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Be a Torchbearer for God
November 25, 1999 Johannesburg, S. Africa (In Sepedi)
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*Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to experience the enlightening wisdom of the Supreme Master Ching Hai.
Thank you, thank you. You call me “Master,” but you are all “Master.” You just forget, just forget. When we are united, when we remember the unity of the universe, which includes ourselves, then we remember that we are one with God, one with the all-pervasive Intelligence.
And when we have forgotten this, then we have forgotten everything. And we try to remember that through different means, like prayers, scriptures, yogas, meditation. All these are good. All these are good for us. One day we will truly remember that we are all masters. There is no one in this room or anywhere else who is not a master because we cannot be separated from the Master, who is all-pervasive, and we are in that pervasiveness, and we are one with that, and that's the only thing we are made of.
There is nothing else that's made up our beings except God-essence, except the greatest things that we call Truth, Wisdom, God, Goddess, Buddha - name whatever you like to call this Greatest Being in the universe, which is even one with us, with every one of us. That's why at the time of death, the so-called ourselves, or the body, just lays flat on the ground, or anywhere, and doesn't move, because that essence of all movement, of all activities, has chosen to leave that physical instrument for that time, maybe seeking another instrument for further experiencing the limitless, the vastness, of this Great Being which we call God, which is one with us, actually.
Once we've found the unity again with this all-pervasive Intelligence, all-pervasive Love, we call this enlightenment, we call this God-realization or Self-realization, or attaining Buddhahood. Different countries name this intelligence, this wisdom, this greatest love, by different terminologies because they speak different languages. Otherwise, there is just one, the Oneness that encompasses all things, including ourselves. And we are never ever separated from this Oneness, even if we try. The only reason we feel separated from this Oneness is because we have chosen to forget the unity so that we can reexperience again this greatness and we can re-create ourselves again through forgetfulness, or remember again the bliss of Heaven, of unity with God, which is ourselves, our greatest Self.
For example, many people ask me all the time, "What happens when we die?" I always say, "I didn't die yet, so I don't know." But we could experience the feeling of death during our deepest prayers or contemplation. When we are in the deepest prayers, we will be oblivious to all the surroundings, including ourselves, and all the worries will depart from us. This is the time when the Indian yogis call "samadhi." During this samadhi time, we will experience oneness with God, almost like the time when we die.
That's why in the Bible it is mentioned that, “Learn to die so that you will begin to live.” And a saint also said, "I die daily," "Whoever forsakes the flesh for the spirit will find God," etc., etc. How do we forget or forsake the flesh? Every day we have so much problem of living, of survival. Every little thing that we see around us, everything we encounter during our lifetime, always tries to remind us that we are a physical being, we are just a mere mortal, a weak, feeble human being, helpless in front of destiny. So how can we forget this?
We can. We can if we practice. We can if we know how. It is very simple. Every one of us can do this. We have children from six years old, even younger than that - five - they already experience oneness with God. They experience the phenomenon, feeling, of forsaking the flesh and uniting with the spirit, or visiting Heaven while living. It's just like I am coming to Africa to visit your beautiful country, and then tomorrow or the next days I will go back to another country, or back to where my house is. It is as simple as that. We could visit Heaven and go back to Earth again - not by the body, but by our own essence of being. We call it the soul or the spirit, which is always one with God.
The body is just like a focus point so that the soul can pay all the attention there in order to gather some earthly experience that he wants to experience so that he can temporarily - if the soul is a he or a she, we have to say something - if she or he wants to experience something in this material existence, then that soul or that part of that great being of God has to focus on some point, focus so much so that he can forget completely about his oneness with God.At that moment, we are born - we say we are born in the physical world and we have a body.
And so long as the soul or that part of God consciousness still concentrates on this focus point of the body or whatever body he chooses to focus on, we say that that's a “he,” that's a “she,” that's a “human being” or that's a what… Actually, that part of the soul, or we call individual soul, has never left the whole of God consciousness. So we have never been really born, or we have never died. But we could choose to forget completely about God, about the whole unity of ourselves, and just focus on this physical being. Then we would never experience Godhood, even though God is all over us, everywhere. But if we choose to be awakened, to remember, then we can.
We can forsake our attention for a while, don't focus on this physical being for a while; we focus back to the unity. Then we can find God. We realize that we have never left God, that we are one with God, and we are always never separated from God. So that is just the secret of the universe.It's nothing much more than ourselves; our own consciousness makes choices all the time. We choose to be a human being, then we focus on a human body so we have experience of human life - all the sorrow, the suffering, the happiness, the adventures of the flesh, the pleasures, the pain. The moment we feel we have enough of the physical experience, we want to experience something different, then we choose another choice.
We might choose to be a deva or we might even choose to experience to be a flower - that's also possible! And that's why it is born, the theory of reincarnation, of transmigration into different levels of existence. But, actually, we have never gone anywhere at all, neither go up nor go down. We're just forever flowing in the life force of the universe, forever being in Godhood, but forever experiencing different focus points for our own pleasure, for our own amusement. But while we are in the physical body, sometimes we have forgotten the wisdom of ourselves. Therefore, we have forgotten the choice that we have made before we came here. So the choice we have made might have led us to some pain or suffering.
Then, now we complain. We complain so much because we don't like the suffering - the body doesn't like the suffering, the mind doesn't like the pressure - but that was what the soul wants to experience. He wants to experience pressure so that he can appreciate again the freedom in God consciousness. He wants to choose suffering so that he can enjoy, thousand-fold, again when he enters Eternal Bliss once more. That's why we are here, so that we know God more, we know ourselves more. Just like we are the king of an ancient nation. Sometimes a king disguises himself as a commoner and goes among the people in order to understand what a true citizenship is like.
And then when he comes back, he appreciates his position better - his comfortable palace, all the servants that serve him, all the power that he has. When he has disguised himself as a commoner, he has to undergo all kinds of hardship, all kinds of ordinariness, just like every one of his subjects. He cannot reveal himself that he is a king. In fact, he must completely cover up his identity so that he can truly, truly merge with the people of his nation and experience what their daily life is like.
Similarly, we were once with God - consciously at that time - we have never been away from God, but now we are not consciously remembering that. So we've had enough of the suffering of this physical life, we've had enough of the mundane experience, so we get bored, we feel there's nothing really here anymore for us to enjoy. We would like to know where we come from, what else is there in this vast universe of God's creation that we should experience.
This is the time, when we ask this question, when we wonder like this, this is the time we will experience enlightenment. We are ready! We are ready for it. So we came all this time to be a human being, to be different human beings. Sometimes if we have focused on one focus point or one human existence, and we didn't feel we have enough, of physical enjoyment or physical adventure, then we focus on another existence of another human being again.
And then we continue further, until we get tired. So, actually, anyone who is ready can experience God's Light, God's unity and enlightenment. That is very simple like that. It's your choice only. You've chosen to forget, and now you have chosen to remember. So if you think you have chosen now to remember again then, of course, I am here to serve you. Because God has given me permission, ordered me, to do that. And maybe one day, after you have remembered everything about yourself, God will also say the same to you, "Go, my son! Go, my daughter! Do some service to my children,” or “to Myself."
Because we have never been separated from God, remember that. Even if you don't remember, just believe me. We have nowhere to go except inside God's consciousness. We have nowhere else except in God's house right now. Everywhere, Hes encompasses every being in this universe. All the flowers, the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, the galaxies, they're all inside God.
There is nothing that escapes Godhood. So even if we are not enlightened, we are all right, too. There is no hell, actually, to go to. For a conscious soul, there is no such thing as hell but just a temporary passing experience that he has to go through in the course of eternity because he has chosen to experience some so-called suffering in order to grow, in order to understand happiness again.
Every soul, every little part of God has chosen to walk a different path in order to experience different aspects of God, and the whole experience of all humankind or all beings makes up the wholeness of God. Therefore, Jesus said, "Love thy neighbor,"even "Love thy enemies." - because everyone is us. They have chosen to play that role only. There is no enemy, just us, just God's different focus points to make life more abundant, more variety, more different, more colorful, just like Hes made us even so different colors so that we can enjoy each other. Like I look like yellow corn flakes - corn. And you look like chocolate. Yes, and he looks like icing, Christmas icing.
Because God is colorful! Just like Hes made all different flowers different colors - even fruits. From the same soil, we obtain so many different fruits and different flowers. They are all different colors. The African people chose to always wear colorful clothes because inside I think they feel that they are very close to God. They are so happy.
So, there is not really anything mysterious or difficult about finding God or finding our true Selves, because we have never been anything else but God, God's essence, one with God, or God's children, God's offspring, a spark of God, a part of God. It's just like the fish in the sea - he's born in the sea, he lives in the sea, and when he dies, he becomes the sea again.
Things like that. So, we have never run anywhere. I just want to tell you the good news that I have found out: that we don't have hell to go to, we'll never be forever condemned in that eternal darkness or suffering. There is no such thing as eternal suffering, because there is only eternal love. The problem with us now is that we have to change our thinking. We have to change. We have too much guilt feeling, guilty, fear about everything. Feel guilty if we're successful. People make us feel guilty if we are rich, even. If God gives us some richness or successful business, people make us feel guilty. If you have a beautiful wife, people make you feel bad also, sometimes.
They come around and ask you, "How did you get to know this beautiful woman?" Or they will ask her, "What did you see in that guy? He's so ugly!" Things like that. It's none of their business. They make you feel bad. Yes, they make you feel guilty if you have a lot of money. They make you feel guilty if you are successful in political or business.
And the whole world is feeling guilty about so many things because we have been taught that way. This doctrine is never right. So Jesus has to come, Moses has to come to set us free - set us free not just by his sacrifice, but by the teaching, telling you that God is all-loving. "Knock and it shall be opened. Ask and it shall be given unto you." But where do you knock?
We couldn't even knock anymore. We are too weak! We are burdened with guilt and fear, fear from this revengeful God. There is no such thing as a revengeful God. If Hes is revengeful, Hes is like us, like you and me - War God. "You do something good to me or else!" This is not God! Can you imagine such a God? Then we have no need to worship such a small-minded and narrow person. If Hes is really a person, if there is a God like that, we should not worry about worshipping Hirm because it's just like one of any of the power-abusing people.
Even in this planet. Think about it, you have children or you have wife and husband, sometimes your wife makes mistakes, your husband strays a little, you still forgive him, you still hug him, and, "Okay, I forgive you. Don't do it again." Or your kids sometimes give you so much trouble because they are stubborn, they don't listen to you, they cause you headache.
You still forgive them, you still love them, and give them the best love that the parents can afford, even money - everything - sacrifice. So how would a God, the greatest Father or Mother of all the universe, could be revengeful, could condemn you to hell just because you are human, you don't know any better, and you make mistakes sometimes? So this kind of fear has been inflicted upon us generation after generation.
That's why we find ourselves too weak now to even believe there is a God who would even answer our prayers. That's why when we pray, we don't pray with the whole heart, we don't have conviction that our prayers will be answered. But it's stated in the Bible: "Knock and it shall be opened, ask and it shall be given." It is like that. It is truly like that about God. No matter what you do,
Hes will always answer your prayers. We just have to listen. I am going to show you how to listen to Hirm. This, we have to change, our way of thinking. We have to believe from today that God is all-forgiving, all-loving. Even if you don't believe God is all-forgiving, all-loving, you believe Jesus has come here and he has sacrificed for you, and I am going to show you that what he said is truth.
I am going to show you that really there is a God - God Father, God Mother, or Buddha, whomever you believe, Allah, even - anyone that you call Hiers name by all your love, all your beauty, all your faith, that is the God who is always loving, never ever, ever criticize you, even for one fraction of a second. Anytime you turn to Hirm, no matter how badly you have done in your life, Hes will open the door, immediately. That's why we call this way “immediate enlightenment,” because it is immediate.
And every day you can re-practice again and again until you completely remember that there is only one thing in this life, is God, and Hes is everywhere, and then you'll be happy. You'll be happy from the day you see Hiers Light, the first day already, maybe today. If you trust me enough to offer this service to you, you can have it right away. No problem. You will see that whatever is stated in the Bible, it is 100 truth. Like Moses has seen God, Jesus has been one with God so that he becomes… Or he's always been the Son of God, but he is not the only Son of God. We are also the son of God.
God is not impotent. Hes didn't make only one son. Hes makes many. It's just Jesus has remembered. He has remembered the highest Self of his connection with God. He has remembered the whole thing, and we have not remembered. That's all. There were two sons of the king: one has been wandering all over the land and has forgotten that he is a prince; the other stays with the father and remembers that he is a prince. Both are…? Princes, yes. No difference. One day he remembers, he comes back. It's the same. Yes.
So we are the wandering sons and daughters of God, and the moment you want to go Home, it's right there. Everything is created by thought only. For example, now we are in the physical body, so you do not understand much of the teaching of Jesus or Buddha. Because it is said that whatever you ask, your Father would give it to you. That means whatever you think of, whatever you wish for, will be fulfilled.
But we cannot believe that because we are so “prisoned” by this physical shackle we call the body. So in order to experience the boundless love, the boundlessness, the all-pervasive, unconditional, eternal love of God, we have to rise above the body. And I will show you how to do that. It's very simple. You can do that on the bus, on the airplane, in the park, anywhere. There is no condition. I will show you how in a minute. And I can show you deeper, a different level of forsaking the body.
If you want to go deeper, there are some things you'll have to know more, so it takes a couple of hours to explain to you. But the enlightenment is just seconds. The explanation takes longer. Why explanation? Because you have to do it alone at home and so you have to know everything. So take care of yourself and be your own master. Then you don't have to call me “Master” anymore; you call yourself “Master,” or don't even bother. We are friends, yes. Every one of us is equal. Equal. Truly like that.
Too many things from here. Slow down, please! Hes talks so fast. My mouth is not fast enough, because in the higher dimension, we don't even talk and we understood each other just like I am speaking to myself in my head.
The message comes through so fast, so sometimes I forgot; I couldn't catch up. The reason we do not know we are one with God and everything we wish for or remember will always be right in front of our nose is because we are shackled in this physical body. So to rise above the body, there is a way to do that.
So we can even contact Jesus, contact Buddha, contact Muhammad, whomever the past masters who have left the physical environment and entered another dimension. So, in order to see them, we enter their dimension, then we see them. It's very simple. I want to see African people the most, I come here. When I want to see English people, I go to England.
There are some English people who come to my place sometimes, or some South African brothers who come to my place sometimes, but they are rare, see? If I want to see the whole African people, I come here. That's it. If we want to see the whole Heaven or Godhood, or some celestial mansion, we have to rise up to their place, and we do that by thought - deep, deep, deep thought. I will show you how to garner your power of thought in order to get out of this “gate” here, and enter another dimension at will, anytime. You practice and you can do that anytime, anywhere.
So, why the saints say that we have to “learn to die so that you begin to live” is that, because, if you learn to do this deep contemplation on deep thought prayers, then we can enter the dimension of the celestial being. And it's just similar to the moment of death to many, even ordinary people. Don't have to say practitioner, yogis, or anything.
Ordinary people, when their conscience is clear, their life has been a perfect example of goodness, when they die, they found themselves very liberated; they found themselves all-pervasive, everywhere at the same time, and nowhere that they are not; and whenever they want something, that thing just comes right in front of them; whenever they think of somebody, that somebody will appear right in front of them.
In other words, they will project themselves immediately in front of the things that they desire or the person that they want to see. That's why when we learn to “die” - means we leave this physical body and die temporarily - we have this kind of experience too, and then we can know exactly that really, whatever we want, God grants it to us, God gives it to us. It's just in this physical body, we are so blind, deaf, and dumb to celestial blessing, to God's love, that we feel so helpless.
We are the most helpless when we are in this physical body. It is like you are locked in a box and the key has been thrown away into the river. It's like that - so helpless. That's why we have to learn to rise above this physical prison in order to truly experience the glory of love. Then we will be so happy every day that it doesn't matter where we are, doesn't matter how much we have or not have, we will be always contented, always happy. That's why Jesus did not move in the face of death. He said, "Father, how much you have glorified me." He accepted the crucifixion; he did not run away.
He could have; he could have, anytime. A man of that power and knowledge, he can do anything! But he did not want to. Why should he run away from something that he knows can only make him feel more glorified, more happy, more liberated? Why should he feel attached to this little prison when he knows the vastness of Heaven? Why should he be attached to relatives and friends of this physical dimension, when he knows that he could see the Father in Heaven, and he knows all of the brothers and sisters, all the relatives and friends, are all one with him in the end, anyhow? That is true liberation. There is no freedom compared to this freedom in God realization. That is the only true freedom that we should search for.
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