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Part 1: The Divine Mother's Power and the Sanctity of Family Life This is a spiritual lecture about Yoga in the Indian tradition, focusing on Navarātri, the nine nights of the Divine Mother. But for what purpose does she come? She has to take over something. What may be Śiva or other deities, goddesses? For that, always comes the Divine Mother. Let us take a very simple example from family life. In a house, there are a few children, the father, the mother, and so on. Sometimes the children do not come under control, or the father or husband is not in control in many things. But when the mother comes, then even the husband, the father, sits down. Yes, if it is the best mother, best father, good children, good ancestors—our ancestors from one after another—that means there is great respect in their house. There is sometimes, of course, a little bit of anger or this or that. So similarly, if there is something and children say, "I want this and this and that," and the father says, "Not this and not that," the mother comes. She says, "Moment, moment, children. Sit down." The husband also holds his hand like this. And she comes and says, "Okay, I’ll give this, this,... okay." And for you, and your husband is very happy, everything is balanced, and she is also happy. So, there is a power that is called Śakti, the power of the mother. And this is also in animals. In animals also, the bird is sitting near the nest, on the eggs, on the babies. And the mother is sitting there, and the father, the bird, is going and getting the food. One day it happened that the father couldn’t get something, and he went to drink water and wash himself. And then he came, and his wife, or the father of the children, was angry. And she said, "You take care of here, I’m coming." So, then the father is taking care of the nest, and the mother is going quickly, bringing and giving to all the children. Now, how is that? In the nest of the birds, there are about, sometimes, five or six birds. In a small bird, there are so many little, little things. The bird we call the egg. And then they come out of the eggs, little, little babies, and how many are opening their mouths. And mother is, no, only she can, and she will. She knows on whose beak will give in the mouth. What we can say is this: others say, yes, the father cannot control. The mother controls. She knows exactly who got and who didn’t get. Similarly, in the divine way, when we call, when you get that Śakti within thyself to control the whole house, well, it is it. It’s a very important thing. I shall come a little bit further until our Avatārapurījī forgets his old thoughts, what he wanted, and has the thoughts to talk. But it will come, so it is that in this, how the family is touching. So now, what is happening? This is what I am telling generally about our human nature and how we, as a household, shall go further and further. Also, there was one king, then the next king, then the next... king. And it was like this. That is when there may be five sons, but the first son was the king. And they have to balance. The queen, she is balancing. Sometimes boys go and run away, and this and that, these things happen. So when they are organizing for the girl and the boy. So the family, the parents of the girl, are at home. They will be at home and everything, of course, they have all agreement and everything. But she is at home. She will not go there. Yes? And her mother also, with my daughter, will be here. And if you want to marry, you all have to come here and have the ceremonies here. And with respect, we will give our daughter. That’s it. Really. If you see now, this kind of ceremony, it was very great. Now, you go somewhere and then you meet a boy or a girl, and then, okay, we will go and we marry. This is now in this century, all in this last century. Before, not. Before, it was very respectful in Europe also, everywhere. But now, something different. So, they are coming, the son’s family, they are coming there with nice respect, and they come, and the boy cannot go at the house, in the house, no, no... Yeah, don’t think that my girl will immediately go and catch her in hand, no, no... They will bring you somewhere to stay, in which house, yes. And then they will come and say, "How are you?" and this and that, and there is beautiful music and this and breakfast or something, and then after eating something like this. And then they are sitting, the boy, of course he will not, he does not want to go, he will not go like that. You have to come, and respectfully, please come. That’s it. And she will not come out of the door. She’s with her family, sitting there, so there are many things. So it comes in an elephant or a horse. Some people also, what you call them, the camel or walking. So then they are going so respectfully, and others come and say, "Please, welcome, come." They said, "Yes, yes." They make—they have ego. They are sitting, they want to have some chai, or they want to do this, and they are... Standing in music is marriage is a beautiful, but it has been whole life. You should have like that, otherwise, stupid. And no one, no child, no. How son thinking about marriage and girl doesn’t thinking about it. It is the mother’s parents, and this mother’s parents. If the boy’s mother does not want him to, the boy cannot go out of the house. So, how is the respect of the children to the parents? That was the one village, becomes one family. That’s it. All of them are like one family. The whole village people will respectfully welcome that boy who is going for the marriage. And from that other village of his, a few people come, and they are also respectful. That time was a life. That was a life. There was also joy in seeing the marriage. And for about one month, they had ceremonies, all dancing, singing, this, that, many. There are many, many things. Now it’s mostly gone. I said, for example, when I was a very little boy also, and my two brothers were bigger than me. So when they went for marriage, it was one month and eight days. Because the whole village was welcoming them for eating, these boys, Bikaram, Narsingram, and all this. And their parents, there is still my one brother’s wife here, and she is still living anyhow. That’s what I’m telling you. Otherwise, how should I know? I didn’t marry. I don’t know. I was... no, I went somewhere. Bye bye. And sabhī gīt gāy gāy, wo sabhī gīt gāy, ham gāy, chale gaye. He gāy. Some persons you go, so that’s good. But it is not only in India. Also, I could see in Austria at that time. And you see the king in England and this. How beautiful. That’s your life. It’s not only just you see a girl and boy and you’re lost. You have killed your joy. That’s it. And so, it’s something. And don’t think that I’m making jokes or something, but I’m giving that life, how to live. Life, how to live. That’s it. And what is mind, in our self, and what is our heart, and what are we capable of or not? If it is not capable, that is a problem there also. So in this way, now the people are coming with the hearts, or with the elephant, or like this, and music, and they are coming to the door, to the door of the girls, their parents. And the girl is not there. She is inside. She will not come out. And first, there are different traditions in Rajasthan or in Gujarat or somewhere. So, there is the horse. I am in Rajasthan, where I am so. So the boy sitting on the horse, with a very nice turban and this and that. My God, it is blim-blam. There are very blim-blam lights and so. And then he had this word in his hand, and he would touch the door up there. They made very nice, like, I don’t know what they call it, I forgot. And so, there they will touch. He will touch that. Then he says yes, now he is welcome, and he also wants it. Then, the mother and father of that girl, the girl is inside, don’t come anywhere out. She is not that. I will come, and now you will go, and ha ha... He stands there, and then she can come up in. Now, that mother of this girl, her heart is so like this. There are three things, my son, in my law. So that is so nice, so beautiful. I hope he is a good one. Second, I hope my daughter will be happy and very good. And what more powerful heartbeat is, now I don’t have any more position. It is the opposite. When this girl goes there, I will tell you how a girl goes into the house. So I can tell you in that way thereafter. So they come, and then they have ceremonies, and they sit, and still they are not looking at each other, yeah? Oh, the boy is very, how to say, like this. She may come and sit; he will not look nice. Oh, and she is also sitting there in a nice, respectful way. And then the mother and the father of the girl will take her hand and place it in the boy’s hand. Now they have given it to him. And then there are the ceremonies and this. What a joy! This is the humans, and that is their whole life. They live a very holy, happy, and nice life. And they have, they’re also children, and it goes step by step further. And I am sure it was not only in India, I am telling, it is definitely in Europe also like this, and it is also in other countries, everywhere they had it, but now this Western world now, or whatever you call it, is destroying everything. And that’s why there is no joy, nothing. And when the girl is married to some other village there, maybe 100 kilometers or 50 kilometers or 200 kilometers away, and from that, her village, this girl’s village, some boys or some men from that village are passing by this village, she will run. And if it is the youngest, then she will bless them. And if it is an elderly person, a man or a woman, then she will go and bow down. Like a brother, the sister, and like both are parents. Other’s parents, but she will take them as her own parents of this village. That was beautiful, beautiful things. And so, when a boy and a girl are going to his village. And now, she is also coming with respect, and there are a few people with her. And now, she is coming there. On her door, she is not going in. Don’t think that she will run in this or that, or that the boy will not say, "Let’s go in." Oh, oh,... no, no, no. And another thing, when this girl is going to the boy’s house or village, then what is she making, doing there? Memory. The memory of the girl. She will make this mandi. What do we call this? Henā. And this henna color, mostly from Rupa was, so they will make very nice whole days, two days, put this henna in the water for paste. Then these girls will make this complete, and on the outside, on the door of her family, she will put both hands there, and then she is going. So, always they remember, "There is my daughter here." Yes, they worship her always, and they will take care very much. Everybody will say, "My sister, my daughter," that’s it. So, you have seen in the video, there is a film about God Rāma, and it is very nice. In the part where Sītā went with God Rāma, Sītā also put this on her door. Yes? That was a tradition. They were happy. Then there was purity, no doubt. Fighting, this, that, this—everyone, harmonies, purities, everything was very good. That was a life of life. And so, now what’s happening? Now she’s coming. And again, that mother of the boy, she brings pūjā for the girl, she will make him tilak, and she gives the hand for the blessings. Some touch her feet, but she will touch the feet of the mother of the boy. And then she said, "Please come, this is your house." And she turns back, and the girls go inside first. Stay by in the house there. Okay, very good, happy, very happy now. Everything after whatever is happening. But the grandmothers, I am talking about Navarātrīs. Yes. So now this lady is the mother of the child, and now she knows. Now, everything is not in my hands. But she has so many, what we call, the key, many, many keys. And there, proudly, the mother-in-law, proudly, about half, one quarter kilos, so many, so many keys, and they were hanging on her here, and she’s going to, the wife or the daughter’s girl, she cannot ask grandmother to take, "Can I have?" No. And if then she will say, "No respect." Oh God, now the girl’s training is there, my God. But she will always respect her like her own daughter. But now she will keep the training. My daughter, she will say, "Daughter, my daughter, where were our traditions? Are they there?" How many of our ancestors’ families are there? So you know that someone died, then you know that you are these parents, and this is your family, and this family comes to the funeral, or to a marriage, everywhere, no? So, where is there? And which people are not good? So take care that you should not marry your children in that way. So the mother-in-law, giving her such good knowledge and training, and before she should get up, go, wash herself, make tea or something like this, and touch the feet of the mother of the husband and the boys of her brother. They are all in such a nice way. Part 2: The Essence of Navarātri and the Path of the Śānta When a daughter-in-law first enters a family, she may ask the mother, "Mother, I need that key." The mother will say, "Okay, go and take it and bring it back to me." This happens many times. Then, within a year or two, the grandmother—the husband's mother—takes all the keys and says, "My daughter, I am tired. Why don’t you carry these keys? Take them." He understands, and this is truly a good person; this is what is called a family. Nowadays, before people are even married, they want one apartment, they want another building. Look at Jodhpur, for how many years and years it was a small, unified Jodhpur because they had a family and they all maintained everything together. But now, first this and that—this is the Kali Yuga, and that is why everything is split in different ways. Similarly, in a family, and also among many animals and birds, there is respect. When one bird dies, the other bird will also very soon die. They have great respect for one another. So, we come to spiritualities. In spiritualities, there are two: there is a negative and a positive. This will always be, and there was fighting, many killing each other. But when it is there, then the Divine Mother Śakti—Śakti, or whatever you call that—will give us blessings. So many, many people, it doesn’t matter if female or male, husband or wife, whole families, the men and the women, they worship the Divine Mother, respect the Divine Mother, and are purified. There are many, many things. Our Avatārapurījī is a very expert, you know. I did not learn everything, but he knows what is a Śakti and what is a Bhakti and what is a Takti, and he is chanting everything. So he will tell us something. It is like that. You know that in Līlā Amṛta from Mahāprabhujī, one day, one Śakti came. Mahāprabhujī was in the room. There were no doors or anything, and one woman came. Mādhavānandajī, Bābājī, Gurujī, he said, "Why, who’s coming?" And Mahāprabhujī said, "Mādhavānanda, quickly bring one nice red cloth, an āsana, and this and that." It is written in the Lambṛta. Then, after she went for walking, Gurujī, Mahāprabhujī said, "Go with her walking." And he said, "This old woman, whom Gurujī said, 'Holy Gurujī, she is so...' I will walk quickly." He said, "No problem." Then she was going before, and Holy Gurujī said, "Okay, I will come slowly, slowly." But she was going slowly. Yet Holy Gurujī was feeling so quickly. He was tired, Gurujī, but still the mother Śakti was distanced as it is. Then she came back, and after she came to Mahāprabhujī, they had some talking, conversation, and then she disappeared. That is in the Līlāyamṛta book. That was the Śakti, and by which Śakti Gurujī said something. So, my dear, this is a miracle. These miracles are also animals. Sometimes a rākṣasa becomes the animal. Yes, they’re mostly like buffaloes, and this and that. So this is how life begins in humans. And so that human arrived on the holy. And you are all holiness, all holy, mother, all holy. Do not respect in a negative way. But if you said your wife is not good, and you are stupid, and you’re... Then, it is like in the milk, one drop of lemon, what happens to the milk? It spoils. Finished. What is not there? The milk, and from milk, there comes yogurt and butter, but just because of one drop, it is eaten, eaten, eaten then burst, so milk is split. When milk is split, there is no more ghee. Therefore, it is said... So, there are what? Everything? We have to respect this. And this is the, now these seven nights, you can’t imagine how great. It doesn’t matter, you can go anywhere, to any ceremonies of men, and this and that, okay. But Divine Mother, Śakti, is there in your house, there in your thinking, in your thoughts, in your washing, in your dressing. Have very much respect in your house with the altar of the Devī, which you have, a Devī. You can have your mother’s Devī, you can have your grandmother’s Devī, all are the Devīs, or there are many. And those seven days, and the seventh day, then the Śakti has completed, all good, and so again she is gone, and we worship and like. So Navarātri is already, this is the third night, the third night. And now you know that after the nine days, after God, Rāma, avatāra. Aike nahi? Rām Nāmī? Yes, Rām Nāmī. And Rām Nāmī means the ninth day of this. Then, the divine mothers were all there on the side. God came, Rāma came, their body. And that’s why we will continue to go there. And so in this we have our Maṅgīlālji, and then Maṅgīlālji has written one beautiful bhajan, the Maṅgīlālji of Mahāprabhujī. Maṅgīlālji has said that before Mahāpralaya, śānt jan... Pralaya, ye kitnā dukhī hogā, ye bīmārī hai, ye hai, wo marne lāyak, pānī, earthquake, hot waters, everything, destroying, torturing, getting there. But, Śānt Mahāpuruṣ jolikā hai, ki Mahāpralaya kī pahle Śānt Jan, before this pralaya, I mean destruction, who is coming there, Mahāpralaya Śānt Jan, Sādhus, Śānt, they will not suffer, they will go away into the Moha Lokas. Now, śānt means not only sādhu, not only dress, not only pūjā, and in the temple you are making pūjā, and you know what you are doing? Making my nice prasāda, Bhagavān, naladu, this, this, and then he is making pūjā, paṇḍita, and all the time looking only for you, God, smell only for you. I will eat, you will not eat. I will, you will not eat, I will eat. So these are the jokes. So there is śānt, sa ant, sa ant. Sa means all, and ant means end. Who have no krodha, no jealousy, no hate, etc. Nothing is there. It doesn’t matter if you are married or not married. You are a saint. Śānt. Where is the saint? So, in that, our Gurū Kākā or Gurū Bhakta is there. Before Mahāprabhujī, the saints meet Parabrahman. They will all become one with Brahman. Brahman. Not this Brahman, man. Manuṣya. Brahma, Brahman, that therefore it is Prakāś, Puñjam, Ṛtta, Keśāgāra, Śrī Dīpāharī, Mahādānī, Sare Viśvame Guñjarāhī, Prabhuke Amarāṇakānī. Therefore, now the situation is called Kali Yuga, and we don’t know how Kali Yuga will really scorch us, what will happen. But śānt āram se jāyeṅge, it will happen something, die, body will go, but they will go again to the Brahmaloka and others will go to the Narakaloka. And so, respect your mother, your sister, your brothers, your fathers, and all your neighbors, etc. Respect everywhere, and then they will respect you. That’s it. Otherwise, if you make a negative thing, then it is said, there is one very nice poem by one great saint, and that is called, "Tūṭ Gaī Mālā." So, there is a thing: when the thread is broken, then you cannot join it again. We will make a knot, and when there is a knot, then our needle will not go through. That’s it. So there are many, many good poems of the great saints. I must write down again. Forget it. I am too much in European things, and now I have to come to the Indian side a little bit. So this is Navarātri. You go to your bed at night, wash yourself, wash your hands, and, Divine Mother, there are seven nights, and so nine nights, and so, because now seven are left. Today is the seventh, you know, so that’s why. And so you can also worship your mother. Yes. If you respect her, and you must respect her. Otherwise, you will be somewhere else. That’s it. So it’s beautiful. Brahmānanda, Ānanda, Alīna, phir janam nahīṁ pāte haiṁ. Vah, vah, bhai vah. Kyā, Maṅgīlāl jī ne kahā, itnā bahut sundar, bahut acchā. Bahut acchā, tum ne kahā ki Mahāpralaya ke pahle śānt jan par Brahma mil jāte haiṁ: Brahmānanda, Ānanda, Love Līna, yānī it becomes. One in that all, like milk and water, phir janam nahī pāte hai. Then they will not get any more birth, and they become Brahman. All are again Brahman. So this is very nice. That means how to get rid of birth and death, birth and death... wherever we are going. So, Maṅgīlālji says, janam maraṇ kā yahī miṭānā, this is the way, the path, the technique, how to get rid of death. No coming and no going. Parle mein nahī āte haiṁ, they will not come in the parle before they die. That is life. Others will be torturing; we don’t know how it is. These are the hints, the śabda ṛṣis. He said, "These are the hints." The śabda ṛṣis gave the hint: what you have done, what you have not done, what you should do, and what you should not do. Very few sādhus understand this, and only those very rare sādhus are peaceful. They can come and give further path. Morning, tomorrow, again, we will talk about Brahman, Apne Maṅgīlāl Jītkas. And so, this night, this night is a great night. Don’t sleep too much. Don’t be egoistic. Always, Gurudev, Gurudev, Gurudev. Wash yourself. Vidhā Guru Nāṭī. Without the Guru, Śakti will also do nothing. That’s not it. That’s it. It will come further, many, many great things. So, wish you all the best. And now, of course, our Swāmī Avatārapurījī, he is saying, "When will Swāmījī stop, and when will Swāmījī stop? I have forgotten this or that." So now, our Swāmī Avatārapurījī, kī jaya. Oṁ Śālampurjī Mahādevakī, Jai Devadhī Dev Devaśvara Mahādevakī, Kī Jai, Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān Kī Jai, Hindu Dharma Samrāṭ Paramahaṁsa Svāmī Śrī Mādhavānanda Purī Jī Mahārāja Kī Jai, Viśvaguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Paramahaṁsa Svāmī Śrī Maheśvarānanda Purī Jī, Satgurudeva Bhagavān Kī Jai. Sadāśiva samārambhaṁ Śaṅkarācārya madhyamām, asmadācārya paryantaṁ vande guru paramparām. Ay Girinandini, Nanditamedini, Viśvavinodini, Nandanute. Bhagavatī He Śiti Kaṇṭha Kūtambinī Bhūri Kūtambinī Bhūri Kṛte Jaya Jaya He Mahiṣāsura Mardinī Ramya Kapardinī Śaila Sute. This is a continuation from the past two days. Mata Satī, who was Lord Śiva’s first wife, at the celebration of her father Dakṣa’s program, burned herself in the Havankuṇḍ, in the Yajña place. After that, she was born at Hemraj’s house as his daughter, as Pārvatī, and was meditating a lot, and that’s why her name was given. Brahmachāriṇī, where she was, her wish was to become the wife of Lord Śiva. And as the sages and all the lords, gods, and goddesses blessed her, that she would get him, so then the Chandragaṇṭā story goes like this: Once upon a time, Lord Śiva was, after the death of Satī. He gave up all his desires. He got detached from the world. He went to Kailāśa, sat in the mountains, and just was meditating. And he was just not giving a lot of attention to the outer world. But then, when he noticed such a strong tapasyā, such a strong devotion from Pārvatī, he somehow decided that he would agree to her terms and marry her. So he came in his, you know, Śivjī’s form. He came to our house in his complete form. He had ashes on his complete body, he had snakes on his neck, and he was wearing this bagāmarī, which means the skin of the tiger. He was in his Śiva form, and he was followed by his old Gaṇas, ghosts, Śrī Śrī... Chandragaṇṭā. So Chandragaṇṭā’s form, how she looks is she is sitting on a tiger, and she has ten arms, ten hands. In each hand she has sort of a weapon: a bow, arrow, sword, chakra, all different weapons, a śaṅkha. But nine hands, and one hand is giving blessing to her devotees. And she has a tilak on her forehead, Mahāprabhujī, Karatā Purījī, Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa, Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇa... Śrī Dīp: So then, in that form, in that her Chandragaṇṭā form, she requested Śiva to come as a prince and to have all his Gaṇas also dressed up properly, so that her family members would be a little bit happier. So, as Śiva looked at the situation and the requests from Chandragaṇṭā Pārvatī, he decided to change his form, and then he came as a prince. He was, you know, Indian culture, as Vishwagurujī was just saying in his lecture about the marriages which are going on in India. They all dress up very nicely. They come on a horse or on an elephant, and they dress up. They have this bhagṛī turban on their head, so they look very beautiful. So Śivjī came as a prince. He had his dhoti on, a beautiful kurta, a silk kurta, a shawl, full gold accessories, gold jewellery, rings, and he was looking very beautiful. And all his team, we call it in Hindi, barāt. Barāt means the people who come, his family members or whoever comes with him. In the wedding procession, behind him come hundreds of people. So they all had proper get-up this time, and the family was very happy, and then they got married in that form. So that was about Caṇḍragaṇṭā, and Caṇḍragaṇṭā, when you worship her, she is always there to remove all your sins. She removes all your bad karmas, and she tries to help you with all the negative energies. She removes all the negativity from you, from yourself, and she can also, as I told you, she can also be very motherly, a motherly woman, and she can help you a lot. And that’s the story about Chandragaṇṭā. Thank you very much, have a great evening. Hari Om. Oṁ Pūrṇamadaḥ Pūrṇamidam Pūrṇāt Pūrṇamudacyate Pūrṇasya Pūrṇamādāya Pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate. Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ... Very good.