I also have had this experience, because since I was young, I loved to work. I loved to be of help. We had servants in the house, but I always ironed my own clothes, washed my own clothes. I even brought water for my parents to take baths and cooked tea for my father. Sometimes I learnt to cook and I took care and helped the servants voluntarily. We had about three, four servants at that time. No need for me to work, I always liked to work. Probably that's why I am good at many things, just because I am used to adjustments.

For example, if you do something a long time, sometimes you don't need to measure, you just look and you know how much is needed. It's very fast. The same with many other things, the more you use your brain, the more it will become alert and intelligent. Otherwise, you just become more and more stupid and then regress into stone or tree. That's how people regress. So don't ask me how people can become animals or regress to a lower nature of life. They make it that way. They make themselves that way.

There was a story about a man in Formosa. He is a kind of medium, he can go to hell or to heaven. That man was very pure from childhood -- ate vegetarian. He never married and he meditated. He also knew about me. When I first became famous in Formosa and appeared in public, he also came to have a look, he pressed himself on the window. Since that day, he doesn't do medium work anymore. He said: "Great Master has come. We have to stop all this work in respect to Her. We don't need to do all this work anymore." He had about two hundred thousand strong followers. He just dropped it. He went to hell and he went around the world to check out. Sometimes went to heaven -- maybe it was not very high. The things he recounted when he came back or during the voyage, I know to be true. So, he must have been very genuine.

This guy went to hell. He recounted and someone else at the time took notes of it and he made some books about hell. One story about hell was like this, very simple. Oh! Not hell, about our human life was like this. He was walking around and saw many things in this world with different eyes -- probably astral projection. He saw a couple, just walking on the street, jumping and dancing by the way to rock and roll music, and just so happy. Happy, jumping around like that. Suddenly, they came across a pig sty. The mother pig just happened to have given birth to piglets. These two souls were kind of attracted into this business and they became pigs just by dancing and not paying attention to where they went. That was one story.

Another story about hell, how people became pigs and animals. Many people who die, who do not have enough merit to be born as humans again immediately or to be born in heaven, will be in so-called hell for a while. They will be punished or something terrible done to them to clean their karma, burn out all the bad things, cut off all the immoral ulcers from their souls, so they can be born again. The king of hell will give them an audience and ask them what is it that they want now -- what kind of position they want, and what kind of life they want to lead -- as now they will have the privilege to be born as humans again.

One by one, they answered. Some of them said: "Oh! I am so happy to be free of hell now. I am sure that I am going to be a human being, very honored, very happy and going to be a very good person. For example, I want to serve and I want to do this." Then they will give you a good position like being a nurse, doctor or whatever to give you a good chance to serve people.

Another person said: "Oh! Since I have been in hell very long -- very terrible, miserable -- now I want to enjoy life. I want to have beautiful surroundings, beautiful clothes and a lovely voice so that I can sing and charm all the females. I should have a beautiful abode next to a river and should have plenty of food so that I don't have to earn money to get it."

The king of hell said, "All right." So he told his subordinates, the devils, to bring him exactly what he needed. So what did they bring him? A beautiful, feathered bird, such shiny feathers. That's what he wanted. He wanted beautiful clothes, no need to earn them. So he had them fixed permanently. No need to wash even, no trouble. He didn't want a troubled life; he wanted just to sit there, eat, drink, and sing. So they gave him a big, beautiful, feathered body and a nice voice, so he could sing all day long. Then placed him next to a tree in the forest -- a lot of berries, wild fruit and beautiful surroundings. He had drinking, eating, beautiful feathers, and nothing to worry about. That was what they gave him. Exactly according to what he wanted. So do not blame God for our position. It is what we wanted.

Another guy also came up from hell and wanted a similar thing. "Wow! I have always been burned in hell and my flesh looks like it's all gone. I'm skinny and burned out. I want to get fat and even fatter. Looks like a lot of blessings to be fat." Most people think to be fat and big is a kind of meritorious life. "I have had such a hard life in hell, I want to make up for it now. I want to just eat, drink, sleep, and get fat. I have been very skinny up till now because all the fire in hell drew out my blood, burned all my fat and flesh. I want people to serve me, bring food up to my door, up to my mouth even. I don't want to go anywhere, don't want to earn money for it. Give me that kind of life! Then I don't have to worry about food, clothing and everyone serves me."

The king told the subordinates to bring his "outfit" for this life. Do you know what it was? A pig's skin. They put it down for him and he immediately became a pig. After that he drank a kind of liquid and forgot everything about his past life; he just enjoyed being a pig. Every day people brought food to his mouth, washed him, brought drinks for him, and made him fat. He didn't have to do anything at all. That was the kind of life that he wanted, so he got it. Otherwise, how can you have a human life; doing nothing, no responsibility. You get food and drink brought to your mouth, without doing anything. Do you think there is a human life like that? No. So they had to give him a pig's life to satisfy his desires. That was very justified because it was according to what he wanted.

Your Father gives you. Is that not so? Whenever you knock, you shall be given. Now that you often ask, you'll be given. If you ask for the impossible thing, you get the impossible life. That's what it is.

That's how many people run into trouble and are born into lower levels of consciousness. Just because of the misconception, just because they want things for nothing, just because they want to go against the law of karma here in this world. Once we are above the law of karma, then it's okay, we are in heaven, we're in nirvana. Whatever we want, it will be supplied; we don't even need to want. But when we are still in the Three Worlds -- with physical bodies, physical needs, physical demands -- we have to make also physical contributions. That's why the Bible says: With the sweat of your brow, you earn your bread. No other way. We have been in Eden, we have been in heaven, but we left the circuit. Now that we are in this world, we have to obey the law, take care of ourselves, and our businesses.

Freedom doesn't mean that you fly in the sky; I stay here, I open the mouth, and wait for the berries to come. Freedom means that you have great responsibilities. Means no one should have to tell you what to do, but you know what to do. You have freedom by choice if you know everything; what to do and take care of your life and your work. No way before. If you still let people tell you what to do because you don't know what to do yourself, then you are not free. Doesn't matter how much you want to be free, you are not, because you are bound within your own ignorance. You let your mind cheat you into thinking you are free and you are okay. But you are not.

So there is much work for you to do and your level is up to you. Even if I take you to the fifth and you are not up to it, you are still on the first; even if I am, for example, a university professor but you are still at the kindergarten state: if I take you to the college by my own power and position, what do you do there? You cannot do anything. You don't understand. Even if I love you very much, I cannot help you to be intelligent at such an age.

So it's up to you. Try to polish your own power, manner and way of life. You have to know, you can choose whatever you want. But then, do not blame anyone if you are not free, if you are not progressing, if you are not respected, or if you are not good for yourself. That's all. Otherwise it doesn't concern anyone, what kind of life, what kind of level you choose to be in.