The Seventh Annual Worldwide Meeting on Human Values took place in Monterrey, Mexico, in which HH Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji, President of Parmarth Niketan (Rishikesh, India) and Co-Chair of the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, and Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswatiji, President of the Divine Shakti Foundation and Secretary-General of Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, were warmly welcomed as Spiritual Leaders and keynote speakers. They led two special programs on “Love and Consciousness in Action” with founder/President of Organic India, Shri Bharat Mitra, one was a main keynote address and the other a longer, in depth, interactive workshop.
Pujya Swamiji also led a special prayer for our brothers and sisters in regions of Mexico affected by the recent hurricane, Patricia which was taking place at the time of this function. He reminded those in attendance that it is times of natural disaster that we must all be called into action to prevent massive disasters and to realign our lives so that they can be in harmony with Mother Nature.
Pujya Swamiji said, “Oneness is the key. We must live our lives in peace not pieces, being better not bitter. We need to understand that in a world of Facebook we must face our own book, see where we stand, asking ourselves, ‘How have we served our global family with our thoughts, words and actions?’”
He continued, “We can connect to the internet but must not forget our divine innernet, because as Mahatma Gandhiji said, “There is no point in moving so fast if we are moving in the wrong direction.’ We must ensure that while we expand technologically we also must expand in our consciousness and stay grounded to our common human values, which is so incredibly crucial for our sustainable, harmonious and holistic future.”
Sadhvi Bhagawatiji said, “There is no compassion and love without action. When you truly love then you recognize the other as self, as one with you. Therefore, to serve the self becomes natural and obvious. Hence, expansion of our Global Consciousness is crucial to ensuring that none of our brothers and sisters are ever left without food, shelter, water and the basic necessities needed to survive.”
In this spirit, she led everyone in a beautiful meditation, in both the keynote address and also the workshop.
Additionally at the final. Concluding event of the full conference, she led all the speakers and organizers in a special water blessing ceremony, which was blessed by Pujya Swamiji, and reminded those present of the need to reaffirm our commitment to work for safe and sufficient water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).
Bharat Mitraji said, “All sectors of society, especially the corporate and business sector, must come forward not only to make profit but to know that the well-being of their brothers and sisters, all their employees and clients is intimately inter-linked to their own growth. Therefore, compassion in action and love in action is crucial and sustainable for the business sector. My company, Organic India, has the mission of being a vehicle of consciousness and we are glad to be working with Pujya Swamiji and Sadhviji to impact and help more farmers and individuals in need.”
Other renowned speakers and presenters at the conference included:
- Ms. Mary Robinson, Ireland, Former President of Ireland and UN Special Envoy for Climate Change
- Dr. Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D, USA, Developmental Biologist, author of “The Biology of Belief”
- Justin Rosenstein co-founder of Asana and OneProject.org, along with Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz
- Ms. Barbara Marx Hubbard, EUA, Evolutionist and Author
- Mr. Ervin Lazlo, systems philosopher, integral theorist, and classical pianist, Founder and Former President of the Club of Budapest
- Ms. Rama Jyoti Vernon, USA, Founder of the California Yoga Teacher’s Association and Publisher of the Yoga Journal
- Mr. Ted Chu, chief economist, global economics and strategy at the International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group
- Ms. Sandra De Castro Buffington, Leader for Social Change of Entertainment
- And many other esteemed dignitaries in their respective fields.