The loudest mouth was Laguna. Whenever she heard me calling somebody or even people walking on the street, “Laguna! Laguna, here!” And then Sunny would begin, “Come here!” And Rainbow, “Hallo!” And Prajna said, “Shut up.” “Shut up.” And then, all the ones who didn’t talk very well, “Quack, quack, quack!” – all together like a big orchestra. Oh, terrible. I could never shut them up. We had also trouble with neighbors because they were loudmouths. […]
Sometimes they stayed all night in front of my house – scared everybody. All my attendants were so scared. And then we couldn’t take the dog(-people) out because they stayed right in front of the house where the street [is]. That’s a private street. I have to take the dog(-people) out. So we had to stay there, and all the dog(-people) had to hold it all night. And later on, I couldn’t care less. I said, “Just take them behind my house. Don’t take them down the road. Quietly.” But the dog(-people), I told them, “Quiet, OK?” And they really understood. Normally they’d come out, “Woof, woof, woof, woof!” All of them – barking at all the leaves falling from the trees, and a mouse’s shadow, or a cat’s tail, whatever. But that day, they were so quiet. They [went] quiet, quiet, quiet, and then came quiet, quietly back. All the bird(-people) also said nothing. It’s funny, many times like that. If I tell them, “We’re in trouble. Don’t make noise. Don’t let people know you’re here.” Then they are really quiet.
Normally, if I just stand outside, walking outside, they begin quacking already. Sunny tells Rainbow, Rainbow tells Laguna: “Quack, quack, quack, quack! Quack, quack, quack.” But when really police are around – not just there but anywhere else – if they know the police are there, they really know. All “zip!” Really! The loudest mouth also “zip.” The loudest mouth was Laguna. Whenever she heard me calling somebody or even people walking on the street, “Laguna! Laguna, here!” And then Sunny would begin, “Come here!” And Rainbow, “Hallo!” And Prajna said, “Shut up.” “Shut up.” And then, all the ones who didn’t talk very well, “Quack, quack, quack!” – all together like a big orchestra. Oh, terrible. I could never shut them up. We had also trouble with neighbors because they were loudmouths. But whenever the police came, even 10, 20 of them, they don’t say anything! Dog-, bird(-people), all quiet. My God! Even before, when I lived in a trailer with bird- and dog(-people), they were also quiet. Because the trailer, even if you breathe, people can hear you. The trailer is not soundproof or anything. So they were so quiet; they were not even breathing inside or something. Because normally if they hear anybody, even somebody calling or somebody talking, they begin joining in the conversation.
And as if that was not enough, the neighbor sued me – brought us to court. Court case. He said we invaded his land. Many months! So much trouble and scared already: here, the problem with the police; there, an extra burden. And I was so ill at that time, and many conferences, world conferences to do. It was really a bad time. But then, finally, the day came. The lawyers of both sides… You know, we also needed to have a lawyer to answer the other lawyer. We didn’t want to. Originally, we came and talked to him (the neighbor). I sent an assistant to tell him, “If we accidentally are trespassing on your land, then please tell us where it is and how much, if you…” He wanted to sell; that’s what he said. So I said, “Please, just show us where it is and how much it is. We’re willing to pay any price.” And first, he said 50,000. We didn’t even know how big or what. I said OK. The assistant said, “It’s expensive, Master. The thing he said is nonsense, and it’s nowhere. Why do we have to pay? Maybe he knows it, too.” So, finally, I said, “We’ll pay, never mind, for the peace of neighbors. Fifty is 50. Even if he asks for more, we’ll pay it. We don’t even need to know where and what.”
And then, he changed his mind. Maybe he knew it was not correct or something. And then, so, we still had to go to court. Finally, he hired people who came and measured the land. He, himself, paid for that. And in front of the lawyers and every other government or court case people, the one that he paid to measure our land and his land turned around and told him, “You, you are the one who...” He told the neighbor, “You are the one who claimed Her land, not the other way around.” And then he was kind of embarrassed, and he didn’t know what to do for a while. And then he said, “You don’t know how to measure! I’ll get somebody else to go and measure again.” He blamed the guy for not knowing how to measure. But since then, he never called anybody to measure again. So, we had peace for a while, but we didn’t dare drive in front of his house anymore. We went the other way, a little bit further and more zigzag. Normally, I don’t like that because it is more curvy and makes my stomach kind of uncomfortable sometimes. The road that goes in front of his house… Even though his house is further on the mountain – it’s not like immediately on the road –he still can see us. So, he sometimes was spying or something. Whenever I was there, he knew, or when I had guests, he knew. He’d call the police again. So from that time, we didn’t go in front of his property, we go the other way even though it’s less nice. Then we have more peace.
Why did I tell you? Why? What was it before? One person. (Neighbor. Neighbor.) Neighbor. (AY.) Oh, AY (“after you [disciples]”). Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s the story. And the newspaper and everything. And even Monaco seemed not to welcome me anymore. Normally, I give donations to the Red Cross or to some of the old people’s homes there or here, too. And the last check they returned – after the newspaper. It’s so easy to believe newspapers, isn’t it? After all these years and they still believe them instead of me. So, I really love my neighbors. That’s why in the Bible, they keep repeating, “Love thy neighbor.” Looks like (Lord) Jesus knew. Good experience about it, so keeps telling you, “Love thy neighbors. Love thy neighbors.” We did, though. Everywhere we went. But we had one good neighbor. Because every time the police came and they checked, checked, checked everything – nothing. Then they went to talk to the neighbor. If anything, he knew better than the police. So he always said good things: “Ah nothing, nothing.” And then the police left immediately.
That was an Italian neighbor. He was very nice. But we didn’t really have too much contact with him at that time. He was using my water, though, because his water was different – a natural resource, whatever. I don’t know why. He uses our water because we have a water tap on the street, the street that goes through my property to go to his property. On the street, we have a tap. In case sometimes the tourists – they walk around the famous mountain to look – and so in case they want to drink, they can have. And he used that to clean his cars – his motorbike and his cars. And normally, before I came, he paid 100 or something, or one-tenth of the bill, to the ex-owner of that property. But since I came, I said, “No, no, we are neighbors. Don’t pay anything. You use it; it’s OK. It’s not much.” But that’s all. Normally, I don’t contact much.
But afterward, he had a dog(-person), a very beautiful lady dog(-person), and we built a house, a big house for her, offered it to the dog(-person). He told me his dog(-person) died in a pool, in the water there. In the mountains, they always have a small water reservoir, so the rainwater comes in there, and they use it for agriculture. And his dog(-person) died in there, his previous dog(-person) died in there, and he told me because he knows I love dog(-people). He saw the attendant. There’s no need to talk, right? No need to advertise my love for dog(-people). So he told me his painful story, and we cried and all that. And then I said to him, “Where is that reservoir that your dog(-person) died in?” And he was heartbroken, of course. He kept looking for him everywhere. Many days he couldn’t find, then finally, he found him dead in there. So I said, “Where is that reservoir? We have to cover it or do something so it won’t happen to your next dog(-person) or other animal(-people).”
So then he couldn’t find it. He said because, for a long time, he didn’t dare to go there because of bad memories. But my own people found it for him in his own property. Because I was fed up with walking around, walking around, walking around, and he talked, he talked – Italian, you know. Even in English, he tried to talk a lot. So I said, “Let’s take a rest here. I’ll go find it.” So I separated myself a little bit, and then suddenly my assistant found it. It’s very big, and some animal(-people) would come and drink from it, so we didn’t want to cover it. So I made like a ladder – iron metal stairs using this kind of very hard fence, very hard that can just stand up by itself – to put it slanted from the top, the mouth of the reservoir, all the way to the bottom. So, [if] any animal(-people) fall in there, they can always grab onto it and climb up. It’s not a big ladder. You see, there are some kinds of fencing, they’re very hard. They’re one piece like this, and it’s like this, very hard. You can make a gate by itself. It’s not those soft and rolling ones. It’s the one that’s made with metal sticks. They weld it together – very hard. It stands strong. You can make a gate out of it without any support around. They sell it one piece, one piece like this, and I make gates sometimes with it. So, we put that, and then afterward, he was happy. We made also the house for his dog(-person). But it’s not because of that he’s nice. He was nice before that. He’s just a good neighbor. The police thought, because he lived nearby like that, he would know something about us, so they came and asked him. And every time they asked him, “It’s nothing.” So they trusted him, and they left. So, still, there are some neighbors to love.
But even after he sued us, I still asked an assistant to bring some gifts, like (vegan) chocolate stuff, (vegan) cakes and stuff, for him (neighbor who measured land). And then, still, it didn’t result well. Afterward, he lost the case, and he had to pay for his lawyer. Before, he already threatened us that we had to pay for his lawyer and everything else. I said, “Yes, we’ll pay everything and pay for the land that we’d accidentally, not knowingly, taken from you. Just tell us.” Then, later, it was not. It was the opposite. So, he had to pay for his lawyer, for the measuring people, and for my lawyer as well, and all the court case expenses. So, since then, he didn’t say anything anymore. It’s good that the court was very fair. (Yes.) So you can trust. But I don’t know why I told you this stuff. Before that, what was it that made me tell you this? (AY.) Ah, AY, BY (“after you,” “before you”).
Now you know the A and B. And if you are still scared, then you are a coward. I should be scared. If you lived my life like this, wouldn’t you be scared? (Yes.) So, forget your scaredness, OK? Because yours is nothing. I’m your teacher, and a teacher is like a good friend or a good parent. Good friends tell the truth – as is. They don’t flatter each other. We don’t say things nice when it’s not nice. (Yes.) So, if you are scared because of that, you’re stupid. Don’t be stupid. And if you’re looking for a sweet-talk guru, there are plenty– plenty, plenty, everywhere! Don’t have to go to India to find; they’re everywhere, right? You can recommend 10 or a dozen of them easily. I’m not one of those. I told you already. You’ve been warned – since the beginning. Like, if you don’t meditate two and a half hours or if you break the precepts, then you don’t come to group meditation. That’s already a forewarning, of things to come. Right? (Yes.) OK, never mind. I can be as sweet as the potato. But I can be as… how you say… what? (Ferocious?) Ferocious like a lion! Ferocious? I eat you up?
