The inaugural International Bali Meditators Festival will be held in Ubud this weekend, bringing together local and foreign experts and practitioners to promote meditation as a way of life.
The festival will feature panel sessions and workshops to enlighten participants about meditation, as well as share experiences and cross-cultural understanding. Initiated by noted spiritualist Anand Krishna, the two-day festival aims to create an enlightened society through meditation, festival committee head Oka Ratnayani said Wednesday.
"There are a lot of meditation groups in Bali, in Indonesia and in other countries, with their own ways of attaining self-balance," he said.
"It's time for us to gather and inspire more people to apply the values of meditation in life."
Anand said meditation did not just correspond to physical health, but also involved higher consciousness.
"Meditation is not merely about sitting silently and concentrating; it's an expansion of consciousness to reach samadhi or self-balance to make you feel no restlessness, worry or fear," said the spiritualist, author of more than 130 books on meditation.
"Once you have attained self-balance, you begin your new life."
Bali was chosen to host the inaugural festival due to the island's strong spiritual base. "Although there have been some setbacks and defiances of values, the base remains strong, and we have to preserve this," Anand said.
Anand will be the keynote speaker at the Saturday morning session, which will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Balinese spiritualists Ratu Bagus and Prabu Darmayasa.
Ratu champions a creative approach to awaken desire for freedom and cosmic awareness toward a better and harmonious world, while Prabu eschews Anka-dhyana (meditating on numbers), a simple but powerful meditation method to attain divine love.
Another panel on Saturday will present the founder of the Bali Usada Meditation group, Merta Ada, and the founder and chairman of the Ashram Gandhi Puri, Indra Udayana.
The second day of the festival will include two panels, the first featuring Ida Pedanda Made Gunung on the topic "Meditation is a necessity of life" and US Islamic scholar Amina Wadud on "Meditation in the perspective of Islam".
The second session will feature psychiatrist L.K. Suryani speaking on "Meditation towards a happy life" and France's Margot Anand with "A sound and light journey through the Chakras".
Six workshops will also be held over the weekend, including "Living in Meditation" by Anand Krishna, "Self Healing" by Marilyn Salas, "Meditation with Natural Elements" by Surpasari Megumi, "Japa Meditation" by Hare Krishna, "Sufism and the Alchemy of Happiness" by Saddiq Pablo, and "Cahaya Padma" by I Made Astawa.
Oka said 500 participants, 30 percent of them from oversees, had registered for the event.
"We're still expecting more, at least 1,000 participants," he said.
Evening sessions will include various musical and dance performances at "The Evening of Devotion" on Saturday, as well as "Sufi Night" by the Nyanyian Darma group on Sunday. Bazaars and community events will also enliven the festival.
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