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This is Dr. Sital, who has written about experiences from his life, and that of his wife and children, since meeting me as described in Līlāmṛt. Today marks exactly 31 years since he first met me. He may not remember, but his wife gave birth to a beautiful daughter on Guru Pūrṇimā, so I gave her the name Pūrṇimā. You can read more about him in Līlāmṛt, which contains his recorded message. Thank you, Dr. Sāhab. He is a specialist, an eye specialist, among the few such doctors in Europe, not only in Austria. What he writes is a very interesting story from when he was performing an operation. He can tell you the medical terms, as I do not know them. You can read it in the book, but now you will hear it directly. Dr. Sital's Account: "I am very happy to know that Swāmījī has remembered me again and is taking me back 30 years to what happened. We had a very complicated case in an operating theatre. My chief and I were both operating. There is a very difficult part of this medicine: once bleeding starts in a deep part of the eye, it is not curable. In such cases, people mostly become blind. My professor, who was also my chief, was totally nervous. We had no way to stop this bleeding. When I saw my professor was nervous, he asked me, 'You are Indian, you believe in your guru, so do some miracles.' And this miracle was really wonderful. I remembered my Gurujī and prayed, 'Please help this patient, not my professor.' I just took one forceps, put it blindly in his eye, remembered my Gurujī, and automatically the bleeding stopped. My professor was surprised and started asking me, 'What did you do?' I had no answer because it was not my doing; this procedure stopped. This miracle was done only through my Guru. After the operation, he took me into his room and asked me, 'Please write a thesis on this chapter.' But you see, I know in the world there are no more cases like that which have happened, and there is no theory to stop this bleeding. I told him, 'I just put all the power of my guru on his eye.' He didn't believe me. He thought I was just keeping some secret from him. I told him, 'Okay, any other time you can tell me, not this time.' But actually, God knows. This was simply the kṛpā, or blessing, of my Guru. And my chief put me in a very high position only because of this accident case. So Guru Kṛpā, His blessings, you cannot compare to anything. It was not only the first or one case in my life. We have very short time to explain, but I will tell you one more story about my Guru Kṛpā. Once we were at Swāmījī's place for Guru Pūrṇimā, and after pūjā, we were going back home. Unfortunately, I couldn't see that we didn't have petrol in our car. The car almost reached our home, but about 30 kilometers away, it stopped. It was dark. Nobody was on the road. Nobody was ready to help us. We tried to stop some cars to ask for help. It was my misfortune that, in that moment, I forgot my guru. But my wife and children asked, 'Why don't you remember your guru?' My wife also said, 'Come and start your car.' It was really a wonder that the car started again. For 30 kilometers we just remembered Gurujī and did some kīrtan, and finally I was in my garage. It is wonderful to tell you, the next year early morning I wanted to start my car again, but you can see, it was only a grace to reach your home with your children, with your family, safely. It doesn't mean that you can always drive without petrol. So the Guru is a very great power only. I will request you, please do not miss the power of your Guru. Misuse your... and believe, there are many stories in our Purāṇic religious books that guru kṛpā can do anything. Finally, I will request you all that you gave time to hear my experience about my guru. I will just request you, please obey and respect your Guru only. The Guru means one who takes you from darkness to brightness. Do not test, no examination against your Guru. No examination; don't test against your Guru. There is no substitution for the Guru. So please, Guru is everything. Respect and pray only to your Guru. In our prayer, we do every day, that Kṛṣṇa and Rāma have also had a Guru. There is nothing bigger than the Guru. Thank you for taking the time to hear, to listen to me. And with that, I will say thank you again. And deep Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān kī Jai. Jai." On Guru Pūrṇimā: Time is passing. We heard many things. You know many things. We remember today and celebrate Guru Pūrṇimā. When you look in the sky, there's a half moon, it's not full moon. So how is it possible that we celebrate Guru Pūrṇimā today? In India, we do it on the right Guru Pūrṇimā day, so I was doing in Europe also on the right dates. But today, some Austrian told me, "Old tradition must change. Old culture will die, and new culture will begin." So I said, let's begin with us. I learned that in Western societies, they begin to celebrate Christmas already from the 1st of December because on the real Christmas day, people are with their friends, family, or on holidays. So we are doing now, five days earlier, one week—five days earlier, actually. It is called Guru Parva, Guru Pūrṇimā Parva. It is lasting one month, from the new moon till full moon, and from full moon till Amāvasyā, the dark moon. The whole month is considered a Guru Parva. "Parva," you can say, is like the Christmas time. All markets open for a long time to remember that Christmas is coming. Today is Guru Pūrṇimā. There are many tales about Guru Pūrṇimā, and we call this Guru Pūrṇimā also as Vyāsa Pūrṇimā. Vyāsa is a great saint, a great sage, whom you can read about in the Mahābhārata and Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, because Vedavyāsa belongs to the dynasty of the Pāṇḍavas. Vedavyāsa was the grandfather of Pāṇḍu and great-grandfather of Arjuna. It is believed that for the first time the Vedas were dictated and put in writing. Before that, the Vedas were only spoken from master to disciple. Everything was kept in memory. What is in your memory is called Smṛti. What was spoken is called Śruti, what you heard: Śruti and Smṛti. But Vedavyāsajī was a trikāladarśī, a knower of past, present, and future. Before he decided to write, a lot of the knowledge of the Vedas was lost. He knew that in Kali Yuga we would have no memory. Compared to their memory, our memory is 0.010, and I can prove it to you now. Take an example: you take a telephone and ask your friend, "Can you please give me that number?" The friend will dictate, and what will you do? You will write. This is the first sign that we don't have memory. We don't even have memory of five seconds in many cases. You say, "Please, can you repeat once more? Zero, zero, three, six, is that correct?" And then again you ask, "Can you repeat once more? Five, eight, nine, six, slowly, please. Five, nine, six? No, no, five, eight, nine, six. Uh-huh. Moment. Five, eight? Oh, yeah, five, eight, six." Again, you lost. This is the indication of our present memory. So Vedavyāsa knew what would happen now. He wanted the Vedas to be put in written form, but his thoughts and words were so quick that no one could write so quickly. He was looking for someone but was not successful. Then he began to pray for the search of someone who could write. First, we should remember Gaṇeśa. Any work you begin, if you would like to be successful, then remember first Śrī Gaṇeśa, even if his father is there, but first is Gaṇeśa. There is a story: his father was in trouble when he forgot Gaṇeśa. Because Śiva didn't invite Gaṇeśa for his marriage, Gaṇeśa created problems. He sent his army—Gaṇeśa's army is the mouse—and he told the mouse to dig the earth so they couldn't go through. All horses and chariots were stuck. Then the father remembered, "Gaṇeśa could be successful." There are many stories about Gaṇeśa. Also, when Śiva is marrying Pārvatī, is Gaṇeśa making first? Or is Śiva making first Gaṇeśa pūjā? This you should ask Paṇḍitjī. How is it possible? We call Gaṇeśa a son of Pārvatī, so was the son first born or after? And if not, then which Gaṇeśa was that whom Śiva made a pūjā to? So, to understand Gaṇeśa is very hard. He is not only an elephant head, and, you know, the most beautiful one. It doesn't matter in which form you see Gaṇeśa, he is most beautiful. You will not see any God so beautiful as Gaṇeśa. Now he's available in dancing form and umbrellas and everything, in dhoti, in lungi. Gaṇeśa is the remover of obstacles. Anything you begin, first you should remember him. Even when you make your mala, you will say "Śrī Gaṇeśa Nāma" when you begin singing bhajan in satsaṅg. "Gaṇṇami" means "Gaṇeśa." So, God Gaṇeśa came to Vedavyāsa and said, "Sir, can I help you?" He said, "I am looking for someone who can write what I dictate, and I can't find anyone. Gaṇeśa, can you find someone for me?" Because Gaṇeśa is also the God of intellect, the God of wisdom, the God of wealth. Gaṇeśa said, "Before I go to find someone, I think there is no one good enough but myself. I offer my service to you." But Vedavyāsa said, "I have one condition: I will not stop even for a quarter second to think. That means I will not repeat again what I spoke." "Why should he not repeat again? Maybe he does not have memory of what he spoke before?" No, it was not to waste time. Gaṇeśa said, "I agree, but I have my conditions too. I will not wait for you, even half a second. You should continue the flow." Vedavyāsajī asked, "How will you do it?" He said, "I know my language, and what do you call this short? What you're going to shorthand?" And from that time, the science of shorthand writing developed. So the Vedas were written, and it is believed that the great sage Vyāsa Muni was born on this Pūrṇimā. He is a symbol of pūrṇa wisdom, completeness. It is said that he was so wise and perfect that till now no one incarnated on this globe... Dr. Sital mentioned that even Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva, they also adore and worship the Gurudev. Yes, when you read the Mahābhārata, whenever Vedavyāsajī comes, Kṛṣṇa himself washed and worshiped the feet of Vedavyāsa as the highest one, as a guru, as a saint. So one of the reasons why we remember and pray is to get that knowledge and that blessing on this full moon. Secondly, "guru": "gu" means darkness, and "ru" means light. It is the first second of the reflection, the light of the sun touches the earth. That is the second constellation of the Guru Pūrṇimā. For all bhaktas, the new year begins today. Whatever you practiced for one year, you offer as flowers, as a present, as a donation to the Gurudev—your sādhanā. You offer to Gurudev: "Whatever I did, all my sādhanā, I offer to you. Accept it all. The fruits, the result of my sādhanā, I surrender to you. If you find me worthy enough, then please bless me, give me something." You are cultivating; the Master is doing nothing, and you have to surrender, give him back everything, and you get nothing. Good business? But the guru will not keep anything. He will multiply it a thousand percent and give you back. It is that bank which will pay you the highest interest, and the interest that your sādhanā benefit will day by day increase, double in daytime and four times at night. So what can we surrender? Material means nothing. Surrender your all sādhanā, surrender your confidence, surrender your life. Surrendering life means not that now you can kill me, but remember Him in every action, as Pāṇḍājī said. When you get up, first what you should remember and see is the Gurudev. Don't even drink a cup of tea unless you have brushed your teeth, washed yourself, and made a pūjā. It could be only that you light one flame and agarbatti, that's all. This also is your pūjā. This is called niyama, discipline. On the day when you've forgotten, when you did not make any pūjā—morning, noon, and evening—it means your Gurudev is fasting now. You didn't give him anything to eat. You locked the door and went on holiday. So, not even he is a flurry... So when you go on holidays, take his picture with you and do your pūjā there. It is said that on Guru Pūrṇimā, all devotees, even the yogīs living in the astral world, come in visible and invisible forms to have Guru Darśana and Pūjā. "Gurudeva Darśan Dhanho"—this bhajan, you know, "Gurudeva Darśan Dhanho"—it's a privilege to have a darśan. If you cannot be there on that day, then remember wherever you are. And if you can't remember, then you are unlucky. Wherever you are, create satsaṅg. If you have love and trust, then you will be successful. What is not possible, Gurudev can make possible. What is going to happen, He can stop. Gurudev is the supreme one. Everything He can do. Now, we have to understand Gurudev as a Guru Tattva, not the physical body. The physical body is made out of the same material as your body: five elements, memory, feelings, eating, hunger, thirst, movement, everything. But what is within that body? That's very important. There are two houses or hotels. In one hotel is living your president, and in another hotel, all the people are normal. The high security of that hotel where the president is residing makes that hotel in these minutes very important. Similarly, in the hotel of this body, the president, the universal president, Lord of lords, is incarnated or residing. In every heart, God is residing. But adoration to that heart in which God Himself speaks. If you know this, then be sure you will be liberated. So take Gurudev as the saviour of our life: Śrī Ālaṅk Purījī, Śrī Devpurījī, Mahāprabhujī, and Gurujī. We all are the bhaktas, and we all do hope that on this day they will bless us. From their holy throne, whatever is spoken comes true. This seat where I am sitting has two names: Siddha Gāḍī or Vyāsa Gāḍī or Guru Gāḍī. Vyāsa Gāḍī means the seat of Vedavyāsa, and when the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam or Vedas or some holy books are read, then this Vyāsa Gāḍī is prepared. This seat, whoever is reading, chanting, and preaching—it doesn't matter who it is—will be respected because he or she is sitting on Vyāsa gāḍī or guru gāḍī. It is not that the person is very important, but this holy seat is very important. Now, who will sit on the chair of the president will be president, respected. Everyone has their place and meaning of their place. So this is our holy throne, and this is from our Ālaṅk Purījī, of course, Śaṅkarācārya, and so we are all devotees. And I pray to our all-divine, merciful gods to bless you with good health, happy, healthy, and long life. May they protect us, and day by day, like a new moon grows to the full moon, may our spiritual sādhanā develop and we realize the completeness. So on this special day, in the name of our holy lineage, I bless you and wish you all the best.