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The Responsibility of Peace Begins Within

A speech on personal responsibility for peace at an international summit.

"Peace is clearly something that starts from within. It is not something only others can establish."

"Peace begins to develop when we give up selfishness and egoism and start to consider all others as dear."

A spiritual leader addresses a diverse audience at a peace summit organized by Yoga in Daily Life. He argues that peace is an individual responsibility that begins internally, urging listeners to embody the change they wish to see and not to wait for institutions to create it. He cites the Dalai Lama and Mahatma Gandhi, emphasizing that true happiness comes from inner peace, which then fosters unity in the world.

Dear brothers and sisters from different countries, religions, and backgrounds. So much has already been said that I am unsure where to begin. I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Yoga in Daily Life and Swāmījī for organizing this peace summit. Such events are extremely important today—vitally important—to raise the topic of peace in this environment of war and crisis. Very often, the media and political institutions bring us much news of war, hatred, and conflict. It seems to me that we must not allow ourselves to be caught by this energy, even though many states or churches may seek power or economic benefits, which often leads to various conflicts and wars. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who always speaks of peace, says, "Never give up." We must never give up our ideal. Just as Mahatma Gandhi says—as it is written here—"Be the change you want to see," we must believe strongly within ourselves in this peace. Peace is clearly something that starts from within. It is not something only others can establish. We must not leave it solely in the hands of political institutions or other organizations to create peace, as many of them have so far failed to do. Peace is our responsibility. Peace begins to develop when we give up selfishness and egoism and start to consider all others as dear. When we turn away from an egoistic life centered on our own small problems—from which many fights and wars originate—then peace starts to grow within us. We need to awaken our hearts to stand for the right to peace, to cherish this ideal of peace for all children today, for children to come, and for the next generation. I believe all of us here today believe in peace. Therefore, we must not wait for this peace to be established by something or someone else. Peace sometimes starts from a smile, a gentle handshake, or a small flower given. Peace is not something we should expect only tomorrow. Peace is something that begins when we start to believe in it. Many times, people come to discuss with me and tell me they have achieved everything in materialistic life. They have money, social positions, a nice family. And they tell me, "I'm not happy." I ask them, "Where is the peace around you?" Even if you possess none of the goods of this world, if you have peace, then you have reached happiness. When we speak of reaching happiness, we speak of achieving this inner state of peace, this unification within ourselves. And from this inner unification, we can then achieve unification around us—in a world that too often tries to divide people, even in the name of religion. Now is the time to bring all different faiths, beliefs, religions, organizations, groups, and people together. This is indeed what has happened here today. Peace starts from here. It starts from where we are and from who we are. We must never forget that we bear, even upon ourselves, the responsibility for peace. Whatever job, profession, or activity we have, we all possess the possibility to increase and develop peace around us. We must never forget our ideal. We must always stand for what we believe. If you believe in peace, live in peace. Never give up. Thank you.

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.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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