Maitreya: As I said, the cooler the body, the more efficient. Use the sun moderately. Everything should be used with the middle path in mind. Moderation is the real answer to these questions. You have to use everything in moderation.

Even meditation should be done in moderation. If you meditate too much then you become an escapist. You lose the world. You become completely detached from everything around you. So too much meditation may not be good.

Too much worldliness is not good. Too much eating is not good. Too much not eating is not good. See, too much of anything is not good. Too much of a good thing will become boring too.

Just imagine you can have the best vegetarian food. I was going to say you can have steak everyday but this is not the place to say it. Just imagine the best food in the universe. Imagine eating ice cream for breakfast, ice cream for lunch, ice cream for dinner, ice cream for a snack.

What happens? After awhile you don't even want to look at ice cream. So it is really a matter of moderation and discrimination of mind, and realizing how these things affect the body.

I used to live in Pennsylvania, where the sun is not as bright and warm as in the South. Then I transferred to Mississippi State University. I was going there for part of my education. I remember I was driving and when I passed the Tennessee border there was a welcoming station. You could just park there. I remember my body needed sun so much, that I lied down in the front of my car and I just fell asleep for hours. When I woke up I was really revived. My body was craving the rays of the sun. In that sense my body needed that and liked it, and my body enjoyed it. It was very helpful.

But if you go to sleep in the Florida sun for twelve hours every day for six months, it is too much. You will be completely burned up. Again there has to be moderation in everything that you do. The sun is good for the body but not if it's overdone.

For instance, you don't need to sit in the sun in New Mexico because the sun is so powerful and it's so bright. Even the skin cancer rate is very high here. So you try not to stay in the sun as much as possible. But if you are in Pennsylvania or Boston, you want to get some sun in the summer because the sun is not so bright and powerful. Again it comes back to the discriminative mind, moderation, and where you live.

For example, we said that meat has a lot of tama in it. But if you live in Siberia probably you cannot live without meat. There are no vegetables. There is all meat, and you need meat to create that heat, to make your body warm and get it going. So again it depends on time, place and people.

Question: Also in relation to the chakras, is it the same as you just said, or is there another point of view there?
 

Maitreya: Sure, they do, because there are different periods of the life. God has created us in such a way that we manifest different energies, and different chakras are more predominant in different periods of our lives.

For instance, when we are children, probably we are mostly connected to the Spirit, and we have no consciousness of our bodies, or very little consciousness of our bodies. Very few of us remember our bodies when we were two or three years old. Does anyone remember his or her body when they were two or three years old? No. We didn't even have the consciousness of our bodies.

We started getting a connection to our bodies around seven or eight years old. We could remember how our bodies were pretty well when we were seven or eight years old. We were becoming more worldly in connection.

When we come to the next age, the teenager, of course we are very aware of our bodies, especially of our noses [all laughing]. Also at that age, we feel passion in our bodies. We're getting signals all over our bodies about how we look and how we act.

As we approach adult life, our concern is, "Are we children, or are we adults?" We are completely confused between being children and being grownups. That's why the teenagers have a hard time.

They are receiving all kind of signals from their second chakras. The reproductive part is developing and they are receiving all these different signals. Very few teenagers really have time, if they are given a choice, to think about God. They'd rather think about their boyfriend or girlfriend, the boy next door, the girl next door, or whatever teenagers think about.

It is so important that the parents be God-conscious and train their children from childhood to think about God. It's going to help the children a lot when they grow up, because in the teen years they can't control those emotions, those passionate feelings. If they have had spiritual training and disciplines, they have a good base to go through this period and come out fine. But if they don't have any control or discipline, as they have never encountered such pulls, they just go crazy. They don't know what to do with them.

That's why we recommend the younger children have a walking mantra. They can just walk and meditate on Haree Om Shrii Hung, Om Nam Kevalam. It makes them concentrate their minds more and more on God, on control of their minds.

I didn't have a mantra but I remember when I was a child I used to count my steps. I used to count, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, and then one, two, three, four, one, two, three. It's kind of a mantra by itself. It's interesting that it adds to seven. But that's what I used to think, one, two, three, four, one, two, three.

If children use a walking mantra, they create this ability to control their minds. They just walk and say, Haree Om Shrii Hung, Om Nam Kevalam. Their minds don't wander to many different ways of thinking.

Of course, when they are twelve years old, we recommend they really start practicing formal meditation. So by the time they are thirteen or fourteen years old they have pretty good control of their emotions, etc. Then in teenager years we're going to have much calmer, much more centered teenagers rather than wild teenagers who don't know what to do with these incredible energies in them.

They really don't know what to do with themselves. They have more problems than we think we have with them, because the poor kids don't know, they're torn by so many different pulls. Of course, when they reach eighteen and nineteen years old, they want to be accepted by society, their group, etc.

The teenager wants to follow the peer pressure. He or she does it but at the end, all of their peers are gone. They receive diplomas. Then one goes to this college, one goes to that college, one goes to another college. Six months later all of them have gone different ways and he or she feels, "What was that all about? I was so afraid about these people liking me, or doing exactly what they wanted me to do. Now they are all gone." That's just one experience.

So in college they grow up a little bit. They are no longer under peer pressure. They are under different kinds of pressure: their social awareness increases, they become more competitive, they become concerned about getting good grades, making it in the world, etc. If they make good grades they make it in school. They may have a good job, but still after awhile they say, "That wasn't it either."

So they may marry. They say, "Well, maybe I'll marry, that's it." They marry and that wasn't it either.

They have children. They say, "Let's have a child." The child comes, they're happy for a year or six months. He's so cuddly and cute. They spend some time with him, and after two or three years, the child starts having his or her own personality. They see, "Well, he's going away more and more from us. He's a different person than us. He's not that cuddly child any longer. He or she has his own will. He wants to be himself or herself." So that phase is also gone.

You reach a point where everything you did didn't give you the ultimate satisfaction. So you are more open now to the Spirit because you realize nothing in this world gives you that ultimate satisfaction for which you long.

Then you go to the Spirit, you go to God. You open yourself to, "What is this life all about? I spent all this time chasing this illusive happiness. I thought I'd be fulfilled with all that I have. None of it gave me that happiness."

So when you are older you are more open, because the lower propensities are no longer pulling you in different directions. That passionate feeling of the teenager is no longer there. The desire of competition and success didn't work. The children, spouse and all these things didn't give you that happiness. When you become older you are more open to the Spirit.

In different levels of our lives, different propensities are awakened in us. As we become older the lower propensities become fulfilled more, and the higher propensities start manifesting themselves. Also we go through many experiences. We go through the many desires that we want, we try to accomplish, and we accomplish. But they weren't It.

Greater is the one who has the propensity to go for spirituality at a younger age. Those are the Great Souls who desire to have this knowledge at a younger age. By the time they are teenagers or in their youth they have already gone through all these experiences in their meditation. They have already seen the emptiness of it, so they become Great Souls.

To answer your question, Yes, the older you become the more you are open to spiritual Truth. Of course, some people never become interested in spiritual Truths because they never learn their lessons. But those who learn their lessons, yes, they become more open to spiritual Truth.

Question: How far should the Mission go in publicizing Its Presence? Do we want to reach the masses or is there some discrimination?
 

Maitreya: Well, we tried to reach the masses and there wasn't a very big response. Actually in 1982 we put an ad in many newsletters, etc. We received around 1,000 letters and inquiries.

But according to my experience, there's a timetable working in the Mission. We cannot be impatient with it. We have to do our best, do everything we can do and leave the result to the Lord.

I have to do my best, and whoever is connected with the Mission, really loves the Mission and wants to do something for it, has to do their best. We connect those energies that have already been prepared for this Mission, and spread it to the masses in a very subtle way. The prophecies which said this will be done like a thief in the night, are very appropriate about the Mission. It sounds like we're not making big headlines. But we are quietly, and like a thief in the night, creeping into the world.

We can put ads, or we can spread the news, or we can let other people know about the Mission, if we have the ability to do that. Do it and let other people know about the Mission. Even if someone can look at The Greatest Sign just once, that's better for him than if he's never seen it, because that's the seed that's going to be put in his mind. Who knows, maybe ten years later, even fifteen years later, even fifteen lifetimes later, it hits him. He then says, "Hey, there is something there!"

We have to do our best. We have to reach as many as possible. We have to let it spread. Just like Christ said, "We are the messengers." We just give the Message out, like throwing the seed to the world, with no discrimination, just throw it as it is.

Some of these seeds will fall on the wayside and be destroyed. Some of them will fall on stones and never root. But a few of them will fall in the right place. The soil will be good, and as they receive good water (Spirit) and they sprout beautifully, one seed will give a hundredfold.

This is just like one of our staff, who gave good fruit. Of course, God came through her to do it. She was good ground.

I wasn't discriminative about giving the Message. I gave it to everyone in Florida. I didn't just give it to her. But she was good soil. She was prepared for it, and she received it. She nurtured it. She watered it. She loved it. She tried it. She decided it was good. And God said, "That's good." We have to do the same thing. We have to spread the Message.

Also there is a missionary in Canada. Someone put an ad in some publication and he saw it. He didn't know anything about us. And another seed fell in a fertile place!

So we have to do our best. We have to reach as many as we can. Of course, as the Mission prospers, we will come to a point where we can reach out in a greater degree, and in a way that we can cover the whole earth. I'd like to see that this Message goes to every corner of the earth. There will be no place that it is not covered, especially at this time when we have such wonderful communication facilities.

In the time of Christ, in the time of Moses, in the time of Abraham or Muhammad, they didn't have these facilities. We can put one Message out here, and others hear it a couple of minutes later on the other side of the world. That's wonderful! See we have the ability, we have the facilities to do it.

For instance, our computer system is connected with 8,000 other computers. When we put a message in our computer, a few days later all 8,000 computers have that message and look at it. That's wonderful communication.

Also we have the Fax. You want to send a message to the Mission? Just Fax it, and two minutes later we receive the message.

Our computer system has been set up in such a way that we have all the literature of the Mission available. If you have a computer and a modem, call our number and download all the materials we have. You can download the whole book of THOTH. You can download Keys I to Keys IV. You can download The Plan.

See, we are willing and open to the whole world to receive the Message. We don't keep it undercover or anything. No, we put it in the computer, and the computer is connected to the whole earth. Anyone who wants it can call and take it, freely. Of course, they have to pay for the telephone call, but we offer our literature free of charge. They can have it.

These are the facilities we have to use. These are the things God provided for us to be used in this time period so that this Message goes to every corner of the earth.

Therefore, in answer to your question, we each have to go as far as we can go and use whatever abilities we have.

Question: Why would the Kingdom Of Heaven On Earth relieve only 90% of the earth's problems?
 

Maitreya: Who said that? [all laughing] 90%? I think the phrase should be, The Kingdom Of Heaven On Earth will alleviate 99% of the problems that are created by the human ego. These are not the real problems. We have these problems because we separate ourselves from one another. We have these problems because we don't understand one another.

For instance, one of the problems we have right now is that the East doesn't understand the West, and the West doesn't understand the East. So they are afraid of one another.

I understand both of them. I'm very exceptional in that. I understand how the Eastern mind works and I understand how the Western mind works. Actually I was very Westernized when I was in the East. I didn't know anything about yoga, or meditation, or God. I was completely a Westernized person.

At the university I went dancing, went to night clubs, or just knew about the latest fad or fashion -- like St. Francis of Assisi before his mission started. So I found those things there and I knew nothing about meditation.

Actually there was a Sufi center just one block from my house. I never even was attracted to go to see what they were doing. I could have gone there, and someone could have said something that made sense to me and that would have been it. I would have been a Sufi there in the East for the rest of my life. You would have never seen me here. But it didn't happen that way. Probably there was a reason why God didn't want it to happen.

So now what should we do? We should understand one another. The Kingdom of Heaven will accomplish that. As we expand more, we're going to have different cultures mixed together. Probably there is going to be some friction, or some misunderstanding, or some change of energy sometime, but eventually we will start to know one another better and we will learn from each other.

Each culture and people have something to teach other cultures and people. Every culture has some beauty that they can add to create an ultimate varied culture.

What is more beautiful? Is it everyone thinking like an Easterner, or everyone looking like those in the Western world? Even in the West, does a European think exactly like an American? Or does an American think exactly like a Canadian? Or does a Canadian think like the South American? See, even there, there are so many differences. The more we mix the earth, the more balanced state we will create.

Actually the whole earth is like the two sides of the brain. The East is more heart and emotion. The West is more intellect and mind. So if we mix them, we will have a more balanced earth.

Also, why are we meditating? We meditate to unify the mind and the heart. That's one of the things we do by meditating. We bring the mind and the heart together, so we have the heart of the Christ and the mind of the Buddha.

We are trying, in the Mission, to do the same thing to the earth, to mix the earth together as the two spheres. As we are doing this, probably 99% of the problems that we have are going to be alleviated by themselves. We don't really have to do anything to them.

They are just like some of our own problems. As we meditate they just vanish, they're not there. One day we wake up and they're not there. "I'm no longer bashful. I'm no longer afraid," or anything that is artificially there.

It's the same thing. It's a very subtle Mission. It is something that is going to affect everyone very subtly. The people are going to wake up someday and see that we have a viable replacement for what is on the earth.

As I said, we are not a revolutionary people, we are an evolutionary people. We are on the brink of an evolutionary change on earth. If we can see the signs -- we really have to be blind if we don't see the signs because -- the signs are all over. We can see everywhere on earth there are signs that we need something. Something has to be done. Why not? Why are we not the people to do it? Someone has to do it. Why not us?

If you believe this teaching has the answer for all the problems that we have on earth, and you hear and see the truth in it, then you are one of the pioneers. And the life of a pioneer is not easy. I have to forewarn you! But it's fun! And it is good (God).

Question: Probably the question is also why is there 1% left?
 

Maitreya: Why? About one to two percent of the problems are the real problems. If 98% of our ego problems are solved, that 2% of the real problems are easy to solve with the Communities of Light. That is why we create the hierarchy. We create the system that can take care of the day-to-day life and problems.

Those day-to-day problems are, for instance, a flood. There will be less flooding as we bring the Kingdom. The energy will be so good that God will say, "No, I'm not going to send any flood, those people are so wonderful." Or famine, or divorce, or whatever the problem is. The real, real problems, can easily be taken care of in our system. So even that 2% of the problems are going to be solved.

So with these answers, 100% of the problems are solved. We have no problems.