'Hindu Diploma' Reflects Marketing Manager's Spiritual Quest

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Orlando, Florida, USA (July 7, 2005): It wasn't your typical

graduation ceremony.

 

Before Jadeine Shives of Davenport was handed a diploma for her

master's degree in Hindu philosophy at Hindu University of America,

Shives participated in a prayer ceremony in which a flame

representing the light of knowledge was offered to Shree Vishnumaya

Durga Ma, the Hindu goddess of learning.

 

Ornamented for the occasion in a traditional Indian sari and red

bindi on her forehead made of sacred red powder called kum kum, the

blond, fair-skinned Shives participated in the graduation ceremony

June 25 along with doctoral graduate Mona Khaitan of Wellesley, Mass.

 

It was the second graduation ceremony at Hindu University of

America's east Orange County campus, which opened in 2001.

 

The degree is a spiritual benchmark for Shives, 42, who earned a

bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of Central

Florida in 1991.

 

"I got my bachelor's degree to earn a living. I got my master's

degree for love of divinity," she said.

 

The new graduate recently wrote and self-published a book, Digging a

Well to Heaven, which documents her six-week pilgrimage to India in

2001, including her journey through rocky, water-starved regions of

the country where she saw women trekking for miles with earthen pots

on their heads to collect a trickle of water for their villages.

 

Shives, who has practiced the Vedic traditions of Hinduism for the

past 15 years, said she was divinely inspired to write the book in

November to raise awareness about the need for fresh water in

parched regions of India.

 

In June, she and her husband, Tony, initiated The 1008 Wells

Foundation in order to earmark book-sale proceeds for digging wells

in India. Each wells costs about $3,000. Shives is coordinating the

project through the nonsectarian, nonprofit organization World

Neighbors.

 

Although her book is not scheduled for release until the end of

July, a private donor gave Hindu University the funds to sponsor

construction of a gravity-flow drinking-water system in West Bengal

that will sustain a village of 160. The water system, the first of

many wells Shives plans to get off the ground, should be completed

in the fall, she said.

 

Shives said that in a spiritual sense, digging a well is a metaphor

for persisting until enlightenment is reached.

 

"Once you reach the waters, it is the sweet, spiritual waters that

sustain you," Shives said.

 

In her book, Shives also describes her spiritual pilgrimage to

India, where she was among a stream of 70 million visitors at the

Maha Kumbha Mela, a festival in the northern city of Allahabad, in

January and February of 2001. The festival is a two-month

celebration of God.

 

As part of the journey, she also visited Hindu temples, listened to

swamis who came out of seclusion to speak about their spiritual

realizations and bathed in the sacred Ganges River with 34 million

other celebrants on the high bathing day.

 

Although Shives' global mission is to bring fresh water to the arid

regions of India, she daily taps into a wellspring of divinity in

all its forms through Hinduism.

 

Shives, who was reared in Kissimmee and grew up as a Lutheran,

discovered the Vedic philosophy underlying Hinduism when a friend of

hers "dragged" her to a yoga class 15 years ago. She was immediately

impressed by the philosophy that accompanied the physical aspects of

yoga.

>From there, she dived into the study of meditation and the ancient

Indian principles of holistic health called Ayurveda. She then

pursued self-study of the religion for years before enrolling in

classes at Hindu University in August 2002.

 

"Once I started taking classes, that whole knowledge base that I had

been searching for was right there," said Shives, who noted that

students from all backgrounds and cultures can enroll. "It was like

another world opened up to me. Something deep inside me said, 'You

found it; you found your home.' "

 

Shives, who works as marketing manager at the university, said some

days she comes to work wearing a sari, and some days she wears

office clothes. Because of her knowledge of both Eastern and Western

cultures and religions, Shives sees herself as a link between the

two.

 

"I'm like this bridge between cultures -- having an American face

but a love of Hinduism," she said.

 

Shives said she was drawn to the ancient religion in large part

because it acknowledges that there are many paths to the one God.

 

"Hinduism is very faith-accommodating and allows for the unique

celebration of the individual's preferred form of divinity. They

[religions] all have their place," Shives said. "I have a penchant

for all things in divinity. I am just at home sitting in the temple,

mosque, synagogue or under a tree -- it's all the same."

 

Shives explained that Hindus believe in a universal, supreme

divinity known as Brahman, but that there are many aspects to this

divinity that are expressed through different gods and goddesses.

 

"That way, we can have a relationship with God in the form that

resonates within us the best," said Shives, noting that her personal

Ishta Devata, or most beloved form of divinity, is the elephant-like

Ganesha, the lord of knowledge and remover of obstacles.

 

The Hindu philosophy of Advaita Vedanta -- the idea that everything

in creation is created from divinity and is therefore divine -- also

resonated with Shives, who said her father had a similar life

philosophy.

 

For more information about her book or to donate to the well-digging

project, call Shives at 407-460-7276. For information about Hindu

University, visit hindu-university.edu.

 

SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel, USA "The light of knowledge" by Debbie Barr

Special to the Sentinel. July 7, 2005

URL: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/volusia/orl-

vlvhindu07070705jul07,0,5222327.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-volusia