Q: Premaji, I'm disheartened by the continued violence in the world among nations and individuals. What can I do to assist in the creation of peace on earth?
-- D. Gyaltsen, Van Nuys, California
A: Mahatma Gandhi provided the world with an example of spirituality in action to create social reform. His leadership won the political freedom of an entire nation. Only a few decades ago, Martin Luther King exemplified Gandhi's teaching by opposing racism through non-violence.
When I was in India with Mahavatar Babaji in 1997, he cautioned me to alert the West to be aware of anti-spiritual elements within the Chinese government. He foretold that certain interests would soon begin to bring about spiritual persecution in China, similar to their attack on Tibet over sixty years ago. At that time, Buddhist temples were destroyed and nearly a million priests and followers were murdered.
Sri Babaji cautioned that such aggression threatens to snuff out the flame of spirituality in the world. Imagine the worldwide outcry if the Pope were forced out of the Vatican, the Vatican destroyed, and all Catholic Priests imprisoned. Have we not learned from the Holocaust and the decimation of the Jewish people that we must speak out immediately when any group is attacked for spiritual or religious practice? The world spiritual community must not ignore such intolerable violations of basic spiritual rights, specifically the right to meditate.
Nearly two years after Sri Babaji made this prophecy, the Chinese government arrested and jailed 10,000 practitioners of the Falun Gong, a Taoist practice of meditation. These guiltless spiritual people remain imprisoned for the "crime" of meditation, and their torture in prison includes death through starvation. This second overt display by the Chinese government of its agenda to violate the spiritual rights of humanity must be seen as a threat to all spiritual people everywhere. The Chinese government's slaughter of millions of Tibetan Buddhists, the refusal to allow the Dalai Lama to return to his homeland, and now the recent persecution of the Falun Gong meditators gives a clear picture of where the Chinese government stands on spiritual freedom.
China was allowed favored nation status in the United Nations. Why?
When a country is starving 10,000 meditators for the "crime" of meditation, how can the leaders of the world keep silent? If they will do nothing, then it is up to you and me to take action. If we overlook these brutalities, we are encouraging the trampling of our own spiritual freedom.
What can you do as a spiritual being? Let us unite in prema -- the highest spiritual love. It doesn't matter if you are Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, or Islamic, prema is a universal spiritual virtue that must be present on any spiritual path.
United in love we can take a stand and make a difference. Cast your vote against spiritual intolerance by taking one day a week to fast, pray, and meditate. When others ask you why, share with them that this is your way of protesting the persecution of meditators in China. Make it known through your spiritual activism that you protest the Chinese government's human rights abuses and the starvation of 10,000 meditators. This is love in action -- prema.
With prema, from my heart to yours -- Namasté!
This article was written by the author of:
The Initiation
by Prema Baba Swamiji
(as Dr. Donald Schnell)
About The Author
Prema Baba Swamiji (as Dr. Donald Schnell) is the author of The Initiation, a spiritual adventure story about his initiation into the Ancient Order of Swamys by the eternal Babaji in India. He is a widely respected expert in the fields of metaphysics, occult phenomenon, Eastern spirituality, medical hypnosis, nutrition, exercise, and yoga. To learn more about Prema Baba Swamiji and his wife, Swami Leelananda, the spiritual workshops they conduct, and to order The Initiation, visit www.TheInitiation.com.
