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Part 1: The Foundation of Peace: Yoga, Non-Violence, and Global Transformation Distinguished speakers, respected audience, before we commence with the second part of our conference, please allow me a short announcement. One pair of reading glasses was found just outside the conference hall. If anybody is missing them, I will place them here. I hope you all see them—unfortunately, probably not the person who lost them—but if anyone is missing their glasses, they will be right here. Thank you. Now, I would like to invite the most respected Bābā Jain, founder and Secretary General of the World Council of Religious Leaders from the United States of America, to address the audience, please. Bābā Jain: Good morning. I think the break didn’t give you enough energy. That should have been a spirited back. Can we say again, good morning? Now I see, I think we are all awake after that. Pūjya Svāmījī, I bow to your Guru and Master, distinguished delegates. It is a pleasure for me to be here again. You heard Svāmījī mention the United Nations Millennium Summit. What he did not tell you was that he was one of the distinguished Indian leaders among the 108 leaders who came from India. Svāmījī was there. He is so focused on his Guru that everything else is secondary, and I find that absolutely remarkable because my life also is in the guru paramparā. Since my young days, I was blessed to have a guru in my life, and I know well the meaning of what a guru can be in your life. So those who have a guru, you are truly blessed. That means all your things in life will be taken care of, just because you have the blessing and the protection of the guru. That is what a guru can do. So, Svāmījī, thank you so much for leading all these people way before many people from India came, almost 50 years. You are coming to that. Now, the world knows Yoga Day since last year. And those of you who do not know, at the UN in New York, things do not work so rapidly as they did with the International Day of Yoga. Normally, when you want to propose an international day, you have to make a resolution. Some countries have to propose it, they have to discuss it, and it has to come on the agenda. In this case, nothing. Modījī came to the General Assembly, made an appeal, and it was his charisma, his personal leadership, that 177 countries, quite unprecedented in the history of the United Nations, by acclamation adopted it. And what has it done? It has honored all those great leaders, like Svāmījī, who brought this ancient practice of mind, body, and spirit, and left that international. That there is an alternative in life which is more in harmony with one’s basic essence, and today the world knows it now. I think we have to build more on this than marking today the International Day of Non-Violence. What a great honor to a great human being, one of the greatest in living memory, Bāpūjī, Mahātmā Gāndhī. We had done a conference at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, and after I had given my keynote address, the head of the Nobel Institute came and said, "We would like to take you for a little tour." This is not a Nobel Museum, the Nobel Institute, okay? There is a distinction there. He took me on a little tour of the Nobel Institute, and I will never forget that moment. He took me to a room where there are pictures, photographs of all those who have received the Nobel Peace Prize since its inception. Now, coming from where I come from, my background, I walked into that room and I was filled with nostalgia. I said, amongst all these pictures, these are the people who aspired for and did something to transform the world, so I was deeply in those feelings and emotions. And he asked me suddenly, "What do you feel?" I said, "Filled with nostalgia, you know. I am here in the midst, but I also feel a vacuum." Now, he was surprised with my answer: that I am nostalgic, but at the same time, I feel a vacuum. He says, "May I ask, what is a vacuum for?" So, I also come from a whole system of diplomacy and protocol. So I said, can I be frank and candid with you? He says, please. I said, the vacuum here is that the person who is declared the person of the century, who did not aspire for this, is missing. He knew who he was talking to, but he wanted to ask who. I said, "Mahatma Gandhi." But then I was bold enough. I said, "Let me ask you." I said, "But tell me." He agreed with me. He agreed with me. But then I asked him, I said, "Why? Why was not Bāpūjī, Mahātmā Gāndhī, given the Nobel Peace Prize?" What he said was absolutely stunning. And I share this with you because I did not expect a forthright answer like that. He gave me two words. He said, "Winston Churchill." I said, "Oh, okay." Now it made sense to me suddenly. So I said, "Where is the credibility of the Nobel Prize then? If you can get compromised with people like that, it influences you." So it would have been a great embarrassment to the British Empire at that time for Mahātmā Gāndhī to be given the Nobel Peace Prize. I said, but his karma was much stronger. Look what he is known in the world today. He does not need a Nobel Prize. And today we are commemorating his day here. Ironically, Svāmījī, as we are commemorating and celebrating Mahātmā Gāndhī’s life and legacy, the world is in deep turmoil. Any part of the world you see, has Europe witnessed a crisis like this ever before, with all the migrants coming here? The moral fabric, the social fabric across Europe has been stretched. It is a testing time. What do we do? How do you resolve these poor, innocent people who feel they have nothing in life, set out, and many of them perish in the waters? Some of them who made it here are trying to find a place where they and their families, their children, can have a future. We also know the resources are limited, so I am thinking, what would Mahātmā Gāndhījī do of this? It is just a crisis. He did some revolutionary things in his life. He mobilized, and I think his principles of Ahiṃsā can apply here aptly and find a way how we can address this problem. If one were to be able to adopt it, yes, there is going to be an enormous change. I think that is inevitable. Now, Europe as you see it now will be very different by 2050. This is not my prediction; these are international statistics which say that by 2050, the majority of Europe will be Muslim. It is not my figures. Why I say this is, it is not anything against Islam, but there is a challenge on Muslims integrating into the mainstream society or following the laws of the land wherever they are and being responsibly contributing to the countries in which they reside and from which they benefit. But there is also a responsibility on the other side, amongst the countries, to see how we can integrate them into our society. Remember, the reality is this is the fastest growing religion in the world. And when you greet, the first greeting begins with peace. Salām. Where is the disconnect? What I tell the Muslims, and I share, is that those people who are using Islam to perpetuate violence and terrorism and conflict, they are the greatest enemies of that religion. My Gurujī used to tell me one thing. He says, you know, people asked him many times in international conferences, "Jains, what are they?" And sometimes there will be Muslims too, so he would just say simply, nowadays it is in the news, he says, "When you go to Hajj, what do you do? What do you practice? You wear an unstitched piece of cloth, white, in your thoughts, in your speech, in your action you follow non-violence. That is Jains. It is no different." He said, "Why can’t this translate into mainstream society?" That is a challenge for us. Today, the world is witnessing an enormous energy around India, especially since Prime Minister Modī took office. This is the time. This is truly the time. We must use that opportunity and have these principles of non-violence become the basis of all of humanity in every country. Non-violence is the key to global survival. I am convinced that is what the great contribution of the Jain teachings was to Mahātmā Gāndhī, and it influenced him in his struggle. Today we honor that day, and through him, Śrī Mādhāvanāñjī, through him, Pūjya Svāmī Maheśvarānāñjī, Mahāmaṇḍaleśvarjī. It is that same lineage, recognizing and honoring that today, and I am honored to be here. I hope that in the next few days, I will be able to meet more of you, listen to you on what specifically we can do. Yes, we work with the world’s religious leaders and the United Nations, and suddenly there is a lot of energy in the UN. Ever since the Holy Father, for the first time in history, came and opened the General Assembly of the United Nations, unheard of, and he made some very, very bold statements which were quite universal. He did not just stick to a Catholic or a Christian path. His message was truly universal. Wherever he went, whether it was at the White House or whether he was addressing the Congress, he challenged religious leaders. And I think there is a certain religious, spiritual renaissance now, and people are looking up more to what religious leaders can do. So on the side with the political leadership of Modījī, deeply rooted in the Hindu dharma, in the Hindu faith, and he practices that. Even if he comes to the White House and there is a state dinner, he will have his nimbūpānī because he is observing his fasts. Only lemon water. He did not change that. Those are the principles. He wanted to make a statement on that. And I am told, Svāmījī, that when he went to the White House, they asked Prime Minister Modī to sign the message in the guest book. You know, he knows English very well, but he wanted to have them understand the culture. So he wrote his message in Hindi. He wrote it in English, but signed it in Hindi. Those are subtle things to influence and let people know that you need to know more about the Hindu dharma, the Indian culture. And certainly there is great energy and great demand, great need, great yearning for people to understand the Hindu dharma. So I hope that next year, Svāmījī, what he is saying is, perhaps bring this, as I said to Nāgendraji just now, let us do something big in Washington on June 21. And hopefully invite President Obama and the others. I say this because I think if something happens in Washington, the world knows. The world understands. The world hears about it. Some things happen in the United Nations; very few understand it. Very few hear about it, unfortunately. So this is the house of peace. This institution was created in 1945, as you commemorate 70 years, to be the international house of peace. And this is the one institution that we still have. There may be some challenges and problems, but where are not they? So we must do everything to see that this International House of Peace can truly be a beacon of peace to all of humanity. The Sustainable Development Goals just adopted are one specific measure. In November and December this year, there will be negotiations for climate control in Paris. You know, this is threatening all of humanity. We must come together, each of the religious leaders from around the world, mobilize people and let them understand that if we do not care for the environment, we are going to be destroying our own future. You need to understand that there are people who deny it. That is okay. That is unfortunately there, Svāmījī. Svāmījī said they do not have enough knowledge. They are not following that, but I believe religious leaders of the world can change that. And it is my earnest plea, I beseech all the religious leaders, we have been working on this for a while, that they must rise up and get together and build this as a world movement. And only religious leaders can do that. They reach the masses far beyond any political leadership. And if we can achieve that, we are doing something for our succeeding generations, for future generations. That is our responsibility. So I want to thank you, Pūjya Svāmījī, all of you. I just say, in closing, commit to an action. Do something which you will be proud of, and your generations to come will be proud of that. Yes, they started something which has transformed life. Thank you. Moderator: Thank you, respected Bābā Jain, founder and secretary-general, World Council of Religious Leaders, USA. Now I would like to ask the most respected Dr. H. R. Nāgendra, Chancellor of S-VYASA Yoga University, Chairman of the International Day of Yoga Experts Committee, and Chairman of the Task Force of AYUSH, Government of India. Dr. H. R. Nāgendra: I bring greetings to all of you from Bangalore, the silicon city of India, from Svāmī Vivekānanda Yoga University. I congratulate Svāmī Maheśvarānandajī and his wonderful team for organizing this great event here in this auspicious place, and what a great contribution that this is making. Maheśvarānandajī used non-violence as a tool to bring freedom to India. Earlier, for decades, people had tried their best to get freedom by the usual means of valour, bravery, and others. But it did not work. But when Gāndhījī brought Ahiṃsā, which is one of the foundations of Yoga... In Yoga we have Yama and Niyama. In Yama we have Ahiṃsā, Satya, Asteya, Brahmacarya, Aparigraha, Yama. Five dimensions of Yamada Foundation, so used all these factors, practiced by himself, and used ahiṃsā as a tool. Non-violence is a tool to synergize all people in India to get the freedom. It is a history, it is unbelievable. Whether it can happen? Our new Prime Minister Modījī has taken it further. He is using yoga as a means to bring peace on earth, health, harmony, and love to everyone in the country. And as Svāmījī said, we should all join together as a single. So the second dimension of yoga, niyamas, he is emphasizing: śauca, such a bhārat, bring cleanliness everywhere; santoṣa—we have to all the time... What is the key essence of yoga? Can we be happy and stay in that peaceful state of mind under all circumstances? You have seen him during the elections, how he was able to maintain that calm equanimity, 18 of us running from this center to that end of the country, everybody was surprised how this is happening. It is all due to his intense practice of yoga. Yoga is not merely doing some āsanas or prāṇāyāma in the morning or the evening, but yoga is a way of life. The essence of yoga is to maintain an inner equipoise, inner peace, inner tranquility, and do all the activities. Yogastha kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañjaya. This is what Kṛṣṇa says. Every action should be turned into a yoga. You know that says that karma can be transported into karma yoga, and every action we do should become yoga. Is it ever possible? Many of my students ask, "How is it, sir? Eating, drinking, urinating, accelerating, sitting, standing, everything can be yoga." Yoga looks very utopic, but look at the śloka of Bhagavad Gītā: seeing, hearing, walking, eating, drinking, excreting, urinating, even winking of the eyes, everything should become a yoga. How is it ever possible? This is to maintain an inner equipoise. We all have the superficial and the surface layer of the mind, and the inner, deeper layer of the mind. All of us have the experience. We are hearing here, but something deep within us is bothering us: "Oh, my father was admitted to the hospital. What is happening to him?" Or, my friend is in a great hurry. What is happening? Something deep within is coming up. That is the inner layer of the mind, the subtler layer of the mind. So yoga says you have to cleanse that and bring peace and santoṣa, or tranquility, to the inner layer of the mind, and do all activities outside, whatever you are doing. So all the practices of āsana or prāṇāyāma, mudras, bandhas, kriyas, everything trains us to come to this level of karma yoga. So when a lot of journalists were asking me as to what practices our prime minister does, then I was telling that he learned the essence of the yoga that maintains that inner equipoise and doing the activities, so he is bringing that dimension and showing: śaucha, santoṣa, tapas, svādhyāya, īśvara praṇidhāna to be used in the country to see that India grows to greater and greater heights. So many have rightly pointed out that peace can be brought all over the world only when we transform our education system. What is the goal of education? Svāmī Vivekānanda said, "Education is the manifestation of perfection already in man." It is not really cramming up of information into our brain, which often runs riot, that is what Svāmī Vivekānanda said. We want man-making education. Education should transform us from our animalistic, instinctive level to become normal human beings with discrimination, to create human beings. To use that discrimination to bring values in life. And reach the heights of superhuman heights. And reach the ultimate goal of absolute freedom, Mokṣa. This is what every educational system should bring. Transforming ourselves. So unless this aspect of education is brought, what Svāmī Vivekānanda called the man-making education, we will not be able to bring peace on earth. A large number of yoga institutions have been propagating. People come and take, and they learn yoga and practice for some time, and afterwards they leave. But only with great gurus like our pūjya Vaiśvānandajī. He has a lot of dedicated people who have been practicing yoga continuously. But what is needed, if you want to transform the whole society and the whole world, is to knit it into the education system. So this is what Svāmījī emphasized. So this is what has happened today in India after the International Day of Yoga. After IDY, what should we do? So our Prime Minister had given the directions, and we were interacting many times that we had to bring that yoga back to our education system. So the National Council of Teachers’ Education, which trains 14 lakhs of teachers every year in India, has introduced yoga. And we developed the syllabus for that. And it has been compulsory. And throughout the country, starting from pre-primary, primary, middle school, high school, college, B.R., B.P.Ed., M.Ed., M.P.Ed., everywhere yoga has become compulsory. Similarly, in the NCERT, we said that we had to bring yoga to the students, not only to the teachers to learn and practice for themselves, but students should be brought. From class six up to class twelve, we brought two main services to adopt that. But what type of yoga we are going to teach is very important. When we want to develop the modality of celebrations of yoga, our Prime Minister Modījī has said we have to bring the real dimension of yoga. Yoga to the people at large. In his wonderful speech at the UNO, he had told, "Yoga is not merely physical exercise, it is a way of living." It is a science of holistic living. It works at the body level, prāṇa level, mind level, emotional level, intellectual level. How to translate that? So all the yoga masters sat together through many, many meetings, and we wanted to develop. Finally, we developed that protocol in which, for 35 minutes, we had the initial prayer so that we all work together in a synergetic way, then we started with the loosening practices, then we had yogic postures for 15 minutes, then prāṇāyāma for 5 minutes, then meditation for 5 minutes, and the saṅkalpa, the resolve that we take, as we all are going to work for the bringing of peace on earth, happiness on earth, and to maintain our health. We become the ambassadors by changing ourselves. All these things are brought forth in the 35-minute protocol. And we train a large number of people in the country, including the defense and a large number of NSC, NSS, and others. And it is history: 34 crores of people, 340 million people in India, practiced on that day the common protocol of 35 minutes. And 240 countries celebrated this, the biggest ever in the whole history of the world, in UNESCO and the UN. So education is getting transformed in India. Similarly, at the higher education level, we started this journey way back in 1990, when the UGC asked us to start the yoga programs in the university campuses. We did not make it compulsory; we let people come and learn, enjoy, and develop. That is how we started. And all people got very interested, and within five years, the government said, "Okay, we will start the Department of Yoga." Then came the universities. Our other, second university to come up in India, in which we have been able to bring this yoga dimension at the higher education level. Bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, doctoral program. We are nearly 150 people doing their doctorate in our university through the distance mode program. And what is special here is to translate the vision of yoga, the transcendent vision of Samādhi. We want man-making education, so we judge the development of the students not merely by examinations, tests, and internal assessments, but actually by measuring how the personality is growing. We measure the personality by the Vedic inventory called the VPI questionnaire, by which you know how much of tamas, how much of rajas, how much of sattva is there to begin with. At the end of the semester, we measure how much of tamas has reduced, how much of rajas is controlled, how much of sattva has grown, that is the mark. A person may get very high marks, but if his personality is not changed, he will get a lower grade. For the first time in history, eight modes of measuring the personality have been brought forth: brainwave coherence, see how the left and the right brain are going to come together, all these things I have been able to do. And so Karuṇā said we had to bring the best of the East with the best of the West when we look at all. The education system that is going on in India and almost every place is essentially the Western mode, the matter-based paradigm, and we have to bring in the dimension of the Eastern wisdom base, that of yoga, what Svāmījī started bringing this part of the country 40, 50 years back, and how he had been able to build. So this has to be brought together. So many said, "Combine the best of the East with the best of the West." The best of the East is our śāstras, our yoga texts, Haṭha Ratnāvalī, Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā, Gheraṇḍa Saṃhitā, Yoga Vāsiṣṭha, Mahābhārata, Epics, Upaniṣads, and the entire Praṣṭhāna Traya. All the wisdom base is contained in that knowledge base that we have, and that we have to unravel and put to the test of modern scientific research. So, published papers in the best of the international journals, we have published nearly 400 such papers. Every student has to unravel. Therefore, a student comes here to learn the Saṃskṛta. He has to study the Upaniṣads, the Bhagavad Gītā, the Epics, and all the yoga texts; they have to do this. And they have to find out what is special here. And he has to put it to the test of modern scientific experimental research. We have one of the cutting-edge research labs. Thanks to Dr. Mañjunaṭha, who has come here. He was our research chief. You can talk to him and find out. Now we have got measures to measure what is happening at the body level, at the brain level, how the brain is changing, how the autonomic nervous system is changing, and how the psychological changes are taking place, how the gene expressions are changing gene sequencing, and what is happening to the prāṇamaya kośa? We have been able to measure that. What is happening at the mind level, the lag, and others through measurement? By scientific measurements, we have been able to measure and show that it works. Yoga, yoga has a message for all, and that is what we have been issued in our university. We have five divisions: yoga spirituality division, division of yoga and life sciences, yoga and the physical sciences, yoga and management studies, and yoga and the humanities—a broad spectrum—and yoga can contribute everywhere. That is what we have been able to do so far: combine the best of the East with the best of the West, and this has to come through everywhere. Therefore, recently we were in Los Angeles, Svāmījī, and now we have incorporated university, Vivekānanda University, in Los Angeles, and soon we are going to get the approval. We have prepared all the papers for getting the approval from BPP, and then what happens in the United States? We are going to have this entire dimension, what we have done in India, to be brought forth. Therefore, once it comes in the U.S., all over the world they will accept. Bābājī knows. And Bābājī was telling last time when we met that we had to propose June 21st as the International Day of Yoga. And what he said is, this cannot be done this time because it has to go through the entire procedure of putting that into the agenda three months before another. But after I went there and I talked to Bābājī and said, "You just propose. Propose and let us see what happens, you know." And he did it, and it worked, you know. As you rightly said, it is amazing that that happened in 177 countries, you know. The biggest thing this shows is how the entire world is looking for promotion. Part 2: The Path to Peace Through Yoga and Spiritual Inquiry Peace, harmony, love—people know yoga can foster these states. Many may not grasp yoga's subtleties in breath as taught by Swāmījī, yet in their heart of hearts, they recognize yoga is good for promoting and maintaining health, peace, harmony, and love. The sole solution for promoting peace is to transform ourselves, as the great Swāmījī Mādhāvanājī has taught. The essence of yoga is "one in all, all in one." That is our original self. We all possess an inner pure consciousness, the source from which the whole creation has emerged. Therefore, divinity resides within everyone; each person is a manifestation of the indwelling divinity of God. As Swami Vivekānanda said, the goal of yoga is to manifest this divinity. What is that divinity? It is infinite freedom, infinite knowledge, infinite power, and infinite bliss. We seek peace, happiness, knowledge, and freedom; we must move towards that mokṣa. Patañjali called it Kaivalya. Buddha likely termed it Brahma Nirvāṇa. The Bhagavad Gītā also calls it Brahma Nirvāṇa—our original state. Patañjali referred to it as Svarūpa. How is this achieved? By calming the mind and gaining mastery over it. When we inquired of our Ācārya how things are progressing, he replied, "Yes, I am trying to calm down the mind." This is the right direction for yoga. Yet, what has happened? Our entire system has conditioned the mind to move very fast—faster, quicker, more dynamic, sharper, more intelligent—but never calm. This is a major lacuna in our education system. Thus, the great Vasiṣṭha states in the Yogavāsiṣṭha: "Manaḥ prasamana upāyaḥ yogaḥ." The key essence of yoga is the calming, silencing, and tranquilizing of the mind. Because we have neglected this, we have become gigantic on one front and a beast on another, creating a profound imbalance. This imbalance is the root cause of all stress, modern ailments, terrorism, and the greed pervading our world. Everything can be contained by restoring balance. This brings homeostasis at the bodily level and harmony between the left and right brain. "Samatvam yoga ucyate"—this is the essence. This is the wonderful teaching of Eśwaranjī, which we have been practicing for years and decades. Now the time has come to integrate it into the education system. Can we all work towards this? Just as we have done in India, can this happen worldwide? With your influence and the wonderful work of our Bābājī, and with all of you as promoters of the great wisdom our Swāmījī brings, can we introduce this into our education systems? It can be simple. I spoke with people from Harvard University and suggested that if starting a department or school of yoga is not feasible, we could at least introduce one course. We have a Yoga Instructors’ Course comprising six subjects: Jñāna Yoga, Rāja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Unity in Diversity, and the Message of Great Yoga Masters. It also includes six practical components: āsana, prāṇāyāma, Om meditation, psychic meditation, the kriyās (cleansing techniques), and the science of emotion culture. This can be delivered through distance education or via a one-month intensive training, which works wonders. We have witnessed total personality transformation in those who undergo this training. Can we do this? Many universities are now very enthusiastic. Bābājī, we missed you at our Dharamagal Foundation conference in Edison. The Hindu Council Students Council is very keen and has contacted about 70 universities globally to introduce this dimension. A similar initiative can be undertaken here. Our Swāmījī’s course on teachers’ education is excellent, and we can add another dimension if needed. It must be integrated into our school systems. If we can act as agents to add this value, the transformation will begin. This is how we must bring it into education. I completely agree with Swāmījī that only through the education system can society transform itself and bring peace on earth. Otherwise, we hold countless conferences on world peace, produce beautiful proceedings and videos, yet we know the reality. Only inner transformation can effect change. This is what Mahātmā Gandhījī did. He began by transforming himself. Knowing himself, he practiced brahmacharya, became a role model, and used that as a tool to transform the entire nation, synergizing India's foundational roots: sacrifice and service. Similarly, we must bring the holistic wisdom base of yoga—the science of holistic living—to the world at large to achieve peace on earth. Once again, I congratulate our Swāmījī and his entire team—such wonderful, dedicated, efficient people and a galaxy of monastics he has created. This is a new launchpad for bringing real peace on earth by cultivating peace within each of us and propagating its fragrance: loving bliss, harmony, peace, and health to everyone in society. Thank you for this opportunity to share these thoughts. We look forward to working together with greater cohesion and synergy. I invite all of you to India, to our university. We have a major conference from January 6th to 9th, which our Prime Minister will inaugurate. Eric Fisher, Bhavani, and Swāmījī are to come. We would be thrilled to have you all witness a new dimension emerging in the health scenario. Thank you very much, Dr. Nagendrajī, Chancellor of S.V. Asya Yoga University, Chairman of the International Day of Yoga Experts Committee, and Chairman of the Task Force of Ayush, Government of India. Now I would like to invite respected Dr. Swapnil Kothari, educationist, founder, chairman, and managing director of the Dore Indira Group of Institutions, Renaissance College of Commerce and Management, from Indore, India, to address the audience. Thank you very much. My humble praṇām at the lotus feet of Swāmījī, honorable dignitaries on and off the dais, thinkers from around the globe, seekers from around the world, and my dear brothers and sisters. A few years ago, my friend faced a similar situation. He had to speak on a difficult conference topic and was unprepared due to extensive travel. On the conference day, he walked slowly onto the stage with his mobile phone. He began nervously but ended up delivering an excellent speech while constantly looking at his phone. Afterward, someone asked him, "Sir, would you mind telling us whose photograph is on your phone? You started nervously but gave a great speech. We suspect an inspiring photo. Is it Angelina Jolie’s?" My friend smiled and said, "I’m sorry, it’s not Angelina Jolie’s photograph; it’s my wife’s. She inspires me in a very different manner. I was unprepared and in difficulty. Whenever I face a problem, barrier, hindrance, or major issue in life, I look at my wife’s photograph and tell myself, 'If I can handle her, I can handle this serious conference.' So I started differently." Ladies and gentlemen, I am not prepared, and there is no one's photograph on my phone. I have actually brought my wife to Vienna; she is sitting there at the Vienna International Center. When I received an invitation from Madhavan and the World Peace Council to speak on spiritualism and inner peace, I hesitated. I am too young to speak on these topics. I haven’t done a PhD, research, or a thesis on spiritualism and inner peace. I wondered, "Should I speak?" But I accepted the challenge for several reasons. Believe me, I haven’t read any book on spiritualism to date. However, when I was young, I observed my grandmother closely. She was unwell for many years, bedridden, yet she lived peacefully and died peacefully. I learned tolerance from her. Believe me, I haven’t read any book on spiritualism. But I have observed my mother closely. She has no ambitions of her own; her happiness is linked to the happiness of all family members. I learned selflessness from her. Believe me, I haven’t read any book on spiritualism. But I observed my father closely. A close friend ditched him in business, leaving us with nothing, yet my father moved on without grudges. For the first time, I understood forgiveness. Believe me, I haven’t read any book on spiritualism. But I studied at a very good school, Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vihar, which taught me the science of prayer. The lesson was simple: never pray for things and events; pray for wisdom and courage. I started my career as a teacher. Before that, I studied at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, which taught me truthfulness and integrity. Truth has the strength to hold together; falsehood has the weakness of splitting apart. I have taught around 20,000 students to date, and they all share one thing: I see hope in their eyes. I understood that the world is not governed by greed and fear but by hope. Then I married my wife, who taught me a crucial lesson: accept things you cannot change—acceptance. We are from India, raised on stories of Mahātmā Gandhi, all emphasizing purity of means. We are Hindus; we keep the Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā at home. In one chapter, Lord Kṛṣṇa preaches karma yoga: whatever you do comes back. Our understanding of spiritualism springs from lessons of tolerance, love, acceptance, selflessness, and forgiveness. It is inspired by Gandhījī, Vivekānandjī, Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahaṁsa, Kabīr, Tulasīdāsa, Lord Kṛṣṇa, and Lord Rāma. Believe me, ladies and gentlemen, I haven’t read any book on spiritualism. But I took this challenge because I am a proud Indian. We Indians have spirituality in our soil, genetic code, and air. I have divided my speech into parts, each answering a question. First: Who is spiritual? At a family function in India, a discussion about God grew interesting. Some women proposed God was not male. Men responded that God was not female. My cousin, educated in the USA, suggested God was not black. My uncle, settled in Africa for 20 years, said God was not white. A nine-year-old boy was present. I asked him, "Champion, do you have something to say?" He replied, "Swapnil Bhaiya, please don’t drag me in. I am 100% clear." I said, "You're clear amid this confusion?" He said, "I understand. God was not male, not female, not black, not white. That means God was Michael Jackson." This illustrates the problem of being sure about what you don’t know. In the Czech Republic, I met an atheist who said, "I strongly believe God doesn’t exist, but I am spiritual." I met a theist who said, "I strongly believe God exists, and as a religious person, I have a fundamental right to call myself spiritual." So, who is spiritual? Is an atheist or a theist spiritual? Believe me, neither is. There is an interesting similarity: both are sure about what they don’t know. A spiritual person must be honest enough to admit, "I don’t know." If you are sure about what you don’t know, you are confused. Only a seeker can be spiritual. Only a rationalist seeker—honest in admitting ignorance—can be spiritual. Second: What is spiritualism? There are four basic realities of life: body, mind, emotions, and energies. Humanity's problems stem from the non-alignment of these four. The moment we align body, mind, emotions, and energy, all problems vanish. When you cultivate these in a committed atmosphere, perhaps in a guru's presence, something else springs from within: that is spiritualism. Once aligned and spiritual, you become more available to all life processes, equally and indiscriminately conscious of all aspects—business, body, environment, society. You live more in the present, less in the past or future, enhancing the quality of your decisions and actions. You become more awakened, enlightened, clear, and, ultimately, fearless. That is the meaning of being spiritual. Third: Can we locate or measure spiritual progress? I have a story. A father had two mischievous sons who irritated the neighborhood. Complaints poured in. The father, helpless, sought a priest's help. The priest said, "Send your younger son. I'll convince him God resides within us, and he'll become disciplined." The father agreed. The priest asked the boy, "Where is God?" The boy said, "I don’t know." The priest asked louder, touched the boy's chest, and repeated, "Where is God?" The boy ran to his elder brother, disturbed. The elder brother asked what happened. The younger son said, "It seems they have lost their god, and they think we have done it." Any attempt to locate spirituality, divinity, or God is futile because they are formless. If you are desperate to search for divinity, start your inner journey. As you progress inwardly, you become more joyful and available to life. That is the only way to measure spiritual progress. You cannot measure spirituality. Can you measure fragrance, happiness, or grace? You can only feel them. Lastly: Inner peace versus stress. I am often invited to speak on stress management. Students ask, "How can we manage stress?" I find this funny. You manage things precious to you: wealth, health, relationships. Why would you want to manage stress? Saying so implies you've concluded stress is inevitable. It is not. Stress is your inability to manage your own internal system—body, mind, emotions, energy. You function by accident and complain about stress. Is stress related to environment? A person in the prime minister's office, home minister's office, Kota Kola, Samsung, or someone jobless—all suffer from stress. Would changing jobs or life partners reduce it? No. Stress is your inability to manage your internal system. We must understand that life's quality depends on its context, not its contents. There are two concepts: contents and context. Three people were carving stone. A passerby asked the first, "What are you doing?" He retorted, "Are you blind? Can't you see?" He asked the second, who said, "I have to fill my stomach, so I do what my boss says." He asked the third, who smiled and replied, "I’m trying to make a statue." All three did similar work (same content), but their context differed. To be happy, we must change our life's context. If we change the context, inner peace will automatically generate and prevail. To conclude: 1. Who is spiritual? A seeker, a rationalist seeker. 2. Can you locate spirituality? No. Spirituality, divinity, and God are formless. Start your inner journey to become more joyful. 3. What is spiritualism? It is what springs from within when you cultivate body, mind, emotions, and energy in a committed atmosphere, in a guru's presence. 4. Inner peace: Change your life's context, and inner peace will prevail. Jai Hind, Jai Bhārat. Thank you very much, respected Dr. Swapnil Kotharijī, educationist, founder, chairman, and managing director of the Indore Indira Group of Institutions and Renaissance College of Commerce and Management from Indore, India. Now, to conclude the pre-lunch session, I ask for a short address from respected Professor Dr. Shita. Thank you very much. Respected Swāmījī and international friends of peace, I am a very lucky person. I had excellent contact with Paramaguru Swāmī Madhavānandajī and received his blessings and many lessons. Briefly, I wish to speak about the peace of the word. As others have said, peace is within you. October 2, 2015, is a very auspicious World Peace Day for the Council of Paramaguru Swāmī Madhavānand. This great saint can be compared to Mahatma Gandhi, who started the Satyāgraha, Ahiṃsā, and non-violence movement in India to achieve independence. This movement needs universal adoption, especially given today's global violence and killing. The path is peace, forgiveness, and love. On this World Peace Council day of our Paramaguru Swāmī Madhavānandjī, who has spearheaded these core human principles worldwide, we honor him. Born in Rajasthan, India, he became a holy man showing the path to global freedom and peace. He not only stabilized the World Peace Council but also initiated projects like schools for girls' education and hospitals with emergency services for the poor—a great service in a country where serving the poor is challenging. He was a great saint with vast achievements. I recall his words. On this auspicious day, let us resolve to follow the World Peace Council's principle: to bring world peace through cultural exchange, inter-religious and inter-national dialogue, ethics, education, and a healthy lifestyle. Thank you very much for your patience in listening to me.