22nd Annual Peace Prayer Day Honors Interfaith Leader

[Guest guest]

22nd Annual International Peace Prayer Day Honors Interfaith Leader.

 

 

June 16, 2007. ESPANOLA, NM. On Saturday, June 16th, the 3HO

Foundation in conjunction with Peace Cereals celebrated the 22nd

annual International Peace Prayer Day at the Ram Das Puri campsite in

the Jemez Mountains near Espanola, New Mexico.

 

Over 1000 people gathered at the mountain campsite to pray, sing and

share stories about peace.

 

International Peace Prayer Day in New Mexico was founded by the late

Yogi Bhajan, Master of Kundalini Yoga, and Chief Spiritual and

Administrative Authority for Sikh Dharma International.

 

Yogi Bhajan, also known as the Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan

Singh Khalsa Yogiji, founded this event to bring people of different

faith backgrounds and traditions together to pray for peace. He

believed that prayer was the greatest power, and through the

collective prayer of people together, peace would come to the earth.

 

Yogi Bhajan made his home and headquarters in Espanola, NM. He left

his body on October 6, 2004.

 

This year, International Peace Prayer Day continued in the tradition

he established.

 

During the day's event, Hanne Marstrand Strong, President of the

Manitou Foundation in Crestone, Colorado, received the Peace Cereal

2007 Woman of Peace Award.

 

The award was given in recognition of her commitment to developing

spiritual and sustainable communities, and honored her for her

dedication to global peace and the preservation of ethical, cultural

and spiritual traditions.

 

As the President of the Manitou Foundation, established in 1988 and

the Manitou Institute formed in 1994, Hanne Strong has facilitated

the creation of the largest intentional, interfaith retreat center

and teaching community in North America. Through the Manitou

Foundation land grant program, over 2000 acres of land in the

Baca/Crestone Colorado area have been gifted to different spiritual,

educational and environmental groups. Due to this land grant program,

the Baca/Crestone community now houses many of the world's spiritual

traditions and is called " A Place of the Heart " – which accommodates

approximately 20 thousand retreatants per year seeking to develop

inner peace.

 

" It looks pretty serious out there, " Strong said during her

acceptance speech for the Woman of Peace award. " There are a lot of

obstacles towards peace…It's important for people to have a place for

spiritual retreat. If we are going to have peace in the world, we are

going to need to change the consciousness of millions and millions of

people…We all have to be together now to restore this beautiful

planet. We need to restore peace to Mother Earth. "

 

Past recipients of the Peace Award include Patch Adams with the

Gesundheit! Institute, Louise Diamond with The Peace Company, and

Kenny Ansubel with the Bioneers.

 

International Peace Prayer Day began at 2 pm with music led by

spiritual chant artist Dev Suroop Kaur Khalsa (www.devsuroop.com).

The music was followed by Bhangra dance with the award-winning Izzat

Da Punjab Bhangra Troupe led by Ravi Kaur Khalsa. Bhangra is a

traditional folk-style dance from northern India. The MC for the

program was Krishna Kaur Khalsa, founder and director of Y.O.G.A, for

Youth (www.yogaforyouth.org/).

 

The music and dance was followed by the showing of a video lecture

and meditation with Yogi Bhajan in 2001 . After the video, a brief

talk was given by Kundalini Yoga teacher Guru Partap Singh about his

peace work in Kenya and the warmth and kindness of the Kenyan people.

 

" People in the village, people in the school embraced me in a way no

one ever had in my life before, " he said. " That communal heart

embraced me – and that is what I think peace is all about. "

 

Towards sunset, Tesuque Pueblo Governor Gil Vigil blessed and led the

Sacred Healing Walk ceremony that is also a traditional part of

International Peace Prayer Day. During the Sacred Healing Walk,

hundreds of people walk barefoot on the earth praying for healing and

praying for peace. The Healing Walk was shared with and taught to

Yogi Bhajan by Hopi elders in the late 70's.

 

International Peace Prayer Day is the kick-off event for the week-

long Summer Solstice Celebration hosted by the 3HO Foundation. The

3HO Foundation was founded by the late Yogi Bhajan as a way to

preserve and share the ancient tradition of Kundalini Yoga. This

year's Summer Solstice Celebration will bring together close to 1700

people to meditate and do yoga together for a week-long spiritual

intensive. For more information on the 3HO Foundation and on Summer

Solstice, visit www.3ho.org.

 

- by Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa

- Photos by Gurudarshan kaur Khalsa