 Ambassadors, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to Sadguru, Assistant Director General for Social and Human Sciences, Ms. Gabriella Ramos. Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India, to UNESCO, Mr. Vishal V. Sharma, and UNESCO Artist for Peace, Ms. Gila Clara Casuz. Thank you for joining us this afternoon for Crafting a Conscious Planet, International Day of Yoga with Sadguru, organized by Permanent Delegation of India to UNESCO, Ministry of Ayush, Government of India, in partnership with Isha Foundation and UNESCO. My name is Harish. I am Second Secretary with Permanent Delegation of India. We will begin this special event with the performance by Project Samskriti. Envisioned by Sadguru, Project Samskriti offers Indian classical arts, including music, dance, and Kalripayattu, an ancient martial art form. These intricate arts have been employed for thousands of years as spiritual processes. The artists with us today have invested their lives in these arts from the age of seven, not as a hobby, but as a way of life. Let us watch a short video about this dance. Project Samskriti is an endeavor to nurture and impart India's classical arts. Designed by Sadguru, it offers programs to learn powerful chants, music, Bharat Natyam, and Kalripayattu, an ancient martial art form conducted by the rigorously trained students and alumni of Isha Samskriti. The art forms are imparted in their most profound form as possibilities for inner growth and transformation. Project Samskriti is not today's idea. It's been an incubation for nearly twenty-five years. So this is an effort, not to save the art form alone, but to bring up humanity to a higher level of existence within themselves. Namaskaram. From absolute emptiness, matter exploded with a roar, twisting, turning, and hurtling through space to find balance as spinning planets and burning stars. In the same way, life burst into existence in every shape and every form, evolving in search of that same balance. Twisting, turning, hurtling through many lifetimes. Our colorful personas, our colorful imaginations, and our colorful expressions, if only we found resonance with that roar of creation, we would realize that we are all the same black emptiness. As part of this production, we have a song in Hindi towards the end and I'd like to quickly translate it for those of you who may not speak the language. We say that the lightning bolt of color splashes, I'm sorry, the lightning bolt of Indra splashes color on this earth. Red, the color of sunrise and sunset. Red, the color of my blush. Blue, the color of the ocean and the sky. Blue, the color of my separation from you. Golden, the sun and golden every sun ray. Golden, every single moment with you. Green is nature and green, the lush life. Green, the expression of all my joy. Darkness laughs at this play of color and says, you fool, do you not realize that every shade is a shade of black? Project Samskriti presents Shunya. Namah Misha Misha. Boundaries of your individuality. This is yours for yourself. Let us thank our dancers again. It is my honor to invite Assistant Director General of UNESCO for Social and Human Sciences, Miss Gabriella Ramos, to deliver her inaugural remarks. Welcome to UNESCO. To International Yoga Day. Welcome Ambassador Bishal. Thank you so much for bringing all this beauty to your house. Satguru Ji, so nice to have you here and of course our dear artist for peace, Julia Clara Gesuz. Last year I was in India celebrating the International Yoga Day and I could not believe my eyes because I was invited to go to practice yoga and we all practice yoga. You're here because you do that. And then I got into this stadium with thousands and thousands of people and I never thought that that could be surprised by any other event. And here we are. I think it's three times more impressive to have you all these packed and to have the Satguru with us to celebrate International Yoga Day. And we welcome these because this brings us a much-needed inspiration in the breadless rhythm of our working days. And this inspiration comes from these to four words, yoga. Four letters that have span five millennials of history of development and on cultural expression on every continent. Today we are about to celebrate 5,000 years of yoga's history. 5,000 years. It's a real challenge to be concise about it. But that's why we are so grateful that Satguru is here because he can share with us with his wisdom. Let us focus on a fundamental question. How has yoga crossed the borders of time and place to the point of being more popular today than ever before? Perhaps because yoga three central tenets, the physical postures in Sanskrit asana, the bread control, pranayama, and meditation that offers essential benefits in our times characterized by multiple crises. And it's in the house of UNESCO where we look for this inner peace to then connect with each other in the world of a very close humanity that this is really welcome. In terms of physical and mental health have been severely impacted and tested across the world since the pandemic and since the multiple crises that I have just mentioned. Yoga has enabled millions of people to continue their physical activity from home and has also played a major role of all of us helping us to find a linear balance and actually have members of my teams that started doing yoga because of the COVID and this helped them navigate through the very complex waters. That is not trivial. Even before the pandemic nearly one billion people suffer from an identifiable mental disorder. 82% of them in low and middle income countries. And studies show that yoga is linked to a 25% reduction of depression systems. We should recommend yoga instead of going to many doctors. And this is why UNESCO in line with its mandate is seeking to spread the practice of yoga and all of the sports, everyone through the Feed for Life initiative and the mandate that we have on sports. And it's not the first time this month that we put yoga in the spotlight on an international day. I have mentioned how many times we have been celebrating this over the years. For UNESCO, yoga also embodies a true ethos. A philosophy of life with the YAMA, Universal Morality, the principles of living in society and the Niyamas, the five personal guidelines of EGN, contentment, discipline, introspection and spirituality. The world yoga itself resonates deeply with UNESCO's values. In Sanskrit it evokes the idea of interconnection and union. Union and body of mind of self and other union between individuals, nations and cultures. It's for all these reasons that United Nations decided in 2014 to celebrate yoga every 21st of June. And it's also why UNESCO Member States decided to inscribe yoga in the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage in 2016. A list that brings together the skills, practices, traditions and arts that unite humanity. Yoga has joined other traditions and practices from India that current the same message of union between communities, a message of sharing and generosity such as the traditions of the Vedic chanting and Sanskrit theater or the festival of Norwuz, the Persian New Year, a tradition that India shares with 13 other countries. And we just witness the beauty of dancers. This just brings humanity in just one glimpse. And it's amazing. So we celebrate yoga and its philosophy, the openness to others and it instills in us, must extend beyond humanity to the living world as a whole to rethink also our relationship with the environment and biodiversity. Because if there is a core of all this wisdom is the consciousness, the consciousness of where we are, who we are with whom we are and what is the context that welcome us in the world. It is also part of our ethical and political imperative that what will be introduced by our guests that we are honored to welcome today. As I said, Sadguru who is joining us. Yes, let's welcome him. Sadguru is not only one of the world's greatest yogas practitioner. He's also a humanist committed in particular to the preservation of biodiversity with his initiative to save the soil of our planet and particularly agricultural land from degradation which while catastrophic is by no means inevitable. Dear Sadguru at UNESCO we also approach this the use of land with unethical frameworks. In a few moments we will witness his unmatched dexterity that should not only impress us but also challenge us because he is also challenging in terms of how do we live in this life, how do we live in this world, how do we live with ourselves and the messages resonates not only in this whole but in many places all around the world. Let us reflect on how too far behind humanity has fallen in preserving the living world and it is our duty to take responsibility to protect biodiversity. And this is what this day should be about, a day of meditation a day of reflection, a day of action. A day to prepare the actions to come and a day we will build a better future. Thank you very much and let's continue with this impressive day and thanks to India. Thank you very much. I would now like to invite Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of India to UNESCO Mr. Vishal V. Sharma to deliver his remarks. Sir, please. Very respected, Satguru Namaskaram Madame ADG Gabriella Ramos Madame ADG Sifanya Janini and also ADG Pax who joined us for the yoga session earlier. Excellencies colleagues Ms. Gila Kesu, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador followers and fans of Satguru from all over the world Namaskaram to you all. Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi formed a special ministry to promote well-being. This ministry was called Ayush A-Y-U-S-H that you find there. Ayush stands for A stands for Ayurveda Y for yoga U for Yunani S for Sid and H for homeopathy and more. I thank the ministry of Ayush and its secretary Mr. Rajesh Kotecha for their vision and support for this event. I thank the team at Isha Foundation. I thank the wonderful team at UNESCO for their excellent coordination. I thank Satguru's able associate Mr. Shastri for his follow-ups. I would also like to thank my wife Pooja who's present among us for having suggested to invite Satguru to UNESCO. It seemed impossible at that time but when I contacted Madame DG, Audrey Azulie and her team she immediately gave her approval on the job with the culture sector and ADG culture Mr. Orthoni. Lastly, but most importantly I thank my team at the permanent delegation of India to UNESCO for having coordinated this event in the middle of people getting transferred and offices being moved. To those who say that a posting in Paris is leisure, let me say please get posted to UNESCO and then you will realize the quantity of work. We have a DG and ADGs who have succeeded in getting the letter from the US to rejoin UNESCO by their non-stop working and determination. The DG and the ADGs do not rest their teams do not rest and the permanent delegations do not rest with one event after another. A constant flow of information the non-stop emails UNESCO is all about action and that is why it is important that we practice yoga to recharge our batteries reduce stress feel each breath and experience the moment Prime Minister Modi quoted a verse from the ancient Sanskrit text the Bhagavad Gita Yogaha Karma Su Kaushalam translated as yoga is skill in action whatever you do do it with all your heart and soul. This is the essence of Nishkam Karma or selfless action in yoga. Recognizing the significance of this ancient practice of yoga the United Nations at its 69th plenary meeting on 11th of December 2014 through resolution 69 by 131 declared 21st June as the International Day of Yoga let me remind you it is the day of the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere which is the longest day here and correspondingly it is the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere where it is the shortest day there this harmonic alliance between the summer and winter solstices which give rise to the seasons is akin to the alliance with the incoming and outgoing breath that keeps us alive. Among the great influencers of contemporary yoga Sadguru Stansthol he has dedicated his life to spreading the essence of yoga and inner well-being to millions. I remember an anecdote I shared with Madame Ediji Ramos about the mystery of Quadsal Quartel and Tess Kalipoka the great Aztec king Quadsal Quartel was taught by Tess Kalipoka to go inwards to find the truth which was inner engineering Sadguru's efforts at promoting yoga as a tool for self-transformation have touched lives around the globe through his teachings, programs and initiatives Sadguru has ignited a spark in the hearts of many and this spark that Sadguru has ignited is becoming a forest fire it is encouraging them to become explorers of their inner self and seek a harmonious existence with the world Sadguru is also the initiator of the soil movement a global movement to increase the organic content of the earth so that she can keep producing nutrients for billions of her children he is also an avid motorbike rider who has travelled 30,000 kilometers on his motorbike which is more than two and a half times the diameter of planet earth today when I see any yoga session I see that the women outnumber the men globally women have embraced this ancient science of yoga and its philosophy curiously the one who safeguards wisdom has been depicted as feminine in ancient cultures whether it was Akina the protector of the acropolis and Athens for the ancient Greeks or Ishtar for the ancient Arabs or Isis for the ancient Egyptians or Saraswati and Lakshmi for the Indians energy or Shakti has strangely been depicted as the feminine divine so it is to the women of the world that we look up to the practice of yoga unites humanity and promotes harmony and peace after a yoga session when you sit down in quiet isolation and close your eyes you get to hear the most mysterious of voices for it is the voice of silence welcome to the amazing inner world and from the lap of India we bring you the master of inner engineering and the benefits of yoga for everyone thank you sir before we welcome Sadhguru on stage I would like to show you a video illustrating the important work that he undertakes in the next half hour you're going to meet a man who has a devoted following across India and indeed around the world while yoga and meditation are at the core of his teachings to promote individual growth the work of the foundation covers conservation, education and health and you'll find him astonishingly pragmatic on a range of very modern day problems let's meet Sadhguru for the very first time in the history of humanity we have the necessary resource we have the necessary capability we have the necessary technology to address every human problem on the planet even twenty-five years ago we couldn't have dreamt of it but the only thing that is missing is consciousness called green hands in India we started a mass campaign and six years I spent planting trees in people's heads that's the most difficult terrain believe me and now in the last six years we've been transplanting it and that's happening much more easily action for rural rejuvenation is mainly aimed at rejuvenating the human spirit this is an incredible movement that is started in Tamil Nadu we want to see that this happens to the whole country India is not necessarily about developing competitive sport but the important thing is to bring the spirit of sport and revitalizing rural societies English and computer skills are very essential to make these children come out of the hopeless economic and social pit they are in Isha Foundation a non-religious, non-profit public service organization headquartered in southern India we've engineered the outside world in so many ways but we've done nothing about this one if you want to know well-being in is the only way out this is what I want to teach you too that is you can be completely intoxicated without any drug just on life this is a shift from wine to divine Adiyogi is the source of yoga the first yoga Adiyogi will inspire many generations to take up yoga one truly remarkable thing that Sadguru has done is he has made yogis out of ordinary common people we are tracking a mammoth movement an incredible rally starting from Kanyakumari reaching up to the Himalayas with the sole purpose of rejuvenating India's rivers every state is responding this is concurrence and this is wonderful I am very happy that Sadguru has taken up this task he should also become a people's movement movement for our own survival for the survivor of our children we are also launching another campaign called Kaveri Calling this is 83,000 square kilometers of Kaveri Basin we want to bring it back at least one-third of it back into some kind of dream power the whole purpose of this movement is to first to bring this home that when you walk upon the soil you know it is the source of your life keeping it alive is the most important thing will you make it happen soil conservation and land extremely important it must be a single-point agenda incentive-based agenda I don't want this COP 15 to end as one more convention with more paper and more paper this must end with concrete action an action in such a way that it is implementable consider wildlife as two words or one word yes Pranam Mukherjee congratulating Sadguru for all his spiritual contribution truly inspiring I would now like to invite Sadguru and the UNESCO Artist for Peace Ms. Gila Klara Kasus to take the stage now address all of us to share his wisdom after that Sadguru and UNESCO Artist for Peace will have a short conversation Sadguru will then lead us in a guided meditation for some 15 minutes this event will end with a question and answer session where audience members may ask Sadguru and Ms. Gila Klara Kasus about their work it is our great pleasure to now welcome Sadguru the floor is yours International Day of Yoga which is a very wise acknowledgement of a science, a practice, a culture which is over 15 million year old probably the only human activity beyond things that we do for survival to last for 15,000 years so what is yoga? my congratulations and gratitude for all the people who work in UNESCO ma'am and yourself, we saw and every one of you what is yoga? essentially yoga is a profound insight into human mechanism this many layered complexity that we call as a human being this evolutionary sophistication which has been achieved over millions of years and all the possibilities of what it can be we know to understand the innards of how we are made how to explore within ourselves without belief without philosophies without ideologies without authority speaking to us how to realize the nature of our origins and the ultimate possibility of who we are this is yoga so this science as things roll, time rolls obviously picks up various cultural aspects related to the land of its origin it's a great pride for all of us that yoga originated in India yoga originated in the land that was referred to as Bharat but everybody must understand even though some people will disagree with very strong national feelings but yoga belongs to humanity because anything that we discover cannot belong to any group of people what we invent can belong to people what we make up can belong to a certain group of people what we discover as a reality cannot belong to me or you it is the right of every human being to find a way for their own fulfillment generally through the ages we've been trying to address human well-being human struggles and human longing to expand and become better which is always at work through belief systems through ideologies through philosophies by doing freaky things and crazy things and chemicals like alcohol, drugs some prescribed some in the back street but essentially all these are efforts to find solutions for human fulfillment that a human being not only wants to be healthy and well a human being constantly longing to expand when I say longing to expand it doesn't matter who you are right now you want to be something more there's no question about that if that something more happens today in three days you will want to be something more you will see even if you become the king or queen of this planet there's no such possibility I'm just saying even if you become the queen or king of this planet you will look at the moon you will look at the planetary system you will look at the galaxies if I make you the king of one galaxy you will look at the other galaxies because there is something within you which is longing to become limitless something within you which always wants to expand beyond its boundaries but our survival instincts are always trying to draw boundaries because survival depends on boundaries this instinct comes to us through our evolutionary development we are trying to draw boundaries on one level when we successfully draw a boundary we feel suffocated and then we want to expand the boundary this is the human struggle what yoga brings into one's life is this that it clearly experientially defines to you which aspect of you needs boundaries which aspect of you does not need boundaries which aspect of you wants to be contained which aspect of you wants to expand limitlessly not as a philosophy not as a teaching not as some authority speaking but from your own inner experience the mechanics of this the technologies of this is what is referred to yoga unfortunately our very dumb-down version of yoga came to the west, nothing wrong with it it's a good beginning that if you're doing yoga you must look like a leftover noodle that is being yoga not necessary you don't have to twist or turn anything but keeping everything in you flexible is an important part of expansion if this is not flexible you have become a concrete block so let's say your mind your head becomes like a concrete block well it's good for headbutting but it doesn't work for what it is supposed to be this is like you have your laptop you have your phone in your hand you can use this too crack somebody's head actually phone works hello yes you can use this to smash it on somebody's head and crack their head but that is not the purpose for which it was made similarly that is not the purpose for which this was made if we do not realize the possibilities if we do not realize the many possibilities of what a human being can be do you consider that a loss or only if you lose something it's a loss most people think only if I lose what I have it's a loss loss of possibility is the worst loss hello not realizing the possibility is the biggest loss because everything has been lost without you knowing you lost it so this is what yoga brings to your life not by morals not by ethics not by philosophies but by inner experience what do I mean by inner experience the word yoga as you already know means union what is the union you know when we launched the project Green Hands about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years ago I just looked at the terrain around me and you know the national average for green cover was about sixteen I mean thirty-three percent but the state in which I was it was only sixteen point five percent so I got a few people about four to five thousand people and told them that we have to plant one hundred and fourteen million trees in the next eight to ten years then in fifteen to twenty years we will have thirty-three percent green cover my simple barefoot calculation of the land that we have is the number of trees we need to plant everybody rolled their eyeballs Sadguru, how is hundred and fourteen million trees possible I said see the population of the state is sixty-two million if all of us plant one tree today take care of it for two years and plant one more you got the number the only problem with us is all of us consume everything when it comes to compensatory activity we always think somebody else should do it of course UN can do it hello you whether it's UN or UZ it doesn't matter something you, you do it not me so to inspire these people I saw they don't connect with this they don't think what's our business with trees what is our business with trees I'm a computer engineer I'm a software engineer I'm this, I'm that I'm a doctor why should I plant trees I'm a farmer why should I plant trees like this then I made them sit down and started a spiritual process we must understand spirituality does not mean looking up or looking down because when we say spirit we are talking about the life within you hello there is a body body we gathered slowly over a period of time together all this there was something more fundamental I won't call it by any other name I'll just call it as you you existed before the body became this size and shape yes or no hello before you acquired a body of this no I'm not complaining about the size I'm just saying you can talk to me hello when I say size don't think I'm accusing you of something before your body became this size and shape you still existed isn't it so when you are eight ten years of age you still existed so you are there in this body whatever that you is let's not try to define that because then you'll get into unnecessary debates but you do exist that essentially you beyond what you have gathered in the form of body and what you have gathered in the form of impressions which you call as your mind you did exist before you know what you know today before you got your master's degree or PhD you did exist before your body grew to this size you did exist so that you we are referring to generally traditionally spirit I normally refuse to use that word because that word has been so badly corrupted and misused in so many ways essentially this is what it means yoga means gives you a clear distinction between what is your what you have acquired and what is you what is your body what is the framework of your mind and who you are once if you stand here or if you sit there if you have a clear distinction between your body your mind and yourself all your troubles are over because there are only two kinds of sufferings in human life physical suffering mental suffering do you know any other kind of suffering hello do you know any other kind of suffering in your next one I'm asking because Vishal was complaining so these are the only two things if you create a little space between yourself and your body between yourself and your mind this is the end of suffering what this means is you come to a place where there is no fear of suffering anymore because whatever happens with you and your life you will not suffer if you had this assurance would you explore your life with much more vigor with much more possibilities yes or no you definitely would right now it's the fear of suffering what will happen to me if this doesn't work what will happen to me that works what will happen to me somebody turns against me what will happen to me nothing will happen only thing will happen is as we sit here time is rolling away we are rapidly moving towards our graves because we have come with a limited amount of time so there are only two ingredients for you one is time which you have no control you can't slow it down you can't roll it back there is no rewind anywhere do you have a watch with the rewind button okay that's good so the next is the life energies that you have you can manage this you cannot manage time because it rolls away for all of us it's very fair for every one of us it rolls at the same speed but depending upon how intense and dynamic and exuberant you keep your energies time plays out differently for different people if your energies are at a certain level of exuberance what somebody does in ten hours if you can do it in one hour then if you live for a hundred years and that person lives for a hundred years you lived for a thousand years in terms of a human experience it multiplies but at the same time let me tell you the downside of it have you noticed on a certain day when you're very happy has it happened to you hello? on a certain day you are very very happy about whatever on that day twenty four hours went away like that like a moment another day you're a little little depressed on that day twenty four hours feels like ten thousand years yes or no so time is a very relative experience so only miserable people can have a long life if you're joyful hundred years it'll be gone so this is the process of yoga where you keep your energies at a certain level of exuberance if this life is exuberant then everything else falls into place your health well-being your ability to do things in the world your survival process everything above all there is no fear of suffering that is the most important thing so there are many many ways to define and describe yoga but essentially it's about union when I say union as I was telling you about this project Green Hands when I said this many trees they said this is impossible then I made them sit down and breathe all breathing even before but it's not so important so they didn't notice it hello his breath very important but you're not noticing it you're not doing it consciously so when I made them breathe in a certain way and made them experience see what you're exhaling the trees are inhaling what the trees are exhaling you're inhaling now you can't stop them from planting trees now I raised the I raised the target to I raised the target to 2.4 to billion in the cavity basin now they're working hard to make it happen every year this year they're planting about 24 million trees because this is all going into farmland where it will survive our survival rate is over 93% because replacements are happening immediately in case it goes away it is not being planted on public land it is going into private land where these trees will grow as wealth for the farmer so the fundamental thing is this as you breathe one half of your lungs is hanging out there suppose you saw half of your lungs hanging out there do I have to tell you please don't cut the tree hello I'm asking no, anything that you see as a part of myself with that there is no conflict this is not just about respiration every cell in your body every sabatomic particle in your body is constantly in communication with the entire cosmos if you sit here and you can experience everything as yourself the whole universe as yourself then we say you're in yoga not because you twisted yourself you're in yoga you sit here you have consciously obliterated the boundaries of your individuality you're trying to do it in so many ways if you do it in a basic physical way this is called a sexuality what is not you you're trying to make it a part of yourself well it looks like it works for a few moments after that you know if you attempt it emotionally this is called a love affair love there are moments when you feel two people are one but then you know if you attempt mentally this is called ambition, conquest, desire or simply shopping if you approach it consciously this is called yoga this is yoga this must happen to the world because as human beings we are empowered like never before no human generation ever in the history of humanity was as empowered as we are both in terms of creating positive possibilities and destructive possibilities we are far more empowered than any generation ever when this kind of empowerment has come to us it becomes extremely extremely important that our thought our emotion, our action is all a conscious process if it happens instinctively it happens compulsively we are asking for a disaster and we've been unfolding disasters after disaster we can call it war we can call it climate we can call it this and that but we are unfolding more and more disasters because we are with this level of intelligence with this level of competence and empowerment we are still functioning in an instinctive compulsive manner this is what the purpose of yoga is so that human activity both internal and external becomes a conscious process let's make a conscious planet happen let's make it happen Thank you so much Don't ask any difficult questions I promise what a privilege for me to have this discussion let's try to go really a little bit further regarding the mentions you just did with yoga my first question will be dealing with the definition of yoga itself you said that yoga is all about our self in terms of self-knowledge in terms of identity but what is yoga to a child who would like to know what is yoga in order to prepare this child to also have the willingness to physically and consciously being a little bit bothered and I'm saying that for children but we know that we all have this relationship to yoga the way to accept that yoga is also a question of of body so how would you define yoga in a very simple manner to a child I think my own story of how I got into yoga would settle that you okay for the story? Of course I'm just about eleven years of age and every summer we go for a vacation in my traditional home of my grandfather in a large home and we are about thirty-six cousin brothers and sisters we all gather from various towns only during that time for about thirty to forty days so it's one rollicking situation everybody's out of control so for the young boys one of the sport is there's a well in the backyard which is just about eight feet in width and 150 feet in depth mostly it is about sixty-seven feet down the water one of the sport is to jump into the well you must jump straight down otherwise your brains will become a smear on the wall and for coming up there is no any footholds or ladder or anything just holding the rocks you have to come out so literally your entire weight is on a few centimeters of your tips of your fingers and you will be bleeding when you come up the names will be bleeding because of the pressure so we like to do it I'm pretty good at it one day we are all preparing to do this a man an old man I refuse to call him old anymore considering my own age at that time a very old man over seventy-three years of age we're standing and just watching us quietly then without a word he just came jumped into the well and thought he's finished but he came up faster than me I didn't like it I asked how he said come and do yoga like a puppy I followed him I did not know anything else about it so he taught me some very simple physical aspects of yoga nothing much very simple but a powerful transmission this is what is missing in the world today it's being taught like it is some exercise yoga cannot be taught yoga needs to be transmitted somebody should live it so it was transmitted to me in a certain way just a simple practice evolved into something fantastic in the next twelve to fifteen years time but at that time I had no clue what I'm getting into and within a few years significant results in terms of my physical prowess and my intellectual capabilities that was good enough for me I was not looking for anything else but this was a surprise bonus that other things happened so for a child we just say this is a powerful way of empowering yourself to whatever you wish to do in your life whatever because yoga does not define what you should do do whatever the hell you want to do do it well beautiful so this notion of empowerment is very important in yoga my second question will be linked to what you said about unity that is really a core of yoga you mentioned that our way to be that are connected is trying to unite spiritual and material trying also to unite our own self to the other can you tell us concretely and we can feel it here you know in this room we can feel an amazing unity thanks to your magical presence how can yoga could help us to be more connected see when you say connected that means essentially we are separate we can hold hands when you say unity also means the same thing we are different people we can be united no that's not what I am talking about I am talking about union union is different from unity what union means is as I said when you breathe it's not about you caring for the tree it's a part of you today modern science has brought this in different languages so let me speak that language today they are telling you the origin of your body our microbial life so you have more microbes than your parentage within you so it's not that you have to connect with them you are happening because of everything else because of every other life happening the way it is happening you are also happening so you are not an independent entity in any sense this very body that you carry is part of the soil that you walk upon but we are far away from it so you don't have to unite with the soil you don't have to connect with the soil any way you connected but you can realize it either now or when they bury us this choice we have when this realization come to us so we are not talking about unity we are not talking about okay all of us should be together no whether we like it or not we are happening here as one big phenomena of life if we realize that if we experience that not intellectual realization if you experience this if you experience everybody in this hall as a part of yourself like you are experiencing the five fingers of your hand as yourself if you experience all these people as yourself after that you don't need any teaching how shall not do this or that hello you will not need any teaching these teachings are efforts to connect people to unite people but there is still no inner experience with all the teachings see what we are doing hello with all the teachings see what we are doing in the world simply because there is no inner experience and there is no substitute for inner experience any amount of teaching any amount of philosophy any amount of ideologies when your life comes to is threatened all those things will fall off the only thing that stands with you is what is the nature of your experience at that moment so yoga is not about unity or connecting with people it is realizing the nature of existence the nature of existence is already in union nothing here happens independently everything is connected today we think if I say soil people say where did you study ecology say I have been crawling on this planet for last sixty five years and I know what the hell happens here I am like a worm I am not an ecologist I am not a scientist I am a worm who crawled for six and half decades on this planet what happens to the soil is happening to me I can clearly see this here to happen to them so yoga is really making us realizing the interconnection the interdependency of each is that correct the oneness of everything see I am refusing to use the word connect because if we connect you and me are separate when we connect say I will die many years ahead of you you will die at days of hundred or more but let's say they chose to bury you next to me it doesn't matter what's your gender doesn't matter what's your nationality race or religion will you merge with that soil as I merged or will you not or will you stick out I am asking you will merge right now what is the problem I am asking now what is the problem even now we can is death the only way we learn that's all I am asking we should learn in life not in death I would like to go a little bit further regarding this title you know conscious planets you are saying that yoga is also allowing us to be more conscious especially when it comes to resolve some challenges so in which way yoga can help us be more conscious see the word conscious or consciousness is a very hugely misused word everybody is using it in their own ways for this there is a very appropriate word in Sanskrit language in English language it's a general it's a kind of a general word we call this chitta what chitta means is it is an intelligence within you which doesn't have an iota of memory right now your body every cell in the body has intelligence but this is all by memory when I say by memory do you remember how your great great great grandmother ten generations ago what she looked like but her nose is sitting on your face because your body remembers million years ago how your forefathers were the skin tone it still remembers yes or no it does remember so this body is a body of memory there is an intelligence within you which doesn't have any memory it's pure intelligence this is the core of your existence this is what is making everything happen right now everybody breathing that's a good admission so you're not doing your breath it's happening you're not beating your heart it's happening you're not working your liver it's working you're not doing your kidney or spleen or something it's all happening so I'm saying there is an intelligence beyond your silly intellect I'm very consciously calling it silly because we'll come to that if you have the time well beyond your silly intellect of thoughts and emotions there is an intelligence which is managing you suppose for one day for every one of you let's say we decided breath will be left in your hands you can run it the way you want if you got little angry you'll forget to breathe like this guy if something else you desire you'll forget to breathe alright fortunately it's not in your hands it's all running by itself because there is an intelligence beyond your own intellect and what you understand as my intelligence beyond that this is working we don't pay attention to it we just make conclusion oh god is running it finished it's over do not jump into conclusions just pay attention how is your breath happening how is your heart beating what's happening here how is this alive without me doing anything it's still alive isn't it how is it such a complex machine who the hell is running it if you pay attention you will get to this intelligence which is beyond memory it doesn't exist or thrive or thrive on memory what exists on memory is a possibility at the same time it's a huge limitation see right now what makes you one kind of person your memory isn't it what makes somebody else another kind of person their memory what makes somebody at this nationality at that nationality their memory you erase their memory do they know which nation they belong to they'll belong to UNESCO so what happens by memory is significant for our survival because memory is an accumulation of experience but there is an intelligence beyond memory which we refer to as chitta which is consciousness to awaken this intelligence to find access to this intelligence is the fundamental purpose of yoga Thank you very much I'd like to come back also to the importance of the international recognition of yoga as you know the practice of yoga has been inscribed in the list of intangible cultural heritage since 2016 UNESCO 203 convention for the safeguarding of the intangible I'd like to change that a little bit I'm just saying in lighter way it's a very tangible heritage that's a tangible heritage that's true it's the name of the convention maybe should be renamed so it's going to be a very important year because we are coming to the 20th year of this convention and I would like to know dear saguaro if you had any message you would like to give to those who are fighting to advocate the importance of yoga as living heritage of humanity one important thing is most important thing in the world is yoga should not people must understand it's not just some simplistic exercise that you can do if all you're looking for a little bit of physical fitness just go swim somewhere you have a river, you swim upstream you will become fit or you go play tennis you do something I'm saying it's not just about fitness yes fitness is one of the consequences the importance of yoga is to explore the limits of your individual nature where the boundaries are how you can obliterate it you don't have to hold that intent the process will just do that as I said when I started all I wanted was I wanted to become as strong as that old man that is the only goal I had no other goal I didn't want to meditate I didn't want to go anywhere I didn't want anything bigger than that that was the goal this is the beauty of living in this world if you do the right things even for the wrong reasons it will work a beautiful teaching beautiful teaching so any particular message you would like to give to those people we understand that yoga of course is not only a question of physical exercise it go deep, deep, deeper it can start it can start with a simple physical process because that is the easiest access front end of our life is definitely our bodies so you can start with the body nothing wrong with that but an understanding that you are not starting just a simplistic exercise process because essentially what we are trying to create is coherence when I say coherence well we were talking about it you and the tree breathing universe is all one, every subordinate particle today modern science is saying is all connected and transmitting that means the whole creation is in coherence but you are not experiencing that coherence recently the surgeon general of United States said one in every two Americans one in every two is feeling lonely between you and me one of us is lonely what is happening to the other person so you are wearing your heart out so just look at this one in two is feeling lonely in the most affluent nation when our population is bursting at 8.4 billion we are feeling lonely what is it? that is we are building walls of individuality walls that you yourself cannot break you build a wall that you yourself cannot break because these walls are built as self-protection the walls of self-protection that you build today tomorrow will turn into walls of self-impressionment that's all that's happening to the world everywhere is happening United States happens little more dramatically because they are little ahead of everybody else in a few things so just imagine in a country every second American if they are feeling lonely loneliness is the first step towards mental illness you have taken one step next will come so yoga means you are not lonely anymore because only you exist in the universe everything is you wherever you see it is just you so when you see too much of yourself you will close your eyes and sit down I will finish with one question regarding nature and the importance that it has so how do we feel we can connect with nature through living heritage such as yoga or meditation and since we saw the 21st of June is also a very symbolic date linked to nature could you tell us why we will be also connected with nature when we will do this meditation one part of the question is why is it 21st June as already we shall were saying this is the solstice what solstice means is in earth's bend it's that little bit of a tilt in that process how much exposure northern hemisphere is getting towards the sun reaching its peak today from now on it will start receding because sun's relationship with the planet begins to shift on this day when such a major happening happens we who are just a product of this earth just the soil is closing here as my body and your body things happen within our system too today unfortunately we have come to number systems 30, 31 days is a month and this and that we have forgotten when is it full moon when is it new moon when is it solstice what is happening when is a different shifts that are happening in the planet completely unaware further there is a price every other life is aware of this the smallest creatures are aware of this you must see just go sit in a forest and watch how the ants behave on a full moon night they are very different on that day on new moon day they behave differently if you pay attention every life plant life especially knows this very well in Ayurveda there is a whole thing of if you pluck a leaf on which day of the month it gives in your body but human beings the most intelligent have no clue about this this just gets demonstrated in stark ways when the tsunami struck southern India we were the first to be there because we had 23 medical vans immediately I said everybody drive there and I also went when we went there one aspect of it is there are so many dead bodies people all volunteers trying to help with all this shifting and doing things and giving vaccinations to people and all this what I noticed was none of the livestock was dead except those who were tied down in the homes no dead fish or 100 foot wave millions of fish should be dead no fish dead no animals dead but human beings died everybody knew the wave is coming the most intelligent species on the planet had no clue something is missing in our lives what is missing is we have no attention for anything because right from the day you went to school where did you go to school here in France the day you went to kindergarten school from that day they only started rewarding your memory if you read a textbook that silly textbook you read it and puke it on the examination paper they'll say you are very smart nobody gave you any mocks for your attention I simply paid attention to the teacher I knew their past, present and future but they didn't give me any mocks for that the moment you value memory and not human attention you close doors upon yourself you are in an old soup cooking yourself up with old soup endlessly going on the same old soup so this is the issue this is the fundamental issue that on a summer solstice there are significant changes happening to the world, to the planet especially northern hemisphere in the winter solstice because we are majority in northern hemisphere we are calling it that way southern hemisphere will call that as summer solstice of course changes are happening there much more so on this day shift happens every yogi looks inward and makes the necessary little tuning adjustment within himself or herself because otherwise you will be misaligned with the world around you there is a certain amount of data not proper data but there is a certain amount of data which shows during summer solstice people become unnecessarily exuberant during winter solstice they become unnecessarily depressed because the shift is happening and you are not making the shift you may suffer that for two to three weeks or more depending on who you are so yogis always make little adjustment little tuning if you are doing practices so Adiyogi I must say something about him he came from somewhere he did not introduce himself so nobody knew his name who he is, where he comes from but he just came and sat unmoving still people were wondering whether he is alive or dead but once in a way there is a vex to see flowing down his cheeks that was the only sign of aliveness even breath didn't seem to be happening so initially crowd gathered that he is going to do some magic he did nothing people all left only seven people hung on were hardcore people who realized something is happening here what is happening he sat there for months without need for food, water they realized he seems to have touched a dimension which is beyond his physicality so they waited once in a way he got up and wildly danced and again he sat down so after long period of time when this one solstice came or that solstice happened to be a full moon night so on the solstice day he turned south he was sitting facing some other direction he turned south and sat down because of that for that position or that posture adiyogi is referred to as dakshinamurti that means one who turned south because the sun turned south he turned south at that time he opened his eyes and looked around then these seven people begged first guru was born he decided to transmit yoga to these first seven people so that is how yoga started it's fantastic that the UN International Day of Yoga recognized this and made 21st of June the solstice day as the International Yoga Day that's remarkable beautiful, thank you thank you for this wisdom we are as per the prescription we have eight hello so if it takes 12-15 minutes this is possible that nobody moves those if you want to leave for some reason you must leave now please don't leave in the next few minutes can you do that ma'am yourself yes okay is it appropriate to merit it here we'll just answer questions you have questions we'll do one thing the International Day of Yoga there is a simple process called Isha Kriya it's downloadable in a guided way you can do it for a few days after that you can do it by yourself it's an extremely simple but a powerful process millions of people across the world are practicing it right now just with this app it's a simple way to start instead of using that time here it's called Isha Kriya Isha Kriya okay you know how Kriya is spelled you just type it out it'll come you just today before 21st June is over please spend 12 12 minutes initially to understand what it is you may take about 30 minutes of video after that it just takes 12 minutes every day you would only practice about 12 minutes this is more than enough to transform your life to live peacefully joyfully this is good enough you want to be something more then more things have to be done of course so we will leave it at that and if you have any questions please no meditation you always do within not with me we will do a simple 5-6 minute meditation and we'll take questions after that okay but before before midnight today you must promise me that you will do Isha Kriya because international day of yoga is not a day of celebrating it it is a day of commitment because you remaining physically mentally in the best possible way is the best contribution you can make to the world you are sick you are unwell you are imbalanced does the world need it does your family need it people around you need it hello the greatest contribution you can make to everybody around you is you are in a wonderful place within yourself so as a commitment before today ends if you promise you will do Isha Kriya we will do a simple process right now and move on with the questions okay please sit with your hands open phones down eyes closed it's a new instruction you know phones down please I know it's an iPhone but still it's not a part of your body please keep your hands open if you are wearing spectacles please keep it aside keep it in your pocket or whatever sit with a slightly upturned face like this if you do this with your eyes closed you will notice there is a natural attention towards that point between your eyebrows a mild attention keep it that way do not concentrate slightly upturned face you will notice that there is a mild attention between your eyebrows keep that attention do not try to concentrate hard just keeping that attention just pay attention or focus on the breath moving in and out at the very rim of your nostrils focus on the rim of your nostrils where breath is moving in and out do not think this is some air exchange process this is your life breath if it was going away I am sure you would give it absolute attention we are grateful right now it's happening please focus at the very rim of your nostrils where the breath is passing out this is what is the basis of your existence right now pay enough attention but let the natural attention be between your eyebrows hold it that way if you are not able to do this just make your breath 5-10% deeper than normal then you will be able to notice it make it slightly deeper very gently take your own time slowly please open your eyes good afternoon said guru and good afternoon everyone first thank you so much for being an inspiration to millions of people from all over the world actually from the Philippines and I live in Dubai for 16 years I wrote down two questions for you oh number one nowadays we see a lot of AI based fakes photos, videos, voices all generated by AI to sound or look like someone else and detecting this fakes is a big challenge I was just wondering from a mystic's perspective if you look at the photo or video would you be able to see something beyond just a surface and know if it was fake or real and the second question is well it's actually more of a suggestion when are you coming to the Philippines thank you it's a very good time that what some human beings thought is silly things they were doing but they thought they're doing something fantastic today your phone can do it better than them hello because when you were in school you know I'm silly idiot who could remember little more than you acted like he's number one what does it do in front of your phone he didn't have the GB that it has somebody read ten books and they became professors and you had to listen to their drone somebody else read just one book and they became agents of God and you had to suffer them all this is going to go because a machine can say all these things better than any human being hello because gathering memory analyzing it and projecting it is a very mechanical process that's why in the beginning when I said when I referred to the intellect I said you're silly intellect because here it's worshipped that it's the highest thing intellect is an extremely important process for you to survive in this world the sharper it is the better it is but once you hold a sharp instrument in your hands you must have a very conscious hand if you're little la la la la interstance will come out that's what is happening right now human intellect is the only thing that's destroying this world isn't it either you destroy somebody or yourself we don't give a sharp knife to a child's hand not because a knife is dangerous because a child is unconscious and he may either harm himself or somebody else knife no knife ever jumped and stabbed somebody by itself it is the hand that holds it if it is not held consciously it becomes a dangerous process right now that's what it is so everybody is talking about the dangers of AI oh yes it is true see I remember this in the Mumbai docks or the port at that time I'm talking about early 70s, 72 or something like that first gantry was installed to unload the ships at that time people, human beings were going into the ship and bag by bag box by box they were unloading it something like a hundred and fifty thousand ton ship would take about twenty-eight days to unload one ship today with multiple gantries that are there twenty-five ships are unloaded which are all over quarter million tons unloaded within twenty-four hours so at that time those labour in Mumbai called mazagon docks went into a strike they said this machine if you install what are we supposed to do with this hello with man's muscle what are we supposed to do this is what now the professors and intellectuals are asking what am I supposed to do with my brain if the machine is going to do all this you never explored the human possibility you lived so mechanically now you're being challenged by a machine so can I see whether it's something is fake or not in terms of AI I don't look at life like that see I'm a very difficult thing to confess I don't read anything the most profound things that I read came from Europe that was a strict magazine you know you read a strict and some came from United States which was Dennis the Menace otherwise people give me all kinds of books I somewhere open in the middle if I read one page one or two pages I know the mind of the author he cannot say he can do as much intellectual circus as he wants but what he can say what he cannot say is very obvious once you understood the loops of his mind so even now it's the same thing what does it matter whether a machine generated it or man generated it who is mechanical like a machine it's about the same for me right now you will see spiritual teachers will come in the form of AI because they read the scriptures five scriptures and they remember every word which no human being can do backwards, forwards whichever way you want they will tell you all the four Vedas and everything hello so people who just one or read one of the books and they thought they gotten somewhere and made a life out of that they are all feeling threatened and it's a good thing it's a very good thing because you need to understand this was not made to do just mechanical things this came with a different possibility you didn't explore because you are constantly busy racing with somebody your whole thing is to be better than somebody if you can remember I want to remember two million words if you have a billion dollars I want to have two billion dollars this is the whole nonsense you invested your life into so you become just like a machine maybe working little faster or little better that is not the value of being human human being can become conscious can contain the whole cosmos within himself or herself and this will explore in a different way if all things that we can do with our muscle and with our intellect can be done by the machine I think that's the ideal day on the planet that will be fantastic day about Philippines so many islands tell me where should I come Sir, Guru touched your feet firstly, thanks for blessing us I am a professor Oh, I am sorry I do I am from Swansea University in UK and we do some research on AI and some of the things you mentioned Oh, you are all here, I am so sorry all of you guys are here from the conference No, but what I am really inspired to see so many young people here and from the university standpoint we all look I mean it's terrific to see so many young minds so my question to you Sir, Guru Ji we can look to do some amazing projects on the question you talked about isolation, loneliness virtual realities looking may cause loneliness so my question to you is what project these youngsters at university can do scientifically which obviously published at the end of their dissertations that can link up loneliness, artificial intelligence that we use the technology for the well-being and not end up then saying, oh, we got it wrong ten, twenty years later Thank you, Sir, Guru Ji So Professor, I am sorry if I said something disparaging, I am so sorry I don't mean that and if young people and yourself who are a leader of those people want to do something let me put this out to you see what you want to do because there are many ways to participate these things are not going to happen because of any one person or one organization or a group of people this needs the world's involvement otherwise it will not happen this is what we are referring to as conscious planet So consciousness as I said it doesn't matter how much I talk about it generally it flies over people's heads they don't get it because in their mind they are trying to the only way they can understand something right now with the present form of education is they are looking for a definition what is that if it can be defined that's not consciousness if something is defined it's physical in nature the nature of physicality is a clear definition that is physicality that which is beyond definitions which are beyond the boundaries of all definitions that is consciousness so that's a negative definition in a way so we say in yoga we always identify you are a professor you identify with the knowledge that you represent as a yogi I identify with my ignorance why see this cosmos how big it is neither the men of science nor the religious people know where it begins where it ends is that so sir is that so no religious person knows where the cosmos begins where it ends bombastic stories are there leave that nobody knows nor do the men of science know where does it begin where does it end in this vast cosmos it doesn't matter if you read all the books on the planet still what you know miniscule the planet itself is a miniscule if you identify with your knowledge you will become that miniscule see how do you become French you identified with the nation isn't it what you identify with it you become that how does somebody become an Indian identify with that because the moment you identify with something you become that and your mind works around that you can't die for that so the moment you identify with the miniscule of knowledge you will become that miniscule and rule out all possibilities but our ignorance is boundless if you identify with your ignorance you stay boundless so conscious planet this is a movement which is already on in a certain way but we will be launching a particular aspect of conscious planet which will relate to people's mental well-being in a certain way we are looking at many possibilities essentially it is towards exploring the miracle of your mind we as a species are dominating this planet only because our cerebral cortex flowered otherwise we would be operating just food reproduction sleep that's about it you become human something fired within us our ability to use our intelligence in different ways our phenomenal sense of memory and our fantastic sense of imagination all these things are our cerebral process that is the process that most human beings are suffering right now they are not suffering life see people suffer what happened ten years ago now what happened ten years ago is not alive you are suffering your memory isn't it hello those who are in the upper houses you are suffering your memory you can suffer what may happen day after tomorrow already what does this mean you are suffering your imagination your memory and your imagination are two fantastic faculties that we have which sets us apart from every other creature and it took millions of years of research and development not in a university but on this planet to get you this level of cerebral capability and now you suffer this you can call it stress you can call it anxiety you can call it tension you can call it depression you can call it by a thousand names if you want essentially your intelligence has turned against you you don't know how to hold this sharp knife you keep poking yourself hello so if we remove half your brain everybody will be peaceful yes so essentially the only way people can be reasonably in control is take away their possibilities see why do you if somebody is a dangerous criminal why is it unfortunately if there were no people there was no city you could leave him somewhere where he can live happily by himself but no because he is dangerous for others you lock him up this is what you're doing locking yourself up with your own identities with your own stuff and at least there somebody has a key when they wish to they can open it here you've thrown away the key this is important that conscious does not mean you become conscious about something consciousness is like light it's on what is it showing it'll show what is there oh I became conscious that she is here that's not the point I am conscious that means whatever is here is in my purview so when you say conscious people say I became conscious of god I became conscious of this conscious of that this is not about that it is just to light up if you have to light up you need to energize yourself this is like the voltage is right now low it shows just let's say the voltage is very low in my vision it just shows these four people what do I think in my experience I think there are only four people in this hall if it lights up a little more then suddenly I see twenty people if it lights up fully then I see everybody this is the nature of your experience so for your consciousness to light up you need a more intense and exuberant levels of energy to create this we are offering about ten to twelve different kind of things everybody cannot meditate everybody cannot do yoga there are classical art forms there are classical martial arts there is music there are a variety of things twelve to fifteen minutes that's all we will put this on an app and it will be ready sometime in 2024 we will make this available to the whole world we will make it up professors and UNESCO and everybody if you want me to give it to you and you will run the campaign yourself in the world I will give it to you because the interest is people should benefit if two to three billion people use this for a sustained period of time you will find a much better mental situation in the world we are also offering a price if you are below eighteen years of age if you do it for ninety days in a committed way this will be trackable on your app that you are doing it it will check the medical parameters we have a research centre in Harvard University which is medical university which is doing all this for us now and it will check today how many times in a day did you get angry it records how many times were you depressed how long were you peaceful and happy all these records so if you do it for ninety days if you are below eighteen years of age we will give you a reward if you are over eighteen years of age if you do it for one eighty days you will get a reward if you are over thirty years of age if you do it for three hundred sixty days you will get a reward what I am saying is if you keep yourself well we will reward you because the quality of this damn world depends upon you you have a good guru to give us his closing remarks the thing is this is just the beginning so I won't make any closing remarks thank you