Jakarta, 12/11 (ANTARA) - The festival of 2011 opened on Nov 10 in Puri Agung - Ubud, but the plenary, panel discussion, and workshop session take place in Museum Puri Lukisan - Ubud, Bali. The event, fortunately gets the blessing from Hindu High Priest - Ida Pedanda Gede Made Gunung before the first session begins.
After the blessing ceremony, a reowned Indonesian Spiritual Activist Anand Krishna takes the stage as keynote speaker in the plenary session.
He freely translates this ancient pray derived from Upanishad, 'Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya' as
'Lead Us, O Almighty
From the dreadful darkness of
Delussion & Ignorance
To the Eternal Light of Truth,
Love and Wisdom'
"But are we living in the darkness? Are we aware of living in the darkness?" he raises the questions to the audience drawing almost a full house of Wantilan of the Museum, while adding that there is a philosophy stating that we are actually the source of light itself, so we can never be in darkness.
He, then, answers his own question, "But ... life is NOT a philosophy. Life is about facing these challenges of life."
Meditation is not just sitting silently, but working dynamically for the sake of others, for the welfare of all.
While quoating Indian Philosopher Swami Vivekananda's "Strive for your own liberation, and work for the welfare of the world," Anand Krishna explains that we have to take full control of our life first before we can work for others.
"If we are still a slave of our own greed, of our own senses, we cannot work for others," he says, "because meditation is an ultimate luxury for a man, and meditation can only happens when we are already fullfilling our thirst of spoiling our senses and becoming the master of our own life."
Working for others selflessly with No Strings Attached is Karmayoga. This is an ancient wisdom of the east tradition which nowdays becoming the new branch of psychology in the western world, although several psychologists such as Jung, William James, and Ken Wilber has talked about this subject over and over again.
And, in his opinion, after exercising routinely meditation techniques over time, one should be automatically working for others selflessly with no strings attached. This karmayoga actually can be found in many verses and stories of the holy books of world's religions and beliefs, such as the holy Bible, the Talmud, the Upanishad, the Koran, etc.
Anand Krishna ends his speech by presenting slides of a hungry world of Africa that is happening right now in our world, such as in Somalia and Sudan. The slides include the 1994 winner picture of Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography by Photographer Kevin Carter of South Africa about a starving toddler trying to reach a feeding center in Sudan when a vulture landed nearby.
After winning the prize, Kevin Carter got a lot of mails asking about the fate of the toddler, and asking why he managed to take the picture but failed to help the toddler. Kevin Carter, then, committed suicide in the same year.
"So, let's do something while we can ... while we still have time," said Anand ending his speech.
Later, a panel discussion follows the plenary session of the festival which featuring Ida Pedanda Gede Made Gunung and Ida Ayu Utami Pidada as speakers of the panel.
Ida Pedanda Gede Made Gunung is a respectable high Hindu priest in Bali where he talks about how to culturing mind using our five sense (Panca Indria) to assemble any differences into beauty in order to realize peacefulness. While Ida Ayu Utami Pidada is talking about an ancient proverb originally from Balinese Local Wisdom, that is: ASAH-ASIH-ASUH (means: Educate-Love-Nurture), a right 'tool' to transform 'a winner' to become 'a lover' or 'a fighter' to become a 'facilitator.'
Meanwhile, Ida Ayu Utami Pidada had been a three period member of Indonesian Parliament (1972-1987) and member of Indonesian Senate (MPR) for a period (1987-1992).
Reporter: Adityawarman
Editor: PR Wire
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
