TV Channel

It is just now about 15 degrees. We are sitting today in front of the holy temple of our Divine Mother, Puṇyāvaratejī. On this day, on the occasion of Merry Christmas, all dear bhaktas, friends, brothers, sisters, and also the children near the Christmas tree — I wish you a very happy Christmas. It is the day when millions of people around the world remember and worship the birth of Jesus. You know, all dear, what Christmas means. It’s all holy saints. Hey, you move over, my boy. I am sure that the children are very happy now. Everyone is getting beautiful presents. Tradition is very beautiful. And of course, for small children, they don’t know what parents are telling them. In many countries, especially in Europe, America, those cold countries, first of all, they bring a needle tree, and they decorate the tree. They put something under the tree, and at that time, when the parents are decorating the tree, they tell the little children they should go near the room and wait; we will call you when Jesus is coming. It will ring the bell. When everything is decorated, and you put out some toys, or some chocolates, or cloth, or something, the husband brings a present for the wife, the wife brings a present for the husband, parents bring presents for each other, and children also bring presents for their parents. It’s beautiful. And then, when they decorate and put everything under the tree, the bell is ringing. Śrī Śrī... So, he has to, but of course, Jesus is very happy and he loves the children, so he brought on his birthday everything for everyone, something. In this way, they make children also very happy. It is one of the spiritual days, a very happy day of Christmas. There are many other happy festivals, but such a holy one is that where Jesus was born. In the countries that are hot countries, this time is the winter, like in Australia, I think also in Japan and those kinds of countries, New Zealand, and in this part, they say it is very hot. So when I was in Australia, I asked them, "What do you expect for Christmas Day?" They said, "Oh, we want to have very hot weather because it’s holidays, and we can go on the beach near the ocean, lie down on the hot sand, and swim in the ocean." When you ask the children and people in Europe and America what they wish, they say, "We wish you a white Christmas." So, what does a white Christmas mean? It means a lot of snow falling. Beautiful, everything is white: the trees, the house, the roof, the roads, the garden, the plants. Everywhere is snow and snow and snow, like cotton. It looks like this. Well, according to the climate, people are adjusting themselves to become happy. And so it is similar to what we call Diwali in Indian Sanātanā Dharma and its cultures. So, the incarnation of God Rāma was approximately 155,000 years ago. Also, Hanumānjī was incarnated at that time, born at that time. And that time, the Rāmāyaṇa was written by Vālmīki, the Maharṣi Vālmīki, he who wrote the holy book of the Rāmāyaṇa of Bhagavān Rāma. He wrote about Rāma before he was born, exactly the times, where, what, and how it would be. And, of course, he lived at that time also, when Rāma was there. So, that incarnation of Rāma, when he came back, the whole long stories, when he came back from Laṅkā — not China, sorry — they decorated also the trees and streets and like this. Because many people were coming day and night to visit him after fourteen years, he spent the time in the forest. At that time, what they called the kingdom of the God Rāma, it was touching near Australia. And now the scientists, they said the Australian Aboriginal people, some thought it was from China, some thought from somewhere, but now they have changed it: the Aboriginals are from the Indians. And it means exactly, mostly their color, skin color, their way of look, how they are doing, behaving, also putting the tilak from Śiva. They attack from here on the arms, the upper arm, the lower arm, and also the tilak here, and also here on the face. So it means that at that time, somehow those islands were close to Australia, close to Perth. Now, there are seven oceans, and the seven oceans have their names, but no ocean has the name of any country. However, there is only one ocean, a mighty ocean, a big one also, and that’s called the Indian Ocean. That’s called the Hind Mahā Sāgar, the ocean, Hind Mahā Sāgar. So it is that time the islands were a little closer; perhaps from South India, people immigrated, went from one tāpū, island to island. This time, on the other side, it was touching the middle part of Turkī, where it is going till it is called Hindukush. The mountain which is Hindu Kush is in the middle of Turkey, which is the capital nearby Turkey. In the Hindu Kush, there were the ṛṣis. Long ago, around 1975 to 1980, a scientist wrote in an article in a magazine that the name "Russia" comes from the name of India. There are many cities or parts which have names in Sanskrit. So, all of Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, and Malaysia, these all were islands. So, Sumitra, the Sumitra island is where it is, Malaysia. And their culture is still playing the Rāmāyaṇa. There are temples in Bangkok, and even the name, their king, is all known as Rāma. So that was a very big kingdom of Rāma, Rāma Rājya. So, around 155,000 years ago, the time when this tradition began to enlighten and decorate a tree with the light. Now, Jesus was 2,000, 700, 1,700, 17 years, 2,017 years. So it is very good, nice to see that the thoughts are equal, making the light. Another thing is that now is exactly the middle of winter in Europe, and this is the shortest day and longest night. So, everyone would like to have light and this. So, another is like Holī or Dīvālī or Christmas. These kinds of festivals are mostly in that time when the crops are finished. Farmers have nothing to do. And so, if humans have nothing to do, then they have stupid thoughts. They will fight, they will do this and that, drinking alcohol or drugs, and so on. So our ṛṣis, or our holy saints from any country, thought we should create some kind of festival in a spiritual, emotional way. So they again come to their friends and come with some good thoughts about spirituality. In the holy summer, we have in India and this Asian side, it will be very hot, and people cannot sit together, and this and that stupid things also. But then the holy comes is a victory of the truth. So, dharma or adharma. Similarly, during Diwali, what happens in this part of the world is that the people have just harvested their crops and now they have nothing to do. So they put on a very good festival, the time that they have what we call the Dīvālī. Or our Pandit, they made a kind of feeling, oh, that kind of, this is a time for marriage. Good constellation, and this, I don’t know if marriage needs a constellation, but because at that time they have nothing to do, now they will fight and this and that, so they try to become, they are occupied, make them busy, celebrating marriage and this and that. So, like this, all the festivals, good festivals in the world, are cultural, but people sometimes don’t like cultural more; they like some religious, some spiritual. And so, in every country, in every culture, there are some nice spiritual festivals to keep humans more together and to prevent them from becoming stupid. So, in this way, children are getting a feeling for God. God brought me something. I got something under the Christmas tree. And really, my father and all, they were, I don’t know, but what I wished, children said. And I thought, I told my father, "I think baby Jesus will bring me this." So parents knew what children wanted. So they put it under the trees, and they said, "Wow, this is what I was, what I wished for." And Jesus brought exactly this for me. Yes, yes. So, like, these holy festivals are very good. My dear ones, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy, happy, prosperous, and healthy New Year. God bless you, and enjoy the Christmas evening. Bless you. Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī, Dev Puruṣa Mahādeva Kī, Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān Kī, Jaya Satya Sanātana Mahāprabhudīp Karatā, Mahāprabhudīp Karatā... Mahāprabhudīp Karatā Mahāprabhudīp Karatā He Kevalam Mahāprabhudīp Karatā He Kevalam Thank you, everybody. I wish you all the best, and once more, blessings on the occasion of Christmas. Hari Om, Deep Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jai, Dev Purīś Mahādev Kī Jai, Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān Kī Jai, Alakh Purījī Mahādev Kī Jai, Viśvaguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvar Paramahaṁsvāmī Maheśvarānandajī Dev Kī Jai, Loh.