Join Pitt's Asian Studies Center for an afternoon of activities celebrating the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi and his teachings! Enjoy tea, snacks, and conversation with Pittsburgh organizations at the 2 p.m. reception, followed at 3 by cultural performances, inter-faith presentations and more!
2:00 – 5:00 PM at the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium on the University of Pittsburgh campus.
There will also be a lecture by Carrie Trybulec, Director of the Gandhi Memorial Centerr, Washington, D.C.:
Mahatma Gandhi: Truth is One
Mahatma Gandhi said: “I believe in Advaita, in the essential unity of man and for that matter, of all that lives.” His life was a testament to the ideal that “Truth alone is eternal, everything else is momentary.”
Gandhiji believed in the notion that Truth is “One”, and that we call it by various names. His life was a continuous struggle for Truth, the realization of the oneness of life. He experimented daily with Truth, particularly in the ashram setting, in the communities he established in South Africa and India with members from different religious and social backgrounds, living together with a common spiritual purpose.
Gandhiji utilized the “ashram life” as a sort of spiritual laboratory. It was the environment he created in which to test out and experiment with the ideal of Truth. Just as Henry David Thoreau went to Walden Pond to experiment with the simple life, a life enriched by man’s natural heritage, Gandhiji explored the domain of Truth through prayer and service in the ashram setting.
Gandhiji strove for the realization of Truth; not the fallible and corruptible nature of man’s perception of Truth but the all-pervasive, infinite and universal Truth. In his effort to know Truth, Gandhiji regularly sought the guidance of “that still small voice of calm” found in the silence of one’s heart.
Gandhiji tried to shape his life by the highest ideals that have illumined humanity from all religions and from all parts of the globe. His commitment to study the scriptures of all faiths, to share the prayers of all communities, to serve all humanity, and to kindle in his own heart a love for all of life, was guided by his devotion to Truth. Gandhiji believed that “All the religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects, unitedly proclaim that nothing lives in this world but Truth.”
Gandhiji asked that we seek to know the Truth of our existence, the Truth of our very being, and to live our lives according to this ideal. He said, “Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth. Life is an aspiration. Its mission is to strive after perfection which is self-realization.” This realization is in the knowledge of the oneness of life; that Truth is One.
See the event flier here, which includes a list of sponsors: Gandhi Day 2012 Flier
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