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Sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ, sarve santu nirāmayāḥ, sarve bhadrāṇi paśyantu, mā kaścid duḥkha bhāg bhavet. Oṃ śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ. Your excellencies, your holinesses, dear brothers and sisters, I am sure you are physically tired, yet you possess immense spiritual energy from the many beautiful words, talks, and wisdoms shared here—wisdoms that have come down to us over many centuries, preserved in human memory. This conference is indeed a great historical gathering, and we are all very happy to have succeeded in organizing it in Vienna. We have learned much and made decisions, as you just heard read by the Rabbi. As His Holiness Mahāmaṇḍaleshwar Nirañjanānandjī Mahārāj said, a good beginning does not yet mean success. We must continue. We know the message we wish to convey, and none of us sitting here have any intention to create war. So why are we here? We are here to awaken consciousness in our children and to spread the message further: we need world peace. We must have goodwill. As my friend Mufti Yogesh expresses goodwill, why did he come here? Not merely to speak before thousands, nor solely because people of his beliefs sent him. No. He felt within a calling to show the good way. The world peace we need, and have spoken of many times, is not only for humans or for living beings alone. Our planet is a living planet, a point explained in great detail, both spiritually and scientifically, by our friend from Slovenia—forgive me, I forgot your name, not Mr. Kulis, but the other who spoke about the earth… Barkar, that’s right. My apologies. We all call her Mother Earth. This is not merely about religion or tradition; there is something more. Consider how much the ṛṣis, the saints, used to respect Mother Earth. I still remember my mother, my father, and my sister saying: when you rise from your bed in the morning, do not immediately step on the earth. First greet her and ask permission: "Mother Earth, may I walk upon you?" That is called respect. Yet today, we are destroying our planet, polluting rivers, oceans, lakes, and soil. We must awaken this consciousness. We must awaken that love which our dear sister from the Czech Republic expressed—the love of a mother. It does not matter how many children you have; you must give them love. Only a mother knows what her child means. So too, Mother Earth knows what every creature upon her means. Thus, world peace does not mean only that our own country is secure today, or that the United Nations is helping us, while we remain indifferent to a neighboring country's problems—be it Nikman coffee or Denon coffee. We must not think that way. Solving hunger for humans alone does not mean we have solved the hunger problem for the entire planet. We are destroying forests day by day. We have received many valuable messages here. Love the family. Vasudhaiva kuṭumbakam—"the world is one family"—we heard this from our Roma brother, who spoke of how much they love family. That too is a message we learned today. So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is our essence. All religions are the same. The Rabbi said there is only one God. Father David said there is only one God. Our Mufti also said there is one God. Representatives of various religions have spoken of one God. The Hindus and I also say there is only one God. Then why are we fighting? It means we are fighting for nothing. The problem arises when some seek to take advantage of religion, and when someone creates a political party in the name of religion. If you create a democratic Hindu party in India, that is an injustice. You should create democratic bi-parties in India; that would be acceptable, because there are very few bi-believers. But to claim "all Hindus," that is to abuse the religion. That is wrong. Such thinking brings restlessness and war to the world. Once, a country wanted to introduce yoga in schools. Everything was prepared—books, teacher training, and the ministry of education agreed. But when the church learned yoga was entering schools, they stopped it. They said the exercises were very good, but there should be no name of "yoga." Why? Because it comes from India, and perhaps it is Hinduism. That is narrow thinking. Such thinking is the cause of events like the 11th of September in America, or conflicts in Kashmir, or Yugoslavia. By dividing us through culture and religion, such people become the cause of war. We must bring the message to them that we are all one. This is the message, the prasāda, that you take with you today. Please remove from your mind the duality of religion. Recently, I wished to form a Śiva temple society. I asked my disciples, "We must create a society; who would like to be a member?" You will not believe me, but my close disciples of 10 or 15 years said no, because it is a Hindu society; they did not wish to be members. I said, "Thank you very much. Now I know how far you still are, and how much you have truly learned from my teachings." Albert Schweitzer said, tons of theory are nothing compared to a grain of practice. Therefore, Gandhijī said, "My life is my message. I have no other message. I live life as I think." I have always said my life is a worship to God. We must think freely, join our heads together, and declare that we wish to bring peace to the world. But before that, I would like to send these divine candles to different countries, as a symbol of bringing the light of peace. There are representatives of various countries here. If you all allow me, I would like to hand this light over to them. One candle was meant for India and one for Israel, the lands from which our forefather Abraham originated. We are so united, I believe we should remain together. I ask you all to stand, join hands with one another, and let us sing: Oṃ śāntiḥ, Shalom. We will sing Shalom. Yes, okay, please begin singing. All together. Recording location: Austria, Vienna, World Peace Conference