"Nothing will come before.

"This Zen anecdote looks absurd but it is very meaningful. The master, the monk, used to call himself – this is what meditation means, calling yourself – he used to call his own name. He would say, 'Are you there?' And he himself would reply, 'Yes sir, I am here.' This is an effort, a peak effort, to be alert. You can use this, it will be very helpful. Suddenly, walking on the street, you call yourself, 'Are you there?' Suddenly thinking stops, and you have to answer, 'Yes sir, I am here.' It brings you to a focus when thinking stops and you are meditative, alert.

"This calling to oneself is a technique. Going to sleep, putting off the light in the night, suddenly you call, 'Are you there?' And in that dark-ness alertness comes. You become a flame and inside you answer, 'Yes, I am here.'

"And then the monk used to say, 'Sober up!' Be sincere, be authentic; don't play the game. He used to call to himself, 'Sober up!' And he would reply, 'Yes, I will make every effort that I can.'

"Our whole life is a fooling around. You can do it because you are not aware of how you waste time, how you waste energy – how finally life is wasted you are not aware. It is going down the drain. Everything is going down the drain. Only when death comes to you, you may become aware, alert: What have I been doing? What have I done with life? A great opportunity has been lost. What was I doing fooling around? You were not sober. You never reflected upon what you were doing.

"Life is not just to pass, it is to reach somewhere deep within you. Life is not on the surface, it is not the circumference, it is the center. And you have not reached to the center yet. Sober up! Enough time is already wasted. Be alert and see what you are doing. And what are you doing? Searching for money? It is finally, ultimately useless. It is again a game, the money game. You have more than others, you feel good; others have more than you, you feel bad."