Did you know that the jewellery that you are wearing will be affecting your aura either positively or negatively ?

This is precisely the message that Maharshi Adhyatma Vishwavidyalay (MAV) wanted to tell the world on 21 May 2021 when it presented a paper titled – ‘How jewellery can affect a woman spiritually ?’ in the 7^th World Conference on Women’s Studies (WCWS 2021), Sri Lanka.

Authored by Paratpar Guru Dr Jayant Athavale (Founder of MAV), co-authored by Mr Sean Clarke and presented by Her Holiness (Mrs) Bhavana Shinde from the USA, the paper’s findings on jewellery garnered considerable interest. The event organisers picked up on its unique message, and they gave it the ‘Superlative Presentation Award’. Over a 2-day period, from 20 to 22 May 2021, 55 papers were presented by a wide variety of speakers from 24 countries on a woman-centric theme – ‘Transnational Feminisms-contexts, collaborations : Towards a liveable planet.’ The participants and attendees were from fields including Law, Management, Defence, Sociology, Animal welfare, etc. They held positions including directors, founders of organisations, professors and independent researchers. Among them were researchers from Harvard University (USA), the Indian Institute of Technology or IIT (India) and Symbiosis (India).

‘Jewellery’ has traditionally been a woman-dominated domain and for most women, it holds a very special place in their lives. Apart from its monetary value, the value of jewellery for a woman is determined by various other factors such as its sentimental and emotional value, its attractiveness and prestige. In short, the desire for jewellery and its value in a woman’s life is limited to physical and psychological aspects.

However, the MAV paper proposed a completely different view on the valuation of jewellery.  It advocated that spiritual aspects such as the subtle vibrations that jewellery emits should be the single most important criterion in the valuation of jewellery. This is in line with the ancient Indian philosophy of increasing positive subtle vibrations and decreasing negativity in our lives. It demonstrated with various experiments how the real value of jewellery is in how it can spiritually benefit a woman’s aura while also spiritually protecting her. Unfortunately, most jewellery-makers nowadays do not produce jewellery that emits positive vibrations due to giving more importance to trying to keep up with the latest trends and demands to look different and unique. The paper brought an exciting new dimension to the field of jewellery design, where jewellery can still be all that it currently is to a woman while also spiritually benefiting her.

Her Holiness Bhavana Shinde envisioned a world where this spiritual aspect once understood by designers and buyers of jewellery, could lead to a fundamental change within the industry to focus on the true purpose of jewellery, which is spiritual well-being. She further questioned the current buying trends of jewellery by saying, “Would a woman continue to go ahead with the purchase of an expensive piece of jewellery if she knew that it was going to deplete all positivity from her aura once she wore it ? Probably not”.

Mr Sean Clarke, the co-author (a member of the Research team at MAV and the editor of ssrf.org) paid gratitude for the guidance of Paratpar Guru Dr Athavale in this research project on jewellery. He said that it was due to the spiritual leadership of Paratpar Guru Dr Athavale that the research team was uncovering the beauty of Indian heritage, which is based on increasing positivity and decreasing negativity in life. This is the need of the hour in the world, he said. Such research will rekindle global interest in Indian culture and its importance as a way of life.

Interesting questions were asked about this path-breaking concept in the design of jewellery and the effect it has on the wearer. Dr Humaira Shafi, an Evaluation Panel Member who has a background in Law from Pakistan, praised the presentation saying, “It is really unique and a first for me.”

Mr Sean Clarke was also grateful that the paper was presented by a Saint, Her Holiness Bhavana Shinde.  Due to the time difference, Her Holiness Bhavana Shinde presented the paper at 3 AM at her local time in the USA. Saints’ voices are infused with Chaitanya or Divine consciousness, which is a type of positive spiritual energy of a higher level. This not only benefits the listeners at a spiritual level but also helps in getting this noble message across in the best manner possible. It gives listeners the spiritual energy to put the knowledge into practice.

For those who would like to know more, please read our articles on the subject.

• Jewellery Design – Part 1
• Jewellery Design – Part 2 : Factors that can affect the spiritual purity of jewellery