Brahma Kumaris Learning Center for Peace located in Watertown, MA. had a great honor and fortune to have Dadi Janki, Co-Administrative Head of Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization on June 6th.  Upon Dadi's arrival she joined a Luncheon of 20 VIP women who listened deeply to Dadi as she spoke on the topic of "What Time is Calling Women to Do Today".

What Time is Calling Women to Do Today

On June 6, a select group of women leaders gathered for lunch and an informal conversation with Dadi Janki at the BK Learning Center for Peace, in Watertown, MA.  Dadi, overflowing with pure feelings of love, instantly generated an intimate family atmosphere, asking all to sit close and describing to everyone present as her sisters and her equals.

Dadi Janki explained that women have a special and vital role at this time as God's instruments to transform the sorrow in the world and create peace, health, and prosperity.  Dadi encouraged all those present to fulfill the deep desire in each of our hearts to contribute our full potential in benefit of the world.  She shared that women especially need the power of tolerance to help nurture a world free from sorrow. As women, we need to have hope, courage, faith, and trust, especially in ourselves - to believe fully that we intuitively know what to do and then just do it.  Instead of allowing ourselves to get stuck, we need the power to let go of past pains and hurts.  How can we help others if we still hold in our own hearts any pain or sorrow?  We gain strength when we have faith, truth, and courage.  Then, the mind can be free from stress.  A mind full of peace allows us to experience the attainment of true love, which transforms us, heals our own sorrow, and enables us to become God's instruments to heal the sorrow in the hearts of others in our
world.

Dadi also linked a clear mind to a healthy body, that the quality of our thoughts impacts the health of our body.  She explained that her own mind-body relationship has been a field of experimentation for her. So, her conclusion is that we don't need to think or analyze.  Instead, we can find all solutions in the beautiful silence of our inner being when we have a clear mind full of peace and a clean heart full of love. We must also have the determined thought to finish taking and giving any sorrow and only move forward with giving and receiving happiness.

Dadi ended the conversation with giving each one a loving drishti, toli, and blessing filled with such power, inspiring the group to continue to move forward with continued success.

60 Minutes with One of the World's "Wisdom Keepers"

On Monday evening, June 6th, a program called 60 minutes with One of the World's "Wisdom Keepers" Dadi Janki on "The Call of the Time" was hosted in Cambridge, MA. The audience was made up of over 120 VIPs from business, academia, healthcare, media and the arts.  After an hour of conversation with Dadi, Lewis Randa, the founder of The Peace Abbey gave a small introductory speech on the importance of this "Courage of Conscience" Award.  And then introduced John Levoff who was the one presenting the award to Dadi.

Award Speech by John Levoff, - Advisory Board Member, Peace Abbey
COURAGE OF CONSCIENCE AWARD PRESENTATION
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
JUNE 6, 2005

It's my great good fortune to be here this evening to join you as we honor and are about to be inspired by one of the world's great spiritual leaders.

Dadi Janki, Co-Administrative Head of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University and a member of the United Nations' prestigious Keepers of Wisdom, is a spiritual lighthouse dressed in a white sari, who has inspired people every single day, for the last 69 years, to transform the world by finding peace and harmony within themselves.  World transformation through self-transformation - that's the Brahma Kumaris' gift to the world.

I first became acquainted with the University when I was invited to attend a conference at the organization's international headquarters in Mt. Abu, India. The University has not one but three spectacular, solar powered campuses in Mt. Abu, one of which features a convocation hall holding 25,000 people. They feed hundreds of full time residents, free of charge, every single day. I 'd never heard of the Brahma Kumaris before.  Who are these people, I wondered.  One of my fellow conferees from England, Andrew Stone, former chairman of Marks and Spencer and a member of the House of Lords, had a memorable insight about the BKs up on the mountain. He told me "I've tried it all- Buddhism, Taoism, Shintoism, you name it..these are the only people who are happy!"  The BK happiness is that generosity of spirit embodied by our honoree this evening. Dadi Janki is the heart and superior soul of this extraordinary organization.

Born in northern India, in 1916, Dadi's childhood reflected a deep love for God, as well as an unswerving desire to serve humanity. Just 14 years old, with little formal education, she insisted that her father take her on an extended tour of India's many holy sites. Dadi (the Hindi word for "senior sister") met with all the foremost gurus, sages and saints of the day. She approached them all with the same query, "Who is God? Where is He? How can I find Him? How can I experience Him?"

At 21, she met a wealthy jeweler in Karachi, Dada Lekhraj, who had just founded the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. The essence of his teaching is for each of us to recognize that we are not a body but, in fact, a soul. that the body is merely the means by which we express our inner truth. By being soul conscious, we can create inner stability and happiness by connecting to God, to the Supreme Soul, through meditation. At first sight, Dadi simply knew that this man was the instrument of the Divine that she had been seeking. A few years later, Dadi herself became part of the University, surrendering her life, not to a guru, but to God.

Dadi Janki was one of the original 16 women Lekhraj assembled in 1937 to found the organization and forge its rapidly expanding vision of the future.  Brahma Baba, as the founder came to be known, recognized that women hold inherent power as the creators and protectors of life, a revolutionary concept in India, or anywhere for that matter.  He soon vested control of his entire fortune and all administrative responsibility for the organization to those original 16 female students.

By the early 1950's, Dadi had become one of the institution's foremost teachers, responsible for the establishment of BK centers throughout India.  The community began outreaching to cities across the sub-continent. They had absolutely no status, no money and no possessions; however what they did have were hearts full of love for all souls. They made everyone feel that, at last, they had found the spark of enlightenment for which they had been searching their entire lives.

In 1969, after the passing of the founder, Dadi was named Co-Administrative head of the organization, sharing leadership responsibilities for a dramatically expanding University with two of her original classmates.  In 1974, she arrived for the first time in the UK to lead the organization's expansion throughout Europe, Australia and the Americas. In 1979, the first custom-built BK center was opened in central London. In 1991, a retreat center was acquired near Oxford and, before long, other retreat centers were opening around the world including Peace Village Learning & Retreat Center in upstate New York and the Brahma Kumaris Learning Center for Peace right here in Watertown, Massachusetts. In 1974, there were no BK centers outside India. Despite making no charge for any spiritual teaching or service, the Brahma Kumaris are now represented by 6000 centers in over 88 countries serving more than 700,000 students.

Today, after 69 years of absolute commitment to spiritual purity, Dadi still has no personal possessions, considering herself only a humble instrument for the Supreme. By her example, she demonstrates that it is possible to live an authentic spiritual life in a world of spiritual poverty. By her words, she inspires and enlightens all who meet her, as she challenges us to look deeply inside ourselves to realize who we are and what we need to do at this time. By the absolute purity of her heart, she inspires stability and strength while the world struggles in the chaos of transformation. At the age of 89, with a childlike lightness combined with the wisdom of the deepest sage, Dadi Janki continually circles the globe, sustaining the students and teachers of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, bringing a message of peace and a method of enlightenment to hundreds of thousands who attend her public talks.

For a lifetime dedicated to the service of humanity, the Peace Abbey is honored to present Dadi Janki with the 2005 Courage of Conscience Award.

THE COURAGE OF CONSCIENCE AWARD is given out of a desire to promote the causes of peace and justice, non-violence and love that The Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award is humbly given.

A sample of other recipients who have received this award includes:

Dali Lama
Mother Teresa
Mikhaol Gorbachev
Jim Henson
Mahatma Ghandi
Robert Francis Kennedy
John Ono Lennon

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