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All devotees of Śrī Mahāprabhujī, welcome to Śrī Mahāprabhujī's ashram, our spiritual home. It is wonderful to see you gathered here from so many different countries. This is indeed a holy place, for over the last ten or twelve years, many, many spiritual bhaktas have come here to pray—hundreds of thousands, nearly one million people. When so many gather in one place, each with spiritual intent, can you imagine the immense spiritual energy radiating and being filtered through the human mind? That energy is focused and concentrated here. Lucky are those who can come. On every free day, every holiday, the fortunate ones are those who spend it here. They will receive that light which has been dedicated here by so many. The amount you receive depends entirely on your own love and devotion. Imagine a river flowing with an immense volume of water. People go to the river to drink and to carry water home. In the past, there was no pollution in the rivers; there was no question of dirty water. Automatically, rivers, ponds, lakes, creeks, fountains—all streams, rivers, lakes, and seas were clean. The tradition of bottled mineral water has developed rapidly only in the last twenty years. Thirty, forty, fifty years ago, mineral water was used only occasionally, perhaps in five- or seven-star hotels, but generally not. People drank from bottles: juice, fresh-pressed juice from grapes, apples, and other fruits. People also drank beer and wine. But since water began to be sold in bottles, the consumption of beer decreased. Regardless, at that time, everything was very clean. Now, in the last twenty years, pollution has increased immensely—I would say thirty-five times more than it was. And still, humans do not realize this. One of my great difficulties is that I cannot understand why people cannot understand this pollution, especially those who are more educated. Whether one is educated to the 10th grade or only to the 5th grade, they should understand that what we are doing is torture. And you are all doing the same thing. Is there anyone who will stand up and say, "No, from today onward I will not do it"? You are afraid. You think other people will think you are crazy. And then you will surely think that all the others are crazy. There is a joke: On the motorway, one man was driving in the wrong direction. An announcement came on the radio: "Careful! One crazy man is driving in the opposite direction!" The man driving the wrong way became very angry and said to his wife, "Stupid! The radio is giving wrong information. Which one? There are so many!" So, one day, one has to stand up and say, "I am finished with all these chemicals." Otherwise, I tell you, as even the so-called highly educated people are saying, the greatest threat to the world is climate change, not terrorists. Terrorists can only kill a limited number of people, but the climate will kill the entire planet and all life on it. This death will be very painful and miserable. It is not that you will simply die and say, "Okay, finished, I die." It is not so easy. There will be many illnesses, much suffering, and great pain. No medicine will function. Whatever you drink, you will die. There is a story in the Mahābhārata, if you remember. Therefore, we must begin to avoid all kinds of chemicals—except in urgent cases when you need an injection or a drug that a doctor prescribes. By the way, you know that in all your villages, the rivers used to be pure. People went to the river to bring water and to drink. Everyone drank as much as they could and brought water home according to the capacity of their pot. One had a twenty-litre pot, some had seven litres, some had twelve, some had one litre, some had only one glass, and some had nothing. This pot and its capacity represent your devotion. How much spiritual energy you take from here depends on your pot. It does not depend on the river. The river will never say to you, "Don't take my water." There is immense energy here, which only you can take with you. Therefore, in these few days you will spend here, concentrate on what you came to gain. Do not suffer by looking at who is doing what. If you look at who is doing what, you will not even be able to sleep, because even the whole night someone is doing something. You would only run from one tree to another, from one room to another, to the kitchen, to the guard, and so on. You can become restless. You can cry. You can suffer, but you are not forced to do it. Therefore, manu mātrā jagataḥ—your world is as you think. If you think you are happy, you are happy. If you think you are unhappy, then you are unhappy. If you think you are lonely, then definitely you are lonely. And if you think, "I am not lonely," then definitely you are not lonely; so many are with you. To be with so many people here and still feel alone depends on your thoughts. Do not imagine stories or thoughts. Tell yourself to be a little wise. Meditate, pray, practice, and you have the chance to do karma yoga. Holy Gurujī said, "Śiva Dharma is the greatest Dharma." But Śiva means for all—for one's own children, for one's own family, doing for every creature. Every bird, every animal does for their children. They are very clever and wise animals. They worry about their children only until they grow up, then give them freedom. But you cannot. Though you are human and have something between your two ears, still you are not wise, and that is your problem. This problem will destroy you. What you think is yours is not yours, and what you think is not yours, is yours. You think a problem is not yours, but it is yours. Therefore, know the roots of the problems, and then treat them. These problems are not only on the physical surface; they exist on other levels: psychic problems, astral problems. We have the physical body, mental body, energy body, subtle body, and causal body. The roots go through and through. We try to solve physical problems through the physical, but we do not solve the psychic problems. The roots are in the causal body, subtle body, mental body, and energy body. This problem only you can solve, nobody else, through your knowledge. So, learn from the animals. The birds take care of the babies in the nest. The mother takes care of her young ones until they grow wings. If they do not fly out of the nest, their parents help them to jump out. Then they hang on a thorny bush. The mother and father fly so the babies imitate them. That is all, for only two or three days. Then they say bye-bye. The babies do not come back to the nest. Did you ever see a baby bird fly back to the nest? No. So you have to find your nest, and that is the spiritual ashram, the spiritual place. Everyone does for their family, but who is doing for the general good? That is very important, and that is called Seva. So whatever you do in this ashram, you are not obliged to do it, but be happy that you got the chance, this opportunity. When you walk and see stones lying on the path, put them to one side; do not throw them away, just move them aside. Everything that helps you clean the garden, all that is beauty, is useful for you. Everyone says how beautiful this ashram is, like heaven. But do you know how many people have been working before you came? It is the work of five hundred people over ten days to keep such a large area in this nice condition. You, too, can be part of maintaining the ashram. But most important is that you maintain a spiritual atmosphere. Leave your human jealousy, human weakness, and human attachment outside. That is very important. For what you came here, you should meditate and concentrate on it. Repeat your mantra. If you see someone talking and doing something nonsensical, then do not look; close your eyes and repeat your mantra. Do not pay attention to what they are saying. You can do this even if the sound is coming from one side. You will achieve what you want if you follow the discipline and spirituality one hundred percent. And for that, you are here. The day before yesterday, we celebrated Rakṣā Bandhan. Many of your sisters were not here; they arrived today. Many brothers were not here; they arrived today. So you can give them the Rākhī tomorrow. Rākhī means a thread on the hand. Once a year there is a festival, but you can give it throughout the whole year. This thread is the thread of love. This knot of love should not open. It should not be lost, and you promise this protection—protection for the entire feminine power. Even in animals, you know, in some countries, also in India and elsewhere, people have offered a goat or an animal in sacrifice. But they will never offer a female animal, only a male, because if you kill a female, even the deity will not accept it. Females are protected from the highest parliament, the upper house, down to this mortal world. Women are known as holy souls. Even in India, they are declared as holy cows—the holy cow which God Kṛṣṇa loves. This 'cow' means the devotee of God, not as an animal cow or a human, not as a female aspect or an animal, but as a devotee of God. Once a journalist asked, "Why do so many women come to yoga, to church, to spiritual talks? Where there are spiritual gatherings, they are mostly ladies." Why? Because these are all Kṛṣṇa's cows. These are the holy souls, and they are like God. So, the majority of women have hearts full of devotion. Without that, one cannot be a mother at heart. And so, Rakṣābandhan means to protect all feminine powers: to adore, to respect. 'Protect' does not mean you lock them in a room as if in a drawer, to take out and put back whenever you wish. In Hinduism, it is said, "Mātṛ Devo Bhava." First, God is woman, mother. First you say Rādhā, and then you say Kṛṣṇa: Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. First you say Sītā, and then Rām: Sītā-Rām. First you say Lakṣmī and then Nārāyaṇa. You will never find any name like Nārāyaṇa-Lakṣmī, or Rām-Sītā, or Kṛṣṇa-Rādhā. That is not correct. So, Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā. And from Rādhā, if you take the 'R' out, it becomes ādhā, which means 'half'. So without Rādhā, Kṛṣṇa is half. Where God is, devotees are. Where there are no devotees, God is so lonely. He does not feel comfortable, and He asks Himself, "What am I doing here? Why am I here? Why did I manifest this?" And when the Bhaktas, the devotees, are here, then He is happy and He makes His līlā. That is called līlādhārī; then He plays His divine plays. So, bhakta and bhagavān are both the same. It is difficult to understand, but He is with all devotees. There is a story. Someone asked, "How is it possible that Kṛṣṇa can be with everyone?" They said, "Ask the Gopīs." So the man went door to door. He knocked on one door to ask the Gopī if Kṛṣṇa was with her. She opened the door, and Kṛṣṇa was there drinking milk (at that time, there was no tea). He did not need to ask; it was clear. Immediately, he knocked on the next door. Kṛṣṇa was there putting His shawl on. He thought these rooms must have double doors. He quickly knocked on another door, and Kṛṣṇa was sitting there saying, "Brahmārpaṇam Brahmahaviḥ." Again, he went quickly to another floor down and knocked, and Kṛṣṇa was playing the flute. He checked about twenty-five places, and in every room, Kṛṣṇa was there, performing different actions. So he came back and said, "Now I believe that God is with everyone." No one is without God, and also God is not alone. Every bhakta is with Him, so there is harmony, there is oneness. But one Gopī was jealous. She also had apartments nearby. Someone knocked on her door, and she was sitting on her bed like this. She thought Kṛṣṇa was coming, but He was not there. The visitor asked, "Where is Kṛṣṇa?" She said, "He doesn't like me, maybe. For twenty days I have not seen His face. I didn't see His face, but He is in the next room." The visitor said, "I don't want to hear this." So if you have such a vṛtti (mental tendency), then you are lonely. You are torturing yourself. Therefore, we are all one—all beautiful brothers and sisters, all beautiful devotees. Some are your sisters, some your mothers, some your wives, some your husbands, fathers, brothers. Some are your future husbands, future wives. Be happy, relaxed. No tension. Those who have tension go very quickly into pension—it means you are retired from everything. So, enjoy and understand Rakṣā Bandhan. Of course, the cows do not want the male cows to be killed. The goat does not want the male goats to be killed. So it means we also do not want to kill the male. We want to protect all, to practice ahiṃsā. They are also divine. Without male power, the females cannot be here either. Without females, the male cannot be either. So, no duality. It should be oneness, happiness. But the problem is there: your attachment, a wrong attachment. We also have a big attachment. We are so attached to God, so attached to Mahāprabhujī. Every day we pray to Him. How strongly we are attached! Is there any wife who prays to her husband every day three times? Not even she telephones three times. In the beginning, yes, but then not anymore. It is said that in the morning, the wife should get up and wash the feet of the husband before he gets up from the bed. Do not do this; the poor man will catch cold. So there is a mutual understanding, and that is very important: equalness. That is it. So, Rakṣā Bandhan is a protection for our society.