Denpasar (Antara Bali) - The 3rd International Bali Mediators’ Festival 2011 is featuring Ida Pedanda Sebali Tianyar, Swami Anubhavananda, Wayan Sayoga and Norma Harsono as speakers in Panel Discussion Session in seconds day, discuss about Ways to reach peacefullness .
A professional public accountant, Norma Liesje Tanoko, is talking about creating Islam Rahmatan Lil Alamin through Tafakur in order to achieve peacefulness in each of our heart. In his own experience of practicing meditation, she finds out that many methods from different traditions and religions in the world can be used to achieve the state of peacefulness in our heart. One of many is Sufi Whirling
Meditation which apparently has many same principle and meaning to a ritual of circling Kabbah anti clock-wise in Muslim tradition, or usually called Tawaf.
Meanwhile, Ida Pedanda Sebali Tianyar talks about “The Best Happiness is Togetherness.†His speech is based on the ancient proverbs in Java and Bali.
"But, such things like famine, suffering, greed, anger, and ignorance can separate people’s togetherness, and that will become the main hindrance of the happiness," he said.
The current Dharma Adhyaksha Parisada Hindu Dharma adds that we are as religious people can not punish others, even when they are doing something wrong or hurting someone else. But, he prefers to rehabilitate, or to re-educate anybody who is doing something wrong.
The 3rd speaker for today is dr Wayan Sayoga, the chairperson of Anand Ashram Foundation. He talks about the simplest way of life, taught by the elders in Bali, which is meditation. However, although the meditation has been taught well and practiced by the ancestors in Bali, he sees nowadays the meditation is only the subject to be talked about, only few actually apply it in their daily activities.
In fact, meditation is needed by contemporary men/women who is living life dynamically. Only those who are free from their early-childhood conditionings and attachments will have truly free soul and be able to celebrate life.
The last distinguished speaker for today’s panel session is Swami Anubhavananda from India. He is known for his ability to communicate the most difficult of the philosophy in a simple and direct manner. His speech directly address the heart and breaths into his audiences a new life of joy. That reflects his approach to life-be happy.
"To be happy, someone has to get rid of his sufferings, his misery. Otherwise, happy will not happening," Swami-ji explained.
Be Happy can be achieved by doing regularly spiritual practices. Happiness should be expressing through our daily activities
However, an ignorance of self-identity can lead someone be in the darkness and sadness. He said that the false of identity can cause sufferings of man. That’s why we cannot mistakenly our own identity if we want to be happy.
"But, let’s not seek God, but rather let’s God be working through us," he said while telling his experience of seeing words in one’s t-shirt.
It says Nobody is happy in one end, and I’m Nobody in the other end. For the founder of the Sat Bhavana Trust, said that his conclusion based on the words in t-shirt, if we want to be happy, we have to be nobody.
The participants are laughing out loud hearing his funny explanation and conclusion.
Then, when there is a question : “how to become nobody?†he bluntly answers that the key is in the act, not in the reaction.
"If we realize that we are living in this world that we are acting a certain role that God is working thru us, we become nobody and we will be happy. But if we are reacting, we are becoming somebody, and if this happens, Ego is there and Happiness will be gone,†he ends in the end of the panel session.
The International Bali Meditators’ Festival is being held in Museum Puri Lukisan, Ubud Bali and will last until Sunday Nov 13, 2011.(**)
