Q. What does the word "Master" mean?

M."Master" means you already know how to master yourself, and you are not torn apart by different obstacles in life.

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Q. When the Masters who are born as Masters come to this planet, why do they need initiation or why do they need a Master?

M. They don't need one, really, but do you remember what Jesus said? "Let the law be done." He was baptized by John the Baptist, and people also asked Him the same question. He said, "Let it be done." Let the law be fulfilled - the law of the physical universe. Suppose I come to the United States and I'm a British citizen, I have to obey the laws of this country even though they are a little different from England's. I have to drive on the right side, and not on the left side like England, or I will get into trouble, just to be like everyone. -And why not?

It's no big deal to have a guru. Besides, if you have a guru, then everyone else also follows. If you have your master, they feel it's normal that way. If everything is too miraculous, it scares people also. Suppose I just drop down from heaven and say, "Here I am, the Supreme Master, blah, blah, blah..." I think people would not like it that much. They would think it was hypnotism; they'd think it was cheating, or the workings of the devil. You really can't. It's already bad enough that any master should take the physical form, any form of the physical body, because many people cling to that form. They think, "Oh, this is the form of the Master, any other form is no good."

God cannot always appear right here in front of us in one form or another. Suppose Hes were in the form of Jesus; all the Buddhists would say, "No, no, not for me!" And suppose Hes appeared in the form of the Buddha, like many people would like to see, then the Catholics would say, "No, no, that's heretical," and things like that. It's very difficult. So we have to find the Truth inside; it doesn't matter whether the master has a guru or no guru. He comes here; he has to eat; he has to be born, and physically he has to grow up, has to study, and everything else is the same. So, it's the same with initiation.
Also it's good to be humble, to sit at the feet of someone, to learn to be a disciple first. It's no problem with the master. The master can be anything, so why not a disciple? Besides, another thing I want to tell you is that any master who comes to this world physically, all the memory, all the glory, and all the power, are wiped away from him after the age of maybe four or something. Then he doesn't remember anything. Like everyone else, he has to learn anew. He has to get the key again, the key from a living Master, who hands over the key to him.

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Q. Some Masters, when they get initiated, they get self-realization very fast, in six months to one year, and some require years, all together twenty years, twenty-five years, and then they experience self-realization, even though they might be born masters. Why such a long time?

M. Oh, no problem. It is just their own wish to do that, just to show many different people that, okay, you don't have to be fast. Even me, I took twenty-five years, so don't worry about your own slow progress. It is just that the master is trying to show people, encourage people. For example, suppose I get enlightenment, realization, "great" realization in six months, and many people like it. A type of people who like that, quick, come to me and say, "If She got it in six months, I can get it in six days!" (Laughter) Some people feel inferior if they take too long. If they look at some other master, either in the past or in the present, and say, "Oh, that master took twenty-five years to become a Buddha, so I'm okay. Even though I don't progress very fast now, look at that master. He was born as a master, and he still took so long." So it doesn't matter very much. That's one thing.

Another thing is that there are two kinds of masters. One master is made, and another master is born. The "born master" is quick. And the "made master" is like any of us here, who has been wandering so many centuries and thousands of lifetimes in this world. It's the first time he comes to realization and he endeavors to become a master. And it can be his destiny, his predestination. He's destined to be like that. And the other master is born by destiny, born with the glory of the master already, with all the power from the past, present, and future to bring to this world to do the work. So that's fast. There's no difference between being slow or fast, because we have all been masters in the past anyhow. It's just that some masters have realized it already long ago, and come back again as born masters. And some are just newly made here.

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Q. What is the meaning of the manifestation body of the Master?

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.

Q. Can we become Masters by studying the words of God in the Bible and by knowing how to interpret them correctly?

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.

Q. Why is it that after so many years of religious teachings and past masters that the world has not gotten better but much worse?

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.

Q. Honorable Master, thank You for the insight You have given us. I wonder if You would like to address Yourself to something that is in my conscience. Why are so many masters on earth today giving us a chance to learn so quickly, whereas that in the past it has been so difficult? Can you address Yourself to that?

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. Some of the perfect Masters, the strong Masters, sometimes never come out from the caves of the Himalayas. They continue to stay there, and only a small number of people can get the benefit from this.

M. That is the master's work. Who are we to tell the master what to do? Each master has his or her own destiny, or own mission to do. To sit in the Himalayas is just as good as to preach to the people. Some masters like to go out to share the joy with the people, and some masters just sit there and benefit others by radiation, by their presence in this world. It is fine. Some doctors become professors and teach in the university. Some doctors just work in the hospital. Some doctors retire and don't work. (Laughter & applause)

We benefit from the Master not only in terms of the physical presence, but there are also good will and light from the Master when he meditates in the Himalayas, or meditates anywhere. But of course it's more direct for those who have affinity with some certain masters, coming in contact with the physical master so they can realize it more quickly. And the other master sometimes sits in the Himalayas and mentally or spiritually supports the working masters. Everyone has his or her work, and there is no problem with that.

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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 enlightenment 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?!

Q. Please let us know if God, the comforter that God sent, the spirit of truth, is only one comforter or a few comforters? If there are a few, please let us know how many?

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.

Q. How can an enlightened human being who is living in the society which is in conflict help to remove the conflicts in their society?

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.

Q. Master, why Krishnamurti said, "Gurus and religion are crutch?" So he refused to be their crutch for his students.

M. Why didn't you ask him? I am not responsible for anybody else'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?