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Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇa, Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇa. Oṁ Namaḥ Śrī Prabhu Dīpa Nārāyaṇa. Hamsabhadas Prabhusar, Hamsabhadas Prabhusar, Hamsabhadas Prabhusar. Good evening to everybody. Welcome. Vítejte. This is the first day of our Sādhanā camp here in our beautiful ashram. We had beautiful programs the last two weeks as well, one being a teacher training. This week, we have a very special subject, which you will come to know just before the lecture begins, so you will be surprised. Today is a very auspicious, happy day because it is Saturday, a day when everyone has time. According to the Jyotiṣa calendar, this month, Śrāvaṇa Māh, from the last full moon until today, is dedicated to Bhagavān Śiva. Every month is a different season, making twelve seasons in total. Every month has different days, from the new moon to the full moon and back to the dark moon. This waxing and waning of the moon has a certain influence on our Earth—on humans, animals, vegetation, water, and the earth itself. This is counted by the Vedic calendar. According to the nature of each season, every day is recognized as a special day. This creates a kind of culture. What would we call it otherwise? What is culture? In the Sanskrit language, culture means Saṃskṛti. The language is called Sanskrit, and the culture is called Saṃskṛti, which is sometimes a point of misunderstanding. Sanskrit is one of the oldest languages, the mother of many languages in the world. Saṃskṛti is the culture. From the very ancient Vedic culture, certain traditions and cultural festivals began as education for humans. On this Earth, the more intellectually developed beings govern the Earth in a material way, for better or for worse. We are either protectors or destructors of nature. God had one concern. He created 8.4 million different creatures but was still not content, for His wish was that His world should be perfect and protected. Then came the human. God gave all His power to the human so that what God can do, the human can do. Then God realized, "Now this human, to whom I gave all My treasure, has inherited everything from Me." The human then said, "Now, God, You have no more place here; we will kill You." There is a story. A man riding a horse saw a bush burning in a forest. Several dry bushes began to catch fire, and there was a big snake inside, running and rolling left and right as the fire caught it. The man got off his horse, took a long stick, and pulled the snake out, saving it. Now the snake said, "I will bite you. I will kill you." The man asked, "Why? I helped you." The snake replied, "That’s why." This is Kali Yuga. Those whom we try to help sometimes become that poisonous snake. It is true. Similarly, God gave all powers to humans. He did not take them away but put them in a dormant state with many combination locks. Even a six-combination lock is very hard to open. Then God said, "Now you go and do what you like." There is another story. In a hut, a Master was living. Under his bed lived a little mouse. One day, the Master returned from the village with some food. The mouse came to the Master, trembling. "Master, Master, I am very afraid. Do not go away from here. Whenever you go away, Master, the cat comes. She will kill me." The Master asked, "You are afraid of the cat?" The mouse said, "Yes, I am afraid of the cat." The Master said, "Okay, I will make you a dog." So the mouse became a dog. That was beautiful. Now he was not afraid of the cat. After some days, the dog was pulling his tail under his thighs, standing and trembling. "Master, Master, do not leave me alone here." "Why?" "Because always some other wolves come, and they will attack me." "Oh, I see. You are afraid of the wolves. I will make you a tiger." So he became a tiger, from mouse to tiger. After some days, or a year, one day the Master came back. As usual, he went out daily to ask for food, bhikṣā, and returned. The Master was resting. Every day when the Master rested, the tiger would come near to perform guruśevā, licking the soles of the Master’s feet, the ankle joints, and the calves. One day, the Master had an injury on his soles and was bleeding. The Master lay down to rest. The tiger came and was licking. He tasted the blood, and his tongue did not go anywhere; he tried to lick more and more. The Master tried to move his leg away. Again, the tiger began to lick. Again, the Master took his foot away. The tiger said, "Do not move your leg. Let me enjoy drinking your blood." The Master got up and said, "Oh, mouse, go under the bed." Again, he became a small mouse and went under there. So, God gave everything to the human. And now this human does not respect God, does not believe in God. So He put us in ignorance. It is said: bhakti hīna paśu samāna. If humans have no devotion, then they are like animals. It does not matter which devotion to which God or which religion; that is equal. But humans have love, compassion, devotion. Then the ṛṣis, the great saints, found a way to help the humans, for they were killing and eating each other; it was horrible. The ṛṣis said, "We have to save the world." So they began to give spiritual injections, and these spiritual injections are spirituality, ethics, morals, compassion, respect, and so on. Thus, humans become aware: if you do this, you will get that. And humans begin to work. If you work in my field, I give you some crops, corn from my field. If you work for me, I will give milk from my cow. But if you do this festival, on a particular day, fasting, then you will get a cow and you will get the field. So many, many festivals began. That is culture. There is a thing called ceremonies: initiation. According to Vedic dharma, there are sixteen initiations called saṃskāras. Saṃskāras means education through these ceremonies. "Now you will do this because you are so old, and it will help you your whole life." So there are certain ceremonies. Children wait until they are five or six years old. On the first day they go to school, they get some kind of sweets or balloons or something. Lifelong, children remember: "My first school day was like a celebration." Every year, the beginning of school is a celebration so that children love to go to school. This is called a saṃskāra. Through the saṃskāras comes saṃskṛti: tradition, culture. And that saṃskṛti, those saṃskāras, protect human society. We shall acknowledge people and their abilities. Someone has better abilities, someone does not. Everyone is different. In this way, there are certain days of certain months and seasons. These saṃskāras are not only for spirituality but also to protect nature. There is one month in desert areas where the earth is a little dry. In India, we have a lot of drought, and little vegetation is becoming desert more and more. It was, but now you will see even Rajasthan is a green Rajasthan. But when there is no rain for ten months, can you imagine? When there is no rain for two weeks, your garden looks like a desert. Can you imagine ten months with no rain? Only the Rajasthanis can survive. The Czechs cannot survive. Europeans would go without any dress to some river, but it dries. Then everyone would dream of the Croatian coast, the Adriatic coast. Can you imagine more than half of Europe on the Adriatic coast? It would be the biggest Kumbh Melā. Ten months—imagine. These old trees that you see would not be here. Other trees would have to come. There are certain trees that give lots of oxygen, like the banyan tree. In the months of March and April, and again at the beginning of July, there is a season to plant trees. When you plant at the end of March or beginning of April, the earth has a different energy, and that plant or tree grows strong and healthy. At that time, there was no rain and it was very dry. So the big banyan trees, which are about 50 meters high and cover a large area of 500 to 2,000 square meters, were drying. The ṛṣis were thinking how to protect these trees. The tree needs water. Nobody wanted to give water. Some people, yes; some, no. This is also a month with a constellation favorable for marriage. In this month, the Vaiśākha month, which we call Vaiśākha, those girls who give water to this tree, go around the tree, and tie a cotton thread will get a beautiful and good husband. So, who does not want a beautiful husband? From the age of ten years, all children learn. All they have on the top of their head is a nice water pot. Someone had only one liter; someone had two liters; someone had five liters. Make it ten liters. A beautiful water pot, decorated, with some thread around the pot, a nice coconut on it. Humans know the art of decoration. Decoration changes the atmosphere. The condition is this: fast in the morning, wash themselves, do their homework, and then all girls collect together in one place in the village. Of course, everyone sees how beautiful a dress I have, everything traditionally nice. God created women’s beauty, so you cannot imagine how jealous the man is. Therefore, all women should be happy. Do not worry about how it is or how you are. Nothing can compare with you in every aspect. Then they all take the water pot and begin to sing nice bhajans or folk songs. They come to this tree, put the water at the roots, go with the thread around it, and then wish whatever they wish. Some wish, "I want to have a nice brother. I want my father to be healthy. My father and mother should not fight. My dog is ill, please, it should be healthy." You know, innocent children have many wishes. And as they become grown—15, 18, 20—then they wish for a healthy, beautiful, good husband. The surprise is that they find lifelong happiness. This is a result of celebrating that tree, worshiping that tree, perhaps psychologically or through the words of the ṛṣis. This is only one example. The whole month goes like this. In this month, called Vaiśākha, you should not do this, you should not do that; you should be nice to your sister, nice to your husband, nice to your wife. They are nice instructions. Then they come back home, how happy they are. They feel inside that they have done something, and they believe that God will give them. And that tree they worship as a holy tree. Nobody cuts that tree because, to put it in a scientific way, that tree gives lots of oxygen day and night, gives shelter to hundreds or thousands of birds and millions of small creatures, and many humans sit under its shade. Many animals sit there. It is very cool under this tree. So it is not only that you give water to the tree, but you protect this tree for the sake of many, many creatures. This is how culture begins. Now, there is fighting between brother and sister. "I want this more, I want this more." Always, boys are strong, or the village people are. So there is one day, which is today, once a year. The full moon is already in the constellation today, and tomorrow is a whole day full moon festival called Rakṣā Bandhan. Rakṣā Bandhan: rakṣā means protection, bandhan means to tie something. The sister says, "My dear brother, this thread that I tie on your wrist means that you are now obliged to protect me. My dear brother, the knot which I am making should not open. The thread should not break. This is the tie of protection. I accept you as my brother. You are my brother. And always, I will feel proud, blessed, and protected. The whole world can be against me, but my dear brother, you will be for me." And the brother says, "Yes." And the brother has to give something to the sister: nice pizza, nice eating—it depends now how old you are. You give some clothes, some presents. And if the sister is elder than the brother, then she is promising, "I will protect you. I will replace you as a sister, as a mother, and as the best friend." Now, the second step comes: you are free to adopt anyone from your village as a brother. When some girl comes and gives this Rakṣābandhan, this rakhī, that village boy will, in any case, protect her, support her. If she is married to some poor man and has no money, they all together will support her with money and other means to start some business. This was connecting the village and society, village to village, and so the tradition begins. Once a year comes the day of sister and brother. One afternoon I came out of my room. Can you imagine how many attacked me? All these kids. And now I am so proud. I am so proud that so many kids I have to protect now, and they protect me. Oh, when they all come around, you have no chance. So this is the culture which unites us, protects us, protects our dharma. Dharma means the human rules, the human dignities. Therefore, every culture is a good culture where there is humanity. And where humans go, they take culture with them. I came from India and have been living now for 44 years in Europe, but I brought Indian culture here also. You see? So culture moves with the person in which culture the person is born and grown. Bring the good culture, for good culture means good society. That is called satsaṅg. And bad culture is where there is no spirituality, no ethics, no morals, which is destructive. Even if you go any time through the street, no one should attack you. It does not matter where you see a human, he or she; you should be happy, "Oh, I met a human." Like that, we have more than 365 days of these spiritual traditions, cultures, cultural events. And that is the hope for humans, where they find peace, protection, happiness, joy, and spirituality. So tomorrow, in India and outside India, wherever people accept this culture or know about this culture, the sister is going to the home of her brothers. In our country, in Rajasthan, our government made a free ticket for the sisters to go by government bus and come back, a free ticket for one day. So you see, a lot. I think it is for all of India, but I speak about Rajasthan. But it creates some conflict. We boys do not get anything. Men have to pay the ticket, so you know how much we are doing. So there is a... It is called the Day of Sisters and Brothers. First Sister, Day of the Sisters and Brothers. So every year we celebrate, and I hope you will continue to respect your sister, protect your sister, and help your sister. This is the happiness of human life. One day we will die. So as long as we live, we should live in such harmony, in such peace, and without dualities, without conflict about cultures and religions. This has ruined human life. Without the duality of conflicts between religions and between cultures, because that destroys a happy human life. Slowly, slowly, human roots become rotten and dry out. Without culture, humans cannot survive. That is sure. So you see, in this country, many different governments came, many different kings were. But they also respected the culture of the country. Culture is our life. And so when we are here together, all—from how many countries are people here? Now at least five different translations are here, but we are all together, though different culture, different language, different country, different religion. But it is Yoga in Daily Life that brought all together, and we are together like brothers and sisters, mother and son. In India, when we see an old lady—not so old, but 95 years young, or 80 years young, or 30 years younger than us, or 20 years younger than us (meaning older)—then automatically, it does not matter who is who. We say "mother." Anyone will come and ask, "Mother, can I help you?" This is a common and respected word in India, in the culture. In that thought, she sees you as her son, and you see her as a mother, though you never saw her. But you know this culture has such a connection that now there is a mother and son relation. And if there is another lady about 10 years, 15 years younger than you or older than you, always you say sister, beṅg jī, dī dī, sister. And she will immediately look to you, and she will have the feeling of a brother. So she is not afraid anymore. When from your mouth you say to her, "Sister," she is forever your sister. And if she is younger than you, 20 years younger or 30 years younger, now that you are grown, you feel that you are married and you also have children. Then you are entitled to say, "My daughter, betī." Betī means daughter. So all these children, we will say betī or betā, son or daughter. These three words are the action or behavior of cultural behavior. They make humans feel relaxed and comfortable. Unfortunately, now in this modern kind of culture, which I do not call a culture—the opposite to culture is called Kleśa. And you know what is kleśa? Restlessness, fighting, problems, problems, and whatnot. So here also, in your country, definitely in the Czech country, there are many good words when you see some humans. But as long as I know, in Austria, when they say "Grüß Gott," I greet God in you. And if you say "Grüß Gott" and put a knife in their stomach, that was really not a "Grüß Gott." And we say "Namaste." Nama means I bow down humbly. In you I see Ātmā; I bow down. So this is a culture. Otherwise, what definition will you give? What is a culture? So there is culture, and then there is prakṛti. About prakṛti, tomorrow we will talk. Therefore, it is said, O my Lord, You are everything. I wish you all the best. I wish you all a happy Raksha Bandhan.