Women and Liberation

A Tribute to Vimala Thakar
Thomas P.M. Arnett

This past March, the death of the relatively unknown Indian sage Vimala Thakar caused little more than a blip on the international news radar, even in her native India. But according to EnlightenNext's Elizabeth Debold, Alka Arora, and Mary Adams, Thakar’s life and work merit deep consideration by anyone interested in spiritual liberation in a contemporary context.

In this moving tribute, Debold, Arora, and Adams explain why this powerfully enlightened being may have been history’s best example of a woman whose liberation completely transcended her gender. Most enlightened women have tended to express their spiritual authority through traditionally feminine roles, such as that of Divine Mother. But Thakar’s awakening was of a different order. She conveyed a presence and perspective that was deeper than her femininity, but paradoxically did not deny the fact that she was a woman...read more.

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Brainstorming WISE, 05/18, Clark Center

Participants: Lakshmi, Geet, Sandhya

IDEA 1:

Idea of Cooking in the iCenter. Have people come and eat. We could do it by calling someone as a speaker. Can call Binal, who is a naturopathy doctor and runs under the umbrella of CharityFocus (founder of KarmaClinic). In combination with food, we could host an event in the international center. We could occupy their kitchen from 5:30-7:30 PM- shouldn't be an issue with the iCenter.

But if we want do a fundraiser, not sure what the rules are. For example, if we are excited about a project for Kiva and want to raise money to microfinance someone, we could do it through food or individually. We could get people excited about ayurveda, healthy living, etc. and focus it. Important to attract the right kind of people. I feel if you say Ayurvedic food, people who are interested would show up. We can do this during the summer quarter, weekday evening

Target for early July. A lot of people will be gone for their internships. Most start work on the 15th of Jun.

IDEA 2: Pick the theme of conflict management and mediation, call speakers and open it up

Useful at home and outside. Potential Speaker: Michael Nagler from the Metta Center. Pancho could be another speaker.

IDEA 3: Go on a tour of CharityFocus.

+ Go on a wednesday together

+ Meet with the Mehta family separately (maybe cook for them all on a Tuesday and help them prepare for the Wednesday) - this should be done after people have experienced a Wednesday

+ Go to Karma Kitchen - SUN

+ Volunteer in Karma Kitchen in a subsequent week - SUN

IDEA 4: Go to a soup kitchen nearby

IDEA 5: Second Harvest Food Bank - they have food distribution days, on Fri afternoons. We can go on one of them, if it fits people's schedules

IDEA 6: Maybe someone can collect compost from people's homes and dump it in the city composting center

IDEA 7: Create a forum to give space to women in spirituality. People we could invite:

+ Pavi Mehta (CharityFocus, Karma Kitchen, Filmmaker, Writer)

+ Guri Mehta (CharityFocus, Karma Kitchen, and she started us off..)

+ Binal (Naturopath, CharityFocus, Karma Kitchen)

+ Other women we meet in Wednesdays

+ Ask Nipun about lady monk who gave a talk on Tibetan Book of the Dead

+ Sue Ann McKean (Aikido, Vedanta)

+ Jane Poe (Ayurveda, Vedanta, Child Psychology)

+ Maheen Adamson (Sufi, Stanford Neuroscience)

+ Linda Hess (Buddhist, Nirguni (Kabir), Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford, Gandhi scholar) - screen the film on Linda and then have interactions with her

Those who didn't attend the meeting should feel free (are required ;) to add to this list. We look forward to your reactions, ideas, and plans to implement some of these.

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Sensitivity and Pain

To live requires energy and fearlessness, but we are brought up in apleasure-hunting human race, and pain is something to be afraid of,to be driven away completely, to protect oneself from. But it is the pain and pleasure- the duality -together that make the whole,the wholeness of life. The more sensitive you are and the more you live from the depth of your being,the more vulnerable you are to life. The more sensitive you are and the more capable of loving human beings,the more you will be hurt; there is more sorrow, there is more pain. Psychological hurts, pain and sorrowaccompany the sensitivity, intelligence and love.Love and sorrow go together. So, if there is physical or psychological pain, you live with it -not out of despair, not out of self-pity, not out of any weakness. You live with it because it is part of life, it is an expression of life. 

- - - - Gems from Vimala Thakar

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