CELEBRATION OF THE 165th BIRTHDAY OF THE FOUNDER GRAND MASTER DASIRA NARADA
Master Thuan Duc Nguyen
California, October 24-2011
Our warmest greetings and welcome to distinguished guests, government officials from the City of Garden Grove, and the City of Westminster, representatives from television and news media, and all UHBE disciples around the world.
Today is the celebration of the birthday of the Founder Grand Master Dasira Narada. As the leader of UHBE discipline, I am very happy to see many disciples from all over the world who have come to California for this special occasion. Your presence indicates that our discipline is expanding steadily and accomplishing many achievements, fulfilling our mission of bringing practical benefits to humanity.
Dear everyone, since the day the discipline of UHBE was first established in America 15 years ago, we have worked unceasingly to convey the teachings of “Divine Dharma Meditation” from the Founder Grand Master to as many people as possible. At present, we have more than 40 UHBE meditation centers worldwide and many more centers will be developed to serve communities in the coming years.
Dear Disciples, while living in this world, most people always wish for a life filled with compassion and proper spiritual fulfillment. Indeed, all true disciples of UHBE have found their blessings. When disciples choose the path of UHBE practice as the mainstay of their spiritual life, they strive their very best to correct their weaknesses and develop virtue, following the teachings of the Grand Master. They direct their minds and hearts towards noble aspirations in the service of doing good. In this way, they themselves experience everlasting happiness.
The Founder Grand Master has brought to the world a sacred teaching of liberation, which helps every human being to eliminate suffering. His teachings offer a practical method of meditation and spiritual cultivation, suitable for everyone to practice regardless of race, culture, or religion. Once practitioners learn His teachings, they can adapt themselves easily to a spiritual life of developing virtue and helping others. Most importantly, all UHBE disciples discover that the barriers of race, culture or nationality no longer exist within themselves or between one another. Whenever UHBE disciples come to our Central Headquarters in Seattle for advanced training, they are able to understand His teachings almost completely despite obvious language barriers for some students. This is the wondrous power of the teachings of the Founder Grand Master at work.
All disciples are here today to express their deepest gratitude to our Beloved Grand Master. However, I would like to take this opportunity to remind some disciples who have not been truly mindful about their spiritual cultivation. The level of understanding of these students is generally limited because their consciousness has not yet developed to a high enough level of spirituality. As a result, they do not really know how to lead their lives meaningfully. These students still expend most of their efforts on satisfying the desires of their ordinary lives rather than developing virtue and building merit. Dear Disciples, you must understand that if we wish to eliminate our suffering, we cannot simply pray for grace from Heaven. We cannot just pay tribute to the Higher Beings, expecting that they will grant us a miracle. If we truly want to be free of pain and sorrow, we must dedicate ourselves to perform good deeds and bring benefit to our society. Disciples should not listen to those who say that they can perform miracles and make all of their wishes come true. These things never happen.
When students learn the teachings of the Founder Master, they are taught that they should devote themselves to a life of helping others and cultivating merit. They should try to correct their weaknesses and eliminate their karma with dedication and fortitude. If people join the discipline because they are looking for a place for gathering socially then they are wasting their time and energy. They will never receive any real success from their practice. These individuals will not develop solid virtue. Neither can they truly develop wisdom. They will not achieve a healthy constitution, physically, and spiritually. Eventually, they will become discouraged and lose faith in the practice. Worst of all, they may become jealous of other genuinely good members, creating conflict and causing problems at the center.
Unfortunately, these types of individuals do exist in some of our centers. They are trying to hinder the cultivation of others. We should be vigilant and regard these situations as a learning experience for us all.
To all with love, and wishing everyone happiness and serenity.