BK Service News: Update 1 on Parliament of World Religions, Australia
Date: 05/12/2009

The Parliament of the World’s Religions began on Thursday evening with an opening plenary, which was a very beautiful and royal program with blessings and performances from many different faith groups where almost 3000 people attended.  There were keynote speeches from the organizers, Australian government as well as Shri Shri Ravi Shankar – who spoke on the importance of creating a culture of non-violence. The Chairman of the PWR acknowledged the various organizations that have participated and assisted in the Parliament by name and BKs were included.  Mention was made that the significance of the coming together of the various faiths at this time in the world holds special meaning because world leaders are looking at faith leaders to provide the moral guidance to help steer humanity out of the crises the world is facing. 

We have an exhibition booth which we have setup as an experiential meditation space.  As a result of everyone’s yoga power the vibration around the booth is very light and is really pulling souls.  We have a continuous slide show projected on a large LCD screen, showing pictures of yogis giving drishti, quotes from all faiths, the Tao of the Traveler animation, a ten minute commentary of Sister Jayanti to a moving point of light and ten minutes of soft instrumental music to an animation of Shiva Baba.  This is doing great service. 

A small number of souls are being ferried by bus from the Convention centre to the Fitzroy centre for the Spiritual Art Gallery and meditation experience during the lunch hour. 

Throughout the Parliament there are 18 – 20 presentations offered simultaneously.  On Friday morning Tamasin Ramsay was on a panel – Adapting to Climate Change: How, and How far? Tamasin shared how the solution for the environment begins with our consciousness. The audience was engaged and quite responsive in questions and comments. One participant remarked how the presentation of Tamasin was what he needed to hear in order to understand the connection of human beings, the way to help the earth, and our consciousness.

Sister Pratiba as part of the Cape Town delegation spoke at a reception offering legacy cities experiences to a gathering of other cities wanting to bid for the next parliament. 

In the evening we had invited delegates to Fitzroy centre for an evening of meditation, music, silence and dinner.  We were not sure of how many people would attend but had made provision for two buses – every seat was taken!!  It was truly Baba’s magic how souls were drawn to come.  They emanated a sense of coming home and belonging when they entered Baba’s home.  One participant mentioned gratefully that it probably would be the only experience of silence that they would have over the entire parliament. 

On Saturday morning Kalvinder and Christine facilitated a morning meditation/observance called “Taking just-a minute – Meditation on the move”.  They took the participants into an experience of soul consciousness and Baba through movement and drishti exercises and live commentaries.  You would have thought they were Brahmins by their ability to take drishti and didn’t want to stop.  At the same time Sister Maureen with Marcus and Mary Baybrooke facilitated a morning observance on “Respect for the Earth”.  There was a main morning session on Interfaith in Australia – where Theresa Sussmich presented on behalf of the BKs and she offered a thought provoking spiritual perspective.

In the afternoon Sister Maureen was on a panel focused on “Healing the Earth with Care and Concern: Religious Responses to the Earth Charter”.  This panel focused on the best practice examples of how religious institutions are using the Earth Charter in their engagement to heal the Earth with care and concern.  During the evening plenary, which highlighted interfaith programs and projects from around the world David Jones played music during the blessing ceremony of indigenous women from around the world.  Sister Pratiba as part of the Cape Town delegation was given an award for being a host city for the 99 parliament.

There is a wonderful feeling of togetherness as the whole family is working together, co-operating in everything that is happening from manning the stall, preparing brahma bhojan, transporting people to helping in whatever karma yoga is needed.

Dadi Janki would be arriving tomorrow to the Parliament, we will share more news as it all unfolds.

In Baba’s sweet yaad 
The Australian family