It is God alone who teaches us⁴⁰

I wish to say a few words. There is only one spiritual Teacher, and that spiritual Teacher is God. My students and I call Him by one Name and you may call Him by a different Name, but it is the same Person.

Some people are good in a particular subject. Somebody is an excellent soccer player, let us say; somebody is a great musician, and somebody else shines in a different field. When it is a matter of spirituality, prayer and meditation, in this incarnation I started at the age of seven. In previous incarnations also I studied, so perhaps I know the subject well. After practising spirituality for many, many years, one can know one’s previous incarnations. From spirituality we get this capacity. If I am a good basketball player or volleyball player or any other sports player, I will not be able to know who I was or who you were in a previous incarnation. This is an advantage that we get from spirituality.

Spirituality will be able to give us peace of mind. No matter how great one is as a sportsman, as a musician, as a singer or as a champion in any field, that person will not have peace of mind. For peace of mind we have to pray and meditate. Nothing else will give us peace of mind. If you are the greatest manager of the world’s greatest hotel, you will have so many problems! The greater you become, the more responsibility you get. But if you pray and meditate, then worries and anxieties will not assail you.

I have nearly seven thousand disciples in at least sixty countries. I am fully responsible for them. At the same time, I place their problems at the Feet of God. I pray to God. I am offering God my prayers, and all the problems I place at the Feet of God. In that way I get peace. This is what we learn in our meditation: peace, peace.

There are three families for each person. Your own family, with children, father and mother, is one family. Your small family includes your own relatives. Then comes your beloved country, Malaysia. You have to take Malaysia as your family. This is your beloved country, which becomes your second family. Suppose you were born in China. Then your beloved country will be China. Some people here were born in India. Their beloved country will be India. For each individual, a particular country will be his second family. Whether you are Malaysian, Chinese or Indian, first comes your own family. Then comes your country as your second family. Your third family is the whole world.

I was born in a tiny village. I went to South India to pray and meditate for twenty years, and then I went to America to be of service to the spiritual seekers. Whatever I do, I do not say that I “teach.” It is God alone who teaches us; we only serve. I serve you. Your God, if you are a Muslim, is your Allah. If you are Chinese or Indian, you also call your God by a particular Name. It is the same God, whether we call Him Allah or any other Name.

We pray to God to give us joy. We pray to God to keep us always physically in good condition and morally and spiritually awake, so that we do not make mistakes. Many, many mistakes we have made. We all make mistakes. Some people do not pray to God for forgiveness, while others do. If we pray to God for forgiveness, He will forgive us. Some people do the wrong thing, but they do not pray to God for forgiveness. They feel that it is not necessary. But if we do not pray for forgiveness, it will be very, very difficult for us to be happy in life.

I am very grateful to you all. My blessing is my prayer, my meditation. I do not use my hands to bless an individual in the traditional way. I feel that only God can put His Compassionate Hands on our head. I know a little more about spirituality than you do. You know much more than I do about business and other subjects. I am praying to God to bless you. Again, I do not bless anybody in India’s traditional way, and I do not want people to touch my feet. I am not worthy of it, but sometimes people come up to me and touch my feet. That is traditional, but I do not want it. I take you all as my young brothers and young sisters. The older brother knows a little more than the youngest ones in the family. The one who was born first knows where the father is, where the mother is. He tells the little ones, “Come, come — I will be able to show you where our parents are.” At that time his job is over. Then the little ones will be able to speak to the mother and to the father, and they will be able to learn many, many things about the inner world and the outer world.

Again and again I am saying that when I pray with you, you will get Blessings from God. I call Him the Absolute, and I use the term “Supreme.” It is the same God, but I like that Name. Your children call you by one name, like “Daddy” and “Mommy.” When they grow up, they will call you “Father” and “Mother.” And other people, your friends, will call you by your proper name. Whether you are a magistrate or a senator, or you hold some other important post, you are the same person, but for someone you will be a friend, for someone you will be a parent, for someone you will be a sister or brother. But you are still the same person, same person. Like that, God is the same, no matter what Name we use for Him.

Now I am inviting each of you to kindly sit in front of me and meditate with me for one or two minutes. If your relatives are with you, if your wife or husband is with you or your child is with you, then you may come together. But if you are alone, if you have not brought your wife or your husband or your children, then do please come alone.

Now please come, one by one, and kindly look at me. Rest your hands comfortably. Our prayer, our meditation is not severe or austere — no, no, no! God does not appreciate it if I go to Him in an austere position. God will say, “You fool! Who asked you to become unnatural?” We should approach God in a normal way, a natural way. Some people torture their body when they pray, and God feels sorry. If I want to go to my Father, do I have to suffer? That is sheer stupidity. God will say to me, “My child, come to Me as you are.”