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Prāṇa, prāṇa pratiṣṭhā. When we perform the prāṇa pratiṣṭhā, the statue is no longer a statue. It becomes alive, and that is why we conduct pūjā three times a day, offer bhoga, and give prasāda—we eat. If you do not believe, then it remains a statue; you simply place some halwā before it and later clean it away. But for a bhakta, it is not like that. It is God, and He certainly eats. There is a Rajasthani bhajan, Karma Bhai Ka. (The speaker briefly pauses: “Should I stop? We are life, of course.”) So, in a small village in North India, there was a little temple of Kṛṣṇa and a priest, a pūjārī, who performed pūjā every day. A few people would come for the pūjā. Among them was a little girl, around ten, twelve, or fifteen years old. One day the priest had to go away, and there was no one to replace him. So he instructed this girl to do the pūjā for three or four days until he returned. She knew what to do because she had watched him every day. The priest would bring a plate covered with a cloth and place it near the deity. Then he would draw the curtain. Bhojana, when you eat, should be done peacefully—do not rush, do not talk—because food is annadevatā. Bhajana and meditation should also be done in a secluded manner, not in the middle of the street. Similarly, your treasures—money, diamonds—should be kept secure, locked away, covered with a cloth for safety. So the priest would go behind the curtain, uncover the food and water, make offerings, recite mantras, and then come out. That is faith. The girl knew what to do. The next day, when the priest was absent, she came. The priest always prepared nice prasāda—halwā, khīra, purīs, very good things. (Who eats this? Not God, but the priest! So he cooked tasty dishes.) But at home, her family had only dāliyā, khichṛī made from bajrā, and ghee. So she brought a plate full of this dāliyā and a big bowl of ghee. She covered it, placed it before the deity, and closed the curtain. But she had no curtain like the priest’s; she only had her skirt. So she held her skirt up as a curtain and said, “Please eat.” She told the deity, the statue, Kṛṣṇa, “Eat now. If you sigh, I’ll go outside. Eat now. I have no time; I must go to the field and to my parents. Please eat.” What happened? Kṛṣṇa appeared and ate. When she peeked, the food was finished, the water was gone. She ate the little prasāda left and said, “Thank you. You left too little for me, but it’s okay,” and went away. Such a miracle never happened to the priest who performed the daily ceremonies. But children and true bhaktas have a very pure heart. There is a bhajan in the dialect of Gujarati and Rajasthani: “Thāle bharane laī rā khīchaṛo ūpar ghar kī bāt kī, Jīmo Mahārāj Śyām Dhaṇī, Jīmā ve beṭī jātakī aisī pūjā.” Something like that. Love can melt rock. Kṛṣṇa had to come because the girl was so afraid that the priest would be angry if Kṛṣṇa remained hungry. “Maybe He didn’t like my cooking, but I have nothing else, so please eat.” Thus, God comes for the bhakta. As it is said: “Anahonī guru kar sake, honī deṭa milāī miṭāī, para brahma gurudeva śabakusa deṭa banāī.” So God can do anything for the Guru. Now, I have a question: What is the garbha-gṛha? You know, in the mandira there is a garbha-gṛha. When the soul is purified, it comes out of the grave—it is born again. Then why do we still keep God in the grave? Or change His name? He is always in the garbha-gṛha. Why? Secondly, why are there no windows in the garbha-gṛha? Especially in South India, with so many dīpakas burning inside, everything is dark, the walls. Why no window at all? You could at least have a small one for ventilation. And the third question: Why do you put rice on the forehead for tilaka, and not sesame (tilī) or something else? Why chāval? You people are bhaktas of your Gurujī, so ask them: Why rice? I do not believe that rice is clean or this or that, or non-vegetarian. Even if it is non-vegetarian, is everything else non-vegetarian? There must be a reason. I am searching for an answer. Some say rice is very old; some say it is not uncooked—I don’t understand how that is possible. It is uncooked, but if you peel it, it becomes like paper. In Gujarat it is called Chokhā, and it is good. But if it is good, why is it used? Everything is good. So these are three questions: the garbha-gṛha, the windows, and the rice for tilaka. Google does not provide the answer. Google me nahīṃ miltā, beṭā. Google me miltā, beṭā? Hāṃ, koī bāt nahīṃ. (An aside on birthday customs:) Cake— “cake” is a vulgar word in our language, ye gaṇḍā śabda hai. And if you buy a cake, it contains many eggs. Cutting that cake means cutting your life. Blowing out the dīpaka or candle means extinguishing the cycle of your life. Therefore, in our culture, in spirituality, we never blow out flames; we light them. On your birthday, do not blow out candles—that reduces life and brings illness. So, no blowing out candles and no cake. Instead, take rice and milk. Milk is the first food from the mother. (On the four milks:) “Ek dūdha māṃsī kā, dūdhajā dūdha gāī kā, yānī sevījanvar ke dūdha jo hotā hai.” He wants to explain about milk. Now let me elaborate. The first milk is mother’s milk—whether of a human or an animal. The second milk is animal milk, whatever animal gives milk, big or small—even a mouse gives milk. The third milk is plant-based milk, like coconut milk. The fourth milk is soya bean milk. Do not mention urea milk! In Europe and India, they make urea milk, pesticide milk, plastic milk. And they make it into coffee—not real coffee—but it creates wakefulness and stays in the stomach without digesting, because it contains urea. So, life, birth, and time are made up of human beings; there is no time. What is time made of? We are beyond time, without space and second. Now, let the program continue. Hari Om, Aśrī Bahād. Praṇām Guru Dev. It is a joy to have you here today. As our Gurudev said, it is Hanumānjī Day—Saturday is Hanumānjī Day. What a blessed opportunity for all bhaktas to express love and devotion to Gurudev and welcome him to our āśrama again. We also have special guests: my yoga friends from the South Bay Daśāvatāra Yoga Center. We are happy to begin today’s program with the chanting of the Hanumān Chālīsā and the Gītā Dhyāna Śloka, followed by Chapter 1 of the Bhagavad Gītā. Thank you for coming. (The children’s program: three ślokas, Gaṇeśa Āyamana, Guru Praṇāb Duryodhana. Swāmījī had told us that children should learn the Bhagavad Gītā in a ten-month program. They have learned two chapters so far and are now on the first chapter. By next April, the entire Gītā will be completed—eighteen chapters memorized.) That was very glorious, divine chanting. It is like divine nectar, especially the Hanumān Chālīsā, glorifying Bhagavān Śrī Rāma, Sītā, and great Hanumānjī. We thank all the bhaktas from Daśāvatāra temple, guided by Śrī Swāmījī—your index Gaṇeśa Swāmījī. He is a great musician, speaker, and master. I congratulate Vibhīṣaṇ Swāmījī for his bhaktas here in San Francisco and Oakland. Thank you, everybody. Nowadays in the world, many things happen that are not spiritual, ethical, or moral. You know that Sanātana Dharma, Vedic Dharma, Hindu Dharma is based on ahiṃsā, non-violence. In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam—the very text you were chanting—at the time of the Mahābhārata battle in Kurukṣetra, when the great war ended, the Pāṇḍavas were the winners. The Rākṣasas, the negative vṛttis, were destroyed. The five Pāṇḍavas went to their uncle and grandfather, Bhīṣma. Although Bhīṣma was on the Kaurava side, inwardly he supported the Pāṇḍavas. After the war, the Pāṇḍavas came and asked, “Father, grandfather, what should we do now? What is our duty? How should we rule the kingdom?” Bhīṣma was lying on a bed of arrows—every inch of his body pierced. He had a blessing that he would not die until he wished. But now he was in immense pain. Yudhiṣṭhira offered praṇāma and asked for guidance. At that moment, Bhīṣma had a profound realization. Before that, he understood what it means to suffer, to kill, to torture. There is a great scholar and philosopher from Maharashtra, Dr. Kane. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in his lifetime. He wrote many books, including two thick volumes of the Dharma Śāstra, thousands of pages. In the first volume, he records that for the first time in history, Bhīṣma pronounced these words: “Ahiṃsā Paramo Dharma”—non-violence is the highest principle. You can search for this slogan, who said it first, when, and under what circumstances, according to time and space. Dr. Kane had to study thousands of books. He was truly great. You should buy that book and search for such beautiful words—it’s like a jewel. So Sanātana Dharma and Hindu Dharma are founded on non-violence, no cruelty. Do not cause pain to any creature. Even killing a small creature will reflect on you as karma. That is the main reason you should not eat meat. From where does meat come? From living beings that have to be killed. How cruel it is nowadays—they kill just for pleasure. On certain religious days, like Daśarā in Nepal, they slaughter thousands of buffaloes; the field runs with blood up to the ankles. Similarly, during Bakrī ʿĪd, such things happen. This cannot be what God desires. So, ahiṃsā paramo dharma. Hindu religion is among those that hold real ahiṃsā, real compassion, real love, real understanding. Understand others’ pain, needs, and situations. Do not be selfish. Do not use anger, hate, cruelty, temptation, or your unsocialized knowledge. Words spoken without social awareness cut others’ hearts like a knife. You can kill someone physically, mentally, emotionally, intellectually, socially, economically—there are many ways to torture. It is said that a person lacking social feeling may regard knowledge as torture, but it is not. When a child goes to school every morning, in cold or heat, sitting within four walls for years, knowing the chair and wall by heart—that is the training of the master, the teacher, to transform you from coal into a diamond. Education exists for the love of each and every entity: if not more, then at least as much as you love yourself, as Bhagavān Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Mahāprabhujī said. Therefore, Sanātana Dharma will return. After all these cruelties, Satyuga will come again. “Dayā dharma kā mūla hai, pāpa mūla abhimāna, Tulasī dayā na chhoḍīye, jaba laga ghaṭa meṃ prāṇa.” Dayā is the root of dharma; the root of sin is pride. Tulsī says, never abandon compassion as long as there is life in the body. In Indian religion, about ninety percent is based on ahiṃsā. Now it is diminishing slowly. Various religions come, various preachings. Many convert because they are told they can eat meat after conversion—that their new religion allows it. But no true religion allows killing. Christians say, “Thou shalt not kill.” Even in the Old Testament it is written, “Those who have eyes, let them see.” God will never say to kill, because God created everyone with equal love and equal respect for life. God gave beauty to this planet with diverse lives, trees, vegetation, oceans, mountains, lakes, rivers, deserts. Different flowers—how beautiful. Paramahansa Yogananda composed a song: “O God Beautiful, O God Beautiful, In the mountains and the forests, In the meadows and the deserts… In the rivers and the ocean, In the clouds and the rain… In humans, in animals and birds, In the trees and all living beings, O God, You are beautiful.” Find it and sing it sometime. God-realization is the essence of religion. Finally, you must embrace the principles of the Hindu religion to survive and save this planet. Dīpa Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, Devīśvara Mahādeva, Mādhava Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān Sanātana, Om Śānti Śānti.