Maitreya: Well, as Christ said, You look at the day and you see it is fair and the sky is red. You know it is going to be a fair night. They asked him about the signs. They were looking for signs and miracles over and over again. He had already done many miracles but still the people were asking him about the signs, etc.

He said, You don't really need signs. Only the generation of vipers, and the people who are not connected to God, ask for signs, not the people who really want to know the truth. See, the person who is aware of his environment and of the time, by looking at the time, can see that all the signs are there that this earth needs something new. It's in bad shape. Everyone is trying to bring the Golden Age, to reach somewhere different then what has already been tried and failed. So we can see all the signs are there, that humans are ready for another leap in evolution, an evolutionary leap.

All the Scriptures, if you read them, prophecy that there is going to be an end time, not in a sense that everything is going to end, but the old era is going to finish and the Golden Era is going to approach. In every religion and every teaching you look at they are talking about the Golden Age, a time that will come when everyone is going to connect back to God.

That is why we can look at the earth right now and see the signs that are all over. There are wars. There is strife. There are purifications. Cultures are mixing with cultures. People are not satisfied with their different religions any longer. Either they are not satisfied, or they are becoming dogmatic about them and are trying to, not convert other people with love, understanding and bringing greater truth to them, but by buying them, or fighting them, or overpowering them, or somehow trying to convert them to their own religion. Every religion wants to convert the whole earth to their own ideology and religion.

So which religion is going to make it? Is everyone going to become Christian? Is everyone going to become Jewish, or Moslem, or Hindu? They have been here for thousands of years.

But there is religion and there is the truth. That truth is what is going to unify humanity, not religion. And all these religions that have come, according to our teaching, have a part in The Greatest Sign, in the greater truth. But none of them have the whole truth.

That's why this is a great opportunity for humanity now, to see the signs, to see that not everyone is going to become a Hindu. Not everyone is going to become a Jew. Not everyone is going to become a Christian, or a Moslem. But what can unify them? If you are a Moslem, if you are a Jew, if you are a Christian, or any of these [pointing to The Greatest Sign] still you have a part in The Greatest Sign.

And what is the goal of the life? The Goal Of The Life Is To Be(come) Divine. What is Divine? Divine is letting God come through us, becoming One with Him. This teaching that God works through me, or I am a part of Him, is not to lead you to a power trip. God is not in power trips. God is Humble. God is Understanding. God is Law. But a lot of people are falling into these trips of power, etc, and they are missing the simplicity and humility of God.

But it's OK, they probably have to go through that experience and eventually come to a point where they realize that "This is not it. I'm not happy. But when I'm humble and flowing, I'm happy. I feel happy and I receive the things I crave. I crave attention. I crave love. I crave friendship. I crave oneness with everyone. When I am humble everyone gives it to me. Everyone loves me, gives me the attention, and the friendship that I need. But the moment that I become egoistical, unhappy, and start trying to get those things with force, or power, etc, I lose them more."

These things are very simple things. We can see the way of God and the way of the ego. The way of the ego is force, power, or is playing games. The way of God is humility, love, and understanding. So a good discerning mind can find these things that Christ said, Be aware of the people who come to you. Discern any energy that comes to you. Is it according to God's Word, or not?

This is the opportunity that we have now, to become God-conscious, or to become egoistical, to go to the egoistic persuasion. That is why God has sent The Greatest Sign and all the Scriptures to humanity. They are yardsticks. We have something to measure things against. Is any teaching we encounter according to God's Words and Revelations? Is it according to the creation of the Communities of Light? Is it according to caring, sharing, and being one with one another, or, "No, I have this power, I can just blast you away," a power trip, an individual idea, a low level realization, etc?

These are not according to The Greatest Sign. The Greatest Sign doesn't talk about "The goal of the life is to see a flame coming out of nowhere, to see ethereal beings, etc."

See, the moment the person talks like that, you say, Oh Oh, there's something wrong with that person. That person is missing something. He's on an ego trip. That is not according to God's Word. So you can discern right there and are able to be guided all the time. Anytime someone offers you something, you can always look at it to see, Is it according to His teaching or not?

Again, this is a great opportunity for humanity to accept this yardstick, the Words of God. Whenever the light comes, of course, the darkness also comes. But darkness is already there. Actually, it doesn't really come. But when the light comes, darkness tries hard to fight back with the light, because, as I say, just like ourselves, we are a microcosm of the whole universe.

The moment we close our eyes when we start meditating, what happens? We start shedding light in those dark corners of our being, those creatures start falling away and try to hide themselves in deeper levels, or in other dark corners of our beings. What happens? They start fighting back. They say, "We were living here in this darkness by ourselves and we were pretty happy. You weren't pretty happy, but we were pretty happy. We're doing with you whatever we want. We are running your life. Now you want to gain control over your life according to God's Word, which we are opposed to. We will fight back. We are not going to give up easily."

It's the same thing as the neighborhood. These neighbors probably weren't very happy. One person was doing whatever he wanted, and no one was saying anything to him. He was the creature. He was taking advantage of the darkness. What happened? Now there are no longer motorcycles going around and the music going to the sky. Why? The light came and was shed on the environment. Of course, the creature was very unhappy. Didn't you see how he was yelling, screaming, and trying to persuade other people to change their minds about the Neighborhood Watch and the light that had come to this community?

It's the same thing. We are each a person, shedding light in our community, our city, our state, our nation, our earth, the whole universe. When the light comes, the creatures can't live in darkness any more. They have to discipline themselves. They have to follow law and order. They don't like law and order. They love chaos. Chaos is where they can live, because the devil (that energy, that darkness, whatever you want to call him) can live in confusion. If he can confuse you, he can rule you. That is the devil's way. He divides and rules. That is what he understands of truth.

But now we say, No, we don't want to divide, we want to unify and discipline ourselves, by following the Laws. It's very simple. Those creatures are not smart at all. It's very easy to get rid of them. We think it's very hard. We say, "Oh, how am I going to get rid of all these desires, attachments, and things I have in myself?"

It's very easy. Just put them in the light. Read the Words of God. Concentrate on that. Meditate on that. Study the Word of God. It's wonderful, to wake up early in the morning, and from 6:30 to 7:00 read THOTH. That's a wonderful thing to do. It makes your day. The Word goes through your mind. The whole day it goes through you, you're breathing Satsang, listening to Satsang. All these are food for the Spirit.

What happens if we don't eat for a couple of months? We die, don't we? It is same thing when we don't listen to the Satsang, when we don't meditate, when we don't do prayer, etc. Our Spirit dies because it doesn't receive any nutrition, any nourishment. There is no Satsang or nourishment there.

So all these truths, The Greatest Sign, THOTH, etc, have come to humanity now. Everyone now has this opportunity to take advantage of them. The more they take advantage of them, the more they understand God and the sooner they come to Pure Consciousness. They realize the false from the truth.

When you have a yardstick and you can measure, if you're looking for something one size and it's another size, what do you do? It is not the size you want. If it is another size, it is not the one you want. You are looking for something this size. So you go and measure, and find exactly the size you want.

If you have a map, a blueprint of how to get somewhere, or build something, this will make it easier for you to reach where you are going or build what you want to build.

That's what The Greatest Sign and our teaching is to humanity. We gave humanity a yardstick, a map or blueprint, of how to reach Pure Consciousness through the Communities of Light, through meditation, through prayer, through reading Scriptures, through studying the Word of God, through understanding God's Word and actions with understanding THOTH and The Greatest Sign, and then bringing those understandings to the community.

By bringing these understandings to the community, we create the Communities of Light. In the Communities of Light we sacrifice to establish the Kingdom Of Heaven, of Light. Then we become submissive to God. We find what is God's Will, and we submit to it. We don't argue. We don't kick and scream and say, "No, no, I'm not going to do Your Will, I'm going to do my own will. I don't care how many signs you give me that this is the way to go, still I'm going to scream and yell, No, I'm not going to do it." Then there is something wrong. We're not listening to the Will of God.

He gives you a sign. He guides you so you become submissive. Then you become a Universalist. You are here to help the whole universe to reach Pure Consciousness. "Not just my country, not just my city, not just my neighborhood, not just my nation, not just the earth, but the whole universe." That is the way it is, the whole universe.

So now we have given the opportunity again to humanity, to consider to apply this principle to their lives, to go toward Pure Consciousness. They can become workers for the Father. And then we can come together and create more Communities of Light, more people, and eventually the Kingdom Of Heaven On Earth (KOHOE), where many people will reach Pure Consciousness.

They will have plenty of time to meditate, to contemplate on the Words of God, to contemplate on each other, and to understand. They can become loving beings one with another, and become great beings, Great Souls, the Souls who have God within themselves.

When we talk about God, we know, this is Him talking through us. How can I say these wonderful things that come through me? It is not me saying them. It's God saying them.

Then that is Pure Consciousness, that Joy, that assurance, you are sure when you speak. When God comes through you, you are sure, you have no doubt. And that is the moment of Pure Consciousness. It's a moment of Oneness with God.

So we can see the signs. We can see the teaching which has been prophesied to come and unify all of humanity together. We can see the beauty of what we teach here and the fulfillment of the prophecies. The time that we are in and all these signs show us that the opportunity has again been given to us. This is another call to all, Come, come and join us. Come and become One with God.

Any way you look at it, this is the time, and this is the place. That's why we would like to spread this Message to every corner of the earth and let them know that it is here. If it is here, and the more people listen to it, the more they are going to be able to reach out and touch others. And as more people are touched, our work is done. If we can make everyone on earth hear at least once about this Message, our work is done because, what is the work of a Messenger? The work of a Messenger is to give the Message.

My work is not to convert you to the Mission of Maitreya. My work is to give you the Message. You become converted yourself. If you are chosen, God will convert you. If not, it is between you and Him. All are chosen and called!

Of course, we have to create wisdom. But at the same time, really, the work of the Messenger is just to give the Message. So if we see the signs, if we believe this is the Message, then it is so important to give the Message out. That's why the concentration of the Mission has to be to give this Message out to as many people as possible.

Probably not everyone is going to join us, but that's OK. Still we have to give the Message to everyone because that is our responsibility, to give the Message. And because that opportunity is here, our responsibility is even more urgent to give the Message to every person on earth, and let them know that the Message is here, the teaching is here, and the prophecies are fulfilled. The Kingdom is at hand.

Question: Why did God want humans to fall down in the worldly thing, to know Maya, to accumulate karma, to suffer, and to finally desire to go back to God? Or, why has man been created with a lower nature?

Maitreya: Ahh, you haven't read THOTH [all laughing]. Remember, at the beginning of the creation, when God looked at the universe, there was chaos. There was separation from God. Why? Because ego had involved itself to "I know," "I do," and "I have done." And because of that it separated itself from the Father. So it created its own will. So God did not create this situation, it is inherent in the creation!

Then God projected His Own Spirit into creation, and eventually He realized that the way to bring back these lost Souls is the Eternal Divine Path, and He started teaching them about how to come back to Him.

God didn't create man to fall into Maya, but God created Maya so man could fall into it. Do you understand? Maya, or world, is a school. We are here to learn lessons. That's why He forgives us whenever we learn our lesson. He didn't put us here to suffer. We suffer of ourselves to learn something. He didn't create us to suffer. We suffer because we don't listen to God, and we don't listen to His Ways. His Ways are the ways to Happiness and Oneness with Him. Because of our own will, we think we know better.

Remember, the woman said, "The fruit seemed good, and looked good. It would make me wise and I will become God. So I am going to go ahead and eat it." So she ate it and she fell. Then man ate and both fell. The lower nature made the higher self fall.

God didn't create the garden of Eden for man to suffer. He even created the fruits and vegetables, and they didn't have to till the ground. The only thing they had to do was dance, chant, meditate, be with God, and be happy.

But the ego of the man became self-centered. He said, "No I know better than God. God doesn't know what He is doing. I know what I am doing. I know better than Him." So he became self-centered. That is the cause of Maya. Maya means to be self-centered, egoistical, not to be feeling One with God, to feel separated. That is what Maya is really, to be separated from God. And the moment you feel like that, you are also separated from everyone else.

Being separated is suffering. No matter how much you put on the mask that you are not suffering, the moment you are separated, you are suffering. If you are a child, when you are separated from your mother, or those who love you, you suffer. When you are separated from your parents and family, you suffer. If you are separated from the community that you belong to, you suffer. If you're separated from the nation that you have a feeling about, you suffer. Of course, these are all related to either our lower nature or survival instincts.

The highest suffering, however, is being separated from God. That is the real suffering. Those other sufferings are ego sufferings. When a child is away from his mother, he suffers because that's all he knows. He wants to be one with that energy.

That's what we are also. When we realize that we are the Children of God, and He is our Mother and Father, then there is no other mother and father for us. When we realize that our nation is the universe, then only being separated from the Universe (God) makes us suffer. We suffer when we are separated from God. We are not One with God, we are not one with the universe, that is when we suffer.

God doesn't create us to suffer. We suffer because we don't know God. Then through Maya, or through the world, we start learning our lessons. Anytime we become self-centered, egoistical, worldly, etc, we start feeling separated, we don't feel God anymore. Maya is very powerful. In that moment of separation, Maya is the truth. When we are separate from God, that is the truth, God doesn't exist for us. We are very self-centered. We are not one with God. And that is so powerful that that becomes a truth in itself in our lives.

But we learn our lessons. Then later on we become less self-centered, probably after we go for a ride, or we go to the mountains, or we meditate a little bit, or something like that, and we again feel God, and His Joy, and we become humble. We become flowing, and we become all those beautiful things that God created us to be.

So little by little we learn our lessons. We become less worldly, more Godly, less worldly, more Godly. And one day we are all Godly all the time, and very few times we are separated.

So God didn't create us to suffer, and this world and Maya is a school for us to learn.

Question: You have already spoken with me also on this, but in the beginning when I was here I didn't really understand English very well. What is the difference between angels and humans, or why did God create humans different than angels?

Maitreya: Angel really means the instruments that God uses to do His Will. When something is created as an instrument for God, it doesn't have any will of its own. The Will of God is the most important thing for it.

So in a sense you can say the three gunas (or the three creative forces) are angels, because they don't have any will of their own. They do according to what God wants them to do. So that's why the three angels, Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer, are related to satva, raja and tama gunas. Lucifer was an angel of light, or is the same as tama guna with which the whole world has been created. The whole manifested world was created with tama guna.

Also there are other elements which created the universe in many different levels of consciousness, For example, the ethereal level, that also works for God. They don't have any will of their own. Also whoever reaches Pure Consciousness and becomes an instrument for God, also becomes an angel.

So there are many, many different beings, or levels of consciousness in different worlds, who work for God and who have no will of their own, but the Will of God is predominant in their behavior and what they are. That is really what we call angels.

However, the human has free will. That's the difference between angels and humans. Because humans have free will, they choose their ways.

Angels do not have any will. They don't have any will to choose what they have to do. So they are just channels for God, instruments for God. They have no choice but to choose God.

Humans have the choice to choose God, or not to choose God. That's why it is said, Even angels desire human life. So God is more pleased with humans when they choose Him than angels, because angels don't have any choice but to choose Him. Humans choose Him with free will. That is greater.

That is a greater Love than when you have no choice but to love someone. If you have no choice to love someone, that love, no matter what, is there, you have no choice. But if you have a choice to love someone, or not to love someone, and then you choose to love, that is greater.

So in a sense you can say that angels are the elements in the universe that God uses. Of course, a lot of people depict angels as a little boy, or a little girl with wings. This is OK, it has kind of a symbolic meaning. Or some people see them as being similar to "Tinker Bell" spreading little golden dust, as they fly around gracefully. Those are ethereal manifestations of your own mind, because in the ethereal level you can create your own universe.

That's why a lot of people go to the ethereal level and meet the masters. Or they see only one eye going around. They see angels singing and dancing, going up the stairs, and all those images.

But if you look at these images you see that the angel of this person is not the same as the angel of the other person. They don't look exactly the same because in the ethereal level you can create your own images, you can create your own world. That's why I said, The ethereal level can be a trap. You can get caught into that level so badly that you forget God. "I can see the fire. I can see the angels. Oh, I'm great, I made it." They fall into that trap of power trips, or seeing images, or seeing angels, etc. So they are caught in the fifth level instead of going to the sixth and seventh levels.

They miss two levels which are humility, understanding, love and all those greater (God) qualities. See it is easy. Many people go to the ethereal level and see fire, or angels, or ethereal beings, or do astral projection. But very few try to understand, instead of to be understood. Few try to Love, instead of being loved. That's why St. Francis of Assisi was greater than the people who go to the ethereal level and do astral projection, because they are caught in the astral level, in the ethereal level. They don't know the Spirit of God.

To know the Spirit of God is greater than to have powers, to sense phenomena, or to see ethereal beings. Those things can become a power trip. "I can see this thing. Can you see? You can't see? You're no good. I am better than you." That's a power trip. That's not the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God doesn't do that. That's a kind of not completely, purely, reaching the goal.

When you ask them, Are you in Pure Consciousness? They say, "I'm pretty close. I'm there." A person who is in Pure Consciousness is humble. He doesn't even say he is in Pure Consciousness. He says, "I don't know, maybe yes, maybe no. But who cares anyway? Let's get on with the Communities of Light. If I'm in Pure Consciousness or not doesn't matter. If I am, it will manifest in my work, in the Communities of Light. The most important thing is, What is the Will of God for us to do? It is to create the Communities of Light, His Kingdom." Such a person then will ask us, "Are you creating the Communities of Light? How can I help?"

If you want to help, you know better than me what kind of talents you have, what kind of resources you have, what kind of a personality you have. If you want to help, just offer your talents, resources, etc. For example, you can say, "I am a good painter, I can paint the Communities of Light. I am a builder, I will build the Temple. I am a lawyer, I will take over the legal aspect of the community, etc."

You don't come and say, "How can I help you?" You say, "I can paint the Communities of Light. I can build a room." He didn't come here and say, "How can I help you, Maitreya?" He said, "I'm going to build this room." OK. "Where is the material? Why don't you buy the material soon, and fast? Where is the material? You're not buying fast enough" [all laughing]. OK. OK. We're going to get it to you as soon as we can. Come and offer, "I can do this. Do you need this to be done, etc? There are a series of things I can do. It's your choice. Which one is needed now?"

So it's very tricky. The spiritual world is a very tricky world, not because God created it tricky. It's a vast universe, and God is infinite on infinite levels. So you can get caught in any of these infinite levels.

That again confirms the necessity of the manifestation of God on earth once in awhile, the necessity of the Messiah, of the Teacher, of the One who is expected to come, because He comes humbly. He doesn't teach astral projection. He doesn't teach seeing ethereal images, etc. He teaches the Spirit of God. He teaches that Humility, that Understanding, that Love, that Oneness, and the Communities of Light. So that's why He doesn't appeal to a lot of egos, because they want power, they want signs, they want all those things. Christ called them the "generation of vipers."

But I don't care. If they reject me, I reject them. That's fine, come back when you are ready. I Love you. I give you the Spirit of the Father. I give you the Truth. I've already given you The Greatest Sign. I showed you how to reach Pure Consciousness.

Are you coming here humbly to learn, or are you coming egoistically to teach? Which? I don't need your teaching. I didn't come to your city to listen to your preaching. If you come here, be humble. Be humble, and say, "OK Master, or OK Teacher, or OK Rabbi, I am here to learn. I am open. What should I learn from you?" instead of preaching to me and giving me Satsang.

Question: In a way, could we say that human beings who follow the Will of God are like angels also?

Maitreya: Exactly! When you reach Pure Consciousness you also become an angel. Avatar actually means angel. You become an angel, Indeed you are greater than angels, because you had a choice to choose God, or not to choose Him. You became His friend, as Abram (Abraham) was His friend.

Question: Jonathan Livingston Seagull for me is discovery. Jonathan is, if I change my mind, my thought, I change my reality.

About the faith, about the creative thought, I would like you to speak about that, because the books, such as The Life of the Masters by Spaulding and also the Bible, teach that there is a lot of illusion about creative thought. Would you speak about creative thought, the power of your thoughts?

Maitreya: As we study, and we taught in THOTH also, there are three levels of consciousness in every person. There is the conscious mind, subconscious mind, and unconscious mind.

Conscious mind is what we are right now. We are conscious of this physical world. We see that light. We see this living room. We see that rug. We see this microphone. We're conscious. We're conscious of the people here around us. So this is the conscious mind. It's very limited. The only thing we can see is what is in front of our two eyes.

Then there is the subconscious mind which is the programming of our life, our karmas from our previous lifetimes, and everything that makes us create personality in this lifetime. This programming guides our life, guides many people's lives. It becomes a kind of obstacle between our conscious mind and our Soul.

See conscious mind sees because Soul sees. What sees is really your Soul, it's not your eyes. Eyes are a mechanical instrument. What you hear is not what your ears hear, it's what your Soul hears, because ears are another mechanical instrument that have been created through evolution.

The Soul is directed and lives according to the programs in the subconscious mind. Subconscious mind consists of the programs between the conscious mind and unconscious mind. The unconscious mind is the Universal Mind. Unconscious mind covers the collective mind of the whole universe.

As we said, the subconscious mind controls us. It's still limited. It tells us, "In this situation, according to this experience, in this lifetime and many lifetimes, you act this way. In this situation, according to this lifetime and many lifetimes, you act that way." So it has kind of set programs, very rigid programs, that if these things happen you react in such a way.

Then there is the unconscious mind, which is the Universal Mind, which is the Mind of God. It doesn't have any set of programs, as the subconscious. Its experience is much more vast, much greater than our subconscious mind.

So when you go beyond your subconscious mind you will come in contact with the unconscious mind which is the collective experience of the universe. The creative mind comes from the unconscious mind. That is the real creativity. So creativity really comes from God. That is where the creative mind manifests itself. You don't have programs that you have to react to in every situation.

If you hear something that your ego, or your program doesn't like, you lash out because the program in your subconscious mind says, "Protect yourself. In this situation I had a bad experience, so protect yourself before anything happens to me" [all laughing]. You just lash out. You just cut yourself off and do something to protect yourself. Your subconscious mind is programmed that way, "In many lifetimes I had that experience, if the people come too close to me, they hurt me. So I'd better cut myself off before they hurt me." See, the subconscious mind is protecting you. So the subconscious mind is a program that controls you, your Soul.

When you reach the unconscious mind, if someone comes close to you, you don't lash out. You try to understand. You try to love and just be closer to the other person. You say, "Let's see how we can be friends. How can we come together and work together?" So it's creative now.

See, you don't react in every situation exactly the same. Anytime a set of elements are present you don't react because you see other elements also present. "This time I'm not going to get hurt because there is the Love of God here. I can open up. I can just let go of my fears. I can just be myself." See? In the creative mind you have a greater vision, so you can be creative in every situation, in every relationship, in all the work you do. Even when you work you become creative in your work.

A lot of people read some books, they obtain a job, they do their work routinely every day. They wake up early in the morning. They go to work. They do their routine. That's it. The day is done, they go back to sleep. The next day, the same thing. After awhile they are bored. They say, "I don't want to go to work, it's the same thing every day."

Now if they can go beyond their subconscious mind to the creative mind, then they can arrange their life in such a way that they can creatively do the same routine but it would not be boring. If they create the creative mind, they do the same work but creatively.

So it doesn't matter where you are, even if you sweep the floor, if you have the creative mind you can sweep with creativity. You enjoy it more than just sweeping everyday saying, "What a drag, I don't want to do this. What am I doing here?"

So the creative mind comes from the unconscious mind, from the Mind of God. We can even see the great discoveries that happened come from the Mind of God. For example, Einstein, who had a very creative mind, discovered E=MC2. He knew it was going to work. He knew that was the transformation of the energy, etc. However, he didn't know from where he got it.

Or the chemist, Kekule, who found the structure for the benzene ring. He wasn't sure how it was done, then he had a dream of a snake biting his tail. He woke up and realized, Oh yes, that is how it works.

So even in your own life, if you cannot solve a problem at night, just stop. Sleep, and the next morning when you wake up, the first thing that comes to you most probably is the solution to the problem you could not solve. In sleep you let the creative mind, the Universal Mind, reveal the solution.

Why do we sleep? What is sleep? Many people have this question, why do we sleep? We allow a lot of junk to enter our conscious and subconscious minds during the waking hours, that needs to be cleaned up. When we sleep the Universal Mind cleans it up for us.

See, anyone who sleeps is in touch with God. They are in touch with the Universal Mind, the Unconscious Mind. They may not even believe in God, but when they are asleep they are in touch with Him. God cleans them up. He cleans that junk and restores order. This makes them nice and more creative the next day. So when they wake up, they know how to solve the problem.

In other words, lower level energy will drag us down to our lower nature. In sleep, which is really a deep meditation, we (God) bring the energies to higher levels. So when we wake up the next day our energy is high again, in higher levels. So we are creative and we solve the problems we could not solve the night before.

When we do not meditate and our subconscious mind is full of programs, and we are deeply separated from God, even nightly sleep cannot help us much. We sleep and we are cleaned a little bit, but when we wake up we are still tired, our energy is low and we were not helped much. However, if our subconscious mind is very small, we will have a deep sleep and are refreshed when we wake up the next day.

Now, if we do not have any subconscious mind (or very very little), we need much less sleep and whenever we put our head down we die into God. When we wake up, we wake up in the ecstasy of God.

Where does this clarity come from? It comes from the Unconscious, the Universal Mind. The Universal Mind already knows everything. When you have a problem, go to Him and He will give you the answer. The more you can receive your answers from Him, and the more people who can receive their answers from God, the less problems we're going to have.

Question: Can you differentiate between ideas, thoughts, mind, concepts, or even imagination? How can I differentiate when I have an idea, when I have a thought, when it's my imagination, and when it's a concept? What is coming from my mind? What is the difference there really? Because the question was about the creative thoughts and you answered with the Universal Mind, your creative mind. For you, are mind and thoughts the same? You see where I want to go, because I'm trying to understand how come you use the mind to explain the creative thought. By the way, this word "mind" doesn't exist in French. It's between two words. We understand it but it's very hard for us to specify. Usually it's "esprit," the same as Spirit, or sometimes we say, "pensee," the same as thought. So it's between Spirit and thought, it depends on what you're saying.

Maitreya: Mind is the three creative forces, the three gunas. Thought is the formation of the three creative forces to a solid idea. When the creative forces are in balance, you have a still mind. There is no thought.

Before the universe was created, the mind was there but it was in balance, there was no creation. The mind is always there, but the thought comes when the raja guna moves and the balance is disturbed between the three creative forces, and the tama guna takes hold of the raja and satva, and creates something in the mind. Then that is thought.

Question: Isn't that the same as idea?

Maitreya: Yes it can be. Thoughts are the creation of the mind. Idea is the creative mind. To have an idea means you put a couple of facts together and you come out with something from these facts as idea. Idea means you find something new, a way to do something, etc. You put some facts together and you create a new thing out of them. It then becomes an idea.

A thought might not be an idea. But an idea is a creation of the mind from facts to something which is new, or unique.

Question: And what about concepts? Where are the concepts there?

Maitreya: Concepts means the learning of the thing that society, the external world, teaches us. Idea is different than concept. Concept is something that you pick up from the external world. For instance, the concept of "Christ is the only way." That's a concept. It came to someone as an idea some time ago, which came out of him and became a concept to us.

See we pick up concepts from the external world.

Question: You cannot have your own concept? Can it become your own concept?

Maitreya: That's right, your idea can become your own concept. Idea is unique. Idea is new. If your new idea becomes a concept, it is your idea (or also concept for you) but concept for others.

Question: But thought can be collective?

Maitreya: Then you're talking about the Universal Mind. Do you mean collective mind in a group?

Question: Collective, like they say, thought form, collective thought.

Maitreya: Collective thought can exist. For instance, everyone who believes that "Christ is the only way," creates a concept of their own. This collective belief or thought creates a religion. We have collective thoughts of those who live in a nation, race, philosophy, etc. Each of them create their own collective thought form. These are subcollective thought forms to the Universal Thought Form.

The greatest thought form of course, is the Universal Thought Form. God is Thought Form, which is the lower creation to His Highest Ideal. Any other subliminal thought forms are still separate from this Universal Thought Form. When you expand yourself to realize His Thought Form, these other small groups or collective forms are dissolved.

It is like the vision Arjuna had of Krishna in His Universal Form. God was unaffected, a witness entity to His creation, which are His Thought Forms, but Arjuna could not bear such a vast drama of creation being created, destroyed, etc.

So do not be trapped in small groups or subliminal thought forms. Realize God in His Fullest.

Question: You said a concept is the creation of our mind, but you said before that concept was coming from the others.

Maitreya: Yes, it was created by some mind (it could be ours). It was an idea created by someone else. It was his idea which becomes our concept. And concept later on becomes our own idea.

Some people become so attached to the concept that they think it is their own idea.

Question: And what is the imagination in that? With your imagination you can have thoughts, you can have ideas, your can have concepts? What do you do, what is the use of the imagination in that?

Maitreya: By imagination do you mean visualization? You are visualizing something?

Question: No. Well, imagination comes from image, maybe when it's coming it means visualizing something. Maybe that's a more modern word for imagination. But sometimes people think they see this, or they hear this, and you say to them, "It's your imagination." Sometimes it's their own imagination. But is the imagination for use of ideas, of concepts, or thoughts? What is imagination doing?

Maitreya: That's why I asked what you mean by imagination because imagination can be, "I am imagining that I am in the moon." Really you are visualizing yourself as being in the moon. The moment you visualize you are there, you are. So it's a way of using the mind. See mind is even faster than light. Do you want to be at the end of the universe? Just think you are at the end of the universe, and you are at the end of the universe. Mind is present everywhere at the same time.

So imagining really means visualizing, to send your thoughts, to create form in your thoughts, or to travel by your thoughts.

Question: So it means that imagination goes more in relation with thoughts than concept or ideas?

Maitreya: Right. Imagination really means you transform yourself to another place, to another time, or visualize a thing, or form, or thought, etc.

But if you mean by imagination, that some people imagine things, such as they imagine they heard something, or imagine they saw the angel, or they imagine that there is a fire in the middle of the room, then these people are caught in the ethereal level. These are the people whose minds are powerful. They have powerful minds, and also they are in the ethereal level so they can imagine, they can create things that are very true to them, that are very real to them. However, it is their experience and no one else's. Of course, they can sometimes even transfer their thoughts to others. It is a power, a siddhis, etc.

Question: With their thoughts they do that?

Maitreya: That's right. You can form things with your thoughts. There are yogis written about in many books, who create things with their minds. Even with voodoo, the black magician can kill another person just by his thoughts. So thought is a very powerful thing.

Again like everything, do you want to use it for good or evil? Thought by itself is not bad. How you are going to use it makes it Good (God) or bad (evil). Use it for good and your action becomes Godly, use it for evil and that creates Karma, because that is also an action. Mind itself is an action too.

Question: Is it the same as the imagination of the artist? A man or woman can imagine very good stories and write a good book. But you can probably also imagine a very bad book. You can draw a very good picture, or a very bad picture.

Maitreya: That's right. Nothing is bad in this universe, it depends on how you use it.

Question: So when you say that you are imagining from your thoughts -- like you just think about being at the end of the universe and you're there, as opposed to someone who sees a flame or whatever -- is the difference that you're in the ethereal level in the one, and in the other you're in the Universal Mind?

Maitreya: If you imagine things, and you think imaginary things, then your mind is creating this. You are caught in the ethereal level.

But in the other one, you're imagining you're at the end of the universe, you're using your mind. You're not trying to create anything. Your mind is not creating, but it is traveling. If the light wants to go to the end of the universe it takes more than twenty billion years. But if you want to go to the end of the universe by your mind, you think it and you are there. So you don't take twenty billion years to reach the end of the universe. You are there instantly.

You want to be in Florida, [snapping fingers] you're in Florida. Right there. Just think you are with your mother, your friends, or whoever. You are there.

Do you want to be with God? Go to the Center of the universe. You're there with God. It's faster than light, isn't it? So mind is the fastest element in the universe. It's spontaneously present everywhere. God is Mind and Consciousness.