We Are Stepping Into The Golden Age

Spoken By Supreme Master Ching Hai, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. (Originally in English)
This Article Was Published In The Central Daily News, Formosa. Apr 1996

Sometimes we are touched. It is not because of the Master, I don'tthink. People make a big deal out of any Master, call them even the supremeMaster; but I think, it is you that makes things happen with your sincerity,your openness of your deepest intelligence and love within yourself -- thatyou'll experience sometime or another on different occasions, this kind ofblissful experience. We sometimes experience this, less or more in somedegree, through deepest prayer and/or sometimes when we are in very deepsorrow or experience some untold suffering -- we feel that the blessing fromGod is very near.

Meditation or contemplation is just another kind of opening oursincerity and longing to be a kind of receiver for the abundant blessing andlove which is always present throughout the universe. Perhaps sometimescoincidently or through the arrangement of the highest intelligence, we feelmore blessing in some places or in encountering someone special. Maybebecause that someone is also in the same frequency with us, in the samesincerity, longing and openness to God like we are. At that moment, the twounited forces experience the blissful feeling or the so-called awakening.

Many of our people in this world think they are okay. They don't needto change their lives, don't need to do anything, don't even needenlightenment. Therefore, they don't search for it. Even if the teacher or agood friend, unconditional out of love and devotion, comes to them -- totheir door, they still reject him.

That's what makes our world the way it is, still now. We have notlearned the unified power. Many of us have not learned yet to use thegreatest blessing that is in abundance everywhere in the universe, just haveto stretch out our hand and fetch it, and everything in our life will becomesmoother -- all our desires.

We Are Not Okay

Many of us always blame God, or blame circumstances or situations thatare unfavorable to us. Many things we ask are not given. We blame thesociety, sometimes the governments or our parents, even our schools,anything we can lay our hands on. But if we stop to think deeply or fairly alittle bit, we should think: What do we contribute to the society, ournation, the world at large to make it become a better place; instead ofwaiting for it to be better by itself, which is sometimes impossible.

God doesn't create us here so that we just lay in our rose bedeveryday, waiting for bread and butter. We are here to learn -- to learn togrow as well as to learn to use our limitless power of love and creativityin order to make a better world wherever we happen to be incarnated. If wedo not learn to do this, then we have to return again; and that is whatpeople call reincarnation. The unfulfilled desires or the unfulfilledmission, which is dormant within us, will be always awake inside, remindingus time again and again that we have not yet finished our job.

Many people think that we are okay, we are doing right; but we aren't,we are not truly okay. One fifth of the population of this world is hungry.Another large portion of the population, our brothers and sisters, areundernourished. That is according to scientific research, it's not from me.You can read that in the newspapers or demand for the proof. Many portionsof our beautiful planet are still suffering under war, conflict, violenceand many other disasters -- man-made or by nature. It's because we are notokay.

Even sometimes, we can't do our hair alone, just to talk about smallthings; we don't know how to clean the house properly; sometimes we can'teven help some people in need the way they want it. We make more mess out ofour good intentions. Even if we want to help, we can't. That's why manyprojects are failing, many good leaders have become kind of almost useless,despite their very, very best intentions to help the world and their people.Why? Because we are not okay. We are not okay the way we should be okay, notthe way we think we are okay.

If everything, many things in our life go wrong, if many of our desiresgo unfulfilled, if our next-door neighbor suffers, or if we suffer in anyway, that's because we are not okay. It is time that we faced up to our ownshortcomings, our own accumulated, undesirable habits in order to reshapeour beauty, our Godly nature; so that we can do what we want to do inperfection, or at least, near perfection. At least, don't make a mess out ofour good intentions whenever we want to help or we want to better ourselves,our family or our environment.

Enlightenment Is The Way Of Life

Enlightenment is not an advertisement from our disciples for you oranyone to come and just to research, or maybe curiously see what's going on.It is a way of life, it is a survival fact. It is a necessary ornament inour life here and after.

If we have any religious beliefs we know there is life after death. Ifwe don't have any religious beliefs, we should know that there is life afterdeath, because there is a lot of medical research on death, near-death orafter-death experiences. This kind of information is available to usnowadays, in abundance. Many books about enlightenment and about betteringour inherent powers, etc., are available in the markets. These are good forus; yet in a sense, not always that good. The Americans, the ones who read alot and love to read, are very intelligent. They hunger for knowledge sothey read a lot. I read a lot, too -- before, between and I still continueto read. It is because sometimes I have to know what's going on, what's thetrend in the society in order to respond to it or to explain -- to kind ofsolve some of the doubts which result from these books or intellectual food.

Why I said this, is that sometimes all this information is not alwaysgood for us. Because we love to read, we eat everything from theintellectual supermarket, and sometimes we have indigestion or we stuff ourbrain with all kinds of intellectual information without truly havingpersonal experience. So, we think we know. "Oh! Yes! I know, Yogananda --the light. I know what it is, Sanmat -- light and sound. I know Master ChingHai. She teaches the same. So I don't have to come and listen to Her."

It's not that we come to listen. We must come so that we have the trueexperience, if we already did not have; if we had some portion of theenlightened experience, but we do not know how to go further with it, how tonourish it, or how to live with it or to integrate this enlightened wisdominto our daily productivity in order to serve the world.

Make Our World Into Heaven

We must make our world into heaven, not run to heaven; becauseeverywhere is heaven. God created only heaven, until we messed about withour computer brain -- kaput one; I mean damaged, or not very in order.Enlightenment is the way to put ourselves back in order. It's not a kind offar-fetched heavenly mythology the way we think, but it is just dailyexperiences of our great resource of love and wisdom, which God bestowedupon us before we arrived in this physical dimension. If we think thatheaven is somewhere high above the clouds, then we are in trouble; becausewe have to wait at least sixty or a hundred years in order to go there. Withsuffering and all kinds of misery in this world, we don't have to do that.

Life is meant to be joyful for the children of the most high. If youare the children of the king or the president, now you go to school, how doyou feel? You have guards, you have a special Rolls Royce, you have allkinds of privileges -- even all the school look upon you with reverence,love, admiration, envy and many things. You feel you know your status.

In the Bible, it is stated that we are the children of God, and He'sking of all kings. Now, we live in this kind of life and we worry aboutpennies, everything frightens us -- even just a bullet, that big. Onethousandth of your weight could frighten you into losing your sense ofdignity and even begging for your life. We'd do anything just to be alive,just to keep this physical body functioning. This is not a life of dignity.This is not the life of children of God, if we truly understand what Godmeans. God is the owner of the whole universe and we are the children. Canyou believe it?

Just talking about it and never knowing it, is not the way ofenlightenment; and we think we are okay! As long as there is one personsuffering in this world, as long as there is still war and famine going onin our neighborhood, we are not okay; because we share the responsibilitiesof this house that we live in. It is a big family, extended; because wecan't live together in one room, and we don't have to. We need variety. Weneed different talents in order to make the world colorful and interesting.That's what God wants us to do.

We have so much talent, each one should contribute something. Even withall our talents we can't contribute as much as we want or we can not be asuseful as we'd like to be; because we are not yet okay. We lack something.We lack the true wisdom, the true love which lays sleeping within each ofus.

Use God's Love And Power For The Best

There shouldn't be any master; there shouldn't be any teachers; thereshould be only spiritual friends, spiritual brothers and sisters; because weinherited the same portion of great wisdom from God. There is no differencebetween any master and any of the audience who sits here, and no differencebetween him and any child or any older citizen; because we all have the sameportion of love and power within ourselves. If we don't use it, it's thegreatest waste on earth. It doesn't matter how much we recycle materials, westill waste. The greatest waste is that we don't know we have wisdom, wedon't know we have God's power, we forgot that we are the children of God.

It's okay, you say you know it already, you read the Bible, everyoneknows they are the children of God. But, what makes the difference whetheryou know that or you don't know that? Because you are just the same asyesterday, you don't truly know. You only intellectually heard about it andthat makes the difference.

If anything I said today makes sense to you, it is because I recognizethis wisdom within myself and I know you have that within yourselves. It'sjust you don't want to use it. You reject it, you deny it, or you feel tooinferior about yourself. We didn't do anything that wrong. If you did or ifwe did, it was because we did not know. Now it's time to know what is therighteous thing to do, so we can change very quickly. How much time do wespend everyday in order to take care of this body? We know it won't lastlong, but still it's necessary to take care of it. Now, if we don't takecare of our real body, then we are in even more trouble.

Most of the suffering in this world is due to ignorance of thegreatness of our position. No other reason! Because we're ignorant of it, weidentify ourselves with the habits that we learned from maybe TV as ayoungster, or maybe from neighbors, from books. We do many things that ourconscience within us tells us that: this is not correct; but we still do itbecause many people do it. Then we run into many problems. Sometimes, weknow we shouldn't take drugs, for example, but we feel empty withinourselves, we feel frustrated. Sometimes we have talents, we don't know howto use them, or where to use them. Society sometimes rejects us for someprejudices -- race problems or our appearance doesn't please them. So, wefill this void with all kinds of cheap substitutes which, in the long run,ruin us mentally, physically and spiritually. It is because we do not knowthat we are great, or how to make use of our greatness.

I'm not here to collect your money, tell you what to do, or make youinto any condition that is difficult for you. I just want to help you findyour great wisdom, your greatest ability again, in order for you to betteryour life. Because when you better your life, I better my life, too; and mychildren, my friends' children, my sisters' and brothers' children, we havea better and better environment to live in because we are all connected witheach other.

Suppose you don't keep America clean and safe. Could I sit here andtalk to you? So, we owe each other everything. Suppose the farmers don'tgrow any crops. Even if we have money, can we fill our body with nutrition?No! So, we owe each other everything. I can not say that I come to teach youanything. Please don't have this notion despite all this supreme what...nevermind, because we are all supreme. We came from the supreme sourcebefore we descended into this physical body and we'll go back to the supremesource when our time comes. There is no denying our supreme status. If youdon't want to acknowledge it because you are humble, or because you feel youare not up to it, it's up to you; but I don't want to deny my status becauseI know. There's nothing arrogant about it. It's just admitting you are --without any pride, without any fuss, without false humility, because falsehumility is also false; it's not true.

We should be true, beautiful and virtuous in spirit, speech andactions. That is a perfect human being. Even if we don't want to follow thismethod of immediate enlightenment, we can try other things; at least tothink, so that we can focus back again within ourselves, to remember who weare, and to truly understand the sentence that we are the children of God,or for Buddhist, we all have Buddha nature within ourselves. That means weare equal to the Buddha, instead of worshipping the Buddha.

We should worship in the right way -- to recognize ourselves so thatthe Buddha (enlightened Master) has less work to do. If we truly want toworship a Buddha or any saint, we should become one; so that they have lessburden, less worry and one more companion to uplift mankind.

That's why some people don't like it when I say, "Don't worship theBuddha. Be one!" and I can show you how to be one. I can make a Buddha. Notby sculpturing or carving, but by pointing into your own Buddha qualities;and you have to recognize them day by day until you're fully convinced.There is a way to recognize them; face yourself until you're fully convincedthat you are Buddha. That is the time when you are equal to all the Buddhas(enlightened beings) in the ten directions and three periods of time --past, present and future.

Changing Ourselves And Change The World

We are stepping into the Golden Age, so we have to change. We have toleave behind all these old useless conceptions of how a saint should be; orwe should leave behind the dark thinking, the negative expectations of theworld and ourselves. Do something!

We start from ourselves, we clean our house. If our house looks filthy,we clean it first. If there's anything we don't like about ourselves, changeit! Replace it with more positive, more virtuous qualities. For example,before, when we saw any homeless person we didn't bother about him. He couldstand there on the highway for hours under the sun, wanting to work forfood. You'd say, "Oh! No! I can not take a stranger into my house. That'sdangerous!"

Yes, but we could give him food. We don't need to ask anything fromhim. Then sometimes we pass by a homeless person, we feel nothing. We don'twant to help because of our slow reaction habits, so we don't help him. Whenwe get home, we feel something is wrong. "I should have helped." But then wecover it up quickly, "No!" and watch television or do other things.

We don't want to listen to our conscience, that's why the world willnever get better. If it is the case, whatever we think makes the worldbetter, at least a more comfortable place for ourselves and neighbors, wecan share. Begin with sharing, then we will feel a subtle change inourselves -- more love will pour into our consciousness. We will be aware ofsomething, that is the beginning.

That's why the five precepts are just a suggestion that we shouldchange some of the corners of our life which we do not like. It's not thatwe should feel so guilty or blame ourselves, should we fail some of it; butit is a goal so that we go forward. For example, we try to be more lovinginstead of violent or angry; be more giving instead of trying to take; weshould be more faithful to our partner instead of having another mistress,or it could be mister. (Master and audience laugh.)

You always blame the man, I don't know why. There are women also, whowant to play Madam butterfly (laughter), flying from one flower to the next.There are two kinds of flowers -- male and female flowers. You know that!These brighten our world more and create a more calm atmosphere around us sothat makes us better. That is all good, also a kind of meditation. Wemeditate anytime anyhow in our life. We just meditate mostly on the wrongthings. So now, we just use that meditation power, switch to the rightthing, that's all. When we think too much about how to make money at theexpense of other, that is also meditation; we meditate on money. (Master andaudience laugh.) We use all our concentration power, or our mighty thinkingpower in order to get that piece of paper, and on that piece of paper isprinted "In God we trust." (Master and audience laugh.) Isn't thatparadoxical?

Our God is money sometimes! (Master laughs.) You see, "In God we trust"means we have to know God. If we don't know God, how could we trust. It'svery easy to say, "In God we trust," but how? Who is Hirm? What does Heslook like? What did Hes do for me? What will Hes do for me that I have totrust Hirm? So, we must know that is what enlightenment offers. We have tobe enlightened in order to know what God is, who Hes is, and what does Hesdo to help us everyday in all details of our activities. That is the thingwe know after enlightenment. We know more and more.

If we did know God before, in some of the blessed incidents; then weknow Hirm more and more everyday through a meditative attitude, through avery scientific way of maintaining our enlightened awareness. If we areenlightened once or twice, we still feel not yet there. If someone is hungryfor a long time now, and you give him just a little bit of water and bread,will he be satisfied? Of course not.

Only God Dwells Within Us

So, immediate enlightenment means you have a taste of enlightenment andthen we tell you how to nourish it, keep it everyday, and expand it untilyou truly know the whole spectrum of enlightenment -- know your real self.That's when you know God, because only God dwells within us.

Does the Bible say there are two persons dwelling within our temple?Did Jesus say that? Did Buddha say there are two Buddhas inside -- one isBuddha and one is a mundane person? Did He say that? No! No Bible, noscripture says there are two persons in this house, in this body. So, who isthat inside? Only God!

If we cast aside, we overlook our habits, our accumulated knowledge ofmundane nature, then there is nothing there except God. The habits, theknowledge, the PhD person, is not the real self; we were not born with it,and we will not die with it. So, this 'only real one' is God, our true self;but most of us have forgotten. (Applause)

You keep asking me, "How can we have immediate enlightenment when wemeet you?" You are already enlightened before you met me; just you don'tknow it and you forgot, because you identified yourself with Mrs. so-and-sowho works eight hours a day, who has three children, who gets angrysometimes, and who is loving sometimes. All this is not you. You justaccumulated it, you just reacted to the environment and the necessity of thetime; but it's not you. We were not born with all these.

Therefore, we are truly God-like but we are also part of God. Actually,we are God. You may not believe it now, but think about it when you go home.We are breathing in God, we are living in God, we are born from God, andwe'll go back to God. Where can we go, where could we have come from exceptfrom God? Do you think we came from the carpet, from the ceiling or evenfrom the drop of blood your father sent to you before you were born? Is itthe food you eat that makes you become you, then should we call ourselvesB-burger (laughter), C-cabbage or vegetable grocery shop, instead of aperson or a human being with an intelligence? Even if you feed the cow orthe dogs all the food which you eat, they will not be as intelligent as you.If you give a drop of blood from your father to the dog or to any otherthing, will it become a human being? No!

So, what is it that make us the way we are? It is God-power and it'sall over the universe. It's in the air. It's everywhere that we walk,everywhere that we stay. It just happens to be housed in this instrument, insome of the instruments, and it houses itself just like an electric power.It houses itself in a bulb of light, in a refrigerator or in some motorgenerator. The electric power is all over. It's the same power everywhere.It houses itself in some instruments only; therefore, the God-power ishoused within us.

We are one of the instruments that happen to contain the God power fora while. Catch it, just like a current of water flowing from a waterfall orfrom a mountain very high. Someone happens to dig a hole or a swimming pool,get the water into it, and the water comes in and out again, connecting itwith the river. The water in the pool is the water from the river.

In Hong Kong, we dug a swimming pool, actually we didn't dig it. WhereI stay, is a mountain. You'll be surprised to know Hong Kong has mountains,very quiet, next to hundred-story buildings. You just walk five minutes outand you see the whole Hong Kong; and you turn in five minutes, and there isa retreat mountain with all fruit trees -- green, beautiful and quiet.That's where I stay in Hong Kong.

Now, we have a kind of mountain, so there are many levels, terraces.You see level after level. So, between the two different levels wesurrounded it with rocks and cement, and made it natural looking. We led thewater from the stream nearby into the pool. And under the lower layer, Igrow vegetables -- big ones; that is when I have time. I don't always dothat. The water from the swimming pool when I swim will go onto thevegetables, so I don't have to work too hard.

The water just goes in and out all the time, and it is always fresh;because we clean it now and again, to take out all the moss, the green stuffthat covers our pool. We put a lot of big pebbles, shining and beautifullike ornamental pebbles. They're cheap, one dollar for ten kilos; butbeautiful. They were put in the water, and sometimes become covered withgreen, so we wash them.

The fish come in also. They are very expensive fish. They sell it forabout twenty-two hundred US dollars for one fish; but that big. It can growthat big (laughter), but not much different. He is a kind of very stupid peafish. So, the fish surprised me one day. He is supposed to be a stupid fish-- very slow and does nothing; but because they are a rare species now, manypeople want to catch them and buy and sell them. We don't. We don't makemoney out of that, we protect them. No one can come in our territory andtake, because our territory is filled with this fish. I could be amillionaire in no time (laughter), opening a fish market.

Now, this fish is very special. On top is dark brown, underneath hasbright orange spots -- under his stomach, hands and all that; and he canswim in the water as well as go on the dry land. He can survive on both,that's why people like him. I thought he was a very stupid fish; but one dayhe surprised me, because they can talk with each other lovingly, just like aloving couple. One was kind of angry and turned around, and he just keptfollowing. Just stopped in front and looked him in the eyes, and did likethis. (Laughter and applause.) Like when you want to make up with your loverwhen she is angry. That one! Just like that! Can you believe it? I was sotouched, and thought, "My God, I'm sorry. I apologize for thinking that youare stupid (Master and audience laugh), as you make a better lover than we."So, after a while, the female agreed. Then they both swam with each otherand had no more of this argument.

One day he surprised me more, because he's a very slow action fish,stupid-like. Like this, very slow in the water. When I came to the pool, Isaw one of them. I was surprised, and said "Hey! You there, come up!" Just ajoke, you know. Then he came up. Then he zoom like this to me where my handwas, he touched, and he went down back again. I said, "Hey! Can youunderstand me? Then come back again." He did (as requested) three times in arow just to show me that he is not stupid. (Laughter)

Now, I spend all day repenting to God and apologizing to this creature.Fancy being a supreme Master and didn't know the fish is intelligent.(Master and audience laugh.) So, I feel very bad. But it was good, therewere other witnesses with me; not that I made up a story at all. (Mastertalked to Her attendant) You remember the fish, it came from the pool threetimes. Yes! Yes! He was there and he tried to go and fetch the movie camera.But when he (fish) saw the black eye of camera looking at him, he said, "Uh,uh! I don't want to be on TV." (Master and audience laugh.) He didn't wantto be famous! Probably he was scared, and I thought: That's right! That'sright! I told him, "Don't photograph him in this way, because people willcatch them more, make commercial out of it, and they will be in danger."They are already an endangered species.

He is very intelligent, you see. He knows when to come up, when not.Three times he came in a row in one minute. I said, "Come up!" and he cameright away. Then he went back down and I said, "Come up again," and he came.Just right where I am, not to sideways. Just zoom like this, straight!

Love For All Beings From Being Vegetarian

So, after you see all these things, it's good not to eat fish or meat.Actually, if we can love a dog, why not love a cow or pig; because they arethe same. (Applause) This is one of the reasons why we should be vegetarian,love for all beings, extending love. Enlarge our love, enlarge ourselves, tothe whole universe. We shouldn't even cut the flowers or eat vegetables, butstill we have to do what is minimum, what's less suffering. The flower whenwe cut it, it can sprout again and make more flowers. Vegetable when we cuta branch, it can sprout a few more branches. So, it's not that bad.

Even though all beings have feelings, plants have the least feelings,because ninety percent of the constitution of vegetables is water. That'swhy they have less consciousness than animals or human beings. We humanbeings are a combination of many things, and that gives a good environmentfor intelligence to activate. For example, even though you are veryintelligent, you need a good computer in order to program some intelligentthings, some distinguished program.

Similarly, God-power needs this body which is a composition ofdifferent elements, in order to manifest inside into the outer world. That'swhy we have more feeling, more intelligence, because God-power can make useof many of the tiny instruments within ourselves in order to spread out theblessing, the message and the intelligence. In the plant, God-power cannotdo that, because there are not enough instruments. That's all. Just like thebulb here. If the electric bulb is a 100-watt, then its electricity can bebrighter than in a 20-watt. If we damage the 100-watt bulb, it is moreexpensive, more of a waste than a 20-watt bulb. This is why we try toeconomize. This is why we should eat the least conscious thing possible,like vegetables. Is that logical to you? Is that okay? (Audience: Yes.)

I don't try to push you into guilt or things like that, but we discussthe possibilities of why and how. That's why to kill a human being is themost terrible crime, to kill animal is second to it, and a plant is notmuch. They can grow again, even from the root. But the animal, even if youcut only half of its head, won't grow again. Therefore, we have to believethings when they're logical; not because it's the guilt-inflicting theory orbecause we have to do that because some of the teachers say so or some ofthe religions say so.

I do not feel that we are unintelligent beings, that we could swallowanything, especially the Americans. They are no-nonsense folks. They don'tjust eat anything. So, we have to tell them whatever is logical. Even ifpeople do not accept it today, they can think about it later. Sometimes Ibelieve also, that during the course of my speaking, sometimes it's too fast-- you sometimes listen to one sentence and you miss the next, and also it'sdifficult. So, if you want to listen again, you can get the tape. All thetapes we sell are without profit. It's like a good quality empty tapes,because we don't believe in selling God for profit.

We make profit otherwise, by mundane talent like dress designing, lampproducing, painting pictures. All these things we are allowed to make. It'sour mundane talent, so we get the mundane profit; but not to sell God forprofit. We don't even collect money, get a member's fee; or anything to dowith God's teachings; because it's all free for every of Hiers children. Itwas free for me. It will be free for everyone, as long as I can afford it.If I cannot afford, then I stop. Very simple!

Now, can you see why we are God? God-power is omnipresent, isall-pervading everywhere; and we are just one of the beholders. Just like myswimming pool -- the water came from the nearby stream, led in by a pipe;and we have a hole underneath or on top so that it will flow out again intothe river without stopping a portion of the water. The water in the pool,even though it's surrounded by stones and cement, is still water from theriver and is connected in some other way.

If our swimming pool is blocked from connecting with the spring forsome reason, then we have to unblock it. Maybe the pipe is blocked, the pipeis damaged, or the hole is blocked; so we have to unblock it. Enlightenmentis the unblocking of our obscurity to our own nature, to the God connectionswithin ourselves, and to the whole power of the universe. (Applause)

Questions & Answers

Q: What are Your views on transmigration?

M: As I have mentioned earlier, transmigration is another word forreincarnation. It is a very Eastern terminology. You don't hear it thatoften in the Bible, because the Bible is also not always complete, as all ofyou know. It has 'transmigrated' (Master laughs) for 2,000 years orsometime, so something may be missing there. The true Bible is locked upsomewhere and we are never allowed to see it. But some of the newly-dug fromthe ancient sites -- the Bible in some part has come out, and some of itwould mention reincarnation.

For example, I just remember one part like someone asked Jesus whetherHe was the reincarnation or continuation of the last prophet like Elijah orsuch and such and such. They mentioned about two, three previous prophetsbefore Him who had already ascended. So, Jesus did not answer yes or no. Ifthe question, the conception about reincarnation was wrong -- that a propheteven reincarnated to help the people, then He would have said, "No, no,never. No reincarnation." But He didn't answer. Probably He answered yes,but He was a very soft-spoken person. (Master laughs.)

You see, afterward there was no correction on that question. And as Iunderstood: That about over 2,000 years ago, at the time of Buddha andJesus, etc., when you are silent on some topic, that means you agree. Ifpeople ask you, sometimes three times, and you are silent, or if you have aninvitation from a disciple, and you are silent, that means you accept it.So, in that case, we can have a glimpse of some segments of the Bible aboutreincarnation. Otherwise, it's difficult to prove that.

As you have read in many books about Jesus, that He has been in Indiaand Tibet, and studied with Buddhist teachers and so on, so for Him thetheory of reincarnation must have been very familiar. So, we would besurprised if He didn't teach that to His disciples. Maybe the Bible, someportions of it, are lost. Sometimes translation not accurate, and everythinglike that; because at the time of Jesus, was very chaotic ?the situation.

He had to sometimes hide for His life, and the disciples practiced infear. So, not all the things Jesus taught would have been recorded. Also, Hetaught only three-and-a-half years before He was terminated. How can He havetaught everything in such a fearful and limited circumstances, as well as ahandful of disciples? It was very difficult.

Transmigration is nothing very difficult to understand. For example, welive day to day. Yesterday you wanted to do something and you could not oryou didn't finished it. So today, you wake up, you try to finish it or tryto find a way to do it again. Anything we have not finished in our life, andat the time of leaving this mundane world, we still desire, we want to doit, and we feel very sorry that we have not finished it, then surely thisdesire is the powerful force that will give us another chance to do itagain. So, we will be again and again given the physical instrument to do,to exercise our God-power in this world, to manifest our wisdom into thisworld until one day we finish our desire, and we are done with all our jobs.Then, we'll go back home.

That is the situation of the people who desire enlightenment. They feelthey have nothing more that they want to do in this world. Maybe theirmission is finished. It has just naturally push them into the position orinto the state of mind of wanting to go home. They don't know where home isand what that is, but they want to return to the source. That is when peoplewant enlightenment. Therefore, people say, "When the student is ready, theMaster will appear." You can't force enlightenment upon people. Therefore,Jesus couldn't force. Buddha couldn't force it. Not all the people in Indiawere enlightened at the time the Master was alive. Not all the Jewish peoplewere enlightened at the time Jesus was there. So transmigration stops whenwe feel that we want to go home -- nothing in this world interests usanymore.

As long as we still feel interested in something, and we couldn'tfinish all this in one lifetime, that means we still want to stay in thisworld. It's just a compelling force that we can not help. Therefore,enlightened and unenlightened persons are all alike. But the enlightenedperson lives a better life, smoother, more wisdom. He can do many thingswith less effort.

Many people ask me, "How can You be a master -- You go around theworld, lecture, and take care of disciples in different countries, and stillpaint, compose music, sing songs, make songs, and all that?"

I say, "Why, it's easy. It didn't take much time to paint. A few hoursto compose music -- I composed twelve songs in four days. No big deal! Writepoems and anything. When you're truly inspired and have time, you just do itvery fast. Right? To design clothes, this didn't take me ten minutes, noproblem.

But before I was a little bit enlightened, everything was difficult. Ididn't even have an idea to paint. When I painted in my high school class orsomewhere, I can't remember, I like to paint a horse and it looks like aturkey. (Master and audience laugh.) So, my teacher said don't botherwasting the paint, I'll just give you the mark (laughter), something likethat.

Q: Is our subconscious mind a link to infi- nite intelligence?

M: The subconscious mind is a kind of bridge. It's not the real selfyet. It's a bridge to the infinite intelligence. That is correct.

Q: How do we face problems and suffering in front of us?

M: Whatever we can eliminate, try to eliminate. If we cannot, then prayto God to help us overcome or for that person to overcome the suffering. Getenlightenment, above all. It's easier to digest all this suffering andeasier to think of the way to help, when we are enlightened.

Q: Do you believe that God guides us all the way since we were born?

M: Yes, but do we heed Hirm? Do we ever hear Hirm? If we do, many of uswouldn't have run into difficulty; and our world wouldn't have been the wayit has been or the way it is now. So, we have to open first our power ofunderstanding. We have to reconnect ourselves with God in order to hearHirm, to know what Hes wants us to do, to know the correct way.

That's why we offer the connection with God again. That's calledenlightenment, finding the Kingdom of God, or whatever you want to name it.We can't just list the whole list of terminologies -- enlightenment, getback to your Buddha-nature, become Buddha, go back to the Kingdom of God,know yourself, know God, God-realization, self-realization, etc., so we sayenlightenment and immediate.

Q: Jesus said He is the only way. If He was open-minded, He would havesaid, "Well, I am the way Buddha is, so too, Krishna."

Audience answers: I just think that Jesus or that "I" they were talkingabout was omnipresent and omnipotent. (Master: Yes, yes.) Therefore, itboils down to His love and wisdom. So, Jesus said that "I", meaning "loveand wisdom, omnipresence, the God-power" is the way. (Applause)

M: It's just like, for example, Krishna, said: Love Me alone, and "Me"is capitalized. Follow Me alone. Surrender all unto Me, then your life willbecome better and etc. Buddha said the same thing. Follow the Buddha, anddon't follow anyone else. He means the real self, the omnipresent, thealmighty power which at that time probably manifested mostly in that"electric pole" (means in Buddha Himself). (Master laughs.)

Just like the electric power is brightest in this light at this moment,and all the other lights are a little bit dim. It means, you have to havefaith in that electricity, but not necessarily in light. Because the lightwas very bright, electricity was most at that time. You go near the light,so you can read, you can see all the things, and recognize yourself in themirror if you want to make- up, for example. It doesn't mean you have tobelieve in this light, but in the electricity that houses that light.

So, every living master that houses the power of God, God can use any,anytime because God is not so limited. Hes is not so poor to have only oneson. Please! Hes has so many ways and means to bring Hiers children intoHirmself. Don't you think? (Audience: Yes.) (Applause)

I wish to send you all the love I can just to help you to open up. Butif we do not yet have good affinity, then you can wait. Meanwhile, study theBible, believe in God, believe in Jesus. It's good for you. Study the Bibledoesn't mean you know the words only, but put that into action. For example,the Ten Commandments, we should try to abide by them. That is the good wayof a Christian.

Before I got enlightenment, I slept with the Bible every night. Ilooked at it every time I was in trouble. Without the Bible, I couldn'tsleep. Sometimes, I alternated. In the morning, I would read the Buddhistscriptures that comforted me and sometimes lifted me up into some kind ofvery blissful state. It helped also. If you truly revere the Bible, youdeeply believe in it, and study it very sincerely, it helps you immensely.

We are just talking another alternative way should you be interested.If not, please just believe in the Bible and try to keep the Commandments.Put all the loving things that God teaches you into action. That's all.

More Signs That Foetus 'Decides' Birth Date

Bangkok Post, Saturday March 30, 1996

Scientists said Thursday they had added to the evidence that a foetusdecides when it is ready to be born.

The latest research, on rhesus monkeys, suggests that the fortusmonitors its own developing systems and sends out a signal that sets offlabour in the mother.

Scientists are looking into this mechanism to help understand prematurelabour, which can lead to the death or disability of the baby, and alsoto develop better care for women who go past their expected due date.

"The possibility that, in normal human pregnancy, it is the foetalbrain that controls the duration of pregnancy is an exciting one," saidDr Peter Nathanielsz of Cornell.

The research was done at Cornell University College of VeterinaryMedicine and Mt Sinai Medical School.

A group of brain cells that controls the foetal lamb's adrenal gland,setting of a chain reaction of hormones that eventually stimulates themother's cervix to dilate and the uterus to contract -- labour.

Monkeys have slightly different hormonal circuits than the sheep, butthe scientists successfully induced early delivery of baby monkeys 80percent of the way through the pregnancy by delivering the correspondinginfusion of hormones.

Live monkeys were delivered seven days later. In the control group thatreceived a placebo the mothers did not deliver for 20 more days.

More work must be done to learn how the human system works, butNathanielsz said the studies were exciting.

"It would be of great survival value if the foetal brain can act as a"computer" taking messages from several vital developing systems, such aslungs, kidneys and other parts of the brain, to compute the level ofmaturation and act accordingly."

Orphaned Piglet Leads A Dog's Life

Bangkok Post, Wednesday April 3, 1996

Stuffed the orphaned piglet scrambles for a place alongside his adoptedbrothers and sisters and mother Amber, a dingo-cattle dog cross, in Perth,Australia. Stuffed, who suckles Amber along with the pups, was rescued froma slaughter house by Western Australian farmer Geoffrey Blight.

French Doctors Identify First Mad Cow Disease Case

Thailand Sunday Post, Apr 3, 1996

French doctors have identified a case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Deseasecomparable to those which sparked the recent "mad cow" crisis in Britain,a senior health official said on Friday,

Jean-Francois Girard, the government's chief medical officer, saidthe case indicated that a new strain of the brain-wasting illness CJDreported by doctors in Britain is not limited to that country, but warnedit was far too early to talk about an epidemic.

"This adds to the English cases, and confirms that this is a Europeanproblem," Girard told a press conference. "We cannot say there won't be othercases, but we cannot start talking about an epidemic either."

The case involved a 27-year-old man in Lyon, central France, who diedin January. His symptoms were identical to those of 10 British cases whichdoctors said indicated a new strain of CJD that may be linked to "mad cow"disease, or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy(BSE).

The Lyon case was revealed in the French press last week, but at thattime scientists said they could not link it to the British cases until theyhad carried out more tests.

Girard said Friday that the similarities with the British cases wereconfirmed after pathological tests. He said their data had been comparedwith that of the British doctors who found the 10 cases which sparked thecrisis.

The British study behind the scare centres on 10 cases of CJD detectedover the past two years. Eight of the victims have died, while the survivingtwo are 18 and 31, and have had the disease for six months and 23 monthsrespectively.

The average age of those affected was 29, compared to 65 for traditionalCJD, and the life expectancy was between eight and 23 months, compared to amuch shorter four months for the classic strain.

Are The Continent's Cattle Sick?

Time, April 8, 1996
Reported by Michael Brunton/London, Bruce Crumley/Paris and Rhea Schoenthal/Bonn

The British have been widely accused of closing the barn door after themad cow has bolted, but there were dark hints last week that some otherE.U. countries may have been less than forthright about their own exposureto the frightening disease that is killing cattle--and possibly being passedto humans. British farmers and Conservative politicians suggested that theContinent has more cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy than it paidfor destroyed animals and even that some European farmers have been swappingear tags from their own infected animals for British ones.

The main argument for such claims is that since 3.35 million Britishcattle were exported to the rest of Europe Between 1986 and 1995, andthousands of tons of possibly contaminated feed were also sold, it seems oddthat Britain has suffered more than 160,000 BSE cases while the toll is sotiny in other countries: 206 reported cases in Switzerland, 31 in Portugaland just 16 in France.

Last week Tory M.P. Paul Marland asked agriculture miniser Douglas Hoggto send investigators to the Continent "to study what's known there as'staggers' and manganese deficiency, which is actually BSE under anothername." Hogg said he suspected there were more Continental BSE cases "thanhave been disclosed."

The brain of a possibly BSE-infected cow from Brittanyis examined in a French laboratory

While Marland feared E.U. partners might "do down our industry for thebetterment of their own, "little hard evidence backed such claims. Frenchagficulture minister Philippe Vasseur insisted that each animal in France"has its own identity card--we know where they are, where they have beenand what parents they were born to."

In Bonn, Hans-Joachim Batza, an animal-protection expert in theAgriculture Ministry, said suggestions of a cover-up were "wrong, brazenand unfair." Batza pointed out that in Germany, as in France, Holland andmost other E.U. countries, farmers are compensated at current market valuewhen they report suspect cows. By contrast, British farmers had in the pastreceived less than market value for destroyed stock--sometimes only 50-meaning that they rather than their E.U. neighbors had rason to hide sickanimals.

German beef eaters, however, may have been less reassured last weekafter watching a TU documentary on the case of Margrit Herbst. In September1994, Herbst, a veterinarian at a big slaughterhouse in northern Germany,estimated that about one in a thousand of the cows she saw was possiblyinfected with BSE. She based this on 21 cases fo cows she suspected ofhaving the disease. Herbst said her superiors ignored her report. She wassacked for speaking publicly without authorization and was sued fordefamation by the slaughterhouse. In January a court in Kiel threw out theaction against her and agreed that some animals "reached consumers withoutthe further necessary tests."

E.U. agriculture commissioner Franz Fischler distilled the probleminto two sentences: "There is no evidence that there is a link between BSEand 'human brain disease'. There is also no evidence that there is no link."That analysis was no help to the Continent's consumers, who are nowprotected from mad British cows, but perhaps are looking at their own herdswith suspicion. -By Rod Usher.

Cat Risks Life To Save Kittens

Time, April 8, 1996

NEW YORK: In a motherly show of courage, a cat raced into a burning buildingto rescue her five kittens, one by one.

And then with her eyes blistered shut and her paws burned, she made ahead count of her young ones, touching each one with her nose to make surethey were all safe.

The heroics of the cat nicknamed Scarlet have truned the once-homelessfeline and her brood into the most coveted kitties in an animal shelter.While they recovered from their wounds on Sunday, more than 700 people hadcalled seeking to adopt them.

The High Health Cost Of Eating Meat

Bangkok Post, Monday April 8, 1996
By Jane E.Brody NYT News Service

According to a study by a group of US doctos, the yearly US health carecosts of eating meat are comparable to the estimated $50 billion (1.25trillion baht) spent each year to treat illnesses related to smoking.

A spokesman for the American Medical Association, however, said he had"very serious reservations" about the methods used to come to thoseconclusions.

The authors of the analysis, Dr Neal D. Barnard, Dr Lil Howard, are allmembers of the Physicians Commitee for Responsible Medicine, an organizationin Washington that promotes vegetarianism. They linked regular consumptionof red meat and poultry, in particular, to significant increases in the risksof developing high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, gallbladderdisease, overweight and resulting osteoarthritis, food poisoning and cancersof the colon, lung, ovary and prostate.

The analysis was published in the November 1995 issue of PreventiveMedicine, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Health Foundation, anon-profit organization devoted to research on preventive health measures.The researchers estimated the health costs of the nation's current omnivorousdiet at $28.6 billion to $61.4 billion (715 billion to 1.53 trillion baht)a year.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr Randall White and Suzanne Havala said"the money we spend to treat these conditions, often called diseases ofaffluence or overnourishment, could help meet the basic health care needs ofthose currently uninsured." In fact, the authors of the journal reportconcluded, "the combined medical costs attributable to smoking and meatconsumption exceed the predicted costs of providing health coverage for allcurrently uninsured Americans."

National nutrition and health experts are urging Americans ot reducetheir dependence on meat. The "Eating Pyramid" issued several years ago bythe Federal Department of Agriculture suggests two to three serving dailyof a high-protein food like meat, poultry, fish, beans, eggs and nuts. Itdefines a serving as only two to three ounces (about 55 to 85 grammes) ofcooked meat, fish or poultry. Even the meat industry has become more temperedin its dining advice, suggesting that Americans choose lean, will-trimmedmeats and four-ounce portions.

Dr White, who said he had been a vegetarian for 17 years, and Ms Havala,who is a consultant to the Baltimore-based Vegetarian Resource Group, whichpromotes vegetarianism, maintain that "the cost of the American way of eatinghas become unsustainable.

While the diseases of affluence and overnourishment cied in the journalreport occur among vegetarians and nonvegetarians alike, "they occur at lowerrates among those who eat fewer animal products," the editorial writersnoted.

The researchers did not offer physiological explanations for thesefindings beyong pointing out that "when meat is incluede in the diet, plantproducts are necessarily reduced." They added, "The health effects of anomnivorous diet may result from the presence of meat, the displacement ofplant foods, or both."

Diets containing meat are usually higher in fat, particularly artery-damaging saturated fat, and higher in calories. Plant foods are lesscalorically dense and they are rich sources of viamins, minerals, fiber andother platn substances that have been shown to lower cholesterol levels andprotect against heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

The researchers said that there were no large studies available toenable them to analyses separately the value of including fish in anotherwise vegetarian diet. Seafood consumption has been linked to a reducedrisk of heart and other blood vessel diseases.

In preparing their analysis, the authors examined studies of largegroups of people in the United States whose living habits were comparableexcept for their meat consumption patterns.

In general, about half the people were vegetarians, most of whomconsumed eggs and dairy products but not red meat, fish and poultry.However, in their smoking, exercise and alcohol consumption habits, all ofwhich can strongly influence health, they were not notably different fromthe meat eaters studied.

Yet in every study examined, meat eaters had higher rates of costlyand sometimes fatal health problems.

Dr Roy M. Schwarz, group vice president for professional standards ofthe American Medical Association, said the study did not specify whetherfactors kike age, sex and genetic history of the people covered in thestudies had been taken into account. All such factors could affect health.

"I just have a very difficult time believing that they have controlledfor all these diffeient factors," Dr Schwarz said.

But Dr Barnard, the researcher, said the estimated health costs wereconservative because the meat eaters in the various studies were not heavyconsummers of flash foods and because the researchers had examined onlyseven health risks for which there were strong data.

Vegetarians tend to have cholesterol levels that are 9 percent to 32percent lower than those of meat eaters, and vegetarians' levels of artery-damaging LDL cholesterol are 7 percent to 37 percent lower. Just six weekson a vegetarian diet can reduce an omnivore's total cholesterol level by3 percent to 11 percent and lower LDL cholesterol by 4 percent to 17 percent.Other studies have shown that for every 1 percent drop in total cholesterol,there is a 2 percent decline in the chances of suffering a heart attack.

The researchers cited studies of various population showing that menand women who consumed beef, pork or lamb daily had about a three-foldhigher incidence of colon cancer when compared with people who consumed meatproducts less than once a month. Even lung cancer rates are significantlylower among vegetarians, whether or not they smoke, according to theanalysis.

But perhaps the most costly meat-related illness, the report said, isdiabetes, with an estimated $14 billion to $17.1 billion (350 billion to428 billion baht) a year in excess medical costs "attributable to meatconsumptition."