Satsang (Discourse) 9/17/00
Feast Of Tabernacles
Talent Night And Satsang
With
MAITREYA
Maitreya: Good afternoon everyone. How is everyone doing? Good? [some answers sounds like good] Are you enjoying the Feast of Tabernacles? God said we have to keep it Holy.
What is the Feast of Tabernacles? Does anyone know what Feast of Tabernacles means, what God said happens? Anyone?
Audience: He wants His people to worship Him during the Feast of Tabernacles.
Maitreya: He wants His people to worship Him all the time.
What is the difference between the Feast of Tabernacles and the Passover?
Audience: They are to remind us of some event.
Maitreya: Yes, which one reminds us of some event, the Feast, or Passover? [both talking together here] Passing over, yes, right. Those who were with God and they put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts were saved. It used to be the blood of the lamb, which they put on their doorposts. Then Christ came and went to the cross as the unblemished lamb of God so we do not need the blood of lambs anymore. He paid for the sin of the world. That was the symbology of killing the lamb and putting the blood on the doorposts.
But then Christ came and sacrificed for everyone. Do we need that any more?
Really our spiritual journey starts at the beginning of the year. We start meditating and awakening our spiritual forces for the first seven days. For the second seven days we realize that the Communities of Light are important and necessary. And at 14 day the Passover starts. It is the full moon in the first month of the year, which is a lunar year. You should know [talking to Radah], you do the calendar each year.
So in the full moon we start the third seal, which is the night of the Passover at the same time. That is when the real overcoming happens. We are going through the third chakra, or the lower nature, to the higher self. That is why Christ is so important. You can only go there by the Grace, not with your work alone.
Of course, some people say you do not need to work, Grace is enough. But if you have the Grace, you work for God. You cannot say, “Oh, I have the Grace, I do not need to work. I do not need to follow the Laws. I have the Grace.” When you have the Grace, you follow the Laws.
Oh well, I am getting to Satsang. We are supposed to have a talent night tonight.
Audience: So you did not finish telling us the meaning of Feast of Tabernacles.
Maitreya: I am not going to tell you [laughter].
Audience: OK. We will do a lecture on it.
Maitreya: Well, we are going to talk about it probably after the talent show. Usually this time of the Feast of Tabernacles is for the audience not me. Our Feast is very balanced. We give lectures. We go to the mountains. We go to the community. So it is kind of a mini-representation of the Communities of Light, showing how it will be. We are also close to our community, we do reach to the community we live in, as we did today, cleaning books in the library, and help the community. Their books are much nicer now than they were this morning. So who did it? You helped to do it.
Now imagine if our numbers were hundreds and thousands, the communities would really appreciate our effort to make it a beautiful and nice place to live. So we are open to everyone.
It is just like, our teaching is so vast and open when we go out there, if we meet a Moslem, “OK, let us sit and talk about the Koran and the Prophet.” If we meet a Christian? “Sure, let us see how Christ is going to come from the sky. Is he really going to open the clouds and say, ‘I am here’ and that is it, everything will be fine?”
So this is a sample of the Communities of Light. We are very open people and we are here to reach to humanity. And we are not a cult. That is for sure. A cult is the one that the person becomes more important than the message. The Messenger becomes more important than the message, and he connects you to himself.
Actually, I do not want to have anything to do with you guys, OK? Just get off of my back and go to God [laughing]. So I am absolutely free. I am just giving the message and connecting you to God.
OK, so we will go to the talent show and let us see, what talents do we have? Just imagine if we had hundreds and thousands of people and very talented people just suddenly join in and put everyone in heaven. What is the name of that Indian sitar player?
Audience: Ravi Shankar
Maitreya: Ravi Shankar comes and plays sitar for the Feast, or a beautiful singer comes from another culture like Africa or someone like a very nice, good musician in the United States or Canada or Europe joins us and comes and gives us beautiful music.
So we do not have Ravi Shankar here tonight but our talents are pretty good. Let us start the show, if you are ready. If you are not ready we can…
Sarah-ji: Rehearse it? [laughter] [Keyosha goes to the microphone]
Maitreya: Is she the announcer or is she going to do the talent show?
Keyosha: That is a good idea. I will just be the announcer [laughter]. No, Maitreya, I have two poems to share with you.
The first one is called, “The Eternal Divine Path,” and it was actually written for the children’s page in the newsletter. But then we really are not doing a children’s page so I thought I would share it at tonight’s talent show:
Listen my children, and you shall hear
Of a Path to walk that’s crystal clear.
It’s eternal, created in eternity
Divine because of its Godliness and purity.
You start at seal one, and move to seal seven
Reaching Pure Consciousness, the Kingdom of Heaven.
Through pitfalls and progress, you’ll cover them all
You are the one who must answer the call.
Tell your brothers and sisters of the road that awaits
May they not meander within Maya’s tall gates.
There are tools from Maitreya, our Messenger and Guide
Come quickly my children, He bids us inside.
The Eternal Divine Path is calling us home
So follow it, follow it, there’s no time to roam.
[applause]
Keyosha: OK. Thank you all very much.
I need everyone to help me with this second poem. I need all of you to meditate and really help me be real connected. This poem is called, “Thanksgiving Is The First Law.” And I think it expresses the way I feel about the Feast of Tabernacles and probably the way all of us feel about the Feast of Tabernacles:
Thank you, Lord, for laughter
Thank you, Lord, for love
Thank you, Lord for thankfulness
Singing out like a dove.
Pouring out your beauty
In every simple thing.
Thank you, Lord, for hearts so full
Of the thankfulness you bring.
This life is a glorious gift from you
And that is what we all must learn
Using it to help and guide
With every step or turn
Thanks for where you take us
It’s your Spirit that makes us
And your Grace is most sufficient
For all who walk this Path.
Thank you, Lord, for your loving Grace
And the Compassion that Thou hast.
[applause]
Maitreya: Very good. Very good.
Sarah-ji: Now we would like to ask if anyone in the Internet world has any talent that they would like to share with us. [silence]
Maitreya: No talent on the Internet [laughter].
Sarah-ji: What happened to Ishvara’s harmonica?
Maitreya: Yes. What happened to your harmonica, Ishvara? Did you put it away?
Ishvara: If you want I can play a small melody.
Maitreya: Sure. Go ahead. We would love to hear you. You are very good.
Ishvara: OK. I am going to play a melody that everyone knows for sure. [He plays Haree Om Shrii Hung on the harmonica.] [applause]
Maitreya: That is beautiful, Ishvara. Actually, later on if we have musicians they can actually play Haree Om Shrii Hung just the way Ishvara did it. It does not have to be just the things we use, it can be on a much higher level. After a while you do not have to follow exactly the footing, but you can just go crazy about it if you want to. Just let your Spirit go and suddenly someone goes to samadi in the middle of dancing [laughter].
It is just like tomorrow, we are going to do the rounding. Well, our group is small. Just imagine a couple of thousand people are in the Feast. For example, as I said many times, we are going to have 24 hours of Kirtan for the whole Feast of Tabernacles. Anytime, in the middle of the night when you go to the Kirtan room, someone is doing the Kirtan and you can sit there and meditate. It is a wonderful meditation.
That was beautiful, Ishvara. Very pretty. What is next? I am always completely blank on what happens in talent nights. These guys completely surprise me.
You are going to play the flute? I thought he was playing the oboe?
Ishvara: Do you want me to play Samgacchadvam?
Maitreya: Yes, Ishvara, go ahead.
Ishvara: [Playing Samgacchadvam on the harmonica.] [applause]
Maitreya: That is beautiful. Samgacchadvam is such a devotional song, isn’t it? I think they are preparing for Sarah-ji and Isaac to do something for the talent show.
Isaac & Sarah-ji: [Isaac on flute, accompanied by Sarah-ji on the piano playing, “Kumbaya.” Something went wrong and they broke out laughing, then tried again, and again. But there was such joy in the laughter.] [applause]
Maitreya: Was that talent in laughing [laughter]? You are very talented, Isaac [laughing more].
Sarah-ji: It was a Feast of laughing.
Maitreya: What is that, what kind of a bone is that called?
Sarah-ji: It is the funny bone.
Maitreya: The funny bone. Tickle bone?
Sarah-ji: Tickle the funny bone.
Ananda Ma: Is there anyone else on the Internet who has some talent to share with us? [silence] OK then, this is the finale [laughter].
Maitreya: This is the finale, the group singing. Did you practice in the mountains yesterday? Yes. I can tell. I never heard any noise.
Group: [singing The Impossible Dream, by Joe Darion & Mitch Leigh]
To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe.
To bear with unbearable sorrow,
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong,
To love pure and chaste from afar,
To try when your arms are too weary,
To reach the unreachable star!
This is my quest
To follow that star,
No matter how hopeless,
No matter how far;
To fight for the right
Without question or pause,
To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause!
And I know,
If I’ll only be true
To this glorious quest,
That my heart
Will lie peaceful and calm,
When I’m laid to my rest,
And the world
Will be better for this;
That one man,
Scorned and covered with scars,
Still strove
With his last ounce of courage,
To reach the unreachable stars.
[applause]
Maitreya: Ohhh. That was beautiful. We do not need Ravi Shankar [laughter]. Ravi Shankar, eat your heart out. That is beautiful. Very good.
Emma: [through the Internet] Everyone, that was just beautiful. They are chill bumps on me. And Ishvara and everyone, very, very nice.
Maitreya: How are your daughters doing, Emma? Are they doing OK?
Emma: [through the Internet] Yes, Maitreya. It is still just one day at a time. Thank you.
Maitreya: You do not have any of them there by you tonight, do you?
Emma: [through the Internet] No, they are not. They are in bed.
Maitreya: OK. They were in last year’s talent show night and they played flute and sang for us and all that. I hope they are going to be fine. Just trust God and pray for her. Teach your daughter to pray also.
People send me letters and say, “Pray for me.” I say, “OK. But pray yourself too.” That is the fastest way to the heart of God, if we pray ourselves. And what is our prayer usually? What do we ask God? Do we ask for powers, experiences, visions, revelations, and ecstasy? What else is there? Astral projection? [laughter] What else do they do when they do that? They say, “I had that astral projection last night and I saw this wonderful teacher or guru who was all white with a very long beard. I am a very spiritual person.”
Actually a lady who taught these things came to visit us one time. Someone asked me a question, like how to attain something. And this person said, “DESIRE IT!” Do you remember what that was that question?
Sarah-ji: I think someone asked how you could have spiritual experiences or something like that.
Maitreya: And she was always talking about astral projection. It was before you came to the Mission, Ma. We were still in 825 Lafayette Drive in Albuquerque. She said, “DESIRE IT!” with such a force. “Whoa, OK, sorry!” [laughter] God has nothing to do with it. You just desire it and it happens.
And when you get it, what are you going to do with it? If it is not the desire of God for you to have it, usually it is more trouble than you can handle because the only thing you can have without too much trouble is when your desire and God’s desire are in sync. When they are not, then your desire is your desire and God’s desire for you is something else. Or what is good for you is something else.
What happens in this situation is that we are swimming against the current, aren’t we? If God wants to take us here and we want to go there, what happens? It is very hard to swim if the current, especially if the current is the Spirit of the Universe, which is a million times stronger than our will/desire.
Especially if you are close to the King. Do you have any will of yourself if you are close to the King?
Do you remember that essay, “Predestination or Choice?” Some people say we are all predestined in our lives, “What happens to us, we deserve it. That is it!”
Some people say, “No. It is all our choice. We make our choices and what we choose, of course, is the consequence of what happens to us.”
But if you read that essay, it completely explains that as you become closer to the King, or God, you lose your will. You would say, “Your Will be done, not mine.” Most of the people say, “My will be done, not God’s.” “It is my will, I want to go this way, so I am going to go this way.”
But if we say, “Your Will be done,” if we are close to the King… Who has more choice, a Prime Minister or a peasant? Which one has more choice to do whatever they want to do? The peasant. He can wake up in the morning and say, “I am not going to go to work today. I can just lay down here and have fun.” Can the Prime Minister do that? If the king says, “Come here. I need to talk to you!” he cannot say no. He has to do what the king says.
When we become closer to God what happens to us? Do we have any choice? No, we do not have any choice. We say, “OK, Your Will be done. I am all yours. Do with me as Your Will, will be.” So we just accept His Will.
And what is His Will?
Audience [many at same time]: The Kingdom Of Heaven On Earth.
Maitreya: That is right.
Audience: And for the whole universe to reach Pure Consciousness.
Maitreya: Well, that is the result, that is not the goal. Actually the goal is what?
Audience: Eternal Divine Path.
Maitreya: Very good. That is the goal of our life, isn’t it? The goal of the life is to Be(come) Divine. How many people know that, that their goal is to Be(come) Divine? [Sarah motions, like counting who is in the room] [laughter] Two, four, six, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Look, just the right number! OK, so twelve. How many people are there on earth? We are not going to go to space and count the beings out there as well.
Audience: More than 6 billion.
Maitreya: More than 6 billion. Good. Go to any kid in school and ask them, “What is your goal?” You will hear answers like, “I want to become a lawyer.” “I want to become a doctor.” “I want to become a professor.” “I want to become a truck driver.”
Audience: “I want to become a rock star.”
Maitreya: “I want to become a rock star.” “I want to become famous.” “I want to have a lot of money.” But say, “No, your goal is to Be(come) Divine.” And they just look at you, “What? I have never heard about that job. What is the pay?” [laughter]
So we can see that that is what we have to teach our children, that your goal is to Be(come) Divine. And then when they become a doctor, what do they become?
Audience: A divine doctor.
Maitreya: A divine doctor. Of course, we are not going to have a divine lawyer, for sure [laughter]. Why not have a Divine lawyer? We can have a Divine lawyer, of course. A Divine lawyer is a person who really wants to work for the people to establish their rights for them? Not just to make a class action suit and put a couple of million dollars in their pockets and all that.
So you can see that if the children know that the goal of their lives is to Be(come) Divine, then the next step is, “What am I good at?” What is the child good at?
You can especially see this in the community. After a while the child will manifest what he or she is good at. Of course, I have not figured out what Isaac is good at yet. What are you good at, Isaac? He even does not know himself. We are working on that.
Audience: Math.
Isaac: I do not want to be a mathematician.
Maitreya: Isaac is a good writer. He is a very good writer. He reads well. He goes through the books just like butter. 600-700 pages in two days, three days, and the book is finished. But we know him. How many parents really know their children, especially those who do not care that much about what is happening to their children? You can see that that is real education that the community has to teach the children, your goal is to Be(come) Divine.
That is why I always used to tell Isaac, “You do not have to compete with anyone but yourself.” If you compete with yourself, are you going to get good at what you do? Or will you be worried all the time, “Am I good enough to compete with other kids, or with my cousin, or with my other family, or neighbor, or this and that, or other kids?” No, but, “What am I good at myself?” You can see that that is the kind of education the Mission is presenting to humanity, to teach your kids to Be(come) Divine.
How do you Be(come) Divine? By following the Eternal Divine Path. What are we called? We are called Divines. What are you called in the Mission of Maitreya? You are Divines. What do we do? We follow the Eternal Divine Path.
Are we Be(com)ing Divine by just joining the Mission? No. How do you Be(come) Divine? By following the Eternal Divine Path.
You see it is so simple and so right to the point. And that is what is going to solve all of humanities problems. This simple thing we just talked about, “The Goal Of The Life Is To Be(come) Divine.” How do you Be(come) Divine? You follow the Eternal Divine Path.
What is the Eternal Divine Path? The Greatest Sign and our teaching: awakening of your spiritual forces, meditation, etc. But what do you meditate on? You meditate to Be(come) a better person. Look at your faults and desires and attachments. Do you meditate to receive an experience? No. If an experience happens, great. Just look at it, love it and say, “Thanks God for the gift.” You can sure receive power. It is OK, you can receive power, but do not misuse it.
Did I tell you the story of when I started meditating what happened? I started seeing people’s futures, what is going to happen to them, or what they had done in the past. When I started meditating, I was living in Pennsylvania. There was a city called Wilkes-Barre. Had you ever heard about it? Oh yes, you are from Pennsylvania. I was in Scranton. Wilkes-Barre is around 18-20 miles from Scranton, even less. I do not remember exactly.
We had a lot of friends there in the high school in Wilkes-Barre. We were invited to their gatherings and parties and things like that. I started seeing their lives, what they have done, etc., telling them what to do, what they did in the past, and things like that. And I became very famous. Everyone would come and gather around me. I loved it. I just loved the attention and the people, I would tell them things that no one else knew.
Then after one month I lost the power. I was so miserable [laughter]. That was a good lesson. The powers, if you misuse them, you lose them.
Also, you can hurt other people. You can hurt yourself, you can hurt those you love. That is why the lesson was that you do not meditate for powers. You do not meditate for this but meditate to become a better person, a more effective person, a good person. Create the Communities of Light. Become a center of comfort for other people to come to be with you to create the Communities of Light together.
Even from an educational point of view, how education is already set up, the base of the education should be to teach children that the goal of their life is to Be(come) Divine, to Be Divine.
Of course, there are two approaches to Be(com)ing Divine. Some people say you are already Divine, “Be still and know that I am God.” If you can stay still, you are already Divine. Some people say, “No, you have to Be(come) Divine. You have to overcome your shortcomings and Be(come) Divine.”
It is just like at the last Satsang we talked about those creatures in every person. So if you want to Be(come) Divine, as you overcome each shortcoming, what do you become? Do you become more perfect? If I had a shortcoming, if I overcame it, I would become more perfect. So each shortcoming is one step closer to Be(com)ing Divine.
Divine is what? As Christ said, “Become perfect as your Father in heaven.” That is Divine. Is God Divine? Yes. Does He follow the Eternal Divine Path? Sure. He should, He was sending this Revelation to all. Even Buddha talked about Sangha and Dharma, a community based on Dharma, innate nature of each individual in the community.
Each of you, each person on earth, has some talent, something they can contribute. We each have a talent, an ability to contribute to the community. There is no person who does not.
So you can see that again our teaching is bringing a new revolution or a new way of looking at education, how the children should be brought up. The children today are incredible what they do. They spend hours, watching television, and many hours in front of that, what do you call them?
Audience: Nintendo.
Maitreya: Nintendo, and Playstation 2, and Playstation 3, and it is getting worse and worse with each Playstation their characters have become more naked and more violent. What are we teaching them? A lot of people are now having a movement, that some of those pictures are actually on the border of pornography. They are five, six, eight year old kids growing up with those kinds of images in their minds. No wonder they are violent and rowdy and uncontrollable and the whole society is going downhill.
The father is not there and the mother has a hard time to take care of the children. They both are needed. None of you can do it without the other one. It is not, “Oh, I am the father, the mother is not needed,” or, “I am the mother, I work and make my own money. I do not need the father.” Both of them are needed for the children. Each of them have different energy that they bring to the marriage and the community.
What is the community based on? The community is based on couples. Anything that destroys the base of the Kingdom, which is the pure couples, is not acceptable. It is as simple as that. It is not something that is a bad idea, or we are against anyone or anything like that. It is just that anything that destroys that setup is no good.
Again, we are having pure couples, marriage in that family environment, and kids who are taught to Be(come) Divine. Do you think the Kingdom is manifesting? Can you see it is creeping into humanity based on those principles? That is why I would like to see our community have schools, have our own teachers who teach kids Communities of Light, Eternal Divine Path, religions, etc. “What are we going to study today on religions? We are going to study the Baha’is today.” Or, “What is tomorrow? We are going to study Buddhism, and the next day, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Shintoism, and this and that.” After a while, after the kids graduate, do they know everything about all religions? They sure do. Have they been narrowed in one religion? No, they are open.
Also, he reads THOTH. He reads an explanation of everything he reads and he knows where each of them fall. See, it is wonderful. We can create such young people who are articulate, they are educated, and they are open. So it is a vision that we have to work for, that kind of a society.
The vision has been sent to us, how it should be. It does not have any boundary. I am not saying we have to establish it in Iran, or Iraq, or India, or Pakistan, or South Africa. It does not matter. Wherever you put these principles down you will see the result, which leads to His Kingdom.
If you put these principles down in the United States, you will see the results. You will see it in France, you will see the results. You will see it in Quebec, you will see the results. It does not matter, it is just the principle of it. It will manifest great things no matter where they are applied to.
So we can see that God has already given us everything that we need to bring the Kingdom Of Heaven On Earth. And who is going to do it? Am I going to do it by myself, alone?
I say, “Tomorrow Communities of Light are going to pop up all over.” They are the hand of God and will manifest His Kingdom. I am the first fruit. Now I give this fruit to you. You go and spread it, just like a candle, I light you up and you light ten other candles or twelve candles. Actually it is kind of a, what is that business called?
Audience: Chain letter?
Maitreya: Chain letter [laughing]. You send to twelve people who tell twelve others, and so on. Actually it is very simple. I calculated it one time. It takes around seven or eight levels to reach the whole of humanity. If we reach twelve people who each reach twelve others, who each reach twelve people…
There was a story that a man came and did a wonderful thing for a king in Persia. And the king said, I will give you anything you want. I will give you half of my kingdom if you like. He said, “No. I do not want half of your kingdom. Just give me one grain and multiply it to two in each square in the chessboard. There are sixty-four, eight times eight. Just put one in the first, two, four, and so on. That is all I want.”
The king said, “Oh, that is easy. That we can do.” Then they calculated. The king had to gather his grain for around 50 years [laughing] to be able to satisfy what he asked.
The man said, “I was just kidding. It is OK. You do not have to do that.”
But it does not take too long, really. It is really very effective. If twelve people reach twelve people, and those twelve each reach twelve people, and those hundred forty-four each reach twelve people, and that whatever, each reach another twelve, it takes around 7, 8 or 9 at the most 10 levels, to reach the whole of humanity. Isn’t that simple?
So each of us are a chain letter. Go and reach twelve people. And we can. We can. And we will. The vision was that there are hundreds, thousands, and millions of people ready for this Message. And they are.
Of course, as usual, as I have said many times, if you want to build a new house over an old house, are you going to keep the old house and then build over it? Would you do that? What do you do with the old house? You destroy it. And then you pour the concrete and build over this new foundation. It is the same thing.
Of course, this world has to change its old ways. That is why it is getting even worse. It is getting destroyed. Now we have a new contract. We are the new contractors [laughing]. We are coming in and saying, “OK, destroy the whole thing. We are going to build a beautiful house over the old and destroyed one.”
Do we have the tools? Has the way been given? From everything from going to the bathroom to the Kingdom Of Heaven On Earth has been given. There is nothing left out. Everything is here for us!
Sometimes I think, “OK, what is left out?” I asked you the other day, what haven’t we covered? Can anyone come up with any topic, anything that the Mission has not covered? If you have, I can go meditate, go to God and receive the answer. That is why I am asking you, “Ask questions. Ask questions. Ask questions.”
There were a lot of questions at the beginning when I started the Mission. It is dried out. Now there are few questions.
Even on the Internet, for a year, a year and a half, two years, there were four of us in the Mission who had a big battle on our hands in the newsgroups. Recently I put a message on one of those newsgroups, and everyone said, “Oh no, Joseph Emmanuel is back [laughter]. Oh no, we are in trouble.”
Audience: Which newsgroups?
Maitreya: The one that they place a lot of Share International material. Anyway, we stirred them up pretty good when we were on the Internet. But it was a battle. It was a real battle of the mind. Emotionally and mentally, it was straining but it was great, we had to do it. A lot of people know who Joseph Emmanuel is. And actually, they started saying our teaching.
Someone would ask, “What do you mean by the Eternal Divine Path?” And one of them would say, “Yes, he means the seven steps which is the awakening of the spiritual forces.” [laughing] So, OK, great, we reached a point that we said, “Well, we did our job. That was it.” It was finished so we could just withdraw.
Passover is the beginning of the awakening of the spiritual forces. That is why I was talking about it. You said, “Why did you stop, you did not finish it.” Now we can finish it.
The first seven days of the first month, what do we do? In THOTH it is explained, we awaken our spiritual forces. The second week is the community. We realize the community is needed. The third week is the Passover, which is usually on the full moon and that is the third seal.
That third seal is so important. Christ is so wonderfully preached and loved all over the world. It is so important because that’s what we do, we overcome our lower nature. We go to the higher self.
Passover is the beginning of our spiritual journey. Passover is when we put the HOSH signs on our doorposts. Now we do not put any blood out but what do we do? We put the HOSH Sign out.
That is showing God that we are in the Mission of Maitreya, pass us over. So, that year we are OK. He is going to pass over our home and we are going to be on His list not to send us bad things. We are protected no matter what is sent our way.
You remember what happened to the people who did not put the blood on their doorposts? Of course, we do not have to put the blood. Who paid for that blood? Christ did. What did he do?
What happened when Adam and Eve fell? God withdrew the Grace, didn’t He? That is why man has to sacrifice the lambs and go through all the rituals in the Old Testament. When Christ came, what happened? He released the Grace back to man.
So Christians have a valid saying that they are saved by Grace. But that does not mean that you do not follow the Law. They say, “Well, Christ gave his life, we no longer need the Laws.” There again, in one sense they are correct. You do not need to kill lambs, sacrifice to the temple and all those elaborate set-ups that Moses brought to the Children of Israel. No, you do not have to do that. Those, were abolished after Christ.
But no, “I can do adultery, fornication, steal, and be jealous of my neighbor and still say, ‘I have the Grace.’” No, it does not work that way. If you have the Grace, you do not do any of those. Period. Those are not abolished.
The Ten Commandments are still in force as before. Actually, as we have said, if you have the Grace, you do not do those things. Period. Because you have the Grace.
You know, with even the smallest unclean look, the Grace leaves you. The slightest unclean thought cuts you off from the Grace. So you learn your lesson fast, not to do that.
I have to clean my brain. I have to clean my eyes. I have to clean my hands. I have to clean my body. I have to clean my mouth. Then the Grace comes and you say, “Oh, that is what the Ten Commandments mean.”
Either you have the Grace and you follow the Ten Commandments or you follow the Ten Commandments, and Grace will come. So there are two ways to come to God.
It is said, there once was a person who never had followed the Ten Commandments. He asked, “What is this thing you ask us, Thou shall do this or thou shall not do that? It is just like a dictator. He does not discuss with us about it and ask us if we want to do it or not. He does not consider our opinion of this matter. He does not invite a lot of experts from many fields and analyze this thing if it is OK or not. He just says, ‘Thou shalt not do that.’ That is no good. That is dictatorship” [laughter].
Then he said, “OK, I am going to follow them anyway to see how wrong God is. I will follow them to the point, to the bone.” After he did it for a while he said, “You know what! I am really free. I am really feeling good about my life, myself, and whatever I do. And Grace is just falling all over my life.” He realized, “WOW, that is what He meant. It is good for us. It is not really a dictatorship. Dictatorship can be three kinds too.”
It is just like an inventor writing a mechanical manual for the engine they have invented or a company that builds a car. For example, Ford built the Bronco so they wrote the manual. Chevy does not write the manual for the Bronco. It is because Ford knows the Bronco better than any one else, how the Bronco works, where the engine is, where the plugs are, where the oil goes, etc. So they wrote the manual and that is how you take care of it.
Are they a dictator? They say, “Put the oil here.” Others say, “No, No, we are going to discuss about it and we are going to put the oil here.” Ford says, “No. We built this car and we know the oil goes here.” So you have to follow it.
So God is not really a dictator. He knows what is good for us. He built us. We are His creation. He knows what is good for us and what is not good.
Ask experts who have never created any human about the Ten Commandments: Are they OK or not? Of course, you are going to have ten different opinions from the ten of them.
I watch the nightly news on channel 5. They bring these experts and they discuss these matters to death. At the end, no solution will be reached [laughter]. It is all opinions and that is it. They all go their way. And I say, “Now what? Did you solve the problem?” The problem is still there, but they discussed it to death [laughter]. But did they solve the problem? No. Why? It is because there were ten different opinions. It cannot be solved. There is no resolution.
Now, tell them that your answer is in the Communities of Light. Would they believe it? It is too simple. It is too easy. Intellectuals like complication with no solution.
God is too simple, too easy for a lot of people, especially for intellectuals. They want something complicated, something that they cannot understand. If they cannot understand it, “WOW, this is good.” They cannot understand it [laughter], so they think. “It is so complicated, it has to be good. I can relate to that.”
Communities of Light, based on married couples is the answer. They would feel it is too simple. It cannot be correct. But that is what God is. He is simple and we can find our answers in simple things. Our problems will be solved in Communities of Light.
Even pleasures are greater in simpler things, a nice cold glass of water. It refreshes your Soul. That is the gift of God. Do you have to thank Him for the water (thanksgiving is the first Law)? Yes, you do. Then you will have the Grace, which is the Law.
Now I have a few televisions, two cars, a big house, a yacht here and there and still I say, “My life is miserable. I do not have enough. I have to have more.” Are they thankful? No, they are not thankful even with all those things that God gave them.
And what is the first Law? The first Law is Thanksgiving. “Thank you, God.” Not only God, but also everyone else. Thank you for putting work in those things in the kitchen. That was very helpful.
We can see that we can find God in very simple things but it is so hard for humans to understand. They do not want to be simple and accept the little things in life as little pleasures that God gives us.
And the Feast of Tabernacles is the end of our journey. So it starts at the Passover, we overcome our lower natures. The rest of the year we are good people, we do our Sabbath, meditation, Reminder, think about God and try to create the Communities of Light, follow the Eternal Divine Path, etc.
And what happens at the Feast of Tabernacles? Actually that is when the Hebrews were waiting for the Messiah to come. That is what the Feast of Tabernacles is. It is the Spirit of Christ come to earth.
Anytime you come to the Feast, you can feel that the energy is incredible. If you are with it, it is just beautiful. Really the Spirit comes to us, into us. That is when we reach Pure Consciousness. That is the Feast of Tabernacles, the end of the journey, the last day!
It is the end result. Christ comes, the Spirit of God comes, and we are one with the Spirit, and we reach Pure Consciousness. That is why after the Feast, everything goes down again. Between the Feast and the Passover is the very worst time of the year. It becomes dark, the nights become much longer, and everyone becomes depressing.
Have you ever heard about winter depression? A lot of people have it. And they say the best way is to have a light and sit in front of it, it helps you [laughter].
Audience: You won’t get depressed. [the bright lights were on him for the video recorder]
Maitreya: Exactly [laughter]. There was a gentleman who took a movie picture of a Satsang. What was his name?
Audience: Hans.
Maitreya: Hans. Yes. And he had a professional picture-taking set-up. He had some very powerful lights. He made a movie of an open-house Satsang at one of our Feasts. We never rehearsed. I came into the room to give the Satsang. I sat down and this incredibly bright light was in my eyes. I could not see anyone. I could not see the audience and my eyes could not bear it. And I had to eventually get used to it little by little. I guess I am getting used to it now. And this one is not as powerful as his were. But it was really kind of a shock to me when I sat down and saw that light.
So that is what the Feast of Tabernacles stands for. So we are in Pure Consciousness now and then the rest of the year is going to be depressing until the Passover [laughter so can not hear what everyone, including Maitreya, is saying].
So it will happen. It is the Will of God. As we saw the whole week in the Feast that the prophecies are fulfilled, all the religions are unified. And we who are here, have all seen this, each of us have a part in it. And each of us will be doing our part.
So it is something that we have to have in our hearts really to believe what we are doing here. If you saw that, then the rest is working on ourselves, on each of us.
Who does not believe what I say? Hum. Who does not really believe what I claim? Who really believes what I claim? [all hands went up] Really? WOW! That is fantastic. That is an army there. Each of you reach twelve people, OK, for next year? If you reach one person that is enough [laughing]. I am just kidding. You never know. It is not up to us, really it is up to God.
The truth is that we have to do our best and work on ourselves. But we have to reach out. Do not give up on reaching out, OK?
It is just like the web site, we have the web site now. We kept it going. We made it perfect. We made it more accessible. We put a lot of material in it. We even translated it to French. You know how much effort you put on that translation, you and Ishvara?
Radah: I love it.
Maitreya: You and Ishvara… The e-commerce… And the e-commerce is working. That is great! I guess, Ishvara, you were right, your e-commerce works. I was asking him, “Why is it not working?” And he kept telling me, “Well, it is because of the server that it is not working. If we take it to a server that they know what they are doing then it should work.”
I said, “Well, OK. We will do that.” And he was right. We changed to a new server and since this new server we have received around 3 – 4 orders.
So you win, Ishvara [laughing]. See, I admit when I am not right. That is what you should be. We accept sometimes when we are not correct that OK, I was not right. I did not say that it is not going to work but I had my doubts because it was not working. I was telling him let us get some “out of box” e-commerce and just set it up like everyone else. Why do you want to do it from scratch?
He said, “No. No. I want to do it from scratch because I want to know what is going on.” And he was right. I agree with him that it is good to know what is inside the software or set up. Now he knows exactly how e-commerce works and he can do that. But he stood his ground. I like that. He said, “No. This is good. It is going to work.” And he was correct and it works.
I am really looking for new questions to see if there are any. Of course, we have been answering the questions for the last twenty years. And we did not throw anything into the river either. As our friend John was telling us, Baha’u’llah threw some of his writings into the river because he felt that people were not ready for them.
So we want this Mission to be as perfect as possible for giving all the answers that people need and humanity needs before we leave this body. Of course, I will come back.
But this teaching, even after I come back, cannot be changed. Because there is always the possibility that you guys find the wrong person. Of course, that is going to be a topic in our business meeting, maybe next time we will take it up. You all think about it, what is the best way to do it? It is a very prayerful thing that all of us have to agree with great prayerfulness. That sounds like the only stable way that is going to continue leadership for the Mission and people.
What kind of camera is that?
Audience: Nikon.
Maitreya: It is good. It takes good pictures. But it did not flash. I was waiting for something to flash in my eyes. Yes, that is why the camera does not flash because there is enough light there.
So how are you doing Shakti, huh? Doing good?
Shakti: Better since I am here.
Maitreya: And Don, is he doing good?
Shakti: Don, I think he is doing pretty good. He seems to be happier, more calm and relaxed. We all are enjoying ourselves here at the Feast. It is good to be here.
Maitreya: And your son, is he doing good?
Shakti: Yes. I think there is room for improvement. I think he is doing OK.
Maitreya: Jason.
Shakti: Jason. He seems happy.
Maitreya: He was such a good kid when I met him.
Shakti: He still is. He is very ah, just good. There is no meanness in him. He has a goodness in him.
Maitreya: Is he going to get married or anything?
Shakti: He thinks women are too expensive [laughter].
Maitreya: He is cheap, huh [more laughter].
Shakti: Well, he went out with this girl for about a week and he said, “Mom, I used up my whole paycheck. I cannot afford this.” I said, “Well, you know you can go Dutch.” He said, “Yes, we went Dutch but still it is a lot of money.” He is a little stingy.
But he is kind of happy with himself. It is like he does not need to be with someone all the time. And he is very universalist in thinking. I do not know if I ever mentioned this to you but he loves all races. He just naturally always has. He gets a little angry if he hears anyone saying anything wrong about any race. He does not like it. He used to come home with people from all different races. He came home with a Rasta guy once.
Maitreya: Rastafarian?
Shakti: Don and I looked, and Jason said, “This is my buddy.” He just likes people of all different races. In fact he came home from school one day with dreadlocks. Jason blond dreadlocks, down to here.
Maitreya: What are dreadlocks? [someone trying to explain as Shakti continues so cannot really hear this]
Shakti: Jason came home from school with this Rastafarian, but he has this blond hair. And Don, and Don is not quite that universalist yet [laughter]. We were sitting at dinner and Jason said, “Oh dad, don’t worry. The girls braided my hair today. I will take it out tomorrow.” Thank you, Maitreya, for asking.
Maitreya: Yes. Even Rastafarians are a part of our teaching. What do they say? They say, “Know thyself.” If they stop smoking, they are welcome here.
Shakti: I do not think it is Rastafarian, I meant the dreadlocks. [more said here but both talking at same time]
Maitreya: I think they smoke a lot of grass. Don’t they?
Shakti: Yes, some of them do. Jason and his friends are not into that.
Maitreya: The problem with drugs is when you use them they open a part of you that you are not ready to be opened. And you might let in spirits that are not that clean into your open aura. But through your meditation, with prayer and the complete understanding that you are opening yourself to God, you kind of block bad energy to come in.
But with the drugs, unfortunately, a lot of people who had done LSD in the 60’s and 70’s, none of them became great teachers or godly realized people, did they? I have never heard anyone that came up with a great realization directly from God (based on Scriptures).
So in a sense it opens a part of your chakras that you are not yet ready for and that is why some of them go crazy. Actually I met a guy who had done twenty-eight trips or something with LSD. He was in Mississippi State University. That is when I started meditating and things started happening.
Everyone was afraid of him. He had created a kind of a power. People would come close to him and he would tell them, “Sit down.” And they would just sit down. They were absolute puppets to his power.
And I would sit and talk with him. He would try to use his power over me and I would kid around with his power and kind of would not let him to use his power on me. And he liked that because he could relate to me. He could sit with me and talk instead of using his power.
But he did not know what to do with it. There was power, and it was powerful. It was really, when he would tell you something, you would kind of get hypnotized with his presence. But he did not know what to do with it. He was not a good student. He was almost kicked out of the school. So what good is it to gain that power?
Shakti: It opens it up too fast?
Maitreya: That is right.
Shakti: The person opens up the chakras before they are ready?
Maitreya: Yes. These powers, these energies, are our birthright. As our teaching teaches, before the flood of Noah, what happened? Actually the spiritual world was more real to them than the external world. The external world was kind of a dream world. They did not have as much crude body to experience it. But they also misused it, misused the powers.
When you have the power, as I received the power, and started misusing it for my own glory because I felt I was getting so much attention and everyone was asking me about… If you misuse it you hurt yourself.
Guest: What do you do with that power?
Maitreya: If you have the power, just meditate and see how you can use it for God’s Purpose. Do not misuse it. Use it to create the Communities of Light.
Audience: The people on the Internet are not hearing our conversation [no one was using the microphone].
Maitreya: Yes, well, Radah was asking what we do with the power if we gain the power. And Shakti was telling us about her family. I asked her. She has a very beautiful son that when we went to stay with them we met him and he got along very well with Isaac. They had fun. He is a very good kid. He has beautiful energy and aura and all that.
Shakti: Thank you, Maitreya.
Maitreya: And apparently he is grown up. How old is he?
Shakti: Twenty-two.
Maitreya: Twenty-two years old. It is time for him to decide if he wants to be sannyasin or wants to become a family man. [Shakti agreeing]
So do not meditate for the powers or experiences but meditate to follow the Eternal Divine Path. The Eternal Divine Path is the path to salvation, physically, mentally, spiritually, individually and collectively.
As we discussed many times, any problem on earth can be solved with it.
If there are no other questions, I enjoyed the Feast very much and I hope all of you enjoyed it too. If you have a suggestion for improving the Feast, let us know. If you have something, since you are a new comer, please tell us.
One of the things I was concerned about, you are in a hotel, right? When there was resting time, you didn’t have any place? Everyone else had a room to go to. What did you do?
Brad: Sat out on the back porch.
Maitreya: Was it a little difficult? No? It was OK? OK. I was a little concerned about the people who do not have a room here. I hope someday we will have enough room for everyone so they can stay. But these guys, who are staying in the Mission, have been with me for the last twenty years, too long [laughter]. They got spoiled. They are used to coming right here and they stay in the house. So we let them.
So I was a little concerned, how that affects people who do not have a room to go to. Hopefully one day we are going to have many rooms, a place where everyone can have a room instead of going to a hotel so they can come to the Feast and go to their room.
You guys have a good trip back home. And I may see you tomorrow night, if I am around. If I am not, this is going to be our last meeting this year and I wish you all a good year, a God year. Hopefully what you saw here and what you experienced was all good and you bring this energy with you wherever you go.
Reach out to humanity. We need them to hear this Message. At least tell everyone you meet one time, about The Greatest Sign, so they cannot go in front of God and say, “We did not hear it.” He will say, “No. You heard it. That person told you about it.”
As I said, when did the whole universe rejoice? There is only one place in the whole Bible where it says, “The whole universe rejoiced.” Where was that? When the book with the seven seals was opened (Revelation, chapter 5), that is the only time the whole universe rejoiced. Never, ever before did this happen. And that is all what happened here. We opened the book sealed with the seven seals.
I do not take any credit for it. As I said, I am the manifestation that proves that God exists. That is the most important part. Most of the people can’t feel God. They do not know God. They can’t even believe that God exists. But this explains everything and shows humanity that God really does exist. If they hear this they may say, “I better meditate and awaken my spiritual forces and experience It.” Experience His Love and His concern for the whole humanity, for every person on earth. He is concerned. But we have free will. We have the choice.
That is why this is not a cult. I am not going to keep you here and create a cult. You have a choice to be here or not to be here. If you want to walk out and go, that is fine. That is great. You never belonged to the Mission anyway.
It is just like a bird, you can put it in a cage and you think it belongs to you. But it does not really. He wants to go and fly away. But if you let it go and it comes back to you, what happens? Do you need a cage anymore? You do not need the cage, he is going to come back anytime. He is free, you are free.
So that is how the Mission is. You are all free with free will. Go and fly. And if you felt that what we have here is the truth and came back, fantastic. We are brothers and co-workers and we will do the Mission together.
But if you flew away, I trust in God because He will send people who will see the Vision that they will love it. That has happened many times.
Probably I should not say that but around eight months ago we had a lady, Gita, who came here who I thought could go different places and give lectures and meet people, and she backed off.
Now we have John. He promised me that he is going to come and travel in the summer and probably come and meet you all in all the centers.
So there was a replacement for Gita. If God wants to do something, if one person does not do it, as we said, He will send another person to do it.
So in Canada, in Quebec, we had a hard time. We had one person, he left. We had another person. R.D. had a hard time, he wanted to get married. Then you came along and you were pretty steady, of course. Quebec has been a part of the Mission for a long time.
So this Mission is not a cult. That is one of the things I want to make very clear to ourselves and to humanity because we are connected to God. I want you all to be connected to God because He is the one who sent all these Revelations.
The Spirit behind this vessel is God. This vessel is going to go away. That Spirit is going to stay for a long time. It is called eternity.