Age & Spiritual practice

Answered by Quan Yin messenger
(Originally in Chinese)

Q: Is it all right for elderly people to practice the Quan Yin Method?

A: Age has no definite effect on the results of spiritual practice.

  However, in order to practice the Quan Yin Method, one must receive transmission of the Method by being initiated by Master. At the time of initiation, Master will erase all the accumulated karma of many lifetimes. If an elderly person's karma changes too quickly, one's behavior, speech, and thoughts may be unable to withstand the sudden impact of Master's blessing power.

Furthermore, it may be difficult for an elderly person to pacify the mind in order to practice because of having eaten a purely vegetarian diet for only a very short period of time, or never before. Also, an older person's body may tire easily or he may not be able to concentrate well enough to do the required meditation, causing frustration. Therefore, people who start their practice at an older age indeed do have more difficulties than younger people.

However, this doesn't mean that elderly people cannot practice. The merciful Master has provided us with the Convenient Method to satisfy the needs of those who sincerely long for liberation in this lifetime, but are unable to receive initiation. Master takes care of all who truly believe in Her omnipresent power whether or not they are fully initiated. In fact, some non-initiated persons have better experiences than initiated ones because their minds are kind and pure, and they completely trust in Master. For instance, a non-initiated person in Mainland China witnessed the soul elevation of his five generations just by sincerely practicing the Convenient Method. Master once said, "Sometimes, a person with great faith can be liberated just by reciting my name." Therefore, elderly people should not be disheartened. Faith is the foundation of all meritorious methods!

Marriage a relationship or bondage?

February 12, 2012
(Below is the transcript of Satsang with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.You can watch the Live webcast of future satsangs)

Isn’t this bhajan so wonderful (referring to a verse by Basavanna, a 12th century philosopher from Karnataka)? It says that the body, mind and possessions belong to the Divine. Where is the need for worry? The sign of a devotee is one who doesn’t worry about anything. There will be good and bad times in life but you must keep yourself balanced.

If there are tears in the eyes due to devotional peaks, the mind gets purified. Knowledge purifies the intellect. Charity purifies wealth. Yoga and Ayurveda purify the body. Seva (service) purifies karma and meditation purifies the soul.

To purify the intellect, listen to knowledge. What is knowledge? It is the awareness that everything is temporary and I am the witness to everything that is happening. Let my mind merge with the Self. Mind is the wave; the Self is the ocean. We need to constantly direct our mind inward. Then you will see that all worries disappear and the mind becomes empty.

Reflect on ‘Who am I?’ The chaos of daily life will always be there but there is something beyond all this, a witness to all that is happening. Reflect on this again and again. Do this for half a minute, as soon as you wake up and before you sleep, not all the time. Ask yourself, ‘Who am I?’ Tell yourself, ‘I do not need anything from this world.’

This is easy and it can be done guru Ji. I will try my best.

As you progress, you will feel that you are not from this world at all. You will feel you have come here to some village but your native is somewhere else. You will experience that your home is somewhere else and you are here just for a tour. Then you will realize who you are.

Isn’t your mind the one that gives you all the problems? With knowledge, the mind gets purified and in a purified mind, Divinity is reflected.

Charity purifies wealth. Spend one to three percent of your income for the society. Those who can afford it can spend more. If not, they can spend whatever is possible.

Q: How do we overcome the six enemies of the mind (Arishadvarga – Desire, Anger, Greed, Attachment, Pride, and Jealousy)?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If you have nothing to do then lust bothers you. If you are busy for the entire day, these thoughts will not come up in your mind. You will come back tired and go to sleep. When you have a big goal in your life, small desires will not trouble you. If thoughts of greed or possessing more and more bother you, be greedy for the highest. And what is the highest? The Divine.

Be angry against injustice. Be angry with big matters and not small ones. Be proud that the Divine belongs to you. Be jealous about seva. If someone is doing seva, do more seva than him. If someone is good-natured and generous, be more good-natured and generous than him. Above all, do pranayama. With pranayama, all these impurities go away. Pranayama is the biggest of all penance.

Q: Guruji, hatred can be removed from the world by love, but how is it practically possible to love a person whom you hate?
My feeling is first become neutral, devote some time with that person and love will come automatically. difficult to follow.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: First don’t try to love them. Accept them first. Why do you hate them? You hate them because they do something very bad, right? You hate the action of a person, that’s why you hate the person. You hate somebody because he is a thief or a liar or a cheat. Lying and cheating are all actions of a person. You should know that a person is larger than his action. Action is just a projection of the roof; it is not the entire home. If you compare a person to a home, action is only balcony. The home is much bigger. Don’t think the balcony is the home.

You hate somebody because of his actions. Now, action can be corrected, right? So, why is he acting like that? It is because of some reasons, because every action has a reason. When you go to the reason why a negative action is happening, why somebody is doing a bad action, you will find two causes. One is ignorance, which is the main cause. Second is because they are hurt or they are victims. If they are victims or if they have pain, they only give pain. If you are blissful, you give bliss. If you have love, you give love. Whatever you have, only that you can give. If they hurt you, it means they are filled with hurt. They are either suffering or they are ignorant; nobody to teach them. When you know this, you will feel compassionate.

When a child does something wrong, do you hold him responsible? No. You will say, ‘it is only a child and he did this out of ignorance. He broke the vase or broke the glass.’ You take it with a larger heart and see it with compassion.

So, those people whom you hate, you think they are equal to you or knowledgeable. That’s why you hate them. But if you broaden your vision, you will find that they are either ignorant or they are suffering or sick. How can you hate someone who is sick or ignorant? What do you do normally? You’ll be compassionate. So don’t try to love them. Broaden your vision; you will be compassionate to them, And when compassion reaches its peak, it is nothing but love. You have to go by two steps. Don’t jump into the second step!

Q: Guruji, I am working as a lecturer. A few students take advantage of me as I am a teacher with visual impairment. They talk or eat in the class while I teach. How should I control them?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: First of all, understand that it is not just because you are visually impaired that they are doing that. Even teachers who can see them are also getting into the same trouble! In fact, students are much softer with you. Other teachers and professors, they have an even bigger problem. They throw tomatoes on them and behave in a way which is not very civilized. As a teacher, you need to have a lot of patience and some humor. With your humor, you can turn around the situation.

Q: Guruji, I know two people who went to the temples near Madurai for palm leaf reading. I know them personally and they don’t do any sadhana (spiritual practices) in their lives and they are not even spiritual. They have been told that this is their last birth. Compared to them, I see myself as someone who does sadhana, but still I am struggling with so many impressions and weaknesses. Is it possible that even a person who is having his last birth can be leading a life without any sadhana?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: First of all, don’t compare yourself with them, okay? Sometimes, many of these readings are not 100% perfect. They make predictions which are about 60 to 70% true. So you should always leave a margin. Sometimes to enthuse the devotees, they say, ‘This is your last life; you better do sadhana.’

There is a way to say it. The elderly people used this way to say, ‘Come on, this is your last chance. You better do your sadhana.’ In that way also it can be said. But you should not compare, okay?

Another thing is you never know when someone will start their sadhana or how much they have done in their past. So life is huge; it is eternal. The best is to look at yourself and see how much you have grown. Haven’t you grown? You have grown a lot. Watch your own growth and you feel more confident to move forward. Don’t worry you will have a last birth too. And if we have to come, we will come back again, so what? When you go with knowledge, you come back with knowledge. When you go with misery, you will come back with misery. That is the thing.

Q: Guruji, how do we deal with nervousness during exams?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Do ujjayi breath. Pranayama and ujjayi will definitely help. Or chant ‘Om Namaha Shivaya’ or ‘Jai Gurudev’, anything.

Q: Why does the whole existence exist?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: So that you could ask this question and I can answer it! (laughter). Why should it not exist? It is very good. Just keep this question, you will find out the answer one day and then come and tell me your answer. I will tell you whether it is correct or not! beautiful guruji.

Q: In terms of speech, what is Satya (truth) and Asatya (untruth) and when we take a vow that we’ll speak only satya, what do we mean by that?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Be true to yourself, honest to yourself. That is what it is. If your conscience says I don’t want to do it, don’t do it. If it says you should do it, you should do it, got it? If you tell a lie, your whole body loses its strength. That is why it is said ‘Satyam Bruyat, Priyam Bruyat, Na Bruyat Satyam Apriyam, Priyam Cha Nanrutam Na Bruyat.’ – speak the truth; speak pleasant truth. Don’t speak unpleasant truth and don’t speak sweet lies. This is the ancient Sanatana Dharma. These are couplets but we don’t know who wrote these, but these are called Subhashita, means the golden words, the invaluable couplets. And there are thousands of them which have been existing from ancient times.
when i read all these sanskrit verses i feel my love for my teacher who taught me. I don't know whether he is alive or not but my love is always with him. He is always in my heart.

In school these used to be in our text books but I don’t know what happened. These days they have removed all of this from the text book. We need re-establish these once again.

Q: In temples, there are Nagadevatas (Demigods) with folded hands. How do they give blessings?


Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: There are various levels in Gods and Demigods too. All of them pray to Shiva. You would have seen Hanuman with folded hands in some temples and in some temples the hand is raised for blessing.

Q: Guruji, why is it that falling in love is so easy, but staying in love is very difficult?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Because of attachment, you cling on to it. You fall in love and then you become a policeman. An investigating agent who goes on poking into every little thing and gets bogged down by that. When you have a larger vision, a bigger goal and enough work to do, even when you fall in love, you will carry on in love all the time.

Q: How can being with nature, which is outside, take us to our nature, which is inside? Can you please elaborate on the connection between nature and spirituality?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: This is called ‘Laya Samadhi’. If you keep observing the sky, keep looking at the sky then at some point the eyes close and all that you feel is sky outside and sky inside. You become black.

Similarly you do sun gazing, watch the sunset. You can’t watch the sun for too long, you watch it for some time. Then you close your eyes and your mind becomes still and quiet.

Q: Dear Guruji, they say Sanskrit is a language evolved out of nature. What makes it so important that all the ancient texts have been written in this language? Is it relevant now?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes. I heard last week or so that in New Zealand in one school, they adopted Sanskrit for the children and now the children are all doing very well in computer education after that. They say Sanskrit is very suitable for computer education. It causes some neuro-linguistic changes in the brain, so it is very good.

Q: Guruji, in the Mahabharata, what was the significance of Lord Hanumana being present on the chariot of Arjuna?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, in those days they used some flag, like how every political party uses some flag today. The Congress party uses a flag with the ‘palm’ symbol, another party uses ‘lotus flower’ symbol. Like that in ancient days they used Hanumana because it is a sign of victory, and Krishna chose it because Krishna is always victorious in whatever he takes.
He said to Arjuna, ‘You better take Hanumana as a flag,’ so he took it. He listened.
Hanumana was a symbol of victory in the previous yuga (age) when Rama fought the war with the most prosperous kingdom of Sri Lanka. Rama fought with just a bunch of monkeys and just a few people with him, it was a very weak party. And on the other side was this strong army which was loaded with so much power and wealth.

It is said, in those days Sri Lanka was so prosperous that every rooftop was made of gold. It was the golden city. The pillars of every home were studded with precious stones. So when from India Rama went to Sri Lanka, he said, ‘The city is so amazing! But even though this is so full of gold and so rich, I prefer to go to my motherland. My motherland is better than heaven.’ So Rama went back after winning the war.

Hanuman was the symbol of victory over apparent weakness. One who appears to be weak physically but who is spiritually powerful. So the Pandavas were only five and the Kauravas were hundred. It was not an equal balance to fight in anyway. You should at least be fifty-fifty to fight. So, to give that moral, ethical and emotional strength to Arjuna, Krishna said, ‘Let’s put Hanuman as our flag. Remember, they did it. You can do it too.’That is what Krishna always said.


Q: Guruji, is marriage a relationship or bondage? If it is a relationship, why does it feel like bondage and if it is bondage, how do we make it a relationship?
My feeling is there is no bondage. try broaden your view.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: It depends on how you look at it. If you hold each other’s necks, it will feel like bondage. If you walk together, shoulder-to-shoulder with each other, it will feel like a support.So be a support each other, be a companion and move forward. Be life partners to each other. There are so many people in this world who don’t feel lonely after getting married and share a good companionship. 
If there is no belongingness, it begins to feel like bondage. That is why I say that husband and wife should have a common goal. If there is a big goal, the focus will shift to that and their relationship will be good.



Q: Guruji, sometimes peoples around us, mostly our elders, are too much bound by the castes and the boundaries made by the society and they are not able to think out of it. Even if it is good for them, they are not ready to accept it. What should we do in that situation?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Slowly make them understand. Convince them. You should see how strong they are, and how much trouble you want to take. Accordingly, somewhere compromise has to be done. Either you should make them come to a compromise or if it is absolutely impossible, then you have to compromise and do some sacrifice. It has to be on both sides.If both sides are very stiff and adamant, then there is more trouble. But if you are ready to take the trouble and hope something better will come later, then you have to go for it.

Q: Guruji, my grandson asks if Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva have parents and grandparents too. How do I answer the child?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You should answer that Vishnu is the father of Brahma because Brahma was born out of Vishnu’s navel. Vishnu shakti (energy) came from Shiva and Shiva was born out of light.

Small children will understand it only this way. Give them a tennis ball and ask them to tell you where it begins and where it ends.

Q: When we know that we are making a mistake and still we make it, what should we do? Even though we keep on doing mistakes, God is kind to us. Why?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Read these books – Celebrating Silence and Celebrating Love. I have spoken about all these things there.

Q: I am from Uttar Pradesh. There are fights related to elections everywhere. The air in the Cycle (symbol of an Indian political party) is depleted; the Elephant (symbol of an Indian political party) wants to trample us; the Hand (symbol of an Indian political party) is out to strangle us; and the Lotus (symbol of an Indian political party) is not blossoming at all. In such a situation, what should a common man like me do? Whoever I vote for, I would land up in trouble.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Even I am thinking about the same thing! Let’s get together and find out a solution for this. What should we do? We will sit together and think about it but for now, go and cast your vote. Don’t vote for the party but see the person behind the symbol, whether he is good. Go and vote for him if he doesn’t have a criminal record behind him. Don’t stay without voting. This time do it, next time we’ll figure out something (laughter). If some good people who you vote for come forward, the country will progress.

Q: Does everybody have a role to play or some purpose to do in their life? Does the consciousness decide something before it is born in each life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Correct, you got it! Every life has a purpose. Not a blade of grass is here without a purpose.It will open up at its right time naturally. You just keep doing your duty. Keep yourself hollow and empty. Meditate and do service and you will see everything will fall in place.

Q: Since everything changes, nothing stays the same, does our life’s purpose also change sometimes?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes. All change is possible.

Coloring Our Life

Spoken By The Supreme Master Ching Hai At The Group Meditation, Singapore
September 29, 1994 (Originally In English)

I read in the newspapers today that life a hundred years ago was very terrible for people. They didn't have it so clean like today. And they didn't have it so convenient like this, really! At that time, I think the cars were drawn by horses. And sometimes in the winter, it was very cold. And they kept the horses next to their houses, or in the buildings. And all the smell, you know, they had to share together. Because of the manufactories' smoke and environmental contamination, the people's health were a little bit endangered. That's why in the old times, people died younger than now, because the environment was so filthy and contaminated by all kinds of hazardous substances from the manufactories and the chemical waste from all these big companies.

Actually only one hundred years, and we, humanity, have made a big step of progress in all kinds of aspects. But they said even before we had cars, they had a lot of road accidents, more road accidents than we have now with cars. I could hardly believe it. But it could be true, because they said sometimes the horses, they broke loose and then they killed thousands. And sometimes they just ran around on the road and kicked people also. Today we have car accidents also. But even at that time, they did have road accidents with horses. That is one of the main reasons.

But even then nowadays still many sicknesses kill people, kill about eighteen million a year - different diseases. Because some of us also do not take precautions to guard our precious body which has been given by God to do some mission on earth for some purpose, also to realize our almighty power. Somethings like we smoke too much, we drink too much, we eat too much flesh and invite all these bacteria from the flesh into our systems, etc. All these killing factors make our lives miserable, a miserable time.
Live A Better Life

Actually we could live a better life if we organized more, if we appreciated our body more. If we ate just nutritious food for our body, and not ate because of the taste, and ate just a reasonable amount, then of course, our health would not be so much endangered. You see, most of the vegetarian people, they become healthier. Is that not so? [Audience: Yes.] Many of you became healthier after taking initiation and switching onto a vegetarian diet. Is that not so? [Audience: Yes.] Actually, the hospitals are full of meat-eating people (laughter), no problem. We can see the proof there.

 Not because the vegetarian diet is healthy in itself only, but because the vibration is very harmonious to our body. Whereby the vibrations of the animals are not that harmonious, not so peaceful. Actually, it is very easy, not difficult to live a simple and healthy life. There is no need so much for medicine, no need so much injection. Many of us harm ourselves because we bring poisonous substances into our bodies. Otherwise, if we know how to live a simple, nutritious, healthy life, we really don't need doctors so much. And the doctor can have more holidays and both of us stay healthy.

You see, I work hard, I am very small, and I don't really take so much nutrition or I don't have time to consider so much. But still being a vegetarian saves me a lot of sickness, saves a lot of money for the doctors. Otherwise, if I have to keep going to the doctor all the time, it would be troublesome. I go to the doctor sometimes, but minor things. Compared to you, I go very little. Compared to the people outside, for my size. (Laughter) You have to consider my size also. Yes, I am blessed by God and Buddha to do my job.

And sometimes, if I don't do my job, I also will get sick, because the energy is built up inside and not let out. Therefore, you don't worry about hard work. You should work and spend your energy, because in our body, there are about seven chakras which can draw in the energy from the universe. They are just like a battery, automatically charged by universal power. That's why we can run our machine all the time. And when we meditate, this power is even in more abundance. So the more we give, the more it comes in. It will never stop. So we don't worry. Don't worry about karma and helping people, or taking karma and all that. If people need help, you help.

It's only when we try to interfere with the people's mind, like try to control them, or try to tell them to do what we want them to do for a selfish purpose, then we create karma. Otherwise, if we love people and we want to help them in their time of need, even if we truly get karma from them, it doesn't matter. Understand? It doesn't matter at all, because we should sacrifice for each other. We should live with each other in love and don't mind the karma.

Just like today, occasionally you have a buffet like this, it's also very good. You can eat different food, and you see how tasty it is, and maybe you try to ask them how to cook it. Or you buy some books, cookbooks, Indian cookbook, Chinese cookbook, vegetarian and then you can cook tasty dishes for your family, keep them healthy, and also introduce them to a vegetarian diet. Most of the people like to eat vegetarian. It's just that they cannot find tasty food. And then they cannot eat it. They cannot survive if everyday they eat salad and soya sauce. (Laughter) Yeah? You know what I mean? So if sometimes our family members don't want to eat vegetarian food, we have to check-up whether our cooking talent is up-to-date. If something is wrong with our cooking technique, we can improve it by asking a neighbor, learning from the big restaurant, or learning from the people giving courses, dish courses. It's very easy.

Always try to live your life with the most fulfilling program, yeah? Never idle your lifetime. Just do everything you want. Try to learn new things. Be outgoing. Be social. Be friendly, be loving to all the people and learn everything from each other. There is no need to sit there and feel miserable about your life, about your misfortune. There is no such misfortune in this life.

We always must keep positive energy because even if you think positive, even just thinking positive, if you can see your body, you will see each positive thinking will change the pattern of your aura, change your outlook, and change your energy inside. It becomes more overflowing and healthy. But if you think negative, just think anything negative or bad or miserable, and then your pattern changes immediately. Any psychic person can see this. That's why some people can read your mind because when you come in, they can see your aura.

They can see the pattern change in your energy counterpart of your body. Energy counterpart is the shape of energy which looks like the shape of your real organ. For example, your heart is like this. Suppose someone took your heart away, and that heart place is empty. But still it has the shape of your heart in it - something there. That is the energy counterpart of the heart. Sometimes this energy counterpart has problems, not the real heart; and so they have to fix it. So you are the best doctor for yourself if you think positive.
Make Use Of Our Inborn Advantage

Live a healthy life, and simple. Simple living and high thinking. Always think positive. Even just thinking, changes your pattern of living, changes your day, and changes your fortune. So always try to keep being positive. Then a lot of accidents, a lot of illness can be avoided. It's very difficult if you are a kind of doctor or nurse, or sometimes social worker to be positive all the time, because people will come to you with their sicknesses, their problems, their very low thinking and depressive energy. But for ordinary people, you can always keep up your positive energy. Always think that God is around you, masters from the ten directions are always protecting you. Because it is true. It is true.

We are not left alone in this world to do all things ourselves. We are always protected by angels, everyone of us, and always guarded by Master's spirit, even though we don't see them. Even if you don't believe in angels and spirit, you must believe there is a God who exists. Otherwise, we wouldn't exist. You know what I mean? We cannot run away from this God. So don't worry. Every problem will solve itself in time. Even if it doesn't, we live in this world for only a very short span, we can bear it. Okay? Because we have real hope in heaven which we'll go back to later. Each one of us will go back again sooner or later, when we leave this world. This is not really a real problem.

Most of the problems are our own making, because we think negative, we act negative, and we let the negative influence from people affect us. Sometimes if you go to see the doctor, they will tell you that some of the diseases are self-made. Not because you want the disease only, but you are run down in resistance. For example, like allergies. Sometimes you never get them. But only when you're run down, you are depressed, you are overworked, you are exhausted, then the allergies will come. You eat the same food everyday, have no allergies. But one day, you have them. It's because at that time, probably your resistance is very low. Your defense system broke down temporarily or something like that. Whereas if you think positively, the disease also will go quickly. Because sometimes the defense system is so run down already, it's like broken down, it's very difficult to fix it. At that time, then it's too bad. Either we live or we die.

So try to take care of your system and don't let it break down. Try to take care of your system by acting positive, thinking positive, talking positive. That is very simple. Even just thinking positive is already a tremendous help to you. Some people think if you think and you don't do it, then it's all right. But it's really not all right. When you think of killing someone, you actually also do it.

In India, there was a king who tried it. One day he came out and approached a man on the street. And he was thinking that he was going to kill that man. He was thinking only that. Then he asked that man to come up and to tell the king what he felt at that moment about the king. And he told him that he could speak honestly, because it was only an experiment. Also he should not be afraid that the king would kill him if he told his honest feelings. So the king encouraged the man to think, to tell him what he thought of the king when he first saw the king. Because at that time, the king was thinking he wanted to kill the man, the man said, "I just want to strangle you." Yes, exactly the same moment that the king wanted to kill him, the man also felt he wanted to come and strangle the king. Probably self-defense system.

Because the soul is omnipresent, the soul is part of God, it has the omnipresent quality. Therefore, if we think about someone, they know it; we talk about someone, they know it; whether they are present or not. That's why we should not talk badly, we should not talk bad about people behind their backs, we should not run down people behind their backs, we should not do anything bad behind someone's back; because they will know. Normally people say God knows, but that person will also know, even though you don't tell him. That's why many crimes, sometimes, they do them in the dark; but they will surface sooner or later. It's because of the omnipresent quality of the soul. Even if that person doesn't know, many invisible beings will know. The ghosts will know and sometimes the ghosts will tell.

Yeah, sometimes you read in the newspaper or see on the TV that ghosts manifest themselves occasionally and make trouble. It is because they have seen something, they know something that we don't know, we don't see. If they don't have the body, they have more intelligence, more freedom. When we have the body, we have also an advantage, that the body protects us from many of the negative effects and a lot of negative knowing. If we don't have this body, then we will know too much, know too much through the brain, like we will know who is going to kill us. That person thinks very bad about us and that person is going to do something bad. We will know too much all day long and then our mind will be bombarded with all kinds of negative seeing, feelings and knowing of the world. Even though our soul knows, but if our brain doesn't know, then we don't suffer so much. You understand? Yes, yes. Therefore, we have this body to protect us from this negative atmosphere of the world.

But nevertheless when we have this body, we also have the disadvantage of not knowing many things that the angels know and the other people who don't have the body know. So we have good and bad. But nevertheless, we can have both. We can make use of this physical body to shield ourselves from the negative influence. But we can also learn to leave it when we want to, through the process, the technique of meditation. We can go out of this physical prison and then learn something of the paranature quality, like we go to heaven, go to different dimensions to learn a higher wisdom. And then when we come back, we can make use of that to serve ourselves, our families, our nation and our world. Understand? So the people who don't have the body have less advantage than us. But only if we can make use of this life, make use of both the physical dimension and the beyond-physical dimension, then we have both advantages.

We are above the angels and better than all those disembodied spirits. We have more advantages. So try to take care of your life. Make use of your physical greatness. Even though the body is a very troublesome instrument, it is also excellent. Excellent. Actually when you practice very hard, sometimes you don't feel the body. Is that not so? You have this experience? Yeah, you feel very light, right? Yes. Like you are driving but it's not you who's driving, someone else. No effort. That's how we achieve the effortlessness in the physical dimension. Then we can do many things in a lighter way, and we don't feel so exhausted any more. The more we meditate, the better we feel, and the faster we work, and no problem.

And you must also try to pass on the news to our fellow beings to rescue them from their misery. Try to comfort them and bring them the good news that they could be lighter, greater, happier in their lives if they practice the age-old wisdom, getting in contact with the Kingdom of God within themselves, with the Buddha nature within themselves. Then they don't feel so miserable and worn-out, or blocked and feeling lonely in this world. That's the only cure for humanity. Otherwise, everyone will tell you that the end of the world is coming. (Laughter) But so what? Even if the end of the world comes, we have security. We already know where we are going so then we don't fear. We will have many other worlds to live on.

It looks like so many disasters are coming to the world, huh? But I don't feel like the world is going to end so quickly. Maybe it will end in some parts, maybe have a great destruction for different people. But the virtuous people, the blameless persons will be preserved for the next generation. And with the help of the positive energy from you during your meditation, during the group gatherings, during your silent prayer time, our world is preserved to a greater degree than we might have hoped for. And that's why I hope that you'll spread more good news to people. Adding more water into the pool so that many people can swim in it. Yeah?
Live A Fulfilling, Positive, Happy And Learning Life

Even if you have to sacrifice a little bit of personal taste or maybe your vegetarian wife cooks so lousy, but try to swallow it (laughter), for the sake of humanity. But the wife should improve the cooking, or maybe the husband. Why not? Why should the wife always be the one who cooks? You don't know men have more cooking talent than women. (Laughter) [Audience: Yes.] Yes, only they don't try. (Applause) I have eaten food from many men, they cooked very, very well; and you know all the biggest chefs in the biggest hotels are men, huh? Right? [Audience: Yes.] Very rarely we hear of a big women chef, right? So maybe men should have a try. Surprise your wife, and don't complain to me that 'my wife won't cook for me, so I cannot meditate'. (Laughter) It's nonsense. There is nothing we should say we cannot do. Is that not so? If it's a big thing, maybe you have an excuse. But cooking, washing, you try, you learn and have fun with it. Okay?

And we should make use of every minute of our life to live a fulfilling, positive, happy and learning life. There is nothing boring about this life, really. Nothing is boring. You try to look for books. There are many books you can read. Read anything that you like as long as it doesn't damage your spirit, doesn't pull you out of the righteous path, doesn't make you stray away from the righteous life, doesn't make you become evil. Then every book you can read. Newspapers, everything can give you information. You select what you read, of course, yeah? You can read anything to enhance your worldly knowledge. And then meditate to deepen your knowledge in heaven, so you have both knowledge in the world and knowledge in heaven. How can you get bored?

I sometimes don't have even enough time. Of course, I am busy doing spiritual work. But then I am also busy doing some charitable work. And then for that I am very busy. But still I have to make time. I read books and things like that. How can you get bored? There are so many things in this world you can amuse yourself with, I mean, intellectually. Also you can do sports if you need. Go swimming, or learn something. Make your life happy, healthy and very useful. There is no need to sit there and say, "My life is boring, my life is miserable." This is nonsense.

You do it to yourself. Is that right? [Audience: Yes.] Before I came here, I was reading, and I struggled for every minute. (Laughter) I kept reading and looking at the watch, because I wanted to read until the last minute before I came here. Of course, my duty I have to do. I have to fulfill my duty as a teacher, as a good friend. But I also make my life not miserable, by not only working. I also go swimming sometimes, if I have time. It doesn't take half an hour. Instead of sitting there idling and thinking something negative, you go swimming, yeah? Also good for your work, for example, or go walking, or take the children go out and play. Teach them to swim or teach them something that you like. Share with them your life and teach them to be intelligent.

The children, you should not leave them to play with children. Children should learn with adults. That's how they grow up. And actually we should not have too many children if we can not individually take care of them. You should devote your life to children, one child at a time. You should always be there for them and with them. Then they will grow up very quick, become very intelligent, and become very useful persons in the society. Then they will save you a lot of headaches. They will be very good, very brave. So, of course, it's very tiring to play with children, but you will learn to play with them. And they will learn from you. You learn patience and love from them - unconditional love. And then they will learn from your wisdom, your intelligence, your way of life.

So make yourself a shining example by learning yourself. Read books, learn new hobbies, be healthy, sportive, live a simple life, be truthful, be virtuous. Then the children cannot help but grow up the same way as you are. So there are a lot of things to do in this world, really. Also hobby-wise. Don't come to me and tell me that you are bored, you are miserable. I don't accept this. You know I don't accept it. You should not be irritable. You should not be miserable. You should not be bored. There is no such thing in the practitioners' dictionary. Because you should be more intelligent, have more energy, and then you have more ideas. You should even be more active and more energetic. Is that not so? You don't feel better afterwards? [Audience: Yes.] So if any person comes to you and tells that they are miserable, you know they don't meditate either, for sure. And you can tell them, "Go and sit more and then you will feel better."

Meditate more and then outwardly we can be more social. Learn from each and everyone. Sometimes the questions you ask in your mind are answered by the neighbor or by the one who sits next to you. You have to feel. Sometimes you ask a question, and if you are not sure the Master has answered for you inside, you have to look for sometimes the answer outside. Sometimes suddenly you feel the person next door wants to talk to you. If it is so clear, then it is an indication that you should listen. And that is the answer for you. And sometimes you suddenly borrow a book, and then the answer is there. Or sometimes you listen to the tape, and then it just comes out that sentence for you. All right? If you can't be so intuitively clear about what the Master answers you inside, you try to look for answers outside. Okay? But it's all right if you make mistakes. It's okay. Don't do them again next time. Don't worry. All right?
Make Yourself A Shining Example

So I hope you enjoy the food. And then try to remember the taste also, and go home and cook the same for the husband, or wife, children. In that way they won't complain that the vegetarian diet is so difficult. If everyone eats the food like today, they would never complain. Is that not so? [Audience: Yes.] I told you already the time when I was still married to the German doctor, huh? All my neighbors came to eat vegetarian food. One day, my ex-husband felt sorry for the neighbors, that I was always cooking vegetarian. So that day, he bought some cold fish, already cooked, ready-made. He also bought some cold meat or something like that; and he put a lot there, a lot on one side. And I as usual cooked vegetarian food for both of us, the German doctor and myself.

But all the people came to the vegetarian side to eat. So all of us were hungry because I didn't cook enough. I only cooked for two. I believed that the German doctor was right, (laughter) and so I thought all the neighbors would come and eat all the food that he bought. So I only cooked a little bit for two. But everyone came to eat vegetarian food because it was so tasty. And they are engineers, lawyers, doctors, because we had similar neighbors. We lived in.
slowly slowly i am also feeling that vegetarian diet is more tasteful.