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Whenever we meet, it is a blessing. Yet, it is not easy to understand this blessing. Who fails to understand it? Even one who is in heaven may wish to return, simply because they do not comprehend the blessing. There was a farmer who had a habit of smoking a pipe. He was a good person, so he came to heaven. At the door, they told him, "You are at the door of heaven. It is your choice now to enter." They brought him into the first room. Everything was beautiful. Then he said, "But I want to have my tobacco pipe." They replied, "In heaven, there is no tobacco pipe." He was disappointed and said, "I quit heaven and go back to Naraka." This is because one did not understand. One did not understand the blessing of being there. And therefore, it becomes a janam janam dukhpāī; in every life you will suffer for this little weakness. So, to understand a blessing is itself a blessing, and without divine blessing, you cannot understand it. Therefore, blessed are they who can enjoy the satsaṅg and abide in it. We must lead life in such a spiritual way, where there is understanding, love, tolerance, and respect towards all. If not, then it is only dogma. It is said that what is within you should also be outside of you. Otherwise, we say the real face appears later. In the Holy Rāmāyaṇa, it is said: "Dharma dhīraj." Dhīraj means you have a lot of impatience. Sometimes you say, "Okay, I don’t mind, I don’t mind." But in certain situations, you explode like a bomb. And dharma also—in a critical situation, if your dharma doesn’t support you, then what is the use of it? Dharma means righteousness. Mitra means the friend. Friends are those who support you in critical situations. There is a small story. There was a person who had many, many friends. These friends were always admiring him. Once, something happened in his life, and they all did not accept it. They were all disappointed. The friend received a life sentence. They were all walking on a rocky mountain, on the hills. There was only one tree and no more trees. Under the tree was a big rock, and he was sitting there. For him, life had become something very sorrowful, a most critical situation. No one was for him. One after another, all his friends left. As each person stood up and went away, for him it was like having the limbs of his body taken away. Because the friends were very close, they were like oneness. Now all had left. The one person who left last went about fifty meters away, then stopped, turned back, went to the friend, gave him a big hug, and said, "My dear friend, I cannot leave you free alone. I will sit with you, I will walk with you, and I will die with you. It doesn’t matter whatever you have done; that was our bad luck, but my love remains ever as pure as before." That was the friendship. So, there are many friends. It is said, "People love your money, not your skin." There are some people who love you because they have some kind of expectation. They are very rare people to find, who love you without any conditions. We have many, many friends, but at the most critical time of your life, who will be on your side? That is the best friend. A máte tam sňatek—and you have to say that in happiness and unhappiness, in illness and in health, in life, in every situation, I will be with you. And then you have to say in front of the Holy Rāmān, "Yes, from today onwards, mine belongs to you and yours to me." And after three years, that person becomes one of your greatest enemies, and you seek divorce. Where is the friendship? It happened in the Czech Republic. There was a very beautiful young couple. The man was a very beautiful man, a very nice man, a very clever man. Byl velice inteligentní and had a very good job. But unfortunately, he got some illness and became paralyzed. Day by day, his health went down. His dear wife said to him directly to his face, "You have to leave the house because I have a friend, and you disturb us. If you want, you can get divorced, but I don’t want to see you anymore." This person spoke with me; he wrote me a letter. Can you imagine this inner feeling of that person? He knows it was a destiny, what happened with my physical body. But now, within two years, the person who was a great loving person to me says that you can’t stay in this house because my friend is coming to me and you disturb us. That can happen to anyone. But that is a picture that there was no friendship. People love your body only, not your soul, not your ātmā. So, when we speak about a friend, what do you think of this? The friend is equal to mother and father. The friend is a part of your body. The friend is your skin, which is over the body. When the friend is lost, it is like your skin is lost. Where is the friend? We search for the friend, not the selfish one. Not the one always complaining against you and talking negatively behind you. They didn’t understand. So, Dharma, Dhīraja, Mitra, Rūnārī in the Holy Rāmāyaṇa—you shall examine them, test them at the critical time. That’s why it is said that rare are those who understand you and who support you, who don’t work against you, who don’t work mentally against you. Many people are working mentally against me, but I have my mantra, which is like a bulletproof. Whoever is thinking negative, coming like a fly, falls down with great speed. That’s it. So, great mantra: "Oṁ Prabhudīp Nirañjan Sabdukha Bañjan." That’s it. And so, to have a friend. To have such a beautiful gathering—we are different nations, different religions, different cultures, different languages. How beautiful that we are all sitting in harmony. This is the way to world peace. This is the way from human to human, and this is to create again the heaven on the earth. At present, there is hell on earth, fighting for position and power. Every day we hear of the fighting, the wars, the bombs exploding. Think of how many millions of children are killed, how many millions of mothers are crying for their children, how many millions of young ladies have lost their husbands, and how many children have lost their parents. How many war victims exist in this world, suffering from psychotrauma? This is not good. Therefore, we all should work for this. That is why you will understand why Swāmījī started, in recent years, attending and organizing the World Peace Conferences. We have to do this, and we have to support this. That is a part of our spiritual development; that is a part of our love. We need the voice. The United Nations Declaration says that even one voice will be counted, even one voice will be recorded. There are no majorities and no minorities, but individual persons will be heard. And that’s it. So, we may not have political power, but at least we have the heart and positive feelings to save our planet and work above all these religious and political conflicts. Many are suffering for that. I am very happy to see you this evening and welcome you for this weekend. How nice to see you. What I am telling you is something very painful, and you know we cannot see that someone is suffering beside us. Our heart wouldn’t allow this, and that’s why we have to work to bring into the world love, harmony, understanding, and tolerance. We are those friends; we will not leave each other alone, we will be together. That’s it. At least I can say from my side: the whole world can turn against you, but I will be with you. And that’s it. That is important, very important.