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| Please Keep Gandhiji In New England! |
Ranjani Saigal
10/04/2007
Without your help the statue will be moved to a warehouse. We urge you to Donations be sent to (Our collections will be sent to this foundation): The Gandhishanti Foundation
1) Learn more about the issue
2) Checkout the Abbey’s website
3) Attend a spiritual healing event which is a fundraiser to support the cause.
on Oct 14 at the Peace Abbey.
4) Visit the Abbey on Columbus day weekend .. It is a great tourist spot.
Nearly 50 people gathered at the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, MA to celebrate the birthday of one of the most famous Indians, Mahatma Gandhi. The Peace Abbey is dedicated to creating innovative models for society that empower individuals on the paths of nonviolence, peacemaking, and cruelty-free living and as symbol of their work Lewis Rhanda, the director of the Peace Abbey commissioned this Statue of Gandhi on the 125 birth centennial of Gandhi.
The ceremony held in the open grounds of the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, MA at the foot of the Mahatma’s statue would be expected to fill one with a sense of peace and tranquility. Yet there was a sense of uneasiness as all present realized that the future of the Statue at the Abbey was in question due to financial issues. $218,000 are needed to remove the debt owed by the Abbey keep the statue of the Mahatma. To be in the presence of the Statue in the Abbey was truly inspiring and yet at this time its presence is in question.
The evening opened with a singing of Gandhijhi’s favorite Bhajan Vaishnava Janato lead by Mr and Mrs Hemendra Acharya. Later there was a reading of a poem written by Pandit Rabindranath Tagore and the singing of Raghupathi Raghav Raja Ram. Krishna Bhattar of the New England Hindu Temple garlanded the Statue of the Mahatma with a beautiful garland of real flowers. There was an impassioned plea by Vani Manchanda , the young woman who has started the Gandhi Shanti Foundation to try and collect funds to help keep the Statue at the Peace Abbey.
Yet another moment of disquiet was felt when monks from the Burmese Buddhist Order spoke about the plight of their fellow monks in Burma and prayed for the welfare of the monks. The former U.S Ambassador to Burma, Burton Levin enlightened the gathering on the issues in Burma. “I hope that the soldiers in the military in Burma will release how evil their leaders are and revoltâ€.
The evening was inspiring and we hope the prayers sung on the day will help bring miracles to keep the statue in Sherborn and free the people of Burma from their tyrannical rule.
c/o The Peace Abbey
Two North Main Street
Sherborn, MA 01770
Abbey Office: (508) 655-2143
Fax: (508) 376-6246
info@peaceabbey.org
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