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Part 1: Inner Peace, the Answer to the World’s Conflicts: The 8th World Peace Summit Respected Swamiji, we welcome you to the 8th World Peace Summit, organized by the Śrī Mādhavānanda World Peace Council and the Hungarian Association for Yoga in Daily Life. I invite our honorable guests to light the candles: Mr. Ranjit Rai, Ramu Damodaran, Arun Gandhi, Ven. Himal Barua, Surya Bose, Gabor Foltan, and Paramahaṃsa Svāmī Maheśvarānanda. Please come. Thank you all for gathering in Hungary this Saturday, on the second day of the 8th World Peace Summit. The summit is hosted by the Śrī Mādhavānanda World Peace Council and the Hungarian organization Yoga in Daily Life. I thank Paramahaṃsa Svāmī Maheśvarānanda, the founder of the World Peace Summit. Purījī, Purījī… We will now conclude the session, and the program will continue with Swāmījī in the afternoon. Peace, treat, and the afternoon session awaits. Now I invite Kovács Károly Kṛṣṇānanda, Swāmījī’s first Hungarian teacher, to deliver the welcoming address on behalf of the host country. On behalf of the International Four States, I welcome all guests, the honored guests, and everyone in the audience who has traveled from across the world—from Europe, America, Australia, and Africa. You honor us by gathering in shared faith. Thank you for coming for these twenty years. Thank you once again for your presence, and for your cooperation and partnership with P.E.A.F. Arion. The World Peace Council and the annual World Peace Summits were established by Swāmījī in commemoration of our beloved Satguru Dev, Hindu Dharm Samrāṭ, Paramahaṃsa Svāmī Madhavānandajī. With this intention, we spread and bring to realization the messages of Mahātmā Gandhījī—"Be the change you want to see"—and Śrī Svāmī Madhavānandajī—"One in all and all in one." In other words, we aim to make people worldwide aware of the profound reality of our unity in diversity and to inspire us to practice it in our daily lives, so that we may achieve harmony and peace. We all long for peace and harmony. We want to be happy, to live a healthy, free, and comfortable life without fear and suffering. Swamiji says that the world is a mirror of our own inner state, a product of our polluted mind, our greed, carelessness, and inner violence. So first we must purify, balance, harmonize, and reconcile our inner self—our intellect, thoughts, and feelings. This will reflect onto the outer world, and our wish for peace can eventually be fulfilled. Or as Mahatma Gandhi said, "There is no way to peace; peace is the way." Therefore this peace summit carries the motto, "Inner Peace, the Answer to the World’s Conflicts." I look forward to inspiring words and talks that will show us a way and provide practical tools to reach this new quality of life. Welcome again, and thank you for coming from near and far. I wish you two interesting days that will inspire and enrich our hearts and minds. Thank you. Thank you very much. Respected Swamiji, dear friends, colleagues from the diplomatic corps—it is a privilege to participate in the 8th World Peace Summit, organized by the Śrī Svāmī Madhavānanda World Peace Council. I have been here in Hungary for three and a half, nearly four years, and I know personally the kind of work this organization does to bring harmony, peace, and balance into our lives. Some of the people present here I also know personally, and they have shared with me their own experiences. Thank you, Swamiji, for this wonderful work and for bringing stability, balance, and peace not only to Hungary but to the entire world. I am particularly happy that this conference is taking place in Hungary. This is a land open to diverse cultures, traditions, and religions. It has been at the crossroads of East and West, North and South. Hungary has welcomed outside influences while remaining secure in its own linguistic and cultural identity. This reminds me of Gandhi’s famous words: he wanted his house to have open windows so that the winds could blow from all sides. Openness, tolerance, and respect for diversity are hallmarks of civilization, and it is these shared values that bring our countries very close to each other. Hungary has a long tradition of delving into Indian scholarship, stretching back some two hundred years. Great Hungarian scholars traveled to India and brought back the Indian message of peace and tolerance. They translated many of our scriptures and ancient Sanskrit books for the Hungarian people. Another special reason is that this conference began yesterday, the birth anniversary of Mahātmā Gandhi. We are very happy, all the people of India are very, very happy that the international community has declared October 2nd as the International Day of Non-Violence. Mahāprabhujī kī karatā, Mahāprabhujī kī karatā… Mahāprabhujī. "Fearlessness Before Brute Force," he once said, and I quote: "It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man." For Gandhījī, violence only begets violence, just as hatred sows more hatred. The means to achieve a goal are as important as the goal itself. If the means are sullied, the end, however noble, is also sullied. Violence was objectionable, as he said, because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary, but the evil it does is permanent. There are no victors or vanquished in any conflict. I quote Gandhijī again: "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind." The history of the last hundred years is littered with examples that demonstrate unambiguously that violence is no solution. Our contemporary society has lifted millions out of poverty, yet at the same time we face growing tension, violence, extremism, and terrorism. Scholars debate a so-called clash of civilizations and religion-based conflicts. In India, we have never accepted any clash of civilizations or cultures. Gandhijī deeply believed that the essence of all religions is one; only their approaches differ. Our tradition says, "Ekaṃ sat viprā bahudhā vadanti"—There is one truth; the knowledgeable ones describe it in various ways. We also believe that many tensions and conflicts can be resolved. Mahāprabhujīp Karatā, Mahāprabhujīp Karatā… The world is very worried about climate change and global warming. Violence against the earth and the relentless exploitation of nature’s bounties result in rapid environmental degradation and ecological imbalances. We witness frequent devastation from tsunamis, cyclones, and hurricanes. Perhaps we should all heed Gandhi’s words: "The earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need." Mahāprabhujī kī karatā, Mahāprabhujī kī karatā. All our global problems must be addressed through tolerance, mutual understanding, and peaceful discussion. From the film we saw yesterday, one could glimpse the great contribution that Swāmījī and the Yoga in Daily Life mission are making to the world. We could see, in a tangible way, the work being done to preserve the environment and to lift people out of poverty in Rajasthan. These contributions are deeply appreciated and greatly commended. Once again, I thank His Holiness Swamiji for the opportunity to meet you all and share my thoughts. Thank you very much. Kedveś Bhārat Norik, Kedveś Kedvenge. I am really happy, so excited, and proud and privileged to be with you today. I will later convey a message from my president. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests. It is my pleasure to be with you today. Participants, dear friends, it gives me great pleasure to welcome His Holiness, Professor—may I say, simply Swamijī—the esteemed guest and participant of this conference. Peace conferences and the work of His Holiness have long been my interest. It is my honor to support all joint efforts in raising awareness of current pressing issues concerning peace, ethics, education, and the environment. Protection and sustainable development encourage dialogue between individuals, nations, communities, and cultures. The global economic crisis we face today has brought many challenges and conflicts. Simple, clear-cut solutions for situations of such proportions do not exist, and that also applies to life in general. To create a better, more balanced future, what you need is a calm and clear mind and deliberate actions. Today, state leaders, public figures, and media share a collective responsibility to support every peaceful action. As part of this global entity, the Republic of Croatia is also affected by these events. As a statesman and individual, I understand that achieving inner peace and balance in times of crisis is crucially important. History teaches us about ups and downs, but also about the determination to maintain and protect the basic human qualities shared by all of us. Reflecting on his reign, Marcus Aurelius, the great ruler and Stoic philosopher, said: "Because your own strength is unequal to the task, don’t assume that it is beyond the powers of man. But if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also." Every person is part of the whole, with ups and downs, yet the threshold of critical mass might evolve over time, stimulating positive changes. I wish you much success in your noble efforts to inspire every person to find inner peace as a step towards peace in the world. President of the Republic of Croatia, Stjepan Mesić. Thank you for your attention. Thank you very much. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you. Ramukh Mubera from Bosnia is here to address you. Please welcome on stage Ramukh Mubera from Bosnia. As you have heard, I come from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the name of His Excellency Mr. Željko Komšić. I am very excited. I did not know I would have the opportunity to speak. I greet you all and wish you successful work, a lot of love, and a lot of joy. Given the situation in the world, only love, understanding, and tolerance can save this world and open us to a better future. Thank you very much. Now I would like to ask Swāmījī to present the statements. But first, I thank Ramu Damodaran, former director of the UN Public Information Office. Thank you. Respected Swamiji, Your Excellencies, friends—this is my fourth World Peace Summit, and I have always marveled at how Swamiji not only pulls the strands of this conference together but also weaves into it so many human elements. This opportunity to come to Hungary and to Sombathely has allowed me to meet many friends I’ve made over the past four years, and to reunite with a very close and old friend, Ambassador Ranjit Ray, whom I had not seen for some time and might not have seen for years were it not for Swāmījī. It has also given me a chance to reflect upon the strange sense of coincidence and intent that Swāmījī always brings to these events. I was surprised to learn we would be staying at an agricultural college—my connections with agriculture, despite coming from India, are somewhat tenuous. But then I recalled what Swāmījī said a couple of years ago about the seed being as important as the plant. You must cherish the seed, but ultimately it becomes a tree with branches of spirituality, peace, justice, understanding, and tolerance that give the seed life. That insight animates the theme and spirit of this conference. When we speak of inner peace, we speak of the seed within us. If that seed remains dormant, if we do not allow it to branch out, flower, and extend to the world, then it is something only we can cherish and savor, and we make no contribution to the world. We should reflect upon this, especially as this summit coincides with the anniversary of Mahātmā Gandhi’s birth. Should we transform the concept of non-violence into a more assertive quality, where the seed takes form and bears fruit? As UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Gandhi Jayanti, we must transform the idea of non-violence into a doctrine of ending violence. It is not just our inner refusal to participate, but an instigator of a more powerful force for change—change not only in human violence but also in what Ban Ki-moon called the human assault on our planet. This feeling is particularly resonant here in Sombathely, which has given the world a sense of wonders from what could have been a very local community. In India, we still remember with affection the great son of Sombathely, Voresh Sandor, who came to our country. We know of the work of Major Laslo, who spent seventeen years in Angola. And we all cherish the memory of your great Nobel Prize winner, who won the prize for physics in 1937—a time when this country, this continent, and the whole world were traumatized by the prospects of war. When he accepted the Nobel Prize in Stockholm, Szent-Györgyi Albert said he had come from a devastated fatherland, but he always felt he belonged to a greater spiritual family, a family that had been ungrudging in its gifts of solidarity, friendship, and cooperation. He saw the Nobel Prize as the fruit of that seed, and he hoped its light and bounteous rays would shine upon the world. Mahāprabhujī Karatā He Kevalam Purījī Prakāś Purījī Prakāś… On the day Gandhijī was assassinated in Delhi, 30 January 1948, the following day, as the funeral procession moved toward the banks of the Yamunā River, she and many others spontaneously joined the crowds heading to the funeral pyre. As she said, at that moment there was no thought of hunger or thirst, only a sense of purpose and mission, because everyone wanted to be there. Part 2: A Global Gathering for Peace and Inner Transformation If we can do that to ourselves—if we can deny ourselves that sense of hunger, of thirst, of the attributes we consider intrinsically human, and go beyond that, extending the limits of human knowledge and human capacity—then we would have realized not only that inner peace within ourselves, but allowed that inner peace to become truly one of the keys to the resolution of world conflict. For having sown the idea of that seed and that promise, we are grateful to you, Swāmījī, and we just hope, all of us working at the United Nations, that the efforts you embody will serve our cause as securely in the future as they have in the past. Thank you. Thank you so much. We would like to kindly ask Swāmījī to give his speech. And now, please welcome the Ambassador to Hungary from South Africa. Your Holiness, Swamiji, Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, all protocol observed. Let me start by saying what struck me when I arrived at this conference yesterday was the peaceful spirit, the smiles, the love, and the hospitality flowing amongst the delegates. Thank you very much. Let me again mention that 2009 is a lucky year for me, because just in June, three months ago, I was a speaker at a United Nations Millennium Development Goal conference at St. Istvan University here in Hungary, and the guest of honour was His Holiness Śrī Śrī Ravi Śaṅkar. The celebration of Mahātma Gāndhī’s life and the values of love, non-violence, and peace is very close to our hearts, as he lived in our country, South Africa. Ladies and gentlemen, this World Peace Summit comes just ten days after two major world summits in the United States of America. The United Nations General Assembly Summit was addressed by heads of state and government in New York, and the G20 Summit was held in Pittsburgh. The key messages from those summits were clear: a call for global cooperation to achieve international peace, security, and stability. Democracy, transparency, the rule of law, disarmament, tackling climate change, and respect for human rights and human dignity still took centre stage. Without these elements, there cannot be a better life for all. In Pittsburgh, the message was also the same. It was recognized that without resolving the outstanding issues relating to the current global economic crisis, international peace, security, and stability may be threatened. We need to all join hands, as we are doing today across the world, to address these challenges to global peace, security, and stability. Mahāprabhujī karatā he kevalam. He also was a victim of this operation in South Africa. He was arrested several times. It took men and women of courage, like Mr. Nelson Mandela, with the support of the international community, who persistently fought the system and sacrificed his life for the freedom of all of us. Nelson Mandela and others were arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. At the closure of his trial, called the Rivonia Trial, which had wide international coverage, Nelson Mandela made a declaration which I need to share with you, as it is still valid today: “During my lifetime, I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all people live together in harmony with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live and to achieve, but if need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” The United Nations declared apartheid a crime against humanity. However, by the time apartheid was dismantled in 1994, a lot of damage was created, both physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and not only to the victims of the system, but also to the perpetrators themselves. The country needed some kind of national cleansing, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established, chaired by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. It was a healing platform whereby the atrocities of apartheid and the armed struggle had to be dealt with. The main aim was to foster reconciliation and forgiveness for a nation that was divided, to move together as one people united in their painful past and diversity. South Africa attained its democracy just after the end of the Cold War, marked by the fall of the Iron Curtain here in Europe. Free and fair elections were held on the 27th of April 1994. For the first time, South Africans of all races over the age of 18 voted for a political party of their choice. It was a new beginning, a new dawn, for a country embroiled in wars, conflict, and violence for centuries. The new South Africa was founded on the values of human rights, human dignity, non-sexism, and non-racialism—the values which Mr. Mandela, at the age of 91, still stands for today. Today’s session, ladies and gentlemen, is not about bickering on the negatives. It is about lifting the positives up. And in doing so, I must state that the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa creates an obligation for the state to protect and provide basic services for all nationals. Equally, all nationals have a responsibility to treat each other with respect and dignity. This provides hope for a better life. Your Holiness, we are cognizant as a country that the provision of better services alone will not bring happiness, peace, and tranquillity. The government has a responsibility to build the capacity of the state to give leadership in the definition of a common national agenda, to be able to identify goals and initiatives that have the potential to unite the nation rather than cause division. The education system needs to encompass the promotion of human moral values of a caring society and serve to eliminate expressions of racism, gender discrimination, xenophobia, and all other forms of discrimination. These issues should also form part of a public dialogue system with non-state actors like the Śrī Svāmī Madhavānanda World Peace Council. We are grateful to have been invited to this summit, and we pledge to continue participating in these peace summits in years to come, to contribute to a calm, healthy, peaceful society and world. Ladies and gentlemen, in conclusion, let me state that the journey walked by South Africa was a long and turbulent journey to freedom, culminating in the rainbow nation, symbolized by a national flag and a coat of arms with the following theme: unity in diversity. However, we recognize as a nation that we cannot call ourselves a truly free nation while part of society is still not free from fear nor free from want. We are determined to foster a human rights culture which is a heritage to be proudly passed to future generations. With the gains that we have made in the past 15 years of democracy and our resilience to have walked the long journey to freedom, we remain confident that we will achieve our target to halve poverty by 2014 and create a better life for all South Africans—a peaceful Africa and a better world. We take advantage of the FIFA 2010 World Cup, which is a cultural event that will not only bring joy and more unity in our diversity, but will help us to address our national security challenges, from poverty to hard security. On this note, may peace, calm, and tranquillity gradually prevail across all nations. Thank you. And now, we would kindly like to ask Swāmījī to give his speech. Thank you, thank you. Please. Oṁ Asato Mā Sadgamaya, Tamaso Mā Jyotirgamaya, Mṛtyormā Amṛtaṁ Gamaya, Sarveṣāṁ Svastirbhavatu, Sarveṣāṁ Śāntirbhavatu, Sarveṣāṁ Maṅgalaṁ Bhavatu, Sarveṣāṁ Pūrṇaṁ Bhavatu, Lokaḥ Samastāḥ Sukhino Bhavantu. Tryambakaṁ yajāmahe sugandhiṁ puṣṭivardhanam, urvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyormukṣīya māmṛtāt. It is a blessing for me to be here in this beautiful city, Szombathely. I was surprised how much Ramu knows about Hungary and Szombathely. This morning I came to know Szombathely means Saturday, and he is a place. So we are today in the right place. I am very happy and thankful for the beautiful words spoken by His Excellency, the Ambassador of India, Ranjit Rai, also our dear brother, Ramu Damodar, who came from the United Nations, dear sister, and Her Excellency, the Ambassador of South Africa. And Ambassador of the Republic of India. Thank you very much for bringing the beautiful message from your respected president. Yes, he is a great personality, a great peace worker with very clear thoughts, and please give my kind regards to him. Our dear Buddhist brothers, they arrived from Bangladesh, and it was not easy for them to get all the formalities and to come to the small city of Hungary, to Szombathely. Thank you, and welcome, you brothers. Yes, beautifully spoken about peace as one seed. My grandmaster used to say, it takes time for a seed to grow into a large tree. But that seed can only grow into a large tree if that seed offers itself. Also, in the testament, it says you have to die to live. And so it reminds me of the work of all great men of this world. Centuries and centuries have gone by, and from time to time, they were struggling for peace. This cannot be realized unless we develop thoughts in our mind and consciousness. As the Vedas say, in ancient Indian literature, the Upaniṣads, Vasudeva Kuṭumbakam, the whole world is one family. If we feel like one family, then what happened in the past and what is going on now in this world will not happen. Love your neighbour means not only your wife or husband. There, you need not tell to love your husband or your wife. And if he will not love his wife or husband, you can tell whatever you like, they will get divorced. But love all, every creature. In the last centuries, human beings began to make a big mistake. Always, everywhere, we are using one word. Human rights, humanitarian work, human protection, human society—the greatest help is to the humans. This is a very big discrimination toward God’s creation, other creatures. We humans should not think that God loves only us. We should not think that God has created only humans to be happy here and to fight for their rights. What happened nowadays and in the past with the humans, the wars, the fighting, all is a reflection of the karmas which are the human deeds towards other creatures. Every action will have a reaction, and every reaction will have an action again. So from the spirituality to see, Ahiṃsā Paramo Dharma, the highest principle is non-violence. Declared in the Upaniṣads and Vedas, the first word, Ahiṃsā, was spoken by Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira’s uncle, Pitāmaha Bhīṣma. We know Gandhiji’s hard work, and all the times Gandhiji was using the word ahiṃsā, non-violence. October 2nd, we know, is declared by the United Nations as a day of non-violence, which is followed in the whole world. If you make hiṁsā, if you make violence, then be sure one day you will be the victim of the violence. There is no boundary, there is no limitation, whether it is a human or an animal. Life is life. There is only one God, only one creator, and we are all children of one God. There is no two Gods. Yes, from time to time, great saints or incarnations manifest on this globe. That’s a little different. Nimitta and Nitya of Tārā, the manifestation of God, either for a special purpose or to guide us in everyday life. We know that peace is something which we cannot smell, which we cannot touch, and we cannot see with these physical eyes, but we know what it is like. It’s not impossible. Everything is possible if we try. And so, I always like to say, and not only myself, the whole world is always repeating, “Be the change you want to see,” as Gandhījī said. So if we want to see peace in our countries—here you are from many, many nations sitting here—we have to change, we have to see brotherhood. My great master, His Holiness Swami Madhavānandajī, I came to him when I was about 10 years old. I spent my life with him until 2003. He was a great personality and a great worker, a messenger to bring love, understanding, and tolerance. Social health means that all the time he was working and talking to people to give up all the bad habits. Holy Gurujī used to say, it is very easy to become free from the enemy, but not from the bad habits. The bad habits which you learned from your childhood will torture you lifelong. I didn’t see Gandhijī as a great pity. But you know, through the hard work of Mahātmā Gandhījī, he stopped alcohol throughout the whole of India. Do not consume alcohol. Unfortunately, the present government—I’m sorry, Your Excellency, to say—has made free every corner of the street, or more, in one street, the alcohol shops. And especially for the drivers, it is a subsidy or a concession. A driver can buy alcohol cheaper. Yes, there is a law: the alcohol shop should be at least 50 meters from the road. For a drunkard, for an alcoholic, 50 meters is not very far. He goes and drinks, then walks back to his vehicle. It takes him, when he walks 50 meters, perhaps 10 minutes or 15 minutes, and he is capable of driving only 50 meters more before he has an accident. Gandhiji, what he saw as the way for the Indians, unfortunately, is not 100% followed. If we do, today, India will be different. I hope that the Indian government will hear my words and try to do something, so that we should follow the instructions of the great saints. Every government of every country, their prime duty should be looking after the spiritual health, the spirituality of their people, and the protection of the culture. Every country and every person is nowadays making sorrows about the economy. But no one thinks about spirituality. If we think about spirituality, inner peace will come, and you will not be unhappy or have troubles with your money or anything. Peace is within us. That seed has to grow within ourselves to realize it. It is said, you may be so rich that you have thousands of elephants and big forests, or you are the king of the whole earth. You may have golden and diamond mines, but as long as you have no contentment in your heart, you are poor. And when you get this peace in your heart, all this wealth for you is just like dust. Peace is that, that whatever we have, we should be happy with that and not take away from anyone. Every country is developing weapons, atoms, and so on, which is against Ahiṃsā. Mahāprabhudīp Karatā, Mahāprabhudīp Karatā... But in that peace, the spiritual soul should be spiritual. Well, the time doesn’t allow me to say anything more. My dear friend, the Croatian president used to say, “Swāmījī, with the terrorist you can negotiate, but not with the protocol.” So, time is here. We will speak more. The teaching of my master was full of tolerance towards religions, tolerance towards the nation, and love and understanding for everyone. Well, all the members and the board committee of the Śrī Svāmī Madhavānand World Peace Council, and Monsignor Kapo David from South Australia, Adelaide, who is also president of this organization, the Śrī Svāmī Madhavānand World Peace Council. Two years ago, he asked me that we should work harder for this and give some kind of symbols that people will remember. So we designed one small award. It’s not a Nobel Peace Award, but peace is peace. There’s only one word more, Nobel. So in Hindi, “noble” means without strength. No bala, in Hindi translation, no bala means there is no strength. But we must have strength inside when we speak about peace, about reality. Sabe sahāyaka sabala ke, kohun nirbala sahāya; pavana jagāvata āga ko, dīpahi deta bujhāya. Everyone is supporting the strongest one. No one supports the meek one. Like the wind supports the fire to become a stronger flame, but the same wind will blow it out. Part 3: A Call for Peace, Spirituality, and Individual Responsibility Our strength lies in spirituality and the name of God. It does not matter which God we believe in, or how we believe, but that we believe in God. And this, your final, last, and highest truth, is God. So we also begin to do something, you know. People always tell me, “Swāmījī, do something.” I said, “I do a lot of things.” They said, “No, but do something more.” So I said, “Well, I will request our Swami Chidānand from Navisad to come here.” Is Chidānand here? Because he is taking too many photos, click, click, click. Now his name is Click Swāmī. He will announce something. The Sri Swami Mādhavānanda World Peace Council and the Sri Swami Mādhavānanda Peace Award goes to Sri, yes, His Excellency, Stjepan Mesić, President of the Republic of Croatia, as a messenger of tolerance, non-violence, and peace. Is the text coming? Do you see it on the screen? Thank you, sir. I need that too. And the third one is for the Honorable Premier of South Australia, Mike Rann. This goes to him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t come this time, and also Father David couldn’t come. But we have one representative of Australia, Gītā from Sydney, who is living in London. She is here in this conference. Can you come here, please, girl? Geetha or Siddha, what is your name? Come, but quickly. Thank you very much for your attention, and I will not take very much time. For the last twenty years, I have been attending and organizing many, many world peace events for the protection of the environment, the protection of wildlife, and the protection of all creatures. Mahāprabhujī, dīpa karata he kevalam. And I’m very, very pleased to be here with you today, especially with my friends, Swāmījī, and all the best excellencies, dignitaries, gentle¬men and ladies, brothers and sisters. Please, I’m happy to be with you here, and I will try to be short, not to take too much time. The one point today has made a change in what I wanted to say. The point of change took me back to the original presentation, which is also in the book. And I was thinking how it’s possible that nobody understands individual social responsibility, and it got me to thinking that when we are talking about social responsibility, we are not understanding that 200,000 years ago, when the small communities and the tribes of homo sapiens were scattered around the world, settling in places where there was a bit more food, water, and shelter, they were very much socially responsible individuals—as a person, as a man, as a lady, as a child. It was a part of heritage which was given to mankind by nature. As a natural science man, I have to tell you, it was a part of the genetic structure of mankind. We wouldn’t be here today, on this pleasant morning, having a nice time and listening to really, really very advisable, very intelligent, and very good questions and answers, if our ancestors didn’t have a social responsibility on an individual level. About a year ago, I was researching this particular point because of corporate social responsibility, which is just a marketing corporation of money, monster, and the governor of the world, of human beings. A world where everybody becomes an industry of money. Today, money reproduction is not grounded by the production of anything physical or products, but money reproduction is reproduction for itself. That’s how the money monster became the governor of mankind’s society today. And that’s why I was researching individual social responsibility. And that’s why I would like to tell you, please understand, if we don’t evolve a new approach to society, including individual social responsibility, I am very doubtful about the sustainable future of mankind. Thank you very much. Mahāprabhujī Paramparā Mahāprabhujī Paramparā... He is committed to ahiṃsā, that is non-violence, and has spent all of his time in India, where as a journalist he worked for a change in the situation of oppressed classes. He saved 123 orphaned children from the street. He provided hope for them throughout the world. He opened up the chance for social changes and also the Gandhi Institute for Non-Violence in 2008. Arun Gandhi from the Education Institute of the Global Institute, which has the purpose of constructing elementary schools for children who are very poor. So please welcome him. Respected Swamiji, Excellencies, Holinesses, and dear friends, it is a great pleasure for me to be here today to share with you some of the things that I learned from my grandfather and from my parents. When I was invited here to speak to all of you, Swāmījī said, “You will have 20 minutes to explain Gandhi’s theories.” It’s a tremendous task to condense all the things that I learned into 20 minutes, but I will do my best. I am perhaps the last generation of people who saw my grandfather, lived with him, and learned things from him. And I think in many ways, what I learned from him as a young boy of 12 made a big difference in my life. And I’m sure if you reflect on the things that I’m going to share with you this morning, you will also understand and learn a lot from what he had to say. Before I go into some of the things that I want to share with you, I do want to mention one thing which has been spoken about this morning by various people, including Swāmījī. And that is the word tolerance. My grandfather didn’t like that word “tolerance” at all. He said, “We don’t want human beings to tolerate each other. We want human beings to respect each other.” Tolerance is something that you can’t do anything about, so you’re just going to tolerate the person. And that is not the kind of relationship we want between people. The relationship should be based on respect, understanding, and love. So, with humble apologies to Swamiji, please change that word “tolerance” to “respect.” But as I said, I was 12 years old when I lived with my grandfather. One of the things that he told me about was how he came to understand and appreciate nonviolence. As you all probably know, he was married at the age of 13. He and my grandmother were both 13 years old when they got married. And he says that at that age, he didn’t know who was going to be the boss in that relationship. Who was going to lay down the rules and enforce the rules? So he started going to the library and reading books on the subject. And all these books were written by male chauvinists, because they all talked about how the husband should lay down the rules and enforce them strictly. And so he came home that evening, and in the privacy of their room, he told grandmother, “From tomorrow, you are not going to stir out of the house without my permission. I don’t want any arguments about it. That is the law, and you are going to obey it.” And grandmother didn’t say anything, didn’t respond at all. She just quietly turned around and went to bed. And she got up the next day and continued to go out, visit, and do everything. And never bothered to get Grandfather’s permission. And so after a few days, Grandfather confronted her and said, “How dare you disobey me? Didn’t I tell you that you are not supposed to go out of the house without my permission?” And at that point, Grandmother, very quietly, without losing her temper, said, “I was brought up to believe that we must always obey the elders in the house. And I believe the elders in this house are your parents. Now, if you’re trying to tell me that I should not obey your mother, but obey you instead, let me know so that I can go and tell your mother I’m not going to obey you anymore.” And of course, grandfather couldn’t tell her to do that, and so the whole matter was settled without anybody losing their temper or creating a big conflict. And grandfather said that that was the first major lesson in non-violent conflict resolution that he learned. But that also taught him the power of anger and how anger contributes to all the violence that we experience in our lives today, whether it’s in individual lives or in the lives of nations. It’s most of the time, 87% of the time, according to some experts, caused by anger. We get angry and we say things and we do things that sometimes cause major conflict and even result in wars and killings and all kinds of things. So, anger became a very important aspect of his philosophy of non-violence. We all need to learn how to deal with our anger in a positive way. He taught me that anger is like electricity. It’s just as powerful and just as useful, but only if we use it intelligently. But it can be just as deadly and destructive if we abuse it. So, just as we channel electrical energy and bring it into our lives and use it for the good of humanity, we must learn to channel anger in the same way, so that we can use that energy for the good of humanity rather than abuse the energy and cause death and destruction. So anger really played a very significant role in learning to practice nonviolence. And non-violence is not, as most of us think, the absence of violence or the absence of war. Because a nation is not at war with another nation, it does not mean that we are living in peace. There is violence of various kinds that we practice, individually and collectively. And we have to understand and realize that. And that was the lesson that he taught me when one day I was coming back from school, and I had my notebook and a pencil in my hands. I just happened to look at the pencil; it was about three inches long, and I thought to myself, “I deserve a better pencil. This is too small for me to use.” And so, without a second thought, I just threw that pencil away, because I was so sure that when I asked Grandfather for a new pencil, he would give me one. But that evening, when I met grandfather and asked him for a new pencil, instead of giving me one, he subjected me to a lot of questions. He wanted to know how the pencil became small, where I threw it away, and why I threw it away, and on and on and on. And I couldn’t understand why he was making such a fuss over a little pencil until he told me to go out and look for it. And I said, “You must be joking. You don’t expect me to look for a little pencil in the dark?” He said, “Oh yes, I do. Here’s a flashlight. Take this and go out and look for the pencil.” And I must have spent about two hours searching for it. And when I finally found it and brought it to him, he said, “Now I want you to sit here and learn two very important lessons.” The first lesson is that even in the making of a simple thing like a pencil, we use a lot of the world’s natural resources. And when we throw them away, we are throwing away the world’s natural resources, and that is violence against nature. And the second lesson is that because in an affluent society we can afford to buy all these things in bulk, we overconsume the resources of the world, and because we overconsume them, we are depriving people elsewhere of these resources, and they have to live in poverty, and that is violence against humanity. And that was the first time I realized that all of these little things that we do every day—things that we throw away and waste and over-consume all the time, not just a pencil, but just imagine all the things—that we throw away useful things, that every time we indulge in any of those things, we are participating in promoting violence. And to make me understand this lesson properly, he made me draw a genealogical tree of violence, with violence as the grandparent, and physical violence and passive violence as the two branches. And every day before I went to bed, I had to analyze and examine everything that I had experienced during the day. Whatever it was, all of that had to be analyzed and put in its appropriate places on that tree. If it was the kind of violence where physical force is used against people—fighting, punching, pinching, killing, wars, and all of these things—these are physical manifestations of violence, so it would go under physical violence. But if it was the kind of violence where no force is used, and yet we hurt people, directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously, sometimes the people may be in another country, and yet our actions in this country hurt people in that country—all that would go under passive violence. And when I began to do this exercise every day, I was able to fill up a whole wall in my room with acts of passive violence. And that’s when I became aware of how much passive violence I was committing. And it was only when I became aware of it that I could do something about it to change it. But if we don’t become aware of it, then we will live in denial, and we’ll just go on committing passive violence all the time and adding to the conflict. At that stage, Grandfather told me the connection between the two. He said, “We commit passive violence all the time, every day, consciously and unconsciously, and that generates anger in the victim, and the victim then seeks justice through violence.” So it is passive violence that fuels the fire of physical violence. So logically, if we want to put out the fire of physical violence, we have to cut off the fuel supply. And since the fuel supply comes from each one of us, we have to become the change that we wish to see. We have to understand how we are contributing to violence and what we need to do to change ourselves. We wish it to happen. It will happen only when we make the sacrifice and we build peace brick by brick, which means that we have to create a society where harmony, respect, understanding, and love prevail between all people—where we don’t look at people by their nationalities, by their religion, by their size, or by their color, but we look at people as human beings. And that requires the attitude, or culture, of violence that my grandfather talked about. He was very disturbed by the culture of violence that dominates us today. The culture of violence has seeped so deeply into us that it dominates every aspect of our life. Our language has become violent, our attitudes have become violent, our relationships have become violent, our religion has become violent. We are killing in the name of God, and that is wrong. And that’s what disturbed my grandfather tremendously. And he said the only salvation for humanity is to get rid of that culture of violence and replace it with a culture of non-violence, so that we can be dominated by good things, by love, respect, and understanding for each other, and create that kind of compassionate society where harmony would prevail, and where we won’t have any friction between people there. So it is our duty today to take that pledge, that all of us are first of all going to change ourselves by understanding our weaknesses and making those weaknesses strengths. And then we are going to help the rest of society change also through our actions and through our love, respect, and understanding there. I want to commend—I don’t know a lot about what Swamijī has done, but what I saw in the film yesterday and what little I’ve been able to learn in the few days that I’ve spent with Swamijī, I’d like to commend him for the wonderful work that he has done so far, setting the ball rolling in creating that kind of peace and harmony. And I hope that he succeeds tremendously and is able to influence more people around the world, so that this message of love, peace, and understanding can spread all over the world, and we can then create the peace and harmony that we want in the world today. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. In consideration of the large percentage of psychological problems, the high number of families living in poverty, the high rate of crime in the youth, and in consideration of the degree of selfishness of children and teenagers, Riccardo di Dône became even more committed to finding a suitable solution for the prevention of this dramatic situation in the long term. Part 4: A Call for Inner Peace and the Flourishing of Children Thank you all for being here today. The Organization for the Protection of Children’s Rights was created 26 years ago with a primary purpose: rather than always focusing on curing problems, what can we do to prevent them? To that end, we established a scientific committee with a rule that no single discipline can exceed 20% of its membership, thereby ensuring we focus our energy on the child within a broader family context. Prevention is the number one priority. Over the years we have conducted many research projects, international conferences, and presented numerous briefs. But last year we decided to create something that would serve as a sign of appreciation for people who do a great deal for children and the environment. We created this plaque, called Gaia 2031. Why children and the environment? Thank you for your attention, because if we place great emphasis on the environment but neglect our youth, we will eventually be doomed. The reverse is equally true. If we give our children everything they need to blossom but do very little for the environment—so that we have no more fresh air or good water—we shall be doomed. So today I would like to present that plaque to someone who has done a great deal: someone at the forefront of everything that concerns humankind, our youth, and the environment. To do so, I invite my good friend Dr. Timmy Kimovic to come forward and present the plaque. As the video we saw yesterday made clear, this person has done—and continues to do—great work, reaching thousands and millions of people to ensure we live in a beautiful world, a world where all of us may find inner peace, a world filled with clean water, a healthy environment, and so on. I now invite His Holiness Swamiji to come forward and receive this plaque on behalf of the organization. I will be able to catch up some of the time I lost due to my good friend Timmy, who spoke so briefly. What a beautiful world it would be if we had inner peace, if all the children of the world had inner peace. My question today is: what must we do to attain that? Clearly, good education, ethics, and tolerance are values all the world’s children should possess. We all agree that we should teach our children to have love and respect for everyone around them, regardless of religion, color, or race. Yet, in 2009, immense suffering continues. It amazes me that after a major tragedy like September 11, when over 3,000 people died—suffering that did not need to happen—we are so well aware of it. But the fact is, every day over 24,000 children die. By midnight tonight, 24,000 children will have died from lack of nutrition, water, or medication, and tomorrow another 24,000 will die. We conducted a survey asking if people were aware that over 10 million children die each year from lack of food, nutrition, and medication. Most people today do not know. Yet we all know about September 11. And what of poverty in industrialized countries? Everyone assumes we live in wealth. But what about psychological poverty? In North America, and today much of Europe, we face a major problem of separation and divorce. In Canada we often cite that 44 to 46% of families separate and divorce. But that excludes couples who live together and then separate, and those who separate without divorcing. The reality is that close to 80% of those who marry will divorce. When I was a child, I was raised to believe that marriage is meant to create a foundation, to build a future. Today, people marry already wondering how to protect themselves in case their spouse divorces them someday. In Canada, the average duration of a marriage is five years. For 80% of second relationships, it is two years. Imagine having a beautiful child: by the time the child is two, three, four, or five years old, one parent leaves. Two years later, a new partner moves in, and two years after that, that person leaves. What do we expect of our children? We can see the effects in North America. In Canada, this great country I love, the high school dropout rate is over 28%. Problems of addiction, drugs, and violence increase yearly. And we face a rapidly growing dilemma: street gangs. Yet we like to claim you can walk the streets of Montreal without worry, even at eleven at night. But hardly a day passes without news of an attempted murder or killing linked to street gangs. Why are so many children aged 10, 12, 13, and 14 joining street gangs? Is it really for the money? Or is it because they lack love, care, involvement, or perhaps a parent who listens and engages with them? Why isn’t anything changing? We keep talking about street gangs and claiming we are doing so much. Just two weeks ago, Montreal’s front-page news reported over 600 arrests connected to street gangs. Does that mean no one is left to fill their places? Authorities say everything is under control, but the fact remains that street gang activity rose 8% in Montreal last year and 12% in the first six months of this year. So what do we do? We latch onto politically saleable issues. Guns. Guns are violent weapons. In recent years, over $2 billion has been spent on gun control. Let’s examine violence in North America. One-third of murders in Canada are committed with guns, one-third with sharp instruments, and one-third by other means. Of the gun-related murders, most involved illegal firearms. So, would it not be more sensible to take the $2 billion invested in gun control—which has accomplished absolutely nothing—and invest it instead in strengthening families and supporting our education system? If we want our youth to truly succeed, must we not give them what they need to flourish? Why is this still not happening? What touches me most is that those in power, who could and should act, are doing very little. On the environment, I recall countries bragging about signing the Kyoto Accord, with 15 years to meet its goals. Yet ten years later, nothing had been done, and we still bragged about signing it. In Canada, we also ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Yet, during our most prosperous economic period, and while the government signed a resolution to eliminate poverty, the poverty rate rose from 15% to 22%. Why? Is it because children don’t vote? Because if we address it, we might frustrate some people? Or should governments bear responsibility? Today, we truly believe that to achieve our objective—creating inner peace for all children, all families, and all citizens of the world—we must reach them. Perhaps the United Nations should take the lead and allow more flexibility: when an agreement is signed, governments would be required to commit, prepare an action plan, and report annually on progress—not only in good years when they wish to boast. Or else, perhaps we should create a world government where no one holds veto power, devoted solely to all humankind, all children, and the environment. Thus, to help our children flourish, succeed, and build a better world, we must create appropriate tools to ensure governments become accountable for all agreements they sign. It is time to end dirty politics. I love democracy, but the problem is that some say crime rates rise under democracy and many people fail. Perhaps because democracy is manipulated by those who seek only power and money, forgetting the well‑being of all. We must stop the dirt of politics: the obsession with being reelected at any cost. If that means making false promises or sidelining measures beneficial to citizens, it must change. We must also change the fact that the opposition exists to obstruct rather than support a government doing something concretely beneficial for all. If the opposition helps, the governing party gets credit and may be reelected. So perhaps the very foundations of politics need rethinking. I am convinced that if we simply make room for reflection, that holiness… perhaps there should be a school to teach spiritual principles to all who enter politics, so they understand that there is far more to life than power and money. Spirituality is where it all begins. Let us all work together. Let us ensure our children have what they need to flourish. Let us equip parents with a wealth of knowledge to maximize their effectiveness. And for the new generation from dysfunctional or broken homes, let us establish school programs that teach them how to become good parents when they grow up. Then we shall flourish. With time, we will have children of inner peace, living in a most beautiful world. In the meantime, Your Holiness, I commend you for all the good work you do. It is one thing to speak of it, but I wonder how many hours you must devote to ensuring this world flourishes. To you, your organizers, and all involved in Yoga in Daily Life, may you continue your good work. I must say, it is a privilege to know you and those around you. God bless you all. And let us make sure our children flourish and succeed. Please welcome again Mr. Ramudamodaran. Swamijī had asked me to read to you the resolution prepared for the World Peace Summit. This resolution will be available for signature by any and all of you after this session. Resolution of the World Peace Summit: Inner Peace, the Answer to World Conflicts We, the undersigned participants of the 8th World Peace Summit, honoring the message of Mahātmā Gandhi and His Holiness Swāmī Mādhavānandajī, reaffirm our commitment to the continuing and full implementation of previous peace conferences and resolutions: Vienna 2002, Sydney 2003, Brno 2003, Zagreb 2005, Ljubljana 2006, Bratislava 2007, and Wellington 2008. And recalling the statement of Mahātmā Gandhi, “Be the change you want to see,” and of Śrī Swāmī Mādhavānandajī, “One in all and all in one.” United by the purpose and principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its statement that recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world. Recalling the commitments of the United Nations Millennium Declaration, in particular those concerning a more peaceful, prosperous, and just world, the collective responsibility to uphold the principles of human rights, equality, and equity at the global level, and the duty of leaders to all the world’s peoples, especially the most vulnerable and, in particular, the children of the world. Reaffirming the obligations of states parties to fulfill the eight Millennium Development Goals on the universal framework for development and as a means for developing countries to work together for all and meet the needs of the world’s persons. Reaffirming the state’s commitment expressed in the United Nations Millennium Declaration to ensure that, by the same date, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling, and that girls and boys will have equal access to all levels of education. Reaffirming also the obligations of the states parties to the conventions on the rights of the child to ensure children’s education in the spirit of peace, understanding, tolerance, equality of the sexes, and friendship among all peoples, and ethnic, national, and religious groups. Reaffirming the United Nations Millennium Declaration’s determination to establish a just and lasting peace all over the world, in accordance with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter. Noting that world peace summits are seeds that must be grown into a large tree, with branches of spirituality, peace, justice, understanding, forgiveness, tolerance, and love. Paramahaṁsa Svāmī Māheśvarānandajī travels all over the world. The participants request all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions: dīp karatā Mahāprabhujī, dīp karatā he kevalam. Especially in the areas of education, cultural diversity, and heritage, according to UNESCO’s goals. Encourage states to cultivate a culture of peace in accordance with the Declaration and Program of Action on a Culture of Peace, which rejects violence and prevents conflict through dialogue and negotiation among individuals, groups, and nations. Encourage states to support young people to fulfill their roles effectively and to take their rightful place in society based on mutual understanding and friendship. Stress that freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature, and shared responsibility are certain fundamental values of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. Karatā Purījī, Siddhā Purījī, Siddhā… Puri Ji: Physical, mental, social, and spiritual health through the study, practice, and teaching of the system of Yoga in Daily Life. Encourage state parties and political leaders to advance more inner and global unity and peace by disseminating the message of the great saints, Mahātmā Gandhi, “Be the change you want to see,” and Swāmī Mādhavānandajī, “All in one, one in all.” That, friends, is the text of the resolution, and it will be available for your signature after the session. Thank you.