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Part 1: A Call for a New Paradigm: From Storytelling to Unconditional Love I would like to kindly apologize for this delay. It is not due to the organizer, but due to some circumstances we could not help. Let us proceed. I would kindly like to ask His Serene Holiness, Prince von Liechtenstein, to address the podium. Thank you very much. Gurujī, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is a privilege to be the first speaker after lunch, but at the same time, it is also a quite tough task. Everybody has now eaten good food, hopefully, and so the inclination to go for a little nap is, of course, great. We heard today a number of very deep speeches and also some troubling speeches, or some troubling thoughts. I will try to not make everything too serious. Let me first tell you a brief story, because storytelling is, in regard to the education system, a different mode of talking to each other and of learning. I did have to work a lot with indigenous people some 20 years ago. We did a number of projects. The concept of storytelling is a traditional concept we have everywhere in the world, and it is a good way to learn. So, let me begin. During lunchtime, a number of different languages were used. What I want to tell you is one thing: it is very helpful. Mahāprabhujī kī Karatā, Mahāprabhujī kī Karatā, Mahāprabhujī. From the indigenous point of view, the world system we heard today is in turmoil; violence is everywhere. We know that this world system is not sustainable. Each and every person here in this room knows that this world system is not sustainable. But how could it come that we come to this point? What did we do to the earth? What did we do to humanity? And what did we do to ourselves? What happened? What is going on? Now, I think, as we also heard today already, it is the question of a wrong paradigm. Modern science and technology are the keys to understanding what is going on in the world today. We went the wrong way, so to speak. Our focus is on the outside world, and our focus is on the material world. Now I am telling you the first story, which I kind of gathered in these many meetings with indigenous people. My American Indian friends told me the following: they were all very curious when the new culture appeared in their country. Over time, they wanted to understand what the whites were about, what they were doing. They are constructing these big cities and isolating themselves from nature. So what are they doing? They sent one of their sons to explore the civilization of the white men. He went to the cities for a while and looked around. Then he came back to the tribe, to his home. They were all sitting together around the fire, and they asked him, "So what did you learn? What is this civilization of the white man?" He said, "Brothers and sisters, it is incredible. They are doing very weird things. For instance, they have developed a little concept around a little paper which they call money. If you do not exchange this paper all the time—and I could not understand the concept—nothing works. You do not get anything; you cannot go anywhere if you do not have this piece of paper. I could not really find out what the secret of these papers was. This looks very strange to us." He said, "Look, but then they have something which they call science. They are constructing big buildings, which they call universities. There they are, studying for years and years and years. I could also not really find out what is going on there. They are researching all the time." He said, "Look, they have developed some devices. If you look into this device, you can magnify extremely small things so that they become as big as an elephant. They look into this, and they look into that, and then they are researching. Then they have developed devices where they can pull very near things which are extremely far, and they look everywhere around with these long pipes and then they look through, and the things which are very far out in the sky, they bring it very close. That is interesting." "But what did they find out if they do all this kind of research for such a long time?" He said, "Well, it saddens my heart. They found out that there is no God existing." They said, "Oh, are they blind? Why do not they look into their hearts? Why do not they go out in nature, in the forest, and see everywhere the face of God?" He said, "No, they look into everything, but they explained to me they did find there is no God existing." So, one of the other elders said, "Okay, this now explains to me a kind of legend which my great-grandfather told me. When the creation was almost finished, the gods were sitting together. They said, you know, there is this one thing which we call the spark of life. This spark of life, or this flame of love, should never be extinguished. If this gets extinguished, everything will be over. This is the core of our creation." They were sitting together and said, "Where shall we hide this spark of life? Where shall we hide the flame of love?" One said, "To protect it from misuse, we will put it in the deepest part of the ocean." Then another one said, "No, humans will find ways to even go to the deepest part of the ocean, and then they will find it and they will misuse it." They gave another thought to this and said, "Okay, we will put it on the highest mountain in the Himalayas." Another one said, "No, they will be able to step up and climb the mountain, and they will find it, and then they will misuse it." They gave a lot of thought and had long discussions. Then one of them came and said, "I know where we put it, and this will be in the hearts of the humans themselves, because never ever will they find a way to look into their own hearts. They will look into everything, but not into their own hearts." They said, "Very well done," and so they did it. Now, as I said in the beginning, we are living in a system which is now based on this type of science and technology. We know it is not sustainable. So, what can we do? During the Nazi time in Germany and in Austria, people also behaved as if they did not know that the system was not okay, that the system was not good. Afterwards, they were all accused by their sons and daughters and their grandchildren: "Why did not you do anything? You could have known that this would not go in a good direction." I think, ladies and gentlemen, we are in the same situation. We all know that this does not work, what we do professionally. We are looking, and also in our private life. If we all have the feeling that something is wrong, then we have to take action. What we need is a new paradigm. What we need is a new culture: a culture of love, a culture of peace, a culture of reverence for life, of reverence for the creation. But how do we come about, how can we create something like this? Basically, we need a new social contract. What does this mean, a new social contract? If we talk to each other, if we also cross cultures, if we look at humanity and each and every human being, then we understand that we have some very similar features, that we have some very similar needs. We want to be respected, for instance. Each and every person here and in the whole of the human family, we want respect, we want to be loved, we want to give love, and we want to be happy. If we all want the same, why then do not we give it to each other? It would be so simple. But what do we do for very strange reasons? We withhold love from each other. We withhold respect from each other. And then we make a bargain. We say, "Okay, even in the partnership, Purījī, Prakāś Purījī..." We make a business out of love, for instance. We make a business out of respect. This is a very strange way. Again, if we look from a perspective of extraterrestrials, they say, "What are they doing? They want the same thing. Everybody wants the same: respect, love, understanding, and happiness, but they do not give it to each other. They just fight all the time and withhold it." This is what we call a new social contract: that we just bilaterally, individually, but also on a collective level, agree to each other, that we give to each other what we all want from each other. If we do this—if everybody respects each other, everybody gives love to each other, and everybody tries to make others happy—then this will be a very different culture. Then we are going into the culture of love and peace, and reverence for life and reverence for creation. Of course, the human condition and what we can call the ego, this is the problem which stands there and which does not allow us so easily to give to each other what I just described. This is where yoga comes in, because yoga is certainly a way to transform yourself, to transform your ego, to get into the mode of unconditional love. If you speak about unconditional love, you understand that love is not a business anymore. You do not say, "If you give me first, then I might consider to give you back." If you change this mode and you say, "I just give without asking, I give you what you need, I give you what you want," then this is what we call unconditional love. Of course, people say it is very stupid if you do this, because you do not know whether you get something back. But if we do not start in this way, then I think our system will not survive, and we will enter into great troubles. For me, yoga is really such a wonderful way, as we heard it already today, in everyday life and a way of living where you work consciously to really enter into the mode of unconditional love. Well, because we are short on time, I will stop at this moment, and I thank you very much for your attention. Thank you. I ask respected Kapil Agarwaljī, Ambassador of the Śrī Svāmī Madhavānanda World Peace Council for India, to address the podium. Thank you. Salutations to Swamijī, respected dignitaries who came all the way from different parts of the world, dear yoga friends, many, many greetings from India. First of all, I want to give thanks to my friends of Nīlakoṭharī for giving me the idea of the mobile. I was also feeling very nervous when I entered the conference hall. Then I thought, how can I deliver Mahāprabhujī’s international speech at the United Nations? Mahāprabhujī kī Karatā Mahāprabhujī kī Karatā... Purījī, Purījī... Disorderless Vishwaguru Swami Maheshwaranandjī, world peace is only possible when all religious and political leaders of this globe practice tolerance, recognition, and respect for all other cultures, traditions, languages, races, nationalities, and religions. Their prime duty is to guide humanity towards forgiveness and brotherhood and to preach that we all are children of one God. We must not only understand and respect one another, we must welcome each other. There is only one religion to which we all belong on this earth, that is humanity. Finally, dear parliaments and leaders, I am sure that with the world as a big laboratory, your experience is very extensive. And it is only a question of using it with a commitment to peace and development. We must ensure that the 21st century is a century of tolerance and peace, led by yoga and youth. Every inhabitant of this planet should think, wherever I go, peace is with me, because without peace, there is no me. Thank you, and Jai Hind. That was a really short break. Thank you very much. So now I would like to ask our dear Swami Yogeshjī from Slovenia to address the audience. Thank you very much. Beloved Gurudev, Your Holiness, Vishwagurujī, Parahāswāmī, Maheśvarānandajī, respected speakers, honorable guests, dear brothers and sisters. It is a big privilege and challenge to talk in front of such a great audience, especially because I heard that I would have to say something five minutes back. As per Indian philosophy and astrology, today we are in Kali Yuga, but I say we are in mobile Yuga, because I also remember Mr. Kothari’s formula, and I quickly look into my mobile and I find inside the picture of my father, mother, brother, sister, Gurudev. This conference is addressing world peace. It is said world peace is in our hands. To address this problem which we have, many speakers touched the question about education. Here, they are sitting, many, many gurus, professors, doctors. As per Indian tradition, gurus are considered as such. Our beloved holy Gurujī, His Holiness Swami Madhavānandajī, used to say that we have five Gurus; we meet five Gurus in our life. The first Guru, and the most important, is Mother. There is only Mother who can give, transfer the love, that unconditional love, as His Highness, the Prince of Liechtenstein said, to the child. Security, safetiness, the child can get only when he is in the mother’s lap, where he is near the mother’s breast. In engineering language—I am from that field, so moving the stones in India, in Jadan Ashram—we say the mother is the foundation of the newborn human. If the foundation is strong, it does not matter how big a building you make on that foundation; that building will be sound. Next, the guru is the father. He gives to the newborn child, raising the future man or girl or lady, endurance, the will to work, to do hard work, honesty, and so on. Again, in engineering language, we will call these walls constructive walls of the buildings. Now we have the two most important parts of the structure. We have a strong foundation, but we have low building walls. If these two are sound, then nothing can happen to this building. It does not matter what we are doing in it. Third guru, it is the educational system from primary school or kindergarten up to university or post-graduation. These are the partition walls, installation like electrical or water installation, and the heating system of the building. They are still important, but not so important as the first two. And then we get the fourth guru, which is society in general. We can compare this to painting the walls, putting up pictures, installing different kinds of floors, and so on. And there is a fifth about that one. The last one I will talk a little bit later. If we see the picture which is present now in this world, I can say about the Western world, so what is present in the Western world, we see that all four gurus have failed because the mother and father are taken from the child, and the child is taken from them, and then given to the fourth, the third guru, which is the educational system. So, where is the foundation of the future human? It is weak. We can speak; we are speaking in medicine about the handicapped people. There is one missing finger; we are talking about physically handicapped people. But today we can also talk about emotionally handicapped people, socially handicapped people, and so on. Luckily for all of us and for the world, is that this is happening in the so-called developed world, the Western world, which makes life so complicated that today, when we were searching for this center, we got lost three times in Vienna, though we had this nice instrument which is called GPS or Garmin. There are other parts of the world. There is India, which is the cradle of the spirituality of this world. In that part of the world, as well as in Asia, still the mother is the mother, and the father is the father. Education is teaching about spirituality: where we came from, why we came, what is the purpose of our life, and what will happen after we complete our stay on this planet. Part 2: The Light of Spirituality from India We are very fortunate that in this time—a time which is said to be moving very fast—the changes are visible to everyone, even to those who do not wish to see. No one can close their eyes any longer to the immense transformations occurring in this world. We are lucky that the light of spirituality is coming from Asia, from India, from Mother India, to this part of the world. And we are proof that this is so. Education is what is shaping the future of our planet. And from India came the light of spirituality, from that great spiritual country to the West. There are many, but one is sitting before us. When I say blessed are those who have the luck to be born in India, we can see this truth at every step. Speaking of statistics, I heard just a few days ago that 37% of scientists at NASA are from India, and 38% of the scientists at IBM are in India. In India, in every village, there is walking sand. In every village, you will find not one but hundreds of people who can give you a talk on any subject. They are blessed because they are so clever, because their processors, their minds, work so beautifully, because they are complete as humans. But for us who are not, we are also blessed. When a person comes to the fifth Guru—if he has the very good fortune of a spiritual Guru, a teacher of spirituality—that Guru replaces the mother and father, replaces the education. The system replaces the society. So when we come to that master, we begin to research through his teaching ourselves. This means the answers to the troubles of the world are inside there, within us. It is said there is no more difficult job on this planet than to be a spiritual teacher if you are not his disciple. It is very, very tough work because when people from the West come to the spiritual path, our tracks are very deep. It is so difficult to change habits and to change character, so difficult. We go through mountains and valleys on the way, and there is only one way. Sooner or later, through the blessings and through the Guru’s grace, we will come to ourself. We will look inside of us, we will see all these good things which are within us, and we will try to develop them. We will also see the other part which is not so nice, and we will try to start to slowly, slowly control them. I would like to congratulate all of us that we can attend this beautiful conference, which is proof that the light of spirituality is coming from India to this beautiful part of the world, the developed world. Perhaps it went a little bit too much into the outer world, meaning it developed fantastic science; the West came so far in science. The cars are driving by themselves, the airplanes are flying by themselves, but the West forgot to look inside. When more and more people look inside, it will be more peaceful, it will be more tolerant, and then automatically, peace in the world will appear. Thank you very much. I would like to kindly ask His Holiness Vishwagurujī Maheśvarānandajī, founder and president of the Śrī Svāmī Madhavānanda World Peace Council and the initiator of today’s conference, for his final remarks. Satguru Tāṁ Namāmyaṁ. Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ... Well, adoration to our holy lineage, Alakh Purījī, Siddha Pīṭh Paramparā. Adoration to our Satguru Dev, Swāmī Madhavānandajī, and all our dear brothers and sisters, especially those who were here and gave their wonderful thoughts, advice, guidance, and inspiration. First of all, we are very thankful to the United Nations that we could be here today and express our thoughts freely. This roof is the second roof. The first is the whole sky, and the second is the United Nations. So we are under that roof which is endless, and it is a shelter for the whole world. Yes, I would like to thank you very much, Dr. Martin Nesinski, Director, United Nations Information Service, UN in Vienna. He was here this morning and was in a hurry, as he had many duties. He left, so I would like to thank him once more, as well as our dear Dr. Klaus, the Chairman, NGOs, and the Committee on Peace at the United Nations, Vienna. Thank you, sir. Generally, they have a lot of work; they are very busy. They can dedicate half an hour, one hour maximum or so. But our dear Dr. Klaus spent the whole day with us, so I think we must have been talking about something good. That’s why he remained here. So thank you, sir. And I would like to see you again. Yes, our dear Dr. Nagendra, who was here, the scientist. He was a director of NASA in America, and even still, he’s guiding them. He’s a great personality, and you know, he has so much faith in yoga and naturopathy. He had some problem with his eye. Something happened on the aeroplane, or some dust. It was very red, and tears were coming. We have here one very famous doctor, Sital, an eye doctor, an eye specialist. And he went down to the chemistry and brought the drops for Dr. Nagendra. And Nagendra said, "What is that, some drops? No, no, I don’t take medicine. I will heal it, don’t worry." So we gave him tissues and so on. Really, after four or five hours, after eating, I saw that his eye was 80% better. So why not? I don’t know. I respect the medicine. He may also respect it. But Dr. Nagendra is a teacher of Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India. And he teaches him yoga and this and that. So, thank you. Now, he went a little bit for the rest, so we thank him for his coming. Also, our dear Kothari, Swapnil Kothari, educational founder, chairman, and managing director in Indore, India, the group of institutions, and many, six, how many colleges? Six colleges and more than 20,000 students. And he’s going to Malabeg University, a very big one. And we all have to come for the opening ceremony, no? Very soon. Well, I hope that he will not mind. Sometimes a joke should be, and a joke must have some ground, temporary. I mean good, but maybe he will think a little bit not good, Swamījī Bhaṭṭī said. Have you been in a circus? Yes. And in a circus, when they are changing the way, so to pay attention, to take the attention from everyone somewhere, there comes one man with a nose and this big cap and this cloud. Everyone is happy, and he makes all very happy. So that came from a long distance, from Florida to Canada, and from Canada to here in Vienna. Without him, there is no beautiful, relaxing jokes and very perfect speaker who can be that. Babaji, it is so good to see you and the crowd. Thank you. And His Highness, the Prince from Liechtenstein, and the Rector of the University of Gyor, Peter, and then our very special team from Slovenia. How many there are, all scientists, and today I understood, I heard for the first time how a professor talks. Because I wasn’t in university, you know. So my university was Gurudev. So, first I thought, what is he telling about hotel room number one, room number two? So I know many students who don’t want to study anymore because they can’t understand. Sorry, sir. Thank you. So, our dear dragon, thank you, professor. Thank you. Yes, so many, many great personalities are here, and then our professor, Dr. Igor, Minister, thank you. And then we have one senior professor who wants to retire, and they don’t want to let him retire. Some people would like to retire, and he also would like to retire, but they don’t want to let him retire. Our professor Vachak, from one of the oldest universities, or perhaps the first university, in Prague, Charles University. And he’s a professor there in the Indology department, and he wrote in two Indian languages and Sanskrit. And great, great person, very humble, and he’s always wherever I am. Here, there he goes. And he has very good friends. They have Ayurvedic names. So they are the best friends of the professor, and they always bring him to our program and bring him back to Satvapurī. Thank you very much, Sanjeevanī, for introducing the professor. Yes, Professor, our Karuṇā Devī, she is from České Budějovice, and she often goes to India to give lectures on yoga and other things. And she is the one who is bringing yoga into their lives, in the universities and in schools, trying in the Czech Republic. Also, the Ānandamūrtī. Her name is Ānandamūrtī. And you know what, Ānandamūrti, the form of the embodiment of bliss, Ānanda. She spoke very nicely. She worked a lot. And during the communist era, she supported yoga, life, and everything a lot, and still she is working with this. Thank you, Anna. For your beautiful words, and then Peter Heider, he is not here today, yes. Then the president of the Sri Swami Madhavānanda Yoga and Day Life Fellowship, Manfred Mansukram, he is a professor at the university in Graz, coming from Germany, Hamburg, and of course, very a nice speech was given, introducing the Śrī Svāmī Madhavānand World Peace Council, by our dear Hemāvatī. Thank you very much. That was really, I thought, no? Very brilliant, very good. Thank you. And then our dear one who likes to imitate, Nakalakarna. So, as Swāmījī was talking about his telephone and looking, "Oh, I have medicine only." So, looking inside, Kapila was also looking inside to get inspiration from his wife. So there he is, Kapil also came from India, a very big company, a transport company, hundreds of trucks are there running on the road. And then our president of the Ayurveda Academy of Yoga and Dead Life in Vienna, Claudia, Śrī Śrī... Bhakta Amitabh Mehta, because one is Amitābha, he is a film star, Amitabh Bachchan, he is a very big film star, also I don’t know. Often, once I was in an airplane, and with him I said, "What is your name? What are you working?" And he was looking at me, because I don’t see the television. He’s a famous person in the whole television, Bollywood, and Hollywood. Thank you very much to everybody, and then, Sugandh Purī, Gregory. Sugandh means pregnancy. He brought a very nice atmosphere, perfect. And he’s actually the right hand of Dr. Radha. He was working. He was working really hard for one month to organize this conference so that it would be successful. So thank you very much. Thank you very much. Then Dr. Radha said, "I should not speak too much, because then she will say again, ’Again you,’ but I must tell something." Maybe she’s angry. No problem. She said to me one week ago, "No, no, and never, and never, and never anymore will I organize any conference." She had so much work; both her parents are ill. One is at the hospital, and the other needs help for this and that. She had a lot of work, and can you imagine, a minimum of 250 emails per day. And thank you. Besides this, Muktāmaṇī also helped; she worked with Rādhā, Śāntī Devī, and Sāradā as well, sealing. So now there are no more sealings, so we have Sarada, her name. So, Sāradā, her husband, and many, many of our Austrian Bhaktas and those from other countries, really they were working for three to four months. Śrī Śrī... Thank you very much. And Hungarians, many were here, especially the president of the whole Hungarian yoga and their life. So, thank you, Kṛṣṇānand. Well, it is true that Indians have certain talents. The talent is a hidden talent. And that’s why I have to write a book called Hidden Powers in Humans. And so, our dear Vivek Oza, he is from Jaipur, he studied in the Czech Republic in Ostrava, he married in Ostrava, he is a citizen now, he has the Czech passport, he has companies, very successful, he often organizes football teams, and now he is also in the ministry; he is a minister, and now he is going to India. As a delegate of Cheikh to India, I don’t know where he’s gone. He left because he had a lot of work, so thank you. And our team, all the cameras and our journalists here, and the message went to the whole world. Still now the live webcast is going. They have seen the whole world everywhere, and they were looking. Thank you very much. I hope I did not forget anyone who is really a VIP. All we are VIPs. This is the best. So thank you very much for coming, for supporting, and for being here. It was very successful. Now, everyone has given us work, duty. Now we shall work on it to realize. If we become self-aware, then we need two things: non-violence and peace. Violence has many, many different kinds. Stealing is also violence. And nowadays, people begin to steal so many things: the intellectual properties, the thoughts. And we saw that here many speakers who are above 50 or like this, they always quoted who said what. And now, others, they don’t say who said what. They tell that they think that they are the owner of these sentences, like Gandhijī, "Be the change you want to see." Gurujī said, "One in all, all in one." And about religion, about spiritualities, Gurujī had one slogan which he used to tell often: "Enter the kingdom of the Lord through the gate of sacrifice." Bhagavān ke darbār mein jāne ke liye ek darvājā hai tyāg, renunciation. Enter the kingdom of the Lord through the gate of sacrifice. Now, what we have heard here, Gurujī is telling, not me, now we have to sacrifice for this purpose to stop the violence and create peace. The previous speaker was talking, I think it was Mahāmaṇḍaleśvarānanda Vivek Purījī, Yogījī. The fear is a cause of everything. To earn more and more money is also a fear. Out of the fear, because one does not have self-confidence, the anger, the hate, the jealous ego, and greed come out of ignorance. Where there is knowledge, these negative qualities are not there. Knowledge should be that kind of knowledge, someone said. The tons of theory are nothing compared to a gram of practice. Whatever we heard, we speak, we shall try to put in a practical way, then we can achieve. And whatever we organize, we should think not that I organize, but that we are the servants. If we say, "I did," then all our karma, our fruits, are gone. So, in one song in India, it is said, "Mera Jīvan Terī Pūjā." What does it mean? I don’t know in English. Mera Jīvan Terī Pūjā. My life is a worship to you. So, if we do in this way, that what I do in this world is my seva, my worship for them. Not that I do and I help them. No, I serve them. Help? That I help, I did? No. I am your servant. I serve you. So peace is within us. Just think positive. And in every book it’s said, in the Bible also it is said, and in our Vedas everywhere it is said, do not do to others what you do not like to be done to you. Sabhi Praṇī Merī Ātmā Hai. Each and every entity is myself. Ātmā sohī Paramātmā. And so that Ātmā is the Paramātmā, God. Every living entity is a light of one God. One in all and all in one. Yes, one sun is shining, or one moon, and there are many vessels full of liquid. Everywhere is the reflection. At night we can see in twenty parts there are twenty moons, but in reality there is only one. So, if we have fear, we can’t proceed; we can’t be successful. All this situation—war, fighting, refugees—who made this situation? Someone created this situation, and that one will have to face the karmas for many, many lives. But now the time has come; the Kaliyuga is ending and the Satyayuga is beginning. And when the Satyuga begins, again the bubbles of the heat come up. And now it is like this, all these refugees and this and that, what is happening? It means now changes have to come. Changes have to come. And when the good things begin to move, then those who were sitting and ruling their properties, and this and that—my land, my country, my house, my property, my money, my, my, my. This, now those who have such selfishness, they have fear, fear to lose that. But the Bhagavad Gītā says, this house which you have now, yesterday was someone’s, today is yours, and tomorrow morning will be someone else’s. The past is past, the present is not here. Our future is not here, the present is here. So, present means God has given us today as a present. Enjoy it in a good way and keep your house clean so that tomorrow, whoever will come, has less work. This way, many, many good words from Mahāprabhujī. Next time, we will talk about Mahāprabhujī’s teachings, and we will continue. So I can tell you that maybe, not maybe, we are successful. The protocol of the United Nations here in this house said to me, "Always, Swamiji, you are welcome, and I will support you to have a conference here."