Thank you Howard university showtime band for your rousing performance now ladies and gentlemen we would like to take this opportunity to recognize the over 8000 veterans who have completed our seminar after the program the veterans shared with us that they finally feel like themselves again and thousands of parents and spouses have
Thanked the Art of Living and IAHV since after so many years they finally have their family members back and to honour our veterans and inaugurate our Art of Living World Culture Festival with pomp and circumstance it is our great pleasure to introduce the pride of the United States of America
The US Army Band Pershing’s Own Washington Welcomes the World ladies and gentlemen my name is Spencer Delise and my name is Catherine Winter Zelery and we want to thank all our sponsors particularly Events DC and Palo Alto Networks as well as everyone whose contributions and donations made this possible the
Moment we have all been waiting for is upon us ladies and gentlemen Washington DC and the whole world we declare open the Art of Living Fourth Instalment of the World Culture Festival for the past 6 years the convener of the World Culture Festival Rob Trombold has served as President of the
Art of Living Foundation and he has been volunteering for the past 35 years please welcome Rob Trombold to the stage to give the welcome address oh wow look at this this is great greetings Washington DC greetings America and greetings to the whole world on behalf of the Art of Living
Foundation I welcome you all to the World Culture Festival 2023 we warmly welcome Mayor Bowser who is a source of support encouragement and inspiration to the city we also welcome many dignitaries from around the world today we are creating history on these hallowed grounds an unprecedented moment where people of different races religions
Nationalities political ideologies have all come together in celebration of the world’s rich cultural heritage the World Culture Festival is a platform to once again come together our inspiration for this event is Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Gurudev advocates for a stress free violence free society which honours individuals
In hope of creating a better society that is the theme for this weekend during the World Culture Festival we will celebrate the similarities and the differences we have food from around the world music and dance wisdom and inspirational talks from many thought leaders and of course
Meditation by our founder Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Gurudev’s vision for a stress free and violence free society is what is so relevant in today’s world where we are under going so much loneliness depression and aggression inner peace is so essential service to mankind is what Art Of Living
Stands for inner peace conflict resolution self development and caring for our earth through environmental projects for the past 42 years the foundation has done tremendous work in these fields our theme for this weekend is for a better society so I encourage you to stay for all
3 days and enjoy every one of the programs which are carefully designed and planned dont miss any of them so let the celebration begin thank you so much ladies and gentlemen we invite you to rise for the national anthem of the United States of America sung by award winning DC high school
Choirs supported by the US Army chorus ladies and gentlemen wasnt that the most spectacular national anthem by the award winning DC high school choirs supported by the US Army chorus amazing brings tears to my eyes that was so beautiful we are honored to welcome the elders of the
Piscataway and Lakota tribes to receive their blessing land acknowledgement and powerful performance 100 native American dancers and drummers from all across America from coast to coast are performing lets rise to our feet to honour our native American elders and performers we welcome you all here to our homeland
This place that we know is Kishelamàkânk part of Turtle island this was a very large village back in history in 18th century the stretch from what today we know as Wilson bridge all the way around to the Anacostia river to today’s Bladensburg and even the ground that we stand on
Now in an honour of that I would like to present with you a blessing for the occasion friends brothers sisters we all thank you our first nations family from across the United States and Canada for the sacred ceremony it was spectacular truly spectacular amazing in the east all auspicious work
Begins with music as we begin our festival let us travel to the pearl of the orient and experience Nadhaswaram the most ancient Oboe from Sri Lanka actually in south India and also in parts of Sri Lanka thank you that was absolutely spectacular one world family please welcome 250
High school students and 100 adults to perform united we celebrate with Grammy nominated artist Chandrika Tandon what a beautiful moving blessing that was spectacular from the youth and adult singers with Chandrika Tandon who by the way today is her birthday lets all sing happy birthday simply spectacular thank you
Buckle your seat belts we are off to the playground of Europe to experience the elegant harmonies of Swiss Alp Horns that was incredible wow I have never heard anything like that actually ever I have never heard this before it was spectacular thank you so much and I believe you have probably never seen
These many Alp Horns in one location either not in one location that is for sure please join us in welcoming the chairperson of the reception committee of the Art of Living World Culture Festival 8th Secretary General of the United Nations His Excellency Ban Ki-moon Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Founder of the World Culture Festival and the Art of Living Honourable Muriel Bowser Mayor of Washington DC excellencies former Presidents and Prime Ministers Ministers Ambassadors Honourable Members of the Senate and Parliament of the United States ladies and gentlemen hello Washington DC hello World Culture Festival
I am excited to join you here for this historic global event culture builds bridges culture breaks down walls culture brings the world together through dialogue and mutual understanding culture enhances unity and harmony among people and nations and culture can create powerful exchanges between all global citizens just like all of you here
Today during my tenure as United Nations Secretary General for 10 years I travelled all around the globe and I have seen and learned from many different cultures and civilizations today all of the world’s cultural richness has come together here at the National Mall of the United States
As the Chair of the reception committee I am pleased to see and feel the resonance of peace and celebration today with the advent of science and technology humanity has progressed and made tremendous advancements but we also must come together culturally spiritually and morally in order to resolve our conflict to better
Protect environment and our common future to live more harmoniously with the nature and each other we must work harder to protect humanity and planet earth from the rapidly approaching climate crises here I commend Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s inspiring vision of unity diversity and global citizens
We need more of these very sorts of celebrations we need more coming together more peace and meditation more cooperation solidarity and partnership this is how we will persevere over the great challenges we are facing now this is how we will build peace and resolve conflicts this is how we
Will end hunger ensure healthy lives advance quality education and empower women and girls this is how we will advance achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals and leave no one behind and this is how we will take urgent climate action on behalf of our planet and our children and our succeeding generations
Ladies and gentlemen I am humbled to be here opening this exciting World Culture Festival and celebrating with all of you today let us be united to promote peace development and human right let us work together to fight back climate crises this is our moral and political responsibility for our succeeding
Generations thank you for your actions for world peace and our planet thank you dhanyawaad thank you thank you Your Excellency Ban Ki-moon and we appreciate your support and commitment to world peace dear friends please join us in welcoming the Honourable Muriel Bowser the 7th elected Mayor of Washington DC well good evening everyone
I am Muriel Bowser I am Mayor of this beautiful city Washington DC and I want to welcome you to my hometown I want to thank the World Culture Festival organizers and the Art of Living Foundation for choosing to come to Washington DC and the United States of America I want to thank founder
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and I also want to thank the thousands of people who endorse and who live a life committed to peace we are delighted to host you here in Washington and we view it as an amazing opportunity to showcase our vibrant communities certainly here on
The National Mall looking at our nation’s capital a monument to George Washington but also a neighbourhood thats filled with seven hundred thousand Washingtonians we know that hundreds of thousands of people will join us this weekend here to celebrate peace and humanity but we know that this celebration will also inspire in
Their hearts peace kindness and a love of the global community one of the reasons we are excited to have you here is that you will share in our DC values we are proud of the seven hundred thousand people who call Washington home and we want you to get
To know local Washington DC as well where we celebrate diversity and inclusivity the best of all American values we are a global city we are a welcoming city and we are a city that loves visitors from around the world while you are here you will enjoy the hospitality of our hotels and
Restaurants and you will meet Washingtonians who share in all these values this month we also celebrate the arts we celebrate culture and creativity and we hope that you will get to see our monuments and memorials I want to make it very clear that DC is open and we
Are here to welcome you this time and every time welcome to Washington thank you so much Mayor Bowser we are here six hundred thousand people are here looking on we are so happy that your town is open for all of us superb ladies and gentlemen it is our
Honour and privilege to introduce the honourable Rick Scott please join us in welcoming him to the stage what a night its beautiful to be here on behalf of everybody in DC including the Mayor thank you for coming to Washington DC our nation’s capital thank you for coming to
United States of America those who have come from overseas we welcome visitors we hope to be the best melting pot in the world Gurudev Sri Sri thank you for what you believe in thank you for your belief in unity thank you for your effort to bring people
Together from all over the world thank you for what you have done for others to bring us all together I want to recognize all the distinguished individuals up here on the stage I also want to really recognize the ambassador from India who he does an unbelievable job representing this country
Of India which is a great friend of United States I want to thank the Secretary General of United Nations for being here and everyone else I have had the opportunity in my lifetime to visit probably 50 countries and what you do learn is everybody has the same goals they want to be fully
Employed they love their children they want them to get great education to secure their future and they want to live in a safe community all over the world we all want the same things for our families so thank you for talking about those type of things tonight for the people of India I
Think of India this way you are wonderful people who live there you are great friends with United States of America to Americans many of you may have immigrated to our country you bring culture you completely change and improve our country all the time I have got one of my
Great friends from Florida here I want to recognize Danny Gaikwad I am not sure where Danny is and his wonderful family so who I was a Governor of Florida and Danny was one of the best promoters of both India and the state of Florida and he is a great friend
One thing I like about India and many places in the world is its a land of opportunity where anybody who can come in from any background and have leisure to live their dream and thats what I think of United States thats what I think of Washington DC thats what I think of my
Great state I look forward to a future where all of us together get to build a future that we choose for our families our country’s and our world I hope we all want the same thing a safe world where we all have great opportunities so thank
You very much for the opportunity to be here I hope you have a wonderful night now it will be oddly missing if I dont ask you all to come to the great state of Florida for we like the mayor here we love our visitors have a great night
And one thing is for sure we also love the sunshine in Florida absolutely beautiful thank you Senator Rick Scott and in that same spirit of peace and celebration we welcome the Folk Rhythms of the Andes for vibrant and graceful folk dances from Columbia Peru and Bolivia Catherine what a rich tapestry of sights
And sounds wow from the Folk Rhythms of the Andes ladies and gentlemen please join us in welcoming Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar the esteemed External Affairs Minister of India Bharat respected Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji excellencies friends its a great evening and its wonderful to be back in Washington DC
Its also heart warming to see the panorama of cultures across the world that is displayed before us today we are gathered here to express our friendship strengthen our solidarity and promote peace and understanding friends I congratulate the Art of Living who under the inspiration and guidance of
Gurudev have brought us all together this evening their global thought and international understanding is so visible as I look around me I also recognize the government of the district of Columbia Washington DC whose partnership has helped to make such an impressive event so successful friends humanity is truly a
Diverse group and this is expressed through culture traditions heritage and identities in recent years the world has become more democratic and mutual respect has commensurately increased among them globalization and technology have facilitated our getting to know each other much better no part of the world no people no thought process no culture
Is today considered too distant but because our collective living has become more intense it must also be more harmonious and more collaborative the big challenges of the day be that climate change economic progress or societal well being cannot be effectively addressed in isolation bringing the world together has become even more important
It is with this approach that India took up the responsibility of the G20 presidency and our theme one earth one family and one future is represented so well today before us culturally I am proud to say that we in India lived up to our responsibility and as a result we
Have managed to instill new energy and sustainable development in green growth and in digital delivery friends while we all endeavour to expand prosperity and secure our planet’s future it is natural that we are confronted with challenges of a pressing nature whether it is natural disasters or man made ones conflicts or
Disruption it is also important that in an inter dependent world we are always there for one another the Art of Living has been an inspirational example in this regard and I personally have seen the difference that they have made most recently in the Ukraine conflict their message your message our message
Should be today of caring and sharing of generosity and good will of understanding and cooperation this is what has brought us all together here enjoy the festival and once again my greetings and good wishes thank you Dr. S Jaishankar esteemed External Affairs Minister of India Bharat music inspires us it sparks our creativity
And it brings us together the next 2 patriotic songs are celebrated for their vivid imageries stirring verses that evoke the beauty and the unity of their homeland friends you are about to be enchanted by a choir of 250 high school students and 100 adult singers singing America the beautiful
And Vande Mataram with Grammy nominated artist our birthday girl Chandrika Tandon that was an absolutely soul stirring performance from the DC high school and adult choir and Chandrika Tandon world family Anka Dje Anka Be is a popular west African saying in the Akan language meaning help me and let me help you
We welcome Amadeus Coyote a 150th generation of the Coyote family of oral historians and musicians of west Africa and his Djembe and chloral orchestra accompanied by an African dance ensemble wow Catherine wasnt Amadeus Coyote his Djembe and chloral orchestra and African dancers inspirational it was so
Inspirational and I also want to say I loved the outfits beautiful outfits wow gorgeous so much texture and the tapestry it was beautiful so beautiful and now would you please join us in welcoming representative Neal Dunn to the stage as he addresses our global audience with his perspective and words of inspiration representative
Well good evening and welcome to Washington I thank everyone for being here it is a genuine privilege for me to be with you this evening in America you can be many things I have been a soldier a surgeon a business man and now a member of Congress my home district
Covers the majority of Florida’s Panhandle where we have great fishing beautiful beaches abundant farms and forests and its also home to the state’s capital Tallahassee and the friendliest people you will ever meet today’s event means a great deal to me I sit on the Parliament of NATO
And thats a group that is dedicated to ultimately building a better and more united world for future generations I am grateful that today’s celebration is being held here in Washington DC in America our motto is out of many one we are fortunate to live in a nation where many cultures are celebrating
And all have the right to a life of liberty and the pursuit of happiness I believe this model resonates with this group because it takes all of us to build a brighter safer future for our children around the world it will take a great deal of work it will take
A great deal of patience but it will be worth it I hope that all of you enjoy the festivities here and I hope that you all do your part to build a better world thank you god bless all of you thank you so much representative from the beautiful state of Florida wonderful
Well I think we know the whole reason that all of us have come here tonight that is for Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar that is for sure and this is truly the moment that we have all been waiting for Gurudev has inspired many organizations including the founding of
The Art of Living foundation and International Association for Human Values who have really been at the forefront spearheading work in women’s empowerment prison rehabilitation health and education and conflict resolution all this with the purpose to improve the quality of life for every human being on the planet Gurudev has received proclamations and commendations
From local and national leaders across the United States we acknowledge the recognition and whole heartedly thank them ladies and gentlemen please join us in welcoming the founder of the Art of Living and IAHV its visionary and humanitarian and spiritual leader Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar my dear ones dignitaries on the stage and
Off the stage its such a beautiful occasion to celebrate our diversity our planet is so diverse and yet there is an underlying unity that is the human values you know there is an old saying an ancient saying that the intelligent people spend their time in coordination cooperation and
Uplifting the human spirit they spend their time in science literature humour music and dance as a child we first started singing right? only then we started speaking so music is such a part of every culture it is part of our human spirit’s expression and it is necessary that we celebrate this
Without a sense of competition with a sense of cooperation conviction as we see today the mental health is a big issue right? either there are there is aggression and societal violence on one side or depression and suicidal tendency on the other and its a celebration
That can help us to come out of these anomalies of our mind we need to look within we need three things passion without passion we get into depression so we need passion for a greater cause and we need dispassion without dispassion we cant have good sleep you know you have a song in
America with passion whats that song? I am a dreamer we are all dreamer we dream we hold onto ideals and that is a passion but when it gets too much then we have to say just let it be let it be let it be so relax and get back to our true nature
True self which is peace and then in between we all have to say I am there for you right? I am there for you that attitude we all have see no child is born on this planet as a bad guy or bad girl we have the goodness
Inherent in us and that needs to come up and that comes when we realize we are one world family its the loneliness tension stress which is so prevalent in society today the mental health challenges we all have to attend to that dont pass by any face
You see if they are not happy just lets just say hello to them and have a few words of wisdom few exchanges can you know transform the mindset wars are the wars begin first in the minds of people if the mind is serene mind is calm
Then there is peace one person not being happy in a family can make the whole family miserable and several such families make the whole nation unhappy and we all are committed lets commit our self again on this occasion to bring more happiness what do you say? yeah? lets create more happiness in society
Lets bring more smiles and wipe tears thats humanness and thats what we are all made up of we are all made up of these values no celebration gains depth and width if its not supported by wisdom and the wisdom is within us within all of us
Wisdom is to recognize we are all unique and we are all one its so wonderful to see so many of you here and so many more are watching this from around the world and let me tell everybody once again we all belong to each other we all belong to one global family
Lets celebrate our life life is too short to think about conflicts you know conflicts do arise we need to question no doubt there is lot of questioning happening even back down there questioning is necessary a baby when it is 3 year old starts asking questions thats when thats the sign of
Intellect getting matured but as we grow older the questions take another dimension why am I here for? whats the purpose of my life? what do I want in my life? these mature questions brings depth that will bring compassion and one ness of mankind with these few words let us once again
Reaffirm our faith in the goodness of humanity there is a lot of goodwill and the desire to do good in the society let us face the challenges pragmatically accept the challenges and dream for a better future for this and the coming generation om shanti good evening respected Gurudev excellencies
Mayor dear artists dear sisters and brothers ladies and gentlemen now you will see the story of a thousand plus one we are here to celebrate the miracle of our existence gifted by god we have different identities but equal dignity and we wish a peaceful future based on respect for every person
And for all nations this is why we celebrate here with a universal and united language of dance and music music is based on listening those who wish to sing or play music must be able first to listen to themselves and then to the others there is no respect no dialogue
No harmony without listening war means an absence of listening wars polarize our beautiful globe music unites we need more music and more joy especially in the politics we are all winners here in Washington today let us celebrate these extraordinary days of togetherness with Beethoven’s sound of Joy which speaks about the brotherhood
Thank you what a phenomenal performance Mr. Peterle I am very happy to be here I thank to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and to all the organizers for this fantastic meeting I remember the meeting of Delhi sometime ago and I want to say the harmony of the people
Grow in their populations but no growth for many governors so in some sense we are in a situation more delicate than in other time that in the meeting that we have in Delhi but anyway as Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says to have peace we need inner peace to communicate
Peace we need to live in peace and to live in peace we need the Art of Living but to have the Art of Living in peace we need to have communication with god god is not an enemy of a human being god is friend god is a mystery
God is love if we dont have god we dont have love we dont have peace and to have god we need to come back to the meditation to the prayer the human being is a unique being who has the possibility to pray to meditation we learn these from
The great culture of India so we need to come back to our we need to come back to this without god the human being not have future so in this delicate moment we need to invoke god and in the name of father in the name of the Pope Francis
That we and the fraternity of the whole human being I bless you and I bless this very big meeting and I think that this Art of Living really will be the future of our humanity thank you thank you His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar respected American and world leaders
And friends from all over the world my name is Hakubun Shimomura I am a member of the House of Representatives of Japan and was minister of Education Culture Sports Science and Technology it is my honor to give a speech as a representative of Japan I bring you greetings from
Prime Minister Kishida and 130 million people of Japan I am so happy to be here with all of you this is the second occasion when I have an opportunity to attend this unique celebration the previous one was in new Delhi 2016 this is a such a wonderful
Event where so many people from all over the world are celebrating culture together everyone looks so happy and friendly this is Olympics of world culture where everyone wins the gold medal the gold medal of Happiness this is the world we must all build together a world where everyone celebrate
Let us follow the way shown by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and bring joy to all it is now the beginning of autumn in Japan every season is symbolized by colors Autumn is the most colorful of all this is the same as diversity the World Culture Festival celebrates the beauty of human diversity
Sri Sri emphasizes the importance of meditation in daily life I have personally experienced the benefit of yoga holistic breathing and meditation I thank Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the Art of Living Japan for working hard to promote this for the welfare of people in Japan I request
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the Art of Living to kindly have a World Culture Festival in Japan someday thank you thank you thank you very much I am US Representative Danny K Davis and I hail from the city of Chicago yes we finally call it the city of the big shoulders it’s the
Heart of America and I am pleased and delighted to be here this evening with the honorable mayor of Washington DC and others to invite our visitors from around the world to our nation’s capital the United States of America where we search for peace one of my most favorite
Expressions is I sought my soul and my soul I could not see I sought my God and he eluded me but then I sought my brother and my sister and found all three how good and pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity
And of one accord I commend Shri and the Art of Living foundation and all of those who have brought us together to participate and share here in the magnificent elegance of the evening I was reminded of something that former president John F Kennedy said when commenting about peace he said
That peace is not only found in treaties covenants and charters but in the hearts of men and I am certain that if he was here today he would say in the hearts of men and of women I am so delighted growing up one of my favorite songs was a country and western singer
Tennesse Ernie Ford and he said I am so tired and so weary but I must go along until the lord comes and call call me away there will be peace in the valley someday the bear will be gentle the wolf will be tame and the lion shall lay down by the lamb
And I will be changed from this creature that I am yes there will be peace in the valley someday wow thank you to representative Danny Davis that was an amazing inspiring speech Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar dear sister and brothers dear friends greetings from Poland greetings from my heart
Greetings from hearts of my compatriots greetings from heart of Europe thank you thank you everyone that we are here in Washington DC together thank you especially his Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for this initiative and for your work great work for the peace and understanding between the
People and nations tonight we can send together a message that the whole world is one family and we can we should we must and we won’t all coexist with our differences and respect each other these days we are together in United States of America we stand united but we should together
Also so tomorrow and after tomorrow and next months and next years and finally see you at next World Cultural Festival in Poland I hope shukriya thank you we appreciate your vibrant words Ryszard Czarnecki the current member of European Parliament we appreciate your support and you being here your excellencies brothers and sisters Guruji
My dear brother my dear friend and a worthy leader people of of the world from different countries that are watching this special phenomenon all over the world I salute you and I bring you greetings from Africa I am happy and grateful to God and to you Guruji and the Art of Living foundation
And the organizers for giving me another opportunity to participate in this global event we gather here to acknowledge and celebrate diversity which is of God God is God of diversity and not of sameness if God has created sameness in the world it will have been a world of monotony stillness
Non excitement dullness and boredom God created a world of of diversity wonder and wonder for us to enjoy and live happily in it multiculturalism was designed by God for us and we must cherish and jealously guard and sustain it because of human imperfection greed selfishness and dishonesty war violence insecurity
Poverty criminality and evil in one form or the other parade the world some will want to blame these on diversity or multiculturalism and using these to point at the failure of multiculturalism that if I may say is wrong in spite of human development in science and technology
From the Stone Age to artificial intelligence age human basic instinct for power position popularity prestige prosperity at all costs have not changed much if at all in the process we sacrifice love kindness good will brotherhood and sisterhood mercy forgiveness and consideration for others and for love and fear with respect for our creator
My brothers and sisters God has given us life with a world of diversity and multiculturalism we have an unrelenting task of working to add love kindness brotherhood humanity and human ness to the world of diversity God had given us then we will have one world of peace common security stability wholesomeness
Economic growth shared prosperity inclusive society and God’s kingdom on earth that is our goal to achieve the Art of Living foundation is a veritable instrument to achieve this worthy objective for the world thank you so thank you once again to the four-time president of Nigeria Mr Obasanjo
Let’s give him another round of applause param poojya Guruji Gurudev and all my dear brothers and sisters how are you all? what a beautiful evening what a beautiful performance and we saw a little bit of rain that I hope will bring world peace and would be a new beginning for happiness
And peace for all my name is Shri Thanedar I am a proud Congress person representing the great state of Michigan and I had the pleasure to welcome and escort prime minister Narendra ji Modi to the joint session of United States congress not too long ago having grown up in poverty
In a financially distressed home in Belgaum Karnataka having sharing that state with Gurudev ji and I was so glad to be able to speak with in Kannada with Gurudev ji not too long ago but I wanted to come to America to lift my family out of poverty
And the American Consulate denied my visa for four times but I did not give up and in the fifth time when I got my visa to America I came here got some education started many small businesses created hundreds of jobs in America and then I realized I achieved my American Dream but many
People in America do not have access to their American dream and with that I decided to devote my life to public service and I’m in the United States Congress working in ensuring that we do not have hate in America we do not have bigotry in America and we
Have love for each other and with that today I had the pleasure to form a United States Congress caucus a caucus is a group of members of Congress that come together to solve and address a problem or a solution and today I formed the first ever Hindu Buddhist Sikh
And Jain caucus in the United States Congress and through this Congressional caucus we hope to bring awareness of different religions and our ability to practice our own religion without fear of hatred without fear of persecution and with full authority and full power to live our lives to
Pray the God we want to pray the love the person we want to love and that’s what America ought to be America has to be a nation that that speaks about peace allows people to live and achieve their dreams their American Dreams and I’m so glad to be
Here I’m so glad to be here in this beautiful Washington DC welcoming all of you from all walks of life thank you for coming here and I wish you all happiness peace and prosperity may God bless you all thank you wow thank you for your incredible words
So now please join us in welcoming Erik Solheim former UN Deputy Secretary General and Executive Director of UNEP as well as former minister of International Development Norway to share his valuable insights and experiences good evening Washington Namaste isn’t this absolutely wonderful hundreds of thousands of people around tens of thousands
Of artists from all corners of the globe and they all come together to celebrate an age old Indian idea the idea of Oneness thank you thank you so much Gurudev for bringing us together it’s great that you bring so many people together with your power
We are all here I came to know Gurudev in the peace process of Sri Lanka we worked together for peace in Sri Lanka and I know how strong you are on peace you are a man of peace and the world need more Sri Sris to bring peace to the world
There are few ideas I find as powerful and as fresh in the 21st century as the idea of Oneness last week in a place called Omkareshwar at the beautiful Narmada River at the heart of Bharat in the state of Madhya Pradesh a 100 ft tall statue celebrating
Oneness was erected it depicts a sage from the 8th Century who walked around Bharat or India and preached or teach taught about the idea of Oneness there will soon be a huge Temple to celebrate Oneness there’ll be an intellectual center to bring this powerful idea to the world and I just encourage everyone
Please go there and be inspired because the world need more Oneness whatever is whatever is the issue in the 21st century climate change or environment pandemics or poverty or indeed wars like the one in Ukraine they will be much easier to resolve if we act together as one the idea
Of Oneness however is a demanding one and to all my American friends I have an appeal please go a little bit longer to try to understand the enormous fantastic history of China and the enormous achievements of more than China but to my Chinese friends I had the similar appeal please take an
Another effort to try to understand this wonderful Nation called United States of America and of course Indians or European Africans and Latin Americans we all need to act together there is however at the end another aspect to the idea of Oneness because the old Indians they really venerated nature
They understood well that humans cannot exist one day without nature nature will do very well without us if we all die tomorrow Mother Earth will thrive but we cannot do without nature and they had the idea that humans and nature is one and they took it so far that they made God
Half animal and half human Ganesh half elephant half human Hanuman half monkey half human can there be a stronger desire to bring humanity and nature together than what the old Indians did finally 2,500 years ago the old Indians got it exactly right they said the entire universe
Is one family and that is exactly the idea we need in the 21st century let’s all together embrace this great idea then we will do much better the entire universe is one family thank you
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