The Education of a Believer 167The beautiful thing about this is that when you finally
master this technique, you no longer want a penthouse.
That's what concentration does for you, though, it makes
your wishes come true."
"You're telling me that when I master this force I can
make my wishes come true?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying. But in order to get to
that point, you have to be sincere and peaceful in your
own being. If having that penthouse in Rome doesn't
harm your fellow human beings, there's not one cosmic
reason why your dream shouldn't come true."
"Rama, you mentioned spiritual guides. Are your spiri
tual guides like rabbis and priests?"
"Yes, I suppose you could call them that. They're people
who give us spiritual guidance. Each one of us gets a
scientific explanation for every, what you would call here,
religious teaching, except that our religious practices have
more correspondence with things like metaphysics, theo
sophy.
Do you remember Madame Blavatsky?
"Mmmm. The name sounds familiar," I said.
"She was the founder of the Theosophical Society and
the author of a book known as the Secret Doctrine. Madame
Blavatsky was very much on the ball. She understood God
as a Third Force. And, in her time, she said it. I wouldn't
say proved it, but she used it, and she used it in good faith.
And because of this, she was persecuted and vilified.
People made her out to be a know-nothing lady, a con, a
witch. Same thing with Lobsang Rampa. These people
had no mean intentions when they brought their doc
trines out; it was more or less their way of saying, 'Hey,
look, this is the truth; do you want to take it? You want to
become immortal, to live forever? You want to astral
travel?' That's more like our religion.
Our priests, if you wish to call them that, are spiritual
guides who cultivate our spirits; they don't interfere with
our everyday lives. They teach us no mysteries, only