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Today we are having a special evening satsaṅg dedicated to Diwali. Many of you know what Diwali is, and many of you may not. The meaning of Diwali is the light, the flame, the dīp. Long ago, nearly eight thousand years, there was a great incarnation of Lord Viṣṇu, before God Kṛṣṇa. According to the Vedic calculation, there have been 23 incarnations of Viṣṇu till today. We call that an incarnation of God which brings changes in the world; it destroys the negative power and protects and re-establishes righteousness, the light, religion, or spirituality. There was a great king named Daśaratha. King Daśaratha did not have any children; he married one queen, then a second, then a third, but none of them could have a child. King Daśaratha went to the forest praying to God to bless him, and someone told him to go to the saint Guru Vasiṣṭha Muni, who would tell him what to do. Vasiṣṭha Muni said to Daśaratha that he should perform a yajña, a fire ceremony, and the God of fire, Agni Dev, would appear and tell him what to do. So Daśaratha organized a beautiful yajña. Before the yajña, there are ceremonies, purifications of the body, purification of the mind, purification of the consciousness, inviting many saints, and distributing donations and food. It is a beautiful preparation lasting several days; then, with Vedic chanting, they performed the yajña, and at the time of the Pūrṇā Ahuti, the completion of the yajña, the God Agni came out of the fire. God had in his hand some prasāda similar to what we call kheer, the milk rice, and told the king to give this prasāda to his queens and they would give birth to children. So he gave one portion to one queen named Kauśalyā, one to Kaikeyī, and the third to Sumitrā. The result was that Kauśalyā gave birth to God Rāma, Sumitrā gave birth to Lakṣmaṇa, and Kaikeyī gave birth to Bharata and Śatrughna. When God incarnates, he does not incarnate for just one thing; God waits until on this earth there are only devils, only poisons, only darkness, and so on. So God incarnates with many different purposes, as did God Rāma. When Rāma was a small child, many miraculous things happened through his presence. All four brothers had to go to school, to the gurukula. At that time, the gurukula, what we call, is like a hostel. It was in the forest with the ṛṣis or with the gurus, and disciples had to stay there for the entire study time with no holidays and no coming home; they had to finish their studies until 18 or 25 years of age. When they completed their studies, then they could come home, and so it was with God Rāma and his brothers. At that time, there were so many Rākṣasas living in the forest; Rākṣasas' nourishment is meat. They eat meat, bones, alcohol, and drink the blood of humans and animals. Sometimes there were great ṛṣis existing in the forest. They did not have an easy time. They had to use all their spiritual energy and spiritual powers to protect themselves from the attacks of the Rākṣasas. At that time, there was also a great saint living there. His name was Viśvāmitra. Ṛṣi Viśvāmitra had a saṅkalpa to attain some siddhi or power to destroy the negative powers and to attain a kind of salvation. But the thing is, in that kind of ceremony, in that kind of yajña saṅkalpa, what he was doing required that during the whole ceremony he should not become angry. One should not become angry, one should not be jealous, and one should remain very calm. And so, when the ṛṣi used to perform the yajña ceremonies, the Rākṣasas used to come and throw bones, alcohol, and blood into their fire ceremony, into the fire. Of course, alcohol, bones, and meat are considered impure. It is a dead body, impure, and that is not appropriate for the yajña ceremony. He tried many times for a few years, but he could not succeed; always a Rākṣasa would come and disturb his ceremony. At that time, Viśvāmitra went to King Daśaratha and asked him to send his son Rāma to protect his ceremony. At that time, Rāma was very young, having just come back from the gurukula only a few days or months before; he was at home, and now the ṛṣi came to the king asking him to give his son, to send his son with him to protect the ceremony against the Rākṣasas. When the ṛṣi came to the palace of Daśaratha, Daśaratha was very happy; he welcomed him with flowers and garlands, washed his feet, performed pūjā, and with folded hands stood near the ṛṣi asking, "Ah, sir, what do you wish? What has brought you here that you came to my palace? What can I do for you?" Viśvāmitra told his wish, and the king said, "I am sorry, that wish I cannot fulfill; you can ask for something else, but Rāma is still too young, and in the forest there are so many Rākṣasas, and I do not think it is appropriate for Rāma to go there." The ṛṣi was angry and said, "Okay, I will go disappointed from your house, I will go empty-handed, and so on." But it is said that no one should go unsatisfied from your house; no one should go away angry from your house; no one should go disappointed from your house. And the king was very sad, and the ṛṣi wanted to go; the king ran behind the ṛṣi, held both legs of the ṛṣi, bowed down in front of the ṛṣi, prostrated, and said, "Lord, please do not go from my house angry, disappointed, and unsatisfied. Please bless me, I cannot do what you want." The ṛṣi said, "That is why I am going." Well, at the end, the king agreed to send Rāma with him. Rāma's brother Lakṣmaṇa was like a bodyguard of Rāma; he was like the left hand of Rāma, all the time he used to spend time with Rāma, like a great bhakta, a great devotee of his elder brother. When one reads the Rāmāyaṇa, one sees what it means to be a brother and what it means to be a father or mother, what the love of the family is and what love for the creatures is. God Rāma always had in his heart compassion towards all creatures, towards everyone. God Rāma is one of those holy incarnations who fulfilled the dharma of human life as a perfect son, as a perfect student, as a perfect disciple, as a perfect husband, as a perfect brother, and so on. Well, now Lord Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa are going with Viśvāmitra. Many, many years or centuries, she remained in the yard of the āshram as a stone. When the ṛṣi Viśvāmitra was walking by this āshram with Lakṣmaṇa and Rāma. And Viśvāmitra was explaining to them, "This is an āshram; some time ago it was like an āshram, now everything is destroyed, it is lonely, nobody is living there, all you see is stone, rock, and the wife of the ṛṣi." Gaṅgā Rāma was very sad. Rāma said, "That is not correct. What will she have done? Innocent, this poor lady, she did not know anything, and without having any dialogue with her or talking, he should not have done this." God Rāma comes and he touches with his holy feet the rock, and that rock again turns into a human. She again awakes; her consciousness is again awoken into the human body. And God Rāma liberated her with her body. Thus she rises up with her body and disappears or dissolves into the sky, into the oneness with God. That was the first thing God Rāma did there. Then he comes to the ṛṣi Viśvāmitra's āshram and he protects them from all the rākṣasas. The ṛṣi could do his ceremony, and Rāma killed all the rākṣasas who were there. And when they saw that Rāma is there, all the rākṣasas disappeared. When the light comes, darkness disappears. Likewise, now there was a time that God Rāma came home and Lakṣmaṇa came home. They were all very happy. And one day, King Daśaratha decides, "My son should now become the king. I want to crown him, and I want to retire." As the rules of the tradition were everywhere throughout the whole world, the eldest son is always used to be the king. They decided everything very quickly. Daśaratha announced that tomorrow is the best constellation for Rāma to become king, and to prepare the ceremonies and everything. So when the king ordered, then of course everywhere was running; all was running, all priests and all paṇḍits and everything. The ground was cleaned within one hour, and decoration was made, and everything, that tomorrow God Rāma is going to be king. Jealousy, jealousy is the biggest thing. These three queens, Kauśalyā, Kaikeyī, and Sumitrā, when that time was king times, we know now it is not possible, we don't like, we don't appreciate, we do not agree, we develop the democracy, but that time there was the ruling of the kings; what they wanted to do, they were doing. So when the daughter was married, then they sent with the daughter so many slaves with them: a few ladies as their slaves, and all, what to give them money and horses and elephants and slaves and so on, she used to bring. When she used to live in her palace with her husband, there was her entire group who was serving and looking after her. That slaveness has remained now in the ministers and presidents. When the presidents and ministers are going, also going with them, the whole group with them. Some are called the protector and bodyguards and ministers and protocols and this and that and this all. Anyhow, so when Kaikeyī came, Kaikeyī, she was from the Gandhāra, land called Gandhāra, that was like, now it is Afghanistan, and behind Afghanistan and Iraq, Iran, this area. With her, one maid came, her servant, and her name was Mantrā. And Mantrā was very jealous, and she thought, "I don't want that Rāma becomes king. The son of Kaikeyī should become the king." So within one night, within a few hours, she made Kaikeyī so angry, and she filled her brainwashing, so to say. Kaikeyī was the person who loved mostly Rāma. She loved God Rāma more than her own son. And within a few hours, she destroyed all the love, faith, confidence, and relations which Kaikeyī had towards Rāma. That's called kuṣaṅga. Satsaṅga is where you can build confidence in everything. And kuṣaṅga is that where you can destroy everything: worshipping, brainwashing. She said to Kaikeyī, "You will be lifelong as a slave. Rāma will make you a slave, your children will be the slave, and so on and so on." But she said, "Why not? Rāma should become a king. He has a right to be a king, and he is also my son. I love him like my son." She said, "You are still stupid. I know you from little, from your birth onwards. Always, always you are doing like this, but I have a right to think good for you. You know what people are saying, how they are brainwashing. I am yours; it is my responsibility. I have to think for you, and I want that you will have a happy life and so on. I want to see you as a king mother and not somebody else." Well, she decided, "Yes, very good, but how? It is not possible. Tomorrow he is going to be a king. And within a few hours, we cannot change." Mantrā, the slave, she said, "Oh, everything is possible. If you go this, I will do everything that it will be possible. Oh, do what I say, that's all. Go to the basement in the ark room and inform the king that you are unhappy, not satisfied, and you are going to die. The king will come; he will try to make you happy, but don't trust him at all. You put the two conditions in front of him if he wants to see you happy. Tell him, tell the king, 'My lord, if he wants to see me happy, then there are two conditions only. And I have rights for that.' And these two conditions are, long ago he promised you something. The king told the queen in some past time, 'I am so happy with you, and I give you three promises, three words to fulfill your wish, whatever you wish.' And that time, the queen said one wish what she wanted fulfilled it. And she said, 'Okay, king, two wishes I keep in reserve. The time will come, and I will ask for it.' The king said, 'Okay, I will do.' The king did not think like that, that in the future, after so many years, she would ask him for such a thing. And she was waiting and waiting. The slave Mantrā said, 'Today is the time to ask the king to fulfill your wish. Either he takes his words back, it means he didn't fulfill his wish, his promises. If he is a real king, then he should fulfill. If he is a real husband, then he should fulfill.' So, 'Which are these two wishes? I have forgotten.' 'You remember, you are so stupid, you remember how was there and there and there?' She said, 'Yes, now I know.' So, 'What should I ask for?' 'Very simple. First wish, tomorrow my son should become king and not Rāma. As Tilak, Bharat ke hona chahiye, Rām ke nahī. This king, Tilak, and from that time we have the Tilak, you know, that's called the king. When you get a Tilak, you become a king and queen. So, Bharata should be crowned as a king and not Rāma.' 'Possible? He is against the law and everything.' She said, 'It is possible. You do what I say, and it is finished. Second, send Rāma to the forest for fourteen years. Tell the king to send Rāma to the forest, to exile. Do you say "exile"? Fourteen years means not entering any village, not going to any villages or any houses, only staying in the forest and out of the kingdom. They should go out of the kingdom. This is what he has done to us? I love him, he is so nice, he is divine.' She said, "That's what you don't see, stupid one. He will influence all the people of Ayodhyā. And they will choose him as king, and not your son. Or he will bring the army against your son. So, you know, brainwashing and negative talking spoils everything." Okay, I will do it. So the king is coming to see what happened to Kaikeyī. Kaikeyī was there, completely lying there, desperate, depressed, angry, and crying. She was holding her hair like this and screaming. God, hysteria, you know. That's called hysteria. Hysteria also makes history, you know. The king went there and asked her, but she didn't want to speak. The king wanted to touch her, and she was like a cobra. That's called theater. Tria, charitra. She asked, the king didn't agree, and the king's heart was broken. The king was crying and very weak. She was screaming at him, "I told you, I thought that you are a coward, you can't do anything. Just go away, don't come near me, don't show me your face, you are not a king." And, you know, she was saying such negative words. The king went away. And somebody told the message to Rāma that his father was very sad.