Swamiji TV

Other links



Podcast details

Meeting with the bishops

A welcome address and interfaith dialogue in Adelaide.

"I have become very aware of His Holiness's great spiritual message throughout the world... for humanity, peace, tolerance, and forgiveness."

"Yoga in that way is not a part of a particular religion... the principles of yoga are that there is an individual one which is related to God in oneness."

A Christian church leader welcomes His Holiness Vishwaguruji to a gathering of church heads in South Australia, praising his global work for peace and interfaith understanding. In response, Vishwaguruji expresses deep gratitude, framing the meeting as a historic bridge between Hinduism and Christianity, and explains yoga as a universal spiritual path that transcends any single religion.

Recording location: Australia, Adelaide, Australian Tour

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your presence here this morning as we welcome to Adelaide His Holiness, the Vishwagurujī. Have a nice time in Adelaide. It is an honour and a pleasure to have you amongst us this morning. I have come to know His Holiness quite well over the last year or so. I visited previously in Adelaide, and we had some discussions in India only a few months ago. I have become very aware of His Holiness's great spiritual message throughout the world. Not only his work in India, where he is received with great devotion and love amongst the people, but also throughout Eastern Europe. The presidents of Slovenia and Czechoslovakia and a number of other countries have publicly stated their warmth and appreciation for His Holiness's work for humanity, peace, tolerance, and forgiveness throughout the world, particularly in Eastern Europe at this time. Your Holiness, you see here present before you key leaders of the Christian churches in South Australia, people who are steeped in the Christian scriptures and their own traditions. They come with a real sense of openness to your tradition, a long and noble tradition of faith. They come with a real sense of dialogue and understanding, and of how we can all be enriched by the dialogue between us. I am very conscious and aware of the depth of understanding and spiritual depth in the Vedic scriptures and the Upaniṣads in particular, but at times I reflect on and see so many things within the Christian scriptures. Your work spreads not only the message of peace and tolerance throughout the world, but also the way you use yoga as a means of helping people to achieve a self-actualization in their spirits and their union with God. I must confess, as my nephew, whom you know well, Devānand, has tried to get me to practise some yoga, I failed to get beyond a few stretching exercises. Nevertheless, it has been a very good and lovely thing for us to meet and to talk about many issues related to faith, belief in the one universe of God and Creator of the universe, to look at the ways that different cultures open themselves to the search for the meaning of life, the meaning of union with God, and to achieve it. You are most welcome amongst us. This is quite a historic event to meet with the heads of Christian churches here in South Australia. We honour you, we welcome you, and we wish you every blessing in your continued work and ministry for peace throughout the world and to bring a real sense of the presence of God to people of a whole variety of cultures throughout our world. So we welcome you, we welcome the Swāmījī who have joined you on your tour throughout the world at this stage, and your disciples who are with us here this morning. You are most worthy. We hope that the Salvation Army, whose current chairman of our Christian Churches Committee, will also be present. Thank you, Father David. Thank you to Father David Cappo for this arrangement. And Tricia Faulkner, thank you to you for the hospitality that's evidenced here in this house once again. And on behalf of the heads of churches, let me initially thank all who have come to share with us this morning. We're pleased to be part of this interfaith dialogue and encounter, albeit brief as it may be. We're very pleased to be able to come. In all this, we particularly want to thank you for coming and sharing with us. And on behalf of the heads of churches here in this state, we welcome you here to South Australia. May God's blessings be upon you as you share with your people. And we look forward to having an opportunity of sharing with you this occasion as we move around in fellowship here this morning. Welcome to you. From reality to reality, from the darkness to the light, from the pure to the whole, we are all beliefs, faiths. Ātmā dharma, the divine, is with God. So realize your relation. Practicing the different traditions, prayers, meditation, yoga, which may lead us to one of the most ancient, oldest ways of peace of mind. All scriptures, Vedas, Upaniṣads, Bhagavad Gītā, all these Indian scriptures, they all speak about yoga. So yoga in that way is not a part of a particular religion. Yoga doesn't come out of what we call Hinduism or Buddhism. But the principles of yoga are that there is an individual one which is related to God in oneness. And in order to realize that, one may share, surrender, or give to this Yoga in Daily Life system, which I have been serving for the last 30 years, especially in part of Europe, where there are many people who used to come to me from every part of the countries, believers, the Christians, the Catholics, Protestants, all. They found that yoga helped them again to find their way. Our aim is this, that all humans should harmonize in faith of God. God is one. To serve Bhavatu Sukhina, all should be happy. May God lead us all on this. I am very, very thankful that you received me this morning. This meeting is one of the, how do you call it, the highest points of my life. I think it is like a bridge, we have built this bridge between Hinduism and Christianity. From all different faiths, from the different organisations of Christianity here, you are served. And you welcome me. Thank you very, very much. I'd like to say that the Premier of South Australia, Mr. John Olsen, would love to have been here but sends his apologies today because of the Cabinet meeting of Government, but we do have in our presence Mr. Mike Rann, the Leader of the Opposition in our state here. We'll have some time informally with you. Thank you. Recording location: Australia, Adelaide, Australian Tour

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt, what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

Email Notifications

You are welcome to subscribe to the Swamiji.tv Live Webcast announcements.

Contact Us

If you have any comments or technical problems with swamiji.tv website, please send us an email.

Download App

YouTube Channel