Spot Light
Spoken By Supreme Master Ching Hai, Group Meditation, Singapore April 26, 1997 (Originally In English)

Relying on yourself is the best, really, because the Master is inside. Try hard, get in touch with him, then you'll solve every problem. That's the way of the Masters. That's what the Master is there for. It's not just the physical body. I'm just here as a friend, to tell you what to do, to show you the way that you've forgotten. But it's not me that you should rely on. It's yourself, you have to.

Everyone must rely on themselves. The Buddha said you have to light your own torch, walk your own way. That's the way it is. Just rely on yourself, think hard, go inside, meditate.

While in meditation, try to keep a note pad beside you because a lot of ideas, a lot of answers come and you'll forget later. I tell you, I forget too. Sometimes when I meditate there are a lot of problems or something that I receive, so I note it down. Sometimes I'm lazy, too comfortable to write it down. I think I will remember because it's such an easy and small thing, but I forget completely. Does it happen to you? (A: Yes!)

So (laughter) get up! Why? Because they are things from heaven. That's why we're stupid. That's why the whole...(Laughter) Don't tell them. Shhh! Just between me and you. They do have a sense of intuition inside, just like this (Master snaps Her fingers), when they sleep or when they think hard. But if they do not write it down, they do not take notice of it, or they think it's just a passing thought, they forget.

Three days ago, something came and I forgot all about it. I am still trying to remember and I cannot. This is the inner Master telling you. That's why if we don't notice, we don't go inwards all the time, we forget what we should do in the world, we forget God's will. That's why we err, that's why we make trouble, that's why we cannot solve all our problems. Not that the Master doesn't tell you. Really, we forget. Even just one fleeting thought like that, and we forget immediately after half an hour of getting out of meditation. How would we remember our past life, our glory in heaven, our original Home, our wisdom, our greatness? How? Everything makes us forget in this world. We have forgotten since we were young already.

There is a true story which always touches my heart and always make me want to cry. Sometimes I do cry. It goes like this. There was a four-year old girl who requested to talk with her newly born brother alone in the room without the parents. The parents were very surprised, but consented. So they stepped outside. Nevertheless, they tried to listen, why the girl wanted to talk to the brother alone, and how could a girl talk to a newly born infant? They just listened, eavesdropped on the kid. This is what they heard. The four-year old girl asked the newly born brother in a very gentle voice, she said, "Beloved one, please tell me what God feels like. I've begun to forget already." You see, that's the problem with us.

As always, it makes me want to cry. Can you believe how a kid feels, how lost she feels when the good thing that she has begins to fade away, and she can't control it, she can't get it back. And the more we grow, the more we forget.

We don't suffer that much actually, just when we were young, when we began to forget. That is when it hurt the most. That's why kids, when they go out, they cry. They feel that it's so harsh outside. Apart from their environment it probably hurts their physical being.

The first contact is also the cry of the soul, because inside the womb they are more protected, they are more with God. They have noses, eyes, ears, everything; and they live in the liquid bowl and they don't feel anything. They're not fish but they can swim inside; and they can turn upside-down, inside-out, wrong way and they don't feel anything, because they're blissful inside.

That is when the mind doesn't move. That is when the preconceived ideas, the brainwashing system does not alter our consciousness, so we're still complete in ourselves. We don't need anyone, we don't need company, we don't need friends, we don't need any luxury to feel good. That's why in any situation we just feel good; because we were the soul, we were the Master then, we're still with God.

So if we try to remember that state of being, we'll feel happy again. At least for a while. At least the one-tenth of our day that we spend in the blissful company of God's purity. Otherwise, we just get more and more burdened with the garbage of this world and that's how we became the way we have become, or the way the people have become. They try to get substitutes -- drink, drugs, women, money, power, position, fame -- just to substitute for the things they've lost.

So the people in this world who are greedy, who are vicious, who are ambitious, who are trying to get anything for themselves, who are selfish, are not to be blamed also; they're just desperate. But it happens that they did not create enough merit in the last lives for them to be able to meet a friend, a guide to show them the real way to happiness so they have to find it themselves through all kinds of means and sometimes, stumble and harm themselves. So we feel sorry for the people of the world, not really hate them, not really blame them for what they are. Just that they're very unlucky.

We are more lucky. Even if we lose all the money, we can earn it again. We can live a simple life. We don't worry that people look upon us as a poor person, no bank account and no Cadillac, whatever. We don't care anymore, because we have the blessing power that has been awakened in us again. So meditate, so we'll feel less and less attached to the fame, name and opinions of the worldly people; so we'll feel happy.

But other people, even if they have the money, they're not happy. Even if they have everything, they're not happy. Sometimes the money and the fame even harm them more than do good. They have money and they play the fool. They get AIDS, they take drugs, and they harm themselves, physically and mentally. When they're reborn again with such a muddled kind of mind, they will be a lesser being next time.

So money is not everything if you don't handle it well. I tell you to earn money just to be independent. Also we can share our wealth and our power of earning with other less fortunate people. It's good to be successful but we all know that it's not the goal of our lives. It's different from the money-grabbing people. That makes our mentality very, very disturbed. If we earn money just for the sake of being comfortable and share it with others, it's not uncomfortable at all. If we gain, we feel happy. If we lose, we're not that miserable. We know it's nothing. That's the good thing about meditation -- we find ourselves. (Applause)