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Prayer is of the utmost importance for human beings. Whenever difficulties arise in the world, people begin to pray. Mahātmā Gandhījī said, "I can fast physically, but mentally I cannot fast, because my mental tonic, my mental nourishment is prayer." Whenever he faced difficulties, Gandhījī would go into his room and pray. If we consider the examples of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Lord Rāma, Jesus, Buddha, and all holy incarnations like Mahāprabhujī, they all prayed. Even now, many saints are praying—in Croatia, in Slovenia, and in different parts of Europe. There are many monasteries where you will see monks and nuns praying day and night. Similarly, in China, you will find many monks meditating and praying. In Africa, many monks and holy saints are praying. If you go to America and South America, there are many monasteries where monks pray. In the Middle East and India, you will find countless spiritual saints engaged in prayer. That is why the world still survives; otherwise, mankind would cease to exist. Prayer makes humans aware of their inherent qualities. It transforms a person from human to holy, and from holy to God. All incarnations of God in this world became God, or are called God, because they prayed and meditated. They developed love and compassion in their hearts for all creatures. Therefore, prayer exists to purify our antaḥkaraṇa—the inner instrument consisting of mana (mind), buddhi (intellect), citta (consciousness), and ahaṅkāra (ego). This antaḥkaraṇa can only be purified through prayer. Every day we need to clean our home, our furniture, and our plates, cups, and spoons. If we do not clean for a few days, everything becomes dusty and dirty. Similarly, when we pray morning and evening, our antaḥkaraṇa remains pure. And whose antaḥkaraṇa is pure, their thoughts and actions are pure. Humans pray. Perhaps animals do not understand prayer in the same way. But a great saint in India, one who could understand the language of animals like the Holy Saint of Assisi, said in one of his bhajans that even animals and birds sing the name of God morning and evening. If a human does not do this, then they are worse than these animals. Dear friends, brothers and sisters, it does not matter which religion you follow or in which God you believe. Prayer comes first. Every religion has prayers, and prayer can be in any language, but it must come from the heart, not merely from the intellect, for the heart is paramount. When a message comes from the heart, unity is created. You write greetings to everyone: "I greet you, I send you holiday greetings from my heart. I wish you all the best from the core of my heart." Have you ever received a message that says, "I greet you from my brain"? When greetings come from the brain, those are the messages that lead to wars. Therefore, humanity survives on the love that emanates from the heart. It does not matter how busy you are; you must make time. You cannot say you have no time. An alcoholic, no matter how busy, will find time to drink. A smoker, no matter how busy, even while driving a car, will find time to smoke a cigarette. So we cannot claim we have no time for prayer. After death, when we come before God, He might say to us, "I have no time for you." Imagine being left hanging on a hook a little longer, pleading, "God, please, liberate me," only for God to reply, "I have no time." You would say, "My God, how is it possible that you have no time?" And He would answer, "I am busy with others." Therefore, we must find the time to pray. You can pray while driving a car. You can pray while cooking. You can pray while cleaning. For God, everything is acceptable; nothing is impure. Everything is pure. But if you can find a peaceful moment to sit and pray, that is ideal. Prayer is the source of human strength. It is a protection for the human soul, and it is the source for developing the spirituality that will liberate us. The short form of prayer is the mantra, your guru mantra. I congratulate all who received mantras today; it was a very divine mantra ceremony. The essence of your mantra is the bīja mantra, and the essence of the bīja mantra is your liberation. Therefore, japa paśu pakṣī pyāre śubha āruṣam—even other creatures are remembering God. We are sitting on the beach on the beautiful Adriatic coast; you see the sea or ocean. If you now have to go to the other side of the shore and try to swim, I doubt you would make it across; we need a boat. That ocean is the ocean of māyā, the worldly ocean—the ocean of ignorance. And this satsaṅg is a boat to cross that ocean. In the ocean, many creatures exist; that too is a life. Today I had a visit from a very interesting friend, a world-renowned scientist. He came to see me and said, "Swāmījī, you must excuse me; I can't be in the satsaṅg today because I have to go somewhere." I asked him, "Where are you going?" He said, "You know, my hobby—I love the sport of fishing." I said, "Oh my God, don't kill them." He replied, "No, we don't kill them. We just take them out, remove the hook, and throw them back into the water." I said, "Dear friend, you are a scientist, especially in ecology and climate change. You understand nature; you love nature more than God." He said, "Yes, I believe in nature." I replied, "Then how can you torture and abuse nature? You may not kill them, but you injure them. Perhaps it would be better if you killed them, for now they suffer from the wounds you cause." We were discussing this. I looked into his eyes, and he gazed into mine. I said, "You may go there, but I want you to do one thing for me: announce today that you will forever renounce this kind of sport." He said, "Swāmījī, that is my great privilege." He is going to announce to his friends that he is stepping away and no longer wants this sport. That is good. No sport is good if it involves abusing nature or torturing animals. Love them. Feed them, but do not eat them. Humans understand this. That nature consumes nature, I understand. But humans are above that kind of nature. Therefore, ahiṃsā paramo dharma—the highest religion, the highest principle, is ahiṃsā, non-violence. That is why God Jesus said, "Thou shalt not kill." He did not say, "Thou shalt not kill humans, but kill the chickens, goats, cows, dogs, and cats." He did not say this. So we should follow the teaching of Lord Jesus, or we should follow the teaching of Tulsīdās. The root of virtue, of religion, is mercy and compassion. The root of sin is ignorance and ego. Tulsīdāsjī said, "Do not give up your compassion towards all creatures as long as you have life in your heart." Therefore, prayer is very important. Go to your church, or go to your āshram, or go to your temple, or go to your house temple—go to this temple of the heart, and pray. God is everywhere; in each and every atom is Brahman. But to understand that Brahman, you need other knowledge. You will not understand God. If Brahman is in every atom, then He is also in the bullet. Now, how can a bullet kill someone? It is God. And there lies a dilemma: how are we to understand God? That is it.