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Part 1: A Call for Peace and Ahimsā Let us chant a peace prayer: Śāntir bhavatu sarveśā, maṅgatu sarveśā, pūrṇa bhav, loka samastha sukhino bhava, nāḥ karatābhudīpa karatāmabhudīpa karatahi ke oḥ śānti śānti... Lead us from the unreality to reality. Lead us from the darkness to the light. Lead us from the mortality to immortality. May there be good health, peace, harmony, and mutual understanding everywhere. May we all... To achieve the fulfillment of our human life, my whole world and the universe should be peace. All should be happy. We are not the doer; God is the doer. Mahāprabhujī is only the doer. Peace, peace... Swāmījī, welcome all dear guests to this peace forum of the Śrī Svāmī Māta Vānanda World Peace Council. For the opening of this World Peace Forum, I would ask to light the peace candle, the light of peace. Swāmījī, will you please give the light to this candle? May I also ask our Sugandh Purī, Gregor Kos, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports of the Republic of Slovenia, whom I cordially welcome, and our Dr. Manfred Steponat, Mansukram, the President of our International Śrīdīp Mādhavānanda Āśram Fellowship. May I briefly introduce to you the Śrī Svāmī Madhavānanda World Peace Council. It has been founded and established by Paramahanswāmī Maheśvarānanda, our Swāmījī, in remembrance and in honor of his beloved master, Tām Samrāṭ Paramahaṁśrī Svāmī Matavānandajī, who lived in Rajasthan, India, from 1923 until 2003. The World Peace Council has been established as a non-governmental, humanitarian, and charitable society for the improvement of the world situation and the welfare of mankind. The Council is an instrument to disseminate and to bring to realization the messages of Mahātmā Gandhījī and Śrī Svāmī Madhavānandajī in order to achieve unity and peace in the world. Śrī Svāmī Mādhavānandajī, our reverend Holy Gurujī, during his whole life preached and campaigned for ethics, tolerance and peace, the protection of nature and the welfare of all living creatures. Śrī Gandhījī, also Holy Gurujī, preached ahiṃsā, non-violence, and respect for all living beings. The World Peace Council supports the declarations of the United Nations, the Millennium Development Goals, and the Earth Charter Initiative as fundamental and necessary principles on our path to a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society. In July 2012, the Śrī Svāmī Madhavānanda World Peace Council was acknowledged by the United Nations, which granted it special consultative status on the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Śrī Svāmī Madhavānanda World Peace Council is closely connected with the Yoga and Daily Life societies around the world. These non-profit organizations were established to disseminate a culture of peace and spiritual evolution through the practice of the Yoga and Daily Life system. And now I have the honor to read a message from the Vice President of the Śrī Svāmī Māta Vānandā World Peace Council, who could not be here in person because he is living in Australia, Monsignor David Capo from the Archdiocese of South Australia in Adelaide. He addresses you, the audience, and Swāmījī with the following words: A message to the Peace Forum held in the Yoga and Daily Life Ashram Vienna, celebrating the UN Non-Violence Day and the anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi. From Monsignor David Capo, member of the Śrī Svāmī Madhavānanda World Peace Council. Hari Om. Greetings and blessings to all. I offer my special prayers for Swāmījī, my dear friend, in his inspiring leadership in the cause of world peace. We need his leadership and his spiritual guidance in this time of crisis. These are extremely different and varying times. Terrorism is present to us throughout the world, and to an extent unimaginable only a few years ago. It is a time for all people of goodwill, and in particular people of faith in the one God of the universe, to bind together in prayer in order to free the world of violence and terrorism. We see the horror of violence and the destruction of human life, and a deliberate intention of the terrorists to undermine civil society, good order, and the sense of security that citizens need to have in their Governments and in the institutions of society. People of faith, people who have an abiding love for the infinite dignity of every human being, must now stand together in opposition to terrorism and the way that it can hide behind a perverted image of religion. We have an important role to carry out. It is to be prayerful. It is to show by the lives we live that we believe in human dignity and the equality of all people. It is to show that we can open our hearts to people of different religions, races, and colors, without prejudice and discrimination. It is to be active and not passive in living out our non-violent love and compassion towards all. When people think and act differently to what we believe to be just and right, let us reach out in dialogue and use the model of our own behavior to persuade others that the path of non-violence and peace and justice, compassion, and understanding are the only path for happiness, fulfillment, and the good order of the world community. It is time for us to stand in public solidarity with these values and principles. I know that Swāmījī is an embodiment of this way of life. May his leadership and our commitment to these values contribute to peace in our troubled world. With my prayers from Adelaide, Australia, and with every blessing, David Capo. I would like to add just a few words to this message, to show how important and how urgent it is that we come together, that we make such gatherings, and that we be aware and make people aware of the situation of the world. Just two days ago, the World Wildlife Fund published research, and it shows that in the last 40 years, the number of animals—the mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish—have halved, 50 percent only. So we are really, this is a violence. Not only to humans, which we read in every media and see on television every day, but the violence against our Mother Earth, against nature, against the animals. Human, this research work says further, humanity consumes per year 50% more resources than the Earth can regenerate in the same period. This includes farmland, fishing grounds, and forests, and if we go on in this way, in a few years, I think it was in 20, 30 years, we, yes, by 2030, so 15 years only, we would need two planets so that we can continue to exist, and if all people would live like in Kuwait, we would need six planets. Austria is also not so good in this ranking, if Austrian people... We will continue to live like we do now? We would need 3.1 planets to meet the needs of all people. So these numbers, I think, will give us much to think. Yes, it is so. This I wanted to share with you. To tell you, because it’s really—it was so, yes, horrifying when I read this—that I thought, I thought it must be known to all. We have some very nice reference addresses that were prepared, and I would... At first, ask our president of the International Śrīdīp Mādhāvānanda Āśram Fellowship, Dr. Manfred Steponat, Mansukram, to give us his message. And welcome, all yoga friends all over the world who are watching this webcast. I’m very happy to be here today and have the possibility to talk to you, to speak some words as a representative and the president of the International Śrīdīp Māta Vānanda Fellowship. Today we celebrate Gandhi Jayanti. This is a national holiday in all of India, which marks the occasion of the birth of Mahātmā Gandhi. This year, already 145 years ago. Of course, I cannot congratulate him himself, but I want to congratulate the proud country of India on the birth of their son, who later became the father of today’s nation because of his lifestyle, his teaching, and his work, meaning his lectures and intensity on the truth. Also, the General Assembly of the United Nations in the year 2007 called this day a national international holiday, which is called the Non-Violence Day. As you can read also in the holy book Līlā Amṛt, of course everybody can do this because it’s free on the web to read. Vansmar Brabhujī went to Mount Abu, and he also met Gandhījī in the ashram. Gandhījī came and asked Mahāprabhujī to speak some words of wisdom and to sing some of his bhajans, and so Mahāprabhujī did. He gave a satsaṅg, and he also promised Gandhījī that there would be no obstacle on his way, that means nobody will stop him on his way, and that India will be a free country for a long, long time. Also, my brother, she told that India is the land of ahiṃsā. Also, already in the old Vedas is written that the highest principle of the human Dharma is ahiṃsā. Ahiṃsā means non-violence. The principle is not to harm any living being, not in thinking, not in doing, and not in writing, and it especially includes also yourself. This means also to follow a vegetarian life, not to harm any living being. And no wonder, because of this, in India is such a great number of vegetarian people living, and I was very happy to read a few days ago in an article that the Prime Minister of India offers a vegetarian buffet to the guests from China, which he had during his activities and his life. Gandhījī, in the early beginning of the last century, discovered also one text of the Greek philosopher Socrates, because he found so many of his own ideas in this text, translated it to the language Gujarati to make it readable and understandable for more and more Indian people. As you know, also Holy Gurujī composed a lot of his bhajans in this language, Gujarati, and he also wrote some books, and he has many, many disciples in Gujarat. And Swāmījī, as his successor, also teaches us the principle of Ahiṃsā. All this work of Swāmījī is based on the teachings, the bhajans, and the wisdom of Śrī Devapurījī, Bhagavān Śrī Mahāprabhujī, Holy Gurujī. And I’m very thankful and happy that we have this master beside us who can teach us this wisdom. Also, I’m very happy that Swāmījī will go tomorrow to Gujarat, and I wish Swāmījī a very nice and blessed journey. And I hope you will meet a lot of Holy Gurujī’s disciples there. Thank you, thank you. And may I now ask Swāmī Premanand, who is originally from Salzburg but has been living in India for decades, I think, in Om Ashram. Swāmī, Swāmījī, may I ask you to address us? My name is Swāmījī. Dear friends, on this very occasion of the 2nd of October, for quite a few years, we have been celebrating a special day. Initiated by Swāmījī, and honored are two great sons of one mother, Mother India. Most of you have heard the name of Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma means Mahātma, a great soul, and a great soul can only be one who realized his own inner being and transformed it in his outer action, and Mahatma Gandhi was such a soul. He was a person who shaped the destiny and the present situation of India, the present India as it is seen in the world. And I guess without him, India would never have come to such glory. Mahatma Gandhi said, "There is no way to peace, but peace is the way." The second great son of India is our beloved Holy Gurujī, Swāmī Madhavānandjī Mahārāj, who, in his own way, shaped with his measures of peace, not the country, but the minds of so many people. Because peace itself is not what you can get, what you can acquire, or what you can produce, but what you have to live. And you can live only peace when you are that. Peace is a state of being, not something you have to show. And that is the message of Gurujī. His main words were, as I much remember, peace and bliss result from satsaṅg. It means there is no satsaṅg; there can be no peace. And there is no peace, there can be no happiness in a human. Only when we transform our own being, our own inner being, can we live in that peace of Ahiṃsā. In India, there is a saying: there are seven saints who can sleep under one blanket. But for a king, not even a kingdom is big enough. And that shows the situation, the present situation in the human race. In nature, there is no question about peace, but with humans there is. And humans are gifted with intellect. They can discriminate, so for them, it is the question of being in peace with the outer world and being in peace with oneself. And one is only in peace with the outer world when one realizes one’s inner peace and one’s inner truth. Because peace itself is only a part of the truth, of that which we are, our most inner being, our own self. In this sense, I wish you all the best and Om Śānti. Thank you, Swāmī Premanandjī. And may I ask now our Muktamaṇī, Claudia Matejowski, who founded the Āyurveda Academy of Yoga and Daily Life in Austria. Please, Muktamaṇī. Hari Om. Thank you. And I am allowed to share some thoughts about Ahiṃsā and Gandhījī. This is one of the main sentences of the Mahābhārata: "Ahiṃsā paramo dharmaḥ," and it means nonviolence is the highest form of righteousness. Not harming anybody in thoughts, words, and deeds. This is the highest principle. And Gandhījī made it especially ahiṃsā, one of these high, high, high principles. And I thought, what can we all do in our daily lives with this? Many questions may occur. Maybe we ask, we start with the food. Where does the food stuff come from? How is it planted? How is it harvested? Are the people who harvest it and work for this well paid? How do we eat our meals? Do we cook properly? Do we dedicate time for it? How are we thinking while we are cooking and eating? Are we watching TV while eating or doing something else? What do we understand from healthy nourishment? Or the next topic: how are our thoughts in general, especially when we are harmed or have a very unpleasant situation? Where are our thoughts? How do we behave? How do we think? Which kind of words do we use when we are in a not pleasant situation, when we are under pressure? How do we control ourselves, our words, our deeds, and all our activities? Next topic, maybe: How do we live? How is our home? Is it neat? And does it have a certain structure? This is also a type of peace inside the environment, how we create our environment. Or our dresses, do we buy, buy, buy? Or do we buy what we need? And when we buy, what type of clothes do we buy? Are we sure that all these clothes are produced in a proper way, and all the people who are sewing them, and in all the factories, are they really treated well? This is also a big question. What types of friends do we have? What is our environment, and what types of activities are we engaged in? What are our aims, and do we do everything at any price? Many, many questions, which are all dealing a little bit with the big topic, ahiṃsā. And I was thinking, how can we combine this all with our yogic life? And it was not easy, it was not difficult for me to find answers, because Swāmījī often mentions the four principles of āhār, vihār, āchār, and vichār. So I went a little bit deeper and thought, "What can it mean in..." This content shows we know that "āhār" means diet and nourishment. All the questions I was asking before have something to do with this, so we need to see. What type of diet and what type of nourishment can we use in order to have a contribution to peace? This is our own decision and our own observation, and of course, in this context, the main part is vegetarianism. We all know this. And I find a quote from Gandhi which I would like to read now: "Spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants." So he has a lot of these types of quotes. Next principle is Vihāra. What does Vihāra mean? It means to know where to go. Where and whom will I expect where I go? What environment will be there where I go? What type of atmosphere will I find there? What types of friends do we have? This is very important also. Who has an influence on us? Will this influence create peace in us, or will it not create peace in us? How do we live our lives? And how do we entertain ourselves? Nobody has something against good entertainment, but how far, and what, and where do we go? So all that came into my mind was what Swāmījī always says: satsaṅg, satsaṅg. It can be in many ways. It’s not only the spiritual gathering on Friday evening, singing bhajan, and listening to spiritual texts. Satsaṅg, we have at first with ourselves, and we create satsaṅg with our families, with our friends, because when we follow ahiṃsā, we will find the right way to live and the right words to speak, and so we can inspire and we can learn something and have a good and healthy and happy time together. The dexterity, what we can do with our yogic life in the terms of vihāra, is sevā and satsaṅg. For sevā, I also found a nice quote from Gandhījī: "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." Sevā. Next term is ācār. Ācār means the behavior, the habit, all the life rules, the positive thinking, the positive speaking, the positive actions, the good manners, sattvic behavior, ethic code of conduct, and doing good to others, not only to others, but also, to a certain extent, to oneself. We also should not harm ourselves and behave in that sense. So by following, as we know from Ācārya Patañjali, the five yamas and the five niyamas, we are on the safe way. And Gandhījī says, "You and me, we are one. I cannot cause you pain without hurting myself." And the fourth is vichār, the way of thinking. The contemplation to analyze, to come to an inner dialogue with oneself, so that we can really come to our inner qualities, the antaḥkaraṇas, to the qualities which are related to mind, to intellect, to ego, and to behavior. So when we think about this and meditate and contemplate, we find also a lot of answers which can give a contribution to ahiṃsā in that sense, as we spoke before, not only in the behavior but in all the other aspects too. And for that I found a lot of quotes which Gandhījī said. Please allow me to read them. "A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he will become." Next, "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong." "An ounce of patience is worth more than a ton of preaching." "See the good in people and help them." "Without action, you cannot go anywhere." "If you do not find God in the next person you meet, it is a waste of time looking for him further." "To believe in something and not live it is dishonest." "Nobody can hurt me without my permission." "In a gentle way, you can shake the world." "Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." Thank you very much for listening. Thank you, Muktāmaṇī, for making... she made us again be aware of these four important principles that should be observed in our daily life, and we can observe them. In this way, we can also do something as an individual for peace, for non-violence, even if we think it’s a global issue, a catastrophe, and we cannot do anything, but we can do. And this Muktāmaṇī told us again and made us aware again. And thank you also for these nice quotes and thoughts of Mahātmā Gāndhī, to bring near again this high thinking of this Mahātmā, this great soul. Now I would ask our Gregor, from the Ministry of Education, Science, and Sports of the Republic of Slovenia to bring us his message. Thank you. Your Holiness, respected Viśva Gaurav Svāmī Māheśvarānandajī, respected Śrī Ālok Purījī Siddhārth Pīṭh, respected Śrī Svāmī Madhavānandajī, World Peace Council, respected representatives of different countries, nations, minorities, dear brothers and sisters, It is my special honor to be present here today, also to speak in the name of the Republic of Slovenia. The topic today: nonviolence, Ahiṃsā, Gandhījī. What powerful words. It looks like anywhere we go around the world, people know those words: South America, North America, wherever. And it is not that those words are known only in modern times, when we have the internet, cell phones, computers, and social media. It looks like those words have been there for ages, and when we think about how it is possible that they are so well-spread and well-known, perhaps the proper answer would be because they are inside of us. They are within our hearts. It is what we are striving for. It is our sincere belief that non-violence should be there and that we should live it. On the other hand, even though quite regularly we can see on the television, on the news, or read in the newspapers how human rights are violated, there are rare occasions, especially in the media, that animal rights questions are raised. We would be raised, that we would be able to see what is happening every day around us, to read about it, and to raise awareness about it. I would like to pay special attention to one topic, which is animals which are used in sports. It is most definitely true that if we say that there are not just human rights, but also animal rights, shooting animals in sports... It should not happen; it should not be there. It is the same if I give you the example: if somebody would be shooting an airplane and we see this on the news, we are shocked. How could this have happened? How could people take the weapon in their hands and shoot down an airplane full of people, who die immediately? Part 2: The Call for Ahiṃsā: From Principle to Practice On the other hand, nobody reflects when they see so-called sportsmen on a field with guns, shooting birds. It is the same action with the same gun, aimed at very similar targets. Some are made of metal; others are living beings. For the living beings, we do not care—at least, not for those who are on the airplane. Again, it should never be. Stopping this is the same as it should never be acceptable to kill animals for eating. Once more, we recall the ancient principle of ahiṃsā, non-violence, which means not killing animals for the purpose of consumption. Another point of attention I would like to draw is regarding pesticides. They are also killing birds. Now, the question remains: do we really need this kind of unhealthy agriculture? The answer is very simple: no, we do not need it. Another question then is: who needs it? Capital needs it, because it seeks profit. They are not doing it for the purpose of human food or animal food. No, they would just like to sell more for lower prices. This is not something that humankind needs. Therefore, I think it is of the utmost importance what Vishwa Guru Swami Maheshwaranandaji initiated this year on the special occasion of the 15th of August—which is not just his personal birthday but also the birthday of the Republic of India. This very important initiative, the foundation of the so-called "Save the Birds," is, I believe, his new gift not only to humankind but, by protecting the animals, also his gift to the world. By doing so, once again, Swāmījī is showing us how he can react in advance, unlike so many international organizations which only take action after 50 years, after all the crimes have happened, after many people are already dead. He has noticed the problem which is there around us, and he suggested the initiative. I think we all should be very grateful to him. It is now the perfect opportunity for us to follow this initiative and to be very active in it: to produce in each country—perhaps first in Europe and then all around the world—special websites which would, in the first phase, have all the necessary data and analyses on which birds are endangered species, which are extinct species, for example, and which are also national and world treasures. Because if we do not see the data, we will not be able to see what is disappearing every day, constantly. Let me just conclude by thanking Swāmījī again for his initiative, and addressing all of us with a very simple sentence: let’s save the birds. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Sugandh, especially for raising your voice for the innocent animals, the birds who suffer so much through our hands, human hands, and cannot speak for themselves. Thank you. And I would ask our dear Yasmin—she is an actress, she is our rising star, and she also does much work and makes many efforts to spread vegetarianism and veganism. She is very active in this; she has a website, she has a society, I think, yes. Please tell us about this. Namaste, Swāmījī. How are you? Dear brothers and sisters, dear friends, my name is Jasmine Davy, and I am an actress for film and TV. It is a very great honor for me to speak here today, especially on Mahātmā Gāndhī’s birthday, especially on a topic that he spoke about very much: ahiṃsā. I have to say, ahiṃsā means very much to me. You could say it is my guide, my column in life. It is so important to me that my husband—or my soon-to-be husband—and I founded a web portal called Proahimshaw for a better world, concerning environment, human, and animal rights. So, the last topic, animals, I like to say, are the train that drives me. It is my most important. I just love animals since I was a little kid, and I feel the need to speak up for them because they cannot do so themselves. You know, the thing is, though, it does not matter which of those topics is the most important for you, because it all belongs together. If it is environment, human rights, or animal rights, they all go hand in hand. If you care for one, you care for the other. If you hurt one, you hurt the other. One thing is for sure: ahiṃsā is for all of them the cure. It was no purpose that rhymes, by the way. So what is ahiṃsā? We heard that a few times today. We translate that with non-violence. In German, we translate that with non-hurting, non-killing. What does that mean? Does it mean ahiṃsā is the opposite of violence, the opposite of hurting and killing? What is the opposite? What would that be? Compassion, love, understanding, mercy. Non-hurting, I would maybe translate or say it would be maybe healing. Non-killing, maybe we can say it would be saving, protecting. You know, all of those things you find in every religion on this planet: you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not lie and betray, you shall love others as much as you love yourself. So, I can say this: all is what ahiṃsā means to me. All of that together. And I can say, for me, ahiṃsā is something that unites all of the religions. Even more than that, ahiṃsā stands on top of every religion. Why? Because it is timeless; it is not bound to any country, to any land or society, or to any group of people. It is not even bound to this planet. Ahiṃsā is universal; it is a cosmic principle. It is valid for every inch of nature and for every inch of the universe. So how does it influence us? How can we integrate it into our own lives? As I am a very, very lucky person, I grew up with a spiritual master, with my Swāmījī, who taught me the meaning of ahiṃsā since I was a little kid. So him and yoga and daily life planted a seed in my heart, so ahiṃsā can grow in my heart. I know, of course, that ahiṃsā starts with thoughts, your own thoughts. As we are now up here in our own heads, the thoughts spread around, and they spin and spin. And we all know that sometimes we think about things that happen in the future. We do not know anything about it yet, but still we think about it. It makes us wild and crazy. And yeah, well, it can make us all of the qualities we have inside: sad, angry, nervous—like I am now a little bit—and the other way around, of course, it can make us happy and caring and loving. So, what can we do? Thoughts come and go. But what I do, I always remind myself that I do not know anything about the future, I do not know anything about the situations that might come, that might take place, and I do not know anything about the people that I am judging. Swamiji once said, "Everyone walks around with his own hand back, and we can see the outside, but not the inside." So maybe we should try to lead our thoughts in a very positive direction. That would be the ahiṃsā way. Second is words. Of course, mostly thoughts lead to those words. And again, we do not know anything about the person who talks to us. So maybe we should watch our language and be careful what we say, because we can hurt the other person very much. Words always strike; they never fail. I have two quotes I would like to read. One is by Ernst Festl, who is a writer. He said, "The price of a word is worth more than it costs"—very nice. The other one is by Winston Churchill, who said, "By swallowing evil words unsaid, nobody has ever harmed his stomach." I like this one very much. It means it does not cost us very much. We say to a person a friendly word, for example, but for this person, it might be the world. Third, in actions. Again, mostly thoughts and words lead to actions, and we can influence the entire world with what we do every day. So, as I was introduced, I am an actress. As I played movies, I always have a director telling me what to do, telling me to say this, say that, walk from A to B, and laugh, smile, cry, whatever. I am told what to do. But in real life, I am my own director. Bless you. I am directing my thoughts, my words, and my actions. It is my decision what I think, what I say, and what I do. So it is up to me to decide not to be part of destroying this planet, not to be part of destroying Mother Nature and all of her beautiful children. And here I come to my most important matter: animals. For many people on this planet, a very inconvenient matter. We can decide not to eat meat, not to pay for torture and suffering. We can decide not to accept silently that people die of hunger and the rainforest is cut down for soy fields that are being used for poor livestock animals. This is not only wrong; it is not necessary. Mother Nature gives us so much more than we can take. It was Mahatma Gandhījī who said, "Mother Nature has enough for everyone, but not for everyone’s greed." Is that right? So I think we have to decide to stand up against injustice, and we should not look away to the other side just because it is inconvenient. Edmund Burke said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Yes, nothing is something. There are billions of different beings on this planet, and we are just one of them. In all arrogance, we claim to be the most intelligent one, the strongest one, the most powerful. But if that is so, would not that mean we are obliged to take responsibility, especially for the weak ones, especially for the ones who cannot speak for themselves? Would not that mean that compassion has to stand over five seconds of good taste on our tongue? What is all this empowerment for, if we do not use it to save and protect? I have a few statistics that I would like to read to you, just very shortly, just the surface. It is about 56 billion animals that are slaughtered every year for food, without fish. 56 billion. Can you even imagine this number? This would be 1,776 animals per second. If we just hold our breath and count to three—one, two, three—almost 6,000 animals are killed in those three seconds. That is the truth. Of course, this greed for meat is killing our planet. It makes up 18% of the current greenhouse gas emissions. To put this in perspective, animal agriculture is responsible for producing more climate change gases than every car, boat, truck, motorcycle, and airplane on the planet combined. The greed for meat is also keeping up world hunger. It takes 15 pounds of grain to make one pound of beef. In comparison, 13 pounds of grain fed to humans directly can feed 13 people for most of the day. Of course, the environment is also being destroyed. The rainforest is cut down. The tons of urine and feces ruin our lakes, rivers, and drinking water, and so on, and so on, and so on. That was just a little surface, just scratched. And I will stop here because I think everybody has got the picture. So I am asking again: can we just look away? Can we afford to look away and say and do nothing? Do we really believe that torture and destruction will lead us in a positive direction? I think we all know the answer. You know, we can very easily stop eating meat and stop using animal products that are made of pure suffering. It is not very hard for us, but this choice taken will have a huge impact on this planet. At this point, many people like to say, you know, but the lion also hunts the gazelle. This is nature. The stronger kills the weaker. Yes, but then I have good news for you: we are no lion. We are no lion. We are human. We have no claws, we have no fangs, we cannot run very fast, we cannot jump very high. So what can we do? We have the empowerment to realize ahiṃsā, which means compassion, understanding, mercy, forgiveness. We have the empowerment of choice, a higher consciousness that can make us overcome all the instincts we have, the empowerment of humanity. It is a very nice little word, "humanity," which means exactly all of that, right? Ahiṃsā, compassion, forgiveness, all of that we said. So we are human. If we do not live humanity, what does that make us? It is just a little compassion over taste. It is just a little mercy over greed. It is just a little step for us, but a very big step for humanity. Yes, we can change everything with thoughts, words, and actions, because yes, we are powerful, and it is our duty to protect, to save, and to help. This is exactly what makes us human. We have to start and make the right decision. When? Now. Why? Because we can. We can decide to climb up a very high and steep mountain, or climb down a very deep canyon—it is up to us. But I tell you, ahiṃsā will lift us up to the top of the mountain. Thank you for listening. Thank you very much, Yasmin Devī, for your very lively and honest statement. And we who know you very well, we know that you really act and live according to what you speak, and this is really great. Yes, its prospects are not so, so good, what we heard. And I would also like to quote again the World Wildlife Fund experts who say, "We cut down the trees faster than they regrow, we fish the oceans empty, and produce twice as much carbon dioxide as the atmosphere, the forests and ocean can absorb together." And really, if we do not change quickly, soon we all will have to suffer the consequences. Now I will ask our Chaiprakash Yoshi Warzel to give us his message. He is a long, long-time disciple of Swāmījī and member of our Yoga and Daily Life Vienna. Please, I beg you, first, I want to use my own language, the language of this country. I learned this from my mother. It is a favorable situation that an Indian minister, Excellency Anand Sharma, has proposed to the United Nations to take the birthday of Śrī Mahātmā Gāndhī as the day of non-violence. And it coincides, and it is very close to the days that we as yogīs celebrate, how the female divinity overwhelms the power of the asuras with devī śakti. So we can now celebrate three things and do this here too. What is violence? We call everything that we encounter that we do not want to encounter, violence. Another, just as violent, but we can use it for ourselves. It is simply powerful, powerful and imposing. Now, this handling of force and violence already shows that there is violence, and there are two kinds of violence. Someone is near a powerful incident, an accident, natural violence or technical violence, and jumps, of course, to save, to cover up the angst. He experiences injuries, burns, itchings, and will need a long time to be healed from it. He will not be angry about it. It was a meaningful suffering that he suffered. Every mother knows what violence broke through her when she made a birth. She had to unbind and had great, great pain, as they say. As a man, you cannot know that, but you can respect it. But as soon as she gets the baby in her arms, she can smile. She suffered meaningful suffering. Well, it is not always something as big as Mahatma Gandhi did, that he built a world empire and brought thousands to it, to commit civil resistance to the law, and forced a world empire to its knees without violence, without an army, and without weapons, with the power of will. And yet, there are also much smaller things that happen to us every day. Not just accidents, saving lives, making births possible, or distributing people. A child goes to school and is bullied. He has to go there again. Let the bullying go over itself again, because the rules that it follows, that it has to follow, the rules of the school, are not able to help it against the bullying. The scars that this child bears from it will not go away anymore. Arbeitsplatz. Weg. Es war senseless suffering. And these two things, and a few more, meet us again and again. And now back to Śrīmad Mahāgandhī. He has developed a tool, and he also calls it that. From the literature where I read it out, he called it Satyāgraha, the power of grace. The power of goodness is translated into this language that I am now using, the power of goodness. And he says that everyone should acquire this power. Everyone can achieve it and apply it. Because the truth, when used with grace and understanding for the other, will radiate back. Our neurologists in the last 10–15 years have found that the power that we have received, the mirror neurons—how you meet, with which mood, with which opinion, with which concern, the conversational partner, the conflict opponent perhaps—will radiate back. It will be reflected. Mirror neurons are the right word. And I just come back again and quote Gandhi directly, because he has given us this teaching, this tool that is so good for relentless action, relentless life, in his memoir. I quote this now literally; I found it in his leftover writings: "This power could be owned and used by everyone." Thank you, dear Chai Prakash, for your interesting and wise words. Thank you. And now I would ask Krishṇānandajī, the president of Yoga and Daily Life of Hungary, to give his statements. Hemvati from Győr will translate to English. My dear brothers and sisters, all the sannyāsīs, it is my pleasure to welcome you on behalf of all yoga and daily life practitioners of Hungary. We are very lucky to build on a living paramparā, and we can fulfill the words of Mahātmā Gandhījī. Mahatma Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see, be the change that you want to be realized in the outer world." What is it that we all really want? We wish to have peace, love, compassion, and harmony. Yes, we would like this very much, and this is a very nice thought and a very nice theory. But Swamiji said very often, and this is really the case, we have experienced it, that the tons of theories do not reach the limits of the practice. Yes, we want all these, but these are nothing but theory. And Swamījī said millions of times that a gram of practice is much more worth than tons of theory. I think peace and loving compassion should be practiced 24 hours a day on the spot where we are. If we are striving for peace, then we need to live in peace with our fellow human beings, our neighbors and families, and all the people who are not really kind to us. Love and compassion mean that we accept all the people who may think differently than we do. The other human beings or the other animals might strive for other things than I do. I am unable to accept it; then this is not peace. Peace is acceptance, being able to accept other people’s wishes. His Holiness Mata Vanandaji, our holy Gurujī, said, "All in one, one in all." Akkor meg fog valósulni az, amit Gurujī mondott. If we first realize love and peace within ourselves, then that peace will reflect onto everything around us. World peace is a beautiful notion, but the third step should be done in the place where we live. And Swamiji gave us the system and the opportunity to build ourselves and to be aware of the harmony of the body, the soul, and the spirit, but we should not forget about the health of the society as well. Swamiji gave yoga in daily life as a means for us to create the harmony of the body, mind, and soul. But we should not forget about social peace, social harmony. And I think that the most important message of this day is to realize that we should have as much love and peace as when we want to be close to people who have already realized this, as our Master of Love, Swāmījī. I think there is a very important message for today: if we come into the near nests, the close nests of Swamijī, then we experience a kind of peace and love, which we would like to attain. Thank you for your kind attention. Have a nice evening. Thank you very much, dear Kṛṣṇānandajī, for your really true message for us. And now we are eagerly waiting and asking Swamījī for his peace message. I think Dr. Sital is coming. Dr. Sital is here? Yes. Oh, I am sorry, sorry. I did not see. I was looking but was not aware that you came. So please, Dr. Sital, may I ask you for your statement? Thank you. Respected Swamiji and friends who believe in peace, peace is not a new word for us. Before Gandhiji, there were so many great personalities who have also used this word, "peace." And this peace is in you. You should not look outside for this. As Gandhiji told, love, peace, and non-violence. If you love anyone, you cannot be non-violent against that. As you see in your house, you have a little dog you love. You have naturally sympathy with that; you cannot be non-violent with that. It is the same thing for the people. They believe that, give it that non-violence or with violence, you can win the world. To win the world, there are only two ways somewhere in. In Gandhi’s biography, it is written that you can win with love or with hate. Hate means, if suppose you hate someone, you want to win him or you want to kill him. With that, you can also be the winner, but Gandhiji has chosen the way of love, and this was not only the best way for us, but it is the truth because love is God. And one more thing, you must have heard from so many speakers here. They have written, they have spoken very well, and I will just like to make it short: Gandhījī has told you, I and I can I just use the word "why"? Because I am not a citizen, that is why. But "an eye for an eye" will only make the whole world blind. It is very easy to understand, and I, I mean, if, suppose, it hurts your eye. And you do the same for him, that means you have lost the eye, he has lost the eye, means the whole world has no eyes, that means the world is blind. It is very simple too. This is the non-violence piece, or whatever you can use this word. Part 3: The Inner Path of Non-Violence Gandhijī has said that if you claim to use non-violence, consider a very good example from our Indian history. You must have heard the name of Ashoka the Great, Emperor Ashoka. He was also one of the best warriors, a great killer, you could say. He finished three-fourths of the world, in his opinion. And finally, what happened? He realized that if the whole world is finished, he is the only man left. For what had he fought? Finally, he too turned to peace. He realized that violence is not the only way to win anyone over. This is a very simple example: a lone person running in a race stands first because he was the only man. That means with violence, you can finish the third part, or more than that, of the world, and finally you are alone. You will definitely repent, thinking, "What have I done for myself?" And the one who has chosen love, non-violence, and peace—that is actually the message I want to give the whole world. If they act like Ashoka, they will finally be alone, with the world no longer there. They are using so many weapons, bombs, and finally, somewhere, they will be used too. The nitrogen bomb—who will remain here? So, I would like to finish with a few words. Non-violence is not outside; it is inside you. You must realize that nothing is outside. Everything is peace through non-violence and love. That is within. You only need to try to find it in your body, in your mind. Sometimes your heart is something else. What the mind allows, consciousness is there. Whatever you do, your consciousness tells you before you do it, whether you should or should not. If you win over your consciousness, then you are definitely on the path of peace and non-violence. Mātā kī humble adoration and salutation to our spiritual Oṁ Śrī Alag Purījī Siddh Pīṭ Paramparā, our gurus. Dear brothers and sisters, yes, we all have known for a long time, but it was finally declared by the United Nations a few years ago, in honor of Mahātmā Gandhījī, the International Day of Non-Violence. Yes, millions and millions of people today are adoring, remembering, and following the footpath of Gandhījī. Gandhīvicāra, the philosophy or the thoughts of Gandhījī, has very high values. Unfortunately, in the last few decades, even in India, Gandhijī’s teachings have begun to disappear. So thanks to the United Nations, it could be brought back again. Otherwise, what we call Gandhijī remains as a rubber stamp—the father of the nation, a son of that nation. Likewise, many great dignitaries, great philosophers, they did great work and they put their work, their valuable golden thoughts, for humans to protect themselves. But the greed which comes out of ignorance is too much. Sri Swami Madhavananda’s World Peace Council has been working for the last two decades, and we have had numerous conferences around the world, even on the platform of the United Nations headquarters in New York, in Rio, et cetera. In the world, there are thousands of NGOs which are working for the peace and protection of this, our beautiful Mother Earth and all creatures. We have to make just one step, which our dear Yaśmin told: decide it. It is very simple: don’t eat animals. That’s all. That enough food is enough for us. It was frightening, threatening, that with one breath in and out, how many thousands of millions of animals are slaughtered. Each and every entity seeks happiness, not sorrow. Sukh means happiness, a happy life. Dukh means the painful, troubled life. Imagine that if someone takes your children away, how will you feel? Or they take your children into another room or somewhere, and still you see, and they kill them. How will you feel? The love of the mother and father doesn’t matter if it’s animal or human; they have the same feeling. But we call them mukha prāṇī. They don’t have this language to explain to us, "Please don’t kill me." Pain is pain. Maybe we are not afraid of death, but the pain which we cause to all creatures is unbearable. A fish, when it’s taken out of the water, dies hundreds or a thousand times before it gives the body up out of the pain. We have two words. It’s called puṇya and pāpa. Puṇya means pious or good deeds, which will give us good luck, good destiny, good life. From the good deeds, that’s Puṇya. That is Dharma. Dharma rakṣita rakṣita. And pāpa is sin, and sin which will give us revenge a hundred times more than this. If you cut someone’s finger, the revenge will chip your whole body into little pieces. Pāpa is sin, which leads this individual soul towards suffering and torturing. Puṇya will let this soul come to the light and to liberation. Gurujī used to say—our Sadgurudev Swami Madhavānandjī—the essence from all four Vedas and six philosophies of India, if you take the essence of all, there’s only two words: if you give other good treatment, you get good. If you trouble someone, torturing someone, then you will also get the torturing. Karega so hī bharega. Who will do, will get. There was a little story. One monk used to come to a small village every day for getting food, because the life of the monk, the sanyāsī, must for at least twelve years go for bhikṣā. And in many countries in the Buddhist tradition, they are. Mostly non-Buddhists; Buddhist is one wing of Hindu. Buddha was a Hindu. He was a warrior. And if you don’t go for bhikṣā, your sannyās life will not be fulfilled, because then your ego will be completely ironed. Just to take an orange dress means nothing. Sometimes we have the fashion color orange, so many, especially ladies, are best for the economy, for business. Nails are orange, shoes orange, socks orange, but they have these thin socks all the way up, what they call stockings, and their dress is orange, and their handbag is orange, and they also have the eyebrows orange. And so that means not that you become a... A crow was sitting on the peak of the temple or the church, and he was very proud. So someone asked, "Why are you today very proud and happy?" He said, "Don’t disturb me." They said, "Why? You know who I am?" He said, "Oh, we don’t know who you are." "No, no, you don’t know. Look, all are... praying to me? They are all praying to me in the church. I’m sitting on the top of the church." So, monk life achievement is not easy. Ego has to be completely washed away. Then there are no questions, "Why?" and "How?" So, that one monk used to go to one village, and he had only one Mahāmantra. First is "Bhikṣām Dehī," please give me some food. "Karega so bharega," who will do, they will get. So people used to give some food. There was one lady; she didn’t follow the rules. She was not spiritual, playing in theatres. Theatre means according to situation. When some good politician came, you went there like a politician. Some other came, an artist, then you went like an artist. When some yogis came, then went with the yoga dress. In reality, it was different. That lady was thinking every day, "He is coming and disturbing us," other people who don’t believe. She thought, "I will give him the best food today." She made a very nice laddū or cake, and she put poison inside. And that monk came and said, "She brought nice, beautiful, sweet laddus." And she said, "Swamijī, these other people give you cold chapatis, old chapatis, half chapatis, and cold rice. I made for you today the best, please accept." So there were two big laddus. Laddus are like balls, tasty inside with good things. So he took it and blessed her, "Karega so bharega." She was thinking that when he would eat, he would die. "I will see who will suffer, him or me." He said, "Karegā so bharegā," who will do that will face the problem. He comes to his hut outside of the village, between the river—a seasonal river; otherwise, the riverbed was dry. He went to his hut, and now he washed his hands and this, and all mantras, pūjās. He offered his food to his Gurujī’s photo, and he said, "Brahmā brahmavī" mantra, etc., all the mantras. And he put his foot in front of him, and of course first came these two ladoos, and his hand was going on the two ladoos to break, to eat. And he speaks to himself, "This is, this is how the Yaśmin said before. You speak something bad words, five second keep your tongue peaceful and think over if you should say or not." So he tells himself, "Mind, tongue, you are spoiled, you are spoiled. Every day you eat dry chapatis, hard chapatis, or old cooked rice, and now you put that food on one side, and you begin to eat laddu? No, you will not get it now." After, so he put again the laddu in his bag, and he hung it up in his hut because there were mice, and the cats can jump. He ate that food and rested. Four o’clock, two o’clock afternoon, he had hunger again. So he was doing his meditation, and he came out of the meditation because his stomach was making sound. So he said, "Oh, now I will eat laddū." So he took the laddu down again, put it in his pot and plate, and he looked at the laddu and said to his mind, "Mind, you never feel hungry at 2:30 or 3:00 in the afternoon. Why are you hungry today, now? You ate more than every day I had chapati. No, I will not give you now laddus. When you are really hungry, then this was artificial hunger—hunger out of your spoiled taste." Again, he hung up the laddus. Came very heavy rain; water came in the river a lot, and it was getting afternoon, about 5:30, 6 o’clock. And two men came. They came to the sadhu’s hut and said, "Swamijī, the river has a lot of water, we can’t cross. Can we stay tonight in your ashram in the hut?" He said, "Of course, āśram means welcome. Ā means welcome, and śram means work. Physically, mentally, spiritually, socially, environmentally, do some good things, come and rest." He gave the satsaṅg about ahiṃsā. Ahiṃsā dharma is the highest dharma, the highest principle. Well, after talking half an hour, one hour, giving satsaṅg, some spiritual talk, then he asked, "Did you eat something or not?" They said, "No, we ate early morning when we left from the other city, so we are hungry." So, Swamījī said, "Well, there is rice and lentils and some vegetables and oil." So, and there is an outside kitchen, open air, fire. Make your food, khichdi. So, they went there. They took all the ingredients and blew fire. It doesn’t start because the wood, the fuel, was wet. And trying, and it was smoke, a lot of getting dark. Swamijī was thinking, "Mind, you can get any time laddū. Why is there so much suffering? Have mercy on them. Dayā is the root of dharma. The roots of the dharma are the mercy. And that mercy is ahiṃsā. That is the highest principle." So he called them, these two men, and said, "Come here, take this one laddū, which is big enough, about half a kilo each, eat and rest." They were so happy, they said, "Thank you, thank you," and they ate. There was a small hut beside; they slept there. Next morning, four o’clock or five o’clock in Brahmamuhūrta, that Swāmījī comes and said, "Get up, get up. It is a Brahmamuhūrta. Those who sleep in Brahmamuhūrta time will lose, or get lost, lose all the good karmas from past life. This is the time when you should not sleep. Brahmamuhūrta is one hour before sunrise, four sunrises. But I think this and Kāla. We have in the summer, in June, the sun is rising already at nearly 3:30. So when we go to sleep at 2 o’clock, we can’t get up again. But still, Brahma Muhūrta is Brahma Muhūrta. And the sun sets at 9:30." Well, he wanted to wake them up. They both died. Both died. So Swāmī said, "O Rām, Rām,... O God, O God." He wanted to see their names, so they found some ID card. Oh God! The lady who gave the laddu was talking in the village, "Did you hear that in the night that Swamijī got a samādhi, means died? You know he died?" People said, "No, we don’t know." She said, "Yes, but I heard he died in the night." In that minute, Swāmījī came for food again, bhikṣā, bhikṣuk. "Bhikṣām, who will do, will face the trouble. I put so much poison, how is he still living? I will prepare for him tomorrow with double poison." So he came, "Bhikṣam." So that lady came. "How are you, Swāmījī? How was the laddū?" He said, "Laddū thā acchā, marā terā pati aur bachā." The laddus were good, but your husband and your son died. These two men, they were the father and son, the husband of that lady. So, karega so bharega. The karma will come back sooner or later. Try to reduce the karma, so pāpa and puṇya. Puṇya is virtue, good things, ahiṃsā. And sometimes we don’t know. We go here near the railway station or somewhere. You see some poor people sitting there asking for some money, and what we said is they will drink alcohol and drugs, or they are some cheaters. How do you know he or she is a cheater? Did you see that? Will he have a drug or will he drink alcohol? And if they will drink alcohol, why not? The whole of Austria is drinking alcohol. Who are we to judge someone? If you don’t want to give, don’t give. But at least don’t pollute your consciousness with such a dirty thought. That will come back, or someone needs. In the story of Lilāmṛt, you can say, in the Khattu Ashram, Mahāprabhujī was in his room, a small room, and Gurujī was outside, outside near the sleeping, near the banyan tree, beautiful. And a small kitchen. The kitchen had no big doors or anything. Just that, sometimes dogs and things would enter in. So one thief came at two o’clock in the night. The thief knows when they should go. They go between two and 3:30. Because this time, definitely people are sleeping, so many bottles are rolling here and there, or what? And the thief came and went to the kitchen to steal some pots and something. Gurujī heard and Gurujī saw. So Gurujī went slowly to Mahāprabhujī and said, "Mahāprabhujī, there is a thief in the kitchen." Mahāprabhujī said, "Then let him sleep, don’t disturb him." Gurujī said, "But he is stealing." Mahāprabhujī said, "Yes, he needs it. He doesn’t dare to ask us that he wants this. He needs. If we need, we will get it again. Let him go peacefully. That is ahiṃsā." So, ahiṃsā is physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual, political, and in economy—in every walk of life, there is ahiṃsā, following ahiṃsā. So the animals we call mūk-prāṇī, they have their karma, they have their destiny. Who knows, maybe it’s your uncle inside, or your father, or your sister, or your mother, or brother. Who knows, because the soul, once gone out of the body, you don’t see, and into which body it will go. It’s taking the cycling, recycling karma. One kills them, and they will die, and they will kill them, and this is like this going on. So this karma, this cycle will come back. Human life is very precious because humans have intellect, and this intellect needs positive education. Animals are innocent; they are mūk prāṇī. Can’t speak. And so what, Doctor? Rada, she gave us from the news, from the newspaper: how many animals in the last 10, 20 years disappeared from this earth because humans killed them? And if not, then they are killing through the pesticide. You know, round the world, the honey bees are getting less and less. No scientists will be able to make the honey which the honey bee makes, and also the butterflies are disappearing, fruits, etc., etc. Where are we going? We are going on the path of distraction, and that is also violence. So, non-violence is to be merciful to this earth. I am the world. The first time this word was spoken by Pitāmaha Bhīṣma in the Mahābhārata. When the Mahābhārata battle was over, then Bhīṣma realized. Then he had the realization of the Self. Oh my God, what have I done! This is my karma, which is my attachment, my ambitions, my ego, my pride, what I did out of this. This I could have saved all. So when the Pandavas came and said to Bhīṣma—because Bhīṣma was his grandfather, something like—"Please, can you give us some instructions?" He said, "Yudhiṣṭhira, paramo dharma, ahiṃsā paramo dharma." Non-violence is the highest principle. In the Vedas, in the Vedas every mantra, in the Upaniṣads every mantra, in the Bhagavad Gītā every mantra, in the Rāmāyaṇa and all holy books of the Vedic culture and Hindu or Sanātana Dharma always begin with Śānti. Oṁ Dhyauḥ Śānti. This mantra, you know: peace everywhere, peace in the water, peace on the earth, peace in the herbs, peace in the environment, peace in the heaven, and peace be with us. The Vedas are everywhere filled with peace, peace, peace. So where is that peace? So Gandhijī said, there is no way to peace. Peace itself is a path, is a way, our destination. And Gandhiji had struggled a lot. You have seen Gandhiji’s film. And many, many in India, great saints, great saints, they never used their aggression. They were never aggressive. Even when they were killed by others, they said, "You can’t kill that ātmā, this body. But before you kill me, you have killed yourself." So, a dead body is killing a dead body. So that jñāna knowledge, if this knowledge will be, there will be no problem in the world. There will be no wars. On one side, they are producing and manufacturing the weapons, then selling them, and then going to fight with them. So it means, look, they give them weapons to kill them back. They put a pesticide; you will get poison through the food, and your children will be killed. So we are killing each other. That is also not Ahiṃsā, it is also Hiṃsā. So, towards the plants, herbs, rivers, lakes, oceans, earth creatures, others, and water life and humans, that love is called universal love. That’s called, that’s called God. When in the war someone is killed, it is said, "Oh, who was killed? A human was killed," not that enemy, that or this. Humans are killed similarly. If you kill a human, what was killed? You killed one creature. If you can’t create a creature, you can’t give the life. You have no right to take this life. So food for humans is different. Otherwise, the Vedas said, "Jīva jīva bhakṣate." Animals will eat. Animal jīva, jīva, the life will eat life, but O human, you are not anymore animal. You are above that. You are protector, not a distractor. But Bhaktamānī was talking nicely about āhār, vihār, āchār, vichār, and that is everything, that simple way of life to give quality to life and spirituality. So Devapurījī’s stories: when someone, a hunter, killed many birds and he was carrying them in a basket, Devapurījī came and asked him, "What is that?" So he told that he hunted birds. He said, "Why should we call for my children?" He said, "You are thinking of your children, and what about the children of these birds in the nest? How will you kick that basket and make the birds fly away?" So he had that he could give life, but we can’t give life. Therefore, our all the spiritual teachings of all the saints and Mahātmas of India are a great, great pride. We are proud of our Prime Minister. Look, now are the nine days of Divine Mother. Our Sugandh Bodhī was mentioning. He said, O Divine Mother, you are the mother of mercy, you are the mother of compassion, etc., etc. So today is just completing the nine days of the Divine Mothers for the sake of protection, for the sake of Ahiṃsā, and today’s He. So you see, our Prime Minister, he was, a few days ago, he was in America, and he had a dinner with the President of America in the White House, and they prepared beautiful, good vegetarian food. All was vegetarian food. And when it came to the table of Mr. Modi, the Prime Minister of India, folded his hands, made a prayer, and said, "I’m sorry, I can’t, because I’m fasting for nine days. I’m drinking only water." So, all those many days when he was in America for five days... All the times he was drinking only warm water, nothing else, and look how strong he was in his talk and very vibrant. So India has given spirituality, the Dharma, the religion, the philosophy, and all these. Higher thinking and these great, great literatures. India gave culture to the whole world. That’s why India is known as the cradle of culture. And there is a higher culture in that Sanskritī, in that culture. Now they are running behind the materialism, and you see they are suffering exactly like other parts of the world are suffering, but there are still many, many... Millions and millions of people live with ahiṃsā and a vegetarian life. And so, my dear, if we can’t do good, at least we should not do bad. This is a message of our satsaṅg. Pīṭṭa Paramparā, as well as Gandhiji’s, and also I am very happy. Thank you for your divine thoughts, and we should overthink. It’s one thing, that’s only one: don’t eat meat. That’s all, one thing: don’t eat. Rest, you can eat all. There’s a beautiful poster here on the road on the street, there are hundreds of possibilities. And there are hundreds of causes that you need not to eat meat, only fruits and fruits. So now the people are going, Swamijī will stop. So I wish you all the best, and we shall pray to God if we made any mistakes. O God, please don’t notice my mistakes. You are the God, Equal Vision One. So please let me come to you, into the light. Ahiṃsā Paramo Dharma, on this day we offer our flowers as a token of our respect and honor to the father of India, Mahātmā Gandhījī. Mahātmā Gāndhījī kī, Dīp Nayan Bhagavān kī, Deveśvara Mahādeva kī, Mādhava Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān kī, Satya Sanātana Dharma Bhārata Mātā kī, Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ... Āryo.