You have first to cultivate yourself, which means make yourself
wise. By what? Meditation and discipline. But you can only do
that when you’re clear, and your body is well. If you are
not well, how do you think well? Alcohol makes you worse; alcohol
doesn’t make you well. Alcohol and cigarettes make you sick.
Everyone knows that! Why would you damage yourself when you want
to lead the nation? So you have to be disciplined and meditate:
to calm yourself down, to find the wisdom that is inside you and
also to cultivate yourself. That’s it. Then, you can take
care of your family. Of course, your children need you. If a little
kid looks at you drinking and smoking all day, how are you going
to take care of your family and tell them what to do, when you
don’t do it? And then if you even fool around or something,
that’s also a bad example for your kids.
So, first
discipline yourself with wisdom and virtue, and then you can take
care of the family. That’s natural. The old ancient wisdoms
don’t even forbid you to have a family, but to cultivate
yourself, and then you can take care of the family. Further on,
you can lead the nation. They don’t even say, “Lead
the nation.” They say, “Pacify the world.” See
how big it can be? They don’t even limit it to a nation:
Pacify the world! That is the great power of a spiritually cultivated
person, a wise person. If the world were really wise and awakened,
they would have chosen their leaders more carefully.
Spiritual
Practitioners Are Shining Examples for the World
I suppose any good government
would like to keep its subjects healthy, happy and intelligent.
That’s the aim of any government leader. So, if anyone helps
the government to do that, then they should be the friends of
the government. And we are the friends of the government, because
we keep the society sober, clean, moral and high, by making an
example and spreading this example or giving people teachings
to do just that. Any government always says, “We want to
keep our people safe; we want to keep our people peaceful; we
want to keep our people clean, happy and crime-free.”
We are doing just that, to help
the government! So, any government should give us an award and
say, “You are doing good; you are helping us!” Free
of charge, even! They don’t even have to pay us. All governments
have to pay their police or army to suppress crime, suppress criminals
and protect the people. We are doing just that: without getting
paid, without clashing with the police, without harming anyone
and without having any weapons to harm anyone to begin with.
Imagine if everyone just did
what we do! Maybe they wouldn’t be vegetarian to begin with,
but no alcohol, no drugs and no cigarettes, would be so clean
and more healthy; it would save a lot of money and everyone would
be happy. They could have a good house, a good car, good health,
a good family and be a good example for the children in school.
Nothing tragic would happen anymore, or less would. Because let’s
face it, sometimes children are not taught well at home. So when
they get into school, they become bullies because they have a
bad example at home! Maybe the father is drunk every day and beats
up the family. The child learns from that, or he gets frustrated.
Maybe the father is drunk and then dies or kills someone and goes
to jail, and then the child is alone with the mother only and
he’s frustrated. So he has to defend himself and grows up
aggressive, because that’s the only way he knows -- to rule
and become a bully. The family doesn’t make a good example.
He came from a broken family; what do you want him to do, with
no one to teach him! The father’s in jail or died, or was
maimed or is a vegetable for life. Sometimes he drinks and goes
home, beats the family up or dies because of alcohol. Then the
kid doesn’t know what to do, so he grows defensive. And
it works, because he’s weak and scared, and then that’s
how he grows into aggressiveness and becomes a bully.
If we take away the alcohol
and all the meat and cigarettes, then the family will be much
better already, and the school will be a better place. So, it
affects everything! The effect of a clean life is really big.
It’s not just for one person or one family; it affects the
whole society.
So, I think the world should
do this. If they just do like us and follow our example, they
don’t even need to study meditation with me or become all
Saints. I don’t need to teach them; they don’t need
to come see me. All they need to do is just live a clean life.
They can even pray to God, or pray to whatever they want. But
their virtues, their good life, will affect the whole world and
the whole world will be a paradise already. No need for me! |