Still Keeping the Faith at Maleny

March 11, 2007

Author: Alan Lander

Source: Sunshine Coast Daily

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3725363&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=

THERE will be some Coast residents who can recall the early days of the Maleny Folk Festival in the late eighties and early nineties.

And this weekend, they have the chance to experience that special serenity which once embraced the Maleny Showgrounds all these years ago.

But it’s not folkies and hippies gathering this time – it’s a gathering of the faithful, of all the world’s major faiths, in fact.

Ananda Marga leader Dada Ratnadevananda remembers the festival – the religious group did, and still does, operate a food stall at Woodford, where the festival moved to – but he can also recall a number of attempts to bring spiritual leaders of many faiths together, in other countries.