"That the machine, one day, if you do not assert your freedom and a proportionate understanding of the powers of the machine, you might just be finished completely."
- Saturday 17th March 1984, New Delhi (India).
Dear Will,
The quote above is taken from a lecture by the late Mrs Nirmala Srivastva (1923 - 2010), the wife of the late Dr. C. P. Srivastava KCMG, former Secretary-General Emeritus of the UN International Maritime Organisation.
Dr C.P Srivastava, as a global diplomat and founding chancellor of the World Maritime University (WMU), has indirectly contributed to the relative harmony and cooperation in the field of international maritime relations. This is because, as the graphic below indicates, WMU alumni populate the touchpoints in maritime negotiations between countries across the globe.
Sir CP, as he was affectionately called, in recognition of his award by Queen Elizabeth II of the Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and of St. George (KCMG) - investiture photo shown below - stated that his "life has been greatly influenced by his wife" and "has been motivated by her vision of one human family" in echo of the Sanskrit saying: 'vasudhaiva kutumbakam' - 'the world is one family'.
In pursuit of this sacred moral injunction in her own right, Mrs Nirmala Srivastrava (aka Shri Mataji) founded Sahaja Yoga in 1970. The aim of which has been to reveal and actualise the potential in every human being for 'self-realisation' and the discovery that we are all bound to each other and to the natural world by a single thread of life that weaves everything together. And which can be felt on the central nervous system of an individual.
Shri Mataji described this as a necessary evolutionary refinement of the CNS. She compared this to the development of the aesthetic sensibility that sets human beings apart from the lower animals.
I could go further into this as I've been teaching Sahaja Yoga for more than 20 years. But it's just to give some background to the quote at the top of this email about the existential risk of "the machines". A 4-minute video clip from which the quote is taken is viewable here.
Best wishes
Peter
London, UK
