TV Channel

Good evening, dear sisters and brothers in the world. I am happy to congratulate you on the International Day of Brother and Sister, called Rakṣā Bandhan. As our dear sister Deepak from Melbourne, who also comes from India, told you, this is a beautiful day. We have Mother's Day, Father's Day, the Day of World Peace, and honor to Mahātmā Gāndhī. The United Nations has also declared the second of October as a Non-Violence Day. There are many days, like the Day of the Tree, and so on. This is the International Day of Brothers and Sisters. I need not explain to you what "brother" means and what "sister" means. If the sister is elderly, she looks after the brother; the brother replaces the place of the sister and also, like a mother. If the brother is elder than the sister, he takes responsibility as a brother and as a father. It means to look after each other. This brother-sister day always happens on the full moon between July and August. It is an ancient tradition, always associated with the full moon. But according to the international date, we can say the first of August is the day of brother and sister. So whenever the full moon comes, of course you should also remember, but the first of August is declared as the International Day of Brother and Sister. It began with this. There was a long story. According to some stories, there was one king or person who was governing everything for thousands of years. Once he saw one lady, and he fell in love. He thought, "This is a beautiful girl, and I want to make her queen." So he told his people to call her. When she heard about this, she knew that something was wrong. So she took with her one beautiful thread. She tied on the thread one nice flower made with some material, and when she came, the king was happy. He came to welcome her, and she took this thread from her pocket and she said, "Can I tie this on your hand?" And he said, "Yes, of course." So he stretched his hand, and she tied the cloth on this thread nicely. And he said, "What does it mean?" She said, "This means a tie between brother and sister. You are my brother, and I am your sister. You are elderly, and you have the responsibility to protect me and love me as your sister." So immediately, he changed his entire thoughts and feelings to marry her, and he didn't have a sister. So, really, he appreciated it very much, and he said, "I have finally found my sister." So he gave her a lot of presents, and he kept his commitment and his promise to protect her in every aspect as his own sister. Now, that tradition began with the brother and sister. In past histories, women always had a hard life. Now, in this modern world, we are trying to have equal rights, emancipation, and respect. These thoughts of emancipation and respect for every woman began from the day of brother and sister. This is the one story. The second story is this: if you are married and live a household life, humans are bound by certain disciplines and certain promises to fulfill or complete the human life. So, always there was that wish to keep the dynasty, a family dynasty; they wished to have a son. Because always, whenever you have a daughter, she is your daughter always, but she is with you only till her age of 20 or 25. And then she goes, or has to go, with her husband to live in the husband's family. She adopts that family as her own family. Of course, for the ladies, or the girls, or the sister, or daughter, it's not easy. It had not been easy to renounce her home in that way, but she had equal rights in the properties. So the parents used to give her what you call nowadays the dowry, but it was not in that way. They replaced half the property, or a percentage, for the three sisters and three brothers, and something like this, to give her so that she is not going with empty hands, and in certain situations, she has everything. Parents were not happy, mothers were not happy, fathers were not happy, brothers and other sisters were not happy when the child left this house and went somewhere to stay there. Of course, the door was always open for her. She comes, she visits the family, she stays there. But now she has to adopt the other house, the house of her husband, as her own property. It is said in Vedic Dharma that your household life and your steps to heaven will only be complete when you also have a daughter. And you have to have this wedding ceremony with the fire and everything, yajña or havan in your own house. Then your house is purified, and you have paid back your certain human duties, dharma, the human dharma. If you have no daughters, then in your house you have to marry your brother's daughter; make a ceremony. If your brother has no daughter, then you take some neighbors or from some friends, you adopt that. Now in this Western culture, what they call godfather or godmother, they take the responsibility of the child, doesn't matter if daughter or son, you adopt that. When you adopt this, you call them God's daughter or God's son. Now, it's not only that you adopted. For you, in your heart, that person has a place as your own son or own daughter. When they are in need, you are always there, like a mother or a father. So this tradition began also according to that Vedic Dharma or Vedic traditions, because the whole world was Vedic. And what means the Vedic? Vedic means to lead a life according to the harmony with nature. The Vedas tell humans they should live in harmony with nature. Not a particular God, but only one God, Īśvara. So this is the tradition that began. So when they got a daughter, they were very happy. Finally, they said, "Now we will be free from some karmas to have this marriage ceremony." And when you marry your daughter, always have the ceremonies in your own house, and the parents and the boy have to come to you. With great ceremonies, with many great mantras, the father and mother, or if the father and mother are not there anymore, then the godfather and godmother, or an elderly brother or uncle. They make this organized ceremony, and her husband, the young man, is coming and sitting there, and she is brought with respect, and she sits there. Then, in the presence of this Agni Dev, the fire, they give her hand to the hand of her husband, and that's called Kanyādāna. So you have given your daughter to this man, and now he holds her hand, and that is a lifelong relation. In the modern way, or in some religions, you give the ring and so on, and you give the hand, holding hands and coming to the altar, to the temple or the church, and everywhere there is a candle or the fire. So in the presence of the divine. So this is the dharma of the household, and that's why many people are not happy when they have no children. If they are married, then they adopt someone. This is when you adopt someone, and really, you must have a connection, a relation as a real daughter. Many people adopt children around the world, everywhere, in every country. There are very strict laws and rules, and they check everything, and then you can adopt a child. They are, from time to time, checking that the child is looked after properly, has an education, and everything. This is one part. Second part, when this young lady is married and first time, then she comes to that house of her future family or the house of her husband. Before entering the house, on the door, the mother-in-law, that young lady, is waiting at the door with a beautiful tray. In the tray, there is light, like a lamp, and flowers, water, coconuts, and certain symbolic things which symbolize luck and happiness, prosperity, etc. And she, the mother-in-law, washed the feet of the daughter-in-law, and then she makes the tilak for her daughter-in-law, and then she makes the ceremony, and then she invites her, "My dear Lakṣmī, my dear daughter. Please step into your house now. This is your house." Mother-in-law knows very well now that the owner of the whole family and house is already here. Mother-in-law, what she got from her mother-in-law, now she shall slowly, slowly give over to her daughter-in-law. What? She will talk to her every day: what is our tradition of our house, the culture of our house, and our friends, our families, who is who, what. So it means she is giving the entire culture of the dynasty of this house. When she sees her daughter-in-law is not following properly, and she's not doing the things, and then her mother-in-law is angry. And that's why mother-in-laws are always bad, people say, no? And nowadays, the young kids, they never ask the parents, on either side. And before marriage, they are already living several years together. They buy their own flat, and they go there. There is no one to perform a ceremony or make anything. Everything is dissolved in the clouds. Such beautiful ceremonies and preparations, you get only once in your life. And when there is some disharmony that comes between husband and wife, they always think five times over, not twice: what I have received during my marriage and entering my house, and this and that. And always they keep in their mind their words in front of the Agni Dev. And the mother-in-law will tell her also about her children, when she will have grandchildren, education, and this and that. So all the ethics, the morals, the spiritualities, the cultural, the social, all the duties and relations have to be accepted. So that brought the families together, happy family, joint family. In many families, there are five generations together. I have one disciple in India; there are many, but I know one very closely because the disciple now sees his fifth generation alive still. And they are proud, and who is the first one in that to be asked and to be respected? The elderly one. The oldest one is God. Old is God. Even you would like to marry someone, but you have to get blessings from your grandparents in their life, and your great-grandparents in their life. And whatever you do, you give something to some guest or someone, you will give it into the hand of the elderly person and tell them, "This is for this person and that person," and they will give it. So it means respect for human life, respect for traditions, respect for generations. And the generation learns also like this. As long as your parents are living, you are a prince. But when they are not anymore, then you are king. So you live as a prince, you don't worry about this and that, but when your parents are gone, then you open both your eyes and say, "Yes, I am responsible." The responsibility comes upon yourself. Then, if you have no brother or you have no sister, so this is the day began, what we call now the international day of brother and sister. So, the sister comes and chooses her brother from any family, any caste, what they call, Brāhmaṇa or Kṣatriya or any. She will bring, and she said, "I want to be your sister, and I want to have you as my brother." No one will say no. That would be a sin. If someone comes and tells you, "I want to adopt you as my brother, or as a son," you should not refuse. If you refuse, it means you have some bad thoughts, or you are not capable. So, you can—it is not a material relationship. Always, a brother has to give something to the sister, but it doesn't matter; you can give one flower. But, of course, in many traditions, they give a lot of things: they give a golden necklace, or they give her a big dress, or they invite her for eating. And this and last year on this Rakṣā Bandhan Day, our Chief Minister of Rajasthan made and announced that all women, all sisters, have today a free transport ticket to go to their brother and come back, you know. So it was, again, brought the connection more closer. It gave a kind of feelings to all the ladies, or women, or the sisters, that even my government supports me, and they are beautiful, beautiful ceremonies on this day, very nice. But when you adopted her as a brother and sister, then you should be as a brother and sister. Unfortunately, some people, and when I introduced this, before 20-30 years, in European tradition, and like this, my sister was very nice to her brother, and this brother thought, "Aha, she loves me in a different way," and they try to fall in love and then marry. That is not allowed. Then that is a, like, a sin, so... You have to respect, and that creates the harmony, certainty, protection, respect, and oneness in the societies. How to maintain the society in such a nice way? So today is the Rakṣā Bandhan. Rakṣā means protection, and bandhan means the tie. So you tie this to your brother's hand, that he and you are always like a brother and sister. If not, then at least once a year you should remember her and send her a nice postcard or flowers, or invite her, or you can send her money—no problem, everything. So give something. Sister will bless you. She will send you; she will come with blessings. I was there a few days, a few weeks ago, before coming here, I was in Bangalore in the Gurukul where the Avatāpūr is studying, and there is a director of this school, the Gurukul, and a principal, and so the director came. I greeted him, or he greeted me, and when his wife came, I said, "How are you, sister?" Normally, in India, we will call any woman a sister. And who is elderly, like 20 years older than you, automatically we will say, "Mātājī, the mother." And elderly people, when they see you, that you are younger than them, about 20 years here, or 30 years, or 40 years younger than them, automatically they will call you, "My son." Or my daughter. Now it is all changing. They said, "Madam," and then, "Sir," name, and in aeroplane, in Indian Airlines, they are announcing, "Devya, bhaya," or "Devya." Devi means goddess. Devi means all, all women. So you call the ladies, but they call Devīyā and Vāhyā. So still they, because this is Air India, representing the Indian culture, announce in the Hindi language. They said like this, they said, "Namaste." So in the old language, the women are seen as goddesses. So that's why all elderly women are there, we call them Māṭājī, the mother. And you can freely tell anybody, "My son, how are you, son? How are you, daughter?" So this maintains very nice human relations. So this is the day of the brother and sister's protection and promise, commitment which we do and we shall follow. And that's very important in this world: to create harmony, understanding, peace, and love. So this is the day called Rakṣābandhan. And now, of course, you are so many sitting here in this hall. There are also many sisters and many brothers sitting. Of course, if you wish someone except your husband or your wife, no. Then, with them, you can do not. Your son and your daughter, of course, you also don't do. But otherwise, you can respect, acknowledge, and make your brother or your sister, and always remember. But before you make, you should know that you will strictly follow the principle. Only that today is your sister, and after some time, oh, many times it happens because I inspire the people and they become brother and sister, and then they, then they find out, actually we were not like brother and sister, but what is this? I mean, can we marry? So this subject I can't tell you more. Therefore, you have to think, and our duty is to protect and maintain this beauty. Of course, if you don't want, you don't need to. But if you make someone a brother or a sister, then you should follow the principle. Any questions? Yeah, you can be a sister. Sister, no problem. Yes, of course, sister, sister, of course. You must have a sister. Otherwise, we have only brothers and brothers. Yes, sister can have, because there is one sister and ten brothers. That depends on your father and mother. So, and that's why also, in our ancient or Indian culture, Indian traditions, we always say "bhaiyā" or "bhaiyā." And dear sisters and brothers, or dear brothers and sisters. You will only see addressing any events, mostly the Indians will say, "Dear brothers and sisters." Now they begin, ladies and gentlemen. So there is no relation. You say, "Ladies and gentlemen, there is no relation." But when you see your brothers and sisters, now you accept it. You created a beautiful relation. So on this day of International Day of Brothers and Sisters, I congratulate you all, my dear brothers and sisters, all the brothers and the sisters of the Rakṣabandhan relation they have. And also your own sister from your blood relative, and this other wish you all the best and love. I pray to Mahāprabhujī, Devapurījī and Gurujī to protect you, give you good health, a healthy life, a happy life, a harmonious life and spiritual development. All the best. When you want to have a sister and you want to give a sister, then you have to give her some sari or some cloth. Everyone, old diamond brother, except someone, other brother. They were exchanging their turban, so he gives his turban to the other one, and the other gives the turban to him, and they hug them. There's now we are brothers and sisters. It's a beautiful thing, that's. It's all the best, and there are many stories, many, many stories. I remember one story, very beautiful, sorry, from the Bhagavad Gītā, Mahābhārata. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, all incarnations of God, they come for nimitta, avatāra. For a particular purpose, they bring the dharma back, and they remove the adharma. So there is a story in the Mahābhārata. There was one king, and his name was Śiśupāla. And Śiśupāla was very negative and very like a devil, you know, criticizing, blackmailing, backbiting, cheating, and many, many things. So Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, and he was shouting on Kṛṣṇa. There was one meeting, an audience with the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas, and many other kings were there. Śiśupāla stood up, and he began to humiliate Kṛṣṇa. So Arjuna and Bhīma and others say, "Kṛṣṇa, why are you not doing anything? He is directly blaming and shouting at you." Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said, "The pot is still not full." You understand what I mean? One drop fills the pot. Or this one nice book from one of the Bhaktas from Perth, who wrote a very nice PowerPoint, a small book. It is called "The Bottle is Full." So we call the pot is full. So Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said his pot is still not full. So they said, "When will it be full?" He constantly said, "Yes, I am counting 13 mistakes more, and then Śuddhāsana Chakra will go." So, and he said certain things, and it was thirteen times. So when Bhagavān Viṣṇu—which he normally would never do—sometimes does, then he puts Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa raises his index finger, his right index finger, and immediately when he thought this disc, the Sudarśana Cakra appeared. Then Shishupala began to run because he thought, "Now is the end." But without doing like this, automatically Sudarśana Cakra went and followed. The Śiśupāla chipped his neck and came back, then disappeared. But what happened? The Śiśupāla, the Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, had a little injury on his finger. Blood begins to come because it went so quickly, the Sudarśana Cakra. Draupadi was standing beside Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa and many others, and all said, "Oh Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, your finger is injured, hurt," and this and that. Everybody said, "Oh, we should bring some plaster or something." Draupadi was standing. She had a beautiful sari made of very nice material. Without thinking, without delaying, she took her sari and she tore her sari and wrapped it on Krishna's finger. Krishna looked at her and smiled. And he said, "Draupadī, you made me, what do you call, a reṇī?" A reni, from whom you have given loans. A loaner, you made me a loaner. You made me that I am the debtor. Draupadī, each thread of your saree, time will come and billions of times I will pay you back. After the Mahābhārata's story goes further, when the Pāṇḍavas were playing and the Kauravas were playing, they lost everything in their gambling. He played even Draupadī and everything, kingdom and brothers and himself. That was one of the weaknesses of Yudhiṣṭhira. Though Yudhishthira was known as Dharmarāja Yudhishthira, the king of justice, he spoke, he said, he kept it. The Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas, the Pāṇḍavas were helpless because they lost, they played themselves also. And Duryodhana wanted to have Draupadi here in front of all and pull her sari away. And she didn't want to come, so he sent his brother, Duśāsana. And he pulled her hair and sari, and he brought her there. All were sitting there, many kings, and Duryodhana was there, and Bhīṣma was there, and many, many heroes were there. But none of them was in power to say no. And this poor Draupadī, they brought her up. And Duryodhana said to his brother, Duśāsana, "What are you waiting for? Pull her sari away." So he went and he tried to pull her sari away. And that time, Draupadī said, "Oh God, now you are my mother and father. You are my relatives and my friends. You are my knowledge and my prosperity, oh Lord. You are everything, Lord." And you know, Krishna was not there, but he didn't forget. She was praying, "Krishna, Krishna, Govinda, Gopāla," and within no time, it came. The sari, one side he was pulling, but the other side, the double sari was on her body. He was pulling and pulling. Hours and hours, there was like a ton of material. The sari was still draped, fully dressed, not one centimeter of her body was naked. He fell down, Duryodhana, Duśāsana. He was tired and he fell down, but he couldn't take away the cloth of Draupadī. Then, when it was finished, Krishna smiled and said, "Okay, Draupadi, my promise is fulfilled on the day when you wrap a piece of your sari on my finger, and that's it. When you promise, don't forget for life." This is your deal, so we have to... Human life is a beautiful human life. It is full of principles, dharma, and humans have to... but at the time when a human will act negatively, then there is no chance that anyone can save us, and therefore, love, kindness... Humbleness, discipline, forgiveness, understanding, and so the humans have to send the love, because God will see everything: what you hear, what you speak, what you do. So all the traditions, what is coming, they are to tie the families together. What is the Christmas? Christmas, everyone goes home and they celebrate with the family, and you write the letter or telephone. When you didn't phone your friend the whole year, at least you should telephone for Christmas or for the New Year. So this keeps people together again. So on Christmas day, everyone is wishing each other well and all the best, and this. On Diwali, the festival, or the holy festival, or day of brother and sisters, or day of father, day of the mother. And so these are all festivals to remind the humans that we should be for each other in kindness and in a loving atmosphere. We should maintain our human relations, kindness, and the humanity that is in our day-to-day life. So, wish you all the best. So, there are many, many,... Many stories, beautiful, beautiful. So if we talk and repeat all, I can talk for years. So, I wish you once again all the best. And tomorrow, same time again, we have the full moon and again the same message. Tomorrow, I will speak again about Rakṣā Bandhan, and many will have tomorrow already. Sisters are going early morning to their brothers' home, and like this, brother is coming to sister, so that's why, a few hours ahead, I wish you all the best.