We have to always stay tuned; otherwise, you won't know where you are, nor what you should do in this life or after this life. There's no excuse. We live only to contact God: That's the most important. We work, we eat, we sleep, but these are the second most important things. Because if you're not strong yet, you still have to work, eat and earn a living; but that's not the most important thing in life. The most important is to live for the meditation. Meditation means praying; it's the same. If we don't know how to meditate, then we pray. It's the same. After the Master such as Buddha or Jesus went to Heaven, people didn't know how to meditate; so they prayed. But we do pray properly, meaning meditation. It's the best way to pray. If we don't pray like that, we can't know our God, our Self. Then we are lost. You might earn a lot of money, have plenty of children or eat a lot of couscous, but it's for nothing. After you die, it's finished! All the couscous, all the children, and all the wives mean nothing. They don't help at the time you go, when you leave this planet or in this life - not at all. This is the most basic I say it again and again, and you don't understand.

But you must meditate; that's the most important in life. It's more important than anything else in your life. Otherwise, you won't make it. You think you stay one or two hours and you listen to a sound, inside or outside - (Master jokes) depending on how deeply you sleep - but it's not enough! That's why, even if I elevate you to the Fifth Level, you could go down immediately, almost more quickly than you ascend. When our heart is just single-minded and one pointed, we arrive at the Fifth Level very quickly. But when our heart is scattered, meaning our thinking is scattered, then we go down – zip! - like that.

Because of this, Jesus said, “Unless you become like a child again, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” It's very difficult to control the mind, more so than a hundred elephants. When you see a little flash of Light or you hear a little Sound, you think it's good enough. But that's not it. No, because you're still here, you still feel it - you still feel the outside and you still feel good, just a little bit here or there and you know it. That's not it. If you really hear the Sound, you will be pulled up faster than a UFO or rocket to the Moon! And there is nothing in this world that can distract you, nothing in this world that you want. You would even give up your life; even if someone came and wanted to kill you, at that moment you would say, “Please, you're welcome.” You have no idea of anything that you really want in this world anymore: there's nothing at all. That is when you really meditate. And the rest is just practicing, practicing, practicing.

To Improve Spiritually, We Must Do It Ourselves

That's why I say, “Please practice meditation.” That's why we call ourselves spiritual practitioners. It means that you try, try, try. Sometimes you try and you arrive; sometimes you try and you don't arrive. But if you're not stable, even if you arrive due to the grace of God, you will come back down again so quickly! If you're stable, you will not go down, even if you work in the world. If you're not stable, even if you go to a monastery, even if you go to the mountain, even you live in the meditation center, it's no use, even in the presence of the Master. The Master cannot eat for you. Just now, I've given you chocolate. But you are the one who eats it; I cannot eat for you. I bought a lot of chocolate. But it's not for me to eat it all. If I eat it all, will you feel anything? If I bought a lot of chocolate and ate everything, would you look at me and say, “M-m-m, what good chocolate!”? (Laughter) Is there something like that? No, never.

So I have to give you the chocolate. But if you don't eat it, you also don't feel anything. It's the same if you are in the presence of the Master but your concentration is not on the Master, then the Grace cannot penetrate you too much. Maybe some, but not a lot. Also, if you have some restriction on yourself, like some preconceived idea about what a Master should do and what a Master should look like, then you build a big wall around yourself that separates yourself and the Master's Grace. Then you have absolutely even less.

Elevation Is Individually Earned

You remember the story of the Buddha: He had an attendant who was very beloved and dear to Him and who was always day and night with Him. His name was Ananda. When the Buddha died, he could remember every word the Buddha said. So, almost all the scriptures from the Buddha are written according to Ananda's memory. But Ananda had not attained anything big; he did not even enter the Third Level. That's why after the Buddha died, the whole monkhood, or sangha, did not let him enter into the discussion of the assembly. They excluded him from the assembly of the high-level monks. So, feeling very ashamed, he went into a cave and shut himself there for some time, until he attained the higher level. And then the monks invited him in.

But why did the monks do that to the most beloved assistant of the Buddha? Does that mean that the monks were so hard-hearted, so cold hearted and so harsh to Ananda?

Practitioner1:  I think it was to shock him and wake him up.

M: Yes.

Practitioner2: To force him to work spiritually?

M: Yes, that's also true. Who else?

Practitioner3: To avoid contamination?

M: Yes, also. To avoid contamination! That's right. If someone is not pure at heart and not highly developed spiritually, he will contaminate the assembly. That's the most correct. But also to shock him so he can see that he needs to work - yes, it's normal. Because during the time he spent with the Buddha, he didn't practice. He was too close; he was the Buddha's only attendant. That's why he never improved his level. That's the only reason. The reason one of the sisters gave, that he should work for his spiritual development; that's correct also. Because all the time he was with the Buddha, he was too proud as the only assistant of the Buddha, and he did not think that he needed to practice anything; that's why he did not.

Also, he had a super-human memory. He could recite everything that the Buddha said from A to Z, repeating it also. He remembered word for word; he didn't forget anything. Even when the Buddha would make a mistake, like repeating something or clearing his throat, Ananda remembered all that. That's why the Buddhist scriptures even now are not well edited, just written exactly the way the Buddha spoke. So sometimes you read them and you feel a little tired, like the Buddha keeps repeating the same sentence or explaining in such a very elaborate way so that the disciples can understand, just exactly the way he was talking.

In all the Buddha scriptures it's stated, “Thus, I have heard…” in the beginning. That's why, because it is written according to what Ananda heard. Even such an important person as Ananda was almost like a record player. His memory was so super, it's like today's computer or record player. But even for such an important person as he, the monks of the assembly or the Buddha's Sainthood excluded him from the assembly because he wasn't elevated enough. Even if he was important, it was still no good.

So you can see how important spiritual elevation is. It's not who you are, it's what you are. And it's not just what you are, it's what you are inside. That is the most important thing in life. The most important thing in life is what you are inside. Now you understand what's the most important thing in life, not because of Ananda and not because of Buddha, but because of yourself. Because after we die, we have nothing! Truly it's like that; I don't have to tell you. You all know that. But you don't realize it deeply; that's the reason you neglect your most important mission in life.

So from the case of Ananda, we could also learn something: the lesson of humility. We have to reconsider every day whether we have enough humility, so that we can develop more. Because only if something is empty, then can we put something into it. If the glass is empty, then you can put water into it; but if the glass is full, nothing can go in. The glass can be full of water, or full of garbage. If the glass is already full of garbage, we don't put water in there. It would be best if we have what we want inside the glass instead of all the garbage. In the same way, we should fill our life, our being and our understanding with all the best possible things of spiritual value, because we could also possibly fill it with all kind of nonsensical, unnecessary and detrimental things to our being or for our development.

Everyday Life as Spiritual Practice

Every day, we should make sure to fill ourselves with all the best possible for us, just like every day we try to select the best nutrition for our body. Every time you eat some good thing, you have to remember: “I have to also put some good things into my soul, into my spiritual development.” So, even while you're eating, you can practice. When you put some nice clothes on, you should remember, “I must also adorn myself with spiritual splendor.” Every time you see some beautiful flowers, you can say, “I must also cultivate my spiritual garden.” With similar things, always remind yourself. When we hear the birds singing and we feel so nice and comfortable, we must also remember. We should never forget the Word of God. And when you are deeply in love in a romantic relationship and you're happy, you should also say: “I must also remember the love of God, which is everlasting, which is the true love.” But if you cannot separate that, then you have to remind yourself: “Yes, I will try to remember; I will do something so that I can also make the relationship between me and God more flourishing, more romantic and more intimate.”

Every time you love your children, you have to remember how God really loves us and your children also. This is the truest and greatest love for everyone. And every time your pets love you and you love your pets, or you caress your pets or your pets caress you, you should also remind yourself that this is part of the love of God, and that only God's love is really true and pervasive. So you see, we can use every situation to remind ourselves not to forget the spiritual path that we have chosen to walk. In this way, we always reinforce ourselves during this mundane existence on Earth, always to be in the remembrance of God. It's always the same.

But with the practice, no one can become a master overnight, even Ananda. So, do not feel discouraged. We just have to be sincere and practice all the time. In the presence of the Master, you might develop more quickly, but. it depends on how receptive you are and how pure you are. It's like the glass: If it's full of garbage, then nothing else can go in, or maybe very little.

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