H.H. Amritanandamayi Devi arriving on opening day to provide keynote address.

The Global Peace Initiative of Women convened its second global summit of women spiritual leaders, this time in Jaipur, India on March 6-10. Several hundred women leaders from over 50 countries participated in Making Way for the Feminine for the Benefit of the World Community. The goal was to explore how the leadership of women, and particularly the feminine principles, can bring benefit to the world community, helping to create the platform for global transformation. The gathering was designed as a global reflection, opening with seven hours of prayer, sacred song and meditation. This created a sacred space in which dialogue could take place.As part of the journey to Jaipur, many of the participants, and particularly those from conflict areas, gathered at the Gandhi Smriti in New Delhi on the day before the Summit’s opening for reflection and prayer and to view the journey of Gandhi’s life. From there, the group moved on to the Summit in Jaipur.During the Summit, delegates from Iraq, Israel and Palestine, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Burma, Kenya, Burundi and South Africa shared experiences of their communities’ struggles as the spiritual leaders discussed ways to deepen the practice of Ahimsa (nonharm) and Satyagraha, how to break the cycle of violence and penetrate to the roots of conflict, and how to foster the spiritual process of healing and reconciliation. A major theme of the gathering was Oneness - how to know and be in this Oneness, the underlying unity of life. And indeed, a sense of Oneness prevailed.As we prepared for this Summit, we came to believe that to move forward as a world community, we must begin to move beyond formal interreligious discussions toward a place of knowing our unity, honoring our many wisdom traditions, experiencing rather than speaking about the interconnections that run through life. Making Way for the Feminine was an effort to create a new way of being together as a multi-religious world community, based on a more feminine vision of inclusion, sharing and receptivity. Thus we sought a new language and format - instead of plenary sessions and keynote addresses, we held group gatherings and shared stories. Instead of workshops and presentations, there were circle discussions and a setting of context. This was difficult at the beginning for some, but it allowed a new energy to flourish and gave space for a deeply spiritual interchange.We also sought to create a new East-West partnership, giving ample space to the participation of the Eastern spiritual traditions, which are underrepresented at most interreligious events. This created a new balance and greatly enriched the exchange. (Read the rest of the entry…)

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