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Oṁ Asato mā sadgamaya, tamaso mā jyotirgamaya, mṛtyormā amṛtam gamaya. Oṁ śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ, śāntiḥ. Ādi Śrī Gurudev kī śubh caraṇ kamala meṁ koti koti śastāṅg daṇḍavat. Dharma premī sajjano, mātāeṁ, bahanēṁ, sabhī ko Alak Purījī Siddh Pīṭh paramparā se āśīrvād. This life broadcast is reaching the entire world via Svāmījī TV. I will speak in English so that people from other countries can understand. The people of India speak very good English. They call their father as soon as they wake up in the morning, and they also call their mother. In our Indian culture, the father is a sinner and the mother is a dead body. But what to do? They abuse in the morning. It is not the fault of the child; it is the fault of the parents that they are not able to teach their children two words. It is a very sad thing, so let’s talk about this some other time. Now, let’s talk about today in a little English. Adoration to our holy Alag Puriya Siddha Pīṭha Paramparā, our adoration to our Satguru Dev, the blessed self. Dear spiritual seekers, welcome. After ten days, we are together again via webcast. Welcome to all of you. Today is a very auspicious day, not only because of my birthday—I have a birthday every day—but because it is a very special occasion. As you know, India, Bhārat, is a holy land. All twenty-four incarnations of God incarnated in Bhārat. Not only that, but all the trinity—Svayambhū, Śiva, Viṣṇu, and Brahmā—manifested themselves in the land of Bhārata. The holy Mountain Himalaya, all the ṛṣis and sages who wrote many holy books, were ṛṣis of India, Bhārat. The scientists, astrologists, astronomers, and all other kinds of science and philosophies were Indian. Therefore, it is proper to say that Bhārat is a holy land. Our universally worshipped Satguru Dev Swami Madhavānandjī said, "Vando Bhārat Varṣabhūmi"—my adoration to the Mother Earth, Bhārat, India. The Satguru darśan, the meeting with a holy Satguru, is found in Bhārat. Because the definition of the Guru and how a Guru should be, that you find in India. Guru paramparā, the Guru lineage, is called Sanātana Dharma. There is one called man-made religion, and one called eternal religion, that’s Sanātana. Man-made religion means that after some incarnation or holy saint, we begin to follow those teachings, but beyond that there is nothing. For example, the teaching of Krishna is a man-made teaching because Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa appeared in human form. The Rāmāyaṇa, the story of Rāma, is also man-made because Bhagavān Rāma also appeared in human form. The Bible is also after Jesus. He was also born as a human. The message of the Prophet Muhammad is also man-made. Buddha is also a human. But the eternal Sanātana Dharma is not made by anyone; it is a part of the management, you could say in modern language. That’s why Kṛṣṇa also said, "I am in each and every entity. They are all me, the essence of myself." Sanātana Dharma will never stop. It will always last, because as long as any creature, including the human, gives birth to a child, that is a process of the Sanātana. The seasons changing, that is Sanātana. A seed sprouts, becomes a nice little plant, grows, and gives flowers and fruits. This process is a Sanātana continuity: rain, snow, heat, etc. This all is within as a Sanātana. Now, who will say that they don’t believe in a Guru? This is only a problem of language and imagination. Someone has given such a negative reflection on this world called Guru. If there is no guru, this whole world will be destroyed. My harmonium teacher is called my harmonium guru. Music guru, artist, my painting guru, singing guru, the teachers in primary school, the professor in college and university are the guru. It means one who leads us from darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge. The whole world depends on this. We are all trying to have education. So the guru is not only the spiritual part; that’s only one, and that’s called a guru paramparā. It will be forever and forever and forever. Even one day when this earth will be destroyed and life on this earth ends, still there will be Sanātana Dharma; it will be there all the time. This is the first part. Second, the acknowledgement to understand, to believe, to worship, to adore, has preserved this science, Bhārat, through the knowledge of the ṛṣis. In India, 365 days, every day, there is some kind of celebration. Can you imagine? Every day is a golden day, every day is a divine day, every day is worshipping. We even have to be friendly and careful. We worship the enemy or the poisonous one, the snake also. Why? Because that is a part of our life, and this life is very important for our ecosystem. Many, many things. Among all of these, Rajasthan is known as a colorful state of India. When our government prints booklets or posters, 80% is from Rajasthan. It has the most camel riding, dancing, pagḍīs. Beautiful. Foreigners come to see these colorful pagḍī wāle. But there is no feeling left except for one pagḍī wālā, so they think they are not in India because we lost that kind of feeling towards our culture. We are doing many things without knowing why, just naturally, like breathing in and out. But if you think what it means to breathe in and out, then you will be very careful. If you hold your breath for half a minute, you start getting scared. So every festival has some meaning for humans, for animals, for the environment, etc. Every twelve months have a special name according to the season, and every month is a holy month. Now is the monsoon, Cāturmāsa. All seasons are divided in many countries. Some countries have no autumn and no spring; it becomes summer immediately. In Kannada, some part of Karnataka, there is no spring. Suddenly comes the summer. Anyhow, we are not going so far. This month is Śrāvaṇa, which we celebrate as a monsoon day, where all the gods are divine. God is only one. And don’t make a mistake: there is no semi-God. I don’t know who in India translated one word, "semi-god." Therefore, don’t say semi-god. Don’t translate the word "God" as semi-god. That has created confusion. I don’t know who put this word, and suddenly everyone is translating "semi-god." Devatā, semi-god. Arre, semi-god nahīṁ hote. Yah Bhagavān hai. Fire is a fire. Doesn’t matter if it’s a big fire or a small fire. Fire is a fire. Therefore, do not translate God or Devatā as a semi-God. If you don’t know, then just say Devas. If someone doesn’t understand, it’s their problem. They should study Hindi or Sanskrit. We will come to know what the Devas are. Why should we disregard the culture or the language? This is called Śrāvaṇa Māsa. In this Śrāvaṇa Māsa, all the Devas go to Anuṣṭhāna. They withdraw themselves and stay at one place. Many say in this time gods are sleeping. They let the brain rest as much as needed. They are not sleeping. They stay in one place. They also need a little holiday. But śravaṇa, yet śrama, śravaṇa, śrama—work something, do something. What? Spiritual work, for our inner self. But Śiva doesn’t go on holidays in that way. Shiva himself, in Śrāvaṇa Māsa, is still active on certain days. Shiva is Swayambhū. He is both Sarjan and Visarjan. Two kinds of very big duties has Shiva: Sṛṣṭi and Saṃhāra. Swayambhu, he appears from nowhere, neither father nor mother. Swayambhu, he manifests, he creates himself. That’s called Sarjanhara. And at the time of Viśarjan, the power of Śiva will return to the three-eyed draṣṭā. The ages are changing, but still between Brahma and Viṣṇu, Śiva is still observing. So, Śrāvaṇ Māsa is mostly for prayers, worshipping, and observing nature. This is number one. Now, every day, 365 days, some kind of festival: the incarnation of a certain saint. If you look at the Indian calendar, you will see which saints’ birthday or incarnation day. Incarnation is a spiritual word, and birth is a normal birth. So birth and incarnation, if it is born, are the same. According to the scholars, the wise people, the saints, the seers, they have told these stories, and according to that, we have to follow, and we are following. In this comes first astrology. Astrology is the third eye of God. Bhagavān kā tīsrā netra. These two eyes are to see the world, and the third eye is to see the third world—not this what they call now the third world, the developing countries, so don’t put India in the third world, okay? But you are right, because India has the divine visions of the third eye. That’s what they call the third world. Yes, India has the third eye, the wisdom. Unfortunately, Indians think now the English language is the language of God. Don’t think of that. God. Gold. So gold ko God ke diya. Jesus said, "Don’t believe in this gold. Gold is not a God. I am on the way to God. Come and listen to me." Who said? The master said to the disciple. So Indians, they are forcing their children into English medium. The English language does not have those very fine spiritual feelings. I am also talking now in English because many people can understand, as it has become an international language. But the Japanese, Chinese, and many other countries, they don’t send their children to English schools. After college, they may choose the subject and learn some languages. But our people have gone mad, and they don’t even speak English. I asked today, there are very great learned people sitting here. I said, can you today explain to us in English about Śrāvaṇ Kī Tīs? Everyone remained quiet. They would wake up and abuse their parents, but they don’t have it in front of them, so language became the problem. So, with this foreign language, you lost your mother culture, your mother tongue, your mother knowledge. Language is not bad, but your original language is in your blood, and you cannot change your blood. Till today, there is no scientist in this world who can make a drop of blood. Not possible. Panditjī asked him to give a cow to a brāhmaṇa. The brāhmaṇa said, "Okay." At the banks of the Ganges, Seth jī grabbed a mandak and said, "Take this cow." He said, "This is a mandak." You said, "Consider this as sandalwood." So consider this as a cow. That is why it is our duty to protect every living being. Only the living being is my Ātmā. And Ātmā is the Supreme Ātmā. In a... yes, remember him? World Conference, somebody from Europe came, "Katarī Sabkā Svāgat," okay. So, sorry to interrupt. So this month, Śrāvaṇa, is a month where people are fasting, if not every day, then every Monday. Dedication, devotion is God. You cannot say house God. House God. House ghost. Therefore, the English proper word is God. Anyhow, and spiritual. And in this, the Ṛṣi said, and the God who is incarnated, he said, that Hinduism—now I am coming to the Hindu religion—Ism is a lace, is a happy religion. We don’t have sad ceremonies. Happy, decorative, colorful, and joyful. We know that when Kṛṣṇa was born, if we want to show that picture, how was it? It is sad. But we don’t show the sadness. Janmashtami, Bhagavān Krishna, and with great joy, happiness, and devotion we accept, we worship, we have a darśana of Bhagavān Krishna as a little baby. Also, Rāma Navamī, God Rāma’s incarnation day. So every festival is colorful. That’s why on the world map, a spiritual place is called Bhārat. Now, today is the third day of the moon day of this month. It begins from Amāvasyā, the black night or the black moon, there’s no moon at night, to new moon, and the full moon. Then begins the next again, Amāvasyā to Amāvasyā, or Pūrṇimā to Pūrṇimā. Today is the moon. From Amāvasyā, the first day, we can’t see the moon. Sometimes, if you are on an aeroplane, maybe you can see, otherwise, generally, the first day after the amāvasyā, the moon is not visible. The second day, the moon is visible, and that is a crescent moon, which is an ornament of Bhagavān Śiva. That is an ornament of Shiva. It means that Shiva is the Shiva of the entire universe, not only for this one world. Surya and also the Chandra, both are in the balance with Shiva. That moon grows day by day. That also can be emotion, or it can be the changing in us. So, Lord, Bhagavān, or the Lord—here you can say the Lord—because he is individual. The Lord of our mind is the moon, and the moon is a principle of water. So, when the moon is changing on the new moon now, everywhere in the ocean is... high waves. So it means in the moon there is such a power that it moves the entire ocean. And that is moon, water. And water is emotion. Emotion means we are in motion, positive or negative. Emotion, many different kinds of emotion. If you are angry, it’s emotion. If you are sad, it’s an emotion. If you are happy, is it an emotion? It depends on what kind of emotion. So that is connected with the moon, and the moon is balancing our earth. The moon is balancing our earth. Otherwise, disaster will happen. So it is Śiva who is balancing that. The third day is the day we call worldly people, different. So it’s a story, they said. I asked them, "Can you tell me about Śrāvaṇ Kī Tīs, the third day of the new moon?" It’s between Pārvatī and Śiva. So, Pārvatī and Śiva, because of the Śrāvaṇa month, Śiva went a little far and remained seated in meditation. There was like a rain, Abhiṣek Ho Raha Hai. Between Kedarnath and Badrinath, there is a big rock, and on that rock is a symbol of Shiva. There are a thousand water streams, waterfalls there in this month, thousand, and according to that, Shiva’s name is also. One thousand names of Śiva and Pārvatī were said. Śiva felt alone, so she was asking, "See, when will I see you?" So that’s called viraha, viraha kī agni. There are many different kinds of fire, so viraha agni in the heart, the love. Now, what? Is that love? That love is what we call homesick. So when you go for the first time somewhere far, you are so sad, you want to come home. You want to see your mother, you want to see your father, you want to see your husband, you want to see this and that. So, Pārvatī was missing Śiva, and she began to pray. She could not eat; she did not eat. She was fasting, let’s say, "When Shiva will come, I will eat." So Śiva knew what was happening with Pārvatī, so they said that Śiva came and Pārvatī was happy. Now, the worldly people are connecting with certain selfishness. We can’t go very far. Always, we want to have for ourselves very close. So in India, every young girl, unmarried ones, virgins, they are praying. And today they will have a big ceremony and fasting so that she will find a good partner, a good husband. Girls, you missed it, but still there is hope. A hope is a walking stick from the cradle to the grave. Āsā jo hai, wo apne pālane se kabar tak. So hope is a stick, a walking stick from the cradle to the grave. Well, so they all wish that, "I will find a good partner, a good husband," and they do find. This is number one. Number two, every sister wishes to have a brother. Every sister, of course, mother, father, they wish both daughter and son. But when there are no brothers, then sisters want to have a brother. You see how good the ladies are? Brothers can be selfish in a different way, but ladies, girls, they wish very much. So what are they doing? Puṇya. So we have called puṇya and pāpa, the good deeds and bad deeds. How can I achieve my spirituality and fulfill my wish? For that, I dedicate everything to get the good things. So in different parts of India, they are giving some kind of food, fruits, eatings, and some kind of presents. In the part of Rajasthan from where I come, what they do today is they boil wheat, jau. They boil it, and then they mix it with some sugar and nice wheat flour. This is called gugurī. And then, half an hour or one hour before sunset, in the whole village, they collect together. Then they are making music, and with music, they go to the outside of the village, into nature. And there, mostly the girls, they take this boiled wheat nicely in one pot and cover it nicely, and then they come. And then they put each one wheat in the thorns of the bushes. Why? For the birds. That morning, the birds will find this, and they will eat, and they said, "I wish a good brother or a good husband." So what happened? Something happened when my sisters came home. They found me, so I was born. That was the story. So you see how good a brother I am? I don’t know if I am good or not, but my sisters were happy that they found me. Brother, so this is a day which makes the whole family happy, because a happy family has happy children, a happy husband, a happy wife, and happy neighbors and everything. You have to wait till that. Maybe you have to fast for 10 years, 20 years. Don’t hurry to marry. If you hurry to marry, then you will hurry to go to some government office to sign for the divorce. That should not happen. If you do it the right way, there is no question of divorce. There is one story, a very little story. Our Kattariya Sahib said he is in a hurry. I wanted to tell in Hindi, but I will tell now in English. Good? Please don’t mind, because it is a conflict of the culture. But it’s good. Indians are already following in that way. In 1987 or ’85, not long ago, a group, they were coming, or maybe ’78, I don’t remember exactly. So about 10 people, a group of Europeans, came with me. And then we went to Jodhpur. So in one house, they invited us for eating. So there were a few boys and a few girls who came from Europe. So the ladies go to ladies, girls go to girls, and boys go to boys. So one girl, or one lady, went to the kitchen to learn cooking, where an Indian lady was cooking. And what they are talking, ladies, that lady or girl, she was about 32 years old. So the Indian lady asked her, "Are you married?" She said, "No, I didn’t marry yet." So she said, "What do you mean, yet?" She said, "Well, I had many boyfriends, many men. I lived two years together, or five years, and this." She said, and the Indian lady said, "And what did your father and mother say?" "Say nothing, my parents said nothing." "Then why didn’t you marry?" she said. "I didn’t marry because I don’t know if he will marry and after get divorced." Then this Indian lady said, "Sister, still you are not married, and you are thinking already about divorce." Why are you thinking of giving blackmailing to yourself? In India, no girls will think, "I will marry, and my husband will be divorced." They will never think. They will only think one thing: to pray to God that my husband is healthy and happy. And the husband also, internally, he is praying. You know, men are like this. They don’t show openly, but every husband prays to God that his wife should be healthy and happy, and that he can always make her happy. The man will do everything to protect and keep his wife very happy. Now, the culture changed. So there is, we call, two kinds of culture: Devi culture and Paśu culture. So Paśu culture is like animal culture, and Devi culture is spiritual, divine culture. The life of the human is then the other creatures. So today is the day when again Śiva appeared, and Pārvatī was so happy. So she came again, she saw Shiva, and then it begins. It is said that thoughts were there that Parvati will marry, or she was married that time. I was not there, I can’t tell you, but it is that between brother and sister, between father and mother, between husband and wife, between human to human, this is a spiritual day. Today, it is a protection from human to human to keep one thought, a positive thought, and accept your destiny. Don’t cross the border. If it is in your destiny, it will come. And when it will come, you will know it is right. Otherwise, wait and wait. Be sure, if not in this life, the next life will come. Wait for that. Better to wait than suffer, and then suffer. So this festival called the Śrāvaṇ Kī Tīs, where the Divine Mother for us is a mother, Pārvatī, is her day. And Shiva, it is his blessings that he bestows his divine blessing. So, therefore, in all of India, but especially in Jaipur, this day is celebrated very nicely, Gaṅgore and this. So in Rajasthan, the most cultured city, or maybe in all of India, is Jaipur. People are coming from many, many countries to see the Gaṅgore and these festivals in India. So this is today the meaning that Pārvatī was waiting for, long. She was fasting for a long time. And before she thought that she would give up her life and die, but suddenly Śiva appears. Wait and wait and wait. So you know, there is one song: "How to Wait, We Shall Overcome." Our desires, our waiting, our pain, or our weakness, or the hard time, we will overcome. We shall overcome. We shall overcome one day. Oh, I do believe we shall overcome. So it will happen, it will come. I do believe in my heart that is the certainty. So that’s why India is giving a message. India is giving a culture, has given already. India is known as a cradle of the culture. And who came from mother India’s cradle, that became the leader of the whole world as a culture. Thank you very much, and wish you all the best, that Bhagavān Śiva fulfills your wishes.