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Salutations and adoration to Satguru Dev, Devpurījī, Bhagavān Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī, and Svāmī Madhavānandajī Satguru Dev. Good morning, dear brothers and sisters around the world and here in this hall. A beautiful blessing is coming to you from a beautiful country of Ireland called New Zealand and a beautiful city. This is called, what is it? Jonasberg or no? Auckland. Yes, beautiful city, Auckland. We had a very beautiful wind in the night, a nice wind singing in the trees. They announced a storm, but it was not a storm. I was prepared for the storm. They said there would be floods, a lot of floods. I was thinking, oh, I will enjoy going for volunteer service somewhere. And it was a disappointment. There was no flood and no nuts like that. So, it was a very pleasant wind and pleasant rain. I was waiting till 3 o'clock in the night, thinking something will happen, but nothing happened. Then you said 6 o'clock will be, so at 4:30 I got up and I said, "Now something will happen." So, it happened one thing: I had a good dream, that was the best. Thank you. Yes, it's a beautiful day and a beautiful time, and we have today a very nice, beautiful subject. In fact, actually, everyone is wondering, thinking about spiritual devotion. What do you understand about spiritual devotion? That's a very good question. Would you like to hear this, Om Prakash? Yeah, the question was asked by one of the very good students, like you, two years younger than you, and he is very great, and especially, he is already getting world champion in table tennis. What kind of champion will you be? Basketball? Very good. There are two things: spirituality and devotion. Let's first come to the point of spirituality. What do we understand about spirituality? For me, spirituality means purity, crystal clear pure, and that purity, pure is called God. Consciousness, you may see pure, or the light, or the truth. That's called Brahma Satya Jagata Mithyā. All that we can see here in this world, what is happening in this world, is all temporary and changeable. But that eternal truth is unchangeable, unspeakable, everlasting, eternal, immortal. So transparent clarity, that is spiritual. And so we try to connect our consciousness with that purity. Now, there are different kinds of purity in our physical world. So there are, as Mahāprabhujī said, two kinds of purities, the inner and outer. So the inner spirituality is connected to the divine, and outer spirituality is connected to this world. Purity, purification first comes where you live. What kind of air is there? Which kind of environment is there, pollution or clean air? Well, nowadays you are living in big cities, working the whole day within four walls. In many cases, there are no windows; everything is air-conditioned. Oxygen is very little. All the time, the air is circulated again and again. And then comes the weekend, and you go to the woods for a little walk. You say, "Oh, I can't breathe." So that's the purity. So first, to live in the environment where the pure nature, pure air. Second, eating. What you eat influences your body, your mind, your intellect, and all your way of life or actions. So eat limited and eat sāttvic food. So in Āyurveda and in the Bhagavad Gītā, it is also written in the third chapter, when it is about karma and yoga, about the guṇas, the three guṇas: rajas guṇa, tamas guṇa, and sattva guṇa. And the particular food which we take may be, it is a rajas guṇa more, or tamas guṇa more, or sattva guṇa more. To maintain the purity, we have to take sattva-guṇa food. Sattva guṇa food is vegetarian and also limited, less milk production and less grains, of course, lentils, fruits, vegetables, and so on. There are a lot of proteins in the lentils and soybeans. Soya has more protein than people think. In the meat, they have more protein, but it's not. In the meat, the protein is not alive. So, sattvic food gives more quality to our life. And with better qualities in our life, we can better learn, concentrate, meditate, work, or maintain harmonious relations in society. What kind of food you are eating, like that your thinking will be, your behavior will be. What kind of liquid you drink, like that you will speak. If you drink nice fresh water, or you drink a cup of milk, or you drink a glass of juice, you feel so happy and balanced. But if you drink a glass of alcohol, then already your tongue seems to be thicker and your pronunciation is not so clear. And you know how you begin to speak. I heard yesterday someone told me here in Auckland that, unfortunately, every Friday at 5 o'clock in every office and company, people offer alcohol and they consume so much they are drunk, and accidents happen, and sometimes taxis, they... Take the taxi, and the taxi man asks, "Where do you want to go?" And they are so drunk that they do not even know where they should go. Now, I was wondering, these things people are allowing in the society to do. But if you will go and sit and meditate or relax, they think that is not good. So, how has the world's thinking turned in an unhealthy way, and why don't they see that this is harmful? They can offer nice milk and juice, very, very good. You can offer, okay, maximum one cup of coffee or give them a good meal, but alcohol is a big business in the world now. The biggest drug abuse is alcohol. And you know, the alcoholic person is very, very sad and very much suffering, and it is very hard to get rid of the alcohol habit and the recreation. But this is allowed. This is okay. You can have an accident, no problem. We have an ambulance, and we have an injury, no problem. We have a hospital and surgery. That they will allow. One broken spine, no problem. We have wheelchairs. But meditation, relaxing, and doing something good, this they don't allow. So, it is beautiful to think, to maintain the health and atmosphere in the world, in the society, to turn to the sāttvic way of life. And I also was wondering, why do people drink then? Okay, if they offer, say, "Thank you, I'm going. I don't want to drink." If someone offers you poison, will you drink poison? No, it's my company, okay. I drink poison. How will you come home? There is a car for the funeral. The dead body should be transferred by car. So it is your decision, an individual decision, whether you accept or not. If you will not accept, it does not mean that they will hold you and put the alcohol bottle in your mouth. No. At last, it is, finally, your decision if you want to do it or not. And like this, there are some people who are taking other kinds of drugs. And then you say, "Try a little and try." A little trying is so harmful that you become addicted. You become dependent on this. And then you are forced to take it from your body. Your body asks again to have this. Addiction means to add more and more. Adding more and more, so the sāttvic quality of life is purity. Then you can meditate, or you can go with friends, talk nicely, and have good relations in the families. Many children are afraid that their father or mother will come home completely drunk, and they begin to quarrel. Children are afraid. So not only this, you are damaging the children's life too, but that you accept it. But not when you come and meditate a little bit on this. Now, in which kind of company you are, in whose society you are, like that color you will take. Color means habit, qualities. So, outer purities in the food, this, and then, of course, clean clothes, washing yourself, is called self-respect. There is a difference between ego and self-respect. When you are properly dressed, you are properly washed; it's a respect to others. And when you respect others, it's a respect to you. If you don't wash for ten days, you just go with the same socks and same thing. My God, the whole bus knows that you are, again, the same passenger entering the bus. And in the office, poor people who are working in your office, and you can't open the windows, and sometimes you take your shoes a little out to move your toes, and the whole room is smelling like spoiled cheese from the socks. And the problem is that one doesn't feel that bad smell because one is already dipped in this. So respect to show to others also, proper behavior. So outer purification also, what we call your house and your room. How does your room look when you enter your home? Many people come home and throw the shirt there, the jacket there, and one sock in this corner, with the other sock in front of the bathroom door. Yeah, and one shirt somewhere else, and one cup lying there, and a plate lying there; half-eaten bread is lying somewhere. Your flat looks like after an earthquake. So always keep things in the right place. In German they say, "Ordnung ist eine Bahnstraße." Everything has its right place in order, meaning it is one-way traffic. That no other traffic crosses your room. So, make your room before you go to school or to work. When you get up, don't just throw your blanket away; half the pillow is lying down, and you go quickly. Hair brushing, and then you go to school. I slept very little. Teachers say, "Why?" I was looking at television. Why did you look at the television till so late? Look in your reading books, learn something. So students have to clean their room nicely. When they come, they feel fresh and clean and nice, like in the military. You have to get up, you have to make your bed. Yes, that's very, that is a good training. That's a discipline. Discipline makes life comfortable. So, outer purification and what we call your toilet and bathroom. Your toilet and bathroom are the nose of the house. You can judge how people are when you see their bathroom and toilet, how clean it is. If you can clean your bathroom after washing and this, it takes three minutes. And when you don't clean the whole week, then it takes you three hours. And still not proper, and suddenly some guest comes, and you are saying, "Oh God, what will they think?" So it takes one minute, two minutes to make everything tight in your room nicely. Always look good. Inner purification means first, positive thinking. And this positive thinking is like this. That if someone makes a mistake, and I am angry at that person, then think, if I would be in that place, and that person would be very angry with me, how would I feel? If you hurt someone, feel that: if you were hurt by someone, how would you feel? Always compare others with your feelings. Then there will be no aggression, no aggressivity, there will be no anger and no hate. Positive thinking is purification, called spirituality. So forgiveness, understanding, positive thinking, and if there is a problem, then find a solution so that you and your other friend, they all remain in good relation as friends, and that you help the friends to solve the problem. Time to time, go for a walk, and let's talk and look at the beautiful nature and birds and this. It makes you, boy, very happy. Read nice books, inspirational books. Now, in this Kali Yuga, all good books are in the library, locked in. What do you read every morning? The newspaper. And what in the newspaper is written? Where is the earthquake? Where's the oil? The sheep is broken? Who was killed? What happened? Good news is not there. So all the time, negative news you are feeding early morning already. It creates in you anger or fear. Very rare people in the morning will get up and have a cup of coffee and look, read the Līlāmṛt or Bible or the Quran or the Rāmāyaṇa or the Gītā or Upaniṣads or some good books which give you nice inspiration. Whole day, you have beautiful thoughts. So this is spirituality. Now, devotion. Devotion means respect. Devotion means surrender. We surrender our mistakes. We surrender our weaknesses. We believe there is a higher level of consciousness. We believe there are some higher principles in this universe, and we believe that this all is supporting us; they are not against us. So, devotion means that we would like to get a connection or relation harmonious. Never be afraid of God. Many people think, "Oh, God will punish you," this and that. No, God will not punish you. It is you who are punishing yourself. Go to God, go to the Gurudev, go to the temple, go to the spiritual persons, like you go to your mother or your father, without fear. Even if you have fear towards your father and mother, you should not have fear towards them. So we maintain, we maintain a higher and pure relation. That's called devotion. Devotion, spiritual devotion, means not that I must pray, "Oh God, God will punish me, forgive me, my God, forgive me, my sins." No, no, don't fear. Just God is your best friend. God is the one who loves you most, more than anyone. He is the supreme, the highest, the Śiva consciousness. So there is someone who loves you, that is Śiva. Shiva loves you always. That Shiva is in everyone. Doesn't matter if you call Krishna or Rāma or Jesus or Mohammed, it doesn't matter whom. That spiritual divine consciousness is Śiva consciousness. So don't be afraid. God loves us. All spiritual beings love us. And there are no negative devils in this space. The devil and negativity are our thinking, our fear, our imagination creates the enemy and devil. So devotion means humbleness, kindness, purity, and that means you love, you respect, and that is a pure love, spiritual devotion. If you help a blind person to cross the street, it is a spiritual devotion. If you help a needy person, it is a spiritual devotion. If you remove some piece of glass or stones from the way, or the thorns which are lying on the path, that is a spiritual devotion. So spiritual devotion must not be only to the name of God or towards God. See the God in everyone. Why do you remove the thorns? You have sinned. You need not step on it. You can just go. But you are thinking that someone may come and not see the thorns, and will step and get the thorns in the face. Or some dog or some cat. They may step on a thorn, and they can have thorns. So you are thinking already in the future to do good things, and that now you are thinking now, you are doing good now, that will be in the future for you a good fruit coming. So, spiritual devotion: be good with your friends, be good with your parents, be good with your partners. Come home at a reasonable time, don't wander here and there the whole night. That's very important. One thing I like in New Zealand very much. Though I was a little bit not happy, I like it very much. You know, yesterday after our beautiful Sudhāra Kriyā, you liked it? The complete ceremony, Sudhāra Kriyā. Then I said, let us go to some vegetarian restaurant or Indian restaurant. And they said, "9:30, nearly 10. There are no restaurants open." I said, "What? 10 o'clock, no restaurant open for eating?" He said, "Of course." What do you think, Swamiji, who will go at 10 o'clock for eating? Here the Kiwis, those in New Zealand, maximum 8 o'clock, okay, maximum longer, 9 o'clock, then go home and sleep. That I like very much. I see in Austria and Vienna our dinner time begins in the restaurant at 10 o'clock, 10 till 1 o'clock, the peak time for eating. Yes, they are all sitting everywhere in Europe. All restaurants are open. They close when they are waiting and sleeping. No one is coming, and they are sleeping. They are looking, opening their eyes, and they say, "Maybe one more euro will come." No euro is coming. Maybe some alcohol person will come and bring five euros. Then they see there is no chance anymore. Then they close and go. It is the money that lets people dance. So it was nice that they said, "No more eating business, 10 o'clock," except for some hotels and some restaurants, and that's for the tourists. Because tourists come to risk their sleep, their rest, and everything. So, spiritual devotion is a service to all. Spiritual devotion you can have also to your trees, your flowers, your gardens. So, have a harmonious, loving, positive relation to nature, relation to the world, relation to people, and relation to thyself. Show yourself that you are a spiritual person. You are not that one who, on Friday after five o'clock, begins to drink, even if the company gives you drinking. The Monday you come to the work and destroy the computer. Your company owner will say, "Why, what happened? You destroyed the computer?" Sir, Friday alcohol is still active in me. Then they will realize they should not give alcohol on Friday. So, spiritual devotion, spiritual bhakti, is the best bhakti, was given by Kṛṣṇa. Spiritual devotion is to give, and don't think that spiritual devotion is only sitting in the church, in the temple, or in the ashram. No, not only this: active, positive thinking, harmonious thinking, loving thinking, kind thinking, forgiveness, and feeling others as your own. Others' property also feels like your property. Do not destroy others' property. When you are in a hotel, all the lights are burning and you go out. No, that is not good. You should put off the lights and then go out for drinking tea or coffee or eating. When you come in, it needs one hand moving. You can put the light on, so thanks to God. Now the hotel people know that the guests don't care about the light, so when you take the key out, the light goes off. Four minutes automatically off, but you have to feel others' property like your property always. Wherever I am in the hotel, if I see that the bathroom water is leaking or not good, then I informed the counter. They said, "Really?" Our cleaners didn't tell us. I said, I am the second cleaner to tell you. You can do it. So think that no one's property is destroyed. There are some people who, while walking, make scratches on different cars. That's not good. How will you think if someone makes this crisis on your car? So that's not a spiritual behavior. So a spiritual person will always feel others as your own, to protect them, to save them. Then the world will be very happy and well. So, my dear ones, I wish you all the best, and the next webcast will be tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning, do you have any more webcasts? Tomorrow evening, the webcast will come from Wellington, around 7:30 Auckland time, also 7:30 European time, but you have evening, we have, you will have morning and we will have evening. Thank you. And finally, we will announce, because now we are changing. Thank you. And if you are coming to Auckland, hurry up, book your ticket, and welcome. But before you come, you should announce the organizers if they have a place free or not, because everything is booked, especially because of the Sudarśana Kṛiyā. People are running from different parts of the world, and I think this Sudarśa Kriyā, maybe I will only introduce New Zealand and Australia. For Europe, I will wait still, so that all Europeans come here. Good? Good. So, we will announce you in the next program. Thank you. All the best, and God bless you. Wish you all, and wish you very pure spiritual devotion. Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān kī, Dev Puruṣa Mahādeva kī, Dharma Samrāṭa Sattva Guru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān. Oṁ Śānti.