The Hungry Ghost Getai

The Chinese Seventh Month Getai (concert) season this year is coming to a close tomorrow on the 19th September 2009. I had a very entertaining and fascinating evening attending one at Loyang Tua Pek Kong.

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This temple is an epitome of religious harmony in Singapore. Besides being a Taoist temple, it also houses a Hindu Temple and a Malay Kramat (shrine).

The Hindu Temple. Chinese devotees pray here too!

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Here is the Malay Kramat next to the Hindu shrine.

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Besides opening the getai to the public for free, the temple also provide food for everyone. A big thank you to all the volunteers here seen dishing out the bowls of soup.

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This is the Baobei sisters. The stage is very posh for a getai. Artistes enter the stage from beneath, via an elevator platform.

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This is Karen Lim - the Getai Queen. She has 153 getai engagements in 2008. That is more about 5.5 getais to sing at every night! She is a live wire and dances non-stop during her performances. This is a rare sight to see her seated.

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This is a 9 year old Malay kid who did a Michael Jackson dance. Here while bantering with the MCs Liu Lingling from Singapore and Lan Tian from Taiwan, he cheekily put on his mask, just like Michael Jackson used to.

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Mai Ke, an Indian singer from Penang sang in Mandarin, Hokkien and Cantonese. He is also a Michael Jackson impersonator.

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Oh! Now we have three impersonators! In case you can't recognise them, two of them are the MCs.

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This is Hei Mao (Black Cats) from Malaysia. A three girl and two boy sing-and-dance group. Amazing feat stacking themselves and swing themselves around while singing.

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Hong Kong singer - Bai Mei Hui

Taiwanese artiste - Yaya

This is Fang Fang, our Malaysian 'Yau Shu Rong' (a famous female vocalist from Taiwan in the 1960s). At 58 years old, she still look great. She had ever said that she will continue to sing even when hit 60!

Singapore artiste - Xie Sheng Zi

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This is so Singaporean. Dishing out fans with campaign slogans - about getting help for gambling addicts! This is to pre-empt gamblers getting into doldrums when the casinos are opened next year.

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They also issued tissue papers with the same slogans. Luckily they distributed the tissue pads in the middle of the show. If they are distributed in the beginning, they will be used to reserve the seats!! *LOL*

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Indeed seat reservation is a serious problem in some getais, as touts sell reserved seat enbloc and sell them for a few dollars each.

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It was already near midnight, but devotees are still offering prayers at the temple.

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I enjoyed myself thoroughly in an evening of street culture and entertainment. A bit rough on the edges at times, particularly of those double meaning jokes banter between the emcee and the artistes, but such is the spontaneity of street culture.

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Particularly, the Loyang Tua Pek Kong getai is uniquely Singaporean in that there was so much diversity among the artistes from different countries, different religions and races. The temple premises itself houses a Hindu temple and a Muslim shrine.

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I think that is because Singapore is a confluence of two 'rivers' from the East and the West. Incidentally, this also goes for Singapore's ecosystem. For instance, there are about 60 known species of mangroves in the world and Singapore is home to 50 plus of them. Read here. For the coral reefs, the Great Barrier Reef which is about 6,000 times the size of Singapore has about 400 plus species and Singapore has 200 plus. Read here.

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For a small island of 660 square kms, there are just so many races and nationalities in Singapore. Some come as professionals to work and others to study.

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Perhaps this is Singapore's destiny, given its limitation of land size, it has learn to be open, adapt and innovate to prosper.

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Notable artistes from other getais:

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Taiwanese artiste, Hou Hou

He is known for his drags and ability to sing in both male and female pitches.

Taiwanese artiste, Kai Li

Here's a video clip of 17 year old pole dancer Lim Zi Yee. Amazing how she can sing while up at the pole.
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There are more and more younger artistes coming on stage over the last two years. The youngest who is only 5 years old.

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For more video clips, click here

For more pixs, click here.
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In my getai blog post on Vacuum State Travel in 2007, I wrote:

In the near future, they may have to continue to innovate and use newer entertainment technologies. May be there will be fireworks, pyrotechnics, more electronic music, more techno beats, holographic displays, large LCD screens for those in the far end from the stage, or even simulcasts on Youtube.

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Well, at the getai at Loyang Tua Pek Kong, pyrotechnics are already used. There are already many video clips on YouTube, though we haven't have simulcasts yet. Techno beats have already come together with rap and Michael Jackson gigs. Younger artistes have also leveraged on the Internet and have facebook profile pages to communicate with their fans.

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Looking back, getais in Singapore have come a long way. Below is a pix (taken in the year 2004) of what getais used to be.

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Read previous post on getai, click here
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Inner Engineering - Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

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Date: 24 Aug 2009

Time: 7.30pm

Place: Suntec Convention Hall, Ballroom 2, Singapore

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From Wikipedia

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is an Indian yogi and mystic. He is the founder of Isha Foundation which administers yoga centers around the world, including India and the United States.

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Jagadish Vasudev was born in Mysore, Karnataka. At the age of twenty-five on September 23 1982, he had a deep spiritual experience, and subsequently established Isha Foundation, a non-religious, not-for-profit, public service organization, which addresses all aspects of human wellbeing. The Isha Yoga Center near Coimbatore was founded in 1992, and hosts a series of programs intended to heighten self-awareness through the ancient practice of yoga. These programs are offered to people ranging from the highly educated to the illiterate, from corporate leaders to prisoners.

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Sadhguru spoke in four panels at the 2007 World Economic Forum, addressing issues ranging from diplomacy to economic development, education and the environment. In 2006, he addressed the World Economic Forum, the Tällberg Forum in Sweden, and the Australian Leadership Retreat. He has also served as a delegate to the United Nations Millennium Peace Summit and the World Peace Congress. He is the only speaker to have been invited to the World Economic Forum three years in a row.

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Sadhguru has had interviews with the BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNNfn, and Newsweek International.

He was a delegate to the United Nations Millennium World Peace Summit - and a participant at the World Economic Forum in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. Read more

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[I think there must be at least 2,000 attendees for the evening.]

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Sadhguru arrived and sang a lovely mantra. Then immediately he greeted, "Good morning". *silence* "I said 'good morning'", he repeated. The crowd not prepared for the first greeting quickly responded with "Good morning".

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Note: This is written as first person for ease of reading. It is not an ad-verbatim recording of his speech. Any errors and omissions are mine and most likely accidental.

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I thought you already have trouble with me. *laughters* Not now. May be by the end of the evening, you may have trouble with me. Not yet! *more laughters*.

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This is the first time I am addressing an audience in Singapore, so I let you decide what you want to talk about. What shall we talk about?

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From the floor: How did you become spiritual?

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Oh, you want a story? *grins* How did I become spiritual? So you want to know what works for me and perhaps it'll work for you. :)

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For the beginning, I started the same way as everyone of you - from the womb. However, as a child, my memory is a little different from others. At the age of 3-4 months, I could remember many things I see and hear of everyone around me. Most people cannot remember anything of themselves or surroundings, when they are earlier than 4 years old. I could tell my mother, who were around with her on certain occassions, what colour sari they wore and what gossips they spoke.

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By the time I was 4-5 years old, my thought process became a 'certain way' and now it is more of the same. Either I am still a child or that I have never grown up.

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I grow up with a lot of scepticism. I am a serious sceptic.

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I don't come from a particularly religious family, but you know we do the usual stuff. They are just there (religion-wise). One day, my parents brought me to the temple. I asked a lot of questions just outside the temple that they couldn't answer me, so I never went in. Then, I was only 4-5 years old.

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I was not very involved in school. Well, I was very involved with friends. I have no problems with that. But I was not academic, because I didn't think that I should listen to anyone if they are saying things that does not matter very much to them. I mean if it doesn't really mean much to them, why should I be listening? I can listen if it mean a lot to them, even if they speak nonsense that mean a lot to them, I'll listen. So, I didn't listen.

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As a child, I spend time in nature, perhaps because I don't find questions in nature. In other stuff, I have a lot of questions. Sometimes when I asked questions, people get angry. Why do people get angry or insulted? Because they don't have the answers or they have vested interest.

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I have a billion questions, so I started reading the works of Western philosophers. When I was 14 years old, I read Marx. But none of the books answered my questions. Instead, they multiplied my questions.

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After school, I went into business and became very successful. Many people were surprised that I became so successful. When you are young and successful, eventually you even think that all the planets of the solar system revolved around you and not the sun. I then refused to listened to anything others say.

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In Mysore city in Tamil Nadu, there is a little hill that everyone goes there. If you fall in love, you go there. If you fall out of love, you go there. If you have nothing to do, you go there. One day, I decided to go there to practise some yoga. I have practised yoga since the age of 11. After that, I sat on a rock for a while. After some time, I felt as if I was somebody else. I was then not sure who that person sitting on the rock was, and where was I. Where I was felt like I was everywhere around the person sitting on the rock. It was 'me' everywhere.

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I sat there, what I thought was 10-15 minutes, but was surprised that 4.5 hours had passed and I was in tears that have by now drenched my clothes. Every cell in my body was bursting in ecstasy. I was drenched in a different blissfulness. I thought, may be I was going off my rockers! I mean I have never been religious then and grown up on Western philosophies. The thought of me being spiritual was out of the question.

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When I told people what happened to me, the first reaction I got was, "Have you been drinking?" or "What have you been smoking?"

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But the experience I had was too beautiful to be annoyed by these remarks and I didn't want to lose it.

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Then, time seems to pass very fast. What was to me 1-2 minutes, hours have passed. It felt like I have just turned my head and a lot of time has passed. It's strange. I mean I was aware of what is going on around me. One day, I thought only 15 minutes have lapsed when 13 days have passed. I have never prayed nor bowed to anyone or any god, but here we had people falling on my feet. And when I look at people, their entire life exploded in me. Oh! By the way, if you meet me you will not have any privacy left! *laughters*

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I didn't know what it was, but I didn't want to miss it.

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Six weeks later, my wild youth evaporated. My whole body got re-aligned. My eyes, voice, gait...etc. People around noticed that. I too noticed that. Something was happening. Lifetimes of memories passed in front of me. So I went traveling alone to figure out what was actually happening.

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Some of you here will think, "it is not fair, I have meditated for 25 years and nothing like this happened, but you go sit on a rock and everything happened." *laughters*

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It is not a matter of how long... Why has not life revealed itself to you? It is because you have identified yourself with everything that you are not. Identification with your race, nationality, religion, gender, you body...etc.

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My mother is very dedicated. She has 4 children. As she is so dedicated, it was not necessary to express love. It is just there. No need to say it. But one day, she told me she loves me. Then, I asked if I am the child of the next house, will she still say she loves me? She was surprised, hurt and then in tears, and she left the room. When she came back she came and touched my feet. I was only 13!

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I question everything. I question everything that most people accept. If your intelligence is not entangled with anything, it is very easy to be spiritual. A prejudice can't see and reveal reality in life. Your intelligence will become fret.

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Some people may say, "I am very broadminded, I am not prejudice." Ok, you have broad prejudice then. *laughters*

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I'll tell you a joke...

Only a joke, don't take it too seriously...

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There is this man who died and went to the gates of heaven. At the gates god asked him to spell "Love", which the man had problems initially, like spelling it as "Lu..", er "Lvo...", but finally got it right "LOVE". Then god ask him to take over the gates for a while as he is busy for a bit and do the same to demand the person coming in to spell a word.

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The man agreed and stood guard at the gates. After a while, his wife appeared. "Why are you here?" he asked.

The wife said, "Well, I crashed the car on the way back from the funeral and now here I am. Can you let me through the heavenly gate please?"

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Which the man quickly said, "Spell 'Czechoslovakia'"!!! *LOL*

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[I guess the moral of the story is to depict hidden prejudices that we have in us.]

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[Sadhguru reached out to a glass of water...]

If I say "this is my glass", it is ok. But I can't say, this (the glass) is me. It is too much. It can be yours, but cannot be you. Same with, "This is my food", I eat it, but it is not me. It may accumulate as my body, but my body is not me. The food can be yours, but cannot be you.

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Same goes to other aspects of your life. Your husband/wife, house, car, race, religion...etc, is not you. If you identify with these aspects, then you have lost your intelligence.

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Let me tell you a story...

You know Talani Raman? ["Yes" from the audience.]

There is this Emperor Krishna Deva Nair who was given away when he was 18 months old to another woman who is also a mother of a boy a few months older than him. This woman treated both the babies as her own and breastfed them. The boys grew up, the older one of them did not use his resources properly and ended a poor man, the other (Krishna) became an emperor.

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One day, the older brother went to see the younger brother Krishna who is now an emperor. On reaching his palace, he met many intelligent and capable people serving his government. He was impressed, but thought that if he has the same clever people working for him, he too can be emperor. When he eventually met up with Emperor Krishna, he was particularly impressed with Talani Raman, the court jester.

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So he wanted to ask the Emperor to give him Talani. The Emperor thought it was a good idea and spoke to Talani. Talani suggested that it would be better to offer him his elder brother. So the Emperor told his older brother that he would instead offer Talani's elder brother to serve him. His older brother was delighted! Having Talani's older brother must even be better, since he is older and probably better.

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So arrangement was made to hand over Talani's older brother to him the next day. When the next day came, Emperor Krishna's older brother was surprised to find Talani presenting him a cow!

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"Why are you giving me a cow?" he asked.

"Because that is my brother, we drank milk from the same mother", Talani replied.

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[The moral of the story...]

So you see, we mustn't exercise repetitive intelligence. This is how karma works. What we get is due entirely to our own doing.

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One day I was walking around in the primary school and met a young boy 8-9 years old. He asked, "Is life true or a dream?"

"Wow!" I thought, this coming from a 8-9 year old.

So I replied, "Life is true, but it is a dream." *Laughters*

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I'll tell you another story...

There is this young woman who went to bed and started to dream. In her dream, she saw a hunky young man approaching her when she was asleep. Then he got nearer and nearer, and she got a bit apprehensive and began trembling. Then she asked, "What are you going to do?"

Which the hunky young man smiled and replied, "Well lady, it is YOUR dream...(tell me)". *Laughters*

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It is like your life. Life is a dream, but at least manage it properly such that you get what you want. You must learn how to manage your mind such that you get what you want. For instance, this microphone. It is useful to me only if it takes instructions from me. If it says things by itself, then it is not a useful instrument to me.

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Similarly, what most people are experiencing is that they are handling their life by chance. It is like closing your eyes and running across the highway. You may be lucky and got over the other side safely. Perhaps there were no cars near enough to knock you down or some cars have avoided you. But if you are going to do that over and over again, we'll know where to find you.

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A few years ago, I was in Mangalore to visit a friend of mine who is 75 years old but still practising as a medical doctor. I was quite impressed that he is still doing so at his age. At his clinic I saw a poster saying that he has an antidote for all snake venom. "How can this be?" I thought. As far as I know, there is one type of venom that attacks your nervous system and the other that can cause cardiac arrest. The antidote can't be the same! So I confronted him with the question and he replied, "You see, 90% of the time, the snake bites are not poisonous, so it'll work 90% of the time!" *Laughters*

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Well 90% is good enough.

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But if you are living your life by chance, then it can be as good as flipping a coin. So you take a coin, flip it and make your decisions and actions. If you do this, you have a 50% chance of success. If so, there are only two careers for you that you can get away with: an astrologer or a weatherman.

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So is your life working by intent or by accident?

If it is by accident, then it is an anxious mess, even if it is working.

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You don't feel well when you are anxious.

If you feel well, you are happy even when you are ill.

When the mind is pleasant, you call it peace.

When the mind is very pleasant, you call it joy.

When you feel pleasant emotionally, you call it love.

When you feel very pleasant life energy, you call it bliss.

... and so on.

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You are pleasant when you are successful.

So address pleasantness directly.

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Now I have a question. Where do you see me now? Where from?

[I was a little confused and turned my head directly to see him instead of the giant screen in the ballroom. Many others did, and when asked we pointed to him, to indicated that's where see him and not the projection screen.]

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Hmmm... here? *rolls his eyes and smile*

I am a mystic! *laughters*

You see me here? Or you see me inside you?

You know about this isn't it. It is the light that shines on me, reaches your eye, and the retina sends the signals to your brain to see 'me'.

So where do you see me now?

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Audience: Inside?

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Yes, you see me inside. Whatever you think happens outside actually happens inside you.

Have you actually experienced anything outside of you?

Audience: No.

So you are the source of experience within you.

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Experience by chance is therefore very fragile. If anything can make you happy, like somebody said something you don't like to you that made you happy. Or somebody said something to you and you are not happy. Or somebody should have said something to you but he didn't say it and you are not happy. *Laughters*

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So we get very stressed up and you have what you called "Stress Management" these days.

When I heard the term, I was wondering why you want to manage stress. You want to manage something precious to us, like our money, our assets...etc, but 'stress'??!! Then I figured out that it is because many people has already come to accept that their life is stressful and stress is here to stay. And they don't know how to manage their system.

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Nobody in your life will happen the way you want 100% of the time. It is imposssible. That is not a problem, but if you are not happening the way you want, then it is a problem.

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This is because your five senses are not reliable.

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When it gets dark, it is the night for you, but for the owl, it is 'good morning'. If you are to argue with the owl, who is right?

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Some in the audience: Both.

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Both? If you say both, it is either you are in the diplomatic corp or that you have a successful marriage! *LOL*

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Nature open your senses for the purpose of your survival. If survival is all you want, then it is enough, otherwise it is inadequate. But this doesn't happen for human beings. You see, once survival is taken care of, then it is no 'big deal'. A human does not stop at 'survival', unlike a tiger. A tiger hunts and eats and lives. He doesn't ask if he is a great tiger or aspire to be one.

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Human beings have the freedom to be anything he wants. Humans are suffering from the freedom he has. Only when survival is taken care of, human beings start to find expressions. He may feel that he is still no good. Compare to someone else, he may feel that he has done well, but by himself, he doesn't know. So human beings are suffering from his own freedom, and that is truly a 'tragedy'.

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I'll tell you a joke about 'tragedy'.

President George W Bush in his public relations seem to be in kindergartens when there are problems. In this instance he was in a class and asking the children to make sentences with the word 'tragedy'.

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One of the kids came up and said, I have a friend, he was on the road, a car came and killed him. The president said, "No, this is an accident, not a tragedy."

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Next another kid said that a bus full of people went out of control and fell off the cliff killing everyone in it. The president said, "No, this is a great loss, not a tragedy."

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Then another kid came up and said, "The President is in Air Force 1 and it got shot by a missile. This can't be an accident, it is not a great loss and therefore it must be a tragedy." *LOL*

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It is sad to live life and let everything happen pass you and you miss them. That is, to miss the grandeur. Many people are more into their psychological reality than their existential reality. When we create value, we live life blissfully. So pay attention and experience.

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People who worship the most suffer most. I have observed people coming out of temples to see if they are more joyful. The moment some of them are out, they are back to their usual self. And in the case of temples in India, some shoes would have gone missing and they will already be cursing the thieves and so on. Then I observe that the people coming out from restaurants seem to find more joy! So you have the humble dosai bringing more joy to people more than from god! If that is so, something is not right.

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Let's do an experiment. Just an experiment:

How many of you here believe in god, put up your hands.

[Most people in the audience put up their hands.]

Now, how many people here believe that they have two hands, put up one hand.

[More people put up their hands.]

So, do you know you have two hands or believe you have two hands?

Audience: ...know. *grins*

So for your hands you 'know', for god, you only 'believe'. Do you 'know' there is god, or do you 'believe' there is god?

[Audience's minds now thrown in disarray.]

Why don't you just say there are some things you 'know' and some things you 'don't know'?

That way you make it simple. Otherwise, for things you 'don't know' and you say you 'believe', then you 'assume'. This is also culturally convenient.

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So we have belief system. If we start from young, we can make you belief anything. Can't we ask questions?

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I as in Nashville (USA) and I was using 'him' when I referred to god, when a woman stood up and asked, "Why are you using 'him' to refer to god? Do you think god is a man? God can be a woman too you know?" I told her it is just a joke I was telling, but she said no, I still shouldn't use the masculine pronoun.

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You know this wouldn't happen in India. We have the man god, woman god, cow god...etc. Everybody is happy. *LOL*

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You know (the late) Idi Amin? From Uganda? He said that god is black. That is ok, if he sees it that way, then god is black. It'll appeal to the Southern States in the US where there are many blacks.

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[Said in jest...]

You see god came to India nine times He wanted to come here himself. For other places, he sent only his son. Here he goes hands-on and yet he fails!! *LOL*

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I'll tell you a story...

Two young energetic boys are constantly in trouble. You know when boys are energetic, they get into trouble. People have been talking about them and the parents are embarassed. They don't know how to fix them. With kids, we never know how to fix them. We can only weigh it out with them.

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So the parents brought the boy to the parish to see the priest. The priest paced up and down the hall with a bit of drama. It works better with religion if you have drama. *grins* Then the priest thought, if he tells the child that god is in him, the child will be more lifted and feel better about himself and perhaps not get into trouble. You know, people without kids usually have ideas about how to fix kids!!! *LOL*

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So he brought the boy to a room alone with him and pointed at the boy's chest and said, "You know, god is in YOU." This appeared to have stunned the boy so much, he quickly ran out of the room and out of the church, then to his friend and said, "Look, we are in real trouble now!!! They have lost their god and think that we have it with us!!!" *LOL*

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We have religions that meant well, but they soon fracture humanity. We struggle with what is sacred and what is ridiculous. It becomes such that we are told that we can't change our thoughts. But thoughts are meant to be fluid. It is your dream, so dream with freedom. Express the process and then die one day. It is not about capability but willingness to go outside your comfort and convenience. There is the science and technology for this inner well-being - this Inner Engineering.

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Do you want to be the creator or the creation? It is all up to you.

Let me ask you sir, "What did you eat today?" (pointing to someone in the audience).

That someone in the audience: Fish.

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Fish. You ate fish and you converted it to a human being. *Laughters* Isn't that great. Charles Darwin (its 200 years annivesary) says it takes thousands of years for evolution and you did it instantly. How did it happen in you? But did you do it consciously? You didn't isn't it? It all happens automatically.

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Questions:

Question: About previous births...

Reply: Experience you are NOW. Stories can entertain but not liberate you. Who am I? The more you know, the better you can live. Do you exist? Yes. Turn inward, beyond body and mind. Everything exists because this one (you) exists. It is time to pay attention.

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When we were born, we already know about survival. We know all about survival. Let's say if we put a baby in the forest and he is hungry and got hold of something, he will put it in the mouth, not in his ass! But not for the ability to write. That has to be learned. Same as to know yourself. If you are willing to spend 28-30 hours of focused time, you will be able to learn about looking inwards. It is easy if you know how and are looking at the right direction.

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For instance, it will be difficult to watch sunrise, if you face west. However if you face east, it is easy to see sunrise. Or the case of a traveler asking for the way to the ashram and got a reply 34,000 miles, at which he replied, "I thought it is nearby here?" Then the local man said, "Yes, if you turn around and head that direction, is is 4miles".

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Question: I am a nasty sort of person. I have seen magicians perform magic...etc. My question is, why do you look the way you are? Why do you keep your beard and dress like that? Instead of shaving and showing us your beautiful face. *Roaring laughter from the audience*

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Reply: (Pointing to his beard) It grows on every man and you remove it. Why? Do you know why you remove it? *Laughters from audience* You don't know and you ask me?

As for clothings, I am wearing stitched clothings now, because I am overseas. Normally, I wear unstitched clothings in India. When the body is well exercised, the mind is well exercised and the energy well exercised, then you would like to be in a certain way, like you will prefer loose clothings, not tight fitting ones...etc.

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I have not performed magic did I? When it comes to magic, it will be very impressive to pull a rabbit from the hat, but if I drink this glass of water and it becomes me, you won't be impressed.

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Question: Are there no limitations what humans can achieve?

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Reply: What do you mean by 'limitations'? Is it to beat the 9.8seconds (for 100 metre sprint) or...?

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The questioner replied, "Physical limits".

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Reply: Physicality has a limit. Any thing physical has a boundary. It is not boundless. That which is boundless is not physical. However, realise the immensity of humans. Not 1% of abilities has entered into our consciousness. Sometimes people look at me and ask me how can do certain things. "Are you superhuman?" they asked. It is not that I am superhuman, it is that being human is super!! *applause*

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I'll tell you a story:

There is a man who went into the forest to meditate. There he saw a fox with no legs. What is more surprising is that this fox doesn't seem to be starving. It looked well fed. Then one day, when the man was meditating, he heard the roar of a lion. Fearful, he scramped and climbed up a tree. Then he saw the lion approaching the fox and drop it a piece of meat, then it left, and the fox ate the meat.

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The next day, the lion came again with a piece of meat and dropped it to the fox, who again consumed the meat. This went on for day after day. So the man understood that this was how the legless fox kept itself alive.

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Then the man began to ponder if there could be a message behind the scenes he witnessed. There must be a message. Perhaps it says that I can be taken care of in nature no matter what. So the man contented with the message, continued to meditate in the forest without worrying about who is going to feed him or take care of him. He went on to meditate and starve, but he didn't care as he believed something will happen to help him.

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Then one day a yogi saw him and asked why he is starving himself and meditating, which he related that he saw fox being taken care of by the generous lion and that there must be something similar in nature that will take care of him. After listening to his story, the yogi replied, "You witness the lion and the fox, but why do you rather be the crippl fox, than the generious lion?"

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Miracles

Everything is a miracle. For instance, you put filth into the ground and then a mango tree grows to produce sweet mango. Yet there was no sweetness in the filth you put into the ground. Can you treat the filth and the mango as the same?

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Yet another way is to think that 'nothing is a miracle', as everything has a cause and effect. When we understand how the filth helped to give sweet mangoes, then it no longer is a miracle. So, we have called anything we don't understand as a miracle.

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Can we say that (holding a bud of flower) that we understand everything about this? Yes?

We can say that. At the same time, we can also say that we cannot finish studying and understanding this. That is the beauty of it all.

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So we are human and divine at the same time.

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Question: Do you mean to say that we should not visit temples?

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Reply: Did I say anything like that at all?

By that I mean you refer to Indian temples. Temples in its original form are not meant for prayers. Temples are supposed to be energy centres. You are supposed to go there quiet and sit there for a while.

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There is a whole science and technology involved in making a place divine, like making a stone divine...etc. This process is called 'consecration'.

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God is your making. It is whatever you can relate to. God is not the goal. Liberation is the goal.

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It is the moment you love someone that the someone becomes beautiful, not you love someone because that someone is beautiful.

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Belief evolves. Belief is reality. If you are denied many days without water, anything that nutures the you, is god. The more consciously you make it, the better you exist here.

For the videocast of the talk, click here

---end of talk----

The Preacher Man Can

I have a friend who calls me regularly for coffee. During that time, she will ask me if I would like to go to paradise or heaven. She would also add that there is not much time left, so I better decide to join them in their journey. Paradise, it is said, is free from attachments in our Earthly existence of illusions. What we experience on Earth is but a paltry comparison (to paradise). She said that once I have been to paradise, I won't want to come back to live on Earth again.

Then, as we were talking, an old lady interrupted to sell us some tissue paper. As I was digging into my pockets, I was shocked that my friend waved the old lady away. Luckily, the old lady persisted and by the time I recovered from the shock she was still there to complete our transaction. Did my friend realise that it is very likely that this old lady needs the money badly and that what she is doing is not begging, but an honorable business? We don't always have to buy tissue papers from them, but to refuse one in the middle of all the preaching just seem out of place to me somehow.

My friend is always preaching to me and yet she says that her practice is not a religion. I find that hard to reconcile. Anyway, her group is not the only one claiming to have exclusive tickets to heaven and that they are not a religion.

Why can't we let everyone live the way they want and walk their own spiritual paths? We are all unique and therefore our paths are all different. Why must religions, spiritual practices, 'fellowships' or call what you may, go out and 'convert' people? Is it so that they score some browny points with their god or merits to get closer to the heavenly gates? If one is so conscious about 'helping' others, does these 'merits' or browny points make any sense? Eventually and inevitably, these browny points will lead to promoting Fear and yet another conscious collection.

Perhaps to be in paradise, we just have to stay away from paradise and live the way we think it is worthy. I think what is worthy is only Love. The basis of all worthy and all we encounter is Love. In fact, if we take away all the sex and money, we will easily see that what is worthy is only Love. Conversely, if you want to follow any crime, follow the money and the sex.

Incidentally, I got this message from the Daily Contemplation (an email subscription):

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One filled with joy preaches without preaching.

-- Mother Teresa

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Patience

[Writing in progress... be patient! :) ]

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I have hurried to post this here before I lose my patience. Also, it is so that I can still capture my feelings about the subject accurately and understand what still keeps me (and my patience) going. :)
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What is 'patience'?
If I still think of when 'something' is going to happen everyday, am I still patient?

Hmmm... I am not obsessive, so I guess I still am.
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An impatient person is one that runs 'out of character' and loses his peace. He is the sort that would dig out the germinating seeds just because he cannot see the green shoots coming out from the ground. An impatient person lacks the trust that the seeds will grow on their own. And of course, having dug out the seeds, the seeds die.
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We have all seen impatient people at some point in our life. For instance, the wife who could not take it any more and left her eternally optimistic entrepreneur husband struggling with his fledging business. Or the impatient business partner who throw insults at his associates because of the prevailing frustrations without offering any better solutions to the problems. Some have even led to law suits over problems that neither party have a fair solution to.
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Conversely, I also have heard of the wife who has been patient and understanding and accepted her husband back, after he has strayed in the marriage. Her motivation for her patience is love.

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Most people are impatient because they have limited themselves to what they can 'see' and their lacking in their 'trust' in the bigger scheme of things.

There are many processes that we cannot see with our naked eye or five senses and we therefore have to based on 'trust' if we want to get anywhere. 'Trust' is easier when we understand more about what is around us. More importantly, 'trust' also means understanding that we are not alone to make things happen.

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For instance, all my achievements, will not be possible without the help of others. Along the process, many of my friends have come forward to offer me encouragement, help and even money to make things happen. They all seemed to trust me totally. This is perhaps because I, in turn, have total trust in what I do and that they will work. I 'trust' because I know everything I can conceive and believe will work. It may take many steps of refinements to work, but they will. And unless I continue to emit this energy, and attract the same to me, success will not come to me.

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So I shouldn't be surprised that 'patience' is considered a virtue by the major religions of the world. (I was surprised, when I first read the Wikipedia about the subject.)
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The Wikipedia defines 'Patience' as:
The state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast.

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Patience is often described as a core virtue in religion or spiritual practices.

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In the Jewish Bible, Christian Bible and the Koran, Job endures near-apocalyptic calamities without losing his patience or reproaching Divine Providence.

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In Judaism, Patience in God, it is said, will aid believers in finding the strength to be delivered from the evils that are inherent in the physical life.

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In Christianity, increasing patience is viewed as the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian who has accepted the gift of salvation (salvation = self elevation). The Proverbs note that "through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone" (Proverbs 25:14-16, NIV);

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Through patience, a Muslim believes that an individual can grow closer to God and thus attain true peace. The Muslim faith believes that without a good spirit while enduring, the struggle will not bear its full reward, thus, patiently persevering, striving and going forward, despite the difficulty, is the pinnacle of behavior during challenging times.

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In Buddhism, patience is one of the "perfections" that a bodhisattva trains in and practices to realize perfect enlightenment. Patience is recognized within Hinduism in the Bhagavad Gita. In both Hinduism and Buddhism there is a particular emphasis on meditation, aspects of which lead to a natural state of mindfulness that is conducive to patient, effective and well-organised thought.

Comedy - Religion

Warning: This posting contains opinions that may be considered unacceptable by some people. If you are easily offended by unconventional views about religion and spiritualism, then DO NOT READ FURTHER THAN HERE. If you do, then do it at your own risk! If you do not agree with the views expressed below, it does not mean that you have not 'arrived', rather it just mean that you 'do not agree'. Meanwhile, try to be open. There are lots to discover about ourselves when we are open. Do feel free to leave comments. BELIEVING IS NOT NECESSARY!

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More Warnings!!!

Foul Language is used in both the videos.

Religion - by the late comedian George Carlin
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Take away the foul language and the baseball bat, and what he said makes a lot of sense. What do you think?.
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The Ten Commandments
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If there is a "Ten Commandments", I would rather have it as "Ten Commitments". "Commandments" come from a purported supreme being imposing it on us based on Fear.

"Commitments" come from within.

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Environment 2 - The Green Temple

I visited the Poh Ern Shih (Thanksgiving Temple) in Singapore on the 2nd February 2008, together with an informal group that calls itself the "Ground Up Initiative", in contrast to the prevalent government top-down initiative.

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The temple is sited on a gentle hill in Pasir Panjang. Back in the old days, the area was mainly a Chinese and a Malay Kampung (village). See the history here. Today, it is a high class residential area.

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We are attracted to this temple because it is the first 'green temple' in Singapore, that will use solar energy, wind energy, micro-hydro turbines from the rain water, use purified rain water for drinking, and use as much natural daylight and natural ventilation as possible. For a summary of the design highlights of the temple, click here

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The temple is currently going through a reconstruction. This is an artist impression of the completed temple.

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This is where the construction is at the moment.

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The hill where the temple is sited is called Chwee Hua San.

These statues are sited by the entrance of the temple walkway...

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The entire temple is designed to be wheel chair accessible. This is because the temple committee has learned that more and more devotees above the age of 65 years old are feeling the fatigue and exhaustion of climbing up to the temple. With the whole place accessible, someday old folks who cannot walk can come in electrically powered wheelchair and need not depend on their able-bodied relations. Old folks need to learn to be independent, because nowadays, they have far fewer children to support them, due to Singapore's "Stop at Two (children)" policy in the 1970s, of family planning to having fewer kids.

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In Canada, the old folks don't want to depend on their kids, they would ask their children to live away and lead their own independent lives, while they enjoy their own old age. Asian old folks in contrast, want their children to serve them and pamper them. The temple currently conducts courses to change such mindsets among the old folks to prepare them to be independent.
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This is Mr Lee, the Chairman of the Temple Committee. In this temple, they have only one full-time worker. The rest of the workers are volunteers, managed by a Board of Directors who are not allowed to draw salary nor to benefit directly or indirectly from the temple finances. This is set in the constitution of the temple at its inception by its late founder, Mr Lee Choon Seng, also the founder of OCBC Bank (Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation) in Singapore.

One can easily sense the enthusiasm and love in Mr Lee as he introduced the temple's intention to go green right from 1995. It took him five years to repeatedly appeal to the government to allow him to put the wind and solar energy back into the national electricity grid, instead of storing them in batteries. This suggestion was rejected. The reason was not given, but our guess is that the government linked Singapore Power was reluctant to give up its monopoly for power generation in Singapore. Besides, during that time, they were producing 75% surplus of electricity. I wonder why. Wouldn't it be easy to cut down and match the power generation with demand, instead of wastefully producing too much?

There is so much that the bureaucracy has to learn and update themselves with the rapidly changing world. I told Mr Lee that I am also a returnee to Singapore after 20 years of living overseas and have given up trying to change anything here. Mr Lee then advised me not to give up as the younger generation coming up will be in-charged and they are much more open minded.

Mr Lee lived in Canada for 35 years and have now come back with the alternative energy generation and saving techniques and forward thinking knowledge he has learned there and now implements them in Singapore.

I must admit that in the last five years, the government's attitude has improved and they are more willing to listen, but I am afraid it is a bit too little too late. As a small nation, we must change fast to excel or otherwise we will be easily left behind.

Anyway, we should put the past behind us now. The way forward is that all the generated electricity will be put into the grid and the temple has a reverse meter for the electricity generated. This is much better than storing them in batteries, which will over time deteriorate and require environmentally safe disposal.

The solar energy is used to power all the lights in the temple in the evenings. There are no air-conditioners in most parts of the temple and the new architecture includes ventilation holes to allow light and breeze in to cool the place.

These are the ventilation holes by the side walls of the meditation halls. By the way, their meditation halls can be booked by anyone wanting to hold retreats in Singapore. So far they have bookings from Hindus, Muslim and Buddhist groups. There are no Christian groups as yet.

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This central opening at the top enables light and convection current to circulate.

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This pagoda originally has opaque tiles, but this is now changed to glass tiles with solar panels built in. Nowadays, modern building materials can have embedded solar panels and come in different colours and contours to match the architecture of the building.

These are the roof top solar panels that generate 13.5MWh for 10 months. Mr Lee deliberately uses three different types of panels as a study to find which ones have the best overall performance. He will log all data and share them with any interested party.

This is the sole windmill turbine they use. I guess there is too little wind in Singapore to use wind in a big way.

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These are still horizontal axis windmills. The new ones are vertical axis and plastered with solar panels.

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This is the monitoring station of the solar panels.

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Every month, students from the nearby Singapore Polytechnic will come to download the data from here for their research and development.

In the new construction, there will be a water tank to store rain water. These rain water will be reticulated by gravity through tiny nozzles and straight to micro-hydro turbines to generate electricity. Part of the rain water will be used for irrigation of the temple gardens whilst the rest will be purified into drinking water via reverse osmosis (RO).

I then cautioned that RO will remove all the minerals in the water and it will be dangerous to drink them regularly. As this will only be their standby alternative as drinking water, it won't be as bad, but Mr Lee says that now that he knows, he is going to find ways to add minerals into the water.

I was then thinking of room-temperature plasma purification. This will be yet another improvement as it will not take away the minerals and will also use much less electricity.

I also suggested to Mr Lee to look at Tamura Water, which de-ionises the water and the temple can eliminate the use of detergents. He says he is open to that and asked me to send him further information. In fact, he asked all of us to inform him of new energy saving or sustainable renewable energy technologies whenever we discover new ones.

With the solar panels, it will take the temple 25 years to reach a break-even of costs. However, Senoko power station is willing to buy the carbon credits that the temple gets as a result of using alternative energies at a premium, which will then cut the return-on-investment (ROI) to 15 years.

Michael and Philip (with us in the group) mentioned that there are solar panels in R&D stages that operates at 45% efficiency, compared to the current 10%. Perhaps someday, with this improved efficiencies, the ROI can be reduced to less than 10 years. When that happens, then I think solar panels will become ubiquitous.

This will be a typical room of where nuns will live in. These bed units are modular and each square exists independently. It is made of bamboo and not wood. Bamboo exists in abundance and grows very quickly to replace itself. As such, the temple will not buy timber furniture from now on.

In this module, the board can be lifted for the legs and the nuns can use their laptop extended table from the shelf (will be installed later) against the wall.
.This one is a table extended from one of the units. The rest of the modules are used as storage cupboards.
. These floor cushion seats are made of natural jute material.
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The toilets are all wheel chair friendly. There are two types of basins. One very low for wheel chair bound users whilst the other is for old folks who are not wheel chair bound but finds it difficult to bend themselves low to use the basin.

All the taps are activated by motion sensors, as a requirement by the government, in order to prevent water wastage. However, old folks will have problems as they would need one hand to hold on to the basin (for support) and only one hand to wash up. The temple has not succeeded in persuading the authorities to waive this requirement for the temple.

This is a wheel chair friendly toilet. The door opens outwards, so that any old folk who faints will not block the door. The two arm bars next to the toilet seat is meant for the user to lift themselves from the wheelchair to the seat. Note that the mirror inclines downwards so that the wheelchair user can see himself.

In the same cubicle is also a shower, so that old folks need not dislodge themselves twice on and off the wheelchair to use the toilet and shower.

These features are meant to keep the old folks independent despite their ailing limbs and strength. Due to the family planning policies of stopping at two children, there are now far fewer young people to support the old folks. Each married couple immediately inherits four old folks. and probably two or more children to take care of.

Temple kitchens are also going to designed to be old folk friendly. There will be sections of the table top that can be lowered such that the old folks can help in the preparation of food. In this way, they (the old folks) can express their love for the younger ones by cooking for them.

This is the insignia of the temple.

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Note that there is lots of ventilation vents for this staircase?

This is the chanting hall of the temple for people who wants to chant for their physically ailing relatives or friends. The temple offer chanting free of charge to anyone. Any priest who charges a fee for the services will not be allowed to use their hall.

There is another hall in the basement that will be used for old nuns living out their last days. It will be their resting place before they leave this incarnation. As there will soon be 2,000 old people dying everyday, crematoriums and cemetries may not have enough facilities to handle them swiftly enough in the near future. This hall in the basement may then become a transit area while waiting for the body to be cremated.

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We were about to take a picture of the miniature model of the temple when this very regal looking cat jumped on top of the glass top and rest in front of all of us. Mr Lee says that this cat take the role of mother to all the stray kittens brought into the temple. So, it seems that even the cat is enlightened in this temple. :)

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This thin green strip in land-scarce Singapore adjoining the neighbours will be turned into a butterfly park. Mr Lee is learning from the people in Alexandra Hospital on how they attract butterflies and keep them. The temple is situated in an idyllic surrounding. It is on freehold land in tiny Singapore. New temples will not be allowed to be built in this area and older temples on lease holds will not have their leases renewed. This is because the East Coast and West Coast of Singapore have been gazetted as Christian Zones for churches only.

To me, Poh Ern Shih Temple is a shining example that looks at life in more universal manner. That we all live in an environment that we have to be part of and that we should do our best to take care of, even way into the future that looks into the mobility problems of the old folks and the burdens of their offsprings.