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Tomorrow is Pūrṇimā, the full moon. For us, it is also like a Guru Pūrṇimā. You have celebrated Guru Pūrṇimā in different places this year—in every country, in every āśram—and now this full moon arrives. It too is like a Guru Pūrṇimā. This full moon reminds us of something beautiful: what we call Rakṣābandhan. Every full moon after Guru Pūrṇimā is Rakṣābandhan, and we have been observing it for nearly ten years now. Rakṣā means protection, and Bandhan means to tie or bind—to tighten a relationship. This festival is dedicated to sisters. It is the day of the sister-brother relationship. Traditionally, it is the brother's duty to protect the sister in every aspect: to support her, and if she is not in a good financial position, to try to give her something. On this day, you should give presents to your sisters and invite them for a nice meal. It doesn't matter if she lives in Australia; send her a plane ticket. That is why you are the brother. The festival originates from a beautiful story. There was a lady and a king, a Mughal, who wished to marry anyone he liked. There was a very beautiful young lady, and the king said he wanted to marry her, but she was already married and did not wish to marry anyone else. As Mahatma Gandhi said, "We don’t hate the person, we hate the actions." She had very positive thinking. It is always like this: where there is positive love, there is always a winner. She took a nice thread in her hand and went to the king. He was very happy that she came. Before she came near him, she said, "Please give me your hand." He stretched out his hand, and she tied a beautiful thread around his wrist. He asked, "What is this?" She replied, "This is the thread of love." He said, "Yes, please tie it nicely." "What kind of love?" she said. "It is the love of a sister for a brother. Whenever you see your hand or wrist, you will remember that this is a symbol of your sister, and this knot should never open." He said, "It means you are my sister now." She confirmed, "Yes, now we are related as brother and sister." He then asked, "What is my duty?" She answered, "You are my elder brother, and your duty is to protect me in every respect." He promised to protect her as a sister, gave her many presents, and sent her home respectfully. Every year on this full moon day, he would invite her. He declared this day in his kingdom as a day for brothers and sisters, to protect the morals of the village and of human society. They said, "All boys in the village are like my brother, and all girls in the village are like my sister." Through this, perfect harmony was established in the village. It became the duty of every boy that no one should act unjustly towards any girl—no kidnapping, no rape, and so on. Slowly, it became the day of brother and sister. You have a duty towards your real brothers and sisters. But if you have no real brother or sister, you can adopt one. You should love your adopted sister as your blood-related sister. If you have this kind of love, then you should adopt someone as a sister. Just the day before yesterday, there was a question: "I have a Rakṣabandhan sister, and now we have decided to marry. Swamiji, what kind of karmas will we have? How should we end this sister-brother relationship and create a husband-wife relationship?" This is not something where you can paint something white and then, because you don't like it, paint it green. When you tell someone, "You are my sister," then she is your sister. Or "brother," then he is your brother. If you have one sister and one brother, of course you can adopt ten more sisters or ten more brothers. It depends how rich you are—I mean, the brother. If you have ten sisters, you have to invite all ten from America to Europe; otherwise, you create jealousy and fighting in the family again. Your adopted sister is your real sister. You can also adopt sister to sister, girls to girls. In Indian tradition, they exchange saris on this day. She gives her sari to another, and the other gives hers. So they become real sisters, establishing that relationship. If you have no sari, you can give her sari to her and her sari to you. Brother to brother, they exchange the turban. You give your turban to the other, and the other gives you his, and you embrace your brother. I heard that in ex-Yugoslavia, or in Serbia, when they adopt someone brother to brother, they make a little cut on the head, and the other does the same. When the blood comes, they stick together, and this makes you real brothers—blood brothers. But nowadays, that's not healthy. You don't know if the other brother has some illness that could enter your blood. Therefore, the turban system is safer. If you have no turban, you can exchange your hat or your tie, and then you become brothers. If you adopt someone younger than you, it is always the elder brother's duty to give a present to the younger one. If you adopt a brother and you are a sister, and the brother is younger than you, then it is your duty to give him presents. Of course, he will have to give you something too, but it is your duty to give to him. Younger ones always have privilege. So search for a young brother or young sister, or search for older ones, and you will get something. On this day, you should write at least a postcard or a letter, or telephone, or invite someone for a meal. Express it as you would for your real sister on her birthday, or his birthday, or occasionally on New Year, Christmas, Guru Pūrṇimā, or Dīvālī. Similarly, this applies to your guru brothers and sisters. One who has a mantra from your master becomes your guru-sister or guru-brother. That is how the relationship is created. Now, if there is a couple, husband and wife, and they both receive a mantra from the master—or one master—are they now guru-brother and sister, or husband and wife? In this question, someone once asked Mahāprabhujī, because some think that husband and wife should not have the same master, otherwise they become brother and sister. Mahāprabhujī said that would mean husband and wife should also have two gods. But there are not two gods. There is only one God. Therefore, you do not see in the Master the worldly relation of father, brother, sister, or friend. You see the divine one. And therefore, it is advised that husband and wife should be disciples of one master. If there are two masters, then you will have fighting at home. She wants to go to Guru Pūrṇimā to her master, and you want to go to Guru Pūrṇimā to your master. Where do the children want to stay? Therefore, it doesn't matter if you are husband and wife, or brother and sister, or father and daughter; you all have the same one Kṛṣṇa, or all have the same one Śiva, or all have the same one Jesus. That is it. So we have to realize our relationships, and then we shall cultivate, support, and take care of them. Therefore, tomorrow is the day. You have many guru brothers and sisters; among them, you also have Rakṣabandhan sisters and brothers. Someone has already brought presents from home because they were aware of this Rakṣabandhan. Someone didn't bring any, so luckily we have here the DNM shop. You must hurry to buy the best present for your sister before it is sold out, or go to the village or some other shops—whatever you want to buy, flowers or chocolate. So tomorrow will be Rakṣābandhan as well as Pūrṇimā.