TV Channel

The program begins as the colorful concert starts. First to perform is the mixed choir from Prague, called Kakofon. Kakofon is related to the word 'cacophony,' which, as you surely know, means a harsh mixture of sounds. That was a surprising puzzle. You may wonder why they chose that name. When they began gathering fourteen years ago as an amateur student ensemble, they thought it safer to name themselves in a way that would prevent others from having too high expectations in case it didn't work out. However, it soon became clear that it resonated with them very well, but they kept the name. It suits them. We thank the mixed choir Kakofon, the psaltery, and the shawm—that colleague already revealed everything for me, but it was such a riddle. These were the instruments that those now coming onto the stage will play. This is what Vlastislav Matoušek and his schola specialis familiae designate. Translated from Latin, it means a special family school. It is truly a family ensemble. The title might lead you to think it is just a family group, but it is a highly professional ensemble. I will dare to reveal something about Mr. Matoušek: he teaches ethnomusicology at Charles University and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague—that means at two universities. You may know him as an expert in other ethnic instruments, such as the Japanese bamboo flute, the shakuhachi. As you can see, it is not easy to organize the whole family to arrange themselves properly on stage, but it is clear they are truly in harmony. Since our time is running short, we will ask all speakers to keep their presentations brief. I will not keep you any longer and will hand the microphone to Mr. Matoušek. Mr. Matoušek speaks: I would like to clarify; we will be playing several pieces born here in Central Europe approximately 600 years ago. We are coaching you with a composition by Petr Wilhelmus de Crudence, who lived between 1400 and 1480, worked here in Bohemia among other places, was a magister of the University of Krakow, and it is a rotulum for four voices, presulem efebeātu. Gentlemen, Petrus Vilhelmi, who lived between 1400 and 1480 and was a magister at the University of Kraków. Thank you, Master Matoušek. Thank you, Schola Specialis Familiae. We have another performance awaiting us by Oldřich Janotá and the ensemble called Ora Pronobis. Here is another Latin term; I will translate it. The title in Czech is "Pray for Us," and that is how they introduce themselves. Mr. Janota is a singer who plays the guitar and also recites poems—a distinguished and unmistakable singer, guitarist, and poet. He will be joined by Romana Šilhavá on vocals and violin, Sebastian Janota on clarinet and vocals, and, virtually in spirit, Tereza Podobská, who normally sings with them physically but, due to the flu season, will only join virtually today. With this, we invite them to the stage. I thought it was because of the spotlight that I couldn't see anything, but even without it, I still can't see. In this case, we can simply resolve it by perhaps including an alternative; it will succeed, they are already on the path—at least we hope so. It is truly so. Pray for us. From where do I know you from so long ago, the theme is, when we too, face to face, on the mountain slope, will be alone with him in anger. Wheat and red, like a burning poppy. Cruel, like grain and red, like a burning poppy. Joko, joko,... the summer earth is dry and red, like burning poppies. The summer earth is dry and red, like burning poppies. Joko, joko,... joko. And when someone interferes in something they do not understand... The next musical performance will be the last one of this evening. The Bhajan Band Jogi will perform in daily life. It is an international bhajan band with representatives from three countries: the Czech Republic, Austria, and Great Britain. I ask the performers to get settled. I will briefly repeat what we have discussed: bhajans are traditional spiritual songs of India. They are not just songs as we might be accustomed to; they have deep spiritual significance that can be practically realized in life. Now we hand over the microphone to Bhajan Band Yoga in daily life. [The transcript shifts to a conference context.] Issues of media education lie under this, which in brief involves supporting youth in orienting themselves towards positive role models amidst the flood of negative patterns in the media. Next, Dr. Karel Nešpor, head of the addiction department at the psychiatric hospital Bohnice, will share his many years of experience in treating addictions, uncovering their causes, and the possibilities of turning away from them. I am personally looking forward to the remedy for our 23-year-old son’s addiction to computer games. From youth representatives, we will learn how they assess their ethical preparedness for life and their commentary on the experts' contributions. The morning session will conclude with an overview of the ethical values of the millennia-old Vedic culture. We thank Mr. Němeček for the information. About tomorrow’s program, I invite engineer Lenka Henebergová, deputy director of the Houses of Foreign Services at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and head of the national agency for European educational programs, to give us more information about tomorrow's workshops. Lenka Henebergová speaks: Thank you, ladies and esteemed guests. I am pleased to greet you on behalf of the Foreign Services House of the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Physical Education. Our mission is implementing national and European educational programs. We are grateful for the opportunity to co-host this conference. I thank the initiator, Paramān Svāmī Maheshwarananda, and the Yoga in Daily Life Society for choosing this very relevant topic for the Czech Republic. At the beginning of this year, by order of the Minister of Education, ethics education was included in the framework educational programs, so schools have the opportunity to teach this subject. Precisely because it is new, they sometimes ask how. I believe this conference can provide an answer. As mentioned, in the morning we will have expert presentations. In the afternoon, we will divide into three groups. We can choose to learn more about parenthood—here, for example, elementary school students from Prague 3 will introduce the topic of cyberbullying, showing that even in a warm family, children can be at risk. In the second workshop, "Thinking Towards Ecology," students from an elementary school in Ostrava will present their idea that energy comes from the sky, but also a little from hell. In the third workshop, we will reflect together on the meaning of life. A representative of the scouts will offer their perspective, as will female students from a secondary vocational school who have chosen caregiving, and perhaps students from a school of childhood. I wish the conference success and many inspiring moments to all of us. Thank you, Mrs. Hennebergová, for your contribution. Now it is my great honor to introduce the presentation of Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramān Svāmī Maheshwaranandaji, Svāmījī, the initiator of this conference. He was born in Indian Rajasthan and came to Europe in 1972. He has been active in our country for over 35 years. During communism, his spiritual and humanitarian work was a great support for people in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the former Yugoslavia. As Svāmījī embodies tolerance, respect for others, and education in ethics, especially for youth, he has long supported interreligious dialogues and conferences like today's. I hand over the floor to Svāmījī. Svāmījī speaks: Oṁ. Asato mā sadgamaya. Tamaso mā jyotirgamaya. Mṛtyormā amṛtaṁ gamaya. Lead us from the unreal to the real. Lead us from darkness to light. Lead us from mortality to immortality. Oṁ. Chant, chant, chant. Greetings to the cosmic light. And reverence to the Lotus feet of Bhagavān Śrī Dīpnāra, to Mahāprabhujī, and to my dear Sadgurudev, His Holiness Śrī Svāmī Mādhāvānandajī. In his honor, we have our organization, the World Peace Council of Śrī Svāmī Mādhāvānandā, a non-governmental organization registered with the United Nations. Honorable Professor, esteemed Director, Honorable Ambassador of India, Your Excellency, esteemed members of the Indian Embassy, artists who sang beautiful songs today, dear representatives of the media, and all of you, dear brothers and sisters gathered here from many countries—I see guests from Australia, Spain, England, India. This event is for one day. The name should properly be "Day for Children: Ethical Education." It is education that shapes the person. But what kind of upbringing is it? We won’t get that in school, university, or high school. We find it in the lap of our parents. But we do need the lap of our parents. Unfortunately, these days, parents mostly have laptops on their laps. That means the children lost their place. Ethic. We just call it netic. Neti, neti. Ethic, etic. And from ethics arises politics. The thoughts, instructions, the guidance for human civilization were given by the ṛṣis. Ṛṣis were great and wise personalities. Our dear Professor Vacek spoke of beautiful key words and mentioned the Upaniṣads. Up means near, and āśade means student: the student who sits near the master and learns important life lessons. The first instrument that comes is the family. Every being has a family and teaches its own offspring, striving to nurture them—whether tigers, lions, monkeys, birds, fish. Unfortunately, people began to neglect their own children. The dangerous situation for children is not outside the home, but within the home itself, because parents lost interest in upbringing. We think we will pay for it, and children will receive education at school. Many of you know, when your child first goes to kindergarten and returns home, you already see negative changes—they begin to use coarse words because they do not receive the understanding and love meant for them at home. So, upbringing in ethics lies in the lap of the parents. Therefore, the family is very important—what we call the extended, multi-generational family. But such families are already broken; you will find them only very rarely. Yoga is for the perfection of the human being. The dear professor explained the root and translation of that word yoga. It is that yoke, the harnessing of the animal to the cart—horse, camel, ox, or buffalo. It is very interesting: when two oxen have a piece of wood placed on their necks, both should proceed equally, harmoniously. If one moves too quickly, the other suffers. If one wants to go a different direction, the other suffers, and so does the one on the chariot. So, balance. Yoga brings balance to the body, mind, emotions, and intellect. My Gurudev wrote a beautiful bhajan about this, which I will translate next time. Where is balance? Harmony. That is why yoga also means harmony. Where there is harmony, there is accord, unity, oneness. That means yoga: union. The two systems in the body, Iḍā and Piṅgalā, those two nāḍīs represent our mind and intellect, emotions and intellect. If intellect and emotions are not in balance, life does not flow smoothly. Suṣumnā is that which unites it all into oneness. As the dear professor said, India has given much to the world and still has much to give. How? The professor was chanting a mantra; he is a professor of Sanskrit, Tamil, and Hindi. I hope to properly learn Sanskrit as well, but he tells me it is not too late yet. Wholeness. Almighty is complete. And what comes from completeness is complete. We say, at the tip of the peacock’s feather, you don’t need to add any colors; you don’t need to add colors to the peacock’s egg, because the peacock receives all those colors automatically. So the entire creation, every being, is a part of that wholeness. When something is taken from completeness, it remains complete. He is perfect, and His wisdom is perfect. This is what the Indians realized. Yugas and yugas—Satya Yuga, Tretā Yuga, Dvāpara Yuga—millions of years. I was surprised when the professor mentioned those two millennia before Christ. I hope next time the professor will change his opinion after learning more, because the Vedas were written 8-10 thousand years ago. India is known as the cradle of culture. India has given much. But among all of it, there is one called dhyāna. And in that single word, veda. Veda means knowledge. That knowledge is the opposite of ignorance. So ethics is knowledge. And what is unethical is ignorance. We chase after the material world, which is not reality. God made the world perfect, but the world created by God is perfect, whereas the human world is imperfect. From the moment we begin to strive, to seek those machines, to desire machines and instruments, people suffer. People are more ill, there are more wars, more weapons are being created, and people have lost their strength to be heroes. Since ancient times, you had to come to the battlefield with a bare chest and stand face to face with the enemy. Today, everyone hides, sits somewhere completely different, just pressing buttons to start the killing, or hides behind excuses and shoots immediately and hides again. That is no heroism. That leads to more wars, conflicts, turmoil. Can we protect the family? If we can protect our children, then yes. So get that computer off your lap and free your lap for your children. One day for our children. This should also be incorporated into the education system according to the United Nations and the Earth Charter. They too are working diligently to reintroduce ethical and moral upbringing. The World Peace Council of Śrī Svāmī Mādhāvānandā has been working on this for the past ten years. There are many experts here. Tomorrow we will have something very interesting. I welcome you all, especially those from afar, from Australia perhaps, who may be seeing snow for the first time. But don’t worry, there is air conditioning here as well. I wish you a pleasant stay in this beautiful, golden, mystical Prague, where there is much wisdom and very good people. I welcome all esteemed speakers for tomorrow and wish you all the very best. Organizers, this evening was just an interest and cultural program; you are already tired, so I wish you good night. The Vedas say: Sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ. Sarve santu nirāmayāḥ. May everyone be happy. May each one have a happy life, and I am happy and have a happy life. The whole world is one family. If we accept everyone as our brothers and sisters, then what need is there for any conflicts? So we must teach our children, instruct them in ancient wisdom, in love. Thank you and all the best.