Less than two months after Prime Minister Andrew Holness’s historic visit to India, where he participated in Hindu rituals and met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is a self-acclaimed priest and a spiritual guru from the South Asian country, was this week invited to the island to share his message of peace and happiness with Jamaicans.
The Hindu spiritual leader and so-called peace ambassador, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, was slated to hold a two-part event in Kingston and Montego Bay. A public lecture was advertised for the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston on December 12, before moving to Montego Bay Convention Centre in Montego Bay on December 14. The appearances were free of cost to the Jamaican public and have been heavily marketed on social media.
Endorsing the Hindu spiritualist’s visit are local politicians. Minister for the Ministry of Education, Youth, Skills, and Information, Senator Dana Morris Dixon, state minister in the Ministry of National Security, Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn, and parliamentary secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Senator Abka Fitz-Henley, were advertised as speakers sharing the podium. Opposition shadow minister for justice Senator Donna Scott-Mottley and shadow minister on national security Peter Bunting were also slated to speak.
The two-day event was organised by the Art of Living Jamaica. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been credited with transforming the lives of over 500 million people across 183 countries through his Art of Living Foundation, which was founded in 1981. Jamaicans were promised that the spiritual leader could help them transform their lives by mastering their thoughts and embracing calmness through meditation, breathing techniques, and inner wisdom. A key focus of his Jamaican tour is to inspire peace.
However, pastoral counsellor Dr. Nicole Holness assures that only the True and Living God can provide inner peace as is outlined in the Bible.
“Pure truth, all-encompassing peace, and rest are found only in reading the Holy Bible and asking in prayer to the Almighty God for his peace,” she said.
While she does not have a problem with the peace ambassador visiting Jamaica, she is concerned about the message he is seeking to spread.
“Any person who is coming on this our shores to introduce or strengthen or preach or teach our people a false peace should not be [in] consonance by any well-thinking Jamaican. In Jeremiah 6:14, he addresses the false prophets, saying they dress the wounds of my people as though it were not serious. Peace, peace they say, when there is no peace. Think about it. That was Jeremiah’s word as it relates to false prophets. And it still stands today of any false prophet that is claiming to bring peace to our shores. The repercussions of this visit can present itself in many forms. Let us understand that there’s only two kingdoms, the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness,” she said.
The Christian counsellor is concerned that the Hindu culture is being increasingly introduced in Jamaica through the establishment of peace, meditation, or wellness benches in several schools and even at the Bustamante Hospital for Children recently.
