Guest guest Posted October 18, 2002 Report Share Posted October 18, 2002 My very dearest friends and siblings, I was deeply saddened a few days ago to read the newspaper. Death and violence had invaded one of the holiest and most beautiful places on Earth. The peace and serenity of that island are forever shattered. I pray that the Great Mother in her infinite wisdom may bring love to the hearts of those who perpetrated this evil deed, and also to the hearts of the friends and relatives of those who died. I refer of course to the tropical island of Bali. This is in the country of Indonesia, just east of the much larger island of Java. I have never been there, but I have seen many beautiful photographs and much awe-inspiring artwork. Friends who have been there say that they have never seen such a place: friendly smiling people, hillsides covered with rice padis shimmering in the golden sunshine, and temples in every village and in the backyard of every family. The history book says that about 1000 years ago, Hinduism was introduced into the region and was the dominant faith of Java and Bali for centuries. Then about 400 years ago, the people of Java started to convert to Islam. The conversion was never complete; the religion of Java today is a hybrid of Hinduism and Islam. The people will gather in large auditoriums, say a few solemn prayers to Allah, then watch puppet shows telling stories from the Ramayana. Not all the people were happy with this. Many fled from Java to Bali so that they could continue practicing their Hindu faith as before. Thus the people of Bali are very passionate about their faith and take it very seriously. They spend much time preparing for religious celebrations, with beautiful and intricate decorations. Here is a link that can lead to more links, showing you some scenes from the island. http://www.baliassociates.com/temple.htm I hope that it will once again be possible to visit the island. In the meantime, I wish much peace and joy to the people who call Bali their home. Sister Usha ===== Sister Usha Devi Founder, Divinely Female and worshipper of the Sacred Flame that shines inside every woman Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More http://faith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 19, 2002 Report Share Posted October 19, 2002 ushaji, your words really touched my heart... yes, sometime in the near future, i do want to plan a trip to Indonesia, Greece, EgypT, THAILAND and Japan... travelling is going to be my post retirement dream - let us see... thanks for posting that beautiful link on BALI - i am told that even the name Bali is derived from a character in the indian epic ramayana - sugreeva's brother - also, both hinduism and buddhism held their sway in indonesia before islamic covversion took place on a large scale? when i was in Amesterdam recently my host a dutchman and his wife prepared all kinds of delicious indonesian rice recipes with vegetables in my honor- my host told me since indonesia was colonized by dutch - the dutch picked up a lot of culinary skills from the INDONESIANS .. the secret ingredient in all rice preperations was the 'coconut' milk , the rice dishes were 'delcious' and were a coplete meal by themselves... i will share with you the special 'egg plant dishes' he fixed for me via private email as i know your husband loves eggplant! smiles! iN AMESTRAM WHILE RIDING THE 'tram' OR THE 'TRAIN' I SAW SOME BEAUTIFUL , GOOD LOOKING GIRLS AND WAS told these kids are offsprings of mixed parentage- dutch and indonesian- if colonization could mean beautiful offsprings- i am all for it! smiles again! But on another note, is it not strange that a 'discotheque' should be the target of a terrorist bombing? i guess, no place is safe any more... if you are in a temple praying, you could be the unwilling victim of a bomb attack, if you are filling up 'gas' at a gas tank, a secret sniper may strike you ! if you are working in a high rise buildng, some plane may crash into your building ! or if you open your mail, you may be contaminated by the deadly 'anthrax' virus? so on and so forth? does this mean we stop living? or we do bussiness as usual? well, ushaji, this is KALI-YUGA... NO PLACE IS SAFE-so everyday, when i get up from my bed i pray to my ishtadeva thus- "o shyam sundara , let me get through this day peacefully." regards and best wishes, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2002 Report Share Posted October 20, 2002 >But on another note, is it not strange that >a 'discotheque' should be >the target of a terrorist bombing? No, not at all. The bombers hate foreigners, and most of the people in the discotheque were foreigners (maily Australian). Being radical moslems, they also disapprove of what happens at such places: men and women drinking alcohol and dancing together, the women wearing revealing clothing. So I was not surprised by this at all. Sister Usha ===== Sister Usha Devi Founder, Divinely Female and worshipper of the Sacred Flame that shines inside every woman Y! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your web site http://webhosting./ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2002 Report Share Posted October 20, 2002 dear sister ushaji, you write No, not at all. The bombers hate foreigners, and most of the people in the discotheque were foreigners (maily Australian). Being radical moslems, they also disapprove of what happens at such places: men and women drinking alcohol and dancing together, the women wearing revealing clothing. So I was not surprised by this at all. Sister Usha well. sister usha... thiese days, it has become fashionable to blame everything on 'terrorists' specially 'al-qaeda' but until a full scale investigation is conducted fairly and justly, it is hard to say who is responsible for this latest bombing in bali, indonesia... take the beltway sniper for instance ! he has been labelled a middle eastern terrorist ! for all we know he could very well be a 'military' drop out with a post traumatic stress disorder ! who knows? thousands of tourists visit bali every year and the state of bali receives tremendous revenues from tourism? why would someone do something to cut the very hand that feeds us? this does not make sense.... well, ushaji, you know and i know that 'belly dancing' is very popular in the night clubs of many countries specialkly in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon , turkey to the North, and in Iraq & Iran. in usa also, 'belly dancing' is a great attraction in night clubs... Women who do belly dancing typically wear a 'heavily sequined bra' exposing a very bare midrifff including the belly button and a very decorative belt around the waist! to say the least, the costume looks very 'sexy' and the dancer looks very sductive and sensuous with all the belly movements in the swaying of the hips and the belly muscles!!! but, i have never heard or seen such nightclubs by islamic terrorists for 'immodest or indeent exposure! ' so, ushaji- there is more to this than meets the eye? why this sudden eruption of bombings and violence all over the globe? there is no pattern to it . either! so, rather than worrying who did it or why they did it, we need to focus on 'how' to ge rid of all this senseless violence? love Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 20, 2002 Report Share Posted October 20, 2002 ushaji you write.... "> No, not at all. The bombers hate foreigners, and most of the people in the discotheque were foreigners (maily Australian). Being radical moslems, they also disapprove of what happens at such places: men and women drinking alcohol and dancing together, the women wearing revealing clothing. So I was not surprised by this at all. Sister Usha itis my understanding and i stand to be corrected - the radical mulims are not at all pleased with the way president Megawati sukarnoputri is running the country ... also, they are not happy with the way the president is aligning with the united states and is not very 'vocal' in her condemnation of indiscriminate us bombings in afghanistan... as i have mentionned before, these bombinga are motivated by political consideration than a religious beliefs... it is not that the radical muslims are against foreigners--- after all, Bali is a tourists paradise just like kashmir and night clubs are part of every major city where tourists frequent... i think this is a more statement against president megawati and her party and her alliance with the us than against some scantily clad tourists... and as we know. australia is a sympathizer of usa ... hence the attack on australian tourists... i am not discounting the possibility that this 'bombing' is indeed engineered by radical muslims but... i have seen and read in my own country india, every time something 'violent' happens in kashmir, the muslim terrorists are blamed but i have also heard the counter argument that sometimes indian jawans themselves engineer these bomb attacks and blame it on muslim terrorists!! so who knows the truth? my friend kochu was just telling me on iM about the maine shipwreck of 1822 when the spaniards were blamed for the untowrd incident ... 100years later, it was found that the us masterminded this plot and killed their own soldiers and blamed it on the spaniards to start a war... what about the boston tea part when americans dressed up as mohawk indians ? so.... so, in politics everything is possible and it is sad,,, very sad... but the worst part is to combine religion with politics... love Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 22, 2002 Report Share Posted October 22, 2002 >i guess i just want to believe all is well with the >world and we can >all live in peace and harmony once more ... travel >freely ... etc... We all keep hoping and praying for that happy day. I am certain that it will arrive someday, though perhaps not soon. >it would be a good idea for usa also to take a 'hard' >look at its >foreign policy and reexamine its involvement in the >internal affairs >in other countries. Certainly. I am not optimistic of this happening while the current president is still in power. >of course, the menace of islamic terrorism has >also got to be tackled at all fronts? what do you >think? Al Qaeda is a dangerous group. There is no justification for killing women and children the way that they have done. They claim to follow Islam, but the Koran says quite clearly and explicitly that what they have been doing is wrong. This having been said, the question remains of how to stop them. The course chosen by Mr. Bush seems certain to help Al Qaeda rather than stop it. If the US attacks Iraq, this will anger many people in the moslem world, thus handing Al Qaeda all the new recruits it can handle. I do not have the answer, but this clearly is not it. Sister Usha ===== Sister Usha Devi Founder, Divinely Female and worshipper of the Sacred Flame that shines inside every woman Y! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your web site http://webhosting./ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.