M. Do you know what the manifestation body of a Master means? A light body, you understand? The light body. Yeah? Because I have just asked them if the translation was correct. She didn't make it correct, she said the Master comes in the night and appears in your dreams and tells you what and what. No, no. This is not the light body of a Master. A light body of a Master appears anywhere any time, not just in a dream. Understand? And sometimes you could even see it with the open eyes, like you see me now; maybe in the train station, maybe in the train, maybe in the airplane, maybe when you are working, maybe when you are cleaning your toilet, anywhere. If you need to see the Master, then the Master will appear. That is what we call the manifestation body or the light body, because the body is full of light. It looks like the real flesh body, but it is not made by flesh. You may be able to grab it, but only for a while and then the Master disappears into the air. Sometimes you see the Master flying through the window, but that is not the physical body which flies. It's the manifestation body through the samadhi power of the Master. That is why the Buddhists say "many ten thousand bodies, many ten thousands of manifestations of the body." In the Christian terminology, or Hindu terminology we say "omnipresent", meaning "no where he is not, and everywhere the Master is there." Any real Master is able to manifest thousands, ten thousands, hundreds, hundreds of thousands of bodies, and millions of bodies in order to help the disciples at any place and at any moment. If the Master cannot manifest so many bodies, the Master cannot take care of so many disciples. And if a Master could not manifest so many bodies, he or she is not a real Master.
M. Oh. He means if he studies the Bible can be become a Master? I am sorry. No! Before Jesus was born there was no Bible, and He became a Master. Before Buddha was born there were no Buddhist scriptures and He became a Master. Today we have so many Buddhist scriptures, so big, Catholic Bibles distributed freely, but no one becomes a Master. Books can not make us become a Master. We can become a Master if we study with a Master. Okay. You want to become a doctor, you study with a doctor. Reading books is helpful but it's not practical. Yeah, you have to learn how to give injections by practicing under the guidance of a doctor, of a licensed doctor, of an experienced doctor. No? Medical doctor, yeah. You have to learn to feel the pulse, many many times, under the guidance of an experienced doctor. You have to learn to cut the stomach of somebody, how much, how long, how deep. You must do it with the watchful eyes of an experienced surgeon. You can't just do it from books. Understand? Otherwise you will kill the patient and put yourself in jail. Si?
M. It is because the past Masters cannot teach you. You have to look for a present Master, who can answer your question, help you when you are in doubt and take you by the hand back to the Kingdom of God. We need a person to person contact, not the past lives. Just like it doesn't matter how great the beauties of the past; you cannot marry her! She cannot produce any children to you; cannot produce the love feeling that you have with a living wife.
M. Yes, sure. Because in our times, the communication is better. So we know better about the Masters, not that in the past, Masters did not exist, or Masters were inaccessible. Of course, it is true that some Masters are more accessible than the others. It depends on his choice, or his willingness to give, or his affinity with the people at large. But then, in any age, always there are one, two, three, four, five Masters. Depends on the need of the time. Just we are more aware of the presence of many different Masters, maybe different degrees of Masters, because in these times we are fortunate to have the mass media, to have television, to have radio broadcasts, and books, which we print in millions, in thousands of millions of copies in no time. Yes. In the olden times, we want to print a book, we have to cut the whole tree down first and chop them with very unsophisticated axes, which are kaput in no time and no use in another time, and have to polish it with stones and all kinds of things, and to carve one word after another. And when you want to transfer a whole set of Bibles, it takes a whole convoy. You understand? Big trucks, if you have a truck at that time. So that's why we know of many Masters. You understand? Yes, so it's lucky, this is very good for you that have... you can shop, you know, you can choose what you want. So no one will be able to cheat you and say "I am the best." Yeah, you can have comparison and use your wisdom, intelligence to judge. "Oh, this one is better" or "I like that one better." "Face looks terrible." "Oh, that one - ugly." (Laughter)
Q. I have noticed that many spiritual Masters have a great sense of humor. What is the relationship of humor to spiritual practice?
M. Oh, I see. I guess they are just feeling happy, and relaxed, you know, and light-hearted about everything. And they could laugh at themselves and laugh at others, laugh about ridiculous things in this life when many people cling so tensely and taking so seriously. After we practice somehow, we just get loose. You know, we don't feel so serious any more. If we die tomorrow, we die; if we live, we live, you know. If we lost everything, we lost everything; if we have everything, we have everything. Yes, we have enough wisdom and ability after enlightenment to take care of ourselves in every situation. So we are not scared of anything. We lose our fear, we lose our anxiety. That's why we're relaxed. We feel detached to this world. Whatever we gain or lose doesn't mean much any more. If we gain a lot of things, it's only for the benefit of people, then we offer; and for the benefit of loved ones. Otherwise we don't consider ourselves or our life that important to go through all of the struggles and sufferings to preserve it. If we preserve it, it's all right. It doesn't mean we sit in bed all day on the nail bed and then meditate. But we do work. You understand? For example, I still work, huh! I do my painting, and my handicraft works to earn my living. So I don't want to take donations from anyone. And even my earning is so much I can help people. I can help the refugees, the disaster victims and all that. Why shouldn't we work? But we have so much talent and abilities, and life is so easy for us after enlight-enment that we feel there is just no need to worry. You understand? We just naturally relax. That's how the sense of humor is born. I guess that is what it is, huh? Do you find me humorous? (Audience: Yes) (Laughter and applause.) Yes (Master laughs.) Then maybe... I must be a Master of some kind huh? (Laughter). Okay. (Master laughs.) Let's hope so, for your sake huh, so that you didn't listen to an unEnlightened person for two hours, waste your time. Okay. Any more question?
Q. Master, were Hermes, Zoroaster, the Essences, the Gnostics Masters? And who were the first Masters? And who is the great white brotherhood?
M. All Masters, all true Masters are one. They come from one source. And the highest Master is the supreme Master, the almighty which is in all of you. When we first came here we were Masters before. And we came here, we blessed the world. And, we forgot all about our power and our glory. And our energies were also exhausted, because we paid attention to outer phenomenas. So, all the Masters who came here are the ones who are awakened in this awareness and know their true glory, and they can travel the road home frequently. And they can lead us back home. So, no need to discriminate between any Master. All the religions are founded after the Master has gone. Therefore we have Christian after Christ, Buddhist after Buddha, etc., okay?!
M. You want to shop, uh, shopping for enlightenment! (Laughter.) One is enough for you, right now, okay?! (Applause.) Because even if there are a few, who knows if they will come to you and when, and whether you are still alive when the other comforters come, understand? Okay?
Q. How can we tell true Masters from false Masters?
M. Oh, that I don't know. I haven't met any false one. I've met only true Masters. False or true, it's up to you. There are many ways to discern a true Master. When the so-called Master just clings to one part of the truth and forsakes the rest and then teaches the disciples only one part of that from the whole truth and then we call him a false Master. But actually the name is not very correct. Maybe he is a kind of "partial Master." "Part-time Master" (Master and all laugh), but not false. And when a Master teaches you the whole truth that is within yourself and awakens that which already exists within yourself, that is the true Master because he awakens the true Master within yourself. That is the true Master. And what is your true nature? What is the true Master within yourself? That is God! That is the holy spirit which dwells within your church, your temple. (body) And when that God manifests, we can hear the teaching through the heavenly music. We can see him through visions, through abundant illumination like thousands of suns sometimes. That is our true nature when it is awakened. So if any Master can awaken these heavenly wisdom, vibration and heavenly light within you which is your self nature, which is your self Mastership, then that is a true Master. It takes one to know one.
M. Very difficult. We can only remove the conflict within ourselves. If everyone does that, there is no conflict to remove. Therefore even Jesus was so great, Buddha was so grand, but they couldn't remove the conflict within their own borders. And even sometimes the disasters will also affect their lives. It is because the majority of the people of the world were not at peace, were not Enlightened; therefore enlightenment is the only requirement for any illness of this world, for any wars, for any conflict. Nothing else is necessary.
Q. When one becomes a Master, will he or she ever have fear, doubt or anger? We call Jesus a Master, however, according to the Bible, Jesus was frightened the night before he was crucified. And before his death, Jesus cried, "Why God deserted me?" Please explain, if Jesus had fear and doubt, how can we have no fear and doubt?
M. Yeah, they probably would have fear and doubt, but that fear and doubt is not deep rooted like us, you understand? If Jesus had no fear of the crucifixion, then his sacrifice was not so great. He had fear, but he accepted, understand? Whereby we have fear and we run away and we try to blame it on others or we try to escape, we try to put that cross on someone else. That is the difference. We might have fear. We might have emotion, but we can withdraw it anytime or we can make use of the fear or emotion to the benefit of other beings. After enlightenment, all the feelings, all the emotions are still there, because we are made to have these in order to use them to understand other brothers and sisters. If you have no feeling, no emotion, how can you understand human beings? How can you help them; understand? But the fears of the Master are different. The fears of the Master sometimes are also affected by the fear of the disciples. He takes the fear from the disciples so the disciples are fearless but the Master will take some degree of that fear. But that is only very shallow and not deep rooted. It's only illusionary. And the Master on one hand has the fear but on the other hand definitely has no fear, you understand what I mean? He knows he has to have fear but he doesn't fear the fear.
M. Why didn't you ask him? I am not responsible for anybody else's teaching. Everyone has his own independent thinking and philosophy, provided he keeps it for himself. Probably what he meant is that if you are too attached to religious dogma or to any teacher at all, then you will be handicapped. In that sense he is correct. The teacher or the Master is not the one on which you lean, but from which you gain experience and wisdom and then you walk yourself, Okay? Most of the time if a teacher is worth his salt he should teach the student this way. Do you know what I mean?
But never mind! Even then, if a student of any Master should feel that he is not yet able to develop himself, then he can pray to the Master, in the initial stage of his spiritual practice. Later when he grows up, he just automatically drops the Master. It's just like a person; not everybody can walk straight. I need an umbrella to walk; my legs are weak sometimes. But when my legs are okay, I don't need it. Yeah? Somebody, sometimes they are naturally born handicapped or accidentally handicapped, and then they need the crutch. It's okay with him. Can you just kick him out? And say, "You don't need the crutch. It will make you dependent!" Understand? (Yes.)
So we cannot just say like this, black and white; to say that the Master, the guru or the religion are no good absolutely for people. It's good to someone. Right? If you don't need it, it's fine. If you need it, stay a while until you don't. So I don't preach anything extreme. In my opinion, religions are also very good for many people. At least they learn the virtuous way of life. They fear God. They fear the law of cause and retribution, and many people became good. I tell you the truth. But, as long as we know that this is not the ultimate. Do you know what I mean? Yes, not the ultimate, just like, for example, the Master, in the physical body is not the ultimate, you know? The ultimate is inside the Master, and inside you! Through the Master you will find the ultimate. That's fine! If you have not found it yet, you can rely on the Master, to help and carry you for a while, and then you can walk. It's fine. But there is no such thing as extreme as to throw everything altogether. Is it not so?