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Part 1: A Prayer for Peace and the Power of Words Good evening, dear brothers and sisters around the globe. This minute is dedicated to our sisters and brothers who are the victims of the tsunami this morning. When I heard this news, I could not control myself; I was full of emotion and sadness. We all belong to one family, Vasudeva Kulaṁbakam. It does not matter which part of the world; no one should suffer. We should feel them as our own self. If they lost children, it is as if we lost our own children. So, this minute is dedicated to their souls. May the Almighty Lord bless the souls of all victims of this tsunami with eternal peace and cosmic light. It is very gracious that our dear friend, the Mayor of Alexandria, traveled far from a conference today just to join us in these prayers. In the name of the city of Alexandria, thank you for coming, sir. For one minute, everyone should pray in your own language, from your heart, for the victims who are suffering, who lost their parents or children, who lost their properties. We want to show them that we are with them. Thank you. Mayor: Thank you very much. It is an honor and privilege to be here with you this evening, and to welcome my friend, your friend, our friend, Swāmījī, back to this beautiful, historic city of Alexandria, Virginia. It has been a couple of years since you were here. One of the local newspapers reflected on that visit with a picture in last week’s edition, which somewhat surprised me because it showed me with a little more weight. I said, "I’ve started slimming down, but the picture doesn’t reflect who I am today." As a matter of fact, I said to him upstairs how beautiful and youthful he looks. But it is always an honor to have a gathering of people who care, love, and respect each other, particularly during these hard times—not just here in Alexandria or in the United States, but hard times throughout the world. We are going through an awful lot. Some are suffering, some may not be, but when one person or one family has a challenge, we all feel their pain. It is our responsibility, as children of God, to come together again in the name of the Lord, and to come together in the name of peace, harmony, respect, and love, to lift each other, to inspire each other, to pray together, so that we collectively can help make a difference and change the world to be a better, more positive place. This is true whether we are talking about the food we grow and eat, the environment, the economy, or anything else. As I said to Swami and the others upstairs a little while ago, there are just some things we cannot control; they are beyond our control. We just have to deal with them, but we can come together to recover. Those challenges and stumbling blocks are put in our way for a purpose: for us to become better human beings, a better human race. I am so pleased and honored that, as the mayor of this great city, and seeing some of my citizen residents here, all of us together can do our individual parts and collectively as a group to continue to make a difference, not only in our lives but in the lives of people each and every day. That is what is so important. Swami, I want you to know that the city of Alexandria is committed to the environment. We are a green city, an eco-city, and we are doing everything that you preach and teach to try to make sure we indeed protect this great Earth, to ensure that when our days are over, others coming behind us will have a decent place to live and survive, and that the footprint we leave is one they can respect and cherish. We are also committed to having community gardens. There is an initiative floating, particularly in this immediate community, to allow folks to even raise their own chickens on their properties. Those are the buzzwords of the day, but we know there are things we should be doing that are right and things that are wrong. Having faith in God will lead us down the right path. So again, welcome. Thank you for being here. God bless you. May I invite our president to be here? Yes, please. Her Excellency, the President of… Yes, every president is an excellency. Please, thank you. Swami: It is a prayer from the Upaniṣads: "All should be happy. No one should suffer, no one should be threatened, and no one should be ill. And me, O Lord, also should be happy." Blessed self, dear brothers and sisters here in this hall and around the world, those who are with us now through webcast. This blessing is coming to you from the beautiful city of Alexandria, this Echo City, as our dear mayor told us, and I am very happy to be with you again. Unfortunately, this morning began the day with sadness because our brothers and sisters and many other creatures were victims of the tsunami in Japan. It also came through the coast to Hawaii, and I think they said it influences Vancouver. It does not matter which part of the world; if someone lost property, friends, or children, it means we lost it, not only they, because we are one with them. If you feel them as a part of thyself, then you will feel it. We need love. Love unites. And that one who is one with love has no power in this world to separate them. Eternal love—that is God’s love. Faith, confidence, friendship, thankfulness—that is how I was feeling this morning. Since that time, I pray inwardly. Thank you for joining us in these minutes for the victims of the tsunami. Your Excellency, thank you for accepting me as your friend. Indeed, we are friends. I did not realize it was only two years ago I was here; I thought it was last year. We planted a peace tree here together with our dear friend, respected Mayor Afalak Chandraya. And I hope the tree does well. Beautiful, thank you. One of the great spiritual personalities from India, His Holiness Sri Swami Satchidānandajī, unfortunately passed away a few years ago. We are happy to welcome his disciple, Swāmī Śraddhānanda. She is now taking care of the ashram, Yogavilā, and our friends. I also welcome many Bhaktas from North Carolina, from San Francisco, and from Mexico. You see, the whole continent is here together today. So our prayer was a universal prayer. It is said, for a hundred people, if they are carrying one stick, it is only a walking stick. But if hundreds of sticks have to be carried by one person as a bundle, that could be very heavy. Therefore, whatever we can contribute for peace, harmony, and love in the world, and for the victims of this terrible tsunami, means a great deal. It is not that you give money or something material. If you are a human, then give from your heart one word: peace, thank you, and love. But nowadays in the world, many people have a tsunami in their heart also. That tsunami which is in the human heart and brain is more destructive than such a physical tsunami. And that gave me a subject. I do not know why they chose this subject. They told me this afternoon at one o’clock what subject I have to speak on. Anyhow, I am not carrying the library with me, so I sat and looked at the subject. I always say, "Nāhaṁ kartā"—I am not the doer. "Mahāprabhū Deep karta"—The great master Mahāprabhujī, He is doing. "Mahāprabhū deep karatā he kevalam"—only He is doing. My dear brothers and sisters, we are only a medium. Whatever is coming to us is from God. So this is channeling the love and light of God, but that light and love of God is searching for a pure heart. In Hindi, there is a beautiful poem. It says: "Sab ghaṭ mera sānyā"—In every heart, in every entity’s heart, is my Lord. So, see your God in your heart and in others’ hearts. "Sab ghat mera sāyāyain"—Everyone is my Lord. "Koi ghat khali naay"—No heart is empty without God’s light. Even a little ant is carrying the light of God. This is the realization and thought of a wise spiritual person. "Balihārī us ghat kī"—But I adore that heart. "Pragyat boleyai"—in which the Lord appears and speaks within him. We adore that heart, and that heart is the heart of the devotees, pure love. That is the heart of the great saints, where there is equality, no duality. So, Jesus shows his heart, his holy heart. Why a holy heart? Because in that is God, and in God is the holy. When that realization is in our heart, then we are also holy; otherwise, not. He is complete, and what comes from the completeness is also complete. If we take something out from the completeness, it is also complete. So, either the universal one or individually, we are complete. Why do we not see that love and light in everyone? Why are you searching for mistakes in someone? Eyes are given to see beautiful things. Ears are given to hear good things. And the mouth is given to speak good things. But where there is hate, where there is ego and negative ambition, then our intellect is polluted. There is a tsunami, and then worlds come which are full of violence. And so, the subject you gave me? Cultivating non-violence. Cultivating non-violence, oh my! This is a great subject, a great subject, my dear. There was one dynasty, the Kauravas, and those who had two… they were three brothers. The stories are long; I will make it very short. It was always the case everywhere in the whole world that the eldest son should become king. So in the rest of the world, there was fighting: "I want to go first. I want to be the first son." Others say, "No, I will go." Fighting begins already there. So the eldest brother was blind. The second brother was a half-brother. And the youngest one was not blind—very humble, very kind. The time came that a successor had to be chosen. The board committee of the royal form, the royal chair and crown, had to be decided. But the minister said, "Sorry, our king cannot be blind," because the elder one was blind. Can you imagine? The older one was so disappointed. The other was a half-brother, so the youngest one got it. His name was Pāṇḍav. Outwardly, the brother was happy. The blind one said, "Okay, yes, yes." But he came into his room, and he was so sad. When he was married, his wife realized her husband was blind. She said, "When my husband is blind, he cannot see the world, then I will also tie my eyes." For life, she wore a tie over her eyes. "I do not want to see, because when my husband cannot see, I will not see." She dedicated her life to him. Now the story goes further. The Pāṇḍavas had five sons, and the blind one also had a son. But the son of the blind one said, "I am the successor. My rights are there; I should become the king." His name was Duryodhana. Now you know the story, the Mahābhārata, one of the greatest, most horrible battlefields of that time. Mahā means great. Bharata is the fighting battlefield, like what we call a world war, cold wars. But the Cold War is still running in people’s minds. Duryodhana wanted to destroy his brothers, his cousin brothers. He tried many things: to poison them, to burn the house where they were sleeping, and many other things. They had to run away and spend years in the forest, hiding. He was behind them to fight and kill them. Anyhow, once they came together to talk, and they were making decorations in the palace where they had a meeting. There was a beautiful staircase in the reception, a big reception hall like where the president meets and where they take protocol photos. One side was a beautiful water pond, like a swimming pool, and the other side was also a beautiful water pond. Between them were stairs and a glass door that opens to the park garden. It was beautiful, and it reflected in the glass further, so you might think that is a door, or this is a door. It is a kind of illusion. They had this water pond, like a swimming pool, let us say about 5 meters by 4 meters. The artist put such nice flowers on the water, like a beautiful carpet—a nice carpet, like silk. The wife of the Pāṇḍavas was on the first floor, looking through the balcony. This naughty boy, Duryodhana, said, "Why should I walk straight? I will go this side, on the beautiful carpet." Someone said, "No, sir, this is not for walking." He said, "Who is there to say, ‘Not for walking for me’? I will walk on this carpet." And he walked on the flower carpet on the water pond. What happened? He fell into the water. Draupadī was standing on the balcony. (You have to be all the best. God bless you. See you again. Thank you. Take care.) And Draupadī saw Duryodhana fall into the water. She began to laugh. While laughing, she said, "The son of the blind is also blind." He looked up and saw the wife of the Pāṇḍavas, his cousin brothers. That word went into his heart like a knife. "I will now take revenge to destroy her and her husband." And so the Mahābhārata began. The battlefield began because she humiliated Duryodhana: "The son of the blind is blind." If she would have used her viveka (discrimination), if she would have thought for just some seconds about what she was saying, if she would have controlled her tongue at that time, the thousands and thousands of people, or millions, who lost their lives on the battlefield would not have perished. This is because that sentence was not full of ahiṃsā (non-violence). It was not out of compassion, love, and understanding. So, someone said, if you are hurt by a weapon or a knife, in time the wound will heal. But if you are hurt by words in your heart, that wound will not heal for a lifetime. O my dear one, speak such a language, such a word, that everybody becomes happy. All become happy, harmonious, and peaceful. And the one who is speaking, in the heart, is such peace. So, whether writing or speaking, overthink, take time. Otherwise, it is said: as long as you did not speak, you were the wise one. And as soon as you spoke one sentence, now we know how wise you are. If I have something in my pocket, only I can give you that. I have it in my pocket; this I can give you—sweet. I have another sweet in my pocket; I can give you that one. Or, I have one coin in my pocket; I can give you that. I have my telephone in my pocket; I can give you this. I have very nice gloves in my pocket, or spices if you have a problem with the throat. And of course, if a strong wind is blowing and your hair is a problem, I can give you this. And if I have a snake or cobra, only I can give you that. So, this pocket of the heart—what is inside? God is sitting here. Your Ātmā is sitting here. If God is here, then there is no tsunami. If that Ātmā is pure, then there is… Your heart should be like an ocean; even if on the surface there is a tsunami, the bottom is peaceful. But if at the bottom an earthquake begins, then you are the first in destruction. Clear? Therefore, a great saint of the last century, Swami Śivānandajī of Ṛṣikeśa, said, "Within you is the ocean of bliss." My dear, discover that within you is the ocean of bliss. And within you is the fountain of joy. And within you is the immortal one. Kill this little "I", the ego. Kill your ego and live a divine life. Part 2: The Fire of the Robe and the Power of Speech His organization was known as, and still is, the Divine Life Society. In the case of a Ṛṣi, listening is beautiful. Speaking is very easy, but to realize is very hard. Therefore, when you become a sannyāsī, a Swāmī, when you are a spiritual sādhaka who wishes to realize spirituality, you must undertake self-analyzing, self-inquiry meditation. Not "Who am I?" but "How am I?" For that, you must observe Mauna, silence, for years and years. I myself observed silent Mauna for three years. I went recycling, I went shopping, I went for bikṣā. All I did was Mauna. I had no problem. In the beginning, there was a little difficulty, and in the beginning, I would speak in my dreams. It was as if there were forces within me compelling me to speak. But when my Gurudev said, "Mauna," that was Mauna—silence. During those three years, for one year, I was completely on a very light diet: a little milk and a little fruit. Yes, sometimes people in front of me would be eating halwā and samosā and things like pizza. The very hard thing for me was that I had to serve them. Not only that, my Gurujī said, "Go in the kitchen and cook." I only had a little milk and fruit. Yes, that is called the test of the master, you know. An examination. So it is the life of a sannyāsī. It is going through the fire. You know the other story from the dynasty in which God Rāma was incarnated. His wife was kidnapped by the king of Śrī Laṅkā, Rāvaṇa. You know the whole story. Before they got her back, she spent all her time in the park under a tree—Sītā in the Ashok Vatika, the name of the park. She spent all her time under one tree, whether in rain, thunderstorms, heat, or cold. She did not accept anything from Rāvaṇa. She was in Rāvaṇa’s domain, but she wore her sannyāsī dress because she had been with Rāma in the forest for 14 years, along with Lakṣmaṇa. She was guarded, and people were around her all the time. When the battle came—for there is always a battle between negative and positive—satyameva jayate: ultimately, the truth will win. We trust in God. Now, Sītā was a great divine Śakti from the universe. But when she came to Rāma, someone told him, "Lord, we do not accept this. How can you accept your wife? She stayed so long there, alone. Are you sure she did not have anything with Rāvaṇa?" Those who want to destroy something, who want to blame, who want to create negative powers—such people were talking then too. Rāma said, "Okay, make a fire, a big fire." Sītā was coming; she was so happy, tears in her eyes. After such a long time, she saw her Lord, her husband again, and she was weeping. She saw him, and he said, "Stop." She said, "What happened? What happened, Lord? What did I do?" She said, "People are gossiping." He said, "Let them gossip. I have done nothing." He said, "Stop." A big fire was made. "Now you go through the fire. If you have done nothing, you will come as you are, untouched by fire. Then you will have access to me." She said, "No problem, Lord." A long, big fire was made. She walked through and came out completely untouched. Rāma, of course, embraced her and said, "I am sorry that you had to suffer so long. We could have taken you away as soon as we found you, but that would be against the law of love, because we want to accept you with great respect, to fully welcome you, my dear." And that was again the complaint—the negative thoughts of people. So he accepted her. From that day, it is said that the sannyāsī who wears this orange dress, a monk… Sītā had to walk only once through the fire, but you see, the sannyāsī has to walk lifelong in this orange fire. That fire can burn her if she does something which is not accepted by it. You see? It is not easy that you take an orange dress and then, if you do not like it, you just change it. My orange cloth is not a cloth; it is my skin. When I give my word, I give it. So the words which you speak and give, you should value them; do not change them, even if it costs your life. So the whole group—Rāma, his brother, and Sītā—came back to Ayodhyā, to their palace, for he was also a prince and should have become the king. But his stepmother—always stepmothers, my God! There is always a problem with stepmothers. They were happy all together. Then someone was gossiping in the village: "How should we believe that Rāma is a God incarnation, that he is holy? He accepted his wife who lived with somebody else for so many days and months—Sītā with Rāvaṇa." Rāma was always asking, "Are my people all okay? What are they talking about? Is everything peaceful?" Someone came and said, "Lord, everything is okay, but there is some rumor or gossip going on." "About what?" "That Sītā is like a prostitute. How can Rāma accept it?" For the sake of all the people, he said to Sītā, "I send you into the forest; I renounce you." She was so sad. It is such a sad story in human history. It does not matter if it is a god or a devil. And Rāma, he renounced the comfort of his bed and everything, the comfort of the king, and he slept on the floor. He said, "My dear Sītā, in the forest there is no comfort, and I am comfortable. I cannot accept this." So he renounced and slept on the floor with only one thin cloth—the God, the Rāma. So the words which we speak can destroy hearts. You should try to collect and support those gentle hearts. If they are broken, you should be that master who can join a broken heart, my dear. Lastly, this story of Sītā’s destiny is terrible. She had to suffer so much. She asked Mother Earth, "Give me a place." The earth broke, separated, and she went in quickly. That place is still there, where the earth separated and took Sītā into the lap of Mother Earth. Beautiful grass grows there, like the hair of Sītā. Tourists go to see this long, beautiful, thin grass. Nowhere will you find such grass. They all adore it. It is the grass of Mother Holy Sītā. So, my dear, I end the stories. Because there are always two forces, positive and negative. But finally, the positive will be sanātana. I spoke two days ago with one Swami about sanātana dharma and what is happening. He said, "Swāmījī, Sanātana Dharma no one can destroy." The Sūrya, the sun, is Sanātana. Is there anybody in this world who can destroy the sun? The moon, the stars, the entire sky, the air, the water—this all is sanātana, Swāmījī. Not this religion and that religion, where people are fighting over "my religion, your religion." It means they do not understand what Sanātana is. Just observe and pray to God to give them sad-buddhi, good understanding. Therefore, Mahātmā Gandhījī’s favorite prayer was: "Iśvara yalla teru nāma, sabako sanamati deva, gavāṁ Raghupati Rāghava Rāja Rāma, patita pāvana Sītā Rāma." Gandhījī was a devotee of God Rāma. That is why the last word which came from his mouth… He did not say Kṛṣṇa. He did not say Nārāyaṇa. We may call it Īśvara or Allāh. Lord, both are your name. There is no difference. Lord, give good thoughts and understanding to everyone. There is no difference if you pray to Allāh or you pray to Īśvara. God is one; there is no two. Gandhījī’s prayer: "Please give everyone positive thought, positive thinking. Raghu-Patti-Rāghavarāja Rām, the lord of the dynasty of Raghu. O King Rāma, sabko sanumati deva Bhagavān. Give them good thoughts. Patita-pāvana Sītārāma. Sītā and Rāma, you are the liberator of everyone, and you can forgive the sins of all." So, my dear ones, when a tiger comes, everyone is frightened, fearful. When a very nice, holy scent comes, everyone is happy. So your being, our being, my being should be pleasant for you, my dear. If I tell you, "Do not do this, otherwise I will punish you, I will send you to hell." God, what is this swami talking about? Someone will go to Dayālpuri and tell Dayālpuri, "Did Swāmījī take something?" So do not let negative waves enter your brain, waves which force you to speak with violence. Therefore, Gandhījī said, "We hate the sin, not the sinner." And so Gandhiji began with the non-violence movement. The concepts of movement and non-violence are very old in the literature. In the Mahābhārata, Bhīṣma talks to Yudhiṣṭhira at the end of the battlefield, and all the saints of India always speak of Ahiṃsā. Ahiṃsā paramo dharma: non-violence is the highest principle. Non-violence is the highest religion. Do not violate others through your behavior, through your words, through your thinking. Socially, politically, in any way, do not harm anyone. Then you are a great saint, or you can become one. Otherwise, whatever you have reached, you will fall down again. It took you so many years to create your spirituality, so it will take some years to come to that bottom again. So, many times, unfortunately, some politicians also use some words and then they are sorry. Maybe the media will say, "Oh, the minister said this and that." Therefore, many people have good advice: before talking, consider which words you should not use. It means, do not use words of violence from your side. This teaching is also in the Bible. It is said that if someone gives you a slap on your cheek, let him have the other side so that he will be happy. But you know, when someone gives you a slap on one cheek and you show the second, you know what it means? It means the anger of that person will dissipate. Immediately, the person will realize, "Oh, God." But if one gives his life, then you will come with both hands like this. Then they will come with everything, all four: surrender, humbleness, love, kindness. Everyone makes mistakes. We all have some mistakes. Our hands are also not so pure and clean. Think how you are, what you did, and what you are doing. Pray to God that through my actions, through my words, through my thoughts, through my heart, even my enemy should not be harmed. Therefore, Gandhijī said in another prayer: "Vaiṣṇava jan to tene kāhiye, pīṛ parāī jāṇe." Vaishnavas, Hindus who believe in God Vishnu—the Vaishnavas are they who know the pain of others. That pain which you cause through your words and your behaviors, or through any of your means, you are creating sin. So do not violate. Try to bring peace and harmony. There is a beautiful prayer of the holy friends from Assisi: Where there is hate, may I bring sympathy. Where there is suffering, may I bring comfort. Where there is no love, may I bring love. Lord, let me be the bridge between these two, that I may bring peace. You see? We only have these books now, unfortunately, in the library. If you look and read every day, then you will say, "Aha!" You know, in every one of the public places, in the drawer, there is a Bible. Try and look in. How nice the instructions of knowledge are there. You just need one and close it, and then you are telephonic, yes, for my company. "How is the share? How is the market now? How is this?" Though Jesus said, "Do not believe in the wrong God." It means the wrong God is the gold, the money, the golden bull, you know. Because he knew that in Kalyuga, Kalyuga rupyarām hai—money is, unfortunately, what is worshipped now. That is why there are two kinds of tsunamis at both coasts of the human mind. The first tsunami is in humans’ minds and hearts, which will destroy the entire environment and the forest. We are taking from the earth all these resources—what we call oil and gas and coal and stones and what not. Many mountains are destroyed because they take all this material for roads, for gravel, for buildings. How many millions of square miles have we covered Mother Earth, so that she cannot breathe with the highways? So that you can sit and drive your car comfortably, one hand with your drink, one hand driving, and the other hand on that telephone. If the road were rough, you would put the telephone away and concentrate and drive slowly. How much pollution comes from the tires, the rubber used, and all the pollution that goes into the water? The system we think is very good is that there is a residential area and a commercial area. But that is not good for the environment. For little things, for half a liter of milk, you have to take your car and drive five kilometers to buy the milk and then come back. How much gas are you burning? How much gasoline? How much pollution are you creating? And how expensive is a quarter liter of milk now? If you had, between every five houses, one food store so you do not have to take your car and drive, no? It is beautiful for the body. So let us come back to this system. Do not make it such a commercial area. Do not drive a commercial vehicle. Do not park commercial vehicles. This is unhealthy for our world. So, my dear, this is the thought which is… you read in the Bible. I have not seen Jesus; I have only heard about him. You have not seen Jesus either; you have heard about him. Maybe you have seen him? I dream, maybe imagination. But the person who dedicated his entire life for God and for the people, how he was always blamed. And his close disciples—from the twelve, Jesus said, "One of you will be that one"—and Judas, who was the cause that Jesus had to carry his own cross and be crucified. But you know the heart of the holy saints, fathers, mothers—they still forgive the children. And therefore he said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." So if we cannot be Jesus, at least we should not be Judas. If you are Judas, then you will be ever and ever hanging on the cross on the hill. And it will not allow you to die; you will feel the pain. For how many yugas? You do not know what will happen in one second. You are talking about tomorrow; that is your ambition. The seed you have already put in your subconscious or in your consciousness will sprout sooner or later—the seed of the rose or the fruit tree or the thorn tree. So, clean your heart. Clean. We experience many things, many situations in our life. That is life. Make your heart a holy heart. Therefore, God speaks full of non-violence. Speak with ahiṃsā. Great. We pray to God: "God, forgive us." God will forgive our mistakes or sins, whatever they are. Can you develop that love of God in you? God is love, and love is God. And do you have the capacity to forgive someone their mistakes and to embrace that one? "My dear, you are mine. I love you." Thank you for giving me this beautiful subject today. And my brothers and sisters, bhaktas, devotees, I tell you: it is said that whatever you speak, whatever you think, will come back to you. I read that Śrī Yukteśvarjī, the guru of Paramahaṁsa Yogānanda, said once, "Every thought which comes out of the human brain, sooner or later will come and affect that brain." That quality will enter that person like a boomerang; you throw it and it will come back to you. So, of course, we are all good though. Is anybody angry with me? Please forgive me. Anybody have a problem with me, please forgive my mistakes. Good? And if you have some problems and mistakes, I will pray to Mahāprabhujī to forgive you. Okay? Who am I to forgive you? Because I do not have that strength, but Gurudeva has that strength. Mahāprabhujī. Therefore, nīpā nirañjan sab dukha bhajan. Iṣī mantra se hove man.