Aspiration defeats realisation

Flying to Australia is really an arduous journey! I don’t know how my Australian disciples come to New York every year, sometimes twice a year! Had I been their disciple, I would have told God I could wait for a few more incarnations before coming to Australia to see my guru. The plane journey sincerely kills me — perhaps because I am an old man. Twenty-four hours — no, twenty-seven hours — we were on the plane.

I really admire my Australian children. Is this not a sign of their aspiration? Their aspiration has defeated my realisation! Of course the heart is very close. My children have a heart to know how much joy they can give me, and I do hope I give them a little joy as well. In the heart there is no distance, no distance, no distance.

— 10 September 1984