Sacred Links Conference holds up despite rain and floods

By TOM KANE

BETHANY, PA — The rains came and the floods swarmed around the Himalayan Institute grounds at the Sacred Links conference held the weekend of September 17 to 19 but it didn’t stop enthusiasts from attending the conference.

Sessions were held on the grounds of the campus under large tents and in the institute’s auditorium.

The conference’s title was “Sacred Links: Freedom From Fear.” The links refer to the connection between peoples—our bodies, minds and souls.

“Fear arises when we experience ourselves as lonely, alienated, isolated beings competing for survival in a hostile world,” said Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, the spiritual head of the institute.

“The value of this conference is to show people how they are the same despite different lifestyles and different religions,” said Betty DeMay Caruth, director of the Minerva Educational Institute in Honesdale. “The world today needs this more than ever. A lot of the differences are only culture-based. We need an enormous mind-shift. This kind of conference can make a difference.”

Janese Killian from Chicago had a similar viewpoint. “The conference’s purpose is to develop a community to bring together souls from all different walks of life who want peace in the world.”

“For me, the conference is going to help me have a better understanding of how to make changes in myself; to get out of any fear and then create a non-fear environment around me in my home and workplace,” said Satish Daryanani from Aruba in the Caribbean.

One conference presenter, Timothy McCall, a physician, who spoke on the links between the body and the soul, warned that alternative medicine should not be alienated from conventional medicine.

“You should always involve both approaches,” McCall said. “I don’t believe there is any incompatibility between conventional medicine and therapeutic yoga.”

McCall believes that using this approach, people will decide that maybe yoga isn’t so weird after all and give it a try.