Dr. Bhagyaji’s Address in Australian Parliament

It was indeed a momentous and historic day for all as Dr Bhagyanathanji, disciple and personal Secretary to His Holiness Maharanyam Sri Muralidhara Swamiji, gave the message of Spirituality and in particular the message of our beloved Master in the Australian parliament for the Launch of the National Mental Health week.

The Honorable Greg Hunt, Health Minister in the auspices of Mental Health Foundation Australia, other federal ministers, fellow parliamentarians and distinguished guests, launched the national mental health campaign.

Honorable Greg Hunt started his speech by commending Sri Bhagyaji’s work in relation to the reality retreat workshop conducted in Fitzroy last week. Honorable Maria V, MP attended the reality retreat session and shared the wonderful experience with Honorable Greg Hunt this morning at the parliament.

Several other Ministers and MPs spoke about various aspects of mental health issues in our community and the ways to address it on an ongoing basis. They also commended the work of Mental Health Foundation Australia in combatting the mental health issues.

The Vice Chairperson of Mental Health Foundation Australia, Mr Vasan Srinivasan, introduced Sri Bhagyaji. He explained in detail the work carried out by Sri Bhagyaji in helping the Mental Health Foundation in the last 2 weeks. He commended Sri Bhagyaji for delivering high-powered speeches explaining the importance of strengthening the mind in addition to strengthening the physical health and intellectual health to lead a healthy and happy life.

Sri Bhagyaji was then welcomed to deliver Sri Guruji’s message. The transcript of his speech is as follows:

“A very good morning to all your wonderful people. What a beautiful day it is and what a memorable occasion it has turned out to be. I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of this land and elders – past, present and emerging. I wish to thank every one of you, great personalities, distinguished guests, Honourable Ministers who are present here and who have taken the time to be here at this wonderful launch. I wish to specially thank the Honourable Ministers and all distinguished guests and personalities who are present here at this launch. And I wish to say a very special thank you and I wish to congratulate the Mental Health Foundation of Australia, the chair person, Mr Jim Goodin and Vice-Chair person Mr Vasan Srinivasan, who to me personally is such a source of motivation.  I would like to greet you all in the traditional way as we greet in India – “Namaste”. Namaste is not ‘Hello, not ‘Hi’.  Namaste means ‘I bow down to every one of you’, in respect for what you do in this great nation.

I come from India, Chennai which is South India and I represent the Global Organisation for Divinity which was founded by my spiritual Guru, my spiritual master, His Holiness Maharanyam Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji who lives in Chennai and who is the reason why I stand here today, to convey this nice little message to you. We as an organization, are headquartered in India, and we do have presence in Australia as well, and across many countries in the world. The core principles that our organisation dedicates itself to, are selfless service to the community, unconditional love for all and inner transformation – which my Guru would always say, is the solution for universal love.

That is the principle that I carry with me, that is the message from my Guru that I carry with me in this momentous occasion. My Guru would always say that every prayer that forms part of the Indian scriptures which have been in existence since time immemorial, are always collective. There is no prayer that’s for an individual; it’s always collective. We say ‘lOkA samastA sukinO bavantu’. In Sanskrit it means ‘may everybody, every being in this world be happy and peaceful’. Not just me. That truly represents the spirit of human beings, isn’t it? to be able to step out from this tiny little circle that we’ve drawn around ourselves called ‘I, me and myself’, and to be able to help another, specially the one in need. That is the prayer that forms part of our scriptures and I wish to share that with you today since that is really what I see before my eyes in this great nation, the government, the people and all these wonderful organisations are taking that step outside that circle to help the ones that need it the most. I salute and bow down to this ‘Spirit of Australia’ – Namaste to every one of you.

Friends, we live in a very fast paced world today. We live in a place where I could be in the middle of a sea of people. and yet feel lonely. I live in a place where striving for excellence in every field has made this world very competitive. It’s so competitive that it’s not just about how good I am, it’s all about how much better I am than the rest of the pack. That’s the reality; that’s how the world is going today. While on one hand we strive to unite, there are many things that are happening that attempt to divide us. We are in this flux, and that has led to the buzz word today, which is ‘stress’. And as my spiritual Guru would put it, the key thing to do in order to relieve stress, is to find that inner peace, that mental wellbeing. He would always say, ‘The mind is the key because wellbeing is not something that is limited to physical and intellectual wellbeing. We gain knowledge all the time and we keep ourselves physically fit, but that’s where it ends. Most of the time we miss out on this third most important aspect that defines us humans. It is the mind that in fact defines us, and mental wellbeing is the key, if we truly wish to lead lives, that define love, peace, and happiness.

I am amazed at the kind of measures that the government is taking to ensure that support is available in every possible way – via support groups, all kinds of services, psychiatric help, help from psychologists. I am amazed to see the effort that is going all around and I truly, truly, bow down to all of that. I would also like to add with all of these external measures, grooming of the mind. This aspect, then completes this circle of wellbeing.

As my Guru would say, ‘you reach out and you reach within, as well’. Reach out – all the help is available. It’s there – the government and all these organisations, the foundation is doing such a wonderful job. Reach within – to find that peace within myself, and that completes this circle.

What will mental wellbeing do? It is going to help everyone of us at an individual level and all of us as humanity. I would tell you how. My Spiritual Master would always give a very nice example. We always say ‘beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder’. When I stand in front of the mirror, I am the beholder. When I look at the image I really don’t like what I am seeing; it’s hazy, it’s not clear. I try in many different ways and adjustments to get it alright. I do everything possible, and it’s really not working. And finally, it strikes me to take a piece of cloth and wipe the mirror. When I wipe the mirror, this image becomes pristine, it becomes clear, it’s beautiful. Why? Because the mirror became clean. That mirror, friends, is the mind. If I manage to clean the mind by spiritual practices such as meditation, yoga, mindfulness, meditation using sacred chants which we call mantras; these practices, wipe clean this mirror and when the mirror is clean, I love the image that I see, it’s beautiful. You know why? Every one of us is uniquely beautiful. That’s how we are. We just need to see it right. That’s how reaching within is going to help me as an individual. That spiritual practice helps to have inner clarity and it will help all of us, because when that inner clarity dawns in me, it leads to inner transformation; and that inner transformation blossoms this love from my heart and when that happens, it is just one step away to universal love. This is what my master would say. That is the key to universal love.

Take a look around you for a minute. The one thing that we see in common, is in fact, the diversity that defines us. We come from different places, we speak different languages, we hail from different cultures, backgrounds, traditions. Even if you were to take the spiritual paths, there are so many. There are infinite paths, meant to take us to that infinite eternal bliss. My Guru would say, that in fact is the strength. That diversity is in fact the real beauty. because we look like a beautiful bouquet of exquisite colourful flowers.

If you notice any tradition, any spiritual path that’s been in existence since time immemorial, the manner in which the founders of those paths won over people – was not by force, not using armies; but they won the hearts of people by ‘love’. BY LOVE – that’s how they won the hearts of people, and even today if the names of these great personalities, spiritual personalities and their lofty ideals and messages are alive with us, it’s because they represent and personify that love.

In short, spirituality is nothing but that love. When we learn to embrace this message, as my Guru would put it, that day is not far off when all of us would be SHAKING HANDS ACROSS CONTINENTS.

Thank you so much!

It’s such an honour and privilege to be here. Before I end I would like to convey my heartfelt appreciation to this beautiful team that’s been inspired by Jim and Mr. Vasan, and headed by Aisha Usman. I’ve been with them for the past 2 weeks and I’m amazed at the way in which they’ve been doing what they do. And I also convey my appreciation to every single multicultural ambassador that I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and interacting with. Thank you for the wonderful work that you’re doing, thank you for having me here. It’s a great honour! Thank you!”

It was a great moment of pride and honour for every member of team GOD Australia as Sri Bhagyaji concluded his speech amidst thundering applause. We are overwhelmed by the Compassion that Sri Guruji has showered on us.