Bawa Muhaiyaddeen: I give my love to you, my children. Do you have any questions that you would like to ask, or shall I speak first, and then you can ask questions? If you have any questions, please ask.
Teenager: I have a friend who wants me to go on a trip with him following a rock group around the country. I told him that I already had been on a trip like this and that I did not think that it was a good thing to do. I tried to explain why I did not think that it was a good idea, but my explanations did not make any sense to him. He wanted to know where I got these ideas and explanations I told him that I understood them from some of the things that you had said to me, but he really did not understand.
Basically, I think that it would be a good idea if Bawa could give a talk on some of the dangerous things going on in the world today. Some of the children around here are at the age where they want to go out into the world, and maybe they have not learned enough to protect themselves from these dangerous things. They may not know enough about drugs and the influences that friends can have on them.
Bawa Muhaiyaddeen: I give my love to you, my brother. Please listen very carefully. If a horse that was living in the city left the city and went into the wilderness to join wild horses, its previous training would be undone, and it would be very difficult to catch and retrain. It would get used to the ways of the wild horses and its qualities would change. If you wanted to catch it, you would have to get friendly with it and entice it to come back to the city. This would take a great amount of time, and even if you were able to do this, it would take a very long time to retrain the horse. It could even be dangerous for you to try to retrain it. You might have an accident. You could even fall from the horse and break your arm or your back. When you try to do something like this, it can be very dangerous.
But, if you purchased a horse that had been in the city all the time, it would be easy to ride. You could even train it further and teach it good wisdom. This would enable you to safely continue your travels.
In the way that the city horse strayed from the right path and went into the forest, there are human beings who have also strayed from the right path. As a result they have developed bad habits. Trying to advise them could be dangerous.
So you must think, “This human is like a horse. He has not learned the right things. I was lucky to have understood these things myself. I left the wild life and came to the city. Now I understand the right things. But this human horse still does not understand, and it would not be wise for me to try to advise him. It is only when he undergoes the difficulties, sorrows, and suffering that I have undergone— it is only when the lions and tigers with human faces come to catch him and he has to run for his life that he will go to the city to be trained. Otherwise he will not try to learn.” Only if he faces the same kind of danger that you have faced, might he think about changing. Otherwise he will not change.
Never try to advise someone who does not have wisdom. You must escape from such people. Understand what state a person is in before you speak to him. If you do not do this, and you try to advise someone, danger could be the result. It would be like throwing stones at a mountain. The stone that you throw would split into many pieces and rebound back to hurt you. Remember, if you try to advise someone who does not have wisdom, it could backfire and result in great danger for you. It may result in your making enemies and being hated.
Do not try to feed grass to a lion. Do not give meat to a cow. They will not eat it. Similarly, do not give advice to a fool. He will not accept it. Only feed the one who is trying to change. Only feed the one who has that awareness. Then he will take it and derive some comfort from it. Do you understand? Use your wisdom in this way. That will be good. It is in this manner that each of you should use your wisdom.
Teenager: This is part of what I wanted to hear. The main reason I brought up this question was so that Bawa could tell us why these drugs are not good for anybody. They are very widespread now, and a lot of teenagers are using them. Could Bawa tell us why we should stay away from these drugs?
Bawa Muhaiyaddeen: Yes, we will speak about that. I give my love to you, my grandchildren, my children, and my brothers and sisters. What is the purpose of our lives? My children, the reason we came here, our purpose in life, is to study and understand the secrets of our Father and the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. This is the purpose of life.
Now, when we buy a farm our purpose is to make it yield good crops. It is only because we believe the farm will bring us profits and benefits that we buy it. Sometimes we buy land to build a house and sometimes we buy land to grow crops. Otherwise, there would be no use in buying land. We must make it useful. We should know whether the land is good for building a house or for farming. A house must be built on a higher level so that water will not flood it. Farming must be done on a lower level so that water will be available. My children, you should think about this and understand it.
If the land is suitable for farming, you must know how to cultivate it. Then, you must determine what crops will grow well in the soil. You must know what kinds of bacteria are in the land. You must know what insects are there. You must know how many inches the roots of the crops will grow and how far down the roots of a tree will grow. You must know where the bigger trees should be planted and where the smaller shrubs should be planted. You must know where and in what way to plant the fruit trees. If a certain section of the soil is rocky, certain trees can be planted there. If a section has soft soil, smaller crops like rice and yams can be planted there. All this care must be taken to have a successful farm.
Now, in the same way that we work hard to prepare the soil and make it beautiful so that we can benefit from it, we also have to work hard to prepare the house of our life. This house of our life is like the land. We must know where we should construct the house of our soul and the house of paradise. We have to understand this within our hearts and try to build that house. We need to think about what materials we need. We have to ask ourselves, “How should we cultivate this life of ours?” What is the state of our mind, our desires, and our inner heart? We must understand what our thoughts, which are like crops, will do to us. What will mind, desire, arrogance, karma, anger, miserliness, attachment, fanaticism, and envy do to us? What will intoxicants, lust, theft, murder, and falsehood do to us? What will jealousy, doubt, suspicion, pride, and egoism do to us? What will all these do to us? These are the insects that will destroy our farm and eat our lives. These bad qualities are like insects that will destroy the good crops in our lives. They will destroy our house and all our good qualities. Our entire life, our having taken a form and come here, will have been of no use or benefit.
God has given us this house which is our body, and within this body is a great strength. Within our life is a mysterious truth. We need to think about this. In the same way that we have to analyze and understand soil before we can plant crops, we must also understand and analyze our life. We must know what things are capable of destroying our life, and we must know what things can fascinate us and impair our judgment.
Now, when you see a drunkard walking down the road, observe how he is walking. Watch how he staggers and bumps into all the people passing by. Now, look at a person who takes drugs. He will laugh, he will cry, he will nod with his tongue hanging out, and he will do all sorts of crazy things. Whatever forces are within his mind he will see magnified on the outside. The mind of one who takes intoxicants and drugs such as heroin and marijuana sees similar things. Whatever he thinks about he will see on the outside.
If you look at one who takes heroin, you will see his state. First, he will take the drug. Then he will nod and begin to feel drowsy.
His head will droop and he will fall into a sleep with his tongue hanging out. If you try to wake him, he will push you away. He will be unable to sit up. People who look at him will know that he is on drugs. In that state, he will lose his self-respect and the exaltedness of his life.
Marijuana is a drug that dulls the brain. When one smokes this drug, he will see on the outside whatever he is thinking about. He might be thinking, “Today I am going to make love to this girl. She will come here today. I must meet her and hold her today.” Then, he imagines he sees her in front of him. Everyone who comes before him will look like that girl. He will smile at everyone he sees, thinking that he is seeing the girl he desires. When the effects of the drug begin to wear off, he will become sad and start crying. He will cry, he will laugh, and his sense of judgment will be dulled.
Whatever he is thinking about at the time that he takes the drug is what he will experience. If he smokes the drug with the thought of hitting someone, he will go and fight with someone. In that state he might think, “My father and mother did not take care of me. See what I will do to them!” Then, he might go to their house and break everything. This drug will destroy his life and his good qualities. It will also destroy the respect of his parents in their society. Drugs like marijuana will cause so many difficulties like this.
In the olden days, there were sages and ascetics who smoked marijuana. Ten thousand years ago they would smoke these weeds in the forest. They smoked them for a certain reason. It enabled them to see in their meditation whatever god they were thinking about when they inhaled the drug. They focused on one point as their god. They might have been thinking about a snake god, a cow god, or a tiger god. Sitting in meditation they would smoke marijuana and then they would begin to see only the god that they had intended to see. They would become oblivious to everything else. They focused only on one point.
But those who smoke these drugs today have so many millions of thoughts that their actions are useless and without purpose. At least the ascetics in the jungle did it to reach a certain state. But if you take these drugs today, your life will be ruined.
When one takes heroin, he will be unable to work. If he continues to take this drug, he will develop illnesses and nothing will be able to change him. If he does not have money for drugs, he will begin to steal or even murder. He will finally lie on the ground like a corpse. He will not even know whether he is wearing any clothes. He will not recognize his wife and children. He will not know whether a person is a man or a woman. His self-respect, his values, his good conduct, and his worth will be destroyed. His whole life will be finished. When people see him they will say, “Oh, look at the drunkard in the street.”
Marijuana, heroin, cocaine, gin, whiskey, beer, and champagne are all substances that will destroy and kill a man. They will kill his wisdom, his truth, and his beauty. They will destroy the beauty of his face, the beauty of his heart, and the beauty of his life. These things can turn a human being into a crazy person.
Some of you have had some personal experiences in these matters. Have you observed your parents? In today’s world, many parents use drugs and alcohol. In this state do they have any thoughts or concerns for their spouse and their children? No. Some of you have had this experience, have you not? If you learned from these experiences, you would not use drugs. You should think, “Oh, this is what my parents did. I should not repeat their mistakes and suffer the same plight, or my life will also be ruined.” You have to reflect and learn from your experiences.
Observe what happens when someone takes heroin, marijuana, or cocaine, or goes to bars and discos, or picks up prostitutes, or does rock and roll dancing. You have to look at this. What happens in these places? What is the outcome of all these actions? What happens when one behaves in this manner? What are the dangers that result from this? You must really think about this. A mother can lose a child. The child loses a mother. Their good conduct and behavior are lost.
What is the difference between animals and people who have come to this state? Haven’t you seen how the people dance on television and the way they jump around like animals? Haven’t you seen this? Is that dancing? It is worse than what animals do. At least the private parts of the animals are covered by their hair. Even their breasts are below their bodies so that they are hidden. But people are worse than the animals. They don’t even cover their backsides.
Man has been endowed with the four virtues of modesty, reserve, sincerity, and the fear of wrongdoing. When you do these things, these virtues are lost. Cows, goats, and other animals have a tail which covers their private parts. But humans expose everything and exhibit themselves.
Now, a cow will show herself to only one mate. Every few years there is a certain season that the cow will lift its tail and allow a bull to mate with her. If a bull approaches her at any other time, she will kick him. If a cow is in this state, what should be the state of a human being who is so exalted? What type of a person should a human being be? We need to think about this.
You are small children. You are beautiful children. We are all here as male children and female children, as brothers and sisters. You are my sons and daughters, my grandsons and granddaughters. You have to think. What is it that exalts a human being, and what is it that degrades a human being? What makes a person’s life exalted, and what makes his life degraded? You must understand this through your own experiences.
Observe what happens in a household in which the father is a drunkard and the mother is a good, peaceful woman. Think about how much difficulty and trouble a man must give to his wife and children when he goes to the house of a prostitute. Or if a woman goes with other men and the husband is a good man, you can see the difficulties that the children and husband must undergo. You have to think about what you observe and experience.
You have eyes, you have ears, you have a nose, and you have a tongue to speak. You also have the inner heart to understand these things. Haven’t you understood, by using these senses and your inner heart, what goes on in these families? Haven’t you seen the separations, the difficulties, and the troubles that they suffer? Haven’t you noticed the reasons for this suffering?
A man goes out and drinks. He comes home late at night and shouts and breaks things. Or it could be the other way around. A woman may go out and not look after the children. You have to think about this. You must understand these things. Understanding these things is true learning. Drugs, marijuana, heroin, LSD, and other intoxicants are the cause of man’s suffering. They change men into dogs, ghosts, donkeys, monkeys, and other animals. It is these things that destroy man.
When someone goes to fight in a war, he is given these intoxicants. Why? Because he will be like a fool who will blindly follow what he is told to do. He will be told to go and kill, and he will go and kill. But, if he did not take these intoxicants, he would have mercy, compassion, and love, and he would not be able to do these brutal things. He would not be able to commit these sins. He is given these intoxicants so that he will obey orders.
Sometimes a race horse is given drugs mixed with liquids to make it run faster. Drugs have the power to change the capabilities of animals and people. Drugs can change a man and make him prone to accidents. They will completely destroy his life. In your experience you may have seen drunkards, gamblers, people who go to whorehouses and run around with women, and people who use drugs. Haven’t you seen how they suffer and undergo so many difficulties? You have to learn from all these experiences.
Every child must learn the reason why families split apart. It is often due to intoxicants. What happens when a man starts to drink? It is said in the book May a Veeram, or The Forces of Illusion, that when a man is intoxicated by alcohol, he will enact whatever thoughts enter his mind. If he thinks, “Today I must give my wife a good beating,” he will begin to fight with his wife. At another time a woman may pass by while he is drinking. He thinks, “Oh, she is an attractive woman. I must get her.” Then he will begin to flirt with her. If she is in the same state, she might wink her eye and say, “Oh, I am here. Come with me.” Then what will happen? She might be a prostitute. She will talk and laugh to distract him. Then she will roll around with him and take whatever he has in his pockets. With her smiles she will entrance him and make him come under her control.
Some women like this won’t even give the man the sex he desires. They will give him a drink and steal whatever money he has. Some women are prostitutes of speech. That is, they entice you by their speech alone. Some are prostitutes of magic and mesmerism, and others are prostitutes of sex.
At another time when the man is drinking again, he will have sexual desire. Then, he will remember the prostitute and start stealing everything in sight in order to pay her. He will even steal his children’s possessions, his wife’s clothes, and the silverware. He will take everything that is in the house and sell it and give the money to the woman he desires. If the prostitute does not get money from him, she will not fulfill his desires. Each time he goes to see her she will ask for more things. This is what happens. First, the man begins to drink. Then, lust begins to develop in him. In order to be able to satisfy his desire, he has to steal.
A drug addict also does this. Both the drug addict and the drunkard who goes to the prostitute do the same thing. If the drug addict has no drugs, he has to steal. He will even steal from his own mother. He will steal her jewels. He will steal from other houses. He will do whatever he has to do to buy drugs. He will have no feeling of shame, no feeling of disgrace, no thought about how he is ruining his life, and no thought that he might be put in prison.
Do you understand? Once addicted, the man cannot be without drugs. He will do anything to get them. If he is caught trying to steal something, he may even try to murder the one who catches him. He will commit murder in order to escape. Then, he will run away. He will begin to be afraid of anybody who sees him. He will be afraid of the police spotting him. He will run in fear until finally the police catch him. One way or another he will be caught, and then he will start to lie.
By now, he has committed the five sins of intoxicants, lust, theft, murder, and falsehood. Even if you are his girlfriend or his mother, anything that you entrust to him will be lost. You will never see it again. He will betray your trust. He will forsake his friends. Even though he may have had a very good friend in the past, he will cheat him and lie to him. When the truth comes out, he will tell more lies. When he is taken to court, he will continue to lie. He will try to escape by telling more and more lies. Then, he could be sentenced to prison. He could be imprisoned for life, or he could even be hanged. In prison, he will have to undergo untold suffering. It is only then that he will think, “These things that I did were wrong.” It is only when he is caught and imprisoned that he will think about these things. Then, he will cry. He will go through all this. It is only after his life has been trapped within a cage, that he will stop and think. Before that he will not stop. This is why intoxicants, lust, theft, murder, and falsehood are known as the five sins that go together.
A boy begins being tempted to do these five things around the age of fourteen. Girls start to have a connection to these things when they are twelve years old. It is at this age when they start to become close to their friends. They have good friends, bad friends, friends who use drugs, friends who have wisdom, and friends who have good qualities. They acquire all types of friends. Both boys and girls could associate with these types of friends.
The extent to which a man’s life will be exalted or degraded is determined by the time he is twenty-five years old. During this time he may associate with either good friends, bad friends, friends who take drugs, or friends who drink alcohol. These friends can influence and change him at this time. If he makes bad friends, they could change him and make him bad. They could make him take drugs like LSD, marijuana, heroin, and cocaine. They could make him steal, tell lies, go to prostitutes, go to bars and discos, and hang out in parks. The bad friends will get him to join them and influence him to do these things. Then his life will be finished. If, however, he has a good friend, that friend will see that he goes on the good path and joins with a group of good friends.
Now, you tried to help your friend become good, but he did not accept your help, and he went away. To help people join the good side is difficult. But there are many people who are willing to join the bad side. The majority are bad. If you try to bring somebody over to the good side it is very difficult. The good friends are in the minority. The bad friends are in the majority. But to get good friends is very difficult. It takes awhile to find them. This is how it is when one is growing up.
If one turns out like his bad friends, his whole life will be destroyed. When you do these bad things, your whole life becomes poisoned. Bad qualities, anger, taking drugs and intoxicants, and bad thoughts and actions are the germs that will destroy your life. You must escape from these things. Even though you are studying in school, you must also learn from your own experiences. You have seen people laughing and crying. You have seen someone selling his belongings, even his clothes, to buy drugs. You have seen people steal other people’s things and sell them in order to buy drugs. Do you understand? You have seen this happening all around you. Haven’t you seen these things in school?
How does a person get into this state? This is what boys and girls have to think about. When a child is born, the parents want the child to succeed. They are attached to their child and they want the child to do well in life. Unfortunately, some parents are in a bad state themselves, and the children, observing this, may follow in their footsteps. In this way the child may also fall into the same bad state as their parents. Even if they have good parents, some children may be influenced by the friends they make at school and then change for the worse. Thus, there are children who become bad because of the state of their parents, and there are children with good parents who are led astray because of the friends with whom they associate.
In the same way that our lives are destroyed by the qualities of jealousy, falsehood, doubt, vengeance, suspicion, anger, pride, arrogance, karma, illusions, thoughts of the mind, lust, hatred, miserliness, fanaticism, greed, envy, intoxicants, theft, murder, separations due to color, and the difference of the “I” and the “you” drugs too will destroy our lives. The effect of drugs and the effect of these evil qualities is basically the same. The level of exaltedness that we could attain in our lives will never be reached if we submit to these drugs, alcohol, and evil qualities.
When you observe very carefully what is going on in the world, you will understand these things. Some children will come to you and cry, and some will come to you and laugh. Some are quiet and keep things to themselves. Some complain and lament. You have to think about these states and decide in which state you should be, and then realize that you can change and improve your life with good qualities, good behavior, and proper conduct. You have to avoid the bad section and try to bring your life into a good state.
I give my love to you, my grandchildren, my sons and daughters, my brothers and sisters. Now, there is a time period within which you establish success or failure in your life. When I look at the continents of America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, I see certain things happening. Some parents encourage their children, whether they be boys or girls, to go out and find friends of the opposite sex. They say, “Before you get married, you must have experiences about life and sex.” Parents themselves send their own children into the world to find out about these things. They send them to find friends of the opposite sex so that they can have experiences before marriage. I have seen some parents do this.
There are some parents who tell their children that it is all right to do whatever they want, including smoking marijuana. Their only prohibition is that their children stay away from people of certain races, colors, and religions. These parents tell their children, “Do any thing you please, but you must not convert to another religion.” They forbid their children to have contact with blacks, whites, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, etc. Children have come here and told me that their parents have brought them up this way. They were told that they could do anything they wanted except that one thing.
As a result of this upbringing, certain children have become crazy. Some were good children, but now they have become crazy. There are parents like this. If their children do try to learn wisdom, go on the good path, and improve themselves, the parents will not like it because of their own prejudice and divisiveness. They will say, “You can be hippies, go anywhere, do anything you want, go to prostitutes, you can take drugs, but you cannot be involved with people of other religions and races.” There are parents who say this.
I am telling you about things that have happened in certain places. These children get ruined because of this. They cannot go on the good path. And this is caused by certain parents. So many children who have come here have told this to me. Some of these children are in mental hospitals today because of their own parents.
However, in some of the Asian countries parents still teach their children good conduct and proper behavior. Until the children get married, the parents keep them at home and raise them. They have restrictions and make sure that the children come home on time. They guide them and see that they go to school. Until they get married, the parents protect and guide them. But in places like America, Europe, and Australia, the parents encourage the children to have sex even before they are married. You cannot find happiness in your life this way.
If a person lives his life with only one mate and experiences sex with only that one person, then he will not know of any other taste. If a man or woman chooses just one person and only experiences sex with that person, then he or she will not want anyone else. They will not know about the pleasures or sorrows they might experience with others. They will just want to stay with that one person. In spite of all the joys, sorrows, and difficulties, they will stay faithful to that one.
However, if they have a lot of experiences, they think, “This one is better than that one, and that one is better than this one. This one is tastier than that one, and that one is tastier than this one.” As a result they keep on changing and getting divorces. Such a person may have one child by one man, two children by another man, and another child by somebody else. They may even say, “I don’t want this child.” Many such problems and difficulties occur because of this.
So a woman who should have lived for one hundred years with beauty will become old by the time she is twenty. By the time she is twenty-five, she is like a grandmother. Then she has to go to a doctor to have plastic surgery to remove the wrinkles from her skin. But even with this skin grafting, she is still old. Her youth is lost.
The society and the parents in some countries raise their children to be like this. At the age of fourteen or fifteen they send their children out of their homes and allow them to do whatever they want. Unguided, the children follow their own emotions and undergo great difficulties until finally they become ruined.
There is a time period within which children go astray and go onto the wrong path. For girls it is between the ages of twelve and twenty. For boys it is between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five. This is the time when their lives get ruined, their studies get spoiled, their relationship with their parents gets destroyed and their high principles and values for life are abandoned.
Between the ages of twelve and twenty is the time when girls can go astray. This is the time when they will acquire boyfriends and friends who take drugs. This is the time when they could indulge in sexual pleasures and act like prostitutes. During this time their studies could be ruined, they could drop out of school, and their wisdom could be destroyed. At this time they might be tempted to go to the beach with boyfriends. They may go to Atlantic City or California and walk around half naked. All these things come to tempt a girl between the ages of twelve and twenty. Consequently their schooling, their good conduct, and their lives could be ruined. The parents who cared so much for them earlier must really concentrate on protecting and guiding their daughters between the ages of twelve and twenty. It is very important to supervise them at these ages.
Similarly, the lives of boys could get destroyed between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five. This is a critical time for boys. The parents must set limits, keep them in the house, and see that they study well between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five. If the parents do this, they will be able to do well in their studies, attain high ideals, get a good job, and reach a high state in life.
It is during this time that the parents really have to protect the children. They have to guide them, give them love, companionship, compassion, and help. Parents must embrace their children and teach them good conduct, good qualities, and wisdom. Each child must think about this. This is the time period within which you can be led astray and your life can be destroyed. This is the time when friends can be a bad influence on you. This is the time when even your teachers can misguide you. This is the time when you can change and end up in the streets and be lost. Each child must think about this.
If you can overcome the temptations during this period of time, you will have sealed the limit or boundary of your life. God will place a seal on you saying, “This is an exalted child. This child will never get degraded.” You will get that seal of education and knowledge,’ilm. Once a boy is careful and gets that seal, he will never go astray. Similarly, once a girl gets that seal, you can see that she is in an exalted state. No one can lead her astray or ruin her life after this. She must get that seal within this time period.
So, you children must try to earn this seal. Your life can be either a success or a failure. If you go wrong within this time limit, your whole life will go downhill. Then you will be like a corpse. There will not be any difference between you and the animals. At least the animals will have some freedom in their lives, but you will not even have freedom.
A horse might have some peace. But you will not even have that peace in your life.
I give my love to you, my grandchildren. You must think of this. You must think and reflect on this. Try to establish this completeness in your life. You must try to live your life in such a way that the perfection of life is made complete. If you give in to drugs and acquire bad friends and bad qualities, then your life will be spoiled and all will be lost. Your life will be a long hell. Your whole life will be like an advertisement for hell. Your life itself will be like a billboard for hell. Girls and boys must think about this.
Children, you have to think about who is your best friend during these crucial years. Your best friend is your education. That will be the friend that will save your life. Your education is the companion who will be with you until the very end. Until you go to your grave, this friend will accompany you. Except for this friend there will be no other one who will save your life. This education will be your best friend, your faithful friend, your loving and affectionate friend. You can never find a better friend than that. During this period you must only think of your studies as your best friend. But, if you let go of this friend, then the evil qualities will come to be your friend, and your life will be destroyed. This is certain.
Therefore, you must acquire the qualities of modesty, sincerity, reserve, and the fear of wrongdoing. You must acquire good thoughts. Acquire God’s qualities. Have love in your heart, and conduct yourself with loving qualities. You must think about this and acquire God’s wisdom. You must acquire God’s equality, peace, tranquility, wisdom, conscience, justice, and compassion. You must acquire God’s actions. You must develop these qualities and embed them in your education. If you make your life exalted in this way, nothing will be able to destroy you. No matter how much time goes by, no matter how much evil comes, no matter what storms or poverty or difficulties come, you cannot be destroyed. None of these can ever affect you or harm you because you will have that Seal of God which will give strength to your life. Because you will have established and strengthened this exalted state in your life, you will not fail.
I give my love to you, my brothers and sisters, my sons, my daughters, my grandsons and granddaughters. Think about this in your life, and think about education as the one friend in your life and as the strong friend of your heart. Study carefully and conduct yourself with good qualities. Try to attain greatness in your life.
Girls, before you are twenty, this must be strengthened firmly within you. Boys, this learning must be strengthened within you during the ages of fourteen and twenty-five. All of you must try to have the determination, the effort, and the faith that is needed to do this. But if you let go of this, you will ruin your life. You must definitely understand this. Every child must be absolutely sure that this is the friend in your life.
One way to do this is to go to a wise man and be with him for some time. Learn wisdom, good qualities, and clarity from him. This will strengthen your faith and your life. It will be a staff for you to use when you walk on the path of life. It will be of great value to your mind. It will be a wealth and a treasure to your heart. When you are sad and troubled, he will give you advice and peace. He will teach you to have good qualities and wisdom, and he will give peace to your hearts. Every child, each boy and girl, must try to do this. If you waste this time and just play around, it will definitely destroy the rest of your life. Do you understand?
This is the time when you can go astray and be spoiled.
This is the time that your friends can be a bad influence on you. Drug friends, marijuana friends, LSD friends, love friends, sex friends, sixty-four sexual games friends, acting friends, intoxicant friends, friends that warp good sense and judgment, friends of illusion, friends of lust, attach¬ment, and fanaticism—all these millions of friends will come and try to lead you astray. This could be the time when your life turns out to be a failure. Therefore, you must be children of wisdom and use your intelligence. You must cultivate good qualities, act accordingly, and victoriously emerge from this period of your life.
After this period, you will know what the secret of this game is. Then, you will be able to play with a certain under¬standing. You will know which is the real game. If you finish your learning within this period, you can play the game with the understanding of what is right and what is wrong. You will know what is good and bad, and you will know the difference between light and night. Then you will not play the wrong games, and you will not experience any more difficulties. But if you give up and try to play games now, that will be wrong. Every child must think about this.
My children, I give you my love. Every child must think of this. What is bad? What is good? What is evil? What are heaven and hell? What are good qualities and what are bad qualities? We must think about these things. You must think about what is truth and what is falsehood and conduct your life in the right way. Take what I have told you now into your hearts. Reflect on what I have said and conduct your life properly. This will benefit you and give you exaltedness, self-respect and a high state in life. Then you will understand the strength that this will give to your life.
May God help you. Keep this in your heart. You must have faith in the God that created us. You need the help and respect of your parents. If you attain a high standard in this manner, you will even be able to correct and help the parents who did not raise you in the proper way. Others will also see you and your exalted qualities and try to improve themselves.
Precious jeweled lights of my eyes, you who are the life within my heart, you who are born with me, you who are the sweet fruit within my heart, I give my love to all of you. Is this enough? Should I speak some more?
A cow, a goat, an elephant, every animal protects itself. They have to protect themselves from lions, tigers, and the many poisonous insects that live in the forest. They also have to save themselves from the big snakes that live in the jungle. But the animal that is the most dangerous of all animals is the human animal. If this animal comes into the jungle, all other animals will be afraid. Even the animals that are not afraid of any other animal will be afraid of this human animal, because he will kill everything. This human animal will kill without a second thought, without reflecting and without compassion. Therefore, when the human animal goes into the jungle, the real animals have to escape from him.
There are so many millions of human beings who are worse than the most wicked animal. There are human animals who murder. There are human animals who torture others. There are human animals who rape people. There are human animals who seek revenge and human animals who attempt to destroy the lives of others. As the animals in the jungle have learned to protect themselves, we too as human beings must learn to protect ourselves by using our analytic wisdom. If we have to live in the midst of these human animals, we have to learn to protect ourselves. We have to be very careful and use our seven levels of consciousness: perception, awareness, intellect, judgment, wisdom, divine analytic wisdom, and divine luminous wisdom. With our feeling and awareness we must acquire those qualities that will enable us to protect ourselves.
By using our wisdom and good qualities, we must learn to escape from these animals. If we do not do this, then in the same way that the human animals go into the jungle and kill everything, our own mind, desires, and bad qualities will kill us. These wicked things are the animals that are found in the human animal. If they enter us, then our lives, our good qualities, our exaltedness, our good conduct, our good behavior, our love, our compassion, our mercy, and God’s qualities and justice will be destroyed. Mind, which is an animal, desire, which is an animal, and the animals of lust and anger will destroy us.
These animals have no mercy or compassion. They have only selfishness. Carefully we must try to escape from these evil animals and these evil qualities. With great subtlety and wisdom, we must escape and protect ourselves. We must make this effort. Only then can we find victory in our lives.
Each child should think about this. We must try to conduct our lives in the right way and go on the good path. We must find this clarity in our lives. I humbly, lovingly request all of you to do this. I am requesting you to grow up and become wise, good, loving children. You must try to find clarity in your lives.
Amin. Amin. As-salamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatahu. So be it. So be it. May the peace and blessing of God be upon you.