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Protection is within You

The lunar calendar structures time and connects us to nature's cycles, which influence our body, mind, and spirit. Each month holds specific meaning and is dedicated to different functions of the one God. The current month, Śrāvaṇa, is dedicated to Lord Śiva, with special observances on Mondays. Its full moon day is Rakṣā Bandhan, a festival for protecting society and honoring the bond between brothers and sisters. This tradition originates from a story where a sister's pure love, symbolized by a tied thread, awakened a king's duty to protect. Women embody the divine mother, a symbol of protection and life, and should be revered. Seeing every woman as a mother or sister would end conflict. The festival reinforces brotherhood, forgiveness, and the duty to protect, with celebrations involving gifts and shared meals.

"Protection is within you, not outside of you."

"The first God is Mother: 'Mātṛ Devo Bhava.'"

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

DVD 282

In accordance with the astrology of the moon—the time calculated by the moon—there are twelve months. Every second year, meaning the third year, we have thirteen months. So, you can count now how old you are. You have to count that in 12 years, in 36 years, you are actually 37 years old. So when you are 72 years old, you are actually 74. For elderly people, it’s not good news, but it is like this. Every month is connected with different seasons, and every season sends us a special message. That means in every month, certain changes take place in nature. And every change in nature means also a change in our body. When the changes of our body take place, they also mean changes in the mind. The changes in the mind mean emotional and intellectual changes. Emotivne i intelektualne promene, a svaka emotivna i intelektualna promena ima snažan uticaj na našu dušu, zato je svaki mesec drugačiji. In accordance with Indian mythology and the lunar calendar, every month has a great meaning and is dedicated to different gods. There is only one God, but it has many functions. For example, there is one woman, and she has many functions. She has the function of the great-grandmother, the position of the grandmother, the position of a mother, a wife, a sister, a daughter, a colleague, a friend, a neighbor, and a citizen. It is only one lady, but how many different positions she has. Similarly, there is one God, and God has different functions at different times. According to that, He is known, and that’s how we know Him. When we greet her as a great-grandmother, we call her great-grandmother. When we address her as a mother, it is a different position. Every twelve months has its great meanings according to the constellations of the planets. Different planets bring different changes in the environment, in the atmosphere, in the season, and what we call summer or winter or fall. In this part of the earth, the weather is different, and in other parts like Africa and Australia, the weather is different. It’s called the movement of the sun, though the sun is not moving. The planets are moving around the sun, but still we call it the sun rising and the sun setting. The sun is not rising, and the sun is not setting; it’s a movement of the planet. So, according to this, we call the sun moving to Uttarāyaṇa or Dakṣiṇāyana. Uttarāyaṇa means the sun is moving towards the north. When the sun is moving to the north, then we have long days and summer. But, like in Australia, we have short days in winter. So, according to the season and month, they are observing the changes in nature. In accordance with the annual time and month, changes occur in nature, and in accordance with this, we have festivals. Some festivals are of local significance, and some are spiritual festivals. Spiritual festivals indicate spiritual energy, and social festivals indicate friendship, harmony, forgiveness, and understanding; they create friendship, and that’s very important. At present, the month which is carrying on, the month in which we are now, is called Śrāvaṇa in Indian astrology, in Sanskrit. Śrāvaṇa is dedicated to Lord Śiva. Every Monday of the Śrāvaṇa month is very special. So, bhaktas, the believers, they are fasting every Monday and visiting Śiva temples, offering flowers and fruits, making abhiṣeka. Abhiṣeka means you can put some drops or a little water on the Śivaliṅgam and repeat the Mahāmṛtyuñjaya Mantra. This brings you peace of mind, harmony, and understanding. The first Monday of this month is very special, as well as the last one. Yesterday was the last Monday of Śrāvaṇa, and then is coming the full moon day. The Śrāvaṇa full moon day is great, and everyone is celebrating. The Śrāvaṇa month brings mostly rain throughout the world. So, if you meditate and pray more to Śiva, the better the rain will come. Because now, Śiva is sweating, and the rain is coming. When Śiva is dancing and moving his hair, then it is snowing. He stretches himself and moves his hair like this; it’s called Tāṇḍava Nṛtya. It’s the time of December and winter, so the whole winter it is snowing. Now Śiva is doing Abhiṣeka, and therefore it’s raining. There are many, many good stories. Tomorrow is, I think, the full moon. Very good. This month, and tomorrow’s full moon day, belongs to the ladies. This full moon day belongs to the ladies. You see, Bīm said, "Pravda." That is Pravda. This call said, that is the truth. It is especially for the protection of society. That is called Rakṣā Bandhan. I don’t know if it is true or not, but there is one story. That story is about one very famous lady called Satī Sāvitrī. Satī means the faithful one. Satyā Sāvitrī had a very big, very good, great, very nice story that comes also, I think, somewhere in the Upaniṣads. Her husband died, and Yama took him away. She was the only woman, or lady in history, who was able to follow her husband. Yama didn’t want her to go because they were not instructed to bring her also; there was no guarantee that the voice of death would bring her back to life. He promised her that he would fulfill her wishes. She said that the only thing she wanted was to bring her husband back to life. The story goes so far that, in the end, God had to bring her husband back to life. Since that time, she is called Satī Sāvitrī. She was a very beautiful girl, like all of you who are sitting, because there can be no one more beautiful than yourself in the whole world. No one is more beautiful than you. If you realize this, then many conflicts will be solved, many problems will be solved. There was one king, and he fell in love by his own thinking only. So he called her to his palace. I pozvali je u svoj dvorac. She knew what was going to happen. Ona je znala šta će se desiti. But she prayed to God for self-protection. I ona je molila Boga da je zaštiti. So always, protection is within you, not outside of you. Ona je molila Boga samo za zaštitu, pošto je zaštita u vama. She took with her one thread. When she came there, the king said, "Please come." The king wanted to hold her hand. So the king straightened his hand like this, and she tied this thread on his wrist. The king said, "What is this?" She said, "This thread is a thread of love. The knot which I am making is a knot of that love which we should never open. This is the love of your sister for you." He said, "What does it mean?" It means that a brother is obliged to protect his sister in every aspect. She said it means that a brother is obliged to protect his sister in every way: ethically, morally, financially, socially, politically, in every aspect. It is the prime duty of the brother to protect his sister. It doesn’t matter if she is younger or older than him. The responsibility of a brother is to protect his sister in every way, regardless of whether she is younger or older than him. If you are a man and you can’t protect the woman, then you are not a man. You are not a man. And if you are doing something harmful to a woman, then you are not a man. You know, the women are the holy cows, and you should protect the holy cows. Everyone cannot be a holy cow. Only women. In Christianity, you say the sheep. Your priest is known as a shepherd, and the stick which he has—in the Pope or the priest or the bishop, they have a stick in the hand—this is called the shepherd’s stick. The pope and the bishops have those shepherd’s sticks. Am I wrong? I’m wrong. Am I wrong? No. No, I’m not wrong. So who is the sheep? Yeah, so you are the sheep. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is a protector of the cows. It means cows represent the woman; the cow means the mother, and woman is a mother. The woman is responsible, and they are so great. They feed the child when it’s in the body, they feed the child when outside of the body, until the child gets on its own legs and can eat and be independent. Therefore, women are the symbol of the mother. Mother means protection. Mother means care. Mother means love. Mother means giving life. Therefore, it is said in the Upaniṣad that the first God is Mother: "Mātṛ Devo Bhava." The first God is Mother. If Mother would not be here, you can’t come here. But, of course, Father should not be unhappy. Therefore, it is said the second God is Father: "Pitṛ Devo Bhava." So you see how this divine power is divided. Therefore, if you see in every woman a mother and your own sister, then in the world there will be no more fighting. But nowadays, women are only a symbol of the commercial; they are only a commercial object. And women are so stupid now that they sell themselves. You see, you should not do like this. You should maintain your status, that you are the mother of the universe. You are the greatest of all. Even your child becomes the president of the country; you should be proud of it. The cows are also the symbol of the mother. They say that in the cow’s body there are ten million different deities. Ten million, one crore, crore deities, goddesses, and gods. Ten million deities, gods and goddesses in every part of the body. And that is also in the woman. But the woman should know what is inside them. So it is something great. The human should know what a human is. Humans should awaken human consciousness. Humans should not behave like animals. Human love is great, and it is to be understood. Therefore, to beat a woman means to beat a cow. And to beat the cow means to beat the woman or beat your own mother. In past histories, throughout the whole world, women were not participating in wars on battlefields. When women came onto the battlefield, they stopped fighting because they respected them; they didn’t want to injure them. That is how it was everywhere. It was like that everywhere, so you must deeply think what it means. So, the king called that young lady with great temptation, with desires. Her pure love changed his entire life. She tied this thread on his wrist and made a knot. She said, "This is a knot of the relation of brothers. What I tied, this should remain, and it should not open again." It is symbolic, but it awakens the consciousness in the man to protect his sisters, and that’s very beautiful. So that day is tomorrow, the day which is coming. On that day, the brother gives something to his sister. Whatever you want to give—you can invite her for eating, you can give her cloth, you can give a birthday or Christmas present—it means to show your compassion towards her. If you don’t have a sister, you can adopt a sister. It’s all right, because you should see all as your sisters. If you don’t want to adopt a sister, still you can give today some present to some of your colleagues or something—a flower, or invite them for pizza or something, you know. So, tomorrow we are going to do this Rakṣā Bandhan. It came from India just now, and there are many others with big, good flowers and like this, but I think some Indians have chosen, some Europeans have chosen this, which looks also nice. So many sisters are here. Mnogo je se stara ovde, and many brothers are here. Mnogo je braće ovde, and you should tie it in everyone’s hand. I možete vezati vrpcu na svašiju ruku, and we will make a nice video. Napravit ćemo lep video toga, and we will send it to India. I will send it to India, to awake again in Indian’s consciousness also that we appreciate, because in India now people are going in the wrong direction. What you Europeans do, the Indians are doing. What you are doing, the Indians are doing. Now, so many Europeans are practicing yoga, so now all Indians are practicing yoga. It is very interesting, but it takes time till from here it comes to India. Now you come to the new fashion, so again the Rakṣā Bandhan. Therefore, tomorrow we will do Rakṣā Bandhan. We will make nice videos and send them, because in India my program is on television every day. My videos are on the program for 20 minutes, and we will show them, so it will be something nice. This kind of festival is to protect society, to maintain brotherhood, and to forgive any wrong deeds. Give your understanding and protection. Be generous. What is the duty of the sister? If your brother is younger than you, then you have the right to give him a slap on the cheek if he makes a mistake. If he is older than you, then you should obey his instructions. So, in both ways, it is functioning. Of course, when your sister is older than you, then she will not take something from you; she will give you something. She will not take something from you, but will give it to you, because you are the younger ones, and always younger ones have the privileges, that always you get, you don’t have to give. That’s why I was the youngest one in the family, that’s it, only I got and I got, that’s it. So, this is tomorrow’s day. Also, there are some people who invite their sisters to eat. Neki pozivaju svoju sestru na obrok. But we are so many sisters here, and many brothers also. Mi imamo ovde toliko braća i sestara. So, every boy can put something in one pot. Tako da momci mogu da daju neki prilog. And we will make tomorrow a very good, some good eating. Every day we have good eating, but something special. We will make something special tomorrow. Every day we have good, but tomorrow will be special, and boys will serve. Boys will clean, and ladies will only enjoy eating. So, that would be tomorrow. Someone can suggest what you would like to eat. The youngest children say they want to eat ice cream. Deca bi sladoled. Ano? Jel tačno? Yes, ice cream? Sladoled? Ask children. Pitate decu. Ano? Dobri. Ok. Okay, good. Children will get ice cream. Okay, good. I’m giving you āsanas in between because I don’t want you to feel cold, and you bring your blankets inside. Even in the satsaṅgs, I will let you make heart-to-heart praṇāms, and I will speak. But you are not allowed to bring any blankets, any sleeping bags; you should look like a yogī.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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