London 17th May 2024

The Friday morning of Daaji’s visit to London saw the arrival of several practitioners from across the United Kingdom and Europe joining Daaji for the European Seminar from May 17–19 at The InterContinental. Preparations were in full swing as hardworking volunteers, who had spent six weeks preparing for both Daaji’s visit and the seminar, congregated onsite at the hotel to start setting up the meditation hall, rooms for individual sittings, registration tables, marketing collateral, and more to ensure a successful seminar.

Meanwhile, in the morning, Daaji came down the lifts and into the hotel lobby after breakfast, where he was greeted by several United Kingdom and European practitioners whom he had not seen in many years. After greeting many of them, Daaji prepared to visit the Commonwealth Headquarters, Marlborough House, for the 22nd Commonwealth Education Ministers meeting, as well as a special Memorandum of Understanding signing. At the Global Spirituality Mahotsav, held in Kanha in March 2024, Daaji was conferred as Global Ambassador of Peacebuilding and Faith to the Commonwealth by Her Excellency, Rt Hon Patricia Scotland, KC, Commonwealth Secretary-General. In January 2024, Her Excellency was awarded the inaugural Heartfulness Changemaker Award.

Daaji was welcomed with a big, warm hug at Marlborough House by Her Excellency. They chatted for a few minutes (with Her Excellency once again expressing her delight about Brighter Minds) before sitting down together to review and sign a Memorandum of Understanding, confirming a lasting partnership between Heartfulness and the Commonwealth around the areas of wellness, education, and environment.  

“Heartfulness is ready to share this spiritual ‘know-how’: how to save our planet through various means of conservation, preservation, and restoration of water, soil, and air; education, of course, is a main thing, aside from spirituality. So we are moving in all directions, at multiple levels, in multiple dimensions. Yoga, especially, through the mind and meditation, is an extraordinary tool to improve quality of life. It can enrich everyone’s life. You need not have faith, you need not have to be religious about it. Anyone can practice it.

I’m privileged and honored to sign this Memorandum of Understanding between the Commonwealth and the Heartfulness Institute. It is a memorable day.”

After signing the MOU, Daaji was escorted into the Commonwealth Education Ministers meeting, where he was invited by the Chair to provide his perspective on the theme, “Beyond 2030: Towards a Resilient Future through Education.” During his talk, Daaji highlighted 'thought' pollution as the root cause of all problems currently affecting the world. Daaji did a small Brighter Minds demonstration—many ministers laughed as they struggled to get their fingers moving in a consistent rhythm—and encouraged all ministers to try meditation as they work together to achieve their goal of building resilience in young people around the world.

After saying goodbye to Her Excellency and the team, Daaji returned to InterContinental London – The O2, where he was greeted by over 1500 practitioners from across Europe who had all arrived for the European Seminar. Daaji was delighted to see everyone but was quickly ushered to his room so he could take a rest in preparation for the start of the seminar.

While he rested, seminar volunteers were busy checking in guests, ensuring that everyone had a hotel room, confirming that coffee and tea were available, and reveling in the thrill of being together after years of not being able to meet. There was a very special energy in the air.

The theme for the seminar was “Neither Here Nor There.”. All the practitioners began sitting in the hall at least an hour before the start of the seminar to prepare for the meditation. Lynn Geddes and Monique Divanach warmly welcomed everyone to the seminar, introducing the theme and the flow of the seminar while also underscoring how special it was for everyone to be together after such a long time. Daaji entered a hall filled with love and welcome for him and conducted the first meditation session of the seminar. After the meditation, Daaji left the hall, and all the guests retired for the evening.

Daaji had his dinner, then met with many of the local practitioners in the evening, who wanted to share their thoughts on activities happening in their local centers and get his perspective on how to move forward. Soon after, Daaji retired to sleep.