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Part 1: Peace Today: Reflections from the Legal Legislative Council Chamber Swami, Paramahanswami, Maheśvānandajī, Umāpurījī, Swami, Pūrṇimājī, Jñāna John Joyce, Grace, and David Divyājī, and all members present. I apologize for being late. I will begin with the necessary housekeeping rules for the venue and health and safety procedures. Welcome to the LCC, the Legal Legislative Council Chamber. The following health and safety procedures must be read to the audience. In the event of a fire alarm, please evacuate the venue via the same route you entered, using the nearest safe exit. Please follow the directions of Parliamentary Security staff and fire wardens. The assembly point is outside the Seddon statue, completely outside the Parliament building. This Parliament building has medical emergency provisions. In the event of a medical emergency, please refrain from calling 111. Inform Parliamentary Security staff immediately; they will manage any medical emergency. Within the parliamentary complex, we also have a doctor who can assist. In the event of an earthquake or tsunami, drop, cover, and hold on until it stops. Keep away from windows and other obvious hazards. If the earthquake lasts longer than a minute or is strong enough to make standing difficult, there may be a risk of a tsunami. In either event, please remain inside the venue and await instructions from Parliamentary Security staff. Toilets are downstairs through the LCC on the ground floor near the main entrance. All Parliament buildings are smoke-free. Guests may only smoke outside the main gate on Mulder Street, on the lawns. Please switch your phones to silent for the duration of the event. Photos are permitted within the LCC only; please do not take photos outside this room. Division bells ring every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday during sitting weeks. The bell will sound for members in this debating chamber at 1:50 PM, again at 7:20 PM, and at 10:00 PM on Tuesday and Wednesday. The division bells may occasionally ring outside these times due to voting. In the event of a medical emergency, contact Parliamentary Security Staff on 04-817-7777. Without further ado, we will kick off today’s event, called "Peace Today." We welcome our panel members and you all again. What is peace? Mother Teresa said peace begins with a smile. Mahā Goswāmī said when you make peace with yourself, you make peace with the world. Indira Gandhījī said, "You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist." The Dalai Lama said, "We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves." Thomas Paine said, "Peace which costs nothing is attended with infinitely more advantage than any victory with all its expenses." John Lennon said if everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there would be peace. Martin Luther King said true peace is not merely the absence of tensions; it is the presence of justice. Mahātmā Gandhījī said there is a higher court than the courts of justice, and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other quotes in the world. A.J. Muste said there is no way to peace; peace is the only way. Looking at Oxford dictionaries and many languages, what does every language, or most languages, say about peace? In Gujarati, Hindi, and Indian languages, it is śānti. In Africa, it is Vreda; in Arabic, Salaam; in Hattishian, Kroili, Keogh, Amara; in their language, it is Hakara; in Bulgarian, Mir; in Bengali, Shanti; Tibetan, Jehe, Bade; Catelyn Powe in Wales, Henrich, Dennis Fried; German, Fried; Greek, Irini; Esperanto, Paso; Spanish, Paz. What does that mean to us? It has one meaning: peace, meaning those objectives of Mahatma Gandhi’s Communist Committees: peace, love, harmony, truth, non-violence. Working together is peace. The opposite of peace is anger, greed, fight, and wars. Today, our panel members will speak from their perspective on peace, possibly covering peace within, peace within communities, peace within nations, and peace in the universe. I will start and invite Pūrṇimājī to begin. Thank you, Pūrṇimājī. Good morning, everyone, and praṇāms to Viśvagurujī Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramahaṁsvāmī Maheśvarānandajī and Nāgabhāī, the president, I think, of the Pūjā Mahāgandhī Commemoration Committee. Thank you for inviting us all here today. My subject, which Nāgabhāī asked me to speak about last night at about 10:30, was to do with peace in the community. I will briefly talk about how peace within the community comes, again, as Nāgabhāī was saying, from within each and every one of us. We do not have peace unless we are happy. Most of humanity is searching for happiness. When they find that happiness within themselves, then peace naturally arises. Unfortunately, people do not really know the path to that inner happiness, to that peace. This is where yoga and Yoga in Daily Life are doing a magnificent job around the whole world, showing people how to actually be happy through the yoga practices. The āsanas are really fantastic for a base point in the community. People come to yoga classes. They come together. There is that feeling of community, togetherness, and connectedness. They can work through their physical tensions, releasing them, and learn to relax. From my experience as a yoga teacher, people have always said that it really changes their life. They then have some purpose, something to look forward to, and they actually learn to connect with a different part of themselves. We have many people in these yoga classes throughout the whole world coming together and developing more peace within themselves. Then there arises that natural desire to actually give back to the community, to others, to form those mutually respectful relationships, to develop that harmony and peace within everybody, not just themselves. Apart from all that, we are doing that wonderful work around the whole world with Yoga in Daily Life. Our yoga teachers are very experienced. We are teaching people to meditate to connect to that inner space, and that inner space is that peace. If we were all practicing yoga or some form of spiritual practice, we would certainly be developing those divine qualities. This is what we want in our world today: those divine qualities where we can actually work on ourselves and help others through that process. Because we are the leaders, we are the light that shines for others. In Yoga in Daily Life, the teachers are the ones showing people that inner peace through the way that we conduct ourselves. Let us work on ourselves, help others to develop those skills, and then we can spread this peace and harmony through the whole world. The other thing I would like to mention is that in the community, we are already working with so many different diverse groups. The more resources we have, the more we can do in that community. Not only the yoga classes for the general local community, we also have, in the past, been going into correctional facilities and doing classes there. So we can also change the mindset of people who are struggling. We have people with disabilities, blindness—we have had blind classes for people—and anorexia groups where we support those people with eating disorders. So many things that we contribute to. I think one of the really important things is when we do the prenatal classes with the mothers and their babies. The babies are already getting that vibration right from the start, that beautiful divine harmony that we get from our yoga classes. Other beautiful communities support women. And the woman, as Svāmījī always says, is the first guru. So if we can develop that harmony with the mother and the children, then those children can grow up and be a new generation for the whole world to bring peace, happiness, and harmony. I think I will close there. There is lots you can say about peace in the community, many, many things, but I would like to hand you over now to the next speaker. Thank you so much. Thank you all the way from Australia. What a good message about peace. We would like to thank Priyanka Radhakrishnan, who is not here today, neither the Prime Minister, nor Mr. Andrew Little, the Minister of Justice, and also Vincent Peter, the Deputy Prime Minister, and James Shaw, the co-leader, and particularly to Priyankajī, who managed to have this LCC for us today. We like to thank and acknowledge her support and also the government support for hosting this event, though they are all in the select committee, and so that is the reason there is an apology from her and her colleagues. We cannot start, but we started, but we do not forget, and without Śānti pāṭh. I would like to request Svāmī Madhurāṃjī to do Śānti pāṭh. Śānti means peace, pāṭh means prayer. That is in Hindi or Sanskrit, and Svāmī Madhurāṃjī. Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya, mṛtyor mā amṛtam gamaya. Sarveṣāṃ svastir an bhavatu, sarveṣāṃ śāntir bhavatu. Sarveṣāṃ maṅgalam bhavatu, sarveṣāṃ pūrṇam bhavatu. Lokaḥ samastaḥ sukhino bhavantu. Oṁ tryambakaṁ yajāmahe sugandhiṁ puṣṭi-vardhanam, urvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyor mukṣīya māmṛtāt. Na ahaṁ kartā, prabhu-dīpa kartā, mahāprabhu-dīpa kartā hi kevalam. Oṁ Śānti Śānti... Śrī Deep Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jai, Śrī Deviśvara Mahādeva Kī Jai, Hindu Dharma Samrāṭ Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān Kī Jai, Viśvaguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramahaṁsī Svāmī Maheśvarānand Purījī Gurudeva Kī Jai. Thank you, Svāmī Madhurāṃ, who runs the Yoga Center in Ramati and is also the President of Yoga in Daily Life New Zealand. We acknowledge and thank you for your participation. As we all know, the ancient society of humans, many thousands and millions of years ago, started with the sound "Oṁ," which Mahāprabhujī just uttered. Greek and other civilizations have acknowledged that peace is the paramount factor in having peaceful communities, peaceful nations, and a peaceful world. Now, our next speaker is Jñāna John Joyce. He is a builder and a businessman, and we invite him to speak. Thank you, Jñānajī. Thank you, Nāgabhāījī. Hari Om, everybody. Praṇām, and a special welcome and acknowledgement to Viśvaguru Svāmī Maheśvarānandajī. Lovely to see you, sir, and the honoured guests. I had a speech formulated, but I have changed it completely while sitting here. So we will ignore what I had to say at the moment, and we will see whether we come back to that. It was about the idea, of course, that peace begins inside, that we know we cannot have peace outside until we have peace inside. But something significant happened to me as I was sitting at the table just now. Something particularly significant happened to me five minutes before that, when Svāmījī walked into the great chamber. Before we get on to that, I would like to mention that this is a very historic place. This place here has been where some of the great laws of the world have been passed. In this place, or something very similar, women were given the vote for the first time in a country in the world. In this place, working 60 and 80 hours a week was not acceptable anymore, and it was stated that people should work 40 hours a week, and they made it a law in the country, in this place. That was the first time that happened in the world as well. Along with that, there was an awful lot of social welfare reform from a capitalist, democratic country: free education, free health. Unfortunately, we have moved away from that. But in this place, a lot of peace has arisen. Of course, we know that when we are in a debating chamber like this, there is not a lot of peace at the time when the debating goes on. In fact, there is a lot of war, often, between the people who are debating. But actually, a lot of laws that were very, very peaceful and wonderful and far-thinking came through here for the first time in the world. We are very proud of that. But when Svāmījī walked through the main chamber there, and seeing we are mostly yogīs here, I thought I would change the talk into this. As the little child in me got excited, I was so pleased to see him, so pleased. As he came in and sat down, and I came and joined him, and I sat there with everybody else at the table, after that excitement arose, peace arose in me. I found this amazing place. I was finally at peace. I was finally at peace, sitting near Svāmījī. Peace arose in me, peace that was not there a week ago, peace that was not there six months ago. I had peace in me. I was sitting, feeling peaceful. It reminded me of something Svāmījī has said to me and others before: "Change yourself, and you change thousands. Change yourself, and you change thousands." If we really want peace in the world, we need to change ourselves, and if we do, we change thousands. Svāmījī changed himself, and what happens now? He brings with him, wherever he goes, peace. He brings peace. Everybody feels it. We all feel it. When Svāmījī arrives, we feel peace. How amazing. What happened? Is not that an amazing gift to bring? Now imagine Svāmījī has many, many disciples around the world. Thousands. Imagine if we all changed ourselves to the same level he has. How much peace would then be brought to the world? How much? A huge amount. Imagine if Svāmījī had another group of people just like him, or something similar: powerful people, self-possessed people, self-aware people, deeply connected to themselves and the divine and to other people. What peace would come in the world? Now we can run conferences like this. These are wonderful. They are great things. The things that we can do in the outer world. We can do these things to support our outer environment and other people, but the greatest thing we have is our yoga. By far, the greatest thing. And if we put our time into that and change ourselves, we will change thousands of people just by changing ourselves. And if thousands of us change ourselves, how many thousands and millions of people will then find peace, merely by being around such beings? It is impossible to be at war when Svāmījī is here. We find peace. We cannot argue and fight. We can do that when he goes, and we do as groups of people, but when he is here, we find peace because he brings with himself his connectedness to the divine, and that itself brings peace. Now, if we all did exactly the same thing, imagine whenever we walk there or there, or went to our families or to our workplace, what are we going to bring? We are immediately going to bring the same thing: peace. Immediately, people cannot be at war when they are around such beings. We have this amazing opportunity, we do, people here in this chamber, we have this amazing opportunity to change because we chose this situation in order to be around such a being so that we can change. Otherwise, what is the point of being here? What is the point of us being attracted to such an amazing being? What is the point? There is only one point: that we too want to be like this, that we too want to change. Otherwise, we might as well give up now. So many of us pay lip service to such a thing. We have joined a yoga group, and yes, that is wonderful, joining a yoga group, and I do this, and I am so spiritual, am I not? But actually, it is not really true. We have to look inside and see: Are we really doing the work? Are we living the teachings? Are we actually practicing what we have been asked to practice? And then changes happen in us, and then changes happen around us, and then changes happen in our community, and then changes happen in the world. Because there is no peace in the world unless individuals find peace. None. It is impossible. We have got to get rid of the war inside of us before the war outside of us disappears. War outside represents war inside. Svāmījī has very little war inside of him—if there is no war inside of him—very, very few people have no war inside of them, very few. What a privilege to be around such a one. What a privilege. But we pay lip service to it. We do not really acknowledge the truth of the situation we are in and take full advantage of it. It is a privilege, it is such a privilege, it is so rare. And if we had thousands of such people, all of us would change too. We would not even be having a debate as to whether this war... There would be no war. So war outside directly represents war inside. And we know when we set up all of our desires... This was actually part of what I was going to say, but however, we leave it like that, because it is actually very, very relevant to us, very relevant to us. We are here. We have an amazing opportunity to be at peace inside. Same thing as love, same thing, same quality, no different. Truth, same thing, no different. We can live it because it is demonstrated in front of us, and what an exception that is. How gifted we are. What a privilege to be here in such a place at this moment, and someone such as him walks with us. Let us take advantage of that. Create peace in us, just like he has, and that peace in us will expand and grow. The greatest way to have peace is to share. We have no peace because in our world we do not share. We have rich people who keep it all to themselves. Now, the greatest thing that Svāmījī does is share, and he does not even need to give anything. It just emanates from him because he shares. He is love itself. We are all love itself, and living that in moment to moment, it automatically shares itself, so automatically there is peace around automatically. You do not have to do anything else but live it. So we are so privileged. That is where peace begins and ends, from my perspective. So thank you, everybody. Thank you, Svāmījī, for being who you are, for being the peace that we are all looking for. For now, thank you, Nānājī. So, peace could be represented with colors: white, green, yellow, possibly blue. The negative colors could be represented by black and some other colors. When they both merge together, it becomes really peaceful. We heard about Jñānajī talking about yourself and peace. Also, he realized that he felt peace. It is so true that when you feel peace within you, then you feel blissful. Today, we went with Svāmījī for his blood test. And Grace will be very happy to know that we went to Capital Care Medical Center this morning. We were waiting in the room for doctors to see Svāmījī. And there was a big writing. First time I ever saw in New Zealand, or anywhere, peace at a medical center. What a way to go. Make peace with your body, with your mind, with your communities, with your nations, with the news, and then you are peaceful. Grace is going to address us, and Grace, you could be controversial. You do not have to join what the other panel members are speaking, and we would like Grace to come in and give us her speech. Thank you, Grace. Tēnā koutou katoa. Nō Ingarangi ōku tūpuna, nō Pērām ahau, i tipu ake ahau i raro i te maru o Ngāi Tahu. Ko Aura ki te maunga, ko Waimakariri te awa, ko Grace Pintana-King, tōku ingoa. He tauera rāta, ahau ki te whare wānanga o Otago ki Pōneke. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. So, hi everyone, I am Grace, and I am originally from Christchurch, but I have spent the last three years studying at Dunedin School of Medicine, which is the one on the left, and now I am up in Wellington to do my last three years of study. So, sorry Neil, I am not actually a doctor yet, but I am just a student, almost. So Neil asked me to come in today and give a bit of a health perspective on what I think about peace. The first thing I thought about was the patients and what peace means for them. I think a classical model is a patient coming to us in pain. They are suffering because of an illness, and we relieve the symptoms; they feel better. And then they are at peace. Their peace is restored. In fact, we often use the phrase "at peace" when someone passes away because they have died; they are finally relieved of all physical suffering. But it is definitely possible for patients to have an objectively conflicted level of physical health. They are suffering from disease, they are in a lot of pain, but they can still reach an inner tranquility. The woman in labour who manages not to scream, the man who has a massive kidney stone and only rates his pain as a 3 out of 10. The child with type 1 diabetes who has to prick their finger every day with a needle to test their blood sugar levels is absolutely fine with that. So I would in fact suggest the best model for peace is the same one that we use for holistic well-being. This is called Te Whare Tapa Whā, and this is what we are taught at medical school. It means the house with four cornerstones. So we have Taha Tinana, which is physical health; Taha Hinenaro, which is your psychological well-being; Taha Wairua, which is your spiritual well-being; and Taha Whānau, which is your family. And only when you have these four walls together can a person truly be healthy. But I would suggest that there is a slight difference between using this model and the model of peace, because I think that total peacefulness can actually be obtained even if the cornerstone of physical health might be missing. Not everyone is able to manage this, maybe, but it is clear that there... Part 2: The Path to Peace: Reflections from a Parliament Gathering A number of individuals are able to rise above physical discomfort and suffering and still reach a peaceful state of mind. I then thought about doctors and realized that this holistic wellness and peace was already being integrated into our training program. For a long time, it has been evident that doctors carry a greater burden of mental health disease than the average person. We are overworked, constantly stressed, sleep-deprived, and exposed to the very worst of human experience daily. Having realized this, the medical school has finally put into our training a lot of material about self-care. We are encouraged to take time out of work for hobbies and exercise, to regularly meet with mentors to discuss our problems, and to use mindfulness meditation as a tool for being present and relaxing when away from work. I tried to think about what a peaceful society would look like. Obviously, the first thing was an absence of violence, war, and conflict—everyone getting along. But I think that is quite a lot to ask for in our lifetime. There will always be people we don’t get along with, uprisings, revolutions, injustices, and discord. So, personally, I think the idea of peace needs to shift to one of action, where we are never actually quiescent but always debating, challenging the way things are, seeing if there’s room to improve, and trying our best to do that. This is what peace needs to be like. We usually think of peace as a still lake. But I think it needs to look different. I’ll read a small poem to explain, based on The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. In this style, the guard said, "Speak to us of peace." And he answered: "Every droplet must come to a rest for a body of water to lie serene. These droplets are not still, for this would make a frozen sheet, strong but unmalleable, shattered as soon as strife steps its way. No. Each of them vibrates, moving in spite of, with, and for their neighbors. The north wind blows. Without peace, the droplets scatter and leak apart. One seeks a deep, earthy crevice in which to hide. One is blown away. One rolls across the mountaintops, looking for another water to join. But with it, a wave passes through, and with time, the water stills once more." Kia ora. Kia ora, Grace. You throw a very good light on the piece where the panel is thinking. I could hear from a medical student mentioning meditation, which we were not aware of Swāmījī’s involvement in quite heavily in the world, and some of these families who are also here today. So, the future is looking good. It’s looking peaceful because doctors are thinking what we are thinking: that meditation, the peace within you, peace within the community, peace within the nation is more vital than that fellow called war or conflict. I would like to now introduce Divya, David Jenkins, who is an accountant, businessman, and also works for Uganda Life. David, welcome for your speech, Swāmījī, and thank you, everyone. Not so much a speech, more just some thoughts. I haven’t been entirely peaceful since I was asked to speak here, but I’m feeling reasonably calm and peaceful now, I’m pleased to say. I’ve been delighted to hear all the offerings so far; they’ve been great. My thought was to go back to my school days when they talked about making a speech: ask questions about the topic. Ask what, where, how, why, and when. I’ve been thinking about what is peace. A number of quotes have been given, but I think ultimately it comes back to the first part of the śānti pāṭha, which is when we’re asked for deliverance from ignorance. When we connect with the reality of the world, our true selves, we lose all the individual babble that fills our daily lives. So the peacefulness is stillness and the connection with the ultimate, which resides within us. We can get rid of the smokescreens of thoughts and emotions. This resonates with what others said: we need to find it within ourselves. As Gyanānand said, there are those who have been able to look within. I’m not claiming to be such a person, but by looking within, discovering the unpeaceful things, acknowledging and confronting them, accepting ourselves as we are, and seeking to move beyond the garbage to clean the inner house, we create a peace within us which we can then share. The why of peace? Well, why not, for goodness sake? There is so much distress and discomfort in the world. When we have an experience, such as Gyānānand mentioned he had in seeing Swāmījī, these moments do come to us. We realize that the babble, the internal strife, is such an unpleasant thing to carry. If we can just stop and recognize our greater selves, take a view of the situation you’re in, knowing that everything that can change will pass, then we can achieve and perhaps share peace. Last of all, the question was, when? Well, of course, today. Peace today is the time in this moment now. Why? The future will come, but if we’re not having peace now, then we should at least be striving towards it. Praṇām Swāmījī. Thank you, Divya Jī, David. We have Swāmī Umapurījī traveling from Vienna, India, Australia, now in New Zealand, and we would like Swāmī Mahāprabhujī to give her speech. Thank you, Mahāprabhujī. Yes, Praṇāmasamājī. Beloved, respected Gurudev, dear sisters and brothers. Dīpaṃ Sarve Mohanaṃ, Dīpanasārjade Sarvaṃ, Sandhyā Dīpaṃ Sarasvatyām. Oṃ Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ... Of course, there were thoughts. What? What, Umapuri? What do you understand? What means the peace? I’m speaking to myself. Umapuri, what is peace for you? Because peace is in the ears and mouths of everybody. But I talk to myself. I came to the result that peace is a summa summarum of many, many things, like our dear Dr. Sāhab said, Naginbhai, Jñānanjī, and Pūrṇimā. It’s a result of many, many things around us. The inner glaciers, we say, the inner disturbances, and the disturbances which come from outside, they make waves on this peaceful ocean, and they can disturb our peace if we forget who we are and how we are. Here, I would say the way to show the way to our inner self and again realize who we are is the way of teaching of our Gurū Dev, and the way of not only yoga but yoga in daily life. There are many different kinds of yoga, but very rare are those who can offer real guidance with the master. Without a master, you have no chance. Forget all this. All money, all time is just lost. Yes, you feel healthy, you feel a little bit, for a short time, happy. But to realize who we are, the inner peace that we are, that one, a part of that one, that peaceful one, this we can manage only with the master, and again come to that point: who you are, and find that inner peace, because peace starts from your own heart and from your own house, like Swāmījī always said. Hari Om, Hari Om. Thank you, Mahāprabhujī. So true. Environment, ocean, food, meetings with people, government to government talk—the aim of all those involved should be to create peace and not conflict and war. Even conflict in view is also not peaceful. It’s nice to talk about it, but then compromise and get on with life. We heard so much about our keynote speaker and my guru, my mentor, my friend, my countryman, and my human mate, who has traveled many, many miles to spread peace, love, cooperation, and health. Not only traveled, but he has planted more than 35 million trees in the world, including one in Central Park, Wellington, Mount Victoria Garden, also in Porirua Lagoon, and Ramati. He cares not just for humans, but also for animals. He also has a gauśālā, a cow’s school, to look after rescued cows in India, and he created water wells and a man-made lake, and is building a peaceful, beautiful ashram called Om, which will be one of the biggest in the world, definitely the biggest in India, which you can see from the aeroplane when you fly over Bombay to Delhi. His tireless service is, to me, an inspiration. Quite often, I talk to Nalini, my wife, and she gets tired. I don’t blame her; she works hard. Then I said, "You have a husband. Swāmījī has not even nobody, and he does everything for others, and he’s never tired." So there’s a message. That tiredness is created because we are not peaceful, and Swamījī has taught me how to work hard, how to help others, how to be peaceful, how to be healthy. I would like Swamījī to address us. Oṃ Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ,... Śāntiḥ. Salutation to the cosmic light, Lord of our hearts, omniscient and omnipresent. In thy presence, O Lord, give in our heart thoughts and action that we can bring this peace for what we are today here. Our dear Vice President of Yoga in Daily Life in New Zealand, Nagin Bhai, is very active, and he is very brave. I have known him for so many years now. He does not hesitate. He will go everywhere and speak about everything. I admire him. If he wants to achieve, he will do it. And his wife is a great support for his heart. I respect her very, very much. Because many times Naginbhai does things without thinking, he will just fall into the ocean or the fire, or both, or anything. I have not seen such a woman who has a lot of understanding, peace, respect, and faithfulness in her husband. Thank you. Also, our great builder of yoga and life was also the president for a long time, and still he is the great supporter for yoga and life, meaning for the whole country. And what we call an iron man is Divya Purī. He is; he will come through. I think Naginbhai is not an easy person. Divya Purī would not only give up and go away a hundred times, but a thousand times. But he sees something in the heart of Nāginbhāī and Divyā Purī. He is very humble, very kind. That means for me it’s the peace. Also, a great worker in the small country called Australia, our dear Pink Pūrṇimā. And pink is the heart. The heart is that pink. So she is also a great, great, great worker, supporter, etc. of the yoga in daily life, in Australia. And we have the very young blood. Is she already a doctor? Yes, she is going to be a doctor. I wish her great success, that all her examinations come through very well. And if God gives me still time to come again to New Zealand, and if something happens, we have to go to this doctor. Thank you. And our Umapurī, all here sitting, many, many of our friends, and of course our Madhuram. Madhu means the honey, the sweet. In every parliament of the world, everyone is talking about peace. And to be honest, in no parliament is sitting done with peace. Everyone is fighting. They all have their own feelings and thinkings, that they will do better than the other. "No, I will do better." No one said, "Please, you do." We don’t. We will not do. Please, you do. If you do it, but they said, "No, we do it, you go out." That is nowadays in the world, everywhere in business, in the families, in politics, etc. We speak very beautiful words from great persons from the past, but how much do we follow this? We said about Gandhi, we said about others, but how many do follow this? So it means we have the peace in many, many pieces. So what to do now? The Vedas were written. The Ṛṣis said also that if the human cannot understand each and every entity, then they do not have peace in the heart. Peace we have to see in others, and when we see the peace in others, it is a peace that enters in us too. Only you think that you have peace. Others not. Okay, take your peace in your armpit and go home. My dear, I’m not seeing peace at all in the world now. Are we human? I say, every human, when you wake up in the morning, you should first say to yourself, "I am a human." And who is the human? One who will never harm any creatures, any humans. What makes me human? Not only your parents, but that master who gives you education. The first master of... God is the mother, then the father, and then others, teachers. Finally, giving the signing on the gold is Satgurū, the Gurudev. Your Satguru was in that divine wisdom, and he went away; he passed away. He is that is a Satguru. The rest, the other is a Guru. Therefore, there should be the master, the Guru, in their paramparā. Means the one after the other masters. We know our Gajā Gyanānanda sitting here, and he is a follower of Paramahaṃsa Yogānandajī. Now he is the Satguru. Now he is the Satguru. His Guru is now the Satguru. But those who are in physical form, he is not a Satguru. It is only the Guru. And when you tell that I let right on my signature, or another one shall speak of me as a Satguru, it is wrong. There is no more peace. It is that some kind of wrong thoughts are within one: I, ego. And when I and ego, then where is the peace? Humbleness, kindness, there is peace. God, Rāma incarnated about more than 200,000 years ago. God, Rāma, but his name was only Rām. And he also said Rām. That’s all. Two letters only. Rāma. The Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa also said only Kṛṣṇa. Jesus. Also, we said just Jesus. Did we say to Rama professor, doctor, artist, etc.? Did we say the doctor Krishna, professor Krishna, etc.? No titles, only one. Similarly, Jesus, or is Jesus a doctor, professor, surgeon? No. So they are Jesus or Krishna or Buddha, etc. There is a name only: Buddha. There is no other title. After them, this came in ego, and that ego has already lost the peace because inside we are still searching for something. Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh said, "Within you is a fountain of joy. Within you is an ocean of the amṛt. Within you is God, the Self. Search there." But first, if we have peace and we understand, do not cause pain to anyone. We are thinking a lot about the environment, this and that, but how many trees have we chipped off? How many rainforests are we destroying and continuously stealing? How many animals are we killing, slaughtering? For what? For your eating. We are all sitting in this area, this hall, in this building of the Parliament of New Zealand. I respect. But anyone who is sitting here, can you take now one rabbit in your hand and chip the head of the rabbit? For what? You are killing because I want to eat. You have a beautiful horse, and now you will take the gun and you will kill your horse because you want to eat, or any other tiny creature. We do not have peace, we don’t have mercy. Then which kind of peace will we bring? How the animals are slaughtered, can’t imagine. How we are destroying the forest, can’t imagine. So then, what kind of peace are you talking? That we bring the peace? In which country is there peace now? Everywhere is fighting. Everywhere. Turn to learn. Morning, get up and say, "I am a human." And how to become human, that’s very important. And what makes us human is our love, or peace, mercy. How so? Finally, it comes: meditation, prayer, yoga is only the path. Now, in this Kaliyuga, in every country, the people are coming more and more to practicing yoga, and they are very living, sāttvic. Now, in the last many years, one decade, everywhere in the world it is called vegan, vegan, vegan. Even in the aeroplane, they write for your food: vegan. Because vegetarians and such, many people think it’s only Indians. And so, vegan. And in a vegan, because the cows are tortured for the milk. The cows, they cannot sit because they’re, what you call, out of, yeah. She cannot sleep. One leg has to be like this. And then he can’t get up, but also other animals. So learn to say, and it is said, ahiṁsā paramo dharma. It is said in the Mahābhārata, at the end of the Mahābhārata, Pitāmaha Bhīṣma said, ahiṁsā paramo dharma. The highest religion is ahiṃsā, non-violence. And where there is violence, there is no peace. And where there is peace, there is no violence. So, let’s go back to our great spiritual masters or incarnations, etc. And it is said, it is written, that even Muḥammad did not eat meat. He was also vegetarian, and there is written in one place that there was a vegetable and meat inside. So, at that moment, he took the flesh away, the meat, and only took the vegetable. And another one asked, "Master, what are you doing?" He said, "Because I don’t want to kill them." So there is written on it, they are writing some type different, and 100% sure that Jesus also did not eat, and he had mercy. So when they were not fighting, they were not fighting against this and that, but they were giving education there. Now, there is only one way to come to that again. Humans should be educated. Now, the humans should be educated, not your schools or universities and this and that. But now, if we need peace and this harmony, then there’s only one way: the women can do it. Only if you want peace, and this, it is in the hands of the women. That means our children only can be educated in the lap of the mother and the father, but now the parents are not capable of educating their children. We see this all. They have the education in the school, reading and writing; that is not education. Education is that which makes the human and becomes the human. So I am very happy, I am very thankful to this Parliament’s members that they invited me and I could speak here in this Parliament. Thank you very much, and God bless you. Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jai and Mahāprabhujī Kī Jai. Hari Om. Thank you. What an inspirational speech, Swāmījī. What I learned from it is the sāttvic, being positive. Veganism is in, yoga is in. Good health is in, meditation is in. Education is in, being happy is in. And today we know that the United Nations has passed, and also the International Monetary Fund has asked all the governments of the world to have a budget which includes a well-being budget. This government, and I congratulate that they passed the budget first time by Grant Robertson, the Finance Minister, it’s called the well-being budget, which is targeted towards the happiness of people. So, the previous budget was targeted at the growth of the economy. Now it’s targeted toward the happiness of the people. And we, as a panel, are so happy that today we have achieved something to provide for the United Nations and parliamentarians: a resolution. I would like to read the resolution, which has been approved by the panel, and I’m sure you all will agree. 1. The declaration that peace is the paramount factor in the happiness and health of humankind, the animal kingdom, plants, and all living entities, lands, waters, ocean, and atmosphere. 2. That happiness and health are manifestations of peace. 3. That human can be the main mover for peace in the world. Humans can be the main movers of peace in the world, as our Gurujī said. 4. That human should be protectors, which has been his message right through, and not destroyer of peace in the world. 5. And the fifth, all nations should work together to manifest peace in the world. 6. And the sixth, that the governments of today should work in harmony and love to spread peace in the world. This is the group: Mahatma Gandhi Convention Committee of New Zealand, Uganda Life New Zealand, Swami Madhavananda World Peace Council of the World, and this panel. With this, the declaration will be sent to the United Nations and also to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, and also all the leaders of the party and member parliaments. As well, we are trying to send it to other governments in the world. We like to thank today Priyaṅka Rādhā Kṛṣṇan, who has been a prime host for this event. They have provided us this lovely LCC. Also, Jacinda Ardern, who has sent her apology, as well as Andrew Little and others. And the other leaders of this government. We like to thank our panel members, Divyā Jī, Grace, Jñāna Pūrṇimā Umapurījī, and we like to thank Yoga in Daily Life New Zealand and the World Peace Council. But without my, our Swamiji, this event would not have been successful and would not have happened. I think two months ago I was talking to him, and I said, "Swamiji, we should have peace today’s seminar." He said, "Yep, go for it." So I got the blessing from him straight away, no questions asked. And here we went, myself and Divya and Swami, just said that Divya probably hated my guts and make it happen, because we had a lot of work to do. Though we did invite a lot of people, they couldn’t come because of short notice. But those who are here today, you are 17 together, and that to me is 17 billion people. If you pass this message to one of your fellow members, and that fellow member passes it to another, and so on to other fellow members, the whole world would know about peace, and we all will be in peace. I’d like to thank you on behalf of the Madhuban Commission Committee of New Zealand, Yoga in Daily Life New Zealand, Swami Madhuban, and the World Peace Council for attending this lovely seminar. There is a jal jeera, there is a coconut water. I’m sorry that the food was not allowed to be circulated by the parliament unless you get permission, and there’s water. Thank you all. Enjoy, be peaceful, be happy. Thank you, thank you, thank you.