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Embracing Universal Motherhood for Peace & Harmony:
The Amritavarsham50 Women's Initiative
Shri. Joseph Pulikkunnel, a Christian reformer and director of the Institute for Indian Christian Studies, spoke next on "Adopting Universal Motherhood: An Opportunity for Men." Shri. Pulikkunnel gave a fascinating and scholarly account of the role of women in various Semitic religions, giving examples of how highly these texts also hold women. He explained how the male-supremacy in Semitic societies has come not from divine diktat, but from pressures outside of the scriptures. He pointed to the scene of Jesus' crucifixion as a moment in the Bible where woman are portrayed as the nobler of the two sexes: "While all His male disciples fled at His capture, women stuck fast to Him till the end." |
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Shri. Joseph, Pulikkunnel, Indian Institute of Christian Studies |
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Sociologist and Muslim scholar Dr. Saleha Mahmood Abedin spoke on "Men and Women as 'Two Wings of a Bird.'" Like Joseph Pulikkunnel, Dr. Mahmood stressed how the high status given to women in the Koran. She pointed to how in some Muslim laws two male witnesses are needed, where only one woman is deemed necessary. She also quoted from the scripture to show how it continually addresses both men and women in its verses. "Unfortunately," she said, "Muslim women themselves—as women in all other faith traditions—have either been deprived, or deprived themselves, of the knowledge and the information that will empower them." Dr. Mahmood also said she was glad to hear so many women of the Initiative were saying they wanted complimentality not competition: "We want to be recognized as women; we want to be different."
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Swamini Krishnamrita Prana of the Mata Amritanandamayi Math reading Amma's Expression of Motherhood. |
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It was the Mata Amritanandamayi Math's Swamini Krishnamrita Prana who then came to the mic to read "Amma's Expression of Motherhood" and to announce the Initiative's Resolutions & Action Items. Swamini began by saying, “When Amma talked about the 'Awakening of Universal Motherhood' last year at the United Nations, She was not delivering a speech about a theoretical concept. Amma Herself has been expressing this quality, every minute of Her life for the last 45 years." She then went on to explain how Amma is helping all the millions She embraces to awaken the same qualities in themselves. "With Amma, the difficult task of ‘loving thy neighbour,’ the so-called ‘others’ who we meet daily in our lives, becomes an essential part in loving Her. We cannot refuse; we have to reach out. Slowly, very slowly, we become more motherly." |
She then read the Women's Initiative's Resolutions and Action Items:
- Gender awareness and education programs
- Elimination of harmful social customs such as dowry and female feticide and infanticide
- Caring for the physical needs of abused women, especially through provision of havens, and more job training and employment for young women
- Education of men and boys, especially first offenders, who have abused women, by imparting spiritually based, educationally sound, corrective principles rather than just punishment
- Protection of women’s integrity in public spheres by encouraging media to stop portraying women as sexual objects, and by asking governments, commerce and industry to promote dharmic values and training in the principles of Motherhood within their work spheres
- Engaging female priests in places of worship
- Calling upon others to join us in globally promoting the healing concept of Motherhood
The final speaker of the Initiative was Ms. Dena Merriam. Ms. Merriam spoke of the difficulties she faced in convening the Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders in Geneva, 2002. She said how, at times, she felt not up to the task. "Who am I but just a mother?" she remembered asking God. "I had this thought with me and it was much later I realised that that was the point: I am just a mother, but the world does not yet know the power of a mother’s love. For her children, a mother will move mountains. As mothers, we can move mountains. As mothers, we must. If the human community is to survive, if our Mother Earth is to survive, we must begin to come together and have our mother’s love lead the way." |
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Ms. Dena Merriam of the Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious Leaders |
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Still, Ms. Merriam explained, at a point when she felt the Global Peace Initiative would not come off, she came for Amma's darshan. "I tapped into a mother’s love, power and energy, and I knew that no force could stop us."
Ms. Merriam concluded by begging Amma to help the plight of the Palestinians and Israelis, for whom violence seems without end. “I lay at Your feet the tears of the Israeli and Palestinian people,” she said. "I implore You, on their behalf, to come with us when we return to walk through the streets of Amallah and Jerusalem and to shed Your love on them, because I know that only that love can bring them the peace they yearn for."
Thus ended the Amritavarsham50 Women's Initiative. But later in the day, a closed-door session was held where key members of the Initiative along with Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, India's Honourable Minister of Human Resource Development, discussed ways in which to promote the Resolutions and Action Items. Strategies and programs suggested by the guests included counselling programs for families, education of school drop-outs, educational exchange programs between cities and villages to promote understanding, prevention of all types of violence against women through legislation and economic empowerment. The appropriate use of media was also emphasised. All agreed that the media’s freedom of expression should be challenged to eliminate exploitation of women. Some suggestions included the use of famous actors to be role models for young women by refusing to be sexual objects in films and other forms of media. Using the power of media to promote positive behavior rather than negative was also offered as a strategy.
“Anyone-woman or man-who has the courage
to overcome the limitations of the mind can attain the
state of Universal Motherhood.”
-from Amma's speech "Awakening Universal Motherhood"
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