My room, it’s supposed to be a private room, now it became a public living room so I can have guests, receive disciples or some of the important people who come for refugees’ issues and things like that. So it becomes a public place, one more place for receiving guests. Otherwise, if it’s my bedroom, well I wouldn’t like to invite people to come in all the time. Because you don’t know when they’ve last washed their socks, and you don’t know where they sat before they came to your room. And everybody came in and jumped on and sat next to me and liked to sit on my sofa next to me and take photos and all that.
And I’m very particular about cleanliness, you know that. So, my bed is the only privacy that I have, two square meters, I guess. That’s the only private place that I have. That’s why I keep it clean, and I hate people to make it dirty or to touch it here and there with their dirty hands. That’s why all my monks and nuns have to wear gloves when they come to my private quarters and wear socks, clean, before they step in my room or my private tent, even to clean around or to help me to fix some things. Because that is the only place where I’m absolutely sure of cleanliness and privacy.
I love cleanliness, I love privacy. It’s only because of you that I sacrifice everything. I can tell you that I want to shed tears, because I have nowhere to hide in this world, except that place. Therefore, if I forbid you to come near, you must understand. I need some time, rest, to recuperate in order to go out to serve you again. Not that I have anything reserved for my personal comfort. I have to keep my body in order, because it’s very sensitive to any illness and any abuse of this world. So, I have to keep it in a clean, good condition, just to serve you. But some people don’t understand this.
You understand how much I have to suffer or not? I don’t know what other Masters feel. I can only tell you what I feel, because each one sometimes is different. Maybe other masters, they don’t care so much about cleanliness or privacy. Maybe they love the publicity, they love the people, they love the crowd. I don’t know, I’m not. I’m a very shy and private person from birth, from childhood. I didn’t have many friends. All the so-called friends I have are because they sticked to me, they loved me, but not that I seek them. Everywhere I go, I’m very shy. When I was with my husband, we hardly spoke anything sometimes. And when I heard him talking to his friends, so eloquently, and his friend conversed with him so freely and so abundantly, and I sat there and envious, feeling sorry that I didn’t know how to speak with him more. I said, “How can they speak with him [for] hours? I cannot.”
I hope that you understand what I say. There’s nothing private for me, nothing that I reserve for me, and nothing I call mine. It’s just that one quarter is my bed, my tent is for me. But even that, sometimes I have no privacy. Because the monks also share with me the place, but they know how to keep away, and that’s OK. It’s alright to live around me, provided you understand my need of privacy. It’s not that I keep everything for myself. The place, the beautiful place you came up to, all the monks live around also. But they respect, they live their lives, and I live mine, except when we want to be together, that’s OK.
It’s just that most people don’t understand privacy. Because I’m always in public, and whenever I retreat to my bed, my sleeping quarter, I wish to be completely private and alone, and that is all. Not that I want everything for myself and forbid you to come and all that. I give you enough of my time and energy whenever I have. Alright? I’m sorry to complain. Any questions? But I had to say it once, once for all the time. Just don’t get near where I tell you not to. And that’s all. You don’t understand this maybe, because you’re not always in the public eye. You don’t understand the feeling that people need privacy. But if you live in America, you would understand, because American people, they respect privacy, and they guard their privacy very dearly. Is that not so? So, you should learn this from them. I told you already this morning.
Do you have any question before going home? (When You’ll come back?) When will I come back? God knows. I don’t know yet. I’ll probably leave tomorrow. But I don’t even know for sure. So, I think you all leave today. If any news, we’ll let you know again. Alright? Tonight. Or you want to stay? Somebody stay? It’s OK. You stay in your tent? You have? You have tent? It’s alright there? And you two only, not afraid? OK. And other people go home?
Be happy where you are. Do your duty. When we finish, we pay off the debt, we owe this world, and then honestly, we go. A practitioner should be honest. We say everything comes from God. That is for sure; that is for sure. But God needs good instruments, and the people who work for us are good instruments. We have to be also one of them. Otherwise, the world goes back to where it used to be, living in caves and eating (animal-people) flesh and blood and all that, without any civilization and order. We still don’t have much civilization nowadays, compared to other ages and other planets, but still, it’s better than before, a little bit better. So we try to keep it or improve it by our contribution. We cannot let it go backward now. We have to only go forward. And if we put our effort in, then it goes forward. Is that not so? And the practitioners of enlightened beings should put even more effort, in every way, to lead the human beings into a better future, even if we don’t stay here very long.
Yes, ma’am? (You mentioned about teaching, at one time.) Yes. (And…) Mentioned about what? (Teaching, this morning.) Teaching? (In the classroom and difficulty dealing with children sometimes. In New Jersey, there is an arrangement by which each district, they have 600 local school districts, they pay just for their own schools. And the governor is attempting to change that because there are some that don’t have adequate funds. And there is a big objection to it.) Don’t have what? (Adequate funds, tax money. How do you convince the people who have the money that they have any obligation to anybody else?) (Not enough money.) Who has not enough money? (Usually the large cities, most of the large cities in the state, do not have enough funds for proper schools. And those suburban districts that do have enough money want the money just to go to their local schools, and they don’t want it to go into the cities.)
Well, if they only have enough to support themselves, of course you cannot expect them, or do they have extra? (They have more, I would say the governor and the others feel they have more than enough in the suburbs. And he is attempting to have it spread out into the cities. And many feel that it’s not their obligation to take care of people in another town.) Yes, which doesn’t belong to their town. Yes, understand. (Yes. How do you deal with that attitude?) Well, they forgot that they all belong to America. How can I convince the Americans that they belong to America? If you, the Americans, cannot convince them… I am a foreigner.
Convince them that they are Americans, that they belong to American society, and that everything that goes into the American society benefits all the Americans in the American society. Convince them. Remind them who they are and where they live. Everything that affects the whole country, or at least affects the whole county, affects them. They should know that. Write a poem, write a newspaper article, go on TV, do what is necessary in your power. If I, a foreigner, come here and tell them what to do, they’ll “kill” me. You’re welcome.
Anything else? No? Then I take leave of you. I wish you all the best for the week to come and the days to come and the years to come. Maybe we meet each other again in Taiwan (Formosa) or somewhere. Maybe I will go to another state tomorrow or the next day. I don’t know yet. So, you will hear from me. Alright? And if you don’t, well, it’s no problem. You will hear it. No? You always hear from me. (Yes.)
Yes. You want to ask a question? (Excuse me. The new disciples that You initiated yesterday, we never got our popcorn. I understand they were supposed to be blessed by the Master.) I bless you with my breath, with my look, with my touch, with my talk. Why do you need popcorn? (Thank You very much.) What do you need popcorn for? (Well, I was told that the popcorn was very special. You’re supposed to eat only one in an hour?) One in an hour? (After initiation.) Then how many popcorn you need a year? I have to build a mountain for you. Who tells you all this nonsense? This is only a token of love. It’s traditional in India. Some rice and some corn will help them. And it’s a token of love between Master and disciples. So when you eat that, you remember the Master, and you meditate one hour. But not each hour you eat one popcorn. It’s not… It’s not for chronic disease or more. Oh my God, I will spend all my money on popcorn.
Photo Caption: Be Happy My Friends, Smile for Life.
