M. Yes, well, they are similar to the Ten Commandments of Catholicism, of the Christians. Like you don't kill. Refrain from harming other beings, including animals; hence, the vegetarian diet. And even don't cut trees and things at random. We don't worship nature but we must protect nature, even including trees and that; because they also have living, loving impulse within themselves. And also to protect our environment. It goes deeper than just the five sentences. But you know, this scares people. So I just say: We refrain from harming and killing other beings. We refrain from telling lies, tell the truth only. We refrain from stealing, but give in charity and love. We refrain from adultery, but are faithful to one another, helping one another spiritually and materially. We refrain from drinking intoxicants, drug and things like that, or alcohol.
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Q. What is the initiation and what are some of the requirements?
M. Initiation is the moment of connection with God within you. Afterward, you are always connected and see God every day. The requirements are a complete vegetarian diet and virtuous living and two and half hours meditation every day. You may ask for the details outside. Yeah? Outside we have written some kind of requirements. Actually, I myself require nothing from you; it is that you yourself have to require of yourself some discipline. For example, if you live on an animal diet, that is detrimental to your spiritual life. And now when I tell you the secret is to cut it off, it's for your own good. For myself, I require nothing from you. There is no need to change your husband or wife, no need to change your job, no need to change any, how to say, social contacts or any religion. If you are Christian, be so; if you are Jewish, believe that; if you are in any religion, any sect, you are free to stay there. I just tell you how to acquire your own highest potential power inside. And that is what you, or what any religion would name the highest. The Buddhists name this as the highest, the Christians name this as the highest; and I want you to find that power. That's all.
But you must be pure in speech, body and mind. For example, in our minds we must not think of any violence; we must think of love, forgiveness, tolerance, forbearance. In speech we must speak of wisdom, of soothing comfort to our associate. In body we should live a pure life, more or less a chaste life. A chaste life doesn't mean you don't have a husband or wife, but that you have only one husband or one wife. and you don't divorce. That's it. Whatever husband or wife you have, you continue to have, and you put up with that. [Master laughs] That is the chaste life. After that, to be a chaste man you must give up all kinds of liquor, I mean things that make people confused in mind, and. make the body weak. Things that make mental disease like drugs, alcohol, or gambling, these kind of things. That is a chaste life or pure life. Understand?
So your body, speech and mind you should adjust according to God's virtue, what He means, because you want to become God, you want to become I and my Father are one. Now you may wonder if God gambled or God drank any liquor or God had any, so many terrible adulteries or, how to say, all kinds of lower desires, yeah? If we want to become one with God, of course we have to lift our own body, speech and mind to match His. So, this is the condition. You should be vegetarian, that's all, and be chaste in speech, body and mind, be loving and not violent That's all.
For example, before you loved to beat people, and now if you want to practice this method, then please don't beat any more. That's all. And before, if you loved to eat animal meat, then now, out of compassion and love for living life, you should just abstain from it. Just to show that you are higher, one step higher, in God consciousness, and that you have more compassion, you practice love and mercy. That is the condition. Very easy. No? Yes! We can do that. We can.
Q. I would like to know what are the five commandments that we shall practice besides meditating and being vegetarians.
M. Commandments, oh yes, yes, yes, it's easy. It's like the ten commandments, only shorter. Yeah. The first is you shall not kill, therefore eat vegetarian. Because we eat vegetarian, no one kills. The second is you do not tell lies, The third is you do not steal, but give. Yeah? what it is? Not killing but helping life. Yeah. Not telling lies but always tell the truth, and preach the truth to others. Yes. Not stealing but giving in charity. Yes. Not having adultery but have one wife, one man, like that. Or become a nun. Or become a monk. [Master laughs] This he doesn't like. Okay we forget it. One wife is enough. One man, one wife, this is good. And the fifth is you don't drink alcohol, gamble, take drugs, or watch these kind of, how to say, very poor ladies movies. Poor lady means they have no clothes on, they can't afford it. These are the five commandments. Alright? It's difficult to laugh when we must listen to the translation. I know, otherwise we will explode here with laughter.
Q. Is love intoxicating, and if so, must we refrain from it according Precept Number Five?
M. Oh, no, no, no! Intoxication means drugs, alcohol, and all the things that make you become an addict, make you a slave into, make a slave out of you, also blur your vision, and damage your brain cells and impair your ability to think, to see and to do things clearly. These are drugs. These are intoxicants.
Q. If after being initiated and I still make a mistake like eating meat or having an evil thought, does it mean that I'll be disconnected from God or suffer some bad punishment?
M. Evil thought, you might not be able to control it immediately after enlightenment, because it's just like the car brake, you see. When the car runs sixty miles an hour, and if you want to brake it, do it slowly, yeah. So, it'll probably take some time to be able to purify completely yourself. But the meat you can avoid it, yeah, except when you don't know it and you eat it by mistake, then that's fine. But you have to meditate more on that day to clean that, because that is a very heavy karma. That's what makes people ill, what makes our body suffer, and what makes us go to hell afterward to repay for the suffering of other beings. (Applause.)
Q. Regarding the five requirements you must follow in order to be initiated, what would happen if you don't follow them?
M. When you don't follow them, what happens is that you don't follow! What else can I do? Then try again. Okay? If you think that it's good for you and good for others and it's a kind of protective fence around our spiritual sublimity then we keep them, okay, and don't make damage to your just-grown sublimity. But otherwise no one is there to condemn you or do anything to you except your own conscience. So try to live up to that and whenever you fall, stand up; try again.
Q. I'm afraid to be initiated and become weak and go back to eating meat. Master, even though it is so, should I be initiated?
M. Yes, yes. You are very honest, and I like that. The future, we don't know. Take care of the present. Okay! Maybe you never will, who knows? You have to be sincere and pray to the Master and help will be there. If you are sincere, the Master won't let you fall. Okay!
Q. If we cannot follow all your rules and decide that we will not take initiation now, is there some form of meditation you can share with us to help us? Sometimes my mind wanders or my mind dwells on past events, replaying past events. Is there any method you can share with those who will not take initiation now? Also when you become vegetarian and clean your system, won't this make you more sensitive to the air pollution, and other non-pure substances and people who are not clean? When you live in the country it is not so stressful, but the city life is very stressful. How to purify yourself and not become so vulnerable?
M. It is like this. Yes, there are some other kinds of meditation. You can try to be as much a vegetarian as possible, and that will help you. Even in a polluted area, to be vegetarian gives you more immunity. You must know that! The vegetarian people are less sick than the meat eating people. So instead, it gives you protection, and your mind will be calmer, and you will think less. That is a good benefit of the vegetarian diet, not only it's mercy quality. Why? Because we forgive. If we don't take another's life then our life is also not at stake. Understand that? It's the law of Karma, cause and effect. So, if we forgive others, others will forgive us, so we will be more peaceful at heart. We have no guilty conscience. Understand that? No guilty feelings, so that's what makes our mind peaceful. That is a very logical way to think about being vegetarian. And now if you can not get initiation, what kind of rules do you think are difficult for you to keep? May I explain it to you, and then you can decide. If you completely can not keep them, then I may teach you another method, no problem. What kind of rules can you not keep? She is taking what? [Someone in audience answers "Martial arts".]
What's that got to do with the rules? Fighting? Oh, this is only for fun. You won't kill people, no? You are taking fighting? Will that kill people? Make them hurt? Oh! Really! But you are so nice, how can you beat people up? I think you are taking up the wrong hobby. Why don't you take up drawing, or dancing, or singing? Yeah. It is more suitable to your sweet face, your sweet expression. I think that's no problem. It's just a matter of changing hobbies. Instead of going and beating people up, you sit there and beat God up. Tell Him, "Come out quickly, and let me see you." That is also a kind of fighting. I think to do martial arts with ourselves is more difficult than martial arts with other people. Don't you agree? Yeah. So I'll teach you a new type of martial arts. Please go get initiation, and then fight with yourself. You will find it very interesting. Yeah. What is that?