 Thou
Shalt Not Take The Name Of The Lord Thy God In Vain
 Now
let's talk about the third commandment, which is, Thou shalt not take
the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Who is God? How can we respect
God if we don't even know Hiers name? If we don't know Hiers name,
we can't revere Hirm as God, the Supreme Master, Anuttara Samyak Sambodya
or Buddha power! We must not make use of Hiers name to swear, to vow
or to curse others. Even when we use it to swear to God, it's no good.
You shouldn't say, "I didn't do this. If I'm lying to you, I'll be
struck by lightning..." or things like that. We must not force others
to take oaths, nor must we swear in the name of God. Some people are
even worse. They use God's name to wage wars. They use God's name
to kill people, to invade another country, or to abuse other people's
children or women. These are examples of making bad use of God's name.
When
God sends a person to Earth to represent Hirm, such as Jesus Christ
or Shakyamuni Buddha, when He's in the world or after He's gone, we
must respect His name, too; that is, we must respect God's name or
a Master's name. We must not slander or joke about Their names nor
must we say Their names casually without respect.
Why
does God want us to respect Hirm or Hiers representatives? It's because,
the more we respect them, the greater blessings we'll gain. Otherwise,
we may never see masters and the sun for many lifetimes; we may fall
in a dark place where there's no sunlight, no parents' name and no
masters. That's why God tells us to respect Hiers name or Hiers representatives'
names, that is, the masters' names. Only then will we have light and
our inner Master will have a chance to develop. When there's a cause,
there's a consequence. Like attracts like. If we don't respect God,
we'll have bad consequences. God reminds us about this only out of
Hiers compassion.
It's
not that God needs our respect. Many people have been worshipping
Hirm or not worshipping Hirm throughout the ages, but Hes has never
changed a bit. Hes is forever neither unborn nor destroyed and neither
defiled nor cleansed. Hes only gives but never takes. Hes doesn't
need anything, because everything in the universe is created by Hirm.
 The
Seventh Day Is The Day For Group Meditation
 The
next commandment is, On the seventh day, thou shalt not do any work.
Respect the Sabbath Day! In the Bible, it's stated that God created
the universe in six days and hence rested on the seventh day. I'm
doubtful about why God needed a rest. Hes doesn't need it at all!
You also think that I don't have to rest. So, every Sunday and holiday,
you always come here for a vacation and tire me to death. In that
case, God is more fortunate than I am, (Master laughs) because Hes
can take a rest on the seventh day.
Hes even asked us
to rest with Hirm. Why? Because Hes worried that we work so hard throughout
the whole week that we don't have time to remember our Selves and
God. God is our inner Kingdom and our inner Buddha nature. What Hes
meant was that we should get together for group meditation on the
seventh day! It's stated clearly in the Bible that people must not
do labor or physical work and can only get together to worship God.
It implies that we should practice spiritually to look for our highest
status and the greatest wisdom within.
This
tradition has been passed down to today. Every Sunday, people group
together in church to recite the scriptures written in the past. However,
they just come to a church, read the Bible, and then go home. Besides,
they have some refreshments. They eat biscuits that aren't blessed.
In the past, biscuits symbolized the blessed food from the masters,
for biscuits were convenient to store, cheap and light. Since there
were too many people, they made biscuits very thin. People ate them
not for the taste but for the blessing power contained in them.
Our popcorn here
is also not very tasty but looks rather cheap. You can buy popcorn
easily with money, yet you like to get it here, because ours is different!
You'd be even happier if I personally gave it to each one of you.
This is what it meant. It's possible that when someone outside sees
me handing popcorn to each one of you, he'd think that you came here
only for popcorn. Then he may build an ashram and hand out popcorn
every day, without knowing the real meaning. The person who gives
popcorn must have power so that the popcorn will be blessed; otherwise,
doing it is meaningless.
We
spiritual practitioners naturally emit loving power that attracts
people to us. After they leave us, they feel that they've lost a very
important thing, as if their vitality had been taken away. When I
left Costa Rica, people cried like babies. They said, "Oh! It seems
like my flesh is being cut off, or a part of me is being cut off and
taken away." That's why we like to stay together with spiritual practitioners,
not because of their attire or that they're Buddhist monks with their
hair shaved, but because the intangible vibration emitted from them
makes us feel very comfortable. This is just like if we have water
to drink when we're thirsty, have food to eat when we're hungry, or
have effective medication when we're ill. We feel very comfortable,
but we can't describe it.
Similarly,
the blessed biscuits are good only when they're given by a powerful
person; otherwise, they're nothing if they're bought from outside.
However, the biscuits are useful. They can remind people of God. Then
when they go home, they may ask, "Who is God?" They may long to see
Hirm. Later, they may hear someone giving a lecture and saying, "I
can help you to find God." Then they'll go to that person quickly
out of curiosity. In that case, the biscuits are useful; otherwise,
they're virtually useless. It's not that we should group together
and recite all day long, "I long to see God. I love God." No! Although
God is within us, Hes can't help us if we don't find Hirm.
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Master
Says
Keep
The Commandments In Order To Become Special Friends Of The Lord