Offering Nourishment for the Heart and the Body at the Girls Blind School - Trichy

The day was the 21st of September-the day the UN has designated as the 'International Peace Day'.  The place - Higher Secondary School for Blind girl students, Puthur, Trichy.

With prior permission from the principal and the warden of the school, we the Heartfulness team, Trichy chapter, offered to provide the 115 + kids with lunch and a 10 minute relaxation session. We arrived at the school at 12 noon.

While waiting for the caterers to arrive with the lunch, we watched some of the girls sitting around and preparing for their afternoon exams. They sat around in groups. In one of the groups, there was a girl with partial vision.  She read out from the text book and the others repeated after her. It was heart warming to watch them help each through their struggles with their vision.

We facilitated a 10 minute relaxation session for the students and the staff. This was followed by  a simple South Indian lunch for all of them.

·    Our volunteer, Sr. Lalitha, sensitive to the fact that these children were blind, chose her words with great care as she walked them through the Relaxation session.

International Day of Peace

This year, Shri Ram Chandra Mission (SRCM), Trichy has decided to organize a 'Walk for Peace' event to commemorate The International Day of Peace.

A Brief History of the International Day of Peace
On November the 13th, 1981, the United Nations General Assembly (GA) adopted resolution 36/67. This resolution declared that each year the opening day of the GA session (3rd Tuesday of Sep) will be observed as 'International Day of Peace'.

However, in 2001, the GA decided that

1. Thereafter, the 21st Sep would be observed as 'The International Day of Peace'.
2. All hostilities would cease; if only for the duration of the day.
3. All member nations would celebrate the day in order steer the public towards the goal of a global cease fire.

Since then, the 21st of Sep is observed as "World Peace Day". It is important for us to remember that the goal of bringing about 'world peace' is a 'work in progress'. We should work towards that goal every single day of the year.  The World Peace Day is the day we can use to look back, to see how far we have come, to celebrate small victories and to set future goals.

The Role of SRCM Towards This Goal
The association of SRCM with the UN towards the goal of Global Peace started as early as 1957. Here's an excerpt of the letter, our revered Master Babuji wrote to the UN on the 8th July 1957.

" I am glad to receive your bulletin and I pour forth my warm thanks for the awakening for peace created among our brethren of the world.  The idea of peace common in all minds, though shattered by the self of the individual mind, is working on individualistic basis to gain one's own end on account of the narrow mindedness of people. To dissipate the idea of individual self and to work harmoniously for the common good is the demand of the time.  The conferences and meetings held for the purpose may only be like spark to offer a temporary glow to the scattered fragment of agony of faith working at the bottom.

What we, therefore, require at present is only to improve the morals and to discipline the mind.  We must learn how to create within the heart a feeling of universal love, which is surest remedy of all evils and can help to free us from the horrors of war. I perfectly agree with our friend late Mr. Bernard Malan when he expresses his faith to unite in the common search for happiness.  Happiness, of course, is necessary to end all grief.  But it is like the Black wall of the scientists, which does not allow them to proceed further towards universal love.  To come up to the level of real happiness we must necessarily rise above ourselves, which is essential for the creation of atmosphere of universal love."

You can read the letter in its entirety here.

Ever since its inception, the SRCM has been trying its utmost to spread the message of peace through meditation. In the recent past, SRCM, under the able guidance of the current Master, Daji, has been using The Heartfulness Institute as a platform to spread the message of Peace.