Divine Entertainment: Le Carnaval Spirituel

Photo essay by Susana Wolds

Reflecting the ancient wisdom practices of Indian Vedic culture, dozens of performers shared their gifts with Parliament delegates yesterday at Le Carnaval Spirituel. Dancers, musicians, yogis and masters of martial arts contributed to a devotional offering of sight and sound. Each element of the kaleidoscopic presentation was meant to lift the consciousness of the audience. "This is an offering of love to everyone," Krishna devotee Vraja Krishna Das said. "And to God, of course."


For more images from the Carnaval performances, click on our "Photos from the Parliament" link in the left column of this page.

The only way to God?

By Bree Alten

New Thought News Service

In the cool of the Melbourne morning, as thousands of Parliament participants rush off to morning devotions and meditations, a different point of view is on display outside the convention center's glass wall. 

Dr. Dallas Clarnette and Peter Stokes are two of the handful of Christians inspired to voice their opinions through large bold banners, one of which reads, "Don't trust religions, Trust Jesus Christ only."

Stokes is troubled by the interfaith dialogue aspect of the Parliament. 

"The interfaith movements are dummying down all religions into one, when Jesus Christ is the only way to God," he said.

He believes the Parliament is a pretense for salesmanship.
"People keep saying they're coming together for peace and unity, but let's get real here," Stokes said. This is the perfect place to solicit your religion." 
Clarnette's view is that there are many false gods, and that participants in the Parliament are calling Jesus a liar. Jesus, he contends, is the only true way to God; Parliament delegates often are entertaining other ideas. 
"Jesus plainly said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me," Clarnette said. "We're not trying to beat people over the head here, but it is our duty to introduce Jesus to the world. We must earn our salvation." 
A brochure produced by the group explains their concerns with the approach taken by the Parliament (PWR)  as they see it:

• The PWR reduces all religions to the same level, but Christianity says Jesus is Lord of All.
• The PWR says all religions share in the truth, while Christianity says it is the truth.
• The PWR is polytheistic, which means it believes there are many gods. Christianity says there is only one God, the Creator of all things. Jews, Muslims and Christians all believe in only one God, however Jews do not believe Jesus is their Messiah and Muslims do not believe Jesus is God. 
• The PWR denies Jesus is either Messiah or God.

This perspective seemed of little relevance to Christians gathered inside. Delegate Catherine Roberts voiced her opinion above the happy din gathered for an interfaith youth dialogue. 
"I'm keen to come learn, meet, expand, and share," she said. "We have to, don't we?"

    

Grains at a time, a work of art

Gyuto monks from Tibet work on a sand 

mandala this weekend at the Parliament. 

The five-day project started Saturday.


For a video clip of the monks' work and chanting, go to the "Videos from the 
Parliament" link in the column to the left
and look for the video near the bottom.

For popular singer, creativity's the ticket up and out

By Roya Camp
New Thought News Service

Self-expression was Zain Bhikha's way out of apartheid South Africa and into a life of music. He spent the weekend at the Parliament, talking about how important it is for young people to tap their creativity – and modeling the results of his own lifelong experiment in just how far personal creativity can reach.
Bhikha was 19 when a childhood friend was shot and killed. And while he'd always had a passion for singing, he hadn't tapped into music as a vehicle through which to explore emotions and feelings.
He'd never had musical training but decided to enter a song competition. He won, and went on to record a first album, of Islamic songs.
That album caught the attention of Yusuf Islam, known more commonly to the non-Muslim world as Cat Stevens. Bhikha has since recorded other albums, and travels widely to perform his Islamic pop and nasheed music.
In his weekend Parliament youth workshop, "The Art of Creative Expression," Bhikha spoke about the importance of letting young people have the latitude to do the sort of exploring he'd done.
"They're so afraid of being judged. Unfortunately, we judge our young people all too quickly," he said.
His advice for youths?
• Take a chance.
• Have passion and belief.
• Respect all people.
Bhikha chose to channel complex feelings about apartheid and the death of his friend in constructive, creative ways. This weekend, he said, and showed, that response is an individual decision.
"Sink or swim? Become bitter or better?" Those, for him, are the questions. It's up to us to know the answers.
"You decide," he said. "Don't blame anyone else for who you are."