Sikh Religious Procession Disrupted

Meditation New Zealand, also officially known as The New Zealand School of Meditation – strongly condemns the hateful and divisive actions of a Destiny Church–linked group that disrupted a peaceful Sikh religious procession in Manurewa, South Auckland on Saturday, 20 December 2025.

We stand in full solidarity with the Sikh community and affirm their fundamental right to freely and peacefully practice their faith—an essential freedom protected by New Zealand law and central to our shared social fabric.

We are deeply concerned by the confrontational misuse of the haka, a taonga of Māori cultural expression and unity, as a tool of intimidation and exclusion. Such actions undermine religious freedom, social cohesion, and the spirit of mutual respect that defines Aotearoa.

The rhetoric and conduct displayed stand in direct contradiction to the core teachings of Christianity itself, including the central commandment taught by Jesus Christ: to love God and to love one’s neighbour as oneself (Mark 12:30–31). These principles of compassion, dignity, and universal love are equally foundational to Sanātana Dharma—the ancient spiritual tradition underlying Hinduism—which affirms seeing all with equal vision, service to humanity, and respect for people beyond race, creed, or ideology.

No group has the right to decide who belongs in our society or whose faith is welcome. Actions that target or exclude religious communities have no place in Aotearoa New Zealand.

“We therefore condemn this hateful rhetoric and stand with the Sikh community—and with all people of faith—in upholding inclusion, respect, and religious freedom,” said Radha Lyttle, spokesperson for Meditation New Zealand.

We urge the government and civic authorities to continue safeguarding New Zealand’s pluralistic and inclusive society against groups and individuals who promote hate and division. Aotearoa is strongest when all faiths can be expressed freely and peacefully.

We also join many organizations across the country in expressing our deep gratitude and appreciation for the Sikh community and their longstanding tradition of selfless service to communities throughout New Zealand.

Footnote: Meditation New Zealand/The New Zealand School of Meditation has been a well-established non-profit organisation within New Zealand, since 1984, offering free meditation classes, yoga sessions, yoga wisdom classes, retreats, Bhagavad Gita classes, and many other events to the community.  Contact: Radha Lyttle 0274047920  email: classes@nzsm.org.nz

Kirtan & Yoga Wisdom at The Earthbeat Festival 18-19 March 2021

If you are @ Earth Beat Festival make sure you visit Meditation New Zealand for Kirtan & Yoga Wisdom!

For all those thinking of attending Earth Beat Festival: March 17 - 21 @ Te Atiu Creek Regional Park near Wellsford: We will be holding Kirtan and Yoga Wisdom talks @ REHUA TENT, in The Workshop Area Marquee.

Program:

@ The Rehua Tent, in The Workshop Area Marquee

Thursday 18th:

7.30 pm till late: Mantra Breathing / Kirtan and Truths of Bhagavad Gita with Paramahamsa das (Patrick)

Friday 19th:

7pm till late: Kirtan with the Mantra Band and Satsang with Vedic Story Teller and Yoga Wisdom Teacher Acharya das

Enquiries please call or text Patrick on 0211744965 All Welcome 🙏🏻

Insights on Mindfulness

Question: What are the main benefits of practicing mindfulness meditation?

Answer: The practice of mindfulness has a primary benefit and a secondary benefit. The primary benefit from the yoga perspective is that it helps you realize that you are not your mind. Most people falsely identify themselves with either the gross physical body or the subtle body, the mind. But from the yoga perspective, believing that you are either your physical body or your mind is a misconception, a misunderstanding. The aim of yoga is to become free of misconceptions.

So the mind awareness technique of meditation helps you realize that you are not your mind, but rather that you are the observer of the mind. Once you realize this, then you naturally must ask: well, who am I? I know that I am the perceiver of the content of my mind, I’m watching the mind. So I know that I exist. So the question I must ask myself is who am I? I am not the body and I’m not the mind. Who am I? From here one begins to contemplate upon themselves, on their own true essence.

From the Vedic or yoga perspective, you are the eternal atma or spirit soul temporarily covered by a material body and material mind. You are in fact a part and parcel, a spark of the Supreme Soul, the Supreme Atma. In other words, each person is a spirit soul or atma, a child of God. And we are simply temporarily using these material bodies that cover us—the gross physical body and the subtle body, the mind. The mindfulness technique helps you understand this truth. Question: What is the secondary benefit?

Answer: The secondary benefit is that it helps you experience relief from stress and anxiety. Once you realize that you can watch your mind, that you can watch the stream of thoughts go by as a passive observer, it creates a kind of distance between you, the observer, and your thoughts. So if your thoughts are disturbing or causing you stress, instead of getting caught up in them and reacting to them, you are able to stand a little apart from them and just watch them come and go. It’s the same thing with emotions. You learn to notice when you are feeling sad, angry, stressed, depressed, happy, or excited, and so on. You begin to see yourself as the observer of the emotions you are experiencing. You know that these feelings don’t really have anything to do with your real self, and that they will pass. This helps prevent you from getting swept away by them. So this mindfulness practice, which cultivates a real experience of who we are and that we are separate from our minds, helps bring about a sense of inner calm. It’s not just theoretical, superficial, or temporary, but comes from a place of real understanding of who we are. Of course, we may forget sometimes, but the more we practice, the more we will remember that we are the atma or spirit soul who is observing the mind and emotions.

Excerpt from article by Jagad Guru .................................