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Gurudev’s first visit to Romania: a conversation on anger, breath, war, and what holds the world together with <\/em>George Buhnici<\/em>, a<\/em> prominent<\/em> Romanian media personality and technology expert<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Buhnici: There’s an interesting symmetry to your being here. Romania spent 45 years under communism trying to abolish inner life. You’ve spent 45 years building it. And this is your first visit. Why now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gurudev: Though I am very late in coming to Romania, I’m happy I could make it. I’ve come only to share the inner strength and the inner life. Today, when there is so much tension and uncertainty and a sort of gloomy atmosphere, it is all the more necessary to bring inner peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Buhnici: Only inner peace? Or also world peace? This is a very tricky moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gurudev: Inner peace is the basis for outer peace. Only a peaceful individual can create a peaceful atmosphere. If someone is disturbed, they only create more disturbance around them. Especially people with responsibility. They have to find inner peace first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Buhnici: A few days ago you were at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. From our vantage point here in Romania, peace is not what we associate with that city. What are you actually trying to achieve?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gurudev: Communication breaks down when there is no trust. And trust breaks down because of perceived threat. If I think you are going to be dangerous to me, I start putting up walls, I stop communicating, I become aggressive. That is human nature. So we need to build trust first, and this can only happen when someone calms down. An agitated person cannot create peace around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Buhnici: Take me into the room. What do you actually say to a leader?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gurudev: I don’t prepare my talk or agenda. I just go, and I’m there. It’s not just words that change people. The media asked me the same thing after Colombia: \u201cWhat did you say that made the FARC agree, when the EU couldn’t, when America couldn’t?\u201d I said, \u201cIt’s not what you say, it’s what you are that makes a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are calm and peaceful, you transmit that to others. More than the words, something else works. I would call it collective consciousness.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Buhnici: Outside this window are ordinary Romanians, many of them visibly angry. Where does all this anger come from?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gurudev: We have never been taught, neither at home nor in school, how to manage the mind, how to manage negative emotions. We keep suppressing, and then it bursts. Today’s youth, not just in Romania but all over the world, swing between two extremes: aggression \u2014 at the drop of a hat, they lose their temper \u2014 or depression, even suicidal thoughts. These two extremes are the cause of the mental health crisis in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is where meditation, breathing, and wisdom help people come together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Buhnici: My audience is technical. Engineers. Breathing sounds vague to them. What actually happens in the body and mind when you modify your breath?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gurudev: We have more than 100 research studies on breathing alone, and 700 on the combination of breathing and meditation. Your body-mind link is through the breath. It can reduce your cortisol level, reduce stress in the body. But beyond that \u2014 just becoming aware of your own mind, your own intellect \u2014 makes a huge difference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You begin to have a say over your own moods. Otherwise people feel terrible and don’t know how to get out of it. Here, you learn how to snap out of a bad mood and come back to yourself.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Buhnici: You completed a science degree at 17, then spent 45 years teaching breath. For an engineer, that sounds like quite a leap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gurudev: I always hold that everything should be seen scientifically. Whether meditation or breathing, everything needs to stand the scrutiny of science. Anything that doesn’t, one need not accept. We are in a scientific age. These techniques are all very scientific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Buhnici: When I say artificial intelligence, does your cortisol rise, or do you stay calm?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gurudev: Artificial intelligence is something everyone should welcome. It is challenging your intellect to be more original, more creative. The anxiety that „I will lose my job“ should be put aside. AI is only challenging you to be more creative and more productive. And there is also something I would call absolute intelligence\u2014the exploration of consciousness itself. That which made everything, including artificial intelligence. The consciousness in you is absolute intelligence. It is the basic substratum of the universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Buhnici: More than 80% of Romanians are Orthodox Christians. Would that absolute intelligence be God to them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gurudev: Religion has its own place in one’s life. Whatever religion you follow, that is a separate matter. But the science of consciousness, which I call spirituality, is common to all religions. It doesn’t come in the way of your beliefs or your prayers. It only brings more depth, focus, clarity, and uplift to one’s spirit. Spirituality is that which keeps you with high energy and happiness from within.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gurudev’s first visit to Romania: a conversation on anger, breath, war, and what holds the world together with George Buhnici, a prominent Romanian media personality and technology expert On Meditation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":45771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[377,206],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gurudev","category-peace"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\n\nOn Meditation and Inner Peace<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nOn Conflict and Collective Consciousness<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nOn Breath, Anger, and the Mind<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nOn Artificial Intelligence and Absolute Intelligence<\/h3>\n\n\n\n