Friends,


we have just received a transcript from our brother-disciples in
Chicago of a recent lecture there by Swami Veda.

This lecture says is all ... enjoy, and above all, practice!

http://www.meaus.com/answer-to-9-11-2001.htm



In service,
John Zavrel

Friends,

after his recent trip to Rishikesh, India, one of our
fellow-disciples sent us a link with some great photos from the trip to
Gangotri and Gomukh - the source of the river Ganga. Enjoy!


http://www.murraycreek.net/elliottj/travels/highlights/india/
06_gangotri/


In service,
John Zavrel

http://www.meaus.com
zavrel@...

Dear Friends,

Those of us who had the privilege and good fortune to know the great
yogi, sage, scientists and humanitarian H.H. Swami Rama of the
Himalayas, will remember tomorrow, NOVEMBER 13th the annivarsary of
his leaving his physical body in 1996

http://www.meaus.com/ODE.html


This is a link to an excerpt from one of his works, with a link to an
article about him which I wrote on hearing of his mahasamadhi in 1996.


His work continues to be done worldwide under the inspiring and
enlightening guidance of his disciple Swami Veda.


In service,
John Zavrel

Friends,

this is a brief article based on a lecture given by Swami Veda at the
Museum of European Art a couple of years ago ... the theme is
timeless and this is a good time to re-read and reflex on the thoughts
of the Himalayan sage and saint, who guides the worldwide mission of
Sri Swami Rama of the Himalayas


http://www.meaus.com/millenniumlecture.htm


In service,
John Zavrel

Dear Mind pursuing peace,


SILENCE…


Would you join me for an extended 10 day silence retreat this next
summer (July 6-16th 2003) near Minneapolis?

This beautiful and serene wooded setting will be a time for totally
resting the mind away from the attractions and lures of the outside
world.

Please join me for guided meditations, contemplative walks in the
woods, swimming and relaxing in Mother Nature.

The most profound teachings of the Tradition are in silence.

The greatest growth of the human mind takes place in silence. As we
discover speech, our growth slows down.

Let us rediscover the silent chambers of the mind, so we may continue
our growth and understand the perennial teachings in a new light.

Only when we have understood silence will we understand all the
inspiration that has ever flowed to humanity from the minds and
mouths of its great saints and sages.

I wish you the art of learning to live in silence and I wish you the
discovery of that still depth of mind in which all words cease, from
which all spoken words arise.


With love and blessings,
Swami Veda Bharati


P.S.
As we are currently in the process of making our reservation
deposit for the retreat this next summer, we would kindly ask that if
you are indeed interested, please do send something now toward your
reservation fee (this may be refunded 3 months before retreat date if
circumstances do not permit attendance).

A suggested amount is $300 to be sent to the Meditation Center by the
first week of December. The total retreat cost for the 10 days will
be
$800 US dollars, with exceptions to those in countries with a lower
economy (please inquire).

The Meditation Center
631 University Ave NE
Mpls, MN 55413
Fax: 612-379-2456

Swami Veda's Blessings from Hong Kong



                  May you never enter the shallows of the mind.



              May the wings of an angel serve as sails for the angel

                   to sail the smooth surfaces of your mind-lake.



                     May you ever remain a dweller of depths.



                         May the silent songs of your mind

                               enchant the world-mind.



                              May a thousand divinities

                             orbit around your mind-sun.



                   May the Master meet you on the road and say,

             "Where have you been all this time as I waited for you".



                                   May you become

                          the wellspring of all philosophies.



                               May you become a nest

                               for those seeking shelter

                              because your mind-wings

                             can enfold and protect them.



                         May you be discovered as the mine

                             where mind-diamonds glow

                               with the light of the sun

                       that is within each of these diamonds.

                                   For that meditate.



                             May your mind never sleep

                    and, may, thereby you have the deepest rest.



                    May your heart contain that secret treasure

                      for which the sages value you immensely.



                            May your words become suns

                          to shine over future generations.



                        May your word-moons of inspiration

                          and solace for others never wane.



                         May your inspirations so overflow

                     they fill all heart-empties of living beings.



                              May your mind so expand

                        that it is seen as All-mind of infinity.



                         May you change the noisy darkness

                                  into silent thought.



                                 Be. Cease to become

                       and thereby become all you wish to Be.



                May you be so pulled towards infinity as the ocean

              is pulled towards the moon of peace, solace and silence.



                     May the vast countryside called your mind

                             be the most enchanting one.



                              May the minds of Masters

                  make your mind their permanent dwelling place.



                    May the quietening waves flowing from you

               never lose their intensity as they reach unquiet minds.



                May you pour out quieting waves from your mind

                     and fill the cells of those who pass by you

              and may they then emanate some waves towards others.



                          May you radiate a fragrant light

                      wherever malodorous minds congregate.



                             May the language you speak

                          be understood only by silent ones.



                                May the darkest minds

                       become lit up candles in your presence.



                           May you climb the highest peak

                            of the Himalayas of the mind.



                         May the thought-flowers you plant

                 exude a fragrance that imparts permanent beauty

                             to the minds that smell them.



                            May the words you ever hear

                        reach your mind as waves of silence.



              May your words be waves from the mind-sea of silence.

                 May you win landscapes that stretch far and wide

                      only in the consciousness of divine sages.



                                   Be immeasurable.



                              May you, without reading,

                        know all the scriptures in your heart.



                 May your presence confer inexhaustible fortunes

                      to souls that have known no light before.



                               May the orphaned minds

                     (who have never been sheltered by a sage)

                                find their sage in you.



               The diamonds of light you see in your meditation —

         may you store them in a sack made of your smooth mind fabric.

                              May the sack get so heavy

                  that you have to distribute your mind-diamonds

                           to the spiritually impoverished.



                               May you become known

                           as the elder brother of the Sun.



                               May you become known

                           as the elder sister of the Moon.



                               May you become known

                             as the parent of many Stars.



                       Special Announcement

Swami Veda's books & CD's and tapes are now available for
purchase by
credit card through his website - click here:

                         http://www.swamiveda.org

         Every purchase you make helps his World Wide Mission.

                      You help is greatly appreciated.

               Perhaps a book would make a great holiday gift.


http://wwwMEAus.com
zavrel@...

Friends,

we have put the handful of pearls-blessings by Swamiji, which he sent
us recently to pass on to everybody on a new web page at

http://www.meaus.com/blessings-sayings-2002.htm


In service,
John Zavrel

Friends,

this is our link to the current page BUFFALO ART REPORTS


http://www.meaus.com/buffalo-art-reports85.htm


with information on the current Albright-Knox exhibition "MATISSE AND
THE ARTISTS OF MONTPARNASSE", the DEGAS sculpture exhibition in
Rochester, on MEA's upcoming exhibition of 'ICONS FROM BULGARIA', and
other interesting news.


John Zavrel
http://www.MEAus.com
zavrel@...

The silent answer to 'Does God Exist'

Swami Veda Bharati


Once I wrote a book titled GOD to which my Gurudeva Swami Rama of the
Himalayas contributed a foreword and gave his blessing. A few months
later, however, he published a book titled Enlightenment without God,
his commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad the topic of which is the
word OM.

Among the major schools of Indian philosophy there are at least four
that do not accept a creator God; the two Vedic schools, namely the
early Sankhya and Mimamsa (the philosophy of rituals and actions) are
believed by the modern scholars not to accept an omnipotent being.
The Jaina and the Buddhist traditions, likewise, refuse to espouse a
creator God. Yet who could challenge the spiritual achievements of
their adherents?

These are puzzles that need unravelling, as follows:

(1) Quite often those who debate in favour of God's existence,
actually seek to support their notion of God, and not God as S/he/It
is. In the path of the yogis the suggestion is to drop all notions and
go into an interior silence. There, somewhere within oneself is to be
found an answer to the question: Does God exist? In writing the book on
enlightenment without God, this is what my own spiritual master
proposed and interpreted the Upanishad as showing the pathways of
consciousness which one must traverse in order to find that answer.
Since God is stated to be a-nir-vachaniya, not analysable, ineffable,
One about whom no statement can be made, there is no point in
debating the question. The yogis, the Sufis and all other mystics say:
Do not believe what someone else says; find out for yourself. Let the
personal experience answer the question. The ways of the systems taught
by these masters are methodical and one gradually finds the answer
through them within oneself.

  (2) This writer teaches meditation in all different societies,
cultures and countries, to believers of all religions, atheists and
agnostics. Often he has found that the atheists turn out to be better
meditators because they have no preconceived notions. The writer
makes it a point to suggest that no belief systems that are not
personally tested through internal experience, be brought into play in
the practice of meditation; one must not begin with a pre-judice
(hyphen here intended).

(3) When the basic meditation practices are taught, for example some
of the more the hundred or so mental exercises undertaken during
shavasana (corpse position), one loses awareness of the body, but
becomes much more aware of one's consciousness, first steps in self-
realisation. After a few weeks or months, depending on the individual,
the practitioners ask: I am not aware of the body and the senses but I
am aware of a heightened consciousness; what is it? I tell them: Do not
name it soul or God because these have become emotionally loaded
words; name it Factor X. God by any other name will do just as well.
The proof of this pudding, rather Honey as it is called in the
Upanishads (idam madhu), is in the eating.

(4) These states of consciousness are not only subjective experiences
but are corroborated by the study of brain waves. It is now well
known that at a certain point in the case of a meditation master a flat
rate wave is produced, as though one were brain dead, yet the meditator
can recount all the happenings taking place around him/her. Many guides
of humanity have chosen to leave this "factor" nameless. "the Tao that
can be named is not Tao", says Tao Teh-Ching. The Buddhist Shunya, the
Void that voids all voids, comes in this category. So does the  "na-
iti, na-iti" of the Upanishads, and the Via Negativa of Meister
Eckhardt.

As you, dear seeker, would actually begin to glimpse this No-God even
from the distance, you will find that God is not at all quite the way
our individually tailored notions have us believe. What is It really
like? In answer to that question the Yogi and the Sufi falls silent,
unable to name any names. So will you when you reach there.


Repreinted from Hindustan Times
November 30, 2002



zavrel@...
http://www.MEAus.com

Friends,

some years ago I gave a talk on this theme, in which I presented some
ideas by one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, Prof. Hermann
Oberth, the "father of space flight'.

The thought provoking ideas of the visionary and free thinker are
valid now more than ever...

http://www.meaus.com/POLITICS.html


If you are interested to read more about these and other ideas, you
can order a copy from us at $ 24  ($20 plus $4 for shipping).
We accept MC, VISA, AE. Order from: zavrel@...


John Zavrel
http://www.MEAus.com
zavrel@...

May the seasons of your mind be attuned to your Soul-Sun.

May the snow-white purity of your mind be envied by many a crystal
soul. May the clear light of the moon of intuition that ripples in
your depths be constant, never waning, ever full

May your very presence instill into all minds near and dear to you a
stillness that radiates silence and peace in. the nights of the soul
where sensual excitations subside and only the clear stream of
consciousness of the divine presence suffuses the very self of beings.

May your celebrations be perennial ones and not a moment pass that is
not a festival of the spirit and a gift of light.


Swami Veda

Friends

in America, Europe, Asia and Africa -- may this message for the
holidays and New Year 2003 inspire you for the future, which starts
in
THIS MOMENT (not tomorrow, next week or next month)

http://www.meaus.com/millennium.htm


In service,

John Zavrel
Rishikesh Foundation

http://www.MEAus.com
zavrel@...

http://www.meaus.com/greetings-for-2003.htm

Dear Friends,
January, 2003

We would like to tell you about our accomplishments in the past year.

At the same time, we invite you to renew or start your membership as
Friends of the Museum. Our non-profit art museum depends on the
support of private sponsors and supporters.

These are some highlights of 2002:

In spring we had a major exhibit of the photographer Kenneth Dulian,
with his unique photographs of lighthouses from Maine to Florida.

We have established the "Eleanor & Wilson Greatbatch Collection" not
only to honor the inventor of the pacemaker, but to honor all
inventors in general. Interesting works of art by Renate Stendar,
Edward Tabachnik, Kurt Arentz, Mary McAndrew, Peter Hohberger, ViviAnn
Rose, Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau and other European, American and
Canadian artists have been donated to us by artists and art collectors.

Social Nights at the Museum have brought interesting programs and new
artists to our Museum. Among them were art exhibitions, a jazz night,
"Homage to an Inventor" sponsored by the Consular Corps of Western
New York, a slide presentation on the French Riviera, a classical
Indian dance performance, icons from Bulgaria, etc.

A Call for Art. This new program introduces 2 - 3 local artists,
and 2 Canadian and European artists during the Social Nights, in
addition to our regular program. Last year we had four talented
artists from Toronto showing their works.

Internet. We continue to offer more hard-to-find information about
interesting artists of our time. In 2002, our web site had 110,000
visitors from all over the world, who have read some 560,000 copies
of our articles.

Come to our next event, meet our artists and other people interested
in art. Tell your friends about us and bring them along.

Next Event: Thursday, January 30, 2003 from 5 to 8 p.m. Exhibition
'DALI AND WINE' of 40 lithographs, sculptures and art objects by
Salvador Dali.
Also, a new sculpture by the European 'presidential sculptor' Kurt
Arentz will be unveiled at 6:30 p.m. Come join us for some fine wine,
music, art and good company!


Sincerely,




B. John Zavrel, Director
Mary McAndrew, Co-director

http://www.MEAus.com
zavrel@...



Name _______________________________________________________________

Address______________________________________________________________

City _____________________________State ______ Zip ______________

Telephone ___________________

e-mail __________________________________


FRIEND of the Museum  $25
CONTRIBUTOR to the Art Exhibitions $ 50
SUPPORTER of the Social Nights $ 100
SPONSOR of the Salvador Dali Collection $ 250
PATRON of the Sculpture Garden $ 500
BENEFACTOR of the Museum $ 1,000

All contributions are tax deductible as allowed by law.
Make checks payable to: Museum of European Art
Mail to: 10545 Main Street, Clarence, New York 14031

Friends,

We like to remind you about the opening of our new SALAVADOR DALI
EXHIBITION 'DALI AND WINE',

opening on Thursday, January 30, 2003,5-8 pm
at the Museum of European Art (10545 Main Street, Clarence, New York).

On display will be 40 works by Salvador Dali -- sculptures,
lithographs, color woodcuts, glass and ceramic art objects, and a
special 'SALVADOR DALI BIBLE" with 104 color illustrations.

In addition we will have the unveiling of a new sculpture by the
prominent European sculptor KURT ARENTZ, at 6:30 pm.


If you live in the Buffalo-Toronto area, do join us on this special
occasion, and bring some of your friends who appreciate fine art.


John Zavrel, Director
Mary McAndrew, Co-Director

http://www.MEAus.com
zavrel@...

Friends,

today we start a new series of excerpts from Swami Veda's talk on
'Steadiness and Stability'.

These excerpt will be shorter than the ones we used to send out in
the past, and we hope you will find them helpful.


John Zavrel

zavrel@...
http://www.MEAus.com

#####



STEADINESS AND STABILITY (#1)


"When one comes to these opportunities of satsang (gathering together),
one should make full use of them. "Full use" means that your
concentration is on the goal and the process you have set for yourself
for this period of time.


Yoga is not merely a matter of learning a system or a technique; it is
something in which your whole personality is reconstituted.

We have in the philosophy, an understanding of the cosmic order of
pralaya and srishti, dissolution and creation - dissolving, creating;
dissolving, creating.

The old needs to be dissolved, and something new needs to be created.

When you go back from here, people should say "You're a different
person."

The difference will be a very subtle one."

STEADINESS AND STABILITY (# 2), by Swami Veda


Now there are, as I've always said, two paths: from inside outwards,
and from outside inwards.

The two are one and the same.

Being aware of your spiritual being.

And that spiritual being, that Atman, that Self, is every steady.

It is dhruva.

There's a word in Sanskrit, dhruva ("steady").

"Naa dhruvahi, praapyate hi dhruvant tat."  ("By the means of
unsteady things, that steady one cannot be found.")  But while you are
here, let your body show that there is this steadiness to your
emotions.

Steadiness is not being static.

The flow of a river is steady.

It is not frozen, but it is steady, like the flow of an autumn river,
according to the Indian seasons.



zavrel@...
http://www.MEAus.com

Friends,

we got hold of a recent article published in the Indian magazine
'Life Positive' about Swami Veda.

I thought you might enjoy reading it, and start thinking of visiting
one of Swamiji's programs in Minneapolis this summer ...

http://www.meaus.com/03-torchbearer-swami-rama.htm


In service,
John Zavrel

zavrel@...
http://www.MEAus.com

Friends,

the great anguish over the coming new war (to grab most of the
world's oil resources under various pretexts) is felt by millions of
people with conscience worldwide.

Largest mass demonstrations for peace are taking place all over
Europe, escpecially in Great Britain, where actually over 85% of the
people oppose the war, including Prince Charles.

Without addressing and resolving the root causes of today's problems,
new violence will only bring about more and more violence.

'Prophet, seer, tell me the future: I have sown thorn bushes -- will
I harvest fragrant roses?', asks so poetically one of the great sages
of our time, Swami Veda at the beginning of the new Millennium only a
couple of years ago ...

Of course, most people do not like to hear the prophecy:

"YOU WILL HARVEST ONLY THAT WHAT YOU SOW - TODAY".


These are some recent thoughts and words against violence by the
Dalai Lama, Pope John Paul II, Swami Veda, Deepak Chopra, Mohandas
Gandhi

http://www.meaus.com/call-for-peace-2003.htm


May we uproot the thorn bushes and start sowing roses - TODAY.


In service,
John Zavrel

zavrel@...
http://www.MEAus.com

STEADINESS AND STABILITY (#3), by Swami Veda

People can begin to cultivate that steadiness of the body, where they
stand, where they sit, how they move their hands, how they move their
bodies, how they move their eyes, how their speech comes out.

It is not the movement of a drunken person, but an awareness, and not
created artificially.

The spine is straight, shoulders relaxed, face calm - not the leaves
of a tree in a storm.

That is the teaching - to learn to move and to sit with that
awareness.

And that in itself will impart a certain stability in people's
emotional life, in your love relationships.

Those who have been meditating for long, sometimes I see them in
meditation, beautiful, deep, wonderful.

And then they open their eyes after five minutes of meditation, and .
. . as soon as that moment is over, there is the same disturbance,
because, they have not permitted the effects of that meditation to
permeate your body, to make your prana stream flow steady.



zavrel@...
http://www.MEAus.com

Friends,

there is a new journal available to people interested in the
tradition of Himalayan Masters, as taught by Swami Rama of the
Himalayas.

Published by Swami Rama's old-time students, the latest issue carries
articles by Swami Rama, Swami Veda, Prem Prakash, Swami Jaidev, Yogi
Achala (Charles Bates), Phil Nurnberger, Swami Hari and others.

Subscription price is $ 15 in the U.S., $ 20 in Canada, $ 25 in South
America, Europe, India and Asia. Published quarterly.

Order from:
Himalayan Path, 1317 Summit Avenue, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55105-2602,
USA. Telephone 651-645-6808. E-mail: yes@...


You will find the selection of articles in each issue interesting and
inspiring ... give it a try!!


In service,
John Zavrel

zavrel@...
http://www.MEAus.com

STEADINESS AND STABILITY (#4), by Swami Veda


When I walk into, when I am coming towards this meditation hall, do
you know what I look for?

I look at the shoes.

Have they been discarded  helter-skelter?



In the beginning, whenever one is trying to change a habit, it
becomes an effort!

"Oh, I forgot!  Oh, I'll never make it!"

Don't condemn yourself.

Think of the times when you have made it.

Identify with that moment.

That is the divine in you.

Identify with that divine in you who took his shoes off in an orderly
manner.  That is the "god" in you.  Identify with that.

Or, the clothes in your room.

That is called karma yoga, that is, practicing yoga while performing
actions.

Practicing yoga in the way you take off your clothes, and the way you
put them away.

Practicing yoga in the way you take off your shoes; your asana begins
there.

That is where your asana begins.

The way you set your mediation seat, the way you fold your blanket.

If you cannot fold your blanket in an orderly manner to sit for
meditation, you also cannot carry your body in an orderly manner.

Without becoming artificial.  It should be natural.



zavrel@...
http://www.MEAus.com

STEADINESS AND STABILITY (#5) vy Swami Veda



Whatever you do repeatedly becomes your habit.

And a sattvic habit will evoke from inside you your sattvic divine
nature.

And over a period of time, I assure you, your face will change.

People will not recognize you.

Your face will change.

There will be subtle ways.

When you are going on a train, people will come and say to you,
"Excuse me, but I find a certain grace in your face.

Tell me something about life.



zavrel@...
http://www.MEAus.com

Speech By Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH)
To the Southern California Americans for Democratic Action.
February 17, 2002
Los Angeles, California


A Prayer for America

(to be sung as an overture for America)

"My country 'tis of thee. Sweet land of liberty of thee I sing. . . .
From every mountainside, let freedom ring. . . . Long may our land be
bright. With freedom's holy light. . . ."
"Oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave. O'er the land of the
free and the home of the brave?"
"America, America, God shed grace on thee. And crown thy good with
brotherhood from sea to shining sea. . . . "


I offer these brief remarks today as a prayer for our country, with
love of democracy, as a celebration of our country. With love for our
country. With hope for our country. With a belief that the light of
freedom cannot be extinguished as long as it is inside of us. With a
belief that freedom rings resoundingly in a democracy each time we
speak freely. With the understanding that freedom stirs the human
heart and fear stills it. With the belief that a free people cannot
walk in fear and faith at the same time.

With the understanding that there is a deeper truth expressed in the
unity of the United States. That implicit in the union of our country
is the union of all people. That all people are essentially one. That
the world is interconnected not only on the material level of
economics, trade, communication, and transportation, but
innerconnected through human consciousness, through the human heart,
through the heart of the world, through the simply expressed impulse
and yearning to be and to breathe free.

I offer this prayer for America.

Let us pray that our nation will remember that the unfolding of the
promise of democracy in our nation paralleled the striving for civil
rights. That is why we must challenge the rationale of the Patriot
Act.
We must ask why should America put aside guarantees of constitutional
justice?


How can we justify in effect canceling the First Amendment and the
right of free speech, the right to peaceably assemble?

How can we justify in effect canceling the Fourth Amendment, probable
cause, the prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure?

How can we justify in effect canceling the Fifth Amendment,
nullifying due process, and allowing for indefinite incarceration
without atrial?

How can we justify in effect canceling the Sixth Amendment, the right
to prompt and public trial?

How can we justify in effect canceling the Eighth Amendment which
protects against cruel and unusual punishment?

We cannot justify widespread wiretaps and internet surveillance
without judicial supervision, let alone with it.

We cannot justify secret searches without a warrant.

We cannot justify giving the Attorney General the ability to
designate domestic terror groups.

We cannot justify giving the FBI total access to any type of data
which may exist in any system anywhere such as medical records and
financial records.

We cannot justify giving the CIA the ability to target people in this
country for intelligence surveillance.

We cannot justify a government which takes from the people our right
to privacy and then assumes for its own operations a right to total
secrecy.

The Attorney General recently covered up a statue of Lady Justice
showing her bosom as if to underscore there is no danger of justice
exposing herself at this time, before this administration.

Let us pray that our nation's leaders will not be overcome with fear.
Because today there is great fear in our great Capitol. And this must
be understood before we can ask about the shortcomings of Congress in
the current environment. The great fear began when we had to evacuate
the Capitol on September 11. It continued when we had to leave the
Capitol again when a bomb scare occurred as members were pressing the
CIA during a secret briefing. It continued when we abandoned
Washington when anthrax, possibly from a government lab, arrived in the
mail. It continued when the Attorney General declared a nationwide
terror alert and then the Administration brought the destructive
Patriot Bill to the floor of the House.

It continued in the release of the bin Laden tapes at the same time
the President was announcing the withdrawal from the ABM treaty.

It remains present in the cordoning off of the Capitol. It is present
in the camouflaged armed national guardsmen who greet members of
Congress each day we enter the Capitol campus. It is present in the
labyrinth of concrete barriers through which we must pass each time
we go to vote.

The trappings of a state of siege trap us in a state of fear, ill-
equipped to deal with the Patriot Games, the Mind Games, the War
Games of an unelected President and his undetected Vice President.

Let us pray that our country will stop this war. "To provide for the
common defense" is one of the formational principles of America.

Our Congress gave the President the ability to respond to the tragedy
of September 11. We licensed a response to those who helped bring the
terror of September 11th. But we the people and our elected
representatives must reserve the right to measure the response, to
proportion the response, to challenge the response, and to correct
the response.


Because we did not authorize the invasion of Iraq.

We did not authorize the invasion of Iran.

We did not authorize the invasion of North Korea.

We did not authorize the bombing of civilians in Afghanistan.

We did not authorize permanent detainees in Guantanamo Bay.

We did not authorize the withdrawal from the Geneva Convention.

We did not authorize military tribunals suspending due process and
habeas corpus.

We did not authorize assassination squads.

We did not authorize the resurrection of COINTELPRO.

We did not authorize the repeal of the Bill of Rights.

We did not authorize the revocation of the Constitution.

We did not authorize national identity cards.

We did not authorize the eye of Big Brother to peer from cameras
throughout our cities.

We did not authorize an eye for an eye.

Nor did we ask that the blood of innocent people, who perished on
September 11, be avenged with the blood of innocent villagers in
Afghanistan.

We did not authorize the administration to wage war anytime,
anywhere, anyhow it pleases.

We did not authorize war without end.

We did not authorize a permanent war economy.

Yet we are upon the threshold of a permanent war economy. The
President
has requested a $45.6 billion increase in military spending. All
defense-related programs will cost close to $400 billion.

Consider that the Department of Defense has never passed an
independent audit.
Consider that the Inspector General has notified Congress that the
Pentagon cannot properly account for $1.2 trillion in transactions.
Consider that in recent years the Dept. of Defense could not match
$22 billion worth of expenditures to the items it purchased, wrote off,
as lost, billions of dollars worth of in-transit inventory and stored
nearly $30 billion worth of spare parts it did not need.


Yet the defense budget grows with more money for weapons systems to
fight a cold war which ended, weapon systems in search of new enemies
to create new wars. This has nothing to do with fighting terror.


This has everything to do with fueling a military industrial machine
with the treasure of our nation, risking the future of our nation,
risking democracy itself with the militarization of thought which
follows the militarization of the budget.


Let us pray for our children.

Our children deserve a world without end. Not a war without end. Our
children deserve a world free of the terror of hunger, free of the
terror of poor health care, free of the terror of homelessness, free
of the terror of ignorance, free of the terror of hopelessness, free of
the terror of policies which are committed to a world view which is
not appropriate for the survival of a free people, not appropriate for
the survival of democratic values, not appropriate for the survival of
our nation, and not appropriate for the survival of the world.


Let us pray that we have the courage and the will as a people and as
a nation to shore ourselves up, to reclaim from the ruins of September
11th our democratic traditions.


Let us declare our love for democracy. Let us declare our intent for
peace.


Let us work to make nonviolence an organizing principle in our own
society.


Let us recommit ourselves to the slow and painstaking work of
statecraft, which sees peace, not war as being inevitable.


Let us work for a world where someday war becomes archaic.


That is the vision which the proposal to create a Department of Peace
envisions. Forty-three members of Congress are now cosponsoring the
legislation. Let us work for a world where nuclear disarmament is an
imperative. That is why we must begin by insisting on the commitments
of the ABM treaty. That is why we must be steadfast for
nonproliferation.

Let us work for a world where America can lead the day in banning
weapons of mass destruction not only from our land and sea and sky
but from outer space itself.

That is the vision of HR 3616: A universe free of fear.

Where we can look up at God's creation in the stars and imagine
infinite wisdom, infinite peace, infinite possibilities, not
infinite war, because we are taught that the kingdom will come on
earth as it is in heaven. Let us pray that we have the courage to
replace the images of death which haunt us, the layers of images of
September 11th, faded into images of patriotism, spliced into images of
military mobilization, jump-cut into images of our secular celebrations
of the World Series, New Year's Eve, the Superbowl, the Olympics, the
strobic flashes which touch our deepest fears, let us replace those
images with the work of human relations, reaching out to people,
helping our own citizens here at home, lifting the plight of the poor
everywhere.


That is the America which has the ability to rally the support of the
world.


That is the America which stands not in pursuit of an axis of evil,
but which is itself at the axis of hope and faith and peace and
freedom. America, America. God shed grace on thee. Crown thy good,
America.


Not with weapons of mass destruction.

Not with invocations of an axis of evil.

Not through breaking international treaties.

Not through establishing America as king of a unipolar world.


Crown thy good America. America, America.

Let us pray for our country.
Let us love our country.
Let us defend our country not only from the threats without but from
the threats within.


Crown thy good, America.

Crown thy good with brotherhood, and sisterhood.

And crown thy good with compassion and restraint and forbearance and a
commitment to peace, to democracy, to economic justice here at home and
throughout the world.

Crown thy good, America. Crown thy good America. Crown thy good.

Thank you.




zavrel@...
http://www.MEAus.com

Friends,

we are preparing a special issue of PROMETHEUS, dedicated to the
ideal of Peace and Freedom.

The special issue will be called 'PROMETHEUS FOR PEACE'.

We are requesting intellectuals, artists, scientists, writers,
politicians, religious leaders, actors, and other prominent
personalities around the world to make contributions to this issue:
letters, articles, poems, etc.

Also articles from the past written on this theme by prominent
personalities will be added to this issue.

Painters and sculptors can create a painting or a sculpture on the
theme PEACE and donate it to the our art collection as their own
artistic statement.

We will add the most interesting items to a special issue of
Prometheus, which can be found at:

http://www.meaus.com/prometheus87.htm


You can check it from time to time for the latest contributions.


John Zavrel

zavrel@...
http://www.MEAus.com

STEADINESS AND STABILITY (#6) by Swami Veda


"Techniques of teaching yoga — everybody is doing that.

And there is no shortage of scholars.

You can translate all of the texts. There is no shortage of
lecturers.


But the interior stability . . . .

Let me put a certain idea in your mind:

"You not only have to look for sattva; you also have to look for
tamas.*

Become tamasic!

When sattva is at the service of tamas, it creates stagnancy.

When tamas is at the service of sattva, it imparts stability.




zavrel@...
http://www.MEAus.com

Friends,

this is a FASCINATING, STRININGLY ORIGINAL AND POWERFUL article on
the theme many of us have on their minds these days.

Please DO TAKE THE TIME TO READ AND THINK ABOUT the ideas coming from
the thousands of years old wisdom of the Himalayan masters.

http://www.meaus.com/power-of-ahimsa.htm


In service,
John Zavrel

zavrel@...
http://www.MEAus.com

Friends,

one of the latest articles in Prometheus is about the founder of the
modern dance, the American Isadora Duncan -- as she was at the
beginning of her career 100 years ago.


http://www.meaus.com/isadora-duncan.htm


She inspired many artists to make portray her in their work, and she
was friends with a number of Pre-Raphaelite painters in England.


You may find the article interesting.


John Zavrel
zavrel@...
http://www.MEAus.com

Dear friends,

One of the most prominent scientists of the 20th century, Dr. Wilson
Greatbatch, has contributed to 'PROMETHEUS FOR PEACE' the following
article joining the international discussion "War or no war in Iraq".

The 83-year old scientist is the inventor of the pacemaker, which has
saved lives of millions of people, and he holds copyright to numerous
other inventions. He is still engaged in research and takes part in
this vital political debate of our time. The article was published in
the Buffalo News on March 9, 2003. He writes:


http://www.meaus.com/greatbatch-war-not-answer.htm


John Zavrel, Director
Museum of European Art

zavrel@...
http://www.MEAus.com

STEADINESS AND STABILITY (6B), by Swami Veda


The context in which the word "tamas" or "tamasic" is used here is
important. The gunas (sattva, rajas and tamas) are the three
"universal qualities" of all manifest things which, depending upon a
given situation, can be helpful or harmful. There are no English words
which correspond exactly to these Sanskrit terms.

TAMAS ----- Stillness, Stability, Solidity, Groundedness, Inertia,
Heaviness, Darkness, Dullness, Languor, Depression, Sloth, Torpor,
Stupefaction

RAJAS ------- Activity, Motion, Movement, Assertiveness, Excitation,
Agitation, Nervousness, Hyperactivity, Aggression, Anger

SATTVA -----Light, Brilliance, Purity, Calmness, Balance, Harmony,
Clarity, Joy, Tranquility, Serenity, Peacefulness, Love, Compassion


zavrel@...
http://www.MEAus.com