powerful ceremony....Later at a different venue another sacred ceremony was held. A huge circle was formed around a tepee and young people, who had run a long distance to the site as a form of tapas and purification, were blessed and welcomed back into "society. Then an amazing ceremony with horses followed, the dance of the horses is an ancient healing ceremony... accompanied by chanting and drumming on the ancient big drum of Tail Feather woman. So much shared ceremony, with universal sacred gestures, ritual and words. Chief Arvol Looking Horse, for example, said: “The Spirit is in everyone ; making all people sacred, all moments, all days, all beings sacred!" We say: Everything is Shiva…everything is Spirit! Amazing! Another quote is: spiritual life is love which turns to service because we remember who you are. It echoes Swami Rama's motto: Love Serve and Remember! All nations, one faith, one prayer! June 20, Third day WPPD 2011UNBELIEVABLE THIRD DAY WPPD 2011 By Jim Feketa World Peace and Prayer 2011 Day IIIThe third day of gathering brought an unimaginable shift. Unimaginable...because I would not have "thought" it possible. There were many speakers sharing their stories, sharing their suffering from within the First Nation of America, but not only that but also from South Africa and Israel. Different tribes shared their sacred dances from Aztec to Inuit. And gradually the heaviness was transcended; a different dimension was reached as people enter a zone of shared humanity; in that zone there is silence, and the Maori beautifully captured that in a ceremony of/by dance collecting all suffering of humanity; then they led the silent audience to the sacred fire...and danced that suffering into the purifying Fire. When everyone regrouped, a lightness had entered...and sharing of being human…rather than Suffering Beings. A great experience of transcendence and healing! Wow! And that is the mission as far as I understand of the World Peace and Prayer day, the mission of Chief Arvol Looking Horse. We all heal differently from our innate separation of the divine, in Silence we are one! In Ceremony we are One! June 21 Fourth DayIt’s an auspicious day today , join us in prayer By: Jim Feketa WPPD 2011 Day four June 21,2011WPPD 2011; its Summer solstice! A sacred day for most indigenous cultures. There was a huge circle 500 or more people around the sacred fire, the children were blessed, gifts handed out, and then the heavens opened. An enormous downpour blessed the field, people and tent...the sacred fire was cooled; soon the field was waterlogged and the water came into the tent area...water to the ankles...yet still we chanted and honoured the gathering. When ceremony was over, there was so much water... the tent had to be abandoned.,. but by that time… everyone was ready to leave anyway. What a dramatic finish to an extraordinary experience. Peace; Peace; Peace! By: Swami Nityamuktananda Saraswati In summarizing and looking backI see now as each day went on the tensions, impatience, chaotic feelings, pains and sorrows dissipated into the scared FIRE,WATER and SILENCE. I wish and hope more people in the future will experience the next WPPD 2013 in Peru. I hope to expand "Silence" to the children. A participant stated to me and I believe captures the moment at the end of WPPD2011 “the picture profoundly imprinted in my mind, a magnificently whole picturesque symbol. The trail of water entering into the east gate merging with the fire. With and a magnificent majestic tree overlooking the joining , while being protective and giving ." http://www.worldpeaceandprayerday2011.org
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