Some news we all love :-)

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet will visit USC on May 3 for two events hosted by the USC Student Interfaith Council.

“We are very excited that the Dalai Lama has accepted the USC Student Interfaith Council’s invitation to speak on campus. We see this as an extraordinary and unique opportunity and are very excited for this to take place,” said Varun Soni, dean of religious life at USC.

The first event will take place in the morning at the Galen Center where the Dalai Lama will give a public talk on such topics as secular ethics, religious pluralism and the relationship between spirituality and science. A question-and-answer session moderated by Dr. James Doty, a board member of the Dalai Lama Foundation, will follow the lecture.

The Dalai Lama will participate in a panel of scholars including Antonio Damasio, USC professor of neuroscience, and Gideon Yaffe, USC professor of philosophy and law, in another event on May 3 in the afternoon at Bovard Auditorium to talk about consciousness, cognition and contemplation.

Tickets will go on sale online Saturday, March 12 and over the phone Monday, March 14. Students will be able to receive a discounted price of $20 each for up to four tickets at either event.

USC faculty and staff are eligible to buy up to two tickets for a discounted rate of $50 each for the event taking place in Bovard Auditorium. Proceeds from both events will be donated to the Dalai Lama Foundation. Students should also expect to receive an e-mail from the USC Ticket Office with additional information about pricing and availability.

http://dailytrojan.com/2011/03/09/dalai-lama-set-to-appear-at-usc/

Navratri celebrations, Please RSVP

Navaratri Mother Divine Festival – October 8-17

The Mythology of the Mother Divine Festival

Mother Divine Festival Ceremonies

What is Navaratri? Navaratri, literally meaning ‘nine nights’, is an ancient Indian festival celebrating Mother Divine in all her forms. Divinity has two aspects- manifest and unmanifest, feminine and masculine. During the ten days and nine nights of the Mother Divine Festival, we honor the strength, nurture, compassion, and other feminine divine qualities we experience in our lives.

What happens during Navaratri? On each evening, Swami Suryapada of the Art of Living Foundation together with the pundits will perform different pujas- ceremonies of prayer, gratitude and offering that decrease negativity and increase positivity in ourselves and our environment. View the program here.

The festival guests are invited to sit and meditate to the live vedic chants of the pundits and experience the full power the ancient rituals of Navaratri. The ceremonies are beautiful to look at and also serve a definite purpose scientifically. Various herbs and substances such as honey, water, and ghee, are used during the ceremony. All of these substances through smoke provide a healing effect on our system. The mantras are chanted in Sanskrit, one of the earliest languages of the Indo-European language family. Just like different types of music, the different sounds of the mantras have different subtle effects on the spirit. They enliven certain qualities within us such as love, connectivity and peace. The mantras also dissolve the negative qualities which cover the positivity which is at our core.

These pujas have been performed for thousands of years to bring peace, to bring prosperity, to dissolve negative karmas and to uplift the human spirit. When we are grateful and our mind is clear, when the prana, the subtle energy, of the environment is high, then any in intention we take will manifest. Navaratri is a time for setting the highest of intentions and we invite you to do so at this unprecedented event.

Please check more details and RSVP for this festival here.