Q. What was the physical feeling at the moment You found the Truth? What did You feel?

M. There are many ways. Sometimes you have no physical feeling whatsoever. You enjoy in a different dimension. It does not always relate to the physical feeling. You do not use a physical body to enjoy the heavenly bliss. It is a different kind of enjoyment which also manifests sometimes in a physical feeling, like you will feel very peaceful, that is nothing will move you at all; no anger, no hatred will arise in your mind. And your body will feel so relaxed and so beautiful. That is a kind of lighter samadhi. Once you are in a deeper samadhi, there's no connection whatsoever with your physical body, and you can't tell. But when you come back, the manifestations of the Light takes place at the physical level. For example, you will be more loving to people, you do your work faster, you think quicker, you are more tolerant, and you look at all the books and you understand them in no time. In other words, you are more intelligent, more loving, and more calm. That is how it manifests through a physical body. But otherwise when you are in very deep samadhi, you are disconnected from the body, no physical feeling.

Q. Enlightenment always seems so lofty. In what ways will I be different after enlightenment? How will I know? Is it in black and white?

M. Oh, you'll know it, you'll know it definitely. You'll know it, just like you walk inside the door and when you walk outside the door. It's very definite and very beneficial to your daily life. You will know it, very definitely. Just like an educated person and an uneducated person, there is a great difference.

Q. How can I feel that spiritual eternity exists? How can I believe that there will be and there are other lives?

M. We have no need to feel. We must experience it. Yeah! I have the way to show you how to experience that; no need to believe what I said, or the Buddha said, or Jesus said. We have to know it, see it, and to realize it within ourselves. That is why there are so many religious scriptures in the world, which describe so many heavens and so many hells and all these kinds of virtues and sins, but people still do bad things because they can not believe in what the scriptures said, because they don't have their own experience about heavens and hells. Therefore, it doesn't make a deep impression in their hearts. So it is hard for them to avoid making troubles, to avoid committing wrong deeds.

Q. Chanting and praying are seen regularly in any temple or church. Are they the ways to reach enlightenment?

M. No. This is only a part of enlightenment. Praying and chanting is necessary to stimulate our sincerity and to create a sincere and clean atmosphere. But we must be silent in order to communicate with our silent God self. He is not noisy. We are busy all day long speaking, thinking, and when we go to the church we are busy again, talking and chanting, telling God what to do. So when do you think that God has time for us, or we have time for God? We have to sit in silence or stand or lay in silence, and know where to find God apart from prayers and chanting.

Q. For enlightenment, is service in love to humanity as important as meditation or is service more important than meditation practice?

M. Both have to go hand in hand. We meditate because we want to do service better, we want to be clearer in what we do. Therefore, we'll be more efficient in our work and more service to others. Without meditation, sometimes we have very best intention and we are willing to serve people, but we don't know what is the best way. Therefore, meditation is a helping factor to true selfless service.

Q. Is it possible for one to achieve enlightenment all by oneself or must we ally ourselves with an organized religion or discipline?

M. No, no, no. We have to achieve enlightenment all by ourselves. Religions cannot help us. Religions are only doctrines left behind by past enlightened masters. We can only take reference with it, refer to it, to compare it with our enlightenment now. To see if we are in correct accord with the ancient masters, if our method is correct, and if our enlightenment is like theirs. That's the good of the doctrines.

Right now I just mentioned, Jesus when he was initiated, or baptized - actually "baptized" means "initiated" He saw the light come down from heaven like a dove. So now, if we get initiation from Master Ching Hai, and we see the light come down like a dove or whatever, then we can say, "Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah! She transmits the same method." That is just for our reference. Otherwise, the Bible cannot enlighten us. Any religion, any religious bible cannot help us to get the inner light and inner happiness and satisfaction Only the transmission from the real living God power fulfills all of our desires. Okay?

Q. Without the guidance of a master, meaning without interior work, is it possible to obtain enlightenment?

M. Maybe! But to a very small degree, not to the highest, and often with a lot of dangers to our health and mentality. That is why we see someone practice alone and they get very weak, or they become mentally disturbed, or they become possessed. We have heard about these. If you have a master, these won't happen. But the master must be a perfect, a real, a competent master, who has reached the highest goal, who is omnipresent, meaning one who is in one place, in many places, in all places, in the whole universe at the same time, and who knows your problems without asking, who helps you before you even know it. Then you are in safety.

Q. Is it possible for one to reach enlightenment through direct experience in case he doesn't have a real Master around?

M. Yes, you can get enlightenment without a Master. There are many reasons for it. One of the reasons is that you have practiced before, many lives before, and your memory is still there. So we see people are born with... there are some people whom we call genius, you know? From childhood they already can do many things. So this is a case of the leftover power from the previous lives of practice. Yes, so there are some who when they are born or just a small child already they want to practice meditation, eat vegetarian, go to the temple, etc. Now there is another case in which you attain enlightenment after you have seen some Masters, but without knowing that these are Masters. You don't recognize them, and you might not even believe in that Master; nevertheless, you still have the blessing. You just look at the eyes of the Master once. In some cases it is enough to give you enlightenment, and you could even attain liberation through that grace. But this will not enable you to be a Master, a Buddha in this lifetime. That's the difference. Because this enlightenment is not complete, yes, it is just a part of enlightenment. There's one more category in which you meet one or many disciples of a great Master, and somehow you contact with them, help them, or have good relations with them, and the disciples might mention about the Master, might give you a photo of the Master, and then you'll also get blessed. Or maybe they share with you the blessed food from the Master. You eat one piece and suddenly you do not know what is happening, you get the light, you become enlightened, and you thought it is from yourself. No? Actually, it is from the invisible blessing from the Master through the disciples, through the blessed food. Blessed food means food that is blessed by the Master, charged by the spiritual power of the Master. In Hindu we call it "prashad". So these are many cases of enlightenment. And sometimes if you are a relative of an initiate of an enlightened Master, then you also get the benefit from that disciple of the Master. So many cases. Some of my disciples have children, two, three, four years old; and of course, in the night they meditate, and the child was sitting behind. And then suddenly one day the child tells the mother, "Mother, mother, I saw Master come here!" "I see Jesus," or "I saw Buddha, I see light, I hear sound." Four years old and already enlightened. Four years old, three years old, and it's because of the charging power from the Master through the mother. In these cases, we say you are enlightened without a Master. Okay?

Q. If a person has a desire to get liberation or go beyond the three worlds, is this desire different than ordinary desire?

M. Yes, it is different because by having that desire alone, all other desires die down. Otherwise we have too many desires, you see? And then we have troubles because we are pulled from different directions. Whereas if we have only one upward desire, we are pulled up, and then we will be happy. We reach our high nature.

Q. Does having children limit the way to liberation?

M. No, not at all. You even have a chance to take another soul home. Blessed are the children, already born into a spiritual atmosphere, born by enlightened parents. Blessed are they indeed. It's good to have children. If everybody stopped having children, where would all the Buddhas come from? Jesus would have no chance to come back again. Okay. He promised you He would come back. No? Maybe one of your children will be Jesus. No? We must have hope, huh? [Master laughs]

Q. How long does it take to become enlightened to reach the highest level or God realization?

M. It depends on you. How diligent you are, how much you want it, and also it depends on the Master. Is the Master powerful enough to take you through these levels of consciousness and lead you to where you want to be?

Q. Master, usually how long does it take to get enlightenment? May I know what does it depends on?

M. Oh, depends on many things. First, it depends on the proper meditation method. And it depends on your teacher, whether that person is capable to lead you to enlightenment. Never mind talking about long or short. If you get a good teacher, you get immediate enlightenment. If you don't get a good teacher, I don't know how long, very, very long, many lifetimes. And also enlightenment depends on your sincerity, if you want it or not. If you do want it, you get it immediately. If you don't want it, it doesn't matter how much you pretend, how long you sit there, until your bottom falls off, (laughter) you don't have anything.

Q. What are the steps to enlightenment, and what level of enlightenment does this technique take you to?

M. It will take you to the source of all beings, where you came from, and where all beings will return. Between this earthly level and that absolute level, there are five levels of consciousness, or different planes of existence. And if we, through the practice of the heavenly light and sound and with the guidance of an experienced teacher, pass through these five levels, then we will arrive at the house of the Masters, where all Masters came from and return to after their mission, and where we also will come from in order to help other beings, should we desire to return to earth, or to any other earth planet in the universe. So the first step is to get initiation, and then, everything else will come.

Q. I've heard of many people who said that when you are enlightened, you are supposed to shave your hair and wear no make-up. (Laughter) What do you think of this saying and comment.

M. What do you think, is that correct? (Audience: No!) No, they say " No! " (Laughter & applause) I'll give you one "A" for you. (Master and all laugh.) Beautiful, beautiful, I love that. It's very beautiful; you are very open, very enlightened; at least to some degree. If you still cling your attention to anything of this world, whether it's there or not there, you obstruct yourself, right? Your nature is without anything. No dust can cling to your nature, okay? No make-up can cover your Buddha nature; no lipstick can blur away the light of heaven. If you have Eye, you'll see I am radiating light now. Even if I put the whole charcoal boxes on my face, make myself black, I am still very white and bright. So if you shave your head, then you are enlightened? Is that right? So why don't you do it? It's so easy. (Laughter) All of you do it. Steve, your hair is too long for the enlightenment. (Laughter & applause) God doesn't care whether your hair is long or short. Stupid. (Laughter) Otherwise all the beautiful Miss Universes can not get enlightenment, or what? (Master laughs.) And if we say that, all the barber shops, all the beauty salons will close. We create unemployment even more. (Laughter) Is that the life of an enlightened person? Oh, oh, if I preach like that, Mr. Clinton will not be happy. (Laughter) He will not give me permission to preach in America.

Q. Once you become enlightened, can you lose consciousness of your enlightenment?

M. Oh, yes, possible. Yes, when you sleep. Sometimes when you meditate, and then you sleep, the light comes, the enlightenment comes but you are not aware of it . And when you are not asleep, then you are aware of it, okay?

Q. Once the soul is awakened, does it stay actively awake?

M. Yes, always. The body will sleep, the mind will get sometimes entangled in other purposes, but the soul never does it again. Once awakened, it is always awakened. But even then, we need a cooperative mind, body and emotions in order to work best, to benefit the world more, with the soul's directing power. Therefore, after initiation, even when we have a taste of enlightenment, and know ourselves, we still continue with our training, in order to make the mind used to the enlightened way of the soul, and not to sink down again in the physical level, and the worn out conceptions and habit forming ways of doing things.

Q. After one has experienced Nirvana and/or enlightenment, is it difficult to attain mastery over one's energy body?

M. No, it isn't. It is easy to gain control over one's energy body when one has attained enlightenment. That is the purpose of it. If we couldn't control our psychic, or energy, or light body then what's the use of enlightenment? If we are out of control then we are even worse off than before. Maybe this may happen if you have, how you say, an incompetent master, or if you practice yourself from a bookshelf, how you say, a bookshelf self-realization, and other things like that. It is a little bit dangerous. Yes. Sure! Therefore some people who practiced themselves or have had incompetent masters became mentally deranged. Yes. It is true, I understand now. [Somebody said possessed] Yeah, possessed. Yes. Some are possessed by demons, and some by self-disturbance because they couldn't handle so much release of psychic energies or higher order of power. They are not used to it. They are too immature. They do not know what to do with it, therefore they become out of order. So it is better to practice with a competent master. That's the reason why we should have a master, otherwise there is no need. If the master doesn't need to transmit the teaching personally, then he can even write a book, and sell it, and become famous, with a best seller, or something like that. Yes. It is even more comfortable, yeah! You sit at home and you write a book and it becomes a best seller, and every day you get income.

Q. When we get enlightened are we better able to resolve real problems such as abrupt changes and difficult things like these?

M. Oh yeah, definitely. Yes, it has certain effects. We may be able to live a better, smoother life. Because we think clearer, so we solve problems better. Yeah.