The pilgrimage is the Community’s Way
of Peace event for 2013. It also marks the fifteenth anniversary of the first
WCCM pilgrimage to India, which initiated the Way of Peace programme. This is a
memory and inspiration cherished by His Holiness the Dalai Lama who recently
wrote: “In 1998 I joined as historic pilgrimage of practitioners of both the
Christian and Buddhist traditions in prayers, meditation and dialogue in
Bodhgaya … Each morning under the Bodhi tree, we all sat together and
meditated, which I think was historic.”
The highlight of the 2013 pilgrimage
was a full day of dialogue, prayer and meditation led by His Holiness and Fr.
Laurence Freeman, OSB, on Saturday January 12 in Sarnath where Lord Buddha gave
his first teaching, thus setting the ‘dharma wheel’ in motion.
The WCCM’s pilgrims to India visited
Kolkata, Bodhgaya, the most important of all Buddhist pilgrimage sites, were
the pilgrim' sat under the Bodhi tree of the Buddha’s enlightenment, and
visited to the nearby Mahakala cave, site of the Buddha’s pre-enlightenment
asceticism.
A visit to Varanasi, the city of Lord
Shiva on the banks of the sacred river Ganga, Kathmandu (a UNESCO world
heritage site) in Nepal, and visited the sacred stupas of Swayambunath, and
Boudhnath.
The group later flew into Mumbai and
visited the important caves of Elephanta. The next day they visited Dharavi the
second largest slum in Asia after which in the evening they visited the
Basilica of Mount Mary, Bandra, Mumbai and later on to kripa Foundation,
India’s largest NGO, for treatment of addiction and HIV care.
At Kripa they were delighted to meet
Fr. Joe H Pereira Founder Managing Trustee of kripa Foundation and WCCM- India
National Co-ordinator. Fr. Joe introduced them to his work and his team.As the
group could visit Kripa Dharavi due to time restrain ,the children came of
Kripa Dhravai came over to Kripa Bandra and entertained the
group with a dance and poem, A young teen shared his experience of recovery
from drug addiction which was very moving. Later the group led by Fr. Joe sat
in WCCM meditation along with the WCCM group of Mount Carmel Church and Kripa
Foundation.
The evening ended with a sumptous
dinner prepared by the in-house catering team. It was indeed a memorial visit
to all who attened the programme at Kripa Foundation, Mumbai.
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