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Śānti! Śānti!... Dear sisters and brothers, good evening. Today is the day of the universal Śiva. Śiva is not born, has no mother, no son, and no father. It is He who manifests Himself. Therefore, we call Him Ādi. Ādi means forever and from the ever. Śiva is one of the great, we can say, God—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 there is also from Ādi, there were good and bad. So there should be someone who can understand in between and keep them in control. Well, there are endless miracles of Bhagavān Śiva, or the Divine Śiva—many, many miracles. Śiva appears in the Himalayas near or by what is called Mount Kailāśa. And there is one holy lake, and there, this holy lake, there is a Paramahaṁsa. Haṁsa is a swan, a beautiful swan. There is one couple, and they are also from Ādi, living in this Mānasārovar. Now I put it off, Mānasārovar. There are different names: Manas Sarovar, mind, pure mind. And mind is mighty, mind is endless, and also mind can purify. Manas Sarovar—Sarovar is a very great, great lake. Bhagavān Śiva is miracles, and He is the protector. He is the creator. This means it is Śiva, then He, Brahmā, and Viṣṇu. He brought them. 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 the Viṣṇu’s, it became the ocean. That water that came, it is endless. People said that, which is not right. They said that Brahmā is created from Viṣṇu’s navel. That’s not true. But Śiva ordered, and it came, the lotus, and that lotus 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 the protector. And Brahmā, 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 nitya-avatāra incarnation. So, Nimitta means when there is really the most terrible situation, then Viṣṇu comes. Otherwise, the holy saints, that’s called the Nimitta, Nimitta Avatāra. Every day, some great saint is born or comes to this earth. And Śiva is the dissolver. He dissolves or liberates. It is not the right word to use that Śiva is a destructor. He is not a destructor. 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 Himalayas, and all the kings in the Himalayas were known as King Śiva. And so, Pārvatī was also born from that Śiva of the Himalayas. 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 Śiva. Then Viṣṇu is in the seva. On his seva, Viṣṇu is coming for Śiva. And when Viṣṇu comes, then Śiva comes for the seva of Viṣṇu. Both they are, and Brahmā is the creator, and Brahmā is like the president. He gives the order. And you have Śivajī. How comes this Mahāśivarātri? Mahāśivarātri: Mahā means great, and rātri means 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 Mahāśiva Rātri. There was a time when humans were not so many. It is rare to see someone so 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. 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 is called Vanavāsī. Vanavāsī means living in the forest. And that was known, until 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, a wife and a 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 an animal, and bring it back, and that family would eat it. One day he was searching and searching and searching. He didn’t get any maverick back. He came empty-handed, and the wife was waiting. The children were hungry, and he came very late, and he 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 ate, and there was nothing for morning. The wife sometimes can also 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? And he had one thick bamboo, about one meter long, and down where was it? Mahāprabhujī Karatā, Mahāprabhujī Karatā, Mahāprabhujī. He was searching and he was searching, but 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 Bilpatra, Bīla. And this is the Bilpatra that 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 Bīl Patra. This is a Bīl Patra, which has leaves like that, three, trinity. Well, when he climbed up the tree, what happened was that from his elbow, the water which was in the bamboo pot fell out. And what happened? All the water there, he did not know what it was, but the water fell on the Śiva Liṅga which was under that tree. He did not 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 is sitting there. He is sitting there, and a deer comes. 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..." He said, "I am so 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 came with her. She said, "Please don’t kill her, kill me." So there are two or three who were coming and giving some prayers. They went away, and then the male deer came, the black male deer. He came and said, "I will go and I will talk to Hari Om. Hari Om." So he came and he went there, and he said, "Okay, you can kill me." But 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 did not want to kill them. He got up, down; morning was dawn, and he went home. And 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 know." She said, "Don’t lie." So from that, it goes back, and there it comes to Śiva. So when man was there and Śiva came, and Śiva said, "I will protect these dears, 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 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 a 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 brought his wife and children, and they made a pūjā and worshipped. So Śiva said, "I will give you enough for eating; don’t kill any animals." So they had enough to eat, everything, and Śiva went away. So this is the night, which is every night they were remembering, this night of Śiva’s, and that’s why it’s called Mahāśiva Rātri. Rātri means the night. And so, this is for every bhakta, every devotee of Śiva. Every Monday, they worship Śiva, and once at night there is a big ceremony, like we have here now, like this. So there is Śivajī, and 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 beings, that with a little prayer, He will give you everything. So it is called Bholenāth. Lord Śiva is very humble and will give you everything. What happened? In a Śiva temple, one thief went. One thief went to steal something, but there was nothing. Only Śivaliṅga, but there was hanging one chain and one pot where on Śivajī’s the Abhiṣeka continued. So Śivaliṅga 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 all. So he, with the muddy legs, climbed. He climbed on the Śiva, and he was opening. And he said, "Śiva came. My dear son, what are you doing?" He came down quickly. No, no, it’s okay, my dear. You see, Śiva said, the people are surrendering to me the leaves, the fruits, the water, that’s all. But you are such a great bhakta that you are yourself offering to me. So I was so happy, Śiva Jī said, "You are my great bhakta." So, we can turn negative things into positive things. So, like this, there are many stories of Bhagavān Śiva. So tonight, if you think, worship, it will be the great. Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya. Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya....