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Sada Śiva Samarambhāṁ Śaṅkarācārya Madhyamām Asmadācārya Paryantāṁ Vandhe Guru Paramparām. Gurur Brahma, Gurur Viṣṇu, Gurur Devo Maheśvaraha. Gurur Sākṣāt Parabrahma, Tasmai Śrī Gurave Namaḥ. Śrī Jagannātha, Madhuguru, Śrī Jagadguru, Māmātmā. Sarva-bhūta, Ātmā, Tasmai, Śrī Gurudeva, Namaḥ. Salutations to the Cosmic Self. Salutations to Śrī Alāpurjā Siddha Pīṭa Paramparā. My Dārṅ Praṇām, Svābhilā, Gurudev, His Holiness, Viśva Guru, Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, Maheśvarānandapurījī. My Dārṇḍa Praṇām, Viśva Guru, Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, Maheśvarānandapurajī. Om Namah Nārāyaṇa to all the sannyāsīs. Om Namah Nārāyaṇa to all the sannyāsīs. Hari Om, and good evening to all of you who are present here. Hari Om, and good evening to all of you who are present here, and to those who are watching through Swamijī TV. As you know, this morning we had beautiful celebrations of Rakṣā Bandhan. We talked about why Rakṣā Bandhan is so beautiful and why it is celebrated. But a little bit more is no harm. Rakṣā Bandhan is also known as Upākram. Upakrama also means where the thread is renewed. So it is like a reminder to us. Every year when this occasion comes, we are reminded of tying the rakhi; we are reminded of that bond. The promises and vows we make during Rakṣābandhan are not only between brothers and sisters. It is also us telling ourselves and protecting our mind from negativity, protecting our tongue from harsh words, and protecting our actions from adharma. We have dharma, and we have adharma. Dharma is something that we all have—our personal dharmas which we are following, our duties. But as we all know, we are humans, and the nature of humans is to be drawn, to be pulled towards negativity, and in the same way, we are drawn towards adharma more. Killing animals, doing things which are not ethical, stealing, lying—these all are adharmas. Kusanga is also part of adharma. We tie a knot on our wrist with that thread, which is known as a rakṣī, and we tie it tight. Why? So that it does not fall off our hand, that it does not slip off our hand. But in the same way, we are tying it inwardly, tying it tight, so that our vows, our saṅkalpa, the promises we made, the vows we took, do not slip. And it is not just for siblings. The rakhi we are tying is not only between siblings or spiritual brothers and sisters; it is also a universal bond which we are making. Universally, we can also tie it to the Guru Dev and say, "Guru Dev, I vow to protect and to take forward your teachings. I promise to be faithful towards you. I promise to protect you, that you protect me." That bond is not only between blood brothers and sisters, but it can be between Guru and disciple, between friends, between brothers and sisters. So the binding of the rakhi is not only between siblings; it is also to the guru-deva, to comrades. And it is also a promise which we are making inwardly: to protect myself from ego, jealousy, envy—from all the bad qualities which are pulling us down in our spiritual path. So we are making a promise to ourselves also, that we please protect us from all these things. There is a story of a brother and sister named Vikram and Sītā. I am using them as an example, but it is a fictional story. In Indian tradition, when the sister gets married, she leaves that home and goes to the home of the husband. Every year, no matter what happened, she used to come back to her brother’s home to tie the rakhi. He used to always say, "I am there, I am going to protect you, I am going to do everything for you. What would you like?" She would say, "Nothing, everything, thank you." They would take sweets and prasāda. The next year she came again. After some time, Vikram said, "I am always protecting you, guiding you, I am always helping you. Do you need anything?" She said, "Yes, actually, you know, the house is leaking from the roof, so can you help fix it?" He replied, "I will pray to Lord Indra, and he will stop the rain, and it will not leak anymore." She said, "OK," and went. Next year again she came. After tying the rakhi, she said, "You know, it was old times, there were no cars yet. The cart where we used to carry the grains from the shop to the home broke down. One of the wheels broke, so I need help in repairing the tire." He said, "I pray that your tire will be good and it will be functional again." A few years after that, she sent a message—at that time, there were no phones—saying, "There are landlords who are trying to kick me out of my land and take my land away. Could you please come quickly?" They lived in the same town, so it was not long before the news spread. He sent a message back: "I am praying to God that the landlords will leave you alone and you will keep your land." She got furious and came home: "You always tell me you are going to protect me, you are going to be there. And now you are just saying, 'I will pray, I will pray, I will pray.' You give your hand for tying the rakhi, but you do not use your hands for actually helping in real life." He felt bad, and immediately he went and sorted the things out. When we promise someone something—that we are going to be there, we are going to protect them, we are going to help them in every situation—then we must be there. We do not just say things that we do not mean. Gurudev always said, "Helping hands are better than folded hands." So when we can, we promise to ourselves, we promise to our siblings, we promise to our friends, we promise to everyone, our guru. Then we must keep those promises and vows. Rakṣā Bandhan helps us again bring that, or remind us of fixing our relationships. If there are any conflicts throughout the year, this is the day where we bring peace amongst each other. Why do we also celebrate Raksha Bandhan? So that the next coming generations still have those traditions in them, that they do not forget. We should not forget our roots, from where we came. As it is said, we all are disciples of Mahāprabhujī, born in different places and brought back by Gurudev. So Rakṣā Bandhan is in all our blood, in all our traditions; we should not forget it. We tied that Rakhi on Gurudev’s heart and said, "Gurudev, I am yours, you are mine. I am in your heart, and you are in my heart." He is a caring, loving, accepting father, brother, guru, friend, everything, who is always protecting and guiding and helping us in every aspect of our life. So on this beautiful occasion of Rakṣā Bandhan, may we all remove all the conflicts; may we be in peace—inner peace, outer peace. May we be guided by the Lord, by the grace of Gurū Dev. May His loving blessings be above our heads forever. And may we be in His heart, and may He be in all of our hearts. And may that love, may that devotion and bhakti just grow and never go down. Many blessings from Guru Dev. Much love from me. Sat Gurudev Bhagwan Kī Jai.