Maya Tiwari (born April 16, 1952, in Liverpool Village, Guyana) is a humanitarian, world peace leader and author. Also called "Mother Maya", she is an international teacher of Ayurveda, a health activist and the founder of the Wise Earth School of Ayurveda and Mother Om Mission. [1]
Maya Tiwari was born in Guyana, the daughter of Brahmin priest Pandit Bhagawan Ramprasad Tiwari, whose family originated from Lucknow, India. [2] Thereafter, she became a fashion designer in New York City at the age of 18. [3] Her fashion and "Maya" boutique was a prominent store at 773 Madison Avenue, New York City where she served clientele like Jackie Onassis, Princess Diana, Rudolph Nureyev, and Patti La Belle among other celebrities. [4] Her designs were featured in stores such as Bergdorf Goodman, Henri Bendel's, and Saks Fifth Avenue to Harrods in the UK. [5]
In 1981, Maya established the Wise Earth School of Ayurveda, the first school for Ayurveda studies in North America, based on the knowledge of the Greater Vedas. [6] [7] [8]
On Mother's Day in 1998, Tiwari founded the Mother Om Mission (MOM), a nonprofit organization that provides Ayurveda education and services to at-risk communities in New York's inner cities and Guyana. [9]
In December 2009, Tiwari was a featured speaker at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Melbourne, Australia.
In 2010 Maya Tiwari renounced her monastic title and spiritual honorific—Her Holiness, Sri Swami Mayatitananda—to, as she puts it, “walk a simpler and more accessible life in service of the populations in need." [10]
In October 2016, Maya Tiwari was the opening guest on the radio show 'Unlock Your Health', where in she recorded a series of four interviews on her cancer healing journey. [11]
Among the healing programs developed by Tiwari is The Peace Mandala, a program in which she leads hundreds of people worldwide in the creation of Peace Mandalas created from seeds and grains "to help generate inner harmony by reconnecting to nature's seed memory of wellness and love." The purpose of The Peace Mandalas is "to re-enliven humanity's memory of inner harmony and the awareness necessary to cooperate with and celebrate Mother Earth's profound gifts to humanity. Living Ahimsa brings awareness to the preservation of the seed-memory of nature, human sentiency and the integrity of Mother Earth." More than 1 million participants in 7 countries have since taken the Vow of Ahimsa while creating the Peace Mandala. From 2009-2022, Maya has presented the Peace Mandala 4 times at the Parliament of the World's Religions. She appeared at Deepak Chopra's "Seduction of Spirit" meditation event in Toronto, Canada in August 2014 where she led the attendees through the creation of making a Peace Mandala. [9] [12] [13] [14]
In December 2009, at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Melbourne, Australia, Tiwari began The Living Ahimsa World Peace Tour and has traveled to several countries, leading people in taking an oath of ahimsa, which means non-harm or peace. (Mahatma Gandhi is a key world figure who promoted ahimsa as a vehicle for creating change.) [15] The Living Ahimsa Peace Tour's aim is "teaching the cultivation of harmony and nonviolence in thought, speech, and action, with the purpose of healing individuals and safeguarding Mother Earth and the world." Tiwari states, 'The world can't engender peace until we as individuals . . . discover the state of inner harmony within us.' As of September 2022, Maya Tiwari has been on The Living Ahimsa World Peace Tour for 13 years. 1,774,112 people have taken the oath. [16] [17] Hinduism Today writes, "The Living Ahimsa Vrata mission makes the spirit of nonviolence a palpable reality for individuals [...] The vow can be taken in person or online. Central to the vow is a thirty-minute meditation twice a day. Aum is chanted 108 times, two times, followed by contemplation on key Hindu Vedic verses." [18]
Tiwari's Inner Medicine Healing principle informs the curricula of Wise Earth Ayurveda education. Tiwari says that "Inner Medicine Healing is based on the concept that each one of us has the ability to heal ourselves." [19] A key part of her teachings is The Cosmic Memory Principle, which refers to achieving healing through the collective timeless memories of all species and life forms in the universe. [20]
Ahimsa is the ancient Indian principle of nonviolence which applies to actions towards all living beings. It is a key virtue in Indian religions like Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism.
Indian religions, sometimes also termed Dharmic religions or Indic religions, are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent. These religions, which include Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are also classified as Eastern religions. Although Indian religions are connected through the history of India, they constitute a wide range of religious communities, and are not confined to the Indian subcontinent.
Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent meditation developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The TM technique involves the silent repetition of a mantra or sound, and is practiced for 15–20 minutes twice per day. It is taught by certified teachers through a standard course of instruction, which costs a fee that varies by country. According to the Transcendental Meditation movement, it is a non-religious method that promotes relaxed awareness, stress relief, self-development, and higher states of consciousness. The technique has been variously described as both religious and non-religious.
A mandala is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space and as an aid to meditation and trance induction. In the Eastern religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Shinto it is used as a map representing deities, or especially in the case of Shinto, paradises, kami or actual shrines.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Hinduism:
Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosophy of abstention from violence. It may be based on moral, religious or spiritual principles, or the reasons for it may be strategic or pragmatic. Failure to distinguish between the two types of nonviolent approaches can lead to distortion in the concept's meaning and effectiveness, which can subsequently result in confusion among the audience. Although both principled and pragmatic nonviolent approaches preach for nonviolence, they may have distinct motives, goals, philosophies, and techniques. However, rather than debating the best practice between the two approaches, both can indicate alternative paths for those who do not want to use violence.
David Frawley, also known as Vamadeva Shastri, is an American Hindu writer, astrologer, acharya, ayurvedic practitioner, and Hindutva activist.
Maharishi Vedic Approach to Health (MVAH) is a form of alternative medicine founded in the mid-1980s by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who developed the Transcendental Meditation technique (TM). Distinct from traditional ayurveda, it emphasizes the role of consciousness, and gives importance to positive emotions. Maharishi Ayur-Veda has been variously characterized as emerging from, and consistently reflecting, the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy, representing the entirety of the ayurvedic tradition.
Deva means "shiny", "exalted", "heavenly being", "divine being", "anything of excellence", and is also one of the Sanskrit terms used to indicate a deity in Hinduism. Deva is a masculine term; the feminine equivalent is Devi. The word is a cognate with Latin deus ("god") and Greek Zeus.
Vrata is a Sanskrit word that means "vow, resolve, devotion", and refers to pious observances such as fasting and pilgrimage (Tirtha) found in Indian religions such as Hinduism and Jainism. It is typically accompanied with prayers seeking health and happiness for their loved ones.
Acharya Shri Mahapragya was the tenth head of the Śvetāmbara Terapanth order of Jainism. Mahapragya was a saint, yogi, spiritual leader, philosopher, author, orator, and poet.
The following list consists of notable concepts that are derived from Hindu culture and associated cultures’ traditions, which are expressed as words in Sanskrit or other Indic languages and Dravidian languages. The main purpose of this list is to disambiguate multiple spellings, to make note of spellings no longer in use for these concepts, to define the concept in one or two lines, to make it easy for one to find and pin down specific concepts, and to provide a guide to unique concepts of Hinduism all in one place.
Revati is a goddess featured in Hindu scriptures. She is King Kakudmi's daughter and Krishna's elder brother Balarama's consort, and also one of the Dashavatara. Her account is given within a number of Hindu texts such as the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana.
Michael Charles Tobias is an American author, environmentalist, mountaineer, and filmmaker. In 1991, Tobias produced a ten-hour dramatic television series, Voice of the Planet, for Turner Broadcasting; the series starred William Shatner. Tobias has written numerous books, most notably World War III: Population and the Biosphere at the End of the Millennium.
In Jainism, ahiṃsā is a fundamental principle forming the cornerstone of its ethics and doctrine. The term ahiṃsā means nonviolence, non-injury, and absence of desire to harm any life forms. Veganism, vegetarianism and other nonviolent practices and rituals of Jains flow from the principle of ahimsa. There are five specific transgressions of Ahimsa principle in Jain scriptures – binding of animals, beating, mutilating limbs, overloading, withholding food and drink. Any other interpretation is subject to individual choices and not authorized by scriptures.
Nancy Lonsdorf is an American author and medical doctor who practices Maharishi Ayurveda. She received her training at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and studied Ayurveda in Europe and India, and is the author of several books on the subject.
The Taittiriya Upanishad is a Vedic era Sanskrit text, embedded as three chapters (adhyāya) of the Yajurveda. It is a mukhya Upanishad, and likely composed about 6th century BCE.
The Rigveda or Rig Veda is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (sūktas). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (śruti) known as the Vedas. Only one Shakha of the many survive today, namely the Śakalya Shakha. Much of the contents contained in the remaining Shakhas are now lost or are not available in the public forum.
Shripad Damodar Satwalekar was a polymath with interests in painting, social health, Ayurveda, Yoga, and Vedic literature. He was also the founder of the Swadhyay Mandal - A Vedic Research Institute.
Agni is the Hindu god of fire. As the guardian deity of the southeast direction, he is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples. In the classical cosmology of Hinduism, fire (Agni) is one of the five inert impermanent elements (Pañcabhūtá) along with sky (Ākāśa), water (Apas), air (Vāyu) and earth (Pṛthvī), the five combining to form the empirically perceived material existence (Prakṛti). He is also known or pronounced as Ugnis or Agnish - Agni (Fire) + Ish (Lord) in Indo-European culture.
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