Sometimes we just waste money on so many things that we don't need. Otherwise, our life can be less expensive and more joyful. There was a program on TV that I watched two days ago. It said there was a guy who was supposed to pay the mortgage for twenty years. But there was one expert who came and taught the couple how to pay it in two years only. And they really did!

He came and checked out whatever they had to cut. For example, the husband loved to buy all kinds of gadgets. So he said, "Well, you don't need' them!" The man would buy a lot, and he'd just leave them laying there. So, number one, they took them all out and sold them at a garage sale to take some money in. And from then on, if he has to buy something, he has to consider that it must be really necessary! Otherwise, don't buy it. That's the number one thing.

Number two, instead of going to the restaurant to eat every day, or the coffee shop or cafeteria, they just pack a sandwich lunch and take their own coffee. And then they save a lot every month. Not a lot but here and there, and it adds up.

In the first six months, they saved about six thousand pounds. In six months! So, that's one thousand per month of a little bit here, a little bit there. For example, the girl also smoked, and he pointed out that one package per week cost 14 pounds or something per week. She didn't even smoke two or three packages a day, but he calculated that in one whole year or two years, she could even buy a car! Two years passes very quickly. So, you could even buy a car if you don't smoke! I hope you don't! (Laughter)

Then, instead of going by car to work, they go by train. It's cheaper and quicker and safer. You sit there and read newspaper, catch up with things, read Master's books or whatever. Or, learn something new while sitting on the train. So they save another, maybe 100 or 50 per month. No, more! Petrol is very costly nowadays, right? And if you keep running here and there all the time, like going to work, it probably costs more. It depends on where you go, of course, but at least you save a couple of hundred pounds per month if you go by train and not go by car to work. Or not? (Practitioner: You've got parking, as well.) Yes, parking space and everything. So, how much do you save? One of you tell me. If you don't go by car to work, how much do you save per month?

Practitioner 1 (P1) : Probably two hundred because there's insurance and road tax and parking.

M : I know, but even if you don't go by car, you still have to pay for insurance and road tax, right?(P1: When you give up your car, then you don't pay for insurance.) No, what I mean is, if you have a car lying around in the garage, you still have to pay, right? (P1: Yes.) Or you pay less, or not? (P1: You can pay less on the insurance because in America, you pay less if you prove that you don't ride more than once a week.) Oh, that's even cheaper! Well, just say 200 per month. Wow, 2400! You can buy a lot of things with that. In ten years, you have how much? (P1: 24,000. But if you invest it, you will have a lot more.) Yes, yes! You have more interest. OK, so maybe you have about four thousand in two years? (P1: You will have 4800 in two years, and then with interest, probably five and half thousand.) Wow! OK, see that? Five and a half thousand, you can go into the Himalayas and sit there for five years, doing nothing. (Everyone laughs.)

P1 : Master, maybe I can help. I'm a financial analyst.

M : I'm doing just that! I'm doing this analyzing for them as an example. And that is not all; there are many other things, like you go buy the clothes on sale instead of buying the trendy ones. Or wait until the winter sales, also the end-of-season sales, and you save a lot more money. And wear simple, practical clothes, so you don't always have to change and be in the mode, or anything like that. If you want to live a free life, you can't always be modish. We don't even need that. Occasionally maybe, for something special, like if you go to work and you have to have an interview, or some job that needs presentable clothes, maybe then you need them. But you don't have to pay a lot of money for brand names. There are some cheaper clothes that look as good. That's for example.

But the two couples, not only did they save on those things, they also worked extra. She was good at singing, and he was good at doing some other thing. So they would go out to work and bring in extra income every week. Because every money you earn that you save, that means you're earning as well. And of course if you earn more, then it adds up, all the time.

So, there are many ways we can live a happy life without having to work a lot, or without having to toil day and night - just to burn it. Plus, in all of that, you don't drink alcohol. You don't know how much it saves you every month, do you? Do you know? (Audience: Yes.) For example, if you drink, say, a couple of beers every day, how much would you save a month? (P2: Two hundred.) Two hundred easily, yes! Because not only do you drink, the friends come, and then all of them drink together. And then he invites you and you invite him, and then more and more; it's always more. And not only that, it costs your health. You have to go more to doctor, pay lots of money for medicine, and your insurance mounts up. If you are more sick, the insurance gets more money. The next time you want to insure your health, they will check how often you visit doctors and how ill you are, then they will just raise the fees.

Not only that, if you have an accident, it might cost you your life or your arms or your legs even. It might cost you an arm and a leg, (Master and everyone laugh) the way the English people say it! And then, if you die, that's the end of the story, fine! But if you don't die, then you will be dependent forever: maybe on health support or air support, oxygen support, and then you just lie there being a burden to your family and society and making sadness for everyone.

So, don't talk about the benefits of meditation or anything. My job and my teachings already clear you of a lot of trouble. Even if you don't meditate at all and if you don't see any Buddha, or you don't become a Buddha, you're already safe: a safe citizen for yourself and for the world. Because drinking and driving kills thousands, tens of thousands of people every day! Around the world, hundreds of thousands of people die every day because of drinking and driving. Not only the driver, the other drivers around him as well, including women, children, pregnant people, anyone! You know that, right? So our teaching is good for you, yes or no? Any complaints about my teaching? (Laughter) Raise your hand. No? Good!