Category Archives: Interfaith Spiritual Travelers

Apr. 10 Wisdom Circle

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Apr. 10 Wisdom Circle: Sheetal Sanghvi

Special this month:

OWL Global Wisdom Circle
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Interfaith Wisdom Circle

A World of Sharing
What is the true measure of what we’ve each been given? What will the world look like when we each share what we already have?

Sheetal Sanghvi will be speaking with us from the Urban Ashram — an urban oasis in the heart of the city of Pune, India — a space to dedicated to the work of inner transformation.

When Sheetal and his wife Khushmita inherited his family’s 15-room ancestral home in Pune, they decided to share their home — with the entire community — by turning it into an ashram. Soon people from all over were regularly making the pilgrimage to their home, and others in Pune were inspired to start opening their homes as well. Today the Urban Ashram is a space where community gathers regularly for yoga, Awakin Circle meditation, inspiring talks by incredible pilgrims, Karma Kitchen, giftivism projects such as a book library and hand crafted Wisdom Crafts, Laughter Yoga, inspirational movie nights as well as musical Satsangs by traveling artists — with seven other homes in Pune also hosting Awakin Circles. There is also an on-line music project: Maitri Tunes. Sheetal and Khushmita live and work at the Urban Ashram, opening their home and hearts each day to everyone…

Sheetal considers himself as a pilgrim on his way back home to the source. He says that the pilgrimage comprises both what we do in the world, and what we do within. At this stage of his journey he is paying special attention to the practice of forgiving — forgiving others, and forgiving oneself.

“The pilgrimage can be a long journey,” Sheetal says, “so we need good tools in our backpack. These tools are the spiritual practices of the ages.”

“Today there are three billion people who don’t have enough food to eat,” he says. “And well-meaning people and organizations work to raise money to buy them food. But there are five billion of us who have been blessed with enough to eat, and much more. What if all of us would share some of our extra food with those who need it? Could we could eliminate world hunger?”

“Imagine a world of sharing — if each of us, everywhere, chose to share a little of what we have on any level, no matter how humble, with each other? What would the world be like? This is the conversation I would like to have.”

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Sheetal: Outer & Inner Pilgrimage

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Additional Reflections
Videos
Music & Poetry from Maitri Tunes

Interfaith Wisdom Circle – 3/20/2016

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March 20: 8th Interfaith Wisdom Circle

Opening to spiritual wisdom — a global video conference circle of people who seek to share the sacred and serve the world.

Embodying Spirit — En-spiriting Body
How do you embody spirit in your life? How do you “en-spirit” the body? How do we do this in our communities?

Guest Spiritual Leader:
Rabbi Diane Elliot is a leader in the Jewish Renewal movement and a program director at ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. Here’s how she describes herself:

I love to dance, draw, write poems, sing, and stand on the earth. As a rabbi and teacher, a somatic movement therapist and a spiritual director, I seek to inspire people to become clearer channels for Divine Light through awareness and movement practices, chant, and nuanced interpretations of Jewish Sacred text. I enjoy creating safe and nurturing spaces for those who wish to explore spirituality individually and in community.

More about Rabbi Diane..

Text:
From the Hebrew Bible, Talmud, and the Ba’al Shem Tov

Moderator:
Libby Traubman, together with her husband Len, is co-founder and co-facilitator of the Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group. Several hundred outreach activities are described at http://traubman.igc.org/dg-prog.htm. They continue to facilitate face-to-face community-building experiences of dialogue, and sometimes co-produce documentary films that help people to successfully engage. For her community service and global influence, Libby was inducted into the San Mateo County Women’s Hall of Fame.
Rabbi Diane Elliot and Libby Traubman:
Text, Dialogue, and Seed Questions

Questions & Comments

Videos

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Interfaith Wisdom Circle – 2/21/2016

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February 21: 7th Interfaith Wisdom Circle

Opening to spiritual wisdom — a global video conference circle of people who seek to share the sacred and serve the world.

Celebrating the Spiritual Guides Who Have Shone Light into Our Lives

Professor Dr. Ibrahim Farajaje, a dear friend and spiritual mentor to many people of diverse faiths, races, and backgrounds in the Bay Area and around the world, left this world on February 8, after a massive heart attack. Those of us who had the blessing of knowing him are in mourning.

In Ibrahim’s honor, the theme of this month’s Interfaith Wisdom Circle is remembering our spiritual guides who walked with us along the way. Rev. Charles Gibbs will moderate the conversation.

More about Ibrahim.

Ibrahim Farajaje: Opening Sermon at Star King School 2012 Symposium

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Additional Stories

Videos

Interfaith Wisdom Circle – 1/17/2015

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January 17: 6th Interfaith Wisdom Circle

Opening to spiritual wisdom — a global video conference circle of people who seek to share the sacred and serve the world.

Guest Spiritual Leader:

Andrew Vidich, Ph. D, — educator, author, editor, international speaker — describes himself as a “spiritual aspirant.” He says, “I am an aspiring disciple under the guidance of three great spiritual masters: Sant Kirpal Singh, Sant Darshan Singh and Sant Rajinder Singh, and a linage which dates back to the 15th century.”

Andrew has spent decades bringing together people from diverse religious backgrounds to share the common experience of unity that underlies all spiritual traditions. He now conducts talks and meditation sessions for Science of Spirituality, which is headed by Sant Rajinder Singh, whose teachings emphasise the fundamental unity and harmony of all religions.

A resident of New York, Andrew has taught religion at Manhattan College and Iona College, and is a founding member of the NY Interfaith Council. He has authored and co-authored a number of books about spirituality and meditation including Love is a Secret, Light upon Light: 5 Master Pathways to Awaken the Mindful Self, and his most recent, co-authored with Arthur Stein: Let There Be Light: Experiencing Inner Light Across the World’s Sacred Traditions. He co-edited The Spiritual Path: An Anthology of the Writings by Sant Kirpal Singh.

Text:
Life Beyond Death, by Sant Kirpal Singh

Andrew Vidich reads and comments:

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Questions and comments

Videos

May Peace Prevail on Earth

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December 24: May Peace Prevail on Earth
An Interfaith Christmas Special

This hour-long TV program, presented by CBS and URI, celebrates the values and work of URI, which our Interfaith Wisdom Circle co-convener Rev. Charles Gibbs was so instrumental in founding and shepherding for 17 years. And included in the celebration are two of our recent guest spiritual leaders — Sister Elizabeth Padilla and Swami Vedananda. Offers URI’s vision of the hope for peace that is possible when people of different faiths from around the world — currently numbering hundreds of thousands — come together in friendship.