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Hari Om! A good evening once more to everybody. To all aspirant seekers, spiritual seekers, practitioners, and the brothers and sisters around the world on the webcast. We are proceeding towards this Kriyā. Brahma-vidyā kriyā. Life itself is a kriyā. This earth is known as a karma-bhūmi. Here, karma is pradhāna—the main thing. The main thing is karma. The earth is working, the seasons are working, our elements are working, all creatures are working, and all changes are there. Four seasons, twelve months. This is called Kriyā, Kriyā Pradhān. In this world, karma is the main thing. Pradhān means the head, the very important person. The jīva comes to this mṛtyu-loka to work in order to realize or achieve brahma-jñāna. That means the time you are in Brahman. As long as the theory is not clear and the techniques are not clear, success is not there. So in this, both go together. These kriyās are known as life. On the day when there will be no kriyās in the body, the body will be declared a dead body. Then, finally, there will be one kriyā remaining. That prāṇa that will not leave the body—a certain prāṇa will not leave—so the body begins to make gases inside, and then it ceases. That is the last Kriyā. According to the Vedic Dharma, there are sixteen saṃskāras. These are the saṃskāras for the soul who has finally entered human life. These remain the last initiations to overcome past karmas, to pay back all our debts, karmic debts, etc. So, the last saṃskāra, the last ceremony, is what we call the funeral. There is a blessing for the child to become in the mother's body; that is also preparation and some ceremonies. But the 16th saṃskāra begins from the time of birth. In old age, it was like this: with a golden wire and honey, when the child was born, very gently with the honey, the father would write Oṁ on the tongue. In the Upanishad, it is said, "On my tongue should be the honey." What does that mean? My words should be sweet like honey, not bitter like poison, not bitter like a cobra or a snake's poison. Our words can be poisonous, and our words can be immortal. Therefore, O Lord, bless this new life, this child, with such great wisdom. After that, seven days later, on Sunday, is the second ceremony for the child and mother, sometimes in one month. Until this one month, the child and mother do not go in open public, because the first thing is the danger of infections, both sides, for the mother or for the child. That is an intensive time which a mother needs. For nine months she had this child in her body. And now this one month is very close to her skin, on the outer side. Such a child has great love and respect for the father and mother. And the mother knows, "I gave birth to a child." Nowadays, you go to the hospital, get the birth, and in the afternoon go home. Such mothers, such women, they will have some nerve problems, psychic problems. After the birth, for the benefit of the mother, there is particular nourishment, which is also very good for the child, because the milk, the mother's breastfeeding, is one of the best nourishments for the child. Those who can't get mother's milk are unlucky. So, for at least one and a half years or two years, the child should be breastfed. But after a few months, there is another ceremony. When the first teeth come out, when teeth begin to come, then there is a ceremony for the solid food. And there you make it with pure cow milk and good rice, because rice is the oldest grain. These grains are most ancient, and that's why in India, when we get a tilak, we get this rice on the forehead. This rice is known as akṣara. Akṣara means that which will never die. It will be ever remaining. And this is a symbol; the rice is a symbol of good luck, prosperity, wisdom, and protection. So every ceremony has its meaning. And then comes the cutting of the first hair, and that's called the end with the water abhiṣeka. After that comes the upanayana saṃskāra. Upanayana saṃskāra, upanayan. Up means near. Nayan means eyes. You sit now near the master and learn the wisdom of the third eye. And there you get these three threads: Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva. Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. Iḍā, Piṅgalā, and Suṣumṇā. Now, these are all significant symbols of these three things: past, present, and future. Now you have this; we call it Brahmacārī Dīkṣā. It means the initiation of the student. So you now enter into your world of education, education that makes you a great human, and all your hidden talents awake, and you become the light of the world. If it is a female, a girl, she doesn't get this Upanayana saṃskāra, but she gets another saṃskāra. And that she is the Lord of prosperity, Lord of wisdom, Sarasvatī, and Lord of mercy, the Mother, where she is adored. After that comes marriage and many saṃskāras. Finally, the 16th saṃskāra through which this jīvātmā is now going. One after another, layer is purified. You come from one loka to another loka. Each ceremony is like, you know, the snake has a skin over its body. Once a year, he gets it. And then he can't see properly because it's like a fog. So he has to go somewhere in the thorny bush. And he goes with his body through, and then this skin comes out. He leaves his skin out. He feels liberated. He can see. He can move properly. Similarly, this karmic layer on this jīva, through these kinds of saṃskāras, one after another, is released or purified. Like the snake liberates itself from the dead skin. So the spirit, the human from many past lives, at least the sixteen kalās, sixteen lokas. Soḷa kala soi Mahāpuruṣa—who has sixteen kalās, sixteen siddhis, is the incarnation. There are twenty-four siddhis. And out of these twenty-four, if one has sixteen, it's like an incarnation. That's why in sannyāsa dīkṣā, when you get sannyāsa, this is another saṃskāra, and this saṃskāra... He said that then you have to attend, get this Ṣoḍaśa Kalā, and then you are a Mahāpuruṣa. Then you go to Brahmaloka. So when the sannyāsīs or sādhus or holy saints leave this body, meaning to die, then after sixteen days there is a final ceremony, that's called ṣoḍaśī-vandhāra. And this means that God, his consciousness, through all these saṃskāras, went through sixteen levels of the vidyās. So that is the highest initiation. These are the sixteen colors, meaning miracles, maybe, or changing something. So the moon has the sixteen colors, but not the hot colors. It goes from the new moon till the full moon and again goes to decreasing. These are sixteen nights, and so these sixteen colors are very important. And finally, after someone dies, we call it the last ceremony. And there are different kinds of funerals. The best is, it is said, that this body should be burned. There are two things: which bacteria was in this body, but the jīvātmā, having easy then to get the test from this material life which you had, and search other centers. Or we are buried in the water or in the earth. Then it is said, until this body is completely consumed, this Jīvātmā is circling there, searching to come in again. This astral body, and sometimes that becomes like a pitṛ. Like the ancestor, Pitṛ, the disturbed Pitṛ can influence our life in a disturbed way. And the third is called Jala-samādhi. They dispose the body into the water. So the fish and the water creatures finish eating it. And according to the ancient tradition, culture, and religion of the Zoroastrians, what we call the Parsīs, they do not burn the body or bury the body, nor do they leave it in the water. But they give them Hawa Samādhi. Hawa means just in the wind. It means they will put this body somewhere so that vultures and other creatures come and eat. In a big city like Mumbai, there is a big community of the Parsis. When they had problems in their countries, the Parsis, the Zoroastrians, were thrown out of countries. So they came with a steamer and landed in Gujarat. It was like a war; all the times were wars. So they came to the king in Gujarat and said, "We want to have a shelter here." The king said, "Well, you are welcome, but we have one condition." What? So the head of the Parsis was sitting there, and the king ordered one glass of water and one glass of milk in a beautiful golden bowl, and put both water and milk inside. What happened? Water and milk became one. So the king said, "In this holy land, India, if you live together like milk and water live together, you are most welcome." And they promised. They said, "We will not do the missionary work, we will not disturb the religion or cultures, and we wish that we will live our culture." And the Indian king said, "Yes." Those Parsis, there are a lot in India, and they spread it around the world. They believe in Zoroastrianism, and they believe in the light. In every religion, there was a light. There is light. You see how all religions are connected? Duality and difference is in our people, who we believe that religion. We are jealous. So in Mumbai, they have a very big one in the middle of the city; once it was outside of the city, but now it's in the middle of the city. A very big, high building. And there they made a nest, and like this for the vultures. And when someone dies, they live in there. And Kabīr Dās Jī said, "It's better to die there where nobody knows you, because no one is to cry for you, and the animals will be happy to have something to eat." So these are all human research work, and this is science, human science. To come with this soul, finally you are born into the Brahman. We are still not born. We are wandering, traveling from one room to another room, from one loka to other lokas, from one problem to another problem. We are a golf ball, and everyone comes and kicks us. To put in the hole again, so our destiny karma kicks us from one life again into the other life, the hole inside. So finally, we have to be born. And that real birth is into the Brahman. And for that is the Brahma-vidyā, what we are learning. And we are practicing the most important and very good techniques. So I come to this point again. And all our dear brothers and sisters, those who believe in Parsi religions, they live in great harmony and understanding in India with Indians. So this is how humans should live together. But there are some other religions. They're giving money, giving money to change into their religion. Your ancestors will not forgive you. You don't think of the ancestors. Our past roots are getting rotten. Then you will know where. Even after the Mahāpralayas, you don't have anywhere to hold. So it has to go through the paramparā, through the dynasty. That's very important. So, saṃskāras. So the moon has 16 kalās. And finally, the moon is the beautiful ornament of Śiva. There is a big story about the moon. In the Mahāśiva Purāṇa, you can see it. And what happened to that moon? He was cursed. So it was again Śiva who blessed him, but Śiva said to him, "This suffering you have to go through. You will not always be the same like now, beautiful, now full moon, always shining, beautiful." But due to the moon's ego and certain things, he was cursed, always dark, always. A mausia, but then Śiva gave him again the life. But it is said, "You will not stay in one place. You will change 15 times, and the 16th kalā will bring you into the completeness again." And this, your first kalā, she said, "Where should I leave now?" So Śiva said, "Come on my forehead." Whenever there's a new moon, we greet Śiva. In Islam, the moon means great. On the Islam flag, there's a half moon. What is that? It's Śiva. So these are the saṃskāras, and one should go through saṃskāras. In certain religions, there is also what you call baptizing, marriages, schools; many saṃskāras are there in different ways. But finally, saṃskāra is from that Brahma-jñānī, the Gurudev. That is important. And so this is in the Brahma-vidyā. I'm happy that you are learning, and I wish you all the best. So, my dear ones, if you have any questions, you can write. And practice we should do when we are here together. Deep Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jai, Deveśvara Mahādeva Kī Jai, Mādhav Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān Kī Jai, Satya Sanātana Dharmātī Kī Jai, Oṁ Śānti, Śānti, Śānti.