Feb 10, 2014

Several days have passed since my last blog and as you can imagine, quite a bit has happened. We met with Satya and made a great connection, and then I had the opportunity to connect with a number of the other speakers and spiritual leaders. All in all, there are about a dozen of us.
I met a Kogi Elder from the high mountains of Columbia. His tribe is quite unique in that they have no conflict in their society. They were one of the tribes who were present when the Conquistadores first landed, and were lucky enough to escape to the high passes before the invaders killed or enslaved them.
Basically, they blocked the only pass to their village and have lived totally secluded from outside civilization for five hundred years until recently.

Next, I connected with Ms. Saionji, head of the Goi Peace Foundation. Her father coined the phrase, “Let Peace Prevail on Earth”. She is a major spiritual leader and world peace advocate. We had a wonderful exchange in which she expressed her appreciation for my work, and then invited me to speak at a major peace conference in Japan.
Her daughter, Yuka Saionji, was also present. I had the wonderful opportunity to work with her as a young girl, and she has now grown to be one of the foremost young world peace leaders. Yuka hosts the Prayers for Peace event on top of Mt. Fuji, which is attended yearly by ten thousand people.

Next I connected with Audrey Kitagawa who I previously met in Kazakhstan earlier on in my peace work. We had some great exchanges and have now partnered on a project to resolve a major Hindu/Muslim conflict. Audrey has agreed to host a meeting in New York and I will bring the leaders from all sides to mediate. I feel confident that with Audrey’s help, we will be successful. Audrey too, is both a peace leader and a spiritual leader.
One of the surprise events of the Mahayaga was the arrival of Vandana Shiva, a world renowned environmentalist and peace advocate. Vandana and I have together spoken before, when she and I were Keynotes together at the Maha Kumba Mela last year. We reconnected and she has agreed to speak at a World peace event I am helping to organize.
I also met with Jeffery Armstrong, a Vedic scholar and peace worker. He was amazing, and we had many in depth conversations with lots of material for me to use as I create a new planetary narrative.
Sri Tatatha was wonderful as he brought together all of us for this huge event. There was a deep sense of spirituality in our peace rituals, and a wonderful sense of comradeship in our personal interactions.

As we sat through the rituals each day, thousands and thousands of people per hour passed before us adding their blessings to the central fire. There was chanting and music and wonderful pageantry throughout the whole six days.
Last night, I had the extraordinary experience of blessing the Naga Babas, who are a highly revered group of holy men. They learned that I was a Saint, and that I had some Sacred Oil from my spiritual tradition with me. I blessed each one individually and it was extremely touching for both me and them. There was lots of press and numerous photo moments and I have made some new friends in the spiritual community.
One aspect of my journey that has become present in my work is having the opportunity to share personal blessings with so many people as I travel. I am honored to have been afforded this new role in my spiritual walk and see it as one of the many multifaceted aspects if my work going forward.

I had the opportunity to share a blessing with a number of the speakers here and many of the participant also.
During the Mahayaga, I have also had the opportunity to interact again with Deborah Moldow from the United Nations. Deborah facilitated the International Day of Peace and also serves as an Interfaith Minister. We are kindred spirits with many of the same goals.

I also had the opportunity to speak with several Indian Spiritual Leaders on the subject of the plight of Hindu widows in India. One aspect of my journey here is partnering with Lauren Speeth and her NGO, Elfinworks on this important issue which she is working diligently to address.
There is much more to share, but I need to direct my time toward making connections and initiating projects toward peace at this time and so I will sign off for now.

May Peace Prevail on Earth!
Blessings,
Patrick McCollum