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On the new moon day of this month, according to the moon calendar—for accurate astrological counting is only through the moon calendar, and it is very accurate—the year changes. According to the Indian calendar, which counts Vikram Samvat from the emperor King Vikramāditya, the year is now 2065, beginning from this first full moon day. Just as the Western calendar has January, February, and March, the Indian calendar has different names in Sanskrit. The new year begins in the month of Chaitra. Chaitra began after the dark moon, the new moon. The calendar changed, the year changed, everything changed, and your astrological horoscope is changed from this day. Therefore, this first day is celebrated and contemplated as the Divine Śakti, the Mother. The Upaniṣad said, "Mātṛ Devo Bhavaḥ." Mother is God. First comes Mother, then comes "Pitṛ Devo Bhava," "Ācārya Devo Bhava." You will learn something more later. So, on the first day it is called Śakti Pīṭha Sthāpanā. Śakti Pīṭha Sthāpanā. Śakti, as you all know, is that power which unites, harmonizes, and balances the entire universe and universal consciousness. This we call yoga, and it is that Śakti which becomes active. Then comes the nāda, the sound, the Oṃ, and creation begins. Śakti is power; every atom is filled with Śakti. Nothing exists in this universe, on this planet, or in your body which does not represent the Śakti. And you should know how to work with the Śakti, how to handle the Śakti. Those who have been in India will know. Even the rickshaw driver, the three-wheeler driver, in the morning when he comes and starts, he will pray to greet that rickshaw. Or a truck driver, he will put agarbattī and pray. Any driver—bus, truck, train, aeroplane—an Indian will automatically do this. It is a greeting, an adoration to the Śakti. When you sit in your car, your life is now in the hand of the Śakti. Your engine is the Śakti. And you should know how to deal with the Śakti. In the wheels of the car, there is a Śakti. In the petrol, there is a Śakti, and in you is also the Śakti. Electricity, what is that? Śakti. Now in this microphone is Śakti, but I can touch it. In the bulb is a Śakti, the refrigerator has a Śakti, the vacuum cleaner has a Śakti—the same electricity. But one must know how, when, and how to control it. In the bullet there is a Śakti, in the knife there is a Śakti. A knife can save your life and a knife can take your life. Therefore it is said: "Yā Devī Sarvabhūteṣu Śraddhārūpeṇa Saṃsthitā Namaḥ Tasyai Namaḥ Tasyai Namaḥ Tasyai Namo Namaḥ." "Yā Devī Sarvabhūteṣu Mātṛrūpeṇa Saṃsthitā Namaḥ Tasyai Namaḥ Tasyai Namaḥ Tasyai Namo Namaḥ." See, the divine, the greatest one. But one thing you should know: in the astral world, in the divine world, there is no difference of male and female, no anatomical differences, no attribute of female and no attribute of the male. So ladies who are sitting here, I know you feel now very good because Swāmījī is talking about Śakti. Yes, of course you are a Śakti. I adore you, please be kind to me, okay? That's it. But that divine Śakti, Śakti Pīṭha—Pīṭha means holy seat, where she is sitting—this is called Vyāsa Pīṭha, from the Vedavyāsa. This is called Siddha Pīṭha. Siddha Pīṭha means the spiritual lineage, the spiritual paramparā. Our paramparā is connected with Śrī Alakhpurījī of the Himalayas. You know about this all. Siddha means in that paramparā there were some siddha puruṣas, meaning beings with siddhis. When we read about Śrī Devpurījī, what kind of siddhis he had, what miracles happened through him... A pull of the basket with the killed birds, and Śrī Devpurījī kicks with his feet and all dead birds fly away. What a siddhi, what a power! Can you let fly one small mosquito which died? This is not a fairy tale, my dear; you know in Kailāsa, everyone knows. The person whom we still see when we come to Kailāsa Āshram, who is serving us and giving satsaṅg, was several hours dead and comes to Śrī Devpurījī and wakes him up. It's not a fairy tale. The reality is the truth. The rain doesn't fall on him. About five meters around him, and we, my God, need an umbrella. And the umbrella goes there, and we are wet and cold like a mouse falling in the water. And the same with Mahāprabhujī, which was given by Śrī Alakhpurījī, who is still living between Kedārnāth and Badrīnāth. This is the Siddha Pīṭha. It is said: the water which enters the Gaṅgā will be known as Gaṅgā water. And water which separates from the Gaṅgā and flows into the canalization, no one will call it Gaṅgā water; it is dirty canalization water. So when you become unfaithful to your master or to your guru and do not follow what the master said and work opposite, then it means you are that canalization water; you left the Gaṅgā. So, Siddha Pīṭha, and we all belong to this Siddha Pīṭha. It is they who are protecting us. It is their blessings and their umbrella which are protecting us. We are under their umbrella. Don't go out of it, otherwise you are finished. Our intellect cannot approach what they are having and what you are having, but you will not understand it. So, Śakti Pīṭha. Śakti is that Divine Mother. Śakti Pīṭha Sthāpana. Sthāpana means you prepare her seat in your house. And you light the eternal light, burning either with ghee or oil. No candles. A candle is impure. A candle is chemical. A candle is petroleum. It is not accepted for the altar. Candles, oil, or ghee—that's it. And a candle is not healthy for your health, though there is not a lot of smoke and it is written as healthy, but still there are molecules from the candle which are released into the room that are not healthy. It can cause cancer even. Therefore, try not to use candles. Instead of bringing a candle, bring nice nuts or fruits. Bring the rice, bring the corn, bring the vegetables, bring the nice vegetable oil, which we can utilize in the kitchen. I know a candle has a good symbol; it is a light, a symbol of the light. But from the viewpoint of health, it is not like that. And especially for the divine Śakti or for the God or Gurudev's altar, candles are not accepted. For Śakti Pīṭha, you put the picture of the Divine Mother. And what we all do, we put the picture of Śrī Mahāprabhujī's holy mother. Mahāprabhujī's holy mother is the divine mother, the holy mother for us. All mothers are holy mothers. No mother is a devil's or unholy mother. It is said: respect every mother, but my adoration is to that mother who gave birth to the great souls, the great incarnation. That's it. It's not easy to be that mother. How many lives she and he have to do tapasyā and sādhanā and follow the spirituality and guru-vākyas and Gurudev to have such a divine child. Husband and wife, they have to be many years together. Faithfulness, that's it. And what happens now? You marry, and after one week you are thinking how to get divorced. That couple will never think of divorce. There is no divorce. Marriage means merge. And merge means one day is finished. You can't separate again. And so for such a divine soul, it is said: I respect all mothers, but my adoration is to that mother who gave birth to a great divine soul. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord. I surrender to Thee, I surrender to Thee, O my Lord. You came for us. And it is said: fortunate is that country where Satgurū Dev is incarnated. And my adoration to that mother who gave birth to that Satgurū Dev, that God. It's not easy to understand. And when you understand, Holy Gurujī's last words in his eight, in the last Guru Pūrṇimā Satsaṅg: he who recognizes his master guru becomes himself the guru, becomes one with it. You have to enter into the Gaṅgā to become Gaṅgājal. So that Divine Śakti, Divine Mother for us is Śrī Chandanadevījī. Mahāprabhujī is the Divine Mother. Because we have a real picture. We have a very rare, real picture of Divine Mothers. We adore the Mother of Jesus too. But we don't have a real picture. That time, unfortunately, there were no cameras—how he was looking and how she was looking. When you go to Japan and China, they print Jesus and Mary as Chinese, that's it. But these nine forms of the Śaktis, these are not; these all are completely different, not even Kṛṣṇa's mother and Rāma's mother. These are universal Śaktis and Śakti, which was connected with Śiva. It's a long story. Beautiful. So you prepare a divine seat for her: nice red cloth, her picture, and a lamp. The eternal lamp should not go out, and devotees are fasting for nine days. Only liquids—no beer, no alcohol, okay?—but only milk, water, maybe some juice, that's all. Nine days are dedicated to the Lord of the universe, the Divine Mother. Today is the last day when God Rāma appears. It is the day when God Rāma incarnates, and today they will break their fast, having prayed to her every day for her mercy, her love, her kindness, her care, and her warmth. Mother, Mother, O Mother, Divine Mother, she is the protector of the entire universe. She is in each and every atom; that is the divine Śakti, that is the Divine Mother, and that is called the Śaktipīṭha. In India, we have nine Śaktipīṭhas, and people go on pilgrimage to these different Śaktipīṭhas. It is also said that when Śakti, at the end, disappeared, she multiplied, so different parts of her body fell in different places. Her different body parts, the limbs of her body, fell there; that is known as a Śakti Pīṭha. You go there, you pray to her, and you will realize the love of that mother, and she will fulfill your desire, but with a pure heart, not a selfish one. Kapata kī bhakti prabhu nahi māne, kapata kī bhakti prabhu nahi māne; sāche rāche madana-gopāla, sāche madana-gopāla; śrī-dīpa-dayāraja-śunali, prabhu-dīpa-dayālayāraja-śunali; kar kīrpā mo ye sata-saṅga-dī. Śrīdhi pada-yāja-sūdhā, prabhu-dī pada-yāja-sūdhā.