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Oṁ Śānti! Śānti!... Dear sisters and brothers, good evening. Today is the day of the universal Śiva. Śiva is not born; he has no mother, no son, and no father. He is the father; it is he who manifests himself. Therefore, we call him Ādi. Ādi means forever, and from that forever, Śiva is one of the great, we can say, Gods. He is more than God. He is the protector of all. He is balancing and keeping harmony and understanding between all the Devas and also the devils, because from the Ādi there were good and bad, so there should be someone who can understand between and keep them in control. There are endless miracles of Bhagavān Śiva, or the divine Śiva. Śiva appears in the Himālaya near Mount Kailāśa. There is one holy lake there. In this holy lake, there is a Paramahaṁsa. Haṁsa is a swan. A beautiful swan couple, and they are also from Ādi, living in this Mansarovar. Now, I will explain. Mansarovar has different names: mind, right? Pure mind, and mind is mighty. Mind is endless. And also, mind can purify man. Sarovar is a very great, great lake. Bhagavān Śiva is miracles, and he is the protector; he is the creator. It is Śiva, then he brought Brahmā and Viṣṇu. There is a long story about Viṣṇu, and Viṣṇu is also made by, manifested by, Bhagavān Śiva. And Śiva said to Viṣṇu, "You go and reside in the water." And so, through Viṣṇu, became the ocean. That water that came is endless. People say, which is not right, that Brahmā is created from Viṣṇu's navel. That's not true. But Śiva ordered, and the lotus came from the navel of Viṣṇu, and Śiva gave the holy seat to Brahmā to sit on that beautiful lotus. And so the lotus also cannot exist without water. Viṣṇu is in the water, and fire cannot exist without water. In the water is a fire. Water is balancing. And that's why Viṣṇu Bhagavān is protecting, the protector. And Śiva said, "Brahmā, you now will be the creator." And so Brahmā is creating, not Viṣṇu is creating. So Brahmā is the creator and Śiva is the protector. He is protecting. And that's why, time to time, incarnation comes as Viṣṇu. There are 24 incarnations. There is a Nimitta incarnation and a Nityāvatāra incarnation. So Nimit means when there is really the most terrible situation, then Viṣṇu comes. Otherwise, the holy saints, that's called the Nimit, Nimit Avatāra. Every day some great saint is born or coming on this earth. And Śiva is the dissolver. He dissolves or liberates. It is not the right word to use that Śiva is a distractor. He is not a distractor. He is a liberator. He is liberating. This is ages and ages, but after that, from that Ādi Śiva and the other, now the Śivas. So Śiva is the king of the Himālayas. And there was a king in the Himālayas who was known as King Śiva. And so Pārvatī also was born from that Śiva of the Himālaya. So these stories are many, many very great, very profound things. But that is always Śiva's. Now, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva, they are already there. So Viṣṇu and Śiva, they are from one Yuga to another Yuga. They are changing. In one comes the Śiva. Then Viṣṇu is in the Śiva. On his Śiva, the Viṣṇu is coming for the Śiva. And when the Viṣṇu is coming, then Śiva comes for the Śiva of the Viṣṇu. Both they are, and Brahmā is the creator, and Brahmā is like the president. He gives the order. How comes this Mahāśivarātri? Mahā is great, and rātri means the night. What was that great night that Śiva had to come? And now, since that time, we worship, we adore the glory of Śiva. So that is the story of Mahāśivarātri. There was a time when humans were not so many. Rare to see someone very human. Their life was not so long. The illness, the many animals, etc. The generation is now too much. But at that time, there were many great, great, great saints, etc. So there is one person, like, now you are saying, here in Australia, Aborigines, or in Fiji, in New Zealand, etc., they call them Māori. So they were very rare, then growing, coming more and more. So there was one family, that's called Vanavāsī. Vanavāsī means living in the forest. And that was known till now as Ādi. Ādi, Anādi. One is Ādi and one is Anādi. So Anādi is going, but Ādi is eternal. So there was one family with two or three children, the wife and husband. Always, the husband or a man had to bring the food for the family. At that time, there were some humans who were living by hunting. So, every day, he had to go into the forest, hunt some animals, and bring them back, and that family would eat. One day, he was searching and searching and searching. He didn't get any animal; he came empty-handed. And the wife was waiting, the children were hungry, and he came very late and brought nothing. So she was very angry. The children are very hungry; they will die, and there is nothing. She was cleaning her pot and making fire, something, but there was nothing. That's called hand-to-mouth. That time was only hand-to-mouth. Evening, he ate, and there was nothing for morning. Wife sometimes also can be very angry or something. So she said to him, "Why didn't you bring this and that and that? Go and bring something to eat." So he was humiliated. His wife was very angry, but what to do? He had one bamboo, thick bamboo, about one meter long. And down where there was a knot, there is a shield. And the rest part was empty. So that was used for water, carrying the water for drink. Now we have plastic bottles, and we are getting water. Between there was water, clean water, and in the pond we could drink. But now, even our own water, which is coming in our canalization—not canalization, sorry—from the tubes, we don't want to drink. We want to drink purified water. It was, and it is, a war for the water. And after now, the water is, we are crying for the oxygen. Now, who knows that we have to carry with us the oxygen? He waited and was searching, and he was searching. Nothing came. Now, it's a dark night, and there are many other animals: tigers, lions, etc. So what did he do? He was climbing on the tree. And that tree we call Bīlva Patra, Bīlva. And this is the Bīlva Patra, what we have here, this one. So this is a very, it is said, this is on today. In this day, we also use this, and we say the mantra, "Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya," and we put it on like this. So it has nice leaves of the Bīlva Patra. This is a Bīlva Patra, which has these leaves like that, three, trinity. When he climbed up on the tree, what happened? From his elbow, the water which was in the bamboo pot fell out. And what happened? That all the water there, he did not know. And he didn't know what it was. But the water fell on the Śiva Liṅga, which was under that tree. He doesn't know. And Śiva was very happy. He said, "Someone is making abhiṣeka with the water." And so we are like we did here, this water abhiṣeka. He's sitting there, and it comes, one deer. He came there with the deer, and he took his arch and arrow to kill that deer. And she said, "Please, don't kill me. I have my children, and I am hungry, and I am taking something for them. Please." He said, "No, my children are also hungry, and I will kill you." She said, "Please, I will bring some grass to my children, and I will come back." He said, "No, no, no. You will not come, and you will run away." She said, "I promise." So he said, "Okay." She came back the second time with her. She said, "Please don't kill her, kill me." So there are two, three. They were coming and giving some prayers. They went away and came there, the male deer. A black male deer came, and he said, "I will go and I will talk to the Hari Oṁ, Hari Oṁ." So he said, he came and he said, "Okay, you can kill me." But then there came two, three, four females, yes, and they said, "Please, please don't kill. We have only... this one male, and no one is here anymore, so please don't kill him." So they were praying and praying. He said, "No, I cannot, but I will kill it." He said, "Please kill me, but not him." Again he went, and the other also. Somehow he was so humble, and his heart became very humble, that he didn't want to kill them. He got up down; morning was dawn, and he went home. His wife was very angry, very angry. So it happens that again, to send him away, and then Śiva came and he gave something to the children, and he went away, and he came again into the families, and I gave nothing. He said, "No, no, you gave everything. The children and we are all eating, and you should also eat," and so on and so forth. He said, "No, but I—" She said, "Don't lie." So from that, it goes back, and there comes the Śiva. So when man was there and Śiva came and Śiva said, "I will protect these deer and I protect your families." And so he worshiped, and he said the whole night, because he should not sleep sitting on the tree. So, every one leaf he was throwing down, and there was the Śivaliṅga down, and Śivajī was thinking he is making abhiṣeka, like today we are doing. So he was one leaf, the second leaf, and we are waiting and waiting, and then again like this. So it became this holy night, Mahā Śiva. Mahā is the great Śiva, and Śiva is God Śiva. So Mahā Śiva Rātri. This all happened in the night. And so this is the day. This man, and he brought his wife and children. And they made a pūjā, and they worshipped. So Śiva said, "I will give you enough for eating. Do not kill any animals." So they had enough to eat, everything, and Śiva went away. So this is the night which, every night, they were remembering this night of Śiva's, and that's why it's called Mahāśivarātri. "Rātri" means the night. And so this is every bhakta's, every devotee of Śiva, every Monday, worshipping Śiva, and once in the night is a big ceremony, like we have now here, like this. So there is Śivajī, Śiva is so humble, so kind, and whatever you want, he will give you. He will give you. He is one of the gods or divine that, with little prayers, he will give you everything. So it's called Bholenāth, very god. Śiva is very humble, he will give everything. What happened in Śiva temple? In Śiva temple, one thief went to steal something, but there was nothing, only Śiva Liṅga. But there was hanging one chain and one pot. Where on Śivajī's abhiṣek continued? So the Śiva Liṅga was big, but he couldn't reach that one. And it was a monsoon. He had his feet completely muddy. He looked left, right, nobody was there. Now he tried to get that chain and pot also, so he, with the muddy legs, climbed. He climbed on the Śiva, and he was opening, and he said, "Śiva, come, my dear son, what are you doing?" He came down quickly, "No, no, he is okay, my dear." You see, Śiva said, "The people are surrendering on me the leaves, the fruits, the water, that's all. But you are so great a bhakta that you are yourself offering me." So I was so happy Śivajī said, "You are my great bhakta." So you can, we can turn the negative things into positive things. Like this, there are many stories of Bhagavān Śiva. So tonight, if you think of worship, it will be great. Śaṅkara Bhagavān kī, Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya. Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya. Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya....