LOVE, NONVIOLENCE & JUSTICE
“(Agape) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
–Bible 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV
Philosophical Foundations
Since early childhood, Kritee has had an inner north star: commitment to love and justice for all beings. Nonviolence. Agape Love. Satyagraha. Yes, we must engage in meditation, grief ceremonies, other healing or spiritual practices and take actions for climate or justice. But engaging in these activities without a genuine desire to heal to all beings can lead to confusion, contradictions, harm, and potential even fuel genocidal violence. The 21st century is an era of Polycrisis: a cluster of interdependent crises that include genocidal and dehumaning wars, escalating inequities, polarization, civil unrest and refugee crises arising from the legacy of colonialism, geopolitical conflict, and ever deepening human trauma loads. Our collective survival in the midst of polycrisis depends on our ability to ensure justice for those who have been most marginalized (sometimes including some exiled parts of our own selves). Along with healing of our past traumas through meditation and ecodharma ceremonies, we need to strategically assert our truths with radical (Agape) love in the social, political and economic realms.
Given the ongoing crisis, here are some of the ways we are working to bring love and justice to people in Palestine and Israel.
Kritee (center) wearing a gas mask while meditating during an anti-fracking protest in Boulder (Photo courtesy Daily Camera)
Annual retreat for people of color changemakers at Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center in Colorado
Inspirations
The roots of Kritee’s north star lie in her childhood. She was raised in India in a Hindu-Jain family under the powerful influence of her maternal grandfather (nana in Hindi) Mool Chand Jain. Her nana was a celebrated lawyer, visionary and freedom fighter, often referred to as “Gandhi of Haryana”. He chose to suffer himself instead of shaming others to highlight where the violence was taking place in the family or community. As a student and young adult in India, Kritee was also inspired by the historic Bhakti/Sufi movements and leaders like Vinoba Bhave and Vimala Thakar who consciously explored the interface of spirituality and social justice. Zen Buddhism, one of Kritee’s core lineages, also gifted her with a powerful archetype: Bodhisattva, someone who has taken a vow to work to reduce suffering of all beings. She continues to receive teachings of indigenous and other traditions across the world while engaging with social-political and ecological koans of our times!
Through her writing and courses like “Dharma of Resistance”, Ecodharma workshops and retreats, Kritee teaches a strategic and principled commitment to truth, justice, and love that involves the deliberate pursuit of change with the deepest possible spiritual love for all beings.
“If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” –Lila Watson with Aboriginal Rights group in Queensland
