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Om śānti śānti… Śānti śānti… Among the many spiritual techniques, the best and easiest is satsaṅg. Ultimately, the only way to enter the door of the Supreme is through satsaṅg. One enters the kingdom of the Lord through the gate of sacrifice. Our beloved Sadgurujī used to say, "To reach the court of that God, there is only one way: the way of renunciation." What is renunciation? It is not the renunciation of wealth, house, or material things. The real renunciation is of our desires. With the renunciation of anger, greed, attachment, and ego, a human can become truly human, and a Nārāyaṇa can become manifest as Nārāyaṇa. Some people ask, "What is the result of satsaṅg? What is the benefit?" In this context, our Tulsidāsjī has said that in one hour, there is half an hour, and in the other half, there is a full hour. He also said: tulsi saṅgaṭa sādhu ke hare koṭi aparādha. And Draupadī said: santa mile itanā tāle, kāla jāla jaṃ choṭa, śiṣa namāī giripade, krodha pāpana kī poṭa. It is said that if one goes to the satsaṅg of saints with pure feeling, one is freed from the sins of countless lifetimes. But the feeling must be the right feeling. One goes with the feeling for profit, not for wealth. Today, the feeling for gold might be 500 rupees. But in reality, there are many types of illusion: the illusion of wealth, the illusion of caste, the illusion of status, the illusion of form, the illusion of physical strength, and so on. There are many types of illusion. Ahaṃkāra remains ahaṃkāra until there is no color in it. There is a scene: near a small village, there was a hill with a beautiful cave. But that cave is not visible to everyone. Only the fortunate can see it at any time; otherwise, it remains hidden. Three or four college and university students used to go there daily near the mountains. There were five of them. One of them saw the cave. He said to his friends, "Look, this cave is so beautiful. We have never been inside. Let's go in today." He thought this and went inside. They went 50 meters, 100 meters, 200 meters, 300 meters, and it was getting dark. One of them said, "Hey friends, if you go further inside the cave, you will forget the way. You will keep wandering your whole life. You will forget and will not be able to come out. Come back." Everyone agreed it was right to go back, or else life would be lost. One of the students was studying science. He said, "Let's see what kind of soil is in the cave, what its color is, what kind of stones are here." As soon as he bent down to take some soil, he heard a voice from the cave: "Oh children, be careful, be careful. If you take anything from here, you will have to repent." Everyone stood up, startled. But one said, "No, I will take it." He bent down again to take the soil. Then he heard a voice saying, "Hey, you mischievous one, I said you will have to go to pistānā (a state of regret/suffering). Don't take anything from here." The others said, "You are very mischievous. You are a fool. Wherever we go, you do something like this. You put us all in trouble. Come with us. Leave it." He was also scared. Still, he thought to himself, "Chalo, pistānā paḍegā to pistānā hī paḍegā. Vo bole ke nahī̃, chalo, sabhī ne unko pakar liyā." Then they turned to leave. But it is also true that even if you don't take anything, you will regret it. If you take it, you will face regret, and if you don't take it, you will also face regret. The other four said, "Whether regret comes or not, we will not take anything." He said, "But when we have this choice—if we take it, it will be sad, and if we don’t take it, it will be sad—let's take it." He bowed down, quickly picked up some soil, took it in his hand, and put it in his kurta. As soon as he came out of the cave, the cave disappeared. It was no longer visible. He took his hand out of his pocket and opened his fist. He saw diamonds inside. What were they? Diamonds. He thought that if he had taken two fistfuls… The others also said, "If we had taken something, we would have also gotten diamonds." They kept lamenting that they could not take it. So, this cave is like the form of satsaṅg. It is an ashram. You come to its gate, you leave from here, you think about it, you go inside and see. You are sitting in satsaṅg. You are understanding something; you are not understanding something. Some people may think, "Mahārāj is speaking well, but I will call him later." So, the delusions in our mind create fear in us. Should I follow this path of devotion? Should I follow this spiritual path or not? I don’t want to go. There is a desire to take, and a desire not to take. One thinks, "I don’t know what will happen, what will not happen. Is this true or not true?" Yet, the one who gains knowledge from one word can attain salvation from one word. I am speaking about the glory of satsaṅg. So, this was one example for satsaṅg. There is one more example. What happens when you listen to a word? It remains with you. In the olden days, there used to be dacoits. They also had a village or a small colony. There were small kingdoms, villages of Thākurs or Rājās who had 10-20 villages. There was an old man who was the head of a village of dacoits. He had three children. The old man was 75 or 80 years old. He was dying. His children stood up and said, "Father, what is your wish? Tell us, we will fulfill it. It seems you are suffering a lot, you are in pain, you want to leave this body. But your mind is stuck somewhere." The old man said, "Yes, son, this is the thing. I am worried about you. You people did not understand me, did not listen to me, did not pay attention to me. Now my last time is coming. How will you live? I tried hard to give you an education, but you did not accept it. You could not understand." The sons said, "Father, tell us. Allow us to know." Then the old man said, "Son, my only concern is the king. The Rājā has only one son, and he is a very dangerous person. If he ever finds out that you people do dacoity and stealing, he will burn you alive. I am worried about this." The sons said, "Father, tell us the solution. What should we do?" The old man said, "Just cut off his head and bring it here. When I see his face and confirm it is him, then my soul will leave this body in peace." All three brothers said, "Father, this is not a big deal. Your wish will be fulfilled today." At 10 o'clock at night, when there was no electricity, all three brothers prepared to leave. They told their father, "Father, bless us." Even thieves ask for blessings for their work. It's not like that. They check the planets, the stars, for an auspicious time. Even then, they go to steal. A thief's heart is very strong. People like us, if we steal and someone sees, we get a heart attack, don't we? But still, they have such strong hearts. Still, one should not steal. That old man said, "Son, let me tell you one more thing. Do not go to the satsaṅg of any sage. If satsaṅg is going on, do not go there. Change your path. And if you find no other way, if there is absolutely no other route, then put your fingers in both ears and leave. But do not listen to the satsaṅg." "Why, father?" "Because you are not capable of understanding it. Your heart will become agitated. You are a thief, a dacoit. You have no need for satsaṅg." As soon as they had their father's permission, the three brothers went to the palace at night. They went to where the prince was sleeping, killed him, put his head in a bag, and were leaving behind the house. In front, a guard was standing. From behind, the lane they were using had a barbed fence. After about 100 meters, there were four or five farmers' houses. A saint, a Mahātma, was sitting there, holding satsaṅg. Now, there was no way for them to go back. Their father had said, "Don't listen to satsaṅg." They stood there. If they went back, who knows what would happen? They took off their shoes, put them in the bag, wrapped the dhoti on top to make a bundle, and put the shoes in it so they wouldn't make noise while running. Then they put their fingers in their ears, as their father had instructed, "Don't listen to the satsaṅg." They put fingers in both ears and ran. The first one came out, then the second. The third one was coming out. At that moment, a word came from Mahātmajī's mouth: "Bhaktajan Devī-Devtā kī chhāyā nahīṁ hote." (Devotees are not the shadow of the deities.) That's it. He heard just that one phrase: "They are not the shadow of the Devī-Devtā." What happened then? The third brother, who was running out barefoot, got a big babool thorn in his foot. Now, how to remove the thorn? As soon as he took his fingers out of his ears to remove the thorn, Mahārāj said, "Devī-devtā ke chhāyā nahīṁ hotī hai, Hari Om Tat Sat." In English, nowadays they call this blackmailing. If you want to strongly emphasize a point, don't give a long lecture. Two words are enough. That is sufficient. If you say to someone, "Today something happened with him… what happened? I will tell you later, alone," that thing increases our curiosity and desire so much that we pester them to tell us what happened. He took out a knife, removed the thorn, put his finger back in his ear, and ran away. When they reached home, the old man was sleeping. They came and said, "Father, this is the Rājkumār's head. He was thirty-two years old." The old man said, "Yes, son, you are brave. Be careful that no one saw." Then he added, "Okay, there is one more thing, son. We have an idol of Goddess Kālī. When our great-grandfather died, that grandfather had her darśan. When my grandfather died, he gave my father darśan. When my father died, he gave me darśan. She is our Kuldevī; she is the one who protects us. So, son, by worshipping the Devī and following her orders, she will definitely come and give you darśan." As soon as he said this, the old man died. They buried the prince's head in the ground inside their hut. In the morning, it was discovered that the Rājkumār had been killed. Even in those times, there was what you might call intelligence, like CBI people. There were both men and women. They come and sit among us. There might be five sitting here, but you don't know who they are. And day after tomorrow, others will come. They come for their work. What is being discussed? Who are they talking about? In India, the biggest conflict is over religion. Due to the lack of true religion, the situation in India has become restless. The slogan of the United Nations is Sustainable Development. Sustainable development is the development of the state. But the development in our country has become a state of unrest. The old man was dead. Restlessness spread in the kingdom. The king summoned a woman named Duthī. Women called her Duthī. Duthī was a CID agent. They also have a head, a Guru. We call them DGP, DIG, IG, SP, and so on. This is the post. So the one at the top of the post called her and said, "Within 48 hours, I want the head of the Rājkumār or the person who killed the Rājkumār. Otherwise, I will hang you upside down and burn you alive. Om Tat Sat." She said, "I want permission for my independence," and "Don't waste 48 hours; increase it a little more." She was sent off. She left and went to the village. Going there, she thought psychologically, "Did something bad happen here?" She found out that a dacoit had died in the dacoits' locality. She had an idea that this might be connected to the dacoit's death. She bought a big buffalo. They put a ring in the buffalo's nostrils. They made two wooden hands very skillfully and tied them together. They made a long jaṭā (matted hair) from horsehair. They attached the tongue of a rabbit to it. One hand held a sword, another held the buffalo, another held a cloth, and another, since it was dark, held a big oil lamp. That Siddhā (the agent, Duthī) went to the same dacoit's house where the old man had died. At one o'clock at night, she went and knocked on the door of the hut. On one side, their father had died. On the other side, they had killed a prince. One of the brothers went to the door and saw that the Devī was standing there. He went and told the others to get up. Their father had said Kālī would come. They got up and opened the door. She came in with the buffalo. She told them to close the door. They closed it. She said, "Son, are you alright? Your father served me a lot; he had great faith. I am your Kuldevī; I will protect you. Whenever any problem befalls you, any distress comes, remember me. Worship me. Your problem will be solved. Keep doing my devotion. If you want to ask for anything, I give my blessings. So, why are you standing so strongly? Devī, I don't have much time. Ask for something." So he said, "Your grace, your blessings, that is what it is. I will go, but you are a fool. Your wish cannot be fulfilled." "Why? Didn't your father tell you?" "No, he didn't tell me." "I come to your clan once, but I demand a sacrifice 32 times." Thirty-two refers to the 32 teeth in a human's mouth—a human sacrifice. They looked at each other, wondering where to get a sacrifice now. Who wants to die? All three brothers stood there. She said, "What are you looking at? Give me the sacrifice." All three were frightened. She said, "I know everything. You have something to give as a sacrifice. I know where it is. Give it to me. Your work will be done. Bring it quickly." The three brothers looked at each other and said, "The mother is going to know everything, isn't she?" They dug up the same head of the prince that was buried in the mud, took it out, and said, "Yes, now my sacrifice has come. I am happy, my son. Be happy. If you have any problems, any sorrows, remember me. Open the door." She was turning the buffalo around to go back. As the buffalo was turning back, the lamp in the hand of the wooden Devī cast a shadow on the buffalo and on the wall. The third brother, who had heard in the satsaṅg the sage saying, "Bhaktajan Devī ke chhāyā nahīṁ hotī," thought, "Devotees are not the shadow of God, and she is the shadow of God?" But he thought if she left the door, the matter would be over. He saw that in her hand was a wooden sword. He pulled the sword from the other hand and cut off the head of that Devī. She fell down. The buffalo got scared. He also cut off the buffalo's head. The next day, the buffalo meat was distributed to all, and the Devī was put in the same pit. Both brothers said, "What are you doing? Keep quiet." Then they asked, "What do you know? How did you know she was a fake Devī?" Then he said, "My brothers, our father had said not to go to satsaṅg. I had taken off my shoes and put them in my pocket. There was no way to go; we couldn't run in shoes. I put my fingers in my ears because Bābājī was doing satsaṅg. I was doing something. A thorn got stuck. I removed the thorn. It must have taken half a minute. At that time, the Mahātma said that the Devī is not the shadow of the Devatās. I remembered that word. That's why I finished her." The other two brothers said, "If we are saved by one word, if we stay in satsaṅg throughout our life, we will be blessed." Say: Satguru Devakī, Sanātana Dharma kī, Sarva-Ṛṣi Muni Mahātmāon kī, tulsi sangat sādhu ke hare koṭi aparādha. Se avara Rāma Candra kī, Pavana Suta Hanumān kī, bolo bhāī sab santān kī, jaya har har Mahā Deva Śambho. So, I was speaking about two stories. First, when a few students go to a cave and want to take something, a voice says, "Careful, don't take anything, otherwise you will be sorry." And if you don't take, you will be sorry too. Second, what happens when you listen to just one word of satsaṅg? These two were the subject illustrating satsaṅg. Satsaṅg is divine. Satsaṅg is a great blessing. Lucky are those who can have satsaṅg. Lucky are those who can receive this blessing. Lakṣmī Nārāyaṇa Nārāyaṇa… Lakṣmī Nārāyaṇa Nārāyaṇa… Lakṣmī Nārāyaṇa Nārāyaṇa… Sat-Siddhānanda Bhagavān kī, Devaiśvara Mahādeva kī, Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān kī, Hindu Dharma Samrāṭ Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān kī, Satya-Sanātana Dharma kī, Sarva-Ṛṣi Muni Mahātmā kī, Gaṅgā Maiyā kī, Jaya Om.