Q: In the sample book it mentions that gambling is one of the things that is forbidden. Does this only refer to gambling in the casino, or any game? M: Any game that involves a large sum of money and is involved with the kind of competition between people that breeds an addictive and also a kind of competitive atmosphere is considered gambling. Q: So, football, for example? M: Football is OK! If you play football with an attitude of sport, as companions, for pleasure only, then it’s all right. But when they play football and they hit each other when they lose, it’s no good. I think in any game, we should just remain with the attitude of a gentleman. In the casino, when you lose too much money, you tend to lose your dignity. Also, many people who lose money in the casino come home and then even sell the house, sell the property, sometimes sell the children and wife, just because they get crazy. There’s also another invisible side to gambling. For those people who like gambling, there are many astral beings or disembodied spirits who hang around them all the time and always push them to do more. So they can never get out of it. Therefore, we had better keep away from such atmospheres. That’s why the people who begin to gamble, they hardly can get out. Because those disembodied spirits who love gambling always stand around them and sometimes use their bodies to satisfy their desire for gambling. That’s the reason why people find it difficult to quit. It’s the same with alcohol and other heavy drugs, even cigarettes. That’s why we should stay away from these harmful addictive substances and atmospheres. If you have the eyes to see in such places where drugs are heavily used or there is heavy gambling, there are a lot of “mauvais” (meaning bad or immoral) astral beings. The people who love gambling or drugs or other addictive activities, even if they struggle to stop, they cannot do it. This would be harmful to us. But, for example, if you are very spiritually developed, and then for some special reason you play a game once or something like that, of course it’s not that terrible. You will not be affected by it. But for ordinary people or spiritually weak persons, it’s better to stay away from that, because it becomes addictive.
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