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There is also the birthday of a great saint. His name was Ved Vyāsa—the same Ved Vyāsa who dictated the Vedas. And Gaṇeśa himself sat and wrote. This was because Ved Vyāsa's thoughts were so quick. When the master is talking, you should not interrupt. Or when someone is talking, you should not interrupt. Do not say in between, "But I have a question." Do not do this. If you have a question, no doubt, you ask it then, in that moment or regarding that sentence. "You taught this; it's okay, this is my question." So Ved Vyāsa was a little worried. He was concerned that this beautiful wisdom, this cosmic science, was getting lost. For it was given and transmitted from master to disciple as Śruti and Smṛti. Śruti means what you hear or what you heard, and Smṛti is memory; you then tell from your memory what you heard. We forget good things, but we remember negative criticisms very well, and we put more masālā inside. And when someone tells you something with more spices, you find it very tasty, so you do not wish to digest it yourself only; you would like to distribute this to others—those negative things which you heard from somebody else, who had put more masālās inside, meaning more ideas. Now you multiply this. How? You are very expert, and so you are infecting everyone. But the wise one is like a light. When there is darkness and we put on a light, the darkness disappears. So it is Amar Vāṇī, immortal words and truth. Darkness cannot touch the light. It does not matter how much darkness there is; it cannot touch or come near to the light. Similarly, for the wise one, the spiritual one, it does not matter who tells how many negative things against someone or something; it will not touch you. And you will even enlighten the intellect and consciousness of others, so that the other will forget and understand, and will not criticize, and will say, "Yes, sorry, yes, I understand why it was. It is my stupidity that I am telling you." Similarly, when someone is wise, enlightened, actually no criticism will touch them. On the contrary, with their wisdom and radiation, they will let the others know that it was their mistake and that it is actually their negative criticizing. So it is said in India: "Kénevále se to kamsékem sunneváleme to akal honičajé." It means, the one who is speaking may be anything, but at least the one who is listening should have intellect or intelligence. The one who speaks or who listens should have some intelligence. Therefore, Ved Vyāsa was worrying that the science, the divine science… Ved Vyāsa was worrying that coming generations, humans, will be not disciplined and they will lose their memory. And when they lose their memory, this beautiful cosmic divine science will get lost. And when I begin to dictate the Vedas, the one who writes should not ask me a question, please: "What did you say? Can you repeat once more?" He should not ask me. I am talking like a tape recorder, and the other one should continue to write without a typing mistake. And we know now what is happening to our memory. Since this electrotechnic technology has developed, human memory has been lost. Since what we call reading and writing became too easy, human memory begins to suffer. Because whatever is there, we used to write down or we record, and I will even make videos. Before fifty years there were no videos, and perhaps before one hundred years there was no recording. At that time their memory was excellent. And even now, village people have better memories than town people. When someone telephones us and we say, "Can you please give us your telephone number?" they repeat the number and we say, "Wait, wait, I must take a piece of paper." That means we are not able to remember. And that is proof that humans have lost 95% of memory. And that is a pity. But this great seer, Ved Vyāsa, he saw this. So while he was thinking, Lord Gaṇeśa appeared. Lord Gaṇeśa appeared and said, "Oṁ Śiva, I will do this work." So Ved Vyāsa said, "But condition is this, Gaṇeśajī." Ved Vyāsa said that he had one condition: "I will not stop speaking, and I do not want that you ask me, 'Please, can you repeat once more?'" So Lord Gaṇeśa said, "All right, but I have also my conditions." Ved Vyāsa said, "What?" Gaṇeśa said, "I do not want that even one second you stop speaking, because my pen, when I am writing, should not stop." Ved Vyāsa said, "Okay." And so it is said that the Vedas are dictated by the great saint Ved Vyāsa, and he was a seer of past, present, and future. So Guru Pūrṇimā is the day of his birth. On this day he was born, and that is why it is called Vyāsa Pūrṇimā. So, Guru Pūrṇimā or Vyāsa Pūrṇimā. And the seat where I am sitting, where the speaker is sitting—a spiritual speaker who is giving satsaṅgs or holy book readings—this is called Gaḍī, or a holy chair, or a holy throne, or holy āsana. It is called Vyāsa Gaḍī. The Vyāsa Gaḍī is respected. Whoever sits on the Vyāsa Gaḍī, everyone has to respect them. Because it is not that he is speaking; it is that great Vyāsa is talking in you. That is why when we are speaking, if we think, "Now I will give a good lecture," you cannot give a good lecture. Guru Dev is speaking in us. Therefore it is said in one bhajan: "Mahāprabhujī Esa mera sadguru andar bole, Esa mera sadguru andar bole"—like that. "My Guru Dev is talking in me," in one of our bhajanas. So, Guru Pūrṇimā is the day of wisdom, the day of enlightenment. And that is why the moon is Pūrṇa, complete. That half-moon day by day grows to the full moon. Similarly, our sādhanā day by day, one day should become complete. And today is the new year for spiritual experience, counting from last year till today. All our sādhanā's fruits, in prayer, we offer to the Gurū Dev and take a new saṅkalpa. So blessed are they, fortunate ones are they, who can be with the Gurū Deva on Gurū Pūrṇimā. Or on this day they think on Gurū Deva, keeping fasting, purity, and satsaṅg, because this is a great day. Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Summer seminar