Revolutionary speech to United Nations by Vipassana Meditation Teacher

Following are some of the excerpt from the Speech " The ancient land of India gave a message of peace and harmony to the world, to all humanity, but it did more: it gave a method, a technique, for achieving peace and harmony. To me it seems that if we want peace in human society, we cannot ignore individuals. If there is no peace in the mind of the individual, I do not understand how there can be real peace in the world. If I have an agitated mind, always full of anger, hatred, ill will and animosity, how can I give peace to the world? I cannot because I have no peace myself. Enlightened persons have therefore said, "First find peace within yourself." One has to examine whether there is really peace within oneself. All the sages, saints, and seers of the world have advised, "Know thyself.".. " In late August 2000, Goenkaji participated in the Millennium World Peace Summit, a gathering of 1000 of the world's religious and spiritual leaders, held at the United Nations under the auspices of Secretary-General Kofi Annan.