Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

Author(s): Parliament of the World’s Religions
Publisher: USA Parliament of the Worlds Religions

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PROGRAM DECE
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
4:30-6:00pm OPEN SPACE
Mahant Swami Shankarananda is a leading meditation teacher and Director of the Shiva School of Meditation in Mt Eliza. He has taught and written about meditation, self-inquiry and the philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism for over forty years. He is author of the best-selling books "Happy for No Good Reason, and Consciousness is Everything Suhag Shukla is Managing Director and Legal Counsel, is a co-founder of Hindu American Foundation. She holds a BA in Religion and JD from the University of Florida. As Managing Director, Ms. Shukla builds strategic inter and intrafaith relations. As Legal Counsel, Ms Shukla provides analysis on key issues including the separation of church and state, equal protection, religious discrimination and immigration reform. She also focuses on improving the public portrayal of Hinduism and its presentation in public school textbooks. Ms. Shukla is actively involved with Chinmaya Mission and is on the Board of the Nirvana Center, a Bhutanese resettlement center Paramacharya Palaniswami is one of the four stewards of Saiva Siddhanta Church, Himalayan Academy and Hindu Heritage Endowment. He is the leader of the Canapati Kulam, the monastic team reponsible for all book and magazine production, translations, art work, web work and publications. He is intimately involved with the design and construction of Iraivan Temple, working with the master builders. He is also editor-inchief of Hinduism Today magazine and the other publications and guide of the Innersearch Travel-Study Programs. He is the senior counselor to the monastic community and overseer of our global relationships with other Hindu organizations and interfaith religious forums. On retreat days, he fulfills the monastery's vision of a sacred garden and tropical paradise by collecting, cultivating and planting many varieties of sacred, medicinal and tropical plants, palms and trees around the monastery grounds. Pandit Abhay Awasthi is the President of the Hindu Comunity Council of Victoria and also executive director of Hindu Foundation of Australia, Pandit is also Vice Chair of the Melbourne Program Committee of the 2009 Parliament of the World's Religions.
have organized successful interfaith events for the larger community, including artistic and social actions programs, where do you go next? We discovered that the next level for our group was to explore spiritual intimacy' with one another by organizing two-day weekend retreats that would allow us to create authentic and deep spiritual fellowship. In addition to our usual custom of praying together, dialoguing, and sharing food, we decided we would also play games, create art, sing songs, take a walk, sit in silence, learn a sacred dance, and allot designated time to hear one another fully, with a profound ear. The result of fully listening to one another's spiritual autobiography, plus our recreational activities, brought us to a higher level of intimacy than we had imagined. The group unanimously decided that we would like to come to Melbourne to share our model in order to encourage other interfaith groups from around the world to take the next challenging step in interfaith engagement, the step of spiritual intimacy. We experienced the deep benefits of this process for ourselves and we believe it could also contribute to the healing of our planet. Come join us for an intimate experience and share with us your sacred and spiritual journey in a meaningful exercise that you can take home and engage in with your own interfaith community. Dr Joseph Prabhu is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at California State University, Los Angeles and a Martin Marty Senior Fellow at the University of Chicago. He is the co-editor of The Interfaith Challenge of Raimon Panikkar, and Indian Ethics, and the author of the forthcoming Liberating Gandhi. He is the current President of the Society of Asian and Comparative Philosophy and the Program Chair of the Melbourne Parliament. A native of India, he has long been active in interfaith and peace work
Sacred Sites, Sacred Solidarity: Working Session II Room 207 This program is by invitation only and is designed for individuals and organisations interested in following up on the 'Sacred Sites, Sacred Solidarity Symposium programs and dialogue throughout the Parliament week. The program will focus on strengthening current collaborative efforts, extending invitations to other interested parties, strategizing about next steps at both grassroots and international levels, and immediate implementation of the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions innovative social networking platform, 'PeaceNext', to enhance communication and coordination on this critical issue. Stein Villumstad, Deputy Secretary General of Religions for Peace, will moderate this session.
The Legacy of the Melbourne Parliament (Part 2) Room 211 This session will continue brainstorming ways to carry forward the energy of the Parliament.
Spiritual Intimacy: Taking Interfaith Engagement to the Next Level Joseph Prabhu Rev Richard Rose Renee De Palma, Buddhist John Ishvaradas Abdallah, Muslim Debrah Van Zyl, Jewish Swami Shiva Atmatattwananda, Hindu, Vedanta Rev Jeff Utter, Christian Room 208 After you have explored religious differences and similarities, after you have compared your holy books, after you
The After Party - Legacy and Young People (Session 2] Gemma McDonald Julia Torpey Room 212 Panel Discussion The second session of this two-part program will explore the potential for young people to get involved with interfaith work by being the drivers, contributors and participants in activities, individual initiatives or organisations. This program will feature the voices of young people from the Faith Fellows Act (USA), the Centre for Multicultural Youth (Melbournel, the Multifaith Multicultural Youth Network (Melbourne), the Young Women in Interfaith (Sydney), the Interfaith Youth Core (Chicago) and the Parliament Youth Committee (Melbourne). Gemma McDonald is the Community Organiser for Youth for a Parliament of the World's Religions. She has worked as a performer and choreographer for Artworks, where her work with youth also began. Having completed a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies and Post-Graduate studies
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