Thursday, June 5, 2008

SHANTIVAN


Shantivan - The Sprawling Campuses (Forest of Peace)


As you drive from Abu Road towards Mount Abu, you find to your left- just six kilometers away a magnificent Complex - known as Shantivan (Forest of Peace). The new Complex was in response to the ever-growing world-transforming activities of the Brahma Kumaris through spiritual education and training. Equally important is the role of the Complex to provide an excellent venue for holding such programmes as conferences, spiritual congregations and educational and other retreats.

The main attraction of Shantivan is its awe-inspiringly massive Diamond Jubilee Hall, built in commemoration of the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of the institution. Majestic in art, architecture and equipment, it has the distinction of having a very high seating capacity. It can accommodate about twenty thousand people!

In addition to this gigantic structure, Shantivan has one main conference hall and six smaller halls. The seating capacity of the conference hall is 1200 with facility for simultaneous translation in six languages. Each of the smaller halls can accommodate three hundred fifty for conducting lectures, seminars, workshops, etc.

There are two intensive meditation halls and a spiritual museum which instantly inspire inner peace and are a source of super-sensuous joy, which is nowhere to be found in this mundane world.

Residential buildings in the Complex have a capacity of lodging about fifteen thousand people . Some of them have very significant names: Vardani Bhawan(The house of Blessings), Vishwa Kalyani Bhawan (World Benefactor House) and Farishta Bhawan ( House of Angels) - to mention only a few.

Gyanamrit Bhawan ( House of the Nectar of Knowledge) houses the printing department. It is responsible for meeting the printing needs of the Institution. It is here that two of the monthly magazines of the institution - Gyanamrit and World Renewal - are published.

Shantivan has in it all modern means of communication, transport, well-laid-out roads, electricity, and solar energy.

No account of a complex, providing lodging can be complete without making a reference to the arrangements for preparing and serving food. Shantivan has very big kitchens and dining halls with modern gadgets and equipments.