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Good evening, everybody. Te reo Māori, kia koutou, kia koutou, kia koutou, kia koutou. Kia koutou ngā mate haere, haere, haere atu rā. Nāku te hōnori ki te tū i tēnei wā hei māngai. Nō reira, ki a koutou ngā mana whenua kei wānginui a tātou. Tēnā koutou. Kia tātou ngā mātau waka, ngā iwi nō ngā hau e whā. Nāku hoki te mihi ki a koutou mō tēnei hōnori ki te tū. I stand here today to acknowledge you as the leader. Come, come, come back among us today. Take away your love, take away your spirit, take away the spirit of your ancestors in this house, in this region. So it is my honor to stand here today to acknowledge you as a representative of the mana whenua, of the iwi Māori, and the workers, the caretakers of this group. Here we are, the children who have come to support today’s event, to stand, to sing, to celebrate tonight. So I would like to acknowledge you and your song by the leader. To all of us, everybody, it is my privilege and my honour to stand here and to speak to you, and to speak on behalf of our local people, and on behalf of all the people that keep the fires burning here in this part of the world for yoga and daily life. Our rangatahi are here to sing some waiata. So I won’t go on, and there’s lots of lovely things to happen after this. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you... So wonderful to have you back here, and hoping that you can see that things are growing. Solid here, and thank you for bringing your essence and your love with you. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā rā tātou katoa. E nō. Next, I’d like to introduce some of our Rudolf Steiner tamariki, who are going to come and play some orchestral songs. So they can come. The last 12 months, we’ve had a lovely whānau, a lovely family, all the way from Holland come and make themselves part of our family here at Yoga and Daily Life. And this one over there, he’s made himself very useful with cameras and things like that. Filming our things so that we can share what we’re doing around the world, and their beautiful daughter Billy is about to play this wonderful harp. We’ve got three songs for us: "The Mysterious Forest," "I Hear a Harp," and we’d like to present Swāmījī with a tree. ...the Daily Life Retreat Centre in Waikanae. It is our wish to regenerate the land, and when all the trees grow, it will bring back the native birds from Kapiti Island. Because we’d like to present Swāmījī with a kowhai tree to bring back the tūīs to the land. Can we get girls? Jayden is presenting Swamiji with a karaka tree to encourage the beautiful, big native wood pigeons, kererū. So many beliefs, please. Thank you. Is giving Swamiji a tōtara? Thank you. He has a flax, harakeke, to give. Thank you. And finally, Prem Purī would like to give Swāmī a kauri tree. Which represents the strength of yoga and daily life. It is the godfather of all trees, I see. Godfather of all trees, thank you very much. Oh, the godfather of altruism. Thank you. Beautiful ideas. Thank you. Okay? Thank you to the children who can also plant something in the garden. Okay. Okay. So thank you very much, and especially our juniors, the future of our planet, the future of yoga, daylight, and the culture of tomorrow. Thank you for the beautiful welcoming, performing the songs, the dance, the music, everything. I appreciate it. And you all, our dear juniors, this tree should grow with you. Okay? So you have a duty to take care of these old trees. There are different trees in this basket, and when you go home, please take one with you, okay? So, I give it to your group master for all of them, so you will take care of these plants, okay? Thank you, thank you. And very soon is coming the... Eastern, and there will also be a lot of what you call the chocolates in this form of the Eastern egg. And this egg means the universe, the complete universe, Nirguṇa. The form is one, and that is also symbolized as a Śiva Liṅgam. So these ideas are coming from that Śiva Jyoti. This is the flame, the... Light, and that means the entire universe. No form. It’s like a sky. So I think first, come our youngest one. Come, boys. Take one. Okay. Take one. Thank you. Thank you.... So now you come, please, all. Take it one. Yes. Thank you. Thank you.... Thank you, thank you,... thank you. Thank you. Sadāśiva Samarambhāṁ Śaṅkarācārya Madhyamām Asmadācārya Paryantāṁ Vande Guru Paramparām. This śloka talks about lineage, and before we go into the meaning of lineage, this lineage and respecting our ancestors is universal. In the local Māori custom, it is called Te Puna, where after God, ancestors are respected before we come to living people. This mantra talks about the lineage that was started by Lord Śiva himself. It was maintained during the middle period by Ādiguru Śaṅkarācārya, who is a guru of all, and it has been handed down from one realized master to another realized master. This lineage is very, very important. Say Devpurījī chose Mahāprabhujī as the right disciple, not only to make sure his name is kept, but the entire lineage is maintained, and in that way, after Mahāprabhujī goes Holy Gurujī, the one on the leftmost. And Holy Gurujī, among all the disciples, chose one person to transfer the flame of knowledge to, to be the person who will maintain and propagate the lineage, and that is Swāmījī. So this lineage is the one through which we receive grace, and all physical things and buildings are not so important as the invisible grace that we receive from our Guru. So this is a prayer to the Guru, and every time, even before we talk about God, the first thing we do is talk about the lineage and see and provide our salutations to the lineage in an unbroken line. The flame of wisdom comes to us. So with these words, I welcome Śhoṇījī. Thank you. Any particular topic? Just be happy, that’s all. Mantra mūlaṁ gurur vākyaṁ, mokṣa mūlaṁ gurur kṛpā. Oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ... To the cosmic light, adoration to our holy lineage. Good evening, dear sisters and brothers. It is a beautiful evening today. It’s a blessing to be here together, and I’m, I feel very honored to be welcomed according to the ancient culture of this land, such a beautiful welcoming ceremony, and it’s very interesting that around the whole world, where ancient culture is preserved, these things are existing, especially what we call nowadays the tribes. It doesn’t matter from which country. If I come to America and we see the Native Americans or Native... American Indians have similar beautiful ceremonies and prayers and adoration for the ancestors. If I go, and I was in Africa, also the same kind of ceremonies, welcoming, warm heart. And now you see, the distance between Africa and New Zealand is a big distance. But at the same time, we see what is in the hearts of the humans. When we come to Australia, the Australian aborigines also have beautiful ceremonies, welcomings. If you come to India, which has also many, many different cultures, and all these tribes are the cultures, They also have very beautiful welcoming ceremonies. If you come to Russia, then in Russia there are also beautiful songs, welcoming, and they also welcome with bread and salt. On the door, when a guest comes, they wait with a basket or a plate of bread, very nice, a big lot of bread and salt. So a guest is offered bread and salt. Guests have to take the bread, a piece of bread and salt. It means in that house where you eat bread and salt, you are accepted as a family member, and it doesn’t matter what it is or how it is. You should always do good things to that family or those hosts who host you. So if you go to any part of the world, there is a beautiful human heart welcoming. Now, when we see the modern way of life, there is a welcoming, "Hi, how do you do?" That’s all with that. It is finished, or this, ladies and gentlemen. Very few cultures, and especially those ancient cultures, will welcome us with the words, "Sisters, brothers, and friends." I had a talk in America. We were sitting. Close disciples, evening, and I told them that we should write about these cultures. And that will be a beautiful regenerating, reawaking the love to the nature, to the animals, and to the humans. Otherwise, the human roots are getting day by day rotten. The termites of different greeds, especially greed towards materialism, have lost or broken the thread, that thread which unites the human to the human. The people in the past were more taking care of nature. Taking care of the soil, the land, to keep it as it is. But now, in this present time, we are abusing this mother nature. We are destroying. The result is this, that humans lost confidence in humans. We don’t believe in humans anymore. We believe what is on the piece of paper, black and white. Why? Because some people misused the confidence, the trust, the human values. And as long as we will not respect human values, we will not find peace. All the wars that are going on, you know, what we call these cold wars, the First World War, the Second World War, but I think the war still didn’t stop. It’s constantly, for the last six decades, around the world. Somewhere there is war, and humans have a kind of fear, they are scared. Humans are scared of humans. So where there is fear, there is no more peace. We can talk about peace. We can organize many conferences, which I’m also doing every year. But we have to learn to remove the fear from the people. Then we will find the peace in the heart. It means our way of life, our everyday life, will be comfortable and beautiful. In this, what we call, first we have to remember again and again in our intellect as well as in our heart, this one word: we trust. We trust in God. We believe in God. And that God, everyone has a different imagination of God. Doesn’t matter. How you see God is God. And with this, God and God’s son and daughters, All creatures on this planet, and we humans have learned, and we have to follow the footsteps of our ancestors. Our ancestors, they are capable to help us more than if they are in a physical body. Yes, the soul traveled. Maybe their soul is born in some other body again. But the light, the love of our ancestors remains with us. That is in our memories. And therefore, before we pray to God, before we remember God, we shall remember our ancestors. We know that humans have immense love, not only for parents and ancestors, but also for animals. Today, one of our sisters came to me with tears in her eyes because an elderly cat died. You see, if everyone will feel love for every animal, not only the cat, Then this planet will be again heaven on earth. So one way is we love our cat or dog, or this which is close to us and we can see. And on the other side, we let them kill and eat the meat which is coming on your plate in the restaurant or anywhere on your dining table. It’s not fallen down from somewhere, it’s not jumped in your kitchen. Someone has to offer the life. You have not seen. That one, and that’s why we think you can eat meat. Will you allow, if you have your dear dog at home, very nice, beautiful, your dear dog, and someone comes and says, "Today we shall eat this dog," my God, even that, where you offer the bread? And butter or the salt, you will not allow that guest, though it is said the guest is God and you should give everything, yes, but there is a limitation. Not only the guest, even your own family member, you will not. Allow that you kill my dear doggy and cook, can we let it be said, "Eat"? No, no, never. So that’s called love. When you take a fish out of the water, you know, her mouth is opening. You cannot understand her language. You cannot understand her fear. You cannot understand her pain. You don’t, you have no... there are such ears that you can hear it. But at least God gave you the eyes that you see. How? How is suffering? It is said, my beloved one, "I suffer for you, O Lord, like a fish without water." A bird without wings, a night without moon, O my beloved Krishna, come and bless me, appear to me. So, peace is first there, that you give the love, and you have so much love. In your heart, you can hug the entire universe. The great saint Swami Śivānanda Jī of Ṛṣikeśa said, "Within you is the fountain of joy. That fountain will never stop. Within you is the fountain of joy. Let this fountain constantly..." Flow joy wherever you come. You are standing somewhere; they should have a pleasantness, joy to see you, and not, "Him? But he is doing here? That’s not good." And there are some people within you who are the fountain of the joy, and within you is... The ocean of the love, ocean of the love. So you are that ocean, endless ocean. And how many creatures are existing in this ocean? The entire ocean is in your heart, and you have love and care for all creatures. How beautiful. And within you is the immortal soul, the immortal ātmā, which never dies, never, never. You are immortal. Don’t think that you are immortal. The body is mortal, but the ātmā is immortal. No weapons can kill your ātmā; it cannot be cut into pieces. Fire cannot burn, no elements can destroy, and death cannot take away your ātmā. You are like a sky, like a space. What is happening? This is a kalesha in the saṃsāras. Ignorance in the saṃsāras, and you fight: "I am right, he is wrong, she is confused." That is where it is. As long as we will not develop that love, we cannot live in peace. Guilty ones will always be unhappy, and even in the dream cannot be happy, and those who have peace... In the heart, even if you are in the tiger’s cave, you will sleep peacefully. And I tell you, in that condition, even the tiger will not attack you. They will come, look at you, turn their tail, and walk away. Because you are peaceful, you are radiating peace. And the tiger says, "No, I don’t want to eat this piece." So how does a bird dare to sit on the head of a tiger, or dare to sit on the back of a tiger, but the same bird doesn’t dare to sit on the head or the shoulder of a human? Why? Because humans are radiating such an aggressive energy. Animals do not trust humans. You will see many animals together, but it is very difficult to see humans from different parts of the world together. To have a peaceful world and to live peacefully, have peace, realize it inside. Your heart, your thoughts, it’s like a parent to the children. Understand? Understand, everyone. That’s why I said tolerance towards every religion. Understanding for every individual. Respect every culture. And unite all in your heart. Then you will have peace. Suppose I have a snake in my hand. They said in New Zealand there’s no snake. Who knows in the zoo, yes or no? Did you also not? Not allowed, very good. But in the books, yes, pictures, yeah. Now I caught a snake in my hand. The snake is not free, but I’m also not free. I can’t sleep anymore. As soon as I will sleep, my hands will relax, the snake will say, "Hello, you were holding me, now I will hold you." So the snake of the fear, the snake of the greed, the snake of the ego, and the snake of the negative. Ambitions, the snake of distraction which we have caught in our mind, in our brain, as long as you will not leave it out free. Consciously, that snake will bite you. So it is said, by one of the great masters from Paramahaṃsa Yogānanda, that each and every thought which goes out of your brain, sooner or later, it will come back to you. Your neighbor country, Australia, they have one called a boomerang, and when you learn how to throw the boomerang and you throw it, it will come back to you. Similarly, those thoughts which you send out of your mind, good or bad, will affect you back. Action will have a reaction, and the reaction will have action, and action again will make a reaction. So peace is there. So we trust in God. Evening and morning, a few minutes, sit down, close your eyes, and say, "My Lord, I surrender all to Thee. My senses, my body, my mind, my actions—everything I surrender to Thee, my Lord." Guide me, bless me, and liberate me. I am Thine. And then you close your eyes and just feel in the heart the presence of God, and that means peace. Peace is God, God is love, and love is in the heart, and that love is that kind of love, a universal love. When you see the flower, you feel love. When you see a bird, you feel love. When you go to the ocean and see the beautiful ocean and waves, you feel love. You see the sunset or the sunrise, you feel the love. That is God. Everywhere, in everything, the beauty, that God. Oh God, beautiful. Oh God, beautiful. In the mountains and the forest. In the ocean and the lakes, in the meadows and the desert. In the flowers and butterflies, oh God, beautiful, how beautiful you are, Lord. This kind of certainty, when it comes in the heart, then is called holy heart. So let us awake in our heart that kind of love and respect, acknowledgement. Appreciation and forgiveness. So, out of these many different cultures, again, I want to tell you that bread and salt in the Bible is written, "Thou art the salt of the earth." We are the essence; this body is the essence of the earth. And in India, we say, in... The house where you eat the salt, "namak harām nahī̃ honā chāhiye." Don’t do anything against those families in whose house you ate the salt. Salt is holy. Salt is the holy in this world. If the salt will not be here, everything will be finished. And thanks to God, the whole ocean. Is a salt, you know how the ocean became salty? Girls, you don’t know how the ocean became salty? Oh, that was something. I must tell you this story, how the ocean became salty. One man went with a boat in the ocean, and he met on the way, on the beach, some... Holy men, and this man said, "Where are you going?" I said, "I’m going to the ocean." "Okay, have you everything with you for eating?" I said, "Yes, I have fruits and breads and this and that and everything." "Okay, have you salt?" I said, "No, salt I don’t." Have sugar? No, this so that only man said, "I give you this one grinder, like a coffee grinder, a small mill, and tell this mantra three times: grinder, grinder..." Grind me a little salt, and then salt will come out. If you say sugar, it will come sugar out. Whatever you wish, it will come. I said, "Oh, that is great, thank you." So he took it. Now he had bread and everything, but he, in the middle of the... Ocean, and now he wanted to have salt. There was no salt, so he said, "Grinder, grinder, please grant me a little salt," and salt came. But the machine didn’t stop. He got the mantra only for how to start, but... Don’t know how to stop, so the machine, the grinder, begins to produce so much salt. Till today, it is still producing, and the ocean is salty. You know, that’s why the ocean is salty. So you learn something: how to begin, but you should also know how to stop. So this is that we shall. Learn to negotiate or speak, and we shall also learn how to harmonize our family situation, our friend situations. So again, meditate and feel God. That I trust in God, I believe in God. God is there, like my ancestors, they are. Gone physically, I don’t see, but they are protecting me. They are here, and with them, my God is here. Then you are protected all the time. Meditation, prayers, mantras, and simply be good. If you would like to be peaceful, be good. If You want to live in peace? Be good. If you tell someone, "Good morning, sir," then this person will be good to you also: "Good morning." And you say to someone, "Hey, bloody one, good morning," the whole day the atmosphere will be spoiled. Speak such a language that it makes others happy, and you are also happy. So, how to live in peace? Everyday life means to be good. Do not do to others what you don’t like to do to you. That’s it. If you can’t dry the tears, don’t become the cause of the tears. Think of others, don’t think of you only. If your stomach is full, it does not mean that everyone’s stomach is full. We are all hungry. One has eaten already and is sitting peacefully, "Oh, Swāmījī, talk further." But others said, "When will Swāmījī stop? We are hungry." So it means always. We have to think of others. Your problem, do not project to others, but try to solve your problems. Speak wisely and speak with some wise persons: how to solve this problem, how to overcome this. So, the best way to live every day in peace is to pray, meditate, and change your way of life in a positive way. That’s all. Thank you, and you are welcome to ask any questions. Om Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinaḥ. All should be happy. Sarve Santu Nirmayāḥ. Sarve Bhadrāṇi Paśyantu. Mā Kaścid Duhkhabhāg Bhavet. All should be happy. All live in harmony. All live in peace. No one should be unhappy. Bless me, Lord, that I am also happy. Om Śānti Śānti... Adios.