Spoken By Supreme Master Ching Hai, Hsihu Center, Formosa (Originally In Chinese)
December 12, 1990

This is an Indian story. There was a woman who practiced very well spiritually. Many people were jealous of her because she was liked and respected very much. Even the king was jealous of her. Many people heard about her practice and did not believe that a woman could practice so well. Therefore, the king asked someone to take her to the palace, with the intent to insult her. Under such circumstances, being pressured and pushed too hard, she tried to escape this difficult situation. She kept trying with her own mind, but in vain. Occasionally, she remembered to call her master, once or a couple of times, mostly out of habit, not very sincerely.

    She was still trying to use her own power, not believing that the master would save her entirely. While asking for her master's help, she was still trying to struggle, not truly, sincerely asking for her master's help, not leaving everything for her master to take care. That's why her master didn't show up.

    Finally, there was nothing else she could do, she surrendered and relied on her master wholeheartedly. She said, No matter what happens now, Master, please take care of it. At that moment, her master came in the form of a light body and saved her immediately.

Most of the time, it's more difficult if we struggle with our own strength. Who is the Master? Actually, it's also our own power, the higher-self, the perfect self-being -- who knows everything, who is omnipresent, and can handle everything. If we use our own mind, we are just relying on that low conscious self -- just ourselves, our past experiences. For example, What should I do when I encounter a certain situation? How should I react when I encounter certain types of people? I have encountered this before, how should I take care of this? This is all using the past experience stored in our mind. However, you should know that sometimes the past experience is different from this one, because the situation is different. Sometimes, just a subtle difference will make it totally different.