Int'l Meditation Festival to be Held in Ubud

Denpasar (Antara Bali) - Anand Ashram Foundation is again to hold an International Bali Meditation Festival (IBMF) in Ubud, Gianyar district,  Bali, this year.

"It is to be the second festival after the first one staged in Ubud on November 14-15, 2009 which was participated in by members of both the domestic and international communities," Anand Ashram Foundation public relations officer  Hadi Susanto said here on Wednesday.

He said the festival, to be held  November 11-14, 2010, would be themed "One Earth, One Sky, One Humankind" as the realization of the Asian Vision of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam", the African Dream of "Ubuntu", and the Western concept of "Global Village" through meditation.

According to Hadi Susanto, Vashudhaive Kutumbakam means "This Whole World is One Single Family", known as the Asian equivalent to the ancient African concept of "Ubuntu" and the modern Western concept of "Global Village" as described  by Marshall McLuhan.

"Thus, at the upcoming International Bali Meditation  Festival, we as members of  the world family will meet and celebrate life together through meditation," Hadi said.

He said  the festival's organizing committee was currently preparing the various programs to be conducted  which would  include  seminars and workshops on spirituality, local wisdom , and youth empowerment.

"We expect  the festival this year to be attended by  more speakers and  delegates from other countries in accordance with  our aim  to become  one big family, living together harmoniously on the same earth and under the same sky as one humanity," Hadi said.

According to him, the first festival held in Ubud, Bali on  November 14-15, 2009 ran successfully with speakers from many countries including the United States, France, Puerto Rico, and Japan.

Bali Medidates was initiated by Anand Krishna, the most prominent spiritualist of the Indonesian Archipelago who promoted meditation as a way of life, free of all denominations, when the word "meditation" itself was not yet popular in Indonesia.

According to Anand Krishna, meditation was in the past always considered to associated with the Hindu or Buddhist faiths and  other religions even  also scoffed at it.

It was hard, but Anand never gave up. He researched all major religions and faiths, including the local beliefs to find the common roots of meditation in all of them.

Then he wrote about his research and shared his findings through books, interviews with both print and electronic medias and public talks. (*)