Recognize Our Own God Nature
Irvine University, CA, USA. June 2, 1998.

Q. Why does one need to meditate two and half-hours each day?

M. Just like you have to eat two or three hamburgers now and again. (Master and all laugh; applause) That is, more or less, the portion of food that you eat every day to sustain your body. So there is a portion of spiritual nourishment that you should take every day in order to become strong again in God, in Godlike qualities. You don't have to, but this is prescribed, the doctor's prescription, fixed amount.

It's more or less; it's not so strict. Besides, we can meditate in sleep as well. We can meditate on the bus, we can meditate on the airplane, meditate in the toilet, excuse me. (Laughter) Yes, yes, we can do so. We can do many jobs at the same time. There is always time to meditate. Cut down on some of the "unfavorite" television programs, read only the essential things in the newspaper; talk less on the telephone, then you'll have a lot of time; stay in bed a little bit less. Sometimes, we don't sleep, we stay in bed late in the morning, just turning around. (Laughter) That's the time we can meditate very wonderfully. Instead of tossing and turning, you just meditate, concentrate. That's it. Very simple. Instead of thinking all kinds of nonsensical things, you just concentrate. That's where your meditation is. You don't have to sit down and cross legs like the Buddha; you just lie there and concentrate. I'm showing you how to utilize your "lazy" time, oh, I'm sorry, (Master and all laugh) your "unproductive" time, or some other time in which you scatter your mind all over and you don't do anything. Those times we can gather together and remember God. Very easy.

Q. Do You believe there will be world peace one day?

M. (Master laughs) Do you? (Laughter) Maybe in the year 3000! No, there won't be world peace at all, ever, because otherwise, it wouldn't be called the world, it would be called heaven.

Q. Dear Master, thank You for being here. Where does intuition come from? How do we know which decision to make? Sometimes I get so confused. I have two options, and sometimes it's so hard to decide because each choice it comprises makes up my life and I don't really know which one I should do? I want to get to the place where I know exactly which decision I should take.

M. That takes some time. That's why we must be enlightened. That's why we have to get back the power of wisdom that we have forgotten. We let too many mundane troubles cloud our vision. That's why we are indecisive. We cannot make decisions because we do not know, we are not clear. That's why we have to be clear. The two and half hours that we reserve every day are to clear our mind, to get back to the origin, to be Godlike. Then we will know what to do better. It will be clear. It will be very clear. Meanwhile, if you don't meditate that much, if you don't want to meditate and if you have intuition, that is the remnant of whatever is left over of the so-called Godlike wisdom. It's sometimes clouded by worldly worries and survival efforts, but then, sometimes it's clear. That's what we call intuition. Meanwhile, if you are not so clear, then you just have to take a risk. You have to feel which one is more appropriate or which one ins a higher percentage, then just do it. You have to risk. There is no one else to tell us what to do. Pray to God, and just pick one. Or else, you tear two pieces of paper -- one left, one right, and then pick one. Either way is risky, so you have to get your own wisdom, your own Master power.

Q. Dear Master, if I sincerely pray to You, will I be liberated eternally?

M. I think so, (Master chuckles) but only one person. Whereas if you get enlightenment yourself, you can take other people with you too. Like one person enlightened, many generations of your relatives and friends, even your dogs and cats, will be liberated. If you pray to a God person, you get only one ticket if you're really sincere. You don't even know if you're sincere or not. Sometimes it's hard to tell.

Q. Does hell exist as the Bible says?

M. What do you think? Does it exist? Look at our world, and you know the answer. There's no need to look elsewhere. There is a bad joke, do you want to hear it, about hell? Yes or no? (Yes!) (Laughter) Don't be mad. There was a girl, 18 or 19, came home, crying to her mother, "Oh, mommy, I don't want to marry John anymore. I called the wedding off!" The mother said, "But why honey? You're engaged already. You're going to get married next week. What's the problem?" The girl said: "I don't like him anymore. He is an atheist. He doesn't even believe in hell." So the mother said: "Don't worry dear, after marriage, he will!" (Laughter) Bad joke. It's not always true, though.

Q. Master, why did we fall? Why couldn't we have remained pure consciousness for those who may have never wanted to be incarnated in the first place? I understand karma, but are karma debts and credits, a part of the Creator's plan? Why did Hes desire our suffering karma so much?

M. Hes doesn't, we do. That's a part of the deal, so that we learn to know the difference between God and un-God, so we can recognize the light when we come back to the light again. We go into the darkness deliberately, so that we might know the light at its full splendor. For those who did not want ever to leave heaven, they did not come here. There are some who never left heaven, that's for sure, some masters. Some left heaven to come here to teach us. Some have also reincarnated many times and became a master. We had our choice. We did because we wanted to.

There are many answers to this, but in summary there are two main purposes that we have karma. Number one is that we want to know God, we came here purposely just to know God. At some time, we lived in heaven, all full of light, everyone was a saint, everyone was God. Then we said, "God, what is God?" So God said to you: "You are God. God is you. God is that." "I don't know what is God." Hes said: "You are like this. It's God." But the soul did not fully understand, and asked God: "How can I know God? How can I know myself as God?" God told him, "Then you have to become different from God, from yourself, first. And when you look back, you will know." That's why we came here. The purpose of our coming here is to know ourselves better.

The other one is, since creation had not begun, nothing had appeared in this world or any other world, then God made a plan. Hes wanted creation to spring forth, to come into being, and we joined. We were happy to play every part of the grand design, just for fun. Just to make life more colorful, some knowingly played their part, and for the purpose also that one day they'd become God again. They would know God again.

In order to know God, they had to play many different roles and one role was related to another. Just like in the movies, you have the main character, you have the supporting actors and all that; otherwise, it doesn't work. So, the karma for us right now feels very heavy and very unreasonable. But at that time, for us, it was no big deal. Because we were God, we didn't see suffering, we didn't know problems; we didn't look at obstructions as anything undesirable. For us, everything was just a play, until we really played, then we felt that suffering. But that's a part of the game, a part of the universal plan. If we don't play our role, we don't exist, nothing is here. I don't sit here. You don't sit there. You're not blonde; I'm not black. What is there then? Everything is just so plain. It's okay. That's why all the perfect masters say, Everything is perfect under the sun. Jesus said, You are all the children of God. They realize there is nothing to do; everyone is perfect. But we do not realize it yet, so we suffer. We have to realize the same as they do, and then we know why. Then we look at suffering as not suffering. It's still suffering; it still hurts when someone pinches you, but you understand it's just for something. You don't suffer. You do not sink into the suffering, just float on top of it.

Q. Dear Master, my wife is here today for initiation. She has been vegetarian for a long time. I tried, but could not. Please tell me why and how to.

M. Maybe your wife should go and learn vegetarian cooking more. The poor husband cannot just eat when it's not tasty. So actually, enlightenment begins here too, (Master points to Her stomach) not just here. (Master points to the wisdom eye) (Laughter) When I first met my husband, (my ex-husband, he already remarried) I was a vegetarian, he was not. He was a doctor, very practical, very down to earth. He's a Taurus kind; he belongs to the bull in the zodiac of the orient, so he is a double bull. So he doesn't believe any nonsensical things, but because I cooked very nicely, he ate every day with me and he had nothing against vegetarianism at all. After I left him for "to save the world kind of idea," (Master says jokingly) he gathered all my recipes and cooked for his friends. He always advertised, "My wife used to do this, my wife used to do that, and all the vegetables are very rich in vitamins." He cooks exactly like the recipes I left behind.

If even a Westerner, a German, a scientific-minded doctor like that, could be a vegetarian, you could be too. If all the wives cook very tasty meals, you don't miss anything. For example, you eat a bowl of soup, like Chinese soup, you have noodles and some pieces of meat in it. Instead of those meat pieces, you can have like gluten meat, tofu meat, or vegetarian ham meat, everything, all kinds. even fish. Everything can be made exactly like the non-vegetarian, so it's a matter of skill. The way to enlightenment goes through the stomach, I believe. So you wives, please take care of your crafty fingers, make it nice and tasty so your husband will be able to eat with you. Women are easier. Truly. Once you believe something, you just eat anything. (Master and all laugh) But men they are more scientific, they are more practical not too sentimental like a woman. A woman can live by sentiment, affection, emotion, so she believes, then she eats and she doesn't care how it tastes. (Laughter) But men, they're more critical, so they please their taste first, and then enlightenment comes. (Laughter)

Q. Master Ching Hai, please explain our relationship spiritually to You. After You die, and one has been initiated, is our flight back Home still guaranteed by Your soul spirit?

M. Guaranteed. As has been said earlier, we are not the body; we are the spirit. So when this body goes or comes, there is no difference, no distance between us. And I have told you already, at the time of initiation, the Method is explained to you so that you can use it for life. There is nothing that can come between anymore, unless you don't want it and you leave. But the seed is still there for next life.