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Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇam... Haṁsaḥ daśa prabhu śaraṇa parāyaṇam. Oṁ namaḥ śrī prabhu dīpanārāyaṇa. Oṁ namaḥ śrī prabhu dīpanārāyaṇam. Haṁsaḥ bhakta prabhu śaraṇaparāyaṇam. Haṁsaḥ bhakta prabhu. Oṁ namaḥ śrī prabhu dīpanārāyaṇam. Oṁ Namaḥ Siri Prabhupāda Haṁsābha Bhakta Prabhu Śaraṇa Parāyaṇam. Haṁsābha Bhakta Prabhu Śaraṇa Parāyaṇam. Oṁ Namaḥ Siri Prabhupāda. Oṁ Namaḥ Siri Prabhu Dīpanārāyaṇam. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇam... Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān kī, Śrī Śrī Dev Purīṣa Mahādeva kī, Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān kī, Satya Sanātana Dharma kī, Sab Ṛṣi Munī Mahātmā kī. Jai. Jai means victory. Jai means glory. So, glory, victory of the Sanātana Dharma, which is the universal Dharma. Glory or victory of our Satguru Dev, glory of all. Therefore, we always say, "Jai." Many times we understand, and we don’t understand what is the prasāda. So prasād means blessing. Prasād means darśan—to see a holy temple, a holy place, holy saints. When we go to see, it is darśan. Prasad, which we offer to the divine, that’s called prasād. Or prasāda is given to us by some holy person. Also, your parents have the right to give you a prasāda. Your elderly brother or sister gives you something, you can also call it a prasāda. Any elderly person gives us something, we can accept it as a prasāda. Prasad comes from the heart, as love. When the name is prasad, then automatically spiritual energy enters it. Only a good person can give us prasāda. Nowadays, it is very hard to know. Sometimes they think they give you prasāda, but they may poison you. So even there are dogs which are trained; if you give the dog food, the dog will not eat. Because the dog is taught, don’t eat from anyone. This is Kali Yuga, so we can’t trust. But love can turn the hate or poison into nectar. So what is the glory of the prasād? There are two kinds of holy prasād. One is the holy water, which you wash the feet of the holy saint with. That you take as prasāda, you put on your head. You can make a tilak, and the prasad is given by the saints. This is exactly what we call in the church, when you go in the front of the church, there is holy water. And after that, what you get in the name of Jesus is the bread. They call it the flesh of Jesus, but we don’t say this. We don’t eat our God. We eat what God gives us. This is different, what they call the wine. So don’t understand alcohol. The wine is a fresh-pressed fruit juice or grape juice. That they call the vine. And the vine is what we also call the plant which is climbing up with the help of the other trees. So when the master wants to teach the disciples, when the disciples don’t do, then the master has to do. It is said that Jesus was washing the feet of the disciples. That’s why the Kali Yuga is here. Otherwise, the disciple should wash the feet of the master. But Jesus showed his humbleness, his greatness. So that is holy feet. All this is coming from very ancient traditional religions, Vedic Saṃskṛti, culture. Names are different. The little way of doing is different. But the reality is the same. When we see here new moon, we see that the new moon is coming from the right side, the crescent moon we see. And when we go to Australia, you see it from the other side. So we will say, "Well, they forgot to put the moon on the other side." This is the position of the earth from which side you see. But a new moon for the Hindus, for the Muslims, is very holy. And the new moon is the ornament of the Swayambhu Śiva. To see the new moon means to see Śiva. If you look with good concentration, suddenly you see in the whole sky the form of Śiva, and there is this moon on his crown, on his hair... Prasad helps us more than medicine. There is a story. Many times I have told you about our great saint, Bhakta Mīrābāī. The story is long, which I am not going to tell you, because I told you many times. You know, all the times in human society, some people were spiritual, and some people were not spiritual. There is a bunch of crows, but very few swans. Always have been Rākṣasas. We see from their quality, from their behavior, from their negative thoughts, everything. Their words are like an arrow, and the words of the spiritual are like a remedy. The remedy to our body, remedy to our soul, and it is a clean path. They clean even the thorns and stones from our path. The spiritual one, Asuras and Rākṣasas, they create obstacles; they throw these stones, thorns. So this was always. So it is in Mīrābāī’s family, of her husband. They were spiritual, but not in that way, like as a Mīrā. Meera goes everywhere, in every temple, and everywhere in satsaṅgs. The same thing is now. When you practice yoga and this, then they say, "Oh God! No, this is how the duality." So, they tried to kill her. But indirectly, so one day, her father-in-law sent her a beautiful little box. Inside the box was a very poisonous snake. That box was very precious. And told his soldiers, guards, "Go and give it to Meera and tell her it is inside the idol of Krishna." And she was a great bhakta of Kṛṣṇa, a bhakta of Rāma. And her Gurujī was the great saint Rāy Dās from Punjab. She was from Rajasthan. Well, when she got this box, oh, from Krishna, she was happy. And the snake was so scared. Angrily, the guards were waiting, and she put it on her lap, and she’s opening the box. She opens it; there was no snake, but a golden, beautiful statue, a garland of Krishna. And she put it on her neck. The king thought the guards made something. Many times, many things happened. Her life was very mysterious. From the side of the family, otherwise, she was divine. And she wrote so many bhajans. Her bhajans are great. Her bhajans are the best bhajans for the artists who are classical singers. Every day on Indian radio and television, her bhajans are played. When there are spiritual satsaṅgs and meetings, it cannot be completed without Mīrābāī’s name or her bhajan. What a great she was. So in spirituality, there is no duality of gender. Cow is red, white, or black. But milk is white. The river has curves, not the water. So that Jīvātmā and Ātmā are not what we call male or female. But you have to be honest. You have to practice. You have to go through all these practices. Often, you have to swallow the bitter things and always follow the Guru Vakya. Mīrābāī writes a letter to the great saint Tulsīdās. What should I do? Where I live, they are all against Kṛṣṇa and God. And they are all the time talking stupid things and negative. They are always on the negative side. There is no name of God Rāma. Tulsīdāsjī said, "Where there is no name of God, no Rāma’s name, that place is no more a living place for humans. Do not see their face, do not hear their words, because their words are like poison." Well, her father-in-law decides to kill her with poison, so they made a lot of poison. And then they put it in one ball, in a nice golden ball, like a cup. And the king gave it into the hands of the soldiers, or his guards, and said, "Look, Mīrā is sitting there. Go and give her this. Say, this is the holy water of your Gurudeva’s feet. Just you take one sip, and you will fall down." So they brought it to Mīrā. And in the house, she was a princess. They said, "His Highness the King has sent you this charanāmṛta of your Gurudeva’s lotus feet." And she said, "It’s nice of him," and he’s looking. She took and drank everything, and she threw the ball away, and she put the bangles on her ankles, and she began to dance. So there is a beautiful bhajan, "One at Yonyaru Bhajan." Someone wrote a beautiful bhajan. Or maybe Mīrā Bāī wrote it. That Meera had these bales on her ankles, and she began to dance. And mother-in-law says she’s a destructive one in our family. The sister-in-law said something also bad, everyone. But look, as a prasāda, the poison turned into nectar. Why do spiritual persons have so many troubles? This is saṃsāra. Where rākṣasa, bhakti, and energy are dominating, then the spiritual one is suffering. In Kali Yuga, bhakti, jñāna, and karma are suffering. That is said. Well, Mirabai had so many disappointments. Finally, she was so dispirited, and she was so, so disappointed. And she went to Krishna’s temple while singing, "Why did this happen to me?" So she said in her bhajan, "If I knew that while loving you, I would have so many difficulties, so much I will suffer, if I will have known this before, I will go around the villages and cities and drum, 'Nobody should love Krishna.'" She was so sad because everywhere, on every side, were her enemies. Some were throwing stones, some were blaming, and she goes to Krishna’s temple and she sang this bhajan with full of tears, and she gave her instrument, her tampurā, and she bowed down. What happens? Suddenly, Mira’s physical body dematerialized and became a flame on the altar, and these two flames together became one, and the flame went up. With the whole body, there was nothing left. Not even her clothes were there. That is the result of the bhakti, prathana, and prasāda. But you have to pay the price of that prasāda. Remain on that path. When little doubt comes, you have put the lemon in the milk of your bhakti, finished. Hari Om. Years and years are there, finished. Therefore, never should doubt come in my mind, in my heart. I will die for you. I will live for you. Oh Lord, I will not leave you. Doesn’t matter how far I go, where I go. People may come and people may go, but my Lord, I will be Thine. Such evidence in your heart must be, then prasad becomes great. So even a small, but with a love. There were cows grazing from one village every day. One person used to take all the cows into the forest for grazing and then bring them back home. There were some hills. So one cow, every morning, joined those cows. In the evening, when they were going home, she separated and went into one cave. So one day, that cowboy who was looking after the cows thought, "Who belongs to this cow? The village people, they give me something. They pay me for taking care of the cow. But this cow, not whom it belongs, I will find out." So evening time, when all cows come home, he follows that cow, and the cow went into the cave. So he held the tail of the cow, walking, walking, walking. Dark, twenty minutes, suddenly there was light: a beautiful place, a nice waterfall, some nice trees inside, and thirty to forty sādhus. And one sādhu came, long white beard and hair, very thin, and came, "Bless you, my son. How are you?" He made a praṇām. He said, "I only wanted to know whom this cow belongs to." He said, "The cow belongs to God. But at present, she is living here. We sādhus get milk from her; she is our mother. We are happy that you take care of her. She reports every day what she was eating, what the situation was, everything." He said. So, then he said, "Okay, I’m going." He said, "Moment." He called one disciple, "Bring prasād." So he brought two handfuls of some grains. So he took his little towel. And he tied it like this, and put it on his shoulder, and walked. The Gurujī said, "Moment, moment, you cannot go alone. This sādhu will guide you till the gate." So he went there. Well, when he came out of the cave, that Mahātma said, "All the best. Thank you for your visit. You are welcome anytime. And take care of our cow," and he went in again. And that cow, boy or cow suffered, whatever you can say. He was so angry. "Nearly three years I’m taking care of this cow, and they gave me only this much grain? I’m not a beggar!" He opened it, he threw it, he didn’t even look. He threw it and went away. When he came home, his wife said, "What happened? Why did you come so late?" He told us the whole story, and they gave you something. Yes, I’m not a beggar. Even we can’t make two chapatis. What do you mean? I throw the grains. And when he made like this, some grains were hanging on his towel. They were sparkling like diamonds. She said, "Moment, moment." Really, diamonds. Let’s go and see there. That was God. So you never know, diamond means something best and valuable, prasāda. So the glory of the prasāda is great. One devil took a few children in the night. And he tried to put them in the cave. But one child, he couldn’t push in. He tried to come near, and he goes again like electricity. What happened? The other rākṣasa said, "Don’t bring him in." Why? Because he has something in his pocket, and the boy was checking. Little of this sweet prasad, corn. His Gurujī gave him some time, and he put it in his pocket. He ate everything, but one remained inside. So this one could save his life. So that’s why when you go to the church, or temples, or ashrams, take, take with love and devotion. That is a prasāda. So prasāda means blessed food. Prasāda means blessing. Prasāda means darśana. Prasāda means knowledge. And prasāda means the spirituality. It has to be received with great love, with great joy. That is the glory of the prasāda, and for that prasāda we are all longing. The great saint Nārada, do you know why Nārada became so great? Because the mother of Nārada used to go to many, many little, little ashrams, huts where sādhus were, and when they ate and something remained there, she collected and fed Nārada. So that was the buddhi abilities of Nārada, that the mahāprasāda, the blessing of the mahāprasāda of the saints. So one day Nārada was giving a lecture somewhere, young boy, about 17, 18 years, 20 years. Until 25 years or more, we said you are a young child. Still on your lips, mother’s milk is shining. Where is the mother’s milk now? You now have some bottled milk. Who is lucky that gets mother’s milk for at least two years? Yes. So he was giving a lecture. And someone said, "What are you telling us about these old principles and rules? Spiritual ethics, morals, what are you talking about? Look at your mother. Every day she is running to some huts of the sādhus." There are people, even now, because they are negative. They don’t know; they are blind. Well, Nārada was touched. It’s true what they are saying. He went home. And he said, "Mother, I have a request. You are tired. The saint sadhus will come to our home for satsaṅg. You need not go. Every day, they will come, and it will be great. Our house is blessed." Mother knew what my child was telling. She said, "Go to Vishnu, ask him." So he went to Vishnu. And Vishnu Bhagavān said, and Lakṣmījī was there. Vishnu said, "Oh Nārada, long time we didn’t see you. How are you?" He said, "Lord, when your grace is there, when you call me, I can come. Without your permission, I can’t. But, my Lord, you know everything." Bhagavān Viṣṇu said, "Come, come, tell, tell." Lakṣmīnjī said, "Don’t hesitate, tell." So he said, "Bhagavān Viṣṇu, who is this sādhu in orange dress? Who are all these brahmachārīs in yellow uniforms? Like you all, no? You are also yogīs. But some people say, 'No, we don’t want to have this uniform when we are going somewhere.' It means you did not know; you don’t know what it means for you." "Communist time, in Czechoslovakia, once the police asked me, I had to go every time registering there, police station. They said, 'We have one question. Must you always take this orange dress, or can you come with a normal dress? Because some people’s minds, you know.' I said, 'Well, this is not my dress, this is my skin. This is my uniform. If you don’t want, or they don’t want, I will not come.' He said, 'No, no, Mr. Maheshwarananda. No, no, we are happy you come, please. Yoga, yoga, very great.' I said, you have your embassy in India. It’s called the Czechoslovakian Embassy, and there’s a flag of Czechoslovakia. If I ask you, must it be the Czechoslovakian flag? Can we not put an Indian flag on it? They said, 'No, that’s not possible.' Then it’s not our embassy, so it’s the same thing. That’s it. But when you think, 'Oh, somebody will say something,' then you have a doubt. You are out without any doubt. But you don’t understand. Mahāprabhujī said, 'The spoon is in the halvā all the time, but it doesn’t taste the halvā, because it’s iron.' If it’s wooden, it will taste." So Bhagavān Viṣṇu said, He removed the doubt of Arjuna, Nārada. God, Viṣṇu’s mouth is Bhajan. O Nārada, between me and my sādhus there is no difference. Those who see the negative in my sādhus, they will go to hell. Lakṣmī Jī said, "Can I also say something, my Lord?" Viṣṇu said, "Yes, Godin. You are free to say what you want to say." Ātu Lakṣmī ārjā karat hai, mein santaurī dāsī. Jaa jaa sant charan dharat hai, jaa jaa meri sant charan dharat hai. Lakshmījī said, "Oh my Lord Viṣṇu, if you allow me, I will say something." So Viṣṇu is very full of tolerance and obedience. When Lakṣmī speaks, then he is silent, but listening with both ears carefully. Lakṣmī said, "I am the servant of the saints. Where my saints step their foot, there I first put my palms. So where the saint is walking, first they are walking on my palms." That’s why in India they always say, when a sādhu comes, "Please, can you enter my house?" And they sometimes say, "Please, Swamijī, take socks out," because they know the Lakṣmīs will be there. It brings wealth, prosperity, and happiness. Well, Vishnu was surprised. He said, "I thought you are my saviour, but you are the saviour of the sādhus." Lakṣmīnjī said that we will talk after. So, Nārada is asking, Then, Lord, they are like you? Tell me, how? What? In which way? They are there, you are here. So Bhagavān Viṣṇu said, "Nārada, O Nārada, the sādhus are my ātmā, not only jīvātmā, my ātmā. And I am the body of the saints. They are dwelling in my each and every hair, like rain in the clouds. What is the difference between clouds and rain? From where does the rain come? So the glory of the bhaktas is great. God and bhaktas both come as one. But they make the līlā different. They play the theater of disciple and master. In reality, they are one. But when you don’t realize this, then you are out." So, a bhakta is great. Therefore, one saint said, O my Gurudev, bless me, give me, please. Bless me with bhakti, devotion. That janam dhar visru nahi, even if I am born in another life, I am not separated from you. Let me be one with you, that I may serve thy holy feet. So prasāda, devotion, bhakti, bhakta, and Bhagavān, no difference, no difference. That’s why we say Dev Puruṣa Mahādeva, Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandjī Bhagavān, Satya Sanātana, Om Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ.