The late George Nakashima had a spiritual dream as he was waking from the fog of anesthesia after surgery about 10 years ago.

The black walnut altar for peace, weighing nearly half a ton and housed in a cathedral in New York City, is the result of that dream.

The designer-craftsman's dream to create a peace altar on each continent continues to grow through the efforts of his daughter, Mira Nakashima-Yarnall of Solebury Township.

A second altar for peace, designed by Nakashima-Yarnall from her father's drawings and Grafted by Gerald Everett of New Hope, recently was completed. Made from slices of the log that her father used for the first altar; Nakashima-Yarnall said she hopes to place it in Russia in a location where people of all faiths can use it.

The second altar is housed temporarily near the first at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where many interfaith services are held.

It will be sent to Russia as soon as Nakashima-Yarnall can raise enough money to cover the cost of making and shipping it. Funds also are needed for exporting a cultural program along with it. At least $50,000 is needed, she said.

Nakashima-Yarnall is seeking contributions for a third altar proposed for delivery to India. Authorities there would like an altar by Feb. 29, she said. Wood for it will have to come from one of three other walnut logs that Nakashima-Yarnall considers suitable for a peace altar.

The first altar, measuring about 10~ feet square, was built by Nakashima in 1986 and placed in the Episcopal—but also interfaith—cathedral four years before Nakashima's death in June 1990.

"lt's an incredibly beautiful table. It's like someone had taken a tree and unfolded it like a book," said William Logan, director of communications for the cathedral, "it's one of the glories of the interior of the cathedral."

Nakashima-Yarnall said that her father "found these special boards and decided they wouldn't be just ordinary tables; they had to be something special. He went in for surgery and was coming out of anesthesia and had this dream about peace altars."

The dream was spiritually inspired by the philosophy of Sri Aurobino and Mira, the mother of the ashram in Pondicherry, India, where Nakashima spent time before World War II, his daughter said. Nakashima-Yarnall was named after the mother of the religious community, she said.

"The philosophy is what motivated him to do what he did," she said, "working from nature, working with his hands.

Tax-deductible contributions to help cover the cost of building the altars may be made to the Altar for Peace Foundation, 293 Aquetong Road, New Hope, Pa. 18938.