Today will be my last day in India. It has been both a long and a very successful journey. I have had the opportunity to connect with both religious and with governmental people as I continue to weave a web of friendships and important connections. In my work, the more connections I have, the more opportunity there is to address specific world issues by calling on relationships to bring about actions that are otherwise unable to be addressed through conventional means. For example, last year I was able to successfully save the lives of two young people slated for execution in Syria when other attempts failed. This was because I had a personal relationship with high level individuals in the area.
In India, the power to bring about change lies in two distinct areas, government, and the spiritual leaders. Yet, for the most part, they operate independently and are often in opposition to one another. My work involves creating trusted relationships with both parties, and then bringing them together on specific issues. This is the place where I am very successful.
Many of India’s foremost spiritual leaders have a lot of respect for me, and after having been officially recognized as a Saint here, that respect has risen even higher. This allows me to speak one on one with gurus and swamis who often have hundreds of thousands to millions of followers. Those spiritual leaders hold the keys to issues like equality for women and cleaning up the environment.
And the government leaders hold the purse strings and infrastructure to change laws and initiate countrywide projects.
Today, I have the high honor of being invited as world spiritual leader to the Akshardam, one of the new Seven Wonders of the World:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akshardham_(Delhi)
The Akshardam is the heart of the Swaminarayan Hindu religious tradition, one of India’s largest and most influential institutions. They are in support of my world peace work, and do daily prayers for my success in this area. Today, they will perform a special blessing on my World Peace Violin to empower its message to the world, and that message is my message of peace. As most of you already know, my message is both simple and complex. To fully understand it, you can read it in full in my original speech given before Parliament in Astana Kazakhstan to leaders from 80 countries:
After a full day at the Akshardam, I will begin my 46 hour journey back home. It is hard to explain to most, the sheer endurance it takes to spend a month in a foreign country with all eyes on you, in which you are striving to accomplish what most others just consider impossible, and to then travel for forty plus hours before you can rest. Then I have to switch time zones to exactly the opposite time from here, and be ready for my next speaking engagement in three days.
I so look forward to being able to sleep in my own bed and to eat what I choose, and yes, for you animal lovers … To see my dog 🙂
I’ll sign off for now, but I will try to share some of the other experiences I’ve had while crossing the ocean to my side of the world.
May Peace Prevail on Earth,
and may we all see the sacred in the other.
Patrick McCollum
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