Transcriber: Peter van de Ven
Reviewer: Tanya Cushman It is truly an honor and a pleasure
to be with all of you today. From a spiritual perspective, the perilous condition of the world today is caused, at it's root, when we as human beings
are disconnected from our true selves. With technology, the world has never been
so connected externally - we have Internet, social media, cellular phones, satellite televisions - yet today's news
is predominated by terrorism, oppression, abuse, social conflict and warnings of environmental disasters. Yet each and everyone of us can be the change
we want to see in the world if we use our free will with a higher connection. The problems that we face when it is seen through
the perspective of universal wisdom, we understand to see
every particular challenge in connection with a holistic,
larger perspective. Whatever we do, how will it affect ourselves? How will it affect the local area? How will it affect the world? Learning from the past, the present and the effect for the future. This type of wisdom is really born of compassion. Perhaps this is the greatest need in all of human society. Where there is compassion, there's enough wealth, there's enough skill, there's enough education because it will be provided. Years ago, I was with Mother Theresa, and she told me
a very universal principle. She said, "The greatest problem
in the world is hunger. Not hunger of the belly. If you give somebody food,
they'll be satisfied. But in London, in New York,
in Los Angeles, in Mumbai even the wealthiest persons, their hearts are starving." And that starvation creates greed, envy, arrogance, anger. Only to find the love
that is within ourselves can really be a solution. And the origin of that love, from a spiritual perspective, is to feel God's love and to be an instrument of that love in whatever we do, whether we're accountants, whether we're in business, finance, politics, agriculture or whether we're little swamis. When we have a foundation of inner peace, inner compassion, then the joy of life is not simply accumulating
more and more things. The joy of life is expressing
our compassion in whatever we do. Through technology, such incredible connections people have. Usually, by this time
in any lecture I'm giving, so many cell phones have been ringing, wherever we are. I remember one time I was in India, and I called my father, and after we talked, he said,
"Do you know where I am?" And I said, "No." He said, "I'm on the ninth hole
of a golf course, sitting on a toilet." (Laughter) I said, "I thought you were home." So, that's how we're connected
with anybody, anywhere at any time. (Laughter) But look how people with very
unfortunate evil intentions are networking and spreading their cause throughout the world. And at the same time, people who are proponents
of true peace and love can use the same technology. So the great need is to address our problems in a sustainable way if we want to have
a truly positive effect. Sustainable means internal change requires, has to go in harmony with external change. People's behavior, values and philosophies need to be uplifted. In the Bhagavad Gita,
there's a beautiful verse which gives us a clue of how, when we make that internal connection, we naturally realize and understand
our true connection with each other and with the world around us. In Sanskrit the verse is - (Speaking in Sanskrit) (Speaking in Sanskrit) That real wisdom, the symptom of a real
spiritual connection, is not just what religion
we call ourselves or how many verses we can cite
to prove our cause. True spirituality is to see every living being
with equal vision. Because when we know our self, when we understand
that divine spark of life of who I truly am, then we can recognize that in all others. We don't just see people as male or female
or black, white, red, yellow or brown, or from one religion
or another religion or no religion. When we understand the love of God, we understand every living being
as a child of that same source. Whether one is a human or an elephant
or a dog or a cat or a cow, wherever there is life,
there is a sentient being who's seeking pleasure and who deserves our respect and our compassion. This is real progress in society, progress of our level of consciousness. There are many different
spiritual paths in this world, but there are three principles
that we especially emphasize to make that inner connection. "Satsang," which means to associate
with like-minded people who really inspire us for that purpose. "Sādhanā," which is keeping some
special precious time every day to internally nourish us
to keep that connection through a spiritual practice - maybe meditation, prayer. In our tradition we chant God's names, these beautiful mantras. And when we chant together,
it's called "sankirtan." We are harmonizing our hearts with a divine focus. And "sadachar" - sadachar means our character. There's no use in claiming to be spiritual if we're not transforming
arrogance into humility, greed into generosity, despair into hope and hate into love. These are really
the great needs in this world. And when that compassion is awakened from within us, it becomes dynamic, active. In Sanskrit, a word
for compassion is "Karuṇā," which means directed,
intelligent, active compassion that's thoughtful and committed. "Para-dukha-dukhi," my guru Srila Prabhupada used to teach. Compassion is when another
person's suffering is my suffering, when another person's happiness
is my happiness. And that naturally
will extend to the environment because we are all depending on the same natural gifts. Whoever we are, from any nation, from any religion,
from any social background, we're depending on the same sun, the same source of rain, the same earth to grow our foods, the same waters in the rivers
and the oceans. Compassion to humanity,
compassion to other living beings, is inseparable from our compassion
to the environment. At our community in Mumbai, we started an ecovillage. And by doing so, we've discovered so many beautiful ... understandings of how connected
everything really is. We walk on the ground. We learn that from that same soil
that we're walking on, we can make bricks to make our homes. We've made over 350,000 bricks: we compressed them, we'd dried them in the sun - no fire. They're beautiful, and traditionally, they could last for centuries. Water - water is falling from the sky, but if we're really grateful
to understand the value of water, we will harvest it
according to our capacity. And wherein Maharashtra, there's eight months
of drought every year - if we just harvest
the water when it comes, we have tanks that collect 15 million gallons of water within a week of rains. The sun - through solar power, we can have all the facilities of the city with the power of the sun
that's shining for everyone always. Of course, in England
you can't always see it. (Laughter) It's still always there. The earth, the ground - by growing organic, natural foods without harmful pesticides or fertilizers, food grows actually better; it's more nutritious, and the soil becomes so enriched by it. In the world, sewage is a problem because whoever you are, whether you are a billionaire
or whether you're sleeping in the streets, still after you eat, you respond to nature, and it kind of comes out the same way. So what to do with it? When we understand the inner connection
of how the world works, then we can understand actually how ... there's no such thing as waste if we're conscious. Through natural processes
of herbs and roots and stones, the sewage becomes very pure, clean water, and we can utilize all those facilities. All our cooking is done
with the dung of cows. The idea is when we have
a compassionate spirit toward the environment
and toward each other, there is no end to how we can use our incredibly
God-given human intelligence to make real sustainable positive changes
toward an enlightened world. To come out of the cradle, where everything is taking
and taking and taking, and growing into that mature state, where we understand
and appreciate the joy of giving, of loving, that is real progress, that is where we can really connect with God, with each other, and actually make the world
something beautiful. Whether we do it
in a small way or a big way, we all have that opportunity and we all have that responsibility. Thank you very much. (Applause)
