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Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Four Mile Run Park in Alexandria, Virginia, for this special peace tree planting event. We extend a special welcome to our distinguished guests and to our yoga brothers and sisters from around the world who are watching the live webcast today. I have just been told we have 100 people watching so far, and there will be more as we continue. To begin, a wise and loving soul once said, "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." I would like to add that not only do we belong to each other, but we also belong to the earth, which is sometimes forgotten. It is therefore fitting that we gather today to plant this, our second peace tree in Alexandria, with Swāmījī and Mayor Silverberg, who are both deeply committed to promoting peace, humanitarian efforts, and protecting the planet. For the few days Swāmījī has been with us, we have received great guidance, satsaṅg, and wonderful direction. As always, we love having Swāmījī with us. Thank you very much, Swāmījī. Today's peace tree planting also celebrates two special events designated for this week: the United Nations International Day of Peace on Wednesday, September 21st, and Columbia University's International Conference on Sustainability in New York, held in conjunction with the International Day of Peace. We are joining both events, as well as Swāmījī's talk and presentation this evening on sustainability, yoga, and service for peace and well-being. We hope everyone will watch that this evening. Yoga and Daily Life is very happy and pleased to now present a few words first from Mayor Allison Silverberg of the City of Alexandria, followed by Swāmījī. Mayor Allison Silverberg: David, thank you. That was beautiful. Thank you for the beautiful flowers. Thank you, David Kosar, for all your leadership. I am honored to be with you. I am the mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, and Yoga and Daily Life is an important part of our city. Swāmījī, we are so honored that you are back in our city. Thank you for being here in Alexandria, Virginia. We welcome you with open arms and open hearts. First of all, let me give you a big hug. May I? So good to see you again. It is wonderful to see you as we plant this tree and encourage peace around the world. This is an important core value that we all share and must work for. Planting a tree is near and dear to my heart. This tree will grow strong and will hopefully encourage other trees to be planted. In fact, planting trees is an important core value of our city. Tomorrow, the city and I will be planting a tree donated by the National Arboretum along the waterfront in Oronoco Bay Park at 3 p.m. All are welcome. This is part of a whole effort I have dubbed "Greening Up Alexandria," an initiative to get everyone to plant trees right now. Our goal is to increase our tree canopy from 34% to the national goal of 40% within one decade. This 40% goal is part of our urban forest master plan, so you are helping us achieve it, and I am thrilled. It is easy to buy a tree from the city for 20 or 30 dollars through a program at the Buddy Ford Nature Center on the west end. We are also planting in empty tree wells in Old Town and pushing forward on all kinds of fronts that will help us with beautification. I could see a row of 20 of these trees. This is a great beginning, and I am thrilled and honored to be with you. Welcome to Alexandria. Thank you for all you do. Swāmījī: Thank you. So, with the mantra—we always begin with the mantra—and for the environment, we will pray for the trees. Urvāru kāmya vandana mṛtyu mukṣir mahāmṛta. Oṁ tryambhakaṁ yajāmahe sugandhiṁ puṣṭi vardhanam. Urvāru kāmya vandana mṛtyu mukṣir mahāmṛta. Asato mā sad gamaya, tamaso mā jyotir gamaya, mṛtyor mā amṛtaṁ gamaya. Lead us from unreality to reality, lead us from darkness to the light, lead us from mortality to immortality. Lead us to immortality, lead us from unreality to reality, and to peace. Lead us to harmony, and lead us to the light. Oh Lord, we pray to thee for harmony, peace, light, and a happy life on this planet. Thank you. Our respected, honorable mayor of our city, Alexandria, we welcome you very much. We are very happy and delighted that your good self allowed us to plant a peace tree here. You have brought peace to this district of Alexandria, our county of Alexandria. A tree is life. No tree, there is no life. This tree which we are planting will grow very high and will distribute a lot of oxygen for our lungs, especially because this is a sports area where people come to play. The tree is here for all. The lake, the tree, the rain, and the sand—they live for all others. The tree only gives to us; it does not ask for anything in return. Today is a very special day for the United Nations, which means for the whole world, but for sustainability. This will bring sustainability to our countries, our nations, our planet, and our lives. So, thank you very much for coming. And to all Yoga and Daily Life dear brothers and sisters and other friends from this part of the city here, we welcome you. I do hope that you will come once a day or once a year, as you like. If you live nearby, make a pradakṣiṇā around this tree. Today I gave some kind of energy and mantra to this tree, so that if you go around it one or two rounds, your wish will be fulfilled. This is very important. For the next election, and the next election, and extractions, yes. So if you go around the tree and mentally repeat your wish, it will be fulfilled. This is a tree for the fulfillment of our wish and for peace. This stands for us. Thank you. God bless you. David (Yoga and Daily Life Representative): Thank you, Swāmījī, for your kind words. Also, thank you, Allison, for your inspiring words. I really do not have much more to say because whatever was said was very appropriate and very inspiring. So, just for me to say, on behalf of our Yoga and Daily Life Ashram here in Alexandria, I would like to express our gratitude for being part of this meaningful event. Our main goal here is to be the channel and to channel all the qualities that our Gurujī is teaching us, has been teaching us for years. We try to pass on and continue passing on to others, and help our community grow in terms of being, thinking, mutual love, respect, and understanding. I think that is our mission here in Alexandria, besides other things, besides teaching yoga. That is part of the yoga. Thank you very much again. Swāmījī: So we take together, okay, for our peace, harmony, and for our five elements. Now, for each hand, for hands, for water, for fire, for fork. Now for the water. And that is an important aspect of this, to water this in an ongoing way. Hopefully, someone will be doing so. We hold the water. God bless you! God bless you! For our good health, for our good nation, for our peace, for harmony, for understanding, mutual understanding, and for good health and love for the whole world. For our understanding, for peace, for harmony, for good health, and for love.