Dear Friends,

I was recently reviewing the monthly donations to the Vedic Pandits and was impressed by the large number of donors from Great Britain. Inquiring about this to Raja Peter, he explained that this ongoing generosity has been both inspired and facilitated through Bibette and Peter Leadbetter. After hearing some of the details, I thought you might also enjoy hearing this story and about how it has inspired us to find similar champions in other countries.

In 2001, when donations were first being solicited for the Maharishi Vedic Pandits in India, Bibette and Peter dearly wanted to support the goal but did not themselves have the level of finances being sought. Convinced that supporting 8,000 Vedic Pandits was the surest way to end the seemingly endless cycle of war and terrorism and help Maharishi create Heaven on Earth, Bibette resolved to help inspire the movement family in Britain to achieve together what most of them could not accomplish individually.

Peter and Bibette Leadbetter have helped inspire many British donors to support the Vedic Pandits.

“I just thought that if a person were able to donate even a modest amount per month and if this were adopted by many people in Great Britain, then our contribution would become very significant — it could even become millions of pounds in the coming years,” Bibette recalled.

She boldly and merrily presented her vision at movement events, on national conference calls, at assemblies and one-on-one with the idea of launching the campaign on Akshaya Tritiya, the day of lasting achievements, in the spring of 2001. Bibette’s presentation showed that with broad-based involvement the British movement could support hundreds of Vedic Pandits. And she thought if Germany, Japan, the US, and other countries did the same, plus some donations came from successful businesses, the goal of 8,000 could be achieved.

When Akshaya Tritiya day arrived, the response was immediate.

“The whole day, people were thrusting cheques into my hand. I had to go to a wedding that day and even the bride wanted to sign up for the donation program.”

When Peter and Bibette added their own modest donation, they felt that they had become part of something very big and powerful.

“I made the point whenever I spoke that this was not a campaign for the wealthy but for everyone. It was something we were collectively achieving, whether someone donated £10,000 or £10, the main thing was to participate. Since then, there has been a wonderful feeling that together we are changing the world, and in doing so benefits are coming back to our country and to ourselves personally.”

British donors have expressed how strongly connected they feel to the Vedic Pandits through their ongoing support. Bibette likens this to something she had heard Rajaraam once say: that when you do an action, the effect of that immediately returns to your DNA.

“When in history have you had the opportunity to create Heaven on Earth?” Bibette sometimes asks. “When people recognize it, they say ‘This is fantastic. I want to be a part of it.’”

The British movement family has come to truly own the project to create a group of 8,000 Maharishi Vedic Pandits in India.

Nine years later, aided by a simple automatic bank withdrawal system, the support for the Vedic Pandits from British donors has been continuously impressive. Apart from the funding provided by single large donors such as the Howard and Alice Settle Foundation, Britain leads the world in the number of pandits supported per capita.

If all the G20 countries reached Britain’s per capital donation level, this would support almost 4,000 Vedic Pandits at the Brahmasthan.

The significance of Britain’s broad-based support has inspired us all to create a similar model for every country. We are now looking for such leaders in every nation who would easily enjoy becoming champions in their country, like the Leadbetters, for the Vedic Pandits.

Susie Swan from MERU, together with Mona Kaegi of Switzerland, Colleen Rosania of the US, and Wojtek Skalski of Finland — and with the inspiration and guidance of Bibette — has now organized an initial group of 13 national coordinators. We hope soon to get to at least 25 such national champions this year (and in some countries perhaps there will be several) with the goal of quickly bringing the number of Pandits at the Brahmasthan of India up to at least 3,500 – the superradiance number for India and an important milestone towards our near-term goal of 8,000 there.

If this is something you might like to do, please contact me directly at: vedicpandits@maharishi.net.

Arlene and I feel exactly as Bibette said. “Supporting the Maharishi Vedic Pandits is one of the most precious opportunities of our lives. And we’ve found it to be a project that is more and more blissful.”

This quiet but real benefit seems to be felt by almost every donor. We continue to receive moving accounts of the sublime experiences and nature’s support that donors attribute to their sponsorship of the Maharishi Vedic Pandits. I expect that this will continue to grow as we move toward accomplishing the goals that Maharishi inspired.

Thank you for your care and support.

All the very best,

Jai Guru Dev

Raja Harris and Arlene Kaplan

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