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Śrīdīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jai! Śrī Śrī Dev Purīṣa Mahādeva Kī Jai! Śrī Śrī Mādhav Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān Kī Jai! Sanātana Dharma Kī Jai! Good morning once more. Welcome, everyone. Today is another beautiful day, Friday, dedicated to the Divine Mother Santoṣī Māta, the most merciful one who fulfills wishes. But we come now to the final day of our seminar. You have learned a lot. I hope you will develop the discipline and practice. Discipline without practice yields no success; practice makes perfect. In the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said: "Abhyāsa, abhyāsa..." One must follow the instructions and discipline with intense interest, or lagan. Like the great Mīrābāī said, her concentration and devotion were solely for her Gurudeva’s lotus feet. She saw the world, this saṃsāra, as an illusion, just like a dream that comes and goes, leaving only memory. Our past experiences are gone, like a dream. Mīrābāī sought that which is unchangeable—light, wisdom, love, devotion. We search for what does not change. If we do not understand this, we lack the feeling. Without that feeling, one cannot follow or practice the discipline. If you like sweets very much, your thoughts always go to the sweet shop. Even in heavy traffic, you will stop to buy something. Your lagan is in the sweetness, and for that, you will do everything. Similarly, we must understand. Suppose you buy a sweet, a chocolate, or ice cream and begin to eat, but find it has no sugar; it is tasteless. You would complain. Similarly, you may practice, but if the sweetness of devotion and discipline is missing, everything is tasteless. I am blissful while drinking the juice of God’s name. I have tasted all kinds of flavors in this world, but this world is tasteless—like food without salt, like ice cream without sugar. When you taste the divine, then you understand. That requires great discipline. You have to change nothing in your external life. You just live as you are. Work as you work. Have friends as you like. Go everywhere. But certain discipline is essential. If everyone begins to drink alcohol, you have the discipline not to drink. If everyone eats meat, you will not eat because you are vegetarian. No temptations should sway you. If you are disciplined, all temptations will fail. You must be sensible. When you get up and go to the office, you dress. You do not go naked. No one prohibits you, you could go, but then a van with a blue light would be waiting to take you to a psychiatric hospital. You might say, "I’m not crazy, I’m normal," but because you did not wear the dress, people think you are crazy. Similarly, without the dress of discipline, you are crazy. There are many things to understand, and if you do not understand, then everything is helpless. Preparing food falls under vidyā—the sixteen kinds of knowledge. The way of preparing and eating food is completely different for humans. You buy food, clean it nicely in the kitchen, sing spiritual songs and prayers, knowing you are preparing this food for your ātmā. We say we prepare for God, and God needs purity. We put good incense and flowers at the altar because God likes pure smells. We do not put meat or alcohol there. That is not divine food. While cutting vegetables—perhaps a carrot—some people cut and put pieces in their mouths, making a rhythm with the knife and their teeth. That is not allowed. You are not eating it; you are cooking for someone. When it is cooked, we offer it to God. We make a dining table prayer, thanking Him for this prasāda. Then you eat; it becomes divine energy. So, during cutting, do not eat. Or if someone is making sauce or rāita, tasting it with a finger is not accepted by the guṇas. If you are stirring soup or vegetables and think the salt is less, tasting is not allowed. The main reason is hygienic, but it is also said: before offering to God, if you have tasted it, then God gets the leftovers. There are rules and regulations for your kitchen because it is very important for your physical, mental, and spiritual development. I have spoken of this many times, but I do not see how many are following. On the first step, we fail. You did not come to your temple, to your dining room, to your practice. The problem is that nowadays people lack education in this way. Without this education, we are failing. Do not blame your religion or your old culture. If you go to a temple, church, mosque, or anywhere, they all have a discipline. That is very important. It is not only Indians who have these rules and regulations; they exist in every religion. Some say, "I don’t want these rituals and ceremonies, these rules." It is your decision, but without them, you will not achieve your life’s goal. There are different choices, and our choice is Brahmajñāna. Brahma does not belong to any religion. It does not teach you your culture. Culture is on this earth, for the happiness and protection of human society—certain festivals, events, marriage ceremonies. Marriage is a marriage; animals also marry. What is the difference? We make it more beautiful and meaningful. You go to the temple or church; there is a protocol. There you feel you are getting married. The pandit will ask, "Do you agree?" She looks at the man, his heart is trembling, but he says, "Yes." Then he asks her, "Do you accept this?" Her eyelids go a little down. "Yes." This uncertainty pulls your eyelids down. Such a marriage may break one day. The ceremony is done. Let us say you are living in this Western world, born and grown here. Many of you are married in a church or temple—the original name is temple. In the entire Bible and Testament, it is always written "temple." When a pandit or priest performs the ceremony, he does not say, "Be married as long as you like; you can divorce later." They will not say this. Do you think your church is happy if you divorce? They do not support it, but somehow they have no more power to say no. Now there are new feelings: first you get children, then you marry. In a few decades, the church will not marry you in this way. We are forcing our spiritual organizations to change, but the cosmic law does not change. Therefore, cosmic law needs purity and discipline. Then we can proceed to the very fine and divine level of knowledge. Intellectual knowledge gives us inspiration only, not achievement. For example, intellectually we can imagine going to Budapest, seeing the Danube and both parts of the city. We know it imaginatively, but in reality, we are still sitting here. We must take transportation to go there. Similarly, we know intellectually what is Brahman, or God, or heaven, but we are not there. We have to make arrangements to go, and that arrangement is our disciplinary practice. So practice, practice, practice. The kriyā I gave you yesterday for Brahma Vidyā, I will give you one part more. Only you who are here should practice. You love your wife, husband, or friends. They may ask, "I was taking care of the children at home; can you tell me how the Kriya was?" You can say that everything is simple and very good, but still it is said one should first listen from the master. There is nothing hidden in Kriyās, but still it has to be blessed; it has to be officially declared. Marriage—you have done it already. The first time you held hands together, that was already marriage. What is the definition of marriage? It is to merge. Two bodies, one soul; opinions and feelings become one. Mahāprabhujī said in his bhajan: "Choṭī, choṭī, nadiyā sārī, cal rahī, nyārī, nyārī, sīr samundar jāyek, samāyī re." All rivers, small and big, flow separately. Ultimately, they will go into the milky ocean and merge. That merging point is marriage. When the river has been in the ocean for years and then decides, "Now we shall merge into oneness," the ocean will laugh. "Where are you? There is nothing to be merged. It is already." So what is marriage? Marriage has no more value or sense than just a document. For paper purposes, we lost the discipline and the unity in the family. Some couples proudly say they have been married 70 years, celebrating a diamond jubilee. If you imagine 70 years with the same person, you might overthink 20 times, "Should I marry her or not? Seventy years together? I doubt we will manage." This is our situation because we have no discipline; we do not take it seriously. All, small and bigger, will reach that ocean of immortality. All rivers have a destination towards God—that God who makes no differences, the one God. That is Brahman. It does not matter if you call Him Father, Allah, or any name. Therefore, Gandhijī liked one song and often sang it. He tried very hard to give mutual understanding and equality among religions. Unfortunately, he failed; it is a very difficult chapter. But he awoke in everyone’s mind the idea of equality. In Sanātana Dharma, there is equality. It does not matter whom you believe. We Hindus are taught to respect every holy place—mosque, church, stupa, pagoda, ashram, or temple. Greet it inwardly or with your hands. People do this. Respect all holy places. Gandhijī’s song: Īśvara Allāh tero nām, sab ko sanmatī de bhagavān. Oh Lord, Īśvara or Allāh is Your name. O God, give everyone right understanding, positive thoughts. Sītā Rām, Sītā Rām, bhaj man pyāre Sītā Rām. O my dear mind, repeat this name, this mantra: Sītā Rām. Rāghu kula rāja, Sītā Rām... Rāghu is the dynasty, the dynasty of the sun, of Lord Rāma. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa speaks in the Bhagavad Gītā: "I gave this yoga to the sun, and the sun gave it to Ikṣvāku." This dynasty continues to Lord Rāma’s family. They were worshippers of the sun. Lord Rāma’s kingdom, Rāmarājya, respected all elements—trees, rivers, water, rain—and also respected animals. This is the Sun Dynasty, the Raghu Kula. Īśvara Allāh tero nām... Sab ko sanmatī de bhagavān. "Patit" means those with bad karmas, sinners. Even God will bless one who comes seeking shelter. Gandhijī would sit at the bank of the river Sabarmatī, on a podium made of mud and cow dung, wearing a pure cotton cloth, praying. He said, "My strength is my prayers. Physically I can fast for days, but mentally I cannot fast, because my mental tonic is my prayers." Therefore, in some bhajans it is said very nicely: "Jab jab man ghabrāe, tum prārthanā karo. Jab rāh najar na āye, tum prārthanā karo." Whenever you feel scared, fearful, nervous, uncertain, you should pray. When you do not see any way out of problems, you should pray. Do not go to someone and say, "I have this problem." He or she is not God. There is a real story from about 30 or 35 years ago. I had a disciple, a couple in Vienna. Austrians are very good people. The lady was about 70-75 years old, acting like a mother to all. She would say, "Yes, my child, what is your problem? Tell me. I will not tell anybody." She would talk on the telephone for half an hour, then someone else would call. Her telephone was always busy. She would tell others what was told to her in confidence, breaking that promise. Who is there who listens to you and can digest your sorrows? Who can solve your problems? If you cannot digest, take digestive powder, Hajmola. That is the Guruvākya. You should know how to filter those energies. If you tell someone, you have told everyone. Also, do not tell what disturbs you; your emotion shows on your face. When you feel offended, your face changes. Therefore, there is only God who listens to us. Only that Divine Mother listens and will solve all our problems. So, do not go anywhere else. Whenever you have a problem, go to your temple. Go to your altar and tell everything there. Whenever you feel scared, pray. When you do not see the way out, pray. Go to your altar and talk. Or go to the Gurudeva; all systems are the same. I saw in a European church a little chamber, a small room where the priest comes. You do not see his face, and he does not see yours. You can tell everything; he will never tell anyone. They are honest. In the same tradition, you go to the temple and talk to God or to the Gurudeva. The best is you can trust the altar. That is why Mahāprabhujī sits like this. Do not tell me. I know. Do not speak stupidly. I know. Be silent. Yes, only one thing: discipline, practice. Forget it, only one way—that is in your heart. You are the only one who can find a way and solve problems. You are one, and God loves you also. This mudrā has many meanings, so it has no sense to talk. Can you listen to me? Can you hear me? There is no one who can listen to you. No one hears you. Without you, there is no one. To whom you are calling is within you. Do you listen to me? Do you hear me? All in your heart, bring it. If the heart cannot bear, put it in Narakaloka, in the Manipūra fire. Fan the fire so it burns all problems. You are nirmal; you are pure. Therefore, Gurujī also said in the bhajan...