Belgrade (Zemun), Serbia
7th October 2024
Thank you for having me here and congratulations to you on this exhibition. The theme which, I’m supposed to speak about is Mahatma Gandhi.
Non-violence
No violence. Non-violence. Non-violence has to happen first in thoughts. There are three levels of creation, where energy is released. 1st level is thought. 2nd level, our expression can be words and writing. The 3rd level is action.
These are the three levels of creation that we engage in each day. So we have many thoughts, fewer expressions, and still fewer actions. So Ahimsa is for us. It’s not for the world only.
When we practice non-violence, it purifies us. It stabilises us. And it leaves no guilt, no regrets. The advantage of non-violence is that there’ll be no guilt and no regret because these are very, very heavy stuff. Mostly, we are stuck in one place, one situation or a time because of guilt and regret.
Practising non-violence means just distancing from your emotions for a small second. It is not difficult.
When we are in the rush of the moment, slow down. Pause. Just witness. Just simply witness that situation. Just pause for a moment, and then you think, is this necessary? Is the reaction necessary? Or which level am I operating?
See, there are major two levels we can operate from. One is that of kindness, compassion, selflessness, love, righteousness, etc. This is the highest of human potential. The other level is anger, hatred, jealousy, revenge. That is the lowest of human potential. We have power for both.
We spoke about the wars, bloodshed and stuff. And please remember, wounds are difficult to heal. Here, Serbia has faced almost everything.
1st World War, 2nd World War, Balkan War. These wounds continue, and many people live in the shadow of war. If the newborn people are not living in the shadow of wars, it’s inherited from the elders, an earlier generation.
Acceptance
So it’s important that we cultivate a completely different mindset. Acceptance is one of the things. Accept everything. Acceptance should begin with yourself.
Self-acceptance. We always tend to compare, forgetting that there’s nobody like us in this world. There’s nobody like us in this world. We are unique. There’s nobody who can be compared to us nor can we be compared to another.
All are unique people. They have their lifespan as per their karmic structure. And they will live and die as per their karmic agenda. That’s the only thing they can do.
So if we understand everybody is us, we will not feel any difference. Otherwise, we only see differences. See, we have in the memorial of the Second World War, in, Washington DC, it’s written, “There should never be another like this.”
After that, how many wars? How many displacements? How many people are suffering even now? While we are talking, Lebanon is getting blasted. There has been a lot of fire in Lebanon in the last two days.
Next is Iran, and this will go on. And the governments are making more arms than food. Look at all the world governments. What are they doing? They’re making more weapons or buying weapons than food. And 50% of the people in the world are starving.
What is our priority? What is our agenda?
When I was in South Africa, I was trying to conglomerate a group of tribal people for the sake of the preservation of forests.
Forests are needed. The lands of the world are forests, and that’s debated. The big ice had melted in, Greenland. And, the world is changing. This is not the real world that we want to live in nor the next generation to live in.
Today, if you look at anybody 8,000,000,000 people in the world, everybody has vitamin D deficiency. And vitamin D was very easy to convert from sunlight. Our body used to have the power to convert sunlight to vitamin D.
If you are exposed to the sun, you have vitamin D in the body. But today, nobody has enough vitamin D in the body. The body has stopped converting sunlight to vitamin D.
What are the reasons? One of the reasons was COVID and other things. Since before that, the radiation from the satellites has been falling into the clouds and on the earth.
Earth is also receiving the radiation. All the 5G, 4G, all these things. All the new developments of today are against human beings’ existence.
We have deficiencies. Doctors are here, they can tell us better. So, there is definitely an imbalance in our whole social structure now.
There are people striving for something, but they don’t know what they are looking for. All the people are running, like, headless chickens trying to figure out what the relevance is.
So, Gandhi’s teaching of non-violence should happen with awareness: you should know who you are and what are you here for.
And everybody who’s breathing on earth today has a real relevance on earth. There is something to do. Not eat, drink, sleep, and die. There is something important to do.
There is a real reason for birth. And if you can make some difference, a small difference in the world around you through positivity, through non-violence, in thoughts, words, and actions, you can make a change in the whole world’s history.
This is what people like me are trying to do.
And, it is not easy just by 1 person. And everybody, if all of us stop thinking about ownership and focus on what we can deliver, what can I do for the world, is there something I can deliver to the world? If we all think like that, the world will be a better place.
Ownership
And one of the major illusions that human beings hold is ownership.
That I own things. I own positions. I own possessions. I own relations. This is the biggest illusion. We own nothing. Nothing we can own. Why? Because we are here like tourist. At a particular time, we are gone.
At a particular time, we will die. In this whole journey, we are our own world. We think that we understand each other. We understand nobody. We cannot understand another person. Why? Because each person is their own world.
Their own character, their own constitution, their own likes and dislikes, their own aspiration. Nobody understands another. What we can do then, if you understand yourself, it is easier to connect to others.
We have to spend time with ourselves, look within, feel, feel, feel. It’s all about feeling. Feeling more and more and connecting more and more with ourselves. And then we look around. We see only ourselves around.
That’s the only way we can accept everybody. Otherwise, we are only seeing differences. And that is why caste, colour, country, culture, language, religion, barriers, owning, conquering, capturing, torturing, killing.
All these are happening because we do not connect. If we start connecting, we will not do these things. Not only to human beings but to all beings, animals, birds, nature, the environment, plants, things, everything.
Everything is part of us. So, when you practice non-violence, it has to happen with self-acceptance. And when you look at the world outside, you should see yourself.
There’s nobody else. We are all part of one family. Human family.
Effective years
And our duration, if you live 80 years, it’s only 29,200 days. Not a long time. You know, by the time we say “tomorrow”, tomorrow is gone.
And there’s nothing called a present. The moment I say “present”, it’s already passed. So we are basically like a surf rider. We’re just floating on time, and time is moving so fast. It never waits for anybody.
And if you say 80 years, it’s only 80 Christmases. 80 Diwalis. It’s only 80. It’s not a lot of time. Also, even if you live 80 years, how many years are effective years where you don’t need help?
FIrst 20 years, we needed help from our parents probably. 18 years, 20 years. Then the last 20 years, we don’t know. Maybe we’ll need help from somebody.
So what are your effective years? If you live 80 years, it’s about 40 years. In these 40 years, what do you do? If you’re chasing something, making big dreams, and conquering things, then leave everything and die.
That’s not what we are here for.
Multidimensionality
We are here to experience something much larger, much higher, much more powerful.
We are multi-dimensional, not unidimensional. But because we are educated to be one dimension, we forget that we have other dimensions possible. We have tremendous dimensions, tremendous possibilities.
So multidimensionality is our birthright. For that, you need to share your unidimensionality. This one dimension, this particular personality, this projection, and hopefully we start reflecting more and more.
Usually, everybody starts their life with the training to project themselves. You’re so and so, you’re so and so’s child, you’re education, qualification, position in the country, passport of the country.
Everything adds to the personality. But we are a big country. We are all global citizens. It is not just Serbia, Germany or America.
We are everybody. We are everywhere. When you go and look into the eyes of people, you see that we are all one. Connection. For connection to happen, we need to have acceptance of them. Self-acceptance first. Otherwise, we cannot connect.
When we connect, it should be meaningful. Never, a vague, weak connection because that is useless for everybody. When we connect, we connect deeply.
We understand. We try to understand one another. As I said earlier, each person is their own world. Even though we all live in one world, even in one family, each person is their own world. They can only see through their own world.
They have their own eyes. We have to respect it. We have to understand it. We have to respect. Nobody sees the truth. All the people see their own reflection on what they are in the world outside.
Respect it. That’s why there are differences. People may not agree with you, which is okay. Everybody need not agree with you. Everybody will not hate you. Neither do they love you. The world is like that.
Youth are our future
The world is a huge variety. This we should understand. In the whole variety of the world, we are an important part of connecting and harmonizing wherever we go.
If this is not going down to the youth level, the next generation will also be studying or growing up, thinking the best thing to do is to make weapons. And weapons are not made for peaceful purposes.
They are made to kill. We have to cultivate that within each and every child and harmonize them. Not to make them something else. Make them themselves. Allow them to be fully themselves. Fully within, organized, and accept them as it is. Through acceptance, they can connect.
Sacred Bharat, the land of acceptance
So what Gandhi stood for is relevant always, and this is a philosophy that Bharat (India) stood for. Because India is the land of acceptance.
Everybody who came to India was accepted as they were. We have proven this practically. A lot of different people came to India over the years. Everybody was accepted without judgment. Never asked to convert to be accepted.
Never said, “Oh, you are not me, so I kill you. You don’t follow what I follow, so I don’t like you.” Never said that. Look at the history, anybody who came to India settled in India.
Any divisions and any types of people overcame. Most of those people came because they could not live in their lands. They came to India, and they became Indians which accepted them as they were.
They are growing their own religion, their own path, their own ideas. Nobody ever had to compromise. Religions are only roadmaps. But spirituality is different. Connection with yourself is spirituality.
Knowing yourself is spirituality. Religion is your choice. If you want to follow a religion, follow the religion. It doesn’t matter. But acceptance should be beyond everything. I’m coming from a land I’m proud of.
That it is a land of acceptance, not a land of tolerance. I don’t like the word tolerance because tolerance is kind of, “Okay. I tolerate you.” Why should I tolerate you? I have to accept you as you are. Then only is there a connection.
If it is tolerance, it’s a kind of, “Okay. Don’t come here. Stay there. I tolerate you.” That’s not what we want. We want to have acceptance where I can connect with you, appreciate what you do, and understand what you do.
Only then there is a friendship, a connection. This is what we need to do. Acceptance. Not only here, not only in one place.
Globally, this is what we need. And that connection should happen. When you are selfless, the connection is longer. When you become selfish, “I want to get something from the other,” The connection is transactional. It won’t last.
Acknowledgements
This is approximately what I thought I would say. It’s Navaratri time, the time of Goddess. Nine days. I’m fasting. I don’t eat solid food. I’ve spent all my energy already. So, thank you once again for inviting me.
I congratulate Tatiana on this program and all the work you do. I wish you great success. Let a lot of people see your exhibition and get inspired. And, to Maya Media, well done; well-organized. Also, to the embassy and, the Indian-Serbian Chamber of Business and Commerce, I appreciate what you do in the world and your addition to the stability of the place, which is really appreciated.
Conclusion
And again, as I said, we are all one. There’s no separation. There’s no country, caste, culture, language, religion, barrier. We are all one. The moment you start feeling it, then we are all connected because we are here only for some time.
Let us have that beautiful relationship while we are here. How long will we be here? We don’t know. But today, while our hearts are beating. Enough information. Let us love each other, and support each other as best as we can.
Also, by somebody else growing, we should be happy. Once other people grow and stabilize, we should be happy because all are us; inside all of us, the energy part is the same. Physically different, but that doesn’t mean anything.
Inside, energy is the same. Where you are born, and what you believe in, it doesn’t matter. Understand more what the energy inside is. The energy inside is what we call life.
That means matter and energy put together are life, and when energy leaves the matter we call it death. Very simple. So while the energy is inside, while we call it life, let us live.
Let us live, not exist. Existing means you are in confusion and in a level of disagreement with the world. Living means you are enjoying that. And for actually, you have to accept every moment.
If you don’t accept every moment, you will always have conflicts. Every situation will not be good, but accept them. Through accepting, you can pass them on. Nothing stays. Happiness doesn’t stay. Sorrow doesn’t stay.
I wish success to all of you. Great energy, positivity, clarity, and may all of you have a great life.
Lots of love. Thank you.
