Dear brothers and sisters of the world Sangha,
We are happy to report to you on a number of very significant developments that took place since the Guru Puja.
- The fruits of a rich summer
- This summer has been rich in events that brought forward our common cause. At the very onset we wish to say that the World Council intends to bring a gradual enhancement of communication between the World Council and the entire Sahaja Sangha through regular issuances via the vehicle of the SWAN website. We also want to express our heartfelt thanks to our brothers in the USA that helped so much in sustaining the progress made during the summer.
- We, on the Council, know that much work lies ahead of us and we are grateful for your understanding, patience and support. For the time being the Council has no resources in staff or funding and so, clearly, we look forward to working through the national collectives and all of you to ensure that Shri Mataji's vision is perpetuated for generations to come.
- In this respect we need your bandhans, prayers and work. Those who have professional competence in the areas of activities of the Committees (publication, processing of audios/video, delivery of on line services; health; education; accounting and finance; legal matters) could kindly liaise with their national coordinators to volunteer their much-needed support. It would be most appreciated. The Council's contact points are below.
- The Chairs of the relevant Committees are:
- Gagan Ahluwalia: Finance
Paul Ellis: Legal affairs
Wolfgang Hackle: Education
David Spiro: Health
Alan Wherry: Publication
Furthermore a Steering Committee involving the expertise of these Committees will be constituted to guide, manage and advise the Global Sahaja Yoga Programme for the Spreading of the Teachings of HH Shri Mataji.
- Shri Mataji's visit to the USA has been as a catalyst for unprecedented international developments.
- The World Foundation, which was announced by Shri Mataji just before Guru Puja in 2004, has now been registered in the U.S. Its official name is the Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi Sahaja Yoga World Foundation. The Board of Directors of the World Foundation is comprised of Shri Mataji, as the President for Life, and the members of the World Council. The World Foundation is the legal entity through which the World Council will discharge its responsibilities. The purpose of the World Foundation (whether functioning as the World Foundation or as the World Council) is to protect and enhance the legacy of Shri Mataji, to support the propagation of Sahaja Yoga around the world and to provide guidance on aspects and matters of Sahaja Yoga that impact the worldwide Sahaj collective and on all institutional matters that have typically been guided by Shri Mataji.
- The transfer of worldwide rights for all of Shri Mataji's talks in video, audio, and written form to the World Foundation for Sahaja Yoga is a truly historic event. In an enclosed message, Arneau, as the coordinator of the Council, expresses his gratitude to HHSM and Her family for the gift, the confidence and the trust vested in us. For centuries to come the world Sahaja Yoga sangha, represented by its global institution, will be the custodian and promoter of the divine legacy of HHSM. The transfer of these rights is merely the first stage in a global project to consolidate the efforts to preserve, maintain, reproduce and distribute these materials so that this invaluable record of Shri Mataji's teachings is preserved for all time to come and is readily available in all corners of the globe.
- Gifting of Shri Mataji's New Jersey House to the World Foundation for Sahaja Yoga to act as its headquarters.
- Gifting of the Cabella property to an Italian based non-profit foundation. We all understand that, when there are collective assets in a specific country, the host country plays a specific role in the management of these assets. However, the management of the properties in Cabella entails costs and it is clear that we cannot leave to the Italian collective alone the responsibility to bear such costs. We will again need some support of the world collective for the up keeping of these properties. In the meantime, interesting suggestions were made for the use of this property, such as an international wellness and cultural SY Centre and a museum to be a place of pilgrimage. We shall seek the advice of the Italian collective on how best find a suitable framework for the use of the Cabella properties.
- This flow of extraordinary generosity touched yet another subject: Shri Mataji and Sir CP initiated discussions on the creation of Sahaja Yoga museums to enshrine some of the puja gifts that were presented over the last thirty years. Suggestions and ideas from national leaders on the location of such museums will be sought and collected in due time.
- Collective leadership as the advocated model for Sahaja organization.
- Shri Mataji' had launched a model of collective leadership in the USA almost 10 years ago. This model, now incorporated in the World Council, is recently being extended in countries with larger collectivities. Collective decision-making increases the ownership of decisions taken by those concerned and ensures a system of checks and balances.
- Thus we are committed to the notion of collective leadership, selfless service and the maintenance of Sahaja ethics in all of our activities and have adopted two resolutions as “entry gates” for Council membership. A WC mission statement will also be prepared. Application of the collective leadership model has already taken place in Australia , Austria , Germany , Italy , Russia , Taiwan , USA and other countries with Shri Mataji's full knowledge and consent.
- Improvement in Shri Matajis health and interaction with all aspects of Sahaja Yoga
- After a first musical evening was arranged early in Shri Mataji's U.S.visit, She so enjoyed the company of yogis that a regular weekly concert was organized and broadcast on SWAN. This established an unprecedented connection of every Sahaja Yogi with Shri Mataji and the activities going on in the U.S.
- Shri Mataji's health steadily improved to such an extent that by both the Shri Krishna and Ganesha pujas, She was staying with us through the gift presentations until almost 1 a.m. and asking for bhajans following this!
- Throughout all of the momentous developments, which occurred during the summer, Shri Mataji was fully engaged and extremely pleased to see that Her legacy was to be perpetuated as She executed the required documents to formalize the various foundations and transfers of rights. Each of these significant occasions has been recorded for posterity and the generations to come. We pray that Her trust in laying this foundation for the future is not misplaced and that we, Her children will carry the torch forward so that the emancipation of humanity becomes a reality.
With love and respect to all,
Arneau de Kalbermatten and Alan Pereira
Coordinator and Secretary of the World Council
ANNEXE:
The gifting of Shri Mataji's rights on the intellectual property of Her life long work to the World Foundation for Sahaja Yoga (hosted in the house She also gifted in New Jersey ) was the matter of a separate message on SWAN from our brothers who witnessed the ceremony. The text below is an expression of gratitude on our behalf. It is indeed hard to overstate the importance of this event, which, once more demonstrate the trust Shri Mataji has put into each of us. Inspired by Her shining example, let us progress in friendship and confidence in each other's to discharge the responsibilities that have thus been entrusted to us.
LETTER OF ENDLESS THANKFULNESS
To the attention of our Beloved and Divine Mother Shri Mataji
To the attention of our most honored and most auspicious Sir CP
Beloved Shri Mataji, most honored Sir CP,
Shri Mataji, Your signature not only entered history, but made history. By signing all the documents transferring the worldwide rights to all of your talks in the various audio and video formats and to your books to the World Foundation, by signing the transfer of your New Jersey house also to the World Foundation, Shri Mataji, Sir CP, you projected Your Unlimited Generosity to perpetuate the legacy of Your Unprecedented Spiritual and Divine work to the whole Humanity.
Shri Mataji, on behalf of the World Council for the Advancement of Sahaja Yoga, I would like to express my deepest thankfulness and gratitude for this unique movement of total Love and generosity You have shown to Sahaja Yoga and to the world. My feelings cannot be put into words. They will not be able to echo properly in your heart, unless and until the reading of the expression of my heart, the genuineness of my emotions are gently being laid in Your Divine Being.
You have given your Life to emancipate human Beings. You have brought us into a level of awareness that no one could imagine reach before in history. You have granted us self-realisation. And now, with this Supreme Gesture of Nobility, total Motherly sense of Giving, you have offered to your children, through the World Foundation Your Rights , the rights to secure your Spiritual heritage for eternity.
Through this historical signature, you have passed Your Unique Work of inner transformation and Spiritual emancipation into posterity. You have projected your Divine Action into next generations; you have guaranteed bliss, happiness, mirth and joy for this planet for the decades to come. In total Greatness, you have embraced humanity, protecting them with each golden words of your unforgettable teachings and talks.
But above all, through this unique gesture of generosity, you are giving to the humanity the totality of the Immense Work of the Holy Spirit, this beautiful work of redemption of comfort and of counsel. I am too small to show to you. Shri Mataji, Sir CP, my feelings of thankfulness. In your greatness, please accept my prayer; accept this gratitude of all your children from the World Council and from all your Sahaja children all over the world.
We promise you, that empowered by the stream of your love and the waves of your compassion, we will preserve this Divine legacy, by enlarging your Spiritual family and by opening the eyes of the world to the Dimension of Your unending Love.
With love and respect Arneau September 16th 2005
|
