World Peace

Click to enlarge!

T H E X W O R L D X P E A C E X P R A Y E R X C E R E M O N Y

The World Peace Prayer Ceremony is a global celebration of the oneness of humanity. The Ceremony invites people from every race, religion and background to pray jointly for the peace of the lands and people of the world. During the Ceremony, a prayer is recited for peace and happiness to prevail in every nation of the world.

People all over the world are joining together to bring peace to our hearts and our planet through the prayer May Peace Prevail on Earth. This prayer for world peace carries a message of great hope and healing. It transcends barriers of nationality, race and religion to unite humanity in a call for the common good of all life on Earth.

برقرار باد صلح در سراسر جهان

(www.worldpeace.org)

Happy Norooz

Norooz, Persian New Year
Year of 2567 (1387)

In harmony with rebirth of nature, the Persian New Year Celebration, or Norooz, always begins on the first day of spring, March 20th of each year. Norooz ceremonies are symbolic representations of two ancient concepts - the End and Rebirth. About 3000 years ago Persian's major religion was Zoroastrianism, named in honor of its founder Zoroaster, and arguably the world's first monotheistic religion. Zoroastrians had a festival called "Farvardgan" which lasted ten days, and took place at the end of the solar year. It appears that this was a festival of sorrow and mourning , signifying the end of life while the festival of Norooz, at the beginning of spring signified rebirth, and was a time of great joy and celebration. Norooz was officially acknowledged and named "Norooz" by mythical Persian emperor, Shah Jamshid, from Achaemenid Dynasty (500 BC). Ashaemenied created the first major empire in the region and built Persepolis complex (Takhte Jamshid) in the city of Shiraz. Norooz in Persian means "New Day" and brings hope, peace and prosperity to the world and has been celebrated among people regardless of ethnic background, political views or religion in many countries around the globe such as Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Georgia, Iraq, Tajikistan, Syria ,Armenia and India. Some of the activities during Norooz are Spring cleaning, buying new cloths, painting eggs, family reunion, giving presents, visiting neighbors and friends and celebrating by having a picnic on the 13th day of Spring. Happy Norooz!

http://www.norooz.ca/

Please watch the video (Persian music & dance)

THE WAY OF LOVE

Rumi’s love for GOD was a fiery one, with a constant weeping and longing for God’s mysteries. Love for anything other than God is not real Love: ‘Wherever I put my head that is my place of worship. No matter where I am, that is where God is. Vineyards, roses, nightingales, the Sema and loving . . . They are all symbols, the reason is always Him.’ GOD is the Beloved and Rumi bewails his separation from Him, as the Ney(Flute) weeps at its separation from the reed bed whence it came and longs for return. He experienced love and passion both through his solitary asceticism and his communal engagements and said: ‘The way of God’s Messenger is the way of Love. We are the children of Love. Love is our mother.’ It was in his solitariness that he became most open to the truest union with God, and it was in his separation from all things except God that he became like a ball of fire. And while such a sense of burning would prove difficult for many to bear, Rumi, considered it an essential part of passion, and not complaining was viewed as a tradition of loyalty. To him, those who profess a love of God must necessarily accompany their statement of ‘I love’ with a sense of furious burning—this is the price one must willingly pay for being close to God or in union with Him: ‘I was raw; I am now cooked and burnt.’

www.whirlingdervishes.org