A Globe trotter

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, NOV. 3. She could be sitting at home happy and content as a housewife playing tennis, modelling clothes and looking after her two sons and villa in Rome. But Ms. Vassula Ryden chose to be a globe-trotter instead; travelling ceaselessly, living out of a suitcase, spreading the message of peace, love and reconciliation. Her mission has already taken her to 50 countries and she is once again packing to move on.

Cutting across all barriers of caste, colour and religion, her message of peace is for all. Born into an Orthodox Christian family, Ms. Vassula says she was just another non-practising Christian who was satisfied with whatever she was doing when one day in 1985, she claims that God's message appeared to her in a vision. From then on life took a new turn and Ms. Vassula began her journey of spreading the message God had given to her.

The message, according to Ms. Vassula, came to her through diction by an audible voice within, which are written in a stately handwriting distinct from her own. She later published these handwritten messages in several volumes entitled ``True Life in God'' which have since been translated into 40 languages.

Ms. Vassula, who had visited Delhi in November 1999 to spread her message, is back in the city on an invitation. Her mission, though, remains the same.

She claims to have got the message of the September 11 attacks in a vision exactly a decade ago to the very date. When she saw the skyline of Manhattan on TV, ``I said that these structures were going to fall one day. I was not propelled to say something like this, words just formed in my mouth and I just said it.''

``But more destruction is to follow,'' warns Ms. Vassula who says, ``I have had a vision where I see a swift wind-like fire wipe out everything on earth, something like a chemical warfare. God is warning us against that. We have to understand that we are all people of one God and we all have to go back to him. Then why are we slaying each other in the name of religion and greed?''

Commenting on the present situation that the world finds itself in, Ms. Vassula says, ``War, destruction, plague are all man- made. It is created through his greed and desire to have everything for himself. Things can improve only if we have a change of heart and we acknowledge the need to love each other. I was invited by America to suggest a solution to the Israel and Palestine problem and I told them to have a change of heart. There is nothing that love and goodwill cannot change.''

However there are some secrets that she refuses to divulge. Her age for instance. ``When you are over 50 you stop talking about how old you are,'' she smiles. Speaking about the things that upset her the most, Ms. Vassula says, ``What upsets me is the apathy of the people who come to listen to me and yet are not willing to change because they find it difficult to give away what they have on earth.''

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Section  : Other States
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