International peace ambassador Indian-born Prem Rawat (66) hosted a two-day peace education programme at Windhoek’s Hilton Hotel last week.
The event was aimed at promoting inner peace.
Rawat’s programme has benefited and empowered students, facilitators, inmates and organisations on practising inner peace and changing the world.
Rawat’s spokesperson, Paul Bloomfield, says about 30 people attended the event.
“It was not the quantity, but the quality of those who attended, who engaged and were interested to learn about peace,” he says.
“It was a great experience to come to Namibia for the first time, and to see the interest people had in the programme.”
The peace education programme has been expanding to many countries, especially those in the Southern African Development Community region, Bloomfield says.
After a meeting in Florida last year, the commissioner general of the Namibian Correctional Service expressed interest in the programme visiting Namibia’s correctional service facilities, he says.
“Our team was on a tour in South Africa, and saw the opportunity to have a meeting in Namibia,” Bloomfield says.
He says they were excited to be in Namibia.
Peace is an individual journey, and it is a fundamental need of every human being, he says.
“We are aways chasing after different elements, which is so destructive. Many things we do in life is a distraction from listening to ourselves,” he says.
Bloomfield says the programme connects people to themselves and their hearts.
It enables people to reconnect with the peace in themselves, he says.
“Practising peace is done by valuing each breath one takes, living in the moment, and not being too focused on the future and the past, as we often do with our regrets and projections of what might be,” he says.
Bloomfield says people should learn more about gratitude, dignity, and self-awareness to increase and improve the quality of their lives despite circumstances they may be encountering.
Resilience is a great skill, he says.
Rawat spent six decades of relentless effort to bring a practical message of hope and peace to all, Bloomfield says.
He gave his first speech at the age of four after undertaking a tour of India with his father, during which he spoke to thousands of people.
He was inspired by his father, who was also a speaker, Bloomfield says.
“Happiness is your own treasure, because it lies within you,” Rawat is often quoted as saying.
Julia Nekwaya, who attended the programme, says: “I learned about the process to realise inner peace.”
Linea Shishiveni says: “I used to be a bitter person, because I didn’t appreciate myself. I thought I was weak.
“This programme has given me more hope, dignity, peace, clarity, understanding, appreciation, inner strength and contentment. Thank you, Prem Rawat.”
Rawat made his first visit to the West at the age of 13, arriving in London, where he spoke at the world-renowned Glastonbury music festival.
He continued to the United States that same year, where he eventually settled.
After addressing crowds of up to 500 000 people, what had begun as a school holiday developed into a life-long journey to help people discover and practise peace, Bloomfield says.
Rawat has spent over 50 years travelling the world, speaking in more than 64 countries and 454 cities.
He embraces creativity and cutting-edge technology, and is an inventor, author, musician, artist, photographer, poet and a highly accomplished pilot, Bloomfield says.
Rawat has received international awards as peace ambassador in five different countries.
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