“‘Sir, today it’s over a year since I entrusted my money to you and put it in the safe in your office. And the key I still have here. I want to return the key to you now, and would you please return the money that I entrusted to you?’ The ghost said, ‘Yeah, please go outside and find my wife and bring her here.’”
“So, after hearing the other person tell him that bad news, he broke out in a sweat, feeling so bad, so bad, rubbing his head and lamenting. But the other person from the opposite direction that he encountered, said to the traveling businessman, ‘Oh, don’t worry, don’t worry! Let me tell you. Everything will be well with God’s blessing! Believe that. OK?’ The traveler half believed, half still crying kind of, and he didn’t know what to say, so the opposite direction person said to him, ‘You know, let me tell you. In our capital here, we have a custom. That is, after somebody dies, one month later, he will return home. At that time, the soul of the deceased will appear in the house and sit on a chair that is placed in the middle of the house. And then, all the families and clan members, and even neighbors and friends, will come to greet him and ask him about their relatives and friends who have been dead before that. (Yes, Master.) And even the debt collectors - to whom people owe money - will also come. And then the soul of the deceased, that returned home after one month, will direct the family members to whom to repay the debt, how much, and all that. The one that you have mentioned has been dead for only three weeks. So, within one week, he will come back home. So, next week, you can come to his house and ask about the money that you have entrusted to him, or any other things you want to ask. And then you will be answered. You will be satisfied.’ (Right.) (Yes, Master.) After hearing thus, the traveling businessman became more frightened.” Me too. I’m scared. Ghost! My God!
“He was more frightened and told the other person, the native. He said, ‘I have never in my whole life heard anything about somebody who died already and came back and talked to friends and family in the daylight like that.’ But the native told him in a very assuring manner, ‘Ah, here we have this event all the time.’ (Yes, Master.) So after that, the native went his way, and the traveling businessman entered the capital. He stayed there for one week. And then, one month after that trustworthy person died, the traveling businessman went to his house.”
And do you know what he saw? Guess. (Ghost.) (The man.) (The Ghost.) Ghost? (Yes.) (Or the soul of the guy.)
“So, the dead man appeared, (Wow.) sat on the chair in the middle of the house. Looked exactly like somebody who is still alive.” (Wow.)
Looked like you now, sitting on the chair like that, in the middle of the room. Are you ghosts or are you humans? (We’re not sure, Master.) Are you still alive? (We’re alive.) (Not sure.) Are you sure? (Yes, Master.) You sure? (Yes, we’re sure.) Pinch yourself. (Yes.) (We’re here.) Just to wake you up. I’m not sure if you’re still there, or you are alive but half somewhere else? I don’t know. Did you pinch yourself? (Yes.) (It hurts.) It hurts? (Yes, Master.) Then you are still there. Good. I cannot trust you, otherwise.
“And at the same time, all the family members, and friends and neighbors were surrounding him, the ghost. Then they were questioning him about their own family members or friends or relatives on the other side of life.”
You know what I am saying, right? (Yes, Master.) The deceased persons.
“So, the one that returned home, the ghost, soul who had returned home, guaranteed with all of them that their family members, relatives and friends were very peaceful on the other side of the world, and all was well with them. (Wow.) After he answered all the questions of all the people who gathered there, the traveling businessman went near him and asked, ‘Sir, today it’s over a year since I entrusted my money to you and put it in the safe in your office. And the key I still have here. I want to return the key to you now, and would you please return the money that I entrusted to you?’ The ghost said, ‘Yeah, please go outside and find my wife and bring her here.’ So, he went out and looked for his (the ghost’s) wife and brought her in. And then the ghost said to his wife, ‘Didn’t I tell you that if this young man returned to our house because of his possessions that he entrusted, you should have given it to him, provided that he has the key for the safe. I told you that, didn’t I?’ So, the woman said to the ghost, ‘I swear to you that since you told me that, up to now, I have never seen this young man come to our house.’ So, the traveling businessman told the ghost, ‘Oh! Yeah, your wife is right. Up to now, I have never come here and asked about my money.’ So the ghost said to his wife, ‘OK. Now you go quickly to take the money out, take everything out, whatever he put in there, and return it to him. You must make sure that everything is still there and returned to him intact.’ So, the wife said to the businessman, ‘Come, come with me. Take everything from the safe that you have put in there.’ So, he went with her. After that, he said goodbye and left the house.”
“But after he left the house, he was thinking to himself, ‘I don’t feel very well about all this. I have to really investigate and find out how come in this city, whoever dies comes back one month afterward and appears in the house like that.’ (Yes.) He thought to himself like that, and then he hid himself in some obscure area. And then he waited for the ghost to come out of the city gate. When he saw him, he grabbed his clothes and told the ghost, ‘In the name of God, tell me, who are you? Are you really the person that I entrusted my money to? If you are really that person, then tell me what is special about this city that everyone who dies returns to the house and appears like that?’ The ghost said to him, ‘Hey, hey! Release me quickly. You cannot keep me here. I must go quickly. I am not allowed to stay here one more minute.’ (Whoa!) So, the businessman said to the ghost, ‘But you have to tell me everything, then I will let you go.’ So, the ghost said…”
I wonder, how can he grab the ghost? From what we know, ghosts don’t have any physical form. Right? (Right.) (Yes.) Or maybe he can appear in the physical form for that moment. (Oh, yes, Master.) But normally, the ghost can have some magical power or stuff like that. (Yes, Master.) This ghost is useless. Maybe he doesn’t do anything. No wonder people just trust him, because he never does anything to anybody. Maybe he just knows how to keep the safe.
“So, the ghost said to him, ‘OK, OK. I will tell you. I will tell you. As you saw now, I am a ghost. I’m allowed to cheat the citizens in this city. They ask me about their families’ and friends’ and relatives’ welfare in the other world, (Yes.) and I will tell them everything is OK, they are at peace and happy. But in reality, they are being burned (Oh! Wow!) in hellfire because of their sin.’”
“Job himself was thinking of these hell people when he said to God, ‘You make all the countries become great, and You will also destroy them all. You make them become important, and You will also make them ruined.’” That’s what Job said. You know Job is one of the personages in the Bible. (Yes, Master.) We’ll talk about that later. I’ll finish this first.
“So, after that, the traveling businessman returned home to his own country, with all the money and possessions that he had earned. The parents were so overjoyed to see him again. And from then on, the whole family lived in happiness.” End of story. (Thank You, Master.)
