In the other part of the Bible it is also said, “When you pray to your Father, enter into your secret chamber or the closet, and pray in secret; and then your Father, who sees you pray in secret, will reward you openly.”
So now, how do you pray in secret when we all go to church and pray openly? So probably, it’s not the way. Yes. It contradicts the Bible. The Bible teaches us that we must not pray loudly like the heathens do. Is that right? Yeah. Don’t make loud noises like the hypocrites or the heathens do, but enter into the secret chamber and pray secretly. Now, the secret is there. So that’s why when we go to church, mostly we pray a lot, and very loudly – everybody hears it, except God.
So most of the time, our wish doesn’t get the fulfillment that it deserves, because we probably do not do what the Bible taught us. If we believe in the Bible, then we must study more carefully what to do. Now, we see what (Lord) Jesus did. He didn’t go to the church to pray. I never heard He went to the church to pray except when He went there to preach or to throw all the money changers out, chase them out, or to scold the priests. I never heard of Him coming to temple to pray. So, what did He do?
According to very reliable sources of research and archaeologically unearthed materials, we know that (Lord) Jesus has been all over many countries – especially India, Tibet – and studied with many enlightened Masters of different schools at that time. And you know, when you go to India and you truly search for Masters, then you will find those with a meditative way of life. They would at least teach you meditation. I don’t mean you just pick any on the street and worship him as a Master. You must truly look for one. All of the Masters I know practice meditation, and most of the famous Tibetan Lamas do too, though probably in different ways. But they do meditate. So, if (Lord) Jesus went there for 13 or 19 years – anyhow, more than dozens of years – then He probably had a chance to meet some of these so-called Masters.
He probably met some of the under-qualified masters before, who taught Him some mantras or some yogic exercise, or miracles or things like that, to turn water into milk, or water into wine, etc. He probably learned these things in the earlier days before He met the so-called meditative Masters of the Himalayas. But finally, He would have met them. And even then, to do those tricks, you must also do some kind of meditation techniques, even though for some time only, temporarily. Now, when (Lord) Jesus met these people, then He must have meditated.
He must have learned how to meditate. Otherwise, how could He shut Himself in the desert for 40 days without a break? Can you just now suddenly go into the desert and shut yourself inside there? For 40 days, alone? It’s impossible. Except with training, with preparation beforehand. For example, for us who practice the meditation technique we call the Quan Yin Method – which means observing the inner Word, the inner (Heavenly) Sound, the Word of the Bible or the Sound of God – we often do a 7-day retreat, or sometimes one-month retreat. For us, it’s very usual. But for ordinary people who do not practice meditation, you cannot sit for five minutes, never mind five days. You try and sit for five minutes without moving your mind or your body, then you’ll become a Master already.
Therefore, when we know that (Lord) Jesus went to the desert for 40 days to meditate, we also could conclude or get the hint that He had been trained in meditation technique. He had been doing meditation all the time. And that probably was the last retreat that He did in order to go out to preach the Message of God. Most of the Masters do that before they go out into the world or before they decide whether they want to take the cross or not. It’s a kind of last minute… You know when you hear the alarm clock in the morning and you don’t just wake up right away. You know you have to go, but for the last minute, you enjoy the warmth of the bed. Similarly, most of the Masters, after enlightenment, if they know that God has assigned them the mission of being the Prophet of the age or the Messiah of the day, They would go into retreat for some time, just to prepare themselves mentally, physically, psychically, to face the hard task ahead and to walk the long road that God has assigned to them.
So, you see the life of Buddha. You know the Buddha. Before He went out to preach the Message, He also went on retreat for 49 days or 40 days. Probably they counted a little bit wrong. Yeah! I wonder why 40 days or 49? Why similar between them? Probably (Lord) Jesus also went for 49 days. But then the Bible makes the nine a little bit round and it becomes zero. Yeah. Sometimes we do that when we write too fast. Six looks like nine; nine looks like zero. Sometimes like that.
Why 49 days? Because seven times seven. You know, when you study many so-called mystical sciences, people believe in the number seven. They even say God made the world in six days, and Hes rested on the seventh. All together makes seven. And all the Egyptian mathematical information or leftover in the Pyramids, they also mention anything with seven. They believe that seven is the good number, the number of creative energy, and the number of powerful, supportive success in any kind of spiritual endeavor. Right? Is it correct English? Thank you very much. I have to speak at least three languages every day. So, don’t be surprised if you hear a few Aulacese (Vietnamese) words or Chinese inside (the talk). So, therefore, when the Buddha went for retreat, He also took seven days; times seven makes 49. And when we make retreat, we mostly also make seven-day retreats. It’s just become like a very acceptable tradition, so nobody questions the seven days.
Therefore, I guess maybe (Lord) Jesus also went for 49 days. Or maybe He thought He’d make a break from traditional tracks. He said, “Wow! Why nine days more? I’ve had enough.” He just walked out. He had a little bit more fast temper. I don’t mean He was quick-tempered – fast; fast and quick are different. Fast, He was just more lively; He didn’t stick to tradition. So, you see He threw people out of the temple, He beat them with a stick. He scolded them. He did not care for the reputation of a so-called Messiah.
He did what He had to do. I guess He had very little ego. He didn’t consider the ordinary opinions of people. So, probably that’s why He walked out of His retreat on the 40th day. He thought, “Well, nine more days makes no difference. I’m enlightened anyhow. And what I’ve got to do, I’ve got to do. The earlier, the better.”
So, we don’t argue about the numbers of Buddha’s and (Lord) Jesus’ retreat. But what I mean is, that’s how we know (Lord) Jesus had been meditating before. Otherwise, how did He know? How did He meditate for 40 days? The same like Buddha or Muhammad, [Peace Be Upon Him]. When you study the life of Muhammad, [Peace Be Upon Him], you know He also made a retreat before He appeared to preach in His country or to His fellow believers. Is that not so? Yeah. All of them did the same thing. And coincidentally, I also did the same thing, even though I knew nothing about that. I mean, I did not intend to make a retreat first and then to go out.
Everything has just been done the way it should be done: naturally. Just like when you’re hungry, you eat; you’re tired, you sleep. And now, if we would like to have inner peace, then we must have satisfaction. We must have a kind of extraordinary satisfaction that could overcome all other desires in order to have what you required earlier – inner peace. It’s not that difficult to attain what you just requested. And what the lady, our friend requested, was the only thing that’s worth requesting and the only thing that we should attain and should yearn for. Because, by attaining inner peace, we will attain everything else. That is also the name of the Kingdom of God.
All the miracles, all the satisfaction, all the fulfillment of worldly and Heavenly desires come from the Kingdom of God, come from the inner realization of our eternal harmony, of our eternal wisdom, and of our Almighty Power. If we do not get this, we never find satisfaction in this world. Doesn’t matter how much money we have, what kind of position we hold, or how many things this world has offered at our feet. That’s why, again, in the Bible it is said, “What good does a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul,” or the Kingdom of God.
