forgive YOURSELF
Fremont Hindu Temple, CA,USA, November 25, 1993.The Spiritual Food Thankyou that we have the opportunity to see each other and also tohave a devotional day to God, in whatever form and name we maycall this Supreme God Head. I have to thank you and all of thepeople who have made the effort to push me here, because otherwiseI wouldn't do anything. (Master laughs.) So every time I havea chance to give a lecture or to be in a gathering, I will beagain thankful and thankful, cause then I feel that I am doingsomething right. If nobody demands or requests or pushes me intothis kind of work, then I won't do anything. Yes. And I also don'tfeel anything about it. I mean I don't feel regret or I don'tfeel remorseful that I don't do the job.
I DON'T KNOW WHY such a beautiful job I neverdesire to do. I don't know why. But every time I do it, I feelit's good, you know? It's good that I should do it, but then Inever desire to do it again. Then somebody push me out to givea lecture, then I am grateful again that I will do it. Do youknow what that is? Must be laziness, I think. (Laughter) I reallydon't understand myself. People just say that, "When youare enlightened; you are Master, you are supposedly to know yourself."But I must confess that I don't know! (Master laughs.) I don'tknow. I can just equally be happy stay home and sleep. (Masterlaughs.) So I really don't know. But when I am here, I am veryhappy and grateful that I am here. When I am in bed and sleep,I am happy and grateful that I sleep. But I truly am gratefulthat you have pushed me to come here and you know, I feel justgood, very good, that probably I become a little bit useful.
ALSO A TEMPLE IS useful, that we can gathertogether and have a nice devotional day to the Supreme God. Ordo you just came for lunch? (Laughter) No? I didn't make a mistake,no? You came for God, right? (Yes) Okay, good, then you are entitledto lunch later. (Laughter) Surely if we don't have spiritual food,it doesn't matter what we eat; it will never satisfy us, mentallyand physically. Therefore, we keep getting hungrier and hungrier,again and again, and even we eat a lot of nice food and vitaminwe still get sick and sometimes distressed and indigestion. Inthe Bhagvad Gita, it is mentioned that the food which was preparedfor offering to God first and then we eat it, should be very nutritiousand full of blessing for us. If, however, we prepare the foodjust for personal satisfaction then we truly make mistake. Andthat will give us a lot of dissatisfaction, and sometimes trouble,indigestion and all that. Actually, in the Bhagvad Gita it saysstronger than this, very strongly, like: "You eat in sinif you don't offer first to God." So it's not me who spokelike that; it's Krishna (Master laughs.)
The Heartbreaker NOW, EVERYTHING IS the same; it's not onlyfood. All of you know the Bhagvad Gita or not? That is the bookof wisdom of ancient India. It is about five thousand years old.Yes, it was spoken by the Supreme Master of that time, Krishna,the beloved black beauty. (Master laughs.) His complexion wasdark, you know, like many Indian people, but he was so beautifuland handsome that people call him "heartbreaker". It'salso because he breaks everybody's heart when he leaves. (Masterlaughs.) And wherever he goes, people love him, adore him andmake offering to him, just following him madly. I hear that hehad about seventy thousand wives, no, sixteen thousand wives.Well, the Indian people, sometimes they exaggerate things, (Masterlaughs.) but he must have a lot of followers. It's not reallywives, you know, disciples. Probably mostly were women, becauseprobably he was very handsome, I hear! I wasn't there. Maybe Iwas there but I forgot. (Master laughs.)
SO THE BHAGVAD GITA is the record of the teachingsof the Master, Krishna. You can find much wisdom and guidancein this book. I still look at it from time to time. I still do,yes, because it is very beautiful, concentrate and wise. Sometimesyou get solace and calmness by reading that book. If you trulyunderstand and digest it, it is a wonderful masterpiece of wisdom.Many of the masters of the past have connection with the Indianlaw, therefore we could not not to mention India and the BhagvadGita. Even Milarepa, do you know? The great yogi of Tibet. Eventhat great yogi of Tibet, his possession consisted of a pot andthe Bhagvad Gita. Now, in that book it is mentioned that not onlythe food that we should first prepare in the spirit of offeringto God before we take it, but also everything else we do in lifemust be an offering, must be a sacrifice, to the Supreme Spirit.In that case we will never reap any bad or any good result outof that, because bad result or good result bind us to this materialworld. Even if sometimes we cannot help ourselves, we lose ourtemper; we get angry, and we know we shouldn't. And then sometimeswe feel very very sorry for a long time, after our anger has alreadysubsided.
Forgive Yourself BUT I TELL YOU, forgive yourself. Forgive yourselfanytime. Whatever you do, just make offering to God and let itbe, whatever the outcome, because we are not the body anyhow.We are not the action. We are not the doers of anything in thisworld. Even if we are; suppose we are the doers, we still haveto forgive ourselves. Forgive ourselves when we make mistakesor when we cannot help with our habits, like anger or sometimesgreed and sometimes lustful thoughts, because these things alsoarise from circumstances. It's not truly the Self; it's not trulythe soul that desires all these things. So we always have to tryagain and again, and forgive ourselves after all, I mean, aboveall. Because the inside is God, the Supreme Wisdom, we can't scoldit; we can't abuse it; we can't be rude to it. You understandwhat I mean? So if we are angry with ourselves, we should be angryonly with our habits, our accumulated habits. Or we should blamethe situation also, not to blame the Supreme Wisdom, the realSelf because the real Self never err, never make any mistakes.
SUPPOSE WE ARE EVEN the doers and we are insociety like this, sometimes we get angry. It's not always ourfault. Most of the time it is not. Sometimes everything can makeus angry. For example, you work in a company and you work withthe wrong personal, right? Whatever you tell him, he just doesn'tunderstand. Or he understands but he does the other way around.He just makes you angry and angry. Even you forgive him againand again, he repeatedly does that. A very small thing, even asmall thing irritates our minds and makes us feel miserable. Soit is good that we know that there is something else above themind and above the body. The body is composed of only materialsubstances, like earth, water, iron. Well, our iron inside ismuch enough to make a few nails. Do you know? (Master laughs.)And water, earth and maybe fire, the vital fire so that the bodywould be warm and all that.
Meditation Is A Way To Reprogram Our Thinking THE MIND IS CONSIST of what? It's just a collectionof all kinds of information, bad and good. It is just like a computer,whatever you program it, and when you push the button, it comesout the same, right? One of our fellow practitioners, he has anelectric organ, and he programs it into different musical rhymes,and he can play it again from the cassette. So the same thingwith our brain. It would be empty; it would be absolutely blank,just like a brand new computer, until we start to record thingsand information, and sometimes good, sometimes bad. If we happenedto record the good information and when we want to make use ofit, then the good information come out. If we happened to recordthe bad information, then of course the bad information comesout.
SO NOW TO MEDITATE, to pray to God or to studythe holy scriptures is just a way to reprogram our thinking, ourway of life. Because we reprogram it in a good way, the resultthat comes out is always good, or at least not as bad as before,or at least not all bad. Even though we can't help to record somemore bad information daily, the number will be less than before,right? It's because we keep recording good things, like we meditate;we meditate on God name, we meditate on God power and we get theGod power coming through us, filling us with joy, virtues andgoodness. Then even the bad information comes in, it has no room,and also maybe minimized. And because of the goodness and thepowerful energy from God, through meditation each day, we willbe able to dilute or maybe digest completely any information thatis harmful to our minds and our souls. That's why we cannot notto meditate! We cannot not to study the holy scriptures.
Understanding The Holy ScripturesAfter Enlightenment MANY PEOPLE DON'T like to study holy scriptures,why? Because they don't understand. So I hear that many of theholy men from churches, or from temples, they complain that theyoung people or the people of today do not like to study scriptures;do not like to study holy book. It is because most of the holyscriptures are too profound, too sophisticated, too deep, sometimestoo difficult for the modern man, for the layman to understand.But we have one solution, first, we have to open the understandingpower, then we can understand the Bible or the scriptures. Anythingyou get into your hands, any book, you will be able to understand.I also could not understand much of what is said in the Bibleor in the Bhagvad Gita or in the Buddhist scriptures or in theLao Tze books and all that. Kong Tze and Lao Tze book I read.I understood somehow but not as profound, not as deep, as I donow. After our power of understanding is open, the wisdom is madeto be useful again, then we can understand many things.
SO IF WE DO NOT understand the scriptures,and the best thing is first to get enlightenment. Enlighten meansyou open the power of understanding, and then the heavenly light,Godly light, will shed all understanding upon any object thatwe wish to study. So that's why even now in college, people teachthe students many kinds of meditations, at least to calm theirturbulent minds. And if they have a better meditation, the goodkind of meditation, which can even open the seat, the door ofwisdom, the power of understanding, then so much better for them.Therefore many of the students who study in college but at thesame time meditate, they find it easier to master any subjectthat they want to study. And they are always very good at school.This is a fact that everybody knows by now.
The Water In A Cup Is One With TheOcean WHY IS THERE REINCARNATION? It is because wedo not know the real Self and we chase after the container ofthe Self. Therefore we chase after one to another. For example,the water in the sea is all one. If we happened to put it in acup, or we put a cup into the sea like this and then we seal it,then the water in the cup is separated from the ocean. But assoon as the cup is broken, it become one with the ocean again.And if the water inside the cup is attached to the container andthen after it's broken, it goes to seek another cup. Then it willforever be separated with the ocean. Similarly, our real Selfis not contained in this body, never! It's because it's all pervading,and this is just one of the station, one of the things, that containa little bit of ourselves. Therefore, when we broke this limitation,we will be one with the whole. We don't have to break the bodyto go out, (Master laughs) there is a way to go out. For example,we don't need to break the cup to free the water in the cup; wecan just, you know, where it is leaking or there is a hole somewhere,and so even the cup is still there and the water is still inside,but at the same time the water is in and out all the time andconnected with the whole ocean.
SIMILARLY, OUR CUP HERE, the body, has a hole,and it is blocked. It's made blocked so as to keep the soul, thewater of life inside, but we can open it. Similarly some of thecups, you know, are all made like this (Master takes up a cup.)but there is a hole in the bottom and then they use a plasticcover to cover it, right? Or sometimes medicine bottle also. Wejust take a little cap, plastic cap or something, and then wecan connect with the content inside. So there is a place wherewe can be connected with the whole Universe while still keepingthis instrument, the body. That is the third eye center, the seatof wisdom, the seat of the soul. If it is opened, by any meanat all, by our own perseverance, power of desire for liberationor through a master, then we will be connected right away withthe whole Universe, with the Most High, which is all over theplaces. The power of the Most High is not only contained in thisbody but it's in the air right now. It's everywhere. It's in everyblade of grass and the leaves of the trees, in all Creation. Itis easier to open it if we have an experienced guide, you know,who has already been connected with the whole Universal Power.Then he is very powerful because he doesn't use individual poweranymore. He uses the whole Universal Power, because he is alreadyconnected. Just like the water in the cup, even though it's stillin the cup but it's always connected with the ocean water throughthe hole; and there is always fresh water coming in and out, eventhough it is still contained in the cup. Therefore a master, oran enlightened person, is like that. The initiated person is theone who has this connection, has the button open, and the masteris the one who realizes the Universal Power.
Be The Master Of Your Own Destiny EVEN THOUGH WE ALL have it, the master is theone who realizes it. It's just like if two persons have the sameamount of money inherited from the father, but the one who knowsit, who knows where it is can use it. The other one, even thoughhe has it but he puts it somewhere or he never knows where itis, can he use it? He cannot! Similarly, we are all the same,but if we know where to use our Universal Power, then we willbecome masters of ourselves, masters of our destinies, and wecan lead many others to become masters of their own destiniesas well. Otherwise, even though we are equally great, we don'tknow our greatness and that's a waste of time. Therefore, we haveto come back again, again and again in search for this treasure,until we find it, then our journey ends. Very simple! We are hereto search for this forgotten treasure and we never give up untilwe find it. That's why our lives are never satisfactory becausewe always know there is something else, something greater thanwhat we have right now. We always somehow know that we are notthis container, the flesh, because after we so-called die, thebody is still there but we cannot move; we cannot do anything;we cannot love any person; we cannot open our mouths; we cannotdo anything at all! That means we are not the body. Somethingin the body is there to make the body move and work while we areliving. Something in the body left when we die, so we cannot moveany of our bodily instruments. So somehow we know; very deep inour hearts we know. Well, I know! I don't know if you know. (Masterlaughs.) Do you know? You must know.
THAT'S WHY SOMETIMES when you have time, whenyou are in trouble especially, you sit down and you don't wantto be with anyone; just want to be alone. Then you think, andthen you feel better and better, because you thought there issomething there, something that sometimes comforts us in silence.I used to be like that before I know the Quan Yin Method. I usedto pray a lot. I pray to Buddha and I pray to Jesus. I am afraidthat one of them cannot hear. (Master laughs) So I pray to anyoneI know. Sometimes I pray to Krishna, Hindu God. (Master laughs)There is no Hindu God; there is only God, actually. Just sometimesGod resumes an Indian form or a Chinese form, so we call thisHindu God or Chinese God, actually there is no such thing.
SO SOMETIMES WHEN I was in deep sorrow, beforeI know the Quan Yin Method, I prayed very deeply, just to be alone;not to pray very loud, but to truly lament inside. Then I feltlike something lifted me up, and I felt so soothing and so smoothand I felt that there was nothing to worry about. That is thetime when we realize that something is greater than life; somethingis always there to listen to us.
MOST PEOPLE PRAY, and they say they don't haveany response. It's because they don't pray deeply enough. Thatis why we have more response when we are in deep sorrow becausewe are truly sincere at that time. We pierce through all the layersof pretending of hypocrisy and we pierce through our false selfand we get in touch, somehow, even briefly, with the true Self.That is when we get the response. But I suggest that we don'thave to wait until we are in deep sorrow to do this. That wouldbe too traumatic. Yes. We have a better way to do it. We practiceit even when we are not in sorrow; that would be better.
The Link Between A True Master AndGod WE PRACTICE BEFORE we die; that would be better.So when we die, it is just like walking from one room to the next.No problem! And we can walk out forever. We can break the wholecup and be united with the whole ocean, or we can keep it; wecan seek another cup in order to satisfy someone else's longingor to help someone else. It's like the master, sometimes the masterreincarnates again and again, into different bodies, in orderto help mankind. Some masters just like to enjoy Heaven, enjoyNirvana and never want to go back again. Some masters never, neverever incarnated on this Earth, with no intention to do so. Somemasters incarnates again and again in order to help the childrenwho are suffering, who have the great treasure but don't knowhow to use it; therefore, being very poor, poor and miserable.
IN INDIA PEOPLE appreciate the masters verymuch. They worship the master even more than God because of thisreason. They say, "Oh, if both the master and God appearright now, I would only worship the master. I don't care aboutGod." (Master laughs.) It's just a kind of adoration andgratefulness to the master. Actually, they worship the masterbecause of God; they worship God because of the master. Withoutthe master, they don't know that true God exists or not. Yes.Without God power, the master is also nothing, understand?
We Are Much Greater Than Our IntellectualUnderstanding SO WE ALL COME from God, whether masters ornot masters. The master is the one who knows God, and the non-masteris the one who doesn't know God yet, but they still have God;they are still from the same. I told you about the story of thecup, the ocean water in the cup. So at the time of initiation,you know already, the button is pushed open so that we can getin touch, somewhat, to God, at least for some moments. Then wecontinue to do that everyday, until we completely realize thatwe are one with God; there is no separation.
YOU SEE, THERE ARE many things that the initiatedpersons understand and know, but it's difficult to put them intowords. Me also. If nobody demands anything from me, I would noteven think of God. Do you know what I mean? He is just kind ofalways standing around or He is just inside me. So I don't eventhink of Him. I don't talk about Him. I don't miss Him. I don'tseek Him anymore. Just for other people's sake I talked aboutGod. I talk about these things. Sometimes it's difficult for meto talk about God. Maybe that's the reason why I don't desireto go for lectures or anything like that, because I am just satisfiedwherever I am and whatever I do. The initiated people are mostlylike that. Many of them have this satisfaction right away at thetime of initiation and continue forever.
SOME OF THEM HAVE to wait sometime to realizethat they have found the treasure. Why is it so? Some people'scurtains are thicker than the others, because we are obstructedby intellectual understanding and by many of the knowledge thatwe have accumulated during our lifetime, and we are proud of itand cling to that. That's why we have forgotten that we are greaterthan this knowledge, greater than the Ph.D. certificate, greaterthan the name that we are proud to have, like Dr. so and so, orsuch and such position. We are greater than this, greater thanany king on this Earth. Sometimes we don't even realize that wehave this ego and that we are trapped into this ego, the Mayanet. We don't even realize it until we practice more and more.And the more we practice, the more we realize that we are obstructedby our own habits, by our own collections of garbage, of a lotof nonsense thinking.
The Secret To Attain The Whole World SIMILARLY, EVERYDAY WE are busy with our dailywork and we busy with our worldly knowledge and we think we knowthat much, this much, and then we forgot that we are the greatones. We know more than that. We know above all these things,including these things. Now, the greatest power, the great wisdom,is so big like that, for example, so great, so pervasive, andthen we use that great wisdom just to understand a little bitof the worldly knowledge, for example, the medical knowledge orthe lawyer knowledge or anything, and then we cling to that. Thewhole wisdom we use just to pay attention to this corner of theknowledge. Therefore we forgot the whole. Do you understand whatI mean? That's it. And we thought that we are very great already,we are this doctor and that Ph.D.. I don't mean to talk aboutyou. I said "we", meaning including myself. Sorry!
SO NOW WE THINK we know that much. We are beautiful.We have this and this certificate and that. In fact, we lost thewhole 99.9999 percent of our great wisdom just to pay for thatmuch worldly knowledge. In the end we have nothing because thisis ephemeral; this knowledge will change. We know many medicaldefinitions or many medicines have been proved outdated and thenreplaced by another. Or scientific facts have always been changed,removed and replaced by another idea, and then it would be replacedagain and again, as mankind progress into a higher consciousness.Therefore, it doesn't matter how much knowledge we gain from thisworld or from the brain power of research, we will never havethe whole thing, just one little point in the Universe. Just likethe water in the cup is proud that he is so big and he doesn'tknow that he is the whole ocean, you know? When he is connectedwith the whole ocean, he became the ocean. I guess you understoodwhat I say.
QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION Masters And Religions Are Crutches Q. Master, why Krishnamurti said, "Gurus and religionare crutch?" So he refused to be their crutch for his students.
M.Why didn't you ask him? I am not responsible for anybody else'steaching. Everyone has his own independent thinking and philosophy,provided he keeps it for himself. Probably what he meant is thatif you are too attached to religious dogma or to any teacher atall, then you will be handicapped. In that sense he is correct.The teacher or the master is not the one on which you lean, butfrom which you gain experience and wisdom and then you walk yourself,Okay? Most of the time if a teacher is worth his salt he shouldteach the student this way. Do you know what I mean?
But never mind! Even then, if a student ofany master should feel that he is not yet able to develop himself,then he can pray to the master, in the initial stage of his spiritualpractice. Later when he grows up, he just automatically dropsthe master. It's just like a person; not everybody can walk straight.I need an umbrella to walk; my legs are weak sometimes. But whenmy legs are okay, I don't need it. Yeah? Somebody, sometimes theyare naturally born handicapped or accidentally handicapped, andthen they need the crutch. It's okay with him. Can you just kickhim out? And say, "You don't need the crutch. It will makeyou dependent!" Understand? (Yes.)
So we cannot just say like this, black andwhite; to say that the master, the guru or the religion are nogood absolutely for people. It's good to someone. Right? If youdon't need it, it's fine. If you need it, stay a while until youdon't. So I don't preach anything extreme. In my opinion, religionsare also very good for many people. At least they learn the virtuousway of life. They fear God. They fear the law of cause and retribution,and many people became good. I tell you the truth. But, as longas we know that this is not the ultimate. Do you know what I mean?Yes, not the ultimate, just like, for example, the master, inthe physical body is not the ultimate, you know? The ultimateis inside the master, and inside you! Through the master you willfind the ultimate. That's fine! If you have not found it yet,you can rely on the master, to help and carry you for a while,and then you can walk. It's fine. But there is no such thing asextreme as to throw everything altogether. Is it not so?
Q. Master, how long have human beings been on this earth?
M.Wow! I have to count with my fingers. (Laughter.) Do you knowhow long? What for do we know how long? It's enough to work everyday!It's been a long, long, long time. Some have reincarnated. Somehave been liberated. Some come back again and again. So if youwant to count this, it's difficult. You can say, aeons has past.
Q. Does one have to give up all other teachings, gurus,etc. when initiated by Master Ching Hai? If one doesn't becomeinitiated, can one still pray to Master Ching Hai and receiveHer blessing?
M.You don't have to give up your teachings and your teacher; I toldyou already; nor religion, you don't have to give up religionneither. For example, I am initiated; I still talk about BhagvadGita. I still talk about the Bible, the Buddhism and all the things,all the masters, even past masters. So I didn't give up anything!I just enrich myself with more wisdom, more knowledge from differentmasters, past, present and maybe future. The future masters, youcan meet in the higher sphere because they have not yet descendedon Earth, but while in meditation, you can see the future mastersas well and learn from them. So you lose nothing; you only gain.Okay? If you are not initiated and you pray to the so-called MasterChing Hai, I don't know if She helps you or not? You have to askHer at that time. (Master laughs) Maybe She does; may be She doesn't.It depends on how sincere you are and your karma.
The World Is The Best School ForPracticing Q. Master, when I meditate, I cannot keep my mind concentrateat here. It runs all over the place and it talks about all kindsof different subjects. How do I concentrate and meditate better?
M.Is that the initiated or not? (MC: Are you an initiate?) BecauseI would answer differently. Who asked that question? (Somebodyanswers: Yes.) That's why we have to go to group meditation. Becausethe concentrated power will help us, and we have to take time;some people can concentrate right away; some people take a longertime. I have mentioned previously in the lecture. Also forgiveyourself. The situation in this world is not conducive to ourtranquil meditation and calm thinking, but try again and again.In this world, we have an advantage, that because this world isso difficult for us to practice, God's blessing is with us manyfolds. So we walk one step and the Master Power will walk a hundredsteps to help us.
If we are in Heaven and practice, it's notthat lucrative. Therefore in Heaven if you want to practice, ittakes a longer time. For example, here we practice one day itis equal to one hundred days in Heaven. That's why many devas,heavenly beings, they like to be incarnated into human bodies,in order to practice faster. It's because here we have all kindsof rubbing force, like karma and situation and disaster and warand suffering and happiness, all these mixing. It's a kind ofa high degree fire to forge us. These fires will forge us intoa strong, useful tool for ourselves and for the world.
While we are practicing here, we have alsothe opportunity to help our fellow beings and, therefore, we gainmore merit as well. For example, you meditate alone at your home,so you have only one personal merit. But, if you, through youreffort or through your eloquence, you offer your place, for example,for a hundred persons to meditate, then you have a hundred moremerit to add up to your personal merit. So you have a hundredtimes more quicker, you understand what I mean? Or you get anotherhundred persons to come in to get initiation, these merits arealso yours. Because after all we are one, the more we connectedwith more people, the more expand we become and the greater webecome, in terms of merit. Mathematical wise speaking, it is likethat.
So it is better than in Heaven. In Heaven everybodyis having a good time and so they take it easy. They don't havethe motivation behind them to push them to concentrate. That iswhy I say when you are in deep sorrow or when you are despairyou pray better, and sometimes you meditate even better. At thattime you remember the master more; you say, "Oh, Master,please, please, please ..." (Laughter.) And then you getbetter experience that day, bigger light, stronger sound or feelmore elated, more near to God. So it is good to practice in thisworld even though it is difficult.
I am happy that many of our fellow initiatespractice very diligently. Some come to the center just to lookaround but later... Well, they don't look around that long becauseeverybody closes their eyes. So they feel embarrassed after sometimeand they also close their eyes, and then they see something inside,instead of looking at pretty girls outside. So there is a verygood advantage of having a temple or having a center, where peoplecome together and do the same thing, concentrate and one-pointednessthinking of God; that helps very much. So you take your time.You can look around for a while, and then when you are fed upwith it, you close your eyes and meditate with all the people.Okay?
The mind is always having trouble to be controlled;that's why we have to practice everyday. Otherwise, I would tellyou, "Get initiation and you are the Buddha." No morework! Right? It is because our habit is long term. It has beenmany thousands of years of time, maybe more! So to take one lifetimeto clear all these is hard work, but it's worth it. Or you wantto stay here a thousand more years to continue to do that? Well,it's fun! So that is why I tell you to have to meditate longertime, two and half hours or three hours, because the first twentyminutes is struggling. Just go on, go on with it and after abouttwenty minutes, it begins to settle down. After half an hour,you begin to enjoy, and forty minutes, you are gone. (Laughter)
Learn To Balance Yourself In Life Q. For what purpose has mankind been created in thislife form? Is there any human-like life in another planet in theuniverse?
M.Yes. There are human lives in other universe, in other planet.And for what purpose? I don't know. That you have to ask the Creatorwhen you go up there. I never ask Him why, cause I don't ask manyquestions. I am kind of a quiet person. (Master laughs) Okay.
Q. How do we know to liberate ourselves from suffering,painful emotions, at the right time when we want so bad to letgo of the lives, the circumstances around us? But it's so hardto see through because of the people we are attached to, and knowthat there is more to life itself than just ourselves and loveof someone else we couldn't let go?
M.I told you, just forgive yourself and try again. Sometimes insome circumstances we are able to control ourselves, but withsome great effort, and some other times we don't want to controlourselves or we can't control ourselves. In either way you justdo what is good for you at that moment. Okay? Don't worry muchabout the emotion. It is only the waves on the surface of theocean. It is not the ocean's fault. It is the wind. It is therotation of the earth that makes the waves. So the ocean cannotblame itself all the time, and says that he makes waves, he makestroubles for the boats and he makes trouble for the people, etc.He cannot help himself. The ocean cannot help herself or himself.Is it him ocean or she ocean?
MC. Whatever You want to call it.
M.We never know. Well, let's make it a she because I am Ching Hai.Ching Hai means "pure ocean". Actually in India theyname it Vishudananda. I think I have to change my name into Indianname now to attract more Americans. (Master laughs) The otherday one of the American disciples said to me, "Oh, all theAmericans like Indian teachers only, so that's why You don't attractso many of them. You attract only the Au Lac people and the Asian."I said, "Okay! Why don't I change my name?" He said,"Do You have an Indian name, by the way?" I said, "Yes,I do, Vishudananda." (Master and the audience laugh.) That'sthe translation of my name. Anything "Ananda", Da DaDa, will do. (Laughter.) Sounds very much Indian. Now you maycall me, Ananda, Vishudananda. It sounds very Indian, right?
Q. How do we attain inner peace or happiness in everydaylife?
M.Slowly. After initiation, the more wisdom, the more this peaceand grace from God we receive, the more peaceful our lives willbe, but only if you don't become a master. I can't promise youa peaceful life if you want to be a master. But if you are a disciple,everything perfect.
Q. Dear Master, I always make the same mistake thatI don't want to make. I feel there are two of me inside, one goodand one bad, how can I stop this?
M.Well, maybe that's the balance proportion in your life that youneed to learn. Actually we can't be too good all the time. Youwill break! Yeah? You see the man in the circus, when he walksthe rope, he has to walk this side, that side. You know what Imean? One time he dips in this side, the other time he is sidingto this side. Otherwise, if he walks just like this, he will falldown. This life has two sides anyhow; one is positive, and theother is negative; one is happiness, and the other one is misery.Sometimes we can't help ourselves to dip from one side to another.It's okay! Forgive yourself. Try if you can; if not, forgive yourself.Alright?
Do other things in contradiction to that, tocounter attack this habit if you think it's bad. For example,if you are normally very stingy; don't want to give to people,now force yourself to give. Every time you want to take, you giveinstead! So next time you dare not want to take any more, becauseevery time you want to take, you lose the business! (Laughter)For example, if you want to take one dollar, then force yourselfto give two dollars. So next time you dare not to want any more!Or if you normally like to look at other woman besides your wife,so every time you want to do like that, just go home and lookat your wife. So next time you are fed up, and you don't wantany more. Maybe you try it.
The Reason That Many PropheciesNever Come True Q. Some religions are saying the end of the world iscoming. What is the true meaning of this saying?
M.No religion ever says that!
Q. Only the Christian Religion, right?
M.What? Christian religion says so?
Q. I mean, the Bible.
M.The Bible doesn't say that we end at 2000. The Bible just havesome revelation about some kind of destruction of the world, butthat is one man's experience only. And we, some of the people,sometimes have this kind of experience. When you enter into somekind of destructive past, when you have seen it before in yourprevious life, and now you saw it and you thought it would bethis time for this Earth. It is not true. Maybe you see the endof the other galaxy, the other planet, and you mistaken that forthis world. Or sometimes you see it in the past, mistaken forthe present time. Sometimes you see it in the very, very, veryremote future and you miscalculate the time; you think that itis now. That is why many prophecies never come true.
Just recently somebody in Keeth has predictedthe end of the world and she shifted three or four times. Supposedlyit should be on Friday, then Friday was holiday, so it becameSunday, then on Sunday it never came. But never mind, the endof the world comes when we die anyhow, so make preparation forthat day. Be prepared so that when we leave this world, we gowith God, instead of going with the angel of death. That wouldbe the end of our world.
Q. What is the relationship between compassion and mindfulness?
M.Mindfulness means you concentrate well. Compassion means you loveother people. Compassion, you have mercy, you love other beings,love animals, love people. You don't want to harm them. You wantto help them when they're in need. That is compassion. Mindfulnessis the concentration degree you get when you meditate.
Q. Earlier You said that if when you open your mindto the Universe, then you can gain the wisdom, knowledge and willbe able to understand any book. My question to You is, "Whatif you were born with not so bright a mind? How can you be ableto learn the knowledge from the Universe once you open your mind?"Learning new knowledge would take time and hard work. For me,in the past I had tried to learn to become a professional person.I failed because I am dumb. Can You show me the way?
M.Not being able to learn in school doesn't mean you are dumb. Maybeyou lack courage, maybe you lack good teacher, good friends orgood circumstances, or maybe you lack patient. Some people learnquicker; some people learn it a little bit slower. But that doesn'tmean you are dumb; doesn't mean you are stupid. Not to know yourown great wisdom is the true stupidity. So I invite you to comefor the initiation and get to know your greatness, then you willunderstand many things. It is because everything I say is justa big mouth, talk too much. Anything without experience is justadvertising. It doesn't matter how much I tell you the orangejuice in my cup is very good and is very nutritious and good foryou and a lot of vitamin C, and you drink it, it quenches yourthirst. But if you don't ever come and drink it, it doesn't matterhow much I say, it is all big mouth. Do you know what I mean?It's nonsense! Talk too much. So the best thing is just to drinkit. Get enlightenment! Any Living Master Will Respond To Our Prayer
Q. I feel lost. I have searched and searched but havenot found Home, that is what I am supposed to be and what I amsupposed to do. How does one find Home here on Earth?
M.Get enlightenment. Home is very near. It is next to you. It isnearer than your skin. But if you don't have the light, you can'tsee it. You can't see things in the dark; it doesn't matter hownear. You might have a feeling about what it is, but you don'tsee it; have to have the light. The light of God will shine oneverything you want to search for, including Home. But this isall abstract speaking, really you have to have experience, andthat comes only with diligent practice after initiation. You knowhow to practice and you do it and then you realize day by day.
Q. Why is it that after so many years of religious teachingsand past masters that the world has not gotten better but muchworse?
M.It is because the past masters cannot teach you. You have to lookfor a present master, who can answer your question, help you whenyou are in doubt and take you by the hand back to the Kingdomof God. We need a person to person contact, not the past lives.Just like it doesn't matter how great the beauties of the past;you cannot marry her! She cannot produce any children to you;cannot produce the love feeling that you have with a living wife.
Q. I was taught in my fundamental Christian church thatwe were to pray only to God, not to Jesus, not to virgin Marry,not to the angels, not to anyone or anything but only to God,the Father of Jesus, the Creator of the Universe. Why then arepeople praying to You as a master, or to any master?
M.I don't know. That's their problem. (Master laughs.) Just likebefore, somebody asked me if he doesn't want to get initiation,that means he doesn't want to get direct contact with God, canhe pray to Master Ching Hai? What can I do about that? Well, ifshe prays, she gets the response, so she continues to pray. ButI always advise that you go for initiation, and get contact directlywith God and pray directly to God. That's the best way. But ifsomebody don't want to choose that way and want to choose thesecond way, easier way, no vegetarian, no two and half hours meditation,no rules, nothing, just want the benefits, then she will prayto whoever give her something. And it happened that probably sheprayed to Jesus or Buddha and didn't get any help, so she prayedto Ching Hai. When she gets help, she keeps praying again. Peopleare like that; they like profit. Yeah! You know, the truth isthat any living master will respond to our prayer.
But then when that Master passed away, peoplecontinue to pray because they learned that from their parents,from their ancestors. They continue to pray and they forgot thedifference between a living master and the past masters. So theycontinue to pray to the past masters and sometimes they blamethat they don't help them. But, actually, when you pray to anymaster that means you pray to God anyhow. Do you know what I mean?Because the master is connected with God, you just pray to God.What is there inside except God? You think you pray to Ching Hai?Who is Ching Hai? When you think of her, who is she? What is that?Only God resides in her body; nothing else there! So you prayto her and she is connected with God, then it's the God that youpray to, understand?
Get Enlightenment And Know All TheAnswers MC. He would like to know if it is so wrong that he separateshis parents for a good cause, because one of his parents doesnot allow the other one to practice meditation. And he would liketo know if his action is related to karma? And if he practicesthis meditation, will that correct the wrong action of separatingthem?
M.Never mind, you should let time take its course. And whateverconcern your parents, you don't worry. You don't worry becausethe time will come when things will change. If you try to forcethe issue before time is right, you incur some trouble and sometimesyou incur, of course, the karma.
Q. Master said that water in the cup is the same withwater in the ocean, but because of our egos which separates waterof the cup from the ocean. Is it right that meditation means makinga hole at bottom of the cup to have the water merge with the ocean?
M.Initiation means that. Yes! Open the connected hole and so thewater can come in and out all the time. So the water in the cupis the water in the ocean, and the water in the ocean is the waterin the cup. Yes. Everyday when you meditate, it's just like waterflowing in and out all the time, making it fresh so that the waterin the cup does not become rotten.
Q. How should one meditate?
M.You meditate the way you want. If you don't know, you come forinitiation and we help you, okay? Actually you should not askme any question at all! Because it doesn't matter how many answersyou have, what's the use? The best way is that we get enlightenmentand know all the answers, or we get to the state where we don'tcare for any answers at all. And then we set ourselves free, forever,from any inquisitiveness, from every desire to know things. Thatis the time when we know everything. Whatever we need to knowwe will know right away, and whatever we don't need to know westill know it, but inside, we don't use it. Understand?
Q. My husband has a terrible skin disease, for eightyears already. I love him very much and I have tried many ways,doctors, medicines, religion, meditation and hope to cure hisdisease.
M.All kinds of meditation as well?
MC. Yeah, meditation too.
M.He meditate, himself?
MC. Yeah.
M.Or the wife?
MC. It doesn't say. But it's getting worse and worseeveryday. Now every time I look at him, my tears fall. And evenworse, I began to dream about other man when I am so sad. Am Ibad and disloyal? How can I cure my mind and my sadness?
M.No! You are not bad. Just the situation is bad. She forgot tomention that if her husband meditates or she meditates. Her husbandshould meditate and pray for himself.
Q. Is God a person, a being, a supernatural entity orwhat?
M.All that, all that and more. Now, everyone when we have sickness,we should try to first accept it; secondly, try to find a wayto cure it. There must be some way to cure things. Above all,we have to pray to the Supreme Power to help us. We pray, butpray deeply. Sometimes the diseases are caused by past karma,past reaction, past retribution, that we have done something wrongor harmed somebody else's appearance, therefore now we have toreap this result. But after sometimes, if the karma wears off,then it begins to get better. There are many ways to cure skindisease. I have seen many people with a lot of very bad lookingskin, but they still have a cure for it. So maybe you didn't searchenough. You have to ask for many more ways to do it, or tell yourhusband to pray himself, or meditate.
I cannot guarantee you that initiation willcure your disease, or your husband's disease, because I don'twant to attract people to come to our group just because of thephysical condition. That is not enough to liberate you, becausewe are still clinging to the material instead of wanting God,the giver of all things. Once we truly want God, He will give.If we only want things, you know what I mean? Sometimes He gives,sometimes He doesn't. That's the trouble.
In India there was a story about a king wholiked to give all his things to his subjects. So he arrayed allhis treasure around and told everyone to come and take whateverthey like. And people took diamond, took gold or took treasure,took antique cups and all that, and then everybody was happy andwent home. One girl only, she didn't want nothing. She just walkedstraight up to the king and she said, "Are you also a gift?(Laughter) I only want this gift." So, of course, the kingwas very surprised and happy that somebody wanted him for hissake, not the things that he gave. Of course, the king marriedher and then everything belonged to her, no? (Laughter) Yes. Thestory is like that. Do you know the story? And there is anotherstory to prove it.
The Story Of Shiva There was a story about Shiva. Do you knowShiva? The god Shiva, is he here, by the way? (Master turns andlooks behind Her.) Yeah, yeah, that's it, with a half moon andthe tridad. Shiva was one of the past masters. He was supposedto be the god of destruction. He destroyed negativity, actually,not people. Some people misunderstand so they worry that he'ddestroy them so always keep blackmailing him with all kinds offruit and cakes. (Master laughs) So in the past he meditated verydeeply in the Himalayas. He never woke up from the meditation,never ever. Nothing stirred him. This is a legend from India.I don't know if it is true. I just tell you the power of God.
He meditated all the time in the Himalayas,deep in the meditation, never stirred. But some of the gods inheaven were afraid that he didn't have a wife, so he would notpass down other generation, the holy seed or something like that,the sacred bloodline, so they worried very much, because he wasso holy and they wanted to have another generation of this kind.So they sent out a beautiful, beautiful fairy. Her name was Parvati.She was very beautiful and her figure was enough to make all themen fell down. But she couldn't stir him. She tried all her bestto kind of dance around him or make all kinds of things, but henever stirred out of meditation. So finally she was fed up, soshe went to the other side of the mountain, a little bit longerway, selected a mountain range and she sat there and meditated.She said, "Now, all this is nonsense! I meditate on God andI get liberation and eternal bliss. That's better than to chasea man who is like a stone, and have no feeling, nothing!"(Laughter) "And me, so beautiful like this and he never stirs!"
She was fed up, angry and frustrated, so shewent to the other mountain, Mountain Kailash, which is the mostfamous and holy mountain according to Indian belief. It is veryhigh and it has also a very beautiful lake in the vicinity, calledMansarouar. So she stayed there and meditated, and after sometimeshe attained the blissful state. So Shiva, suddenly, during hisdeep meditation, he felt something stirring him. There was somevery strong, powerful feminine energy. It was kind of disturbinghim. Not disturb, also disturb but made him feel good and stillexcited somehow. So he opened his third eye, had a look and said,"Wow! There's a beauty over there." So that was howthe romance started. You know the rest. So that's the power ofmeditation, the power of God. It even makes the god stir. Do youknow what I mean? It made the most ascetic yogi excited. (Masterlaughs.) Well, if you want to get a husband, it maybe a good advice.(Laughter.) Actually, when you don't want it, you get it.
Parvati was trying her best to charm him butshe did not succeed because she tried with the ego, with the limitedpower of possessiveness and mundane thinking. But when she becameholy, her attraction became different. Why? Because his vibrationwas very holy, his standard was very high. If she used her mundanevibration and energy to attract him, how could he come down? Youknow what I mean? You have to be at least equal in order to attractthe opponent.
Actually it's like that. Many people have noattraction before, then suddenly after initiation and meditatefor sometime, they begin to attract people. You know, not necessarilyphysically, just attract them. They just love them and they justwant to be near them. It is because of your vibration, your lovingGod energy. You cannot conceal it. It just radiates out and thenattracts people like magnet, because the souls in themselves arealso Godlike. So they just feel attracted to you, the same thatpeople are attracted to the masters, but that is by no means acrutch. It is just a self attracted to a higher self. So aftersometimes they just realize that both of them are one. Therefore,who is there to get the crutch? Who is there to rely on whom?So actually that is also the answer to that question about masterand religion are crutch. It depends. Okay? So, have lunch!
