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Deepnaya Bhagavān, Alakpuruṣī Mahādev, continues to bless you all. All devotees, dear ones, welcome. We are fortunate to be together. It is Śiva Rātri. These four nights constitute Śiva Rātri. It is said that the entire period from Pūrṇimā till the new moon is the era of Śiva Rātri. There are many miracles and tales about it. Śiva is the only one known as Mahādev, the Deva of the Devas, the God of the Gods. When we speak about God, there is no "semi-God." In recent decades, people began using the term "semi-God." This is like blackmailing. This name was introduced by Prabhupāda from the Hare Kṛṣṇa mission. For them, the highest is Kṛṣṇa; they do not even believe in God Rāma. When they say "Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma," the "Rāma" does not refer to the God who incarnated in Ayodhyā. They mean Balarāma, the elder brother of Kṛṣṇa. Thus, they put all others down, which is not correct. Furthermore, it is not proper to say "God Lord," because "Lord" is too low a degree. In English, they call the owner of a house "the lord," the property lord. So who is the owner? They call him the lord, and we call God "Lord" as well. Do not put God in the category of a lord. "Lord" is more or less on the human side. It is not bad, but we cannot compare God with the word "Lord." In many songs for God, if the term "Lord" is used, a correction should be made. This is important to know. The word "Śiva" alone means the whole universe: Satyam, Śivam, Sundaram. Satyam is the ultimate truth. Śivam is Śiva, which is the entire universe. Sundaram is the beauty of the entire universe. Understand Śiva: Śiva is balance. Balance begins from Śiva. Whenever He manifests Himself, He can be very joyful. Sometimes He makes very nice jokes for worldly people to make them happy. He loves children, and Śiva is known as Bholenāth—no one else has this name. Bholenāth means "innocent." "Bhole" means innocent, and "nāth" means God. Innocent means very simple. You could take something from His pocket, and He wouldn't notice. If He loses something, He just smiles, thinking, "Oh, that’s gone somewhere." With just a little request, He is the giver; He gives everything. Everyone has a birthday, but Śiva does not. Those who have a birthday have a mother and father. Śiva was not born. Having no father and no mother, He has no birth certificate. Imagine Śiva coming to a border. They ask, "Your passport, please." He says, "I don’t know what that is." "Your birth certificate." He says, "I don’t know what that means." The whole universe is that. He says, "In my universe, there is no border. I am beyond borders. Ananta, ananta, ananta. I am beyond, endless, endless, endless." Śiva ananta, ananta Śiva. The glory of Śiva is endless, and endless is His glory. Śiva is endless, ananta, ananta. Hari-kathā: God is endless, and endless is His glory. When we talk about incarnation, there are two kinds. One is born—Kṛṣṇa was born, so He is in human form. Rāma was born; every God was born. But there is someone who is unborn, and no one understands how He is unborn. They ask Him, "Which mother fed you? Did your mother feed you from her breast? Did your father hold your finger?" He says, "What is that? What is a mother? I am the mother. I am the father, and I am the child. I am everyone. One in all, and all in one." Therefore, Śiva means endless, and Śiva means a yogī. When Śiva appeared, He manifested Himself. He appeared in a meditation posture, and there was thundering, lightning, movement, shaking the mountains, the Himalayas. He was sitting. It took ages for Him to open His eyes from His meditation. He brought yoga, the science of yoga, within which all kinds of knowledge reside. Yoga means union. Yoga means opportunity. Yoga means good luck. Yoga means fortune. Yoga means happiness. Happiness and yoga mean unity, no duality. He does not create dualities. He is not jealous. He plays like a very innocent one, but He is not stupid. Yes, you can take everything away from Him. You can do many things. He allows you to do anything because He knows you are children. You can have all, but I am the endless. From one drop, He manifested all the oceans—the seven oceans on this earth. Seven oceans from one drop, and in that drop there are billions, trillions, countless lives inside. We see only one drop, but in reality, the universe is in it. That ocean is His body. So if you want to see Śiva, see the blue ocean. Sometimes Śiva is in a high temperament. The oceans are the lungs of Śiva, only the lungs. The ocean inhales and exhales—what we call high tide. The ocean expands to the beach and then recedes. That is the breath of the ocean; these are the lungs of Śiva. So how big is Śiva now? That is Satyam, Śivam, and Sundaram. He balances the negative energy. Yes, all the negative āsurī śaktis adore Śiva, and Śiva also gives them place. He is the Bhagavān, the God of both sides. That is called ignorance and knowledge, darkness and light. These are the two sides of life. With just one exhalation, He creates the whole creation on this earth. There are three kinds of functions. One is called Sṛjan Hara. Sarjan Hara means the creator, so Śiva acts twice. At the time of creation, He creates. That is called Sarjan. As the Veda said, "I am one, and now I will multiply." So He multiplied Himself in us. Our roots and our Bhagavān is Śiva. Then there is Visarjan Hara. Visarjan means to destroy. Like little children who make a small house from sand on the beach: when the parents say, "Children, let's go home," they destroy everything and run away. So, when the Kali Yuga becomes truly horrible, Śiva’s third eye opens. That is called disaster. It can be fire, flood, earthquake, hurricanes—many different things. When such things happen, it is just a little eyelid movement of Śiva. A Śiva-bhakta will always be protected. Brahmā is a Śiva-bhakta. In different yugas, sometimes Śiva comes as the devotee of Viṣṇu, but Viṣṇu is very ashamed. He says, "Please, Bhagavān, Mahādev, don’t do this to me." Śiva says, "Well, once you are president, and once I am president." No problem. But the beginning and the end is Śiva. In between is only pañcaparpaṇc, all restlessness. So if we worship Śiva, we are in safe hands, good hands. Be sure. Therefore, Śiva is the guru principle. There is the Śiva principle. We are the essence; we are the essence of Śiva. We are born from Śiva. He has created us. "Eko’haṁ bahu syāmi"—I am one, and now I multiply. First begins with sound, nāda. Nāda-rūpa-parabrahma, nāda. Then light, jyoti. Then manifestation. It was very interesting at a conference in Bangalore. Dr. Nagendra, the head of a NASA center, is a scientist. Recently, scientists researched sound and how far they could go. You cannot go beyond the sun. A yogī can go beyond, to different universes. Otherwise, we are all creatures in this kingdom of the sun. They observed creation, the nāda, the sound. Exactly in the sun, there was a turning, and there was exactly the sound OṂ. I hear this myself. I have often told you about this nāda. On the 18th of February in New Delhi, there was a scientific conference called Vedvijñāna (Vedas and Science). It was organized by our friend Gulābjī Kothārī from Rajasthan, of Patrika—many of you know him. He managed to get a short video from the NASA center. It was proved that everything came from the OṂ, from that sound: Akāra, Ukāra, Makāra—these three. And so there was Śiva, the light of Śiva. Who can worship Śiva? Every day, perform abhiṣeka on the Śiva Liṅga. You may do it only with water. It has great meaning and calms down all troubles. Use mantras like Oṁ Tryambhakaṁ or Oṁ Namaḥ Śivāya. Tomorrow we will speak further about Mahāśivarātri. Okay? For today, this is enough. I wish you all the best and a blessed Śivarātri. God bless you.