Pilgrims of Peace

Many Paths, One Purpose

UNITED RELIGIONS INITIATIVE ▪ GLOBAL ASSEMBLY 2008

Mayapur, West Bengal, India ▪ November 30 - December 5, 2008

About the URI Global Assembly

The United Religions Initiative’s Global Assembly provides a critically important opportunity for members and partners of URI’s global community:

  1. •to celebrate URI’s diversity and deepen our global community;

  2. •to share diverse expressions and experiences of the sacred;

  3. •to co-create bold visions for the future inspired by our past successes;

  4. •to engage in mutual learning, receive training and build our collective capacity;

  5. •to plan actions at global, regional and local levels; and

  6. •to provide input for an agenda that will inspire and sustain principled and effective action for the next three years.


URI will bring together over 500 members and friends for the second Global Assembly, “Pilgrims of Peace: Many Paths, One Purpose,” in Mayapur, (November 30 to December 5, 2008) including:

  1. •Delegates from nearly 400 CCs

  2. •Over 200 young leaders from around the world

  3. •Nearly 100 Global Council and Global Staff Members

  4. •URI affiliates and friends


The theme of Global Assembly 2008 is “Pilgrims of Peace: Many Paths, One Purpose.” With our world in turmoil, achieving global peace can seem unimaginable.  And yet, we believe that when people act together for peace, justice and healing, there is no limit to what can be accomplished.  As pilgrims dedicated to such action, representatives of the URI community will make a journey to join together in a deeply spiritual place, a small temple town on the banks of the Ganges River in West Bengal, India.


Pilgrimage is a powerful notion in India.  The idea of being on a pilgrimage, rather than being tourists, is a powerful one that the URI community came to identify with at the first Global Assembly in 2002, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  It also relates to the vision of “72 days of pilgrimage” that URI leaders from Asia developed following the Rio assembly. 



LOCATION


Our host community for Global Assembly 2008 is the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Mayapur, where pilgrims from across the globe visit in great numbers each year.  Very much a “spiritual capital of the world,” Mayapur is the place where “the Deities of Sri Sri Radha Madhava, Pancha-tattva and Prahlada-Nrsimhadeva preside over the temple for thousands to enjoy daily congregational chanting.  Up to 10,000 pilgrims visit Srila Prabhupada’s Samadhi memorial each day.”  As pilgrims, participants of the Global Assembly will honor the norms of our host community at ISKCON while creating a distinctly URI experience within that context, including eating a variety of delicious vegetarian food and abstaining from intoxicants, like alcohol, nicotine and caffeinated beverages - although coffee and tea will be made available especially for our group, but to a limited extent, like during breakfast and in special areas.


His Holiness Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami (Dr. T. D. Singh) was one of ISKCON’s esteemed leaders and a founding member of URI.  Until his passing in 2006, he was a member of URI’s Global Council from India.  It is due to T.S. Singh’s vision that URI will hold its next Global Assembly in Mayapur, where together we will seek ways for a mutually enriching interaction with our hosts and the local community that reflects our common dedication to sharing the sacred and serving the world.



PROGRAM


In seven and a half years, URI has grown from a vision to a global organization active in over 60 countries with the involvement of over 1,000,000 people annually. It has created an unprecedented global network of interfaith cooperation, launched countless successful projects around the world and become the recognized and respected leader in grassroots interfaith organizing. URI’s work is carried out by nearly 400 local groups called Cooperation Circles, of which 70 are in India. Our governing board is a Global Council of 29 members from 18 countries.


The assembly program will be developed in response to the expressed needs of URI’s Cooperation Circles and other participants. The program will enrich various dimensions of the “Guidelines for Action” in URI’s Charter:

  1. •Sharing the Wisdom and Cultures of Faith Traditions

  2. •Nurturing Cultures of Healing and Peace

  3. •Rights and Responsibilities

  4. •Ecological Imperative

  5. •Sustainable Just Economics

  6. •Supporting the Overall URI


Also part of the assembly program will be the URI’s triennial Meeting of Members. We will celebrate and support the transition from URI’s second to third Global Council.   The winners of the first Bowes Awards will also be acknowledged during the Global Assembly.


Through ceremonies and daily sacred/cultural offerings, Appreciative Inquiry processes, expert speakers/teachers/presenters and training sessions, CC workshops, Open Space sessions, interaction with ISKCON hosts, shared service engagement, and other activities that reflect the diversity of URI’s global community, we anticipate that:

  1. •Participants will leave the assembly expressing their exceptional experience and training in Mayapur.

  2. •The experience will will motivate and expand their ability to accomplish their aspirations in interfaith cooperation and peacebuilding, and help them utilize the URI global community in accord with the URI Charter.

  3. •Exemplary CC action projects will be shared and documented for future use.

  4. •Advances in URI’s work in India will be identified as a result of GA assembly presence.

  5. •Dynamic new partnerships strengthened by the Global Assembly experience will further URI’s impact in the world.


We look forward to hearing your ideas and suggestions for the program.  See the “How to Prepare” page for questions and thoughts to stimulate your thinking.