Life is short, anyway. You do what you can to be worthy of a human’s life. It’s all illusion anyway. But it's funny how illusion can even make people really suffer. This is a game here. It's a game; cannot avoid it.
We are ascetic, but for necessity. Right? (Yes.) But that one, I think I can go without. The bicycling uphill, I think I can go without. I don’t know if it’s good for anybody, but I can go without. It depends on your life viewpoint, whether or not something is ascetic, or not. Right? (Yes.) For me, I don’t feel ascetic. I have a big house! Joking. That was just after the dog came. Because they built that house, but I never lived in it. In the beginning only, and then after the fire incident, I just said “sayonara” (goodbye) to the house. I don’t dare to live there anymore. Not only that, but after that, we have caves already. So, I didn’t have to stay in the house.
Actually, I could stay in the house, but I didn’t feel like it. I didn’t feel like it at all. Sometimes, I come in just to meet somebody there, like an office because my cave is too small. I don’t know, my cave is smaller than all of yours. I don’t know why, how did they do it? Two meters square is already very small. They shortened it a little bit, just to make sure everybody knows that’s Master’s cave – small size. It wasn’t necessary.
I often don’t meet people in the cave, except some private secretary or something. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, we don’t go there and just meet in my cave. Two people can sit, three, no. So, I never really stayed in that house. But now the dogs came and I don’t have enough room in the cave for all the dogs. They like to be around me, so they hang around and I’m working. Very convenient! Anybody wants to come to my office must go through the dogs first. They screen many out. “Ow-ow-ow-ow-out! Out, out, out! Out!” “No, no, no, no!” “Go, go! Go, go, go, go!” And English also, “Goodbye!”
People think I have a lot of money. I don’t see any. It probably goes from one door to another so quick. I don’t even know how much we have. We give out quickly. A little bit here, a little bit there every day, almost every week. Right? Hardly two days go by without any contributions. It’s not a lot, but every drop of water comes in and then it fills the cup, or drains the cup, depends.
Not only that, but because we are very frugal, right? (Yes.) Very frugal we are. (Yes.) When I go out, I wear some nice clothes, but that’s it. When I’m at home, I don’t wear a lot. I mean, I don’t need a lot of clothes. A couple is enough. It’s just so many. Everybody buys something. The attendants before, they bought all kinds of sizes. They didn’t consider what I look like if I wear them. Either very tight, like sardines in a tin or very big. And they’re just hanging in there. Last winter, I had a couple of hours; I sorted them all out but still some more left. They buy all kinds of shoes, all sizes, that fit elephants and horses. And then I don’t even wear them. And then they just go bad. They grow old and broken by themselves. Nobody touched them; they’re broken by themselves. They grow old. I did not think I was old until I see all the shoes. When I saw all the shoes, I know how old they are already, how long they have been there, then I know how old I probably have been, added on over the years.
I’m sorry we don’t have many. We could have more of us, but I cannot always find more people. Most of them, they have karma outside. They don’t have ascetic karma like us. Actually, we are very frugal. Otherwise, all the money I earn would have been gone already before they even touched any poor or needy people. Because if we build houses for every (one) of us and luxury style, one car each, the insurance money will eat us up, and the mortgage or whatever. We’re OK. Right? We are better than… We’re better off than lots of people, truly. Children who don’t have food to eat, they become only bones, especially in the African kind of countries. Oh my God, you just shed tears when you see all that. We are very good – too good. I really think we’re too good. We have everything – in the cave.
I used to love my cave so much, because whenever I entered, I felt so comfortable. I looked outside, it’s so wide. And my cave seems very big to me. It’s my size, but I feel it’s very big inside, a lot of space somehow. But my dog Good Love doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like caves, He doesn’t like huts, He doesn’t like anything like that. He likes a house. Sofa – must have.
In Italy, we have one house, but I didn't live inside the house. I felt it was too big. If I lived there, it was too much cleaning and taking care. So, I have a very little house like those storeroom house, storehouses, almost as big as a cave, a little bit taller because of the roof. I bought that kind of house; very simple, and put it a little bit outside to stay in, and I brought my dog. It’s enough room for Him, but He didn't like. So He kept running inside the house. He ran and He looked back at me like, “Come hither. Come along, not that type of house!” He kept looking at me and He ran and looked and ran. And I said, “If you want, you can go in there. I don't need to go there.”
And now and then He went inside, staying on the sofa, sleeping there alone with air con and all. My little house, about two meters long, one and a half meters wide, is enough for Him and me, but He didn't like it. I know there's no air con, but I bought specially for Him this kind of stone, marble. I forgot how to say that. Marble! A piece of marble, bigger than His size. I put it on the corner for Him, that's very cool. No! Doesn't like! I said, “Sit down!” He sat. OK, He sat. And then I looked outside the window; when I came back, no more! When I looked back, no more! Good Love was gone! And He went inside the house and lay on the sofa in front of the air con. What kind of dog? And eats Aulacese (Vietnamese) (vegan) spring rolls and stuff like that. Normal (vegan) food He doesn’t eat. (Vegan) dog food – He looks at it, sniff-sniff and then leaves it there. He eats it when He's hungry though. But if He has a (vegan) spring roll or Aulacese (Vietnamese) vegan spring roll, or something like that, then He gobbles it quick.
He’s so big and beautiful. Whenever I say, “I don't understand why your ex-caretaker owner just did not keep you,” and He says, “Hm!” He says like that, “Hm!” All the time. “Hm! Don’t mention those people!” I think one time, He said it in front of the camera, on the BMD (Between Master and Disciples) in France. And everybody laughed so much, because He kind of punctuated that sentence, “Hm!” Like that.
You guys enjoy? Good food? (Yes. Delicious. Thank You, Master.) You should come every weekend, every weekend different. Wow. Wow. The Westerner likes it. You can eat any more? Here? Boys, they eat more. Come, I put a little bit of magi sauce. Have more have a kick, a little kick. Boys eat a lot to grow up. They don't ever grow up, not if they can avoid. Everybody a little bit. Ah you cut, this one also. Did you have this before? Have right, everybody, a little bit. Symbolic of love. The people, are you OK there? Are you OK? (Yes, thank You.) If you want, you can come over. Just very tight, a little bit tight and don't sit as comfortable as you are over there with table. We here are more ascetic, we’re caveman, caveman is like this. Where was it? Mosquito, go!
I'm thinking. I know you work very hard. Don't think I don't know. At least you think you work very hard, that I know. At least you think you work hard. Thinking is not real. Anyway, if you work hard, so what? Better than have no job, no? (Yes.) Nowadays, a lot of unemployed people, yeah? (Yes.) Even if I pay you a holy peanut, it’s better than nothing. It’s still holy, right? (Yes.) You are OK. You have everything you need, right? (Yes.) You’re much better than me then, when I was a so-called disciple. I hardly had anything to eat. It’s the Westerner, they eat like buffalo, and they left me nothing. I was busy working for the Guru. When I came out, nothing was left, except a big mountain of washing to do. They gave me that every day, washing.
Are you OK there? What’s this? These two look the same, right? It's not, right? Apple juice. I don't need apple juice. Here, if you want it. With a risk! Don't drink too much apple juice. Don't eat too many apples. The story about Eve and Adam with the apple, it has some truth in it. It’s a seductive kind of fruit. It’s not the only one, of course, but I don't want to list the whole thing here, and then you have nothing to eat. Just eat less.
It's good like this, we eat on Sundays, so I sometimes have a chance to tell you something that you don't want to hear, normally. With the food, it’s easy to swallow down. I know we work hard, but we work hard for a good cause. Whatever time you can sleep, you feel good in your heart. Nothing’s better than what you're doing. That's what I think. But it doesn't matter what I think. Right? You think differently. Right? Who cares? Yeah. Never mind. Life is short, anyway. You do what you can to be worthy of a human’s life. It’s all illusion anyway. But it's funny how illusion can even make people really suffer. This is a game here. It's a game; cannot avoid it.
Why is it so sweet? I added a lot of Maggi, but it’s still very sweet. My favorite. I like it, but it’s a little too sweet. I am probably too full. I’m starting to criticize. How nice it would’ve been if I’d had these things to eat in India. I said when I was in India, if I’d had such things to eat... Wow! I would’ve felt like I didn’t need any more Guru, I’m in Heaven already. “Heaven is here and now.” I would’ve announced like that. But I didn’t care, really. Most happy time for me was living along the Ganges. Either in a cave or in a mud house, I felt happy, very happy.
