The Festival of Shiv: Day 10-Lent and Shiv as a Yogi?

UCP-Universal Collective Prayer doesn't usually occur between the Catholic and Hindu worlds during the season of Lent. Since Maha Shivratri normally falls before Ash Wednesday and the start of the Catholic Lent season. In fact you will often find Maha Shivratri even falling on what people here on the island call Carnival Monday and Tuesday or the preceeding Fantastic Friday! So actually while Hindus are engaged in UCP others are engaged in fete or bacchanal or everything that might be considered the antithesis of the following Lent season. However because we here on UCP have decided to worship Shiv whenever we so Shiv willing please we are worshipping Shiv all February long and so on this here blog as we celebrate the Festival of Shiv so too does the Catholic season of Lent break upon us on Ash Wednesday!

I've not asked my brother in UCP Deacon Greg Kirk to join me today but I recall his blessings from last year's Ash Wednesday here! And reflect here in true UCP styling on how good a yogi Shiv is and so how he can be an ideal prototype for anyone who is looking to reflect this Lent season! Please note my Intent here is not meant to convert Catholics to Hinduism or Saivism but just to embrace what this blog is about...UCP by showing how things of good overlap and cross thread in all the great world religions...so indeed Catholics reflect in very much the same way Shiv does! (and Hindus emulate him). Both religions can learn from each other here and for sure engage in UCP-Universal Collective Prayer!:)

So here it is Shiv as a Yogi...as quoted from this site:

"For one who is ignorant of that light principle and only dwelling in the prakriti, in the material world, there would be no celebration in one’s life. He may tries to enjoy his life in many ways dancing, singing or drinking but these are not permanent, these push him towards misery. Because he uses only his mind and senses to enjoy this world. And the mind and senses have their own limitations. The real peace and celebration is beyond all the limitations. If your peace is dependent on something, then that is not peace. Peace is beyond everything. In Sanskrit the root word of peace is “Sham”. In vedanta there are six treasures are explained. The first treasure is also “Sham”, meaning control of mind and senses. You can connect the both the peace and control of the mind. When one overcomes the bondage of all the sensual attachment, then one could experience the “Shiva lingam or Jyotir lingam”, which is our real self, guide, God, or whatever you may call it"

Meditative and Reflective Ash Wednesday to All!

Tonight on Universal Collective Prayer I wish all a meditative and reflective Ash Wednesday as I feature the voice of my brother in sharing the Eucharist that is the Christ...Deacon Greg Kirk! :)
Oh...the dance that is Universal Collective Prayer! And guess who is the muse?! :)

Ash Wednesday


Feeling my way through the church, the darkness is a stark reminder of how much darkness there is to overcome: the darkness that comes from wanting more and more, the darkness that comes from seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, the darkness of duality. The scents of beeswax and incense beckon me to the sanctuary. Slowly, I turn up the light. As the Roman lights begin to burn, I once again appreciate that enlightenment is a "process," something that can't be forced or rushed. I feel the words of Jesus vibrate through me "I am the light come into the world" and "you are the light of the world." Of the many words I've heard to describe enlightenment, "light" is no doubt my favorite.

I move to the altar and begin lighting candles. As candles flicker, I remember Jesus the light and I smile. I'm not thinking of the rural rabbi, the historical man. I'm not thinking about Jesus, the construct of theology. I'm mindful of the Third Jesus, the teacher of God-consciousness who came forward to offer a path, a way that is universal, a way that is open to everyone. I offer a prayer for three special friends who share in this understanding of Jesus: a shaman-Candyman in the north of Mexico, a beautiful historian in Mexico City and a metaphysical tea drinking muse in Trinidad.

I strip the altar of elaborate fabric. Beholding the stark, grainy wood I am reminded of the beauty of simplicity, I silently pray the mantra "keep it simple." Turning, I gaze above on the massive crucifix hanging behind me. The corpus on the wood speaks of another stripping - a naked man who bared his soul to the world and finally turned self over to Self, in a heroic act of trust. Throughout this process, he offered many lessons on how to enter the kingdom of God, a kingdom that is love and only love. This is my task, this is our task, regardless of the path we follow. To strip away fear, to let go of everything that hinders us from embracing the One beyond name and form. To live is to trust in the non-local, trust in the universe, trust in the power and eternal dimension of love.

The people file to the front of the church where Father John and I await them with ashes - burned palm leaves from last year's Passion Sunday. The ashes remind me ot the brevity and unpredictible nature of human praise and affirmation, the ashes remind me of the certainty of death. I impose ashes on foreheads repeating "turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel." Each face I gaze on, each sign of the cross I make with ash is a prayer for this person in front of me to experience the Third Jesus. Each cross I trace is a request for this brother or sister to experience enlightenment, to reach Self-realization. Each time I hear myself say "turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel" I know that I am really intending "may your self trust the Self."

Goodbyes have been said and the parish has gone home. The candles are extinguished and lights turned off. As I feel my way out of the church, I realize that this is how it is now. One of the most important teachings the Third Jesus imparted to those who follow him is that one's greatest teacher is oneself. I must feel my way through life. I must feel my way to enlightenment. Gaining from the knowledge, experience and wisdom of others will always be important. But ultimately, I am called and you are called to the same unity, the same oneness with God that Jesus of Nazareth experienced and lived. Each way is unique, each life will experience and express it differently. As I leave the church I am certain that someplace deep inside of me, a place so deep it cannot be seen or touched, the following words are whispered - " be yourself."

"I come from Elsewhere, and though I do not know where that is, I am certain to return there in the end." - Rumi

Love, +Greg

Farewell Pundit Basdeo (Vasudev) Misir!

Tonight Universal Collective Prayer takes a more somber and respectful note as we salute one of the pioneering pundits of Trinidad and Tobago as he leaves the material plane and remains only in spirit for how long we don't ourselves know. Perhaps he will become one with 'the Universe' forever or perhaps only temporarily so, until he again takes a material form to join us on this plane. At 95 years of age he would have lived through many of the milestones that marked the foundation of Hinduism in Trinidad and Tobago. He would have no doubt worked alongside my grandfather, Pundit Parasram (Parsuram)Maharaj who was simply known as 'Baba' by many on the island and would have been 94 years this February if still on the material plane but departed it in 2004. So basically Pundit Misir and he would have experienced many similar times on the island and in the history of Hinduism on it.

Some members of my family attended funeral rites for Pundit Misir today which took place at the Shore of Peace, Mosquito Creek, Trinidad. However I do not have enough details at the tip of my fingers to write more about him just yet. However I wanted to mark this day.

My inability to just google up info. makes me realize how little there is here on the world wide web about my ancestors and so I plan to do some research about the Pundit and write a longer post soon to commemorate his life. I hope to find many stories this Saturday when I attend a function of the Pundit Parasram School for Hinduism that one of my uncles has set up in memory of his father...my grandfather.

My overall intent (I guess what over on Intent.com would be called my primary intent) for Universal Collective Prayer is and always was to 'play' with all people in the universe and bring them together to dance in Universal Collective Prayer. However I've been realizing like today that I also need to at times recall, reflect, remember or take note of the people who if it wasn't for I'd not be able to make this dance in the first place. So I need to at times give them a bit of my bandwidth too! :) Cause if they didn't set the foundations for Hinduism from which my dance started there would be no dance from me on here.

Of course we all have our own paths to take too so my prayers may not be like how they envisioned it back in their day and my intent is not and never was to disrespect these people or others when I mention them or draw from their traditions and mix it with mines here on the prayers.

So I will soon write more about Pundit Misir. Till then I do a send off to the Pundit on his departure from this material plane in keeping with his religious traditions. I did not know him well personally but I know he was well loved by his family and many who will surely miss him here on the material plane. He also had a large following of 'chelas'* to whom he was a beloved guru and so his guidance, compassion and seva* here on the material plane will also be missed by them. So here I choose a track that I requested be played at my grandfather's send off cause I knew he liked the tune and in particular its lyrics so I hope it will also be fitting for the send off by Pradeep-Dekh tere sansar ki halat kya ho gayi bhagwaan kitna badal gaya insaan...Look at what has happened to your world, O god. Man has changed so much:


Here is a link to a picture of the late Pundit as it appears in a local newspaper here in Trinidad. He is receiving an award to commemorate his seva* to the local Hindu community here in Trinidad.

*my Hinglish version as I pluralize the word 'chela' which is used in Hinduism to mean someone who follows Hinduism fervently or who follows one spiritual master or guru
*seva roughly translates to selfless service to man.

Advent Calendar:3rd Day of Christmas-The Gift of Inspiration and then acting on it by Carrying Out Our Life's Purpose-Karam(ma)

In Hinduism doing what one is suppose to do is Karam or Karma that is the action, the doing, the verb and the noun or the duty we have to perform is our Dharam or Dharma. Most of us who would subscribe to Universal Collective Prayer regardless of our religious background and the details would believe that we have a soul and the soul inhabits our body and God/the Universe sent us here in this body to carry out a specific and unique purpose some will say in his name or to fulfill his way here on earth. The classic film 'Chariots of Fire' that was released in 1981 and won four Academy Awards including best picture has a scene where the girl watches on remembers when the runner, her brother I believe told her once in the past:

"Jennie, I believe God made me for a purpose. But he almost made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure"

Truly Karam and Dharam...

Gita Jayanthi, Eid-Ul-Adah, My Little Ones- Can There Ever Truly Be Universal Collective Prayer?

Can there ever truly be Universal Collective Prayer? Can I really keep my intent to 'Walk in the Shoes of Others Very Different to Me?' Today I learnt since I really don't myself celebrate either that there is the Hindu festival of Gita Jayanthi on one hand and the Islamic festival of Eid-Ul-Adah on the other. For those of you taking part in Universal Collective Prayer with me but do not know much bout either one I will repeat two summaries of the festival descriptions from some other websites.

But before I do so let me mention what I mean by "My Little Ones"...it's quite simple really...I consider other non-human creatures in the Universe to be my brothers too and I don't believe they like to be eaten and should not be eaten by humans simply cause we can do differently. I can't expect a lion to be a vegetarian but to me it seems humans can be and even vegan and food rawist vegans too! I like that I'm not a lion and so I can feel comfy amongst all my brothers...other than the ones who would eat me too I guess! If anyone has seen the film Madagascar think how sad it was for the lion in that film when he realized by nature he wanted to eat his friend the zebra! And if a film can be a lesson look how well that little ole lion did! Anyway back to it before I lose credibility...talking animals and cartoons today...Santa Claus yesterday hmmm...?

But seriously I think too my understanding of how I feel about animals and eating them or not doing so actually is very Hindu centric. So really I'm not loony just more Hinduey a girl in Universal Collective Prayer than a follower of Islam in it...but I want to walk in those shoes...I also want that one day all of the universe can sit and engage in Universal Collective Prayer. So I continue to ask...also as I ask I am mindful that however limited the reach of this blog may or may not be (cause really anyone or thing can be found on the globe today!) there is enough religious tension on the earth today and I vow not to add to it. This blog was created to put forward positive healing cohesive prayer not divisive or disruptive thoughts...so I have to dig deep especially give the recent tensions in Mumbai as I don't want to encourage any inter-religious tensions...

So here is the little summary of each festival. First up the description of Eid-Ul-Adah as outlined on the BBC's website:
'The Hajj ending in Eid-ul-Adha - 11th - 14th December 2008

Eid-ul-Adha ('Celebration of Sacrifice'), also known as the Greater Eid, is the second most important festival in the Muslim calendar. It marks the end of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Makkah (Mecca). It takes place on the 10th day of Dhul-Hijjah, the last month of the Islamic calendar. Although only pilgrims to Makkah can celebrate it fully, Muslims elsewhere also mark the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha.

Pilgrims on Hajj in Mecca The Hajj is the Fifth Pillar of Islam and therefore a very important part of the Islamic faith. All physically fit Muslims who can afford it should make the visit to Makkah, in Saudi Arabia, at least once in their lives. Every year around 2 million Muslims converge on Makkah. They visit a shrine in the city known as the Ka'bah, built by Ibrahim (Abraham) and Isma'il (Ishmael) at the command of Allah (God). It is a place for all who want to reaffirm their faith.

Eid-ul-Adha celebrates the occasion when Allah appeared to Ibrahim in a dream and asked him to sacrifice his son Isma'il as an act of obedience to God. The devil tempted Ibrahim by saying he should disobey Allah and spare his son. As Ibrahim was about to kill his son, Allah intervened: instead Allah provided a lamb as the sacrifice. This is why today all over the world Muslims who have the means to, sacrifice a sheep (alternatively a goat or cow can be used), as a reminder of Ibrahim's obedience to Allah. They usually share out the meat with family and friends, as well as the poorer members of the community. In Britain, the animal has to be killed at a slaughterhouse.

Eid-ul-Adha is a 1-3 day celebration and in Muslim countries is a public holiday. It starts with Muslims going to the Mosque for prayers, dressed in their best clothes, and thanking Allah for all the blessings they have received. It is also a time when they visit family and friends as well as offering presents. At Eid it is obligatory to give a set amount of money to charity to be used to help poor people buy new clothes and food so they too can celebrate.'


Now there I'm already learning cause to me I always cringed when I heard of this festival cause I always thought of the animals...and so never thought of the pleasantries and positives of it:

-celebrating the end of Hajj
-time spent with family
-giving of charity

But of course the animals are killed but that happens daily and not just by Muslims. But unlike in Britain in Trinidad animals aren't killed in slaughter houses necessarily on this festival...now you have to bear with me that I've not investigated this and you'll have to empathize with me as to why but I believe many do it in the mosques some at homes...and I'll tell you I can't walk farther in the shoes than appreciating that this festival is about people surrendering to their God...ultimate surrender and sacrifice and I get that and it is lovely. But why do they need to sacrifice the animal still? I mean God isn't still asking for a son? So why give a lamb? And good grief a cow too when your Hindu neighbours consider it in such high regard. Here lies the need of the other to walk in my shoes too please!...You can walk in shoes of another but sometimes if it is too tight your feet at some point will get sore and you will have to take it off less you bleed...And I've experienced many a taunt and a tease by not only Muslims but many of all faiths and belief who do not have the idea of empathy and of walking in the shoes of the other... Many revel and taunt about the various animal flesh they consume not considering...without empathy...but even in those shoes I must have walked some day...

Now on to the Gita Jayanthi where I will have to admit my heart sings and my feet dance even without the shoes that I just took off and even with bleeding feet I dance. Here is a summary of the Hindu festival as outlined on the site AryaBhatt Festivals of India section:
'GITA JAYANTI
Celebration : The Birth of Bhagwad Gita
Known for : The Sacred Scripture
Religion : Hindu
In the month of : December - January
THE GITA Jayanthi or the birthday of the Bhagavad-Gita is celebrated throughout India by all admirers and lovers of this sacred scripture on the 11th day (Ekadashi) of the bright half of the month of Margaseersha (December-January) according to the Hindu almanac. That was the day on which Sanjaya narrated the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, to King Dhritarashtra, and thus made the glorious teachings of the Lord available to us, to all the people of the world, and for all time.
The Gita Jayanthi marks one of the greatest days in the history of mankind. Nearly six thousand years ago on that day a dazzling flash of brilliant lightning lit up the firmament of human civilization. That spiritual effulgence, that flash, was the message of the Bhagavad Gita, given by the Lord Himself on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Unlike ordinary dashes of lightning which die away after dashing for 'a split-second, this brilliant dash of that memorable day continued to shine through the centuries and even now illumines the path of humanity on its onward march to perfection. '

I've never celebrated this festival before but I would gladly do so as I feel as I just said above I can dance barefooted to it's song even if my feet did bleed...however I celebrate it with the understanding that we live in a multifaceted universe and indeed I'm not the one to judge what is indeed Universal Collective Prayer or who is in it! So in celebration of Gita Jayanthi I leave you with one of my favourite quotes from the Gita:

'The Humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge,see with equal vision a learned and gentle brahman, a cow, an elephant, a dog, a dog-eater (an outcaste)'-The Gita Chapter 5 verse 18.

...and in my desire to walk in the shoes of others...but quite frankly I prefer Eid-ul-Fitr to this Eid...but I'll have you know that there are even Muslim Vegetarians...I personally know a few and I leave you with this quote from The Holy Quran:


'There is not an animal on earth, nor a bird that flies on its wings - but they are communities like you.' (The Quran, 6:38)

Hmmm....maybe Universal Collective Prayer is not too far a foot? If only people would read and practice the scriptures for which they fight so hard through religion to preserve?

And I leave you tonight as we close the Universal Collective prayers with a You Tube clip as an offering of my prayers for the little ones... (Don't worry none of my vids are very graphic as I couldn't bear them myself if they were. Cause the prayers in sound seems to be currently missing from the old clip I've inserted another one...they are sad but not graphic enough to aggravate anyone I hope.) (which I've shared on this blog before:)

It's Diwali Time!

It's Diwali time and from the Piarco International Airport here in Trinidad to central where the heart of Diwali stays as the Diwali Nagar to down south in the heart of the oil industry there are displays and shows galore! I just thought I'd share with you some footage from my adventures so far.

Ganesh Chauth or Chaturthi Will Kick Off 10 Day Ganesh Utsav (Festival) Celebrations

Photo's copyright held by Meady's Musings Production 2008.

Today is Ganesh Chauth or Chaturthi I'm not going to go into any lengthy description of it as again the web is already buzzing with such information and a search for Ganesh Chaturthi or Ganesh Chauth will give you more than enough information. It will kick off a ten days of celebrations called Ganesh Utsav which will end on Sun 14 Sept 08. The festival of Ganesh is celebrated throughout the Hindu world and in particular in the state of Maharashtra in India where Ganesh is like the equivalent of the patron saint in Catholicism...he is the deity of that state...guess like Saint Patrick's Day with the Irish and those of Irish origin. As a result there are huge celebrations in Mumbai formerly known as Bombay which is in that state and home of the 'Bollywood' film industry. There, even though they are muslim, the family of Salim Khan noted script writer and father of famous heart throb and actor Salman Khan take part fully in the celebrations at their home. I don't know if maybe this has anything to do with Salim's success as a script writer but as a writer myself but of much lesser fame...I like to think of Ganesh as the primeval scribe as I've been told a story by my grandfather that Ganesh was the first writer as he was given the task to write down the Mahabharat(the longest epic tale ever in Hinduism). Only Ganesh was capable of such a task as only he had the intellect to be able to keep up with the narrator and to write it down...only he could hold the verses in his head and comprehend them and translate what was said into coherent text.

Indeed in Hinduism Ganesh is seen as being of high intellect and worshipped as a store house of knowledge and being pro learning and knowledge. Hence he is worshipped alongside Saraswati by those seeking success in learning. Apart from this Ganesh is seen as the remover of all obstacles and so usually worshipped at the start of all projects and so in Hinduism as practised in Trinidad he is worshipped at the start of all pooja (prayers). So he removes all obstacles that might be put in the path of the purohit (pundit) and devotee carrying out the pooja. I guess he with all his amazing knowledge and intellect is able to guide the devotee and purohit to find a connection with the divine or the spiritual plane. Hmmm...so maybe Ganesh would be a good helper in this exercise...this experiment in Universal Collective Prayer? Oh Great One please guide us in this exercise.

All of this talk of Ganesh also reminds me of the time when another incredible phenomenon in Universal Collective Prayer occurred and all over the Hindu world murtis of Ganesh were drinking milk. I myself had this experience in my own family prayer room and I find it especially amusing (being also from a science background) that Indian scientists had the audacity to simply explain this away as capillary action...amusing :) Oh come on as scientists do proper experimentation! How could capillary action be the explanation? I don't want my blog to ever be about arguments though...so I won't rough up those scientists and their theories on this forum...perhaps on my Meady's Musings blog one day I will take them to task. But for sure phenomenon like that is part of what experiments in Universal Collective Prayer should be all about.

So I ask all of you to take part in Universal Collective Prayer on this day of Ganesh Chauth and for the entire festival of Ganesh. I don't know much about the details but I understand that Buddhists and Jains also revere Ganesh (Ganapati) as a saint or enlightened being. And well look in Mumbai you even have some broad minded Muslims joining in the festivities as I mentioned earlier. The festival is celebrated fully in Trinidad in temples throughout the nation and you can also carry out fasting, prayers and full poojas in your home.

I'm attaching an image of a Ganesh murti after I had already worshipped it during my Satyanarayan pooja that I carried out on Sat 24 Aug 08 for as I said earlier Ganesh is normally worshipped at the start of most poojas in Trinidad. I'm attaching it for you to contemplate on the form and look for guidance or inspiration through meditation by focussing on it.

Ganesh's Blessings, Wisdom and Guidance to All Beings! Happy Ganesh Utsav! Or as they say in Maharashtra (in Marathi I assume)- Ganapati Bappa Moriya!

May God Fill Us All with Universal Love and Compassion!

Today I launch the blog Universal Collective Prayer. It is the morning of the celebration of Krishna Janamashtami. I'm republishing this beautiful image from the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International Art Gallery of Yashoda Maa bathing the Baby Krishna as according to Vedic culture, Hinduism and especially Vaishnavism the Lord Vishnu appeared in his 8th incarnation on the earth in the form of the Baby Krishna on this night. This afternoon I will perform Satnarayan (Satyanarayan) Katha a ritual that worships the Narayan form of Vishnu and celebrates the power of Sat- Truth and the Lord Narayan is worshiped as the embodiment of Truth in this prayer. The Katha is a story that illustrates the power of Truth. Later on into the evening I plan to join with others across the globe in Lighting Candles for Tibet (in my case only deeyas this time) and then will join with the rest of the Hindu world in the commemoration of Baby Krishna's appearance on earth by celebrating Krishna Janamashtami at 12 PM tonight.

When I first envisioned this it was based on the fact that the two events coincided- the candle4tibet event which Ive been involved in http://meadysmusings.blogspot.com and Krishna Janamashtami. Even before I realized this I had planned to do the lighting for Tibet this time at my home after a puja and I had figured on the celebration of Truth hence the Satyanarayan Katha. I had enjoyed my first candle4tibet event so much but did not have the strength or felt the local interest would be there for another public lighting. I figured it did not matter if it was public as the power of collective prayer could be felt at my home and by linking up with others in spirit globally. So I was going to experiment with this instead. However realizing that the day coincided with Krishna Janamashtami celebrations here. I opted to start at home and then take it to the local temple. I'm yet to see how this entire universal collective prayer experience will turn out and of course I plan to share it here on this blog.

However after the beautiful experience that was the Candle4Tibet event on Thurs 7 Aug 08. Ive been having so many mixed feelings...with Buddhists (converts mostly) coming and going on about their religion. People letting me know that H.H. Dalai Lama is not a vegetarian. People mouthing off to me bout what my heritage and the truth bout what my lineage may or may not really be. I guess oh Lord help us all the questions of who is right and who is wrong plagued us all as usual! These things sully the prayers. And if you believe in reincarnation as many who follow eastern thoughts do we will all have experiences as different races, sex, religion, caste and class at some point in our existence so...really so what?! It made me realize too that the Truth as powerful as it maybe is always relative and can so easily be sullied. To be honest in all of this I don't know what is the Sat? What is the Truth? But simply this which I guess is my Sat, my Truth. Perhaps that is what it as Shakespeare so famously wrote 'To Thine Ownself Be True' and that's all we can do. Our life on this earth is meant to be an experience for us to be able in the long run, no matter how many lifetimes it takes, to learn love and compassion for all beings. And there it was I found for now what is the Truth to fill out in my religion slot on Facebook! I changed it real fast from Hindu/Buddhist/Spiritualist to this after my recent experiences.

So I go into this evening's proceedings (as it thunders and rains here very much as it did according to the Vedic tale on the day that Baby Krishna came to earth) with this in my heart... this in my prayers. No matter who we are where our ancestors came from or how we choose to worship... Let us all show each other love and compassion. I truly believe this and so this is my truth that if we all focus on this and practice this piece by piece and as we get better at it...the truth will prevail...and we will all of a sudden realise that LOVE IS ALL THERE IS! (and I think I may have just quoted a Beatles song there...no rights infringement intended) Please reflect on my loaner pic from the Bhaktivedanta people and look at the love and beauty in it. A mother lovingly bathing her baby. Don't bother too much bout who was right and who was wrong who came first or who came last. Who was better and who was best or who is right now or wrong now. May God Bless Us All and fill Us with Love and Compassion to All Beings of the Universe!

I also look fwd to the next event on Sat 30 Aug when the Tibetan Governtment in exile is hosting a global day of fasting and prayer. As quoted on the website www.tibet.net-

The committee has appealed to the Tibetan supporters, champions of truth and non-violence around the world to join in this non-violent effort to reduce one's defilements and to create wisdom and compassion in the minds of the oppressor.

It aims to bring solace to the departed souls of all those Tibetans and who are still enduring atrocities under the brutal Chinese oppression from their sufferings, and for the truth of Tibetan issue to prevail soon.

While observing the fast, people will recite prayers to enhance the collective merits of the Tibetan and Chinese people and long and healthy life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.