The first thing to understand is that I have no teachings.

I am not teaching you anything at all, because

teaching simply means conditioning your mind -- in other words, programming you in a certain way.
What I am doing here is just the opposite of teaching you: I am creating a space where you can
unlearn whatsoever you have been taught up to now. I am not a teacher!
Thats the difference between a teacher and a !aster: the teacher teaches, the !aster helps you to
undo whatsoever the teachers have done. The function of the !aster is just the opposite of that of the
teacher.
The teacher serves the society, the establishment" he is the agent of the past. #e wor$s for the older
generation: he tries to condition the minds of the new generation so they can be subservient, obedient
to the past, to all that is old -- to their parents, to the society, to the state, to the church. The function of
the teacher is anti-revolutionary, it is reactionary
The !aster is basically a rebel. #e is not in the service of the past, he is not an agent of all that you
can thin$ of as the establishment -- religious, political, social, economic -- his whole effort is to help
you to discover your individuality. It has nothing to do with tradition, convention. %ou have to go
within, not bac$wards. #e is not in any way interested in forcing you into a certain pattern" he ma$es
you free.
&o what I am doing here is not teaching, that is a misunderstanding on your part. 'ut it happens
because you have lived with teachers, all $inds of teachers. It is rare to come across a !aster, because
the society does not allow the !aster to happen. The society is very afraid of the !aster, otherwise
why did society poison &ocrates( )or what( #e is the !aster par e*cellence, has never been surpassed
by any other. #is crime was that he was a !aster, and the society wanted him to be a teacher #e was
helping people to discover the truth. +nd society is not interested in discovering the truth, it is
interested in covering it more and more, because it lives through lies -- it calls them beliefs.
+ll beliefs are lies" howsoever beautifully presented, they are lies. Truth cannot be given by one
person to another, only lies can be transferred, they are transferable. Truth is untransferable.
The !aster cannot hand over the truth to you, he can only create devices so that you can discover
your own truth. The truth is always your own authenticity, your own being. Who can give it to you(
The teacher pretends to give you truth, but what he gives is just a decorated lie -- although it may be
very ancient, repeated for millions of years, so it appears li$e truth.
+ ,hristian believes, because -esus says, .'elieve. #ave faith,. so for two thousands years they are
believing and having faith, and what they have gained( What is their achievement( -ust two thousand
years of bloodshed -- murdering, $illing, wars, burning alive people -- and that all in the name of /od,
in the name of -esus ,hrist....
'ut the responsibility is of -esus ,hrist himself. #e was telling people to believe. That means he was
telling people to be hypocrites. Thats what belief means: you dont $now and yet you pretend that you
$now. %ou worship /od -- you dont $now -- and yet you are praying to something that you dont
$now. Is this the way of intelligence( Is this the way to grow, mature( This is the way of remaining
retarded.
-esus is responsible for millions of people who have remained retarded, because he taught belief. 'ut
this is true also of !ohammed, this is true also of other religious leaders -- the whole past is based on
belief systems. +nd the result you can see: the whole mess in the world.
!y approach is based on doubt, on agnosticism, on s$epticism, because these are the ways to
eliminate anything that is not true.
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+:1 /od is the major belief that has to be eliminated, because every other thing hangs with /od. /od
eliminated means prophets, messiahs, saviors, messengers -- all are eliminated. #eaven, hell -- all are
eliminated. With /od eliminated, we can clean the whole mind of man. +ll rubbish will simply
disappear. It can e*ist only with /od. #e is the center of the madness of man. #e is the greatest bloc$
against human intelligence and its evolution.
-ust thin$ if there is no /od -- then there are no holy scriptures, then there are no popes, no prophets.
Then you cannot depend on anybody" you have to depend on yourself. In the beginning it is a little
scary, but soon you will start finding strength in yourself, in your independence.
#ow long man has been moving li$e blind people, following somebody who himself is blind( 'linds
are leading blind people for millions of years. -esus ,hrist has no e*perience of /od, because there is
no /od, so how he can have the e*perience of /od( #e may have hallucinated. #e may have
imagined, he may have dreamt, but there is no /od anywhere. 2*istence is all. +nd the very idea of
/od creates a split in e*istence: the creator and the creation -- and that is the root cause of all other
splits.
+ll the people who are suffering from schi:ophrenia may never $now that the basic schi:ophrenia
comes from the split between /od and e*istence. Then you are continuously in split: your body wants
to do one thing, your mind says that is wrong. 'ecause your religion teaches you celibacy and your
body wants to ma$e love. %ou are torn apart. If you listen to the body you will feel guilty. If you listen
to the mind you will become a pervert se*ual. In both the cases you are going to be a loser. &o
emphatically and absolutely I say, ./od is the greatest lie that has to be removed from human
consciousness. +nd once man is free from /od, hell and heaven, sin and virtue, his intelligence is free
to grow. +ll the barriers have been removed. +nd it is his intelligence will be now decisive -- about his
actions -- and he will be himself responsible. +nd each act brings its own punishment or its own
reward, so there is no need to wait for the last judgement day!
2ach act: if you are compassionate to someone, you feel a joy of being compassionate -- that is its
reward. If you are angry at someone, you are first burning inside yourself. 2ven before you have acted
on your anger, you have suffered the punishment.
In my vision every action has its intrinsic reward or punishment. &o a man of intelligence soon starts
finding what are the acts which bring you happiness, joy, blissfulness, and what are the actions which
create misery, suffering. There is no need to wait for the last judgement day, there is no need to wait
after death -- you will be thrown into hell or into heaven. 2ach moment completes itself.
+nd if you are the person who is responsible, totally responsible, then certainly each of your action
will show that responsibility. 4ight now you can dump everything on /od, everything on past life,
everything on devil. 'ut if /od is removed, devil is gone. 9evil is /ods shadow. They cannot e*ist
separate from each other. /od needs the devil, the devil needs the /od.
%ou will be surprised to $now that the world devil and the word divine come from the same &ans$rit
root. 9ivine and devil from the same &ans$rit root, which is very significant. It means they are just
two branches of one tree and they can e*ist only together, perhaps li$e two sides of a coin: you cannot
separate them.
3nce man feels free from god and devil and all nonsense, he is free from churches, free from temples,
free from mos;ues, synagogues -- a tremendous sense of freedom. +nd to act responsibly, because you
are going to suffer from your act or to rejoice from your act. %our act is decisive itself. 7obody else is
going to decide for you. Then easily a intelligent person will sort out -- perhaps he will fall once in a
while into the wrong place -- but he will not fall twice in the same place. +nd that is the way of
learning: commit as many mista$es you can, but dont commit the same mista$e again. Thats how one
matures, one becomes more understanding, becomes more clear. +nd all this ultimately leads to
enlightenment, because you cannot depend on praying, you have to find something else.
<rayer is addressed to a /od. If there is no /od, all prayers are meaningless. !editation is not
addressed to anybody. It is an inner journey of being silent, of being more and more peaceful, of being
more and more alert and aware. + moment comes when your consciousness is so clear, so luminous,
that time stops, that thoughts stop -- simply you are, in your utter purity -- and that e*perience I call
religiousness. )or it you need not go to any church, you need not belong to any crowd, you need not
have any holy scripture" for that, all that is needed is an inward journey. +nd thats what I am teaching
my people.
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&hivananda, yes, the ;uestion arises and is significant too. It is li$e the fish as$ing, .What is the
ocean(. 3bviously the fish cannot see the ocean" it has lived in the ocean always, from the very
beginning. It was born in the ocean, it opened its eyes in the ocean, it has lived as part of the ocean.
The ocean is so close, the fish does not feel itself separate from it. There is no space between the fish
and the ocean to $now about it.
+nd thats actually the case with unawareness. %ou are born in unawareness, you live in unawareness,
you sleep in unawareness... you wa$e up in unawareness. %ou wal$ in unawareness, you tal$ in
unawareness... you read 'ibles, 8orans, /itas, in unawareness. It is so close, you are so permeated by
it" it is in your every fiber and cell. There is no distance between it and you. #ence the ;uestion is very
significant and one has to as$ it. 3nly then can one move slowly out of unawareness towards
awareness.
6nawareness is a state of robotli$e e*istence. %ou go on repeating mechanically. %ou go on living
without any alertness in it" sleepy, a somnambulist you are.
3ut of ten people, one person can wal$ in his sleep, do you $now it( That is a big number. 3ut of a
hundred, ten people are capable of wal$ing in their sleep. If you have ten persons in your family, that
means one person is capable of wal$ing in his sleep. <eople get up, they can wal$ in dar$ness, they
can reach the fridge, they can eat things, they can come bac$ to the bed. In the morning they have
forgotten all -- and then they are worried why they go on becoming fatter and fatter! In the day they
fast or diet and in the night they compensate as much as they can.
%ou will have to be a little separate from your acts" then you will be able to $now what unawareness
is. &omebody insults you" immediately, instantly, anger arises. It is li$e pushing a button and the light
comes on. There is no gap: you push a button and the light comes on. The light has no time to thin$
whether to come on or not. &omebody insults you" he pushes a button and immediately you are
enraged.
/urdjieff used to say to his disciples, .Wait at least for five minutes. What is the hurry( 5et him insult
you, let him finish first. Then you close your eyes and wait for five minutes, and watch what is
happening inside you -- anger boiling..
/urdjieff himself became enlightened through this simple procedure: that whatsoever is mechanical
in man he tried to ma$e it nonmechanical. +nd all is mechanical in you -- anger, lust, greed, jealousy
-- all is mechanical. It simply is there whenever somebody pushes a button. %ou are functioning li$e a
robot. 'ecome a man.
Thats what meditation is all about, thats what sannyas is all about. ,reate a little distance. 7e*t time
somebody insults you, give it five minutes, sit silently for five minutes, and then you can become
angry. I am not saying .9ont become angry. -- because that will be too much. I am saying that just for
five minutes allow a gap, and you will be surprised: after five minutes it is not the same anger that it
would have been five minutes before.

9ale ,arnegie remembers an incident in his life. #e delivered a radio broadcast on +braham 5incoln.
#e mentioned a few wrong facts about 5incoln" even his birthdate was wrong. #e received one letter,
a very angry letter, from a woman, calling him a fool, calling him stupid. .If you dont even $now the
right birthdate, what right have you got to spea$ on +braham 5incoln(.
#e became enraged, and he immediately wrote an angry answer. 'ut it was too late in the day, so he
thought, .Tomorrow morning I will post the letter..
'efore posting it he read the letter again. It loo$ed too angry -- twelve hours had passed. #e read the
womans letter" it was not so insulting as it had appeared at the first glance. &o he changed his letter,
he wrote it again. When he was writing it again he said, .Why not wait twenty-four hours more and
see what happens( What is the hurry( The woman is not going to die..
&o he waited twenty-four hours and read his letter again. 7ow he was even more cool, and still the
letter loo$ed a little too strong. #e changed it and thought, .Why not wait forty-eight hours( 5et it be
an e*periment! I can always send the letter, but after twelve hours I had to change it, after twenty-four
hours I had to change it much more. 5et us see what happens after forty-eight hours..
+fter forty-eight hours he had to change it totally. +ll anger had disappeared. #e said, .7ow I will
wait two days more and then I will send it..
+nd when finally he wrote the letter he apologi:ed" he was no longer angry. The woman was right:
what right has he if he does not $now the facts( +t least he should have chec$ed the facts before going
to broadcast. It was absolutely right on her part to get angry.
&o he wrote, .%ou are perfectly right. 7e*t time I will not commit such a mista$e. I am deeply sorry
that I hurt your feelings. I apologi:e. If any time you happen to be in this city, please come to see me,
or, if I come to your town, I will come to see you. I would li$e to $now more about 5incoln -- because
I feel you $now more than I $now..
7aturally, the woman was tremendously impressed by the humbleness of the man" she was not
e*pecting that he would be so humble. 7e*t time she came to that town where 9ale ,arnegie lived she
phoned him. #e went, received her, invited her for a dinner. +nd finally the woman and he became so
friendly, they fell in love!

It loo$s li$e a fairy tale -- does not happen in real life! In real life only tragedies happen. 'ut we are
responsible for all those tragedies because of our unawareness.
&o the first thing I will suggest, &hivananda, is that if you want to $now what unawareness is, allow a
gap. This is the process of de-automati:ation. %ou have become automatic, you function automatically.
%ou have to reverse the whole process, de-automati:e it, slowly slowly, in small matters.
)or e*ample, you have gone for a wal$. 9ont wal$ the same way as you wal$ every day. /o slow or
go fast, but dont just repeat the same routine. +nd you will be surprised: if you go slow you are more
aware, if you go faster you are more aware" if you go e*actly the same speed as you follow every day,
you lose all awareness.
'uddha told his disciples to wal$ very slowly, as slowly as possible. Try it and you will be surprised.
+ great awareness arises if you wal$ very slowly. %ou spea$ in a certain way" one day try to spea$ in
some other way. &pea$ slowly, and you will be surprised that the slowness of the speech ma$es you
alert. &uddenly something is changed, because you are not functioning according to the robot.
!ind has two parts: one is the learning part, the other is the robot part. The learning part learns"
whenever you are learning something you are more aware. )or e*ample, if you are learning driving
you are more aware -- you have to be. The moment you have learned it, the learning part gives its
information to the robot part. 3nce you have learned driving, then you dont need any awareness" you
simply go on doing it mechanically. %ou turn towards your house, you arrive in your garage, you loc$
the car. %ou are doing everything li$e a robot.
+nd this is the story of your life, twenty-four hours a day. ,hange it!
/urdjieffs method was this: if some vegetarian had come to him as a disciple, the first thing he would
insist was, .2at meat!. 7ow this is a very shoc$ing thing for a vegetarian -- to be told to eat meat. +nd
/urdjieff was a tough master" he would throw you out if you didnt listen to him, if you didnt follow
the command, if you didnt follow the discipline. #e would force you to eat meat. 7ow, when a
vegetarian eats meat he becomes very conscious -- he has to. #e has no idea in the past, no e*perience
in the past, of eating meat. -ust thin$ of !ahatma /andhi eating meat... he will become tremendously
aware!
+nd if there was a meat-eater, then /urdjieff would say, .)or a few wee$s you be just vegetarian.
9ont eat meat at all -- no eggs, no meat, no mil$, no animal food of any $ind. -ust go on eating
vegetables.. The whole body system had become accustomed to a certain pattern. #e would change
peoples eating hours. If you were eating every day at one ocloc$, he would say, .2at at nine.. If you
were going to sleep every day at twelve, he would say to go at two or at ten. #e would change
everything. + man who had never been drin$ing wine, he would force to drin$ wine just to change and
shatter his pattern. The man who had been a drun$ard, he would stop him from drin$ing.
/urdjieff was pu::ling to people, but the method is simple: he was trying to de-automati:e. #e was
one of the greatest masters of this age, very much misunderstood. 7aturally, everybody was against
him. Who has ever heard of religious masters forcing their disciples to drin$( -- )34,I7/, actually
forcing. +nd he would sit there....
The greatest thing in his commune was the dinner. It used to last four, five, si*, seven hours. 2very
evening it would start... and it would end in the middle of the night. +nd he himself would ta$e care of
everybody, of what was being eaten, of what was given to them -- and he would go on forcing. <eople
would become so drun$ they would fall on the ground, and they would start saying things in their
drun$enness -- and he would sit by the side and listen. #e also used to drin$ with them, but he had
wor$ed hard on the way. #e was a tantra master. #e had been to India and to Tibet too, just to learn
tantra.
Tantra has special methods how to go on drin$ing and yet remain aware. %36 cannot be aware even
without drin$ing. Tantra has methods to slowly slowly drin$, and $eep awareness, not to lose trac$ of
your awareness. &lowly slowly, the ;uantity of your drug has to be increased as you increase in your
awareness. + moment comes when -- you will be surprised to $now, still there are people in the 2ast
who practice it -- a moment comes, when no drug can affect your consciousness at all.
Then the last thing they try is this: they $eep poisonous sna$es and they allow the sna$e to bite them
on their tongue" that is the last method. 3rdinarily a man will die.... These sna$es are absolutely
poisonous. Three percent of the sna$es in India are dangerous" you cannot survive their bite -- once
bitten you are gone. 'ut these tantra masters will remain alert even in that moment and they will not
die. Their bodies have become accustomed to all $inds of poisons and they have become alert, so alert
that no drug can affect them.
/urdjieff used to use that method with his disciples, simply to shatter your settled habits.
!y approach here is to send you to this group, then to another group, then to still another group.
When you go to different groups for two, three months, each group has its own structure and pattern
and each group destroys other groups patterns and structures.
+nd finally I send you to >a:en or to =ipassana. They are beyond all ordinary structures. Those are
the methods given by 'uddha himself. Then you are in a very simple state, watching your own breath
-- the breath going in, the breath going out, and you are simply watching.
This watchfulness will ma$e you aware of what unawareness is and what awareness is, both. %ou
become aware of both simultaneously.

If you can float between being angry and being sad, both become similarly easy. %ou will have a
transcendence and then you will be able to watch, and escape.

+nger and sadness are both the same. &adness is passive anger and anger is active sadness. 'ecause
sadness comes easy, anger seems to be difficult. 'ecause you are too much in tune with the passive.

It is difficult for a sad person to be angry. If you can ma$e a sad person angry, his sadness will
disappear immediately. It will be very difficult for an angry person to be sad. If you can ma$e him sad,
his anger will disappear immediately.

In all our emotions the basic polarity continues ? of man and woman, yin and yang, the male and the
female. +nger is male, sadness is female. &o if you are in tune with sadness, it is difficult to shift to
anger, but I would li$e you to shift. -ust e*ploding it within won@t help much because again you are
see$ing some way of being passive. 7o. 'ring it out, act it out. 2ven if it loo$s nonsense, then too. 'e
a buffoon in your own eyes, but bring it out.

If you can float between anger and sadness, both become similarly easy. %ou will have a
transcendence and then you will be able to watch. %ou can stand behind the screen and watch these
games, and then you can go beyond both. 'ut first you have to be moving easily between these two.
3therwise you tend to be sad and when one is heavy, transcendence is difficult.

4emember, when two energies, opposite energies, are e*actly ali$e, fifty-fifty, then it is very easy to
get out of them, because they are fighting and cancelling each other and you are not in anybody@s grip.
%our sadness and your anger are fifty-fifty, e;ual energies, so they cancel each other. &uddenly you
have freedom and you can slip out. 'ut if sadness is seventy percent and anger thirty percent, then it is
very difficult. Thirty percent anger in contrast with seventy percent sadness means forty percent
sadness will still be there and it will not be possible" you will not be capable of easily slipping out.
That forty percent will hang over you.

&o this is one of the basic laws of inner energies ? to always let the opposite polarities come to an
e;ual status, and then you are able to slip out of them. It is as if two persons are fighting and you can
escape. They are so engaged with themselves that you need not worry, and you can escape. 9on@t
bring the mind in. -ust ma$e it an e*ercise.

%ou can ma$e it an everyday e*ercise" forget about waiting for it to come. 2very day you have to be
angry ? that will be easier. &o jump, jog. scream, and bring it. 3nce you can bring it for no reason at
all, you will be very happy because now you have a freedom. 3therwise even anger is dominated by
situations. %ou are not a master of it. If you cannot bring it, how can you drop it(

/urdjieff used to teach his disciples never to start by dropping anything. )irst start by bringing it in,
because only a person who can create anger on demand can be capable of dropping it on demand ?
simple mathematics. &o /urdjieff would tell his disciples to first learn how to be angry. 2verybody
would be sitting and suddenly he would say, A7umber 3ne, stand up and be angry!B It loo$s so
absurd.

'ut if you can bring itC. +nd it is always available, just by the corner, you just have to pull it in. It
comes easily when anybody provides an e*cuse. &omebody insults you ? it is there. &o why wait for
the insult( Why be dominated by the other( Why can@t you bring it yourself( 'ring it yourself!

In the beginning it loo$s a little aw$ward, strange, unbelievable, because you have always believed in
the theory that it is somebody else whose insult has created the anger. That@s not true. +nger has
always been there" somebody has just given an e*cuse for it to come up. %ou can give yourself an
e*cuse. Imagine a situation in which you would have been angry, and become angry. Tal$ to the wall
and say things, and soon the wall will be tal$ing to you. -ust go completely cra:y. %ou have to bring
anger and sadness to a similar status, where they are e*actly proportionate to each other. They will
cancel each other out and you can slip away.

/urdjieff used to call this Athe way of the sly manB ? to bring inner energies to such a conflict that
they are engaged together cancelling each other, and you have the opportunity to escape. Try it, mm(

3sho, /et 3ut
of %our 3wn
Way, Tal$ DE
3sho,
Why do these people li$e you so much( Why are you so appealing(

.I also wonder..

Is it the beard or the money or the prestige(

.I dont have any money. I dont have any prestige. I am notorious all over the world F what prestige
can I have( To be with me needs the courage to be with a notorious manC %ou will lose your prestige
if you are with me..


+ll that is needed is better planning, better crossbreeding. It is a $nown and applied fact about
animals. 9o you see the many $inds of beautiful dogs around the earth( -- small, big, powerful, or just
beautiful. -ust to see them jump around you is such a joy. 9o you thin$ they came out of blind nature(
7o, for centuries we have been crossbreeding dogs.
%ou $now it as a fact -- the whole world accepts it -- that a man should not get married to his own
sister. Why( That should be the most simple thing, to get married to your own sister. %ou love her
already, you have been together since birth, you $now each other. 'ut why have all cultures prohibited
it( +ll cultures have said that marriage should be with distant people, people who dont come from the
same family tree, because the bigger the distance, the better the product.
If a white +merican marries a 7egro, the child will be far better than a white +merican marrying
another white +merican, or a 7egro marrying another 7egro, because the distance between those two
is immense -- different centuries. They have grown in different atmospheres, their programming is
totally different from each other. &o when these two totally different cultures, traditions, conventions,
lifestyles meet, they give birth to a better man, who has a double heritage: the heritage of the 7egroes
and the heritage of the white +mericans.
In a scientific lab it will be possible to find eggs and semen cells as distant as possible. +nd we can
create through that crossbreeding a totally new man. There is nothing scary about it. It is not mass
production. The couple has to say what $ind of person they would li$e to have as their child. It avoids
all accidents. +nd we will be creating the universal man -- not the ,hinese, not the Indian, not the
2nglish, but the universal man. &o please, just feel fascinated, dont feel scared and afraid. There is
nothing to be afraid of.
%ou have seen the way children have been produced in the past. )or millions of years you have been
doing the same thing -- what is the outcome( The outcome decides the value of what you have been
doing. 3nce in a while there is an +lbert 2instein or a 'ertrand 4ussell -- once in a while!
This is not right. It should be the ordinary phenomenon, usual. 3nce in a while, perhaps there will be
a person who is born out of some unawareness, unalertness on the part of the scientist" otherwise,
everybody should be a genius. -ust thin$: the whole world full of people li$e 4abindranath, -ean-<aul
&artre, -aspers, #eidegger!
+nd we can prevent people li$e +dolf #itler, !ussolini, -oseph &talin from being born, because they
have been calamities here. We can close the door completely on all /enghis 8hans, Tamerlanes, 7adir
&hahs -- all those ugly monsters whose whole life consisted of $illing people, destroying people,
burning people.
The way we have lived has not proved right. We have only a crowd of pygmies all around -- this is
what you should be scared of! 'ut having a garden of geniuses, creative people, a garden from where
we have removed all fanatics, idiots, politicians -- in short, we have ta$en out all that was poisonous,
all pollution....
There is so much in the idea. 7ow, how many people are suffering because they have a snubbed nose(
Their whole life they feel inferior. #ow many people are suffering because they have only nose( If
you loo$ at them, everything else is so small and the nose is so big....
I have heard... one millionaire had a very big nose and very small eyes, but he was the richest man in
the community. <eople used to laugh behind him, but nobody ever dared.... #e was invited by a family
for dinner. The family was concerned about only one thing: their child, who was a born philosopher,
as$ed about everything.
)rom the morning they were teaching him, .%ou can as$ anything, but when the rich man comes, you
are not to as$ about his nose.. They told him so many times that he became immensely interested,
.What is so great about the nose(. They had never prevented him from as$ing any ;uestion. Why was
this nose so important(
+nd he was really e*cited, eagerly waiting for the millionaire to come. When he came in, the child
laughed. #e said to his parents, .#e has only nose, nothing else! +nd why were you preventing me...(
#e is a rare specimen!. #e destroyed the whole effort.
'ut people... almost everyone is suffering from something or other. &omebody is suffering from his
color, somebody is suffering from his tallness" somebody is too tall, somebody is too small. What have
you produced( This is mass production -- accidental, produced in dar$ness. +t least human beings --
who are the crown in e*istence -- should not suffer anymore from an inferiority comple*. The only
way is scientific production of children. +nd there are immense possibilities in it.
)or e*ample, if the child is produced in a scientific lab, they can produce a similar child
simultaneously. The other child will be $ept in the lab growing simultaneously" e*actly as the one who
has gone out to be adopted by a family, the other will be growing in the scientific lab. -ust the
e*istence of the other gives great opportunities.
)or e*ample, you get a fractured leg. 7ow no need to bother to fi* the fracture -- the leg from the
other fellow can be ta$en and given to you. &omething goes wrong, berser$, in your head -- now there
is no need for all the psychologists, psychoanalysts, psychiatrists. %our head is just removed, you get a
fresh head.
The other person will remain in anesthesia his whole life, in a deep free:e. #e will not $now anything
of what is happening. #e is just there in case something goes wrong with you -- and many things go
wrong in life, even with every precaution. &omething can always go wrong" life is a long affair. %ou
may have a car accident... now, that cannot be prevented by scientific reproduction of children.
In fact, those children will not believe in the fifty-five miles per hour limit" that will be sheer
stupidity. The people who are going to live three hundred years will change everything around. 4ather
than $eeping to fifty-five miles per hour for millions of people, why not create better and straighter
roads where you can move at two hundred miles per hour(
%our roads are just ugly, so many turns -- their roads will be totally different. In fact, in -apan one
scientist has proved that if a car moves at four hundred miles per hour -- and a car can -- at four
hundred miles per hour the cars, just because of that great speed, rise one foot above the road. 7o
bumps, no troubles from the road. There may be snow, and there may be ice" let it be there -- you will
be simply going one foot above.
In fact, that possibility ma$es it a great opportunity. If you can move four hundred miles per hour one
foot above the road, the road is not really needed! %ou need only launching roads. The moment you
pic$ up speed, then you can go anywhere" roads or no roads ma$e no difference.
'ut all depends on whether we have courage enough to rise over our fearful selves. We have to rise
above the scary feeling. 'e fascinated with the 7ew !an!
The 7ew !an must have a new $ind of birth. The 7ew !an must have a new $ind of life, a new $ind
of love, a new $ind of death. #e will be new in every possible way. #e will replace the old models
who are overcrowding the earth -- jun$yards. They are not needed.
It is a simple process of programming the first cell. +nd only the first cell can be programmed,
because then it goes on reproducing itself -- that is an autonomous process. %ou can program it for
everything. 4ight now it is difficult" it is programmed for all $inds of diseases, it is programmed for
death, old age. %ou cant have any control over it. There is no way to change the program now,
because all the cells have the same program.
If they are programmed for a particular disease that you get by inheritance, you will suffer from that
disease. It could have been changed, but only in the first meeting of the male and the female cells.
2verything can be programmed, and an e*act copy of you can be $ept in the lab. If your heart is not
functioning well, the new heart is available -- which will fit you e*actly, because it comes from your
copy, your twin.
+ny new thing scares, but it scares only cowards. +ny new thing fascinates, but it fascinates only the
brave ones. 'e brave, because we nee a new, brave world.

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%2+4&, <3&&I'5% +/+I7&T #I& ,#3I,2. ,+7 %36 &+% &3!2T#I7/ +'36T T#I&(

It is so simple that I wonder, cannot you figure out small things yourself( The brain is a mechanism, it
is not 2insteins soul. The brain is just a computer. We will transplant 2insteins brain" that does not
ma$e any difference to the journey of his soul. #is soul will go on moving, and if he wants to be a
plumber and really desires to be a plumber, he may become a plumber.
'ut this brain he has developed, which is uni;ue.... %ou may not be aware that he himself donated his
brain to #arvard 6niversity: .When I die, my brain should be studied as carefully as possible to find
what the difference is between my brain and other peoples brain.. +nd there is a great distance. #e
himself was curious. #e said, .3f course, I will not be able to $now, because I will be dead, but it may
help you, humanity, to $now what the difference is..
+fter four years of research the difference has been found. It is very small. That small difference can
be introduced into any brain and it will start functioning on a far higher level. 'ut you will be again
scared that science introduced something into your brain. It is just a little difference, but it ma$es a
great difference: 2instein had proportionately more of certain cells than any other brain. 7ow, those
cells can be cultivated and introduced into any brain.
'ut nobody is interested. The research is finished, the findings are at hand. 7obody is interested,
because the whole world is interested in how to destroy each other. They are so much occupied with
war, day in and day out, that many beautiful things that go on happening in scientific research are just
lying by the side. 7obody is using them.
&o dont be afraid that 2instein will be stuc$ for seventy years against his will, no. 2instein is a totally
different phenomenon than the brain. The brain is just a thing attached to the soul of 2instein. The
same brain can be attached to another soul. It will function the same, because it is an attachment" it has
nothing to do with the soul. The soul will only supply the energy for the brain to function. If an idiots
brain is attached to you, your soul will supply energy to the idiots brain" you will function li$e an
idiot.
+nd you $now small things change your behavior. %ou drin$ alcohol -- although it is called spirits, it
is not a spirit. %our spirit is absolutely unaffected by the alcohol. +lcohol goes into your brain, into
your body, and creates all $inds of disturbances -- pleasant, unpleasant. There are other drugs, such as
5&9, which can change your whole mind at least for a few hours or a few days.
When +ldous #u*ley for the first time -- he was a pioneer in that sense -- too$ 5&9, he could not
believe it: everything loo$ed more beautiful, luminous. 2ven the chair in front of him was radiant, had
an aura of light around it. What had happened(
The 5&9 had tric$ed his mind, influenced his mind. #e saw the beauty of the flowers -- those flowers
he had seen before, but not the way they were appearing today. The fragrance was overpowering. #is
soul was the same, but the attached brain now had 5&9 in it, and was magnifying everything.
+ldous #u*ley was a beautiful man of immense intelligence" hence, through 5&9 he saw only
paradise. #e started e*perimenting with other people. Then he became aware that it is not 5&9 that
creates paradise" for some people it creates hell. It depends on the persons mind -- 5&9 only
magnifies, multiplies. If you are a miserable person, 5&9 will ma$e you a million times more
miserable. If you are a man of joy, 5&9 will magnify your joy a thousand times.
#e became aware that it is not 5&9 that creates paradise. 5&9 does not create anything, it is simply a
magnifying glass. &o the same flower loo$s more beautiful, a thousand times more beautiful" the same
fragrance is now so dense and overpowering. 'ut a man who is miserable, a man who is continuously
down in the dumps, will find himself in the dar$est hole ever. Thats why +ldous #u*ley wrote a boo$
and named it #2+=27 +79 #255. It is a boo$ about 5&9.
%our soul remains unaffected. When 5&9 has run out of your physical system, you are bac$ home,
the same miserable person you have been before, or the same joyous person you have been before. 'ut
the e*perience of two or three days under 5&9 changes many of your ideas.
+ldous #u*ley himself was so much impressed that he thought all the mystics who have e*perienced
heaven must have been creating something li$e 5&9 by their e*ercises, prayer, meditation and other
methods. Thats not true. #e was so much impressed that he thought this is the ultimate panacea. 'ut
soon he became aware that it not true, because a few people go into hell.
%our brain is a separate thing from your soul, so dont be worried about 2instein. #is brain is already
in the #arvard 6niversity, resting in alcohol. 9o you thin$ +lbert 2instein is caged there in that
bottle( +lbert 2instein must be a plumber somewhere -- perhaps here, because where else can he find
a place where plumbers are as much respected as professors( where plumbers are not lower than
presidents( This is the only place where nobody is higher or lower. 2verybody is doing something
essential, something which is needed.
I am reminded of a phenomenon that has happened in India. -ainism is the oldest religion in India. In
one of the conferences of the -ainas, I challenged them. I told them, .If you are really a religion, you
should create a commune consisting only of -ainas. +nd then you will $now that you dont have a
complete philosophy.
.Who is going to ma$e the shoes( -ainas cannot do it. Who is going to be a plumber( -ainas cannot
do that. Who is going to clean the toilets( -ainas cannot do it. Then what $ind of religion is this(.
I told them -- and made many enemies. That has been my lifes wor$. I am going to write a boo$ li$e
9ale ,arnegie: .#ow to Influence <eople and !a$e 2nemies.. I told them, .%ou are parasites. %ou are
living amongst #indus, e*ploiting #indus" you are parasites. Why should anybody else clean your
toilets(.
This is the first commune in the whole world which is not in any way parasitical. #ere everybody is
doing everything. In fact, there is so much movement -- professors become plumbers. 3ne day you see
the professor teaching in the university and another day you find him plumbing. +nd you are surprised
-- what has happened( #e says, .I got bored teaching, teaching, teaching. I am on holiday from
teaching, and plumbing is beautiful..
In this commune we ma$e holidays by changing your job, we dont have any other holidays. 'ut
changing the job, scientifically, is a holiday, because when you are functioning as a professor, a certain
part of your brain functions -- only a certain part, not the whole brain. When you are a plumber,
another part of your brain functions" the professor is on holiday. This way we dont lose time, we dont
lose days, and still we enjoy holidays as much as we want!
9ont be afraid about 2instein. -ust remember, your body is not you.

0uestion G
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<52+&2, WI55 %36 &<2+8 +'36T <43T2&T+7T ,#64,#2&( W2 93 73T
+,873W529/2 T#2 <3<2.

I certainly have avoided spea$ing on <rotestantism, for the simple reason that the man who created it,
!artin 5uther, is not worth considering at all. -esus ,hrist may be cra:y, nuts, but !artin 5uther was
just a politician.
There is no difference between the ,atholics basic doctrine and the <rotestants. Why did he create so
much fuss and divide ,hristianity into two parts( -- because he himself wanted to become the pope.
)inding it difficult... and remember, he was a /erman, and /ermans have something in them that
drives them to become +dolf #itlers" they want to be always on the top.
-ust the other day one /ermany journalist was as$ing me, .Why dont you use !ercedes-'en:(.
I as$ed, .Why should I use !ercedes-'en:( I have tried all the models of !ercedes-'en:, I have the
latest !ercedes HII, but they dont come even close to a 4olls 4oyce..
#e said, .This will ma$e /ermans feel very bad. The !ercedes-'en: has to be the topmost car..
Why( It is a good car" my secretary uses it. 'ut the 4olls 4oyce is simply uni;ue, no other car comes
close to it. 'ut to the /ermans, it hurts. &trange, what $ind of psychology is there(
It very much hurt !artin 5uther that he was just a bishop. +nd no /erman has ever been chosen as a
pope. <erhaps they were afraid that once a /erman becomes the pope, no one $nows what he will
do.... #e tried hard in the beginning to be chosen a pope.
It is a good thing about popes, that by the time a person becomes a pope he is almost on his deathbed.
3nly this <olac$ who is now the pope has deceived -- <olac$s are <olac$s. <erhaps he has forgotten to
die! 3therwise, popes have been dying after one year, two years, three years at the most. &o it gave
chances to other people.
!artin 5uther tried many times, but he was never chosen. Then he rebelled. Thats why his religion is
called <rotestantism. It is a protest -- the protest of a politician, the protest of a /erman, the protest of
a man who wanted to be on the top but could not be.
'ut there is no difference of any significance in their theologies. They both believe in -esus ,hrist,
they both believe in the virgin birth of -esus ,hrist, and they both believe in his resurrection after the
crucifi*ion. The only difference is that ,atholics also worship -esus mother, !ary.
)or this much difference, why should I bother about these people( I am hitting at the very roots.
These small matters dont matter. &o when I am spea$ing against ,hristianity, remember, I am not
spea$ing only against ,atholicism. I am spea$ing against all the sects and cults -- and there are many.
I am spea$ing against ,hristianity as a whole.
!artin 5uther was against the pope because he could not become the pope. %ou can see he was not
really against the pope" he himself wanted to be the pope. It was just the old story of +esop....
+ fo* was trying to catch hold of beautiful grapes, ripe, inviting. 'ut her jump was not enough to
catch hold of the grapes. &he tried many times. &he was not aware that a small rabbit was watching,
hiding in a bush. The moment she saw the rabbit, she wal$ed away with dignity. The rabbit said,
.+untie, what is the matter(. The fo* said, .The grapes are not ripe..
Thats what !artin 5uther said, .The grapes are sour.. If he was really against the pope, then why did
he want to become the pope(
I will not accept -- even if all the ,hristians of the world as$ me to become the pope, I will not accept
it. I will not accept even if the whole world as$s me to become /od, the creator, the father who is... J+
noise is heard on the roof of 4ajneesh !andirK... above the roof of 4ajneesh !andir. Those are just
two electricians! I will not accept it. +nything that is wrong, howsoever powerful it ma$es you, I am
not going to accept. I am fulfilled, and I am absolutely contented with myself. I have no protest, no
complaint, no grudge against anybody.
It was for this simple reason that I have not tal$ed about the <rotestant section of ,hristianity
separately. There is nothing separate about it. It is just the /erman mind that ma$es it separate and I
am not in favor of this $ind of /erman mind.
I have more sannyasins in /ermany than anywhere else, for the simple reason that they have seen the
ugliness of +dolf #itler and what he did. The younger generation does not want to carry that /erman
mind any more, and this is the only place where we can deprogram them.
We have one do:en communes in /ermany. It ta$es a little hard wor$ to brea$ down the /erman
mind, but it is worth trying, because once it brea$s down the brea$through is not far away. +nd once a
/erman drops the /erman mind -- it ta$es longer for him to drop his mind, but once he drops it, he
drops it forever.
Those people have guts. I love them. &ooner or later the whole of /ermany is going to be red. We
cannot leave /ermany, for the simple reason that they are the strongest people in the world. If they can
alone fight the whole world, and go on winning for five years under the leadership of a crac$pot, these
people are of immense value. If we can change /ermany, we can change the whole world. That is the
criterion: /ermany in our hands, the whole world is in our hands, because nobody can have as much
resistance as the /ermans.
I have been e*perimenting, and I have been successful. 3nce a /erman has fallen in love with me, it
is forever. %ou as$ #aridas. #e came to me somewhere around fifteen years ago" since then he has not
left for a single moment. #is old mother wanted to see him -- she had to come, he would not go. #e
will not leave me for a single moment. +nd when his mother saw the flowering of her son, the
transformation, she did not wait" she immediately became a sannyasin. I have given her the name
#aridasi. &he is old, but a beautiful woman, very loving.
!artin 5uther was the same type as +dolf #itler. #e created this schism in ,hristianity, but he has not
contributed anything to the world -- thats why I dont critici:e him. I simply ignore the fellow. #e is
just below me.

'ut because atomic
energy, after its
invention, went into the
hands of the politicians,
it became a servant of
death. 7ow there are
even more advanced
nuclear weapons which
can destroy the whole
earth. The already
e*isting weapons are
enough to destroy this earth seven times. 3ne simply wonders why nations are going to develop more
and more nuclear power. &even times destroying the earth is not enough( In fact, you can destroy the
earth only once.
'ut scientific progress falls into the hands of the politicians because only they can provide enough
finance to ma$e these discoveries possible. The scientists of the whole world should thin$ it over: their
genius is being used by idiots! The scientists should disconnect themselves from any nation -- whether
it is the &oviet 6nion or +merica. They should create an international academy of sciences. +nd it is
not difficult. If all the scientists of the world are together, finances can be made available, and these
discoveries can help man tremendously.
The international academy of scientists can be in this international city. We can give them land, and
every possible support. 'ut they should be the decisive factors in what is going to happen through
their e*periments. +nd it is time the scientists should recogni:e their great responsibility. If a third
world war happens then the scientists will be the greatest criminals, because they supplied all $inds of
inventions to the politicians.
&cience should not be the monopoly of any nation, any country. The whole idea is stupid. #ow can
science be monopoli:ed( +nd every country is trying to monopoli:e the scientists, $eep their
inventions secret. This is against humanity, against nature, against e*istence. Whatever a genius
discovers should be in the service of the whole.
%ou are as$ing whether discoveries li$e changing human hearts or human brains are progressive
steps. They are of great importance to bring a new humanity on the earth. If 2insteins body is no
longer capable of living, do you thin$ it would not be good if his whole brain is transplanted into a
young, healthy man( The new man will become an 2instein, because all the genius of 2instein is
transplanted to a younger body.
This way bodies may go on changing, but we can $eep the genius of +lbert 2instein growing for
centuries. +nd if a man in a seventy-year life can give so much, you can imagine if his brain continues
for centuries how much benefit it will be for humanity, for the whole universe.
This is really a wastage: the container gets rotten, and you throw the content also. The body is only a
container. If the container has become dirty, old, unusable, change the container, but dont throw away
the content. The genius mind can live for eternity in different bodies" that is nothing against nature.
%ou heart, if it starts failing, and if you are of immense value to humanity... what is the fear of
e*changing the heart( &omebody may be dying from cancer, but his heart is perfectly healthy" that
heart can be planted in a man who is talented, a genius, and is healthy, but whose heart is not strong.
This is simple" there is nothing in it against nature.
'ut with politicians and the power in their hands, of course every advance has gone against nature.
2verything that human genius has discovered, invented, finally is in the service of death. &o are the
priests. 7ow science is no longer a child, that it has to depend on others. &cience is now grown-up
enough, it is adult. -ust a little courage....
I give the invitation to all the scientists of the world" we have the place, we have intelligent people
here to help you in every possible way. +nd if you want to ma$e an international academy here, we are
capable of managing finances for you.
It will be a great revolution in the history of man. The whole power will be in the hands of the
scientists, who have never done any harm to anybody. +nd once all the power is in the hands of the
scientists, politicians will fade away of their own accord. They have been e*ploiting scientists for their
own purposes, and to be e*ploited by anybody is not an act of dignity.
The scientists should recogni:e their dignity, they should recogni:e their individuality. They should
recogni:e that they have been e*ploited down the ages by the priests and the politicians. 7ow it is
time to declare that science is going to stand on its own feet. This will be a great freedom.
Then all these e*periments, such as laboratory babies, will be of a different caliber, because you can
arrange what $ind of genius you want. 6p to now it has been just accidental, and because it has been
accidental, ninety-nine percent of the people have nothing to contribute. They contribute only
problems to the world.
7ow, what has 2thiopia contributed to the world( What have the poor countries contributed to the
world -- or even the rich countries( 2*cept problems, wars, there is no contribution on their part.
'ut if you can give birth to a child in a scientific lab.... It is possible, there is no problem in it. The
male semen and the womans egg can meet in a tube. There is no need to go on in the old bulloc$ cart
way. We can loo$ and we can have the whole picture of what this child is going to be. If we want more
poets, we can create more poets. If we want more musicians, we can create more musicians. +nd we
can create only geniuses" there is no need for mediocre people -- they have had their day.
We can give the child strength, long life. We can ma$e sure that he never becomes sic$, that he will
never becomes old. It is just a ;uestion of managing and finding the right egg and the right male
contribution to the egg. What we have been doing is just utterly unintelligent.
+nd this will free man also from guilt, possessiveness, jealousy, because you will not be producing
children. &e*, for the first time, will be simply fun! ,hildren will be produced in the lab. They will
belong to all. +nd because you are not going to produce children in the old way -- it should be illegal
and criminal to do so, you will be behind bars if you do it -- then many problems of your life will be
simply dissolved.
Why is the man so insistent...( Throughout the ages the insistence has remained there: he wants to be
certain that the child born out of his wifes womb is his. Why( Who are you anyway( It is a ;uestion
of property, because your child will become the inheritor of all that you have accumulated. %ou want
to be certain that it is your child, not your neighbors child.
Women have been $ept almost imprisoned, for the simple fear that if they start mi*ing with people it
will be difficult to decide whose child it is. 3nly the mother will $now, or even she may not $now.
3nce production of life goes into the hands of science, se* will be transformed. Then you are not
jealous, then you are not a monopolist, then monogamy is absurd. Then se* is just fun, the way you
enjoy tennis. +nd you dont bother that the partners should remain monogamous -- two bodies
enjoying each other.... +nd there will be no fear that the wife may get pregnant and there will be
problems, financial and other.
&e* will no longer be a problem for the world population" it will no longer be a problem for the priest.
In fact, if children are produced in the scientific lab, many of the troubles of the world will dissolve.
+nd we can create the best people: beautiful, healthy, capable of living as long as we want. 3ld age is
not necessary -- a man can remain young, healthy, without sic$ness.
+ll these hospitals and so many people, so much money involved.... 9o you $now( +merica spends
more money on la*atives than on education. /reat idea! Who cares about education( The ;uestion is
la*atives!
'ut the basic thing should be remembered. &cientists have to be courageous enough and declare that
they dont belong to any nation, to any religion, that whatsoever they will be doing will be for the
whole humanity. +nd I dont see that there is anything impossible in it.
I am absolutely for those progressive inventions which can ma$e man happier, live longer, be
younger, healthier, and which ma$e his life more of a play, fun, and less of a torturous journey from
the cradle to the grave.
I am not a man of eti;uette, I dont $now manners. I simply call a spade a fuc$ing spade, because thats
what it is. I have made the spade actually what it is. The old proverb is, a spade is a spade. That
doesnt sound of any import. 3f course a spade is a spade -- so what! It does not say anything about
the spade. &o I simply say that these are all idiots.
'ut there is still hope for humanity. The hope is not that religious people will become politicians, or
that religious people will start ta$ing an interest in politics, no. 'ut religious people can become,
should become, rebellious against all political stupidity. There is the hope. The religious person should
not remain just contented with his blissfulness and allow all these idiots to go on doing harm to
innocent humanity.
To me this is the only compassion:
To rebel against the whole history of humanity.
The religious person should rebel.
In the past he has not done that. Thats why I say, in the past religion has been just immature. 2ven the
greatest religious personalities in the past will loo$ li$e pygmies compared to the authentic religious
person who is going to be born, because the authentic religion is basically rebellion -- rebellion against
all superstition, rebellion against all stupidity, rebellion against all the nonsense that goes on being
imposed on the human mind continuously.
+ rebellious religious man is a fire" his words will be words on fire.
#is silence is not going to be the silence of a cemetery.
#is silence will be the silence of a song, of a dance.
#is silence will be the silence of two lovers meeting, and not capable to find words to convey their
love. Their love ma$es them wordless. The moment lovers start tal$ing too much you can understand"
love has disappeared. ,onversation has started" conflict is not very far away. ,onversation is the
beginning, soon there will be argument. Where else can conversation lead e*cept to controversy( 'ut
two lovers when they are really in love, throbbing with a new energy, feel themselves stuc$, suddenly
wordless. 2ven to say .I love you. seems to be difficult, seems to be far below the fact of love. It
seems somehow to be sacrilegious to bring words into something which is so silent, and so glowing in
silence, and so alive in silence.
The religious person is silent, but it is not the silence of a cemetery, not the silence of a dead man.
It is the silence of one who is really alive, fully alive, intensely alive.
This intense aliveness is going to become his rebellion.
What have I been doing for thirty years continuously( -- fighting every $ind of nonsense. Was there
any reward, was I see$ing any reward out of all this fight( 7o, it was not for any reward. It was just
the way my aliveness was asserting itself. It was not goal-oriented, there was no motivation" I was
simply being myself.
I enjoyed all that fight. In fact the people who came in conflict with me were very much surprised
because it was an agony for them. To me it was an ecstasy. They could not understand how I was
enjoying it. +nd I was surrounded on all sides with enemies. +lone, single-handedly I was moving
among millions of people and against them, saying things which were very hurtful to their beliefs.
3ne shan$aracharya even as$ed me, .What are you going to get out of it( %ou are simply ma$ing so
many enemies. <oliticians are your enemies, all $inds of religious people are your enemies. The rich
are your enemies, the poor are your enemies, the capitalists are your enemies, the communists are your
enemies.. #e said, .This is strange" !ohammedans, #indus, -ainas, 'uddhists, <arsees, &i$hs,
,hristians -- they are all your enemies..
I said to him, .I am going to write a boo$, #ow to Impress <eople and ,reate 2nemies. This is just an
e*perience for it.
When I say accept yourself, I am not saying accept your pattern of life -- dont try to misunderstand
me.

When I say accept yourself, I am saying reject everything else -- +,,2<T %364&25).

'ut you must have interpreted it in your own way.

4eject all that has been imposed upon you -- I am not saying accept it.

+ccept your innermost core which you have brought from the beyond and then you will not feel that
you are missing something.

The moment you accept yourself without any conditions, suddenly an outburst of joy happens. %our
juices start flowing, life really becomes ecstatic.
+ wise person
moves through
his
unhappiness
alone, and
whenever he is
happy, comes
and shares it
with people. +
fool shares his
unhappiness
with people,
and when he is
happy he sits
alone...


0uestion L
#34&2&#IT, #34&2&#IT, #34&2&#IT. W#% 937T %36 &#6T 6<( I +! '3429 WIT#
%364 52,T642&, 6TT245% '3429.

3h! +nother angel from !unich( This time his name is not +lois, his name is &wami 9eva 'hanu.
If you are bored dont listen to me! Who is forcing you to listen( %ou are free. If you want to be bored
then it is perfectly o$ay, listen. 'ut the decision is yours. %ou cannot tell me &hut up. Who are you to
tell me( 2ven if nobody is here, if I want to spea$ I will go on spea$ing. That is my joy!
There have been masters li$e that. + great master happened in /reece, <yrrho, who used to tal$ even
when there were no disciples. + disciple would be sitting there and the disciple would feel that it is too
long and he is going on and on. +nd the disciple would leave. +nd he would continue. Who bothers
about disciples( <yrrho was really a master. It was a song he was singing -- if you want to participate,
participate, otherwise you are free. 6nless you are a masochist and you want to torture yourself, then it
is your decision. 9ont listen to me!
+nd your feeling bored may not have anything to do with what I am saying. It may be just that you
cannot understand it, that it goes above your head. &o raise your head a little higher!
3r maybe you are e*pecting something else, maybe you are here for some $ind of entertainment.
Then you are in a wrong place. 'ut to be here or not to be here is your decision. %ou are completely
free not to be here.
+nd I dont $now -- others may not be bored. 5et us see. Where is 9eva 'hanu( ,an you stand, sir, so
all can see( /ood. +nd now I will as$ others: Those who dont agree with 9eva 'hanu, raise your
hands. 7ow, sir, what can I do( I agree with you -- but what are we two against so many(
.'etter to die than to
live in sleep.. -
/urdjieff

.The word awareness
is the master $ey. We
will come across many
situations in the gospel
where -esus goes on
saying: .+wa$e! 'e
alert! 'e conscious!
4emember! . 'uddha
goes on saying to his
disciples: .4ight
mindfulness is
needed." 8rishnamurti
goes on saying:
.+wareness."
/urdjieffs whole
teaching is based on
one word: self-
remembering.. - 3sho

.&it still.
&top thin$ing.
&hut up!
/et out!. - +leister
,rowley

http:MMboo$s.google.comMboo$sMaboutMTheNThreeN9angerousN!agi.html(
idO,Pn6WyE6%oc,Q
+nd the second part of the ;uestion is: .W#+T 932& IT 2R+,T5% !2+7 T3 T4+7&,279
&2R(.
&e* is a subtle subject, delicate, because centuries of e*ploitation, corruption, centuries of perverted
ideas, conditioning, are associated with the word se*. The word is very loaded. It is one of the most
loaded words in e*istence. %ou say /od" it seems empty. %ou say se*" it seems too loaded. +
thousand and one things arise in the mind: fear, perversion, attraction, a tremendous desire, and a
tremendous anti-desire also. They all arise together. &e* -- the very word creates confusion, a chaos. It
is as if somebody has thrown a roc$ in a silent pool" millions of ripples arise -- just the word se*!
#umanity has lived under very wrong ideas.
&o the first thing: why do you as$ how to transcend se*( Why do you want in the first place to
transcend se*( %ou are using a beautiful word, transcend, but out of a hundred, ninety-nine are the
possibilities that you mean, #ow to repress se*(
+ person who has understood that se* has to be transcended is not even worried about transcending it,
because transcendence comes through e*perience. %ou cannot manage it. It is not something that you
have to do. %ou simply pass through many e*periences, and those e*periences ma$e you more and
more mature.
#ave you watched that at a certain age, se* becomes important( 7ot that you ma$e it important. It is
not something that you ma$e happen" it happens. +t the age of fourteen, somewhere near there,
suddenly the energy is flooded with se*. It happens as if the flood-gates have been opened in you.
&ubtle sources of energy which were not yet open have become open, and your whole energy becomes
se*ual, colored with se*. %ou thin$ se*, you sing se*, you wal$ se* -- everything becomes se*ual.
2very act is colored. This happens" you have not done anything about it. It is natural" transcendence is
also natural. If se* is lived totally, with no condemnation, with no idea of getting rid of it, then at the
age of forty-two -- just as at the age of fourteen se* gets opened and the whole energy becomes se*ual,
at the age of forty-two or near about -- those flood-gates close again. +nd that too is as natural as se*
becoming alive" it starts disappearing.
&e* is transcended not by any effort on your part. If you ma$e any effort that will be repressive,
because it has nothing to do with you. It is in-built in your body, in your biology. %ou are born as
se*ual beings" nothing is wrong in it. That is the only way to be born. To be human is to be se*ual.
When you were conceived, your mother and your father were not praying, they were not listening to a
priests sermon. They were not in the church, they were ma$ing love. 2ven to thin$ that your mother
and father were ma$ing love when you were conceived seems to be difficult. They were ma$ing love"
their se*ual energies were meeting and merging into each other. Then you were conceived" in a deep
se*ual act you were conceived. The first cell was a se* cell, and then out of that cell other cells have
arisen. 'ut each cell remains se*ual, basically. %our whole body is se*ual, made of se* cells. 7ow
they are millions.
4emember it: you e*ist as a se*ual being. 3nce you accept it, the conflict that has been created down
through the centuries dissolves. 3nce you accept it deeply, with no ideas in between, when se* is
thought of as simply natural, you live it. %ou dont as$ me how to transcend eating, you dont as$ me
how to transcend breathing -- because no religion has taught you to transcend breathing, thats why.
3therwise, you would be as$ing, .#ow to transcend breathing(. %ou breathe! %ou are a breathing
animal" you are a se*ual animal also. 'ut there is a difference. )ourteen years of your life, in the
beginning, are almost non-se*ual, or at the most, just rudimentary se*ual play which is not really
se*ual -- just preparing, rehearsing, thats all. +t the age of fourteen, suddenly the energy is ripe.
Watch...a child is born -- immediately, within three seconds the child has to breathe, otherwise he will
die. Then breathing is to remain the whole of his life, because it has come at the first step of life. It
cannot be transcended. !aybe before you die then, just three seconds before, it will stop, but not
before it. +lways remember: both ends of life, the beginning and end, are e*actly similar, symmetrical.
The child is born, he starts breathing in three seconds. When the child is old and dying, the moment he
stops breathing, within three seconds he will be dead.
&e* enters at a very late stage: for fourteen years the child has lived without se*. +nd if the society is
not too repressed and hence obsessed with se*, a child can live completely oblivious to the fact that
se*, or that anything li$e se*, e*ists. The child can remain absolutely innocent. That innocence is also
not possible, because people are so repressed. When repression happens, then side by side, obsession
also happens.
&o priests go on repressing" and there are anti-priests, #efners and others -- they go on creating more
and more pornography. &o on one side there are priests who go on repressing, and then there are
others, anti-priests, who go on ma$ing se*uality more and more glamorous. They both e*ist together --
aspects of the same coin. When churches disappear, only then <layboy maga:ines will disappear, not
before it. They are partners in the business. They loo$ enemies, but dont be deceived by that. They
tal$ against each other, but thats how things wor$.
I have heard about two men who were out of business, had gone bro$e, so they decided for a
business, a very simple business. They started journeying, touring from one town to another town.
)irst one would enter, and in the night he would throw coal tar on peoples windows and doors. +fter
two or three days the other would come to clean. #e would advise that he could clean any coal tar, or
anything that had gone wrong, and he would clean the windows. In that time the other would be doing
half of the business in another town. This way, they started earning much money. This is what is
happening between the church and #ugh #efners and people who are continuously creating
pornography.
I have heard....
<retty !iss 8eneen sat in the confessional. .)ather,. she said, .I want to confess that I let my
boyfriend $iss me..
.Is that all you did(. as$ed the priest, very interested.
.Well, no. I let him put his hand on my leg too..
.+nd then what(.
.+nd then I let him pull down my panties..
.+nd then, and then...(.
.+nd then me mother wal$ed into the room..
.3h shit,. sighed the priest.
It is together" they are partners in a conspiracy. Whenever you are too repressed, you start finding a
perverse interest. + perverted interest is the problem, not se*. 7ow this priest is neurotic. &e* is not
the problem, but this man is in trouble.
&isters !argaret +lice and )rancis ,atherine were out wal$ing along a side-street. &uddenly they
were grabbed by two men, dragged into a dar$ alley, and raped. .)ather, forgive them,. said &ister
!argaret +lice, .for they $now not what they do..
.&hut up!. cried &ister ,atherine,. this one does..
This is bound to be so. &o never carry a single idea against se* in your mind, otherwise you will never
be able to transcend it. <eople who transcend se* are people who accept it very naturally. It is difficult,
I $now, because you are born in a society which is neurotic about se*. 2ither this way or that, but it is
neurotic all the same. It is very difficult to get out of this neurosis, but if you are a little alert, you can
get out of it. &o the real thing is not how to transcend se*, but how to transcend this perverted ideology
of the society: this fear of se*, this repression of se*, this obsession with se*.
&e* is beautiful. &e* in itself is a natural rhythmic phenomenon. It happens when the child is ready to
be conceived, and it is good that it happens -- otherwise life would not e*ist. 5ife e*ists through se*"
se* is its medium. If you understand life, if you love life, you will $now se* is sacred, holy. Then you
live it, then you delight in it" and as naturally as it has come it goes, on its own accord. 'y the age of
forty-two, or somewhere near there, se* starts disappearing as naturally as it had come into being. 'ut
it doesnt happen that way.
%ou will be surprised when I say near about forty two. %ou $now people who are seventy, eighty, and
yet they have not gone beyond. %ou $now dirty old people. They are victims of the society. 'ecause
they could not be natural, it is a hangover -- because they repressed when they should have enjoyed
and delighted. In those moments of delight they were not totally in it. They were not orgasmic, they
were half-hearted.
&o whenever you are half-hearted in anything, it lingers longer. If you are sitting at your table and
eating, and if you eat only half-heartedly and your hunger remains, then you will continue to thin$
about food the whole day. %ou can try fasting and you will see: you will continuously thin$ about
food. 'ut if you have eaten well -- and when I say eaten well, I dont mean only that you have stuffed
your stomach. Then it is not necessarily so that you have eaten well. %ou could have stuffed yourself,
but eating well is an art. It is not just stuffing. It is great art: to taste the food, to smell the food, to
touch the food, to chew the food, to digest the food, and to digest it as divine. It is divine" it is /ods
gift.
#indus say, +7+! '4+#!+: food is divine. &o with deep respect you eat, and while eating you
forget everything, because it is prayer. It is e*istential prayer. %ou are eating /od, and /od is going to
give you nourishment. It is a gift to be accepted with deep love and gratitude. +nd you dont stuff the
body, because stuffing the body is being anti-body. It is the other pole. There are people who are
obsessed with fasting, and there are people who are obsessed with stuffing themselves. 'oth are wrong
because in both the ways the body loses balance.
+ real lover of the body eats only to the point where body feels perfectly ;uiet, balanced, tran;uil"
where body feels to be neither leaning to the left nor to the right, but just in the middle. It is an art to
understand the language of the body, to understand the language of your stomach, to understand what
is needed, to give only that which is needed, and to give that in an artistic way, in an aesthetic way.
+nimals eat, man eats. Then what is the difference( !an ma$es a great aesthetic e*perience out of
eating. What is the point of having a beautiful dining table( What is the point of having candles
burning there( What is the point of incense( What is the point of as$ing friends to come and
participate( It is to ma$e it an art, not just stuffing. 'ut these are outward signs of the art" the inward
signs are to understand the language of your body: to listen to it, to be sensitive to its needs. +nd then
you eat, and then the whole day you will not remember food at all. 3nly when the body is hungry
again will the remembrance come. Then it is natural.
With se* the same happens. If you have no anti-attitude about it, you ta$e it as a natural, divine gift,
with great gratitude. %ou enjoy it" with prayer you enjoy it.
Tantra says that before you ma$e love to a woman or to a man, first pray -- because it is going to be a
divine meeting of energies. /od will surround you. Wherever two lovers are, there is /od. Wherever
two lovers energies are meeting and mingling, there is life, alive, at its best" /od surrounds you.
,hurches are empty" love-chambers are full of /od. If you have tasted love the way Tantra says to
taste it, if you have $nown love the way Tao says to $now it, then by the time you reach forty-two,
love starts disappearing on its own accord. +nd you say goodbye to it with deep gratitude, because
you are fulfilled. It has been delightful, it has been a blessing" you say good-bye to it.
+nd forty-two is the age for meditation, the right age. &e* disappears" that overflowing energy is no
more there. 3ne becomes more tran;uil. <assion has gone, compassion arises. 7ow there is no more
fever" one is not interested in the other. With se* disappearing, the other is no more the focus. 3ne
starts returning towards ones own source -- the return journey starts.
&e* is transcended not by your effort. It happens if you have lived it totally. &o my suggestion is, drop
all anti-attitudes, anti-life attitudes and accept the facticity: se* is, so who are you to drop it( +nd who
is trying to drop it( -- it is just the ego. 4emember, se* creates the greatest problem for the ego.
&o there are two types of people: very egoistic people are always against se*" humble people are
never against se*. 'ut who listens to humble people( In fact, humble people dont go preaching, only
egoists. Why is there a conflict between se* and ego( -- because se* is something in your life where
you cannot be egoistic, where the other becomes more important than you. %our woman, your man,
becomes more important than you. In every other case, you remain the most important. In a love
relationship the other becomes very, very important, tremendously important. %ou become a satellite
and the other becomes the nucleus" and the same is happening for the other: you become the nucleus
and he becomes a satellite. It is a reciprocal surrender. 'oth are surrendering to the /od of love, and
both become humble.
&e* is the only energy that gives you hints that there is something which you cannot control. !oney
you can control, politics you can control, the mar$et you can control, $nowledge you can control,
science you can control, morality you can control. &omewhere, se* brings in a totally different world:
you cannot control it. +nd the ego is the great controller. It is happy if it can control" it is unhappy if it
cannot control. &o there starts a conflict between ego and se*. 4emember, it is a losing battle. The ego
cannot win it because ego is just superficial. &e* is very deep-rooted. &e* is your life" ego is just your
mind, your head. &e* has roots all over you" ego has roots only in your ideas -- very superficial, just in
the head.
&o who is trying to transcend se*( -- the head is trying to transcend se*. If you are too much in the
head then you want to transcend se*, because se* brings you down to the guts. It does not allow you to
remain hanging in the head. 2verything else you can manage from there" se* you cannot manage from
there. %ou cannot ma$e love with your heads. %ou have to come down, you have to descend from your
heights, you have to come closer to earth. &e* is humiliating to the ego, so egoist people are against,
always against se*. They go on finding ways and means to transcend it. They can never transcend it.
They can, at the most, become perverted. Their whole effort from the very beginning is doomed to
failure.
3bedience has a certain dumbness about it, disobedience a sharp intelligence about it. 'ut obedience
is respected because obedience gives less inconvenience. 3f course thats right -- disobedience creates
inconvenience. %ou would li$e a dead child because he will not create any inconvenience. %ou would
not li$e an alive child -- the more alive, the more danger there is.
<arents, societies, schools, they all force obedience, they dull you" and then they respect those people.
Thats why in life you never see people who stand first in schools, universities" in life they are simply
lost. %ou never find them in life, where they go... they prove themselves very talented in school, but
somehow in life they are lost. It seems that the ways of school are different from the ways of life.
&omehow life loves lively people -- the more lively, the more rebellious: people with their own
consciousness, being, and personality" people who have their own ways to fulfill" people who are not
dead. &chools prefer just the opposite. The whole society helps you to become dumb, deaf, blind,
dead.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5ife is awareness. The cloc$ is not aware -- you can listen to the tic$-tic$, the cloc$ has never listened
to it. %ou can listen to your own heartbeat. Who is this listener( If only the heartbeat is life, then who
is this listener( If breath is the only life, how can you be aware of your breath( Thats why all 2astern
techni;ues of meditation use breath awareness as a subtle techni;ue -- because if you become aware of
the breathing, then who is this awareness( It must be something beyond breath because you can loo$
at it and the loo$er cannot be the object. %ou can witness it" you can close your eyes and you can see
your breath going in and coming out. Who is this seer, the witnessing( It must be a separate force that
does not depend on breathing. When the breathing disappears it is the stopping of a cloc$, but where
does this awareness go( Where does this awareness move to(
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.#ow to start the journey(. -- become more alert about your actions, about your relationships, about
your movements. Whatsoever you do -- even an ordinary thing li$e wal$ing on the street -- try to
become alert, try to ta$e steps with full awareness. 'uddha used to say to his disciples, .When you
ta$e a step with the right foot, remember, now this is the right foot" when you ta$e a step with the left,
remember, now this is the left. When you breathe in, remember, .7ow I am breathing in." when you
breathe out, remember, .7ow I am breathing out.. 7ot that you have to verbali:e it. 7ot that you have
to say in words .I am breathing in., but just becoming alert that now the breath is going in. I am
saying it to you so I have to use words, but when you are becoming alert you need not use words
because words are li$e smo$e. 9ont use words -- just feel the breath going in and filling your lungs
then being emptied. -ust watch, and soon you will come to a recognition, a great recognition. that it is
not simply breathing that goes in and out, it is life itself. 2ach breath in is life infusing its energy into
you. 2ach breath out is a short death. With each breath, you die and you are reborn. 2ach breath is a
crucifi*ion and a resurrection.
+nd when you watch it, you will come to $now a beautiful feeling of trust. When you breathe out,
there is no certainty that you wiil ever be able to breathe in again. What is the certainty( Who has
guaranteed it( Who ,+7 guarantee that you will be able to breathe in again( 'ut somehow, a deep
trust" you $now that .I will breathe again.. 3therwise breathing would become impossible. If you
become so afraid that, .Who $nows if I let my breath out, and if I go through this small death, what is
the certainty that I will be able to breathe in again( If I cant breathe, then it is better not to breathe
out., then you will die immediately. If you stop breathing out, you will die. 'ut a deep trust e*ists --
that trust is part of life. 7obody has taught you.
When a child starts wal$ing for the first time, tremendous trust e*ists in him that he will be able to
wal$. 7obody has taught him. #e has just seen other people wal$, thats all. 'ut how can he come to a
conclusion that .I will be able to wal$.( #e is so tiny. <eople are so big, giants compared to him, and
he $nows that whenever he stands he falls down -- but still he tries. Trust is in-built. It is in your every
cell of life. #e tries, many times he will fall" he will try again and again and again. +nd one day, trust
wins over and he starts wal$ing.
If you watch your breath you will become aware of a deep layer of trust, a subtle trust in life -- no
doubt, no hesitation. If you wal$, and wal$ alert, by and by you will become aware that you are not
wal$ing, you are being wal$ed by. Thats a very subtle feeling: that life is moving through you, not
that you are moving. When you feel hungry, if you are aware you will see life is feeling hungry within
you, not you.
'ecoming more alert will ma$e you conscious of the fact that there is only one thing you have got
that you can call yours and that is witnessing. 2verything else belongs to the universe" only witnessing
belongs to you. 'ut when you become aware of witnessing, even the idea of being I is dissolved. That
too does not belong to you. That was part of dar$ness, part of the clouds that had gathered around you.
In the clear light, when the s$y is open and the clouds have disappeared and the sun is bright, there is
no possibility of any idea of being I. Then simply witnessing is" nothing belongs to you. That
witnessing is the goal of the journey.
#ow to start the journey( -- start becoming more and more a witness. Whatsoever you do, do it with
deep alertness" then even small things become sacred. Then coo$ing or cleaning become sacred" they
become worship. It is not a ;uestion of what you are doing, the ;uestion is how you are doing it. %ou
can clean the floor li$e a robot, a mechanical thing" you have to clean it, so you clean it. Then you
miss something beautiful. Then you waste those moments in only cleaning the floor. ,leaning the
floor could have been a great e*perience" you missed it. The floor is cleaned but something that could
have happened within you has not happened. If you were aware, not only the floor but %36 would
have felt a deep cleansing. ,lean the floor full of awareness, luminous with awareness. Wor$ or sit or
wal$, but one thing has to be a continuous thread: ma$e more and more moments of your life
luminous with awareness. 5et the candle of awareness burn in each moment, in each act. The
cumulative effect is what enlightenment is. The cumulative effect, all the moments together, all small
candles together, become a great source of light.

+ccording to me, the function of the parents is not how to help the children grow. They will grow
without you. %our function is to support, to nourish, to help what is already growing. 9onSt give
directions and donSt give ideals. 9onSt tell them what is right and what is wrong ? let them find it by
their own e*perience.

The function of the parents is not how to help the children grow. They will grow without you. %our
function is to support, to nourish, to help what is already growing. 9onSt give directions and donSt
give ideals. 9onSt tell them what is right and what is wrong ? let them find it by their own
e*perience.

Wherever there is a desire to have power over another person, it is politics. <ower is always political,
even on small children. The parents thin$ they love, but it is only in their mind" otherwise they want
the children to be obedient. +nd what does obedience mean( It means all the power is in the hands of
the parents.

The father@s relationship to the children, the mother@s relationship to the children or children@s
relationship to their father F are all possessive relationships. We don@t yet $now how to relate and not
possess.

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I have said that awareness is the only virtue, and unawareness is the only sin.
7ow I am in a difficulty. Who has told you to loo$ for good in everything( #ow did you translate my
statement about awareness to mean that you have to see the good in everything( +nd you say you have
tried long to see good in everything, but there are children abused psychologically, se*ually" woman
are raped -- how can these things be good(
'ut you seem to be just stupid. 'eing aware means not to ma$e any judgment. +nd all this time you
have been ma$ing judgments about what is good and what is not good. Then you are bound to be
confused. +nd awareness will not arise out of this discrimination.
+wareness simply means witnessing anything just li$e a mirror, giving no judgment about it. +nd as
your awareness grows, things that loo$ed sinful to you will loo$ only pathological. <eople are sic$.
+nd they are sic$ as victims of thousands of years of teaching them what is good and what is not
good.
With awareness there is no decision about any act. +wareness simply sees it whether it is good or not"
it has no criterion. 'ut the first thing is to attain to awareness. +nd then the same things may not loo$
the same.
)or e*ample, the rape of a woman is certainly ugly. 'ut who is responsible for it( The society, the
culture, the religion -- they have been trying to $eep men and women apart. %our biology $nows
nothing of it, and when you see a beautiful woman on a dar$ night, alone, your biology ta$es over
your so-called morality and religion.
'ut then too, it is not certain that raping the woman is certainly bad. <erhaps she was also waiting for
it. <erhaps she was getting frustrated that nobody is raping her. There is a deep desire in every woman
to be longed for, and the more drastically you long for her the more satisfied she feels. +nd rape is the
ultimate in longing for a woman. %ou are ready to commit a crime just to have her. %ou may be
imprisoned for years in a jail, you dont care.
In most of the cases you and the woman are both brought up by the same idiotic society. They have
told the woman to remain away from men, they have given her a certain psychology to avoid men.
2ven if somebody is attractive to her, she has to say no.
In all the languages the poets have been saying for centuries that when a woman says no she means
yes. 'ut this is not true in 4ajneeshpuram. #ere when a woman says no she means no, and when she
says yes she means yes. %ou are fortunate if she says no! 'ut there is no confusion about the meanings
of the words.
7o woman has been raped in four years time in the commune here -- but a few swamis have been
raped! This is something new that is happening. The swamis are in such a fear, and wherever they turn
there is somebody ready to rape them! We are writing human history from the very beginning again.
'ut you cannot decide these things superficially. +ll psychologists agree that a woman is raped
because deep down she desires it. It gives her a great ego, that she is so beautiful, so lovable, that
people are ready even to commit suicide -- there are countries where for rape you will be sentenced for
your whole life or you may be crucified" still the man wanted her. There is a great satisfaction -- he
ris$ed his whole life!
&o dont ta$e things superficially. 'ut an unaware man is bound to ta$e things superficially. !y
emphasis is not to determine which act is wrong and which act is right. In one situation the same act
may be wrong" in other situations, right.
-ust a few days ago, one sannyasin wrote me a letter saying, .3sho, %ou have created a trouble. --
because I had said some time ago that many people, almost the majority of people in the world, men
and women both, are untrained lovers. 7o training has been given to them. In fact everything has been
$ept from them, they have been $ept ignorant. What does a virgin mean( &omeone who has been $ept
absolutely ignorant.
&o I had said that the best way to introduce your children to love will be that, while you are ma$ing
love, children should be playing around. 5et them be there. +nd in fact it is one of the most significant
things because every child sooner or later discovers what you are doing to his mother. )irst he thin$s
that this father seems to be a barbarian, doing pushups on the poor woman. #e wants to $ill this man,
but the child is so small... so he represses the desire, and he is not even allowed to admit that he has
seen it.
+nd the child will never be able to forgive you, that you were secretive about things. %ou were not
open, even with him. %ou tal$ed about love, but love means many things: openness, honesty, sincerity.
+nd about one of the most basic things in life you $ept the child absolutely unaware.
,hildren are very intelligent, every child is born with a tremendous energy of intelligence. It is the
society and the education and the religion-they start destroying his intelligence, so by the time he is a
young man, he is just a fool. 'ut the small children are very perceptive, you cannot deceive them. &o I
had said that it is perfectly good -- because the child has to learn and it is better he learns from the
very beginning.
7ow this woman wrote to me, .+ problem has arisen: we allowed our child to be present while we
were ma$ing love" now the child wants to ma$e love to me. #e says, TIf father can do it, why cant I
do it( 7ow we cannot say that this is sin, because if it is sin, then why is his father doing it, and why
is he being allowed to commit sin(.
In a really human society there will be no se*ual abuse of children. &uch abuse e*ists only because
children are $ept in the dar$" and they are curious, very curious, .What is it all about(. Then they get
caught in somebodys net.
'ut children are very understanding too. The mother, the father, both should ma$e him understand,
.This is your training to see how love is made. The time will come when you will be a young man and
you will be ma$ing love -- then dont ma$e the same mista$es that we have made..
!a$e your lovema$ing a deep understanding for the child. !a$e him also aware that he is not your
age. !a$e the place of your lovema$ing a temple, so that the child from the very beginning starts
feeling love is something sacred. +nd if he $nows everything about it nobody can abuse him.
7ow the ;uestion arises: who is responsible for se*ual abuse of the child( %ou are responsible. %ou
are $eeping your children in dar$ness, and they are feeling that there is something that is being $ept
secret. They become curious" the more you hide it, the more curious they are.
If it is open and is made available so the child can understand it -- yes, there will be a few problems,
li$e the child wanting to ma$e love to the mother. The mother can hug the child, the mother can help
the child to understand: .-ust loo$ at my si:e and your si:e. -ust grow up and you will find a beautiful
woman, far more beautiful than me..
'ut every mother wants the child to feel that she is the greatest and the most beautiful woman in the
world, not $nowing that she is creating a tragedy for the child for his whole life because now he will
be loo$ing for her all around the world and he will not find her. 7o woman will come up to the
standard of his mother. 7o woman is going to give him satisfaction.
The same is true about small girls. They should be made absolutely aware -- not just verbally in a
classroom. That does not help, they become even more curious.
!a$e it very honest. +nd when the e*periment is happening every day in the house, where is the
problem( 5et your girl, your boy, be present. 5et them see the beauty of it. !a$e the whole
phenomenon as sacred as possible. +nd these children will always respect you because you were so
honest with them, so sincere with them" you never $ept anything secret from them.
+nd any problems li$e this -- boys as$ing to ma$e love to their mother -- can be e*plained to them,
that they are not yet ripe. 3ne day they will be ripe" for that day we are preparing them. +nd children
are very receptive, very understanding.
There is se*ual abuse of children because they are $ept in dar$ness by their parents, by their teachers.
5ove is something li$e a sin which has to be done in dar$ness, and nobody is to $now about it. %ou are
doing something ugly. In your own mind it is something ugly, something that should not be done. %ou
are not rejoicing in it.
4ejoice! !a$e love a festive moment.
+nd of course, your children have to ta$e part in it.
They can at least dance around you while you are ma$ing love, sing beautiful songs around you, play
on their small guitars, drums.
They can ma$e it really festive!
+nd they will understand that they are children and they are not of age, and soon they will get their
own lovers. +nd if this e*perience has been part of their growing up, their love life will have a totally
different flavor.
&o in child abuse, the person who has abused the child is only a victim of a very neurotic society.
Why should there be rapes( I do not understand, because there are as many women as there are men,
e;ual in numbers. Why should there be rapes(
+nd while you are raping a woman against her will, it cannot be a joyful e*perience. It is more li$e a
fight, it is not li$e love. 'ut people are doing that for the simple reason that the society has completely
destroyed any possibility for them to have any love relationship. +nd society can $eep you in such
dar$ness that it is unbelievable.
In the !iddle +ges it was thought that the ;ueen of 2ngland did not have her legs separate, they were
joined -- because the way of dressing was such you could not figure out whether the legs were joined
or separate. It was all over 2ngland an accepted fact that ;ueens are different and uni;ue. +nd no
;ueen or $ing had the guts to say this is nonsense.
7ow nobody will fall into such a stupid belief, because the s$irts are becoming smaller and smaller
and smaller, and soon they are going to disappear. %ou can see the legs of the ;ueen, and you will be
really shoc$ed that they are separate. They are just li$e your legs, everybodys legs. 'ut this was not
told to people. -oined legs gave ;ueens uni;ueness, a speciality: they are royal, you are common
people.
The same is being done in many things, on many levels all around the world. %ou dont want your
children to $now that you ma$e love.
%ou will be surprised: in India, the father cannot play with his small boy or girl in front of the elders,
that is thought to be very unmannerly. 7o husband can tal$ to his wife in the day... because in India
there are joint families. There are so many people in one family -- fifty, si*ty -- and houses are small
and overcrowded.
The husband and wife sometimes have to wait for years to see each others faces, because they meet
only in the dar$ness of the night without whispering a word, because all others are sleeping. The house
is small and overcrowded" in the same room other people are sleeping.
It is no wonder that in India divorce is a very late development, and that too happens only in a few
well-educated, rich cities li$e 'ombay, 9elhi, ,alcutta. 'ut ninety-nine percent of India cannot thin$
of divorce, for the simple reason that at least you have to see your wife before you can divorce her!
%ou have to tal$ to her before you $now what a bitch she is! &he has to tal$ with you to $now, .!y
/od! What a macho fellow I have got!.
'ut these things dont happen. #usbands and wives have no time, no space, no secrecy, no privacy.
They meet deep in the dar$ness of the night when everybody has fallen asleep. +nd they ma$e love as
;uic$ly as possible, because somebody may wa$e up.
When my uncle got married... I used to sleep in the same room, and I wouldnt let him ma$e love to
his wife. Whenever he would get up from his bed and move towards his wife, I would start coughing.
#e would go bac$ to his bed.
+fter a few days he told me, .This seems to be strange, that the moment I get out of bed -- the whole
night you dont cough, only e*actly at that time. What happens( Why do you start coughing(.
I said, .I dont $now. I was also thin$ing that there must be some connection -- your getting out of bed
and my coughing. I have been thin$ing, TWhat connection can there be(.
'ut finally he had to open his heart. #e said, .I $now you. We have been married for five months and
I have not even touched my wifes body. +nd we cannot say that you should be removed from the
room to some other room, because no other room is ready to receive you. +nd they will as$ me why,
and I cannot tell the true story, that for five months this boy has been torturing me!.
I said, .I have been doing that simply to ma$e you aware -- why ma$e it such a secrecy( Why ma$e it
something ugly that you have to hide behind dar$ness( I have never stopped you, you can ma$e love
to your wife" I will be there just to see that everything is going right! +nd someday I am going to be
married, then...( Who is going to teach me( %ou be my teachers, you both be my teachers..
#e said, .%ou are impossible. If you see us ma$ing love, you will spread the rumor all over the city.
+nd the truth is I myself dont $now much about love, because it is never tal$ed about, never taught.
%ou simply get married -- an arranged marriage, you have not seen the girl..
In India, for ninety-nine percent of the people, marriage is still just fate" the astrologer decides it.
They dont even see the others photograph, they dont $now whom they are going to live their whole
life with.
This $ind of state causes many problems. &e*ual abuse of children will be there" rapes will be there --
because there are women who have not been able to find a husband, perhaps they have lost all hope of
finding a husband. There are men who cannot afford to be married, who are somehow managing to
survive, but what to do with the biology( They cannot even go to a prostitute, they dont have the
money. &o rape remains the only possible outlet for their biological instinct.
9ont be hard on the rapist. +nd dont be hard on the woman who has been raped. These are problems
created by the society. 'e hard on it!
In my commune it is absolutely impossible that anybody should rape. I receive letters every day from
my women sannyasins: .What is happening to the swamis( They dont seem to be interested in us at
all. They avoid, they escape, they ma$e an appointment and never turn up. Is there something wrong(.
There is nothing wrong. This small section of humanity has made love, for the first time, a simple
thing. +nd there is a saturation point. 7ow a male sannyasin has made love to many women" he feels
simply tired. #e wants to be left alone, he wants to meditate. Who is going to rape( Impossible!
In the outside world, men have been chasing women for thousands of years and it was thought that it
is natural. It is not. In my commune, women are chasing men and men are escaping and hiding,
finding e*cuses. This commune has proved your thousands of years were simply managed. It was not
true, because man is se*ually the wea$er person" the woman is very strong se*ually.
Thats why for centuries there have been only female prostitutes. 3nly just now, in very sophisticated
areas li$e 5ondon, To$yo, have there appeared a few male prostitutes. 'ut a male prostitute is finished
in one love affair" then the whole night there is no business!
The woman can do business the whole night. &he can finish many men very easily. &trange, that man
was chasing her" it was absolutely against the reality. 'ut man is an egoist -- macho. #e becomes
interested only in things which are difficult, when things are a challenge.
The woman has understood it from the very beginning -- that the man is interested only if she $eeps
herself far away and becomes a challenge to him, becomes a problem to his ego. 'ut always
remember, the woman was very clever: she $ept away, but not too far away. 'ecause if you are too far
away, the man may lose interest, may start moving in some other direction. &he has to be within reach,
and yet beyond. It is a delicate territory.
&o the woman has been playing with the man. &ometimes she will come closer and the man will feel,
.7ow, the moment is coming!. -- and she will start moving away. This way man has been chasing
woman. 3therwise, if we accept our realities and our nature, the woman will be the chaser and the
man will be the chased.
-ust the other day somebody sent me a ;uestion. + woman sannyasin as$ed me, .When I surrender to
my man, something happens. I do not find him there, he is somewhere else in his mind.. 7o, man does
not li$e the woman to surrender. %ou are doing wrong, you are going against the male psychology. #e
wants to force you to surrender" that gives him great egoistic joy. 'ut you simply surrender....
I am reminded of my school days.... There used to be every year a wrestling competition. &omehow
we persuaded a very strong boy in our class that he should enter the competition, and we would ma$e
every arrangement that he should win.
#e was very reluctant, but we praised him, his muscles and his body and his e*ercises. +nd we said,
.This is the time! When are you going to use all your muscles that you have developed in the gym( --
this is the time. +nd everybody in the class is agreed that you will come out on top..
'ut what happened on the wrestling ground was ama:ing and something really remar$able.... #e had
come into the semifinals, now he was facing students from other schools. The other school had hired a
professional wrestler, and they pretended that he was a student, that .#is age is a little more because
he goes on failing.. +nd everybody could understand -- wrestlers are not great intellectuals.
'ut we were afraid for the boy that we had put forward. #e loo$ed a pygmy in front of that giant. 'ut
he did something immensely beautiful: +s the drum started beating and the wrestling was to start, the
boy that we had put there lay down on the ground, flat. Thats the way Indian wrestling is: one party
has to sit on the chest of the other party, and the other partys whole body has to touch the ground, his
bac$ has to touch the ground.
#e lay down. The wrestler stood there" he could not figure out what was happening. +nd the student
said, .&it on my chest!.
The wrestler could not get the idea. #e was still standing there loo$ing very silly, and the whole
crowd was clapping: this $ind of wrestling nobody has seen!
3ur principal called the boy in and as$ed, .Why did you do that(.
#e said, .What else to do( To be beaten unnecessarily... that man is a professional wrestler. I came to
$now just before the match that the other school is deceiving, so I thought the best way is not to give
him a chance to be victorious. 3n my own I surrendered.. 'ut the other man could not gather courage
to sit on his chest. What is the point( -- the man is lying down already. %ou sit on his chest and you are
declared victorious( What $ind of victory is this(
7ever surrender. <retend that you are not going to surrender, and that creates challenge. )or the time
being, please stop chasing men in the commune. -ust forget all about them, let them meditate a little,
and soon they will be after you.
Then remember that the old strategy, which has wor$ed for thousands of years, is still in the
psychology of everybody. 4emain a challenge, and then the man becomes interested. #e is not so
much interested in the woman, he is much more interested in the challenge. +nd you will not find only
one swami chasing you, you will find many swamis chasing you -- if you create the challenge. That is
the whole secret of it.
'ut all this stupidity should stop. <eople should accept the reality, that the man is se*ually not so
strong as the woman. +lthough he has been calling her the fair se*, the fact is just the opposite: he is
the fair se*. The woman is very strong.
'ut once things are accepted in their reality, and when no means no and yes means yes, you have
sorted out a pu::le that has been going on for centuries. )or centuries, poets have been singing songs
that the woman is mysterious" even if you live with her your whole life, her mystery remains intact.
&omebody wrote a letter to me: .I also feel that the woman is very mysterious. I have lived with a
woman for five years, but she is still unpredictable. When she will start fighting, and when she will
start throwing things, and when she will be very loving, there is no way to $now..
I said, .7ow, there is no difficulty. -ust go to our plastic surgeon, 5eeladhar, and he will ma$e you a
woman. &o you will $now the mystery -- both the male mystery and the female mystery..
It is so easy now for a man to become a woman, for a woman to become a man, that both can $now
each others difficulties and each others mysteries. +nd all those poets will be discarded, all those
mysteries will be forgotten.
There is no mystery. Thats why you cannot find it -- because it does not e*ist! It is simply your polar
opposite. !an and woman are polar opposites, thats why they attract each other. +nd only through
polar opposition is creation possible. 3nly through polar opposition does life happen.
#omose*uality has ended in +I9&. It could have been predicted very easily, because similar energies
meeting cannot create life, they can only create death. Thats what +I9& is.
It has not happened to lesbians, for the simple reason that there is no transfer between negative
polarities. 'oth are negative, both are receptive" neither of them is a donor. &o lesbians are the safest
in the world now. +nd if women are intelligent they will turn more and more to lesbianism. The man is
gone, he is finished.
+I9& has come out of homose*uality. +I9& is nothing but death. &o learn a simple principle: similar
energies create death, opposite energies have the tension to create life. Thats why I say homose*uality
is unnatural -- unless you want to commit a slow suicide, then it is perfectly good.
5esbians will not create death because no transfer of energy happens between them. 'ut they will not
have the joy, the orgasmic e*perience which is possible only with the opposite pole.
)rom the very childhood every child has to be made aware of all possibilities of love, se*, and all
deviations, perversions. Then there will be no se*ual abuse of children.
+nd if everybody is aware of the reality, I dont thin$ there is going to be any rape. There is no need,
the man can simply as$ the woman. It is far more cultured and human. If the woman has the desire, no
rape is happening. +nd if the woman hasnt, then it is just human to leave her. 5et her find her man,
you start finding your woman.
There are so many women and so many men that it is a very rare possibility you will not get a
woman. &o why commit something li$e rape( %ou are not going to gain anything from it. In fact, you
will feel guilty, you have done something inhuman. %ou have trespassed somebodys territory.
I dont say that rape is good, I dont say that child abuse is good. #ow did you manage to translate my
statement about awareness and start loo$ing into everything, ma$ing a hard effort to see good in it(
%ou seem to be a strange fellow.
I had said, .'e aware without judgment,. and what you are doing is just the opposite. %ou are trying
to judge a situation. 3f course you want to judge it as good -- it is not possible.
There are bad things, there are good things" there is no need to force yourself to accept a bad thing as
good. 'ut the man of awareness has a different perception. <erhaps something that you thin$ in your
unawareness is bad may turn out to be good, or vice versa.
'ut the man of awareness is not in search of judgments, condemnation, appraisal. #e is simply
witnessing, with clarity. #is clarity tells him what is right, without any effort -- your hard effort is not
needed. It is the easiest thing for the man of awareness to $now what is right and what is wrong. +nd
also he will be able to see why something wrong goes on happening.
There must be roots somewhere in the culture, in the society, in the world, that poisonous flowers go
on flowering. +nd somebody must be ta$ing care of those plants, watering them.
%our priests are doing it, your politicians are doing it, your psychoanalysts are doing it, your
professors are doing it -- because these people live on your misery. They live on your being
somewhere wrong. If you are perfectly right, they are useless.
-ust the other night, one of my topmost therapists, =eeresh from #olland, as$ed me, .What is the
future of our therapeutic efforts(.
I said to him, .3ur therapy is just to destroy all that has made man miserable, split, schi:ophrenic,
insane, sic$. 'ut once our therapy has destroyed all this poison in the world, then there is no future for
our therapy. It has done its wor$ and there is no need for it to e*ist anymore.
.That has to be understood very clearly, because once you start doing something, it becomes your
vested interest. Then on the one hand you go on doing what you are supposed to do, destroying
sic$ness -- and on the other hand you go on creating it, because without it you will be nobody..
&o my therapists have to understand from the very beginning that what they are doing is not
something that is to be permanently there. It is only in the transitory period of humanity that therapy is
needed. Therapy is needed because people have been made sic$. Their sic$ness is not real, thats why
it can be cured very easily, very simply.
'ut remember always that you are not to become a permanent phenomenon, because that means you
will have to create sic$ness. %ou will have to create the same old game -- perhaps under a new name.
%ou have to be courageous enough, when the wor$ is done, to retire from the wor$.
'ecome a gardener, become a farmer, a plumber or anything you can manage to do. 'ut therapy
should not be your profession. These are ugly professions. We have to have them because in the past
man has suffered so many wounds, they have to be healed. 'ut just heal them, and once they are
healed you move to some creative wor$.
It was compassionate of you to help human beings to be psychologically healthy. +nd this will be
even more compassionate, not to become a permanent source of dependence for all those people you
have helped to be healthy. %ou have to $now when the time is ripe for you to become farmers,
gardeners -- anything that you love, but be creative.
Therapy is not creative, therapy is destructive.
It is destroying sic$ness which has been imposed on humanity.
+ better human world will simply accept realities and will not as$ for fictions.
I have heard that a newly married couple came to a holiday resort to have their honeymoon, but both
were loo$ing a little afraid of each other. 'oth were sitting and tal$ing and the night had almost half
passed. The woman finally said, .We have come here for a honeymoon, not to tal$ about the weather"
that we can do anywhere..
The man said, .That is true. 'ut the problem is that I have a deep-rooted, lifelong habit: I undress
only in dar$ness. &o first you put the lights off so I can undress and go to bed..
The woman said, .This is a very strange idea. %ou could have said it before..
#e said, .I $new that I would have to say it sometime. +nd I have to say one thing more -- better to be
finished with it. 3ne of my legs is false, artificial" thats why I cannot undress in the light -- you will
see my leg..
The woman giggled. &he said, .It is perfectly good, because my breasts are false, one of my eyes is
false, my teeth are false. %ou opened the door, now everything is honest. We can undress in the light or
dar$ness, whatever you prefer" it will not ma$e any difference. I was also waiting... thin$ing, how to
start, from where to start( This way the whole night will be lost, and this is supposed to be our greatest
night, our honeymoon night..
This is the situation. 2verybody is hiding something from everybody else -- a false leg, a false breast,
false teeth, a glass eye -- everybody is trying to hide something. It is better to be honest and sincere.
If humanity decides to be honest and sincere, life can be a rejoicing. 5ife can be all that you need.
5ife has given you the opportunity to live it totally, and you are getting caught in stupid things and
wasting the opportunity. +nd life is going by continuously, it is not going to wait for you.
7ow what business is this of yours, to find good in everything( Who told you to( 7ow, how are you
going to find good in the false breasts( What good( -ust a beautiful flat chest( What good are you
going to find in false teeth( 7aturally, you will be in trouble -- ma$ing hard effort to believe that there
must be something good in it.
9ont waste your time in unnecessary in;uiries.
5ife is short -- rejoice in it, dance it, sing it.
!y statement was totally different. Thats why I say to you continually, dont just hear me, listen to
me. %ou heard a certain statement and translated it in your mind, that you have to see good in
everything.
2ven I was pu::led -- the translation seems to be so far away, absolutely unconnected. 'ut I have the
feeling that because I said, .+wareness is good, unawareness is bad,. that created the trouble for you.
I have said awareness is good -- so rather than being aware, you started being good and seeing good.
It does not happen that way. +wareness has to be there first, only then can you be good. +wareness has
to happen first, then everything else follows. +nd being aware does not mean that everything becomes
good. If everything becomes good, the very word Tgood will become meaningless.
+wareness will ma$e you aware of what is good and what is not good. +nd awareness will give you
the direction to move towards the good and not towards the bad.
e*cerpt from
3&#3
,hristianity: The 9eadliest
<oison and >en: The
+ntidote to +ll <oisons
,hapter DU
,hapter title: )ictitious
father, crac$pot son

,hristianity, I have been
told by the ,hristian
friends, is based on family:
family is its foundation
stone. 'ut family is also the
foundation stone of all
neurosis, of all psychosis, of all $inds of mental sic$nesses, of all $inds of social problems. It is also
the base of races, of nations, of wars.
)amily has to be understood. It has no future" it has already outlived its usefulness, its necessity. 'ut
we have been conditioned -- not only ,hristians, but everybody -- that the family is a great
contribution to the world. The reality is totally different. I have to go point by point, in detail, because
the problem of family is one of the most serious problems.
The first thing ... The family is a prison, it wants to $eep control of the children, of the wife. It is a
very tight group of people, and they have made this prison sacred. 'ut the results are very ugly.
2very $ind of imprisonment prevents spiritual growth. What do you thin$ ... why did 'uddha
renounce the world( Why did !ahavira renounce the world( In fact they were not renouncing the
world, they were simply renouncing the family -- nobody has said this before -- because how can you
renounce the world( Wherever you are, the world is. %ou can only renounce the family.
'ut all religious scriptures, including ,hristian scriptures, are continuously lying to the people: they
tal$ of renouncing the world. It distracts you completely from the fact that all these people were
renouncing the family, because the family was such that they could not grow within it.
The family is programming every child according to its prejudices. If you are born in a ,hristian
family you will be continuously programmed for ,hristianity, and you will not ever suspect that your
conditioning may be wrong, your conditioning may be preventing you from going beyond.
-ust the other night, when the wife and the son of the sannyasin who has died arrived, the son was
very much e*cited the whole day. #e told the sannyasins he would li$e to come here and live forever.
'ut when he heard me, he frea$ed out. #e told the sannyasins, .I am a ,hristian and I believe in /od
-- and I am not a homose*ual!.
#is prejudiced mind could not see that I have not said that all ,hristians are homose*uals. I have said
only that the mon$s and the nuns are homose*uals, are lesbians. This is how people go on missing
points. #e heard in his mind, through his interpretation of the programming, that I am calling all
,hristians homose*uals.
+nd he proudly says, .I believe in /od. -- without understanding a single word. What does belief
mean( 'elief means you dont $now. It is utterly in ignorance that people have forced the idea on you,
and you carry it as if you $now /od. + man who believes in /od should be ashamed, not proud.
'elieving is hiding your ignorance.
8nowing is a totally different matter.
'ut ,hristianity and all other religions go on confusing peoples minds. They never ma$e the
distinction between believing and $nowing. + blind man can believe in light, but that is not going to
help. 3ne needs eyes to see the light, and then there is no need to believe. When you $now something,
is there any need to believe in it(
9o you believe in light( 9o you believe in the moon( 9o you believe in the stars( %ou simply $now,
there is no ;uestion of belief. 'elief arises only for fictions, for lies, not for truth. 2very belief system
is a hindrance for spirituality.
'ut that young man, I could see in his face, I could see in his eyes ... +nd I immediately in;uired,
.What is wrong with him( &o young and he has already become dead(. #is father who had come here
to meditate and who wanted to be a sannyasin was younger than him. #e wanted to live here his whole
life after hearing me and everything I said about ,hristianity.
#is mother is far younger than him. &he wants to come here and stay for a few days, to meditate. &he
loved the place, she loved the people. &he was touched very much by your ceremony for her husband.
7owhere in the world would she have got that ceremony for her husband.
9eath, according to ,hristianity, is a taboo: you should not tal$ about it. 9eath is taboo ... +nd life is
also taboo, you should not live it! 9eath you should not tal$ about, and life you should not live! They
dont leave you any alternative -- neither can you live, nor can you die. They $eep you hanging in the
middle, half-dead, half-alive.
This creates schi:ophrenia. %ou are not allowed to be total in anything: in life, in death, in love -- only
partially involved. + man who is partially involved is only partially alive. The deeper your
involvement in e*istence, the deeper your life. When you are involved totally in life, in death, in love,
in meditation, in any $ind of thing that you want to do -- painting, music, poetry, dance -- unless you
are totally involved in it you will never $now the ma*imum, the optimum pleasure, the optimum
blissfulness.
<eople are living only at the minimum, just surviving, or, to be absolutely truthful, just vegetating --
just waiting ... and waiting, and nothing happens in their life. 7o flowers blossom in their life, no
festivals happen in their life. +nd their death is as ugly as their life was, because death is the ultimate
culmination of your life.
If you have lived totally, death is not the end. 9eath is only an episode, a small episode in an eternal
life. %ou have died many times, but because you have never lived totally, you became unconscious at
the moment of death" the fear brought you into a coma.
Thats why you dont remember your past lives, because the coma stands as a barrier for the past lives
and their remembrance. +nd because you dont $now your past lives, you cannot understand that there
is going to be life after death, that life is eternal. 'irth and death are mere episodes" thousands of times
you have been into birth, into death. 'ut when you are not allowed to live totally, when everywhere
there is interference from religion ...

3ne small boy in the school -- of course a ,hristian boy -- was as$ed by the teacher the first day he
entered the school, .What is your name(.
#e said, .9ont..
The teacher said, .&trange, I have never heard such a name..
#e said, .2verything, whatever I do, I only hear this: T9ont -- so I thin$ it is my name..

'ut the whole of ,hristianity is doing that to everybody. It is a life-negative religion, it does not allow
you to live joyously. +nd the family is the root, because obviously the programming starts from the
family. ,hristianity says that it is founded on family.
+nd I $now perfectly well that unless family disappears from the world these religions, these nations,
these wars will not disappear, because they are all based on family. The family teaches you that you
are a #indu, and the #indu religion is the best religion of all" other religions are so-so.
,hristianity continues the programming of children: .%ou can be saved only through -esus ,hrist.
7obody else can save you. +ll other religions are just moralities, very superficial, they are not going to
help you..
+nd when a child, alongside his breast feeding, is continuously fed with all $inds of superstitions --
/od, and the #oly /host, and the only begotten son of /od, -esus, heaven and hell ...
,hildren are very vulnerable, because they are born as a tabula rasa -- nothing is written on them,
their minds are pure. %ou can write anything you want on the child, and every family commits the
crime: they destroy the individual and create a slave. 3bedience is virtue, disobedience is the original
sin.
When a child starts being programmed from the very birth, when he is very vulnerable and very soft,
you can write anything. It will go on in his unconscious. %ou can tell him that .3ur nation is the
greatest nation in the world." every nation is telling that. .3ur religion is the greatest religion, our
scripture is written by /od himself. -- #indus are saying that, ,hristians are saying that, -ews are
saying that. 2verybody is doing the same crime.
,hristianity, of course, is doing it more efficiently, more cunningly, because it is the greatest religion
in the world. It uses ultra-modern techni;ues of programming. It sends its missionaries to learn
psychoanalysis, to learn how to program people, how to deprogram people. If a #indu has to be
converted into ,hristianity, first he has to be deprogrammed of #induism. +gain the tabula rasa
appears" what was written is erased. 7ow you can write again, .,hristianity is the highest religion in
the world, and there has been no man li$e -esus ,hrist, and will never be again, because he is the only
begotten son of /od..
+ll wars depend on the family. It has been a tradition in many nations in the past that you should
contribute at least one son to the army, to protect the nation, to protect the dignity and the pride of the
nation.
In Tibet, every family has to contribute the eldest son to the monasteries. This has been done for
thousands of years, as if the children are just commodities you can contribute, as if the children are
money you can give in charity.
This divided the world into different camps because of religion, because of politics, because of
nationalities, because of races. They all depend on family. )amily is the root cause of man$inds
thousands of wounds.
To go deeper, in more detail, psychologists have discovered a certain phenomenon they call
.imprinting.. When a child is born, he gets the first imprint of the mother, the father, because they are
there. %ou may not be aware what imprinting can do ....
When a scientist was e*ploring the phenomenon of imprinting, he was standing by the side of a hens
egg, and it was time for the egg to brea$ open and allow the small bird to come out. 3rdinarily, the
hen is sitting on the egg, so the first imprint is of the mother. 'ut this scientist was standing there, so
when the baby came out from the egg he saw the scientists shoe. That was his first imprint.
The scientist could not believe his eyes. When the baby became older, rather than falling in love with
any female, he was continuously trying to ma$e love to the scientists shoe! The scientist could not
believe what was happening!
'ut he had discovered a great phenomenon: that whatever comes first in the vision of the child is his
first imprint. The mother is his first imprint, the father is his second imprint. +nd if the child is a boy,
then he falls in love with his mother, and his whole life he will suffer.
...
The husband is loo$ing for his mother, and the wife is loo$ing for her father. 'oth are in a tremendous
dilemma: .#ow did it happen( 7ow how to get rid of each other(. +nd the problem becomes more
difficult because the church does not allow divorce.
,hristianity says -- I am ;uoting the 'ible -- .What /od has joined together, let no man put asunder..
/od has joined wives and husbands together" let no man put them asunder. This is interpreted as the
basis for forbidding divorce. Whatever the suffering, all the old stories end up with marriage, all
ancient stories end up with marriage, with the last statement after the marriage, .and they lived in
happiness forever..
The truth is, after the marriage is the deluge, after the marriage is the hellfire. &o as not to disturb
people, every story stops at the marriage. In fact this is the beginning of the story, and they have made
it the end.
!eeting a girl on the sea beach is not the real thing. 7either is the girl real, nor are you real. %ou are
pretending to be a great man, a hero, +le*ander the /reat. &he is pretending to be &ophia 5oren. %ou
both are hypocrites -- but hypocrisy is good on the sea beach. %ou see each other only for a few
seconds, or a few hours at the most. #ypocrisy can be maintained for a few hours, but it cannot be
maintained for your whole life. 3nce you get married, the hypocrisy becomes a burden, you cannot
carry it.

Two persons got married and entered a sea resort honeymoon hotel. The wife immediately started
moving towards the bathroom, and told the husband, .<ut the light off. When I come to bed I dont li$e
lights on..
The husband said, .This is a strange thing, because I have to go to the bathroom also. The lights
should remain on!.
The wife said, .9o you hear me or not( <ut the lights off!.
The husband said, .It is better to say the truth. The truth is that one of my legs is false!. -- and he too$
the leg off and put it aside. #e said, .I cannot wal$ in the dar$ness. It is very difficult for me to wal$
even in the light!.
The wife said, .If that is the case, then it is better to be friends.. &he pulled off both her breasts and
threw them down.
The husband loo$ed at the breasts lying on the floor, and he said, .It is o$ay.. #e too$ his teeth out
and threw them.
The wife said, .%ou thin$ you are going to win(. &he too$ off her hair, she was baldheaded, and
threw the hair on top of everything. It was becoming a big heap!

+ctually something li$e this happens. 'y and by you start dropping your hypocrisy, your falseness,
your pretensions. +nd when all pretensions are gone, then the woman you thought was a -uliet is so
ordinary -- and not even ordinary, but worse than ordinary. +nd the man you were thin$ing of as a
4omeo -- all the 4omeo and the romance are finished. #e turns out to be just a chic$en.
+nd then the story begins. Then it is constant frustration, and constant effort to find someone else. 'ut
religion prohibits adultery, you should remain confined in your family.
When -esus said, .5ove your neighbor .... +nd if the neighbor happens to be a woman( I sometimes
wonder, perhaps he never thought about the implications. 5ove thine enemy -- but if the enemy
happens to be a woman(
#e was not a great thin$er or philosopher, just a poor carpenters son. What does he $now of logic and
its implications(
+nd because every family is in conflict -- the husband and wife are continuously fighting -- the
children are growing up with this constant fight" this is becoming their imprint. The boy will repeat his
fathers structure, and the girl will repeat her mothers behavior, when they get married. It is a constant
repetition, generation after generation, because from where will they learn how to be a husband, how
to be a wife( )rom the mother, from the father -- those are the only people who are available in
childhood. +nd that is the most vulnerable time.
The children learn that the parents fight, they use ugly words to each other. 2very night there is a
pillow fight, every day the wife is nagging. The father feels the wife is just a pain in the nec$ and
nothing else. The father tries to remain as long as possible in the office, and then he goes to the pub.
The boy is learning. The girl is also learning: when the husband comes home, the wife is going to beat
him.
...
What $ind of love is this( %ou dont allow the woman to move" if she moves she is a prostitute. If she
enjoys ma$ing love to you, that means she is not a virtuous woman. %ou want the woman not to move.
Thats why the missionary posture is used -- the woman underneath and the beast on top of her.
+nd ,hristianity says it has brought culture to the world!
In the 2ast, for thousands of years, this has been ta$en for granted, that the man should be under the
woman, not on top of her. #e is more weighty, he has more muscles. The woman is smaller and more
fragile" she should be on top of the man. 'ut on top of the man she will be enjoying movement.
#er real pleasure does not come from the vagina. The vagina is absolutely insensitive. It has to be
insensitive because the birth of the child will happen through it. If it is too sensitive, the woman will
go cra:y when the child comes out. The vagina is absolutely insensitive, there is no feeling. It is the
small clitoris on top of the vagina which gives her pleasure, but that is possible only if she is allowed
to move.
&o every woman hates love, and man understood very early on, in primitive days, that he is not really
as competent se*ually as the woman. + man can have only one orgasm. )or the second orgasm he will
have to wait according to his age. The woman is capable at any age of having multiple orgasms.
It was a very cunning strategy to $eep the woman underneath, unmoving, with closed eyes, so you
can have the orgasm and the woman $nows nothing of pleasure in it. &he simply feels e*ploited, used,
just li$e any commodity. It hurts. +nd the man is finished within two minutes -- at the most three
minutes, but that is the record. The woman has not even started to get into it and the man is out!
7aturally she hates it.
7aturally she goes to listen to the mon$s tal$ing about celibacy. &he touches the feet of the saints,
saying that .%ou are great people who live in celibacy, brahmacharya, and there is my husband, an
idiot, every day ... I am tired after wor$ing the whole day, ta$ing care of the children, ta$ing care of
the $itchen, ta$ing care of the clothes, ta$ing care of the house, of the servants. I am continuously
tired, and he comes home and all that he wants is to ma$e love. +fter ma$ing love -- that is two
minutes, average -- he turns to the other side and goes to sleep and starts snoring..
When the man is snoring the woman is crying and has tears, because what $ind of life is this( #e has
no respect for her. &he is simply being used, and when she has been used she is of no more
importance.
+nd ,hristians say this is culture.
The 2astern scriptures of Tantra $now what culture is. They ma$e it a point that the man should
always be under the woman so he can remain static. If he remains unmoving, then he can remain
without ejaculation for as long as he wants -- not two minutes, not three minutes. The woman should
be on top and allowed to have as much joy of movement as possible so her clitoris gives her great
orgasms -- multiple, one after another. &he starts groaning, moaning, shouting, all $inds of gibberish.
3nly then is she happy.
&eeing this disparity, that the man can have only one orgasm and the woman is capable of having
multiple orgasms, man simply dropped the idea, because multiple orgasm is dangerous, he cannot
cope with it. 8eep the woman static so she never comes to $now that there is anything li$e orgasm.
I dont thin$ in India you can find one percent of women who have $nown orgasm. I have as$ed
hundreds of women" they dont $now what orgasm is.
2ven in the West, only within these last thirty years, twenty percent of women have started having
orgasms" still eighty percent are old-fashioned. They still belong to the church and they still believe in
the 'ible, they still listen to all $inds of nonsense called sermons.
If a woman is satisfied, having multiple orgasms, she will never be a pain in the nec$. &he will love
you, she will rejoice in you, she will celebrate you, she will wait for you" she will prepare better food,
better clothes. 'ut you have destroyed all her joy, and you still want her to respect you and to love you
-- for what( +nd because she is not happy the children become miserable from the very beginning.
The mothers impact on the children is immense. &he is unhappy, frustrated, always tired. The
children start learning all these things and they will repeat them in their lives. 7ow it is a well-
established psychological fact that every boy loves his mother" every girl loves her father. That is
absolutely natural, the other se* is attractive.
'ut because the girl loves the father, she starts hating her mother -- because she is $eeping control,
complete control, of the father. +nd as the girl grows older the mother does not allow any intimacy
between the father and the girl. &he is standing in between, she is afraid -- and she is not wrong,
because the father remembers for the first time, when his daughter becomes si*teen or seventeen years
old, how his wife used to loo$. This was the woman he had fallen in love with" the daughter loo$s
almost li$e his wife when she was seventeen, when he had fallen in love with her.
The same is true with the boys. They love their mothers, but there is no possibility of any love affair
between the boy and the mother. The second opportunity for love is the sisters, who loo$ li$e the
mother and are younger, but ,hristianity and all other religions prohibit it absolutely: no love affair
between the brother and the sister. &o every child, whether girl or boy, grows up in a miserable
situation, and the misery deepens at the age of fourteen.
The girls become capable of giving birth at the age of thirteen. They are always one year ahead of the
boys. They grow in intelligence one year ahead of the boys. 'oys become se*ually mature at fourteen.
3nce they are se*ually mature they are prohibited by the ,hristian church, and by all other religions,
from having any contact with any girl.
&o boys have their hostels, girls have their hostels -- guarded, so that no boy can enter into girls
hostels, and no girl can enter into boys hostels. 7aturally this creates perversion, the same perversion
that is created in monasteries and nunneries. 3n a wider scale, boys become homose*uals, girls start
becoming lesbians, because the energy is now arising to such a pea$.
'y the time the boys and girls are seventeen and a half they have reached to the ultimate pea$ of their
se*ual energy" now there will be a decline. That is the best period to ma$e love. That is the best period
to reach to the greatest orgasmic e*periences.
+nd this you call society( This you call civili:ation( It is cutting human beings from their very roots,
from all $inds of joys.
If it was for me to decide, at seventeen and a half every boy and every girl should be allowed to ma$e
love, and particularly now when pregnancy is not necessary. There is the pill -- the greatest revolution
in the whole history of man, which has made the woman e;ual. <regnancy was her slavery, pregnancy
was her dependence on the man.
'ut the pill for the woman was not one hundred percent safe, because the woman may not be thin$ing
to ma$e love that night" she may not be ta$ing the pills. The husband may be away and he suddenly
comes bac$ ... and the human mind is such that it always ta$es chances: .-ust one night without the
pill ... you are not going to get pregnant. %ou dont always get pregnant, it is only once in a while.. 'ut
people do get pregnant, even though they were hoping they would not ....
The ,hristian church is against abortion. -ust a few days ago some ,hristians marched in +merica to
the &enate, because the &upreme ,ourt of +merica has allowed abortion to be legal. +gainst that
legali:ation of abortion, thousands and thousands of fundamentalist ,hristians had a long procession
in protest to the &enate. What was more pu::ling to me was that <resident /eorge 'ush immediately,
before the procession started, sent a message to the people who were going to protest -- missionaries,
bishops, archbishops, priests and all $inds of fanatics.
#e sent the message that .I am with you. I am against the abortion bill, so dont thin$ that your
president is not with you. I am amongst you and I will support you, and I would li$e the &upreme
,ourt to remove the law that has made abortion legal..
&uch fear of the crowd ... Thats why I always say your politicians are not leaders. They dont create a
revolutionary mind in the people. 3n the contrary, they are followers of the followers. Immediately the
president sent the message that .I am with you. -- just to gain the favor of the voters, but with no
consideration for the poor woman who cannot afford a child, or an unmarried woman who cannot say,
.It was the #oly /host who made me pregnant!. 7obody is going to believe her.
If a woman gives birth to a child while she is not married, her chances for marriage become almost
nil, because the male chauvinist mind always wants a virgin.
%ou will be surprised to $now ... there are doctors who ma$e women virgins. Their whole e*pertise is
to put a small thin s$in inside the womans vagina" that is the proof that her vagina has not been
penetrated by any male, otherwise the s$in is bro$en. 'ut the s$in can be bro$en just by riding on a
bicycle, the s$in can be bro$en just by riding in a ric$shaw in <oona! It does not need any male
partner, the road will do the thing.
In the !iddle +ges, these so-called ,hristians, who thin$ they have civili:ed the world, arranged that
not only the s$in has to be intact but blood should come out. &o the doctors used to fi* the s$in and a
little blood behind the s$in, and the man who has married the woman would proudly show the ne*t
day the bedsheet with blood on it. )riends gathered, families gathered, to see whether the woman was
a virgin or not, and it was a great pride for the man to see that .I have got a virgin woman..
What is great in being a virgin( It simply means ine*perienced. %ou will be better if you marry an
e*perienced woman, if you marry an e*perienced man. 2*perience has a value. Ine*perience cannot
be supported in any argument.

This family that ,hristians thin$ is their foundation is their foundation only because it programs the
children according to the church. It ma$es them slaves, it ta$es their dignity of individuality, it ma$es
them hypocrites. It forces on them all $inds of lies -- and the greatest lie is /od. )rom /od arise all
$inds of lies. The only begotten son -esus ,hrist would not be there if there were no /od fiction" hell
and heaven would not be there if there were no /od who is going to give punishment and reward.
,reating this program in the childs mind is preventing him from going beyond the mind in search, in
e*ploration. It is against truth. 2very family stands against truth. 2very family stands against
enlightenment.
Thats why I say, for the first time in the whole of history, that 'uddha and !ahavira had not
renounced the world, they had simply renounced the family. It is a lie to say they renounced the world.
They lived in the world, they moved with thousands of disciples. That was their world. They moved in
the cities, they preached and taught meditation to people.
They had not renounced the world. They were trying in every way to help humanity evolve into
consciousness. They were not against humanity" they were not against human consciousness growing
as high as the stars, as deep as the <acific 3cean. +ll that they renounced was the family, because the
family was not going to help them meditate.
!any sannyasins have been reporting to me that, .3ur families dont allow us to meditate. They say
this is simply wasting time. T,losing your eyes and sitting in a lotus posture, whom are you deceiving(
-ust do some good wor$. &erve the poor, serve the sic$..
If one wants to meditate one needs seclusion, one needs no interference, in the beginning at least.
When meditation becomes a ripe fruit in you then there is no problem. Then you can meditate in the
mar$etplace, you can meditate anywhere, once you $now the secret. 'ut before you have $nown the
secret, every disturbance brings you out.
'ut ,hristianity is not interested in meditation at all. It is interested in prayer. <rayer to whom( -- to a
fictitious /od. <rayer to whom( -- to -esus who is a crac$pot. +nd no prayer is ever heard, because
there is nobody to hear it. It is not the fault of somebody above the clouds who is not hearing your
prayer. There is nobody.
<rayer is not the right $ind of religion. +ny religion that is based on prayer is a wrong religion. 3nly
religions which are based on meditation have some ;uality of religiousness, because meditation ta$es
you inwards to your very foundation of life, to the source of your consciousness.
<rayer is simply insane. 4aising your hands upwards -- and there is nobody. When people tal$ to
nobody you call them mad. If somebody is tal$ing to nobody you will immediately ta$e him to the
hospital: something is wrong with this man, he was standing under a tree and there was nobody and he
was tal$ing and having a good dialogue!
What is ,hristianity doing( +nd what are other prayer religions doing( Tal$ing to nobody. These are
insane people who need psychiatric help. +nd because every family teaches you hypocrisy, you
become schi:ophrenic. %ou have your individuality repressed by a personality given by your family --
you are divided into two. %ou will remain always in conflict, fighting within yourself, with yourself.
%ou will become two. %ou can become many, it depends ....

I was staying with a family. They had only one child, a beautiful child. I was sitting on the lawn, and
the child came and sat by my side. I as$ed him, .What are you going to become in life(.
#e said, .I dont $now. !y father wants me to become a doctor, my mother wants me to become an
engineer, my uncle wants me to become an actor, my second uncle wants me to become a politician.
They are all driving me cra:y and they are all fighting and nobody is as$ing me, TWhat do you want to
become( %ou are the first person who is as$ing me..
I said, .What do you want( -- just tell me..
#e said, .I have not figured it out..
I said, .Then dont listen to anybody -- your father, your mother, your uncles, your brothers. 9ont
listen to anybody. Wait till the time comes when you have to choose. /o into the library and loo$ into
different subjects, see which attracts you more, which seems to be having a certain harmony with you.
3nly decide then -- not according to anybody else but simply according to you..
The boy stood up, smiled. #e said, .I really want to become a guitarist -- in my neighborhood there is
a man who plays the guitar -- but dont tell anybody..
I said, .Thats perfectly good. )orget all about being a doctor, there are enough -- enough doctors to
$ill people, dont be worried! +nd there are enough engineers whose bridges go on falling down. To be
a guitarist is absolutely innocent" I will not tell anybody, but you remain firm. Those people will
manipulate you in every way..
!y father loved me too much -- but it was what they thin$ is love. #e wanted me to go to a science
college. .2ither become a doctor or become a scientist or become an engineer, but first go to the
science college. )irst graduate in science and then move into a speciali:ation..
I refused. I said, .I $now your love, but I also $now your love is unconscious. %ou simply want your
ambition to be fulfilled, that your son is a great doctor, a great scientist or engineer. I am going to
study religion, philosophy, logic, psychology..
#e said, .Then. -- it was just a threat and later he repented very much. #e said, .Then I am not going
to support you financially..
I said, .Thats settled. It is obvious: I am not following your idea, why should you support me( In
fact, even if you change your mind, I am not going to ta$e any support from you..
#e was wondering how I would manage, thin$ing perhaps I would drop my idea. #e said,
.<hilosophy ...!. India has one hundred universities, one hundred philosophical departments, and there
are many universities where the whole department is empty -- four professors and not a single student.
. ... &o what are you going to do(.
I said, .I understand. I am not going to do anything. I am not going to use my education for any
career, because I have decided to be good for nothing. I am going to rela* and enjoy life!.
#e said, .'ut who is going to support you(.
I said, .%ou dont be worried. %ou will see..
&o I left my house after matriculation, and entered into a department of philosophy. !y father
thought, .#ow will he manage(. 'ut I entered into a night class. The whole day I was wor$ing in a
newspaper, and in the night I would go to the university class.
+fter si* months he thought, .#e must have managed somehow ..... #e came to see me. The village
was almost a hundred miles away. #e came to see me and he found me perfectly well. I had managed.
I had found a family who simply loved me. They were not my relatives" just the man had met me in
the public par$ where I was discussing with a few students, my colleagues. &itting by the side on a
bench, he heard me discuss and he was immensely impressed. #e too$ me to the side, and he said,
.Where do you live(.
I said, .I dont have any place to live..
#e said, .I have a big house. %ou just come with me..
+nd when he saw the situation, what I was doing -- the whole day I was wor$ing in a press and the
whole night, the first part of the night in the university, and the second part with my own boo$s, not
the te*tboo$s -- he said, .%ou will fall sic$. 9ont be worried, I have enough money..
I told him, .4emember one thing: I am not going to return it..
#e said, .That is settled..
I said, .Thin$ twice. It is a ;uestion of si* years. %ou can have time to thin$. I will not return a single
rupee because I will not have any money anytime in my whole life. If you are giving me out of your
abundance, I will accept with gratitude, but no obligation. +nd no bragging about it, that you have
helped me..
#e said, .7o, thats not at all the ;uestion. In fact you have helped me. &ince you have come in my
house, a strange peace has come, a silence has come. I have never been so happy and so joyous. I have
all the amenities, all that the world can provide, but there was a certain emptiness inside me. %ou have
fulfilled it by teaching me meditation. I cannot repay it. Whatever money I spend on you is not even
the interest on what you have given to me and what you are giving to me every day..
!y father came, and he wanted to help me. I said, .We have settled it. I did not follow your idea, and
you simply did not arrange the financing. There is no bitterness about it. 3ur relationship remains the
same. It was simply a disagreement, and I was at fault to disagree with you. %ou are just unnecessarily
feeling guilty..
'ut he said, .I will give you money, whatever you want to do with it..
I said, .If you want to give without any condition, I can ta$e as much money as you can give. I alone
can use all the money in the world without any trouble..
#e used to send me money, and that money helped me to purchase as many boo$s as possible.
7ow, the library you see -- it has one hundred and fifty thousand boo$s. !ost of them were purchased
with his money. +ll the money he gave me went into purchasing boo$s, and soon I was receiving
scholarships -- and all that money went into boo$s. &oon I had friends all over India, and I was
purchasing everywhere -- in <oona, in 'ombay, in 7ew 9elhi, in +mritsar, in 5udhiana, in ,alcutta, in
+llahabad, in =aranasi, in !adras. +ll over the country I was purchasing as many boo$s as possible --
as many as the friend with whom I was staying could manage.

The family gives you ambition, and ambition is one of the hindrances for enlightenment. It gives you
desires, it gives you a longing to be successful, and all these things create your tensions, your
an*ieties: how to be a celebrity(
The family wants you to be a celebrity. The family wants you to be $nown all over the world. The
family wants you to be the richest person. The family wants you to be the president of the country ....
+ll these ambitions the family creates, without $nowing that all these ambitions are creating a mind
which will remain continuously in anguish, suffering. 3nly one man can become the president of the
country. What about the nine hundred million people in this country( -- they are all failures. This is an
ugly situation, to $eep people feeling they are failures, unsuccessful, inferior to others.
)amily is the base for all pathology.
I would love a world where the family is replaced by the commune. <sychologically it is more
healthy to have a commune, where children are not possessed by the parents, they belong to the
commune" where children are not given the imprint of the mother and father only, they have many
uncles in the commune, many aunts in the commune. &ometimes they sleep with this family,
sometimes with that family.
In my commune every child belongs to everybody" he does not have a single imprint. 'ecause so
many people love him, sometimes he will sleep with somebody, sometimes with somebody else. +nd
they are invited ...
7ow &iddhartha has come bac$ with a girlfriend. When he came for the first time he was so small,
but so intelligent, that he rarely stayed with his mother or father. I would as$ the mother, and she
would say, .I have not seen him for fifteen days. #e stays everywhere, he goes with anybody who
invites him.. #e used to get money from anybody: .-ust give me ten rupees!.
7ow he has become grown-up, is training to become an actor, has got a beautiful girlfriend who is a
model. &he has also become a sannyasin.
I want the family to be replaced by the commune, and in a commune there is no need for marriage.
%ou love a woman, you live with her. 5ove disappears, you say goodbye in deep gratitude: .+ll these
days that I spent with you were memorable. I will carry these days in my mind, in my memory, as a
beautiful fragrance. They will haunt me li$e a dream, a beautiful dream. 'ut now it is time for us to
depart, joyously. )rom now onwards we will be friends. -- there is no need to become enemies.
+nd both get tired, it is simply human. The family is inhuman. It forces you to live with a woman you
hate. It forces you to lie with a man you want to $ill. It is prostitution, it is not family!
!y definition of prostitution is, ma$ing love to a woman you dont love, ma$ing love to a man you
dont love. Then it is simply a long-term prostitution. + prostitute is available to you only for one
night" you pay for it. %our wife is available to you for your whole life, and you pay for it. It is an
economic arrangement, financial. %ou have purchased the woman for the whole life.
In a commune there is no need of marriage. !arriage creates the family. <eople should be together
out of love, sheer love. +nd the moment they feel the love is no more there, and now hanging around
each other is creating tension and an*iety, it is better to say goodbye to each other before things
become too bitter. +t the first sign of frustration, boredom, depart. )ind new friends.
+nd if you have children ... you can have children only if the commune allows you. The commune
has to ta$e care of the population" the commune is responsible not to e*pand the population so much
that everybody becomes poor. &o you can have a child only with the permission of the commune, and
you can have the child only with the permission of the medical board of the commune.
If the medical board suggests that your child will not be healthy, will not be very intelligent, that it is
better to have a child through insemination, then have the child by insemination. %our love remains
with your friend" insemination does not disturb you. <eople will be proud and say that .I have got the
best insemination for my child, the best semen..
%ou can even as$ the medical board for the $ind of child you want. + genius( -- a healthy child who
will not suffer from unnecessary diseases his whole life( + child who will be able to live beyond the
ordinary span of seventy years -- one hundred years, two hundred years, three hundred years ...(
Three hundred years is a possibility" just the right semen is needed. -ust as there are blood ban$s,
every commune should have semen ban$s. +nd medical e*perts should find out different ;ualities of
different semen cells, categori:e them, $eep them deep-fro:en. +nd whenever somebody wants a
mathematician, somebody wants a scientist, somebody wants a musician, somebody wants a mystic,
just give the right insemination. The child will belong to the commune, so you need not be worried
what will happen to the child.
,hildren are $eeping people together, although their love was finished a long time bac$.

I have told you the story of a man who was ninety-five and a woman who was ninety-three .... They
went to the court, they wanted a divorce. The judge loo$ed at them and he said, .%our one foot is in
the grave and you want a divorce( If you wanted a divorce why did you not come before( #ow long
have you been married(.
They said, .We dont e*actly $now, but maybe si*ty years, seventy years..
The judge said, .&trange. I have been dealing with these matters for years, and this is the first case ....
Why did you remain married so long if you did not li$e each other(.
They said, .%es, from the very first day we did not li$e each other, but we had to remain married
because of the children..
&o the magistrate as$ed, .What happened to the children(.
They said, .They all died. 7ow we are free, and we want the divorce immediately! -ust two, three
years maybe, but to live in freedom ... -ust even three years is enough, a taste of freedom at the last
moment. )ortunately, all the children have died..

It is the children who are $eeping the family together, because where will the children go( What will
happen to the children( If the commune ta$es responsibility for the children ...
)rom the very beginning the children should move to the communes hostel. 3n holidays they can
come to be with their parents, or to be with their uncles or with their aunts, who will be thousands.
They can choose.
I want a new man in the world without any imprint. When a child lives with many women, if he is a
boy, he will not have a single imprint. #e will have so many imprints that they will become fu::y. #e
will not be able to figure out what $ind of woman ... Then any woman can be a tremendous
satisfaction. Then a love affair can last far beyond the honeymoon" otherwise, by the time the
honeymoon is finished, love is finished.
-ust watch when people are going on honeymoon with their suitcases -- .-ust married.. &ee how fast
they are going. +nd when they come bac$, just loo$ at their faces -- punctured. 5oo$ at their suitcases.
-ust in seven days, what catastrophe has happened(
I am against the family, and I am for the commune.
)amily dispersed, the church will die automatically. 7ations will disappear automatically. 4aces will
disappear automatically. The world can become one only if there are communes, not families.
+nd the last thing that I want to say about ,hristianity -- because this is the last lecture of this series --
is about a man I have loved very much through his writings, Thomas !erton. #e was a Trappist
,hristian.
#e studied in many seminaries, in different theological sects of ,hristianity, and finally ended up with
a Trappist monastery in +merica. It is the most arduous self-torturing $ind of sect, it is really a trap.
3nce you get into the trap, it is very difficult to get out of it.
Thomas !erton was a world-famous writer. The chief abbot of the Trappist monastery was very
jealous of him. #e wanted somehow to prevent his writings. Thomas !erton lived for many years in
the Trappist monastery, but could not find any way to his inner world, which was his interest.
2verything was just outward discipline, and a strange $ind of torture.
...
Thomas !erton was an intelligent man, a genius. 'ecause he was world-famous and he was writing
boo$s on >en, I have loo$ed at his boo$s. )or fifteen years I have not read anything, so it was fifteen
years ago when I used to read his boo$s. I always thought that sooner or later this man was going to
land up in -apan. #is understanding about >en was purely intellectual. 'eautiful ... he was writing
beautiful sentences, beautiful poems, but it was all intellectual, he had no understanding of meditation.
,hristianity does not allow meditation.
+nd just now I have heard ... Thomas !erton was a Trappist mon$ and a world-famous author. #e
wanted to go to -apan to study >en, but again and again his superiors in the monastery refused him
permission.
9o you see the comparison with >en masters( If a disciple as$s to go to another monastery, he is
welcomed by the master, .'e richer, find the truth anywhere. The ;uestion is truth, not me, or the
monastery..
'ut again and again he was refused permission to go to -apan, without being given any reason. There
was no reason not to give it. +ll that he wanted was to $now >en directly, straight, by living in a >en
monastery for a few months or a few years, because he had not found anything in ,hristianity.
+ letter from 4ome, confirming the refusal, stated that, .#is re;uested visit to -apan cannot possibly
be the will of /od.. In the name of /od, so many crimes ... In the name of /od, people are being
enslaved. 7ow, how does 4ome $now what the will of /od is(
If Thomas !ertons whole being wants to go to -apan to learn >en, that may perhaps be the will of
/od. 'ut 4ome decides for a faraway mon$ in +merica ....
'ut the reason is not e*actly that it cannot possibly be the will of /od -- thats why the refusal to
allow him to go to -apan. The refusal is for the reason that anybody who will understand >en will drop
,hristianity -- immediately. ,hristianity will loo$ li$e a disease, a poison, in comparison to >en.
'ut finally it happened, not that they allowed him to go to -apan, but that he became decisive in his
mind. There was going to be a ,atholic conference in Thailand, so he as$ed permission to read some
papers on the ,atholic religion in the conference. The deep desire was that from Thailand he would
reach to -apan, not bothering about the permission. +t the most they can e*pel him from the church --
and the church has not given him anything, so there is nothing to lose.
)inally, he was allowed to visit Thailand to address a ,atholic conference. +t the end of his speech he
said, .+nd thus I fade off into the night.. #e had some suspicions ... some suspicions that they may
poison him, they may $ill him if he tries to go to -apan. The whole conference consisted of ,atholic
mon$s, and they were all informed, .8eep an eye on Thomas !erton. #e should not escape from
Thailand to -apan. -- which is very close.
+t the end of his speech he said to the conference, .+nd thus I fade off into the night.. + few hours
later he was found dead in suspicious circumstances in his room. There is every reason to believe that
he was $illed by the ,atholics.
There were rumors that he was $illed so that he could not travel on to -apan to study >en.
,ircumstantial evidence shows that the rumors may be true. 7o autopsy was done on the body --
which is a regular process, and particularly in a suspicious case. #e was perfectly healthy, he
addressed the meeting" and just within two hours he was dead. +nd he had made the indication that
.<erhaps I may fade off into the night..
7o autopsy was done on the body, and it was not embalmed -- which is a regular procedure for
,atholic mon$s, Trappist mon$s. Their bodies have to be embalmed.
It too$ seven days for the body to reach his monastery in the 6.&. It is only a ;uestion of, at the most,
twenty hours from Thailand to the 6.&. -- and it too$ seven days. They wanted the body to
decompose. 3nce the body starts decomposing, no autopsy is possible" you cannot $now the reason
why the person died. Thats why it too$ seven days to reach his monastery in the 6.&. #e had to be
buried in a special cas$et because the body was so decomposed, completely decomposed" there was no
;uestion of finding anything in it.
In his last boo$, not published until twenty years after his death, !erton wrote, .I have a real sense
that my own vocation demands a deepened and e*periential study from within, as well as -apanese
and particularly >en e*periences..
#e also wrote, .I cannot go to +sia to see$ all their sources, some of the things I see to be vitally
important -- the >en ground of all the dimensions of e*pression and mystery. This is an imprisonment
and confinement..
'e whole, be total.
9ont be fragmentary, dont be divided.
'e an individual, literally: indivisible, one piece.

<eople are not one piece" they are many fragments,
somehow holding themselves together.
They can fall apart at any moment.

+ny new situation, any new danger, any insecurity, and they can fall apart. %our wife dies or you go
ban$rupt or you are unemployed -- any small thing can prove the last straw on the camels bac$. The
difference is only of degrees. &omebody is boiling at ninety-eight degrees, somebody at ninety-nine"
somebody may be ninety-nine point nine degrees, but the difference is only of degrees, and any small
thing can change the balance. %ou can go insane at any moment, because inside you are already a
crowd.

&o many desires, so many dreams, so many people are living in you. If you watch carefully, you will
not find one person there but many faces, changing every moment. It is as if you are just a
mar$etplace where so many people are going and coming, so much noise, and nothing ma$es sense.
It is very difficult to see ones own faults" only a man who loves himself can see them. 9ont listen to
others, what they say about you. &ee yourself, who you are, where you are, what your faults are. +nd
the miracle is that seeing a fault, through your own awareness, dissolves it
3&#3, W#+T I& %364 I92+ 3) T462 296,TI37(

T#2 296,+TI37 T#+T #+& 2RI&T29 up to now has not been true. It has not served humanity"
on the contrary, it has served the vested interests. It has served the past. The teacher has been an agent
of the past. #e functions as a mediator to give past beliefs, orientations, assumptions to the coming
generation -- to contaminate, to pollute the new consciousness that is arising on the hori:on.
Thats why the teacher has been respected by all the societies. It serves the establishment. It reduces
people to s$illful robots, it reduces people to efficient machines. Thats what education has been up to
now.
+nd because of education, mans evolution has been very hapha:ard, :ig-:ag. 'ut up to now there was
no other way, because there was one thing in the past: $nowledge grew &3 slowly that it was almost
the same for centuries. &o the teacher was very very efficient in doing his job. Whatsoever was $nown
was almost static" it was not growing.
'ut now there is a $nowledge e*plosion. Things are changing so fast that the whole education system
has become outdated, outmoded. It has to be dropped, and a totally new education system has to come
into e*istence. 3nly now is it possible -- up to now it was not possible.
%ou will have to understand what I mean by the $nowledge e*plosion. Imagine a cloc$ face with
si*ty minutes on it. These si*ty minutes represent three thousand years of human history" or each
minute, fifty years" or each second, appro*imately one year. 3n this scale there were no significant
media changes until about nine minutes ago. +t that time the printing press came in. +bout three
minutes ago, the telegraph, photograph, and the locomotive. Two minutes ago, the telephone, rotary
press, motion pictures, automobile, airplane and radio. 3ne minute ago, the tal$ing picture. Television
has appeared in the last ten seconds, the computer in the last five, and the communication satellites in
the last second. The laser beam appeared only a fraction of a second ago.
This is what some people call the $nowledge e*plosion. ,hange is not new" what is new is the
92/422 of change. +nd that ma$es all the difference, because at a certain point ;uantitative changes
become ;ualitative changes.
If you heat water, up to ninety-nine point nine degrees it is still water -- maybe hot, but still water.
-ust point one degree more is needed and the water starts evaporating, and there happens a ;ualitative
change. -ust a few seconds before, the water was visible, now it is invisible. -ust a few seconds before,
the water was flowing downwards, now it is rising upwards. It has transcended the pull of gravitation,
it is no more under the law of gravitation.
4emember, at a certain point the ;uantitative change becomes ;ualitative. +nd thats what has
happened. ,hange is not new, it is not news" change has always been happening. 'ut the 4+T2 of
change is immensely new" it has not happened li$e this before.
The difference between a fatal and a therapeutic dose of strychnine is only a matter of degree -- thats
what 7orbert Wiener says. The poison can function as a medicine in a smaller dose, but the same
medicine will become fatal if you give a bigger dose. +t a certain point it is no more medicine, it is
poison.
,hange is so tremendous now that the teacher cannot serve any more in the past style, education
cannot serve any more in the past way. The past way was to help people to memori:e. 2ducation up to
now has not been education in intelligence but only in memory, in remembrance. The past generation
transferred all its $nowledge to the new generation, and the new generation was to remember it. &o
people who had good memories were thought to be intelligent.
That is not necessarily so. There have been geniuses whose memory was almost nil. +lbert 2instein
didnt have a good memory. There have been people whose memory was miraculous, but they had no
intelligence at all.
!emory is a mechanical thing in your mind. Intelligence is the consciousness. Intelligence is part of
your spirit, memory is part of your brain. !emory belongs to the body, intelligence belongs to you.
Intelligence has to be taught now, because change is so fast that memory wont do. 'y the time you
have memori:ed something it is already out of date. +nd that is what is happening: the education is
failing, universities are failing, because they still go on persisting in the old way. They have learnt a
tric$" for three thousand years they have been doing this, and now they have learnt it so deeply that
they dont $now what else they can do.
7ow, just giving old information to the children, which will not ma$e them capable of living in the
future but will hamper their growth, is dangerous. 7ow they need intelligence to live with the fast
change that is happening.
-ust one hundred years ago, there were millions of people who had never gone outside of their town,
or never went more than fifty miles away from their town. !illions lived in the same place for ever,
from birth to death. 7ow everything is changing. In +merica the average person lives only three years
in one place, and that is e*actly the time limit for marriage too -- three years. Then one starts changing
ones town, ones job, ones wife, ones husband.
This is a totally new world that you are living in. +nd your education simply ma$es you wal$ing
encyclopaedias, but outdated. The difference is not new -- what is new is the degree of change.
3n our cloc$ face about three minutes ago there developed a ;ualitative difference in the character of
change: change changed.
We have to teach intelligence now, so that we can ma$e the children capable of living with the new
things which will be happening every day. 9ont burden them with that which is not going to be of any
use in the future. The old generation has not to teach what it has learnt" the old generation has to help
the child to be more intelligent so that he can be capable of spontaneously responding to the new
realities which will be coming. The old generation cannot even dream about them, what those realities
will be.
%our children may be living on the moon" they will have a totally different atmosphere to live in. %our
children may be living in the s$y, because the earth is becoming too populated. %our children may
have to live underground or under the sea. 7obody $nows how your children will have to live. They
may live only on tablets, vitamin pills... they will be living in a totally different world. &o it is of no
use just to go on giving them encyclopaedic $nowledge from the past. We have to prepare them to face
new realities.
We have to prepare them in awareness, in meditativeness. Then education will be true. Then it will
not serve the past and the dead" it will serve the future. It will serve the living.
In my vision, to be true the education has to be subversive, rebellious. 6p to now it has been
orthodo*, up to now it has been part of the establishment. True education has to teach things which
73 other institution does. It has to become the anti-entropy business.
The state, the establishment and all the institutions of the society, all prevent growth -- remember it.
Why do they prevent growth( 'ecause every growth brings challenge, and they are settled. +nd who
wants to be unsettled( Those who are in power would not li$e anything new to happen, because that
will change the power balance. Those who are in power would not li$e any new thing to be released,
because the new thing will ma$e new people powerful. 2ach new $nowledge brings new power into
the world. +nd the older generation would not li$e to lose its grip, its domination.
2ducation has to serve revolution. 'ut ordinarily it serves the government and the priest and the
church. In a very subtle way, it prepares slaves -- slaves for the state, slaves for the church. The real
purpose of education should be to subvert outmoded attitudes, beliefs and assumptions which no more
serve growth and man, and are positively harmful and suicidal.

+n interviewer once as$ed 2rnest #emingway, .Isnt there any one essential ingredient you can
identify which ma$es a great writer(.
#emingway replied, .%es, there is. In order to be a great writer a person must have a built-in
shoc$proof, crap detector..

+nd thats what my idea of true education is. The children should be trained, disciplined, so that they
can detect crap. + really intelligent person is a crap detector. #e immediately $nows, the moment he
says something, whether it is significant or just holy cowdung.
The evolution of human consciousness is nothing but a long history of struggle against the veneration
of crap. <eople go on worshipping, venerating crap. 7inety-nine percent of their beliefs are just lies.
7inety-nine percent of their beliefs are anti-human, anti-life. 7inety-nine percent of their beliefs are so
primitive, so barbarous, so utterly ignorant, that it is unbelievable how people go on believing in them.
The true education will help you to drop all nonsense -- howsoever ancient, respectable, revered. It
will teach you the real. It will not teach you any superstition but how to live more joyously. It will
teach you life-affirmation. It will teach you reverence for life and for nothing else. It will teach you
how to be deeply in love with e*istence. It will not be only of the mind, it will be also of the heart.
It will also help you to become a no-mind. That is the dimension that is missing from education. It
simply teaches you to become more and more entangled in mental concepts, lost in mind. !"nd is
good, useful, but it is not your wholeness. There is heart too, which is in fact far more important than
the mind -- because the mind can create better technology, can give you better machines, better roads,
better houses, but cannot ma$e you a better man. It cannot ma$e you more loving, more poetic, more
graceful. It cannot give you the joy of life, the celebration. It cannot help you to become a song and a
dance.
The true education has to teach you the ways of the heart too. +nd the true education has also to teach
you the transcendental. !ind is for science, heart for art, poetry, music, and the transcendental for
religion. 6nless an education serves all these things, it is not true. +nd no educational system has yet
done it.
It is not surprising that many young people are dropping out of your colleges, your universities --
because they can see it is all crap, they can see it is all stupid.
7o other institution can do it, only education can do it: universities should sow the seeds of
revolution. They should sow the seeds of mutation -- because a 72W man has to arrive on the earth.
The first rays have already reached. The new man is arriving every day and we have to prepare the
earth to receive him -- and with the new man, a new humanity and a new world. +nd there is no other
possibility e*cept education to receive the new man, to prepare the ground for him. +nd if we cannot
prepare the ground for him, we are doomed.
The e*periments we are doing here are really an effort to create the new $ind of university. The
government is against it, the society is against it, the churches -- #indu, !ohammedan, ,hristian -- all
are against it. The priests, the politicians, all are against it. The herd, the crowd mind is against it.
'ut this is natural" one should not be surprised about it. We are doing something subversive, we are
doing something very rebellious. 'ut this has to be done, and this has to be done all over the earth in
many places. This e*periment has to be done in every country. +nd only a few will ta$e the challenge,
but those few will be the heralds. Those few will declare the new age, the new man, the new humanity,
the new earth: brave new world.
Walt Whitman has written:

When I heard the learnd astronomer"
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me"
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide and measure them"
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
#ow soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sic$"
Till rising and gliding out, I wanderd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night air, and from time to time
5oo$d up in perfect silence at the stars.

The new education, the true education, has not only to teach you mathematics, history, geography,
science" it also has to teach you the real morality: aesthetics. I call aesthetics the real morality:
sensitivity to feel the beautiful, because /od comes as beauty. In a roseflower or in a lotus, in the
sunrise or in the sunset, in the stars, the birds singing in the early morning, or the dewdrops, a bird on
the wing.... True education has to bring you closer and closer to nature because only by coming closer
and closer to nature will you be coming closer and closer to /od.
/od is not separate from this world: /od has become the world. %ou have heard it said again and
again that /od created the world. I say to you: /od became the world. 7ow there is no other /od
e*cept the world. The creator is in his creativity. /od is just a creative force" he is creativity. 9rop the
idea that he is a creator. Thin$ of him, contemplate on him, as creativity itself. #e is spread all over:
Where two lovers meet, he is. +nd where your eyes see beauty, he is. +nd when you are simply
overwhelmed by the starry night, he is. When you loo$ deep into the eyes of a woman or a man, he is.
The true education will also be true religion.
&cience is the lowest form of consciousness" art, higher than science" religion, the highest pea$.
4eligion is the philosophia <24277I& -- the perennial philosophy.
+ 'uddha has not conditioned anybody, a -esus has never conditioned anybody. If people are
,hristians and have become conditioned, that is their choice - you cannot throw the responsibility on
-esus. If people have become 'uddhists and have completely forgotten about 'uddha, and go on
tal$ing only about 'uddhist doctrines and dogmas, that is their responsibility - otherwise, 'uddha has
not conditioned anybody.
These people come to free you. They bring freedom, they bring purity, they bring innocence. 'ut the
ultimate result depends on you..
The moment you start thin$ing how to help children to grow without any competitive spirit you are
already on the wrong trac$, because whatever you are going to do is going to give the children a
certain program. It may be different from the one that you received, but you are conditioning the
children -- with all the best intentions in the world.
The trees go on growing without anybody teaching them how to grow. The animals, the birds, the
whole e*istence, needs no programming. The very idea of programming is basically creating slavery --
and man has been creating slaves for thousands of years in different names. When people become fed
up with one name, another name immediately replaces it. + few modified programs, a few changes
here and there in the conditioning, but the fundamental thing remains the same -- that the parents, the
older generation, want their children to be in a certain way. Thats why you are as$ing .#ow(..
+ccording to me, the function of the parents is not how to help the children grow -- they will grow
without you. %our function is to support, to nourish, to help what is already growing. 9ont give
directions and dont give ideals. 9ont tell them what is right and what is wrong: let them find it by
their own e*perience.
3nly one thing you can do, and that is share your own life. Tell them that you have been conditioned
by your parents, that you have lived within certain limits, according to certain ideals, and because of
these limits and ideals you have missed life completely, and you dont want to destroy your childrens
life. %ou want them to be totally free -- free of you, because to them you represent the whole past.
It needs guts and it needs immense love in a father, in a mother, to tell the children, .%ou need to be
free of us. 9ont obey us -- depend on your own intelligence. 2ven if you go astray it is far better than
to remain a slave and always remain right. It is better to commit mista$es on your own and learn from
them, rather than follow somebody else and not commit mista$es. 'ut then you are never going to
learn anything e*cept following -- and that is poison, pure poison..
It is very easy if you love. 9ont as$ .how., because .how. means you are as$ing for a method, a
methodology, a techni;ue -- and love is not a techni;ue.
5ove your children, enjoy their freedom. 5et them commit mista$es, help them to see where they
have committed a mista$e. Tell them, .To commit mista$es is not wrong -- commit as many mista$es
as possible, because that is the way you will be learning more. 'ut dont commit the same mista$e
again and again, because that ma$es you stupid..
&o it is not going to be a simple answer from me. %ou will have to figure it out living with your
children moment to moment, allowing them every possible freedom in small things.
)or e*ample, in my childhood... and it has been the same for centuries, the children are being taught,
./o to bed early, and get up early in the morning. That ma$es you wise..
I told my father, .It seems to be strange: when I am not feeling sleepy, you force me to sleep early in
the evening.. +nd in -aina houses early in the evening is really early, because supper is at five ocloc$,
at the most si*. +nd then there is nothing else to do -- the children should go to sleep.
I said to him, .When my energy is not ready to go to sleep, you force me to go to sleep. +nd when, in
the morning, I am feeling sleepy, you drag me out of the bed. This seems to be a strange way of
ma$ing me wise! +nd I dont see the connection -- how am I going to become wise by being forced to
sleep when I am not feeling sleepy( +nd for hours I lie down in the bed, in the dar$ness... time which
would have in some way been used, would have been creative, and you force me to sleep. 'ut sleep is
not something in your hands. %ou cannot just close your eyes and go to sleep. &leep comes when it
comes" it does not follow your order or my order, so for hours I am wasting my time.
.+nd then in the morning when I am really feeling sleepy, you force me to wa$e up -- five ocloc$,
early in the morning -- and you drag me out for a morning wal$ towards the forest. I am feeling sleepy
and you are dragging me. +nd I dont see how all this is going to ma$e me wise. %ou please e*plain it
to me!
.+nd how many people have become wise through this process( %ou just show me a few wise people
-- I dont see anybody around. +nd I have been tal$ing to my grandfather, and he said that it is all
nonsense. 3f the whole household, that old man is the only sincere man. #e does not care what others
will say, but he has told me that it is all nonsense: TWisdom does not come by going early to bed. I
have been going early to bed my whole life -- seventy years -- and wisdom has not come yet, and I
dont thin$ it is going to come! 7ow it is time for death to come, not for wisdom. &o dont be befooled
by these proverbs..
I told my father, .%ou thin$ it over, and please be authentic and true. /ive me this much freedom --
that I can go to sleep when I feel sleep is coming, and I can get up when I feel that it is time, and sleep
is no longer there..
#e thought for one day, and the ne*t day he said, .3$ay, perhaps you are right. %ou do it according to
yourself. 5isten to your body rather than listening to me..
This should be the principle: children should be helped to listen to their bodies, to listen to their own
needs. The basic thing for parents is to guard the children from falling into a ditch. The function of
their discipline is negative.
4emember the word .negative.... no positive programming but only a negative guarding -- because
children are children, and they can get into something which will harm them, cripple them. Then too
dont order them not to go, but e*plain to them. 9ont ma$e it a point of obedience" still let them
choose. %ou simply e*plain the whole situation.
,hildren are very receptive, and if you are respectful towards them they are ready to listen, ready to
understand" then leave them with their understanding. +nd it is a ;uestion only of a few years in the
beginning" soon they will be getting settled in their intelligence, and your guarding will not be needed
at all. &oon they will be able to move on their own.
I can understand the fear of the parents that the children may go in a direction which they dont li$e --
but that is your problem. %our children are not born for your li$ings and your disli$ings. They have to
live their life, and you should rejoice that they are living their life -- whatever it is. They may become
a poor musician....
I used to $now a very rich man in the town who wanted his son, after matriculation, to become a
doctor. 'ut the son was interested only in music. #e was already no longer an amateur" he was well
$nown in the area, and wherever there was any function, he was playing the sitar and was becoming
more and more famous.
#e wanted to go to a university which is basically devoted to music. <erhaps it is the only university
in the world which is devoted completely to music, and has all the different departments -- dance,
different instruments -- but the whole world of the university is musical.
The father was absolutely against it. #e called me -- because I was very close to his son -- and he
said, .#e will be a beggar all his life,. because musicians in India cannot earn much. .+t the most he
can become a music teacher in a school. What will he be earning( That much we pay to many servants
in our house. +nd he will be associating with the wrong people,. because in India, music has remained
very deeply connected with the prostitutes.
The Indian prostitute is different from any prostitute in the rest of the world. The word .prostitute.
does not do justice to the Indian counterpart, because the Indian prostitute is really well versed in
music, in dance -- and India has so much variety. If you really want to learn the deeper layers of
music, of singing, of dancing, you have to be with some famous prostitute.
There are famous families -- they are called gharanas. /harana means family. It is nothing to do with
the ordinary family" it is the family of the master-disciple. &o there are famous gharanas which have a
certain way of their own. <resenting the same instrument, the same dance, different gharanas will
produce it in different ways, with subtle nuances. &o, if someone really wants to get into the world of
music, he has to become part of some gharana -- and that is not good company. +ccording to a rich
man it is certainly not a good company.
'ut the son was not interested in the company. 7ot following his father, he went to the music
university. +nd his father disowned him -- he was so angry. +nd because his father disowned him, and
because he had no other ways -- because the university was in a very remote mountaineous area where
you cannot find any job or anything -- he came bac$ and had to become e*actly what his father was
predicting, just a school teacher.
#is father called me and told me, .5oo$, it is just as I have said. !y other sons -- somebody is an
engineer, somebody is a professor, but this idiot did not listen to me. I have disowned him" he will not
inherit a single cent from me. +nd now he will remain in just the poorest profession -- a school
master..
'ut my friend himself was immensely happy... not worried that he had been abandoned by his family,
that he was going to live a poor mans life, that he would not be receiving any inheritance. These
things did not bother him" he was happy, .It is good they have done all this -- now I can become part
of some gharana. I was worried about them, that they would feel humiliated. 'ut now they have
abandoned me, and I am no longer part of them, I can become part of some gharana..
Teaching in a school, he became part of a gharana, and is now one of the best musicians in India. It is
not a ;uestion of his being one of the best musicians" what is important is that he became what he felt
was his potential. +nd whenever you follow your potential, you always become the best. Whenever
you go astray from the potential, you remain mediocre.
The whole society consists of mediocre people for the simple reason that nobody is what he was
destined to be -- he is something else. +nd whatever he will do, he cannot be the best, and he cannot
feel a fulfillment" he cannot rejoice.
&o the wor$ of the parents is very delicate, and it is precious, because the whole life of the child
depends on it. 9ont give any positive program -- help him in every possible way that he wants.
)or e*ample, I used to climb trees. 7ow, there are a few trees which are safe to climb" their branches
are strong, their trun$ is strong. %ou can go even to the very top, and still there is no need to be afraid
that a branch will brea$. 'ut there are a few trees which are very soft. 'ecause I used to climb on the
trees to get mangoes, jamuns -- another beautiful fruit -- my family was very much worried, and they
would always send somebody to prevent me.
I told my father, .4ather than preventing me, please e*plain to me which trees are dangerous -- so that
I can avoid them -- and which trees are not dangerous, so that I can climb them.
.'ut if you try to prevent me from climbing, there is a danger: I may climb a wrong tree, and the
responsibility will be yours. ,limbing I am not going to stop, I love it.. It is really one of the most
beautiful e*periences to be on the top of the tree in the sun with the high wind, and the whole tree is
dancing -- a very nourishing e*perience.
I said, .I am not going to stop it. %our wor$ is to tell me e*actly which trees I should not climb --
because I can fall from them, can have fractures, can damage my body. 'ut dont give me a blan$
order: T&top climbing. That I am not going to do.. +nd he had to come with me and go around the
town to show me which trees are dangerous. Then I as$ed him the second ;uestion, .9o you $now any
good climber in the city who can teach me even to climb the dangerous trees(.
#e said, .%ou are too much! 7ow this is going too far. %ou had told me, I understood it....
I said, .I will follow it, because I have myself proposed it. 'ut the trees that you are saying are
dangerous are irresistible, because -+!67. -- an Indian fruit -- .grows on them. It is really delicious,
and when it is ripe I may not be able to resist the temptation. %ou are my father, it is your duty... you
must $now somebody who can help me..
#e said, .If I had $nown that to be a father was going to be so difficult, I would have never been a
father -- at least of you! %es, I $now one man. -- and he introduced me to an old man who was a rare
climber, the best.
#e was a woodcutter, and he was so old that you could not believe that he could do woodcutting. #e
did only rare jobs, which nobody else was ready to do... big trees which were spreading on the houses
-- he would cut off the branches. #e was just an e*pert, and he did it without damaging their roots or
the houses. )irst he would tie the branches to other branches with ropes. Then he would cut these
branches and then with the ropes pull the other branches away from the house and let them fall on the
ground.
+nd he was so old! 'ut whenever there was some situation li$e that, when no other woodcutter was
ready, he was ready. &o my father told him, .Teach him something, particularly about trees which are
dangerous, which can brea$.. 'ranches can brea$... and I had fallen already two, three times -- I still
carry the mar$s on my legs.
That old man loo$ed at me and he said, .7obody has ever come, particularly a father bringing a
boy...! It is a dangerous thing, but if he loves it, I would love to teach him.. +nd he was teaching me
how to manage to climb trees which were dangerous. #e showed me all $inds of strategies of how to
protect yourself: If you want to go high up the tree and you dont want to fall onto the ground, then
first tie yourself with a rope to a point where you feel the tree is strong enough, and then go up. If you
fall, you will be hanging from the rope, but you will not fall to the ground. +nd that really helped me"
since then I have not fallen!
The function of a father or a mother is great, because they are bringing a new guest into the world --
who $nows nothing, but who brings some potential in him. +nd unless his potential grows, he will
remain unhappy.
7o parents li$e to thin$ of their children remaining unhappy" they want them to be happy. It is just
that their thin$ing is wrong. They thin$ if they become doctors, if they become professors, engineers,
scientists, then they will be happy. They dont $now! They can only be happy if they become what
they have come to become. They can only become the seed that they are carrying within themselves.
&o help in every possible way to give freedom, to give opportunities. 3rdinarily, if a child as$s a
mother anything, without even listening to the child, to what he is as$ing, the mother simply says no.
.7o. is an authoritative word" .yes. is not. &o neither father nor mother or anybody else who is in
authority wants to say yes -- to any ordinary thing.
The child wants to play outside the house: .7o!. The child wants to go out while it is raining and
wants to dance in the rain: .7o! %ou will get a cold.. + cold is not a cancer, but a child who has been
prevented from dancing in the rain, and has never been able again to dance, has missed something
great, something really beautiful. + cold would have been worthwhile -- and it is not that he will
necessarily have a cold. In fact the more you protect him, the more he becomes vulnerable. The more
you allow him, the more he becomes immune.
<arents have to learn to say yes. In ninety-nine times when they ordinarily say no, it is for no other
reason than simply to show authority. 2verybody cannot become the president of the country, cannot
have authority over millions of people. 'ut everybody can become a husband, can have authority over
his wife" every wife can become a mother, can have authority over the child" every child can have a
teddy bear, and have authority over the teddy bear... $ic$ him from this corner to the other corner, give
him good slaps, slaps that he really wanted to give to the mother or to father. +nd the poor teddy bear
has nobody below him.
This is an authoritarian society.
What I am saying is in creating children who have freedom, who have heard .yes. and have rarely
heard .no., the authoritarian society will disappear. We will have a more human society.
&o it is not only a ;uestion of the children. Those children are going to become tomorrows society:
the child is the father of man.

3&#3
'eyond <sychology
,hapter DVG
,hapter title: Trees grow without being taught
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W#+T I& %364 '+&I, !2&&+/2 )34 T#2!(

!y basic message to all the people is: always remember that if you are really a see$er of truth, then
go to the source.
It is not right just to depend on the news media. The news media has its own limitations. )irst: it
cannot give my whole message, it has no space for it. &econd: if it tries to give my whole message it
will not find audience for it.
The whole news media loo$s at the audience, follows the audience what you need, what you li$e... it
is a very strange thing but one never thin$s about it, that your leaders are followers of their own
followers. They always loo$ what the followers li$e -- that has to be said. 9o whatever you want to do
but say only that which your followers want to listen. +nd the same is the case with the newspapers,
television, radio. &ay what the people are as$ing for. +nd people are as$ing for wrong things.
They are as$ing for se*, pornography. They are as$ing for violence. They are as$ing for all $inds of
sensations. They are not interested in the higher values of life for the simple reason because for
centuries your religious people have repressed their lower instincts so much that now their lower
instincts have immense power and those lower instincts demand some $ind of fulfillment.
%ou have been told to murder is wrong, so naturally you cannot murder. 'ut seeing in a film a murder
scene you can see the change in yourself. %ou may have been sitting rela*edly with your bac$ to the
chair -- as the murder scene comes you become more alert, you leave the bac$ of the chair, you come
closer to the murder, you dont want to miss a single thing, you are identifying yourself in that scene.
This is what your religious people have done to you.
%our films are full of violence, full of se*, full of murder, rape, suicide... these are your demands. +nd
the people who are producing those films or maga:ines or newspapers are just businessmen. I myself
have been once a journalist but I could not go more than few wee$s. The owner called me, he said,
.%ou should have born in &+T%6/..
I said, .What has happened(.
#e said, .%ou will destroy my paper. %ou have already reduced my readership to half..
I said, .It does not matter if your paper is finished, that is not the point. 'ut right things should reach
to people..
'ut he said, .They dont want the right thing, and I am not here for charity purposes. I am a
businessman and I am in a trouble because we have made a contract for one year. In one year you will
ma$e me ban$rupt!. 'ecause I changed all politicians to the last page, I reduced their speeches to
small articles not covering the whole first page, I removed their pictures, there is no need for their
pictures every day to be insisted on peoples mind. 'ecause there are so many beautiful people and the
world $nows nothing about them.
I would li$e a big picture of 4avi &han$ar playing on his sitar on the front page. <eople should
$now....
I would li$e some sculptor, some poet... the first page should be for the creators.
+nd I reduced completely all news about suicide and murder, violence... and I said, that .It helps
nobody. It really creates an atmosphere that violence is the way of life, everywhere it is happening,
every newspaper is tal$ing about it, everywhere there is rape. &o why you are lagging behind, you also
have a woman in your mind that you would li$e to rape. When everybody is doing it, then why not
join(.
I told him a story: two men are going to the mar$et and one says, that .There is a riot between
!ohammedans and #indus and the #indus are destroying the mos;ue. +nd as #indus we should go
and help..
The other man said, that .That does not seem to be a right thing. The mos;ue has done no harm to us
and even !ohammedans who go to the mos;ue simply pray there. That is the only place where they
are prayerful and you are destroying it! That is illogical..
7e*t day the man who was persuading that .We should go and destroy the mos;ue. was surprised.
The first man was destroying it. #e as$ed, .What has happened(.
#e said, .When I saw everybody is doing it then it must be right..
When you read every day from every corner: the radio is saying the same thing, the television is
saying the same thing, the newspaper is saying the same thing, the films are saying the same thing...
you are surrounded by a very subtle mind atmosphere in which you are going to be drowned.
I told my owner, that .I have been publishing because there are good things also happening in the
world. It is not that everybody is raping, it is not that everybody is committing suicide, there are
people who are doing some good wor$, beautifying life, helping people and I am trying to find those
people and their wor$..
-ust that day I had published an article on 'aba +mtayJ1K.
=ery few people $now about the man that he has devoted his whole life to the lepers, he has made a
beautiful place for the lepers in !aharashtra. Thousands of lepers and he has proved it wrong that just
by remaining in touch with lepers you will be infected. #e lives with them, his wife lives with them,
his children live with them and they all serve them and he has made all those thousands of lepers again
human beings because they are all producing something. If their hands cannot do, then their feet can
do something. If their feet cannot do, their hands can do something. 7ot a single leper is unproductive.
+nd he has given them dignity. 3therwise they were thrown out of their towns, they were not allowed
in the towns, nobody was ready even to tal$ to them, nobody was ready to give them any wor$. 7ow
this man should be tal$ed....
There may be many people who may become 'aba +mtayJ1K. There may be many people who may
be lepers somewhere suffering, may go to his beautiful place. #e calls it T+nandvanJ1K -- the forest of
bliss. +nd it is a beautiful forest and something worth seeing, that how people which have been for
centuries condemned can be raised bac$ to dignity, to self-respect... now they are earning their own
food, their own clothes and they are not dependent on anybody.
%ou will be surprised that 'aba +mtaysJ1K colony donates to many charitable institutions. +nd when
I used to go to his colony the people were so happy that we can help other people who are helpless just
as we were helpless some day.
.&o let your circulation drop. I $now that 'aba +mtayJ1K will not increase your circulation... 4avi
&han$ar will not increase your circulation. 'ut dont be worried, I will not be heavy on you. I can
force to remain for one year here to finish your firm, but I will not be heavy on you, I can understand
you. &o I can withdraw myself. %ou raise your circulation..
&o they have limitations. &o the people who are interested... at the most what news media can do is to
create curiosity, interest. )rom there you have to go to the deeper sources: to my boo$s, to my tapes, to
my videos. If you thin$ that just the newspapers information is enough then you will be misguided.
&o this is my message to the man around: that from the newspapers and other news media ta$e the
hint.... 7ow almost all over the world every newspaper is tal$ing about me, every radio, every
television. There are few who have the intelligence and courage to represent me rightly, even ris$ing
their jobs. There are few who are intelligent enough but dont have courage, they cannot ris$ their jobs
but they can at least be factual. They need not distort.
'ut the majority will be there which will try to distort everything so it becomes sensational. It will
ta$e things out of conte*t to ma$e it sensational.
'ut there is no problem just the people have to understand their limitations. +nd they have to ta$e the
hint that if the whole world media is interested in this man... they may be ma$ing famous or notorious,
they may be condemning me or praising me -- does not matter. What matters is that the whole world
news media is interested in this man, it is worth searching a little bit on your own.
%ou will not be at a loss.
I am not here to perpetuate the past" hence I am against all $nowledge.

I am all for learning, but learning means innocence, learning means openness, learning means
receptivity.

5earning means a non-egoistic approach towards reality. 5earning means: .I dont $now and I am
ready -- ready to $now..

8nowledge means: .I $now already.. 8nowledge is the greatest deception that
society creates in peoples minds.

!y function is to serve the future, not the past.

The past is no more, but the future is coming every moment.

I want you to become innocent, seers, $nowers -- not $nowledgeable -- alert, aware, not
unconsciously clinging to conclusions.
The moment before I came in I was listening to one of the greatest flutists, #ari <rasad. It stirred many
memories in me.
There are many types of flute in the world. The most important is the +rabic" the most beautiful, the
-apanese" and there are many others. 'ut there is nothing comparable to the small Indian bamboo flute
for its sweetness. +nd #ari <rasad is certainly a master as far as the flute is concerned. #e played
before me, not just once but many times. Whenever he felt he had to play really to his utmost, he
would rush to me wherever I was, sometimes even thousands of miles, just to play his flute for one
hour alone with me.
I as$ed him, .#ari <rasad, you could have played anywhere -- why ma$e such a long journey(.
+nd in India, one thousand miles is almost li$e twenty thousand miles in the West. The Indian trains
-- they still wal$, not run. In -apan the trains run at four hundred miles per hour" and in India forty
miles an hour is a great speed" and the buses, and the ric$shaws. -ust to play the flute for one hour
alone in my bedroom... I as$ed him, .Why(.
#e said, .'ecause I have thousands of admirers but nobody understands particularly the soundless
sound. 6nless one understands the soundless sound he cannot really appreciate.... &o I come to you"
and just that one hour is enough to enable me to play my flute for months before all $inds of idiots --
governors, chief ministers, and the so-called T great ones. When I feel utterly tired and e*hausted and
fed up with the idiots, I run to you. <lease dont deny me just this one hour..
I said, .It is a joy to hear you, your flute, your song. In themselves they are great, but particularly so
because they remind me of the man who introduced us. 9o you remember that man(.
#e had completely forgotten who had introduced him to me, and I can understand... it must have been
forty years before. I was a small child, he was a young man. #e tried hard to remember but could not,
and said, .2*cuse me but it seems my memory is not functioning well. I cannot even remember the
man who introduced me to you. 2ven if I forget everything else, at least I should remember him..
I reminded him of the man, and he became just tears. That is the man I would li$e to tal$ to you about
today.
<agal 'aba was one of those remar$able men whom I am going to tal$ about. #e was of the same
category as !agga 'aba. #e was $nown just as <agal 'aba. <agal means .the mad.. #e came li$e a
wind, always suddenly, and then disappeared as suddenly as he had come....
I did not discover him, he discovered me. 'y that I mean I was just swimming in the river when he
passed by: he loo$ed at me, I loo$ed at him, and he jumped in the river and we swam together. I dont
$now how long we swam but I was not the one to say .enough.. #e was already an established saint. I
had seen him before, but not so closely, at a gathering, doing bhajan, and singing songs of /od. I had
seen him, and had a certain feeling towards him, but I had $ept it to myself. I had not even uttered a
single word about it. There are things which are better $ept in the heart" there they grow faster, thats
the right soil.
+t this time he was an old man" I was not more than twelve. 3bviously he was the one to say, .5et us
stop. I am feeling tired..
I said, .%ou could have told me any time and I would have stopped, but as far as I am concerned I am
a fish in the river..
%es, thats how I was $nown in my town. Who else swims si* hours every morning from four till ten(
When everybody was asleep, fast asleep, I would be already in the river. +nd when everybody had
gone to wor$ I would still be in the river. 3f course at ten ocloc$ every day my grandmother would
come, and then I would have to come out of the water because it was school time, I had to go to
school. 'ut immediately after school I was bac$ in the river.
When I first came across &I99#+4T#+, #erman #esses novel, I could not believe that what he had
written about the river I had $nown so many times. +nd I $new perfectly well that #esse was only
imagining... a good imagination, because he died without being a 'uddha. #e was able to create
&I99#+4T#+, but could not become a &iddhartha. 'ut when I came across his description of the
river, and the moods, and the changes, and the feelings of the river, I was overwhelmed. I was more
impressed by his description of the river than anything else. I cannot recall how long I had loved the
river -- it seemed as if I had been born in its waters.
In my 7anis village I was continuously either in the la$e or in the river. The river was a little too far
away, perhaps two miles, so I had to choose the la$e more often. 'ut once in a while I used to go to
the river, because the ;uality of a river and a la$e are totally different. + la$e, in a certain way, is dead,
closed, not flowing, not going anywhere at all, static. Thats the meaning of death. It is not dynamic.
The river is always on the go, rushing to some un$nown goal, perhaps not $nowing at all what that
goal is" but it reaches, $nowing or un$nowing, it reaches the goal. The la$e never moves. It remains
where it is, dormant, simply dying, everyday dying" there is no resurrection. 'ut the river howsoever
small, is as big as the ocean, because sooner or later it is going to become the ocean.
I have always loved the feel of the flow" just going, that flu*, that continuous movement... aliveness.
&o, even though the river was two miles away, I used once in a while to go, just to have the taste.
'ut in my fathers town the river was very close. It was just two minutes wal$ from my 7anis house.
&tanding on the top floor you could see it" it was there with all its grandeur and invitation...
irresistible.
I used to rush bac$ from school to the river. %es, just for a moment I would stop to throw my boo$s in
at my 7anis house. &he would persuade me to at least have a cup of tea, saying, .9ont be in such a
hurry. The river is not going to leave, its not a train.. Thats e*actly what she used to say again and
again: .4emember, it is not a train. %ou cannot miss it. &o please drin$ your cup of tea, then go. +nd
dont throw your boo$s down li$e that..
I didnt say anything because that would have meant further delay. &he was always ama:ed, saying,
.+t any other time you are ready to argue" but when you are going to the river, even if I say anything
-- whether it is nonsense, illogical, absurd -- you simply listen as if you were such an obedient child.
What happens to you when you are going to the river(.
I said, .7ani, you $now me. %ou $now perfectly well that I dont want to waste time. The river is
calling. I can even hear the sound of its waves while I am drin$ing my tea..
I have burned my lips many times just by drin$ing tea which was too hot. 'ut I was in a hurry, and
the cup had to be emptied. !y 7ani was there" she wouldnt allow me to go before I dran$ my tea.
&he was not li$e /udia. /udia is special in that way" she always tells me, .Wait. The tea is too hot..
<erhaps it is my old habit. I again start ta$ing the cup and so she says, .Wait! Its too hot.. I $now she
is right, so I wait until she does not object, then I drin$ the tea. <erhaps the old habit of just drin$ing
tea and rushing to the river is still there.
+lthough my grandmother $new that I wanted to reach the waters as soon as possible, she would try
to persuade me to have a little something to eat -- this or that. I would say to her, .-ust give everything
to me. I will $eep it in my poc$ets and eat it on the way.. I have always li$ed cashew nuts, particularly
salted ones, and for years I used to fill all my poc$ets with them. +ll my poc$ets meant two in my
pants, meaning shorts, because I never li$ed long trousers -- perhaps because all my teachers wore
them, and I hated teachers, and a certain association must have arisen. &o I only wore shorts.
In India shorts are far better, climatically, than long trousers. 'oth my pants poc$ets were full of
cashew nuts" and you will be surprised: just because of those cashew nuts I had to tell the tailor to
ma$e two poc$ets in my shirts. I always had two poc$ets in my shirts. I never understood the reason
why just one poc$et was put on shirts. Why not only one poc$et in trousers too( 3r just one poc$et in
shorts( Why only one in shirts( The reason is not obvious, but I $now why. The single shirt poc$et is
always on the left side so that the right hand can ta$e things out and put things in, and naturally no
poc$et is needed for the poor left hand. What would a poor man do with a poc$et(
The left hand is one of the repressed parts of the human body" and if you try, you will understand
what I am saying. %ou can do everything with the left hand that you can do with the right, even
writing, and perhaps better.
+fter thirty or forty years of habit, in the beginning you would certainly find it difficult to use your
left hand, because the left hand has been ignored and $ept ignorant. The left hand is really the most
important part of your body because it represents the right side of your brain. %our left hand is
connected to your right brain, and your right hand with the left brain, just li$e a cross. The right is
really left, and the left is really right. To ignore the left hand is to ignore the right side of your brain --
and the right side of your brain contains all that is valuable, all the diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, and
rubies... all that is valuable -- all the rainbows and the flowers, and the stars.
The right side of the brain contains the intuition, the instincts" in short it contains the feminine. The
right hand is a male chauvinist.
%ou will be surprised to $now that when I started writing, being such a nuisance, I started writing
with my left hand. 3f course everybody was against me" again, of course, e*cept my 7ani. &he was
the only one who said, .If he wants to write with his left hand what is wrong with it(. &he went on,
.The ;uestion is to write. Why are you all so concerned which hand he uses( #e can hold the pen in
his left hand, and you can hold the pen in your right hand. What is the problem(.
'ut nobody would allow me to use my left hand, and she could not be everywhere with me. In school,
every teacher and every student was against me using my left hand. 4ight is right, and left is wrong"
even now I cannot understand why. Why should the left side of the body be denied and $ept
imprisoned( +nd do you $now that ten percent of people would love to write with their left hand" in
fact they had started writing li$e that but were stopped.
It is one of the most ancient calamities that has happened to man, that half of his being is not even
available to him. + strange $ind of man we have created! It is li$e a bulloc$ cart with only one wheel:
the other wheel is there but $ept invisible" used, but only in an underground way. It is ugly. I resisted
from the very beginning.
I as$ed the teacher and the headmaster, .&how me the reason why I should write with my right hand..
They just shrugged their shoulders. I then said, .%our shrugging will not help, you have to answer me.
%ou would not accept me if I shrugged my shoulders" then why should I accept you( I dont ta$e any
notice of it. <lease e*plain properly..
I was sent to the school board because the teachers would not understand me, or e*plain to me. In fact
they understood me perfectly. What I was saying was plain: .What was wrong in writing with the left
hand( +nd if I write the right answer with my left hand, can that answer be wrong -- just because it
has been written with the left hand(.
They said, .%ou are cra:y and you will drive everybody else cra:y. It is better that you go to see the
school board..
The board was the municipal committee which directed all the schools. In the town there were four
primary schools and two high schools, one for girls and one for boys. What a town -- where boys and
girls are $ept so absolutely apart. It was this board that made decisions about almost everything, so
naturally I was sent there.
The board members listened to me very seriously, as if I were a murderer and they were sitting li$e
judges, to hang me. I said to them, .9ont be so serious, rela*. -ust tell me what is wrong if I write
with my left hand(.
They loo$ed at each other. I then said, .That wont help. %ou have to answer me, and I am not easy to
deal with. %ou will have to give it in writing because I dont trust you. The way you are loo$ing at
each other appears so cunning and political that it is better to have your answer in writing. Write what
is wrong in writing a right answer with the left hand..
They sat there almost li$e statues. 7obody even tried to say anything to me. 7obody was ready to
write either, they simply said, .We will have to consider it..
I said, .,onsider. I am standing here. Who is preventing you from considering in front of me( Is it
something private li$e a love affair( +nd you are all respected citi:ens: at least si* people should not
be in a love affair -- that would be li$e group se*..
They shouted at me, .&hut up! 9ont use such words!.
I said, .I have to use such words just to provo$e you, otherwise you would just sit there li$e statues.
+t least now you have moved and said something. 7ow, consider, and I will help you, and not hinder
you at all..
They said, .<lease go out. We cannot consider it in front of you" you are bound to interfere. We $now
about you, and so does everybody else in the town. If you dont leave then we will leave..
I said, .%ou can leave first, that is gentlemanly..
They had to leave their own committee room before me. The decision came the ne*t day. The
decision was simply that .The teachers were right, and everybody should write with their right hand..
This phoniness is dominant everywhere. I cannot even comprehend what $ind of stupidity it is. +nd
these are the people who are in power! The rightists! They are powerful, the male chauvinists are
powerful. The poets are not powerful, nor the musicians....
7ow loo$ at this man #ari <rasad ,haurasia -- such a beautiful bamboo flute player, but he lived his
whole life in utter poverty. #e could not remember <agal 'aba, who had introduced him to me-or is it
better to say, T me to him -- because I was only a child, and #ari <rasad was a world-recogni:ed
authority as far as the bamboo flute is concerned.
There were other flutists also introduced to me by <agal 'aba, particularly <annalal /hosh. 'ut I had
heard his playing and he was nothing compared to #ari <rasad. Why did <agal 'aba introduce me to
these people( #e himself was the greatest flutist, but he would not play before the crowd. %es, he
played before me, a child, or before #ari <rasad, or before <annalal /hosh, but he made it a point that
we should not mention it to anyone. #e $ept his flute hidden in his bag.
The last time I saw him he gave me his flute and said, .We will not meet again. 7ot that I dont want
to meet you, but because this body is not capable of carrying itself any longer.. #e must have been
about ninety. .'ut as a memento I give you this flute, and I say to you, if you practice you can become
one of the greatest flutists..
I said, .'ut I dont want to become even the greatest flutist. To be a flutist is not what can fulfill me. It
is one-dimensional..
#e understood and said, .Then it is up to you..
I as$ed him many times why he tried to contact me whenever he came to the village, because that was
the first thing he would do.
#e said, .Why( %ou should as$ it the other way around -- why do I come to the village( -ust to
contact you... I dont come to this village for any other reason..
)or a moment I could not say a word, not even .than$ you.. In fact in #indi there is no word which is
really e;uivalent to .than$ you.. %es, there is a word which is used, but it has a totally different flavor,
dhanyavad: it means ./od bless you.. 7ow, a child cannot say ./od bless you. to a ninety-year-old
man. I said, .'aba, dont give me trouble. I cannot even than$ you.. To say that I had to use an 6rdu
word, shu$riya, which comes closer to the 2nglish, but it is still not e*actly the same. &hu$riya means
.gratitude,. but it comes very close.
I said to him, .%ou have given me this flute. I will $eep it in your memory, and I will try to practice
too. Who $nows( %ou, you $now better than me" perhaps that is my future, but I dont see any future
in it..
#e laughed and said, .It is difficult to tal$ to you. 8eep the flute with you and try to play with it. If
something happens, good" if nothing happens then just $eep it in my memory..
I started playing on it, and I loved it. I played it for years and became really proficient. I used to play
the flute, and one of my friends -- not really a friend, but an ac;uaintance -- used to play on the tabla.
We both came to $now each other because we both loved swimming.
3ne year when the river was in flood, and we were both trying to swim across -- that was my joy, to
cross the river in the rainy season when it used to become really enlarged" flowing with such force that
it used to carry us at least two or three miles downstream. -ust crossing meant we had to be ready to
travel three miles bac$, and to cross bac$ meant traveling three miles further, so it was a si*-mile
journey! +nd in the rainy season...! 'ut that was one of my joys.
This boy, #ari was his name too. #ari is a very common name in India" it means ./od,. but it is a
very strange name. I dont thin$ any language has a name for /od li$e #ari because it really means
.the thief. -- /od the thief! Why should /od be called a thief( 'ecause sooner or later #e steals your
heart... and the sooner the better. The boys name was #ari.
We were both trying to cross the river in full flood. It must have been almost a mile wide. #e did not
survive" he drowned somewhere on the way across. I searched and loo$ed, but it was impossible: the
river was flooding too fast. If he had drowned, it would have been impossible to find him" perhaps
someone further down the river would find his body.
I called as loudly as I could, but the river was roaring. I went to the river every day, and tried the best
that a child could do. The police tried, the fishermens association tried, but not even a trace was
found. #e must have been ta$en by the river long before they heard about it. In his memory I threw
the bamboo flute that <agal 'aba had given me into the river.
I said, .I would have li$ed to throw myself but I have other wor$ to do. This is the most precious
thing that I have, ne*t to myself, so I throw it. I will never play this flute again without #ari playing
on the tabla. I cannot conceive of myself ever playing again. Ta$e it, please!.
It was a beautiful flute, perhaps carved by a very s$illful flutema$er. <erhaps it had been made
specially for <agal 'aba by one of his devotees. I will tal$ more about <agal 'aba because so many
things have to be said about him....
What is the time(
.Ten twenty-three, 3sho..
/ood. The time today will not suffice, so we will have to leave <agal 'aba for some other time. 'ut
one thing perhaps I may forget later on, that is about the boy #ari, who died.... 7obody $nows
whether he died or escaped from his home, because his dead body was never found. 'ut I thin$ for
certain that he died, because I was swimming with him, and suddenly at a certain point in the middle
of the river I saw him disappearing. I shouted, .#ari! Whats the problem(. but there was nobody to
answer.
To me, India itself is dead. I dont thin$ of India as a living part of humanity. It is a dead land, dead
for so many centuries that even the dead have forgotten that they are dead. They have been dead so
long, somebody has to remind them. Thats what I am trying to do, but it is a very than$less tas$,
reminding somebody, saying, .&ir, you are dead. 9ont believe that you are alive..
Thats what I have been doing continuously for these twenty-five years, day in, day out. It hurts that a
country that has given birth to 'uddha, !ahavira and 7agarjuna is dead.
<oor 9evageet -- just to hide his giggle, he had to cough. &ometimes I wonder who is ta$ing the
notes. ,oughing is o$ay, giggling is also forgiven, but what about the notes( I used to deceive my
teachers by just scribbling, pretending that I was ta$ing notes, and fast. +nd I used to laugh when they
were deceived. 'ut it is impossible to deceive me, and it is good that you cannot. I am watching you,
even though you thin$ my eyes are closed. %es, they are closed, but open enough to see what you are
writing.
This is beautiful. I hit you so hard and yet you...
... &top it now.

/limpses of a /olden ,hildhood
,hapter DVL
Why should one be a ,hristian( It is ugly. 'e a christ if you can be, but dont be a ,hristian. 'e a
buddha if you have any respect for yourself, but dont be a 'uddhist. The 'uddhist believes. 'uddha
$nows.
When you can $now, when $nowing is possible, why settle for believing( 'ut again, the society would
li$e you to believe, because believers are good people, obedient, law-abiding. They follow all
formalities and eti;uette, they are never trouble-ma$ers. They simply follow the crowd, whichever
crowd they happen to be in" they simply go with the crowd. They are not real men, they are sheep.
#umanity has not yet arrived.
&omebody once said to /eorge 'ernard &haw, .What do you thin$ about civili:ation(.
#e said, .It is a good idea. &omebody should try it..
It has not yet been tried. #umanity is still arriving" we are still groping between animality and
humanity. We are in limbo: man has to be born, man has to be given birth to" we have to prepare the
ground for man to appear.
+nd the most significant thing that will help that man to come will be if we can drop believing -- if
we can drop being ,hristians, #indus, !ohammedans, -ainas, 'uddhists, communists. If you can drop
believing, immediately your energy will ta$e a new turn: it will start in;uiring. +nd to in;uire is
beautiful. %our life will become a pilgrimage to truth, and in that very pilgrimage you grow.
/rowth is a by-product of the in;uiry into truth. 'elievers never grow, they remain childish. +nd
remember, to be childli$e and to be childish are poles apart, they are not the same thing. It is beautiful
to be childli$e. The man of trust is childli$e and the man of belief is childish. To be childli$e is the
ultimate in growth" that is the very culmination -- consciousness has come to the ultimate pea$. To be
childli$e means to be a sage, and to be childish means to be just un-grownup.
The average mental age of human beings on the earth today is not more than twelve years. When for
the first time this was discovered, it was such a shoc$. 7obody had ever thought about it" it was just
by accident that it became $nown. In the )irst World War, for the first time in human history, the
people who were candidates, who wanted to enter the army, were e*amined. Their mental age was
in;uired into, their I0 was determined. This was a great revelation -- that they were not more than
twelve years" the average age was just twelve years.
This is childishness. The body goes on growing, and the mind has stopped at the age of twelve. What
$ind of humanity have we created on this earth( Why does the mind stop at twelve( 'ecause by the
time one is twelve, one has gathered all $inds of beliefs" one is already a believer, one already
.$nows. what truth is. 3ne is a ,hristian, another is a communist" one believes in /od, one does not
believe in /od" one believes in The 'ible and the other believes in 9as 8apital" one believes in the
'hagavad /ita, another believes in the 4ed 'oo$ of !ao >edong.
We have drilled concepts and ideologies into the innocent minds of poor children. They are already
becoming $nowers. 9o you $now -- by the age of seven, a child already $nows fifty percent of all that
he will ever $now. +nd by the time he is fourteen he has almost arrived" now there is nowhere to go,
he has only to vegetate. 7ow he will e*ist as a cabbage. If he goes to college then, as they say, he may
become a cauliflower. + cabbage with a college education is a cauliflower. 'ut there is not much
difference, just labels change. The cabbage becomes an !.+., a <h.9., this and that, and just to show
respect we call it a cauliflower. 'ut the mental age is twelve.
The real man grows to the very end. 2ven while he is dying, he is growing. 2ven the last moment of
his life will still be an in;uiry, a search, a learning. #e will still be in;uiring -- now in;uiring into
death. #e will be fascinated: death is such an un$nown phenomenon, such a mystery, far more
mysterious than life itself -- how can an intelligent man be afraid( If in life he has not been afraid to
go into the uncharted and the un$nown, at the moment of death he will be thrilled, ecstatic. 7ow the
last moment has come: he will be entering into the dar$ness, the dar$ tunnel of death. This is the
greatest adventure one can ever go on" he will be learning.
+ real man never believes" he learns. + real man never becomes $nowledgeable" he always remains
open, open to truth. +nd he always remembers that .It is not that truth has to adjust to me, but just vice
versa: I have to adjust to truth.. The believer tries to adjust truth to himself, the see$er adjusts himself
to truth. 4emember the difference" the difference is tremendous. 3ne who believes, he says, .Truth
should be li$e this, this is my belief..
-ust thin$ of a ,hristian.... If /od appears not li$e -esus ,hrist but li$e 8rishna, not on the cross but
with a flute and girlfriends dancing around him, the ,hristian will close his eyes" he will say, .This is
not my cup of tea.. /irlfriends( ,an you thin$ of -esus with girlfriends( The cross and girlfriends
cant go together. -esus hanging on the cross and girlfriends dancing around( It wont fit, it will be
very bi:arre. #e was waiting for ,hrist to appear, and instead of ,hrist this guy, 8rishna, appears: he
seems to be debauched. +nd the flute( The world is suffering and people are hungry and they need
bread -- and this man is playing on the flute( #e seems to be utterly uncompassionate, he seems to be
indulgent. The ,hristian cannot believe in 8rishna: if /od appears as 8rishna, then the ,hristian will
say, .This is not /od..
+nd the same will be the case with the #indu who was waiting for 8rishna: if ,hrist appears, that
will not be his idea of /od -- so sad, such a long face, so gloomy, with such suffering on his face.
,hristians say -esus never laughed. I dont thin$ they are right, and I dont thin$ they are representing
the real ,hrist, but thats what they have managed to propagate. The #indu cannot accept the
revelation" he must thin$ this is some $ind of nightmare. -esus will not appeal to him.
The believer cannot even trust his own e*perience. 2ven if truth is revealed, he will reject it, unless it
fits with him. #e is more important than truth itself: truth has an obligation to fit with him. #e is the
criterion, he is the decisive factor. This $ind of man can never $now truth" he is already prejudiced,
poisoned.
The man who wants to $now truth has to be capable of dropping all concepts about truth. 2verything
about truth has to be dropped. 3nly then can you $now truth. 8now well: to $now about truth is not to
$now truth. Whatsoever you $now may be utter nonsense" there is every possibility that it is utter
nonsense. In fact people can be conditioned to believe any $ind of nonsense" they can be convinced.

3nce I went to address a conference of theosophists. 7ow, theosophists are people who will believe
any bullshit -- +7%! The more shitty it is, the more believable. &o I just played a jo$e on them. I
simply invented something" I invented a society called .&itnalta.. They were all do:ing, they became
alert. .&itnalta(. I made the word by just reading .+tlantis. bac$wards. +nd then I told them, .This
$nowledge comes from +tlantis, the continent that disappeared in the +tlantic ocean..
+nd then I tal$ed about it: .There are really not seven cha$ras but seventeen. That great ancient
esoteric $nowledge is lost, but a society of enlightened masters still e*ists, and it still wor$s. It is a
very very esoteric society, very few people are allowed to have any contact with it" its $nowledge is
$ept utterly secret..
+nd I tal$ed all $inds of nonsense that I could manage. +nd then the president of the society said, .I
have heard about this society.. 7ow it was my turn to be surprised. +nd about whatsoever I had said,
he said that it was the first time that the $nowledge of this secret society had been revealed so e*actly.
+nd then letters started coming to me. 3ne man even wrote saying, .I than$ you very much for
introducing this inner esoteric circle to the theosophists, because I am a member of the society, and I
can vouch that whatsoever you have said is absolutely true..

There are people li$e these who are just waiting to believe in anything, because the more nonsensical
a belief is, the more important it appears to be. The more absurd it is, the more believable -- because if
something is logical, then there is no ;uestion of believing in it.
%ou dont believe in the sun, you dont believe in the moon. %ou dont believe in the theory of
relativity: either you understand it or you dont understand it" there is no ;uestion of belief. %ou dont
believe in gravitation" there is no need. 7obody believes in a scientific theory -- it is logical. 'elief is
needed only when something illogical, something utterly absurd, is propounded.
Tertullian said, .I believe in /od because it is absurd: ,4293 06I+ +'&6496!, my creed is the
absurd..
+ll beliefs are absurd. If a belief is very logical, it will not create belief in you. &o people go on
inventing things.
!an is basically a coward, he does not want to in;uire. +nd he does not want to say .I dont $now.
either.
7ow, that president of the theosophical society who said, .I have heard about this society. -- he
cannot say that he does not $now, he does not have even that much courage. To accept ones ignorance
needs courage. To accept that you dont $now is the beginning of real $nowledge. %ou go on believing,
because there are holes in your life which have to be filled, and belief is easily available.
There are three hundred religions on the earth. 3ne truth, and three hundred religions( 3ne /od, and
three hundred religions( 3ne e*istence, and three hundred religions( +nd I am not tal$ing about sects
-- because each religion has do:ens of sects, and then there are sub-sects of sects, and it goes on and
on. If you count all the sects and all the sub-sects, then there will be three thousand or even more.
#ow can so many beliefs, contradictory to each other, go on( <eople have a certain need -- the need
not to appear ignorant. #ow to fulfill this need( /ather a few beliefs. +nd the more absurd the belief
is, the more $nowledgeable you appear, because nobody else $nows about it.
There are people who believe in a hollow earth, and that inside the earth there is a civili:ation. 7ow,
if somebody says so you cannot deny it" you cannot accept it, but at least you have to listen attentively.
+nd that serves a purpose: everybody wants to be listened to attentively. +nd one thing is certain, this
man $nows more than you. %ou dont $now whether the earth is hollow or not" this man $nows. +nd
who $nows( #e may be right. #e can gather a thousand and one proofs" he can argue for it, he can
propound it in such a way that you at least have to be silent if you dont agree.
'elievers and believers and believers -- but where is truth( There are so many believers, but where is
truth( If -ohn 5illy is right, then the world would be full of truth, you would come across it
everywhere. 2verybody would have truth, because everybody is a believer. 7o, it is all nonsense.
#e says, .What the mind believes is true or becomes true.. 7o. What the mind believes is never true,
because truth needs no belief. 'elief is a barrier to truth. +nd what the mind believes never becomes
true, because truth is not becoming, truth is being" it is already the case. %ou have to see it -- or you
can go on avoiding seeing it, but it is there. 7othing has to be added to it, it is eternally there.
+nd the best way to avoid truth is to believe. Then you need not loo$ at it. %our eyes become full of
belief" belief functions as dust on the eyes. %ou become closed into yourself, the belief becomes a
prison around you. 'elief closes you: then you are living within yourself in a windowless e*istence,
and you can go on believing whatsoever you want to believe. 'ut remember, it is belief, and belief is a
lie.
5et me say that even when the truth is told to you, dont believe in it! 2*plore, in;uire, search,
e*periment, e*perience: dont believe in it. 2ven when truth is conveyed to you, if you believe in it,
you turn it into a lie. + truth believed is a lie, belief turns truth into a lie.
'elieve in 'uddha and you believe in a lie. 'elieve in ,hrist and you believe in a lie. 9ont believe in
,hrist, dont believe in 'uddha, dont believe in me. What I say, listen to it attentively, intelligently"
e*periment, e*perience. +nd when you have e*perienced, will you need to believe in it( There will be
no doubt left, so what will be the point of belief( 'elief is a way of repressing doubt: you doubt, hence
you need belief.
The roc$ of belief represses the spring of doubt.
When you $now, you $now! %ou $now it is so" there is no doubt left. %our e*perience has e*pelled all
dar$ness and all doubt. Truth is: you are full of it. Truth never creates belief.
#ow to attain to truth( 'y dropping all $inds of beliefs. +nd remember, I am saying all $inds -- belief
in me is included. 2*perience me, come along with me, let me share what I have seen, but dont
believe, dont be in a hurry. 9ont say, .7ow what is the point( 7ow 3sho has seen it, all that is left for
me is to believe it..
What I have seen cannot become your e*perience unless you see it. +nd it is the e*perience of truth
that delivers you from ignorance, from bondage, from misery. It is not the belief that delivers you, it is
truth.
-esus says, .Truth liberates.. 'ut how to attain to truth( It is not a ;uestion of belief, but a ;uestion of
meditativeness. +nd what is meditation( !editation is emptying your mind completely of all belief,
ideology, concept, thought. 3nly in an empty mind, when there is no dust left on the mirror, truth
reflects. That reflection is a benediction.
I teach the individual, I teach the uni;ue individual. 4espect yourself, love yourself, because there has
never been a person li$e you and there never will be again. /od never repeats. %ou are utterly uni;ue,
incomparably uni;ue. %ou need not be li$e somebody else, you need not be an imitator, you have to be
authentically yourself, your own being. %ou have to do your own thing.
The moment you start accepting and respecting yourself you start becoming whole. Then there is
nothing to divide you, then there is nothing to create the split. #itherto, man has been schi:ophrenic.
+nd I am not saying that a few people have been schi:ophrenic: the whole humanity has been
schi:ophrenic. 5eave a few e*ceptions -- a 8rishna, a 5ao T:u here and there -- you can count them
on your fingers. They dont constitute humanity, they are e*ceptions, and the e*ceptions only prove the
rule. 'ut the greater part of humanity has lived a schi:ophrenic life, a divided life, fragmentary.
+nd how did man become so split( )irst thing: you are not acceptable as you are, so reject yourself.
4ather than respecting yourself, reject yourself" rather than respecting yourself, respect some idea,
some imaginary idea, of how you should be. 9ont live the real, try to live the .should. -- and then you
are split, you have become two. %ou are that which you are, but that you reject, repress. +nd you want
to be that which you are not, and that which you are not you love and you respect and you worship.
%ou have become two.
7ot only that you have been split in two, you have been made many -- because you were taught that
the body is your enemy, that you have to get rid of the body. %ou were taught that many things in you
have to be cut off, that you are not as you should be, that great changes have to be done.
7aturally you started rejecting your se*, you started rejecting your desires, you started rejecting your
anger. +nd all these rejected parts are energies to be transformed. They are not your enemies, they are
friends in disguise.
+nger transformed becomes compassion, se* transformed becomes prayer, greed transformed
becomes sharing. 'ut in the past it was told again and again, repeated down the ages, that you had to
reject this, reject that. If you listen to the old teachings you will be surprised -- you are rejected almost
ninety-nine percent. 3nly one percent, some imaginary soul of which you are not aware at all, is
accepted in you. +nd all that you are aware of is rejected.
These fragments do not allow you to become one piece, and unless you become one piece there is no
peace possible. 6nless you are a togetherness, integrated, crystalli:ed, you will not $now what /od is
-- because /od spea$s only to those who are real, /od spea$s only to those who are not a crowd, not
noisy.
When there are many in you, you are a crowd, and the crowd is noisy. When you become one, there is
silence. 3nly by becoming one will you attain to silence, and in that silence you can hear the voice of
/od, in that silence you can start feeling the presence of the divine. +nd when you are one, you will
be able to have a communion with the whole. 'y being a whole yourself, you become capable of
having a communion with the whole.
!an has lived very partially -- in fragments, in guilt, in fear. + new man is needed, urgently needed.
2nough is enough: say goodbye to the old man. The old has created only wars, violence" it has created
sadists, masochists, it has created a very ugly human being. It has made people pathological, it has not
allowed a natural, healthy, sane humanity to be born.
-ust the other day, somebody as$ed, .Who is a masochist and who is a sadist(.
+ masochist is a person who loves to have a cold shower every morning, but ta$es instead a warm
one. +nd the sadist is a person who, if as$ed by a masochist, .<lease, please, hit my head hard,. says
.7o!.
<eople are torturing themselves and torturing others in every possible way. In the name of religion, in
the name of morality, in the name of nationality, people are torturing each other, $illing each other.
'eautiful names have been found for very pathological, insane things. Insanities are called
.nationalities,. insanities are called .moralities. -- beautiful labels on very ugly things.
'ut it is time that we get rid of it all. +nd if we dont get rid of it all soon enough, then the cup will be
full. !an is going to die if the new does not arrive" the old cannot survive. There is no possibility for
the old to survive, it has come to its tethers end. It has lived more than e*pected.
I teach you a new man, a new humanity, which will not thin$ of the future and which will not live
with shoulds and oughts, which will not deny any natural instinct, which will accept its body, which
will accept all that is given by /od with deep gratitude.
%our body is your temple, it is sacred. %our body is not your enemy. It is not irreligious to love your
body, to ta$e care of your body -- it is religious. It is irreligious to torture your body and to destroy it.
The religious person will love his body because it is the temple where /od lives.
%ou and your body are not really two, but the manifestation of one. %our soul is your invisible body,
and your body is your visible soul. I teach this unity, and with this unity, man becomes whole. I teach
you joy, not sadness. I teach you playfulness, not seriousness. I teach you love and laughter, because to
me there is nothing more sacred than love and laughter, and there is nothing more prayerful than
playfulness.
I dont teach you renunciation, as it has been taught down the ages. I teach you: 4ejoice, rejoice, and
rejoice again! 4ejoicing should be the essential core of my sannyasins.
%es, 8rishna <rem, my approach to life is holistic, because to me, to be whole is to be holy.
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5+6/#T24 is the very essence of religion. &eriousness is never religious, cannot be religious.
&eriousness is of the ego, part of the very disease. 5aughter is egolessness.
%es, there is a difference between when you laugh and when a religious man laughs. The difference is
that you laugh always about others -- the religious man laughs at himself, or at the whole
ridiculousness of mans being.
4eligion cannot be anything other than a celebration of life. +nd the serious person becomes
handicapped: he creates barriers. #e cannot dance, he cannot sing, he cannot celebrate. The very
dimension of celebration disappears from his life. #e becomes desert-li$e. +nd if you are a desert, you
can go on thin$ing and pretending that you are religious but you are not.
%ou may be a sectarian, but not religious. %ou can be a ,hristian, a #indu, a 'uddhist, a -ain, a
!ohammedan, but you cannot be religious. %ou believe in something, but you dont $now anything.
%ou believe in theories. + man too much burdened by theories becomes serious. + man who is
unburdened, has no burden of theories over his being, starts laughing.
The whole play of e*istence is so beautiful that laughter can be the only response to it. 3nly laughter
can be the real prayer, gratitude.
This #otei is tremendously significant. 4arely has a man li$e #otei wal$ed on the earth. It is
unfortunate -- more people should be li$e #otei" more temples should be full of laughter, dancing,
singing. If seriousness is lost, nothing is lost -- in fact, one becomes more healthy and whole. 'ut if
laughter is lost, everything is lost. &uddenly you lose the festivity of your being" you become
colorless, monotonous, in a way dead. Then you energy is not streaming any more.
5aughter is a flowering. If 'uddha was the seed, then #otei is the flower on the same tree. If 'uddha
is the roots, then #otei is the flower on the same tree. +nd if you want to understand 'uddha, try to
understand #otei. +nd it is right that people used to call him the 5aughing 'uddha. 'uddha has come
of age in #otei. 'uddha has laughed in #otei. 2nlightenment has come to its very crescendo.
'ut it is difficult to understand #otei. To understand him you will have to be in that festive
dimension. If you are too much burdened with theories, concepts, notions, ideologies, theologies,
philosophies, you will not be able to see what this #otei is, what his significance is -- because he will
laugh loo$ing at you. #e will laugh because he will not be able to believe that a man can be so foolish
and so ridiculous.
It is as if a man is just trying to live on a coo$ery boo$ and has forgotten to coo$ food" just goes on
studying boo$s about food and how to prepare it and how not to prepare it, and argues this way and
that -- and is all the time hungry, all the time dying, and has forgotten completely that one cannot live
on boo$s. Thats what has happened: people are living on 'ibles, 8orans, 9hammapadas, /itas -- they
have completely forgotten that religion has to be lived. It is something that has to be digested. It is
something that has to circulate in your blood, become your bones, your very marrow. %ou cannot just
thin$ about it. Thin$ing is the most superficial part of your being. %ou have to absorb it!

This story has to be understood very deeply.
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W#27 for the first time you hear the phrase laughing 'uddha it loo$s a little contradictory, a
contradiction in terms. + 'uddha and laughing( 7ot a single statue e*ists, not a single painting, not a
single description, of 'uddha as laughing. 'ut that is not because 'uddha never laughed -- that is
because Indians are much too serious about religion.
!aybe that is one of the basic reasons why 'uddhism disappeared from India. India was too serious,
too intellectual, too full of theori:ing. 'uddha was very simple. #is approach was not of the mind" his
approach was of the e*istential being. +nd this country is the country of the pundits, the scholars, the
learned men, the $nowledgeable. If 'uddha disappeared from this country, it seems natural.
#e was bringing a totally different dimension -- something very original" something very natural yet
very original because man has forgotten it. #e was doing a tremendous service to humanity. #e was
not a pundit, not a philosopher, not a metaphysician. #e was a very simple being -- silent, happy, fully
alive, living moment-to-moment.
If you want to understand 'uddha, go via #otei. #otei is his true disciple. It is very difficult, because
whenever a man li$e 'uddha happens immediately pundits and scholars gather around. because they
get new material for their theori:ing. Intellectuals immediately gather around. They have something
new to philosophi:e about, to write about, to ma$e scriptures of.
It is said -- a very old story -- that once it happened:

+ man became 2nlightened. The disciples of the 9evil immediately went to the 9evil, their master,
and they said, .What are you doing sitting here( 4un fast! 4ush fast! 3ne man has become
2nlightened -- and we have to destroy his truth before it reaches to people, otherwise #ell will become
empty, nobody will be coming to #ell. 2verybody will go to #eaven, to <aradise, or to !o$sha!.
It is said that the 9evil sitting there smiled silently. #e said, .9ont be worried -- there is no hurry and
no worry. &cholars have already reached there. They will destroy the truth. They do our wor$ so
perfectly that we need not be worried..

Whenever a truth is born, a ray of light, suddenly scholars gather together -- intellectuals, professors,
philosophers. theoreticians -- and they jump upon the truth, they crush it" they mould it into dead
theories and scriptures. That which was alive becomes just a paper thing. The real rose disappears.
3nce I was staying in a ,hristian friends house. I started loo$ing into his 'ible: there was a rose. #e
must have $ept it in the 'ible. !any years old -- dry, dead, crushed between the pages of the 'ible. I
started laughing. #e came rushing from his bathroom. #e said, .What! )or what are you laughing(
What has happened(.
I said, .The same has happened to truth as has happened to this rose. 'etween the pages of your
'ible, the rose has died. 7ow it is just a memory of something which was alive one day. -ust a
remembrance. +ll fragrance gone, all aliveness gone. It is as dead as a plastic flower or a paper flower.
It has a history but it has no future. It has a past but it has no possibility. +nd the same has happened to
truth. In the pages of the scriptures it has died..
The 9evil said, .9ont be worried. Ta$e it easy -- If people have already reached there: the scholars,
the professors" they will immediately crush it..
When truth happens it is non-verbal, it is silent. It is so profound it cannot be e*pressed through
words. Then sooner or later people will come who will put it into words, who will systemati:e it. +nd
in their very systemati:ation it is $illed.
#otei lived a totally different life from an ordinary religious man. #is whole life was nothing but a
continuous laughter. It is said about #otei that even sometimes in sleep he would start laughing. #e
had a big belly, and the belly would sha$e. &ardar /urdayal &ingh would have enjoyed meeting him,
and #otei would have enjoyed &ardar /urdayal &ingh. <eople would as$ him, .Why are you
laughing( and even in sleep!. 5aughter was so natural to him that any and everything would help him
to laugh. Then the w hole life, awa$e or asleep, is a comedy.
%ou have turned life into a tragedy. %ou have made a tragic mess of your life. 2ven when you laugh,
you dont laugh. 2ven when you pretend to laugh, the laughter is just forced, manipulated, managed. It
is not coming from the heart, not at all from the belly. It is not something coming from your center" it
is just something painted on the periphery. %ou laugh for reasons -- which have nothing to do with
laughter.
I have heard: In a small office, the boss was telling some old stale anecdote, which he had told many
times. +nd everybody was laughing -- one has to laugh! They were all bored by it, but the boss is the
boss, and when the boss tells a jo$e you have to laugh -- it is part of duty. -ust one woman typist was
not laughing, was sitting straight, serious. The boss said, .What is the matter with you( Why are you
not laughing(.
&he said, .I am leaving this month. -- then there is no point!
It happened:

!ulla 7asrudin listened very attentively while a stranger told a long story in the coffee-house. 'ut the
man spo$e so indistinctly and muffed his punchline so badly that the story was not funny at all, and
e*cept for the !ulla no one laughed. 'ut the !ulla laughed heartily.
.Why did you laugh, 7asrudin(. I as$ed him afterwards when the stranger had left.
.I always do,. replied 7asrudin. .If you dont laugh, there is always the danger of their telling it over
again..

<eople have their own reasons. 2ven laughter is businessli$e" even laughter is economic, political.
2ven laughter is not just laughter. +ll purity is lost. %ou cannot even laugh in a pure way, in a simple
way, childli$e. +nd if you cannot laugh in a pure way, you are losing something tremendously
valuable. %ou are losing your virginity, your purity, your innocence.
Watch a small child" watch his laughter -- so profound, comes from the very center. When a child is
born, the first social activity that the child learns -- or maybe it is not right to say learns, because he
brings it with himself -- is smiling. The first social activity. 'y smiling he becomes part of society. It
seems very natural, spontaneous. 3ther things will come later on -- that is his first spar$ of being in
the world, when he smiles. When a mother sees her child smiling, she becomes tremendously happy --
because that smile shows health, that smile shows intelligence, that smile shows that the child is not
stupid, not retarded. That smile shows that the child is going to live, love, be happy. The mother is
simply thrilled.
&miling is the first social activity, and should remain the basic social activity. 3ne should go on
laughing the whole of ones life. If you can laugh in all sorts of situations, you will become so capable
of encountering them -- and that encounter will bring maturity to you. I am not saying dont weep. In
fact, if you cannot laugh, you cannot weep. They go together" they are part of one phenomenon: of
being true and authentic.
There are millions of people whose tears have dried" their eyes have lost luster, depth" their eyes have
lost water -- because they cannot weep, they cannot cry" tears cannot flow naturally. If laughter is
crippled, tears are also crippled. 3nly a person who laughs well can weep well. +nd if you can weep
and laugh well, you are alive. The dead man cannot laugh and cannot weep. The dead man can be
serious. Watch: go and loo$ at a corpse -- the dead man can be serious in a more s$illful way than you
can be. 3nly an alive man can laugh and weep and cry.
These are moods of your inner being, these are climates -- enriching. 'ut, by and by, everybody
forgets. That which was natural in the beginning becomes unnatural. %ou need somebody to po$e you
into laughter, tic$le you into laughter -- only then do you laugh. Thats why so many jo$es e*ist in the
world.
%ou may not have observed, but -ews have the best jo$es in the world. +nd the reason is because they
have lived in deeper misery than any other race. They had to create jo$es, otherwise they would have
been dead long before. They have passed through so much misery, they have been tortured down the
centuries so much, they have been crushed, murdered -- they had to create a sense of the ridiculous.
That has been a saving device. #ence, they have the most beautiful jo$es. the funniest, the
profoundest.
What I am trying to show you is this: that we laugh only when there is some reason which is forcing
us to laugh. + jo$e is told, and you laugh -- because a jo$e creates a certain e*citement in you. The
whole mechanism of a jo$e is: the story goes in one direction, and suddenly it ta$es a turn" the turn is
so sudden, so drastic, that you could not have imagined it. 2*citement grows and you are waiting for
the punchline. +nd then suddenly, whatsoever you were e*pecting is never there -- something
absolutely different, something very absurd and ridiculous, never fulfilling your e*pectation.
+ jo$e is never logical. If a jo$e is logical it will lose all its sense of laughter, the ;uality of laughter,
because then you will be able to predict. Then by the time the jo$e is being said, you will have reached
the punchline because it will be a syllogism, it will be simple arithmetic. 'ut then it will not have any
laughter. + jo$e ta$es a sudden turn, so sudden that it was almost impossible for you to imagine it, to
infer it. It ta$es a jump, a leap, a ;uantum leap -- and thats why it releases so much laughter. It is a
subtle psychological way to tic$le you.
I have to tell jo$es because I am afraid -- you are all religious people. %ou tend to be serious. I have to
tic$le you so sometimes you forget your religiousness, you forget all your philosophies, theories,
systems, and you fall down to earth. I have to bring you bac$ to the earth again and again, otherwise
you will tend to become serious, more and more serious. +nd seriousness is a canceric growth.
!uch you can learn from #otei.
'uddha used to call his meditation >+7. >+7 I& a <ali term for the &ans$rit 9#%+7+. )rom >+7
came the ,hinese ,#+7 and the -apanese >27. In -apan >en became the crescendo" what 'uddha
had planted as a seed flowered in -apan, came to its clima*. What 'uddha had started came to a
conclusion. +nd >en people say: !editation is nothing but sitting silently, doing nothing.
7either the religious leader nor the politician is interested in the people whom they pretend to lead.
They are interested in being leaders W and of course the leader cannot be without the led, so it is a
necessity to go on promising the people things. <oliticians promise them things of this world" religious
leaders promise them things of the other world. 'ut do you see any difference in what they are doing(
'oth are promising so that you go on following them, afraid to get lost somewhere else, because if you
lose the path then you will miss the promise.

The promise $eeps you with the crowd W and promises donSt cost anything. %ou can promise
anything. <romises are always for tomorrow, and tomorrow never comes.

)rom 9ar$ness to 5ight, chapter H
With 'uddha totally different phenomena happened. #e was one of the most fortunate masters of
human history, because what he found has been going on higher and higher in its e*pression, in its
poetry, in its rhythm. In >en it has come to its uttermost flowering. >en is pure essence, just fragrance.
3nly those who are 42+55% intelligent will be able to understand it" otherwise, the mediocre will
feel offended -- even mediocre 'uddhists feel very offended.
-ust listen to I$$yus words.... The mediocre man cannot find any security in them. #e lives through
goals -- the mediocre sinner and the mediocre saint, both live through goals. 3nly an absolutely
intelligent person can live without goals" only intelligence can live herenow. 3nly intelligence can live
in the moment, without bringing anything from the outside.
-esus says: 5oo$ at the lilies in the field -- they thin$ not of the tomorrow, they toil not. +nd yet even
&olomon, attired in all his costly clothes, was not so beautiful as these poor lily-flowers.
What is so beautiful in these lily-flowers( &olomon is not so beautiful with all his $ingdom and
riches. 2ven he was not attired in such grandeur, in such splendour as these poor lily-flowers. What is
&3 beautiful in these flowers( They live in the moment, they thin$ not of the morrow.
+ man of absolute intelligence becomes a flower. #e lives herenow. #e has no past and he has no
future. +nd because he has no past and he has no future, you cannot say that he lives in the present
either, because present is just a midway station between the movement that happens from past to
future. The present is just a station on the way. When past and future disappear, present also
disappears. What is left is a timelessness. 7ow is a timeless moment. It is eternity -- and 'uddha calls
it meditation.
If guilt disappears, religion disappears. +nd guilt disappears if goal disappears. /uilt is a shadow of
the goal.
7ow, ,hristianity wont li$e it, Islam wont li$e it, #indus wont li$e it -- they all live on the goal.
They will not li$e this flight to the beyond" they will not li$e this poetic, aesthetic religion. They have
become accustomed to a very ordinary religion, businessli$e" it is part of their mar$etplace .
'uddha is very wide-winged. #e goes to the farthest s$y. +nd he wants you to come to those heights
of being, depth of being. +79 T#2% +42 +55 +=+I5+'52 73W! &o remember again and again:
he is not giving you a goal somewhere in the future -- he is simply ma$ing you aware that all that you
need is available now. 7othing more is needed. 7othing more will 2=24 happen, nothing more can
ever happen. If you want to live, all is happening now -- become part of it, dissolve into it. +nd to help
you dissolve into it he emphasi:es that there is no self, because if there is a self you cannot dissolve.
%ou can dissolve only if there is no self.
With 372 stro$e of his sword, 'uddha ma$es all religions disappear -- the priest, the saint, the
sinner, the commandments, +dam and 2ve, the disobedience, the original sin. With one stro$e of his
sword they all disappear, they are annihilated !an is left alone -- and nature. +nd because there is no
self inside you, there is no division between inside and outside" there is no boundary between outside
and inside. 3utside is inside, inside is outside.
Thats why a strange parado*ical statement has been made by >en people: samsara is nirvana -- T#I&
very world is enlightenment, this very earth is the lotus-land of 'uddhas, and this very body the
'uddha.

&2,379 T#I7/: this understanding has not to be practised. %ou cannot practise it, because practice
implies the goal. This understanding either is there or is not there. There is no methodology to practise
it.
<ractising means you are again thin$ing to do something tomorrow, or at least you can do it tomorrow
and you can reap the results tomorrow. 'ut the tomorrow has entered somewhere deep in your
unconscious, it has come bac$. 7o practice can give you this understanding. T#I& understanding is
not a ;uestion of practice -- this understanding is only a ;uestion of understanding.
&o it was not accidental that 'uddha and his teaching were destroyed in India, because the mediocre
mind could not tolerate him, his insight: it was too much. They could not understand it. They wanted
some methodology to be given, to be practised, and 'uddha was tal$ing of pure essence. +nd he says
right now is deliverance.
+nd a very strange phenomenon happens: if there is no sin and no saintliness, whatsoever you have
been doing starts changing -- not that you change it. In fact, to commit a sin, first it has to be a sin. /o
deep into it.... The temptation of a sin is because of the denial. The joy of committing it comes because
it is a sin. If it is no more a sin, the very temptation disappears.
If +dam had not been told: 9ont eat from this Tree of 8nowledge, he would never have bothered
about it. The very commandment created the temptation.
Watch your own mind, how it functions. If it is said about something, .9ont do it!. a great desire to
do it arises. 3ne feels offended by the commandment. 3ne wants to rebel" one wants to assert oneself.
3ne wants to say, .I am myself, and I will do my own thing, and I am not going to listen to anybody..
2ach child passes through that stage, and each man and woman is stuc$ in that stage. Whatsoever
your parents have been telling you not to do you have been doing. In fact, by their telling you
constantly not to do they are creating temptations. )reedom is very non-tempting, remember it. If the
world has freedom to do things, sins will disappear of their own accord" there will be no need to ma$e
them disappear.
+nd man has tried down the ages to ma$e them disappear and has not succeeded. 'ut the same stupid,
vicious circle continues. +gain and again man has tried to force laws on people, and the more those
laws are enforced, the more people become rebellious. They have to become rebellious, because that
seems to be the only way to protect their freedom, their being. 3therwise, they will be turned and
reduced to slaves.
+dam did well" otherwise he would have been in paradise, but a slave. What is the point of being in a
paradise +79 a slave( That doesnt appeal to the dignity of your inner consciousness. It is better to be
in hell but to be oneself" it is better to suffer but to be. It is better to suffer and to go to the very end of
suffering, but not to lose ones ground, ones freedom, ones dignity.
+dam did well. If he had lived in paradise and had nor rebelled and had not eaten the fruit of the Tree
of 8nowledge, he would have been an impotent person, he would have been spineless, he would have
been bloodless, he would have been dead. #e did well. #e came out" he ris$ed, he was courageous. It
was worth losing that paradise for freedoms sa$e.
+nd this happens to everybody, and the society has not yet understood this simple phenomenon.
<eople go on prohibiting: 9ont do this! 9ont do that! +nd the same commandment creates a great
urge to go against it. &ins e*ist because of the saints.
I have heard:

+ small boy saw a small girl carrying an apple. #e told the girl, .Would you li$e to play a game with
me(.
The girl as$ed, .What game(.
#e said, .+dam and 2ve..
The girl said, ./ood -- what has to be done then(
The boy said, .%ou tempt me, you say, 9ont eat this apple! and I will eat it..

The human mind functions that way.
'uddha says: If goals disappear, virtues and sins will automatically disappear. +nd people will be
transformed! because there will be no temptation to do anything, because there will be no
commandment. -ust see the point of it. -ust watch that inside you. What have you been doing(
!y own observation of thousands of sannyasins is that they are still fighting with their parents,
continuously. Their deep problem is: their parents have told them not to do something if they do it,
they feel guilty" if they dont do it, they feel they are not free. 2ither way they are in a trap, and they go
on fighting.
+ man becomes free only when he is no longer reacting to his parents, when those parental voices
have disappeared from consciousness, when they have no more impact this way or that, when they no
more create for or against in you. When you are almost able to ignore them, to be indifferent to them,
you have become a mature person.
<eople as$ me: .What is the definition of a mature person(. The person who is free of his parents is a
mature person.
-esus is right when he says to his disciples: 6nless you hate your parents, you will not be able to
follow me. 7ow, a man who preaches love saying that loo$s very absurd -- but he is right.
!y own feeling is that the word hate is a mistranslation from the #ebrew. I dont $now the #ebrew,
but I $now -esus. Thats why I say it !6&T be a mistranslation. #e must have said: 'e indifferent,
ignore. 9ont be attached any more. #e must have used some term which means be detached from
your parents, because the word hate cannot be used for many reasons.
3ne thing: if you hate your parents, you are not yet detached, you are not free. #ate means you are
against, so they will control you still. They will control in a subtle way: you will go on doing things
that they wanted you 73T to do. because you hate them. %our parents were saying", .9ont smo$e,.
and you will go on smo$ing because you hate them. This is the way you show your hatred. 'ut you
are attached, you are still connected. %ou have not been able to disconnect yourself. %ou are still
tethered" you are still holding the apron string of your mother. %ou are still childish.
7either love nor hate -- the parental voice has to disappear. %ou have to just watch it disappearing.
'uddha goes even further. #e says: 6nless you $ill your parents... unless you 8I55 your parents....
#e does not mean that you have to murder them actually, but deep inside you have to murder them.
%ou have to drop them. %ou have to forgive and forget. 9ont react to your parents voice inside you.
+nd a modern trend in psychoanalysis -- transpersonal psychoanalysis, transpersonal psychotherapy
-- will agree perfectly with 'uddha and -esus. 3nce you are free from the goal, the guilt, the ego, you
suddenly lose all temptation.
+ child is li$e a tree.
<arents can help them grow
by preparing the soil
and nurturing them with love.
The trees go on growing
without anybody teaching them
how to grow.
The animals, the birds,
the whole e*istence,
needs no programming.
+ccording to me,
the function of the parents
is not how to help the children grow --
they will grow without you.
%our function is to support, to nourish,
to help what is already growing.
9ont give directions and dont give ideals.
9ont tell them what is right
and what is wrong:
let them find it by their own e*perience.
3nly one thing you can do,
and that is share your own life.
Tell them that you have been conditioned
by your parents,
that you have lived within certain limits,
according to certain ideals,
and because of these limits and ideals
you have missed life completely,
and you dont want to destroy
your childrens life.
%ou want them to be totally free --
free of you, because to them
you represent the whole past.
It needs guts and it needs immense love
in a father, in a mother,
to tell the children,
.%ou need to be free of us. 9ont obey us --
depend on your own intelligence.
When you are too much future-oriented, you start becoming forgetful about the present -- which is the
only reality.
These birds chattering... that faraway cuc$oo... T#I& moment!... this herenow... is forgotten when you
start thin$ing in terms of achieving something. When the achieving mind arises, you lose contact with
the paradise you are in.
This is one of the most liberating approaches: it liberates you right now! )orget all about sin and
forget all about saintliness" both are stupid. 'oth together have destroyed all the joys of humanity. The
sinner is feeling guilty, hence his joy is lost. #ow can you enjoy life if you are continuously feeling
guilty( if you are continuously going to the church to confess that you have done this wrong and that
wrong( +nd wrong and wrong and wrong... your whole life seems to be made of sins. #ow can you
live joyously(
It becomes impossible to delight in life. %ou become heavy, loaded. /uilt sits on your chest li$e a
roc$, it crushes you" it does not allow you to dance. #ow can you dance( #ow can guilt dance( #ow
can guilt sing( #ow can guilt love( #ow can guilt live( &o the one who thin$s he is doing something
wrong is guilty, burdened, dead before death, has already entered into the grave.
+nd the person who thin$s he is a saint, he cannot live either, he cannot delight either. 'ecause he is
afraid: if he delights he may lose his saintliness, if he laughs he may fall from his high posture.
5aughter is mundane, joy is ordinary -- the saint has to be serious, utterly serious" he has to be a long
face. #e cannot dance, because dance may distract him. #e cannot hold the hand of anybody" he may
fall in love and attachment may arise. #e cannot loo$ at a beautiful woman or a man -- who $nows,
somewhere lur$ing in the deeper layers of unconsciousness there may be a desire, a lust. #e cannot
rela*, because if you rela*, your repressed desires will start surfacing. #e has to repress them
continuously! + saint is never on a holiday, cannot be, because the holiday means he will have to
allow all that he has been controlling. + saint cannot rela*, and if you cannot rela*, how can you
enjoy( how can you celebrate( how can you be grateful(
The sinner loses because of guilt and the saint loses because of the ego, the pious ego -- both are
losers. +nd both are parts of the same game, partners in the same game, and the game is created by the
goal. /ive a goal to humanity and humanity will remain in misery. /oals are misery-creating.
The achieving mind, the constantly achieving mind, is the original source of all illness, of all disease.
'uddha says: There is nowhere to go -- rela*. %ou cant miss in the first place -- rela*. #ow can you
miss( There is no target! Wrong has never been done. +nd so is right -- right has never been done.
There is nothing right, nothing wrong. In fact, there is no doer -- how can you do wrong or right(
There is no doer -- how can you be a sinner or a saint( 9eep inside you are just a hollow bamboo and
e*istence flows through you for no other motive than the sheer delight in flow.
2*istence flows because it delights in flow. There is no utilitarian goal.
Thats why I say religion can only spea$ the language of poetry. It cannot spea$ the language of
arithmetic, it cannot spea$ the language of logic -- it can only spea$ the language of love. 5ogic is
always goal-oriented" arithmetic is always goal-oriented. Watch the roseflowers and the grass leaves
and the rivers and the mountains, live with nature, and slowly slowly you will see nothing is going
anywhere. 2verything is moving, but not in any particular direction to a particular goal.
!ovement is delight.
Thats what William 'la$e, one of the great mystic poets of the West, says: 2nergy is delight.
If there is no way to lose yourself, no way to sin, no way to become a saint and no way to feel guilt,
the so-called religion disappears, the church becomes meaningless, the dogmas and the rituals lose all
significance. Then 5I)2 becomes religion, and then there is no other religion beyond life, other than
life. Then life becomes the only scripture. Then life becomes all that is there.
5ive and $now, live and feel, live and be.
The religion of 'uddha is a religionless religion, and >en is its culmination. >en is its fragrance. What
was seed in 'uddha has become a fragrance in >en. >en is the pure essence of 'uddhas heart. What
this man, /autam &iddhartha, reali:ed, what this man came to see, has been e*pressed by >en in its
uttermost beauty. It rarely happens
3&#3,
The world seems
to be getting more
and more cra:y
from day to day.
7obody $nows
what is going on
and everything is
upside down and
confused. This is
what is told in the
newspapers. Is it
real( +nd if so, is
there any intrinsic
balance in life
which is $eeping
everything stable(

The world is the
same" it has always
been the same --
upside down, cra:y,
insane. In fact, only
one thing new has
happened in the
world, and that is
the awareness that
we are cra:y, that
we are upside
down, that
something is basically wrong with us. +nd this is a great blessing -- this awareness. 3f course it is
only a beginning, just the abc of a long process, just a seed, but immensely pregnant.

The world was never so aware of its insane ways as it is today. It has always been the same. In three
thousand years man has fought five thousand wars. ,an you say this humanity is sane( 3ne cannot
remember a time in human history when people were not destroying each other either in the name of
religion or in the name of /od or even in the name of peace, humanity, universal brotherhood. /reat
words hiding ugly realities! ,hristians have been $illing !ohammedans, !ohammedans have been
$illing ,hristians, !ohammedans have been $illing #indus, #indus have been $illing !ohammedans.
<olitical ideologies, religious ideologies, philosophical ideologies are just facades for murder -- to
murder in a justified way.

+nd all these religions were promising the people, .If you die in a religious war, your heaven is
absolutely certain. 8illing in war is not sin" being $illed in war is a great virtue.. This is sheer
stupidity!

'ut ten thousand years of conditioning has seeped deep into the blood, into the bones, in the very
marrow of humanity.

2ach religion, each country, each race was claiming, .We are the chosen people of /od. We are the
highest" everyone is lower than us.. This is insanity, and everybody has suffered because of it. -ews
have suffered immensely for one single folly that they committed: the idea that .We are the chosen
people of /od.. 3nce you have the idea that you are the chosen people of /od, then you cannot be
forgiven by others because they are also the chosen people of /od, and how to decide it( 7o argument
can be conclusive, and nobody $nows where /od is hiding so you cannot as$ him either" he cannot be
brought in the court to be a witness. Then only the sword is going to decide. Whosoever is mighty is
going to be right. !ight has been right.

-ews really suffered for centuries, but the suffering has not changed them. In fact it has strengthened
the idea that they are the chosen people of /od. The same people who tell them, .%ou are the chosen
people,. also tell them that the chosen people have to go through many tests, many fires to prove their
mettle.

I have heard about an old rabbi -- he must have been a very sane man -- praying to /od. #e was
praying for years and years and never as$ing for anything -- and you $now, prayer is a $ind of
nagging: you go on nagging /od every day, morning, afternoon, evening, night, five times every day.
/od must be getting tired, utterly bored....

+nd the rabbi was not as$ing for anything" otherwise there was a way out. If he had been as$ing for
something it would have been given and the rabbi would have been told, ./et lost!. 'ut he was not
as$ing for anything, just praying.

)inally /od as$ed him, .Why do you go on torturing me( What do you want(.

+nd the old rabbi said, .-ust one thing. Is it not time for you to choose some other people( <lease,
ma$e some other people your chosen people. We have suffered enough!.

'ut this is not only so with the ,hristians, -ews, !ohammedans and #indus" it is e*actly the same
with all the people that have e*isted up to now.

The racial ego, the religious ego, the spiritual ego is far more dangerous than the individual ego,
because the individual ego is gross.

%ou can see it -- everybody can see it, it is so visible on the surface. 'ut when the ego becomes racial
-- .#induism is great. -- you dont thin$ you are claiming anything for yourself. Indirectly you are
claiming, .I am great because I am a #indu, and #induism is great.. This is an indirect way, a subtle,
cunning way: .I am great because I am a -apanese, because -apanese are the direct descendants of the
sun /od." or, .I am a ,hinese and the ,hinese are the most civili:ed people, the most cultured..

When the Westerners reached ,hina for the first time, loo$ing at the ,hinese, they laughed. They
loo$ed more li$e caricatures" cartoons rather than men -- just four or five hairs stic$ing out of your
face and thats your whole beard! What $ind of people are these( The first 2uropeans wrote in their
diaries, .It seems we have discovered the missing lin$ between the mon$eys and man..

+nd what were the ,hinese writing in their journals( 2ven the emperor of ,hina was very much
interested in seeing the 2uropeans because he had heard many stories about them. They were invited
to his court, not because he respected the 2uropeans, but just to see what $ind of people these were.
7ever before...! +nd he could not contain his laughter" he started laughing when he saw the
2uropeans.

The 2uropeans were very much embarrassed: .Why is he laughing(. They were told, .That is his way
of appreciating. #e always laughs, enjoys" that is his way of welcoming the guests.. 'ut the reality
was that he could not believe that these are human beings! #e as$ed his people, .#ave you brought
them from +frican jungles( They loo$ li$e mon$eys!.

Thats how the ego functions: the other is always reduced to the lowest possible" and compared to the
other, one raises oneself higher.

%ou say, .The world seems to be getting more and more cra:y from day to day.. That is not right" it
has always been so. 3nly one thing new is happening, and that is a blessing, not a curse at all. )or the
first time in the whole history of humanity, a few people are becoming aware that the way we have
e*isted up to now is somehow wrong" something basically is missing in our very foundation. There is
something which does not allow us to grow into sane human beings. In our very conditioning are the
seeds of insanity.

2very child is born sane, and then, slowly slowly, we civili:e him -- we call it the process of
civili:ation. We prepare him to become part of the great culture, the great church, the great state to
which we belong. 3ur whole politics is stupid, and then he becomes stupid. 3ur whole education is
ugly. 3ur politics means nothing but ambition, na$ed ambition -- ambition for power. +nd only the
lowest $ind of people become interested in power. 3nly the people who are suffering from a deep
inferiority comple* become politicians. They want to prove that they are not inferior" they want to
prove it to others, they want to prove to themselves that they are not inferior, they are superior.

'ut what is the need to prove it if you are superior( The superior man does not try to prove anything,
he is so at ease with his superiority. Thats what 5ao T:u says: The superior man is not even conscious
of his superiority" there is no need at all. It is only the ill person who starts thin$ing of health" the
healthy person never thin$s about health. The healthy person is not self-conscious about his health"
only the sic$, only the ill. The beautiful person, the really beautiful person is not self-conscious about
his or her beauty. It is only the ugly person who is constantly worried and ma$ing every effort to prove
that it is not so.

In fact, in proving to others that .I am not inferior, I am not ugly,. he is trying to prove it to himself.
The others function as a mirror. If the others can say, .%es, you are great..... 'ut they will say it only
when you are powerful, when you are rich" otherwise they are not going to say anything. Who is
interested in your ego( They are interested in their egos, but reluctantly, when you have power to
destroy, they have to accept.

+dolf #itler was mad, but nobody in /ermany dared to say it. !any felt that he was mad, but the
moment he was defeated and committed suicide, many people started writing that they had always felt
it. 2ven his own physicians who had never dared to tell the person himself -- at least they were
supposed to say the truth, they were the physicians -- they had not said that he was sic$, badly sic$,
and not only physiologically but psychologically too.

#e suffered from many nightmares, he was constantly afraid of being $illed. #e was obsessed with
the idea that he was going to be $illed, so much so that he never got married. #e got married only
when he had decided to commit suicide, just three hours before. To avoid having a woman in the same
room, he never got married -- because who $nows, the woman may be a spy, an enemy, and while he
is asleep she may $ill him, poison him. #e never trusted even the woman he pretended to love. #e had
no friends, because to be friendly with someone means to trust, and he was so doubtful.

The politicians are insane, but we teach our children to be politicians.

We teach our children the same culture that has tortured us, the same values that have been heavy on
us, that have only proved to be subtle chains, imprisonment. 'ut we go on conditioning our children.
The same education that has destroyed our grace, our innocence -- we go on stuffing the same
$nowledge into our childrens heads. +nd we go on lying to our children as our parents lied to us.

+nd this has been going on and on for centuries. #ow can humanity be healthy, wholesome, rela*ed(
It is bound to be cra:y. -ust loo$ what lies you go on telling your children.

+ little boy rushed into his mothers room and said, .!ommy, I had always wanted to as$ one
;uestion, but today it is very urgent -- I want the answer right now..
The mother was changing her clothes, getting ready to go out, and the son as$ed, .What are these two
things on your chest(.
The mother felt a little embarrassed: #ow to e*plain to the child about the breasts(
7ow, it is a simple thing to e*plain, and children are very understanding. It could easily have been
e*plained that they are meant for small children to get their nourishment, and the thing would have
been finished then and there. 'ut we have become accustomed to such lies -- and the mother
immediately invented a lie.
&he said, .These are balloons. When a woman dies, /od puffs up these balloons. They become bigger
and bigger and bigger, and then the womans body starts rising towards heaven..
The child said, .7ow I $now what is happening..
The mother said, .What is happening(.
#e said, .3ur maid servant is dying, but poor daddy is trying hard to prevent her. #e is lying on top
of the servant, holding her down, suc$ing her balloons to pull the air out, and the maid servant is
saying, /od, I am coming!.

7ow, these stupid lies -- and you thin$ humanity is going to be sane( It has always been insane. It has
always remained upside down and confused, because you have been brought up on lies.

'ut one thing good is happening today: at least a few intelligent young people are becoming aware
that our whole past has been wrong and it needs a radical change. .We need a discontinuity from our
past. We want to start afresh, we need to start afresh. The whole past has been an e*periment in utter
futility!.

3nce we accept the truth as it is, man can become sane. !an is born sane" we drive him cra:y. 3nce
we accept that there are no nations and no races, man will become very calm and ;uiet. +ll this
continuous violence and aggression will disappear. If we accept mans body, its se*uality, naturally,
then all $inds of stupidities preached in the name of religion will evaporate. 7inety-nine percent of
psychological diseases e*ist because of mans se*ual repression.

We have to ma$e man free of his past. Thats my whole wor$ here: to help you to get rid of the past.
Whatsoever the society has done to you has to be undone. %our consciousness has to be cleaned,
emptied so that you can become li$e a pure mirror reflecting reality. To be able to reflect reality is to
$now /od. /od is just another name for reality: that which is. +nd a man is really sane when he
$nows the truth.

Truth brings liberation, truth brings sanity.

Truth brings intelligence, truth brings innocence.

Truth brings bliss, truth brings celebration.

We have to change this whole earth into a tremendous festival, and it is possible because man brings
all that is needed to transform this earth into a paradise.

3sho
,ome, come, yet again come
,hapter XV
. Whenever you live in total awareness you live moment to moment. %ou cannot plan, even for the
ne*t moment you cannot plan ? because who $nows, the ne*t moment may never come! +nd how
can you plan it beforehand, because who $nows what the situation will be in the ne*t moment( +nd if
you plan too much you may miss it, the freshness of it. 5ife is such a flu*, nothing remains the same,
everything moves.

5ive when life is there. 'e committed to the earth while on the earth" die when death comes. !ove
with life and move with death. 9ying, don@t cling to life. 9ying, don@t resist death" dying, die. 5iving,
live" dying, die. 5et the moment be total. )loat with it, be committed to it. When death comes, then
don@t be sad. Then accept death. Then accept it with such totality that even death cannot $ill you. +
total person cannot be $illed, and a divided person never lives. + total person is already beyond death.
.
- 3sho, %ou have defined yourself as the rich man@s guru. 9on@t the other people interest you( +re the
rich particularly in need of a guru( 3r are you their guru because they have money(

- The first thing to be understood: I have not defined myself as the rich man@s guru. It is the yellow
journalism, which dominates the mind of the masses around the world, which came up with the
definition. I simply accepted it with my own meanings. They were saying it to be derogatory, but my
meaning is totally different.

+ =incent van /ogh is far more rich than #enry )ord. 4ichness does not mean only wealth or money"
richness is a multidimensional phenomenon. + poet may be poor, but he has a sensitivity that no
money can purchase. #e is richer than any rich man. + musician may not be rich, but as far as his
music is concerned, no wealth is richer than his music.

To me the rich man is one who has sensitivity, creativity, receptivity. The man of wealth is only one of
the dimensions. +ccording to me the man of wealth is also a creative artist: he creates wealth. 7ot
everybody can be a #enry )ord. #is talents should be respected, although what he creates is mundane.
It cannot be compared to !o:art@s music or 7ijins$y@s dance, or -ean-<aul &artre@s philosophy. 'ut
still, he creates something which is valuable, utilitarian, and the world would be better if there were
many more #enry )ords.

&o when I accepted the definition, my meaning was richness in any dimension. 3nly a rich being can
have some connection with me. + certain sensitivity is absolutely needed, a certain vision is needed.

+ poor man is one whose mind is retarded F he may have immense wealth" that does not matter F who
cannot understand classical music, who cannot understand poetry, who cannot understand philosophy,
who cannot understand the high flights of human spirit. %es, one of the dimensions of poverty is a man
who cannot even produce money. #e is the poorest of the poor, because money is such a mundane
thing. If you cannot create it, you simply show that you don@t have intelligence enough.

The poor people of the world are responsible for their poverty. Who is telling them to go on producing
children F and each child ma$es them more poor. Who is telling them to go on living superstitiously(
F and each superstition hinders their growth towards wealth. Who is telling them that they should
believe that they are poor because in their past lives they had been doing evil acts( +nd why should
they accept all this nonsense(

Why should they not listen to intelligence( F that a poor man should not produce children, he should
produce wealth. 'ut he produces children, he does not produce wealth. It is a strange phenomenon that
the wealthier countries are losing population, and the poorer countries are increasing so fast that there
is a danger for the whole world. 4ight now there are five billion people. It was thought just five years
ago that by the end of this century there will be five billion people. The estimate of the economists and
the mathematicians is far behind people@s productivity. We are already five billion. 'y the end of the
century we will be si* billion.

+nd if you say to these people to use birth control, to use the pill, that you don@t need children, they
don@t listen to you. %ou are against their religion" you are against their tradition!

7ow, how can I have contact with these people( 2ven on mundane affairs there is no possibility of
communication. &o when I said that I accept the definition, my meaning was clear. 3nly somebody
who has a richness of mind, of being, is capable of understanding something about meditation,
something about the flight of the ultimate, of the universal.

<eople who are hungry, starvingC 9o you thin$ if you go to 2thiopia and start teaching meditation,
people are going to listen to you( They will $ill you. They will eat you rather than listen to your
meditation techni;ues!

There are certain basic necessities which should be fulfilled" there is a hierarchy. )irst your bodily
needs should be fulfilled" then your psychological needs should be fulfilled. 3nly then for the first
time you become hungry for spiritual e*periences. 7ow what can I do about it( F that is the nature of
things. If water evaporates at one hundred degrees heat, what can I do( I cannot persuade it to
evaporate at ninety-nine degrees. It is the nature of things.

+nd this is the hierarchy: bodily needs first, then psychological needs second, and only then spiritual
needs. What I can give to you concerns your hunger for spiritual growth. If it is not there, I cannot
create it. If it is there, I can show you the path.

%ou can see it. I have not been see$ing out and going to the rich people. Those who have come to me
have come on their own. Their thirst has brought them to me. I have not been going after people,
persuading them F li$e ,hristian missionaries, A'ecome a ,hristian,B F promising them all $inds of
goods in the future life.

When I was a professor, one day a woman stopped my car and gave me a pamphlet with a beautiful
house on the front page, a river passing by, beautiful trees, mountains. +nd the pamphlet said, A+re
you interested in this house(B

I said, AI have never seen such a house in this city, but perhaps somebody has made it and perhaps he
is wanting to sell it.B &o I opened the pamphlet and loo$ed into it, and I found that if you follow -esus
,hrist, then in the coming life after death you will have such a house in paradise.

I have not been giving any promises to anybody. I have not been going after anybody. !illions of
people F those who have come to me F have come on their own.

+nd now you can see for yourself. Those who have come have a certain richness of some $ind or
other" it is not only the money. I have around me people of all talents, people of different $inds of
genius. &omehow my very approach prevents those people who will not be benefited from coming
close to me. 2ven if they come accidentally, they disappear" they don@t stay. They don@t become part
of my world. They don@t share the vision with me.

7obody is sorting out who are the rich and who are the poor, and that the poor should be sent bac$
and the rich should be retained. 7o scrutiny is going on. 'ut by some e*istential arrangement I can
attract only those people who are very talented, immensely intelligent, very rich in some ;uality of
life. 3nly from that angle of richness will they have a connection with me.

+nd the yellow journalists go on saying sensational things to people, meaningless, false, ugly F
because I am not a guru. If I have to define it I will say, AI am only a friend, a friend of all those who
have talents, intelligence and some urge for spiritual growth.B To me they are the rich people.
.2*perience life in all possible ways -- good-bad, bitter-sweet, dar$-light, summer-winter. 2*perience
all the dualities. 9ont be afraid of e*perience, because the more e*perience you have, the more
mature you become.B
%ou are trained from
the very beginning
to feel ashamed of
this, ashamed of
that" you are never
accepted in your simple naturalness. Thats why shame e*ists, and with it the fear that you may do
something wrong, you may go astray, you may miss the train -- although there is no train and the
;uestion of missing it does not arise.
In India, all the trains run so late, and for twenty years I was continually traveling all over the country.
I was surprised that one day in +llahabad the train came e*actly at the right time. It was almost a
wonder. I went to the driver to than$ him: .This is something of a great feat,. but he loo$ed very
ashamed.
I said, .What is the matter( %ou have done a great job, bringing the train, e*actly to the second, at the
right time on the platform. In twenty years this is the first time that I have seen a train coming to the
platform at the right time..
#e said, .9ont ma$e me more ashamed..
I said, .%ou are a strange person. I have come to show my gratitude to you..
#e said, .9ont show your gratitude, because this is yesterdays train" I am twenty-four hours late. &o
just go away, dont ma$e me feel so ashamed..
I said, .I was not trying to ma$e you ashamed" I had not even imagined that it is yesterdays train. 'ut
anyway I have got in it at the right time, who cares which days train it is!.
+ll the religions live on fear" they ma$e every child fearful. +nd the fear becomes the psychological
atmosphere of your being. &o you are never total in doing anything, you are always hesitating --
whether it is right: what you are doing, is it going to lead you towards reward or towards punishment"
are you coming closer to /od or going farther away( 2ach step is full of fear. +nd because of this,
religions have been able to e*ploit you.
+ man who has no fear cannot be e*ploited. #e lives his life according to his own light. #e has a
lifestyle which is his, not borrowed, not given by somebody else.
7obody has ever accepted you as you are. +nd because everybody wanted you to be somebody else
other than who you are, slowly, slowly you have also become self-condemnatory: I am always a
failure" my arrow always falls short, it never reaches the target.
...
This society is utterly condemnatory. Whoever you are it is not acceptable, something better....
&lowly, slowly you become infected with the disease of self-condemnation.
'ut love is a miracle. If it happens, and you are totally involved in it, then it ta$es all the energy from
fear, from self-condemnation, from doubt, from sadness, from misery, from an*iety. +nd once the
energy is ta$en away, all those concepts are only corpses" they lose their grip on you.
#ence I say to you: 5ove is the golden $ey to transformation. 'ut it should not be a superficial,
ordinary love. It should not be so small that doubt can also e*ist by the side, self-condemnation can
also e*ist, misery can also e*ist, hate can also e*ist, because your love needs only very small energy. It
has to be life-absorbing. The moment your love is almost your very life, it becomes prayer.
To me there is no other prayer than love possessing you so totally that nothing else can remain inside
you" love needs all the space and you have to throw all jun$ out of your being. + great love is the only
prayer, the only true prayer.
%ou dont allow
children to vote
"for political
ideology they have
to wait for
eighteen years,then
you thin$ they are
ripe enough to
vote. +nd for
religious ideology
they are ripe
enough when they
are four or five!
9o you thin$ religious education is of lower grade than the political education( 9o you thin$ to
belong to a political party needs higher intelligence, more maturity, than to belong to a religion( If
eighteen years is the age for political maturity, then atleast thirty si* years should be the age for
religious maturity. 'efore thirty si* years nobody should choose any religion. In;uire, search, e*plore
and e*plore all over the place, e*plore in every possible direction. +nd when you decide your religion
on your own it has significance :when it is imposed on you, it is slavery. When you choose it, it is a
commitment, it is involvement.
.%ou will be surprised to $now that all that you see has been invented by playful people, not by the
serious people. The serious people are too much past-oriented -- they go on repeating the past, because
they $now it wor$s. They are never inventive..
+ !editator 7eeds 7o <ersonal /uidance

.If you can become just your own self, if you can blossom into your intrinsic nature, then only you
will have blissfulness F a peace which cannot be e*pressed in words, and a certain poetry to your
being" a certain dance to your being, because you will be in tune with e*istence. To be in tune with
yourself is the only way to be in tune with e*istence. 7obody needs personal guidance, because all
personal guidance is a beautiful name for dependence on somebody and he is going to distort you..

.+ meditator needs no personal guidance. + meditator, on the contrary, needs only one thing: the
atmosphere of meditation. #e needs other meditators" he needs to be surrounded by other meditators.
'ecause whatever goes on happening within us is not only within us, it affects people who are close
by. In this communion people are at different stages of meditation. To meditate with these people, just
to sit silently with these people, and you will be pulled more and more towards your own intrinsic
potentiality..

3sho, The Invitation, Tal$ DXV
. 5ove is the roc$, the only roc$ on which we can build the temple of life, the temple of /od.
2verything else is just sand" e*cept love nothing can become the foundation of life. +nd to ma$e a
house on anything else is to waste your time, energy" ultimately you will have only frustration in your
hands and nothing else. .
I am all for the rich man. I
am the rich mans guru.
I simply help you to
uncover your rebelliousness, because to me to be a rebel is to be religious.
%es, I corrupt people. +nd I am going to corrupt people. +nd my people are going to spread all over
the world the same corruption.
I am not going to be poisoned as easily as &ocrates. In these twenty-five centuries people li$e me
have learned much. I am not going to be crucified as easily as -esus. They told him to carry his cross,
and the poor man carried it. !y cross will go on my 4olls 4oyce. +nd one hundred 4olls 4oyces will
follow it!
I said to you I am not a saint. To me the word .saint. is more obscene than .)uc$ you all,. because
fuc$ing is natural. 2verybody is doing it -- even the clergyman. What everybody is doing, how can it
be obscene( When the whole of nature is doing it, how can it be obscene( When even your /od was
doing it, what is obscene in it(
'ut the word .saint. is obscene. %ou may not be aware of where it comes from. It comes from
.sanction. -- the pope gives the sanction to somebody, and ma$es him a saint. This is simply absurd.
Who can ma$e me a saint( I dont accept anybodys authority. +nd a pope giving the sanction -- then
sainthood becomes something li$e a certificate.
It happened to -oan of +rc" ,hristians burned her alive. ,hristians have committed so many sins in
the world that if there is any hell, it will be full of ,hristians: clergymen, bishops, archbishops, popes,
-esus ,hrist.
'urning living people, and particularly women -- it seems to be a certain psychological revenge,
because the priests of ,hristian communities were prohibited from any relationship with a woman.
They were really enraged. They wanted to do something to hurt the woman, because the woman was
very attractive. 4emember, whenever you are attracted to somebody immensely, you also feel to
destroy that person or that thing. Why( -- because your being attracted to it ma$es you a slave.
Thats why men and women cannot live together harmoniously. 'oth are attracted to each other, and
both are destructive to each other. +ll these husbands and wives are continuously fighting, nagging,
harming each other in every possible way. The reason is, they are attracted to each other. They cannot
leave each other, and they cannot live together. They are in a fi*.
The priest, the clergyman, is in an even more difficult situation. The woman attracts -- attracts him
more than anybody else, because others have some e*perience of woman and he has none. #e would
li$e somehow to force the woman to be destroyed, because deep in his heart is not -esus ,hrist -- it is
!ary !agdalene. #e goes on repressing !ary !agdalene by repeating some stupid prayer. 'ut he
$nows perfectly well she is there, so he wants to destroy the woman.
In the !iddle +ges, ,hristians burned thousands of innocent women -- they just had to find an
e*cuse. +nd the e*cuse was that the women were in a conspiracy with the devil.
,hristians have been taught that the woman has been an agent of the devil from the days of +dam and
2ve. The serpent did not approach +dam, he approached 2ve. &ince then the woman has been
somehow in connection with the devil. In the !iddle +ges the ,hristians accused thousands of women
of having se*ual relationships with the devil: .They are witches, and they are dangerous to the society.
They should be burned..
They declared -oan of +rc also a witch. 3f course she is one of the most significant persons who has
ever wal$ed on this earth. &ingle-handedly she fought for the freedom of her country, and attained
freedom for her country. ,ertainly it gave the clue to the clergymen that she must be deriving all her
power from the devil" otherwise a fragile woman, a young woman -- how can she be so powerful(
This was the reward that they gave to her: they condemned her as a witch and burned her alive. This
was the judgment of an infallible pope.
+fter three hundred years another infallible pope reconsidered the case -- because people were not
agreeing with it. It was such an ugly act in the name of /od. %ou rewarded the woman who brought
freedom to the country by burning her alive( To $eep these people on the side of the church, after
three hundred years another infallible pope -- remember the word .infallible. -- declared that she is a
saint.
7obody as$s, if both the popes were infallible.... Then it seems to be impossible -- how are you going
to manage( 3ne declares her a witch to be burned alive" another declares, after three hundred years,
that she is a saint. #er bones were dug out from her grave and worshipped.
!any nuns were burned alive, many priests and mon$s were burned alive, but ninety percent of those
who were burned alive were women. 2ven nuns -- they were forced to confess, they were tortured to
confess that they had had intercourse with the devil. ,an you see how the mind becomes perverted
when you go against nature( +nd they were tortured so much that they had to confess.
The same tactics have been used by +dolf #itler and -oseph &talin, but the whole credit goes to
,hristianity. Torture a person -- there is a limit, and then the person thin$s, that there is no point in
being tortured and again and again with the same ;uestion. It is better to accept it and be finished with
it.
They were tortured and as$ed, .#ave you had any intercourse with the devil(. 7ow nobody today can
even imagine that there is a devil and women are having intercourse with him. 3f course because the
devil is a man -- and he is not a homose*ual -- thats why women were tortured. +nd they were told,
.%ou have to confess the reality.. )inally they confessed" and their confessions are very significant to
remember. !r. ,lergyman, please remember what those nuns confessed.
+fter the confession they were burned, because they had admitted, they had confessed that they had
had intercourse many times with the devil. 'ut what was the proof( +nd ,hristian priests have been
giving them proof: the proof was that the woman said that the devil has a for$ed pric$, so that he can
enter the womans body from both holes. /reat holy people! +nd the women -- thousands in number --
confessed. They were nuns. +nd they were burned.
7ow the devil has disappeared completely. +fter &igmund )reud, he thought it was better to leave this
earth. The few men -- mon$s -- who were burned, were burned because they were ma$ing se*ual
approaches or contacts with nuns. %ou call this a religion(
+nd if these clergymen, priests, reach heaven, where beautiful men, beautiful women, are all living in
absolute freedom, with no fear of sin, with no guilt.... I have not come across a single reference that in
heaven there are churches, and there are clergymen, and there are congregations. +ll that stupidity
happens only on this poor earth.
+ll the priests of all the religions are loo$ing after the poor, e*ploiting them, e*ploiting their poverty
to convert them to their religion.
I am ta$ing care of the rich. 'lessed are the rich, for theirs is the $ingdom of /od. +nd of course, in
heaven you will get a 4olls 4oyce. +nything less than that would be a humiliation of paradise, of your
/od himself. What do you thin$ -- which car does your /od use( I thin$ it must be a 4olls 4oyce.
Why is this clergyman so worried about it( It is my problem. If I have to suffer for being in a 4olls
4oyce and go to hell, I am perfectly happy. In fact I dont want to go to your heaven, because the best
people of the earth will be found in hell, if it is there.
Where will you find /autam 'uddha( #e denied /od" he must be in hell. Where will you find
!ahavira( #e denied /od" he must be in hell. Where will you find all your great painters, singers,
dancers, poets, musicians( They cannot enter heaven.
They have committed so much sin in the eyes of the ,hristian priests, they must be in hell. %ou will
find all the geniuses in hell -- if there is any hell. 3f course, there is none.
This priest, this clergyman, must have forgotten my watches, thin$ing that the letter is becoming too
long. 'ut what is the problem( There are a few people who write to me, but they dont $now at all
about my watches. This is the cheapest watch in the world. These are not diamonds, these are stones,
ordinary stones. It is made by my own sannyasins, it is not a <iaget. !y own sannyasins, +jito and
'odhi, out of their love ma$e watches for me.
+nd I love everything beautiful. 5oo$ at this watch! I dont ma$e any difference between a beautiful
diamond or a beautiful stone. The criterion is beauty. %es, a few of my sannyasins allow me to use real
diamond watches. I have no objection.
In -ainism, which is one of the most ancient religions of the world, in their heaven, mountains are
made of diamonds, gold, silver. If in your heaven you can have mountains of diamonds, cant I have a
small watch( This seems to be absolutely consistent. 'e rich, be lu*urious, be comfortable, because
whatever you are here, wherever you go you will be able to adjust to more lu*ury, to a higher standard
of living.
9ont listen to these idiot clergymen. If you live in a poor way.... +nd thatTs what all the religions
teach -- live in poverty" if you are not poor you will miss everything after life. I cant see the logic.
#ere you practice poverty....
!ahatma /andhi was practicing poverty. In his ashram even mos;uito nets were not allowed" it is
lu*urious. +nd in India everywhere there are mos;uitos, and particularly in /andhis ashram they had
a great gathering -- naturally, so much food, so easily available.
What did /andhi invent to prevent the mos;uitoes( #e cannot allow them to be $illed by )lit,
because he is a non-violent man, he believes in non-violence. !os;uitoes are not to be $illed, and a
mos;uito net is also not good, because it is a lu*ury. I cannot conceive, a mos;uito net is a lu*ury( &o
he told his disciples: .'efore you go to sleep, put $erosene oil on your face, on your hands, or any part
of your body that is e*posed.. 8erosene oil....
!ahatma /andhis son, 4amdas, used to be my friend. I as$ed 4amdas, .If even mos;uitoes have
enough sensibility not to come close to a person who is painted with $erosene oil -- it stin$s, even a
mos;uito is not ready, even though he may die without food -- what about the man( #ow can he sleep
with this smell(. 'ut those who did that were great saints.
%ou will be surprised to $now -- particularly this clergyman -- that in !ahatma /andhis ashram there
was a man, <rofessor 'honsali, who lived for si* years eating only bullshit. +nd he was worshipped
li$e a god. #e had done a great act of austerity -- just eating bullshit for si* months.
This clergyman should try. +t least for si* days, eat bullshit, and you will forget all your !other
Teresas and all your -esuses. +nd then you will remember me!

#2 )64T#24 &T+T2&, .3&#3, %36 #+=2 /I=27 !2 <I2,2& 3) #255 +79 #2+=27
#242 I7 4+-722&#<64+!.. L L

3n one thing I can agree with you: I may have given you pieces of hell, that is my business. The other
part I cannot agree with. I cannot give you pieces of heaven, you must have been hallucinating.
I $now what is actually the case. Whenever I said something which was in agreement with his
conditioned mind, he felt euphoric. It was not me, it was your conditioned mind feeling nourished,
supported. Those were the pieces of heaven. +nd whenever I said something which gave you an
electric shoc$, of course those were the pieces of hell. %ou cannot hallucinate and imagine shoc$s,
electric shoc$s -- thats why I must have given them to you.
%ou are hallucinating, imagining, projecting heaven. &o whenever I say something which falls in tune
with your conditioning, you feel great. %ou feel great that you are right, that your religion is right, that
your 'I'52 is right.
%ou are certain that your religion is right. %ou are loo$ing for certainty, for guarantee. +nd strange --
you are more blissful than me, and you are as$ing for my authority( I have never as$ed for anybodys
authority, I have never as$ed for anybodys support. I have simply lived on my own. I dont belong to
any religion, I dont belong to any philosophy.
It simply shows that whenever your belief system is supported, you will feel good, great" and
whenever hammered, you will feel bad. 'ut in fact, those moments that you feel I have given you of
heaven are poisonous, because they are ma$ing you cling more tightly to your conditioning.
The moments that you call .of hell. are the real thing. 3nly those moments, if you are courageous
enough, if you have guts -- which is very rare in clergymen, because why should a man who has guts
become a clergyman( -- if you have any guts, then forget all those moments of heaven, and remember
those moments of hell. They are going to help you.
!y wor$ is surgical. I have to cut so much crap which is clinging to you, and you are clinging to it. It
hurts, I $now. It hurts. %ou can forgive me for hurting you -- but dont forget that this hurting is being
caused by your clinging.
If you really listen to me, and you see that something is so and drop it instantly, you will not feel any
pieces of hell, moments of hell. +nd the moment you drop all that is painful to part with, a new
phenomenon will happen to you. The moments of hell disappearing will ma$e you able to see that
your moments of heaven are only hallucination. %ou have been drugged from your very childhood. +ll
religions are nothing but opium. +nd if you can drop both, you will be free for the first time.
#ave you ever seen
night going( =ery
few people even
become aware of
things which are
happening every
day. #ave you ever
seen the evening
coming( The
midnight and its
song( The sunrise
and its beauty(
We are behaving
almost li$e blind
people. In such a
beautiful world we
are living in small
ponds of our own
misery. It is
familiar, so even
if somebody wants
to pull you out, you
struggle. %ou dont want to be
pulled out of your misery, of your suffering. 3therwise there is so
much joy all around, you have just to be aware of it and to become a
participant, not a spectator.
<hilosophy is speculation, >en is participation. <articipate in the
night leaving, participate in the evening coming, participate in the
stars and participate in the clouds" ma$e participation your lifestyle
and the whole e*istence becomes such a joy, such an ecstasy. %ou could
not have dreamed of a better universe.

>en: The !iracle ,hapter V
- 3sho, W#% 93
<23<52 W+7T
T3 '2 4I,#(

- When one is rich,
one does not have
to be smart. +nd
thats a big relief.
Thats why people
want to be rich.

7obody wants to
be intelligent"
richness can afford
to be stupid. %ou
can see the faces of
rich people -- you
will always find a
$ind of subtle
stupidity.

The more rich a
person is, the more
you will find that
he does not live, he
vegetates. %ou will
not find the sign of
life in his eyes.

<eople want to be
rich so they can
afford to be stupid
-- it is a great relief.

If you really want to be intelligent, who cares about being rich(

If richness comes as a conse;uence of being intelligent, thats another matter -- but who bothers about
it( It is not a direct goal.

+nd the difference is great. Intelligent people also become rich. Intelligence is real richness --
whatsoever they do, they succeed.

&o they become rich, but their richness has a different ;uality to it: they enjoy their richness, they use
their richness.

+ person who just wants to be rich will become rich but will not be able to use it -- he will not have
enough intelligence to use it. In fact he was trying to become rich so that he need not be intelligent.

If an intelligent person becomes rich then richness opens great doors -- of music, of literature, of
science, of art, of sculpture, of poetry. +ll these things become available.

'ut the goal should not be richness. The goal should always be more life, intelligent life, abundant
life.
-ust your laughter will be enough to prevent the war. %our celebration, your dance, will be enough to
prevent the war. %our ecstasy, your meditation, will create a tremendous force which will be far higher
because it is life-affirmative.B
I attract cra:y people" I am cra:y, thats why.
'ut cra:y people are 'eautiful people.
They are the only sane people is the world.
That is the meaning of the word 'aul.
'aul means cra:y, mad.
I am a 'aul, and I attract 'auls -- thats why.
-ust a few days ago one -apanese scientist was here to attend a world science conference. #e became
aware about me only at the last moment, but before rushing to the airport he came here. #e had not
more than fifteen minutes, and I was asleep. #e wrote a letter stating many important things: the first
one was that nobody understands him. #e has been around the earth in search of a man who can
understand him.
5oo$ing at his letter I could not contain myself from laughing... because this is a much lower stage,
when nobody understands you. I have also been around the world -- everybody !I&understands me.
I have invited the scientist, his name is )u$uora.
J&3!2'39% /I//52& +T T#2 7+!2, +79 T#2 -382 '2,3!2& ,37T+/I36&. T#2
!+&T24, <3824-)+,29, W+IT& )34 IT T3 &6'&I92...K
... %ou can laugh in 2nglish, but not in -apanese!
I have written to him, saying, .!ost of the things that you are saying cannot be understood because
you yourself dont understand that they are based on a dual conception of reality. 3n one hand you
condemn the famous philosopher 9escartes, saying that he is responsible for dividing science from
religion, and his division has created tremendous trouble for the whole humanity.....
I can understand. 'ut )u$uora himself goes on continuously tal$ing in his letter about the inner man
and the outer man.
!an is not divided into the inner and the outer. %ou are both. %ou can open your eyes and you are
outside, and you can close your eyes and you are inside. -ust small eyelids -- that is the only division.
7ot much of a division. 'ut the blindness of man is such that although )u$uora understands that
9escartes is wrong, he himself goes on doing the same thing without being alert at all. The materialist,
the spiritualist... he wants the whole world to become spiritual. #e goes on praising /autam 'uddha....
+nd that ma$es me laugh because if you go on dividing man into lower and higher, into material, into
spiritual, you may have changed the direction of division but division is there.
I stand for the whole man -- to be accepted, appreciated, loved in its total organicity.
%our ;uestion is, what is the difference between .being withdrawn, being introverted and turning in(.
+ll belong to the e*trovert man. There is not much ;ualitative difference.
'eing withdrawn means simply being indifferent, aloof, uncaring. 'ut you are still outside.
'eing introverted simply means you have closed all your doors and windows" you will not receive the
fresh bree:e and you will not receive the sun and the moon and the stars" you have become closed to
reality. +n introverted man is just vegetating, not living. 'ecause life needs both -- a tremendous
balance between the inner and the outer, between the day and the night, between life and death. They
are not separate. 7owhere is there a demarcation. The introverted man is a dead man, a corpse.
+nd the third -- turning in. There is no need to turn in. It is the philosophers, the people who are too
much concerned with words, language, and not at all concerned with e*perience, who go on creating
such ideas as .turning in..
%ou have never been out -- how can you turn in( %ou have always been there" from there you can
radiate outwards, but there is no ;uestion of turning in. .Turning in. means you had gone out of the
house, roamed around and finally came bac$ home. 'ut you have never left the home -- you cannot,
because you are the home.
Wherever you go, it will be the same: your inner and your outer will be balancing wherever you are.
%ou cannot leave one behind and go ahead with the half" thats an impossibility.
'ut the professors and the philosophers are more concerned with words, never bothering to loo$ into
reality and e*istence itself.

I have heard, there is a commune in <oland which has only four members. Their names are
2verybody, &omebody, +nybody and 7obody.
3ne day there is an important job to be done and 2verybody is sure that &omebody will do it.
+nybody could do it but 7obody does it. &omebody gets angry about that because it is 2verybodys
job. 2verybody thin$s that +nybody can do it but 7obody reali:es that 2verybody wont do it. It ends
up that 2verybody blames &omebody when 7obody does what +nybody could have done.

#ere in this place, all those four are present -- and enjoying immensely! There is no need to condemn
anybody. 2verybody is what he is supposed to be. 'ut man has been dominated by the idea of
condemning this, condemning that: this is right, that is wrong. It has created so many layers, so many
categories, that somewhere or other it has made everybody guilty... in so many ways guilty. It has
wounded everybodys psyche and destroyed mans dignity, his individuality.
)u$uora is not understood because he is as$ing things which are only symbolic, symptoms. #e is not
raising ;uestions about the roots -- he himself believes in the roots.
#e was here attending an international conference. 7aturally, just out of eti;uette, he praised India too
much -- .this is the only land which can save humanity.. It is not capable of saving itself! +nd you are
putting the responsibility on the poor human beings of this devastated, destroyed, enslaved, hungry,
uneducated, uncultured people to save the whole humanity.
It reminded me of an old -ew who was praying his last prayer before dying. &omebody heard, and
could not believe what he was saying. The old -ew was saying to /od, ./od, it is time you should
choose somebody else as your chosen people. We have suffered enough.. -ews would have never
suffered if /od had not named them as his chosen people. Who bothers about ordinary people(
This country is being praised and this country feels very comfortable with all this praise, without
loo$ing at the reality.
)u$uora mentions in his letter that the world needs an ecological change. It is true -- the world needs
deep ecological understanding. 'ut the way he e*presses it destroys the whole truth it contains. #e
says, .I loved the Indian roads, where cows are sitting.. This is ecology -- where men and animals are
together, drin$ing water, ta$ing baths, doing all $inds of stupid things together.
This is not ecology, this is nonsense, and he was very much impressed when he saw it. 'ut he does
not understand: these cows are hungry, they are dying, their owners have disowned them because their
owners cannot feed them and they are of no use anymore" neither can they give mil$ nor they can give
more cows and bulls. 3n the streets they are not resting, they are simply waiting for death -- hungry,
uncomfortable. 9eath will come to them not in a natural way, it will come through the traffic. They
will die and they will ta$e a few more people with themselves. They will not die alone.
+nd when he saw a temple of the mon$ey god #anuman, he was immensely impressed. This is
ecology -- man worshipping hungry, mangy... all $inds of animals are being worshipped in India,
elephant gods....
I have always been sad that ,harles 9arwin never came to India. 3therwise he would have found the
most valid reason for his theory of evolution, that man has evolved out of mon$eys. The worship of
the mon$eys proves that they are your forefathers.
That reminds me of 4onald 4eagan. #e has tried to stop, in the universities of +merica, in the
colleges, in the schools, all teaching of ,harles 9arwins theory of evolution. 7ot only that, his
teachings have been ta$en out of libraries -- the boo$s have been ta$en out and burned because the
theory of evolution goes against the theory of ,hristianity which proposes not evolution but creation.
'ut the real reason to me seems to be that 4onald 4eagan does not want to accept mon$eys as his
forefathers. 'ut just burning those boo$s does not change anything.
)u$uora cannot be understood by 4onald 4eagan. 'ut he is proposing something which is not even
worth proposing. #e is not hitting at the roots. Whether mon$eys are worshipped or not, is not going
to change the fate of the coming humanity. 'ut the problem about hitting the roots is that it is
dangerous. It immediately annoys the vested interests.
I went through his whole letter. #e seems to be a sincere and nice person" he really wants a better
future. 'ut he has not the insight that by pruning the leaves of the trees nothing is changed. %ou will
have to cut the roots. +nd the moment you start on the roots you will be in difficulty, because the
politicians are in the roots, the organi:ed religions are in the roots, all the races are in the roots....
%ou cannot change anything in this world unless you cut these roots completely. 6nless there is only
one world government and no divisions of nations and freedom of movement without any need of
passports and visas and all $inds of idiotic conditions, you cannot do anything about the ecology.
)or e*ample, 'angladesh is suffering every year with great floods. It cannot do anything about it
because the roots are in the division of nations. 7epal is the poorest country in the world and it has
nothing to sell e*cept its ancient trees. Two-hundred, three-hundred, five-hundred-year-old trees -- it
has sold them to the &oviet 6nion and now the &oviet 6nion has cut so many trees that for miles and
miles the land is without trees.
The trees used to slow down the flow of the rivers. 7ow there are no trees" the waters from the
#imalayas come with such a force that the ocean cannot absorb them in so much ;uantity, it has never
done it. It turns them bac$, and every year 'angladesh suffers. Thousands of people die, thousands of
houses are destroyed. It is beyond the power of 'angladesh to do anything. If 7epal sells its trees,
who are you to say anything to 7epal( +nd if you say anything then you have to understand that
7epal has nothing else to sell. Then feed 7epal.
The ecology is so interdependent.... It became clear that if anything goes wrong in the &oviet 6nion,
in their nuclear plants, then the clouds of nuclear radiation will spread wherever the winds ta$e them,
and winds dont thin$ about about national boundaries. 7ow the problems are international, and your
solutions are national. 6nless humanity is one there is no hope.
'ut the politicians will not allow humanity to be one because it is their whole power trip. If there is
only one world government, it will not satisfy so many peoples egos to be presidents, to be prime
ministers, to be ministers, to be governors. To fulfill these peoples egos, we have to suffer. 2verybody
has to suffer.
In India there is enough coal and not enough wheat. 'ut 4ussia has burned wheat in its railway trains
instead of coal because it does not have coal. It could have been a simple understanding, but the
barriers of nations prevent a birds-eye view of the whole situation. +nd although this country is so
poor, it has been selling its wheat to purchase more atomic plants, more nuclear technology. +nd
almost half the country is hungry and starving.
The 2uropean ,ommon !ar$et every si* months goes on drowning billions of dollars worth of food
in the ocean. +nd in 2thiopia, every day one thousand people will go on dying, but that food cannot be
given to them. The 2uropean mar$et has its own problems: its economy will collapse if it starts giving
things free to people. Then its own people will as$, .Then why should we pay( We create -- 2thiopia
eats. We wor$ hard and you are throwing our earnings to other countries. We have nothing to do with
them.. +merica goes on drowning food in the same way -- mountains of butter and other foodstuff.
5ast time it too$ millions of dollars just to carry that foodstuff to the ocean" that is not including the
price of the food.
7ow, do you thin$ we are living on a sane planet(
4oots have to be hit hard. 'ut the moment you hit any root you become dangerous.
!y attorney, &wami <rem 7iren, is sitting here. #e is now doing deep research into what was going
on behind the screen when I was arrested in +merica. +nd such hilarious facts are coming out! 3ne
cannot figure out whether this world is sane or a big madhouse.
The politicians and the church leaders were trying to force the supreme court of 3regon to arrest me,
send me to jail, or at least deport me. 'ut it was difficult for them to find any legal, constitutional
reason. They $new perfectly well that it was not going to be a small thing. &o first, a preparation was
needed. +nd you will not believe -- just to arrest me, they wasted five and a half million dollars in
research wor$ to find something that I might have committed so that my arrest could be valid. They
were at a loss, because I am such a la:y man -- to commit a crime is such an impossibility. I have not
even prepared a cup of tea for myself in my whole life. !ost of the time I am asleep. The few hours I
am awa$e, I am tal$ing to you.
+fter five years of research, wasting five and a half million dollars in the research... and the pressure
was increasing. 'ut this is strange... + man cannot just be deported, because then you are afraid that he
will fight up to the &upreme ,ourt. 3n what grounds are you deporting him( +nd neither can you
allow him to live there -- not because he is doing any harm to anybody, but you cannot allow him to
be, because he is hitting your very roots.
I dont have to go anywhere to hit the roots. I can hit those roots from here.
The ,hristian fundamentalists were angry because I said that -esus ,hrist, to me, is not a man of
enlightenment. #e may be good entertainment, but he is not... +nd to crucify a man who has not done
anything e*cept ma$ing statements which are simply stupid -- .I am the only begotten son of /od..
7ow anybody you meet in the street who says to you, .5isten, I am the only begotten son of /od,. do
you thin$ it is right to crucify him( +t the most you can say, .It is perfectly good.. What is criminal in
it( If he was saying, .I am the one who can save the whole world. ... so who is preventing you( &ave!
'ut I dont thin$ that he is worthy of a cross. +nd when I said this, that the more I loo$ into -esus and
his psychology, I see only a crac$pot and nothing else....
'ut that I can do from here. I am doing it from here. +merica is not that far away. 7either is Italy that
far away. +nd the Italian ,onsul is here, just by my side. #e wanted to see me alone and because my
secretary insisted that I never see anybody alone... because whatever I say has to be recorded. #e
started perspiring. #e became so nervous, he said, .Then cancel the appointment.. What could be the
fear(
The fear is that for one year, the Italian government, against any reason, has been trying to prevent my
entry into Italy. + whole party, the 4adical <arty of Italy, is fighting continuously. 2ighty-four
prominent citi:ens of Italy -- 7obel <ri:e winners, poets, painters, professors -- have protested. The
government goes on saying that ne*t wee$ they are going to issue a visa for me, and this has been
going on for one year. 'ecause of the fear of the pope, the fear of the ,atholics....
-ust what happened in +merica is happening in twenty-five countries. &itting in my room, mostly
sleeping, I am fighting in twenty-five countries.
In spite of the supreme court and the politicians and the church, the head of the )'I refused to arrest
me because he said there were no valid grounds. 3therwise they are very famous people for doing
anything wrong -- even they could not thin$ that it was right to arrest me. Then they as$ed the ,I+,
and the ,I+ chief simply refused. #e said, .There is a limit to some things" innocence is not crime..
+nd you will not believe that the research that is being done by my attorneys in +merica has brought
out a very strange fact: finally, the supreme court as$ed the army to arrest me! They could not find
anybody else to arrest me, because everybody wanted evidence. +nd the head of the army laughed. #e
said, .This is unprecedented. To arrest a single individual who is not even a citi:en of this country,
who is just a tourist, the army is being called( The whole world will laugh at it.. #e simply refused.
)inally, when I was arrested they had no arrest warrant because nobody was ready to issue one. 2ven
the immigration department, which had put five and a half million dollars into research -- their head
refused to issue an arrest warrant because, he said, .%our research shows nothing. There is nothing
that you can call a crime for which an arrest warrant is needed..
They must have persuaded the city police of ,harlotte to arrest me without an arrest warrant. They
had nothing even verbally to tell me about what were the reasons that I was being arrested and si* of
my friends were being arrested. They had only a list saying that these people had to be arrested. +nd
strangely enough, the names of these si* people were not on that list. We told them, .3ur names are
not on your list. %ou are doing simply an absurd act. %ou can loo$ at our passports. %our list contains
other names, but we are not the right people..
'ecause they were not yet ready for evidence, finally they managed what they could have done in the
very beginning. They simply fabricated thirty-four charges against me -- just pure fiction. 3bviously,
they had to give some result" they had wasted five and a half million dollars. +nd you will not believe
what the government attorney who was fighting in the court against me, for three days continuously,
finally said: .I have not been able to prove anything, but neither has the other party been able to prove
anything..
,an you see the stupidity of the statement( 9oes innocence also need to prove that it is innocent( 7o
constitution of any country re;uires that innocence be proved. 'ut these politicians are so much afraid
that if the roots are opened and cut, then their vested interests will be gone. If there is no /od, and
-esus ,hrist is a crac$pot, then what is the pope( -ust a representative of a crac$pot....
+nd it is not only in one country. Today I have received the news from /ermany that one of its major
political parties, the /reen <arty, has as$ed the government about the fact that it is now two years that
they have been $eeping the law, the special order that I cannot enter into /ermany. 7ot only that, I
cannot even land at any airport of /ermany -- even for refueling the plane -- because I am a dangerous
man.
7ow their own party, a major party, is as$ing the government, .%ou have to e*plain: what is the
danger( +nd for two years you have been avoiding the issue. %ou should appoint a commission to do
the research: what is the danger(.
+nd if I am a danger, are there other people also in /ermany who are in the same category( -ust now,
one /erman psychoanalyst has published a boo$ after many years of research which says that
,hristianity has created more crimes in the world than any other religion. 7ow the /reen <arty is
as$ing, what are you going to do about ,hristianity(
It is basically a ;uestion of bringing out the roots of all our misery, of all our torture. 'ut those who
are in power will not allow you even to $now where the causes lie. %ou have to fight only with the
effects. Thats why no revolution has been able to be successful up to now.
7ow why should this Italian ,onsul be so insistent to tal$ with me alone( What is the fear that the
tal$ should be recorded( )rom where does this fear arise( What was the fear in +merica( because
when they deported me, the 6nited &tates +ttorney admitted that I had not committed any crime...
.'ut our purpose was to send him out of +merica, because he is dangerous.. 9angerous to what(
9angerous to morality, and the man who was most emphatic about this point... his name is !ichael
&toops, a fanatic fundamentalist ,hristian. Today I have heard that he has been charged with child
abuse -- se*ual child abuse. +nd this was the man who was in favor of my being deported because I
am dangerous to peoples morality. Who are these people and what is their morality(
-ust a few wee$s ago in +merica there was a conference, an international conference of homose*uals.
3ne of the men from 'ritain, a member of the <arliament, represented the homose*uals of 2ngland in
the conference -- obviously, he must be a homose*ual. +nd he said, .I $now at least fifty-si* members
of the <arliament in 2ngland who are homose*uals.. It is absolutely confirmed that one of the popes
before this <olac$ pope was a homose*ual. Who are the people whose morality has to be saved( In
fact, a deep research is needed into who has already destroyed peoples sense of purity, integrity,
responsibility.
The roots are very strange, because they remain hidden underneath the earth. %ou only see the flowers
and the trees and the leaves -- you dont see the roots. +ll the religions of the world are responsible for
homose*uality. +nd to find why they are responsible, you will have to go a little deeper. It is because
they insisted that celibacy is very spiritual, that without being a celibate you cannot be spiritual.
7ow, celibacy is absolute nonsense. It is against nature, it is against medical science. I am ama:ed
that not a single medical institute stands up and says to the world that celibacy is not possible, it is not
in your program. In your body, everything has been programmed by the sperm and the egg of your
parents. ,elibacy is not in the program, and we dont yet $now how to change the program. &o
anybody who claims to be a celibate is a hypocrite -- or he will be finding some perverted ways... one
of them is homose*uality, another is sodomy.
Who has created all these prostitutes( If you dig up the roots, you will be very much surprised to
$now that to protect marriage, prostitutes are an absolute necessity. 'ecause the man gets fed up with
the woman, the woman gets fed up with the man. Then just for a change... in the past, women were not
courageous enough and not educated enough. Thats why there have not been male prostitutes. 'ut
now in 5ondon, in ,hicago, in &an )rancisco, in 7ew %or$, you can find male prostitutes. This is a
by-product of the womens movement for liberation. 3bviously, if men can go to prostitutes, why not
women( +nd the whole thing is to protect marriage.
<rotecting marriage is one of the causes of homose*uality, it is one of the causes of child abuse. +nd
then all the monasteries -- ,hristian, #indu, 'uddhist -- are full of homose*uals. I am not condemning
their homose*uality. I am simply saying that they are victims of a stupid ideology, teaching celibacy.
+nd the governments are still doing the same. 7ow they are ma$ing laws against homose*uality -- not
against celibacy. %ou can ma$e laws against homose*uality but that will ma$e homose*uality go
underground. 3r, men will start finding new ways to e*press their se*uality -- maybe plastic women"
they are in e*istence already.
'ut no court in the world has thought to cut the very root: ma$e a law against the celibacy which
drives people into perversion. 'ut that will go against all the religions, and religions are tremendously
powerful -- from the outside and from the inside, because you are conditioned by them.
The whole of human history is full of violence, full of war, and we $now perfectly well that it is
because of the e*istence of nations. There is no need of nations. This whole planet is one. Its problems
are one, its solutions have to be one. 'ut why is it not being implemented( +nd anybody who says
this....
%esterday I received a letter from a sannyasin, !a <rem !adhu from 2ngland. &he had won the first
pri:e in a competition for creating better and more beautiful neighborhoods, more in tune with nature.
<rince ,harles gave her the pri:e -- and she went there in orange clothes with my mala. 2verybody
was shoc$ed -- all the celebrities must have been there, all the idiots and all the 5ords -- and <rince
,harles loo$ed at my picture and said to <rem !adhu, .This is dangerous.. 7ow, what danger I am
causing to the world( <rinces find me dangerous.... When the <rince of Wales had come to India,
0ueen 2li:abeth insisted to him, .%ou can go everywhere in India, but not to <oona.. #e himself
confessed it to his cousin-brother =imal$irti, who was my sannyasin, and his wife, Turiya. 'oth were
present in 'ombay to meet him, and he was so much interested in me but the ;ueen had told him not
to go because it is .dangerous.. I have been wondering what this word Tdanger means. I have never
$illed a fly in my life.
Twenty-five countries have prohibited my entry into their land. The grounds are the same: that I can
destroy their morality, religion, tradition. +nd these people dont even consider a simple fact that a
man who comes as a tourist for three wee$s, if he can destroy your morality of two thousand years,
then your morality is not worth saving. It should be destroyed. %ou are accepting defeat by refusing
my entry for just three wee$s. %our religion is not courageous enough to answer me, your politicians
are cowards.
+nd from where does this cowardliness come to all the politicians and all the priests( It comes from a
root that )riedrich 7iet:sche has called .will to power.. +nybody who suffers from an inferiority
comple*, feels in some way inferior -- it may be intelligence, may be strength, may be beauty" it can
be anything -- if one feels inferior... and it is bound to happen to almost everybody, a $ind of
inferiority, because our whole educational system is based on competition, comparison. +nd the
moment you compete and you compare, naturally you have to put yourself somewhere" you are
inferior or superior.
The moment you feel yourself inferior, your whole being ta$es a certain root: will to power.
&omehow you have to prove to yourself and to the world that you are not inferior.
%our presidents, your prime ministers, your ambassadors, your $ings, your ;ueens, are all in the same
boat: just trying to prove they are not inferior, they are great leaders of men. +nd I have seen many of
these great leaders of men -- just phony. If you loo$ inside, you will find nothing but bullshit.
3therwise I cannot see how a man who does not have a paper $nife with himself, is so dangerous that
the army is needed to arrest him. +nd all agencies of the government refused to arrest me, because
they didnt see any point. They would loo$ stupid. +nd that happened, finally.
The 6nited &tates +ttorney from 3regon who was fighting the case... because he could not manage a
crucifi*ion or something more contemporary. It was not his fault, it is my fault. I have not committed
anything" what could that poor man do( #e tried his best. 7ow the reward for that man is that he has
been fired. #e tried his best, but for fictions.
#e said in the court that I had arranged thousands of marriages, just for the purpose of getting
residence -- at least certainly one marriage. -ust loo$ at the point: I have arranged thousands of
marriages and he himself ends with the conclusion that at least one marriage certainly. Then from
where do those thousands of marriages come( #e could only bribe one couple. #e tried to persuade
many couples that they should say that I had arranged their marriage, and they said I had not been
spea$ing for three and a half years" I had not been seeing anybody. It would loo$ simply stupid. 3ut of
five thousand sannyasins, perhaps they managed to bribe somebody -- to give him a job, to give him a
green card. That was the only proof.
+nd the head of the army laughed at the point -- .If he has married just one couple, it does not re;uire
the army! )or such a small, messy affair!.
'ut politicians are everywhere basically hollow people, utterly empty and completely in fear, in
paranoia, because their position is never certain. Today they may be the prime minister and tomorrow
they may not be. Today they have so much power and tomorrow they will be just a beggar on the
streets. The man who was the prime minister in 4ussia before the revolution, a man named 8arent:$y,
fled the country. #e died in XYHI in 7ew %or$. <eople had completely forgotten about him. #e was
one of the most powerful men of his times, being the prime minister of the c:ar of 4ussia, one of the
greatest lands. +nd he died as a grocer. #e had been running a grocery store since the revolution, in
7ew %or$, hiding in disguise.
The politician originates out of the inferiority comple*. #e wants to have more power, more power so
he can fill his emptiness. 'ut strangely -- by the side -- as he goes on climbing ladder upon ladder,
more and more fear also grows on both sides. The fear that he can be pulled down, because so many
people are pulling at his legs, so many people are competing for the same position. #e cannot remain
forever in power -- that fear is the reason why a man li$e me becomes dangerous. 'ecause I simply
want to say that two and two are four.
4eligions have made mens minds retarded by creating beliefs in fictions. +nd politicians have
destroyed man into as undignified a life as possible, because their power depends on your slavery.
6nless we cut these roots....
This earth has the capacity to feed at least five times more people than e*ist today -- that is a scientific
calculation -- but these barriers should be removed. +nd science should be employed not in the service
of death and destruction but in the service of life and love, affirmation, celebration.
We are in a situation today such that either we will let these rotten politicians and priests destroy the
whole humanity and the earth, or ta$e the power from their hands and decentrali:e it to humanity. 7o
army is needed, because no nation is needed. 7o destructive weapons are needed, because no war is
needed. +nd if this whole energy -- right now fifty percent of our energy goes to war -- if a hundred
percent of the energy and a hundred percent of the intelligence of humanity goes together hand in hand
to create a better society, a more scientific education, a better humanity, which for the first time we are
capable of....
It was not possible in the past. Today it is possible. !uch of the wor$ can be done by robots" there is
no need to destroy human life in unnecessary wor$. !uch of the wor$ can be done by computers"
there is no need for small boys and girls to burden their memories unnecessarily. They can just carry a
small computer in their poc$et which contains everything that they want to $now. +nd to me, it is even
more significant because if the whole memory is shifted to the computer, meditation will become such
an easy job. Then you dont have to fight with any thoughts and memories" you just have to ta$e your
computer off, deposit it at the gate and enter into the temple! %ou need not be worried about anything.
+ better man than any which has ever e*isted on the earth is possible, according to the people who
wor$ in the realms of physiology, biology, genetics. It is a confirmed fact that man can live at least
three hundred years without any difficulty, without even becoming old. Three hundred years -- the
implications are great. If +lbert 2instein can live three hundred years, his contribution will be
tremendous, to physics, to mathematics. If a !o:art can live three hundred years, certainly his music
will become more and more meditative, more and more silent. If a 4abindranath can live for three
hundred years, his poetry will become pure fragrance of the beyond.
It is within our hands to choose what $ind of people we want. It is in our hands to decide how many
people we want. 'ut we have to remove these barriers of politicians and religions -- otherwise they are
going to force humanity to commit suicide.
I would li$e )u$uora to $now that he is in a better position because nobody understands him. #e
should feel some sympathy for me -- everybody misunderstands me. +nd I am ma$ing everything as
clear, as logical, as rational as possible. )u$uora is not logical or rational in his statements. #e has a
beautiful heart -- that I can see from his statements. 'ut he has not wor$ed out interconnections. )or
e*ample, he thin$s that if we move bac$ to nature, all problems will be solved. This is not new. 5eo
Tolstoy was teaching .bac$ to nature.. 4ousseau was teaching .bac$ to nature.. !ahatma /andhi in
this country was teaching .bac$ to nature.. +nd all three were in the same trouble as )u$uora, that
nobody understood them.
The problem is very complicated. )irst, there is no way to go bac$. +nd even if some way can be
found to go bac$, where is the line( Where will you thin$ you have gone bac$ enough( It will
certainly be when the first mon$ey jumped on the earth and stood on two legs -- against nature. The
first scientist, the founder of civili:ation....
I dont thin$ that before that, you can stop. +nd I dont thin$ anybody would li$e to go to that state
again. It will be very difficult. In these thousands of years, your body has changed so much: you
cannot jump on trees, na$ed in the rain, in the cold, in the heat. +nd you cannot live on just fruits.
!ost probably everybody will be having fractures, multiple fractures, and there will not be any
ambulances because !ahatma /andhi does not allow even railway trains. 2ven something innocent
li$e telephones he is very much against.
I $now one thing is wrong in the telephone. That is the last part of it, .phone,. because from that
phone has come .phony.. 'ut otherwise, it is innocent. %ou can change the name.
#e was against telegrams. #e thought that if man goes bac$ -- as )u$uora also thin$s, without having
a clear-cut conception... +t the time of /autam 'uddha, twenty-five centuries ago, the whole
population of the world was twenty million. 2ven then there was poverty. 2ven then there was crime,
murder, rape. <eople dont find it in history boo$s, and when I first said it, a 'uddhist scholar, 'hodant
+nand 8ausalyayan, stood up and said, .)rom where have you found out these things(.
I said, .)rom the teachings of /autam 'uddha! 'ecause he is teaching people they should never
commit a rape. That simply means people were committing rape. #e is telling people, T'e content in
your poverty. If there were no poverty, there was no need to ma$e such a statement.. +nd for forty-
two years continuously he was telling people not to steal, not to murder, not to be violent. To whom is
he tal$ing( 2ither he is mad or I am right.
7ow, just as India became free in XYEL, forty years ago, the countrys population was four hundred
million. +nd !ahatma /andhi and !other Teresa and all the shan$aracharyas, all insisted that birth
control is against /od.
In the first place there is no /od.
In the second place, if it is against /od, let it be! It is his problem, not our problem. 'ut nobody
listened and just in forty years time, from four hundred million, India has reached the population of
nine hundred million. 'y the end of the century, India will have more than one billion people. )or the
first time, India will be the most populated country in the world. 6p to now, ,hina had that privilege"
now India has defeated ,hina in stupidity.
The whole world will have five billion people by the end of the century. /oing bac$ to nature, what
do you thin$ will be the result( 2ven twenty million people cannot live, going bac$ to nature. There
will be simply corpses all around. +nd this is being taught by people li$e !ahatma /andhi who thin$
they are nonviolent. What can be more violent( /enghis 8han $illed four million people. 7adir &hah
$illed three million people. +dolf #itler $illed eight million people. 'ut if !ahatma /andhi and
)u$uora are to be followed, they will $ill at least five billion people. The whole earth will be full of
corpses.
'ac$ to nature is simply bac$ to death. If humanity decides to go bac$ to nature, I will suggest then
first do one thing: dig your grave, prepare it, because there is nobody else who is going to prepare it.
2verybody will be dying himself. &o right now, prepare your grave and lie down in it and then go bac$
to nature.
+ll that you have, ninety-nine percent of it is because of science and technology. It is true that science
and technology have ta$en a wrong turn. 9escartes was wrong when he said that man and nature are
enemies" 'ertrand 4ussell was wrong when he said that we have to con;uer nature. These people gave
a wrong direction to science. 7ature and man have to be friends. There is no ;uestion of con;uering.
We are part of nature, and the part cannot con;uer the whole. The part can only dissolve into the
whole, rejoice in being one with the whole.
&cience has to be given a new turn so that it becomes a bridge between man and nature. +nd the same
science that has created atom bombs and nuclear weapons can also create a far greater consciousness
for man, far healthier human beings, more beautiful trees, bigger flowers. This planet, although it is
very small, contains the potentiality of being the richest planet in this vast universe where millions and
millions of stars are surrounded by more and more planets.
4ight now the count is three million stars, but they dont say that is the end. That is as far as our
scientific instruments can see. There is beyond, unlimited, with no boundaries. 'ut in this whole
e*panse, only this small earth has evolved to the point of consciousness, of love, of beauty, of music,
of poetry, of sensitivity, of meditativeness.
It should be a determination in every intelligent being that we are not going to allow any vested
interest to destroy this planet. This planet has to remain. +nd there is a golden future just ahead on the
hori:on -- but we must cut the roots, whatever the cost. This is the only revolt I teach.
+ll revolutions have failed because they were cutting leaves and branches. I teach a total revolt
against the past, against all vested interests.
The ;uestion is of tremendous importance: to save man is to save the greatest creation of the universe.
It has ta$en four million years for this earth to create man. It is so precious ... and the future is much
more valuable, because inside you the possibility of a /autam 'uddha, the possibility of a >arathustra,
the possibility of a 5ao T:u is there.
%ou can also blossom in the same silence, in the same peace, in the same beauty, in the same ecstasy.

... I forgot to loo$ at my watch!

4onald 4eagan, his cabinet members, and his wife 7ancy, traveled to the 4oc$y !ountains for a
s$iing holiday. Wa$ing up one morning, 4eagan opens the curtains and there in the snow, in yellow
letters, someone has pissed the message: .4eagan is a wimp.. 2nraged, 4eagan orders an analysis
made of the urine to find out who the culprit is.
+n official returns with the results and tells 4eagan, .I have some bad news and some terrible news.
The bad news is that the urine belongs to your attorney general, 2d !eese..
.What(. shouts 4eagan. .I will shoot that bastard! +nd what is the terrible news(.
.Well,. says the man, .the terrible news is that it is written in 7ancys handwriting..
strangely enough, all the
religions are against the
body -- and the body is your
life, the body is your
communion with e*istence.
It is the body that breathes,
it is the body that $eeps you
alive, it is the body that does
almost miracles. 9o you
have any idea how to change
a loaf of bread into blood and sort it out into its different constituents and send those constituents
where they are needed( #ow much o*ygen your brain needs -- have you any idea( -ust in si* minutes,
if your brain does not get o*ygen, you will fall into a coma. )or such a long time the body continues to
supply the e*act amount of o*ygen to your brain.
#ow do you e*plain the process of breathing( ,ertainly you are not breathing, it is the body that goes
on breathing. If you were breathing, you would not have been here. There are so many worries, you
could have forgotten to breathe, and particularly in the night -- either you can breathe or you can sleep.
+nd it is not a simple process, because the air the body ta$es in consists of many elements which are
dangerous to you. It sorts out only those which are nourishing to life and breathes out all that is
dangerous to you, particularly carbon dio*ide.
The wisdom of the body has not been appreciated by any religion of the world. %our wisest people
were no wiser than your body. Its functioning is so perfect -- its understanding has been $ept
completely out of your control because your control could have been destructive.
&o the first part of your life and being is your body. The body is real, authentic, sincere. There is no
way to corrupt it, although all the religions have been trying to corrupt it -- they teach you fasting
which is against nature and against the needs of the body, and a man who can fast longer becomes a
great saint. I will call him the greatest fool who has been dominated by the foolishness of the crowd.
The religions have been teaching you to be celibate, without understanding the mechanism of the
body. %ou eat food, you drin$ water, you breathe o*ygen. -ust as blood is created in you, your se*ual
energy is also created -- it is beyond you. There has not been a single celibate in the whole world. +nd
I challenge all the religions who pretend that their mon$s are celibates to have them e*amined by
scientists. They will find that they have the same glands and they have the same energy as anybody
else.
,elibacy is a crime -- it creates perversions -- just as fasting is a crime. 2ating too much is a crime"
not eating enough is also a crime. If you listen to the body and simply follow the body, you dont need
/autam 'uddhas to teach you, or !ahaviras or -esus ,hrists to teach you what you have to do with
the body. The body has an inbuilt program, and that inbuilt program you cannot change. %ou can
pervert it....
I have come across so many saints of different religions, but I have not come across a single saint who
seems to be intelligent. #e cannot be. #is whole discipline destroys all intelligence.
There are thousands of people in this country -- and now the disease is spreading to the outside world
-- who are standing on their heads. +nd they dont $now that too much blood reaching the head
destroys the very subtle nervous system that creates your intelligence. #ence you will not find a yogi
intelligent -- it is impossible. #e has destroyed the very possibility.
!an became intelligent because he was not moving li$e other animals, hori:ontally. When the animal
moves hori:ontally, as all the animals move, then the blood is circulated all over the body, including
the head, in the same amount. If you stand on two feet, because of the gravitation of the earth the head
is the last place where the blood will reach, fighting against gravitation. This is the reason why man
became intelligent, started being poetic, creative... painters, dancers, mystics. 'ut you are not aware of
it. It has been $ept outside of your control" otherwise there is every danger you will destroy yourself.
&o I teach you, first, a deep respect, love and gratitude for your body. That will be the fundamental of
the psychology of the buddhas, of the psychology of the awa$ened ones.
The second thing after the body is your mind. !ind is simply a fiction. It has been used, in fact used
too much, by all $inds of parasites. These are the people who will teach you to be against the body and
for the mind.
There is a mechanism called the brain. The brain is part of the body, but the brain has no inbuilt
program. 7ature is so compassionate -- leaving your brain without any inbuilt program means
e*istence is giving you freedom. Whatever you want to ma$e of your brain, you can ma$e. 'ut what
was compassionate on the part of nature has been e*ploited by your priests, your politicians, your so-
called great men. They found a great opportunity to stuff the mind with all $inds of nonsense.
!ind is a clean slate -- whatever you write on the mind becomes your theology, your religion, your
political ideology. +nd every parent, every society is so alert not to leave your brain in your own
hands, they immediately start writing the #oly 8oran, the #oly 'ible, 'hagavadgita -- and by the time
they call you adult, capable to participate in the affairs of the world, you are no more yourself.
This is so cunning, so criminal, that I am surprised that nobody has pointed it out. 7o parent has the
right to force the child to be a ,atholic or a #indu or a -aina. The children are born through you but
they dont belong to you. %ou cannot be the possessors of living beings. %ou can love them, and if you
really love them you will give them freedom to grow according to their own nature, without any
persuasion, without any punishment, without any effort by anybody else.
The brain is perfectly right -- it is the freedom given by nature to you, a space to grow. 'ut the
society, before you can grow that space, stuffs it with all $inds of nonsense.
There was a man I $new, <rofessor 4ungar -- he lived in !ahatma /andhis ashram. It is not much of
an ashram, just a few widows and a few weirdos, and not more than twenty. 'ut free food, free
clothing, free shelter, and all they have to do are some stupid things. They call it worship, they call it
prayer.
<rofessor 4ungar was an educated man, but it does not matter. 'efore your education you are already
contaminated, polluted. #e went on eating cow dung for si* months, drin$ing cows urine -- that was
his whole food, and this made him a great saint. 2ven !ahatma /andhi declared that he had attained
enlightenment. If enlightenment is to be attained by eating cow dung, then better enlightenment will
be attained by eating bullshit, obviously! +nd when !ahatma /andhi says about him that he has
become enlightened, the whole country simply believes it. I have not found a single man critici:ing it.
I told <rofessor 4ungar, .+s far as I am concerned, you are the most stupid man in this country.. It is
a very difficult competition, but loo$ at all your religions, what they have stuffed in your mind....
2very #indu when he goes to urinate has a thread around his body... that thread ceremony is almost
li$e -ews circumcising their children. +nd will you believe that I have come across a statement by a
rabbi that the reason -ews are so intelligent is because of the circumcision. !ohammedans do the
same but at a later age.
-ews have their own baptism. #indus have their way of introducing the child into the #indu society
with a thread ceremony. -ust a thread is put around his nec$, and he is surrounded by people chanting
from holy scriptures. +nd every #indu is e*pected, when he goes to urinate, to ta$e the thread out of
his shirt and wrap the thread around his ear. I have seen professors, vice-chancellors doing the same
stupid act.
3ne vice-chancellor, 9r. Tripathi... I caught him red-handed. I threatened him that, .2ither you ta$e
this thread off your ear, or I will not allow you to urinate..
.'ut,. he said, .it is my religion.. +nd he was a well-educated man.
I said, .,an you give me any rationali:ation for it(.
#e said, .,ertainly. If you put the thread around your ear, it $eeps you away from se*ual ideas, se*ual
dreams. It protects your celibacy..
I said, .%ou are a man, perfectly educated in the West. -- and he had been teaching in the West -- .you
will have to come with me to the medical center..
#e said, .What do you mean(.
I said, .I want it to be confirmed by medical scientists that putting the thread around the ear protects a
person from becoming se*ual..
#e said, .%ou always come with strange ideas..
The simple proof was that he had thirteen children. I said, .With this thread, you have produced
thirteen children" without the thread you would have threatened the whole humanity! +nd still you
have the nerve to say that it protects your celibacy(.
'ut the same $ind of ideas everywhere you will find forced into the brain. I want it to be clearly
understood: the brain is natural" mind is what is stuffed into the brain. &o the brain is not ,hristian, but
mind can be" the brain is not #indu, but the mind can be.
The mind is the creation of the society, not a gift of nature. The first thing the psychology of the
buddhas will do is to ta$e away this whole jun$ that you call mind and leave your brain silent, pure,
innocent, the way you were born.
!odern psychology all around the world is doing something stupid: analy:ing the brain, analy:ing all
the thoughts which constitute your mind. In the 2ast we have loo$ed into the innermost parts of
humanity and our understanding is, the mind needs no analysis. It is analy:ing jun$. It needs simply to
be erased. The moment the mind is erased -- and the method is meditation -- you are left with a body
which is absolutely beautiful, you are left with a silent brain with no noise. The moment the brain is
freed from the mind, the innocence of the brain becomes aware of a new space which we have called
the soul.
3nce you have found your soul, you have found your home. %ou have found your love, you have
found your ine*haustible ecstasy, you have found that the whole e*istence is ready for you to dance, to
rejoice, to sing -- to live intensely and die blissfully. These things happen on their own accord.
The mind is the barrier between your brain, your body and your soul. %ou can see the difference: the
psychology born in the West is concerned with the most non-essential part of you" it goes round and
round analy:ing the mind. The psychology of the buddhas, in a single hit, will drop the mind and
accept only that which e*istence has given to you, not the society you were unfortunate to be born in.
'ut every society is unfortunate, every religion is unfortunate. This is the greatest calamity under
which humanity has lived up to now. What is the difference between a !ohammedan and a ,hristian,
e*cept the mind( What is the difference between a communist and a spiritualist( -- just the difference
of the mind. 2ach has been cultivated differently.
&o the first and the most basic thing is, the psychology of the buddhas has evolved methods of
meditation which are really nothing but surgical methods so that the mind can be removed -- it is the
worst cancerous growth in you. 3ther than the mind, everything is absolutely beautiful. It is because
only the mind is man-manufactured" everything else comes from the eternal sources of life.
...
I will give you an e*ample to show that science is a very much lower phenomenon....
3ne morning ,huang T:u sat up in his bed -- which was strange, because he used to get up and get
out of his bed. Why is he sitting and loo$ing so sad( #e was not a man of sadness.
In fact I have not found anybody else in the whole world of literature who has written such beautiful
absurd stories. They dont ma$e any sense, but they are beautiful.
#e was again creating a situation.
The disciples were worried" they came and they as$ed, .What is the matter(.
,huang T:u said, .I am in a very great fi*: last night I slept, and I $new perfectly well that I was
,huang T:u. 'ut in the night I had a dream that I had become a butterfly..
The disciples laughed. #e said, .&hut up! It is not a matter to laugh about, my whole life is at ris$!.
They said, .!aster, it was only a dream!.
#e said, .)irst you should listen to the whole thing. Then in the morning I wo$e up and the idea arose
in me that if ,huang T:u can become a butterfly in dream, what is the guarantee that a butterfly
cannot become ,huang T:u in a dream( +nd now the ;uestion is, who am I( The butterfly dreaming,
or...(.
,ertainly the situation he has created is almost insoluble. 9o you thin$ there can be any rational
solution to it( #is ;uestion is very pertinent: if ,huang T:u can become a butterfly in a dream,
perhaps the butterfly has gone to sleep and has become ,huang T:u. The problem is that ,huang T:u
is losing his identity. #e told the disciples, .!editate and find a solution. 6nless you find a solution I
am going to sit in my bed without eating, because it is a ;uestion of life and death..
They went out, they discussed it....This is absolutely absurd! We have also dreamt, but this idea....
'ut the idea is such that there is no way out of it!
Then came 5ieh T:u, ,huang T:us chief disciple, and all the disciples as$ed him what to do. #e said,
.9ont be worried,. and rather than going to ,huang T:u, he went to the water well. They said,
.Where are you going(.
#e said, .%ou just wait. I $now my master.. #e pulled out a buc$et of water -- it was a cold winter
morning -- and he brought the buc$et of water and poured it on ,huang T:u!
,huang T:u laughed and he said, .If you had not come, my life was at ris$. %ou saved me!.
5ieh T:u said, .-ust get out of the bed, or I am going to bring another buc$et of water. +ll that you
need is to be brought out of your dream. %ou are still dreaming..
#e said, .7o, I am going to get out!.
The masters cannot create a science, because science can only be objective. +t the most you can call it
an art, because the art has more fle*ibility, more different approaches....
7ow what do you call 5ieh T:us bringing a buc$et of water( + scientific method( -ust a clear insight,
and out of that clear insight arises an arbitrary, artful, but intelligent method.
In fact, ,huang T:u was waiting for some disciple to do something -- it was not a ;uestion to be
solved by sitting and pondering over it. It was a ;uestion that somebody has to do something and show
by his act, his clarity. This was the moment ,huang T:u declared 5ieh T:u to be his successor. +ll the
other disciples could not understand what had happened -- what $ind of solution is this(
The psychology of the buddhas is not a science, is not a philosophy. +t the most we can call it a very
fle*ible art. #ence, there are no fi*ed answers for anything.
I will give you another e*ample.
3ne morning, it must have been such a beautiful morning, a man comes to /autam 'uddha and as$s
him, .9oes /od e*ist(. 2verybody is curious to $now what 'uddha answers.
'uddha said to the man, .There is no /od -- not only now, there has never been. It is simply a fiction
to e*ploit the fools.. The man was very much shoc$ed.
In the afternoon, another man came and he as$ed, .What do you thin$ about the e*istence of /od(.
+gain the same ;uestion....
'uddha loo$ed at the man and said, .%es, there is a /od and there has always been..
+nd in the evening, another man came and said, .I dont $now anything about /od. I am absolutely
ignorant. 8nowing that you are here, I have come to be enlightened about the subject..
'uddha loo$ed at him and then closed his eyes. 7o answer -- and strangely, the disciples saw that the
other man also closed his eyes. 3ne hour must have passed when the man opened his eyes, touched
/autam 'uddhas feet and said, .%ou have answered it, and I am immensely grateful..
+nanda, who used to be the attendant of /autam 'uddha twenty-four hours a day, became very much
confused. +nybody could have become confused -- in the morning he says one thing, in the afternoon
he says just the opposite, and in the evening he says nothing and the man gets the answer, touches his
feet with tears of joy and leaves! When everybody was gone, +nanda said, .I cannot sleep tonight
until you tell me which one is the true answer..
/autam 'uddha said, .The first thing you have to remember -- none of the ;uestions were yours.
Why should you be worried about the answers( %ou have been with me for forty years. If you had any
;uestion, you could have as$ed. Those were ;uestions of three different people..
+nanda said, .I am sorry, it is true. 7one of them was my ;uestion, but I have ears and I heard. +nd
all three ;uestions and the three answers are so contradictory that it has become a turmoil in me..
'uddha said, .%ou dont understand another thing. The first man who had come to see me was a
believer in /od. #e was a theist, and all he wanted was not an answer but a support to his belief. I
cannot support anybodys belief. !y function is to destroy all beliefs, so that you yourself can see
what is the truth. Thats why I denied absolutely that there is any /od and said there has never been
any /od.
.The man who came in the afternoon was just the opposite" he was an atheist. #e did not believe in
/od and he had also come to be supported so that he could tell people that Tnot only I am an atheist --
/autam 'uddha himself is an atheist. 'ut this was also a belief, not an e*perience, because the
e*perience never as$s ;uestions. It is always the belief that goes on creating ;uestions..
%our mind is full of beliefs, with no e*perience at all. Thats why /autam 'uddha said, .I had to be
very strict with the fellow, and I told him there is a /od and there has always been a /od..
These are arbitrary methods to destroy different $inds of beliefs. 'ut the basic purpose is to destroy
belief so that you can find your own heart, your own trust.
.+nd the third man was a very innocent man because he accepted his ignorance, and he did not
propose any belief. #e had not come to be supported, he had come to be really helped. +nd there is a
difference in being supported and being helped.
.'ecause he had no ;uestion, there was no need to answer. I closed my eyes, and he understood that
he had also to close his eyes: perhaps this is the way /autam 'uddha is going to answer him. +nd he
was right -- innocence is always right. In that one hour, my silence infiltrated his being. !y presence
surrounded his being. #e was immensely fulfilled, contented.
./od is nobodys concern -- certainly it was not the concern of that man. +ll he wanted was a certain
communion with e*istence, whatever name is given to e*istence. I gave him the taste, I gave him the
e*perience" I shared myself with him -- thats why he was so grateful. %ou are pu::led that the man
said, TI have received the answer although I had not answered in words. +nd in gratitude, he touched
my feet, with tears of joy. 'ut in each case I had to use a different, arbitrary method because those
three persons had three different minds..

The psychology of the buddhas cannot be a science. &cience is always objective, it is about the other.
It is never about your own being. It is e*trovert, it is never introvert.
'ut the man who has become awa$ened finds ways to sha$e you from your sleep, to wa$e you from
your mind, which is your coma, which is your blindness. Thats why different masters in different
countries have used different methods. 7o method is scientific. It depends on the person who has to be
operated upon. The surgery cannot be a definite science. +s far as the psychology of the buddhas is
concerned, it is going to be very fle*ible.
%es, sometimes the master may hit you and sometimes the master may hug you. 'ut it all depends on
what $ind of mind he is wor$ing on, and he is wor$ing on different $inds of minds. %ou dont have the
same minds" otherwise the same method would have been enough.
Traditionally there are one hundred and eight methods of meditation. I have gone through all those
methods -- not just by reading them" I have tried every method. !y search was to find what is the
essential core of all those one hundred and eight methods, because there is bound to be something
essential. +nd my e*perience is that the essential of all meditations is the art of witnessing.
+nd then I created my own methods because I had found the essential core. Those one hundred and
eight methods have become, in a way, out of date. They were created by different masters for different
$inds of people, to transform different minds. The contemporary mind did not yet e*ist" the
contemporary mind needs new methods. The methods will differ only in non-essentials. The essential
core, the very soul of the method, is going to be the same.

This silence is beautiful, but each laughter ma$es the silence go deeper. #ave you observed it or not(
+fter each laughter, there is a deeper layer of silence revealing itself to you. It is almost li$e being on a
road, and a car passes with its headlights on. &uddenly there is light where there was dar$ness. 'ut
once the car has gone, the dar$ness becomes dar$er.
&omething almost similar happens" hence I have started calling my jo$es .the time for prayer..

#erman 5evins$y is standing in front of the gorillas cage in the :oo one day, when the wind blows a
piece of grit into his eye.
+s #erman pulls down his eyelid to remove the particle, the gorilla goes cra:y, bends open the bars
and beats the poor fellow senseless.
When #erman regains consciousness, he e*plains to the an*ious :oo$eeper what happened. The
:oo$eeper nods sagely and e*plains that in gorilla language, pulling down the eyelid means, .)uc$
you!.
This e*planation doesnt ma$e #erman feel any better, and he swears revenge.
The ne*t day, #erman arrives at the :oo with two large $nives, two hats, two whistles and a large
sausage. <utting the sausage in his pants, he hurries to the gorillas cage, into which he throws a $nife,
a hat and a whistle.
Then #erman puts on his hat. The gorilla loo$s at him, loo$s at the hat, and puts it on.
7e*t, #erman pic$s up the
whistle and blows it. The gorilla
loo$s at him, loo$s at the whistle,
and then pic$s it up and blows it.
Then #erman pic$s up the $nife,
whips the sausage out of his
pants, and slices it neatly in two.
The gorilla loo$s at the $nife in
his cage, loo$s at his pric$, loo$s
up, and pulls down his eyelid.
&piritual /angster - 3sho
!any people are there who are not only deceiving others, they go on deceiving themselves. They
thin$ they are not in misery" they go on saying they are not in misery. 'ut their whole e*istence is
miserable. When they are saying that they are not in misery, their faces, their eyes, their heart,
everything, is in misery.
I will tell you one anecdote, and then finish. I have heard once it happened that twelve ladies reached
purgatory. The officiating angel as$ed them,.Were any of you unfaithful to your husbands while on
earth( If someone was unfaithful to her husband, she should raise her hand.. 'lushingly, hesitating, by
and by eleven ladies raised their hands. The officiating angel too$ his phone, called into the phone,
.#ello! Is that hell( #ave you got room for twelve unfaithful wives there( -- one of them, stone deaf!.
It isnt needed whether you say or not. %our face, your very being, shows everything. %ou may say
you are not miserable, but the way you say it, the way you are, shows you are miserable. %ou cannot
deceive, and there is no point -- because no one can deceive anybody else, you can only deceive
yourself.
4emember, if you are miserable, you have created all this. 5et it penetrate deep in your heart that you
have created your sufferings because this is going to be the formula, the $ey. If you have created your
sufferings, only then can you destroy it. If someone else has created them, you are helpless. %ou have
created your miseries, you can destroy them. %ou have created them through wrong habits, wrong
attitudes, addictions, desires.
9rop this pattern! 5oo$ fresh! +nd this very life is the ultimate joy that is possible to human
consciousness.
%our parents are creating the feeling in you that you are powerless. Why( 'ecause only through this
they can feel they are powerful. %ou may be thin$ing that you love children very much. That doesnt
seem to be the case. %ou love power, and when you get children, when you become mothers and
fathers, you are powerful. 7obody may be listening to you" you may be nothing in the world, but at
least in the boundaries of your home you are powerful. %ou can at least torture small children.
+nd loo$ at fathers and mothers: they torture! +nd they torture in such a loving way that you cannot
even say to them that .%ou are torturing.. They are torturing for .their own good., for the childrens
own good! They are helping them to grow. They feel powerful. <sychologists say that many people
go to the teaching profession just to feel powerful, because thirty children at your disposal, you are
just a $ing.
It is reported that +urangajeb was imprisoned by his son. When he was imprisoned, he wrote a letter
and he said, .3nly one wish, if you can fulfill, it will be good, and I will be very happy. %ou just send
thirty children to me so that I can teach them in my imprisonment..
The son has been reported to have said, .!y father has always remained a $ing, and he cannot lose
his $ingdom. &o even in the prison he needs thirty children so he can teach them..
5oo$! /o into a school! The teacher sitting on his chair-and absolute power, just the master of
everything that is happening there. <eople want children not because they love, because if they love,
really, the world will be totally different. If you love your child the world will be totally different. %ou
will not help him to be helpless, to feel helpless, you will give him so much love that he would feel he
is powerful. If you give love, then he will never be as$ing for power. #e will not become a political
leader" he will not go for elections. #e will not try to accumulate money and go mad after it, because
he $nows it is useless -- he is already powerful" love is enough.
'ut nobody is giving love, then he will create substitutes. +ll your desires, whether of power, of
money, prestige, they all show that something had been taught to you in your childhood, something
has been conditioned in your bio-computer and you are following that conditioning without loo$ing
inside, that whatsoever you are as$ing is already there.
<atanjalis whole effort is to put your bio-computer in silence so that it doesnt interfere. This is what
meditation is. It is putting your bio-computer, for certain moments, into silence, into a non-chattering
state, so that you can loo$ within and hear your deepest nature. -ust a glimpse will change you because
then this biocomputer cannot deceive you. This bio-computer goes on saying that, .9o this, do that!.
It goes on continuously manipulating you, that .%ou must have more power" otherwise you are
nobody..
If you loo$ within, there is no need to be anybody" there is no need to be somebody. %ou are already
accepted as you are. The whole e*istence accepts you, is happy about you. %ou are a flowering -- an
individual flowering, different from any other, uni;ue, and /od welcomes you" otherwise you could
not be here. %ou are here only because you are accepted. %ou are here only because /od loves you or
the universe loves you or the e*istence needs you. %ou are needed.
3nce 'uddha
came to his
mon$s" he was
going to deliver a
sermon. #e sat
under his tree. #e
was having a
hand$erchief in his
hand. #e loo$ed at
the hand$erchief.
The whole
congregation also
loo$ed what he
was doing. Then
he binds five $nots
in the hand$erchief
and then he as$s, .What should I do now to un$not this hand$erchief( What should I do now(. +nd he
as$ed two ;uestions. 3ne: .Is the hand$erchief the same when there were no $nots on it or is it
different(.
3ne bhi$$hu, one mon$, says that, .In a sense it is the same because the ;uality of the hand$erchief
has not changed. 2ven with $nots it is the same, the same hand$erchief. The inherent nature remains
the same. 'ut in a sense it has changed because something new has appeared. 8nots were not there,
now $nots are there. &o superficially it has changed, but deep down it has remained the same..
'uddha says, .This is the situation of human mind. 9eep down it remains un$notted. The ;uality
remains the same.. When you become a 'uddha, an enlightened one, you will not have a different
consciousness. The ;uality will be the same. The difference is only that now you are a $notted
hand$erchief" your consciousness has a few $nots.
&econd thing 'uddha as$ed: .What I should do to un$not the hand$erchief(. +nother mon$ says,
.6nless we $now what you have done to $not it we cannot say anything, because the reverse process
will have to be applied. The way you have $notted it has to be $nown first, because that will be the
way again in the reverse order to un$not.. &o 'uddha says, .This is the second thing. #ow you have
come into this bondage, this has to be understood. #ow you are conditioned in your bondage, this has
to be understood, because the same will be the process, in reverse order, to uncondition you..

4is$ is there, but life itself is

ris$. )or higher life, higher
ris$s will be there. %ou move
on a dangerous path. 'ut
remember, there is only one
error in life, and that is not
moving at all" that is just
afraid, sitting, just afraid if
you move something may go
wrong, so it is better to wait
and sit. This is the only error.
%ou will not be in danger,
but no growth will be
possible.
<atanjali says there are
things which you do not
$now, there are things which
your logic cannot infer. %ou
have to ta$e on trust.
'ecause of this third source,
the guru, the !aster,
becomes a necessity, someone who $nows. +nd you have to ta$e the ris$, and I say it is a ris$, because
there is no guarantee. The whole thing may prove just a wastage, but it is better to ta$e the ris$,
because even if it is proved a wastage, you have learned much. 7ow no other person will be able to
deceive you so easily. +t least you have learned this much.

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+ meditator cannot smo$e, for
the simple reason that he never
feels nervous, in an*iety, in
tension.
&mo$ing helps -- on a
momentary basis -- to forget
about your an*ieties, your tensions, your nervousness. 3ther things can do the same -- chewing gum
can do the same, but smo$ing does it the best.
In your deep unconscious, smo$ing is related with suc$ing mil$ from your mothers breast. +nd as
civili:ation has grown, no woman wants the child to be brought up by breast-feeding -- naturally" he
will destroy the breast. The breast will lose its roundness, its beauty.
The child has different needs. The child does not need a round breast, because with a round breast the
child will die. If the breast is really round, while he is suc$ing the mil$ he cannot breathe" his nose
will be stopped by the breast. #e will get suffocated.
The childs needs are different from a painters need, form a poets need, from that of a man of
aesthetic sensibility. The child needs a long breast so his nose is free and he can do both -- he can
breathe and also feed himself. &o every child will try to ma$e the breast according to his needs. +nd
no woman wants the breast to be destroyed. It is part of her beauty, her body, her shape.
&o as civili:ation has grown, children are ta$en away from the breast of the mother sooner and
sooner. +nd the longing to drin$ from the breast goes on in their minds. +nd whenever people are in
some nervous state, in tension, in an*iety, the cigarette helps. It helps them to become a child again,
rela*ed in their mothers lap.
The cigarette is very symbolic. It is just li$e the nipple of the mother, and the smo$e that goes through
it is warm just li$e the mil$ is warm. &o it has a certain symmetry, and you become engaged in it, and
for the moment you are reduced to a child who has no an*ieties, no problems, no responsibilities.
%ou say that for thirty years you have been smo$ing, a chain-smo$er" you want to stop it but you
cannot stop it. %ou cannot -- because you have to change the causes that have produced it.
I have been successful with many of my sannyasins. )irst they laughed when I suggested to them...
they could not believe that such a simple solution could help them. I said to them, .9ont try to stop
smo$ing, but rather bring a mil$ bottle that is used for small children. +nd in the night when nobody
can see you, under your blan$et enjoy the mil$, the warm mil$. It is not going to do any harm at least..
They said, .'ut how is it going to help(.
I said, .%ou forget about it -- how and why -- you just do it. It will give you good food before you go
to sleep, and there is no harm. +nd my feeling is that the ne*t day you will not feel so much need for
cigarettes. &o you count..
+nd they were surprised... slowly, slowly the cigarettes were disappearing, because their basic need
which had remained hanging in the middle was fulfilled: they are no more children, they are maturing,
and the cigarette disappears.
%ou cannot stop it. %ou have to do something which is not harmful, which is healthier, as a substitute
for the time being so that you grow up and the cigarettes stop themselves.
&mall children $now this -- I have learned the secret from them. If a child is crying or weeping and is
hungry, and the mother is far away, then he will put his thumb in his mouth and start suc$ing it. +nd
he will forget all about hunger and crying and weeping, and will fall asleep. #e has found a substitute
-- although that substitute is not going to give him food, at least it gives a sense that something similar
is happening. It rela*es him.
I have tried with a few of my sannyasins, even suc$ing the thumb. If you are too afraid to bring a
bottle and fill it with mil$, and if your wife comes to $now about it, or your children see you doing it,
then the best way is: you go to sleep with the thumb in the mouth. &uc$ it and enjoy it.
They have always laughed but they have always come bac$ and said, .It helps, and the number of
cigarettes ne*t day is less and it goes on becoming less.. <erhaps it will ta$e a few wee$s, then the
cigarettes will disappear. +nd once they have disappeared without your stopping them.... %our
stopping is repression, and anything repressed will try to come up again with greater force, with
vengeance.
7ever stop anything.
)ind the basic cause of it and try to wor$ out some substitute which is not harmful. &o the basic cause
disappears -- the cigarette is only a symptom. &o the first thing is, stop stopping it. The second thing
is, get a good bottle, and dont be embarrassed. If you are embarrassed then use your own thumb. %our
own thumb will not be that great, but it will help.
+nd I have never seen anybody failing who has used what I am saying. 3ne day suddenly he cannot
believe that he was unnecessarily destroying his health rather than having pure and clean air, smo$ing
dirty smo$e and destroying his lungs.
+nd this is going to become a problem more and more because as the womens liberation movement
grows children will not be breast-fed. I am not saying that they should be breast-fed" but they should
be given some substitute breast so that their unconscious does not carry some wound that will create
problems for them -- chewing gum and cigarettes and cigars.... These are all symptoms. In different
countries they are different.
In India they go on chewing pan leaves, or there are many people who use snuff. These are all the
same. The snuff loo$s far away, but it is not that far away. The people who are nervous, tense, in
an*iety, will ta$e a dose of snuff. It gives a good snee:e, clears their mind, sha$es their whole being,
and it feels good.
'ut those an*ieties will come bac$. The snuff cannot destroy them. %ou have to destroy the very base
of your being nervous. Why should you be nervous(
!any journalists have told me, .With you one of the greatest difficulties is that we feel nervous.. +nd
they have said, .This is strange because we interview politicians -- they feel nervous, we ma$e them
nervous. %ou ma$e us nervous, and immediately the desire to smo$e arises. Then you prevent us
smo$ing: T%ou cannot smo$e here. %ou are allergic.
.%ou have a great strategy! -- we cannot smo$e, and you are ma$ing us nervous and tense, and this
allergy you have which prevents us from smo$ing... so you have no way out for us..
'ut why should they feel nervous before me( Those politicians are powerful people -- if they feel
nervous before them, it can be understood. 'ut the reality is those powerful people are just hollow
inside, and that power is borrowed from others, and they are afraid for their respectability. 2ach word
they have to spea$, they have to thin$ twice. They are nervous that these journalists may create a
situation in which their influence over people is destroyed. Their image that they have created has to
become better and better. That is their fear. 'ecause of that fear, the journalist -- any journalist, who
has no power -- can ma$e them nervous.
To me there is no problem. I have no desire for respectability. I am notorious enough -- they cannot
ma$e me more notorious. I have done everything that could have made me nervous" I have managed
already. What can they do to me( -- I dont have any power to lose, and I can say anything that I want
because I am not worried about being contradictory, inconsistent. 3n the contrary, I enjoy being
contradictory, inconsistent.
They start feeling nervous, and the nervousness immediately brings the idea to do something, to get
engaged, so nobody feels that you are nervous. -ust watch: when you start feeling that you need a
cigarette, just watch why you need it. There is something that is ma$ing you nervous, and you dont
want to be caught.
I am reminded... 3ne day in a 7ew %or$ church, as the bishop entered he saw a strange man, a perfect
hippy-type. 'ut he made the bishop nervous, because that man loo$ed into his eyes, and said, .9o you
$now who I am( I am 5ord -esus ,hrist..
The bishop phoned 4ome: .What am I supposed to do(. he as$ed the pope, .a hippy-loo$ing man,
but he also loo$s li$e -esus ,hrist. +nd I am alone here, early in the morning and he has come here. I
have never been told what we have to do when -esus ,hrist comes, so I want instruction. ,learly, so I
dont commit any mista$e..
The pope was himself nervous. #e said, .9o only one thing: loo$ busy! What else can be done(
!eanwhile give a phone call to the police station. +nd loo$ busy so that man cannot see your
nervousness..
,igarettes help you to loo$ busy" your nervousness is covered by it. &o dont try to stop it" otherwise
you will feel nervous and then you will fall bac$ to the old pattern. The desire is there because
something is left incomplete in you.
,omplete it -- and there are simple methods to complete it. -ust a babys mil$ bottle will do. It will
give you good food, it will ma$e you healthier and it will ta$e away all your desire for loo$ing busy!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
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That will be. If you judge them bad they will be persistent because you are creating a relationship
with them. To call anything bad is to create a relationship with it.
+nd whenever you call a thing bad, why do you call it bad( %ou call it bad because it defeats you. It is
powerful. %ou call it bad because you are impotent before it" and by name-calling nobody is helped.
&o the first thing to do is: stop judging! If you want to smo$e -- smo$e! &mo$e meditatively, forget
what others say about it. &mo$ing can be such a beautiful meditation. 9ont fight with it, smo$e
meditatively, create perfect rings, and enjoy the whole thing. +nd suddenly one day you will find the
need has disappeared. The whole thing loo$s so foolish.
7ot that you judge, because when you judge then it is either good or bad. When you dont judge
something simply drops if it is useless. If you meditate while smo$ing you will find that meditation
can be done without smo$ing, +79 better. &o why unnecessarily bring this smo$e in between( 3ne
day you will put the cigarette bac$ on the table, on the ashtray, and you will never ta$e one again --
but it is not a judgement.
Whenever you say something is bad you are giving roots to it. +nd it is always so that good is not so
powerful as bad because good is that which others tell you to do and bad is that which %36 want to
do. 3f course the good can never be as powerful as the bad because the bad is that which you would
li$e to do, and the good is that which others are trying to force on you to do. %ou resist that good. It
loo$s li$e a slavery, a bondage, and bad loo$s li$e freedom.
If you are )34,29 into heaven you will run away from it and fall into hell because you will say, +t
least here is freedom. +nd the saints, the so-called saints, and religious people have done such terrible
harm to human consciousness by forcing good things on people that it is incalculable. 4ather force
bad things on people so that bad becomes associated with bondage, with others egos, and good
becomes associated with ones own ego. Then people will be better.
It happened, I used to live with a friend. #e became worried one day because he had seen his son
smo$ing. #is son was very small, not more than ten years of age, and he was very much worried -- he
was a very good and religious man -- so he said: What to do( I told him: 'ring a pac$et to me, and
send your son.
I forced the boy to smo$e twenty cigarettes, and I threatened, if he did not finish the whole pac$et, I
would beat him. ,rying and weeping and smo$ing and coughing and with me standing there with a
stic$ to beat him -- finished! #e told me: 7ow nobody can ever force me!
It is better if bad is associated with bondage -- but it is not so associated. %our father doesnt want you
to smo$e, your mother doesnt want you to smo$e the surgeon general doesnt want you to smo$e --
suddenly an urge arises to be free of all this. +nd you would li$e to smo$e: that gives you a feeling of
freedom, of independence, that gives you a feeling that you are now on your own, you dont care what
all these people say. They are really forcing you to smo$e.
<rohibit a thing, and you are forcing people to do the thing. <rohibit anything, and it will become
more and more prevalent. +llow, and it falls out of use.
&o what to do( &mo$e with meditation, dont worry. 2njoy it. If you can enjoy it, the whole power
from it will be gone. The power is very symbolic -- you are rebelling against your parents, against the
society -- these are simple gestures of rebellion: you dont li$e things as they are. 'ut in rebelling
against them you are harming yourself -- thats your foolishness.
&mo$ing is not bad, simply harmful. It is not sin, it is simply ignorance. &o there is nothing bad about
it -- if you want to enjoy ignorance, enjoy. #ow does it matter if you live one year less( %ou would
have lived seventy years, now you will live si*ty-nine if you go on smo$ing two pac$ets of cigarettes
every day. 3ne year you will lose, but what does it matter( &i*ty nine you are going to waste, you
would have wasted seventy. 3ne year less means one year less of your nonsense doings in the world.
In a way it is good, you are gone, the world is less burdened.
9ont be worried about these things and dont create judgements. 9ont judge. If you enjoy, you enjoy.
If you dont enjoy, you stop. 7o judgement is needed, no morality should be brought in to change
these things, otherwise you will never be able to change them. The more you push them, negate them,
the more powerful they will become, because whenever you try to push something away from you,
you are showing interest. Whenever you say, I am not going to do this, you $now your
unconsciousness is saying, 9o it, it is beautiful. &o dont create such vicious circles.
I was telling you the other day a >en mon$s saying: When wal$ing wal$" when sleeping sleep" when
eating, eat" above all, dont wobble. I would add: When smo$ing smo$e" above all, dont wobble. -ust
ta$e it simply. If you ta$e it simply what will you see( %ou will see the whole nonsense behind it.
&mo$ing is not the thing, you are denying something through it, rebelling against something. %our
father is standing there: you were such a small child and your father was so powerful and he said,
7ever smo$e. +nd you wanted to deny his authority. %ou started smo$ing. The mother was there, the
priest in the church, the
&unday school in the church saying, 9ont smo$e otherwise you will be thrown into hell. %ou never
li$ed that priest, you never li$ed that sermon, you were forced to go to the &unday school -- in fact it
loo$ed li$e hell" from it you wanted to rebel, to put your ego right. 2verybody was suppressing you,
everybody was pushing and forcing and pulling, and everybody was trying to manipulate you, so you
went into the bathroom and you smo$ed -- and everything was put right. %ou had rebelled. %ou felt
good!
&mo$ing helped you to feel good, to feel that you are not so impotent -- you can rebel. This father
may be very very powerful but you can deceive even him. +nd this mother may be very very all-
$nowing, intuitive, but she does not $now a bit that you are smo$ing.
When you smo$e silently, meditatively, all these things will be revealed to you, how it has happened.
+nd once you come to $now the cause -- it is not the cigarette that is the cause, the cigarette is just a
symptom, the cause is very deep and hidden -- once you $now the cause, then it is up to you.
The father may be dead and gone, and you are still ta$ing revenge. +nd now you can understand that
he never meant ill to you. #e may not have done you any good, he may have tried to do good in such a
wrong way that the ultimate end has been bad" but his intention was good, he wanted to help you. #e
may not have $nown how to help you, in fact he harmed you, but you cannot doubt his good intention.
&uddenly you are reconciled with your father, reconciled with your mother, and the cigarette drops
from your hands -- without any act on your part. %ou are reconciled. It was a rebellion. 7ow there is
no point, you understand, and the thing is finished.
+nd do the same for other things. Then by and by you will see things change. The more you
understand them, the more there is the possibility of their changing, and that change has a grace to it
because it is not forced.
I am not against anything. I am only against inattentiveness, unawareness. &mo$e with fully alert
mind and there will be revealed to you, you will discover, many things associated with it, it will
become a primal therapy, you will go deeper and deeper and deeper into your childhood, and you will
come to the facts from where it started.
#ow does it have such a grip on you( )rom where does this grip come( There must be much emotion
involved! -ust smo$ing in and out cannot have grips.... &o many millions of people smo$ing, doing
such a stupid thing" wasting money on it, life on it, suffering a thousand types of diseases, but still
continuing. There must be more behind it than appears to the na$ed eye. It is not simply a cigarette, it
is very symbolic, it is a symptom, deep down many layers of many things are associated....
If you simply drop the cigarette and those causes are still within you they will force you to pic$ up the
cigarette again. 6nderstand. +nd without understanding never ma$e any effort to change anything.
6nderstanding changes, only understanding changes and transforms. 5et understanding be the only
law.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
start becoming more and more aware of your wa$ing consciousness. Wal$ing on the road, wal$ with
full awareness, $nowing that you are wal$ing. Then slowly, slowly transform every act into
awareness. 9e-automati:e every act.
+ man came to me. #e had been suffering from chain-smo$ing for thirty years" he was ill and the
doctors said, .%ou will never be healthy if you dont stop smo$ing. . 'ut he was a chronic smo$er" he
could not help it. #e had tried -- not that he had not tried -- he had tried hard, and he had suffered
much in trying, but one day or two days, and then again the urge would come so tremendously, it
would simply ta$e him away. +gain he would fall into the same pattern.
'ecause of this smo$ing he had lost all self-confidence: he $nows he cannot do a small thing" he
cannot stop smo$ing. #e had become worthless in his own eyes" he thought himself just the most
worthless person in the world. #e had no respect for himself.
#e came to me" he said, .What can I do( #ow can I stop smo$ing(. I said, .7obody can stop
smo$ing. %ou have to understand. &mo$ing is not only a ;uestion of your decision now. It has entered
into your world of habits, it has ta$en roots. Thirty years is a long time. It has ta$en roots in your body,
in your chemistry, it has spread all over. It is not just a ;uestion of your head deciding" your head
cannot do anything. The head is impotent" it can start things, but it cannot stop so easily. 3nce you
have started and once you have practiced so long, you are a great yogi -- thirty years practicing
smo$ing. It has become autonomous" you will have to de-automati:e it. . #e said, .What do you mean
by de-automati:ation(.
+nd thats what meditation is all about: de-automati:ation.
I said, .%ou do one thing: forget about stopping. There is no need either. )or thirty years you have
smo$ed and lived" of course it was a suffering, but you have become accustomed to that too. +nd what
does it matter if you die a few hours earlier than you would have died without smo$ing( What are you
going to do here( What have you done( &o what is the point -- whether you die !onday or Tuesday or
&unday, this year, that year -- what does it matter(.
#e said, .%es, that is true, it doesnt matter.. Then I said, .)orget about it" we are not going to stop it
at all. 4ather, we are going to understand it. &o ne*t time, you ma$e it a meditation. .
#e said, .!editation out of smo$ing(. I said, .%es. If >en people can ma$e meditation out of
drin$ing tea, and can ma$e it a ceremony, why not( &mo$ing can be as beautiful a meditation. .
#e loo$ed thrilled. #e said, .What are you saying(. #e became alive! #e said, .!editation( -ust tell
me -- I cannot wait! .
I gave him the meditation. I said, .9o one thing. When you ta$e the pac$et out of your poc$et, for a
moment go slowly. When you are ta$ing the pac$et of cigarettes out of your poc$et move slowly.
2njoy it, there is no hurry. 'e conscious, alert, aware" ta$e it out slowly, with full awareness. Then
ta$e the cigarette out of the pac$et with full awareness, slowly -- not in the old hurried way,
unconscious way, mechanical way. Then start tapping the cigarette on your pac$et -- but very alertly.
5isten to the sound, just as >en people do when the samovar starts singing and the tea starts boiling,
and the aroma. Then smell the cigarette and the beauty of it.... .
#e said, .What are you saying( The beauty(. .%es, it is beautiful. Tobacco is as divine as anything.
2ven !orarji 9esai is divine, so why not tobacco( &mell it" it is /ods smell..
#e loo$ed a little surprised. #e said, .What, are you jo$ing(. .7o, I am not jo$ing..
2ven when I jo$e, I dont jo$e. I am very serious.
.Then put it in your mouth, with full awareness, light it with full awareness. 2njoy every act, small
act, and divide it into as many small acts as possible, so you can become more and more aware.
.Then have the first puff: /od in the form of smo$e. #indus say,annam brahm -- )ood is /od. Why
not smo$e( +ll is /od. )ill your lungs deeply -- this is a pranayam. I am giving you the new yoga for
the new age! Then release the smo$e, rela*, another puff... and go very slowly.
.If you can do it, you will be surprised, soon you will see the whole stupidity of it. 7ot because others
have said that it is stupid, not because others have said that it is bad: you will see it. +nd the seeing
will not be just intellectual. It will be from your total being, it will be a vision of your totality. +nd
then, one day, if it drops, it drops" if it continues, it continues. %ou need not worry about it. .
+fter three months he came, and he said, .'ut it dropped..
.7ow, . I said, .try it on other things too. .
This is the secret, the secret: de-automati:e. Wal$ing, wal$ slowly, watchfully. 5oo$ing, loo$
watchfully, and you will see trees are greener than they have ever been and roses are rosier than they
have ever been. 5isten. &omebody is tal$ing, gossiping: listen, listen attentively. When you are
tal$ing, tal$ attentively. 5et your whole wa$ing activity become de-automati:ed, and then you will be
surprised, the moment it happens, your dream activity will have a new perspective. %ou will start
becoming aware in your dream.
Then start watching your dreams. That is a miracle when it happens. When you start watching your
dreams you are really a totally different person. Then the dreams have no impact on you. Watching
your dreams, one day dreams disappear" you have de-automati:ed your dreaming process. +nd then
you will be able to watch your dreamless sleep: yo6 are asleep, and you are still awa$e. The whole
body sleeping, every cell of it rela*ed, the whole mechanism silent -- and you are watching there, a
silent witness.
When this third has happened, the fourth arises on its own: the humming sound. %ou are full of a new
music. That music is /od.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3&#3,
I ,+773T 943< T#2 #+'IT 3) ,#+I7-&!38I7/. I #+=2 T4I29 #+49 '6T I #+=2
)+I529 +5W+%&. I& IT + &I7 T3 &!382(

/urucharan,
937T !+82 + !367T+I7 36T 3) + !352#I55! 4eligious people are very s$illful in doing
that. 7ow, what are you really doing when you are smo$ing( -ust ta$ing some smo$e inside your
lungs and letting it out. It is a $ind of <4+7+%+!+ -- filthy, dirty, but still a <4+7+%+!+! %ou
are doing yoga, in a stupid way. It is not sin. It may be foolish but it is not a sin, certainly.
There is only one sin and that is unawareness, and only one virtue and that is awareness.
9o whatsoever you are doing, but remain a witness to it, and immediately the ;uality of your doing is
transformed. I will not tell you not to smo$e" that you have tried. %ou must have been told by many
so-called saints not to smo$e: .'ecause if you smo$e you will fall into hell.. /od is not so stupid as
your saints are. Throwing somebody into hell just because he was smo$ing cigarettes will be
absolutely unnecessary.

3ne morning, Weintraub went to a restaurant and ordered bacon with his eggs. #e was an orthodo*
-ew and his wife $ept a strictly $osher home, but Weintraub felt the need just this once.
+s Weintraub was about to leave the restaurant, he stopped in the door fro:en with terror. The s$y was
filled with blac$ clouds, there was lightning, and the ground shoo$ with the rumble of thunder.
.,an you imagine!. he e*claimed. .+ll that fuss over a little piece of bacon!.

'ut thats what your so-called saints have been telling you down the ages, for centuries.
&mo$ing is unhealthy, unhygienic, but not a sin. It becomes a sin only if you are doing it
unconsciously -- it is not smo$ing that ma$es it a sin but unconsciousness.
5et me emphasi:e the fact. %ou can do your prayer every day unconsciously" then your prayer is a sin.
%ou can become addicted to your prayer. If you miss the prayer one day, the whole day you will feel
something is wrong, something is missing, some gap. It is the same with smo$ing or with drin$ing"
there is no difference in it. %our prayer has become a mechanical habit" it has become a master over
you. It bosses you" you are just a servant, a slave to it. If you dont do it, it forces you to do it.
&o it is not a ;uestion of smo$ing. %ou may be doing your Transcendental !editation every day
regularly, and it may be just the same. If the ;uality of unconsciousness is there, if mechanicalness is
there, if it has become a fi*ed routine, if it has become a habit and you are a victim of the habit and
you cannot put it aside, you are no more a master of yourself, then it is a sin. 'ut its being a sin comes
out of your unconsciousness, not out of the act itself.
7o act is virtuous, no act is a sin. What consciousness is behind the act -- everything depends on that.

%ou say: I ,+773T 943< T#2 #+'IT 3) ,#+I7-&!38I7/.

I am less interested in your chain-smo$ing" I am more interested in your habit. +ny habit that
becomes a force, a dominating force over you, is a sin. 3ne should live more in freedom. 3ne should
be able to do things not according to habits but according to the situations.
5ife is continuously changing -- it is a flu* -- and habits are stagnant. The more you are surrounded
by habits, the more you are closed to life. %ou are not open, you dont have windows. %ou dont have
any communication with life" you go on repeating your habits. They dont fit" they are not the right
response to the situation, to the moment. They are always lagging behind, they are always falling
short. Thats the failure of your life.
&o remember: I am against all $inds of habits. /ood or bad is not the point" there is no good habit as
such, there is no bad habit as such. #abits are all bad because habit means something unconscious has
become a dominating factor in your life, has become decisive. %ou are no more the deciding factor.
The response is not coming out of awareness but out of a pattern, structure, that you have learned in
the past.

Two members of the &halom 4etirement #ome, 'lustein and 5evin, were strolling past the home of
7elson 4oc$efeller.
.If I only had that mans millions,. sighed 'lustein, .I would be richer than he is..
.9ont be a dummy,. said 5evin. .If you had his millions you would be as rich as he is, not any
richer..
.%ou are wrong,. said 'lustein, .dont forget -- I could give #ebrew lessons on the side!.

Thats what he has been doing. 2ven if he becomes 7elson 4oc$efeller he will go on giving #ebrew
lessons on the side. Thats how people are living, just according to habits.
I have seen many rich people living very poor lives. 'efore they became rich their habits became
settled -- and their habits became settled when they were poor. Thats why you find so much
miserliness in rich people" it comes from the habits that became ingrained in them when they were
poor.
3ne of the richest men in the world -- not 372 of the richest but T#2 richest man in the world it is
thought -- was the 7i:am of #yderabad. #is collection of diamonds was the greatest in the world
because he owned the diamond mines of /olconda which have provided the greatest diamonds to the
world. The 8ohinoor comes from /olconda. It was once in the 7i:ams possession. #e had so many
diamonds that it is said that no one has ever been able to calculate e*actly the price of his collection.
Thousands and thousands of diamonds -- they were not counted, they were weighed!
'ut he was one of the most miserly men in the world. #e used a single cap for thirty years. It was
stin$ing but he wouldnt change it. #e continued to wear the same coat for almost his whole life and
he would not give it to be washed because they might destroy it. #e was so miserly -- you cannot
imagine -- that he would collect half-smo$ed cigarettes from the guests ashtrays and then smo$e
them. The richest man in the world smo$ing cigarette butts smo$ed by others! The first thing he would
do whenever a guest left was to search in the ashtrays and collect the ends of the cigarettes.
When he died, his greatest diamond was found in his dirty shoes. #e was hiding it in his shoe! !aybe
he had some idea behind it -- that maybe he would be able to ta$e it with him to the other world.
!aybe he was afraid: .When I am dead, people may steal it.. It was the greatest diamond" he used that
diamond as a paper-weight on his table. 'efore he died he must have put it inside his shoe.
2ven when one is dying one is moving in old habits, following old patterns.
I have heard:

The old !ulla 7asruddin had become a very rich man. When he felt death approaching he decided to
ma$e some arrangements for his funeral, so he ordered a beautiful coffin made of ebony wood with
satin pillows inside. #e also had a beautiful sil$ caftan made for his dead body to be dressed in.
The day the tailor delivered the caftan, !ulla 7asruddin tried it on to see how it would loo$, but
suddenly he e*claimed, .What is this! Where are the poc$ets(.

/urucharan, smo$ing or no smo$ing, that is not important. !aybe if you continue to smo$e you will
die a little earlier. &o what( The world is so overpopulated, you will do some good by dying a little
earlier. !aybe you will have tuberculosis. &o what( Tuberculosis is now almost li$e the common cold.
In fact, there is no cure for the common cold but there is a cure for tuberculosis I $now it because I
suffer from a common cold. To have tuberculosis is to be very fortunate.

+ man was suffering from a common cold for many years. +ll the doctors were tired of the man
because nobody was able to cure him. Then a new doctor came to the town. +ll the other doctors told
the new doctor, .'eware of this man! #e is going to haunt you! #e is a nuisance -- his cold cannot be
cured..

In fact, there is no cure for the common cold. They say that if you ta$e medicine it goes within seven
days" if you dont ta$e the medicine it goes in one wee$.

&o the new doctor was ready and the man appeared, as predicted by the others. The new doctor said,
.I can cure it. %ou do one thing. -- it must have been winter-time, just li$e this morning -- he told him,
.%ou do one thing: tomorrow, early in the morning, before sunrise, go to the la$e" swim in the la$e
na$ed, then stand on the ban$ in the cold wind..
The man said, .+re you mad or something( #ow is that going to cure my common cold(.
The doctor said, .Who told you that it is going to cure your common cold( It will give you influen:a,
and I can cure that!.

&o it is possible, /urucharan, that you may die two years earlier, you may get tuberculosis -- but it is
not a sin. 9ont be worried about T#+T.
If you really want to do something about your life, dropping smo$ing is not going to help -- because I
$now people who drop smo$ing" then they start chewing gum. The same old stupidity! 3r if they are
Indians they start chewing pan" it is the same. %ou will do something or other. %our unconsciousness
will demand some activity, some occupation. It is an occupation. +nd it is only a symptom" it is not
really the problem. It is not the root of the problem.
#ave you not observed( Whenever you feel emotionally disturbed you immediately start smo$ing. It
gives you a $ind of relief" you become occupied. %our mind is distracted from the emotional problem.
Whenever people feel tense they start smo$ing. The problem is tension, the problem is emotional
disturbance -- the problem is somewhere else" smo$ing is just an occupation. &o you become engaged
in ta$ing the smo$e in and out and you forget for the time being...because mind cannot thin$ of two
things together, remember it. 3ne of the fundamentals of mind is: it can thin$ only of one thing at one
time" it is one-dimensional. &o if you are smo$ing and thin$ing of smo$ing, then from all other
an*ieties you are distracted.
Thats the whole secret of the so-called spiritual mantras: they are nothing but distractions, li$e
smo$ing. %ou repeat .3m, 3m, 3m,. or .4am, 4am, 4am,. or .+llah, +llah, +llah. -- that is just
giving mind an occupation. +nd all these people who teach mantras say, .4epeat it as ;uic$ly as
possible, so that between two repetitions there is not even a small gap. 5et them overlap -- so 4am
4am 4am -- dont leave a gap between two 4ams, otherwise some thought may enter. 4epeat li$e
cra:y!.
%es, it will give you a certain relief -- the same relief that comes from smo$ing, because your mind
will be distracted from the an*ieties and the world. %ou will forget about the world" you have created a
tric$. +ll mantras are tric$s, but they are spiritual. ,hain-smo$ing is also a mantra. It is a worldly
mantra" non-religious you can call it, secular.
The real problem is the habit.

%ou say: I #+=2 T4I29 #+49 T3 943< IT....

%ou have not tried to be conscious of it" without trying to be conscious you have tried to drop it. It is
not possible. It will come bac$, because your mind is the same" its needs are the same, its problems are
the same, its an*ieties, tensions are the same, its anguish is the same. +nd when those an*ieties arise,
what will you do( Immediately, mechanically, you will start searching for the cigarettes.
%ou may have decided again and again, and again and again you have failed -- not because smo$ing
is such a great phenomenon that you cannot get out of it, but because you are trying from the wrong
end. 4ather than becoming aware of the whole situation -- why you smo$e in the first place -- rather
than becoming aware of the process of smo$ing, you are simply trying to drop it. It is li$e pruning the
leaves of a tree without cutting the roots.
+nd my whole concern here is to cut the roots, not to prune the tree. 'y pruning the leaves and the
branches the tree will become thic$er, the foliage will become thic$er. %ou will not destroy the tree"
you will be helping it, in fact. If you really want to get out of it you will have to loo$ deeper, not into
the symptoms but the roots. Where are the roots(
%ou must be a deeply an*iety-ridden person, otherwise chain-smo$ing is not possible" chain-smo$ing
is a by-product. %ou must be so concerned about a thousand and one disturbances inside, you must be
carrying such a big load of worries on your heart, on your chest, that you dont even $now how to
forget them. %ou dont $now how to drop them -- smo$ing at least helps you to forget about them.

%ou say: I #+=2 T4I29 #+49...

7ow one thing has to be understood. The hypnotists have discovered a fundamental law" they call it
the 5aw of 4everse 2ffect. If you try hard to do something without understanding the fundamentals,
just the opposite will be the result.
It is li$e when you are learning how to ride on a bicycle. %ou are on a silent road, no traffic, early in
the morning, and you see a red milestone just standing there by the side of the road li$e #anuman. +
si*ty-foot-wide road and just a small milestone, and you become afraid: you may get to the milestone,
you may hit against the milestone. 7ow you forget about the si*ty-foot-wide road. In fact, even if you
go blindfolded there is not much chance of your encountering the milestone, crashing into the
milestone, but with open eyes now the whole road is forgotten" you have become focused. In the first
place, that redness is very focusing. +nd you are so much afraid! -- you want to avoid it. %ou have
forgotten that you are on a bicycle" you have forgotten everything. 7ow the only problem for you is
how to avoid this stone" otherwise you may harm yourself, you may crash into it.
7ow the crash is absolutely inevitable" you are bound to crash with the stone. +nd then you will be
surprised: .X tried hard.. In fact it is '2,+6&2 you tried hard that you reached the stone. +nd the
closer you come, the harder you try to avoid it" but the harder you try to avoid it, the more focused you
become on it. It becomes a hypnotic force, it hypnoti:es you. It becomes li$e a magnet.
It is a very fundamental law in life. !any people try avoiding many things and they fall into the same
things. Try to avoid anything with great effort and you are bound to fall into the same pit. %ou cannot
avoid it" that is not the way to avoid it.
'e rela*ed. 9ont try hard, because it is through rela*ation that you can become aware, not by trying
hard. 'e calm, ;uiet, silent.
I will suggest: smo$e as much as you want to smo$e. It is not a sin in the first place. I give you the
guarantee -- I will be responsible. I ta$e the sin on myself, so if you meet /od on -udgment 9ay you
can just tell him that this fellow is responsible. +nd I will stand there as a witness for you that you are
not responsible. &o dont be worried about its being a sin. 4ela* and dont try to drop it with effort. 7o,
that is not going to help.
>en believes in effortless understanding.
&o this is my suggestion: smo$e as much as you want to smo$e -- just smo$e meditatively. If >en
people can drin$ tea meditatively, why cant you smo$e meditatively( In fact, tea contains the same
stimulant as the cigarettes contain" it is the same stimulant, there is not much difference. &mo$e
meditatively, very religiously. !a$e it a ceremony. Try it my way.
!a$e a small corner in your house just for smo$ing: a small temple devoted, dedicated to the god of
smo$ing. )irst bow down to your cigarette pac$et. #ave a little chit-chat, tal$ to the cigarettes.
In;uire, .#ow are you(. +nd then very slowly ta$e a cigarette out -- very slowly, as slowly as you
can, because only if you ta$e it very slowly will you be aware. 9ont do it in a mechanical way, as you
always do. Then tap the cigarette on the pac$et very slowly and for as long as you want. There is no
hurry either. Then ta$e the lighter, bow down to the lighter. These are great gods, deities! 5ight is /od,
so why not the lighter(
Then start smo$ing very slowly, just li$e =I<+&&+7+. 9ont do it li$e a <4+7+%+!+ -- ;uic$ and
fast and deep -- but very slowly. 'uddha says: 'reathe naturally. &o you smo$e naturally: very slow,
no hurry. If it is a sin you are in a hurry. If it is a sin you want to finish it as soon as possible. If it is a
sin you dont want to loo$ at it. %ou go on reading the newspaper and you go on smo$ing. Who wants
to loo$ at a sin( 'ut it is not a sin, so watch it -- watch each of your acts.
9ivide your acts into small fragments so you can move very slowly. +nd you will be surprised: by
watching your smo$ing, slowly slowly smo$ing will become less and less. +nd one day suddenly...it is
gone. %ou have not made any effort to drop it" it has dropped of its own accord, because by becoming
aware of a dead pattern, a routine, a mechanical habit, you have created, you have released, a new
energy of consciousness in you. 3nly that energy can help you" nothing else will ever help.
+nd it is not only so with smo$ing, /urucharan, it is so with everything else in life: dont try too hard
to change yourself. That leaves scars. 2ven if you change, your change will remain superficial. +nd
you will find a substitute somewhere" you will #+=2 to find a substitute, otherwise you will feel
empty.
+nd when something withers away of its own accord because you have become so silently aware of
the stupidity of it that no effort is needed, when it simply falls, just li$e a dead leaf falling from a tree,
it leaves no scar behind and it leaves no ego behind.
If you drop something by effort, it creates great ego. %ou start thin$ing, .7ow I am a very virtuous
man because I dont smo$e.. If you thin$ that smo$ing is a sin, naturally, obviously, if you drop it you
will thin$ you are a very virtuous man.
Thats how your virtuous men are. &omebody does not smo$e, somebody does not drin$, somebody
eats only once a day, somebody does not eat in the night, somebody has even stopped drin$ing water
in the night...and they are all great saints! These are saintly ;ualities, great virtues!
We have made religion so silly. It has lost all glory. It has become as stupid as people are. 'ut the
whole thing depends on your attitude: if you thin$ something is a sin, then your virtue will be just the
opposite of it.
I emphasi:e: not-smo$ing is not virtue, smo$ing is not sin" awareness is virtue, unawareness is sin.
+nd then the same law is applicable to your whole life.
!372% I&
,37&I92429 372 3) T#2 /42+T2&T I7=27TI37& T3 5I'24+T2 !+7, +79 +& +
!2+7& IT #+& + /339 )67,TI37. 937T %36 T#I78 T#+T 25I!I7+TI7/ T#2 6&2 3)
!372% WI55 52+9 T3 +73T#24 '+4'+436& W3459( W#+T I7 %364 =I&I37 ,+7
'2 &6'&TIT6T29 )34 !372% I7 T#2 W3459 +T 5+4/2(

!oney is certainly one of the greatest inventions of man, and it has helped tremendously in the past.
'ut there is a negative side of it too: money has created poverty and richness, the classes and the class
struggle" money has created capitalism, money has created communism. !oney has helped in many
ways in the e*change of things -- as a means of e*change -- but now its function can be ta$en by
better means which can avoid its negative part.
)or e*ample, in my perspective, instead of money as currency every society should become a
commune. We can ma$e a limit, five thousand or ten thousand... If the town is bigger then it can have
two communes, three communes. 'ut instead of a family, a commune ta$es over. The commune ta$es
care of the children, the commune fulfills the needs of people, and the people dont have to use money.
Whatever they need, the commune fulfills the needs.
!oney can be used between one commune and another as a means of e*change, but not between
individuals. That will destroy the distinction between the poor and the rich. +nd instead of currency...
which is something ugly because it goes on moving through so many hands, many of which will be of
sic$ people suffering from diseases and infecting the notes. <erhaps this is one of the causes of many
infections spreading into the world.
Instead of currency each commune should use credit cards, and those will be used between commune
and commune. ,omputers can manage all the accounts perfectly well -- so nothing has to be really
e*changed" the computer can $eep the accounts.
+nd within the commune there is no need for any money or any credit cards" whatever you need the
commune supplies you with. There will be different needs -- there is no harm in it, all are our people --
and if somebody needs cigarettes he gets cigarettes, if somebody needs beer he gets beer. ,ertainly
nobody gets anything which is harmful to him or to the society. +nd the commune has one $itchen" for
five thousand people we had one $itchen which was run by fifteen people.
7ow it is absolutely uneconomical and absurd that thousands of women are involved in $itchens"
their whole life is nothing but a $itchen and children. If they get bitchy it is absolutely natural" just try
once in a while for twenty-four hours to do their wor$, and you will $now that either you will commit
suicide, or you will burn the whole house and be finished with it.
The $itchen is not a jo$e and the children are real devils. The whole day they will sleep and the whole
night they will wa$e you up, continually. This is needed, that is needed, they want to go to the
bathroom... They are very creative geniuses. Thousands of women, almost half of humanity... it is a
great loss. 3nly a commune can save them. +nd there is no need that the commune $itchen should be
ta$en care of only by women" it should be ta$en care of by whoever is the best coo$ -- and men have
been found to be the best coo$s, not women.
)ive thousand and ten thousand people eating together, somebody playing on the guitar, somebody
dancing, somebody singing... then life seems to be worth living. +nd a commune can afford doctors to
loo$ into whether food is hygienic or not" they can see whether people are being fed on jun$. Thats
what is happening around the world: just open somebodys s$ull and you will find all $inds of jun$
inside -- ice cream, spaghetti....
+ communal $itchen is needed, and everything should be communal. <eople are wor$ing for
themselves. Whatever their commune cannot produce they purchase from another commune" whatever
e*tra they produce they e*change with another commune -- so there is no need for anybody to be poor,
there is no need for anybody to live in scarcity.
!oney has lost its value, it is no longer needed. It has done something good, but it has also done
something very bad.

0uestion XI
+ ,#I59 WI55 +5W+%& '2 #25<52&&. IT &22!& T3 '2 I!<3&&I'52 T3 +=3I9 T#2
,379ITI37I7/ <43,2&& T#+T &T+4T& )43! T#2 9+% T#2 ,#I59 I& '347. #3W ,+7
T#I& '2 ,#+7/29(

-ust as I have been telling you: children should belong to the commune, not to the parents. ,hildren
with parents have been in great trouble for centuries, because to be with parents is bound to be a
conditioning. They belong to some religion, they belong to some church, they belong to some political
party" they go on putting their own superstitions into the heads of the children, directly or indirectly.
+nd every child becomes conditioned.
,hildren should belong to the commune" the parents can have them on holidays. The parents can go
and live with the children in their hostels and it will be far more loving. Twenty-four hours a day
together destroys love" it is better that children should be away. The children will be much freer. They
should be in the hands of teachers who are trained in meditation, who are trained for non-conditioning
the children, for not putting any superstitions into the children. There will be many teachers... In a
small family, all belong to one religion, to one superstitious tradition, to one orthodo*y, so the
conditioning is reinforced again and again from every side.
When the children were living in the commune that was destroyed in +merica, they were living
separately. The parents felt tremendously relieved of a great burden and the children felt tremendously
free and happy. In four years our e*periment gave us great insight: children became more mature
without their parents. They were not throwing tantrums because there was nobody to listen to their
tantrums.
We had a gradation: small children should be ta$en care of by the bigger ones and the bigger ones
should be ta$en care of by the other older ones. It was such a great joy to see children ta$ing care of
other children with such love, with an understanding which adults cannot show. +nd there was no
conflict, no struggle, no fight for toys because they were all together. They had their own family of
children, and everybody was protective of the small children" everybody felt responsible.
+s they were growing they were far healthier, far more intelligent, were getting mature earlier. In our
education system in the commune we had half the day for ordinary education and half the day to do
something s$illful -- some craft, carpentry, sculpture, or anything the children wanted. They were
getting into doing things which we cannot conceive of such small children doing -- carpentry or some
other $ind of craft. +nd they enjoyed doing it more than the other part of their ordinary education,
because their creative intelligence was more in use. In ordinary education only memory is used, not
intelligence.
&o there is no problem about conditioning and children. We can create a separate section in the
commune where children can have their garden, farm their fields, their hostel where they can do their
things" where teachers can be trained not to condition anybody for anything" where every $ind of
literature should be available for children to read. If they want to understand something the teachers
are there to help them -- but the teachers dont have any idea to impose on them.
It is only a ;uestion of changing our teaching colleges and preparing teachers for teaching children
without conditioning them. +ll this can be very easily managed.

0uestion XX
!+7% <23<52 I7 IT+5% ,4ITI,I>2 T#2 )+,T T#+T %36 T2+,# <642 #2937I&!
W#I,# 932& 73T /I=2 +7% 2=356TI37 T3 !+7, '6T 375% + 9+I5% &+TI&)+,TI37.
<52+&2 ,3!!27T.

They do not understand me. I certainly teach hedonism -- but not only hedonism" I also teach
spiritualism. !y whole way of life is to bring a synthesis between hedonistic values and spiritual
values. They are wrong in saying that I teach pure hedonism. 7o, I teach hedonism as a base for
spiritual growth.
>orba is the base.
'uddha is the ultimate flowering.
>orba is the roots.
'uddha is the fruits and the flowers.
'ut tell the Italian people that I am coming there with all my people from all over 2urope to ma$e
them understand that I am not a hedonist, that I am not only a spiritualist either, that I am both
together. It is difficult to understand because it has never happened before.
6p to now man has lived in a split, hedonists against spiritualists. This is the cause of the misery of
humanity" this is the reason why there has not been any evolution. ,harles 9arwin says that man has
evolved out of the mon$eys. <erhaps thousands of years bac$ a few mon$eys rebelled -- they must
have been great mon$eys -- and changed themselves into human beings. 'ut since then what have
human beings been doing( They have not ta$en any ;uantum leap. 9oes that mean that evolution has
finished( that man has come to the end of the road(
It doesnt seem so. !an is so miserable, in so much suffering that this cannot be accepted as the end.
+nd all my own e*perience and authority say to you that this is not the end. I have been a hedonist,
and I have changed myself into an awa$ened consciousness. This can happen to every human being"
now this is the way of evolution.
+nd my feeling about the Italians is that they are very loving and understanding people. I have
thousands of sannyasins in Italy. They were the first to become sannyasins from the West, and I have
found them immensely loving people. + little greasy... and I love everything about their greasiness" I
just dont li$e spaghetti. That has no place in my evolutionary program.
+lways
remember that
to be happy is
to be religious,
to be happy is
to be virtuous.
To be
celebrating is
to be prayerful.
To be festive,
and to remain
in a festive
dimension
continuously, is
to be a
sannyasin.

Then you
enjoy
whatsoever
happens. %ou
enjoy health
when it happens" you enjoy illness also when it happens.

Then both become beautiful. In health you enjoy activity" when you are ill you enjoy rela*ation.

It is beautiful sometimes to be ill and just 5ying on the bed, resting, not worrying about the world"
allowing yourself a good holiday" singing, praying, meditating on the bed" reading a little bit, listening
to music" or just doing nothing, just being la:y. It is beautiful!

If you $now how to enjoy health, you will be able to $now how to enjoy illness also. Then you
become a master, you become s$illful.

This is the whole art of life!

%ou enjoy your youth, and when you become old you enjoy your old age. 3ld age has its own
beauties" no young man can have those beauties. %outh is shallow" full of energy but shallow. 3ld age
is not so full of energy, but things are settling and depth is arising.

If you miss your youth, you will miss your old age also -- remember. &o I am not saying become old
while you are young.

I am saying be whatsoever you are" let that moment be your totality.
7ow the ,atholic church owns the biggest ban$ in the world -- the 'an$ of +merica. The ,atholic
church owns the greatest amount of land in the world -- more than any other country.
The method in the past has been war, $illing people. Thousands of people have been $illed just to ta$e
possession of their properties, or they have been forced to become ,atholics. + single ,atholic
emperor, ,onstantine, $illed ten thousand people in a single day. #e just called an assembly of all
those who were not ,atholics in a great auditorium in 4ome, and ordered the army to shoot
everybody: .We dont want anybody other than ,hristians in 4ome.. #e forced the whole of Italy to
become ,hristian... just at the point of the gun.
The whole history of ,hristianity is of wars and nothing else -- $illing and violence. +nd the same is
true about the other religions in a lesser measure" they are destructive. They are destructive in many
ways. They destroy people by creating guilt, by ma$ing them sinners, by forcing them to renounce the
world and all that is pleasant, and to go into hardships unnecessarily. 'ut those who go into hardships
are respected and their hardship has nothing to contribute to the world, only sic$ness, only guilt. +ll
your saints are together enforcing guilt in you.
&o in this way they destroy humanity, and in other ways they $ill people because they dont belong to
their fold. They force people -- either by the sword, or with bread. In the past they used to come with a
sword, now they come with bread. The poor have been always vulnerable to being converted, either by
force or by bribery. 'ut this is not religiousness at all, this is pure politics.
>en is an authentic religious e*perience. Its authenticity is in its opening of creativeness in human
beings. >en masters have never $illed anyone. They have not forced anyone to their path" on the
contrary, you have to go to them. +nd it has been very difficult to be accepted" the masters have been
very choosy. 6nless you show an immense desire and longing, they will not initiate you" the ;uestion
of conversion does not arise.
%ou have to go to the well, the well does not come to you. The well does not even invite you, it is
simply there, available.
'uddha used
to say to his
disciples,
Watch
everybody
passing by"
coming and
going in the
streets, watch
people. &ee
e*actly what
is happening
-- 9ont listen
to their words
because they
are very
cunning, they
have become
very
deceptive.
When
somebody is
saying
something,
listen to his
face, to his
eyes, to his
being, to the
gesture, and
you will be
simply
surprised
how, up to
now, you
have lived
only with
words. +
person may be saying, I love you and his eyes may be simply denying it. + person may be smiling
with his lips and his eyes may be ridiculing you, rejecting you. + person may be saying #ullo and
holding your hand, and his whole being may be condemning you.
5isten to the language of the body, the language of the gesture -- the language behind the language.
5isten to that meaning.
+nd first become alert about it in others. 5et everybody who comes to you be an e*periment of
awareness. Then by and by you will become able to watch yourself. Then turn your whole flood of life
upon yourself" then use the same with yourself. When you say to somebody I love you listen to what
you really are saying -- not these words. Words are almost always fa$e.
5anguage is very tric$y and can garb things so beautifully that the container becomes very important
and you lose sight of the content. <eople have become very sophisticated as far as their surface is
concerned but their innermost co-re remains almost primitive. 5isten to the centre of the
circumference. /o into each word.
)irst others have to be watched, then watch yourself. +nd then by and by you will see that there are a
few moments when you also move into the dimension of being. These moments are the moments of
beauty, the moments of happiness. In fact, whenever you see that you are feeling very happy, you have
corrie in contact with the dimension of being -- because there is no other happiness possible.
'ut if you dont observe it accurately, you may misunderstand it. %ou are sitting with a woman you
love, or with a man you love, or with a friend, and suddenly you feel a deep well-being arising in you,
a deep joy -- for no reason at all, for no visible cause. %ou are just aglow. Then you start finding
causes outside: you thin$ maybe it is because the woman is sitting by your side and she loves you so
much. 3r it is because you have met the friend after so many years. 3r it is because the full moon is so
beautiful. %ou will start finding causes.
'ut those who have become alert in listening to their heart, to their real meanings, will not be loo$ing
for causes outside. They will loo$ inside. They have come in contact with their being. !aybe the
woman you loved functioned as a situation, as a jumping-board, and you jumped into yourself.
It is difficult to jump into yourself when there is some antagonism outside. %ou have to be outside
then. When somebody loves you, you can drop all defense measures, you can drop all your strategies,
you can drop your politics, you can drop your diplomacy. When somebody loves you, you can be
vulnerable" you can trust that he or she is not going to ta$e advantage of you, that you can be
defenceless and you will not be $illed and crushed, that you can be defenceless and the presence of
your friend will be soothing, it will not be poisoning you. Whenever there is a situation where you can
leave yourself defenceless and you can drop your strategies and your armours, suddenly you are in
contact with your being -- you have moved from the dimension of having to the dimension of being.
Whenever it happens, there is happiness, there is joy, there is rejoicing. 2ven if it is only for a split
second, suddenly the doors of heaven are open. 'ut again and again you lose it because you are not
aware. It happens only accidentally.
4emember, a religious person is one who has understood this accidental happening and who has
understood the innermost $ey of it. +nd now he does not move into his dimension of being only
accidentally, he has the $ey -- and whenever he wants to move, he opens the door, he unloc$s the door
and goes into it.
This is the only difference. In ordinary happiness and the happiness of a religious person, the only
difference is this: that the religious person has become capable of moving any time, any place, into his
being. 7ow he $nows the direct route and he does not depend on outside props.
%ou depend too much on outside props. &ometimes you are in a beautiful house" it feels good. %ou are
travelling in a beautiful car -- the car is humming and everything is going beautifully -- it feels good.
In that feeling you start coming closer to your being. 'ut you misunderstand" you thin$ it is because of
this car so you have to possess this car. !aybe the car functioned as a situation but the car is not the
cause. !aybe a beautiful house functioned as a situation but it is not the cause.
If you thin$ it is the cause then you move into the world of having" then you must have the most
beautiful car -- you have to have it. Then you have to have the best house, you have to have the best
garden, you have to have the best woman and the best man. +nd you go on collecting and collecting
and collecting and one day suddenly you recognise or realise that your whole life has been a wastage.
%ou have collected much but you have lost all sources of happiness. %ou got lost in collecting things.
The basic logic was that with whatever you felt good and happy, that thing had to be possessed.
5isten to me...that thing need not be possessed. %ou just watch what is happening inside you and you
can start having that happening without any outside help. Thats what a sannyasin does. It is not that
you have to have all, that you have to possess all, but you have to remain alert that you cannot possess
+7%T#I7/ in this world. +ll that you possess can function only as a situation -- it is not the cause.
The cause is inside. +nd you can open the door without any outside prop, at any time, in any place,
and you can go in and you can rejoice.
%ou are no longer attached. %ou can use things, they are useful....I am not against things, remember.
7either are the #asids against things, remember. 6se things but dont believe that things can cause you
happiness. 6se things, they have a utility, but dont believe that they are the goals. They are not the
ends, they are only the means. The goal is within you, and the goal is such that one can move directly
into it without any outside help. 3nce you $now it, you become a master of your being.
This -- whatsoever I am saying -- has to be e*perienced by you. -ust by my saying it and just by your
listening to it and understanding it intellectually, it is not going to help much.

!ulla 7asrudin refused the cow-punchers command to drin$, for three reasons. 7ame them! roared
the terror of the town. )irst, said the !ulla, it is prohibited in my religion. &econd, I promised my
grandmother on her death-bed that I would handle not, touch not, taste not, the accursed stuff. +nd
the other reason, the third( insisted the bully, somewhat softened. I have just had a drin$, said
7asrudin.

If you only listen to me, if you only understand me intellectually and never e*periment in your own
inner lab of consciousness, whatsoever I am saying will remain just in your head. It will never become
a lived e*perience.+nd unless it becomes a lived e*perience it is worthless $nowledge, it is jun$.
+gain you can start collecting $nowledge, then again you are into the same trip -- the dimension of
having. +nd you can go on collecting as much $nowledge as is available. It is one of the misfortunes
of modern man that so much $nowledge has become available. It was never so.
The thing that has proved the greatest calamity for modern man is the tremendous amount of
$nowledge which has become available. It was never available before. + #indu used to live with
#indu scriptures" the !ohammedan used to live with !ohammedan scriptures" the ,hristian used to
live with the 'ible -- and they were all secluded and nobody went into the others world of $nowledge.
Things were clearcut" there was no overlapping.
7ow everything is overlapping and a tremendous amount of new $nowledge has become available.
We are living in a $nowledge e*plosion. In this e*plosion you can start gathering information" you
can become a great scholar very cheaply, very easily, but it is not going to transform you at all.
+gain, remember, $nowledge belongs to the dimension of having" $nowing belongs to the dimension
of being. They loo$ ali$e but they are not. 7ot even are they not ali$e, they are diametrically opposite
to each other. + man who goes on collecting $nowledge goes on losing $nowing. 8nowing needs a
mirror-li$e mind -- pure, uncorrupted. I am not saying that $nowledge is useless. If you have your
$nowing, clear, mirror-li$e, fresh, you can use your $nowledge in a tremendously useful way. It can
become beneficial. 'ut the $nowing has to be there in the first place.
8nowledge is very easy" $nowing is very difficult. )or $nowing you have to pass through many fires.
)or $nowledge nothing is needed -- as you are you can go on adding more and more $nowledge to
yourself.

+ gay man-about-town, long on charm but short on cash, surprised his friends by his sudden marriage
to an e*tremely ugly woman whose only virtue was her well-padded ban$roll. +fter the marriage, his
friends were doubly mystified by his insistence on ta$ing his wife everywhere with him. I can
understand your marrying that painfully ugly woman for her money, one of his close friends remar$ed
fran$ly, but why do you have to bring her with you every time you go out( Its simple, the husband
e*plained. Its easier than $issing her good-bye.

It is easier to have $nowledge, very cheap, costs nothing" it is very difficult, arduous, to attain to
$nowing. Thats why very few, very rare people try to meditate, very rare people try to pray, very rare
people ever ma$e any effort towards $nowing what truth is. +nd whatsoever you have not $nown on
your own is meaningless. %ou can never be certain about it. The doubt never disappears" the doubt
remains li$e a worm underneath, sabotaging your $nowledge. %ou can shout loudly that you believe in
/od but your shouting does not prove anything. %our shouting only proves one thing: that there is
doubt. 3nly doubt shouts loudly. %ou can become a fanatic believer but your fanaticism simply shows
one thing: that there is doubt.
3nly a man who has doubt within himself becomes a fanatic. + fanatic #indu means one who does
not really trust that #induism is right. + fanatic ,hristian simply means one who has doubts about
,hristianity. #e becomes fanatic, aggressive -- not to prove anything to others, he becomes fanatic and
aggressive to prove to himself that whatsoever he believes he really believes. #e has to prove it.
When you really $now something, you are not a fanatic at all. + man of $nowing, one who has come
to $now even glimpses of /od. glimpses of his being, becomes very, very soft, sensitive, fragile. #e is
not fanatic. #e becomes feminine. #e is not aggressive. #e becomes deeply compassionate. +nd, by
$nowing, he becomes very understanding of others. #e can understand even the diametrically opposite
standpoint.

I have heard about a #asid rabbi.
#e was saying, 5ife is li$e a river.
+ disciple as$ed, Why(
The 4abbi said, #ow can I $now( +m I a philosopher(

+nother day the rabbi was saying, 5ife is li$e a river.
+nother disciple as$ed, Why(
+nd the rabbi said, 4ight you are. Why should it be(

This is tremendous understanding. 7o fanaticism. + man of $nowing attains to a sense of humour. 5et
this always be remembered. If you see someone who has no sense of humour, $now well that that man
has not $nown at all. If you come across a serious man, then you can be certain that he is a pretender.
8nowing brings sincerity but all seriousness disappears. 8nowing brings a playfulness" $nowing
brings a sense of humour. The sense of humour is a must.
If you find a saint who has no sense of humour, then he is not a saint at all. Impossible. #is very
seriousness says that he has not achieved. 3nce you have some inner e*periences of your own you
become very playful, you become very innocent, childli$e.
The man of $nowledge is very serious. The man of $nowledge always carries a serious, gloomy
atmosphere around him. 7ot only does he carry a serious atmosphere, he ma$es anybody he comes
into contact with, serious. #e forces seriousness on them. In fact, deep down, he is worried that he
does not $now anything. #e cannot rela*. #is seriousness is a tension. #e is anguished. #e $nows that
he $nows only for its names sa$e, he $nows that his $nowledge is all fa$e -- so he cannot laugh at it.

7ow listen to it.
The rabbi said, 5ife is li$e a river
+nd a disciple as$ed, Why(
+nd the rabbi said, #ow can I $now( +m I a philosopher(

+nd another day the rabbi said again, 5ife is li$e a river.
+nother disciple as$ed, Why(
+nd the rabbi said, 4ight you are. Why should it be(

%ou see the non-seriousness( %ou see the tremendous sense of humour(
#asidism has created a few of the greatest saints of the world. +nd my respect towards them is
immense because they are not serious people. They can jo$e and they can laugh -- and they can laugh
not only at others, they can laugh at themselves. Thats the beauty. If you go on collecting $nowledge,
you can have a great amount of $nowledge but it is not going to be of any help when the need arises.
%ou can go on throwing it around and showing and e*hibiting it, but whenever the need arises and the
house is on fire you will suddenly see you have forgotten all that you $new -- because you never $new
in the first place. It was just in your memory.
Wherever there is an emergency situation...for e*ample, when a person is dying. #e will forget all his
$nowledge. In that moment he will not remember that the soul is immortal. That was advice for others.
In that moment he will not remember that he is going bac$ to /od -- and that one should go happily
and dancing. In that moment he will start clinging, to life" all his $nowledge will be gone.
I used to $now a very learned man, a very intellectual man, famous all over the country. #e was not
only learned, he was a follower of -. 8rishnamurti. #e used to come to see me sometimes and he
would say that there is no need for any meditation -- 8rishnamurti says so.
I used to listen to him and laugh. #e would as$ me, Why do you laugh whenever I say these things(
I told him again and again, I listen to %36, I dont listen to what you say. %our being gives me a
totally different message. If there is really no need for meditation, there is no need for scriptures, there
is no need for any methods, there is no need even for prayer -- and you have understood it, then this
would have transformed you totally. #e would answer seriously, Thats right. I have understood
intellectually but some day I will understand it nonintellectually also. I have ta$en the first step, the
second will be coming.
Then one day his son came running to me to tell me, )ather is very ill, it seems li$e a heart attac$ and
he remembers you. &o I rushed to him. #e was lying on the bed repeating 4am, 4am, 4am. I shoo$
his head and I said, What are you doing( %our whole life you said there is no meditation -- what are
you doing repeating 4am, 4am, 4am...( #e said, 7ow dont disturb me at this moment. 9eath is at
the door. I am dying. Who $nows( !aybe /od is. +nd who $nows, maybe the people who have
always said remember his name and he will forgive you, are right. This is no time to create a debate or
an argument" let me repeat it.
)or forty years he had not said a single mantra, but now, suddenly, forty years of $nowledge is
discarded. It is of no use -- in this dangerous situation when death is there, he forgets 8rishnamurti
completely. #e becomes again an ordinary #indu. It was o$ay for an ordinary #indu villager to repeat
4am, 4am -- he can be forgiven -- but this man( #e had written boo$s, he had lectured all over the
country, he had helped many people to drop their mantras and to drop their meditations and their
scriptures. +nd now suddenly he is repeating a mantra.
'ut he survived the heart attac$ and he came to see me after two or three months -- and again he was
bac$ to his $nowledge. I said, 7ow stop your foolishness. 9eath will come again and you will repeat
4am, 4am, 4am. &o what is the point of it all(

+ very rich old man had remained a bachelor. 7ow he was nearing seventy-five. Then suddenly a
friend, a married friend, convinced him that he should get married. %ou should not miss this pleasure,
he said.
&o he decided to get married. 'ecause he had so much money he immediately found a beautiful girl.
3ff they went on their honeymoon.
#e too$ the married friend and his wife with him as guides in this new e*ploration. The ne*t morning
they met in the motel at brea$fast. The friend had given him every bit of information about se* and
how to ma$e love and what to do and what not to do. What a fantastic time I had last night, said the
married man. We went to bed last night. !y wife was eager, I was eager and we had a marvellous
night of love. What about you, old man( 3h, my /od! said the old rich man. I forgot clean about it!

+fter a whole life of bachelorhood, even if somebody guides you, tells you things and you memorise
them, they dont have any deep contact with your being -- they simply float above your head. They
dont touch you.
The old man said, 3h my /od! I forgot clean about it! &eventy-five years of sleeping alone creates a
mechanical habit of its own.
If you go on accumulating $nowledge, it creates a habit" it never gives you any $nowledge but it gives
you a habit, a habit for accumulating more, a very dangerous habit. 2ven if you come across a 'uddha
or a -esus, you will miss, because there also you will be accumulating. %ou will be ta$ing notes inside
the mind -- %es, this is right, worthy of being remembered. %our accumulation will become bigger
and bigger but you will be just a dead museum, or, a museum of dead things.
+nd the more you are concerned with this having $nowledge, the less will be the possibility for the
real $nowledge to be there" the $nowledge that comes by $nowing being, by '2I7/, will be missed.
4emember, the mind is nothing but that which you have collected up to now. The mind is all that you
have inside your being. 'eyond the mind is your real being, beyond having is your real being. 3utside
you have collected things" inside you have collected thoughts -- both are in the dimension of having.
When you are no longer attached to things and when you are no longer attached to thoughts, suddenly
-- the open s$y, the open s$y of being. +nd thats the only thing worth having and the only thing that
you can really have.
'efore I enter into the tremendously beautiful story of #ya$ujo I would li$e to tell you something
about a contemporary master, /eorge /urdjieff. #e used to use -- without $nowing #ya$ujo -- the
same method, and the people who came to him were very different than the people who came to
#ya$ujo.
/urdjieff was wor$ing in the West. Intellectuals would come and /urdjieff would as$ them to go and
dig a ditch in the field, but they would say, .We have come here to learn something, not to dig a
ditch.. /urdjieff was very hard. #e would say, .)irst do what I say if you want to hear the answer..
In one particular case, 'ennet reached /urdjieff: highly educated, cultivated and the answer to him
was the same. #e had come to as$ about /od and the meaning of life. /urdjieff said, .These things
leave for the moment, just go and dig the ditch in the field..
'ennet hesitated for a moment, but then thought, .I have come from so far, let us see what happens.
What am I going to lose(. #e started digging the ditch" /urdjieff came with his cigar, watched him
digging, told him that, .'efore sunset this certain area has to be prepared..
The sunset came, 'ennet was utterly tired -- an intellectual who has never wor$ed, and particularly
this $ind of wor$. +nd seeing the sun setting there was a great relief....7ow, at last /urdjieff will start
having the dialogue I have come for.. /urdjieff was wal$ing just by the side, watching all the time.
Then 'ennet said, .The ditch is ready..
/urdjieff said, .7ow refill the ditch completely, bring it bac$ to its original state, throw all the mud
bac$ in its place..
'ennet was so tired, but he was also a man of integrity. #e said, .5et us see what happens..
Without food, without rest, without even a coffee brea$ he filled the ditch again. It was almost the
middle of the night and /urdjieff was standing the whole day just watching and smo$ing his cigar.
The moon was full, at the highest pea$ of the night" it was a beautiful silence and 'ennet remembers
that, .I was so tired... I dont $now from where -- a tremendous silence descended over me.. In his
autobiography he says, .I was simply astonished..
/urdjieff laughed and said, .#ave you heard( 7ow go and rest..
'ut what was said( 7othing was said. The ;uestion is not that the master should say anything. The
;uestion is that the disciple should be so silent... and he was silent because he was so tired that he
could not even thin$, the mind became utterly empty. In that silence there is no need for the master to
say anything, he can just indicate it as this, and the sermon is over.

'ut #ya$ujo goes even further than /urdjieff. #e did not even say, .This.. #e forced his disciples to
wor$ to the optimum, where their energy was completely absorbed by the wor$ and the mind had
nothing, no energy to contain its chattering. +gain and again disciples came to him, but he would
simply repeat, ./o and wor$ in the field..
'ut one day those who had remained with this strange man who teaches nothing, who simply says,
./o bac$ to the field and wor$ as hard as possible....
+nd he was $nown to be one of the great masters who $nows the secret. !any came, but only a few
remained. #e was a difficult man.
When only those few remained who had become silent wor$ing in the fields, who had come to a deep
harmony with nature, whose minds had settled down, he accepted the invitation.
T#I& TI!2 -- after many efforts of the disciples to invite the master and getting the same reply, ./o
bac$ and wor$ in the field. -- this time when they came and as$ed, .<52+&2 /I=2 6& + &24!37,.
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This is $nown in the history of >en as the greatest sermon. It is, because he said nothing and yet he
said everything. Those two hands spread li$e a birds wings opened the whole s$y to the silent
disciples, a transmission without words.
We have become too much accustomed to words, we dont $now the beauty of wordlessness. 2ven if
you see a beautiful rose, immediately your mind says, .#ow beautiful,. and you have missed. If you
had simply seen the rose and absorbed its beauty, felt it in your heart without uttering even a single
word in appreciation, you would have become enlightened.
2ven a rose could have functioned as a great master to you.
The ;uestion is not that you dont $now, the ;uestion is, you are too full of gibberish, you $now too
much. 'ecause of your borrowed $nowledge and too many words moving inside you, you cannot see
the wordless beauty that can only be e*perienced in silence. -ust listen to the bamboos... and you will
find what #ya$ujo has said without saying it.
>en is not an intellectual effort to understand reality, it is an intuitive approach to drown in the
mystery of e*istence, to open your wings and fly li$e an eagle across the sun.
5anguage is a very small phenomenon, limited to humanity. The stars dont spea$ nor the flowers, but
they still e*press, they transmit their very being without any language. >en is just a wildflower,
spreading its fragrance to whomsoever it may concern. Those who have the sensitivity will understand
it.
7othing is being said and everything is understood. -ust drown yourself into thisness, the tremendous
silence of the moment, and you will feel freedom from the mind. +nd that is the only freedom, the first
and the last freedom, freedom from the mind.
It is your own mind that is covering your being li$e a cage. 3nce the mind is left behind and you are
just a watcher, far away... suddenly the doors of all the mysteries open.
>en does not tal$ about /od, it gives you /od" it does not tal$ about paradise, it pushes you into
paradise
This is the difference
between a man of
wisdom and a man of
$nowledge. + man of
$nowledge has ready-
made answers: you
as$ and the answer is
already there. %ou are
irrelevant, your
;uestion is irrelevant.
'efore the ;uestion,
the answer e*ists"
your ;uestion simply
triggers the memory.
If you go to a man of
wisdom he has no
answers for you" he
has nothing ready-
made. #e is open, he
is silent. #ell
respond but first your
;uestion will resound
in his being, not in
his memory. Through
his being the
response comes"
nobody can predict
that response. If you
go the ne*t day and
as$ the same
;uestion, the response will not be the same.
3nce it happened that a man tried to judge the 'uddha. 2very year he would go and as$ the same
;uestion. #e thought, .If he really $nows then the answer will be always the same. #ow can you
change the answer( If I come and as$, TIs there /od(- if he $nows he will say yes or he will say no,
and ne*t year, I will come again and as$..
&o for many years the man came and he became more and more pu::led. &ometimes 'uddha would
say yes, sometimes no, sometimes he would remain silent, and sometimes he would simply smile and
not answer anything.
The man became pu::led and said, .What is this( If you $now, then you must be certain, your answer
fi*ed. 'ut you go on changing. 3nce you said yes then you said no. #ave you forgotten that I as$ed
this ;uestion before( 3nce you even remained silent and now you are smiling. That is why I have been
coming with the gap of a year -- just to see if you $now or not..
'uddha said, .When you came for the first time and as$ed, TIs there /od, I answered. 'ut my answer
was not to the ;uestion, it was to you. %ou have changed, now the same answer cannot be given. 7ot
only have you changed, I also have changed. The /anges has flowed much" the same answer cannot
be given. I am not a scripture to be opened and the same answer found there..
+ buddha is a living river, and a river is ever-flowing. In the morning it is different -- it reflects the
gold of the rising sun. The mood is different. In the evening it is different, and when the night comes
and the stars are reflected in it, it is different.
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7othing is saved by the mind, by thin$ing, by logic, and if you try to save by logic you will lose. 5ife
can be saved only through an irrational jump, through something that is not intellectual but total.
'ut the whole story seems to be too cruel. 7ansens disciples were struggling over a cat. 7ansen had a
big monastery and the monastery had two wings. This cat was moving from one wing to another and
both wings claimed that the cat belonged to them -- and the cat was a beautiful one.
The first thing to be understood is: a real sannyasin cannot claim any ownership. + sannyasin means
one who has left all possessions, or all possessiveness, which is deeper and more basic. %ou can leave
possessions, that is easy" but to leave possessiveness is difficult because it goes deeper in the mind.
%ou can leave the world, but the mind goes on clinging to it.
These mon$s, 7ansens disciples, had left the world behind -- their homes, their wives, their children
-- but now they were fighting over the ownership of a cat. This is how the mind wor$s. %ou leave one
thing and the mind claims another, but the basic thing remains the same and it ma$es no difference if
the object of ownership changes -- it ma$es no difference. The difference, the revolution, the real
change, comes only when the subjectivity changes, when the owner changes. This is the first thing to
be understood. !on$s claiming ownership of a cat loo$s foolish, but this is how mon$s have been
acting all over the world. They leave their houses, then they claim ownership of the temple, of the
church. They leave everything but they cant leave their minds, and the mind creates new worlds for
them continuously.
&o it is not a ;uestion of possessing a $ingdom" even a cat will do. +nd wherever possession comes
in, fighting, violence and aggression are bound to be there. Whenever you possess, you are fighting,
because that which you possess belongs to the whole. %ou cannot possess anything" you can use it,
thats all. #ow can we possess the s$y and how can we possess the earth( 'ut we possess -- and that
possession creates all types of conflict, struggle, wars, violence and so on.
!an has been fighting and fighting and fighting continuously. #istorians say that within the last three
thousand years there have been wars almost continuously somewhere or other on the earth. In three
thousand years, we have fought at least fourteen thousand wars. Why so much fighting( It is because
of possession. If you possess you have started a war with the whole.
'uddha, !ahavira or -esus, all said, .If you possess, you cant enter the $ingdom of /od.. -esus said,
.It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the $ingdom of
heaven.. It is impossible, because when you possess you are constantly fighting with /od. When you
claim ownership, from whom are you claiming ownership( The whole belongs to the whole" the part
cannot claim the whole. The part cannot even claim the part. 2very claim is aggression. &o those who
possess cannot be in deep contact with the divine.
7onpossessiveness doesnt mean you should not live in a house. 5ive in a house, but be than$ful to
the whole, to the divine. 6se it but dont possess it. If you can use things without being possessive you
have become a sanysain.
These followers of 7ansen have left the world, but their minds have followed them li$e shadows.
7ow they claim ownership of a cat. The whole thing is foolish.
'ut the mind is foolish. The mind always goes on searching for e*cuses to fight. If you have a mind
you have a potential fighter within you who is always in search of a fight with somebody. Why is the
mind always in search of a fight( 'y fighting, ego is accumulated, becomes stronger. Through fighting
your ego grows" if you dont fight, ego disappears.
!ahavira and 'uddha both insisted on nonviolence. The basic reason for not fighting is that once you
stop fighting the ego cannot e*ist. 2go e*ists in fight" it is a conse;uence of fight. The more you fight
the more ego e*ists. If you alone remained on the earth, nobody to fight with, would you have an ego(
%ou would not have an ego. The other is needed to create it" the other is a must. 2go is a relationship,
it is not in you. 4emember, the ego is not in you, it is not located within you. It is always located
within you and the other -- somewhere in between, where fight e*ists.
There are two types of relationship: one is of fight, fear, hatred -- this creates ego -- the other is of
love, compassion, sympathy. These are the two types of relationship. Wherever love is, fight ceases,
ego drops. This is why you cannot love. It is difficult, because to love means to drop the ego, to drop
yourself. 5ove means not to be.
&o loo$ at the strange phenomenon: lovers go on fighting. #ow can lovers fight( If there is love fight
should drop and the ego will disappear. %our whole being thirsts for love, your whole mind thirsts for
ego. &o you ma$e a compromise: you love and you fight. The lover becomes an intimate enemy, but
the enmity remains. +ll lovers go on fighting and go on loving. They have made a compromise: in
some moments they are loving, then they drop the ego. 'ut the mind feels uneasy, and again the mind
starts fighting. &o in the morning they fight, in the evening they ma$e love, and the ne*t morning they
fight again. Then a rhythm of fight and love is created.
True love means the fight has disappeared, the two have become one. Their bodies e*ist separately
but their being has mingled. The boundaries are lost, there is no division. There is no I and no thou,
no one e*ists.
These mon$s of 7ansen had left everything, but the mind was there. It wanted to possess, it wanted to
create a fight, it wanted to be egoistic. + cat became just an e*cuse. 7ansen called all the mon$s, all
the disciples, caught hold of the cat, and he said, .&ay something which can save this cat..
What did he mean when he said, .&ay something which can save this cat(. #e meant: &ay something
>en-li$e, say something meditative, say something of the other world, say something of ecstasy, say
something which doesnt belong to the mind. This cat can be saved if you say something which comes
from no-mind, which comes from your inner silence. #e demanded the impossible. If there had been
inner silence these mon$s would not have been claiming possession" if there had been inner silence it
would have been impossible for them to fight.
The mon$s were at a loss. They $new if they said something it would come from the mind and the cat
would be $illed, so they remained silent. 'ut that silence was not real silence" otherwise the cat would
have been saved. They remained silent not because they were silent" they remained silent because they
couldnt find anything to say which came from no-mind, which came from an inner source, from the
very being, from the center. They remained silent as a strategy. It was tactics: it is better to remain
silent because the master may be deceived that this silence is our response -- this is what they were
saying.
'ut you cannot deceive a master. +nd if you can deceive a master, then that master is not a master at
all. Their silence was false. Inside there was turmoil, inside there was continuous chattering. They
were thin$ing and thin$ing, in search of one answer so that this cat might be saved. They were very
troubled inside" the whole mind was functioning fast. The master must have loo$ed at them. Their
minds were not inactive, they were not inactive" there was no meditation, there was no silence. Their
silence was just a false facade. %ou can sit silently without being silent and you can tal$ and be silent"
you can wal$ and be inactive and you can sit statueli$e and be active. The mind is comple*. %ou can
wal$, run, move, and inside, deep at the center, nothing happens, you are inactive.
I am tal$ing to you and I am silent. %ou are not tal$ing to me and you are not silent" the mind
continues. The inner chattering goes on and on and on. The mind is a mon$ey, It cannot sit silently.
9arwin discovered that man comes from the mon$eys, but in the 2ast meditators have always been
aware that whether man comes from mon$eys or not, the mind definitely comes from mon$eys. It is
mon$eyish -- jumping, chattering, doing something or other, never silent.
What 7ansen said to his disciples was, .If you stop behaving li$e mon$eys, this cat can be saved..
'ut they couldnt help it. %ou cannot help it: if the mind is there what can you do( If you try to hold it
still it becomes more active" if you force it to be silent it tal$s more" if you suppress it, it rebels. %ou
cannot suppress it, you cannot persuade it" you cannot do anything about it, because the moment you
do something it is the mind which is doing. This is the problem.
They all wanted to save the cat, they all wanted to possess the cat" the cat was really beautiful. 'ut
how can a mind which is possessive be silent( +nd how can a mind which is possessive save
anybody( It can only $ill.
4emember, it was not 7ansen who $illed the cat, it was these mon$s who $illed it" this is the secret
$ey in the story. 7ansen gave an opportunity. #e said, .%ou can save this cat. &ay something which
comes from no-mind, from your very being. +nd if you dont say anything I am going to cut this cat
and divide it in two so both parties can possess it.. It was not 7ansen who $illed the cat. It seemed as
though he $illed it, but in fact the mon$s $illed the cat. Whenever you possess a live thing, you have
already $illed it. Whenever you claim that you possess a live person, you have murdered, because life
cannot be possessed. The cat was moving from this wing to that. The cat was alive, fully alive, more
alive than these mon$s. &he had no home, she didnt belong to anybody. &he was just li$e a bree:e --
sometimes passing through the left wing, sometimes passing through the right. +nd the cat never
claimed that these mon$s belonged to her, or those mon$s belonged to her. &he never possessed.
+nimals are nonpossessive, trees are nonpossessive" only man is possessive. +nd with possessiveness
man has missed all that is alive. %ou can possess only a dead thing. The moment you possess you are
ma$ing something dead. %ou love a woman and then you try to possess her: you $ill her. + wife is a
thing not a person" a husband is a thing not a person.
This is the misery -- you love a person and then you start possessing. 6n$nowingly you are
poisoning. +nd sooner or later the day will come when you have poisoned the person completely. 7ow
you possess, but how can you love a thing( The love happened in the first place because the person
was alive. 7ow the flow has stopped, now life doesnt move, now all the doors of freedom are closed.
7ow it has become a fro:en thing. The river is fro:en, now there is no movement. ,ertainly now this
person cannot go to another. %ou possess him completely. 'ut how can you love a dead person( This
is the misery of love. %ou cannot love a dead person, yet whenever you love you start possessing. +ll
possession creates death. 3nly things can be possessed.
These mon$s had already $illed the cat. 7ansen was not going to $ill it, he was only going to ma$e
manifest what had already happened. This story has been used against >en mon$s, >en masters, to
show that these people are violent. Thin$ of a ,hristian theologian reading this story: he will say,
.What type of religious man is this 7ansen( #e $illed the cat, a poor cat. Those mon$s who claimed it
were better. +t least they were not $illing. What type of master is this( What manner of man(. If
-ainas -- not !ahavira, if -ainas read this story, they will throw 7ansen into hell. #e has $illed a cat.
7ansen is violent in appearance only to those who cannot understand. To those who can understand
he is simply manifesting a thing which has already happened. The cat was dead the moment it was
possessed, the moment people started claiming it. #e gave them one more opportunity, but they
couldnt use that opportunity. They remained silent. 'ut if the silence had been real the cat would have
been alive. The silence was false, the silence was only on the surface, on the faces, s$in-deep. Inside,
the mad mind was functioning fast. It was whirling, spinning. !any answers must have come to those
mon$s, but not the answer. &o 7ansen had to $ill. #e chopped the cat in two, one part to the left-wing
claimers, another part to the right-wing claimers. Those mon$s must have been happy, happy in the
sense that at least they possessed half the cat. That is what is happening to you all. Whenever you
fight, life goes dead and is divided. + father and mother fight over a son -- there is continuous fighting
over children. The father says that the son belongs to him, that he should follow him, and the mother
thin$s the son belongs to her, that he should follow her. ,laiming, they are $illing. &ooner or later the
son will be divided in two halves, chopped. #alf of the son will belong to the father, half to the
mother. +nd his whole life is destroyed, because now it will be very difficult for him to be whole. #alf
of his heart will always belong to the mother and half always to the father. 3ne half will be against the
mother and one half will be against the father. 7ow he is divided. 7ow this division is going to follow
him his whole life. #e is chopped in two.
This is what 7ansen was saying by chopping the cat in two: 9ont fight over a person, dont try to
possess a person, because you will chop him. =isibly he may seem one, but deep down in his heart he
has become two, and now there will be constant conflict.
The mother and father were fighting over the son" now the mother may be dead and the father may be
dead, but they will go on fighting within the son -- sometimes the voice of the mother, sometimes the
voice of the father. The son will always be at a loss whom to follow, and he cannot be whole.
%ou come to me in search of being whole, and I always say: To be whole is to be holy. There is no
other way to be holy" just be whole. 9ivisions within you must fall, you must become a unity. 'ut you
are a conflict. %our father is fighting, your mother is fighting, your brothers are fighting, your teachers
are fighting, your gurus are fighting -- everybody is fighting to possess you. There are many claimants.
They have fragmented you, they have chopped you into many parts. %ou have become many, you are
not one" you are a crowd. 7eurosis comes out of it, madness comes out of it, comes out of it. #ave
you ever observed how many souls you have, many selves you have( %ou are not one, that is certain.
In my university days I used to live with a boy. #e would never get up in the morning at five, but
every day he would set the alarm. &o I as$ed him, .Why do you set it( Why do you bother( -- because
you never get up. %ou always turn the alarm off and go to sleep again. &o why bother and why be
disturbed every morning(
#e laughed, but his laugh was hollow. #e $new himself that he would not get up. 'ut in the evening
another self said, .7o, tomorrow morning I am going to get up..
I said, .3$ay, try.. +nd at the time he was setting the alarm he was confident, absolutely confident
that he would get up in the morning at five. There was no suspicion. 'ut this was only one fragment
who said, .+bsolutely, you have to get up. %ou have slept enough. 7o more time is left" the e*am is
coming near..
+t five I was waiting for him. #e loo$ed at me when the alarm went off. #e loo$ed at me -- I was
aware, I was sitting on my bed -- he smiled, put off the alarm, changed sides and went to sleep again.
5ater in the morning, at eight ocloc$ when he used to get up, I as$ed him about it. #e said, .I
thought, -ust for a few minutes... +nd what is wrong in just sleeping for a few minutes more( I was
feeling so sleepy, and the night was so cold. 'ut tomorrow you will see, I will get up..
These are two different fragments -- and he was not aware that the one who said, ./et up at five,. was
a different part, completely unaware of the part who would say, ./o to sleep. The night is very cold..
%ou are doing the same: you decide a thing and the ne*t moment you have simply forgotten what you
decided. %ou say you are not going to be angry again, and even the ne*t moment is very far away. If
someone starts arguing with you, saying no, you will become angry. %ou may become angry because
he is arguing -- immediately anger can come to you, and you had decided not to be angry. + divided
house you are. There are many rooms in your house not connected with each other" the connections
are bro$en, the bridges have dropped. %ou e*ist as a polypsychic being with many minds, so
whatsoever you possess you will chop it. %ou are already chopped.
Those mon$s could not save the cat because they were divided. 7ansen was saying, .9o something,
say something, in a whole way, in a holy way, undivided. +ct as a unity and this cat can be saved.. 7ot
a single one could act, and the cat was chopped.
+ ;uestion arises: #ow could 7ansen cut the cat( Is it just a parable, a symbolic story, or did he really
chop the cat( There are people who would li$e to save 7ansen" I am not one of them. #e really did cut
the cat. It is not a parable, it is not an anecdote, symbolic, metaphorical. 7o. 5iterally, it happened
e*actly the way it is said. #e cut the cat in two. ,ould a saintly man do that( I say to you: 3nly a
saintly man can do that.
Thats what 8rishna said to +rjuna in the /ita: Then dont bother! ,hop these fellows. These who are
standing against you, cut them down, $ill them, but remember only one thing: that which is hidden in
them cannot be destroyed. 3nly the body can be destroyed, because the body is already dead. 3nly
what is dead can be destroyed. What is alive remains alive" it is eternal, nothing can be done to it. )ire
cannot burn it, weapons cannot cut it. 7+I7+! ,##I79+7TI &#+&T4+7I -- no weapon can cut
it, no fire can burn it -- only the form. 'ut dont bother about the form, because form is unreal, it is
part of illusion.
This 7ansen must have been in the same state of mind as 8rishna, in the same state of consciousness
as 8rishna. #e chopped the cat. #e $nows the soul of the cat cannot be destroyed" he $nows that only
the form can be changed.
+nd one thing more which is very difficult to understand, because moralists have created so much
confusion and smo$e around it: when a cat is chopped by a 7ansen, it is beneficial to the cat, is is a
blessing to the cat. This cat must have been rare -- and now this cat will not be reborn as a cat, she will
be reborn as a man. To be chopped by 7ansen is a rare opportunity, and the cat must have been
wandering around the monastery waiting for this moment.
7ansen changed the form. The cat will be reborn as a higher being just because 7ansen has chopped
her.In that moment the cat was more silent than the mon$s, the cat was more ecstatic than the mon$s.
+nd being chopped by 7ansen is not an act of aggression, it is an act of love. 7ansen freed the cat
from the form, from the form of cat. &he will be reborn as a higher being. 'ut this is difficult to
follow, and I am not telling you to go and free people from their forms so they will be reborn as higher
beings. 9ont chop anybody -- you would li$e to, you would enjoy it. 'ut for 7ansen, it was an act of
deep prayer. #e must have been watching this cat. This cat was no ordinary cat. There are animals
who are crying out to be freed from their forms.
It happened at a camp in !atheran. I was staying very far away from the campus ground. The first
evening, when I was going to my bungalow, a dog followed -- really a rare dog. Then the dog
remained continuously. Three times I would go to conduct the camp, and three times I would return. It
was half an hours journey. Three times I was asleep, and he would sit just on the veranda. 2ven when
he went to eat something he never left me. )or the whole camp this was his routine. #e would follow
me to the camp, and when others were meditating he would sit more silently, more deeply, than those
who were attending the camp. +nd then he would go bac$ with me.
The last day, when I left !atheran by train, he followed the train. #e was running by the side of the
train, and the guard too$ compassion on him and he too$ him in. 6p to 7eral he came. This train was
a slow train, a toy train, coming from !atheran to 7eral, traveling just seven miles in two hours, and
the dog could follow. 'ut from 7eral it is a fast train, when I too$ the train from 7eral to 'ombay
others were standing there on the platform weeping and crying, and the dog was also standing there in
tears.
I $now that cat must have been e*traordinary" otherwise 7ansen would not have ta$en such trouble to
chop it. #e created an opportunity for his disciples, and he used that opportunity for the cat also. #e
hit two targets with one stone. This is possible. If you are ready, then your form can be destroyed and
you will receive a higher form, because your higher form depends on the moment when you die. The
cat died in the hands of 7ansen -- a very rare opportunity. &uch a silent man was 7ansen, the cat must
have caught the silence" such an ecstatic being, the cat must have been filled with his ecstasy. +nd
then he chopped it. The cat was not afraid, she must have enjoyed the game. It was a surgical act. The
cat must be born in the ne*t life as a very much higher soul. 'ut that is an inner story and cannot be
understood by ordinary morality. +nd persons li$e 7ansen dont follow ordinary morality, they follow
the inner rules, the inner laws. 3rdinary morality is for ordinary men.
+nd then by the evening another mon$ came in from outside, another disciple who had not been in
the monastery. 7ansen told the story to him, .This has happened, and I had to cut the cat. I had to
divide it in two because there was no way.... These foolish fellows couldnt save the cat. They couldnt
save the cat -- they couldnt utter a single word, they couldnt act in a >enli$e way, they couldnt prove
their >en. 3nly >en could have saved the cat, nothing else..
The disciple listened to the story, put his shoes on his head and wal$ed out. 7ansen called him and
said, .If you had been here, the cat would have been saved..
This was the right man. What did he do( #e too$ his shoes off, put them on his head, and wal$ed out.
#e said many things without spea$ing. The first thing: #e listened to the story and didnt comment on
it. The mon$ey was silent" the mind was not chattering. #e didnt try to thin$ out an answer, he simply
acted. That action was not from the mind, the action was from his total being. +nd what did he do( #e
put his shoes on his head. +bsurd! 'ut he said that the mind, the head, is no more valuable than the
shoes. &hoes, the meanest thing -- he put them on his head. #e said by this act, .The mind is nothing
but shoes. The mind is valueless, thin$ing cannot help. The mind has to be thrown to the shoes. 2ven
shoes are more worthy and command more respect than the mind.. Thats what he said, and then he
simply wal$ed out.
+nd 7ansen said, .#ad you been here this morning, you could have saved the cat. The cat would have
been saved.
#ere was a man who didnt believe in the mind, who didnt believe in answers. #ere was a man who
could act spontaneously. 5ife can be saved only if you can act spontaneously -- not only the cats life,
your life also. Throw the mind to the shoes. It is not more worthy in any way. +nd shoes have not
troubled you so much" sometimes they may pinch, but only sometimes, and if they are the right si:e
they are always o$ay. 'ut the mind has been pinching you for many many lives, and it is never the
right si:e, it is always the wrong si:e. The mind is never the right si:e. &hoes can be the right si:e, but
the mind is always the wrong si:e. It goes on pinching. The mind is the wrong si:e. %ou cannot ma$e
a good mind, there is no possibility. %ou cannot ma$e a beautiful ugliness, you cannot ma$e a healthy
disease, that is impossible. The mind is always wrong. It goes on pinching. +nd whether you thin$ or
whether you pray, if the mind is there everything goes wrong. The mind is the factor which creates
wrongness in life. This is the source of error, perversion, neurosis. 5ife can be saved only when you
drop the mind.
What did this disciple do( It was difficult to drop the head, it was easier to put the shoes on the head.
'ut it was symbolic. #e was saying, .I have dropped the head. 9ont as$ me foolish ;uestions. and he
acted, thats the thing.
!editation is not contemplation, it is action -- action of the whole, of the total being. In the West
particularly. ,hristianity has created a false impression, and meditation loo$s li$e contemplation. It is
not. 'ecause of ,hristianity the West has missed many things, and one of them is meditation, the
rarest flowering of a human being, because they have made it e;uivalent to contemplation.
,ontemplation is thin$ing. !editation is no-thin$ing.
)or 9#%+7, >en, there e*ists no e;uivalent in the 2nglish language, because meditation itself means
thin$ing -- to meditate upon. &ome object is there. 4emember, dhyan is the original word. 9hyan
traveled to ,hina with 'odhidharma and in the ,hinese language it became ,#+7. +nd then from
,hina it traveled to -apan and in -apanese it became first >+7, and then >27" but the original root is
dhyan -- ,han, >an, >en. In 2nglish there is no word e;uivalent to it. !editation also means thin$ing,
a consistent thin$ing. ,ontemplation means thin$ing too. It may be thin$ing about /od, but it is
thin$ing, and dhyan or >en is a no-thin$ing state. It is action, without thought. Thought needs time.
In the morning the mon$s were sitting thin$ing what to do. They thought and thought and couldnt
find. Thought will never find the right answer. The cat had to be chopped. 5ife became death because
thought is poisonous" thin$ing leads to death, not to more life. The cat had to be chopped. 7ansen
couldnt help -- those mon$s $illed the cat.
This man, this disciple who came in the evening, listened to the story without commenting, without
saying anything. #e simply too$ off his shoes, put them on his head and wal$ed out. #e acted -- he
said something through his action, not through his mind. #e didnt use words, he used himself. +nd he
didnt wait, he didnt contemplate, he didnt try to find the answer to how the cat should have been
saved.
If you had been there in the evening and you were told the story, you would surely have started to
thin$: #ow( When the how comes, mind has come. This disciple acted without the how" he simply
acted, and the act was spontaneous, very symbolic. <utting the shoes on his head he said something --
he said the head is valueless.
This 7ansen, the master, used to as$ people,.What is the most valueless thing in the world(. #e used
to give it as a meditation to his disciples: thin$, what is the most valueless thing in the world( #is
master also gave this $oan to him. #e meditated, meditated, then one day he came and told his master,
.The head. The master as$ed, .Why(. &o 7ansen said, .,ut a head and go to the mar$et and try to sell
it. 7obody will purchase it..
This is what 7ansens disciple did. 'y putting shoes on his head he said, .Worthless head!. +nd you
go on insisting, as$ing head-;uestions. There is no answer. #ow can the shoes answer( #e wal$ed out,
and 7ansen said, .%ou could have saved the cat. #ad you been there this morning the cat would have
been alive and $ic$ing. &ome absurd act was needed -- absurd, spontaneous. 4ational( 7o, something
irrational was needed, because .ir-reason. is deeper than reason. Thats why if you are too much head-
fi*ated, you cannot fall in love, because love is irrational, absurd. The head goes on saying, .This is
useless. What will you gain out of it( There is no profit, you may even get into trouble. Thin$ about
it..
It is said of Immanuel 8ant, one of the greatest systemati:ers, that one girl proposed to him. In the
first place it is bad that the girl should propose, it is always the boy who proposes. 'ut the girl must
have waited and waited and 8ant wouldnt propose" the idea never occurred to him. #e was so much
rooted in his head, the heart was denied. &o the girl, feeling too much time had been lost, proposed.
8ant said, .I will thin$ it over..
#ow can you thin$ about love( 2ither it is there or not. It is not a ;uestion to be solved, it is a
situation to respond to. 2ither your heart says yes or your heart says no and it is finished. What will
you thin$( It is not a business proposal. 'ut it was a business proposal to 8ant. Too much head-
orientation ma$es everything businessli$e. &o he thought, and he not only thought, he went to the
library and concentrated on the boo$s about love, marriage. Then he noted down in his noteboo$ all
that was in favor of marriage and all that was against. +nd he thought and thought and thought, and it
is said that weighing the pros and cons, he decided in favor of marriage because a few points were
more in favor than against. &o it was a logical decision.
Then he went and $noc$ed at the girls door, and the father said, .&he is already married and a mother
of three children. &o much time passed... you come a little late..
Time is needed for the mind. The mind is always late because time will be needed and the situation
will be lost. +nd when you $noc$ at the door, the girl has moved -- she is already a mother of three
children. +nd this is happening every moment. 4emember, a situation is there, so act, dont thin$,
because if you thin$ the situation will not wait for you. The girl will have moved. +nd when you are
ready to respond there will be nothing to respond to. 8ant was ready, but the mind ta$es time and
situations are moving. 5ife is a flow, a flu*, it is not static" otherwise the mind would have found the
answer. If the girl had remained.... 'ut the girl was getting old, she was missing life. &he could not
wait, she had to move, ma$e a decision.
5ife is not static. If life were static there would be no need for meditation. The mind would do. Then
you could thin$, and whenever, after many lives, you $noc$ed at the door, the girl would be waiting
for you. 'ut life is a flu*, a movement. 2very moment it is changing and becoming new. If you miss a
moment, you have missed.
This disciple didnt miss a single moment. #e heard the story, too$ off his shoes, put them on his head
and wal$ed out. If he had waited a single moment to thin$ 7ansen would have beaten him. I tell you,
he would have been beaten. 'ecause the cat was not there any more he might have chopped this
disciple -- but he acted.
+ction without the mind is the most beautiful thing possible. 'ut you are afraid because you thin$ if
you act without the mind you may do something wrong. 'ecause this fear e*ists the mind e*ploits it --
thin$ first, then act. 'ut you go on missing the train. 5eave this fear, otherwise you will never be
meditative. +ct! In the beginning there will be a deep sha$ing and trembling, because you have always
been acting out of thin$ing.
It is just li$e a man who has been living in a prison, in a dar$ cell, for many years. #is eyes have
become attuned to dar$ness. If he is suddenly brought out of the cell he will not be able to open his
eyes. The sun will be too much, the light will be too much. #is whole being will tremble and he will
say, .5et me go bac$ to my cell.
This is what has happened to you, to everybody. We have lived in the mind for many many lives, and
we have become attuned to its dar$ness, its ugliness, futility. When you act without the mind, your
whole being trembles. %ou are moving on a dangerous path.
The mind says, .'e alert! Thin$ first, then act.. 'ut if you thin$ first and then do something, your
doing will always be dead, stale. It will be out of thought, it will not be real and authentic. Then you
cannot love, then you cannot meditate, then you cannot really live and you cannot die. %ou become a
phantom, a phony e*istence. 5ove $noc$s at your heart and you say, .Wait! I will thin$ about it.. 5ife
goes on $noc$ing at your gates and you say, .Wait! I will thin$ about it..
This disciple must have been deep in meditation. #e acted, he simply acted. #e could have saved the
cat. This means he has already saved it -- he has already saved all that is alive. 9ont thin$ about the
story, otherwise I will have to chop the cat. %ou can save it" otherwise the cat will have to be chopped
again, and you will be responsible. +ct!
'ut the story wont help you. 9ont try to put your shoes on your head, that wont help. It helped that
disciple but it wont help you. The cat will have to be chopped if you put the shoes on your head and
wal$ out, because that will be false again, that will be from the mind. %ou $now the story. The mind
cannot give you the real" whatsoever you do, dont imitate.
I have heard that in a ,hinese town there was one big restaurant, very rich, the most beautiful, rich
restaurant in the town. +nd just near that restaurant lived a poor ,hinese. #e couldnt go in the
restaurant, it was too costly. 'ut the smell of food, the aroma.... #e used to sniff it, and when he too$
his lunch or dinner he too$ a chair out of his house and went as near to the restaurant as he dared, and
he would sit there and sniff the aroma, the smell that was coming from the restaurant, and eat his food.
#e enjoyed it. #e ran a small laundry.
'ut one day he was surprised. There came a man, the owner of the restaurant, with a bill for the smell
of the food. That poor man ran into his house, brought his tiny money bo*, rattled it in the ears of the
owner and said, .#ereby I pay for the smell of your food, by the sound of my money..
The mind is just smell and sound, nothing real. Whatsoever you do, the mind is smell and sound,
nothing authentic. It is the source of all falsity.
&o you have heard the story: dont try now to imitate it. %ou can do it easily now, now the secret is
$nown. %ou can put the shoes on your head and wal$, but the cat will be chopped. It will not save it, it
will not help it. +ct spontaneously. <ut aside the mind and do something, and doing it you will come
to $now the cat has never been chopped, because the cat cannot die. <utting aside the mind you will
come to $now your own eternity, and the very same moment you $now the eternity of the cat also. The
mind is mortal, not you. %ou are immortal. The mind has a death waiting for it, not you. %ou are
deathless. <utting aside the mind you will laugh, and you will say this 7ansen played a tric$. The cat
cannot be $illed.
Thats what 8rishna went on saying to +rjuna: .9ont you be worried. %ou chop these fellows,
because nobody can be $illed..
The /ita is very dangerous. 7owhere on the earth does such a dangerous boo$ e*ist, so nobody has
followed it. <eople recite it but nobody follows it. It is dangerous, and even people who love it very
much and respect it very much, never listen to what it says. 2ven a man li$e !ahatma /andhi, who
called /ita his mother, wouldnt listen to it. #ow could !ahatma /andhi listen to it( #e believed in
nonviolence and this 8rishna said, .,hop these fellows! 7othing e*ists" it is li$e a dream. +nd I tell
you, nobody is $illed, so dont bother about it..
#ow could /andhi believe( &o he had to play a tric$. This is how the mind plays tric$s. #e said,
.This is a parable, this is metaphorical" dont ta$e it literally, the fight is not real. The 8auravas and the
<andavas, these two groups of warriors, are just a story. 8auravas represent evil and <andavas
represent good. It is the fight between good and evil, between /od and the 9evil, it is not a real fight..
'ut this was /andhis mind playing tric$s.
There have been 'uddhist interpreters of 7ansen also. They said, .This is just a parable. There was no
real cat, and this never happened..
'ut I tell you this happened. The cat was real, as real as 7ansen, and the cat was chopped. 7ansen
could do it. 7ansen was a 8rishna. #e $new nothing is destroyed.
This word, the 2nglish word destruction, is very beautiful, meaningful. The word destruction means
de-structuring -- nothing is destroyed, only the structure changes, a new structure arises. The old
structure goes out of e*istence and a new structure arises. 9estruction means de-structuring. 3nly the
form changes. The cat may be sitting here -- it is more possible than anywhere else! When you go
bac$ home, loo$ in the mirror. %ou may be the cat, and you have come here again. 9o something,
otherwise I will chop you again.
+nd remember, now nobody can save you. That time the mon$s could have saved you. This time you
are a mon$, so nobody can save you e*cept yourself. +ction out of immediacy, spontaneous action,
saves life. That is the only savior. There e*ists no other savior.
+ prince was sent to
a >en !aster to
learn
swordsmanship. It
is a strange
phenomenon, but in
-apan it has become
a reality that a
!aster of
consciousness, a
!aster who teaches
meditation, also
teaches
swordsmanship. To
me it is very
significant. That is
what is needed.
The prince went to
the !aster and he
said, .!y father has
sent me. #e is old
and he is not going
to live long --
maybe one year,
two years at the
most. #e has sent
me to you with the
urgent message to
prepare me before
he dies. #e would
li$e to see me with your recommendation saying that I am ready, because if I am not ready then he
cannot die peacefully.
.In every other way I am ready: I have learned archery, swordsmanship and all $inds of things that are
needed in war" I am a master in every dimension. +nd I went bac$ from the university to my father to
say that I had all these medals and trophies and certificates" I was ready.
.#e said, 7o, you are not ready yet, because the basic thing is missing. +ll that you have brought is
good, maybe it will be of use some day, but first go to this !aster to learn meditation, and to combine
all your warriors training with meditation. 6nless meditation is supporting the warrior in you, you are
just an ordinary warrior, and dangerous: I cannot put the $ingdom in your hands. I will have to find
somebody else. /o fast, and learn fast..
&o the prince said, .I am ready. Whatsoever you say I will do, but be ;uic$..
The !aster said, .That is the first re;uirement, that time is not binding. I cannot say how much time it
will ta$e -- one year, two years, ten years, fifty years -- nothing can be said about it. It all depends on
you, on how ;uic$ you learn. I will try my best because I am old, I am also in a hurry. I was not going
to accept another disciple, but if the $ing sends you -- he is my old friend, we both were under the
same !aster learning meditation -- I cannot refuse you. %our training starts from now..
The prince as$ed, .What do I have to do(.
The old !aster said, .%ou have not to do anything e*cept just ordinary things: cleaning, coo$ing,
drawing the water from the well, cutting wood. 'ut remember one thing, I can hit you any time from
behind, so remain alert. 9o anything, but remain alert..
The prince said, .What $ind of training is this( -- but my father has sent me to you so it must be
right.. +nd he was continually being hit. The old man was really a great, s$illful man. #e would wal$
without any noise" you could not hear the sound of his feet, and suddenly from nowhere he would
jump out and hit you hard!
Within fifteen days the princes whole body was aching. It was difficult to sleep on one side because
there it was hurting, and it was difficult to sleep on the other side because it was hurting, but he was
happy too because now he had started hearing his !asters footsteps. +wareness had grown.
'efore he was not so conscious, so those footsteps were ma$ing a certain noise but it was so small, so
subtle, that it was not in his grasp. 7ow his awareness, in such conditions, was bound to grow. #e had
to be alert, continuously alert: while doing everything he $new that the !aster would be coming. #e
would be chopping wood, but no other thought would be there other than about the old man: from
where would he appear and how would the prince defend himself(
The old man would try to hit him and the prince would just catch his bamboo staff. Within three
months the old man could not hit the prince a single time in the whole day. The prince was very
happy" he thought, .This is a great day!. +nd his body was no longer hurting: in three months of
continual beating his body had become li$e steel. 7ow he understood that he had gained a certain
strength that was never in him before.
7ow when his hand held a sword, it was not a human hand but one made of steel. #e was happy
about his body, the way it had become stronger under his !asters hits. #e was happy that he had
become so alert that even when the old man was far away in the other room, he would be able to
detect it. #e would shout from his room, .9ont try anything -- I am alert.
The !aster used to come in from his room. 3ne day the prince listened out for noises from the other
room for twenty-four hours" and the !aster could not beat him a single time. The !aster called the
prince to him. The prince was very happy, the old man was also very happy" he said, .7ow the second
part starts. 6p to now I have been hitting you with a bamboo -- from tomorrow it will be a real
sword..
The prince thought, .+ real sword! The bamboo was one thing -- I managed somehow and remained
patient -- but now a real sword! If I miss even one time I am finished. +nd this old fellow, if he can hit
me with the bamboo so hard that he has made my whole body li$e steel, what will he do with a real
sword(.
The old man too$ out his sword and he said, .This is my sword, so loo$ at it. Watch it! This is now
going to be after you continually..
The princes awareness arose li$e a pillar of light. #e could feel it, because danger was there and now
it was not a jo$e: it was a ;uestion of life and death.
&o the old man started trying to hit him but could not succeed for three months" not even a single time
did he hit him. +nd the princes awareness was going higher every day: he could save himself
immediately. )rom the bac$ the !aster would try to hit.... +nd all $inds of wor$ the prince was doing.
With closed eyes he would be sitting in meditation: the !aster would go to hit him and he would jump
aside and save himself
The !aster called him, and he said, .I am happy. The second part of training is over.. The prince said,
.I am tremendously grateful and happy. I never thought that there was such a possibility inside me to
be so alert. 7ot even a small bree:e can pass by me without me $nowing it. 7ot even a single thought
can move within me without me $nowing it. +nd I am happy that there is still something to learn.
.+t first I was very hesitant, reluctant, unwilling: I was here just because my father had sent me. 'ut
now I am here because I want to be, and I dont thin$ of my father and the $ingdom or anything else.
+ll I thin$ of is to bring my consciousness to its highest pea$, because the joys that I have $nown I
was not even aware of, I could not have even dreamed about them. &o start the third step..
The !aster said, .The third step is: while you are sleeping I will be hitting you with the real sword..
The young man said, .That is perfectly right -- I am ready. I was afraid even of the bamboo" now I am
not afraid of your real sword, not even in my sleep. 5ately I have been watching myself sleeping.
Turning, I $now I am turning. When sleep comes to my body I $now that sleep is descending...
descending... descending, that it has ta$en over my whole body. 'ut I am just li$e a flame inside, not
asleep..
The !aster started trying to hit the prince, but the moment he entered the princes room, the prince
would wa$e up. )or three months he tried, but he could not stri$e the prince even once. Then the
!aster gave the prince his sword and said, .%our father will understand, because he $nows this is the
sword my !aster had given to me. 7ow you are capable of having a sword because you also have a
higher ;uality of consciousness. 7ow the need for the sword is left far behind..
'253=29 3&#3,
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+5372 T3 93 IT(

There are many reasons for it, and of great importance. )irst" why do people not li$e what we are
doing here( It is none of their concern in fact. We are not doing anything to them. If we are doing
anything at all, we are doing it to ourselves. <articularly my whole philosophy is selfish, self-centered.
Why do they not li$e it(
There is tremendous fear behind it, because we are doing something they have stood against for the
whole past history of humanity.
If we succeed, their whole history, all their religions, culture, civili:ations, are proved to be wrong.
3ur success is ris$y.
3ur success is dangerous, it is a challenge -- and not to a single individual, not to a single society, not
a single religion, but to all that they have been doing" their philosophy, their religion .... If you just see
the great implication: you are standing against the whole history of man -- your success cannot be
allowed. &omehow or other they want you to fail" in your failure is their success. Thats why they are
against it. It is a great ;uestion -- who is right(
We are a small commune. 3n their side is the whole history of man -- millions and millions of men,
thousands of cultures, civili:ations" but they have all lived according to some basic principles and we
are against those basic principles.
The trouble arises because they have not succeeded" otherwise they would not have bothered about
you. If they had succeeded they would have pitied you, they would not have been against you. 'ut
they have not succeeded, thats where the real trouble lies. They have failed, utterly failed. 3n every
single point they have failed, and they cannot allow anybody else to succeed because that success will
ma$e them a thousandfold miserable.
4ight now at least they have the consolation that .this is the way things happen.. There has never
been real opposition to them. #indus against !ohammedans -- that is not real opposition" -ews against
,hristianity -- that is not real opposition, because on fundamental points they are all in agreement.
We are in total disagreement on every step, on every single point. This has never happened before"
naturally, they are frea$ing out. We cant help that. They are facing a great danger: our success will
ma$e their whole history a history of stupidity. +nd we are succeeding. 2very day we are succeeding,
and we are proving to them that they have been wrong.
+nd now it is not just an argument. )or thirty years I have been arguing" finally I decided that just
argumentation is not going to help. They have no answer, but argument just disappears into the air. It
may remain in the boo$s, but it wont transform the whole life of man. It will not ma$e a complete
brea$ with the past and a totally new beginning, fresh, as if man has arrived on the earth for the first
time.
That reali:ation slowly slowly made me decide to create a commune -- a reality, not just an argument"
a reality which they cannot ignore, not just a philosophy.
<hilosophies -- ninety-nine percent of people remain unaware of them. The one percent who become
aware are the professional philosophers. <hilosophy is any easy-chair affair" you enjoy it but gives you
no challenge. It became clear to me that I have to translate my argument into a real phenomenon or
people are not going to be affected by what I am saying. In the first place they cannot understand it
because their whole past is against it. Their mind is conditioned by the past. When they listen to me
they cannot listen with an open mind.
I have seen people listening to me nodding their heads when something is in agreement with them, or
sha$ing their heads sideways if something is not in agreement. They are not aware that their heads are
showing that which is going on within.
3nly with -apanese was I in trouble. They are the rarest people in the whole world. They just do the
opposite: when they want to say no they say yes! &o when I came in contact with a -apanese then I
was really confused -- what to ma$e of it( In the beginning I thought they were saying yes, but what I
was as$ing them ... they were supposed to say no, and they were saying yes. When they were
supposed to say yes, they were saying no .... 3nly -apanese do it in a different way.
2*cept -apan -- but why did it happen in -apan( -- the whole world nods in the same way. %ou can
read their minds just by their facial e*pressions, their heads nodding, their eyes, their hands, even their
posture of sitting. When somebody is interested, he leans towards you. When somebody simply wants
to show his arrogance, he leans away from you.
+rguments cannot penetrate their thic$ minds, and they go on becoming thic$er and thic$er, because
as time passes more and more dust goes on gathering on the mirror. 7ow the mirror is nowhere to be
seen" it is only a thic$ layer of dust. &till, I tried my best, for the simple reason that I am a la:y man. I
never wanted to do such a thing as I had to do: create a commune.
It is easy for me to tal$ about everything in the world. Whether I $now about something or not, it does
not matter, I dont care at all. I simply enjoy tal$ing. &o it is not a ;uestion of whether I $now about it
or not, I enjoy in both cases. Tal$ing is easy" that I have done from my very childhood.
I used to sleep in the room with my grandfather. I as$ed him, .%ou always cover your head with the
blan$et, even when it is not so cold .....
#e said, .It is not a ;uestion of the cold, it is you. %ou tell stories even in your sleep, and you tal$ so
relevantly that I become interested..
It is that old man who gave me also the habit of covering my head, because I said, .This is not good,
to disturb the old man in the night.. &ince then, I also sleep with my head covered, so even if I start
tal$ing nobody is disturbed.
Tal$ing has been to me just li$e breathing. Thats the only thing I have done in my whole life. &o I
recogni:ed the problem, but it too$ years for me to collect myself and get involved -- not just to go on
standing on the ban$ of the river, tal$ing, tal$ing, while the river goes on flowing without listening ....
I had to decide that I would jump in and do something, although it was against my nature" this flow of
the river had to be disturbed.
&o even though I have created communes, I am almost outside the commune. 'ut I have found the
rarest people in the contemporary world, the very cream, intelligent .... There is no need for me to do
anything, I just have to give a hint. +nd sometimes even a hint is not necessary. 2verything goes on
happening e*actly the way I would have li$ed it to happen.
I can love you but I cannot dictate to you.
I cannot say to you, .9o this,. and I cannot nag you if you dont do it.
'ut I have found my people.
7ow it is no longer a ;uestion of my two hands" millions of hands are with me around the world.
They are all my hands. I can now afford to be absolutely la:y.
+nd you $now that I am la:y. I dont do anything, or I do things which only la:y people li$e me can
afford: two hours in the morning ta$ing a bath -- I dont thin$ even +le*ander the /reat was able to
afford that -- two hours again in the evening ta$ing a bath. %ou should one day come and see my bath.
=ive$ does not allow anybody to enter -- it is enough that she allows me! &he is otherwise a very strict
manager, but she allows me.
=ive$ and #asya together have made my bath really pleasant, because they must be thin$ing: that two
hours this man ta$es in the morning, and two hours in the evening ... just with the water! &o now you
must see my bathroom" they have arranged so many things there, that two hours are falling short. 7ow
I am thin$ing to start a third bath at night, because two more hours are needed.
+nd the remaining time I just sit with closed eyes listening to music -- and mostly I fall asleep, to be
fran$ with you, because I have been listening to the same music for thirty years. There is a limit to
patience too.
It is strange: as the music starts I start do:ing and I wa$e up immediately as the music stops. I am
myself surprised" this is something strange, I should be awa$e when the music is on. I am awa$e
before it is put on, and I am immediately awa$e when it is going to stop" I just hear the last line and
the first line. 'ut I $now the middle so there is no problem in it" nothing, nothing is missed.
+nd this is just in the morning. The whole night I have been asleep. +nd I must be sleeping ... just as I
finish tal$ing with you, I go to sleep within half an hour. +nd I sleep up to seven, just because there is
nothing else to do" sleeping is a great activity. +nd I cannot believe it, that at seven I have got out of
bed and by nine, after my bath, listening to the music I am again asleep.
6p to eleven this goes on with music" then I ta$e my lunch and go to sleep again. +nd I had to tell
=ive$, .4emember, I have to go for the two ocloc$ ride to see my people. &o wa$e me up, because I
may continue to sleep.. I can sleep twenty-four hours -- and not one day, every day. When I came
from India to here I was completely asleep the whole time. I enjoyed it very much -- such a long
sleep!
+fter the ride I come bac$ ... and again that music. it seems to have something to do with my past
$armas that I have to listen to the same music again and again ... and I fall asleep again. It is good that
there is nobody, I am alone. I wa$e up at four-thirty and again my bathtime ....
7ow do you thin$ this $ind of a man can create a revolution( 'ut somehow it is happening.
<eople thin$ wal$ing on water is a miracle -- idiots! I just saw last wee$s &T247 maga:ine. They
have a cartoon about me. The cartoon has the outlines of 8rishnamurti 5a$e and sannyasins are
standing on one side, and my 4olls 4oyce is moving on the la$e! 3ne of the sannyasins says, .It must
be 3sho!. That is not much of a miracle.
What is really happening here is a miracle.
I do nothing but, I dont $now why, you have fallen in love with me.
I dont deserve it either because I have never done anything" how can I deserve so many peoples
love(
'ut your love is doing the miracle.
%ou are here for no other reason.
&ometimes you also must be wondering why you are here. I also wonder why" but love is such a
thing, that you go on wondering why, and it goes on happening.
I dont $now where your office is, I dont $now how your finances are managed. I dont $now who is
doing what. What to say about the commune( -- I dont $now even in this house what is going on,
where my $itchen is" I have not seen it.
<eople are afraid because they have never seen love at wor$. They have tried by force to create
culture, civili:ation, by violence, and they have failed.
#ere love is at wor$. +nd when love is at wor$, it attracts intelligence. There is an inner attunement
between love and intelligence.
It is not accidental that so many intelligent people from all over the world have become interested in
me -- who is against everything that they have been brought up to believe in: who is against their
culture, who is against their country, who is against their religion, who is against their parents" who is
against even their children who are not born yet, who wont allow them to be born. If it were in my
power I would not have allowed your parents to be born. It is too late" but your children I am not
going to allow.
This is the only place in the whole world where love is doing things" and love never says, it never
dictates.
5ove is the most mysterious energy in the whole world.
It ma$es things happen.
<erhaps love is the very center of all that moves, of all the stars that are moving.
&cientists are searching for the center" there must be a center to the universe. I am not a scientist but I
$now the center. 5et them search, they will never find it, because their very methodology will not
allow them to find love.
5ove is the center of the whole universe" the suns, the moons, the planets, the stars -- all are moving
around it. +nd we have created this small commune on the same e*istential principle.
2verybody feels responsible. I dont say to you that you are responsible towards the commune,
towards me, towards my philosophy" I have never said anything li$e that.
'ut you feel to be responsible because somebody trusts you. &omebody loves you in spite of yourself.
&omebody accepts you in your totality, as you are.
I never judge anybody -- love $nows no judgment. I dont see that somebody is good and somebody is
bad. To me you are all one energy, different manifestations, and all are needed to ma$e an organic
unity.
&heela comes again and again to me and says, .These are the topmost wor$ers, ace wor$ers. These
are second class, these are third class, and these are just to be thrown out..
I say to her, .%ou dont understand. If the fourth class disappears you will start thin$ing of throwing
out the third class -- naturally, it is a simple logic. If the third class disappears you will start throwing
out the second class. +nd if you throw out the second class, how are you going to $now the ace
wor$ers, the first class( They are all one organic whole -- they are all needed..
The first class needs the second class, they support each other. If the second class disappears the first
class will be in a limbo, hanging in the air, there will be no support for it. &omebody is needed to
support it. It is just li$e a staircase" every step is needed. The lowest step is the support of the highest
step.
9ont judge that the lowest is in any way lower as a value. It can be the lowest as a physical status but
there should be no evaluation involved, it is not .lower.. The highest ... that is simply a way of
measuring things, but it is not higher.
7obody is lower and nobody is higher. There many be lower steps and there may be higher steps but
they are all connected in one symphony.
5ove $nows no judgment, thats why love can do miracles.
What humanity has not been able to do is happening here without anybody doing it. +bout nobody
can it be said, .#e is doing it.. 2verybody is involved e*cept me.
&o I am always grateful to you all that you allow me to remain just a guest, and I am grateful to the
+merican government that they allow me just to be a tourist. +nd I hope I will die just as a tourist.
<eople have only said that life is a journey" I am going to prove it! It is not only a journey, it is a tour,
without a visa, without a passport" it is a tour.
<eople are afraid because they can see things they have tried so hard to do and they have not
wor$ed ... and nobody is trying here" still somehow they are wor$ing. Three thousand people are
here ... no management, but some inner feeling $eeps you all connected. 7o fanaticism -- because
when there is love to connect you, you need not have ugly substitutes for it.
+ fanatic !ohammedan is connected by his fanaticism to other !ohammedans. + fanatic ,hristian is
connected by his fanaticism to other fanatic ,hristians, it is the fanatic element that connects them.
#ere, nobody is a fanatic.
#ow can you be a fanatic with a man li$e me, who ta$es nothing seriously(
I have never in my whole life ta$en anything seriously because I dont see the point, why one should
ta$e things seriously. 5ife is really such a jo$e, so hilarious.
I have heard of a man who was sitting in a railway station waiting room" sometimes he was sitting
alone, sometimes there were other passengers also. &ometimes he would gesture as if to throw
something with his hands. 2verybody was interested in what he was doing because there seemed to be
nothing that he was throwing away. &ometimes he would giggle and sometimes he would even laugh.
)inally he was driving everybody cra:y -- although it was nobodys business. It was his hand" if he
wants to ma$e some gesture, who are you to be bothered by it( +nd if he wants to giggle, that is his
business. +nd if he wants to laugh ....
'ut the whole place became very tense, hot. 3nly that man was enjoying, with his eyes closed.
)inally it was too much: one man stood up and he said, .I have to as$, because he is driving us cra:y,
what he is doing.. &o he shoo$ him and told him, .%ou are driving the whole waiting room cra:y"
nobody can ta$e his eyes off you. What are you doing( Why are you giggling( There is nothing
happening here, on this ugly platform, in this dirty waiting room -- and you laugh(.
The man said, .It is something ... just an old habit. %ou need not be worried. I am in the habit of
telling jo$es to myself. When some very old jo$e that I have told many times comes by, I just sha$e it
off: T/et lost again! +nd when some juicy one comes, I have to giggle -- although I $now the jo$e, it
is an old jo$e, but so juicy that even to hear it a thousand times ... still, I have to go the whole way.
.I $now everything that is going to happen in the jo$e but that doesnt matter, it is so juicy. +nd
sometimes the jo$e is so great that I cannot just giggle, I have to laugh out loud. I $now that perhaps it
may disturb others, but what can I do(.
I thin$ this man is no one but me" because this is how I have lived my whole life. I have never ta$en
anything seriously. This was not a decision on my part" otherwise that decision would have become
serious. -ust loo$ing at life I found it was so humorous, so ridiculous, that if you cannot ma$e yourself
giggle and laugh you are just an idiot, and missing such a great opportunity.
<eople come here, and when they see you wor$ing twelve hours a day, fourteen hours a day and still
laughing and giggling and dancing, they cannot believe it. They have to believe, but they cannot. +nd
of course they have to find some e*planation -- perhaps you are all hypnoti:ed" perhaps it is all just
show business, you are just trying to show those idiot spectators your laughter, your dance, your song.
They thin$ it is just managed for them" once they are gone, you will be crying and hurting all over
from so much jumping.
'ac$ home thats what they thin$, that it was all made up. They write articles, they have written boo$s
about me, that all my people are trained in such a way that the moment they see any spectators
immediately they start laughing, singing, dancing, hugging .... They are poor fellows just trying to
console themselves that this is not for real" otherwise how will they e*plain to themselves their misery,
their suffering(
If it is for real -- if your laughter, your joy, your dance, your song, is for real -- then they have missed
the train. Then their whole life is nothing but foolishness. +nd this is too much to accept. 3nly very
intelligent people will be able to accept it. +nd in that very acceptance there will be a change, the
beginning of a revolution.
'ut people are mediocre. Intelligent people are few and far between, they are not all over the place.
7inety-nine percent, the crowd, is just mediocre. +nd with the mediocre mind the problem is, how to
console oneself(
%ou are enjoying so much you dont $now how much it hurts those who have never enjoyed.
%ou say we are doing our thing, why are they angry, why are they against us( ,ant you see a simple
fact( They are not against you" just be miserable li$e them, be in suffering, in anguish, and they will
be very sympathetic to you. They will donate to your commune. +ll opposition to you will disappear.
The opposition is for a certain consolation: they want to believe that you are pretending, they want to
convince themselves and others that this cannot be true. %es, it may be true in paradise, but it cannot
be true in 3regon. It is against their whole way of misery.
3ur way is of humor, our way is of bliss.
We dont care about gods and heaven and theories of $arma and hell. We have dropped all that crap --
and they are carrying that crap as holy scripture. When they see you so light, and they loo$ at
themselves carrying mountains of crap .... +nd you say they should not be angry at you, they should
not be against you.
They are crying, and you are laughing. Their hearts are full of wounds, and you are hugging each
other. This is too much! Thats why they are against you. +nd they will become more and more angry,
more and more against you because as you become more successful -- which you are going to
become .... 5ove $nows no failure. Intelligence $nows no failure, failure is only for fools.
#umor $nows no failure.
If a man who has some sense of humor slips on a banana s$in and falls down, even he will laugh -- he
is capable of laughing at himself too. That is a true sense of humor. To laugh at somebody else
slipping on the banana s$in is not much -- anybody can do it, any Tom, 9ic$, #arry .... I thin$ for the
first time I am right, and the reason that I am right is because of our poor #arry.
5ast time, when I was told the correct se;uence I tried hard -- how to remember it( Then I
remembered poor #arry. #e is the last. +nd he is a man so simple that he will stand at the last. #e will
not try to push himself ahead, he will not try to be the first. Whosoever invented the se;uence must
have been a man of tremendous insight, putting our #arry at the last.
Then it became easy for me: 9ic$ comes in the middle. What can I do( -- it simply comes in the
middle. +nd then only Tom is there. +nd this Tom who is standing first must be the most idiotic
person.
7ow I thin$ I will not forget the se;uence -- but you cannot rely on me, I can forget. The whole credit
goes to #arry, because he was last" that made things very clear.
These Toms, 9ic$s, #arrys ... the world is full of mediocre people who are in great suffering and who
have no way to get out of it, who cannot conceive that there is any way out. +nd when they see you,
that you are out -- when they see the goose is out -- they are naturally offended. They have been
worshipping in the churches, in the temples, in the mos;ues, in the synagogues, and /od has not heard
them yet -- and these godless people are living in the lotus paradise!
They have been doing all the virtuous acts: serving the poor, opening hospitals, schools, doing
everything that is thought to be good, but it doesnt heal their wounds. It does not change anything in
their miserable lives. In fact they go on becoming more and more miserable, because slowly slowly
even the hope that by being virtuous, religious, they will get over this dar$ night of the soul .... 'ut
they have done everything that their scriptures prescribe. They have followed all the recipes that their
priests and so-called wise people have given them. 7othing wor$s. Their hope starts dwindling.
+nd then they see you" no prayer, no god, no temple, no synagogue, no church" strange people! -- and
yet without wounds, yet without tears, yet without any misery.
I saw an interview: one 3regonian woman was being as$ed, on the television, .What do you thin$
about 3sho(. &he said, .I hate him! #e is not a gentleman. #e is not even a ,hristian!.
That made me so happy. It was really something great that she said. )irst she said, .I hate him.. Thats
perfectly good because at least she relates with me, she has some relationship with me. +nd if today it
is hate, tomorrow it can be love. +t least one woman hates me. 9o you thin$ that is something small( I
was thin$ing that women had forgotten me but at least one women hates me" she must be thin$ing of
me.
I enjoyed it -- because how can you hate me without thin$ing of me( In fact, how can you hate me
without loving me( #ate is secondary" you cannot hate directly, first you have to love. It is a simple
thing: if you want somebody to be your enemy you cannot directly ma$e him your enemy, there is no
way. )irst you have to ma$e him your friend" friendship is a necessary bridge if you want him to be
your enemy. The woman, $nowingly or un$nowingly, loves me" otherwise from where can the hate
arise( +nd the way she said, emphatically, .I hate him .....
+nd the second thing was even more important: .#e is not a gentleman.. This is true, absolutely true.
I agree with her. I am not a gentleman because all the gentlemen of your whole history have simply
dragged you into hell. I am not part of that company.
+nd the third thing is even more significant: she said, .#e is not even a ,hristian.. I started thin$ing,
can somebody be a ,hristian without being a gentleman( -- because first she says, .#e is not a
gentleman. +nd then she says, .#e is not even a ,hristian.. That simply shows a ,hristian need not
be a gentleman. +nd she is not interested in my being a gentleman. If I were a ,hristian, then
gentleman or not, she would not have hated me" I just had to be a ,hristian.
'ut what was she going to gain by my being a ,hristian( There are millions of ,hristians, what has
she gained out of them(
What is going to be added to her happiness if I am a ,hristian(
I am such a non-serious person that if somebody can convince me that my being ,hristian is going to
help the poor woman, I will become a ,hristian. What does it matter( I can be a ,hristian, I can be a
-ew, I can be a #indu ... if it can help some woman. 'ut I dont see that it can help, because there are
so many ,hristians already and they are not helpful. +nd a man who is not even a gentleman ....
'ut the point is: my not being a ,hristian and yet being happy, hurts. It is not necessary to be a
,hristian to be happy, it is not necessary to be a ,hristian to be blissful. It is not necessary to be a
,hristian to be loved by so many people. ,hrist was not loved by so many people. If he is anywhere
he must be feeling jealous, just li$e this woman. #e must be saying, .I hate this man. #e is not a
gentleman, he is not even a ,hristian!.
'ut even if the whole world hates me that ma$es no difference to me. I will remain just as blissful as I
am. This is what troubles them.
-esus was not a happy man. #ave you seen any of -esus pictures, statues, where he loo$s smiling,
happy, blissful( 7o, he always loo$s tortured, he always loo$s to be on the cross. #e was not always
on the cross because for thirty-three years he lived without being on the cross. What was this man
doing for thirty-three years(
In the ,hristian gospels there is not a single reference that he laughed, that he smiled, that he jo$ed.
7o, he is always serious, he is always with a long face. +nd it seems if -ews had not crucified him it
would not have made any difference" he himself was always on the cross -- the -ews simply fulfilled
his desire. They said, .3$ay, if you are going to remain this way let us fulfill your desire. 3nce and for
all be finished. -- because even before his crucifi*ion he was telling his disciples, .2ach one has to
carry his cross..
Why a cross( Why not a flute( or a guitar( .2veryone has to carry his own guitar ..... That is natural
-- you cannot play on somebody elses guitar, two persons cannot play on one flute. %ou may even be
lovers, that does not matter" you cannot play on the same flute together, simultaneously. %ou have to
carry your flute yourself.
'ut -esus chooses the cross. In this whole world he could not find anything else to carry! This man
must have been utterly miserable. !y feeling is the -ews finally got fed up with his misery. They said,
.This man is not going to change. This man is never going to be satisfied unless he is crucified..
#e had not gathered intelligent people around him. Those who had come were very mediocre, below
average. They were also miserable. They had come in the hope that with him ... he is the son of /od,
so .one day, when we reach the $ingdom of /od, the world of bliss, he is going to be helpful.. They
had gathered around him, in deep misery, with a hope ....
+ll miserable people go on living, tolerating misery because they have a hallucination of hope
somewhere: .Today is bad, yesterday was bad, but tomorrow( -- things are going to change. +nd we
are with the messiah, we are with the only begotten son of /od. Tomorrow things are going to be
different..
-esus disciples were again and again as$ing him, .#ow long will it ta$e(. %ou can understand it --
the same way a patient as$s the doctor in the hospital, .#ow long will it ta$e( #ow much longer do I
have to remain in the hospital(. +nd the doctor goes on saying, .&oon you will be released.. 'ut his
face says something else. #e has not even courage enough to loo$ eye to eye with the patient. The
doctor goes on saying to the patient, .&oon you will be all right,. and goes on loo$ing at the chart of
the patients disease" and his face goes on becoming sadder and sadder because the patients health is
falling every day.
The doctor cannot say that to the patient. #e has to say, .%ou will be o$ay, soon you will be o$ay..
'ut the patient can see the face of the doctor. #e can see the eyes, that the doctor is avoiding him. #e
can see the silence on the face of the nurse. #e cannot believe what he is being told, because there is
much more, tangibly present, which says his time is limited, his days are finished. 'ut yet he goes on
as$ing" and $nowing perfectly well that the doctors face is saying something else, he goes on
believing what he says -- $nowing it is not true. 'ut he wants it to be true.
Those disciples of -esus $new perfectly well, deep down, that this whole paradise is just a mirage.
%es, it is helpful for the time being, it helps them to tolerate misery. They want to believe in it, that it
is true. Thats why religious people become fanatics.
What is fanaticism( #ave you loo$ed into it( The fanatic person is saying he $nows perfectly well
that what he believes is not true. Thats why he shouts loudly that it is true, and the only truth. #e is
not shouting at you, he is shouting against his own still, small voice. #e wants to drown that voice in
his shouting. 'ut he $nows perfectly well it is not true.
When such people see you, you can understand how much it hurts that, for a few people it is really
true, and true now.
7obody here is as$ing about paradise, nobody is as$ing about life after death, nobody is as$ing about
/od and how to find #im. 7obody is bothered by all this.
This shows something so glaringly -- that you are happy where you are, as you are.
%ou are not bothered about the future.
%ou are not hoping, because you are not miserable. %ou are not fanatic, because you dont have any
belief. %ou are simply living sincerely, honestly, totally" and for whatever small joys this life provides,
you are grateful to it. %ou dont as$ for more.
3nce you as$ for more you become miserable. #ence all the religions have been telling you, .+s$ for
less.. 'ut that is not going to help. It is the same logic, the same line, the same continuity: seeing that
as$ing for more creates misery, as$ for less. 'ut you are simply reacting. 7othing will be changed in
your consciousness because you will as$ again for less, for more less" the more will come bac$. +ll
your mon$s are doing that" they start by as$ing for less, but then it becomes for more less. The .more.
never leaves you -- and more is misery.
In fact, more or less, the moment you as$, you as$ for misery.
The people who are blissful simply dont as$. They live, and they than$ e*istence" they dont as$
either for more or for less. They dont ma$e any demands on e*istence, that is ugly. They simply drop
demanding.
+nd the miracle of life is that the moment you dont demand, the whole e*istence is yours" all its joys
and beauties are yours -- and the people surrounding you can see it.
&o dont be disturbed because they are angry. Why shouldnt they be( 'ut if they are intelligent they
should be angry with themselves their society, their culture and their religion, their history and their
past. 'ut if they are idiots they will be angry against you. 7ow, if they are idiots what can I do( What
can you do( 5et them enjoy their anger, hate. 'ut they are simply punishing themselves.
This is one of the fundamentals of life:
If you hate, you punish yourself. If you are angry you punish yourself.
If you are loving, you reward yourself. If you are happy, you create possibilities for more happiness.
They have a saying that money attracts money. It is true. It is true on other levels of life too.
#appiness attracts happiness.
5ovingness attracts more love.
'lissfulness attracts more bliss.
/iggle, and soon you will be laughing. -ust try to move your hands and legs and soon you will be
dancing -- what else to do( I see it happen every day during the drive-by. )irst people just try, because
it is so much against their upbringing. 'ut then they see that others are also doing it" they loo$ to both
sides, people are doing it. +gainst themselves, reluctantly, they start moving a little bit -- and soon
they are dancing.
3ne old man is there: at first he used to just stand. I went on watching him, what happens. #e is old,
has a thic$ past, but by and by he started moving. 3ne day I saw -- he had brought a flute, but he was
$eeping the flute under his arm. Then he started playing the flute. Then he started dancing and playing
on the flute, together.
+nd today he was just dancing with the flute above his head, in his hand" he had dropped everything.
#e had forgotten he is old" he forgot that he is not supposed to do such a thing -- and he was so happy!
-ust to see his face ... it was a beautiful moment. #e again became a child, again the same innocence
was in his eyes.
&o those outside the commune who are intelligent are sooner or later going to be part of you. +nd it is
good that idiots remain against us because that is a great safety: they will never enter.
To me it is of great significance that idiots dont get interested in me. They get angry at me, thats very
good. +nd I try my best to $eep them angry, hating me, against me, because I dont want them to be
here. I dont want this place to turn into a commune of idiots.
&ometimes an idiot comes by accident. 'ut soon he escapes, it is too much for him, to loo$ so high.
#e has always crawled on the earth" he is a creature who, by some accident, started wal$ing on two
legs. #e should be wal$ing on all fours -- thats where he belongs. I am not interested in that $ind of
people. +nd of course they are the majority -- so I am not interested in the majority.
I am perfectly happy that they are angry. <lease $eep them angry. +nd I will go on doing things so
that they will remain angry and will not come in. We are not afraid of people going out. Those who go
out we are very happy, relieved of a burden. We are worried about people coming in, people who
cannot really belong to an intelligent, loving, responsible commune.
I want you to be just the chosen few, because if the chosen few are really transformed, that will be the
only proof for the millions -- no other argument can convince them. That will be the only possibility
for their mutation.
&o my interest is not in the mob, in the crowd. !y interest is in a few individuals -- and I have found
them. Thats why I stopped traveling. I had a certain number in my mind, and when that number was
complete I stopped traveling. I have ta$en account how many of them will fall out" those who remain,
that is my number, and they are going to become a magnetic force. They will attract new generations
immensely.
%ou are going to become the worlds most significant people because there is no other alternative. +ll
other ways are finished. This is the only living way arriving right now.
This is the birth of a new man that you are witnessing. %ou should rejoice that you are witnessing
something which is going to be the most significant factor in human history, which is going to divide
the past and the future.
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The way the
;uestion is formed
says more than is
apparent. The first
thing it says is that
you are not
interested in truth at
all. It is strange that
sometimes the
formulation of the
;uestion has much
more significance
than the ;uestion
itself.
%ou are as$ing:
.What is truth( and
whatever it is .....
9oes this show any
in;uiry( 9oes it
mean that you are
committed to see$
and search for
truth( If it were so,
you could not have said .whatever it is.. It shows such an indifference, just li$e government office
letters -- .whomsoever it may concern..
.Whatever it is ...(. It ma$es no difference to you. +nd you are as$ing why people are not interested
in it. Why blame people( Why cant you be sincere and say, .why am I not interested in it(. Who are
these people you are tal$ing about( What concern do you have about these people( They dont have
any names" it is just a word, empty: .people..
With me be honest, be sincere, be direct. 9ont bring anonymous people into the ;uestion. The
;uestion has to be yours. %ou are as$ing for an answer, and the ;uestion is not even yours. +nd how is
it possible to answer you when the ;uestion belongs to .people.( Who are these people( I dont $now,
and I dont thin$ you $now either.
+ ;uestion has to be individual, then it is alive" and I can answer only an alive ;uestion. + dead
;uestion deserves only a dead answer. I am incapable of doing that.
&o first, remember always the ;uestion must be your ;uest.
The ;uestion must arise from the depths of your heart" it must be rooted in your being.
It must be nourished by your life" then it deserves an alive answer.
%ou as$ me, what is truth( This is the greatest ;uestion ever as$ed. +nd you as$ it in such a stupid
way, you put the ultimate ;uestion in such a silly form. This is simply unawareness, unconsciousness.
%ou dont $now what you are doing, what you are saying" %ou dont $now what you are as$ing, and
why you are as$ing.
What business is it of yours to be bothered about un$nown people( +re you in a state where no
;uestion of your own e*ists( #ave you dropped all your ;uestions( If that had been the case there
would have been no need to as$ this ;uestion either, because you would have $nown the answer.
When all ;uestions disappear, that consciousness, that ;uestionless consciousness, is the answer, is
the truth.
The ;uestion is yours but you are a coward: you cannot even accept your ignorance. 3f course, to
accept that .this is my ;uestion. certainly means that you are an ignorant person" hence the ;uestion is
thrown on the shoulders of some un$nown people. I cannot find those people anywhere. 7either can
you. ,onsciousness never e*ists in collectivities: people, nation, society, culture, civili:ation. %ou will
not find these things anywhere" they dont e*ist.
Whenever and wherever you come across .people., you will come across the individual. That is solid
reality. +nd .people. cant have any ;uestions. The .people. dont have any soul, the .people. is only a
collective name.
It is just li$e a forest. )rom far away you can see the forest but as you come closer and closer the
forest starts disappearing. When you are e*actly in the forest there is no forest, there are only trees.
%ou will come across trees and trees and trees" uni;ue trees, individual, having their own world" their
own foliage, their own fragrance.
%ou cannot find even two trees e*actly the same in the whole so-called forest. What to say about the
forest( -- even two trees are not e*actly the same. The forest is only a word. %es, it denotes a
collectivity, but no collectivity has any consciousness of its own.
The society -- have you come across society anywhere( 3r do you hope some day to say, .#i, society!
#ow are you(. These words are just hollow, empty. They are only containers without any content in
them. 'ut man is so idiotic that he is more interested in containers than in the content.
I have heard that in a boo$ shop a certain dictionary was not being sold at all. +nd the boo$shop had
$ept the dictionary for ten years. They had purchased the wholesale rights to the dictionary, but not a
single copy had they been able to sell in ten years, and they had been selling other boo$s in thousands.
The dictionary was really very significant, a milestone in the world of dictionaries" thats why they had
purchased the wholesale rights to it. 'ut the boo$ was not selling.
It just happened that the shop$eeper mentioned it to a painter who was loo$ing for a boo$. The
painter loo$ed at the dictionary and he laughed. #e said, .The whole problem is, its cover is wrong.
Who bothers what is inside the dictionary( The cover is repulsive, thats why you have not been able
to sell it. I will ma$e a cover for it. %ou change the cover..
'ut the man said, .-ust by changing the cover ...( The dictionary will be the same..
The painter said, .9ont be worried -- you just do what I am saying.. #e made a new cover, beautiful,
glossy, attractive .... 7ow, what has a dictionary to do with a nude woman( -- but a nude woman was
on the cover loo$ing into the dictionary, the same dictionary. +gain on that dictionarys cover was the
nude woman loo$ing into the dictionary, the same dictionary. It was a beautiful cover.
'ut the owner was simply shoc$ed -- there was a ;ueue! <eople were dying to purchase the
dictionary. What he had not been able to do in ten years was done within a wee$. #e had to order a
reprint. #e told the painter, .This is strange..
The painter said, .It is not strange -- it is just human..
When you fall in love with a woman do you thin$ of the content( When you fall in love with a man
do you thin$ of the content( -ust the container ... a little longer nose and you may fall in love. If the
nose were a little shorter you might not have loo$ed twice at the woman.
Thats the meaning of the word .respect.. %ou may not have thought about it" people dont thin$
about words. 4espect means loo$ing again:
re-spect. When you see somebody and you feel li$e loo$ing again at the person, thats the meaning of
the word .respect.. The person is so attractive, spectacular, that you would li$e to loo$ again and
again. 'ut what you are loo$ing at is the container, still.
I $now of a professor ... he was my colleague in the university, one of the most intelligent people I
have ever met -- but he was ugly. The content was just great, but the container ... that too was just
great! #e was head of the department of psychology. -ust because of him, students were not ta$ing the
subject of psychology.
#e told me, .This is a strange university, where nobody seems to be interested in psychology. We
have a full-fledged department, perhaps one of the best departments in the university. +ll the staff are
very ;ualified people, but somehow students ta$e psychology up to their '.+., and after getting a '.+.
nobody turns up for postgraduate study. -- because the head of the department gives classes only for
postgraduate students or research scholars.
I said to him, .It may shoc$ you but you are the reason..
#e said, .!e( I have done no harm to anybody..
I said, .%ou simply loo$ into the mirror and dont as$ me. %our container is all wrong..
+nd the postgraduate philosophy and psychology courses are mostly filled by girls, because
psychology or philosophy are not going to be of much help in life. They may create trouble perhaps,
but they are not going to help you. &o, in India particularly, only girls turn to psychology because they
are not interested in business, in service, in a career" they are interested, in India, in catching hold of a
rich husband. +nd a postgraduate girl obviously has more chances of catching hold of a good-salaried
husband.
In any other department there is much competition" in psychology and philosophy there is not much
competition. !oreover, professors are very generous in passing people, giving them better mar$s,
higher distinctions, more first classes, so that more people will become attracted. Those departments
are dying all over the world.
There are hundreds of universities where no student ta$es postgraduate classes in philosophy for the
simple reason that wherever you go, although you may have a first class !.+. in philosophy, that is
not a ;ualification. In fact, it is a $ind of dis;ualification -- nobody is going to ta$e you just because of
that. It is enough proof that you are not going to be of any use" your degree shows you are useless.
<hilosophy has no mar$et value.
When I went to study philosophy in the university, my family were absolutely against it, unanimously.
2verybody was bothering me continuously: .9ont go in for philosophy. %ou $now perfectly well,.
they told me, .in our town there are postgraduates in philosophy who have been unemployed for years.
7obody ta$es any interest in them. The moment they hear you are a postgraduate in philosophy, they
say, T%ou are not of any use in the world..
'ut I told them, .9ont be worried, I am not interested at all in your world. +nd I will be the last
person to as$ anybody to employ me. I am going to create my own world..
!y father said, .%ou are simply cra:y. #ow are you going to create your own world(.
I said, .%ou will see. I am not going to use your world. I will create my own world..
4eluctantly, sadly, they sent me to the university. %ou will be surprised -- even my professors,
becoming ac;uainted with me, told me, .+n intelligent student li$e you should be in the department of
politics, economics. What the hell are you doing in the department of philosophy(
.This is only for girls, and they are not interested in philosophy at all. 'ut we go on passing them
because without them the department will be closed and we will be unemployed. &o whether they are
interested in philosophy or not, whether they do their wor$ or not, we go on passing them. They need
certificates, and their certificates are not for the mar$etplace, they are for marriage -- that is a totally
different thing. 'ut what are you doing here(.
2ven the professors were worried about me. +fter my graduation they all suggested, .%ou move..
I said, .%ou dont understand -- it is my subject. %ou people dont belong to this subject. %ou have
somehow wrongly entered philosophy. <erhaps you could not get entry into any other department"
thats why you entered to study philosophy. +nd once you studied philosophy there was no other
profession left for you e*cept to be a professor of philosophy" that was the only profession left. 'ut
you dont belong to philosophy at all" otherwise you should be happy that I am joining it. It is my
world.
I was also a student of that professor who was really ugly" later on I became his colleague. When I
told him, .%ou just loo$ at your face in the mirror,. he said, .'ut, then, why have you joined our
department(.
I said, .'ecause I am not interested in containers -- my interest is in content. I dont care in what $ind
of bo*es you are presented" I just loo$ inside. !y interest is in your inside. Whether your nose is flat,
your eyes are croo$ed -- I have no interest in what $ind of case you have been imprisoned. I am
interested in %36.. 'ut this is a human wea$ness: just to see the cover of a boo$, the advertisement of
a certain thing, and be impressed by things which have nothing to do with the reality, things not
concerned with reality.
If you want to sell a car, you have to advertise the car with a beautiful woman standing just by the
side of the bonnet, loo$ing at the car, enchanted. &he is enchanted by the car, you become enchanted
by her. &trange game! +nd then you purchase the car -- as if that woman is going to come as part and
parcel of the car. 5ater on you understand and feel silly, but then it is too late. That woman has nothing
to do with the car.
In fact, such $inds of advertisements will show people of the future, what $ind of people have e*isted
on the earth before. +fter two thousand years people will thin$, .It seems it was just a madhouse!
These advertisements show something about the people who were advertising, who were loo$ing at
the advertisements" these advertisements must have wor$ed.. They are wor$ing.
%ou purchase a thing not because you need it but because it is advertised so much, hammered so
much in your mind, from all sides. Wherever you go the billboards are there" in the movie it is there:
,oca-,ola, ,oca-,ola, ,oca-,ola ... wherever you go. It is difficult to get rid of ,oca-,ola -- and
then naturally you decide it is better to taste it, because if the whole world is tal$ing about ,oca-,ola
there must be something in it.
The ;uestion you have as$ed is your ;uestion -- you are not interested in truth. 'ut you dont have the
courage even to say that. Why be afraid( If you are not interested, it is perfectly o$ay. Then the truth is
not interested in you either. The truth is not going to follow you, it is not going to nag you, .'e
interested in me! Why are you not interested in me(. It is not your wife.
+s$ing what truth is would have been enough. If you had stopped there .... The same ;uestion was
as$ed by <ontius <ilate -- his last ;uestion to -esus ,hrist. #e had as$ed many other things and -esus
had answered them. #is last ;uestion was, .What is truth(. -- and this is the only ;uestion that -esus
did not answer.
7ow, -esus not answering the ;uestion can have many interpretations. <erhaps he $new nothing about
truth. <erhaps he $new, but he also $new that the ;uestioner was not going to understand it" it was
futile, because the ;uestioner was as$ing from a space which was absolutely wrong. <ontius <ilate
was the governor-general" he was going to decide the fate of this young outrageous person who was
just a hobo, a nobody. <erhaps he was the first hippie in the world.
To as$ about truth you have to be in a certain space.
%ou cannot be in power and as$ the person who is standing before you as a criminal, whose life is in
your hands -- you are going to decide whether he is going to be crucified tomorrow or not. This is not
the way to as$ such a vital, ultimately meaningful ;uestion. %ou have to come down. %ou have to sit
as a disciple by the side of the man you want to ;uestion about truth. 3nly a disciple has the
;ualification to as$ such a ;uestion. <erhaps -esus did not answer because there was no disciple" there
was a governor-general.
3r, it is possible -esus wanted to answer but language was a barrier. Truth cannot be e*pressed
through language" the moment you put it into words something goes wrong.
It is just as when you ta$e a completely straight staff and put it in the water halfway: you will be
surprised that the straight staff is no longer straight. Where it meets the water -- half of it is out, half is
in the water -- something has gone wrong, it is no longer straight. It has ta$en an angle, it is croo$ed.
%ou ta$e the staff bac$ out of the water ... and it is a miracle! -- it is again absolutely straight. 7othing
happens to the staff in water, but the nature of water and the nature of air cause them to function
differently. The straight line becomes no longer the same" it is under different laws.
The same happens to truth the moment it enters the world of language.
5anguage is all human creation:
Truth is not.
We are a creation of truth.
5anguage is our creation" hence it cannot e*press our origin, it is superficial.
5anguage is just a toy in our hands.
I was tal$ing to a great scholar, 9octor #iralal -ain" he was a world-famous scholar on -ainism, and a
man of words. #e $nows seven languages and was so efficient in every one that it was difficult to
decide which was his mother tongue. #is whole life he had devoted to words, their roots .... Words
have traveled for thousands of years in so many lands, in so many climates" they have changed with
every move of the society. It is really a very, very interesting en;uiry -- how words have come to be
what they are, from where they have come.
We were traveling in the train, in the same compartment. We $new each other -- he was an old man
but he belonged to the same city where I was brought up. We were neighbors, his whole family lived
ne*t door to my family. #e used to come once in a while when I was a child, only in the summer
vacations, because he was engaged all over the world in different universities. 'ut finally I also
became a professor in the same university where he had become head of the department of the
&ans$rit, <ali, and <ra$rit languages. These three languages are the ancientmost in the 2ast, and he
was perhaps the best scholar of all the three.
&o traveling in the train ... we were both going to the same conference. I said, .%ou have wasted your
whole life with words. %ou have never bothered about meanings..
#e said, .!eanings( 'ut words have meanings!.
I said, .Words dont have any meaning.. I said to him, .)or e*ample I can say, TWhat is this whole
hullabaloo( 7ow what does this word .hullaballoo. mean( I can change it. I can say, TWhat is all this
#onolulu( If you are a little bit intelligent you will understand that it is the same -- #onolulu or
hullabaloo. Words mean what we want them to mean, they dont have any intrinsic meaning.
!eaning is something different, totally different -- and truth is pure meaning, pure content without
any container. The moment you put a container around it you are doing something ....
It is as if you see a bird on the wing in the s$y. It is so beautiful -- the flight, the freedom, the space,
the sunrays, and the joy of the bird on the wing ... life throbbing, pulsating. %ou can catch the bird, you
can put it into a golden cage -- do you thin$ it is the same bird(, the same bird that was on the wing
when the sun was rising, the same bird fluttering in the strong wind in the vast s$y with no barriers(
%es, your cage is beautiful, golden" but the bird has no longer the same freedom, it has no longer the
same beauty, it has no longer the same truth. %ou have $illed everything.
In a very superficial way it is the same bird because the body is the same, but what about the soul(
What about the innermost core of the bird( ,an it be the same in the cage and in the open s$y on the
wing( This is a little bit delicate, but not beyond intelligence: it is no longer the same bird.
The same happens to truth.
The moment you put it into language, the whole freedom, the whole beauty, the whole authenticity is
gone.
Truth said is truth dead.
%ou are as$ing what is truth.
I can show you the way so that you can see what is the truth.
%ou cannot see through my eyes" you cannot get a glimpse of it through my words.
If you are really interested in $nowing, then I can show you the path which leads to truth.
I have been calling that path meditation.
%ou be silent -- because truth is your innermost property, your own treasure: not the $ingdom of /od
somewhere else in the heavens, but the $ingdom of /od within you just now, throbbing, pulsating --
your heartbeat.
It is here, but you are not here.
%ou have to be brought bac$ home. %ou have gone too far away from yourself. <erhaps you have got
lost and you dont $now how to come bac$ home. <erhaps you are standing in front of your home, but
you cannot remember that this is your home.
I have heard about a drun$ard who comes to his home in the middle of the night, but he is so drun$, it
is a miracle that he reaches his house. 7ot really a miracle, just an old habit of the body: the poor
body, simply li$e a robot, mechanically brings him home. 'ut he cannot recogni:e that this is his
home.
+ woman opens the door" she is his mother. #e falls at the feet of the old woman and says, .#elp me,
-- my old mother must be waiting for me. Where is my house( -ust lead me..
The mother tries to tell him, .I am your mother. This is your house..
#e says, .9ont be ridiculous. !y old mother waits for me without eating, and half the night is gone.
It happens every day, and every day somebody or other helps me and leads me to my home. %ou be
$ind enough ... just thin$ of my old mother and help to show me where my house is. I cannot figure it
out..
+t that very moment another drun$ard, a friend, comes staggering along, and he says, .9ont be
deceived by anybody. I am here, your friend" I will ta$e you to your home. -ust hold my hand, hold it
tight, and I will ta$e you to your home..
The mother says, .9ont go with that idiot! #e is drun$ just li$e you, and wherever he ta$es you, it is
not going to be your home. This is your home. The farther he ta$es you, the farther away you will be
from your mother and your home..
+ll your so-called religious leaders have been ta$ing you away from yourself, towards /od.
/od is the longest distance from you.
If you want a definition of /od, that will do: The longest distance from you, the absolute distance
from you.
+nd all the religions are ta$ing you towards /od. They are really ta$ing you away from yourself.
Their whole conditioning is to help you forget yourself. They teach you to remember /od, they dont
teach you to remember yourself.
They poison people who teach that sort of thing. They poisoned &ocrates because he was teaching:
8now thyself. They wanted him to say: 8now the way to /od, the way to heaven. It was heretical in
their eyes to say to people, $now thyself. 8now /od, $now anything else, but not thyself.
7ow, what crime was &ocrates committing( If he was saying to people, .8now thyself,. why did the
religious people of his days become so angry( There is a reason: he was cutting their very roots by
telling them, .'e yourself, $now yourself" then there is no need of any religion, no need of any pope,
no need of any priest, no need of any mediator between you and /od..
!ediators are needed because /od is so far away.
%ou cannot see, you cannot conceive .... &omebody else is needed who is capable of seeing /od -- a
prophet, a messiah. #e will become your mediator" it is enough for you to $now him. 7ot even that, it
is enough for you to believe in him, and to believe that he $nows /od" you just blindly follow him.
+nd remember, all following is blind.
There is no other $ind.
I cannot show you anything other than yourself because that is the truth:
%ou are the truth.
+nd you are as$ing why people are not interested in it( They are not interested in it because they have
been conditioned. )or centuries they have been continuously conditioned: %ou are just a sinner, you
are born in sin. This life is a punishment. %ou are not of any value, of any worth. There is nothing to
be searched for within you, you have to loo$ outward. %ou have to approach some god, some truth,
which is far away, a long, long journey..
+nd the problem is that truth is just within you.
Truth needs no journey.
It needs only a remembrance.
<eople are not interested in truth because they have been taught not to be interested in themselves.
+ll the religions are telling you: be unselfish, be interested in others, serve others, love your enemy --
even love your neighbor, which is certainly more difficult. 'ut nobody says, .5ove yourself..
.5ove /od. -- I dont $now how you are going to love /od. %ou dont $now what /od loo$s li$e. %ou
dont $now from where to approach #im, which side is #is face. The Indian god has three faces" from
all the three sides you can approach him. The #indu god has thousands of hands" you can hold any.
'ut where are you going to meet these gods with thousands of hands, three heads ...( -ust all jun$.
7obody $nows ....
+ small child was ma$ing a drawing. #is father as$ed him, .What are you doing, so absorbed(.
#e said, .I am drawing a picture of /od..
The father said, .+ picture of /od( 'ut nobody has seen #im, nobody $nows how #e loo$s. #ow can
you ma$e a picture of /od(.
The child said, .-ust wait. 5et me finish the picture and everybody will $now how #e loo$s.. +ll
these gods that you $now in the temples, in the churches, are the drawings of children, nothing more.
%ou have been told to see$ and search for something which always ta$es you away from yourself.
Thats why people are not interested in truth -- because truth is within you, it is you.
%ou have been programmed so criminally, such a deep harm has been done to you, that your priests,
your prophets, your messiahs cannot be forgiven. They have spoiled millions of peoples lives" just for
the sheer joy of being a messiah or a prophet, they have crushed you all.
I am teaching you to be selfish.
5et me repeat it, because the word .selfishness. has been condemned so much that there is every
possibility you will misunderstand me. 'ut the word is really beautiful.
To be selfish simply means to be yourself.
I say to you: dont consider anybody else in the world, just consider yourself" and in that very
consideration you will have considered the whole world. In being selfish you will find all the altruism
that you have been see$ing and see$ing and not finding, because the whole thing was upside down.
%ou are told to love your neighbor -- but you have never loved yourself. +nd a person who has not
loved himself, how can he love the neighbor( )rom where can he get love( )irst you have to have it.
%ou are loving the neighbor -- you who $nows nothing of love because you have never loved yourself.
The neighbor is loving you -- he has never loved himself. &uch insanity is happening in the world:
people who $now nothing of love are loving each other.
It is li$e beggars begging from each other, each thin$ing the other is the emperor. 'oth are thin$ing in
the same way: the other is the emperor. 'oth are beggars. &ooner or later the reality manifests itself"
then there is misery, suffering. Then you thin$ you have been cheated, this beggar has been trying to
prove himself an emperor. 7ow this is absolutely absurd -- it is you who were thin$ing him an
emperor. +nd the same is the situation from the other side: the other person thin$s you have been
cheating him, pretending to be an emperor and you are just a beggar.
When both beggars find that they are beggars, what else can they do other than be angry, enraged,
violent to each other, hating each other as deeply as possible( +nd the love ...( It was nothing" they
dont $now what love is.
To $now anything, you have to begin with yourself.
3nce it happened ... I was sitting by the side of a river, and just a few feet away another man was
sitting. + small boat in a strong wind turned over, and the man who was in the boat cried loudly, .&ave
me!. -- he was drowning. The man who was sitting just a few feet away from me was closer to the
man, so he jumped in to save him ... and then both started crying, .&ave me!.
I said, .This is something!. I had to jump in. It was difficult to save two people -- because they both
were trying to drown me! -- but it was not a long distance from the shore" somehow I carried them
both. +nd I told the man who had jumped in to help, .If you dont $now swimming you should not be
so compassionate..
#e said, .'ut I forgot. &eeing the man drowning I completely forgot that I dont $now swimming. I
reali:ed only when I had jumped into the water, what I had done. 'ut it was too late..
+nd I said, .I had to thin$ twice before I jumped, because to save two drowning men is very difficult.
-- they both try to be on top of you, they are so much afraid of drowning. .It was just fortunate that the
ban$ was not far away, so even underwater ..... I remained underwater while carrying them to the
ban$. .3therwise you would have $illed me! %ou were two, and I was alone.. I $new swimming but
that was of no help because these two persons, both strong, were holding onto my nec$ as tight as
possible.
'ut during the whole of your life this is happening. %ou go on forgetting that you dont $now what
love is. %ou have never loved yourself, you have never respected yourself, you have never considered
yourself.
I teach you to be selfish. 5earn swimming first" then perhaps you can save somebody. There is no
need to go in search of somebody to save.
Thats what the ,hristian missionary does -- he is in search of people to save. They even approach us
here -- where everybody is saved! They try to convince sannyasins -- and our sannyasins enjoy it
tremendously. It is really hilarious: trying to save somebody who is saved! 3n dry land, in a desert, in
3regon, trying to save somebody ...!
9o you thin$ in this dry cree$ ... even if you try to $ill yourself by drowning, it is impossible.
3ur sannyasins say to them, .We are saved. -- but they dont listen, they go on saying that, .,hrist is
the savior.. 'ut this is strange. If a man is not sic$ why should he enter your hospital, or drin$ your
medicine( Isnt anybody allowed to be just healthy(
7o! +ccording to these religions everybody is born sic$, and from your very birth they are trying to
save you. +nd they have created this world where nobody $nows what love is, nobody $nows what
respect is, nobody $nows what truth is" nobody $nows anything which can ma$e life bliss. %es,
everybody $nows how to create troubles for himself and for others. 2verybody is so s$illed in creating
misery -- and the whole cause is that you have been told to be unselfish. %ou have been told to
sacrifice yourself for some idiotic ideal.
I want you just to be simply selfish.
+nd you will be surprised that if you are selfish you discover so many treasures within yourself that
soon you start sharing them -- because finding a treasure is a lesser joy than sharing it.
+nd the treasures that are within you dont follow the ordinary economics and its laws. They are just
the very opposite, diametrically opposite to the ordinary economic structure.
In the ordinary economics if you give something, you will have less. If you go on giving, soon you
will be a beggar. In the ordinary economic world you have to snatch as much from everybody as
possible then you have more and more and more. The treasures I am tal$ing about to you, follow a
different law: if you cling to them they shrin$, if you cling too much you can even $ill them. If you
want to destroy them, then close all the windows and doors, become a grave so nothing can escape
outside you -- but you will be a dead man, with all your treasures also dead with you" your truth, your
freedom, your love, your joy. 2verything will be dead with you -- securely dead, well-insured.
'ut if you want to grow your treasures, share them, share to all and sundry -- dont bother whether
this is a friend or a foe. When you are sharing, the ;uestion is of sharing, it is not with whom.
Whomever it may concern, you simply give. 9ont be concerned about the address, you simply go on
sending love letters. &omebody will receive them somewhere. +nd the more you go on sharing, the
more goes on entering you from un$nown sources. + man is just li$e a well ....
It happens in hot countries -- in India, in many places -- that there are only two wells in the village:
one that belongs to the richest man, in his compound, and the other for everybody, the people.
,ertainly the well of the rich man is deeper, bigger" the peoples well is as poor as the people are. In
summer the peoples well will dry out, but they cannot be allowed to use the rich mans well because --
this is ordinary economics -- if they go on ta$ing the water from his well, his well will dry out too.
It happened in one village, the rich man was so afraid of his well going dry, that not only did he
disallow anybody from the town to ta$e water, he disallowed his own family. #e simply closed the
well, loc$ed it.
#is servants brought water from many miles away, from a river. It seemed sane because for three
years there had been no rain and there was a danger that his well might dry out" even the river was
becoming thinner and thinner every day. &o he was saving his well for the last moment when there
would be no water anywhere available" at least he would have water in the last moments of the
summer.
The river dried out, and he had to open his well. It was full of water, but the water was not drin$able
anymore, it had become poisoned.
+ well remains drin$able if you go on ta$ing water from it. The more water is ta$en out, the more
water from the hidden sources all around the earth goes on coming into the well" fresh water goes on
coming into it. 'ecause the well was closed there was no need for the fresh water to come in, there
was no way. &o all the sources closed, and the water died" it became poisonous.
The same happens to the person who is afraid of sharing himself. #e cannot save his treasures -- this
is not the way to save them, this is the way to destroy them.
&o when I say be selfish, I am really trying to help you to become as unselfish as possible" thats the
only way.
'e selfish.
)ind out your truth, your love, your compassion -- all that you have brought into the world with your
birth.
+nd start giving it to those who need, to those who do not need" to those whom you love, to those
whom you dont love. %ou should not ma$e any distinctions" only then can you e*pand. When there
are no distinctions, no categories, you start e*panding.
+nd that e*pansion is the truth"
That e*panding consciousness is the truth.
+nd it is right this very moment within you, you have not to go anywhere else.
'ut at least let the ;uestion be yours so that I can help you to find the answer which will be yours.
!y answer is of no help:
!y answer will be only words to you.
%ou can ma$e holy scriptures of those words, you can worship those words. Thats what humanity has
been doing for thousands of years. It is time to stop this garbage.
I want you to find your answer, but that is possible only when you start with your ;uestion.
&o as$, .What is truth(. and dont be so insulting to truth that you as$, .Whatsoever it is, why are
people not interested in it(. 9ont shift it to somebody elses shoulders. &ay sincerely, .Why am I not
interested in it(.
This is not a &unday sermon. I am not a spea$er, a lecturer, an orator. I dont $now anything about
oratory. I am simply tal$ing to you, man to man, human being to human being. It has to be immediate,
direct.
I am not somebody sent by /od.
I am just born amongst you, just li$e you.
If there is any difference, this is the difference: I began with my own ;uestions. +nd thats almost half
the journey finished. The first half is the most difficult, the second half is not so difficult.
+ccept your ignorance.
In that very acceptance you have ta$en a wise step" perhaps you have had the first glimpse of wisdom.
4ecogni:e that .I am not interested in truth.. In that very recognition there will be a shoc$ing
reali:ation" perhaps a door that was closed may open in that shoc$.
'ut remember, it is your ;uest:
It has to be your ;uestion.
+nd I do not want to give you any answer.
I can only show you the way to find your own answer. Truth liberates, but it has to be your own.
3therwise, if it is somebody elses, truth binds. -esus ,hrists truth, !ohammeds truth, 'uddhas
truth, have all become prisons. I dont want my truth to become a prison for anybody.
I want my truth to be an inspiration.
I want my truth to trigger something in you which is yours.
!y truth simply gives you an assurance that a human being, just li$e you, can attain to truth.
That will give you immense respect towards yourself. %ou will not feel unworthy sinners, that
somebody has to come to save you -- some ,hrist, some 'uddha has to come, and then you will be
saved. %ou dont have to wait for anybody to save you. %ou are born saved, just a little insight .... If
my presence can do that, then my wor$ is finished.
I dont want to become a prison around you.
I want to become a freedom around you, an open s$y around you, not a golden cage -- so that you can
open your wings and feel the joy of flying higher and higher towards the stars.
3ne of my teachers, a
history teacher, used to
say again and again,
and this has been said
to almost everybody:
.5eave your name in
the pages of history.
Write your name in
golden letters. %ou
should leave your mar$
that you have been
here..
The first day I entered
his class ... of course
the first day the teacher
is at his best. #e tries
hard to impress,
because the first
impression is a lasting
impression. &o he was
at his pea$ -- not
spea$ing but
thundering. I could not
tolerate it when he said,
.%ou have to leave
your name in history, it
has to be written in
golden letters. %ou
have to ma$e a mar$ that you have been here..
I stood up and I said, .%ou are shouting too loudly -- and only forty students are here. +re you leaving
your mar$ on the walls of this classroom, or on the tables and chairs( %ou are thundering as if you are
addressing a meeting of at least ten thousand people. +nd can I as$ a few things(
.3ne thing, I have never seen any history boo$ written in golden letters. &o of all those who have
lived up to now, nobody has been able to write his name in golden letters. +re you proposing that, for
me especially, a boo$ will be written in golden letters( +nd even if it is written in golden letters, I will
not be here to see it" so what is the point, whether my name is written in it or not(
.In fact, when I came into this world I had no name. The name is given to me" the name is just
arbitrary, it is not mine. &o whether it is written in the history boo$ or not does not matter.
.&econdly, you are saying, T5eave your mar$ here, to prove that you have been here. %ou are tal$ing
just li$e a dog..
#e said, .What!.
I said, .%es -- because dogs leave their mar$ wherever they are. They raise one of their legs up and
leave their mar$ there. +nd when I am saying that, I am simply stating a biological fact. %ou can as$
the scientists why the dog does that. #e leaves his mar$: TI have been here and this is my territory.
<issing is golden. #e is ma$ing history..
'ut all the politicians are doing that, pissing and thin$ing that they are leaving golden mar$s. %es,
pissing is a little yellow but I cannot say it is golden, that would be e*aggerating. +nd all that the dog
is leaving as his mar$, and ma$ing as a declaration to e*istence, is that .This is my territory. -- it
stin$s!
I said to him, .The whole of history stin$s, and all your politicians simply stin$. %ou please just stop
thundering and stop telling us nonsense. %ou just start the story of all the idiots of the past. +nd please
forgive us for not being added to that list..
The politician suffers from a tremendous inferiority comple*. 9eep down he $nows he is nothing, and
he wants to prove to the world that he is huge, powerful. #e wants to stand first in the line of the
whole humanity. 'ut the trouble is, humanity follows a general universal law" it is one of the
fundamental laws of the universe that things move in circles. The earth goes around the sun, the moon
goes around the earth, the sun itself is going around some bigger sun which we have not yet been able
to discover.
'ut everything moves in circles, and that is true about humanity too. We are standing in a circle and
moving in a circle, so there is always somebody ahead of you. This is the trouble, you cannot get out
of it" somebody is always ahead of you. %es, somebody is behind you -- that gives a little satisfaction,
but the person who is ahead of you $ills it immediately. %ou are trying to pull the person bac$ by his
leg and be ahead of him. #e will try his hardest not to be pulled that way, he will $ic$ you as hard as
he can.
'ut even if you succeed .... If you fail, you fail" but if you succeed, then too you fail, this is the
trouble, because again you find that there is somebody else ahead. +nd you will always find that,
because it is a circle.
+s you go on succeeding, go on succeeding, go on succeeding, one day you will find that a man who
was once behind you is ahead of you. That is the ultimate failure. When somebody becomes a
president, a prime minister, then he comes to $now: .!y /od! The man ahead of me now is the same
man who was behind me when I started the journey.. +nd you can see it every four years in +merica,
and in India every five years: the president is begging for the vote of the man who was behind him.
7ow he has to as$ and beg a vote from him, now his presidentship, his premiership depends on the
vote of that man" he is ahead.
I have been saying again and again that the leaders are the followers of their own followers. It is a
very strange game. %ou have to pretend to be first, and yet you $now the last man has the power to
$eep you there or not to $eep you there.
The politicians life is a life of constant struggle and constant anguish. #e tries hard to get beyond
them, but if he remains a politician this is not possible. +ll these sufferings, miseries, are part and
parcel of his political game.
3ne education minister used to come to see me. #e was a very rich man, very well educated. 'efore
he became the education minister he was the vice-chancellor of a university. When he was vice-
chancellor of the university there, he heard me in a conference and became my friend. 3nce in a while
he used to come, just to rela* for one or two days, away from the world of the capital and the
politicians.
#e would as$ me again and again: .%ou teach people methods of meditation, of becoming peaceful,
silent. +nd I can understand that what you are saying is right, that unless you become silent and
peaceful you cannot hope to be blissful. %ou have to create the ground for bliss to happen. 'ut you
never tell me anything..
I said, .I will tell you only when you drop your politics, because your politics and my teachings
together will ma$e you even more miserable. %ou are miserable enough. If you start trying to be
peaceful also, to be silent even for a few moments, to meditate every day even for half an hour, you
will become more miserable than you have ever been, because you cannot succeed in doing it. It is
better for you to accept that this is all that life has in it: suffering, misery, sleeplessness, and
continuous turmoil.
.It is better, in a way, that this is all life is. If you become aware that life is more and you start trying
for it, you will be unnecessarily multiplying your suffering. %ou cannot be peaceful, you cannot
meditate, you cannot sit silently. +nd that will be a very painful defeat" a great successful politician
who has become a cabinet minister of a country li$e India -- big, vast, the biggest democracy in the
world" and you have one of the most important portfolios, education -- such a great successful man
cannot be silent even for one moment( That will be very disturbing..
'ut he didnt listen to me. #e started meditating and reading my boo$s. +nd what I had said would
happen, happened -- a complete nervous brea$down. #e was brought to me. I said, .I told you before,
these two things cannot go together. %ou are trying to run east and west at the same time" then one leg
goes to the east and one leg goes to the west, and you will be torn apart. It is a very simple thing: if
you are in politics then just be in politics. There is no such thing as religion for you..
The politician cannot be religious while remaining a politician. 4emember the condition.
The religious person is on such a fantastic journey, what does he care about being a president of a
country, or a prime minister, a $ing or a ;ueen( What value do these $ings and ;ueens have( In fact,
there are only five $ings in the world: four in the playing cards and one in 2ngland. +nd they have a
similar value: nothing much. 9o you want to be the si*th $ing(
<oliticians for centuries have been living in hell, for the simple reason that they thin$ that through this
hell they will attain one day to the highest power and position. 'ut what are you going to do with the
highest power and position(
This education minister was one day sitting with me in his car" we were just going for a ride, and a
dog started chasing the car. I said to the driver, .&low down a little -- the poor dog is huffing and
puffing so much, just slow down. 5et him catch the car and see what happens..
The politician said, .What will happen(.
I said, .%ou will see -- e*actly that which happens to a politician..
The driver slowed down the car. The dog came close to us -- and loo$ed silly, because now what(
I told the education minister, .This is your position -- now what( ,hasing the car, he was far happier.
+t least there was something to do, a great challenge. 'ut once he reaches the car he feels
embarrassed, because now the challenge has disappeared. +nd he loo$s all around: he must be foolish,
why are you staring( #e never thought about why he is chasing the car, what he is going to do if he
gets to the car. 2ven if he sits in the seat of the driver, what is he going to do(.
These great politicians sitting in great power in the White #ouse and the 8remlin -- just dogs sitting
in a car loo$ing all around, feeling silly, thin$ing, .Is this the end(. There is nowhere else to go. 3nce
you have reached the White #ouse you have nowhere to go. %ou are really caught -- and by your own
efforts -- in a prison.
The politician cannot be religious because religion means understanding, awareness, silence,
harmony, and a deep let-go with e*istence, a feeling of being at peace with everything as it is: no
desire to be anybody else, no desire to be anywhere else, no desire for tomorrow. +ll is fulfilled in this
moment. The politician cannot afford this. +nd the religious man who is in this situation, in this
ultimate state of being, for him politicians are just foolish people, although he may not say so just out
of eti;uette.
I am not a man of eti;uette, I dont $now manners. I simply call a spade a fuc$ing spade, because
thats what it is. I have made the spade actually what it is. The old proverb is, a spade is a spade. That
doesnt sound of any import. 3f course a spade is a spade -- so what! It does not say anything about
the spade. &o I simply say that these are all idiots.
'ut there is still hope for humanity. The hope is not that religious people will become politicians, or
that religious people will start ta$ing an interest in politics, no. 'ut religious people can become,
should become, rebellious against all political stupidity. There is the hope. The religious person should
not remain just contented with his blissfulness and allow all these idiots to go on doing harm to
innocent humanity.
To me this is the only compassion:
To rebel against the whole history of humanity.
The religious person should rebel.
In the past he has not done that. Thats why I say, in the past religion has been just immature. 2ven the
greatest religious personalities in the past will loo$ li$e pygmies compared to the authentic religious
person who is going to be born, because the authentic religion is basically rebellion -- rebellion against
all superstition, rebellion against all stupidity, rebellion against all the nonsense that goes on being
imposed on the human mind continuously.
+ rebellious religious man is a fire" his words will be words on fire.
#is silence is not going to be the silence of a cemetery.
#is silence will be the silence of a song, of a dance.
#is silence will be the silence of two lovers meeting, and not capable to find words to convey their
love. Their love ma$es them wordless. The moment lovers start tal$ing too much you can understand"
love has disappeared. ,onversation has started" conflict is not very far away. ,onversation is the
beginning, soon there will be argument. Where else can conversation lead e*cept to controversy( 'ut
two lovers when they are really in love, throbbing with a new energy, feel themselves stuc$, suddenly
wordless. 2ven to say .I love you. seems to be difficult, seems to be far below the fact of love. It
seems somehow to be sacrilegious to bring words into something which is so silent, and so glowing in
silence, and so alive in silence.
The religious person is silent, but it is not the silence of a cemetery, not the silence of a dead man.
It is the silence of one who is really alive, fully alive, intensely alive.
This intense aliveness is going to become his rebellion.
What have I been doing for thirty years continuously( -- fighting every $ind of nonsense. Was there
any reward, was I see$ing any reward out of all this fight( 7o, it was not for any reward. It was just
the way my aliveness was asserting itself. It was not goal-oriented, there was no motivation" I was
simply being myself.
I enjoyed all that fight. In fact the people who came in conflict with me were very much surprised
because it was an agony for them. To me it was an ecstasy. They could not understand how I was
enjoying it. +nd I was surrounded on all sides with enemies. +lone, single-handedly I was moving
among millions of people and against them, saying things which were very hurtful to their beliefs.
3ne shan$aracharya even as$ed me, .What are you going to get out of it( %ou are simply ma$ing so
many enemies. <oliticians are your enemies, all $inds of religious people are your enemies. The rich
are your enemies, the poor are your enemies, the capitalists are your enemies, the communists are your
enemies.. #e said, .This is strange" !ohammedans, #indus, -ainas, 'uddhists, <arsees, &i$hs,
,hristians -- they are all your enemies..
I said to him, .I am going to write a boo$, #ow to Impress <eople and ,reate 2nemies. This is just an
e*perience for it.
#e said, .%ou are never serious. I was just being concerned.. #e was a young man, newly appointed
to be a shan$aracharya" he had $nown me before he was a shan$aracharya. #e was genuinely
concerned, he said, .I dont see anything that you can get out of this e*cept ma$ing everybody an
enemy" and yet you enjoy it..
It happened in )aridabad, a place near 7ew 9elhi, that there was a great #indu world conference.
This shan$aracharya told me, .There is danger..
#e was still being friendly towards me, and he said, .In public I cannot be on your side but deep
down I feel your authenticity, your sincerity. I cannot say this before the public because I dont have
that much courage. 'ut I want you to be warned because there is much conspiracy going on: TToday
something has to be done to this man because he has been hammering all our beliefs, all our heritage,
all our institutions. 7obody seems to have any answer for him, nobody seems to have any argument.
&o they are thin$ing, just the way idiots will thin$, TWhy not $ill this man, why not destroy this man(
&o todays meeting can become fatal to you..
I said, .9ont be worried. 2very moment is fatal because any moment death can come. +nd this is
great: with fifty thousand people I will enjoy my death too!.
#e said, .%ou are incurable. I am just being friendly to you, and I am certain there is something going
on..
I said, .If you are certain, I trust you. I will do my best to let it happen.. +nd really, in the evening
conference there must have been at least one hundred thousand people. In the morning conference
there were only fifty thousand" the number had doubled because the gossip that something was going
to happen, something was boiling up, brought many more people to the evening meeting.
+s I started spea$ing I could see that three persons, strong men, came and sat just behind me. They
loo$ed li$e professional criminals. <erhaps they were borrowed for the occasion. 'efore spea$ing I
said, .I want to say a few things about these three strong men who are sitting behind me.. There was
deep silence on the stage. They were all great #indu mon$s, three shan$aracharyas, prominent
politicians -- at least fifty people were there. 9elhi was so close, so great politicians were available --
and they dont miss such a gathering. 3ne hundred thousand people ... just seeing them on the stage is
enough!
Those three people had not e*pected that I was going to spea$ about them first. +nd how did I $now
about them( I said, .These three persons are here to $ill me, so you all have to be aware -- at least they
should be patient. There is no problem in $illing, they can $ill me, but first let me finish what I want to
say to you. If they $ill me in the middle you will be at a loss" you will have missed what I was going
to say to you.
.&o I want to as$ you one thing: 9o you want me to say all that I have to say( If you want me me to,
then please raise your hands. If you dont want me to, then what is the point of saying half the things"
half the truth is far worse than a lie. Then I would rather remain silent and tell these three people to
$ill me..
3ne hundred thousand hands shot up, with shouts of .We want to hear you, and we will see who can
attac$ you. -- and many people, hundreds of people, came behind me, to prevent those three people.
%ou will be surprised" I spo$e the way I always spea$, I said things as strongly as possible. +nd the
miracle was that I was spea$ing against those peoples beliefs!
'ut somewhere, deep down, man remains innocent. %ou just have to $now the $nac$ of reaching that
point, to touch his heart.
+ll those shan$aracharyas and politicians by and by started getting off the stage. I had been given
only twenty minutes to spea$ ... but the president had left, the other organi:ers had left, seeing the
situation, that the whole thing had bac$fired. 'ut the people would not let those three persons go, they
were holding them.
The whole meeting became my meeting. I spo$e for almost two and a half hours because there was
nobody else to spea$, and nobody to tell me to stop or anything. The chairman was missing -- they had
all escaped because they were all part of the conspiracy. +nd those three men fell at my feet and said,
.&omehow save us. If you leave, these people will $ill us..
I told the crowd, .-ust leave them, because they have not done anything" moreover, they are
professionals, they have nothing personal against me. They may have got some money, and I am not
against that. #ave you got the money(. I as$ed them, .or have you not got it yet(.
+nd these are the moments when you see realities which are not ordinarily available. They said ...
they could not tell a lie. They were professional criminals, murderers, they had been charged with
murder before, they had been in jail many times -- but they could not tell a lie. -ust seeing my truth, a
synchronicity ... something in them also was touched. They said, .#alf they have given us and half
they have promised after we $ill you..
.&o,. I said, .you will lose half. %ou $ill me and get the other half..
They said, .We dont want to $ill you. We had no idea who you are. 5istening to you we wanted to
$ill all those people who were trying to $ill you..
I said to the people, .5eave these simple, innocent people, dont harass them, I would li$e them to
move away before I leave the place because I dont $now ... this is such a big crowd and you loo$ so
angry..
The conference was going to be for three days" this was the first day, so I said, .The conference will
continue. 7ow it is my conference. 2very arrangement is here, so for three days we will continue..
+nd we continued for three days. %ou will be surprised, those three men were continuously coming to
listen and sitting in front of me with tears in their eyes.
When I was leaving )aridabad, among the people who had come to give me a send-off were those
three people, with garlands and with tears. +nd they said, .%ou have changed our whole life. We have
always played li$e puppets in the hands of politicians and priests. We are not criminals" these people
have made us criminals, they pay us to commit a crime. If we are caught then they try to save us" they
give us all legal support, any bribery that is needed for the judges. They do everything to save us
because they need criminals for their political careers, for their religious careers..
I said, .%es, a priest is not a religious man, he has a religious career. #e is a professional..
)or thirty years I have been hammering as hard as possible. +nd a few things I have reali:ed:
howsoever thic$ the conditioning may be that has happened to humanity in the past, it can all be
bro$en. We just need a few authentic religious persons -- not priests, not professionals but people who
have e*perienced. They will become burning torches in the dar$ness of the night.
They will not become politicians, but they can destroy the whole political structure of the world -- and
thats what is needed.
They will not be interested in politics -- but they will certainly be interested in the humanity that the
politicians have been e*ploiting for centuries.
They will not ta$e power in their hands, they will simply destroy these parasites and let the power be
with everybody.
In fact, power should be distributed to everybody. It should be decentrali:ed" there is not need for
power to be centrali:ed.
,entrali:ed, power is bound to corrupt.
With power decentrali:ed, everybody is powerful in his own way.
What is the need of having politicians(
The animal called politician has to disappear from the earth" this is the hope. +nd I $now that now --
and only now -- is it possible. 'efore it was not possible, for two reasons: the authentic religious
people were not there" and secondly, the politician had not yet done his worst. 7ow both things are
available. The sincere, authentic religion is being born among you. +nd the politician has come to his
tethers end. #e has done the worst, now he cannot do anything more. What more can he do than to
bring about a nuclear war, destroying the whole world(
'efore the politician and his nuclear weapons destroy the whole humanity, the few authentic religious
people have to bring fire to every heart, a fire in which the whole political game is finished. +nd with
the political game finished, the politician will disappear. This is the only hope.
The third world war is a great hope because it will reveal the politician in his true colors.
6p to now there have been wars, big wars -- the first world war, the second world war, and thousands
of other wars -- but they were not total. &omebody was going to win, somebody was going to be
defeated. The third world war is going to be a total world war: nobody is going to win, nobody is
going to be defeated. +ll are going to be finished.
7ow this is the ultimate in war, the ultimate in idiocy. What is the point of fighting if both are going
to be finished( The whole point was that you can win, there is a possibility of your winning. +t the
worst you can lose, but the other will win" somebody is going to be victorious.
In the third world war nobody is going to be victorious because nobody is going to survive it. 7either
democracy nor communism, neither +merican nor 4ussia -- nobody is going to survive it, so what is
the point( 'ut the politician has come to such a state, he cannot go bac$. #e has to go on, $nowing
perfectly well that this is going to end finally in the ultimate destruction of this whole planet, this
beautiful planet.
There are millions of planets in the universe but perhaps the earth is the most beautiful. +ll those
planets are without greenery, without flowers, without birds, without animals, without human beings"
without poetry, without music, without dance, without celebration. They are just dead -- the earth is so
alive.
It is not only the ;uestion of humanitys future. It is also the ;uestions of e*istence missing its most
precious planet.
It is an e*istential ;uestion, not just a planetary one, not confined to this small earth.
It is a ;uestion for the whole infinite universe, because in this whole universe this small planet has
become an oasis of consciousness. +nd there are more possibilities" they should not be stopped.
#ence I say there is hope -- but the hope lies in the religious persons rebelliousness.
I have been as$ed thousands of times, .%ou go on teaching religion, there is no problem" but why do
you mi* religion with rebellion( That creates a problem..
3ne of the prime ministers of India, 5albahadur &hastri, was a very good man, as good as a politician
can be. I have $nown so many politicians that I can say perhaps he was the best out of all those
criminals. #e said, .If you are a little less sincere and a little more diplomatic, you can become the
greatest mahatma in the country. 'ut you go on saying the na$ed truth without bothering that this is
going to create more enemies for you. ,ant you be a little diplomatic(.
I said, .%ou are as$ing me to be diplomatic( That means being a hypocrite" $nowing something but
saying something else, doing something else. I am going to remain the same. I can drop being
religious if it is needed, but I cannot drop being rebellious because to me that is the very soul of
religion. I can drop every other thing which is thought to be religious, but I cannot drop rebellion" that
is the very soul..
The day I became convinced that now I have enough people who can move towards that 2verest I
have been pointing to all my life, I dropped my contact with the masses completely, so that I can give
my whole time -- whatsoever there remains -- so that I can give my whole energy, whatsoever
e*istence allows me, to a small concentrated group. The need is not of millions of religious people, no.
The need is only of a few chosen ones.
If I can ignite fire in my sannyasins then I have done my wor$.
Then each of my sannyasins will be capable of doing the same as I have done to him.
+nd we can put this whole earth afire, aglow with a new humanity and with a new sunrise.
-ust as it too$ three hundred years for science to come of age, if humanity survives, then religion will
also come of age. That day it will be sheer stupidity to say that state and religion should remain
separate, because it will mean that all which is valuable in life and all that is great in e*istence should
remain separate from the state -- that the state should not be benefited by the enlightened ones, that the
state should continue to e*ist in its dar$ world of politics, dirty in every possible way, that it should
never see the light.
%es, today I agree that the state should remain separate from religions. 4emember, I am saying it
should remain separate from religions -- I am using the word in the plural.
'ut when religion comes of age -- religion in the singular, just as science is singular -- then it will be
simply stupid to $eep state and religion separate.
Then you have to translate religion into what it actually is: then it is love, then it is understanding,
then it is silence, peace. Then it is wisdom, meditativeness" then it is intelligence, pure intelligence.
+ll these ;ualities, values, enrich life" they will enrich the state. 'y the sheer presence of an authentic
religion the politicians will start dropping their dirty ways, their cunning policies. They will start
feeling ashamed. 4eligion will function li$e a mirror, and politicians seeing their own faces -- which
they have never seen, because to see your face your need a mirror ....
I have heard that !ulla 7asruddin found a mirror on the street. #e loo$ed into it and said, .!y /od!
I never thought that my father had gone to a photographer" that old man, I never thought he was so
fashionable. 'ut it is good that although he is dead, at least I have got his photograph.. #e came
home, fearing that his wife ....
-ust the way wives are, husbands are" the husband hates not only the wife but all the relatives of the
wife. &trange, those relatives have done nothing -- or perhaps they have, because if the father and the
mother had not been there in the world, at least this wife would not have been produced. +nd the
wives hate all the relatives of their husbands. Their hatred is so much that only to focus it on the
husband is not sufficient" it spills all over.
+fraid that if his wife found the photograph she would burn it immediately, 7asruddin went upstairs
in the attic and somewhere managed to hide the photograph -- which was not a photograph at all, just a
mirror. 'ut you cannot hide anything from your wife. That has not been possible since there have been
husbands and wives. %ou cannot hide. #is wife was doing her wor$, but seeing from the corner of her
eye that he has brought something, is hiding it in the attic -- .I will ta$e a loo$ at it. 5et him first do
his thing..
7asruddin came down. +s he came down he passed his wife" she was going up. #e said, .Where are
you going(.
&he said, .The same place from where you are coming..
The wife went up and found the mirror. &he loo$ed into it and said, .!y /od! &o this is the woman
he is after. In his old age, the father of two do:en children -- but I will teach him a lesson. +nd he is
hiding her photograph in my house.
Without a mirror you cant see your face.
The politician has remained dirty, ugly, for the simple reason that he has no mirror. +nd the mirror is
possible only from a higher consciousness. It has to be a mirror of consciousness, no ordinary mirror
will do. It is not his physical face which he will see -- it is his corrupted soul.
When the true religion comes of age, religion, without any effort on anybodys part, will become the
light of everybody: of the teacher in the schools, in the colleges, in the universities" of the state, of
hospitals. + true religion is bound to overwhelm all values of life.
!y effort here is to create an unorgani:ed religion.
#ence, I call it religionless religion to emphasi:e the fact that it is not an organi:ed religion" that I am
not your leader, your messiah, your prophet" that I do not bring to you the word of /od" that I am not
in any way special.
These are the ways of the old pseudo-religions.
2veryone tries to prove that the founder of his religion is the only true messenger of /od. /od
#imself is a fiction, and from that fiction they go on deriving more and more fictions -- the true
messenger of /od, another fiction. Then the true message from the messenger -- another fiction. It
becomes so complicated that unless you deny /od #imself you cannot deny anything" then you have
to follow every detail of the whole superstitious structure. +nd all these religions prove that their boo$
is written by /od ....
I am not claiming anything" hence you cannot organi:e a religion around me.
I am ma$ing every effort to create barriers, hindrances, for those who will try to ma$e a religion
organi:ed around my teachings.
In the first place it is impossible to find out what my teachings are. +nybody is going to go nuts
finding out what my teachings are, because I have not been teaching at all. These are not gospels that I
am giving to you, they are simply gossips. 7ow, have you ever heard of any religion being created
around gossips(
I am not giving you a message from /od.
I simply enjoy tal$ing, I love it!
In India, my dentist used to tell me, .+t least when I am wor$ing on your teeth you should stop
tal$ing.. -ust five minutes wor$ ta$es two hours! -- because the poor fellow had to stop. 3f course he
is my disciple so he could not tell me to stop, to shut up. I say that many times to him while he is
doing dentistry -- it is, of course, difficult to do dentistry on me -- I tell him many times, .&hut up!. If
his gas is not running well I tell him, .#it the cylinder!. +nd he has to hit it, because I insist, .%ou hit
the cylinder.. +nd he was surprised that by hitting it, it wor$s.
!y dental nurse was also there. I always have a woman there in case I need some support -- then I
cannot rely on a man. &o I go on telling her, .8eep an eye on the doctor. 9ont listen to him, listen to
me because I am your !aster. #e is not your !aster.. &o the poor nurse has to listen to me!
They could not tal$ loudly because I would hear, and they had to tal$ while I was tal$ing, to discuss
what to do -- the wor$ had to be done. &o they started whispering. I said, .7o whispering at all! +t
least in front of me, no affairs, no whispering. &pea$ clearly so that I can hear what is going on..
&o my dentist was saying, .With you tal$ing it ta$es two hours, three hours.. #e said, .%ou say all
$inds of things..
There was a time when he started ta$ing notes -- what else to do( .If he insists on tal$ing and wont
allow me to wor$, it is better to ta$e notes of what he is saying -- they may be useful later on.. #e has
compiled a whole boo$ -- it will be coming soon. It must be a uni;ue boo$ in the whole history of
man$ind: a man tal$ing under dentistry, in the dentists chair. <eople want to escape from the dentists
chair -- I enjoy it.
I simply love tal$ing.
It does not matter what I am tal$ing about. What matters is, that I am tal$ing and you are listening.
The essential religion happens there, in my tal$ing and your listening.
In that meeting, the essential religion happens.
&o you cannot find out any teaching. %ou cannot reduce it to ten commandments -- do this, dont do
that. That $ind of thing you cannot find because one day I will say, .9o this,. and another day I will
say, .9ont do this.. It is impossible to manage all my contradictions.
It is easy with -esus, because what contradictions can there be in just those four gospels -- which are
not even four -- just one gospel written by four persons, each a little different version of the same
thing. What contradictions( +nd he is not a man of logic who will thin$ in contradictions or tal$ in
contradictions. #e is not attuned to the very deep esoteric traditions of religion, which tal$ in
parado*es. #is teaching is simple, so you can ma$e a catechism, you can organi:e a church.
With me it is going to be tremendously difficult, impossible. I want it to be impossible because I want
you to remain individual religious persons. If you are together here, that is just a friendly togetherness,
not a commitment" not in any way are you sacrificing your freedom, your independence, your
individuality.
#ow can you organi:e a religion around a man who teaches you disobedience, rebellion(
+ll these teachers are responsible" although others organi:ed the religion, these teachers are
responsible. If I meet !ahavira and 'uddha or -esus or !ohammed, I am not going to forgive them so
easily. They cannot just use the e*cuse: .When we died others organi:ed the religion.. I will tell them,
.'ut you left the message in such a way that it could be organi:ed. Who is responsible for that( %ou
should have made arrangements to ma$e it impossible to be organi:ed..
If there had been no organi:ed religion on the earth we would have seen a totally different flowering
of humanity. + different fragrance would have been there on this earth, not this stin$ that you can see
everywhere, in every church, in every temple, in every mos;ue, in every synagogue. It is through
organi:ation.
3rgani:ation immediately becomes power.
7ow, si* hundred million ,atholics organi:ed under one leader -- it is power. 3therwise the pope is
just an ordinary polac$. 'ut the crowd that follows him ... and the crowd is following -esus ,hrist --
and not even -esus ,hrist" the crowd is following /od .... It is a very strange game. They cant see
/ods bac$, whom they are following. They cant even see -esus bac$, whom they are following. They
can see only this polac$ pope. 'ut he consoles them by telling them, .I am directly connected to -esus,
to /od.. These people have direct phone lines.
I dont have any phone, not even a phone line from here to -esus /rove, what to say about -esus and
what to say about /od( I have no phone lines, for the simple reason that I dont want to be disturbed
by these people. 'ut all these religious leaders in some way implied that they have a direct connection
with the ultimate source of life and e*istence.
I dont have any direct connection with any ultimate source of life.
I have only a connection with the immediate life -- not the ultimate, the immediate.
!y whole emphasis is herenow.
This very moment is all to me.
%ou cannot create a religion around me.
%ou can dance around me, you can sing around me, you can paint around me. %ou can do a thousand
things around me, but you cannot do politics around me. +nd if you do then you are an idiot. Then you
are simply wasting your time, you are in the wrong place. If you want to play politics, be somewhere
else. #ere, finally you will reali:e that you wasted your time, this was not the place for politics.
!y religion is only a ;uality, a religiousness.
This is the problem for politicians to understand. They thin$ that here in our city, state and religion
are mi*ing. They are absolutely wrong. There, state and religiousness are one, not mi*ing" there is no
;uestion of mi*ing. What do you mean by mi*ing( In Washington they are mi*ing, in &alem they are
mi*ing. #ere, they cannot mi* -- here, they are one, because here religion is not ,hristianity, is not
#induism.
#ere, religion is only a silence of the heart.
7ow, wont you allow a teacher to teach silently, peacefully, joyously( Wont you allow a teacher to
have these religious ;ualities( Wont you allow the school to have the climate of love( 3f truth( 3f
sincerity( 3f so much authenticity that wor$ becomes worship( Wont you allow a school to be
religious in this sense(
Then you dont understand education, you dont understand religion, you dont understand anything at
all. %ou dont even understand the basic meaning of the word .education.. The attorney general of
3regon needs to loo$ in the dictionary for the basic meaning of education. To me he seems to be
absolutely uneducated, illiterate.
The word .education. means drawing out whatsoever is the potential of the person. 2ducating means
.drawing out,. just the way you draw water from a well. The water is there, already there" you have to
draw it out, then you can ;uench your thirst. The word .education. means drawing out. +nd drawing
out truth from a man -- which is there, just laying, it has to be awa$ened" drawing out love -- which is
there, it has to be mined" drawing out authenticity, compassion -- which are all there" somebody just
has to $noc$ at the right door.
This is religion:
8noc$ing at the right doors of human potentiality.
!y teachers will be religious, my students here will be religious, because to me religion is not
something that is only on &unday" for one hour, you become religious in the church.
-ust today =ive$ gave me a cream -- she felt that some rough s$in had come on my face. I loo$ed at
the cream and I really enjoyed what was written on it. ,ream apart, what was written on it was,
.&eventh 9ay &crub.. /reat! It is the name of the cream -- .seventh day scrub cream.. &i* days you
wor$, seventh day you scrub.
I said, .This cream is religious. +nd if the attorney general of 3regon comes to $now about this
cream mi*ing with peoples faces ... but thats what /od must have done: used the seventh day scrub.
&i* days creating the world, naturally he must have collected all $inds of dirt, and needed a good
scrub. !y religion is not seventh-day scrub cream.
To me religion is not something separate from life -- or separable.
%ou are religious or you are not. It is not that for one hour per wee$ you become religious, that is
impossible. That is almost li$e saying that every &unday for one hour you breathe, and then for si*
days no more breathing, because you have to do other $inds of wor$. 'reathing continues seven days,
day in, day out. 2ven when you are asleep the breathing continues.
!y sannyasin is religious even when he is asleep. 2ven when he is dying he is religious because
religion is a new way of the heart beating in tune with e*istence. When your heart starts beating in
harmony with e*istence, you feel an at-one-ment with the trees, with the roc$s, with people, with
animals. %ou start feeling a relatedness. %ou are part of an organic mystery, and you are so filled with
this mystery that whether you are a mayor or governor or a president does not ma$e any difference.
If the president is allowed to breathe, if the president is allowed to live, if he is allowed to have his
pulse continue and his heart continue to beat, wont you allow his innermost core, his being to be in
tune with e*istence, to pulsate with e*istence( In fact that should be the most basic re;uirement for
anybody to be the president of a country.
In my city everything is religious, but religious in my sense. I am changing the whole meaning of
religion. 7o religion is being taught in the school -- nobody is taught that there is a /od, that -esus
,hrist is #is prophet. 7othing is taught but we live religiously, we wal$ religiously, we eat religiously.
%ou cannot stop it.
+ state has no value compared to such religiousness. We can sacrifice everything for it, but we cannot
sacrifice this religiousness. This is our very life. +nd it is a ;uestion of twenty-four hours a day. There
is no possibility of dividing, so that from eleven to five you are mayor, so you are not religious -- at
eleven you put your religion in the suitcase and loc$ it so that it is not stolen, then go to the office.
This is sheer nonsense, and the people who go on tal$ing this way are continually doing the same
stupid thing -- which is not happening here.
This attorney general is going to ta$e the oath on T#2 'I'52. I would li$e my commune to fight this
man to the &upreme ,ourt. 9rag him, as$ him, .Why T#2 'I'52( The case is secondary, first the
oath has to be considered. Why T#2 'I'52( Why in the name of /od( If this is not mi*ing religion
with state then what will be( )irst prove /od" otherwise it is a superstition..
We dont mi*. 2ven if /od comes here to 4ajneeshpuram I dont thin$ any of my sannyasins are
going to mi* with #im. #e will be just an outcast. -ust the idea that #e thin$s #e is /od will be
enough for my people to laugh and tell #im, .%ou get lost..
Ta$e an oath on T#2 'I'52( -- why( T#2 'I'52 is full of lies, and you are ta$ing an oath to
remain truthful, on a boo$ which is full of lies! %ou can as$ any scientist" the boo$ is full of lies. The
earth is flat in T#2 'I'52 -- and you are ta$ing an oath on flat earth! In the very oath you are lying"
the earth is not flat.
3r you ta$e the oath in the name of /od, whom you have never seen. The judge has no idea who this
guy /od is. Why cant you be simply human( If you really want to say truth, say it! If you dont want
to say truth, dont say it. That is the business of the whole court, to find out that it is a lie. The oath
ma$es no sense. )or what does the court e*ist( The juries, the judges, the advocates of the other party,
they will all find out whether it is true or not.
+s$ing you to ta$e oath .... In India once I was in a court. I refused to ta$e the oath" I said, .I cannot
ta$e an oath in the name of /od. I dont $now this fellow. )irst you have to produce #im, I must see
#im. Who is this fellow on whose name I am ta$ing an oath( +nd why should I ta$e an oath on the
name of somebody to whom I have not even been introduced(
The judge said, .3$ay, then on the &#4I!+9 '#+/+=+9 /IT+(
I said, .The &#4I!+9 '#+/+=+9 /IT+( -- which is full of lies and statements of a man,
8rishna, whom you cannot trust, who has bro$en his own promises, who was not a man of his word..
#e said he would not fight in the !ahabharat war, he would only be a charioteer. That was his
promise given to the other party -- because both parties had approached him and as$ed him, .)ight for
our side.. 'ut he was a very clever and cunning man.
#e was having an afternoon nap when +rjuna and 9uryodhana, the heads of both the parties, reached
there. 9uryodhana was a very haughty and egoistic type of man. #e sat near the head of 8rishna.
+rjuna was humble" he sat near the feet of 8rishna, so naturally 8rishnas eyes first saw +rjuna. +nd
he said, .Why have you come(.
+rjuna said, .7ot only I -- my brother 9uryodhana is also there, sitting behind your head. We both
have come -- I have come to as$ you to participate in the war from my side, and he has come to
re;uest you to participate from his side..
8rishna was very clever, he was a politician par e*cellence. #e said, .'ecause I saw you first, you
have the choice. I give you this choice: 'oth of you are my relatives, both are my friends" from one
side I will fight, from another side my army will fight. %ou can choose..
9uryodhana was very much afraid" he was just a stupid type of man, he could not understand subtler
things. #e thought, .7ow +rjuna will choose the army.. 8rishna had the biggest army, the most
sophisticated, technically-e;uipped army. .#e will choose the army, what will I do with 8rishna( It is
already finished.. 'ut +rjuna chose 8rishna.
+rjuna said, .This is my good fortune that you gave me the chance to choose -- I was afraid .... I
choose you" 9uryodhana can have your army..
7ow 9uryodhana became a little alert -- there seems to be something fishy! +rjuna is so happy
choosing 8rishna alone, leaving the whole army, the biggest in the world at that time, to 9uryodhana.
9uryodhana said, .This is not fair because you alone are more important. -- this was all lies. .%ou
alone are more important than your whole army. We will miss you. Without your guidance what are
we going to do with your army( I want one promise more: you will not fight..
It was $nown, it was the myth, that 8rishna had a divine wheel, a cha$ra, which was invisible
ordinarily. 'ut whenever he wanted, he could materiali:e it. That cha$ra moved around his finger, and
he could throw it at anyone" wherever that person was, the cha$ra would cut off his head. It did not
matter -- miles apart, maybe in a crowd, it did not matter" that was his divine power.
9uryodhana said, .We $now that your cha$ra alone is enough, it can cut off anybodys head. &o I
want a promise. The army you have given to me -- what about your arms, because that cha$ra is with
you.. 8rishna promised that he would not use it, but he did use it.
.7ow, you as$ me to ta$e an oath on this mans boo$, who could not $eep his own word( I cannot..
The judge said, .Then the only way is the constitution of India..
I said, .That is absolute nonsense. Those politicians -- most of them I $now -- are the ugliest, the
greatest hypocrites. 7obody can lie more efficiently than they can. +nd this constitution goes on being
amended every day. %ou want me to ta$e an oath on a constitution made by politicians, which needs
amendments every day( -ust be a little more respectful about truth. ,ant you simply trust me( -- you
can trust my oath. This seems to be stupid: you can trust my oath -- as if an oath has some miraculous
power -- and you cannot trust me! -ust trust me.
+nd what is your business here( &o many jurors, twelve jurors, three judges, and the opposite partys
advocates -- what are you all doing here( If I simply say the truth then what is your business here(
What are you trying to find out(
This is going to happen, because there is a case .... !y secretary as$ed to argue against the attorney
general herself, and the court has permitted it. 7ow there is great agitation. If they are afraid of her --
and these people thin$ themselves bigshots, they are nothing but used cartridges! There is nothing
inside, they are hollow. %es, she will be enough to put them right.
In every school ,hristianity is being taught. In every possible way it is stuffed down the throat of
every child directly, indirectly. The government, even the parliament, begins with prayer to /od. I
wonder how do you find so many fools to fill the parliament( +nd nobody as$s, .Why this prayer to
/od(.
9emocracy is for the people, of the people, by the people.
)rom where comes this /od( -- he is not people. This despotic /od, a dictatorial /od, who believes
in dictating, believes in giving commandments -- you are praying to #im in a democracy, and still you
thin$ you are $eeping religion and state apart!
3nly in this place does your $ind of religion not e*ist, so there is no ;uestion of mi*ing them. #ere
e*ists a totally different ;uality of religiousness which is one with all that we do. We eat religiously,
we drin$ religiously" what can we do about it( We do everything religiously -- we even breathe
religiously.
+nd that is my whole effort, that each of your actions should have the ;uality, the fragrance, of
godliness.
3ur religion is an in;uiry into truth, and it is an eternal in;uiry. In life, in death, in everything, the
in;uiry is to continue. &o if our people are in a state they cant stop their in;uiry. +nd their in;uiry is
going to enhance the state and its status. Their in;uiry is not against ,hristians or #indus or
!ohammedans or anybody, nor is their in;uiry for anybody. Their in;uiry is for truth.
+nd the greatest thing about truth is that when you find it, you are simply ama:ed that it was hidden
in the in;uirer himself.
-ust two days ago, two things happened. I was loo$ing for a toothpaste that is not available here but
was available in India, and a few other things. &uman, who is in charge of our bouti;ue, phoned
almost all over the world, because they have stopped producing that toothpaste in India" but the same
company e*ists all over the world -- it is a &wiss company. &o she was phoning all over the world.
+s a few other things were needed, so she was loo$ing for some oil, and other things -- and 4afia,
who is sitting here, found the toothpaste in the bouti;ue! It was not found anywhere in the whole
world. I said, .Thats really great!.
Then the second day it happened that =ive$ was loo$ing for a blan$et for me, and she said it was
needed within two days. &o they phoned the manufacturer, and he said, .Two days will be too soon, it
will ta$e at least seven days.. &o &uman as$ed, .%ou must have an agent in 3regon" you can give us
the address and we can find it from there.. They gave her the address -- and it was the address of our
bouti;ue, 4ajneeshpuram. We are the only agent of that company in the whole of 3regon!
7ow &uman could not say to him, .I am phoning you from the same bouti;ue.. &he simply said,
.3$ay we will try your agent..
The in;uiry into truth is almost li$e that. %ou loo$ all around the world and finally you find it in your
own bouti;ue. +nd it is not something that is in any way against democracy. In;uiry for truth or
in;uiry for great consciousness or in;uiry for greater love -- in what way are these things against the
state( +nd if these things are against the state then you should teach in every school hatred,
unconsciousness, lying, deceiving, cheating" that will be true education.
Then every politician should declare that he is a cheat, hypocrite, deceiver, mean, because these are
;ualifications for being a good politician, and these are ;ualifications for being in power. + man of
love, a man of truth, a man of sincerity is dis;ualified.
If this commune becomes illegal, that means truth is dis;ualified, honesty is dis;ualified, love is
dis;ualified. Then everything of value is illegal, and all that should be criminal becomes legal,
political, approved by the state.
This case is going to be of decisive importance. That man, the attorney general, does not $now it, but
un$nowingly he has put his head into a nest of bees. #e will repent his whole life because we are not
going to leave things so easily. We have the right to define religion in our own way" nobody can
prevent us. If ,hristians can define their religion in their way, and the #indus can define their religion
in their way, and every other religion is allowed to define things, why are we not allowed to define
things in our own way(
)or us, there is not /od. 'ut there is godliness -- just a ;uality, a presence.
)or us there is not heaven or hell. 'ut there are heavenly moments, hellish moments -- and they
depend on you. They are not geographical. It is not that you enter hell or heaven" it is that you create
hell or heaven for yourself. +nd it is up to you at anytime to change.
)or us, religion has nothing to do with any creed or cult, with any holy boo$.
=ive$ was just as$ing me, .Why are your discourses called TThe 4ajneesh 'ible(.
They are called .The 'ible. just to ma$e it clear to the whole world the .bible. simply means the
boo$, it does not mean the holy boo$. Thats why you say .bibliography.. Is there anything holy in a
bibliography( + bibliography simply means a list of boo$s. It is really just .the boo$., and I want it to
be clear to the whole world that a bible has nothing to do with holiness.
I am not a holy man because to me the word .holy. seems so phony, so bogus that I would prefer just
to be a human being. -ust to be a human being is so grand, so great" there is nothing greater than that.
'ut strangely, man has been trying to become /od. 4ather than trying to become man he had been
trying to become /od. /od he cannot become because there is no /od, and nothing li$e /od is
possible.
'ut in ma$ing the effort to become /od and trying hard to rise higher, he falls, is bound to fall. +nd
when he falls, he falls below the human being. Thats where all your religious people have fallen, your
so-called holy men and saints and sages. Trying to become /od they have fallen even from being
human beings, they have become subhuman.
3ur effort is just to be alive human beings.
This is our religion.
+nd there is no ;uestion of mi*ing because they are not two for us.
In each of our acts we are totally present. We dont leave anything out of it, we are totally in it.
Whether the city remains legal or illegal does not matter.
What matters is that we are going to define religion for the first time in the right way.
<oliticians need division -- without divisions politicians have no function. <riests also need divisions,
because they are a spiritual $ind of politician. Without divisions the priest also disappears.
&o there are people who are tremendously interested in $eeping divisions, and they go on dividing
everything -- even to the e*tent of stupidity. 7ow, dividing religion into 2astern and Western is just
inconceivable. + little intelligence is enough to understand that love cannot be 2astern or Western -- or
do you thin$ it can be( ,an silence be 2astern and Western( ,an meditativeness be divided according
to geographical divisions(
+ man meditating in Tibet or a man meditating in 2urope or +merica will have the same ;uality of
consciousness" there will be no difference at all, because the man in Tibet, when in meditation,
disappears. #e is no longer Tibetan, he is no longer even man" he is just pure silence, awareness. The
same is true for anybody meditating anywhere.
!editation is universal, just as love is, compassion is, intelligence is.
These are ;ualities -- and religion is the ultimate ;uality of consciousness. +t least dont be so idiotic
as to divide it.
I am reminded, when I was graduating from the university .... In India -- I dont $now how it is in
other countries -- to pass the post-graduation class you have to pass two $inds of e*aminations. 3ne is
written and the other is oral. In the oral e*amination one professor from some other university is
invited. The vice-chancellor is present, the head of the department is present, and each individual
student is called in for an interview.
The vice-chancellor just jo$ingly had mentioned to me .... We used to meet almost every morning
because we were the only two persons going for a morning wal$. &lowly slowly I was no longer a
student, he was no longer a vice-chancellor" we were simply two persons going for a morning wal$.
+nd just as it happens to all morning wal$ers -- they become friendly, they start gossiping .... +nd two
years is a long time -- slowly slowly the partitions, divisions, dropped, and as the e*amination was
coming closer, my vice-chancellor as$ed me, .I will be present in your viva, in your oral e*amination"
whom would you prefer to be called from another university(.
I said, .)ind the toughest guy!. #e said,.I $new you would say that, and I have also been thin$ing
about finding the toughest guy, because I would love to see how you manage it..
+nd they found him. In +ligarh 6niversity there was a !ohammedan professor who was $nown all
over India as the toughest professor of philosophy. )or years he had not passed anybody, and in his
whole life he had never given the first class to anybody. Third class was the highest that he had given
to anybody.
3ne of my professors had been his student and he used to say, .I am one of the persons who passed
from +ligarh 6niversity. I am only a third class, but a third class from +ligarh 6niversity is far better
than a first class from 3*ford, because that man in his whole life has been continuously failing people.
7obody comes up to his standard..
&o the vice-chancellor said, .I am thin$ing of calling this professor from +ligarh..
I said, .Thats the right thing!.
That professor was invited. #e was rarely invited" he was very happy! The head of my department,
&.8. &a*ena, told me, .'e cautious, because that man is absolutely destructive..
I said, .%ou dont be worried" he cannot be more destructive than me..
'ut he said, .%ou cannot do any harm to him, you are not the e*aminer" he can do harm to you, he
can fail you. +nd he is well-$nown for failing" he simply puts :ero..
I said, .%ou dont be worried. If he gives me :ero then I have achieved my goal, because thats what I
have been wor$ing for -- to attain to the state of :ero-ness..
#e said, .%ou are incurable! I am not tal$ing about that :ero..
I said, .%ou just wait.. #e said, .4emember, I will be sitting by your side, and if you go off the trac$ I
will nudge you with my feet, or I will pull your $urtha. That is an indication -- T,ome bac$, come
right to the point. +nd that means just be within the limits of the te*tboo$..
I said, .%ou need not be worried..
'ut they were afraid. 2ven the vice-chancellor that morning said to me, .+lthough I have invited him,
now I feel concerned. That man is really hard, he has no compassion..
'ut I said, .I dont need anybodys compassion" he will need my compassion..
#e said, .We will have to see what happens. 3f course it is my fault, I should not have invited him. I
carried the jo$e too far and ris$ed your career. %ou may pass in all your written papers but if he fails
you, your two years are wasted, and I will never be able to forgive myself..
I said, .9ont be worried at all. This is the first time he is encountering a real philosophy student. #e
will remember it his whole life..
The e*amination began" I was called in. I came in .... 3f course it is not e*pected that the professor,
the vice-chancellor and the invited guest will stand up, but I came in and I remained standing.
!y vice-chancellor as$ed, .%ou may sit down. Why are you standing(.
I said, .I am just loo$ing at three gentlemen who dont $now any courtesy. If you cannot pay respect
to a human being, you should not e*pect any respect in return..
That visiting professor was shoc$ed -- hearing this from me, and hearing me tal$ this way to the vice-
chancellor of the university. 'ut the vice-chancellor $new me: he stood up" he said, .I am sorry.. !y
professor stood up" he said, .I am sorry.. When those two stood up, the invited guest thought, .It loo$s
odd if I dont stand up,. so he stood up and he said, .I am sorry..
I said, .%ou are all forgiven. 7ow the real business can be started. 'ut you must have understood
what $ind of man I am. I have heard much about you -- that you are a hard guy -- so please prove it,
because I dont see that you are a hard guy. %ou stood up for a student and apologi:ed! %ou are almost
feminine, you are not a man..
!y <rofessor &a*ena started $ic$ing me, saying,
.)rom the very beginning you are going off..
I said, .<rofessor &a*ena, this is not good, that underneath the table you are $ic$ing my leg. This is an
e*amination -- you are not supposed to support me, help me, or in any way give me indications. %ou
$eep yourself in control..
+nd I said to the vice-chancellor, .It is up to you to watch, because he loves me too much and he is
$ic$ing me so that I dont go off the path. %ou $eep an eye on him so that he does not disturb me,
because I am determined to get the :ero. This is my lifes goal..
'efore the e*amination began I told them everything: .This is my lifes goal -- to attain to the state of
:ero. +nd <rofessor &a*ena is trying hard that I should not get :ero today, but I trust in the invited
guest, that he will remain hard and he will do his best -- that means he should do his worst..
&o I told my vice-chancellor, .%ou loo$ at my professor and watch that he does not disturb me, and I
will ta$e care of the invited guest.. +nd I as$ed him, .7ow you start. Why are you sitting silent( I am
not here to e*amine you" only I am spea$ing -- you start!.
#e was almost having a nervous brea$down. #e must have come prepared -- what to as$, what not to
as$ -- but he completely forgot. #e simply as$ed me, .#ow can you e*plain the distinction between
2astern philosophy and Western philosophy(.
I said, .I do not need to e*plain it -- because there is no distinction. Who has told you that there is any
distinction between 2astern philosophy and Western philosophy( #ave you lost your nerve( %ou cool
down, collect yourself" remember what you wanted to as$ me.
.Is this a ;uestion( ,an philosophy be divided into 2astern and Western( <hilosophy is literally ... the
word means love of wisdom. 7ow, love of wisdom can e*ist anywhere" it will be the same love of
wisdom. It is an in;uiry into truth. 9o you thin$ truth is different in the West( 9o you thin$ truth
changes itself according to the climate, nation, geography(
.I am not here to e*plain the distinction" first you have to e*plain to me on what grounds you have
as$ed the ;uestion. %ou tell me how philosophy can be 2astern or Western. It is such a simple thing..
There was silence for a moment, and I said, .9o you have another ;uestion or are you finished( Then
give me :ero, but remember, that :ero is given to you by yourself. %ou have utterly failed as an
e*aminer, and these two gentlemen are witnesses of it..
That man somehow managed to come out of the shoc$ and he said, .%ou are right. I had never
thought that philosophy cannot be divided, because traditionally it has been divided.
.'ertrand 4ussell has written the history of Western philosophy" 4adha$rishnan has written the
history of Indian philosophy" &u:u$i has written the history of 2astern -- so I simply believed these
fellows..
I said, .'ut a philosopher is not supposed to believe. This is so obvious, such apparent nonsense.
'ertrand 4ussell, 4adha$rishnan, &u:u$i, all are committing the same mista$e: they are dividing
something which is indivisible. +nd everybody goes on accepting it, just because great authorities
have written .... 'ertrand 4ussell got his 7obel pri:e for this boo$, T#2 #I&T34% 3) W2&T247
<#I53&3<#%, which is a third-rate boo$, for the simple reason that from the very title it goes wrong.
.+nd then to write the history of philosophy is a tremendous job, it cannot be completed in one
volume. It will need all the volumes of T#2 27,%,53<29I+ '4IT+77I,+" then too it will be
only a very very abridged history of philosophy.
.To write one boo$ and to give two pages to &ocrates -- what can you write about a man li$e &ocrates
in two pages( Two pages to #eraclitus, two pages to <ythagoras( -- this is simply unforgivable, this is
insulting. The whole boo$ will not suffice even for a single philosopher: <ythagoras, #eraclitus,
&ocrates, <lotinus -- just a single philosopher will be enough. This is very idiotic, daring. +nd I have
loo$ed into the boo$ -- it is 4ussells poorest boo$, for the simple reason that you cannot put &ocrates
in two pages..
I am not &ocrates, but can you put me in two pages( I will be almost out of it. %es, you can write the
name of my father and the birthplace and the birth date and how many boo$s I have written and a little
bit of my life and how the life ends -- but this is not philosophy.
This has nothing to do with &ocrates -- where he was born, when he was born. What about his vision,
which provo$ed the whole of /ree$ orthodo*, traditional, conventional people to such a point ... and
they were the most cultured in the world.
-esus crucifi*ion can be forgiven because they were not the most cultured people of the world. -udea
was an almost non-e*istential part of the world. Who cared about -udea( Who $new about -udea( +nd
it was a slave country. 'ut +thens was at the pea$ of its culture, sophistication, intelligence" perhaps
nowhere else, in no other time, has any city reached to such a pea$ of wisdom as +thens reached in the
time of &ocrates. +nd I dont thin$ it will be possible again" +thens will remain uni;ue.
&till that sophisticated, cultured, intelligent city decided to poison &ocrates. #is philosophy must have
been a tremendously rebellious vision of life. In those two pages you wont find that rebel anywhere,
nor that rebelliousness anywhere.
'ertrand 4ussell got the 7obel pri:e for this boo$, for the simple reason that all the boo$s written by
him -- all the other boo$s -- are in some way or other controversial. #e himself was a man of great
insight, and he was unorthodo*, untraditional, unconventional.

#e could write a boo$ li$e W#% I +! 73T + ,#4I&TI+7. #e could write a boo$, 67<3<65+4
2&&+%&, because every topic was against the mind of the society" it was unpopular. #e could write
&82<TI,+5 2&&+%& which show his logical sharpness.
The 7obel pri:e awarding committee was in a difficulty. 4ussell was at the pea$ of his popularity.
7ot to give him the 7obel pri:e would be too apparently prejudiced. )ortunately he wrote this
#I&T34% 3) W2&T247 <#I53&3<#% which, just being a history, has nothing controversial about
it. What controversy could there be(
#e is simply writing the history, and that too so condensed -- and it has to be condensed. It is a one-
thousand-page boo$, but two thousand years of philosophy, thousands of philosophers, many of whom
are not even mentioned .... This was the most uncontroversial thing, and the 7obel pri:e-awarding
committee thought it was a good chance to get rid of 'ertrand 4ussell" give him the 7obel pri:e for
this boo$ -- because he himself was a trouble-creating man.
#e belonged to a very noble family. #e was a lord, but he dropped using the word .lord. before his
name .because,. he said, .this loo$s ugly.. #e was participating in a protest against the government
just in front of the #ouse of 5ords, where they meet. The police were beating the protesters, and they
started beating 'ertrand 4ussell. #e fell on the ground -- and at that time somebody said, .What are
you doing! #e is a lord!.
The policeman simply started trembling and said, .<lease forgive me -- I had no idea that you were a
lord..
#e said, .7o, you have done perfectly well -- I am not a lord. I am protesting against these lords..
7ow, this man could get the 7obel pri:e for a third-class, third-rate boo$ .... 'ecause of the 7obel
pri:e that boo$ became the most prominent of all his boo$s, which are really valuable.
I told that professor, .%ou also got deceived by the 7obel pri:e( +nd you tal$ to me about
4adha$rishnan( 4adha$rishnan later on became president of India and his whole fame depended on a
boo$ -- two volumes of Indian philosophy. +nd you will be surprised to $now that these two volumes
were stolen" they were not written by 4adha$rishnan.
It was a thesis of a student. 4adha$rishnan was a professor in ,alcutta 6niversity and the thesis came
to him to be e*amined. #e went on prolonging the period for two years. 'ut he was a very prominent
figure" nobody could thin$ what was going on underneath.
Within these two years he published his boo$, I79I+7 <#I53&3<#%, in 2ngland -- it is nothing but
the thesis of that poor boy. %ou can go on reading pages and pages e*actly the same" not even a
comma is different. +nd when his boo$ was published, then the boy was given his doctorate -- just to
ma$e it appear 4adha$rishnans boo$ was published first, so nobody could say that he had stolen it" if
anyone had stolen anything then that student had.
'ut that student went to the court, the #igh ,ourt" the case was in the #igh ,ourt. . ... 'ecause,. the
student said, .I produced my boo$ two years earlier in the university. The university is a witness.
3ther professors -- because three e*aminers are needed for the thesis -- two other e*aminers are
witnesses. This is my thesis and this is his boo$. There is no need to judge -- just read.
<ages upon pages, even chapters completely as they are in the students thesis, are in 4adha$rishnans
boo$" 4adha$rishnan must have been in a hurry. It is a big, two-volume boo$ -- must be two thousand
pages. #e must have been in a hurry" he could not manage .... 3therwise he would have been able to
manage to change a few words here and there.
The case was so clear -- but the student withdrew the case from the court before the decision of the
court, because he was bribed. Ten thousand rupees were given by 4adha$rishnan to the student to
withdraw the case. #e was so poor that ten thousand rupees in those days was enough.
2verybody was pu::led why the case was withdrawn because the case was clear: the boy was going
to win. 'ut the boy must have thought, .2ven if I win the case I am not going to get anything. <erhaps
4adha$rishnan may get punished by the court, but what am I going to get out of it(
.4ight now I am getting ten thousand ..... +nd the boy who had written the boo$ was so intelligent,
he could not care: he could write ten other boo$s li$e that.
I told the professor, .%ou trust 4adha$rishnan( %ou must have $nown about the case.. #e said, .%es,
I $now about the case. I $now about the #igh ,ourt, and I $now that it is certain theft.. .+nd,. I said,
.still you thin$ of these people as authorities. %ou withdraw your ;uestion.
.There is no division of Indian philosophy, 2astern philosophy, Western philosophy: philosophy is
simply philosophy. If you agree with me you can as$ another ;uestion..
#e said, .I agree with you completely. There is no need for another ;uestion..
!y professor and vice-chancellor ... now it was their turn to be shoc$ed. They could not believe it
because this man gave me a first class, and he said, .This is the only first class I have given in my
whole life, and I dont thin$ I will give one again, because I dont thin$ anybody is going to hit me so
hard..
#e hugged me. #e invited me and my vice-chancellor and the professor to come to the cafeteria. #e
said, .I enjoyed it because for the first time I felt I was really encountering someone" otherwise,
students come so afraid, and they go on repeating only what is written in the boo$s. Thats why I have
never given anybody more than third class. !ost of them fail for the simple reason that they are only
robot-li$e, repeating. +nd here is a student who $nows perfectly well that I can fail him, I can harm
him, but is not afraid of it at all. That should be the philosophical approach.
.+ man of philosophy should be unafraid, and I am giving him first class because of his unafraidness,
because I have not as$ed anything else. 3ne ;uestion I have as$ed which he has dismantled. #e has
not answered, he has thrown it bac$ on me: I have to answer it..
#e was very happy, and later on whenever I used to go to +ligarh, he forced me to stay with him. I
said, .%ou dont understand: the trouble is I am being invited by the -ains, and if I stay in the
!ohammedans house that creates trouble..
#e said, .%ou can face trouble perfectly well -- that I $now -- but you have to be my guest.. While he
was alive, I was always his guest, and the people who were inviting me were very much concerned
because they even started as$ing me, .#ave you dropped vegetarianism too( -- because staying with
that !ohammedan, you must be eating with him..
I said, .%es, I eat with him, but I eat my food. +nd you will not believe it -- he calls in a brahmin coo$
to prepare food for me. +nd the food is far better than you will be able to manage because he ta$es
every care that in a non-vegetarian house I should not feel in any way inconvenienced. #e ta$es so
much care that I start feeling a little uncomfortable -- because of his care. I tell him, T%ou need not
worry about me, I can manage things myself, but he wont listen..
%ou are saying that in 2urope there is a fear that 2astern religions can be very destructive. It is strange
to remind you that this idea was given currency by one of the best minds of 2urope -- 8arl /ustav
-ung. #e was the first who started saying that 2astern religions are dangerous, particularly for the
Western man.
#is argument is worth understanding although it is absolutely wrong. #is argument was that Western
man has developed in a different way" his traditions, his past, his roots are different. +nd 2astern man
has also developed in a different way.
They have grown in such divergent manners that it is just li$e bringing a mango tree from India and
planting it in 2urope. It will die, it cannot survive, for the simple reason that the mango tree has
millions of years tradition of a certain climate, a certain temperature, certain rains. It cannot simply
change itself, it cannot adjust itself to a new environment.
!any animals in the past have died because climates changed and they could not adjust to the new
climate. !any trees have disappeared from the world for the simple reason that the climate changed
and those trees could not go anywhere else" they were rooted in the earth.
3nly two beings are capable of adjusting to any climate: 3ne is man, the other is the coc$roach. +nd
wherever you find man you will find coc$roaches" wherever you find coc$roaches you will find man
-- they are always together. If man goes to the moon, coc$roaches will go. They are inseparable
companions, and both are capable of adjusting to any situation. <erhaps coc$roaches are more capable
of adjusting, because man has many scientific, technical ways to adjust himself.
If it is is too cold he can have warmer clothes" if it is too hot he can have air conditioning. <oor
coc$roaches dont have any technical, any scientific methods with them, but they manage. ,ertainly
they are more capable. !an without all these technical supports would not be able to adjust. If he goes
to the +rctic na$ed, he will die, but the coc$roach has to go na$ed.
8arl /ustav -ung said that religion is such a strong power that if it is not supported by your heritage,
by your past, by your tradition, it will simply destroy you, it will uproot you.
It loo$s logical, and if you thin$ of pseudo-religions, -ung is right. )or e*ample, compared with
2astern religions, ,hristianity, -udaism, or !ohammedanism cannot survive, for the simple reason
that they are very immature, very primitive, while the religions coming from the 2ast have reached to
the highest possibility of sophistication.
2astern religions logic is not primitive, and they have lived longer -- -ainism, for e*ample, for at least
ten thousand years. )or ten thousand years they have been polishing, and the way they have been
polishing ... ,hristianity has not been polished in two thousand years. -ainism has been continuously
arguing against 'uddhism, against #induism" #induism has been arguing against -ainism ....
Thousands of treatises of tremendously beautiful argumentation are there.
/reat minds li$e 7agarjuna, &han$ara, 4amanuja, =allabha, went around the country demolishing
everything that was not according to their vision. Teachers were roaming all over the country with a
challenge to anybody to argue, to discuss. The whole country was in a philosophical turmoil for ten
thousand years.
7aturally, out of that turmoil and argumentation and continuous confrontation they sharpened their
arguments, they became very subtle. !ohammedanism is only fourteen hundred years old, which is
also nothing.
India reached its pea$ at the time of 'uddha and !ahavira" that was five hundred years before -esus
,hrist. If you compare -esus ,hrist with /autam 'uddha you can see: -esus loo$s simply li$e an
illiterate villager who has heard a few things about philosophy and religion, but has no argument to
prove them. #e is simply repeating the conclusions, while 'uddha will never repeat the conclusion.
'uddha will start from the argument, the very premise. Then he will go through the whole procedure,
and in the procedure he will also tal$ about all other possibilities, and will go on demolishing them,
proving that they are wrong. #e will not leave chances for anybody. #e will ta$e account of all other
viewpoints and will demolish them before he reaches his conclusion.
In Indian philosophy it is a basic tenet that when you say something, always say simultaneously,
immediately, that which is its opposite. )irst destroy the opposite" then only declare your conclusion.
If you cannot destroy the opposite, then forget all about your conclusion, because anybody can raise
the opposite and your conclusion will be lost. It is better that you do it yourself.
&o to read a boo$ of Indian philosophy is totally different than reading 8ant, #egel .... They are
simply proposing their idea. #egel is proposing his idea, not at all bothered that this is only one aspect
and there are thousands of others. #ence Indian treatises are very complicated. 'efore you can get to
the conclusion of the man you will be pu::led about what is happening, because if he believes in
/ods e*istence, he will first demolish all arguments against /od" he will not leave a single loophole.
When he has demolished all the opposite viewpoints, all alternative possibilities, only then will he
come to his conclusion. It has a solidity. It will be very difficult for you to find something which he
has not already critici:ed. %ou need a very outlandish attitude li$e me" otherwise you cannot manage
Indian traditions, their treatises, their philosophies.
What do I mean by outlandish( It happened that I was invited to one of the international =edanta
conferences in +mritsar. The name of +mritsar has just now become world famous because for &i$hs,
that is their sacred city, and they have the beautiful golden temple there.
-ust now, because they have been trying to become an independent nation, separate from India,
thousands of &i$hs have been $illed, thousands of #indus have been $illed, and Indira /andhi has
been assassinated. +nd it continues still: people are being $illed. +nd it will continue, it is not going to
stop easily. +mritsar is the stronghold of the &i$h religion, and &i$hs are very fanatic people, but very
sincere, very honest.
In India if you need to trust anybody, find a &i$h" you can trust him. +ll others are cunning: they will
promise you but the goods will never be delivered. 'ut when a &i$h promises you, he means it. #e
will do it even at the cost of his life. They are sincere, they are honest, they are nice people -- but they
are very fanatic about their religion. That corner of their mind is completely bloc$ed.
This =edanta conference was being held in +mritsar. It was a #indu conference" from all over the
world #indu representatives were there, shan$aracharyas, all the great mon$s were there. In <unjab at
that time there was one very famous #indu saint, #arigiri !aharaj. #e inaugurated the conference.
#e told a beautiful story that I myself have told many times" it is so beautiful and so indicative.
Inaugurating the conference, he said that ten blind men were passing a stream in the rainy season --
the stream was flooded. They held the hands of each other. It was not very deep, but the current was
very strong" so holding each others hands they reached the other side.
+nd then one of them said, .5et us count whether we all have come, because we are all blind, nobody
can see" if somebody has been ta$en by the current we will never $now..
&o they started counting, and of course the number always came to nine because the person who was
counting never counted himself. #e started with the others and ended with the last man. + very simple
fallacy -- the scientists are doing it all over the world. +ll blind! The scientist counts the whole world"
believes, trusts, accepts its e*istence, e*cept the scientists own self -- that is left unaccounted for.
#e is ready to accept anything believable, unbelievable. In physics, in chemistry, in other branches of
science -- even if it goes against logic he accepts it, because e*perimentally, objectively it is there,
proved. 'ut if you as$ him, .What about your consciousness, your awareness(. he simply tries to
e*plain it away.
#e says, .It cannot be proved" hence, I cannot accept it. It cannot be made an object: I cannot put it in
a test-tube, I cannot put it on the table, dissect it, figure out what it is, what it is made of, what its
constituents are. 6nless I can do that I cannot accept it..
7ow this is what those ten blind people were doing. ,ondemning scientists, I had used that story
many times, because it so clearly shows that the scientist is leaving himself out of the account: he
counts everything but then he leaves out the most important and the most significant thing.
#arigiri !aharaj told the story, and he said when they counted and found there were nine, they started
crying and weeping: .3ne of our friends is lost..
+ man was watching, sitting by the side of the river, and he laughed at the whole thing: .These fools
are all there and are crying for someone who is lost. 7obody is lost. -- because he had been watching
all these ten coming from the other side to this side. #e came close to them and as$ed, .What is the
matter( Why are you crying(.
They said, .We have lost one of our companions in the current..
#e loo$ed at them" he said, .#ow many were you(.
They said, .We were ten and now we are nine..
#e said, .%ou all stand in a line and I will count and teach you how to count. I will slap the first
person" he has to say, T3ne, then I will slap twice the second person" he has to say, TTwo, then thrice,
the third person" he has to say, TThree. This way I will go on hitting. +nd when I hit ten times you
$now you are ten" nobody is lost.. +nd this way he counted. #e enjoyed hitting them, and they were
very happy being hit because the lost companion was found.
This is =edantas attitude, that in the world we go on collecting everything, possessing money, power,
prestige, just forgetting ourselves -- but that is the most precious thing.
I was the second person to spea$. %ou $now I am cra:y, so I said, .This story is just absurd.. The
whole conference was shoc$ed: This is an ancient =edanta story and nobody had ever called it absurd,
not even those who are against =edanta, because they all use it. -ainas use the story, 'uddhists use the
story. The story is so beautiful, so indicative, that everybody has used it" nobody has condemned it.
+nd I said, .This is absolutely absurd, for the simple reason: how did these ten blind people come to
$now that they are ten( 'efore they entered the stream, did they count( 7ow I want #arigiri !aharaj
to answer me. 9id they count before they entered the stream(
.If they counted, then they $now how to count. -ust by passing the stream they forgot how to count(
)irst they counted themselves -- and just by passing the stream they stopped, all the ten, counting
themselves( This story is absolutely foolish" it ma$es no sense.
.+ll that I can understand is that somebody else must have told them, T%ou are ten" they never
counted. &omebody must have told them, T%ou are ten, and they believed that somebody else. This is
where belief leads. They believed, but they $new not. &o when there was nobody and they themselves
tried to count, they were in great anguish: one companion was lost.
.This story only proves that beliefs should be completely dissolved from all religious climates.
7obody should believe anybody because in a real situation you will be in trouble. 2ither $now, or
$now that you dont $now.
.If these ten people were not aware that they were ten, there would have been no trouble. If they had
not believed somebody else they would have been perfectly happy being nine" there was no trouble.
3n both the sides they would have counted in the same way. The trouble arose because on one side
was the belief, on the other side was $nowledge. +nd belief falls flat when you encounter $nowledge.
.&o,. I said, .once and for all, this story should be removed from all =edanta literature..
#arigiri became so troubled, red with anger .... 3f course there was no answer, and I said, .If you
have any answer, come to the mi$e and give the answer. -- and there were at least fifty-thousand
people gathered for the conference. 'ut what answer could he give( -- he had never thought about it,
nobody had ever thought about it. It was so outlandish, out of the way.
Instead of coming to the mi$e he left the stage, and I said, .This is cowardly, #arigiri -- and you have
been $nown as Tthe lion of <unjab! +nd the way you are escaping from here -- your tail under your
legs -- you are proving to be a cowardly dog..
3f course he had thousands of followers there" I had none e*cept myself. There was nobody, and I
was for the first time spea$ing in +mritsar. &till, people were silent, shoc$ed, because what I had said
was absolutely logical. 3nly two persons who must have been very very close to #arigiri shouted,
.&hame! &hame!.
They were shouting at me, but -- you $now, I said I am cra:y -- I said, .&top! 2ven if he is a coward,
dont do that.. They were standing" I said, .&it down! +lthough he is a coward, that does not mean that
you should start calling, T&hame! &hame! This is not a moment to humiliate and insult him" he has
insulted himself enough already.. +nd those two cowards could not say that they were shouting
.&hame!. at me.
I have been moving around India, and in many situations the same was the case. I had to find some
very eccentric way to find a loophole. 3f course there are always loopholes because whatever man
ma$es -- howsoever foolproof -- you can always find a loophole. 7o man-made thing can be perfect"
even the /od-made universe is not perfect, what about man(
'ut if you compare .... +nd thats why -ung was afraid. -ung was studying 2astern religions his whole
life, and as he became more and more ac;uainted with them, a great fear arose in him" and the fear
was that one day, sooner or later, the 2ast is going to ta$e over the West completely: .4eligiously we
cannot argue with such sharp, ten-thousand-year-old, very intricate, complicated systems. 3ur systems
in the West are very poor..
There is not a single commentary on -esus gospels. In two thousand years ,hristians have not even
written one commentary, for the simple reason that there is nothing to comment on. -esus was saying
things so simple that I became the first commentator on -esus, because I can ma$e simple statements
into comple* philosophies.
It is not difficult. It wor$s both ways: you can ma$e very comple* philosophy into simple statements"
you can do vice versa -- simple statements you can ma$e into a great philosophy.
When I spo$e first on -esus in T#2 !6&T+49 &229, it was accepted all over the ,hristian world
as something uni;ue, because in two thousand years nobody had bothered" nobody had even thought
that there is any philosophy in it.
<hilosophy is not something that is ready-made, present anywhere" you have to create it. It does not
e*ist. It is not that you simply open the door and philosophy is sitting there. 7o need to open the door
-- you can simply create the hallucination of philosophy.
<hilosophy is just a linguistic game. It is a gimmic$. you have only to learn to play with words -- and
just being born in India is enough to $now the game. It is in the very air. 2verybody is tal$ing great
philosophy, it is not something rare. 2ven villagers are tal$ing great philosophy, reading great
philosophical treatises.
&o when I spo$e on -esus it had nothing to do with -esus, it had nothing to do with anybody else" I
enjoyed playing with words. 'ut it is a very dangerous game. I can play for, I can play against. &o
when I was playing for, even ,hristian publishers published my boo$s.
&heldon <ress in 5ondon is a ,hristian publishing house. They published T#2 !6&T+49 &229
and eight other boo$s and, when in one of my tal$s I said that there are sources which say that -esus
was ugly, that he was four foot five inches high and that he was a hunchbac$, they frea$ed out! Their
board of directors decided to withdraw all my boo$s immediately.
They withdrew all the boo$s. 3ur sannyasins told them, .We are ready to purchase all the boo$s at
cost price.. 7o, they wouldnt sell them even at cost price, because they would again be bac$ in the
mar$et. They sold the boo$s to some shop$eeper who sells old newspapers, old maga:ines, old boo$s,
which are not used for reading, mostly for recycling.
'ut <oonam, our sannyasin, was behind them, following them" she found the place. &he got all those
boo$s -- even cheaper because that man was very happy, they were going to be recycled" so all the
boo$s are bac$ in the mar$et, and those &heldon board people are at a loss -- what happened( #ow did
these boo$s, which were recycled ...( This is resurrection! +t least ,hristians should not be worried
about such things: things li$e this happen.
-ung was afraid, and his fear was right, that if 2astern religion comes as a strong wind it will
demolish all Western religions and their systems. +nd it will demolish Western man because Western
man is rooted in a different soil, in a different climate, in a different way of thin$ing. It was -ung who
created the fear in the West, then others followed.
'ut to me, if 2astern religions and their winds can destroy Western religions then they are worth
being destroyed, they deserve to be destroyed. 7o special protection should be given to them. 2ither
they should stand on their own -- they should become more sophisticated ....
7ot a single meditation method e*ists in Western religions -- only prayer. +nd prayer is not
meditation: prayer is a very primitive method. These religions, if they can be destroyed, thats
perfectly good" let them be destroyed.
-ung says that 2astern religions will destroy Western religions but he never says Western science will
destroy 2astern science. 7o, that is not his concern. I am happy in both ways: Western science should
destroy 2astern science, because 2astern science is not scientific enough" thats why Western science
can destroy it.
If you believe in stupid things ... for e*ample in India you can see it often happening. 3n a hot
summer day ... when it is too hot a poor man may have sunstro$e, may fall on the ground, go
unconscious" and a crowd will gather around. Indians are very efficient in gathering ;uic$ly. Where
not a single soul was, within seconds you will find a crowd.
7obody is bothered about their wor$, where they were going, what they were doing: everything stops.
+nd do you $now what they do when somebody falls with sunstro$e( They put a shoe on his nose to
bring him bac$ to consciousness. 7ow, this is 2astern science!
-ung is a coward. If Western science comes and destroys 2astern science of this type, it should be
welcomed. Western science has evolved, 2astern science has not evolved. +nd whosoever is on a
higher pedestal should be victorious.
It is not a ;uestion of 2ast and West.
Western science should ta$e over the whole world as far as science is concerned.
2astern religiousness should ta$e over the whole world as far as religion is concerned.
+nd thats what I mean when I say science and religion are two aspects of one thing.
The West has wor$ed on the objective truth.
The 2ast has wor$ed on the subjective truth.
The 2ast has poured its whole energy into that dimension, just as the West has poured its energy into
the objective direction. 7ow, both have found great treasures. It is good that they should share their
treasures. In that sharing the world will become one" and of course in that sharing much will be
destroyed -- in the 2ast and in the West. 'ut it needs to be destroyed. It has no right to e*ist. If it
cannot face the truth then why go on clinging to it because it is 2astern or because it is Western(
%es, it is true that if religious consciousness spreads it is going to destroy pseudo-religions. It is going
to destroy nations.
There is no need for nations.
The whole world can be governed by one single government -- and that government will be only
functional.
5et me ma$e it clear to you what I mean by functional. 4ight now a president of a country is not only
functional, he has a status, power. 'ut the postmaster general -- what power has he and what status(
#e is functional. 3f course he is the head of all the post offices of the country. In one world he will be
the head of all the post offices of the world -- so what( It is just functional, he is the head cler$.
In the same way, all departments should be functional" and when the world is one, many departments
will not be needed -- for e*ample, defense. This ta$es almost seventy-five percent of the countries
income. &eventy-five percent of the income of the whole world will be simply saved, because there is
no need for a defense department. Who is going to attac$( -- unless some other planet starts a war
against the earth. 'ut I dont see any possibility of that.
We have not yet been found by anybody, nor have we been able to find anybody. &ignals have been
continuously sent for fifty years" from the earth, for fifty years continuously, a few scientific
departments have been sending signals to the planets, to the stars, in different ways. 'ut as yet there is
no sign that any signal has been received or that anybody has answered. &o there is no ;uestion of any
other planet creating a war against us.
There will be no defense department -- which is the most destructive department, $illing millions of
people unnecessarily, because all of the money goes on pouring into more and more death material.
Who is interested in life(
<erhaps, e*cept this small commune, in this whole world nobody is interested in life.
<oliticians are interested in the other world -- which means after death. 7othing special is going to
happen before death, dont waste your time unnecessarily. &imply die, because then the real show
begins. What are you doing here( &imply wasting your time. It is not even a rehearsal. 2verything
begins after death -- heaven, /od, eternal life, bliss: everything after death.
4eligions are interested in death.
<oliticians are interested in death.
<erhaps this is the only commune which is interested in life. <erhaps I am the first religious man who
is interested in life here and now.
+ll other religious leaders, founders, prophets, messiahs, were interested in the other world: .This
world is just a punishment, this world is an imprisonment, this world is nothing but humiliation. %ou
have been thrown out of the garden of 2den. To be alive is disgraceful. <ray to /od, as$ #im, T<lease
let us be bac$ in the /arden of 2den. That means you will have to pass through death..
+ll these nations, religions -- what is their need( If they are interested in death, let them die.
What happened in -onestown was absolutely ,hristian, but not even a single person in the world has
tal$ed about the fact that it was a ,hristian phenomenon, that ,hristianity was its bac$ground, that -im
-ones was a reverend, that he was a ,hristian priest, and the people who followed him simply
followed according to the ,hristian ideology.
3f course, they went to the very logical end. -esus says to his people: .+fter death there will be
judgment day, and I will be there to pic$ my people. +nd only those who are with me will be saved" all
others will be thrown into the eternal dar$ness of hell..
4everend -im -ones was continually teaching the 'I'52, ,hristianity, and of course he was teaching
that real life begins after death. +nd if he convinced those fools, one thousand fools, it is nothing to be
surprised at: they were all ,hristians. The gospel was ,hristian, and if he convinced them to die with
him ... why wait for the judgment day(
+nd on the judgment day there is going to be so much of a crowd -- poor -im -ones, how is he going
to find his one thousand followers( It will be really difficult. The best way is: -im -ones dies and with
him his followers die. +nd they will reach the gates of heaven with /od and -esus ,hrist and all the
apostles shouting, .+lleluia!. This is far better, ;uic$er.
3ther ,hristians have waited for two thousand years but the judgment day has not come yet. +nd if
you read -esus, his disciples as$ing again and again, .When will the judgment day come(. and he
says, .&oon.. The whole indication is that it is going to happen within your life. 7ow, twenty centuries
have passed" it has not happened. 7obody as$s the pope, .What about the judgment day( -esus was
saying, T&oon. What do you mean by Tsoon(. +t least it should be e*plained how many centuries,
how many generations .... .&oon. cannot be e*tended that much.
'ut ,hristian bishops and cardinals and priests are comparing me with -im -ones. In churches,
sermons are delivered and it is said that 4ajneeshpuram is going to become a second -onestown. 7ow,
who is going to say to these fools that this is the only place which cannot become -onestown( The
whole rest of the world can become -- because we are not interested in the afterlife, we are only
interested in life here, now.
'ut strange are the ways of the world! + man li$e me is compared with 4everend -im -ones .... I am
absolutely for life, so much so that I am ready to drop /od, paradise, heaven -- everything! 5ife is so
precious" everything can be dropped for it.
&o if a real religiousness spreads and nations disappear -- so far, so good. If religions disappear -- so
far, so good.
The Western man as Western, dies -- so far, so good, because his death as Western will also mean the
death of the 2astern man as 2astern. Those terms are related only to each other: the 2ast cannot e*ist
without West. The death of the Western man will be the death of the 2astern man -- and thats perfectly
good.
Then only man remains -- neither 2astern nor Western, belonging neither to this nation nor to that
nation. + single humanity rejoicing herenow in this very life, in this, the very lotus paradise ....
2ven if by chance you happen to meet your original face, you will not be able to recogni:e it, it will be
such a stranger. <erhaps you come across it once in a while, just by accident, but you dont even say
#i! It is a stranger and perhaps deep down, a certain fear -- that is always there with every stranger.
Thats why people try to become ac;uainted, introduced to strangers, the sooner the better. They dont
want to be left in that state of fear, that somebody is absolutely un$nown to them. They dont $now
what he can do, what he intends to do, what $ind of person he is. !aybe he is a murderer, a thief.
I played around this theme so many times because I was continuously traveling in India, and I was
always traveling in an air-conditioned coupe. &o at the most two persons -- that too very rarely
because in India very few people can afford to travel in the air-conditioned coupe, e*cept people li$e
me who have nothing to lose. -ust poor people li$e me can travel li$e that because we cannot be more
poor than we are.
'ut once in a while a minister, a governor, a rich industrialist, a scientist, a vice-chancellor -- people
li$e that were my fellow travelers. +nd I always tried to see what happened to them if I continued to
remain a stranger. +nd I enjoyed -- it does things to people.
I was not doing anything, I was just trying be a stranger, which really I am. They would as$ me,
.Where are you going(. -- just anything to begin with.
I would say, .+nywhere will do..
They would say, .+nywhere will do(. -- and I could see the fear arising: .Is the man mad( 'ut no, he
does not loo$ mad.. They would then say, .+re you jo$ing(.
3nce I said, .Why should I jo$e with you(.
In India, it is a convention that you jo$e only with certain relatives. -o$ing is very confined, to a
certain relationship. %ou jo$e only with your wifes brother, otherwise you dont jo$e" only thats
acceptable to the society. I said, .'ut you are not my wifes brother, why should I jo$e( 3r are you my
wifes brother( <erhaps you are. 'ut I dont remember ever seeing you before..
The man became really more sha$y and I could see the trembling arising -- and he had to travel with
me for at least ten hours, twelve hours, or even twenty-four hours. 'ut still he tried: .What is your
name(.
I said, .The moment you as$ed me, it was just on the tip of my tongue. 7ow I am trying hard to
remember. I have a name, I certainly remember ... I $now it is there but you will have to give me a
little time. If it comes, it comes" if it does not come what can I do( What can you do( 'ut it doesnt
matter anyway, you can call me any name. +nyway every child is born without a name and we give
him one. +ll names are arbitrary, so it does not matter whether you call me 4am, 4ahim, Ibrahim,
!oses, -esus, ,hrist" anything will do..
+nd I said, .%ou please sit down, there is no need to continue to stand. &it down, be at ease, and I will
go and close the door..
#e said, .Why are you closing the door(.
I said, .The door has to be closed. <assengers are passing by, what will they thin$( %ou are trembling,
perspiring, in an air-conditioned room( 7o, I dont want you to loo$ so silly and embarrassed.. I
virtually forced the person to sit down. I was forcing him to sit down, and he wanted to stand up.
#e said, .,ant I stand(.
I said, .%ou just first rela*. 9o you want to go to the bathroom or have you already done it( +nyway
there is no need to worry -- you just sit down..
That man loo$ed at me and loo$ed all around. It was just a small cabin for two persons and he was
thin$ing, .this type of man, he can do anything.. 'ut he tried somehow to figure me out" anyway he
wanted to be ac;uainted. +nd he said .'y your face you loo$ religious..
I said, .%es, when I loo$ in the mirror I also feel that this man loo$s religious. 'ut I am not religious.
7ever go by the appearance, appearances are not always real..
.7o,. he said, .you are still trying to befool me. %ou are a religious man.. 7ow he was trying
somehow to categori:e me.
I said, .If you say, and if it consoles you, helps you in some way, o$ay, I am a religious man..
The man was a brahmin -- I had seen his name on the door. In the air-conditioned compartment they
have the passengers names on the door, so I had seen that he was a 'engali, a high-caste brahmin, a
chattopadhyaya. &o he said, .What religion(.
I said, .4eligion is just religion -- there is no adjective to it..
#e said, .That I cannot believe. %ou must be a religious #indu sage..
I said, .If it helps you, I am..
+nd he fell at my feet, and he said, .I $new from the very beginning that you are not mad, that you
are a sage. +nd sages and mad people loo$ ali$e, behave ali$e. 2verything that you said now ma$es
sense..
'ut I said, .3ne thing I have just said to console you -- really I am not a #indu, I am a
!ohammedan.. +nd now you cannot believe what a terrible mess he fell into. #e had touched the feet
of a !ohammedan! + #indu brahmin, a high-caste brahmin, is afraid even of touching the shadow of
a !ohammedan. If he touches even the shadow of a !ohammedan he will have to ta$e a bath to
cleanse himself. +nd he had touched actual feet!
7ow the situation had become much worse. The chattopadhyaya said, .'ut why did you lie to me(.
I said, .I was just trying to console you. I never thought that you would fall at my feet. 'efore I could
prevent you, you had already done it. 'ut dont be worried, I am really a brahmin. I was just chec$ing
what happens: if some !ohammedan loo$s li$e a brahmin sage and you touch his feet, what will
happen to you( I was just trying to see..
#e said, .Thats right.. +nd a great smile ... and he rela*ed in his seat and he said, .I $new from the
very beginning -- such a nice person could not be a !ohammedan. Those !ohammedans are all
butchers..
I said, .%ou are right, because I was born a !ohammedan so I $now perfectly well they are all
butchers..
This way I have seen many well-educated people trying to figure out ... and I told them, .Why are you
bothering to figure out about me( If you ta$e that much trouble to figure out about yourself you will
become enlightened! %ou need not worry about me. %ou do your wor$, whatever you want to do" you
simply accept me as absent, I am not here. 'ehave as if I am not here and do whatsoever you want to
do.
.If you want me to close my eyes, I can close my eyes. If you want me to go to sleep, I will go to
sleep. 'ut please be at ease" just forget about me. 'ut dont try to become familiar with me -- that I
dont allow. We are going to remain strangers for ten hours..
In fact we are all strangers.
2ven if we live our whole life together it ma$es no difference, we remain strangers" we just settle for
consolations, and we start ta$ing the other for granted. It is a ma$e-believe that you $now the other --
your wife, your mother, your father, your brother, your friend -- it is just a ma$e-believe that you $now
them. %ou $now nothing about the other because that is impossible -- for the simple reason that you
dont $now anything about yourself yet. Without $nowing oneself it is impossible to $now anybody
else.
The trouble is you can be introduced to somebody else, but how can you be introduced to yourself(
Who is going to do that(
%ou can be introduced to somebody else because that introduction is just arbitrary. The name, the
caste, the country, the religion, the profession -- these are all arbitrary and accidental.
It happened ... really a great coincidence, almost inconceivable, but it happened so whether it is
conceivable or not ma$es no difference. When I was standing at the window after my matriculation, to
obtain entry into a college, there were many people who were filling in forms and I was waiting to get
my form. When I was filling in my form a boy just of my age came to me, and he said, .What subjects
are you ta$ing(.
&o I showed him my form and said, .These are my subjects..
#e said, .3h, o$ay, I will fill in these subjects also..
I said, .'ut this is strange. %ou have come to the college -- dont you have any idea what you want to
study(.
#e said, .It is all the same to me. !y father wants me to study so I have come to the college. I dont
have any interest in anything, I have just come to enjoy. !y father is rich. #e wants me to be in
college so o$ay, I will be in college and have fun and enjoy. +ny subjects will do..
'ut I said, .These subjects perhaps may be difficult for you: philosophy, logic .....
#e said, .I dont care even what they mean. I dont $now, I have never heard this word Tlogic before..
.Then,. I said, .It is perfectly o$ay..
+nd he as$ed me, .Will you please give me your fountain pen(.
I said, .This is too much -- you dont have your own fountain pen(.
#e said, .I am not a man who is interested in these things..
#e showed me a pac$et of cigarettes. #e said, .I am interested in cigarettes, not in fountain pens" and
I am not going to attend any class or anything. !y father is going to send me the money and I am
going to enjoy, and I am going to as$ him for more and more. #e has enough, and I am the only son so
I am not wasting anybody elses money. It is my own, I am going to inherit it anyway..
I gave him my fountain pen and he filled in the form. #e even had to loo$ at my form for the spelling
of the words that he was filling in. 'ut this way we became friends. I li$ed the boy, he was sincere,
and not a hypocrite in any way. We became friends. #e needed me and I needed him, because I needed
so much money for boo$s and he had so much money that I said, .This is good.. +nd he was not
interested in boo$s at all.
'ut I was his first friend in the college. +nd he had everything: a car, a driver, a bungalow -- I needed
all these things so I said, .Thats perfectly good -- you came at the right time. +nd whatever your need
is, I will manage, you dont be worried.. &o I had to do e*aminations for both of us. In three hours
time, half was mine and half was his. In one and a half hours I finished my paper and then I would
start his paper.
'ut he said, .This is a great bargain.. #e said, .If I can pass, my father is going to be mad with
happiness. #e cannot believe that I can pass, because in matric he had to give such a large bribe to
push me through. +nd now he $nows that in college it is going to be difficult..
I said, .%ou dont be worried, you will pass first class.. +nd he passed first class with a '.+. +fter the
'.+. I left -abalpur because one of the professors in &agar 6niversity, &.&. 4oy, was persistently
as$ing me, writing me, phoning me to say, .+fter your '.+. you join this university for your post-
graduation..
)rom -abalpur 6niversity to &agar 6niversity there is not much distance -- one hundred miles. 'ut
&agar 6niversity was in many ways uni;ue. It was a small university compared to 'enares 6niversity
or +ligarh 6niversity, which had ten thousand students, twelve thousand students. They are just li$e
3*ford or ,ambridge -- big universities, big names. &agar 6niversity had only one thousand students
and almost three hundred professors, so for every three students, one professor. It was a rare place"
perhaps nowhere in the world can you find another university where there is one professor for three
students.
+nd the man who had founded the university was ac;uainted with all the best professors around the
world. &agar was his birthplace" 9octor #arisingh /aud was his name. #e was a world-famous
authority on law, and earned so much money -- and never gave a single pai to any beggar, to any
institution, to any charity. #e was $nown as the most miserly person in the whole of India.
+nd then he founded the university and gave his whole lifes earning. That was millions of dollars. #e
said to me, .Thats why I was a miser" otherwise there was no way -- I was a poor man, I was born a
poor man. If I were doing charity and giving to this hospital and to this beggar and to that orphan, this
university would not have e*isted.. )or this university ... he had carried his whole life only one idea,
that his birthplace should have one of the best universities in the world. +nd certainly he created one
of the best universities in the world.
While he was alive he managed to bring professors from all over the world. #e gave them double
salaries, triple salaries, whatsoever they wanted -- and no wor$, because there were only one thousand
students, which even a small college has in India" one thousand students is not a large number. +nd he
opened all the departments which only a university li$e 3*ford can afford. 3*ford has nearabout three
hundred and fifty departments.
#e opened all the departments which e*ist anywhere in the world. There were hundreds of
departments without students but with full staff: the head of the department, the assistant professor, the
professor, the lecturer. #e said, .9ont be worried. )irst create the university -- and ma$e it the best.
&tudents will come, will have to come.. Then all the professors and all the deans were all in search of
the best students. +nd somehow this professor, &.&. 4oy, who was the head of the department of
philosophy, got his eye on me.
I used to go every year to the university for the inter-university debating competition. +nd for four
years I was winning the trophy and for four years he was listening to me, as a judge -- he was one of
the judges. The fourth year he invited me to his home, and he said, .5isten, I wait for you for one year.
I $now that after one year, when the ne*t inter-university debating competition is held, you are bound
to be there.
.The way you present your arguments is strange. It is sometimes so weird that it seems ... how did
you manage to loo$ from this angle( I have been thin$ing about a few problems myself, but I never
loo$ed from that aspect. It stri$es me that perhaps you go on dropping any aspect that can happen to
the ordinary mind, and you only choose the aspect that is unli$ely to happen to anybody.
.)or four years you have been winning the shield for the simple reason that the argument is uni;ue,
and there is nobody who is ready to answer it. They have not even thought about it, so they are simply
in shoc$.
.%our opponents -- you reduce them so badly, one feels pity for them, but what can we do( +nd I
have been giving you ninety-nine percent mar$s out of a hundred. I wanted to give you more than a
hundred, but even ninety-nine .... It has become $nown to people that I am favorable to a certain
student. This is too much, because nobody goes beyond fifty.
.I have called you to my home for dinner to invite you to leave -abalpur 6niversity and come here.
7ow this is your fourth year, you are finished when you graduate. )or post-graduation you come here.
I cannot miss having you as my student" if you dont come here then I am going to join -abalpur
6niversity..
+nd he was a well-$nown authority" if he wanted to come, -abalpur 6niversity would have been
immensely happy to accept him as head of the department.
I said, .7o, dont go to that much trouble. I can come here, and I love the place.. It is situated ...
perhaps it is the best-situated university in the world, in the hills near a tremendously vast la$e. It is so
silent -- such huge trees, ancient trees -- that just to be there is enough education.
+nd 9octor #arisingh /aud must have been a tremendous lover of boo$s. #e donated all his library,
and he managed to get as many boo$s as possible from every corner of the world. + single mans effort
... it is rare" he created 3*ford just single-handedly, alone. 3*ford was created over one thousand
years" thousands of people have wor$ed. This mans wor$ is really a piece of art. &ingle-handedly,
with his own money, he put himself at sta$e.
&o I loved the place. I said, .%ou need not be worried, I will be coming -- but you have seen me only
in the debate competitions. %ou dont $now much about me" I may prove a trouble for you, a nuisance.
I would li$e you to $now everything about me before you decide..
<rofessor &.&. 4oy said, .I dont want to $now anything about you. The little bit that I have come to
$now, just by seeing you, your eyes, your way of saying things, your way of approaching reality, is
enough. +nd dont ma$e me frightened about trouble and nuisance -- you can do whatsoever you
want..
I said, .4emember that financially I am always bro$e, so I will be continuously borrowing money
from you and never returning it. Things have to be made clear beforehand" otherwise later on you can
say, TThis you never said. %ou will have to lend me money whenever I want. I am not going to return
it, although it will be said I am borrowing -- but on your part you have to understand that that money
is gone, because from where can I return it( I dont have any source.
.&econd, you have to ma$e arrangements in the university for my free lodging and boarding. Thirdly,
you have to as$ the vice-chancellor, because I dont $now him -- or you can introduce me to him -- for
his special scholarship. #e is entitled to give one special scholarship. 3ther scholarships are there,
which are smaller scholarships given to talented people -- first class, first gold medalist, this and that" I
want the special scholarship which is three times more than any other scholarship.
.It is special because the vice-chancellor is entitled to give it to anyone talented, not talented, in the
good list of the university, not in the good list of the university" it does not matter. It is his personal
choice -- because if they start thin$ing about my character certificates and this and that, I cannot
produce a single character certificate.
.I have been in many colleges because I have been e*pelled again and again. &o in four years time ....
<eople study in one college, I have studied in many, but all that I can bring from them is e*pulsion
orders. I cannot produce a single character certificate -- so you have to recommend me. %ou are my
only character certificate..
#e said, .9ont be worried about that..
&o I moved to &agar. This is the coincidence that I was going to tell you about. When I was filling in
the form, the same boy appeared again! #e said, .What subjects(.
I said, .!y /od! Who told you that I had come to &agar(.
#e said, .%ou are as$ing that( )or days I never see my car, my driver" in my house strangers come
and live. They say they are your guests, and I have to ma$e arrangements for them. +nd you thin$ I
have to $now how you have come to &agar( !y driver has brought you here" he told me.
.&o I said, TIf he is going to &agar what am I going to do here, because who will write my papers( &o
I ran fast and I have caught you in time. -ust e*actly four years ago, in the same way we met..
I said, .Thats true. &o you are going to fill in these subjects again(.
#e said, .Its perfectly o$ay, because I have nothing to do with the subjects. I dont $now anything
that happened in these four years because I was engaged in drin$ing and in gambling and all $inds of
things. +nd you managed well" two first classes by one person -- you did well. 7ow once more you
will have to do it.
.+nd as far as things from my side are concerned, I am ready to double them. 2verything that you
want you ta$e, but just dont try to leave me, because without you I am nobody. !y father gave such a
great party and all the relatives gathered, and it was such a celebration. +nd I was only thin$ing of you
-- that this whole celebration should be for you.
.9o you $now what my father said when I came home and I told him that I have topped the
university( #e said, TThat means in that university all $inds of stupid people must study" otherwise
how could you have got the gold medal( That is a simple proof that all the fools go to that university.
%ou change your university. I said, TI am going to change it but the same fools I will meet anywhere..
This was the only celebration for me. To my father it was impossible that I would get even third class,
because I was never going to the college and was continuously being e*pelled from one college after
another. )inally a college accepted me with the condition that I would not attend the classes because
the same will happen again.
.%ou will fight with the professors, argue, and we will have to e*pel you. &o the best way is --
e*aminations are close -- you simply do whatsoever you want to do anywhere else e*cept the college
campus. 9ont come to the college campus. +s far as your attendance is concerned, I will ta$e care,.
the principal told me.
.'ut,. I said, .you have to ta$e care of two persons, because wherever I am e*pelled my friend has to
move from that college too because he can not live without me. &o as many times as I was e*pelled,
he also had to move.. I said, .%ou will have to ta$e care of two persons..
The principal said, .I dont understand: why two persons( %ou alone are ta$ing admission..
I said, .7o, one of my friends is also. #e is not e*pelled, but he never attends. #e is not interested in
studying but his father is forcing him. +nd what can the poor chap do( It is just to console his old
man..
The principal said, .'ut why does he go with you( I see on the record that he follows you to every
college..
I said, .I am his only friend, thats what he thin$s. #e is not interested in college, he is interested in
me. #e comes with me -- it is one pac$age. If you accept me, you accept him. I promise you that your
college will get the gold medal. +ttendance you will have to give for two persons..
+nd all the principals and professors $new that I was continuously winning in their elo;uence
competitions. 3nly once I got a second pri:e in one elo;uence competition, and that became almost a
great scandal against the professor who was one of the judges.
#e was in love with a girl, one of his students. The girl was a competitor, and he wanted the girl to
win the competition any way. +ll other judges had given me more mar$s but he had given to the girl a
hundred mar$s completely. &he was not even worth ten -- because others ... somebody had given her
five, somebody seven, somebody nine" nobody had gone beyond ten. 'ut if one person gives her a
hundred .... &he came first, but I immediately went to every newspaper and informed them of the
whole story.
The ne*t day the professor had to resign and escape, because I said, .#e is in love, and it is just a way
of seducing the girl. I challenge -- not the girl, I challenge the professor to compete with me anywhere
before any $ind of judges. If he can win in the debate I will thin$ it is perfectly o$ay, the girl has won.
The girl is nobody..
The scandal became so hot that the principal told the professor, .%ou please leave, because it is so
clear: no judges have given her more than ten, and you have given her a hundred, and she is your
student.. I was present when the principal said to him, .I never thought that she was going to be even
third, and she came first. +nd you unnecessarily too$ the ris$ of ma$ing this boy angry: he will not
leave you alone..
+nd the ne*t day .... To all the papers I had given their pictures. That was done with my friend: he
was always carrying his camera and his transistor -- he was that type. &o I just told him, .%ou get me
two pictures: one of this professor and one of that girl..
#e said, .7o problem, Together or separate(.
I said, .9o you have them already(.
#e said, .I have got them together already..
I said, .That will do..
&o the professor putting his hand on the girls shoulder -- the picture was published. The professor
resigned, the girl escaped, and the competition had to be arranged again. I said, .-ust his resignation
does not mean anything" nor does the girl escaping from the city mean anything. I dont believe in
being second. 2ither I am nobody or I am first" I dont accept any mediocre position anywhere.. +gain
the competition was arranged.
This boy was handy in many ways. This was a great coincidence that he managed to reach &agar, and
he filled in the form just according to mine. )or two years he continuously helped me. !y help was
small: it came only in the end -- at the e*amination time I had to write for him too.
In life I have tried, with all $inds of people to insist that everybody $nows deep down that he is a
stranger, a stranger to everybody, even to his closest friend. I told this boy -- his name was 6ma$ant
-oshi .... #e is now a professor.
Thats what ma$es me wonder ... this world is a strange place" this planet certainly must be the
weirdest planet in the whole universe. 7ow, 6ma$ant -oshi is a professor who does not $now even the
spelling of the word .philosophy,. but he is doing perfectly well. When I last saw him in XYPH, I had
just gone to inaugurate a social gathering. I had no idea that he was a professor in that college, and
when he greeted me there, I said, .What are you doing here(.
#e said, .What am I doing here( -- the same..
I said, .What, the same( 7ow nobody can help you..
#e said, .!oney can do everything. I never bother to teach, I pay people to teach for me. I never
e*amine peoples papers, I pay teachers to e*amine their papers. !oney can do everything..
<erhaps by now he may be a principal, one day may rise to become a vice-chancellor. If money can
do everything, there is no problem. +nd I have seen people ....
I told this boy when we were departing after si* years of being together, .6ma$ant, have you ever
reali:ed that we are as much strangers as when we met on the first day, just by accident, in that college
office where you as$ed what subjects you should fill in on the form(.
#e was in a way very innocent and nice. Tears came to his eyes, and he said, .Thats true. We have
lived so closely that I had completely forgotten that we are still strangers. I dont $now you, you dont
$now me, and whatever we do $now is irrelevant..
If you en;uire among your friends you will be surprised: everybody is a stranger in a strange world.
'ut we have managed deceptions, we have camouflaged ourselves. We have labeled everybody in so
many ways that the person starts thin$ing that he is that.
In my village there is one man, &underlal. I have been surprised ...sunder means beauty, sunderlal
means beautiful diamond" and he is anything other than a beauty. #e is not even homely. I have been
surprised again and again that names are given to people which are just the opposite of their ;ualities.
I have seen immensely rich people named /aribdas. /arib means poor, das means a slave. I have
been a guest to one &eth /aribdas in #yderabad. &eth means very rich, super-rich, and garibdas means
a poor slave. I as$ed him, .#ave you ever thought about your name( %our father was rich" richness is
almost your family tradition -- it is nothing new. %ou are not a newly rich person, that you were poor
and became rich. Then it would have been understandable: you were poor and people called you
/aribdas. 'ut you were born rich" you were born with golden spoons in your mouth. Then why
/aribdas(.
#e said, .%ou as$ strange ;uestions. In my whole life nobody has as$ed me this. 'ut my father is
alive" we both should go and as$ him..
We both went to his room and as$ed him. #e said, .It is a protection. The astrologers suggested
giving him a name which suggests poverty so that fate always remains compassionate to him.. They
were deceiving fate by giving him the name /aribdas -- so fate thin$s he is poor, dont harass him --
and he remained rich.
This &underlal was really ugly. To tal$ to him meant that you had to loo$ this way and that way" to
loo$ at him made one feel a little sic$ -- something went berser$ in the stomach. #is front two teeth
were out, and he had such crossed eyes that to loo$ at him for a little while meant a certain headache --
and he was &underlal! #e was the son of a rich man, and he was a little nuts too.
I used to call him 9octor &underlal although he was never able to pass matriculation. #e failed so
many times that the school authorities as$ed his father to remove him because he brought their
average low every year -- and he was not going to pass.
#ow they managed to get him up to matriculation, that is a miracle. 'ut it is understandable, because
up to matriculation all e*aminations are local, so you can bribe the teachers. This was difficult to do in
the matriculation e*amination because it is not local, it is state-wide. &o it is very difficult to find out
who is setting the papers, who is e*amining the papers. It is almost impossible" unless you happen to
be the education minister or some relative of the education minister, it is very difficult to find out.
'ut I started calling him 9octor &underlal. #e said, .9octor( 'ut I am not a doctor..
I said, .7ot an ordinary doctor li$e these physicians: you are an honorary doctor..
'ut he said, .7obody has given me an honorary doctorate either..
I said, .I am giving you an honorary doctorate. It does not matter who gives it -- you get the
doctorate, thats the point..
#e said, .That is true, . and by and by I convinced him that he was an honorary doctor. #e started
introducing himself to people as 9octor &underlal. When I heard this, that he introduces himself as
9octor &underlal .... #e was a relative of our sannyasin, 7arendra.
3ne day I saw a letterhead with .9octor &underlal, 9.5itt., #onorary,. printed on it in golden letters,
embossed. I said, .This is great!. +nd as time passed by people completely forgot: he is now $nown as
9octor &underlal, 9.5itt. 7obody suspects, nobody even en;uires who gave him a doctorate, from
what university( 'ut the whole town $nows him. +nd because he is an honorary doctorate he
inaugurates social gatherings in the school, in the college -- now the town has a college -- and he is the
most literary figure.
-ust now my mother was saying that 9octor &underlal has become a member of parliament. The new
government ... after Indiras assassination, 4ajiv /andhi chose him. #e is rich and certainly respected
in the town because he is the only doctor -- an honorary doctor! <eople get ... and perhaps he believes
it. 7ow you cannot tell him that he is not. #e will drag you to the court.
7ow, for almost thirty years he has been a doctor" that is enough. 7obody has objected, nobody has
raised a ;uestion. In his election campaign his name was 9octor &underlal, 9.5itt. -- .=ote for 9octor
&underlal, 9.5itt.. <erhaps -- and he is a little nuts -- he believes that he is. I $now that even I cannot
persuade him that .this doctorate I gave to you.. #e will laugh and say, .What are you saying( I have
been a doctor for thirty years. %ou were just a little $id when I became a doctor!.
#e will not agree so easily to drop his doctorate. 'ut even if you get a doctorate from a university,
what does it mean( There is not much difference.
I $now one very famous Indian politician, 9octor /ovindadas. !aitreya $nows him because they
both were in parliament together. 9octor /ovindadas was in the parliament perhaps the longest time in
the whole history of humanity: from XYXE till he died, I thin$ in XYLU, he remained continuously,
without a single gap, a member of parliament. #e was the richest man in the whole state of !adhya
<radesh.
#is father was given the title of raja, $ing" although he was not a $ing, he had so much land, and so
many properties -- one third of the houses of the whole city of -abalpur, which is ten times bigger than
<ortland, belonged to him. #e had so much land that the 'ritish government thought it perfectly right
to give him the title. +nd he was helping the 'ritish government, so he was called 4aja /o$uldas, and
his house was not called a house, it was called /o$uldas <alace.
/ovindadas was /o$uldas eldest son -- a very mediocre mind. It hurts me to say so but what can I
do( If he was mediocre it is not my fault. #e was very $ind and friendly to me and very respectful too.
#e was very old but he used to come every day whenever he was in -abalpur. Whenever the
parliament was not in session he was in -abalpur" otherwise he was in 7ew 9elhi. Whenever he was in
-abalpur, in the morning from eight to eleven, his limousine was standing in front of my door, every
day religiously.
+nybody wanting to meet him between eight and eleven need not go anywhere" he had just to stand
outside my gate. What was happening in those three hours( #e used to come there with his secretary,
his steno. #e would as$ me a ;uestion, I would answer, and the steno would write it in shorthand.
Then he published in his own name everything that I said.
/ovindadas has published boo$s, two boo$s" not a single word is his. %es, there are a few words from
the secretary. I was pu::led when I saw those boo$s -- and he presented them to me. I loo$ed inside ...
I $new that this was going to happen, it was happening every day -- in newspapers he was publishing
my answers all over India.
#e was president of the #indi languages most prestigious institution, #I79I &+#IT%+
&+!!25+7" he was the president of that. 3nce !ahatma /andhi was president of that, so you can
understand the prestige of the institution.
/ovindadas was president for almost twenty years, and he was the main proponent in the parliament
that #indi should become the national language. +nd he made #indi the national language, at least in
the constitution. It is not functioning -- 2nglish still functions as the national language -- but he put it
in the constitution.
#e was $nown all over the country. 2very newspaper, every news maga:ine, was publishing his
articles -- and they were my answers! 'ut I was pu::led, because once in a while there would be a
;uotation from Tulsidas, &urdas, 8abirdas. I could not believe that he had even the intelligence to put
the ;uotation in the right place, in the right conte*t.
&o I as$ed his steno one day when I was staying in 9elhi in /ovindadass house. I as$ed his steno,
.&hrivastava, everything else is perfectly right" I just wonder about these -- &urdas, Tulsidas, 8abirdas
-- how &eth /ovindadas manages to put them ....
#e said, .&eth /ovindadas( I put them in..
I said, .Who told you to put them in(.
#e said, .#e says that at least something should be put from our side too..
I said, .I am not going to tell anybody, but just to deceive me, these two lines of 8abirdas in the
whole ;uestion( %ou have been putting them in and you thin$ I will be deceived(.
#e said, .I had to wor$ hard, loo$ing into 8abirdas collection to find some lines which could fit
somewhere in your ;uestion..
I said, .%ou are a fool" you should have as$ed me. When your master can steal the whole article, you,
being his steno, should at least learn this much politics. %ou could have said to me, T-ust give me two
or three ;uotations so that I can fit them in. In future dont bother yourself..
#e was a poor man, and where would he find 8abirdas, and something very relevant to me( &o I used
to give ;uotations to &hrivastava and say, .These are the lines you fit in so /ovindadas remains
happy..
Why did I want him to remain happy( #e was helpful to me in the same way that the boy was helpful
to me. I was continually out of town without any leave from the university. /ovindadas limousine
standing in front of my door was enough. The vice-chancellor was afraid of me because /ovindadas
was a powerful man" the vice-chancellor could be immediately transferred, removed -- just a hint from
me was enough. The professors were afraid. They were really pu::led why every day /ovindadas was
hypnoti:ed" he spent three hours with me every day.
+nd he started bringing other politicians. #e introduced me to every chief minister, every cabinet
minister in the central government, because they all were his guests in -abalpur. -awaharlal used to be
his guest in -abalpur. #e introduced me to almost all the politicians" I thin$ !aitreya must have come
to me through &eth /ovindadas. #e even arranged for a small group of important members to meet me
in parliament house itself. !aitreya certainly must have been there.
/ovindadas was helpful, so I said, .There is no problem. +nd it does not matter whose name goes on
the articles. The ;uestion reaches to thousands of people. The answer reaches to thousands of people.
That is important" my name or /ovindadass name, it does not matter. What matters is the matter..
This man remained continuously in contact with me for almost ten years, and when I told him, .We
are strangers,. he said, .What are you saying( We have $nown each other for ten years..
I said, .We dont $now each other. I $now your name, /ovindadas" it has been given by your father.
The doctorate you have received from the university. I $now how much value that doctorate has, and
why you have been given that doctorate -- because it was you who proposed the vice-chancellor. 7ow
the vice-chancellor has to pay you bac$ with the doctorate. The vice-chancellor is your man, and if he
manages to give you a doctorate there is no wonder in it. %our 9.5itt is absolutely bogus..
)irst I used to hear .... #e had written almost one hundred dramas. #e was in competition with
/eorge 'ernard &haw because /eorge 'ernard &haw was the great drama writer and he had written
one hundred dramas. &o &eth /ovindadas was also a great drama writer of #indi language -- a
hundred dramas. +nd he was not capable of writing a single drama!
#e was not capable of even writing a single speech -- his speeches were written by that poor
&hrivastava. /ovindadas has published one hundred dramas. 'y and by I came to $now those people
who had written them -- for money -- poor people, poor teachers, professors. &o I told /ovindadas, .I
$now what your 9.5itt is: one hundred dramas, and none is written by you. 7ow I can say it
authoritatively, because you go on publishing articles, and now you have published two boo$s without
even telling me, TI am going to put your answers in these boo$s. +nd they are nothing but my answers
-- there is nothing else..
&o I said to him, .9octor /ovindadas, I also have such a doctor in my village -- 9octor &underlal. I
have given him the doctorate. #e has not written one hundred dramas, neither have you. -ust the way
you believe you are a doctor, he believes he is a doctor. +nd I dont thin$ there is much difference of
;uality in your minds, because seth is a title ....
'efore he became a doctor he was $nown all over the country as &eth /ovindadas. &eth is a title, it
comes from an ancient &ans$rit word, shreshth. &hreshth means the superior one" from shreshth it
became shreshthi and from shreshthi it became seth. In 4ajasthani sethi, sethia -- it went on changing.
'ut it is a title.
&o when /ovindadas became a doctor he started writing .9octor &eth /ovindadas.. It was <andit
-awaharlal 7ehru who told him, ./ovindadas, two titles are never written in front of a name. 2ither
you write .&eth,. then you can write .9.5itt. behind, but if you write .9octor. in front then you
cannot write .&eth..
&o he as$ed me what to do. I said, .There is no problem. %ou write .9octor J&ethK /ovindadas..
&o he said, ./reat!. +nd thats how later on he did it for the rest of his life: .9octor J&ethK
/ovindadas.. #e could not leave out that seth either. +nd when -awaharlal saw those brac$ets, he
said, .Who has suggested these brac$ets to you( ,ant you leave out that seth, or put it at the end(.
#e said, .I cannot leave it out. It is one of my great friends who has suggested it to me, and he cannot
be wrong. The brac$ets are perfectly right..
-awaharlal said, .To me there is no problem. %ou write whatsoever you want, but two titles in front
simply ma$e you a laughingstoc$..
/ovindadas again as$ed me what to do. I said, .%ou dont be bothered by -awaharlal" the brac$ets are
meaningless. The brac$ets simply mean .underground.: doctor aboveground and seth underground --
and you are both. Tell -awaharlal clearly, TI am both. If people dont write two titles in front, the
simple reason is they dont have them. There is no other reason" they dont have them. I have got two
titles so I have to write them..
What is the difference( 'ut so much attachment to names, titles, professions, religions -- and this is
all your identity. +nd behind all this brown bag is lost your original face.
%ou are as$ing me how, in our commune, we can save the original face of our children.
%ou dont have to do anything directly.
+nything done directly will be a disturbance.
%ou have to learn the art of non-doing.
That is a very difficult art.
It is not something that you have to do to protect, to save, the original face of the child. Whatever you
do will distort the original face. %ou have to learn non-doing" you have to learn to $eep away, out of
the way of the child. %ou have to be very courageous because it is ris$y to leave the child to himself.
)or thousands of years we have been told, if the child is left to himself he will be a savage.
That is sheer nonsense. I am siting before you -- do you thin$ I am a savage( +nd I have lived without
being interfered with by my parents. %es, there was much trouble for them and there will be much
trouble for you too, but it is worth it.
The original face of the child is so valuable that any trouble is worth it. It is so priceless that
whatsoever you have to pay for it, it is still cheap" you are getting it without paying anything. +nd the
joy on the day you find your child with his original face intact, with the same beauty that he had
brought into the world, the same innocence, the same clarity, the same joyfulness, cheerfulness, the
same aliveness .... What more can you e*pect(
%ou cannot give anything to the child, you can only ta$e. If you really want to give a gift to the child,
this is the only gift possible: dont interfere. Ta$e the ris$ and let the child go into the un$nown, into
the uncharted. It is difficult. /reat fear grips the parents -- who $nows what will happen to the child(
3ut of this fear they start molding a certain pattern of life for the child. 3ut of fear they start directing
him into a particular way, towards a particular goal, but they dont $now that because of their fear they
are $illing the child. #e will never be blissful. +nd he will never be grateful to you" he will always
carry a grudge against you.
&igmund )reud has a great insight in this matter: he says, .2very culture respects the father. 7o
culture on earth e*ists, or has ever e*isted, which has not propounded, propagated the idea that the
father has to be respected.. &igmund )reud says, .This respect for the father arises because sometime
bac$ in prehistoric times the father must have been $illed by the children just to save themselves from
being crippled..
It is a strange idea, but very significant. #e is saying that the respect is being paid to the father out of
guilt, and that guilt has been carried for thousands of years. &omewhere ... it is not a historical fact, but
a meaningful myth, that young people must have $illed their father and then repented -- naturally,
because he was their father" but he was driving them into ways where they were not happy.
They $illed him, but then they repented. Then they started worshipping the spirits of the ancestors,
fathers, forefathers, out of fear, because the ghosts of those can ta$e revenge. +nd then slowly, slowly,
it became a convention to be respectful towards the elders. 'ut why(
I would li$e you to be respectful to the children.
The children deserve all the respect you can manage, because they are so fresh, so innocent, so close
to godliness. It is time to pay respect to them, not to force them to pay respect to all $inds of corrupted
people -- cunning, croo$ed, full of shit -- just because they are old.
In my commune I would li$e to reverse the whole thing: respect towards the children because they are
closer to the source, you are far away. They are still original, you are already a carbon copy. +nd do
you understand what it can do if you are respectful to children( Then through love and respect you can
save them from going in any wrong direction -- not out of fear but out of your respect and love.
!y grandfather .... I could spea$ a lie to anybody -- even if I met /od I could spea$ a lie without any
trouble -- but I could not spea$ a lie to my grandfather because he respected me so much. When the
whole family was against me I could at least depend on the old man. #e would not bother about all the
proofs that were against me. #e would say, .I dont care what he has done. If he has done it, it must be
right. I $now him, he cannot do wrong..
+nd when he was with me of course the whole family had to shrin$ bac$. I would tell him the whole
thing, and he would say, .There is no need to be worried. 9o whatsoever you feel is right, because
who else can decide( In your situation, in your place, only you can decide. 9o whatsoever you feel is
right, and always remember that I am here to support you, because I not only love you, I respect you
too..
#is respect towards me was the greatest treasure I could have received. When he was dying I was
eighty miles away. #e informed me that I should come immediately because there was not much time.
I came ;uic$ly" within two hours I was there.
It was as if he was just waiting for me. #e opened his eyes and he said, .I was just trying to continue
to breathe so that you could reach me. -ust one thing I want to say: I will not be here now to support
you, and you will need support. 'ut remember, wherever I am, my love and my respect will remain
with you. 9ont be afraid of anybody, dont be afraid of the world..
Those were his last words:
.9ont be afraid of the world..
4espect the children, ma$e them fearless.
'ut if you are yourself full of fear, how can you ma$e them fearless(
9ont force respect on them towards you because you are their father, you are their daddy, their mom,
this and that.
,hange this attitude and see what transformation respect can bring to your children.
They will listen to you more carefully if you respect them. They will try to understand you and your
mind more carefully if you respect them. They have to. +nd in no way are you imposing anything" so
if by understanding they feel you are right and they go on that way, they will not lose their original
face.
The original face is not lost by going on a certain way. It is lost by children being forced, forced
against their will.
5ove and respect can sweetly help them to be more understanding about the world, can help them to
be more alert, aware, careful -- because life is precious, and it is a gift from e*istence. We should not
waste it.
+t the moment of death we should be able to say that we are leaving the world better, more beautiful,
more graceful.
'ut this is possible only if we leave this world with our original face, the same face with which we
have come into it.
In a better world,
every family will
learn from
children. %ou are
in such a hurry to
teach them.
7obody seems to
learn from them,
and they have
much to teach
you. +nd you
have nothing to
teach them.
-ust because you
are older and
powerful you start
ma$ing them just
li$e you without
ever thin$ing
about what you
are, where you
have reached,
what your status
is in the inner
world. %ou are a
pauper" and you
want the same for
your child also(
'ut nobody
thin$s" otherwise
people would
learn from small
children. ,hildren bring so much from the other world because they are such fresh arrivals. They still
carry the silence of the womb, the silence of the very e*istence.
&o it was just a coincidence that for seven years I remained undisturbed -- no !iss -udith !artin to
nag me, to prepare me for the world of business, politics, diplomacy. !y grandparents were more
interested in leaving me as natural as possible -- particularly my grandmother. &he is one of the causes
-- these small things affect all your life patterns -- she is one of the causes of my respect for the whole
of womanhood.
&he was a simple woman, uneducated, but immensely sensitive. &he made it clear to my grandfather
and the servant: .We all have lived a certain $ind of life which has not led us anywhere. We are as
empty as ever, and now death is coming close.. &he insisted, .5et this child be uninfluenced by us.
What influence can we ...( We can only ma$e him li$e us, and we are nothing. /ive him an
opportunity to be himself..
!y grandfather -- I heard them discussing in the night, thin$ing that I was asleep -- used to say to her,
.%ou are telling me to do this, and I am doing it" but he is somebody elses son, and sooner or later he
will have to go to his parents. What will they say( -- T%ou have not taught him any manners, any
eti;uette, he is absolutely wild..
&he said, .9ont be worried about that. In this whole world everybody is civili:ed, has manners,
eti;uette, but what is the gain( %ou are very civili:ed -- what have you got out of it( +t the most his
parents will be angry at us. &o what( -- let them be angry. They cant harm us, and by that time the
child will be strong enough that they cannot change his life course..
I am tremendously grateful to that old woman. !y grandfather was again and again worried that
sooner or later he was going to be responsible: .They will say, TWe left our child with you and you
have not taught him anything..
!y grandmother did not even allow ... because there was one man in the village who could at least
teach me the beginnings of language, mathematics, a little geography. #e was educated to the fourth
grade -- the lowest four" that is what was called primary education in India. 'ut he was the most
educated man in the town.
!y grandfather tried hard: .#e can come and he can teach him. +t least he will $now the alphabet,
some mathematics, so when he goes to his parents they will not say that we just wasted seven years
completely..
'ut my grandmother said, .5et them do whatsoever they want to do after seven years. )or seven years
he has to be just his natural self, and we are not going to interfere.. +nd her argument was always,
.%ou $now the alphabet, so what( %ou $now mathematics, so what( %ou have earned a little money"
do you want him also to earn a little money and live just li$e you(.
That was enough to $eep that old man silent. What to do( #e was in a difficulty because he could not
argue, and he $new that he would be held responsible, not she, because my father would as$ him,
.What have you done(. +nd actually that would have been the case, but fortunately he died before my
father could as$.
'ut my father continuously was saying, .That old man is responsible, he has spoiled the child.. 'ut
now I was strong enough, and I made it clear to him: .'efore me, never say a single word against my
maternal grandfather. #e has saved me from being spoiled by you -- that is your real anger. 'ut you
have other children -- spoil them. +nd at the final stage you will say who is spoiled..
#e had other children, and more and more children went on coming. I used to tease him, .%ou please
bring one child more, ma$e it a do:en. 2leven children( <eople as$, .#ow many children(. 2leven
does not loo$ right" one do:en is more impressive..
+nd in later years I used to tell him, .%ou go on spoiling all your children" I am wild, and I will
remain wild..
What you see as innocence is nothing but wildness. What you see as clarity is nothing but wildness.
&omehow I remained out of the grip of civili:ation.
+nd once I was strong enough .... +nd thats why these people -- !iss -udith !artin, and their $ind --
insist, .Ta$e hold of the child as ;uic$ly as possible, dont waste time because the earlier you ta$e hold
of the child, the easier it is. 3nce the child becomes strong enough, then to bend him according to your
desires will be difficult..
+nd life has seven-year circles. 'y the seventh year the child is perfectly strong" now you cannot do
anything. 7ow he $nows where to go, what to do. #e is capable of arguing. #e is capable of seeing
what is right and what is wrong. +nd his clarity will be at the clima* when he is seven. If you dont
disturb his earlier years, then at the seventh he is so crystal clear about everything that his whole life
will be lived without any repentance.
I have lived without any repentance. I have tried to find: #ave I done anything wrong, ever( 7ot that
people have been thin$ing that all that I have done is right, that is not the point: YLI have never
thought anything that I have done was wrong. The whole world may thin$ it was wrong, but to me
there is absolute certainty that it was right" it was the right thing to do.
&o there is no ;uestion of repenting about the past. +nd when you dont have to repent about the past
you are free from it. The past $eeps you entangled li$e an octopus because you go on feeling, .That
thing I should not have done,. or, .That thing which I was supposed to do and did not do ..... +ll those
things go on pulling you bac$wards.
I dont see anything behind me, no past.
If I say something about my past, it is simply factual memory, it has no psychological involvement. I
am telling you as if I am telling you about somebody else. It is just factual" it has nothing to do with
my personal involvement. It might have occurred to somebody else, it might have happened to
somebody else.
&o remember, a factual memory is not enslaving. <sychological memory is, and psychological
memory is made up of things that you thin$, or you have been conditioned to thin$, were wrong and
you did them. Then there is a wound, a psychological wound.
'253=29 3&#3,
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T#2 &+!2 T372 -- I& T#242 73 9I))2427,2 '2TW227 T#2!(

)undamentally there is no difference at all. &uperficially of course there are differences.
The basic desire to be a leader arises in people who are suffering from an inferiority comple*. It does
not matter whether they move into the political world or into the religious world" the will-to-power is
an absolute indication that the man feels himself inferior to others and he wants to prove to the world
that it is not so.
It is not only a ;uestion of proving to the world" through the world he wants to prove it to himself too,
that he is not inferior to anybody. The only way mind can manage it is to ma$e everybody inferior to
you.
!ind is not your intelligence.
It may sound strange but this is a truth, that mind is not your intelligence. !ind can be intellectual,
which is a very poor substitute for intelligence. Intellectuality is mechanical. %ou can become a great
scholar, a great professor, a great philosopher -- just playing with words which are all borrowed,
arranging and rearranging thoughts, none of which are your own.
The intellect is absolutely ban$rupt.
It has nothing of its own, all is borrowed.
+nd thats the difference between intelligence and intellect.
Intelligence has an eyesight of its own, a capacity to see into things, into problems.
Intelligence is your born ;uality.
It cannot be learned, it cannot be nurtured. 2verybody is born with intelligence, but the society is in
favor of intellect, because the intellectual person is not a real individual, he is phony. #e has nothing
of his own" he is a beggar, and beggars are not supposed to be emperors, are not supposed to be
masters. They are destined to remain slaves.
&o your so-called greatest scholars are continuously proving their slavery to the establishment. 7one
of them is a rebel. They are han$ering for the pri:es and awards the establishment can bestow upon
them: respectability, honor. They are all desiring to be 7obel laureates, but to get the 7obel pri:e you
have to sell your soul. %ou have to accept a thousand and one things that no intelligent person can
accept.
%ou have to support the status ;uo, the people who are in power, who have the money. %ou are just a
puppet to them. %es, it is a very mutual conspiracy: they give you the 7obel pri:e, they give you
honorary doctorates, they ma$e you world famous" in return you support their e*ploitation, their
oppression, and whatever nonsense they are doing. %ou have to become a protecting wall.
+nd of course the world is going to listen to you because you are a 7obel pri:e winner, honored by
3*ford, by ,ambridge, by #arvard. The ordinary people, the common masses are bound to listen to
you.
If you are supporting the society then naturally there is nothing wrong with the society" there is no
need to change it. The problems are not created by the society but by the .anti-social. elements. +nd
who are the anti-social elements( +ll the rebels are anti-social elements. It is these people who
provo$e the masses, steal their souls, ma$e them aware that they also are human beings, not cattle.
These are anti-social elements" they have to be destroyed.
2ither they have to be purchased in some way ... give them a 7obel pri:e, and purchase them" give
them honorary doctorates and purchase them. If they refuse to be purchased then society has all the
ways to condemn them.
Their boo$s will not be published by the great publishers, because those great publications are owned
by the vested interests. Their names will disappear from the newspapers, from the maga:ines, from the
media. They will live almost as if they are not, as if they dont e*ist.
This is a far superior way to destroy somebody than crucifying. +t least when you crucify a person
you give him immense publicity. Two thousand years have passed: -esus is still hanging on the cross.
#e has become almost an eternal advertisement. Wherever you go you will see the cross -- on the
graveyard, on the churches, on the vehicles of the 4ed ,ross &ociety.
7ow this is free publicity for two thousand years! Isabel, you should learn something! 7ot a single
cent has been wasted. -esus was certainly a -ew, not only by birth but by his very spirit. #e managed
his own crucifi*ion, and created publicity which goes on increasing.
It is a very essential thing to understand, that the establishment first tries to persuade you, to bribe
you. When it fails in purchasing and bribing you, then it comes into its true color: then it starts
destroying you. +nd it has learned through the centuries that poisoning a &ocrates is not good. %ou
$illed the man, but you made him immortal" you imprinted his message on the very soul of humanity.
%ou proved foolish -- it was not the right way.
,rucifying -esus was not the way to destroy him. %ou have saved him.
7ow the modern status ;uo, establishment, vested interests, are far more clever. If -esus comes bac$
he should not be afraid that he is going to be crucified again. 7o, this time it is going to be worse: he
will be ignored. To be crucified does not ta$e your dignity, but to be ignored .... 7obody bothers about
you, nobody pays any attention, nobody is for or against you. This is real humiliation that is being
done.
'ut intellectuals are not capable of resisting" they dont have the guts, they cant have, because all that
they have is borrowed. They are easily purchasable, cheap. 'ut they become a very significant
protective wall around the establishment. <eople loo$ towards them with respect. <eople thin$ that if a
7obel pri:e winner is saying something it must be right -- as if by winning the 7obel pri:e one attains
to enlightenment, nirvana!
It is a political game. It is all politics.
3nce in a while they go on giving a 7obel pri:e to a 4ussian scientist, to some scientist whom they
would li$e to get out of 4ussia" his being in 4ussia is dangerous for them. #e is close to finding
something -- or he has found it already -- in which they are far behind.
7ow you see the ways of the politicians( /ive the man a 7obel pri:e -- now you create trouble. The
scientist is not capable of resisting the temptation of accepting the 7obel pri:e, because that is the
worlds greatest honor. It does not happen to everybody" it happens once in a while to one individual in
millions.
7ow, a poor scientist, howsoever great a scientist he may be -- as a man he is a poor man with all the
desires to be famous, to be well $nown. 7ow, the politicians have put him into a dilemma: if he
accepts the 7obel pri:e he goes against the 4ussian establishment because the 4ussian establishment
$nows perfectly well -- politicians $now each other well" nobody $nows them as well as they $now
each other. They spea$ the same language, they wor$ the same strategies.
The 4ussian politicians $now why the 7obel pri:e has been given to this man. 'y giving the 7obel
pri:e a rift has been created between the man and the &oviet government. The &oviet pressure will be:
.4eject the 7obel pri:e. It comes from the capitalist world" it is not an honor, in fact it is an insult.
4eject it, and if you dont reject it then you will be in trouble..
+nd it has happened with many people: either they have been imprisoned ... thats what the politicians
of the other side wanted, that they should be imprisoned so their wor$ is spoiled. They may have been
coming close to something which may have made 4ussia the most powerful nation in the world. They
have disrupted it" they have sabotaged it in a very clever way -- without interfering, without saying a
single world.
3r if the man has a world-wide reputation already -- which scientists generally dont have ... perhaps a
literary person, a poet, a novelist may have. If the person has a world-wide reputation, then from all
capitalist countries all the intellectuals, their institutions, academies and societies will start a great
campaign and movement against the 4ussian government.
7ow, the 4ussian government has only two choices: either to release that man and stop this
campaign .... 'ut they cannot $eep this man any longer in the country" he has become an enemy. +nd
now he is in the hands of the enemies, he can become an informer. #e is dangerous -- he has to be
e*pelled. That too is good for the capitalist world. 3nce the man is e*pelled he is received with great
honor all over the capitalist world" he is made a hero.
If you loo$ into the ways the politicians go on doing things you will be surprised. 'ut they succeed
only with intellectuals, because intellectuals are really not intelligent people. If they were intelligent
then nobody could manipulate them, neither the communist nor the capitalist" nobody would be
capable of manipulating them. It would be impossible" they would see things clearly.
Intelligence is of the soul.
Intellect is of the mind.
!ind is just garbage. !ind is that which has been given to you by others. The whole collection, the
whole jun$yard all $inds of people have been throwing in you -- that is your mind. That mind
continuously suffers from an inferiority comple*, is bound to suffer: it has nothing of its own, it has no
ground underneath its feet.
The mind wants power, prestige.
It can have power through politics, which is the criminals way. If your mind has a criminal tendency
then you will follow the path of politics. <oliticians and criminals are not basically different people.
<oliticians are successful criminals.
,riminals are unsuccessful politicians.
,riminals are poor, pitiable. They had tried but they failed. <oliticians are of the same tribe, with only
one difference: they have succeeded.
+nd in this world success ma$es everything right. What you have done, how you have arrived, what
method and means you have used -- who bothers about it( When you are successful it is enough proof
that you are a man of tremendous capacity. %our success is the proof.
+nd when you have failed, your failure is also a proof that you were han$ering for the moon" you
were just foolish. Try to wal$ on the earth, dont try to fly towards the moon" otherwise you will fall
and get multiple fractures. Thats what poor criminals have got -- multiple fractures.
'ut the mind of the politician and the criminal is the same. Those who are not courageous enough
will go in a way which can lead either to the world of criminals or to the world of politicians. 3f
course, of the hundred people who will wal$ on the path, ninety-nine will go to the world of criminals"
ninety-nine will be in the jails. 3ne percent will also be in jail, but of a different $ind: it is called the
White #ouse.
+ll $inds of blac$ deeds -- naturally you have to call the house the .White #ouse. to hide them.
I have heard: a blac$ man, very old, hair all white, was following a woman, a young girl -- must have
been of the age of his grandchildren -- with such lustful eyes that another old man, his friend, stopped
him and said, .This does not suit you. It was o$ay at one time, but all your hair has become white, and
you are following that girl with such dirty eyes -- everybody is shoc$ed..
9o you $now what the man said( #e said, .%ou will never understand anything. !y hair is white, but
that doesnt mean that my heart has become white: it is still blac$ and it is going to remain blac$. 2ven
if I were dead and this girl passed by my side, I would have opened my eyes and loo$ed with the same
lustful eyes. What has hair to do with it( What $ind of argument are you giving to me, that Tyour hair
is white( 5et my hair be white -- I am not!. 'ut white hair helps you to hide blac$ deeds.
I have always wondered why they call this topmost criminal place in the world the White #ouse.
<erhaps un$nowingly the idea came from their unconscious that everything inside is going to be blac$,
but from the outside you have to $eep a white face, everything clean.
3ne person reaches to the White #ouse, ninety-nine to the blac$ houses.
&o there are people who are not courageous enough to ta$e this ris$ -- ninety-nine percent possibility
of failing, and only one percent possibility of succeeding. They want far surer ground. 4eligion
provides that ground: there is no failure in it.
%ou become religious, you become a great religious leader. If you succeed you become a great saint"
if you dont succeed, still you are a small saint, you dont fail. The smallest saint is still a saint -- the
lowliest priest is still in the same line as the pope. In religion there is no failure. &o, cowardly people
-- who are as much interested in gaining power, who are suffering as much from an inferiority
comple*, who are on a power trip but dont have the guts to follow the criminal path -- find the path of
righteousness, ascetism, morality, prayer.
'y becoming a saint they will also attain to power. 3f course, this power cannot be very effective.
They cannot become +le*ander the /reat, +dolf #itler, -oseph &talin" they cannot have millions of
lives in their hands -- and now such politicians have the whole of humanitys life in their hands. 3f
course these saints cant have that much, but in a certain way, from a different aspect, they are more
powerful because the politicians will come to touch their feet, the presidents will come to bow down
in respect to them.
The politician does everything according to a particular strategy. If just before the elections <resident
4eagan goes to the =atican to pay respects to the ,atholic pope, it is not accidental, it is preplanned.
When 4eagan goes to the =atican and gives his respects to the ,atholic pope, all the ,atholics of
+merica are, without much effort, converted to giving him votes: this is the right man.
+ll the bishops, all the cardinals in +merica will now tell their congregations that 4eagan is our man.
7ow, to persuade so many ,atholics in +merica ... if he had to go from home to home it would have
ta$en eternity. +nd how many stupid things politicians have to do! They have to go on $issing all
$inds of children -- their noses are running and they are $issing them .... The politician has to do it.
This is easier, to go to the pope -- just $iss his hand and millions of ,atholics are on your side. +nd
the pope blesses you: that way he feels far superior to the presidents, prime ministers, $ings, ;ueens.
3f course his power is only airy-fairy, but you enjoy it. It has nothing substantial in it, it is hollow
inside. 'ut it does not matter, because when the presidents and the prime ministers come, the whole
media is there, all the newspapers, all the television stations of the world, all the radio stations are
tal$ing about the pope -- you can feel a certain gratification. 'ut the gratification is of the same desire
-- the will-to-power.
Thats why I go on tal$ing about the political leaders and the religious leaders without ma$ing any
distinction -- because there is no distinction at all, only a superficial distinction. Their psyches are
functioning in the same way.
7either the religious leader nor the politician is interested in the people whom they pretend to lead.
They are interested in being leaders -- and of course the leader cannot be without the led, so it is a
necessity to go on promising the people things. <oliticians promise them things of this world" religious
leaders promise them things of the other world. 'ut do you see any difference in what they are doing(
'oth are promising so that you go on following them, afraid to get lost somewhere else, because if you
lose the path then you will miss the promise.
The promise $eeps you with the crowd -- and promises dont cost anything. %ou can promise
anything. <romises are always for tomorrow, and tomorrow never comes. +nd you are not going to
live here forever.
-ust loo$ at past history. +ll politicians have been promising people things which have not
materiali:ed in thousands of years. Thousands of political leaders have been promising the same
things. #ow blind humanity must be!
The promises have not changed -- that means certainly nothing has been achieved. The same promises
are being given to you and you go on following, hoping.
#ope is the greatest drug that man has invented.
&trange, that religious people are against drugs" politicians are also against drugs. <oliticians ma$e
laws against drugs, religious people create hell and punishment against drugs.
Why are they so afraid of drugs(
It needs a deep search, investigation. They are afraid of drugs because drugs are competitors to them.
5&9 can give you hallucinations of heaven. Thats the trouble. 7o religion can afford to allow people
to use 5&9. 5&9 is not dangerous" ta$en in the right proportions, under medical care, it can be
tremendously helpful in religious growth.
'ut religions are not ready to allow it for the simple reason that if 5&9 can give you a beautiful
e*perience -- hallucinatory, but still it is an e*perience and tremendously satisfying, fulfilling -- then
just promises will loo$ li$e dry bones without any juice in them. 3nly idiots perhaps may continue to
chew the dry bones.
9ogs do that. They chew dry bones and enjoy very much, not $nowing what is happening. When they
chew dry bones those dry bones hurt their mouths and their mouths start bleeding. The more they
chew, the more bleeding happens. +nd blood goes through their throat and they thin$ -- logically
enough -- that the blood is coming from the bone. 7ow, how to e*plain to a dog that, .it is your own
blood" the bone is absolutely dry..
&o perhaps a few idiots may still continue to go to the churches, but intelligent people will stop.
4ather, when they feel the urge to have a beautiful hallucination, whenever they want to live in
another world, they will not wait for death to come: they will go to a medical clinic and have a two,
three-day session with 5&9, and enjoy everything that their religious leaders have been telling them
that they will get after death.
9rugs are dangerous to religions for the simple reason that they are their greatest competitors. +nd
even better drugs can be invented, but religions continuously cripple the research.
<oliticians are against drugs, because if people start ta$ing drugs then who cares about your five-year
plans( Who cares about the classless society that will come in the future to your grandchildren( Who
cares about the revolution, democracy, freedom of speech(
%ou dont have even the freedom to hallucinate!
This is absolutely innocent because only you are doing it, nobody else is involved. 7o, you dont have
the freedom to hallucinate. 4educed to the basics, thats what drug prohibition means, that you dont
have the freedom to hallucinate. The government is in control of your dreams. 9rugs can give you
dreams, and properly used, can help you to see many things in yourself which in psychoanalysis will
ta$e three years, four years" then too it is not certain that you will be able to see.
It is a well-$nown fact that scientists have discovered something li$e truth serum, but it is prevented
from being used, because if something li$e truth serum is possible .... %ou ta$e an injection of truth
serum and then suddenly you can see all your falsities, your hypocrisies, your bogus personality ... and
certainly if anything can ma$e you aware of truth, it is bound to ma$e you aware of all that is false:
that is going to happen simultaneously. The moment you see the truth you see the false too.
7ow, the whole of politics depends on falsities.
,ommunism goes on tal$ing about e;uality of people -- an utter untruth.
<eople are not e;ual, people are uni;ue.
3nce you see the truth, that people are uni;ue, how can they be e;ual( That does not mean that
somebody is inferior to you and somebody is superior to you. %ou are not e;ual, you are not une;ual
either. %ou are simply different.
%ou dont compare things that are different. %ou dont say that the house and the tree are e;ual. If you
say that, you will be thought insane, because a house is a house and a tree is a tree" they have different
functions. Their individualities are different. %ou dont compare them. %ou cannot say that the house is
superior to the tree, or the tree is superior to the house. In fact, the category of comparison is
inapplicable.
2ach individual is so uni;ue. When you $now the truth of it you cannot be a communist.
,ommunism will never allow anything that ma$es you aware of the truth.
In the non-communist countries, there are different lies, different falsities. )or e*ample, freedom of
e*pression: it e*ists nowhere" it is only written in constitutions.
3nce I was in a court in +hmedabad in India, for absolutely ungrounded complaints against me -- I
was tal$ing to a big rally of at least twenty thousand people who had gathered to listen to me -- for the
simple reason that !orarji 9esai was the chief minister of /ujarat at that time, and he wanted me to
be prohibited from entering /ujarat.
#e could not convince his own assembly and cabinet that by preventing a person ... they said, .%ou
will be creating trouble for yourself and for the cabinet. What reasons have you got( What has he done
against /ujarat( What crime has he committed that you can prevent him from coming to /ujarat( +nd
it goes against the constitution, because the Indian constitution declares it as one of the basic rights
that in India, every citi:en of India has the right of movement. 7ow, you are preventing him from
moving into /ujarat: you have to give some solid reasons" otherwise you will be in trouble..
+nd the moment I heard I said, .5et their parliament decide -- I will be there already in /ujarat.. &o I
was addressing the people, and while addressing them I mentioned a small story.
In !ahatma /andhis ashram they used to read the story of 4ama, the #indu incarnation of /od,
every day. 2ach evening +charya =inoba 'have would read the story of 4ama, and /andhi and all the
followers -- and there were not many, just twenty, thirty people -- would listen to the story.
There comes a moment when 4amas wife, &ita, is stolen by his enemy, 4amana. &he is in difficulty:
#ow to ma$e 4ama $now by what path 4amana has ta$en her( &he must have been an intelligent
woman" she tried one strategy -- she started dropping her ornaments. +nd Indian women, and
particularly a ;ueen, have so many ornaments" they weigh much more than she herself does.
&he started dropping her ornaments one by one on the path so 4ama would $now e*actly where she
had been ta$en. +nd 4ama found them but he could not recogni:e whether they were &itas ornaments
or somebody elses.
#is brother, 5a$shmana, was with him. 5a$shmana said, .%ou seem to be pu::led. What is the
matter(.
#e said, .I cannot recogni:e them because I loved her so much that whenever she was with me I
loo$ed at her, I never loo$ed at her ornaments. I cannot recogni:e them -- perhaps you can. -ust loo$
at the ornaments: if they are hers then we are on the right path..
5a$shmana said, .)orgive me, because I can only recogni:e the ornaments that she used to wear on
her feet.. Indian women wear ornaments on their feet, even on their toes. #e recogni:ed them. #e
said, .These are her ornaments..
+t this point of the story !ahatma gandhi said, .This is strange! I can understand 4ama loved the
woman so much he did not recogni:e her ornaments. 'ut what about 5a$shmana( -- he was living
with them for years. +head was 4ama -- because they had been e*pelled from their $ingdom for
fourteen years to live in the forest .... so ahead was 4ama, in the middle was &ita, behind was
5a$shmana, just to guard. It is strange that he could not recogni:e any other ornament..
=inoba, who was a celibate for his whole life -- now he is dead -- gave an e*planation which appealed
to /andhi very much, so much so that just before this e*planation, =inoba was $nown only as =inoba
'have" but because of this e*planation /andhi gave him the title of acharya, a master.
The e*planation was that 5a$shmana never loo$ed at any other part of &itas body. #e was a celibate
and to loo$ at anybodys wife is not right for a celibate. 'ut because he used to touch her feet every
morning, he had to see the ornaments on her feet, just out of necessity. What could he do( -- he had to
touch her feet every morning. The elder brothers wife is just li$e a mother. &he has to be respected,
and the first thing in the morning was to touch her feet" so thats why he could recogni:e the
ornaments of the feet only.
This is an outlandish e*planation, nowhere ever given before. The story is five thousand years old,
and there have been so many commentaries on it, but nobody had even as$ed the ;uestion and nobody
had answered it. /andhi was immensely impressed, and said, .=inoba is an acharya -- just this simple
e*planation shows his insight into human psychology..
Tal$ing to the masses in the rally I said, .This e*planation does not show anything about 5a$shmana,
it shows something about =inoba 'have. It is not 5a$shmanas e*planation" obviously, it is =inoba
'haves e*planation, and it shows his mind. #e is afraid to loo$ at womens faces, or the other parts of
their bodies. It is his fear that he is projecting on 5a$shmana.
.+nd if his e*planation is true then 5a$shmana falls in my eyes completely. If &ita was just li$e a
mother to him, still was he afraid to loo$ at her face( 3ne has to be afraid of loo$ing at ones own
mother( That means he must have been dreaming se*ual dreams about &ita, fantasi:ing about her.
.This e*planation is insulting to 5a$shmana, and I reject it as an e*planation. !y feeling is that &ita
was so beautiful -- if she was so beautiful for her husband, what to say about others( If the husband
himself was so hypnoti:ed by her beauty that he never saw her ornaments, what to say of poor
5a$shmana( #e must have been hypnoti:ed even more!
.+ husband sooner or later gets fed up. In fact a husband stops loo$ing at his wifes face, her body: he
loo$s at everything in the room e*cept his wife. If you en;uire into couples you can be convinced of
what I am saying. -ust as$ any husband, T#ow long has it been since you loo$ed directly into your
wifes eyes, her face( -- and he will start scratching his head. TIt is difficult" perhaps since the
honeymoon I have not loo$ed at her.
.'ut 5a$shmana .... +nd it is just one side, that your elder brothers wife is e;ual to your mother. The
other side is that the younger brother of a womans husband is $nown in #indi as devar. 9evar means
her second husband. In case the husband dies he has the first right to marry her. =ar means husband"
devar means second husband.
.-ust as there are presidents and vice-presidents -- in case the president dies the vice-president
becomes the acting president -- devar is simply a ready-made husband in case of emergency..
+ case was put against me, that I had hurt the religious feelings of the #indus. In the court there were
many problems. The first was that I was as$ed to ta$e the oath in the name of /od, or in the name of
the constitution of India, that I would spea$ only the truth.
I said, .'efore I ta$e the oath I would li$e to as$ you: What about freedom of speech( The oath goes
against freedom of speech. %ou are binding me. %ou are telling me I can spea$ only the truth" then
why in the constitution do you tal$ about freedom of speech( %ou should have said, T%ou are free to
spea$ only the truth. )reedom of speech has no boundaries to it.
.#ow can I go against the constitution( I can ta$e the oath that I will follow the constitution, use
freedom of speech, but I cannot say truth or untruth, because that divides freedom of speech in two
parts..
The magistrate said, .This is a little difficult. I have been a magistrate for twenty years, I have been
studying the constitution in every possible way, all its aspects, but that this oath is against freedom of
speech never occurred to me..
I said, .%ou dont $now what freedom of speech is. 'ut,. I said, .I dont want to change the subject, so
just to continue I will ta$e the oath. 'ut remember, you can believe in my oath, but you cannot believe
in my other statements. 3n what grounds do you ma$e the distinction( If I am a person who lies, I can
lie when I am ta$ing the oath. Who prevents me(
.%ou $now perfectly well that everybody ta$es the oath here and everybody is not spea$ing the truth.
'oth the parties fighting in a case ta$e the oath" certainly both the parties are not spea$ing the truth. +t
least one party certainly is not spea$ing the truth" perhaps both are not spea$ing the truth. 'ut both
spea$ing the truth is not possible" otherwise how are you going to ma$e the judgment(
.%ou accept my oath -- on what grounds( 9o you $now me, that I spea$ the truth( That I will ta$e the
oath and will follow it( What gives you that guarantee( I will remain the same person as I was
afterwards, so it ma$es no difference to me. I can ta$e the oath just so that we can proceed, because
there are so many problems..
The judge said, .<roblems( )or you or for me(.
I said, .%ou have summoned me to the court. -- and there were thousands of people who had come"
they were in the court and outside the court. +nd that man who had put the case against me -- a #indu
political leader, a #indu chauvinist -- became afraid seeing so many people sympathetic towards me.
I said to the judge, .5oo$: first, I was simply ;uoting a statement of !ahatma /andhi, and an
e*planation of =inoba 'have. If anybody has hurt the feelings of #indus, they should put cases
against !ahatma /andhi and =inoba 'have. I was just ;uoting them, without inverted commas.
.It was not my e*planation. In fact I was offended by the e*planation that =inoba has given. =inobas
e*planation means that he thin$s that 5a$shmana has some se*ual interest in &ita. That is purely his
e*planation. &aid in plain words, he is afraid to loo$ at &itas face. Why( If he is not se*ually
interested he should not be afraid. =inoba is trying to ma$e an e*planation which is insulting.
.I am saying that &ita was so beautiful -- anybody would have been interested. I would have been
interested. %ou would have been interested. 'eauty is not something that one should not be interested
in. It is one of the gifts of nature" it has to be adored. +nd my feeling is he was touching her feet every
day because &ita was so beautiful" he was adoring her.
.+nd you $now the meaning of devar -- that he was the second husband. 7ow, if somebody is hurt,
then he should put a case against the whole #indu tradition, that this tradition is in a mess. 3n the one
hand you say treat your brothers wife as your mother -- o$ay, treat her as your mother. 'ut when the
brother dies, then( -- treat your mother as your wife!
.+nd this man who has complained against me and forced me to come from ,alcutta to here,
unnecessarily wasting my time -- is he the only #indu in +hmedabad( These thousands of people are
here -- these are all #indus. %ou as$ those whose feelings are hurt to raise their hands. +nd if you
dont as$ then I am going to as$..
&o the magistrate had to as$. 7ot a single hand was raised. I said, .7ow you can see: nobodys
feelings are hurt. This man is a #indu chauvinist..
+t that time the man became afraid and he told the magistrate, .I want police protection, because after
the court this crowd can $ill me..
I as$ed the magistrate, .9o you want any more argument that nobodys feelings are hurt( This man is
afraid of #indus, that they will $ill him. They should $ill me -- I should as$ for the protection of the
court because I have hurt the feelings of #indus, he hasnt. Why should he be afraid(
.+nd why should I have been called to the court( Why is =inoba 'have not being called( 3f course,
/andhi is dead -- you cannot summon him, but he is not needed anyway. =inoba is alive -- why has he
not been called to the court( -ust because he belongs to the party who rules the country( 'ecause he is
a guru to all the politicians of the country, you didnt have the guts to summon him(
.#e was needed to answer whether I am ;uoting right or wrong. If he says that I am ;uoting wrong,
then certainly I have to be answerable for it. +nd my advocate had as$ed you to summon =inoba
because it is most important and essential, what he says. &till you did not summon =inoba. +nd still
you go on saying that the courts are impartial(
.-ust loo$ at the fact: I was simply ;uoting him. It was the courts duty to as$ the man whether I am
;uoting him rightly or wrongly. %ou should have called him here" we could have argued in front of
you and made it clear to =inoba that he is se*ually obsessed and he is projecting his se*ual obsession
on poor 5a$shmana.
.I was protecting 5a$shmana. =inoba should put a case against me. +nd this man is simply an idiot:
he does not understand even what I was saying. #e does not $now what it means. 'ut =inoba is not
called. +nd,. I said, .I will not appear again in the court unless =inoba is called..
The judge had no guts -- because the prime minister goes to =inoba, the cabinet ministers go to
=inoba, the president goes to =inoba. To call =inoba to the court would incur anger from all sides. The
judge dismissed the case. #e could not do anything else -- he simply dismissed the case.
<olitics has power. =inoba was a religious leader, but through the politicians he has power. +lthough
that power is not very substantial, still the power is there.
The religious leader or the political leader -- both are in the same boat, helping each other. The
politician protects the religious leader, the religious leader protects the politician. #e protects him
through peoples religious feelings, and the politician protects the religious leader by his power. It is a
mutual understanding. #ence I dont ma$e any difference between the two. To me, the political leader
is more criminal-minded" hence is ready to ta$e the ris$.
The religious leader is a coward, but cunning" through cunningness he manages to rise even higher
than the political leader" at least in the abstract sense he is higher than the political leader.
'ut the desire of both is the same: to rule, to have control over millions of people.
To me, a man who does not suffer from an inferiority comple* has no need even to lead a single man,
to be powerful over even a single man. &uch a man, if he is a husband, will not have any power over
his wife. #e will be just a friend, not a husband.
The word husband is ugly. It comes from husbandry: just as the farmer sows seeds in the ground, the
husband does husbandry with the wife, he sows seeds. The woman is just li$e the earth and the
husband is the possessor of the earth, the owner. The word husband is ugly, it should be changed. The
whole idea is very primitive, crude.
The wife is not ta$en as a human being but as earth which you can sell. +nd it has been the case in the
past: in many cultures wives were sold, purchased. In ,hina you could have $illed your wife -- it was
not a crime because she was your possession. If you destroy your chair it is nobodys business" the
chair was your possession -- so was your wife.
-ust because I mentioned =inoba 'have I remember ... I had met him many times. 3ne time he was
giving his daily discourse in his ashram -- and what ashrams these people had! Twelve widows, that
was his ashram. +nd those widows were listening to his great discourse.
I just happened to pass from Wardha to 7agpur and his ashram was just outside the Wardha city, by
the side of a river, <avanar" hence the name of his ashram, <aramdham <avanar. The friend who was
driving me said, .This is the time =inobas discourse starts. Would you li$e ...(.
I said, .There is no harm,. so we went and sat. #e had already started and he was telling an
upanishadic story. The story was about a very famous upanishadic seer. #is name was 4ai$va,
!aharishi 4ai$va, but he was better $nown as /adivan 4ai$va because he always traveled in a
bulloc$ cart. /adivan means one who drives the bulloc$ cart.
'ut in those days to have a beautiful bulloc$ cart was something very special, it was not ordinary.
2ven today in Indian villages to have a beautiful bulloc$ cart is to have a great possession. /adivan
4ai$va went to a mar$et where girls were being sold. It was a mar$et to purchase slaves -- men,
women.
7ow, in the first place what is a maharishi doing in a mar$et where slaves are being sold( =inoba did
not bother about that. There was one very beautiful girl, and when the auction began on the girl,
!aharishi 4ai$va started raising the price. 'ut it was difficult because the $ing of the country was
also present and he was also interested in the girl, and he was doubling the price. 7ow, /adivan
4ai$va was a rich maharishi, but not to be compared with the $ing. )inally the $ing purchased the girl
at a very high price. 4ai$va was very angry.
+fter ten years .... this is the whole story that I am telling. =inoba did not tell this part of the story, of
the slave mar$et, 4ai$vas competition with the $ing, his defeat, the girl being purchased by the $ing.
+ll this part was left out.
=inoba began praising 4ai$va, his wisdom, and started the story ten years after this incident: The $ing
was becoming old and wanted somebody to guide him in the spiritual life, so he went to /adivan
4ai$va with many chariots full of gold, money, valuable clothes. #e offered everything to 4ai$va,
touched his feet, and 4ai$va said -- he used the word .sudra. for him.
.&udra. is the worst you can say to a man. It is difficult to translate in 2nglish, so I will say, .%ou
son-of-a-bitch! %ou thin$ that by all this money you can purchase spiritual guidance( I spit on all your
money -- ta$e it bac$!.
This was the main emphasis in =inobas story, and he said, .These were the people who could throw
all those valuable presents and say directly -- even to the $ing -- T%ou are a sudra, the worst $ind of
human being: untouchable. The very idea in your mind, that by money you can purchase spiritual
guidance, ma$es you untouchable. -ust ta$e all this rubbish from here and dont come bac$ to me..
&o =inoba tal$ed much about it, that this was the courage of the seers of India, that they could even
insult a great $ing without being afraid. I was very pu::led, because those twelve widows were
listening in great silence as if some great thing was being said.
I said, .=inoba, you have not told the whole story. %ou have left out two portions, first in the middle
of the story -- which is very important in order to understand in what conte*t this man 4ai$va was
spea$ing -- and you have left out the end part also .... 'ecause the $ing went home and he as$ed his
prime minister what to do: 4ai$va has refused, and he was very angry.
The prime minister said, .I $new it was going to happen. %ou must have forgotten: ten years before
you had, in an auction, defeated 4ai$va" now if you want him to guide you, you ta$e that woman
rather than money. 3ffer the woman to the man. Touch his feet, as$ his forgiveness, and he will guide
you .....
#e too$ the woman, and 4ai$va received him with great joy, accepted him as a disciple and guided
him into spirituality.
I said, .These two parts you have dropped from the story. %ou are cheating these twelve widows.
7ow, what authority have you got to change the story( Who are you( 3n what grounds did you drop
those two parts( -- because without those two parts the story ta$es a totally different color. It seems as
if 4ai$va is so high that money does not matter to him, but the reality is that it is not a ;uestion of
money. The woman that was ta$en from his hands matters too much to him.
.+nd this man who carries for ten years a revengeful attitude, and for ten years is still lusting for the
woman -- what spiritual guidance can he give(. I as$ed him, .%ou tell me what spiritual guidance this
man can give -- and why you dropped these two parts from the story..
+nd since that time =inoba remained angry with me. #e said, .The time is over, so if you want to
discuss you will have to come to my ....
I said, .I dont want to discuss, because there is nothing to discuss" I simply wanted to ma$e the story
complete -- and I have made it complete and all the widows have understood. %ou have understood.
What argument( I have nothing to do with all these $inds of rogues, this /adivan 4ai$va. What do I
have to do with this man( I wanted simply to ma$e the story complete, just out of a sense of
appropriateness" otherwise I am not interested..
'ut this $ind of thing is not e*pected of a man of integrity. This is simply cheating.
These are .religious. people. Indira used to go for spiritual guidance to =inoba 'have. I told Indira
/andhi -- I had told her this story -- .This is spiritual guidance( %ou are also a widow" when you are
no longer a prime minister go into his ashram..
'ut =inoba died before Indira, and then she died, so the chance never came" otherwise she would
have ended up in =inoba 'haves ashram of widows.
+nd I as$ed her: .What do you say( Is this a man who has some sense of being truthful( +nd if
4ai$va could not give guidance, I say to you this =inoba also cannot give you any guidance..
!isguidance perhaps ....
We have never heard what happened to the $ing, what spiritual growth he obtained" the Indian
spiritual history remembers nothing of the $ing. 'ut it is natural, because whatever advice this idiot
must have given could not be called spiritual -- this man was not spiritual.
'ut this is how religious leaders and political leaders .... They are all made of the same stuff, the same
holy cow-dung. I dont see any difference, e*cept superficial differences about which there is no need
to tal$.
'253=29 3&#3,
W3659 %36 <52+&2 ,3!!27T 37 T#2 92+T# <27+5T%(

The death penalty is a degrading proof of mans inhumanity to man. It shows that man is still living in
the barbarous age. ,ivili:ation still remains an idea -- it has not become a reality.
The death penalty is so idiotic that you will have to loo$ from all the aspects to understand why such
an idiotic thing has continued in all the civili:ations, cultures, nations. 2ven in a few countries where
it was dropped it has been adopted again. In a few other countries where it has been dropped, it has
been replaced by life imprisonment -- which is worse than the death penalty itself. It is better to die in
a single moment than to go on dying slowly for fifty years, si*ty years.
,hanging from the death penalty to a life sentence is going not towards civili:ation, it is going still
deeper into barbarous, inhuman dar$ness, unconsciousness.
The first thing to remember is that the death penalty is not really a punishment. If you cannot give life
as a reward, you cannot give death as a penalty. This is a simple logic, there cannot be two opinions
about it. If you cannot give life to people, what right have you to ta$e their life(
I am reminded of a true story. It happened that two criminals were in search of a treasure that was
hidden in a castle. !any people had tried but had not found the way" somehow these criminals
stumbled upon the treasure. The treasure was so vast that one of the two was not willing to divide it.
The only way was to $ill the other, but in $illing the other he might get caught. There was danger, and
now he could not ta$e any ris$ because the whole treasure was in his hands.
#e managed a very cunning way. #e disappeared and spread the rumor that he had been murdered,
and he left all the evidence that would prove that his friend was the murderer. The friend was caught
with all the proofs: his revolver was there" two bullets were missing, and his fingerprints were on the
revolver. #is hand$erchief with his name embroidered on it had fallen .... +nd only he $new the place
where the friend was hiding in the jungles against the police, because they had done other crimes also,
and there was a price on both of them to be caught alive or dead.
#e could not prove his innocence" there was no way -- everything went against him. #e was given the
death penalty. #e $new he had not murdered his friend" he $new that this whole thing was a plot. #is
friend was not dead" it was just to $eep the whole treasure, that the friend had removed him in a legal
way, out of the way.
'ut he escaped from the prison before he was e*ecuted. +fter twelve years he came into the court,
dragging the dead body of a very famous politician, a rich man of the city, and he told the court -- it
was the same judge -- .I have murdered this man, and I dare you to punish me. 'ut first let me tell you
the whole story. I am the man who twelve years ago you had sentenced to death. I escaped from the
prison because I was absolutely innocent, but I had no proof..
In fact innocence has never any proof. <roofs are for the crime or against the crime, but innocence has
no proof.
#e said, .7ow I have murdered the man you charged me twelve years ago for having murdered -- this
is the man. If your first judgment was right then you cannot punish me again for the same murder
because that man was murdered twelve years ago. +nd if your first judgment was not right, how can
you be sure that your second judgment is going to be right(.
,an you punish a man for murdering the same man twice(
It is really very difficult to decide.
#e said, .The only crime I have committed is escaping from the jail, but can you call it a crime(
When you punish an innocent man with death, who is the criminal -- you or me(
.+nd this man plotted the whole thing" he managed all those proofs because he had my revolver, he
had my hand$erchief. #e managed all those proofs, escaped from there with the treasure that we had
both found, became a rich man, famous. #e changed his name, his personality, shaved off his beard,
changed his hair-do, and became respectable" he opened a hospital, a school, made a temple. +nd this
is the man who managed the plot to show he had been murdered.
.In that way he was saved from the punishment for other crimes for which the police were searching
for him" now he has been murdered -- so that file is closed. #e $illed two birds by one stone: he $illed
me, not directly, but through a legal procedure. #e used all you idiots to $ill me, so that he would
become the whole owner of the treasure -- and he did. 'y the same strategy he removed all crimes
against him. The file was closed, the man was dead -- of course, his body was not found. The murderer
had been very clever, because he was a $nown criminal..
The story has many implications. The man as$ed, .If I was sentenced to death and I had not escaped
and was e*ecuted, what would have been the case now( If it had come to be $nown that the man
thought to be murdered is alive, would you be able to give me my life bac$( If you cannot give my life
bac$, what right have you to ta$e it away(.
It is said the judge resigned, apologi:ed to the man and said, .<erhaps I have done many crimes in my
life..
+ strange thing all over the world is that unless you are proved innocent, you are guilty. This goes
against all humanitarian ideals, democracy, freedom, respect for individuality" it goes against all. The
rule should be: unless you are proved guilty you are innocent. %es, it is said in words, but in reality the
case is just the opposite.
)or e*ample, this city, 4ajneeshpuram, is, in the opinion of the attorney general of 3regon, illegal. It
is just an opinion. #e is not a judge" he has to go before the court to prove it. 6nless he proves that the
city is guilty of being illegal, the city is legal, we are innocent. 6ntil guilt is proved, innocence needs
no proof. 'ut this is not the case.
+lthough +merica goes on claiming to be the greatest democracy in the world, it is sheer bullshit. The
&upreme ,ourt of +merica goes on declaring that unless a person is proved guilty, he is innocent.
Innocence needs no proof" otherwise it would be impossible for anybody to live. If everybody has to
prove his innocence" otherwise he is a guilty man and he should be thrown into jail because he cannot
prove his innocence ....
#ow do you prove your innocence( Innocence is not an act, it leaves no traces behind, no evidence.
&o the &upreme ,ourt says, .This is our standpoint: 6nless a man is proved guilty, he is innocent..
'ut this is only said, because our city is already being regarded by the state government, by the federal
government, as illegal -- without it having been proved before a court.
The case is still in the court. The court is theirs, but they cannot wait even for the court to decide. The
federal government has stopped giving the money that was due to the city" not only that, the federal
government has as$ed that the money that they have given for the past two years should be returned.
)or two years the city was legal. +nd what support have they given( -- two hundred and si*ty-five
dollars!
I would li$e the mayor of your city to return the money with interest. &uch a poor government, giving
such a great support to the city, certainly needs at least ban$-rate interest on the great sum of two
hundred and si*ty-five dollars.
These nuts thin$ they are democratic.
The state government has stopped giving their share. The attorney general has been forcing the police
authorities to declare our citys police also illegal. This is strange. %ou have not proved us guilty, you
cannot prove us guilty" in fact your own court has incorporated the city with all legalities fulfilled. )or
two years your governments -- state and federal both -- have been accepting the city, training the
police, having its police department in the city. %ou arrange the elections for the mayor, for the
council.
2verything proves that the city is legal. -ust one man who wants to rise in political power, who wants
to become the ne*t governor, is in need of us. Without our support in 3regon nobody can become the
governor. 'ut our support is a strange $ind of support: anybody who wants to win an election has to be
against us. -ust being against us is enough to gain the support of all the bigots, of all the ,hristians, of
all the orthodo*, conventional people, of all those who thin$ that 3regon is their property. -ust to be
against us ....
Without proving in a court -- and even if you prove in one court that does not mean that you have
proved it. We can appeal. The case will not be decided for at least twenty to thirty years -- not before
that. It will have to go up to the &upreme ,ourt of the 6nited &tates.
We are not going to be humiliated in any way. +nd when the law is in our favor, the whole democratic
concept is behind us, all the values that democracy cherishes are in our support, there is no reason at
all .... 'ut they have started accepting us as illegal.
This is how man goes on saying one thing and goes on doing just its opposite. #e tal$s about being
civili:ed, cultured -- he is not civili:ed, not cultured. The death penalty is a proof enough.
This is the rule of a barbarous society: +n eye for an eye, and a head for a head. If somebody cuts off
one of your hands, then in a barbarous society, this is a simple law: one of his hands should be cut off.
The same has been carried down the ages. The death penalty is e*actly the same law: +n eye for an
eye. If a man is thought to have murdered somebody, then he should be murdered. 'ut it is strange: if
$illing somebody is a crime, then how can you remove crime from society by committing the same
crime again( There was one man murdered" now there are two men murdered. +nd it is not certain that
this man murdered that man, because to prove a murder is not an easy thing.
If murder is wrong, then whether it is committed by the man or by the society and its court, ma$es no
difference.
8illing certainly is a crime.
The death penalty is a crime committed by the society against a single individual, who is helpless.
I cannot call it a penalty, it is a crime.
+nd you can understand why it is committed: it is a revenge. &ociety is ta$ing revenge because the
man did not follow the rules of the society" the society is ready to $ill him. 'ut nobody bothers that
when somebody murders, it shows that man is psychologically sic$. 4ather than sending him to
imprisonment or to be e*ecuted, he should be sent into a nursing home where he can be ta$en care of
-- physically, psychologically, spiritually. #e is sic$. #e needs all the compassion of the society" there
is no ;uestion of penalty, punishment.
%es, it is true, one man is murdered" but we cannot do anything about it. 'y murdering this man do
you thin$ the other will come bac$ to life( If that were possible, I would be all in support of this man
being removed -- he is not worth being part of the society -- and the other should be revived.
'ut that does not happen. The other is gone forever" there is no way to revive him. %es, you can do
one thing, you can $ill this man too. %ou are trying to wash blood with blood, mud with mud. %ou are
not aware of what has happened in history in many cases.
Three hundred years ago, in many cultures the madman was thought to be pretending. In many other
cultures he was thought to be possessed by ghosts. In other cultures he was thought to be mad, but
treatable by punishment. +nd these were the three ways mad people were ta$en care of.
They were treated by beatings -- strange treatment! -- and by ta$ing their blood out. 7ow you give
blood transfusions" they used to do just the opposite -- they used to ta$e the blood out of the man. It
was thought that he had too much energy. 7aturally when his blood was ta$en out he became wea$" he
started showing signs of wea$ness because so much blood was ta$en out, and it was thought they had
cured him of his madness.
'y beating a man, naturally once in a while it used to happen that the man came to his senses. It is
almost as if a man is asleep and you start beating him and he wa$es up. + madman has fallen out of
his conscious mind. If you beat him too hard, once in a while it may happen that he wa$es up into his
consciousness again. That became a proof that beating is the right treatment. 'ut is used to happen
only once in a while" ninety-nine percent of the cases were unnecessarily beaten. 'ut that one
e*ception was the rule.
It was thought that he was possessed by spirits, ghosts" then too beat him, because if he is possessed
by ghosts the beating will reach the ghost, not him. %ou are not beating him, you are really beating the
ghosts who are possessing him, and because of the beating they will escape. +nd once in a while, but
just once in a while, that is one percent, no more than that ....
I have been in one place -- it was very famous for mad people. #undreds of mad people were brought
to that place. It was on the ban$ of a river, a temple, and the priest must have been a butcher for at
least a few hundred lives. #e loo$ed li$e a butcher and he gave a good beating. The mad people were
chained, given a good beating, no food, and very strong la*atives. +nd I have seen that once in a while
a person came to his senses.
&trong la*atives for a few days with no food cleaned his inner system. 'eatings brought him bac$ a
little consciousness. 7o food, hunger -- a hungry man cannot afford to be mad because his body is in
such torture. To be mad you need a little bit of comfort in your life situation.
%ou can see it: the more comfortable a society, the more lu*urious, affluent a culture, the more people
go mad. The more poor a society -- starving, hungry -- the less people go mad. !adness needs, in the
first place, a mind. 'ut a hungry person has no nourishment for the mind. #e is undernourished: his
mind is not in a situation to go nuts. )or that the mind needs more energy than ordinarily is involved in
life.
!adness is a rich mans disease. The poor man cannot afford it.
&o when you $eep a person hungry and give him la*atives, it cleanses his inner system, ma$es him so
hungry that he becomes bodily-oriented. #e forgets the mind, the ;uestion is the body. #e is no longer
interested in mind and mind games.
!adness is a mind game.
&o once in a while I have seen people being cured there, but that one percent cured would spread the
rumor all around, and hundreds of people were coming there. The temple became very rich. I had gone
there many times to see it but only once did I meet a man who had been cured" others went bac$ to
their homes just beaten, hungry, starved, more sic$, more wea$. !any died through that priests
treatment.
'ut in India if the treatment is being given in a temple, a sacred place, by the priest, it is not a crime if
you die" in fact you are fortunate that you are dying in a sacred place. %ou will be born on a higher
level of consciousness" so it is not a crime.
'ut I spo$e against the man wherever I went and I said, .This is absolutely criminal. What authority
has he or what medical ;ualifications has he( Is he a psychiatrist, physiologist( -- he is only a priest..
'ut priests have been treating mad people for centuries, in the same way, all over the world.
7ow we $now that a mad person cannot be treated this way. !ad people were put into prison, in
isolated cells. &till that is happening around the world because we dont $now what to do. -ust to hide
our ignorance we put the mad person into jail, so we can forget about him" at least we can go on
ignoring that he e*ists.
In my town one of my friends uncles was mad. They were rich people. I used to go in their house
often, but even I became aware only after years that one of his uncles was $ept in an underground
basement, chained.
I said, .Why(.
They said, .#e is mad. There were only two ways: either we $eep him in our own house, chained ....
+nd of course we cannot $eep him chained in the house" otherwise people will be coming and
everybody will feel worried and concerned. +nd his children, his wife, watching their father, their
husband .... +nd it is against our familys reputation to send him to prison, so we found this way: we
have imprisoned him underground. #is food is being ta$en to him by a servant" otherwise nobody
goes to see him, nobody goes to meet him..
I persuaded my friend, .I would li$e to meet your uncle..
#e said, .'ut I cannot come with you -- he is a dangerous man, he is mad! +lthough he is chained he
can do anything..
I said, .#e can at the most $ill me. %ou just remain behind me so if I am $illed you escape, but I
would li$e to go..
'ecause I insisted, he managed to get the $ey from the servant who used to ta$e the food. In thirty
years I was the first person from the outside world, other than the servant, who had met him" and that
man may have been mad -- I cannot say -- but now he was not mad. 'ut nobody was ready to listen to
him because all mad people say, .We are not mad..
&o when he said this to the servant, .Tell my family that I am not mad,. the servant simply laughed.
#e even told the family but nobody too$ any note of it.
When I saw the man, I sat with him, I tal$ed with him. #e was as sane as anybody else in the world --
perhaps a little more, because he said one thing to me: .'eing here for thirty years has been a
tremendous e*perience. In fact I feel fortunate that I am out of your mad world. They thin$ I am mad
-- let them thin$ that, there is no harm -- but in fact I am fortunate that I am out of your mad world.
What do you thin$(. he said to me.
I said, .%ou are absolutely right. The world outside is far madder than when you left it thirty years
before. In thirty years there has been great evolution in everything -- in madness too. %ou stop saying
to people that you are not mad" otherwise they will ta$e you out. %ou are living a perfectly beautiful
life. %ou have enough space to wal$ .....
#e said, .Thats the only e*ercise I can do here -- wal$ing..
+nd I started to teach him vipassana. I said, .%ou are in such perfect conditions to become a buddha:
no worries, no botherations, no disturbances. %ou are really blessed..
+nd he started practicing vipassana. I told him, .%ou can practice it sitting, you can practice it
wal$ing. -- and he was my first disciple as far as vipassana is concerned. +nd you will be surprised
that he died a sannyasin -- died in the basement.
'ut the last time I had gone to my village, I went to see him. #e said, .Im ready" now you initiate me.
!y days are numbered, and I would li$e to die as your sannyasin. Im your disciple" for twenty years
you have been my master and whatever you had promised is fulfilled..
+nd you could see from his face, from his eyes, that he was not the same person -- a total
transformation, a mutation ....
!ad people need methods of meditation so that they can come out of their madness.
The criminals need psychological help, spiritual support.
They are really deep-down sic$, and you are punishing sic$ people. It is not their fault. If somebody
murders, that means he has carried a tendency to murder in him for a long time. It is not that
somewhere, out of nowhere, suddenly you murder somebody.
In one of the e*istential novels there is a story: a man is caught -- in fact it is not right to say .caught.
because he never tried to escape. #e $illed a stranger who was sitting on the beach. #e came from
behind and $illed him with a dagger" the man died on the spot. The man was absolutely a stranger" the
murderer had never seen his face even, because he $illed him from the bac$. 2ven after the murder he
had not seen his face" he had no idea whom he had murdered.
It was a very strange case -- e*istentialism has been of great help in bringing strange cases to light.
The court as$ed the man, .We cannot understand why you murdered the man..
#e said, .It is not a ;uestion of Twhy -- I simply wanted to. There are people who try to find e*cuses
to do something that they want to do. I am a simple person: why bother about an e*cuse( -- just do it if
you want to do it..
7ow he is saying a truth of tremendous importance. <eople try to find an e*cuse: for e*ample, they
are angry with you -- they thin$ they are angry with you" that is not true.
They were carrying that anger -- it was boiling within them, they were sitting on a volcano. They
were just waiting for somebody to give them an e*cuse: you gave the e*cuse, and they e*ploded. It
seems you are responsible for the e*plosion. 7o, you are only an accidental e*cuse, you are not
responsible. &omebody else would have done if you had not. It is just coincidence that you happened
to pass by" otherwise, somebody else ....
This murderer says to the court, .I am a simple man" I dont bother about rationali:ations and e*cuses
-- I simply wanted to $ill. +nd it was really an e*citing e*perience. When I forced the dagger into the
bac$ of that man whom I dont $now, who has not done any wrong to me, when the blood dashed out
from his bac$ I had the greatest, the most e*citing e*perience in my life.
.I am perfectly happy: you can give me any punishment that you want. I am not going to say that I
have not done it, I have done it. I wanted to do it for a long time, and it is good that I did it..
7ow, what do you want to do with this man( Is he a murderer, or a psychiatric case who has been
prevented from having any e*citement in his life( <erhaps he has never $nown love, because if you
as$ &igmund )reud, he will say that the dagger is nothing but a symbol of the males se*ual organ, and
dashing it into the bac$ of the man is just an effort -- perverted, but an effort -- to have some entry into
another body. Thats what people are doing all over the world. !a$ing love is entering anothers body.
This man is certainly not in the right shape, things are upside down, but what he is doing is simply a
se*ual act" it has nothing to do with murder. The murder happened" that is just a by-product.
+nd why does a man want to enter the body of a woman( -- because every implication has its own
implications. It is because the man is born out of womans body. #e has come out of the womans
body, and he has never been so comfortable again, and he wants to be bac$ in the womb of the mother.
2very man is searching for his mothers womb. These murderers are also searching for the mothers
womb -- of course in a wrong way, unnatural, but they are not responsible for it: your society is
responsible for it. If a murder happens then the society should be punished, then the whole society
should have to pay the penalty.
Why did it happen in this society( What have you done with the man that he had to commit a murder(
Why did he become destructive( -- because nature gives everybody energy which is creative. It
becomes destructive only when it is obstructed, when no natural flow is allowed. Whenever energy
goes towards the natural it is prevented by society, it is crippled" it is directed into some other
direction.
&oon the man is in a confusion. #e does not $now what is what. #e does not $now what he is doing,
why he is doing it. The original reasons are left far behind. #e has ta$en so many turns that he has
become a jigsaw pu::le.
7obody needs the death penalty, nobody deserves it. In fact, not only the death penalty, no other $ind
of punishment is right, because punishment never cures the person.
2very day the number of criminals goes on growing" every day you build more prisons. This is
strange. It should not be so. -ust the opposite should be the case, because with so many courts and so
many punishments and so many prisons, crimes should be less, criminals should be less, slowly,
slowly prisons should be less, courts should be less. 'ut that is not happening.
I am reminded that in /reat 'ritain, just one hundred years ago, corporal punishment for stealing was
the common thing. +nd the punishment had to be given in a public s;uare so people could see what
happens when you steal -- just to teach them. It would be a lesson to them, that if you steal this
happens: a public humiliation. The person had to be na$ed and lashed till blood started oo:ing from
his body.
'ut what happened -- just one hundred years ago -- was that the punishment had to be dropped
because it was found that when the crowd was there ... and thousands gathered to see -- it was not a
good sign. When thousands of people come to see such an ugly scene it shows something in them is
wrong. <erhaps they also want to beat someone na$ed, but they dont have the guts" at least they can
see it being done.
Thats what you are doing everywhere. %ou love football: you dont play -- there are professional
players -- you watch. %ou become identified with a certain team of football players and you are so
e*cited, as if you are participants. -ust loo$ at the crowd in a stadium: thousands of people so e*cited,
as if their life and death is in ;uestion -- shouting, screaming, throwing their caps, their hats, fighting
with each other because the person by their side is giving encouragement to the party they oppose.
The football players are playing their games, and the thousands of spectators -- what are they doing(
They are also, in a psychological way, participants -- perhaps more e*cited than the real players. The
real players are professionals, that is their business, and these idiots are unnecessarily becoming so
hot.
+nd this is not the whole crowd" the real crowd is sitting by their television sets, millions of them --
listening to commentaries on their radios.
I had a friend in the university" he was a professor, but a fan of hoc$ey matches -- in India, football is
not so hot. 3ne day I was sitting in his room and he was listening to the commentary on his small
transistor that he used to carry continuously, $eeping it close to his ear so he did not miss anything.
I was sitting there and I told him, .I have come to say something to you..
#e just told me, .8eep ;uiet!. and went bac$ to his commentary. +nd then something happened: he
threw the transistor and it bro$e into pieces.
I said, .What happened(.
#e said, .!y team, they failed me! I had so much hope for them..
.'ut,. I said, .if your team failed, why did you destroy the transistor(.
#e said, .%ou wont understand. I was in such anger that you should feel fortunate that I did not hit
you with the transistor..
.'ut this would have been too much! )irst you destroyed the transistor, and I am just sitting waiting
here for you to get finished with your transistor, and you wanted to hit me with it,. I said.
.%es, I was so angry,. he said, .I could have hit you. )or a moment I was just going to and then I
changed my mind..
I said, .This is good -- ne*t time I will never be around anyone listening to the commentary on
hoc$ey matches. This is dangerous, even to be around..
7ow this man is so much involved .... The whole world has become a world of spectators.
What are you seeing in a movie( I dont thin$ you are seeing a movie, you become part of it, you
become identified with some character in it. When he falls in love, you fall in love" when he $isses his
girlfriend, you are $issing his girlfriend. This is sheer nonsense, but you cannot e*pect anything more
from the humanity that you have got around.
&o those spectators in /reat 'ritain, what were they doing( They were so involved in watching that
there were pic$poc$ets all around, cutting their poc$ets. It was brought to the notice of the parliament:
.What $ind of lesson are you teaching, because e*actly there, where the crowd has gathered to learn
the lesson, there are people who are cutting others poc$ets.. +nd it is easy because those people are so
involved they have completely forgotten themselves and their poc$ets. +nd that man is being beaten
almost to death, and those pic$poc$ets ....
%our whole reasoning is wrong. %ou cannot teach by punishment.

Thats what your jurists, legal e*perts, politicians, have been saying down the ages: .If we dont
punish people, then how are we going to teach them( Then everybody will start committing crime, so
we have to go on punishing so people remain afraid..
They thin$ that fear is the only way to teach -- and fear is not the way to teach them at all. What
punishment teaches is, it ma$es people ac;uainted with fear, so the original shoc$ is no longer there.
They $now what can happen: .+t the most you can beat me. +nd if one person can ta$e it, I can also
ta$e it. +nd out of a hundred thieves you can catch only one or two persons..
7ow, if you are not ready even to ta$e that much ris$ -- ninety-eight percent success, two percent
failure -- then what $ind of man are you(
7obody learns from any punishment. The very person who is being punished, he also does not learn
what you want him to learn. %es, he learns something else: he learns how to become a thic$-s$in.
3nce a person goes into prison, prison becomes his home, because there he finds people of a li$e
mind. There he finds his real society. 3utside he was a foreigner" there he is in his own world. They all
understand the same language, and there are e*perts. %ou may be just an amateur, an apprentice" it
may be your first term.
I have heard: one man enters a prison" in the dar$ cell he sees an old man, resting. The old man as$s
him, .)or how long are you going to be here(.
#e says, .)or ten years..
The old man says, .Then you can stay close to the door. -ust ten years! %ou seem to be new. I am
going to be here for fifty years. %ou just remain close to the door. &oon the years will be gone and you
will be out..
'ut when you are with e*perts for ten years, of course you learn all their techni;ues, strategies,
methods, their e*perience. %ou will find your jail almost a certain $ind of university where crime is
taught at government e*pense. %ou will find professors of crime, deans of the crime faculty, vice-
chancellors, chancellors -- all $inds of people who have done every $ind of crime that you can
imagine" certainly the newcomer starts learning. +nd one thing is in the air of every prison .... I have
been to many prisons.
It happened that in !adhya <radesh when I was a professor there, one old man, !angaldas <a$vasa,
was governor of !adhya <radesh. #e was very much interested in me, so much so that although I
went on telling him, .8a$a. -- he was $nown to everybody as $a$a, uncle -- .I dont believe in /od,.
he said, .Whether you believe it or not, just when you reach, tell /od something for this !angaldas
<a$vasa, because I am an old sinner. 'eing in politics, you $now, I have done everything that I should
not have done. 7ow I am getting old..
.'ut,. I said, .you will be dying first, 8a$a. ,ant you see a simple thing: you will be reaching first.
&o if you want, you can help me, but I cannot help you" I am not going that early!.
.'ut,. he said, .I suspect that I will never be going to heaven. /overnors and prime ministers and
presidents -- I dont thin$ any of them are going there. This whole company is going to hell!.
#e was a very simple and good man. 'ecause he was governor, I had immense dimensions open for
me. I as$ed him, .%ou give me a general permission: if I want to visit any jail I should be allowed..
#e said, .That is no problem.. +nd the biggest jail was in -abalpur itself" it was the central jail of the
whole state -- three thousand diehard criminals. &o I used to go almost every &unday" while he
remained governor I continued to go there. +nd what I saw -- this was the climate, and in other jails
also. I went in smaller jails also but the climate was essentially the same.
The climate was that it is not crime that brings you to jail, it is being caught, so if you $now right
ways to do wrong things .... It is not a ;uestion of doing right things" the ;uestion is doing wrong
things in a right way. +nd every prisoner learns the right way of doing wrong things in jail. In fact I
have tal$ed with prisoners and they said, .We are eager to get out..
I said, .)or what(.
They said, .%ou are a friend, and we dont hide anything from you: we want to get out as soon as
possible because we have learned so much, we want to practice. -ust the practicals were missing, it
was all theoretical $nowledge. )or practicals you need the society..
3nce a person becomes a jailbird, then nowhere will he find himself at ease" sooner or later he will be
coming bac$ to jail. +nd slowly slowly jail becomes his alternative society.
It is more comfortable, he feels more at home" nobody loo$s down on him, nobody thin$s that he is
superior and you are inferior. 2verybody is a criminal. 7obody is a priest and nobody is a sage and
nobody is a holy man: all are poor human beings with all the wea$nesses and frailties.
3utside he finds that he is rejected, abandoned.
In my town there was a permanent jail-goer. #e was a very beautiful man" his name was 'ar$at !ian.
#e was a !ohammedan. !ian is a !ohammedan respectful word e*actly li$e .sir. or the Indian,
#indu, ji. If you simply say, ./andhi. it will not loo$ respectful" you have to say ./andhiji.. )or
!ohammedans mian is simply e;uivalent to ji or .sir..
It was strange that 'ar$at !ian was a permanent jail-goer, almost nine months in jail, three months
outside" and in those three months also, every wee$ he had to go to report to the police station to show
that everything was o$ay and he was here.
'ut I had a great friendship with that man. !y family was very angry" they said, .Why do you $eep
company with 'ar$at(. !y family used to say to me, .+ man is $nown by his company..
I said, .I understand you: that means 'ar$at will be $nown by me, and to give a man a little
respectability is not anything bad..
They said, .When will you see things in the right way(.
I said, .I am seeing it e*actly the right way. 4ather than 'ar$at degrading me, I am upgrading 'ar$at.
%ou thin$ his evil is more powerful than my goodness( %ou dont trust my integrity" you trust 'ar$ats
integrity.. I said, .Whatever your opinion, I trust myself. 'ar$at cannot do any harm to me. If any
harm is going to be done it will be done to 'ar$at by me..
#e was really a beautiful man, nice, and he used to tell me, .%ou should not be around me. If you
want to meet me and tal$ to me, we can manage to meet somewhere outside the town, by the
riverban$..
#e himself lived near the !ohammedan cemetery where nobody goes unless one dies: one goes only
once. #e was not allowed to live in the town. In the town nobody was ready to give him a house to
rent. Whatsoever rent he was ready to pay, nobody was ready to ta$e it, nobody was going to ta$e him
in.
There on the !ohammedan cemetery was a house -- nothing but a shelter for the rainy season,
summer. <eople die in all $inds of climates, not bothering about anybody -- that it is raining and they
could wait a little, there is no hurry. 'ut people are people: if they can harass you, they will harass
you. They will die when it is raining dogs and cats, or is it cats and dogs( 'ut it ma$es no difference"
when it is raining who is first and who is second does not matter.
&o that shelter was just for certain times" people could sit there. 'ut in a small place people dont die
every day, only once in a while" so 'ar$at used to live in that shelter. #e said, .%ou always are
welcome in my house. -- that shelter he used to call his house. +nd of course there was no fear
because nobody could steal anything from 'ar$at. 7obody could even dare to go in the night near
'ar$at !ian because he was a dangerous man.
-ust by the side of my fathers store was a big shop, a $ind of general store, having all $inds of things.
#e stole from that. 3ne night he told me, .Tonight I am coming to !odys shop. -- that was the name
of the shop. +nd he came and he did a good job: he too$ out all the ornaments and everything, and
managed to escape but finally was caught. 7ot that day -- after two months, in another robbery he was
caught, and there it was found that one watch he was wearing was from !odys store.
&o it was wor$ed out and he was forced to confess from where the watch had come to him. +nd he
confessed that it was from !odys store because that was the only store in the town that had watches
to sell. )rom where else could it come( 2verybodys watch came from !odys store!
'ut other things were also found in his home, in that shelter where he used to $eep his suitcase and
things" and a few things he had sold -- so he was sentenced to si* months. +fter si* months -- this I
call a real gentleman -- after si* months, when he was released from the jail .... The jail was in a
district which was nearabout si*ty miles away. #e came in a ta*i, stopped the ta*i before !odys store
and went in.
!ody stood up, afraid that now there was going to be trouble" this man has been released. 'ar$at
said, .<ay the ta*i -- I dont have any money. +nd you $now for si* months you have $ept me
unemployed, so, some money for my poc$et..
I was just present there because !odys store was just ne*t to my fathers shop. !ody had to pay the
ta*i and give 'ar$at a few rupees. #e told 'ar$at, .9ont come every day,. and 'ar$at said, .Till I
manage something I will have to come, because si* months you $ept me unemployed. %ou are
responsible..
#e continued to come every day, and I said to !ody, .!odyji, you go on giving money to 'ar$at..
#e said, .What to do( #e can cut my throat -- he is a dangerous man! %ou dont see: when he comes
inside the shop, he shows me a $nife. 7obody sees it from the outside because of so many things in
the shop. With one hand he as$s for the money, with the other hand he shows me a $nife, so everybody
thin$s I am giving the money happily. %ou thin$ I am giving it happily(.
I said, .7o, I $now about the $nife because 'ar$at !ian is my friend and he tells me everything..
I as$ed 'ar$at, .#ow did you become a thief(.
#e said, .The first time I was jailed I was absolutely innocent, but I was poor, I could not hire an
advocate" and the people who wanted me to be forced into jail had some vested interest.
.!y father and mother died when I was very young, fourteen or fifteen, and my other relatives
wanted to capture the whole familys possessions -- house, land -- and they wanted to remove me out
of their way. They simply managed it. They put something into my bag in my house. +nd there was no
way to get out of it: the thing was found in my bag, and I was sent to jail.
.When I came bac$, my land was gone, my house was sold, my relatives had managed to disperse
everything and distribute everything. I was just on the streets.
.&o, first, I was innocent when I went in, but when I came out I was not innocent, because I had come
with a certain graduation. I told everybody in jail what had happened to me -- I was only seventeen.
They said T9ont be worried, these nine months will be soon finished, but in nine months we will also
give you the finishing touches. +nd you will be able to ta$e revenge on everybody.
.+nd I started to ta$e revenge on all the relatives -- this was simply tit for tat. They had forced me to
become a thief, and I proved that, o$ay, now I am a thief. I destroyed this whole gang of my relatives"
I stole everything that they had. 'ut by and by I became more and more involved.
.%ou can have ten cases in which you are saved but in the eleventh you are caught. +s you grow older
and more efficient, you are caught less. 'ut now there is no problem" in fact imprisonment proves a
rela*ing place, a holiday from wor$ and worry and all $inds of things.
.+ few months in jail are good for health -- a disciplined life: an e*act time to get up, to go to wor$,
an e*act time to go to sleep. -ust enough food to $eep you alive" more than that ma$es you sic$..
#e said, .I am never sic$ in jail, unless I pretend and want to be in hospital to escape" otherwise I am
never sic$. 3utside I fall sic$, but never inside. +nd outside is a foreign world and everybody is
superior and I am inferior. 3nly in jail I feel a freedom..
&trange! When he said that, I said, .%ou say in jail you feel freedom(.
#e said, .%es, only in jail I feel freedom..
What $ind of society is this, in which people in jail feel freedom, and outside they feel imprisoned(
+nd this is almost the story of every criminal. + small thing in the beginning -- maybe he was hungry,
maybe he was cold, needed a blan$et and just stole a blan$et -- small necessities which should be
fulfilled: otherwise the society should not produce these people. 7obody as$s it to produce them.
3n the one hand you go on producing people more and more and more, and there are not enough
things for them, neither food nor clothes nor shelter. Then what do you want( %ou are putting people
in a situation where they are bound to become criminals.
The world population has to be cut to one third -- if you want crime to disappear.
'ut nobody wants crime to disappear because the disappearance of crime means the disappearance of
your judges, of your advocates, of your law e*perts, of your parliaments, of your policemen, of your
jailers. It will create a big unemployment problem" nobody wants anything to change for the better.
2verybody says things should change for the better, but everybody goes on ma$ing things worse,
because the worse things are, the more people are employed. The worse things are, the more chances
you have to feel good. ,riminals are needed for you to feel that you are such a moral, respectable
person.
&inners are needed for saints to feel that they are saints. Without sinners, who will be the saint( If the
whole society consisted of good people, do you thin$ you will remember -esus ,hrist for two
thousand years( )or what( It is the criminal society that remembers -esus ,hrist for two thousand
years.
It is a simple thing to understand. Why do you remember /autam 'uddha( If there were millions of
buddhas, awa$ened people in the world ... what speciality did /autam 'uddha have( #e would have
been lost in the crowd. 'ut twenty-five centuries have passed and he stands li$e a pillar, a mountain
pea$ far above you and your heads.
In fact 'uddha, -esus, !ohammed, !ahavira, are not giants -- you are pygmies.
+nd every giant has an investment in your remaining a pygmy" otherwise he wont be a giant.
This is a great conspiracy.
I am against this whole conspiracy. I am neither a giant nor a pygmy" I have no vested interest at all.
I am just myself.
I dont compare myself with anybody, so nobody is lower than me and nobody is higher than me.
'ecause of this simple fact I can see directly" there is no vested interest creating diversions to my
vision. +nd this is my immediate response to the ;uestion: the death penalty is simply a proof that
man still needs to be civili:ed, needs to be cultured, needs to $now human values.
In this world nobody is a criminal, never has been. %es, there are people ... they need compassion, not
imprisonment, not punishment. +ll prisons should be transformed into psychological nursing homes.
3sho,
What do you say about se* education to small children(

Truth is truth, and nobody should be debarred from it. -ust because children are small, do they have to
be fed on lies( Is truth only for grown-ups( Then does it mean truth is dangerous to the delicate
consciousness of the child(

Truth is never dangerous, untruth is dangerous. +nd if you tell an untruth to a grown-up he may be
able to defend" it can be forgiven. 'ut never say an untruth to a child because he is so helpless, so
indefensible. #e depends so much on you, he trusts so much in you F don@t betray him. This is
betraying! Telling any lie means you have betrayed the child. +nd finally you will be in trouble.
&ooner or later, the child will discover that you have been telling lies. That very day all trust in you
will disappear.

If young people start rebelling against the parents, the responsibility is not on them, the responsibility
is of the parents. They have been telling so many lies. +nd now, by and by, the children start
discovering that they were all lies. +nd if you have been telling so many lies, even the truth that you
have told to them becomes suspicious. +nd one thing is certain, they lose trust in you. %ou have
betrayed, you have deceived, you have become ugly in their consciousness. %our impression is not
good anymore. In fact, they will never be able to trust anybody.

That@s the problem I am facing every day. When you come and become sannyasins, the problem that
you have with your parents starts being imposed on me. %ou cannot trust me either. In a subtle way I
become your father figure. +nd because your parents have deceived you, who $nows( If even your
parents deceive you, then I am a stranger and if even parents cannot be relied upon, then how can you
rely upon me(

%ou will never be able to trust the woman you love, the man you love. %ou will never be able to trust
the master you surrender to. %ou will never again be able to regain your trust in your life. +nd for
what has your trust been destroyed( )or such foolish thingsC.
What is wrong( &e* is a simple fact. Tell it the way it is. +nd children are very, very perceptive. 2ven
if you don@t tell them, they will discover it on their own. They are very curious people.

,arl was assigned to write a composition entitled, AWhere I came from.B When he returned home
from school, he entered the $itchen where his mother was preparing dinner.

AWhere did I come from, !ama(B he as$ed.
AThe stor$ brought you.B
A+nd where did 9addy come from(B
AThe stor$ brought him, too.B
A+nd what about /randpa(B
AWhy, the stor$ brought him too, darling.B

,arl very carefully made notes on what !ama had told him, and the ne*t day he handed in the
following composition:

A+ccording to my calculations, there hasn@t been a natural birth in my family for the past three
generations.B

,hildren are very perceptive. They go on watching, they go on seeing what foolishness you are
tal$ing about. +nd how long can you deceive them( 5ife is there, and life is se*ual. +nd they are
watching life. They will see animals ma$ing love, they will see birds ma$ing love. +nd you may go on
believing that they have never seen you ma$ing love" you can go on believing it, but children $now
that their parents ma$e love. In the beginning they may thin$ they are fighting or something, but
sooner or later they discover that something is going on behind their bac$.

Why create these suspicions and doubts( Why not be true( Truth is always good, truth is always
divine. 5et them $now things as they are.

I $now a friend of mine who was determined to have it out with his older boy and spent several hours
painsta$ingly e*plaining se*ual physiology to him. +t the conclusion, feeling utterly e*hausted and
$nowing that he didn@t want to go through it again with his younger son, he said, A+nd 'illy, now that
I@ve e*plained it to you, can I count on you passing it on to 'obby(B

A3$ay 9ad,B said young William.

#is elder son went out in search of his younger brother at once. A'obby,B he said when he found him,
AI just had a long lecture from 9ad and he wants me to pass on what he told me to you.B

A/o ahead,B said 'obby.

AWell, you $now what you and I were doing with those girls behind the barn last month( 9ad wants
me to tell you that the birds and the bees do it too!B

9on@t be foolish, let things be as they are. Truth can never be the enemy, se*ual or otherwise.
'efriend truth.

+nd children are very understanding. They immediately accept the fact. They have no prejudices, they
have no notion of right and wrong. If you tell them the truth, they understand it is so and they forget
all about it. +nd it will create a great trust in you. %ou never deceived them.

It is se* education which is one of the fundamental causes of the rift between the generations. The day
the child discovers that the parents have been deceiving him, he loses all roots in trust. That is the
most devastating shoc$ you can give to that delicate system.

/o on telling the truth as it is and don@t try to philosophi:e about it, and don@t go on round and round.
Tell it the way it is.

Why is there so much fear about it in you( F because your parents have not told it to you, so you feel
a little sha$y, nervous, afraid, as if you are moving in some dangerous territory.

'e very simple, direct. +nd whenever a child in;uires about anything, if you $now about it, tell it. If
you don@t $now about it, say that you don@t $now. There are two wrongs that you can do: one is saying
something as it is not F one danger" another is saying something which you don@t $now.

)or e*ample, the child as$s, AWho created the world(B and you say, A/od.B +gain you are leading
him into some mischief. %ou don@t $now" you are pretending that you $now. &oon the child will
discover that you $now nothing, your /od is bogus.

+nd the problem is not that your /od is proved bogus, the problem is that now the whole concept of
/od is proved bogus. %ou have destroyed a great possibility of in;uiring into /od. %ou should have
said, AI don@t $now. I am trying to $now. I am as ignorant as you are. If I find before you do, I will tell
you, if you find before I do, please tell me.B
+nd your son will respect you forever for this sincerity of the heart, for this e;uality, that you never
pretended, that you never tried to show, AI $now and you don@t $now,B that you were never egoistic.

&aying to the child, A/od created the world,B without $nowing it, is nothing but just an ego trip. %ou
are enjoying at the cost of the child@s ignorance. 'ut how long can you enjoy this $nowledge(

7ever tell the child that which you yourself are incapable of doing. 9on@t tell the child, A'e truthful,
always be truthfulB F because once he catches you red-handed being untruthful, you have destroyed
something immensely valuable. +nd there is nothing more precious than trust.

#ow long can you hide the fact( 3ne day somebody $noc$s on the door, and you say to the child,
ATell him 9addy is not at home.B +nd now the child $nows that to tal$ about truth is one thing, but it
is not meant to be followed and practiced. %ou have created a duality in him of saying something,
pretending something, and being something else ;uite the contrary of it. %ou have created the split.

+nd if you $now something, if the child as$s about se* or how children come into the world, and you
$now F then simply say it as it is. !a$e it as simple as possible because the child is not as$ing about
the physiology or about the chemistry or about the inner mechanism of se*. #e is not as$ing about all
that nonsense" that is not his interest. 9on@t start telling him about physiology F because what they do
in schools in the name of se* education is teach only physiology. +nd the child is simply bored" he is
not interested.
#e simply wants the truth. #ow do children come, where do they come from( -ust say it. +nd never
try to give him more information than he needs and he as$s for, because that will be too early.
<articularly in the West that too is happening, where the idea has become prevalent that children have
to be given se* education. &o parents are in a hurry. 2ven if the child has not in;uired, they go on
pouring their $nowledge that they have ac;uired from boo$s. ,hildren simply feel bored. 6nless the
in;uiry has arisen in the child, there is no need to say anything. When the in;uiry has arisen there is no
need to hide anything.

+nd it is not a ;uestion of age at all, so don@t as$ about small children. Whom do you call small(
What is the age limit( Is seven years old small( 3r is nine years old small( It is not a ;uestion of age.
Whenever the child in;uires he is ready to be given the information. #e may be four, he may be five,
he may be seven. The more intelligent a child is, the earlier he will in;uire, that much is certain. The
stupid, the mediocre child may not in;uire when he is twelve, and at fourteen he may in;uire. 'ut the
intelligent child is bound to in;uire because life is such a mystery that from the very beginning the
child becomes aware that something is happening. +ll around, life is happening, life is perpetuating
itself.

#e sees the eggs of the birds in the garden, and then one day the eggs are bro$en and the birds come
out. #e goes on seeing his mother@s belly growing bigger and bigger, and he certainly becomes
curious. What is happening( Is his mother ill or something( +nd then one day she comes from the
hospital with a child. +nd where has the child come from( It has been brought by the stor$. +nd he
sees the belly is not big anymore. 7ow he is pu::led. What happened to the belly(

9on@t create unnecessary pu::les for children. 5ife is pu::ling enough as it is. 5ife is so mysterious,
the in;uiry is bound to be there. 'ut remember, the more intelligent a child is, the sooner he is going
to in;uire. &o if your child in;uires early, don@t thin$ that he seems to be dirty from the very
beginning. #e is not dirty, he is intelligent. If anybody is dirty, you are dirty. #e is simply intelligent.

Tell him things as they are and tell him the way he can understand. 9on@t philosophi:e, don@t go
indirectly round and round" go directly to the point. !a$e it as clear as two plus two is four.

+nd you will be surprised, once the fact has been told the child goes away and starts playing. #e is
not much interested anymore" he never brings the ;uestion again. If you falsify, he will bring the
;uestion again and again F from this side, from that side, any e*cuse and he will bring the ;uestion
because he wants to $now the fact, and unless the fact is given he is not going to be satisfied.

3nly facts satisfy. )alsifications can postpone but they cannot satisfy
I used to tal$ with one of my
professors. #e was not convinced
by me that the whole personality is
borrowed. #e was a healthy man.
#e is still alive, retired, an old
man. I said, .I will prove it..
I went to his wife and told her,
.%ou have to do me a favor, a
small favor..
&he said, .What is the matter(.
I said, .When professor &.&. 4oy
gets up in the morning the first
thing you have to say is, What is
happening( Why are you loo$ing
so pale( and remember e*actly
what he says in response. It is
better if you write it down so you dont forget. I want the e*act words..
I said to the gardener, .When he comes out, you just drop your wor$ and hold him and say, What has
happened( %ou are loo$ing so wea$, I thought you were going to fall. ,ould you not sleep the whole
night( %our body seems to have a fever..
The gardener said, .'ut without fever... he will throw me out of service!.
.%ou dont be worried. That is my guarantee: you will be promoted, you dont be worried. %ou just do
what I am saying..
+nd the wife of the professor was there and she said, .%es, he is right. %ou dont be worried" you just
do what he is saying..
+nd I told him, .Write down on this piece of paper whatever professor 4oy says, his e*act words..
+nd so on I went, to the post office nearby where he used to meet the postmaster - they were great
friends, both were 'engalis - all the way up to the department of philosophy. It was almost one mile.
#e used to wal$" he loved wal$ing.
+nd I told the peon in front of the department, .%ou have to just pic$ him up.. #e was a wrestler-type
of man" I said, .%ou have just to pic$ him up and lay him down on the bench..
#e said, .What are you saying( +re you cra:y or something( I have small children, I have a wife, an
old father and mother. This $ind of thing.... +nd what is the purpose(.
I said, .%ou dont be worried. #e will be in such a position that this is what is going to be needed..
#e said, .'ut how have you come to $now(.
I said, .%ou dont be worried, this is beyond you. 5ater on I will e*plain everything to you. +nd it is
my guarantee that no harm is going to happen to you..
#e said, .'ut your guarantee does not mean anything - you may change tomorrow! %ou are a strange
fellow. %ou are telling the peon to behave in such a way with the professor that it will be almost a
wrestling competition - because if I forcibly put him on the bench, he is going to resist.
+nd if he is going to resist, I am not going to ta$e it either" I am a very angry man. If he hits me or
anything, I am going to hit him..
I said, .Whatever happens let it happen, because I $now he cannot hit you. #e is in a very feverish
condition and is not listening to his wife, to his friends, to anybody. #e is coming staggering. #e may
fall on the floor, brea$ his bones" then you will be responsible..
#e said, .7o, I dont want him to brea$ his bones..
.Then,. I said, .you immediately pic$ him up. Whatever he says, you remember - and this is the
paper.... +s you put him inside the office on the bench you write down what he has said, and I will be
coming later on to collect all the papers..
-ust behind him, I started collecting the papers. To the wife he said, .<ale( %ou must be mad. I slept a
perfectly beautiful sleep, I am a hundred percent healthy. &omething must be wrong in your eyes" you
should go to the optician. <ale( - I have suspected for a long time that you need glasses..
#e came out, and the gardener too$ hold of him and said, .!aster, what is the situation, what is
happening( %our body is burning, you have fever. #ave you slept in the night or not( %ou would have
fallen if I had not stopped..
#e said, .I could not sleep the whole night. +nd really, the body is burning. 'ut I am going to the
department because my record is that I have never been absent. &o at least I will go, tell the head of
the department and as$ him to bring me bac$ home in his car. I dont have energy to wal$ one mile,
but I have to..
+s he went out the postmaster said, .!ister 4oy, it seems you have grown ten years older. 'ut what
has happened(.
<rofessor 4oy said, .I dont $now what has happened. &omething certainly has happened. +nd I was
angry at my poor wife" she was absolutely right. #ow do I loo$(.
The postmaster said, .-ust li$e a ghost, absolutely pale..
#e said, .!y /od! &hould I go to the department or not(.
The postmaster said, .That is your record, your lifelong record - dont brea$ it, go. %ou can manage.
I cannot certify that you will be able to come bac$ again. The situation has gone so far down that if
you can manage to breathe for one mile more it will be a great achievement. +bout coming bac$, I
dont $now..
+nd you could see him coming, li$e a drun$ard....
#e passed a few more stages where he was chec$ed, and he gave his statements. +nd when he
reached the department the peon just pic$ed him up. #e said, .What are you doing(.
The peon said, .What am I doing( I am doing what I am supposed to do - lie down!.
#e immediately followed the instructions of the peon: .,lose your eyes, and I will put a cloth soa$ed
in water over them. %ou are burning and hot with fever - it must be XIU degrees, not less than that..
<rofessor 4oy said, .%ou are right. I am seeing things that I have never seen. It seems the bench is
flowing up, sannipat. It happens when the fever reaches beyond XIH degrees.. +nd he had a fever of
XIU degrees according to the peon, who $new nothing about what XIU degrees is!
+nd then I came with all the papers I had collected and I told him, .<lease go through these papers..
#e said, .This is not the time.... -ust a few moments are left. If you have something to say, say it" or
just put your hand on my head and sit by my side - but no more papers. What papers(.
I said, .%ou dont understand" these are not e*amination papers or anything. These are the papers I
have collected behind you..
#e immediately sat up. #e said, .'ut what papers(.
I showed him: .To the wife you denied that you are sic$, denied that you had a fever. %ou said that
you slept perfectly well, that you are a hundred percent healthy, that you suspected the wifes eyes and
you wanted her to go to the optician. These are the papers, and this is the end result - you are lying
down on the bench. )or what(.
+nd actually he had a fever! I said, .I will ta$e you bac$ home. 'ut it was simply because of your
insistence that I had to prove that peoples minds are made by the opinions of others..
<eople can die just because of the opinions of others" people can live a long life just because of the
opinions of others. We are so false.
This is not our true reality.
#ave the courage to get out of the jungle of the opinions of your whole life. -ust in the passage you
will have to be, for a moment, nobody - and then you are all, everybody. +nd that freedom of being all
and universal and eternal... thats the goal of all real see$ers.
)rom 9ar$ness to 5ight
,hapter DG
,hapter title: #elp your child -- protect him from yourself!
V !arch XYUH pm in 5ao T:u /rove

+rchive code: UHIGIVH
&hortTitle: 9+48IG
+udio: %es
=ideo: %es
5ength: XEG mins

0uestion X
'253=29 3&#3,
W#+T I& T#2 4I/#T W+% T3 #25< + ,#I59 /43W WIT#36T I7T24)24I7/ I7 #I&
7+T64+5 <3T27TI+5IT%(

2very way to help a child is wrong.
The very idea of helping is not right.
The child needs your love, not your help.
The child needs nourishment, support, but not your help.
The natural potential of the child is un$nown, so there is no way to help him rightly to attain to his
natural potential. %ou cannot help when the goal is un$nown" all that you can do is not interfere. +nd
in fact, in the name of help everybody is interfering with everybody else" and because the name is
beautiful, nobody objects.
3f course the child is so small, so dependent on you, he cannot object. +nd the people around are just
li$e you: they have also been helped by their parents, the way you have been helped. 7either they
have attained their natural potential, nor have you.
The whole world is missing out in spite of all the help from the parents, from the family, from the
relatives, from the neighbors, from the teachers, from the priests. In fact everybody is so burdened
with help that under its weight ... what to say of attaining natural potential -- one cannot even attain
unnatural potential! 3ne cannot move" the weight on everybodys shoulders is #imalayan.
+nd it is one of the most difficult things, not to interfere. It is not the nature of the mind. !ind is
basically continuously, persistently, tempted to interfere. It lives on interference. The more you can
interfere, the more powerful you are.
#ow do you measure power( It is not something material, you cannot weigh it -- but it is measured,
weighed. The way to measure it is by how much you can interfere in how many peoples lives. +dolf
#itler is powerful because he can interfere in millions of peoples lives. %ou are not +dolf #itler, but
still you can interfere in a few peoples lives ... a little, miniature +dolf #itler.
+t least the husband can interfere in the wifes life, the wife can interfere in the husbands life. It is a
mutual game" in this way both become powerful. The husband goes on interfering in his own way,
without being aware why they are interfering. They were supposed to be together to enhance each
others life but ....
The husband will come late every day -- not that it is essential to come late, but it is a ;uestion of
power, ego: if he comes home on time that means he has surrendered. I $now husbands who go on
sitting in offices doing nothing, gossiping, $nowing perfectly well that their wives will be boiling.
They can reach home in time, but thats what she wants. -ust because she wants, it is impossible for the
man, against his manliness, to be on time" he will come late. +nd the same scene is repeated every day.
7or is the wife ready to drop as$ing him why he is late, $nowing perfectly well that whatsoever he
says is a lie. &he $nows it is a lie, he $nows that she $nows that it is a lie -- and it is a lie, but it is a
good beginning to a fight, a good start, a good e*cuse. +nd then the wife goes on doing the same ....
I have sat with a husband in his car, and he is hon$ing his horn because he is worried" he has to ta$e
me to a particular meeting and I have to be there in time. +nd I dont li$e to waste peoples time" I am
not a political leader. + political leader is supposed to come late. +gain, the same power -- you have to
wait. +nd he is not just a nobody" he is so occupied, so busy, that he is bound to be late.
I $now political leaders who were just sitting and gossiping, and I have told them, .We have to go to
your meeting..
They said, .%ou dont understand. + politician should not arrive on time. That means he is not a big
shot, just a small fry..
I am not a politician. I am neither a big shot nor a small fry. I am just a human being, neither anything
more nor anything less. I have been particular about arriving in time.
&o the husband is worried, and the wife leans out of the window and says, .&top hon$ing your horn! I
have told you one thousand times that I am coming in one minute..
I loo$ed at the husband and said, .This is something, Tone thousand times and TI am coming in one
minute! Where did she get the time to say it one thousand times in one minute(. 'ut it is a power trip.
The wife wants it to be $nown who is the boss. %ou can go on hon$ing the horn, but without the boss
coming down the car cannot move.
I have a certain rapport with women, so whomsoever I was staying with, soon I became very close to
their mothers, to their wives, sisters. +nd I as$ed, .What is the matter( 2very day it happens" the poor
man goes on hon$ing.. +nd they would say, .7othing is the matter. We are not busy, but he goes on
coming home late every day and pays no attention to what we are saying. &o whenever we have the
chance .... It is simple give and ta$e..
+ll the people around you have been helped, greatly helped, to be what they are. %ou have been
helped" now you want to help your children too.
+ll that you can do is be loving, be nourishing, be warm, be accepting. The child brings an un$nown
potential, and there is no way to figure out what he is going to be. &o no procedure can be suggested:
.This way you should help the child.. +nd each child is uni;ue so there cannot be a general discipline
for every child.
<eople li$e this !iss -udith !artin are suggesting measures for every child, as if children are
produced on an assembly line in a factory. 7o two children are the same. #ow can you suggest, how
can you have even the nerve to suggest a generali:ed program, that this should be done(
'ut !iss -udith !artin .... I dont $now how many times she has become .!iss.. I thin$ at least a
do:en times certainly, because no husband can survive her" either he will escape or commit suicide,
but he will have to do something to ma$e her !iss again. +nd she must be now very old.
<erhaps finally when she became famous and the most well-$nown authority on child-rearing,
nobody dared to marry her again, because such a woman, who has no compassion on children -- do
you thin$ she will have some compassion on husbands( &he will train them e*actly the way animals
are trained in a circus. &he will ma$e them dance to her tune" and her being a world-famous authority,
what can the poor husband do e*cept dance(
This $ind of person has e*isted down the ages around the world everywhere. They have prescriptions,
recipes, disciplines for everybody, not only for their contemporaries but for all future generations, as
to what is right. They are so idiotic -- although they are $nown as great sages who have given you
religions, disciplines, moralities, ethics, codes of conduct: great law-givers. 'ut I say again to you,
these people are idiots. 3nly an idiot can thin$ in a generali:ed way when human beings are
concerned.
There is no average human being" you will never come across the average man. +nd all these
authorities are concerned with the average man, who does not e*ist! The average man is just li$e /od
-- omnipresent, yet you cannot find him anywhere. /od is so omnipresent that ....

I have heard about one nun ... the whole nunnery became concerned about her. Is she sic$ or
something( -- because she was ta$ing her bath with her clothes on! +nd the doors were closed in the
bathroom. +nd when they as$ed, .What is the matter( -- why dont you undress when the doors are
closed and nobody is there(. she said, .7obody( /od is omnipresent. %es, there is none of you, but
/od is there, and to undress before /od does not loo$ right..
They all must have thought her a crac$pot, but she really, literally had accepted the idea of the
omnipresence of /od.
2*actly li$e omnipresent /od is the average man: he e*ists nowhere and is supposed to e*ist
everywhere. +nd all the principles are addressed to the average man.
%ou as$ me how to help the child in the right way.
The right way is not to help the child at all. If you have real courage then please dont help the child.
5ove him, nourish him.
5et him do what he wants to do.
5et him go where he wants to go.
%our mind will be tempted again and again to interfere, and with good e*cuses. The mind is very
clever in rationali:ing: .If you dont interfere there may be danger" the child may fall into the well if
you dont stop him.. 'ut I say to you, it is better to let him fall into the well than to help him and
destroy him.
It is a very rare possibility that the child falls into the well -- and then too, it does not mean death" he
can be ta$en out of the well. +nd if you are really so concerned, the well can be covered" but dont
help the child, and dont interfere with the child. The well can be removed, but dont interfere with the
child.
%our real concern should be to remove all dangers but dont interfere with the child" let him go on his
way.
%ou will have to understand some significant growth patterns. 5ife has seven-year circles, it moves in
seven-year circles just as the earth ma$es one rotation on its a*is in twenty-four hours. 7ow nobody
$nows why not twenty-five, why not twenty-three. There is no way to answer it" it is simply a fact.
The earth ta$es three hundred and si*ty-five days to ma$e one round of the sun. Why three hundred
and si*ty-five( 7obody $nows, nobody needs to $now. +nd it does not ma$e any difference. If it were
ta$ing four hundred days, what difference would it have made to you( ... or three hundred days ...(
The ;uestion would have remained the same: Why(
&o remember one thing: any ;uestion is absurd if with every answer the ;uestion still remains
standing the same. In twenty-four hours the earth ma$es one turn on its own a*is. Why( !a$e it
twenty-five, ma$e it twenty-si*, ma$e it thirty, si*ty -- as much as you want -- the ;uestion still stands
the same: why( #ence I call the ;uestion absurd" it will always remain the same.
&o dont as$ me why life moves in seven-year circles. I dont $now. This much I $now, that it moves
in seven-year circles. +nd if you understand those seven-year circles, you will understand a great deal
about human growth.
The first seven years are the most important because the foundation of life is being laid. Thats why
all the religions are very much concerned about grabbing children as ;uic$ly as possible.
The -ews will circumcise the child. What nonsense! 'ut they are stamping the child as a -ew" that is a
primitive way of stamping. %ou still do it on the cattle around here" I have seen stamps. 2very owner
stamps the cattle, otherwise they can get mi*ed up. It is a cruel thing. 4ed-hot steel has to be used to
stamp the cattles leather, s$in" it burns the s$in. 'ut then it becomes your possession" it cannot be lost,
it cannot be stolen.
What is circumcision( It is stamping cattle. 'ut these cattle are -ews.
#indus have their own ways. +ll religions have their own ways. 'ut it should be $nown whose cattle
you are, who your shepherd is -- -esus( !oses( !ohammed( %ou are not your own master.
Those first seven years are the years when you are conditioned, stuffed with all $inds of ideas which
will go on haunting you your whole life, which will go on distracting you from your potentiality,
which will corrupt you, which will never allow you to see clearly. They will always come li$e clouds
before your eyes, they will ma$e everything confused.
Things are clear, very clear -- e*istence is absolutely clear -- but your eyes have layers upon layers of
dust.
+nd all that dust has been arranged in the first seven years of your life when you were so innocent, so
trusting, that whatsoever was told to you you accepted as truth. +nd whatsoever has gone into your
foundation, later on it will be very difficult for you to find: it has become almost part of your blood,
bones, your very marrow. %ou will as$ a thousand other ;uestions but you will never as$ about the
basic foundations of your belief.
The first e*pression of love towards the child is to leave his first seven years absolutely innocent,
unconditioned, to leave him for seven years completely wild, a pagan.
#e should not be converted to #induism, to !ohammedanism, to ,hristianity. +nybody who is trying
to convert the child is not compassionate, he is cruel: he is contaminating the very soul of a new, fresh
arrival. 'efore the child has even as$ed ;uestions he has been answered with ready-made
philosophies, dogmas, ideologies. This is a very strange situation. The child has not as$ed about /od,
and you go on teaching him about /od. Why so much impatience( Wait!
If the child someday shows interest in /od and starts as$ing about /od, then try to tell him not only
your idea of /od -- because nobody has any monopoly: put before him all the ideas of /od that have
been presented to different people by different ages, by different religions, cultures, civili:ations.
<ut before him all the ideas about /od, and tell him, .%ou can choose between these, whichever
appeals to you. 3r you can invent your own, if nothing suits. If everything seems to be with a flaw,
and you thin$ you can have a better idea, then invent your own. 3r if you find that there is no way to
invent an idea without loopholes, then drop the whole thing" there is no need. + man can live without
/od" there is no intrinsic necessity.
.!illions of people have lived without /od. /od is nothing that is inevitably needed by you. %es, I
have my idea" that too is in the combination of all these ideals in this collection. %ou can choose that,
but I am not saying that my idea is the right idea. It appeals to me" it may not appeal to you..
There is no inner necessity that the son should agree with the father. In fact it seems far better that he
should not agree. Thats how evolution happens. If every child agrees with the father then there will be
no evolution, because the father will agree with his own father, so everybody will be where /od left
+dam and 2ve -- na$ed, outside the gate of the garden of 2den. 2verybody will be there.
'ecause sons have disagreed with their fathers, forefathers, with their whole tradition, man has
evolved.
This whole evolution is a tremendous disagreement with the past.
The more intelligent you are, the more you are going to disagree.
'ut parents appreciate the child who agrees" they condemn the child who disagrees.
It was the practice in my family to produce me in front of anybody to condemn me. +ny visitor to the
family, any guest of the family ... and I would be called. +nd I $new for what, but I enjoyed it. I was
called to be condemned: .+nd this boy is in disagreement with everything.. In #indi there is a phrase
for it: ulti $hopdi -- it means upside-down s$ull. &o that was the phrase used for me.
I said, .It is true, but the reality is, I loo$ upside down to all these people because they are standing on
their heads. They are doing yoga asanas, shirshasana -- headstand posture. I am simply standing on my
feet. I am the only one here who does not believe in any $ind of nonsense. They are right, because to
them it must appear that I am standing upside down. +nd they are in the majority -- perhaps you also
belong to them.
.'ut this is the usual procedure: they dont answer my ;uestions, they only condemn my
disagreement. 7ow this is inhuman. If you answer my ;uestion, and still I disagree, then certainly I
am stubborn. 'ut have you answered a single ;uestion of mine( #ave you satisfied me( #ave you any
right to condemn me because I disagree(.
In India, at the end of the monsoon there is a festival of lights, diwali, when the whole country
becomes very festive and every house has thousands of small earthen lamps decorating all the walls,
balconies. The whole town becomes a fairyland, the whole country turns into a fairyland, with
firecrac$ers and great rejoicing. That day they worship money.
The goddess of money is 5a*mi. 5a*mi is the wife of the #indu god, 7arayana, and of course a gods
wife should be the goddess of wealth. In fact one of the Indian words for god, iswar, means .one who
has all the wealth of the world.. #is wife is the goddess of wealth. +nd on the night of the festival of
lights they worship money.
'efore paper currency came into being they used to ma$e a pile of silver rupees and worship them.
7ow they put paper money and worship it. 'efore silver rupees there were golden rupees. The word
rupee simply means gold" it comes from &ans$rit. It is an Indian word ... because in the beginning the
coin was gold, pure gold, so the word rupia, which became in 2nglish, rupee, was meaningful.
They used to worship gold, then came silver, then came paper currency. +nd they went on ... the
;uestion is of worshiping money. I never participated in their worship. I simply hated the whole idea
and I told them, .This is one of the ugliest things you can do. !oney is something to be used, not
worshipped. 3n the one hand your religions teach that money is nothing but dust. 3n the one hand it is
dust, on the other hand it becomes a goddess. +nd you cannot see your split mind(
.3n the one hand you praise a man as a sage if he renounces money" then he becomes synonymous
with /od because he renounced money and everything. +nd on the other hand you worship money.
,an you in some way help me to understand( Is there not a clear-cut contradiction(
.If money is /ods wife then in the first place the person who renounces /ods wife is a criminal. In
the first place why did he possess /ods wife( -- that seems to be absolutely illegal. #e should be
caught and imprisoned. In the first place was he pretending to be /ods wifes husband(.
!y father would say, .%ou just $eep ;uiet" at least let us finish our worship..
I would say, .7o, first I want my answer..
+nd I had a big stool in my house -- they used to use it as a ladder for ta$ing things up or down -- so
wherever they would be worshiping, in the main hall of the house, I would sit on that stool. +nd they
would say, .+t least please come down. %ou are sitting on that stool..
I said, .7o, I want my answers. I see so much stupidity in it, because I have seen you touching
peoples feet who have renounced money. Then you tell me that this man is great, a sage: he has
$ic$ed all that is thought to be valuable and that needs courage and guts. 'ut what are you doing( If
that man is right to renounce all this money, at least stop worshiping it. +nd you have to answer me"
otherwise my disagreement continues..
!y mother would say to me, .3n such days you should be out of the house because you dont $now --
if the goddess 5a*mi becomes angry we will all starve and be hungry and die poor..
I said, .I have been doing this year after year, sitting on my stool. I dont see that your goddess can do
anything. If she can, I challenge her -- let her, because at least that will give me some answer.. +nd
when they were all finished with their worship I would go and $ic$ their rupees, and spit on their
rupees, and I would say, .7ow this is what I wanted to do" now let us see who is rewarded.. They
could not prevent me, although they tried hard.
I said, .%ou cannot prevent me. I will do what I want to do, unless you prove me wrong. +nd you call
me in front of everybody saying that I am in disagreement about everything. I have to be in
disagreement about everything, for the simple reason that you go on doing things that any intelligent
person would see the contradiction in..
)or e*ample, in India, if somebody has smallpo* it is not thought to be a physical disease. &mallpo*
is called in India, mata" mata means mother goddess. +nd in every town there is a temple for the
mother goddess, or many temples ... the mother goddess is angry, thats why poor little children are
suffering from smallpo*.
<eople li$e !ahatma /andhi were against vaccination because it was unnatural. &mallpo* is natural.
It destroys so many beautiful childrens faces, their eyes, and it $ills many. +nd the prophet of non-
violence was against vaccination because he was against anything scientific -- and moreover it was
thought the disease is not a physiological disease, it is a spiritual anger.
3ne of my sisters died of smallpo*, and I was very angry because I loved that sister more than any of
my brothers or my sisters. I told them, .%ou have $illed her. I have been telling you that she needs
vaccination.
.I have suffered from smallpo*, but at that time I could not say anything to you" I dont even
remember it, it happened just in my first year. +nd every child suffers. When this girl was born I was
insisting that she should be vaccinated. 'ut you are all followers of !ahatma /andhi: =accination is
against nature. +nd to prevent ... the anger of the mother goddess will be dangerous. It will come in
some other form..
+nd when the girl became sic$ with smallpo* they were doing both things: they were ta$ing medicine
from the doctor and they were continuously going to worship the mother goddess.
I said, .Then please do one thing at least" either ta$e the medicine, or go and worship your mother.
'ut you are being cunning" you are even deceiving the mother goddess. I am honest, I spit on your
mother goddess every day. -- because I used to go to the river and the temple was just on the way so
there was no harm" coming and going I would spit.
+nd I said, .Whatsoever you do ... but it is strange -- I am spitting, I should suffer. Why should she
suffer( +nd I cannot understand that the mother goddess becomes angry and small children suffer --
who have not committed any crime, who have just arrived, who have not had time enough to do
anything, nor are capable of doing anything. 3thers should suffer, but they are not suffering.
.+nd mother goddess you call her! %ou should call her a witch, because what $ind of mother is she
who ma$es small children suffer( +nd then you are cunning. %ou are also not certain" otherwise dont
ta$e the medicine. Throw all the medicines" depend completely on your mother goddess. There too
you are afraid. %ou are trying to ride on two horses. This is sheer stupidity. 2ither depend on the
mother and let the girl die, or depend on the medicine, and forget about that mother..
They would say, .We can understand that there is a contradiction, but please dont bring it to our
notice, because it hurts..
I said, .9o you thin$ it hurts only you, and it does not hurt me seeing my parents being stupid, silly(
It does not hurt me( It hurts me more. There is still time, you can change" but on the contrary, you are
trying to change me, and you call it help. %ou thin$ without your help I am going to be lost. <lease let
me be lost. +t least I will have one satisfaction, that nobody else is responsible for my being lost" it is
my own doing. I will be proud of it..
6p to seven years, if a child can be left innocent, uncorrupted by the ideas of others, then to distract
him from his potential growth becomes impossible. The childs first seven years are the most
vulnerable. +nd they are in the hands of parents, teachers, priests ....
#ow to save children from parents, priests, teachers is a ;uestion of such enormous proportion that it
seems almost impossible to find how to do it.
It is not a ;uestion of helping the child.
It is a ;uestion of protecting the child.
If you have a child, protect the child from yourself. <rotect the child from others who can influence
him: at least up to seven years, protect him.
The child is just li$e a small plant, wea$, soft: just a strong wind can destroy it, any animal can eat it
up. %ou put a protective wiring around it, but that is not imprisoning, you are simply protecting. When
the plant is bigger, the wires will be removed.
<rotect the child from every $ind of influence so that he can remain himself -- and it is only a
;uestion of seven years, because then the first circle will be complete. 'y seven years he will be well-
grounded, centered, strong enough.
%ou dont $now how strong a seven-year-old child can be because you have not seen uncorrupted
children, you have seen only corrupted children. They carry the fears, the cowardliness, of their
fathers, mothers, their families. They are not their own selves.
If a child remains uncorrupted for seven years .... %ou will be surprised to meet such a child. #e will
be as sharp as a sword. #is eyes will be clear, his insight will be clear. +nd you will see a tremendous
strength in him which you cannot find even in a seventy-year-old adult, because the foundations are
sha$y. &o in fact as the building goes on becoming higher and higher, the more and more sha$y it
becomes.
&o you will see, the older a person becomes, the more afraid. When he is young he may be an atheist"
when he becomes old he starts believing in /od. Why is that(
When he is below thirty he is a hippie. #e has courage to go against the society, to behave in his own
way: to have long hair, to have a beard, to roam around the world, to ta$e all $inds of ris$s. 'ut by the
time he is forty, all that has disappeared. %ou will see him in some office in a gray suit, clean shaven,
well groomed. %ou will not even be able to recogni:e that he is an e*-hippie.
Where have all the hippies disappeared to( &uddenly you see them with a great force" then, just li$e
used bullet cases, empty cartridges, impotent, defeated, depressed -- trying to ma$e something out of
life, feeling that all those years of hippiedom were a wastage. 3thers have gone far ahead" somebody
has become the president, somebody has become the governor, and .we were stupid" we were just
playing the guitar and the whole world passed us by.. They repent.
It is really difficult to find an old hippie. -ust one I have found" that is 'apuji, &heelas father. #e will
die a hippie. +t his age -- he must be near about seventy -- he was living with hippies in northern 7ew
%or$ &tate. &ome photographer too$ a photograph of him" he was sitting na$ed on a hill ... snow, ice,
all around. +nd he was sitting na$ed there. &omebody too$ his photo, and those photos have been
coming to me. <eople thin$ 'apuji is me!
It is printed now, because he loo$s really beautiful -- na$ed, sitting on the top. The sun is rising, and
all around snow, and he is loo$ing really beautiful. !any people who have found that photo -- it is a
postcard now -- go on sending it to me saying, .3sho, it was a surprise to find you sitting here..
I told &heela, .Tell 'apuji, Tdont do such things, because nobody $nows you.. 'ut he will die a
hippie.
#e brought all his children to me, which no father has done e*cept him. It was he who brought &heela
to me ... forcibly, because she was not interested. 'ut he is not a man to listen to anybody. #e said,
.3nce, you have to come" twice I will not as$, then it is your business. 'ut once I have to force you
because you dont $now what you are refusing. &o forgive me for forcing you, but one time I have to
force you..
#e brought all his children by and by, and almost all his children are now sannyasins. +nd once
&heela came she never left me. #e as$ed &heela, teased her, .7ow what about going bac$ to
+merica(.
&he said, .I am not going anywhere..
.'ut,. 'apuji said, .I had brought you just to meet him, not to stay..
&heela said, .'ut I have to -- this is the place I have been searching for..
#e said, .I am happy because I have brought you to the right place: now I am freed of my
responsibility. 7ow whatsoever becomes of you, it will be right..
If you are a parent you will need this much courage -- not to interfere. 3pen doors of un$nown
directions to the child so he can e*plore. #e does not $now what he has in him, nobody $nows.
#e has to grope in the dar$. 9ont ma$e him afraid of dar$ness, dont ma$e him afraid of failure, dont
ma$e him afraid of the un$nown. /ive him support. When he is going on an un$nown journey, send
him with all your support, with all your love, with all your blessings.
9ont let him be affected by your fears.
%ou may have fears, but $eep them to yourself. 9ont unload those fears on the child because that will
be interfering.
+fter seven years, the ne*t circle of seven years, from seven to fourteen, is a new addition to life: the
childs first stirring of se*ual energies. 'ut they are only a $ind of rehearsal.
To be a parent is a difficult job, so unless you are ready to ta$e that difficult job, dont become a
parent. <eople simply go on becoming fathers and mothers not $nowing what they are doing. %ou are
bringing a life into e*istence" all the care in the world will be needed.
7ow when the child starts playing his se*ual rehearsals, that is the time when parents interfere the
most, because they have been interfered with. +ll that they $now is what has been done to them, so
they simply go on doing that to their children.
&ocieties dont allow se*ual rehearsal, at least have not allowed it up to this century -- only within the
last two, three decades, and that too only in very advanced countries. 7ow children are having co-
education. 'ut in a country li$e India, even now co-education starts only at the university level.
The seven-year-old boy and the seven-year-old girl cannot be in the same boarding school. +nd this is
the time for them -- without any ris$, without the girl getting pregnant, without any problems arising
for their families -- this is the time when they should be allowed all playfulness.
%es, it will have a se*ual color to it, but it is rehearsal" it is not the real drama. +nd if you dont allow
them even the rehearsal and then suddenly one day the curtain opens, and the real drama starts .... +nd
those people dont $now what is going on" even a prompter is not there to tell them what to do. %ou
have messed up their life completely.
Those seven years, the second circle in life, is significant as a rehearsal. They will meet, mi*, play,
become ac;uainted. +nd that will help humanity to drop almost ninety percent of perversions.
If the children from seven to fourteen are allowed to be together" to swim together, to be na$ed before
each other, ninety percent of perversions and ninety percent of pornography will simply disappear.
Who will bother about it(
When a boy has $nown so many girls na$ed, what interest can a maga:ine li$e <5+%'3% have for
him( When a girl has seen so many boys na$ed, I dont see that there is any possibility of curiosity
about the other" it will simply disappear. They will grow together naturally, not as two different
species of animals.
4ight now thats how they grow: two different species of animals. They dont belong to one man$ind"
they are $ept separate. + thousand and one barriers are created between them so they cannot have any
rehearsal of their se*ual life which is going to come.
'ecause this rehearsal is missing, thats why in peoples actual se* life foreplay is missing" and
foreplay is so important -- far more important than actual se*ual contact, because actual se*ual contact
lasts only for seconds. It is not nourishment. It simply leaves you in a limbo. %ou were hoping for so
much, and nothing comes out of it.
In #indi we have a proverb: $heela pahad ni$li chuhia. T%ou dug out the whole mountain and you
found one rat. +fter all the effort -- going to the movies and going to the disco and going to the
restaurant, and tal$ing all $inds on nonsense which neither you want nor the other wants to do, but
both are tal$ing -- digging the mountain, and in the end, just a rat! 7othing is so frustrating as se*.
-ust the other day =ive$ brought me one advertisement about a new car, 5agonda" in the
advertisement they had a beautiful sentence that I li$ed. The sentence is: .It is better than se*.. I dont
care about the car -- the advertisement is beautiful. ,ertainly if you loo$ around you, you will find a
thousand and one things better than se*. &e* is just a rat, and that too after so much huffing and
puffing, so much perspiration ... and in the end both feel cheated.
The reason is that you dont $now the art of se*" you $now only the middle point. It is as if you see a
film just in the middle for a few seconds. 7aturally you cant ma$e any sense of it" the beginning is
missing, the end is missing. <erhaps you simply saw the interval ... where there was nothing.
!an feels ashamed after se*" he turns over and goes to sleep. #e simply cannot face the woman. #e
feels ashamed, thats why he turns to his side and goes to sleep. The woman weeps and cries because
this was not what she was hoping for. This is all( Then what is this whole drama all about( 'ut the
reason is because the rehearsal part in your life has been canceled by your society. %ou dont $now
what foreplay is.
)oreplay is really the most satisfying part in se*. )oreplay is more loving. &e* is simply a biological
clima*, but the clima* of what( -- you have missed everything that could have made it a clima*. 9o
you thin$ you suddenly reach to the clima*, missing all the rungs of the ladder( %ou have to move up
the ladder, rung by rung, only then can you reach the clima*. 2verybody wants the clima*.
7ow the foolish psychoanalysts and their $ind have put an idea in peoples minds of orgasm. 7ow,
orgasm is even a higher stage than clima*" it needs much more than clima*. <eople are missing clima*
-- their se*ual life is nothing but a $ind of relief. %es, for a moment you feel relieved of a burden, just
li$e a good snee:e. #ow good it feels afterwards! -- but for how long( #ow long can you feel good
after a snee:e( #ow many seconds, how many minutes can you brag that .I had such a snee:e, it was
great.. +s the snee:e is gone, with it goes all the joy too.
It was simply something bothering you. %ou are finished with that botheration, there is a little
rela*ation. Thats the se*ual life of most of the people in the world. &ome energy was bothering you,
was ma$ing you heavy" it was turning into a headache. &e* gives you a relief.
'ut the way children are brought up is almost butchering their whole life. Those seven years of se*ual
rehearsal are absolutely essential. /irls and boys should be together in schools, in hostels, in
swimming pools and beds. They should rehearse for the life which is going to come" they have to get
ready for it. +nd there is no danger, there is no problem, if a child is given total freedom about his
growing se*ual energy and is not condemned, repressed -- which is being done.
+ very strange world it is in which you are living. %ou are born of se*, you will live for se*, your
children will be born out of se* -- and se* is the most condemned thing, the greatest sin. +nd all the
religions go on putting this crap in your mind. They have made you almost brown bags.
3nly in 7ew -ersey did I come to $now what brown bags are. &trange, I dont $now whether it
happens all over +merica or only in 7ew -ersey because I have not seen anything else, only 7ew
-ersey. In 7ew -ersey when I used to go to drive in the morning, everybody was coming with a brown
bag full of all crap, putting it by the side of the road.
I en;uired, .What is the matter( ,ouldnt they have found any other color( + brown bag(. 'ut then I
thought perhaps thats e*actly right. !ost of the people are simply brown bags. 7ever open anybody.
It happened in my childhood: India became independent but the 'ritish government had left some
Indian states. India was in two separate sections" only one was under 'ritish rule. There were small
poc$ets all over India of Indian states which were still ruled by Indian $ings. They were under 'ritish
government -- their foreign policy was ruled by the 'ritish government, but otherwise in their internal
policy they were completely free.
When the 'ritishers left India they left it in a mess, in a real mess. )irst, they divided India and
<a$istan" second they left the Indian states absolutely in a limbo, without ma$ing any decision about
them. The idea was to create a chaos, and they had already created a chaos because there were so
many Indian states. 7ow the ;uestion was, were they independent nations( Were they part of India and
would their foreign policy be ruled by India, or were they part of <a$istan and would their foreign
policy be ruled by <a$istan(
7othing was decided, the whole ;uestion was not decided. +nd the Indian states constituted almost
half of India. The trouble was more complicated because in some Indian states the major population
was #indu and the $ing was !ohammedan" in some Indian states the major population was
!ohammedan and the $ing was #indu. 8ashmir was ninety percent !ohammedan, but the $ing was
#indu. #yderabad was ninety percent #indu, but the $ing was !ohammedan.
-ust close to my town, beyond the river, was a small state, 'hopal. The $ing was !ohammedan, the
population was #indu, so everywhere there were riots because the population wanted the state to
merge with India, and the $ing wanted to merge it with <a$istan because he was !ohammedan. 'ut it
was in the middle of India so it was not easy to merge with <a$istan. There was a great fight between
the $ings forces and the population, and we were just on the other side of the river. We could see from
this side people being $illed on the other side.
We caught four dead people who were $illed by the forces of the $ing" somehow they must have
fallen in the river, and they came to our side so we caught hold of them. 7aturally, I had to persuade
people, .This is not good. They have been fighting for the freedom of the country" they wanted the
country to merge into India -- you should not leave them li$e that..
They wanted to throw them into the river and be finished: who could be bothered with them( 'ut
somehow I gathered a few young people, and then a few old people felt ashamed and they came.
'ut first, before we could do anything they had to be postmortemed, so we too$ them to the hospital.
The postmortem place was almost two furlongs away behind the hospital, in the jungle. 3ne can
understand that they were cutting up bodies ... the smell and everything, so they had made the place
that far away outside the city. 'ut we had to carry these four corpses.
That was the first time I saw a brown bag open. The doctor was the father of one of my friends so he
allowed me in. #e said, .%ou can see how man loo$s inside,. and he opened the bodies. It was really
shoc$ing to see how man loo$s inside. +nd this was only the body: later on I saw the postmortem of
the mind also. ,ompared to that it is nothing, this is only the poor body. %our mind is so rich in
crap ....
That day one thing happened that I have to tell you, although it is not concerned with what I was
going to tell you -- but it must be concerned in some way, otherwise why should I remember it(
When we were carrying out the bodies after they were postmortemed .... They put them together again
and covered them. 3ne of the leaders of my town, &hri 7ath 'att, had always felt as if I was his
enemy, for the simple reason that I was a friend of his son and he thought I was corrupting him -- and
in a way he was right. 'y chance it happened that we were carrying a corpse together" I was ahead,
holding both the poles at the front of the stretcher, and &hri 7ath 'att was behind me holding the end
of the two poles.
The head of the man, the dead man, was at my end, and the legs at his end. I had just read somewhere
that when a man dies of course he loses all control -- control over the bladder also, so if you put his
head upwards and his legs downwards .... I thought, .This is a good chance to see whether that idea is
right or wrong,. so I just raised the poles .... +nd you should have seen what happened -- because that
corpse pissed and &hri 7ath 'att ran away!
+nd we could not persuade him to come bac$. #e said, .I cannot. #ave you ever heard of a dead man
pissing( It is a ghost!.
I told him, .%ou are the leader..
#e said, .To hell with the leader! I dont want to be the leader if this is the $ind of wor$ I have to do.
+nd Ive always $nown you -- from the very beginning. Why did you raise those poles(.
I said, .I dont $now, it must have been the ghost. I suddenly felt li$e somebody was raising my hands
up" I am not at all responsible.. I had to drag that body alone, for two furlongs, to the hospital.
&hri 7ath 'att was in the town telling everybody, .This boy is going to $ill somebody someday.
Today just by /ods grace I am saved. That ghost just pissed over me, on my clothes. +nd that boy
persuaded me: T%ou have to come because you are the leader" otherwise what will people thin$( -- a
leader in times of need, missing. Then remember, at voting time I will not be of any help. &o I went
there, but I never thought that he would do such a thing to me..
These people all around the world are really brown bags, full of everything rotten that you can
conceive, for the simple reason that they have not been allowed to grow in the natural way. They have
not been allowed to accept themselves. They all have become ghosts. They are not authentically real
people, they are only shadows of someone they could have been" they are only shadows.
The second circle of seven years is immensely important because it will prepare you for the coming
seven years. If you have done the homewor$ rightly, if you have played with your se*ual energy just
in the spirit of a sportsman -- and at that time, that is the only spirit you will have -- you will not
become a pervert, a homose*ual.
+ll $inds of strange things will not come to your mind because you are moving naturally with the
other se*, the other se* is moving with you" there is no hindrance, and you are not doing anything
wrong against anybody. %our conscience is clear because nobody has put into your conscience ideas of
what is right, what is wrong: you are simply being whatever you are.
Then from fourteen to twenty-one your se* matures. +nd this is significant to understand: if the
rehearsal has gone well, in the seven years when your se* matures a very strange thing happens that
you may not have ever thought about, because you have not been given the chance. I said to you that
the second seven years, from seven to fourteen, give you a glimpse of foreplay. The third seven years
give you a glimpse of afterplay. %ou are still together with girls or boys, but now a new phase starts in
your being: you start falling in love.
It is still not a biological interest. %ou are not interested in producing children, you are not interested
in becoming husbands and wives, no. These are the years of romantic play. %ou are more interested in
beauty, in love, in poetry, in sculpture -- which are all different phases of romanticism. +nd unless a
man has some romantic ;uality he will never $now what afterplay is. &e* is just in the middle.
The longer the foreplay, the better the possibility of reaching the clima*" the better the possibility of
reaching the clima*, the better opening for afterplay. +nd unless a couple $nows afterplay they will
never $now what se* in its completion is.
7ow there are se*ologists who are teaching foreplay. + taught foreplay is not the real thing, but they
are teaching it -- at least they have recogni:ed the fact that without foreplay se* cannot reach the
clima*. 'ut they are at a loss how to teach afterplay because when a person has reached the clima* he
is no longer interested: he is finished, the job is done. )or that it needs a romantic mind, a poetic mind,
a mind that $nows how to be than$ful, how to be grateful.
The person, the woman or the man who has brought you to such a clima*, needs some gratitude --
afterplay is your gratitude. +nd unless there is afterplay it simply means your se* is incomplete" and
incomplete se* is the cause of all the troubles that man goes through.
&e* can become orgasmic only when afterplay and foreplay are completely balanced. -ust in their
balance the clima* turns into orgasm.
+nd the word .orgasm. has to be understood.
It means that your whole being -- body, mind, soul, everything -- becomes involved, organically
involved.
Then it becomes a moment of meditation.
To me, if your se* does not become finally a moment of meditation, you have not $nown what se* is.
%ou have only heard about it, you have read about it" and the people who have been writing about it
$now nothing about it.

I have read hundreds of boo$s on se*ology by people who are thought to be great e*perts, and they
are e*perts, but they $now nothing about the innermost shrine where meditation blossoms.
-ust as children are born by ordinary se*, meditation is born by e*traordinary se*.
+nimals can produce children" there is nothing special about it. It is only man who can produce the
e*perience of meditation as the center of his orgasmic feeling. This is possible only if from fourteen to
twenty-one young people are allowed to have romantic freedom.
)rom twenty-one to twenty-eight is the time when they can settle. They can choose a partner. +nd
they are capable of choosing now" through all the e*perience of the past two circles they can choose
the right partner. There is nobody else who can do it for you. It is something that is more li$e a hunch
-- not arithmetic, not astrology, not palmistry, not I-,hing, nothing is going to do.
It is a hunch: coming in contact with many, many people suddenly something clic$s which had never
clic$ed with anybody else. +nd it clic$s with so much certainty and so absolutely, that you cannot
even doubt it. 2ven if you try to doubt it, you cannot, the certainty is so tremendous. With this clic$
you settle.
'etween twenty-one and twenty-eight somewhere, if everything goes smoothly the way I am saying,
without interference from others, then you settle. +nd the most pleasant period of life comes from
twenty-eight to thirty-five -- the most joyous, the most peaceful and harmonious because two persons
start melting and merging into each other.
)rom thirty-five to forty-two, a new step, a new door opens. If up to thirty-five you have felt deep
harmony, an orgasmic feeling, and you have discovered meditation through it, then from thirty-five to
forty-two you will help each other go more and more into that meditation without se*, because se* at
this point starts loo$ing childish, juvenile.
)orty-two is the right time when a person should be able to $now e*actly who he is. )rom forty-two
to forty-nine he gets deeper and deeper into meditation, more and more into himself, and helps the
partner in the same way. They become friends. There is no more husband and there is no more wife"
that time has passed. It has given its richness to your life" now there is something higher, higher than
love.
That is friendliness, a compassionate relationship to help the other to go deeper into himself, to
become more independent, to become more alone -- just li$e two tall trees standing separate but still
close to each other, or two pillars in a temple supporting the same roof -- standing so close, but so
separate and so independent and so alone.
)rom forty-nine to fifty-si* this aloneness becomes your focus of being. 2verything in the world loses
meaning. The only thing meaningful that remains is this aloneness.
)rom fifty-si* to si*ty-three you become absolutely what you are going to become: the potential
blossoms.
)rom si*ty-three to seventy you start getting ready to drop the body. 7ow you $now you are not the
body, you $now you are not the mind either. The body was $nown as separate from you somewhere
when you were thirty-five. That the mind is separate from you was $nown somewhere when you were
forty-nine. 7ow, everything else drops e*cept the witnessing self. -ust the pure awareness, the flame
of awareness remains with you, and this is the preparation for death.
&eventy is the natural life span for man. +nd if things move in this natural course then he dies with
tremendous joy, with great ecstasy, feeling immensely blessed that his life has not been meaningless,
that at least he has found his home. +nd because of this richness, this fulfillment, he is capable of
blessing the whole e*istence.
-ust to be near such a person when he is dying is a great opportunity. %ou will feel, as he leaves his
body, some invisible flowers falling upon you. +lthough you cannot see them, you can feel them.
It has been always a great moment in the lives of disciples when the !aster leaves the body. +nd it is
possible because the !aster can $now when he is going to leave the body -- he can collect all those
who have been his fellow travelers moving in the same way. 7ow that he is leaving he would li$e to
give you his last gift.
+s the !aster opens his wings towards the other world you will feel the bree:e which is
incomparable. There is nothing in life to which it can be compared.
It is sheer joy, so pure that even to have a little taste of it is enough to transform your whole life.
It is because I feel such a deep affinity with 'uddha, !ahavira, -esus, >arathustra, 'odhidharma,
!oses, that I feel an absolute right even to critici:e them. That is out of my love.

<eople misunderstand: they thin$ I have critici:ed -esus, I have simply corrected him. -esus is two
thousand years old. In two thousand years the very style of life has changed" the concepts, the words,
the approach to reality has changed. +lthough the fingers are pointing to the same moon, the fingers
are different. +nd my love for -esus or 'uddha is so great that I dont feel any difficulty in critici:ing
them -- just li$e a friend can critici:e you, not a stranger.
+ ,hristian is afraid to critici:e -esus because he is a stranger, he is not a friend. #e does not $now
that love is capable of critici:ing one he loves. In fact, the more he loves, the more he is capable of
critici:ing.
,hristianity is a vast propaganda. They say they are defending the truth, but truth needs no defense, it
is self-evident. It needs no propaganda. 5ies need to be defended, lies need to be propagated, but not
truth. Truth shines almost li$e a sunrise, you dont have to declare it.
+nd saying that they are defending the truth ... I will give you a few e*amples from their own
theological history which ma$e it clear what they are defending.
The )rench scientist <ierre Teilhard de ,hardin was a -esuit priest and a scientist of world fame, who
was wor$ing in ,hina in search of the <e$ing man. It was thought that somewhere in ,hina the
.missing lin$. of ,harles 9arwin was to be found, because ,hina is one of the most ancient countries.
,harles 9arwins problem was that there was no interconnecting lin$ between the chimpan:ee, or the
ape, or the gorilla, and man. The distance is too great, there must be one more step in between. 9e
,hardin was searching for that missing step in <e$ing, and he had found a fifty-thousand-year-old
s$eleton of a man.
The pope as$ed him not to report it to the scientists: .9ont write it in any paper, and dont publish
anything that you have found till your death.. This is defense of truth. #is researches, which have now
been published after his death, show that the earth and the universe are not only si* thousand years
old" even man is at least fifty thousand years old, according to the <e$ing man, which scientists have
agreed is at least fifty thousand years old.
The snow of the #imalayas on the ,hinese border has saved the man almost as he would have died.
,overed with snow, he has remained fro:en as he was fifty thousand years ago. This disturbs the
,hristian idea that the world was created si* thousand years ago.
Teilhard de ,hardins mouth was loc$ed, he was not allowed to teach in any ,hristian college or
university. This is defending the truth( I am very much surprised that de ,hardin listened to all these
idiots of the =atican.
That is why ,hristians go on insisting that obedience is the greatest virtue. #e was programmed from
his very childhood to obey" disobedience is the original sin. &o, although he was a great scientist, his
whole upbringing, continuous conditioning and programming, had made him a coward, a slave. #e
was a genius in his mind, but the conditioning had gone deeper into his unconscious, and he obeyed
the =aticans orders literally.
#e did not say anything to anybody" he continued to wor$, and he did not publish any paper during
his life, he did not publish any boo$ on it in his lifetime. The boo$s now published bring tears to
anybody who can understand what a great man, a great genius, has been repressed his whole life by
the church. #e could not see his own research published.
The whole of ,hristianity lives in a paranoia that if anybody finds some truth, then what is going to
happen to their lies that they go on propagating(
3ne of the most important theologians, 4udolf 'ultman of the 6niversity of !arburg, one of the most
famous and esteemed of twentieth-century biblical scholars, stated, .We can now $now almost nothing
concerning the life and personality of -esus, since the early ,hristian sources showed no interest in
either, and are, moreover, fragmentary and often legendary..
'ut he must have become immediately afraid, because the church had been burning people, $illing
people. #e immediately wrote underneath -- that shows how programming wor$s -- after writing this
he immediately wrote, .That does not disturb my faith. I still believe in -esus ,hrist as the only
begotten son of /od, and I have absolute faith in the church of -esus.. +nd he could not even see the
contradiction. 'ut the fear must have ta$en over" he contradicted himself immediately.
3n the one hand he is saying, .We $now nothing concerning the life and personality of -esus.. If you
dont $now anything of the personality of -esus, how can you have faith( in whom( It is not faith, it is
fear. It is fear of the church, it is fear of the pope, it is fear of the whole of ,hristianity. They will $ill
you, as they have $illed many.
The =atican has an underground library of thousands of scriptures which they have burned, saving
only one copy. 7obody is allowed to enter, e*cept the pope and the cardinals, to see all the evidence,
all the proofs which go against ,hristianity. The public is not allowed to $now what the truth is. +nd
these people, -esuits, are claiming that ,hristianity defends truth!
If it defends truth, it should open the underground library in the =atican to all the scholars who want
to study there, and ,hristianity will evaporate without leaving a single trace on the human
consciousness. It is ninety-nine percent myth, invented, propagated, but it has a great propaganda
machine, and it has a militant church. It has almost half of humanity converted to ,hristianity.
It is a strange thing, but I want to tell it to you: after the death of -esus ,hrist, three hundred years
after, it was through voting that the ,hristian priests decided that he was a divine personality -- by
voting. +nd who were these people who were voting( They $new nothing of divineness.
This has never happened anywhere else. !ahavira was never elected as a tirthan$ara, 'uddha was not
elected by the masses as an awa$ened man. <oor -esus not only suffered on the cross, he has suffered
more from his own self-styled so-called representatives.
What would have happened if the vote had been against his divinity( Is religion a political affair( +nd
people who had no e*perience of godliness were voting and deciding by vote, three hundred years
later, that he was a divine personality. This was decided in the ,ouncil of 7icea in GVH +.9. -esus was
declared divine by a vote of the ,ouncil of 7icea. The nature of his divinity was also decided by vote.
This is the ugliest thing you can thin$ of.
Truth does not need votes. It is self-luminous.

#ermann &amuel 4emarius, a professor at #amburg in the eighteenth century, wrote that .-esus was a
failed -ewish revolutionary whose body was removed from its tomb by his disciples..
I am not saying that, it is said by a ,hristian professor who has loo$ed into the sources, the original
sources, and found that he was a .failed -ewish revolutionary." he had nothing to do with ,hristianity.
,hristianity is a fiction. -esus had never even heard the name ,hristianity. It has been imposed on
him, he was not the founder of ,hristianity. Who e*actly was the founder of ,hristianity( 3ne thing is
certain, -esus was not. #e never thought about founding a religion, he was simply telling the -ews, .I
am your last prophet.. #e died on the cross as a -ew.
Then who founded ,hristianity(
%ou can find 'uddhism in the teachings of /autam 'uddha" he was the founder. %ou can find in the
teachings of !ahavira that he was the founder of -ainism. %ou can find in the teachings of 5ao T:u
that he was the founder of Taoism. 'ut it is a very strange thing about ,hristianity: the founder had no
idea at all, was not interested in creating a new religion.
The man who founded it -- you will not believe it -- was the 2mperor ,onstantine. The church $nows
it, but does not allow the public to $now it.
2mperor ,onstantine of 4ome, who headed the ,ouncil of 7icea, died as a ,hristian, but he was
bapti:ed only on his deathbed. #is whole life he was the high priest of the &un /od religion, which
was why he changed the sabbath from &aturday, which was -esus sabbath day, to &unday. -ews still
have their sabbath on &aturday, and -esus also had lived his whole life believing in the sabbath on
&aturday. #ow did it become &unday(
It was ,onstantine, who was a worshipper of the &un /od. &unday represents the sun" the followers
of the sun have always believed that &unday is a holy day.
It was ,onstantine who was actually the founder of ,hristianity. #e was the decisive factor in the
,ouncil of 7icea. It was under his pressure -- because he was the emperor of 4ome -- that the priests
voted for the divine personality of -esus. #e made -esus a divine person. It was his creation, his
invention.
#e also changed -esus birthday from -anuary si*th to 9ecember twenty-fifth, the day of the solar
rebirth. The twenty-fifth of 9ecember, which is celebrated all over the world, is not -esus birthday.
The whole idea of ,hristmas is bogus.
-esus was born on -anuary si*th, but under ,onstantines influence and power, it was changed to
9ecember twenty-fifth, the day of the solar rebirth. It is thought by the sun worshippers that the sun
was born on the twenty-fifth of 9ecember. The whole of ,hristianity is living in utter dar$ness. Their
,hristmas is bogus -- and the church $nows it perfectly well but wont allow people to $now about it.
This is called defending the truth.
I call it defending lies.
,onstantine saw -esus as a failed messiah, with himself as the real messiah -- and his view was
ratified by the famous ,hristian bishop, 2usebius of ,aesarea, who said, .It is as if the religion of
+braham is at last fulfilled, not in -esus, but in ,onstantine..
,onstantine imposed himself as the real last prophet for whom the -ews had been waiting. 3f course,
the -ews could not crucify the emperor of 4ome. +nd the ,hristians wanted some royal support"
otherwise they were being crucified everywhere. They found a shelter in ,onstantine, but it was a
bargain, purely business. They accepted that -esus was a failed messiah, and that ,onstantine was the
real messiah.
'ut this is not told to the public! ,hristians are not aware of it. +ll these scriptures are hidden under
the =atican.
I say unto you that ,hristianity is one of the most untruthful religions in the world. It is a disease, a
sic$ness, a pathology, a poison. It has not been helpful to humanity in finding the truth in any sense. It
has been trying to propagate lies so continuously that they have almost become truth.
%ou must have all celebrated ,hristmas. #ave you ever thought that this is not the birth of -esus( %ou
never remember -esus on the si*th of -anuary ....
I have been thin$ing that we should start here a celebration for poor -esus on the si*th of -anuary
every year. That is defending the truth. &o please remind me when the si*th of -anuary comes, because
I have no sense of time at all. I dont $now what day it is today, and I dont care. &o when the si*th of
-anuary comes, please remind me. We will celebrate. +t least after two thousand years -esus will have
a real birthday celebration!

The 'ible says, .-udge not, that ye be not judged.. I also teach you no judgment, but that does not
mean what the 'ible says. .-udge ye not. -- but there is a reason for not judging -- .so that ye be not
judged.. It is pure business.
When I say dont judge, you are not going to be rewarded for it. In the very act of not judging you are
rewarded: such peace ...
<eople who are judgmental are grumpy, always have grudges against everybody, nobody seems to be
right. They go on loo$ing at the negative side of everybody, the dar$er side. They may loo$ at a
rosebush but they will not loo$ at the roses, they will count the thorns.
I say to you: 9ont judge, because you dont $now yourself, so how can you $now anybody else( +nd
every judgment is about a certain action. + man may have stolen something, and you judge that man
as a thief. The whole man is judged, his whole life is judged by a single act. %ou dont go deeper into
the act. The man may be dying of starvation, his mother may be dying of starvation -- and if he has
stolen a little food from people who are suffering from being overweight, he has helped them.
9ont judge people by their actions. +ctions are momentary, life is long. %ou judge the whole life of a
person -- .That man is a thief, that man is a murderer. -- and not only do you judge, but your courts,
which are thought to be just, go on judging people by small actions. Those small actions may have
been done for a certain purpose. 7obody loo$s at the purpose, nobody loo$s at the cause.

I am reminded of 5ao T:u ....
The emperor of ,hina wanted the most wise man to be the chief justice of the supreme court of
,hina. <eople suggested 5ao T:us name. It was absolutely right, there was no disagreement about it
in his court, and 5ao T:u was called.
5ao T:u came in his own way. #e used to ride on a buffalo -- which is a very rare thing. <eople ride
on horses, and people ride on elephants, but a buffalo ...( 'ut he loved his buffalo" it carried him from
one place to another, and it gave him nourishment. 7o horse can do that.
+nd buffalos are so silent -- and 5ao T:u was in immense love with silence -- they dont chatter. They
are so contented, they dont have any grudge against e*istence.
#e came into the court riding on his buffalo. The emperor was shoc$ed, but they had invited him, and
they were well-mannered, well-educated people, so they ignored the buffalo.
The emperor as$ed 5ao T:u, .I want you to be the chief justice of the supreme court of ,hina..
5ao T:u said, .%ou are choosing a wrong person..
The emperor said, .Why(.
.'ecause,. 5ao T:u said, .I will be really just..
The emperor said, .That is the very function. 9ont say no to your own emperor..
5ao T:u said, .3$ay, but it wont last long -- perhaps one day.. +nd it lasted only one day.
The first case was about a thief who had stolen money from the richest man in ,hina. The man was so
rich that even the emperor used to borrow money from him.
5ao T:u listened to the whole case and gave his judgment: .&i* months jail for both the rich man and
the thief..
The rich man said, .What(! !y money is stolen and you are sending me to jail(.
5ao T:u said, .I am loo$ing at the whole thing as deeply as possible. This thief is a secondary
criminal, you are the primary criminal. %ou have collected all the money of the capital, you have
deprived millions of people of money. 2ven if he had not stolen from you, you needed punishment.
+nd I will not call this poor man a thief" he was simply distributing wealth to those to whom it
belongs. %ou are a bloodsuc$er, a parasite!.
The rich man said, .I want to see the emperor before you send me to jail..
#e went to the emperor and he said, .5isten, this man is absolutely absurd and dangerous. #e is
sending me to jail for si* months..
The emperor said, .%ou are being judged( %ou have not done anything wrong..
#e said, .I told that man, but he is telling me that T%ou have been e*ploiting the money of the poor.
Where will they get money( 2*cept by stealing there seems to be no way! &o he calls me a primary
criminal, and the thief only a by-product.
.I warn you, if I go to jail, it will not be long before you will be coming to jail too, because you have
been committing murders, you have been raping women, you have been collecting all the beautiful
women of the country into your palace. This man has to be immediately removed from his post..
The emperor understood. #e said, .#e was saying himself that he would not last more than one day.
2ven the full day is not ended, this is just the first case!.
5ao T:u was given his freedom and told, .%ou are right. %ou go on your buffalo wherever you want
to go.. #e was a man of tremendous consideration, of in-depth e*ploration of everything.

9ont judge anybody superficially. %ou dont have the means to enter into anybodys act, because the
action comes from his unconscious. %ou have not e*plored your own unconscious, how can you enter
into somebody elses unconscious( +nd who are you to judge anybody(
'ut ,hristianitys statement is different. It is saying to you that if you want not to be judged by /od
on the day of judgment, then dont judge anybody else. This is simple bargaining, business.
Truth is not a business.
The morality that ,hristianity preaches is always motivated, and wherever there is motivation, there is
no morality.
The church says that a righteous man can judge others because he is without sin. Who is the righteous
man( If you loo$ you will not find a single person who is without sin, because everything that is joyful
and that is pleasant, that you love, is called sin.
The righteous person is one who has never committed any sin, who has never loo$ed at a woman with
loving eyes, who has never lied -- and the whole church is lying. 2ven the pope is lying. Who is
righteous( %ou will not find anyone.
+ccording to the ,hristian ideology, you are all sinners. %ou are carrying the same sin that +dam and
2ve committed. That is their dogma, I am not tal$ing on my own. It is their dogma that +dam and 2ve
committed the original sin by disobeying /od, and because the same blood is flowing in all humanity
around the world, you parta$e of, and you have to be responsible for, the original sin of +dam and
2ve.
%ou are their sons and daughters, and you are born out of sin. 2*cept -esus, nobody is born without
sin. 'ut I dont consider that -esus was born without sin. In fact, in the birth of -esus even /od has
become a sinner.
The #oly /host, they say, is one with /od, is not separate. +nd it is the #oly /host who made the
poor !ary pregnant. /od himself has become a sinner" it does not ma$e -esus born out of virtue.
'ecause /od is raping a woman who is somebodys wife without her consent, -esus simply becomes a
bastard, and /od becomes a sinner.
&o the whole of humanity is born out of sin, the original sin that +dam and 2ve committed. +nd /od
has become a sinner from the very beginning. )irst he murdered 5ilith, then he committed rape on
!ary. 2ven /od is not ;ualified to be present on the judgment day. 3nly the righteous can judge.
Who is righteous(
'ut ,hristian theologians are very clever in finding ways. -ust a few days ago, the third man in the
,hurch of 2ngland ... The first is the archbishop of 2ngland, then there is the second most senior man"
then comes the third man, who can possibly someday become the archbishop of 2ngland, because
only one man is in between him and the top, and he is young enough ....
#e has come out with the statement that, .Ta$ing the vow of celibacy does not include
homose*uality.. %ou can be celibate and you can be homose*ual" it simply prevents you from
heterose*uality. + new definition! They have to find such a definition, because almost fifty percent of
,hristian mon$s are homose*uals. The remaining ones may be masturbating, but nobody, unless he is
born impotent, can be celibate by nature.
These people go on teaching unnatural things. +nd when people cannot cope with unnaturalness, and
they are drawn to their nature, it becomes sin. Then they have to be condemned to hellfire. To be
natural is a sin, according to ,hristianity -- and according to other religions too. To be unnatural and
abnormal -- to be perverted -- is to be saintly.
7ow this bishop, who has a high post in 2ngland, with every possibility that he will become the
archbishop of 2ngland ... 2ngland has its own church, so the archbishop of 2ngland has the same
position as the pope. 7ow he is saying that homose*uality is allowed, no scripture prevents it.
I could not believe my eyes! I could not believe my ears! What is this man saying(
The 3ld Testament has the story of two cities, &odom and /omorrah. /od destroyed both the cities
completely, just li$e #iroshima and 7agasa$i have been destroyed. What was the reason( -- because
they were all becoming homose*uals. 'estiality, masturbation, all $inds of perversions were prevailing
in both the cities.
/od told them, .If you remain so perverted, I am going to destroy you.. +nd he destroyed both the
cities, which were great cities in those days.
If /od is still alive, which I doubt, then he should destroy all the ,hristian mon$s immediately. This
is the right moment to finish with ,hristian mon$s, because they are ma$ing the whole earth a &odom,
a /omorrah. +ll their monasteries are nothing but se*ual perversion.
+nd that is true about other religions also. They are all against nature and being natural. %ou are
forcing people to unnecessarily feel guilty.
!ahatma /andhi was very much influenced by ,hristianity and was thin$ing to become a ,hristian
himself" at least three times he was on the verge of being converted. In his ashram, even to eat
tastefully is a sin. %ou are enjoying taste( -- you have to eat without tasting. 7ow, that is possible only
if the taste buds on your tongue are removed surgically. If the taste buds are there, they are beyond
your control, they will taste. The sweet will be sweet and the bitter will be bitter. %ou cannot do
anything about it, they are not under the control of your mind. %ou can only pretend.
&o all the religions -- particularly ,hristianity -- force everybody to be hypocrites, to pretend. 7o
taste, no love, no appreciation of your own body and its wisdom. %our body is doing a tremendous
service for you for seventy, eighty, or a hundred years -- and you are not even grateful. +ll the
religions treat the body as the enemy, so torture it. Torturing is virtue.
4ejoicing in your body, in its health, in its youth, in its old age, rejoicing in your body even in death,
is what I teach.
,hristianity is basically masochistic -- torture your body. The more you torture your body the greater
saint you are. +nd there are idiots everywhere available -- they are the majority in the world -- who
start doing all $inds of stupid things just to become saints. It does not need any education, it does not
need any culture, any civili:ation, any intelligence, any genius. +ny idiot can become a saint.
!y own understanding is that only idiots become saints. + man of intelligence cannot become a saint,
because to be a saint you have to go against nature, against the body, against yourself. It is very
strange that /od has given you all these tendencies -- of love, of taste, of laughter. Who is the
criminal(
If anybody is a criminal, it is /od. Why has he implanted taste buds( While he was creating man he
should have removed se*uality, he should have removed taste buds. In fact, there was no ;uestion of
removing them, he should not have created them. -ust visuali:e /od ma$ing +dam: he should not
have made his genitals -- and he was ma$ing his genitals with such joy!
'ut every religion wants to castrate you, and particularly ,hristianity castrates people. What are they
doing in !ount +thos, where no $ind of woman is allowed( + hen, a dog, a female horse, a female
baby si* months old -- nobody is allowed.
3ne +merican woman tried to brea$ the one-thousand-year-old rule of the !ount +thos monastery
and enter. &he dressed li$e a man, she cut her hair and arranged everything perfectly. 'ut she was
caught red-handed, because women wal$ differently from men, so just at the gate she was caught.
+ woman cannot wal$ li$e a man, and the reason for it is the womb. !an has no womb. That womb
ma$es a difference in your wal$. &he had not thought about it. &he had done everything, but she had
not thought about the wal$, and those people are watching continually that no woman ever enters.
The monastery is guarded" it has its own government, it has its own police. It is a sovereign nation.
When the woman was caught she was jailed for si* months. It is their law that if any woman tries to
enter and is caught she will have to be punished.
7ow, after that womans effort, everybody who wants to go into +thos, man or woman, first has to
enter into the office outside the monastery and has to be stripped na$ed, to be loo$ed at from every
side, to see whether he is man or woman -- and nobody will say that those who are loo$ing at na$ed
people are voyeurs, homose*uals, enjoying the na$ed bodies of other men. 3f course no woman has
dared since then, but now it has become a rule that anybody who enters !ount +thos first has to be
inspected na$ed by the guards. 6nless they are certified to be a man, nobody can enter. &uch fear ... I
call it castration.
+nd do you see the difference(
#ave you seen the beauty of a bull( -- so proud, such grandeur, he loo$s so majestic, and after
castration he becomes the bulloc$. The same bull becomes a bulloc$. The bulloc$ loo$s sad, shrun$en,
all pride and dignity gone. #e is a slave" now he can be used for pulling carts.
%ou cannot put a bull to pull a cart" you are not a match for a bull. #e will not remain on the road, he
will go anywhere he wants -- and if by chance he comes across a girlfriend the cart will be thrown by
the side of the road. )irst things first! %ou may have multiple fractures -- and he will be enjoying
ma$ing love to his girlfriend.
'ulls are not used for bulloc$ carts -- but what a difference it creates, just castrating them, just
destroying their se*ual energy. The bulloc$ is a sad affair.
,hristianity and all other religions are part of the conspiracy to ma$e man castrated. They have
destroyed all the dignity of man. They have given only guilt and sin. #ence I call ,hristianity the
deadliest poison.
The 'ible says, .We $now at the end we shall have life eternal.. This has been the justification for
sacrifice and suffering: you can sacrifice a human being in the name of /od because he will have life
eternal. 9ont be worried, you are not destroying him, his spirit. 'ecause he is sacrificed in the name
of /od he will enter into paradise.
&o sacrifice is supported in the name of the eternal life that you will get after death. +nd suffering
also is supported: it is only a ;uestion of a few moments" your life of seventy years is nothing but a
few moments compared to the eternity of e*istence. &uffer patiently.

<atience is one of the pillars of ,hristianity, and patience is against all rebellion, all revolution, all
change. <atience is the opium which drugs people into deep coma. They move li$e robots. They have
forgotten that they are being e*ploited, their blood suc$ed. They allow it.
The 'ible says you should not change or ma$e an effort to change anything, because /od has made
everything perfect as it is. This is the ultimate utterance against revolution, change, evolution,
improvement in the conditions of the poor, of the sic$.
&cientists say man can live at least three hundred years if care is ta$en. If his body is ta$en care of,
not tortured, not undernourished, not fasting, not overeating -- if the body is given scientific care it can
live three hundred years very easily. +nd that does not seem to be incorrect, because there are people
in a few places who live one hundred and eighty years.
In 4ussia there are a few aboriginal tribes where you will find one hundred and fifty years is an
ordinary thing. Thousands of people have passed one hundred and fifty, and even after one hundred
and fifty they are young, they are wor$ing people -- in the fields, in the orchards, chopping wood,
carrying water from the well -- perfectly healthy. +nd there are a few people in 4ussia who have
passed the age of one hundred and eighty.
&o science seems to be perfectly right: if sufficient care is ta$en, life can last three hundred years. -ust
thin$ of +lbert 2instein living three hundred years! &cience would have benefited immensely"
miracles would have happened.
'ut fate is strange: by the time a man becomes e*perienced, death overta$es him and the e*perienced
man is replaced by a baby, absolutely ine*perienced. 7ow you start from the beginning again -- +',
-- and by the time the baby reaches to the point where it can contribute something to humanity, to the
world, to the beautification of it, death overta$es the man.
'ut ,hristianity will not allow it.
It does not allow birth control, even seeing clearly that if the population goes on growing the whole of
humanity is going to suffer utter starvation, and billions of people will die within the coming ten years.
Without any third world war people will be dying on their own.
'ut ,hristianity goes on insisting, because the 'ible says, .!ultiply. #ave as many children as you
can.. +nd because /od creates life, ,hristianitys argument is, .%ou should not stop the birth of a
child..
'ut do you see the contradiction(
8illing is allowed, sacrifice is allowed, because nothing is dying. %ou will have an eternal life in
paradise. &o what is the problem( -- if a child is stopped, he will have eternal life or may move to
another womb. If the spirit does not die when you $ill a man as a sacrifice, why should the spirit die
by birth control methods( In fact, the spirit would not enter into the womb at all.
'ut dont change anything, that is the fundamental motto of ,hristianity -- and that means death to
humanity, death to this beautiful planet.
,hristianity is the most out-of-date religion. +ll its assumptions are absurd.
)or e*ample, the myth is that !ary was assumed into heaven alive, she never died. -esus ascended
into heaven and then he assumed !ary there. In life he was misbehaving with his mother -- calling her
.that woman. -- and suddenly he becomes very compassionate when he ascends alive to heaven. #e
ta$es his mother also alive into heaven.
What happened to his five brothers and sisters( +nd what happened to poor -oseph, his father( If he
was able to ta$e his mother into heaven, why not ta$e ... what happened to the twelve apostles(
That -esus ascended to heaven alive and !ary also is as absurd as the !ohammedan concept. 'ut
!ohammed did a far better miracle" he ascended to heaven alive with his horse, both alive. &trange!
What will the horse be doing amongst the saints( #e must be dying to come bac$ to earth.
9e ,hardin said to the =atican, .Why am I not allowed to publish my wor$( It is based on scientific
principles and will contribute much to clear many fallacies which are prevalent in the scientific
world.. #e told the =atican that it must refashion its ,hristology to resolve the conflicts with science.
4ome responded that his diagnosis did not coincide with the ideas currently accepted in the eternal
city -- 4ome they call the eternal city -- and because his ideas do not coincide with ,hristianity and its
'ible, unless he ma$es his ,hristology coincide with the ,hristian ideology and theology, he will not
be allowed to publish his papers while he is alive.
These people have been $illing truth for thousands of years.
9e ,hardin commented, hearing this, .&ince then, as we all $now, the religious schi:ophrenia from
which we suffer has constantly grown more mar$ed..
+ $ind of split in the scientists who have been brought up as ,hristians is bound to happen. +ll
scientists brought up as ,hristians will suffer from schi:ophrenia, they will have a split personality.
3ne side has faith in /od, faith in the virgin birth of -esus, faith in the infallibility of the pope --
$nowing perfectly well that all this is nonsense, but their minds are split.
&cience says one thing, ,hristianity says just the contradictory thing, and they have to cope with both.
They become two persons. &o in the scientific lab they will be scientists and in the church they will be
,hristians. %ou dont $now how ....
&chi:ophrenia is cutting a human being in two parts -- a constant wound which $nows no healing.
The whole of humanity suffers from schi:ophrenia and all $inds of mental sic$nesses because of these
teachings which cannot go on changing with the changing world of $nowledge" which are stuc$
somewhere and are stubbornly against moving from there" which are carrying corpses of the past and
will not listen to the living sources.
!an has to get rid of all religions, including ,hristianity, otherwise he will never be wholesome, he
will never be one, and he will never $now the joys of life and the blessings and the benediction. #e
will never $now the truth.
If these religions go on living they are going to drive the whole of humanity insane. They have
pushed everybody to the very verge of insanity.
It is time to get rid of ,hristianity -- and all so-called religions which are different versions of the
same stupidity.
!an needs absolute freedom from the past. 3nly then can he live in the moment responsibly, and only
then can he create a new future, a better future than the ugly past, for the coming humanity -- a
superman, a better man than the pygmies of the past who were just slaves and nothing else.
I used to $now a very
strange man, !ahatma
'hagwandin. In India there
were only two mahatmas:
!ahatma /andhi and
!ahatma 'hagwandin. I
am absolutely against
!ahatma /andhi on every
point. &ometime I am going
to ta$e care of him!
'ut with !ahatma
'hagwandin I had a deep
friendship. #e was old, I
was very young, just a
student in the university
when we met. #e had come
to give a tal$ in the
university where I was a
student, and he was tal$ing
and ;uoting from the
scriptures, and he was a
very great orator of his time.
'ut I have always been a difficult person. I stood up in the middle, and I said to him, .&top for a
moment.. #e loo$ed at me. I said, .9o you have anything to say on your own authority, or are you
still going to ;uote from the scriptures(.
There was a great silence. The vice-chancellor felt bad" he $new that I could not resist the temptation.
!ahatma 'hagwandin was shoc$ed. )or the first time somebody had interrupted him in the middle.
'ut he was an honest man, and he said, .%ou are right. I dont have anything to say on my own
authority.. That was the beginning of a great friendship of a young man with an old man.
We used to meet often. #e used to stay with me in my house, and I used to stay with him in his house.
It was not far away, it was only si* hours by car. +ny moment I wanted to go there, I would simply
drive from -abalpur to 7agpur" he lived in 7agpur.
We forgot completely that I was too young and he was too old. 2ven his host -- because he had no
home, he was a sannyasin, so he was living with a friend -- even his host used to say, .It is a strange
$ind of friendship. %ou are so young, he is just going to die ... but when you both tal$ together, even
we who listen forget the difference between your ages..
+nd by chance, the day he died I was present just a few hours before. I was coming from ,haanda,
and just in the train one man, 8amalnayan 'ajaj ... #e was the son of -amanalal 'ajaj, and -amanalal
'ajaj was the host of !ahatma /andhi" he had ta$en him from &abarmati, +hmedabad, to Wardha.
Wardha is just between ,haanda and 7agpur.
I was coming from ,haanda. 3n the station of Wardha, 8amalnayan entered into my compartment.
#e was a member of parliament. #e told me, .9o you $now that !ahatma 'hagwandin is very
seriously ill(.
I said, .I had no idea..
#e said, .I am going to see him..
I said, .I will then get down in 7agpur.. I had not intended to get down in 7agpur, I was going
directly by train to -abalpur.
&o I got down, I went to see him, and I could not believe my eyes. I had not seen him for almost one
year. #e had become just a s$eleton, just s$in and bones, nothing else was left, and he was
continuously coughing, coughing blood.
#e loo$ed at me and he smiled. #e said, .This was my last wish, that if e*istence has any compassion
on me, somehow I would li$e to see you. That was my continuous heartfelt desire this last day. It is a
miracle: you have come. I wanted to say something to you, because I $now I am not going to stay
much longer, maybe a few hours.. +nd, in fact, after three hours he died.
#e said to me, .%ou had as$ed a ;uestion while you were a student many years ago in the university,
and I had to confess before thousands of students and hundreds of professors that I didnt have
anything to say on my own authority.
.I want you to $now that I still dont have anything of my own to say. I remained a scholar. I am dying
in deep misery. I did not listen to you, I argued and argued and ;uoted scriptures, and never too$ the
point although I felt you were right. 'ut my age, my prestige, prevented me from as$ing you how to
$now it, how to get to it. It was a simple ;uestion and you were always available, but because I never
as$ed, you never said anything. We discussed and discussed, but that was all intellectual..
I said, .I was waiting. Without your being thirsty for it ... it is not possible for anyone. %ou can ta$e
the horse to the river, but you cannot force the horse to drin$ the water.
.I have tried in every way to ta$e you to the river. Thats the end of the masters wor$. 7ow the river
is ahead of you: if you are thirsty, drin$" if you dont feel thirsty, I am helpless..
#e had tears in his eyes, tears of a long life wasted in words. 'ecause of his scholarship he has been
called !ahatma, great soul, but he had no idea of any soul as an e*perience.
This country is too full of $nowledge, too much burdened with scholarship, too much dominated by
the priests.
3ne thing he said, the last thing before I left him. #e said to me, .If the crowd agrees with you, $now
you are wrong. -ust remember it as advice from an old friend. If the crowd disagrees with you, there is
a chance of your being right..
The crowd has never been right, hence you dont see the Indian crowd here. %ou see individuals from
all over the world, and a few individuals from India too -- but this is not a crowd. This is a meeting
place of see$ers. %ou have come on your own in search.
India is too egoistic because it has all the great scriptures, and all the great priests who parrot-li$e go
on repeating great words -- and they are satisfied with those words. They will die a miserable death
li$e !ahatma 'hagwandin.
I am not going to praise
any lies, any poisons,
any untruths. I am going
to say straightforwardly
what is what. That was
the problem for them.
They could not
understand how to argue
with me.
I was in +merica for
five years, fighting in all
the courts. In the end
my visa had e*pired
long before, I had no
visa, no entry permit --
but they had not the guts
even to come into the
commune. They
surrounded the whole commune -- the commune had one hundred and twenty-si* s;uare miles -- they
surrounded the whole commune with the 7ational /uard with machine guns, but they did not dare to
enter into the commune.
+nd we had nothing -- just thirty semi-automatic guns, which are available in +merica to any citi:en.
These belonged to the police force of the commune, which was paid by the +merican government
because the police force was part of the +merican police force, even though all the people were
sannyasins who had ta$en the police training. &o they were afraid that .+lthough the police force is
ours, it is going to fight for the commune, not for us..
The greatest power in the world was afraid of thirty semiautomatic guns. They were planning for
years and years how to arrest me -- and I dont have even a paper$nife!
To arrest me is so easy .... There was no need to handcuff me, there was no need to put chains on me.
%ou could just have told me, .%ou are invited to the presidential guesthouse -- the jail,. and I would
have gone with them. There was no ;uestion about it.
'ut you will be surprised .... They as$ed the )'I to arrest me, and the head laughed. #e said, .+
single individual who has not committed any crime, and you as$ us to arrest him( We will not.. 2ven
the head of the army was as$ed. #e simply laughed: .#ave you gone mad( #as the army ever been
called to arrest a single individual who has nothing in his hands with which to fight( %ou will ma$e us
a laughingstoc$ all over the world.. #e refused.
+ll the government agencies refused to arrest me, for the simple reason that they could not show any
reason why I should be arrested. They could not say that I didnt have a visa, although my visa had
e*pired long before. They could not say it because I had applied for renewing the visa, and they had
not answered. They were afraid that if they said no, I was going to ta$e them to the court, up to the
&upreme ,ourt, and it would ta$e twenty years at least to decide the matter. &o .7o. they could not
say" .%es. they would not say.
&o they did not tell the army or the government agencies that .The only reason to arrest him is that he
has been living in +merica without any visa.. It was their fault, not mine. I had as$ed them again and
again that .2ither you say no, or you say yes. -- but they could not say either.
They could not say yes because the ,hristian church was pressuring them that I should be thrown out
of the country" once I am thrown out of the country, the commune will disperse. The commune had
gathered out of love and gratitude around me, otherwise there was no reason to be in that desert.
We transformed the desert into a garden. It was for sale for forty years, and nobody was ready to
purchase it -- at any price. What will you do with that desert( 'ut our creative people made houses,
made dams, created small rivers. We had enough water in our reservoirs so that even if for five years
there was no rain, we had reserves of water. We had planted so many trees that it was not going to be
long before the trees would attract the clouds.
We were cultivating in the desert enough food for the commune. )ive years more and the commune
would have been absolutely independent. We had our own cows for mil$, we had our own hens laying
eggs for peoples brea$fast. We had our own fields, we had our own greenhouses -- because in the
desert the sun is so hot, and unless you ma$e a greenhouse ... We had our own greenhouses for
vegetables, for fruits. +nd this all was happening while we were fighting with the government in every
court. They were putting imaginary cases ... but once they put a case against you, you have to fight it.
We had the greatest law firm in the whole world. Two of the attorneys are here: +nando, &angeet, and
I thin$ 7iren was here just a few days before -- perhaps he may be here. We had four hundred people
in the law firm, four hundred people continuously wor$ing on every aspect of +merican law and the
,onstitution.
If they had depended simply on law, there would have been no way to destroy the commune. 'ut they
dropped all law, all ,onstitution, they were simply mad! +nd that madness is not part of a cultured
religion. It is not civili:ation.
We have not thrown out the ,hristian missionaries from India. They go on converting people to the
,atholic fold -- but if people want to be ,atholics, it is perfectly o$ay. It is their choice. The
government has no objection" it has given freedom of religion.
The +merican ,onstitution also ma$es it clear that the state should not interfere in religious matters --
but they interfered. They crushed and destroyed our commune.
-ust now I have received a few pictures. 2ven after five years in the desert, the trees that we have
planted there are so green, they have achieved such great height, and with such beautiful shade
underneath. They are still waiting ....
'ut the government has not only deported me for five years, it has also made arrangements for
another five years suspended jail sentence. If I enter +merica after five years, they can put me in jail
on any e*cuse -- imaginary -- and I will not have any recourse to appeal for five years. &o, in fact, they
have prevented me for ten years.
In ten years those trees wont survive. Those three hundred peacoc$s in my garden, they have been
catching them and selling them. They could get only one hundred and fifty, one hundred and fifty have
escaped into the mountains. They will not be able to survive.
The dam needs continuous care. In ten years it will not be able to contain the overflow of water. We
were continually on guard that no water overflows the dam. 3nce the water starts overflowing, soon
the dam will be destroyed -- and all the commune land is below the dam, so it will be flooded with
water. That will destroy all the houses that we made for three thousand people to live in, all the roads
that we created.
+nd we were not employing any laborers. 9octors, surgeons, professors, teachers -- all $inds of
educated people were creating roads, ma$ing houses, ma$ing gardens, lawns. We had one of the best
hotels, with two hundred and forty rooms -- a five-star hotel in the desert. The whole commune was
centrally air-conditioned .... 7ow what will happen to all that(
-ust a few months ago -- a picture has been sent to me by a sannyasin .... They did not allow me to
stay even one day after I was released. They told me that I had to leave immediately. They were afraid
that if I stayed even one more day, there was a possibility I might be able to appeal to the high court,
to the &upreme ,ourt. )ifteen minutes ... and my jet plane had been $ept with the engine running, so
that immediately I should be ta$en to the airport and ta$en out of +merica. I could not go bac$ to the
commune just to say goodbye to my people.
2ven when they gave me bail it was prohibited ... they made it absolutely certain that I didnt leave
the commune. 2very day a phone call would come and I had to answer the phone. I could not use the
airplanes -- we had five airplanes in the commune.
I wanted to go to the commune to at least tell my people, .9ont be worried. 2ven if I am not here,
you continue, you will feel my presence. +nd ten years will pass. -- five years have already passed,
five more years will pass also -- .I will be bac$.. 'ut they did not allow me even to go bac$ to the
commune.
+nd just a few months ago I received a picture. We had -- those who were in the commune will
remember -- just in front of the assembly hall, we had the sign of two birds flying, just as you entered
from the road towards the assembly hall.
+ picture has been sent to me: some fanatic ,hristian has shot those symbolic birds, made twenty
holes, with a gun. These are civili:ed people( +nd they were only painted birds, not even living birds
-- but such anger, such violence!
They must have robbed every house, everything that they could carry. They must have destroyed
everything that we had managed so beautifully, with so much care and love. <eople were wor$ing ten
hours, twelve hours a day. + great dream was about to be reali:ed.
+nd these people call themselves the ones who have civili:ed the world! They are not themselves
civili:ed. They need civili:ation.

<erhaps, in the whole history of the popes, only one pope was honest. This pope was <ope 5eo the
Tenth in the si*teenth century. #e is reported to have said, .It has served us well, this myth of ,hrist..
I am not saying it, it is a statement from an infallible pope: .This myth of ,hrist has served us well..
,ertainly, it has profited you well.
They have been tal$ing about truth, but they have been hiding immensely important things. They have
changed all the gospels, they have edited everything that was going to be difficult for them to argue
for, to defend.
In the oldest versions of the gospels, you will be surprised to $now, -udas was one of -esus ,hrists
brothers. #e had two brothers and two sisters -- but to $eep -esus mother, !ary, without sin, they
have dropped those daughters and those brothers completely. 2ither they would have had to bring the
#oly /host five times -- that would be too tiring for the #oly /host, and it is a remote-control
operation -- or they would have had to accept that !ary gave birth from -oseph, her legal husband"
that this #oly /host is illegal, and that -esus is an illegitimate child.
They have dropped from the gospels the very idea that -esus had any brothers or any sisters. They had
to $eep !ariam, or !ary, or !aria, or whatever name you give to -esus mother ... !ohammedans call
her !ariam, which loo$s to me the most beautiful. /ree$s call her !aria, ordinary ,hristians call her
!ary. 'ut to $eep !ary without sin was necessary for a certain reason.
Why had /od chosen !ary to give birth to his only begotten son( -- because she was without sin. It
means that on the whole earth there was no other virgin girl" only !ary was virgin. It is such a
condemnation of the whole of humanity.

I have heard: in a ,hristian church the priest was saying that virginity is one of the foundations. There
were more women present than men.
!en dont go to churches or temples, or any other holy places. It is the women, because that is the
only place where they can gossip with each other. They dont have any clubs, they cannot go to the
restaurants, to the pubs. They have no social mobility, only the church. &o they go out of necessity,
because that is the only place where they can show their ornaments, their beautiful clothing, the fur
coats, and all $inds of gossips that are boiling within them. They dont go for -esus ,hrist, for sure!
+nd a few husbands go there -- not for -esus ,hrist, but either to $eep an eye on their wife or to $eep
an eye on somebody elses wife!
When the priest as$ed, .3ut of all you women, how many are virgins( &tand up!. nobody stood up.
The priest said, .!y /od! 7obody is a virgin(.
Then a woman with a small baby stood up. #e said, .%ou idiot! I am as$ing about virgins. %ou
already have a baby!.
The woman said, .The baby cannot stand, and that is the only virgin in the church. I am not virgin,
but this baby is si* months old" she is still a virgin, believe me, but she cannot stand on her own!.

They say they are defending truth.
They are defending lies.
They dont mention in the gospels that -udas was -esus brother. +nd one thing is certain: they go on
condemning -udas, that he betrayed -esus for thirty silver pieces -- but in the gospels themselves there
is not a single word of condemnation of -udas.
!y own understanding is that he never betrayed -esus. It was -esus himself, in his fanatical
hallucination. -udas was trying to convince him, .9ont go at this moment into -erusalem. It is the
-ewish holiday, and this is the time of year when people are crucified. %ou will be caught, there are
rumors all around. It is better not to go to -erusalem at this moment. 5et this festival pass, then you
can go..
'ut -esus was absolutely fanatical. #e said, .9ont you trust in /od( This is a chance for the -ews to
$now that I am the only begotten son of /od. 5et them crucify me, and /od will do a miracle!.
+nd you have not been told that -udas was so sad and sorry when -esus was crucified that the ne*t
day he committed suicide, hanging himself from a tree.
'ut ,hristians will not tal$ about the truth. They have to throw the responsibility on someone, but
without any evidence from ancient scriptures ... It is one of the most poisonous religions.
It says that one of the pillars of ,hristianity is forgiveness. It loo$s beautiful when you hear the word
Tforgiveness, but the implications are very evil.
+ man rapes a woman. The man will be forgiven by /od, but what about the woman( The criminal is
forgiven, what about the victim( There is not a single mention that the victim will be rewarded or
anything.
+ man murders, and he simply goes to the priest and confesses, and the priest gives him a simple
method, so cheap: .%ou have murdered a man. <ut ten dollars in the charity bo* and say five #ail
!arys, and your sin is forgiven. /od is compassionate..
'ut what about the murdered( 7obody has as$ed the ;uestion to the ,hristians, .What about the
murdered( What is /od going to do with the murdered, the raped woman, the molested child(.
+nd, strangely enough, the same man will commit another murder, because now he is fresh, clear" the
old murder is erased, forgiven for ten dollars and five #ail !arys. 7ow he can commit another
murder, he can commit another rape. +ll he needs is to go and confess to the priest and give some
money, and the priest will give him a prayer to do five or ten times.
There is no mention of the person who has been committing crime after crime. #e is not being
punished, he is being continuously forgiven. +nd all those people who have suffered from this mans
crimes, there is not a single mention of them in the whole ,hristian religion. It seems /od is in favor
of criminals, but not in favor of the victims.
7ow loo$ again at the idea of forgiveness, and you will see that it is ugly.
In other religions, -ainism, 'uddhism, there is no /od -- and it is good that there is no /od. 7obody
can forgive, so there is no ;uestion of forgiveness. These religions are more scientific. 2very action
will have its reaction, nobody can prevent it. %ou put your hand in the fire and you will be burnt. 7o
/od can prevent it. %ou rape a woman and you will suffer a deep wound of guilt. %ou may go mad,
but you will have to suffer. 3nly suffering will cleanse you, not forgiveness.
These religions are far more scientific: Taoism, 'uddhism, -ainism. These three religions dont have
any /od, they dont have any hell, any heaven. They are purely scientific: live according to your
awareness and there will be nothing li$e sin committed by you. 5ive unconsciously and you will
suffer.
It is unconsciousness that suffers. There is nobody who can forgive you" that forgiveness is in itself a
criminal act, because the raped woman is suffering. <erhaps she gets pregnant, she has a child which
she cannot love. &he hates it. It is out of rape that the child has come to her.
There is no discussion at all about the very fundamental problem. )orgiveness is not the right thing.
3ne who commits anything against e*istence has to suffer. 3ne who helps e*istence to grow towards
more beauty and more consciousness, and more joy and more dance, should be rewarded -- not by any
/od, but by his own act. In fact, when you do something good out of your awareness, the very action
brings such blissfulness to you, such peace, such joy" you are rewarded in the action itself.
+nd if you do evil ... that is only possible if you are not meditative. If you are an unconscious being,
in blindness you may commit something which hurts someone -- but then you have to ta$e the
responsibility, and you have to suffer the reaction that is produced by your action.
,hristianity is absolutely unscientific.
There is no future for ,hristianity.

They say that they have given a sense of morality to the world. These are their ;uestions they have
sent to me.
.We have given a sense of morality to the world. -- and they dont read, it seems, even their own
'ible.
The 3ld Testament is full of pornography, far worse than any <5+%'3%, <5+%/I45, or
<27T#36&2. 3f course there are no psychedelic colors in the pornography, so you dont see it, you
have to read it.
There are three hundred and eighty-eight pages of pornography in the 3ld Testament. This is the
biggest pornographic holy scripture. 3ne of my friends, 'en +$erley, has pulled out those three
hundred and eighty-eight pages and created a boo$ called T#2 R-4+T29 'I'52. 7ow ,hristians all
around the world are trying to ban the boo$, but it has already gone underground, it is circulating. I
have it" I would not say anything for which I dont have the right evidence!
-ust one instance of the pornography ... Three hundred and eighty-eight pages will be too long, it will
ma$e the record!
+ccording to the boo$ of &amuel, 8ing 9avid -- no ordinary person, but very much respected in the
3ld Testament -- 8ing 9avid saw 'athsheba bathing from the roof of the palace -- a great $ing! -- and
thought she was beautiful, so he had her brought to him so that he could sleep with her.
When she became pregnant, 9avid called her husband bac$ from the war -- he was a soldier in
9avids army -- so that the husband could sleep with her, and believe the child was his.
'ut the husband did not sleep with her, so 9avid had the husband, 6riah, sent to the front of the
hottest battle, so that he was $illed. Then he married 'athsheba.
+s a punishment for this, the 5ord threatened that he would ta$e 9avids wives from him and give
them to his neighbor who would sleep with them in public view.
+ great punishment! /od also seems to be pornographic.
This is the old jungle law: an eye for an eye. %ou have slept with somebody elses wife" all your
wives, not just one -- 9avid had many wives, he was a great $ing -- all your wives will be ta$en away
from you, and in public view they will have to ma$e love to your neighbors.
This is forgiveness( +nd what is the justification( 9avid has slept with only one wife" now all his
wives ...( +nd what have the wives done( They have not slept with the soldier, why are they being
punished(
It is strange: 9avid commits the sin, his wives will suffer the punishment. /reat justice. 2ven an idiot
can understand that this /od is retarded.
The ,hristian mon$s have as$ed me, .We have given the sense of morality to the world ..... Then
what was /autam 'uddha doing five hundred years before ,hrist( What was !ahavira doing( What
were the twenty-four tirthan$aras of the -ainas doing( What were 5ao T:u, ,huang T:u, 5ieh T:u
doing( They were all before -esus ,hrist.
+nd, in fact, -esus ,hrist had come to India, hearing about /autam 'uddha. +lthough /autam
'uddha was dead, he had left enlightened people, .and there may be some few still who are
enlightened..
2nlightened 'uddhists had created two great universities, 7alanda and Ta$shashila. Those were the
first universities in the world. 3*ford is only one thousand years old, and 3*ford has only ten
thousand students. 7alanda had fifty thousand students" Ta$shashila had one hundred thousand
students.
They were not ordinary students, they were sannyasins, and they were not learning scriptures, they
were learning meditation. They were learning how to enter into past lives and to find out what they
had done in the past lives. Those were great universities which were destroyed by the #indus.
'ut -esus came at the right time. #e could meet enlightened masters in 7alanda, in Ta$shashila. #e
went to both the universities, it is on record. +nd far away in 5ada$h, in the #imalayas, there is a
'uddhist monastery which has a record of all the visitors. 3ne of the visitors to the monastery in
5ada$h was -esus.
3ne hundred and fifty years ago a 4ussian e*plorer reached to 5ada$h, and he has copied the whole
page that was written about -esus: .+ man who was a -ew, a young man, came and remained in the
monastery. #e was tremendously beautiful and he tried to learn everything of what 'uddha had been
teaching. #e has visited Ta$shashila and he has visited 7alanda, and he has seen enlightened people
and learned many things from them..
These are the seventeen years that are missing from the 'ible. &eventeen years he was here in India,
in 5ada$h, in Tibet, so whatever he was teaching was borrowed from the 2ast.
%ou have not given a moral sense to humanity" even ,hrist has borrowed it from the 2ast. There is
great similarity between his statements and /autam 'uddhas, but /autam 'uddhas statements have
an authority which -esus do not have.
)or e*ample, .9o unto others as you would have others do unto you. is an ancient 'uddhist proverb,
but ,hristians brag about it very much. +s far as I am concerned, whether it is 'uddhist or ,hristian
does not matter. It is wrong. It is wrong on psychological grounds.
.9o unto others as you would have others do unto you.. If everybody were e;ual, similar, had the
same desires, then perhaps this principle would have been right. 'ut everybody is different, your taste
may not be the same as mine. .9o unto others as you would have others do unto you. -- thats
perfectly o$ay, but others tastes may be different. 2verybody has a uni;ue personality, so I may do
something which I li$e, but you may not return it. %our taste, your personality may be different.
)or e*ample, ta$e a masochist who loves to be tortured. That is his greatest joy: to be tortured. #e
reads this statement, .9o unto others as you would have others do unto you,. and what will happen(
#e will start torturing you, hoping that you will, in return, torture him. 'ut it is not necessarily so. %ou
may be a wea$er person, or perhaps you may be yourself a masochist, enjoying his torture and not
doing anything.
It is said that the best couple, the most perfect couple in the world, is one in which one partner is a
sadist and the other partner is a masochist. They fit. 'ut it is very difficult to find such a perfect
couple, where one loves to be tortured, and the other loves to torture ....
&o if by chance it happens that you meet a sadist and you are a masochist, then this principle on that
rare occasion will be right. 3therwise, it is not the rule. It loo$s beautiful, but it is unpsychological. It
does not touch the depth of human psychology. <eoples tastes differ.

They have as$ed what I want to say about this: .&anctify the 5ord, and let him be your fear, and let
him be your dread..
3n the one hand they go on tal$ing about his forgiveness, his compassion, his love, and in this
statement they are saying, .5et him be your fear, and let him be your dread.. This is sheer e*ploitation
of mans fear and dread, to terrify him, to ma$e him tremble.
It is a well-$nown documented fact that in the !iddle +ges there used to be ,hristian missionaries ....
They created such fearful scenes of hellfire -- eternal fire, the devil torturing everybody in every
possible way, and it is never going to end -- and they shouted and they beat the table, and they
slammed the 'ible on the table. They created such fear amongst the women that after their sermon, the
measure of their success was to count how many women had fallen unconscious, foaming, in a coma.
The whole picture was so colorfully painted that the women started trembling, because they all $new
they had committed sin. They have loved a man -- that is the greatest sin. They have not only loved
their man, they have even desired other men.
'ecause the 'ible says, .2ven your dreams will be counted.. If in a dream you ma$e love to your
neighbors wife, dont thin$ /od is not watching! #e is the perfect witness of everything that is
happening in the world. #e is loo$ing through every $eyhole. #e is loo$ing even in your dreams, you
are not even free to dream. %ou are not doing anything, just dreaming, but even your dreams will be
counted on the day of judgment as sins. There is no difference, it is e;ual. Whether you have actually
committed a sin or you have just dreamt about it, imagined about it, the punishment is e;ual.
The whole of ,hristianity lives on fear and greed. Those are human wea$nesses. !an is afraid of
death, man is afraid what is going to happen beyond death. !an is afraid of his own desires, his
tendency to love. ,hristianity e*ploits them, and all other religions also e*ploit them in a minor way.
!a$e people afraid and they will fall down on their $nees, foaming at the mouth and raising their
hands to /od: .)orgive us ..... They will .sanctify the 5ord. out of their fear and dread.
+nd create greed in them: .If you dont commit the sins, if you are afraid of /od, all the pleasures that
you can dream about will be yours in paradise..
&o on the one hand there is fear, which is one of the basic paranoias of man, and on the other hand,
greed. )ear is for hell, greed is for paradise.
The word Tparadise comes from <ersian. In <ersian it is firdaus, and firdaus means a walled garden
where $ings used to enjoy hundreds of women, wine -- a pleasure garden. <aradise is nothing but a
changed form of firdaus: a walled garden of pleasure.
&o give people a carrot, hanging far away beyond death, so they go on moving. 7obody $nows
whether that carrot e*ists or not, because nobody has returned from paradise to inform you what is
true and what is untrue. +nd nobody has returned from hell either -- so both are fictions, with not a
single witness.
'ut by creating more fear, more dread, more greed, you can manipulate humanity into slavery. This is
not morality, this is sheer slavery. %ou are ta$ing the dignity of human beings and you are destroying
their beauty, their joy, their life, and filling it with all $inds of rubbish, poisons. They have poisoned
almost the whole of humanity.
2ven !ahatma /andhi ... I have loo$ed deeply into his life and his actions. <erhaps not even his
followers have gone so deep into his mind. #e was one percent #indu, he was born a #indu, and he
was nine percent -aina, because he was born in /ujarat which is under the impact of -ainism -- even
#indus are under the impact of -ainism -- and he was ninety percent ,hristian. +t least three times in
his life he wanted to become a ,hristian but was persuaded by his friends, .That would destroy our
whole political fight for freedom. If you become a ,hristian, #indus will not be with you, and neither
will !ohammedans participate under your guidance. &o please dont do this..
'ut what was the reason( Why did he want to become a ,hristian( In his prayers he continually says,
.I am not afraid of anything e*cept /od..
That is a ,hristian idea that has become conditioned in his mind. #e was educated in 2ngland for his
law degree, and then he was in constant companionship with the ,hristians in &outh +frica. #e came
bac$ to India when he was forty years old, almost completely programmed by the ,hristians. +nd here
in India a great ,hristian missionary, ,.). +ndrews, was continually nagging him to become a
,hristian. .Without being a ,hristian you cannot reach paradise. -- and who would not li$e to reach
paradise(
-esus says, .+nybody who goes to paradise goes through me. There is no other way. There is no other
alternative..
I had one of !ahatma /andhis sons, 4amdas, as my friend, and I used to tal$ to 4amdas whenever I
went to Wardha to deliver lectures. I as$ed him, .9id not your father ever thin$ about what -esus
says( -- that /od is love. #ow can you be afraid of love( %ou can be afraid of everybody 2R,2<T
/od. -esus was saying just the opposite..
'ut ,hristians are doing the same. /andhi was just repeating ,hristian theology li$e a parrot. 3n the
one hand /od is love" on the other hand, .)ear /od and feel the dread.. Then /od is not love.
5ove dispels fear. 5ove dispels dread. 5ove is the only thing in the whole world which destroys all
fear, all death. 5ove is the only alchemy that transforms you into an authentic religious person, not
fear. )ear creates only slaves.
)ear and dread are the reasons for all psychopaths" the whole pathology that psychiatrists and
psychoanalysts are treating is created by some $ind of fear. 'ut from the very beginning the children
are told, .'e afraid of /od. #e sees everyone..

I have heard about a ,hristian nun who used to ta$e her bath in a closed bathroom, $eeping her
clothes on. When the other nuns found out, they said, .+re you mad( The doors are closed and there
are only nuns around here" there is no man in the monastery. Why do you ta$e your bath $eeping your
clothes on(.
The nun said, ./od is omnipresent. #e is in the bathroom too" so I am afraid..
&uch conditioning is bound to create pathology.

I have told you about militant ,hristianity. It is said, .)ight the good fight! 3nward ,hristian
soldiers!. Is it a religion or an army( 'ut it has been $illing millions of people -- and ,hristians call
them religious wars, holy wars, crusades. !ohammedans call their holy wars jihads, wars for /od.
9oes /od re;uire that millions of people should be $illed( 9oes this statement come from /od or
from -esus ,hrist, who tal$s continuously of love( 'ut now it is militant ,hristianity: .)ight the good
fight. -- because it is a fight for /od. .3nward ,hristian soldiers!.
,hristianity does not create sannyasins, it creates soldiers, and these are the polar opposites.
The mon$s who had come here belong to a certain sect of ,hristianity, -esuits. They say to every
parent, ./ive us a boy of seven. ... not a girl. Thats why you saw twenty-one soldiers, all male, and
not a single woman soldier.
./ive us a boy of seven years and we will turn him into a good soldier of ,hrist..
3n the one hand they go on saying that ,hrist is the pacifier, that he came to ma$e the world at ease
and in peace, and on the other hand they are as$ing for seven-year-old children. Why( -- because after
seven years you can start conditioning and programming perfectly. The boy will be able to understand
it, and by the age of twenty-one the programming will be complete.
The time between seven and twenty-one is the most vulnerable time, because after seven, se*uality
starts in a very small way. 'y the age of fourteen it is ripe. +nd as se*uality is your life energy, when it
is beginning, that is the right time to fill your life energy with certain programs. %our mind is growing
with your se*.
It is not a coincidence that millions of people around the world have the mental age of only seven.
)rom there they have been filled with beliefs -- #indu, ,hristian, !ohammedan -- and they lost their
intelligence. There is no need of intelligence. They are given everything as a belief, they dont have to
e*plore, so they lose their growth of intelligence.
In +merica, I called 3regonians -- where our commune was -- retarded people. The attorney general,
)rohnmeyer, became very angry when he heard my statement, but the 6niversity of 3regon became
interested in whether there was some truth in what I had said. When I returned to India, the results of
their research and their survey came. They had done the survey of the commune while I was there, and
then they surveyed all cross-sections of 3regon society.
They were absolutely pu::led how I came to say it. The 3regonians average mental age was seven
and the communes mental age was double -- fourteen. Those idiots destroyed an intelligent commune.
This fourteen years is also because you are coming from conditioned families. I go on sharpening
your intelligence, but you are already conditioned. That conditioning ta$es a little time.
+ man is capable of growing hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder -- his physical age and his mental age
together. When he is fourteen his mental age is fourteen, when he is twenty-one his mental age is
twenty-one, when he is seventy his mental age is seventy. That will be the right growth program.
'ut no religion wants people of such intelligence, because then they will see all the contradictions and
all the superstitions and all the stupidities of your religion.
+nd why are they as$ing for seven-year-old children( -- because after seven years of age it is possible
to program the child easily. #e becomes vulnerable. #e is growing in his se*ual life. #e becomes
open. %ou feed him, can fill him with any $ind of nonsense and he will accept it. It will become his
bones, it will become his blood, it will become his marrow, it will become his mind -- and he will
never grow beyond the age of seven.
They are ready to return the child by the age of twenty-one, because at that time ... &e*ual energy
comes to the highest pea$ when you are seventeen and a half" that is when you have the greatest
power. +fter seventeen and a half you are on the decline, and by twenty-one you have become too
ripe. 7ow to change you is very difficult. &o they are ready to return the children by twenty-one" now
nobody can change them, they have prepared them into good soldiers of ,hrist.
'ut the very word Tsoldiers of ,hrist is so ugly. I teach you to be sannyasins -- and not my
sannyasins. It is your sannyas, it is your investigation into truth. To be a soldier needs your mind to be
stopped at the age of seven.
3nly retarded people can be soldiers -- good soldiers. They wont as$ any ;uestions, they will simply
follow the orders. 2very religion wants people who dont as$ aw$ward ;uestions, embarrassing
;uestions which they cannot answer.
I am here to answer all of your ;uestions. %ou can find from any noo$ and corner of the world any
;uestion, and I am ready to answer, because I have no investment in you and I have no investment in
any fold, any cult, any creed, any religion.
!y only love is to share the truth, the beauty, the godliness that I have found. It is overflowing.
+ll I need is just a silent receptivity, a silent listening, and you will not be turned into soldiers of
anybody. %ou will be an individual on your own feet -- a sannyasin in your own right.
A6nless you have found
your natural inclination,
your life is going to be a
long, long tragedy, from the
cradle to the grave. The
only people who have been
blissful in the world are the
people who have lived
according to their own
intuition and have rebelled
against any effort by others
to impose their ideas.
#owsoever valuable those
ideas may be, they are
useless because they are not
yours. The only significant
idea is that which arises in
you, grows in you,
blossoms in you.B
.+nybody who can be a
good pretender, a hypocrite,
will become your leader politically, will become your priest religiously. +ll that he needs is hypocrisy,
all that he needs is cunningness, all that he needs is a facade to hide behind.
%our politicians live double lives, your priests live double lives--one from the front door, the other
from the bac$ door. +nd the bac$-door life is their real life. Those front-door smiles are just false,
those faces loo$ing so innocent are just cultivated.
If you want to see the reality of the politician you will have to see him from his bac$ door. There he is
in his nudity, as he is, and so is the priest.
These two $inds of cunning people have dominated humanity. +nd they found out very early on that
if you want to dominate humanity, ma$e it wea$, ma$e it feel guilty, ma$e it feel unworthy. 9estroy
its dignity, ta$e all glory away from it, humiliate it. +nd they have found such subtle ways of
humiliation that they dont come in the picture at all" they leave it to you to humiliate yourself, to
destroy yourself. They have taught you a $ind of slow suicide..
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425I2), +& '2I7/ ,#+4IT%.
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3m <ra$ash, the concept of charity in the eyes of one who is awa$ened is bound to be totally different
from the so-called ,atholic idea of charity.

The ,atholic idea is relief for the poor. The idea of the buddha will be: there is no need for any
poverty in the world. <overty is man-created, and it is in our hands to destroy poverty. 'ut all the
religions -- and most prominent of them is ,hristianity -- have emphasi:ed relief for the poor. 4elief
for the poor is not charity" it is not love.
Why, in the first place, should poverty e*ist( It e*ists because there are a few people who are too
greedy. <overty is a by-product of greed. 3ne part of society goes on accumulating" naturally, the
other part of society becomes poor. +nd man has lived for centuries under this e*ploitation. This
e*ploitation can be completely destroyed.
Whatever the society produces belongs to all. +nd the most surprising thing is that the poor are the
people who produce, and the rich are the people who do not produce. Those who produce are hungry
and starving and dying. -ust to give them relief is a very cunning idea: it protects the e*ploitation" it
protects the capitalists. It protects those who are the criminals, and it also protects the poor so that they
go on producing and go on fulfilling sic$ ambitions of pathological people.
+ man who accumulates money, seeing clearly that it is going to destroy millions of people, cannot be
called healthy. To call him religious is a moc$ery -- he is not even human. +nd particularly now, when
science has developed to a point that the whole earth can be comfortably rich, there is no need of any
relief for the poor.

What is needed is a revolution of the poor, a deep understanding among the poor that .It is not
because of your past lives evil deeds that you are poor" it is not your fate that ma$es you poor. It is a
few people who are pathologically sic$, who have lost all compassion, all sensitiveness, whose hearts
have become inhuman -- it is because of these people you are poor.. +nd just a great understanding
among the poor can bring a revolution in the world.
I dont advocate any violent revolution. There is no need, because the poor are in the majority, and the
rich are very few. -ust by democratic means, the power can be in the hands of the poor, and we can
create a society which is classless, where everybodys needs can be fulfilled.
/reed is not need. +nd there is no way to fulfill greed, it goes on growing. -ust for a few peoples
sic$ness, the whole society suffers. 'ut the priests are servants of those who are rich. 7aturally, in a
country li$e India, where for thousands of years poverty has e*isted, there has not been even a
philosophical idea of revolution, to say nothing about an actual revolution happening. There has not
been even a single philosopher to say that a revolution is needed.
-ust to go on giving the poor a little relief $eeps them alive at survival level. I would not call it
charity. It is really to $eep them alive so that they can go on producing for those who are rich and want
to be richer.
I agree totally with 8arl !ar* on this point, that religion has been the opium of the poor. It has
drugged them with hopes for a better life in the future, after death, if they remain content with their
poverty now.
7aturally, the rich people have been the protectors of the priests, of the missionaries. They have made
great churches and temples for /od, because they have seen the point, that if religion prevails over
peoples minds, there is no possibility of any revolution. What you have been told up to now is charity,
is simply the suicide of all those who are poor and suffering. It has been in the service of the rich" it is
not in the service of the poor.
I teach you love. +nd love is not blind" love can see the whole structure -- how poverty happens. +nd
love can bring the revolution" a revolution brought by love, not by violence, is charity to me.
The ,atholic concept also says .education.. 'ut what education( In the advanced countries, almost
everybody is educated, but that has not transformed man. !an remains as miserable as before -- lives
a life of an*iety and anguish.
2ducation is not bringing peace and silence and blissfulness to people. There is something missing in
it" it is only education in subjects which do not touch your interior being at all. They may ma$e you
doctors, engineers, professors, but they do not give you the insight that can create a /autam 'uddha in
you. The true meaning of the word .education. is .to draw out.. 'ut all that your so-called education
does is to force in. )rom outside, borrowed $nowledge is being forced into the minds of innocent
children.
In my vision, education is nothing but another form of meditation. +ll that usually goes on in the
name of education is secondary. The priority should be given to meditation -- education of the inner.
6nless you become ac;uainted with yourself, all your $nowledge is useless.
&o before education I would put meditation. 2ducation is trivia: geography, history, arithmetic. It is
good as far as the mundane world is concerned, but it is not good as far as your interiority is
concerned. %ou go on accumulating degrees and inside you remain empty. %our degrees can befool
people, may even befool yourself, but you cannot have the joy, the blissfulness, the peace, the silence,
the compassion of a /autam 'uddha.
+nd unless education has two wings, it cannot fly in the s$y in total freedom. 4ight now it has only
one wing" the other wing is missing. Why is it missing( 'ecause the priests dont want you to become
meditators.
3nce you are in meditation, you are soon going to be free from all priesthood, from all churches and
synagogues, temples and mos;ues. What is the need to go to a church when you can go inside yourself
-- to the real temple of /od( What is the need for a priest( What is the need for a pope, when you
e*perience /od directly, immediately, within your own being(
When /od becomes your personal e*perience, naturally you are free from being a ,hristian or a
#indu or a !ohammedan" hence, no religion wants you to be meditators. They want you to be
educated in physics, in chemistry, in biology. 7o university in the world has a department for
meditation. +nd without meditation, a man remains incomplete. This is one of the root causes of our
misery.
To me, charity first means the education of the inner" and only secondarily, it means education of
other things. .8now thyself. must be the most precious education, and then you can become
ac;uainted with everything else. + man who $nows himself will never misuse his education in the
outer world. 3therwise, when you dont $now yourself, you are going to use your education to e*ploit
people, to create poverty.

If you $now yourself, you will create a society where poverty does not e*ist. +ll your religions have
failed in creating a society where poverty does not e*ist. +nd one of the most fundamental reasons is
that none of your religions has been emphasi:ing the education of the inner -- the journey into ones
own self.
The moment you are at the very center of your being, you have such clarity about all the problems of
life that one thing is certain: you will not create any problem" and another thing is certain: you will
spread your vision, your understanding, to other people.
+ll problems are our own creation.
In our ignorance of ourselves we have created them. In our consciousness, they will dissolve just li$e
dewdrops disappearing in the morning sun.
+nd third: ,atholic charity has the idea of .medical relief.. There is nothing wrong in medical relief,
but why do so many diseases e*ist( 5oo$ at the wild animals and you will not find a single deer who
is suffering from cancer or from tuberculosis or from any psychological problem. %ou will not find a
deer murdering another deer, and you will not find a deer who is trying to commit suicide.
It is strange that man, who is the clima* of e*istence and consciousness, suffers so much. <erhaps we
only help to remove the symptoms and we never remove the causes.
)or e*ample, when I was in +merica they passed in Te*as a resolution that homose*uality will now
be a crime, because of the fear of +I9&. +nd the whole of +merica must have been shoc$ed, because
one million homose*uals protested outside the state legislature of Te*as. Te*as is a bac$ward state in
+merica. 3ne would never have conceived that one million people are homose*uals.
They declared, .If homose*uality is a crime then we are going underground.. %ou cannot write on
anybodys forehead that he is a homose*ual" neither are there any signals that show that a certain
person is a homose*ual. +nd they said, .4ight now, we have our homose*ual clubs, homose*ual
restaurants, homose*ual meeting places. We will go on being what we are, but no longer in the open..
+ problem becomes more difficult if it goes underground. It is better to $now that a certain person is
homose*ual. +nd homose*uality itself is only a symptom. 'ut nobody in the world has the courage to
say the right thing -- that it is celibacy that has created homose*uality. 7obody can say it, because it
goes against all the religions. 7obody wants to be condemned, li$e me, by everybody in the whole
world. 'ut I have really enjoyed this condemnation.
7o animal in the wild ever goes homose*ual. Why( -- there is no need. 'ut in :oos it has been found
again and again that animals become homose*uals, because the female is not there. What are you
supposed to do with your se*ual energy( It is a natural phenomenon. It needs some outlet.

+ll the religions have been teaching celibacy as one of the greatest religious ;ualities, and all the
societies have been respecting virginity as something spiritual -- these are the causes which have
created homose*uality and lesbianism. +nd out of this homose*uality has come the disease +I9&, for
which the scientists are finding no cure.
'ut still, no priest in the world, no political leader in the world, no man who has any international
status has said clearly that celibacy should be the crime, not homose*uality.
'ut I want to say it: ,elibacy is the crime. #omose*uality is only a symptom.
+nd if you repress the symptom, then the possibility is that something worse may happen, because the
same energy that has turned from heterose*uality to homose*uality can turn towards sodomy. <eople
can start ma$ing love... they have been ma$ing love for centuries, there are descriptions even in the
359 T2&T+!27T and other scriptures about people ma$ing love to animals, particularly shepherds
who are living in deep mountain forests where they dont have anybody else e*cept their animals. +nd
animals are not going to report to the police. If homose*uality has created +I9&, then sodomy --
ma$ing love to animals -- can create something far worse.
!edical relief is good, but it is very superficial. The man of real charity will try to find out the causes
that are creating so many diseases, and those causes should be removed. They can be removed!
It has been found that people who eat too much live only half the normal lifespan. If they were going
to live for seventy years, they will die when they are only thirty-five. 'ut people who eat less live
longer than is normal. The norm may be seventy -- they may live one hundred years. %ou dont
understand a simple thing: that whatever you eat, your body has to digest... it is a great labor for your
whole digestive system" and if the digestive system becomes tired, you are going to die soon" and if
your digestive system remains untired and young and fresh, of course you can live longer.
+nd there are people who are living longer. In the ,aucasus, there are thousands of people who have
passed one hundred and fifty years of age, and there are a few hundred people who have reached
almost one hundred and eighty years. +nd they are still young" they are still wor$ing in the fields.
&cientists say that loo$ing at the mechanism of the body, everybody should easily be able to live for
three hundred years" but so many diseases go on destroying the possibility.
<eople are eating things not for nourishment" people are eating things only for taste. <eople are not
eating things in proportion" they may be eating something which is not needed in the body and they
may not be eating something which is absolutely needed. )or e*ample, vegetarians are missing certain
vitamins which are absolutely necessary for intelligence and its growth. It is not a surprise that not a
single vegetarian has ever won a 7obel pri:e. In fact, they should have won more than anybody else,
because they eat the purest food. 'ut the problem is that their intelligence never grows" it needs
certain vitamins which are missing. &ubstitutions can be found" without eating meat, substitutions can
be found.
I have been telling the vegetarians, .-ust by eating unfertili:ed eggs, you are in a far better position
than meat eaters" and the unfertili:ed egg is just vegetable, there is no life in it..
They have been getting angry with me, saying, .%ou are teaching people to eat eggs..
I said, .%ou dont understand. I am saying unfertili:ed eggs. -- but they dont hear the word
.unfertili:ed.. -ust the word .eggs. is enough to frea$ them out.
4ight food.... #umanity is almost mature" it should not live on lollipops. 'ut there are people... I have
seen even old people with lollipops! <eople are filling themselves with ice cream and all $inds of
nonsense, jun$.
4eal charity consists in ma$ing people more educated about how to ta$e care of their bodies, how to
be more loving towards their own bodies. !edical relief should be a secondary thing.
'ecause of this ,atholic concept of charity, even the Indian constitution has accepted the idea of
charity in the e*act same words: .4elief for the poor, education, and medical relief.. It is even more
shoc$ing that the people who made the Indian constitution are not aware of their own 2astern
tradition, of their own heritage. They have not put in it anything which is their own" otherwise, how
have they forgotten meditation(
The man who was mainly responsible for ma$ing the Indian constitution was 9r. 'abasaheb
+mbed$ar. #e converted thousands of untouchables to 'uddhism and he wrote a great boo$ on
'uddhism, and I dont thin$ he $nows anything about meditation. Without meditation, 'uddhism is
just a corpse -- without the very flame of life. +nd even 9r. +mbed$ar did not add to the constitution
that helping people to be more meditative is the greatest charity, helping people to become enlightened
is the most important charity.
It has been a problem for us: the Indian government cannot accept our mystery school as an
institution of charity because of this definition. It is so strange that meditation is not included in
charity. What can be more valuable than to be a light unto yourself( +nd all that they have included
are very superficial things.
The constitution needs something much deeper to be representative of the 2ast. It loo$s as if a
,atholic missionary has written it" it does not loo$ as if we have /autam 'uddha, !ahavira,
+dinatha, 8abir, 7ana$, )arid. These people are not charitable" !other Teresa is the only charitable
person in India, because she goes on raising the orphans. 'ut she is against birth control.
If you have a little understanding, you can see the point: if you dont want orphans, then birth control
should be the most charitable thing. &pread the idea of birth control, distribute the pill to as many
people as possible, so there are no orphans. It is a strange thing that first you prevent people from birth
control, and then they create children which they cannot raise, and you come in to become a great
saint because you are doing a great, charitable act. If birth control methods are used, there will be no
orphans.
If medical science is not wor$ing under religious conditions and is allowed freedom from religions,
many diseases will disappear.
There are thirty million people in +merica who are in the hospitals because they eat too much" they
have gathered so much weight, they cannot even move. +nd it is charity to ta$e care of them, so
thousands of doctors and nurses and hospitals are engaged in ta$ing care of these idiots. +nd e*actly
the same number, thirty million people, are dying of starvation on the streets.
If this is the situation of +merica, which is the richest country in the world, what to say about the poor
countries( Thirty million people have no shelter, no food, no clothes, and another thirty million people
are being served by doctors and nurses and hospitals and the whole of medical science because they
go on eating too much. They cannot be sent bac$ home, because at home nobody can prevent them --
they will go to the fridge!
These thirty million people who are in the hospitals should be left on the road, and the thirty million
people who are on the road should be put into the hospitals and should be ta$en care of -- that would
be charity! These idiots would come to their senses soon -- and you would be saving si*ty million
people just by a small change.
!an needs to understand that our problems are our own creations, and if we want to get rid of them
this superficial ,atholic so-called charity is not going to be of much help. These charitable
missionaries and institutions have e*isted for thousands of years but poverty goes on growing,
sic$ness goes on growing, madness goes on growing. It is time to reali:e that we are doing something
fundamentally wrong.
+ll these people teach something against your body, that the body is the enemy. +nd if this concept
goes into your mind -- that the body is your enemy -- then naturally you are not going to ta$e care of
it.
I say unto you: The body is your greatest friend. Ta$e care of your body. +nd remember, you are not
suffering from any fate" there is no fate as such. +nd you are not suffering from your evil deeds of a
past life, because each action brings its result immediately.
I was tal$ing with a -aina mon$, and he was very insistent that it is past $armas which create poverty.
It was a winter night in the #imalayas. We were sitting near the fireplace, so I told the mon$, .%ou put
your hand in the fire..

#e said, .Why(.
I said, .I want to see whether you get burnt now or in your ne*t life. That will be decisive..
#e said, .+re you mad(.
I said, .This ;uestion you should as$ about yourself..

2ach action is related with its conse;uence. It does not wait so long that when you die and are born
again -- perhaps si*ty years or eighty years afterwards -- you will suffer because you have done
something wrong. 2ach wrong act brings its own suffering, and each good act brings its own reward
and its own blissfulness. 'ut people have been deceived, and deceived by those in whom they have
believed so much.
To summari:e, I would li$e to say that charity is to ma$e the poor aware that poverty is created by the
few people who are greedy.
Those who are accumulating too much should be behind bars, and those who are producing should be
the owners of their product. The land should belong to the one who toils on the land, and the garden to
the one who wor$s there, and the factory to those who pour their very life into creating things.
-ust two percent of the people in India can be called rich, and these two percent are $eeping ninety-
eight percent of the people poor. %ou will not believe it, but half the wealth of the whole of India is in
'ombay. -ust one city has half the wealth, and the whole country -- a continent of almost nine hundred
million people -- has the other half. It seems we have lived in such a way, geared to such a style, that
we have come to accept that those who are rich are being rewarded because of their past good $armas,
good actions. I want to destroy this whole ideology.
2ducation is certainly needed" but before education, meditation is needed. +nybody who becomes a
graduate -- either an engineer or a doctor or a professor -- should not be able to have his degree unless
he also passes his e*aminations in meditation. 2ach university and each college should have classes
for meditation for the students -- and for people from outside also" they may not have been able in
their youth to learn meditation, but now they can learn.
2ducation is a vast phenomenon. 2ach hospital should have a certain department where people who
are going to die should be taught meditation before death -- just as people who are going to live...
when they pass their e*aminations in the university, they should be taught meditation -- how to live
dancingly, joyously, beautifully, without greed, without jealousy, without anger, without hatred.
Then comes another point, when a person is dying. When the doctors feel that only a few months are
left, he should be taught meditation as a preparation for the eternal journey he is going on. &oon he
will leave the body. 'efore he leaves the body, he must understand, e*perience, that he is not the body.
Then he can die joyously.
5iving joyously and dying joyously -- if we can create this atmosphere, I call it the greatest charity.
+nd that is what we are doing here. Whether the government accepts it or not does not matter"
whether the constitution goes on superficially.... It will have to change. We just have to create people
who are evidence of right education. +n education is complete when it is inner and outer both. +nd we
have to create people who can change this whole e*ploitative structure with love and compassion in a
democratic way. There is no need for any violence. The poor just have to be made aware: It is time for
you to wa$e up" everything belongs to you.
!aneesha, before I discuss the
sutras, something of great
importance has to be understood.
>en is neither 'uddhism nor
Taoism" it is a crossbreed. When
the great 'odhidharma met the
masters of Taoism in ,hina, the
meeting and their dialogues
created something new, which
has the flavor of 'uddhism in it
but is not dependent on 'uddhist
literature. It has also the flavor
of Tao in it, but is not dependent
on Taoist tradition. It is
independent of both the parents.
+s all crossbreeds are better than the parents -- even philosophical systems, theological ways,
meditation function in the same way as fruits, as animals, as human beings -- the crossbreed by nature
itself ta$es the best of both the parents and leaves all that is non-essential.
>ens greatness and height is because it has left all the non-essentials of 'uddhism and all the non-
essentials of Taoism, and two great pea$s have merged into a higher pea$, which has only the flavor
from both. 'ut the synthesis of the flavors ma$es it a totally new phenomenon.
#ence the traditional 'uddhist will not give any credit to >en. #e will simply laugh and will say, .It
is just cra:y.. The traditional Taoist also will say the same thing: .It is cra:y. It is not part of our
system.. 'ut this became a great opportunity to rebel against all traditions. >en is pure rebellion.
'ut unfortunately, the way history moves, even the very rebellious people... /autam 'uddha himself
was a great rebellious mind" he rebelled against #induism, he rebelled against -ainism, he rebelled
against the whole past of India. #e had the guts and the genius to do it.
'ut this is the unfortunate part: that sooner or later 'uddha had to die. #is words would fall into the
hands of the scholars. #e could not prevent it -- although his last premonition was this: .9ont ma$e
me an institution. 9ont ma$e me a tradition! I have been against the traditional way" I dont want to
become myself a tradition, but I will not be here to prevent you. &o my last words are: 9ont ma$e my
statues, dont ma$e my temples, dont write my scriptures -- so that I can disappear just li$e the birds
footprints in the blue s$y. 9ont be worried that my disappearance will be in any way a disturbance in
the evolution of humanity. 'etter buddhas will be coming, greater revolutionaries will be coming. I
dont want to stand in their way..
'ut nobody listens. The moment he died, the ne*t thing his disciples did was to collect all that he had
said in forty-two years continually spea$ing, morning, evening. +nd he had not allowed anybody to
ta$e notes, for the simple reason that these notes would become scriptures. 'ut the words were so
profound that the first gathering -- just the second day after 'uddhas death -- decided that all the
enlightened disciples should gather together. There were five hundred enlightened disciples -- this was
called the first great meeting -- and they decided that everybody should relate his e*perience, .so we
can collect somehow the great treasure that is going to disappear if we dont collect it now..
3ne can understand their concern for the future generations, that 'uddha should not be lost. 'ut one
can also understand that although they were enlightened, they could not agree about 'uddhas last
statement, his last words, and they did not even feel that they were disagreeing. &o each person who
had heard whatever 'uddha had said related whatever he remembered. There were great troubles,
because somebody said something and somebody else contradicted it saying that 'uddha had said
something else.
&oon it was clear that they were not all agreeing. Thirty-two schools arose" thirty-two different
schools and traditions -- each claiming to be the right tradition -- and they started to ma$e 'uddhas
statues, scriptures. In the whole world nobody elses statues e*ist more than 'uddhas.
When the +rabians and <ersians came into contact in !ongolia with the statue of 'uddha, they had
never seen anybodys statue, so 'uddhas statue became to them e*actly the word that symboli:es
statue: budt. T'udt is a form of Tbuddha" they did not ma$e any distinction because there were no
other statues -- only 'uddhas statues -- so buddha became synonymous with budt. 2ven today in
6rdu, in <ersian, in +rabic, budt means statue. It is derived from 'uddha, the man who has forbidden
to ma$e his statues.
'uddhism became a tradition and again somebody of the same genius and greatness had to revolt
against the tradition. It was not a revolt against 'uddha" it was a revolt against the traditionalism,
ritualism. The priests with whom he had been fighting his whole life have come bac$" the scholars
have become again important.
'odhidharma rebelled against the 'uddhist tradition, and part of his rebellion was meeting with the
Tao and bringing all the flowers of Tao and creating a new e*perience. 'ut he was as unaware of the
fact as 'uddha was. 'uddha was saying, .9ont ma$e a tradition of me,. but the tradition was made.
'odhidharma rebelled against the tradition, but was not aware that he also would fall into the same
trap of human mind. #e became a tradition himself.
&oon it was reali:ed by !a T:u that this is a sad story, that 'odhidharma, a man of fire, burning all
scriptures, destroying all beliefs... !a T:u was also of the same caliber. To revolt is not easy. %ou need
to have tremendous resources within you" otherwise you become futile, your words dont have the
traditional depth. Tradition gives a certain depth, a certain richness, a certain refinement. + single
individual, if he stands against all tradition, needs to be of a great genius, of great creativity.
!a T:u rebelled against the traditionalism that had grown after 'odhidharma. #e introduced totally
new ideas, new devices -- hitting, shouting. 7obody had ever heard that you can wa$e up a man just
by shouting at the right moment" it was a great contribution to human consciousness that hitting can
become a reward.
In the hands of !a T:u, >en became again fresh -- as fresh as 'uddha wanted it to be. +fter a
thousand years, 'uddha would have loved 'odhidharma and !a T:u, the people who rebelled. +
rebellious spirit loves the very creativity that any rebel brings to any action, thought, meditation, art,
music. 'ut !a T:u again -- it has to be, it seems, a matter of course that every rebellious person also
becomes a tradition.
Isan also wanted to rebel against !a T:u. It was not against !a T:u, but the !a T:u that the tradition
had created. It is a strange phenomenon: Isan loved !a T:u as he loved 'uddha and 'odhidharma, but
he could not accept the rituals that had grown afterwards, when they had died.
'ut Isan was not that great a genius. #e could not be compared to !a T:u or 'odhidharma. #e was
very polite, and his politeness prevented his rebelling completely. %ou cannot be polite and
revolutionary" you have to be iconoclastic and you have to hit hard against the dead tradition.
<oliteness will ma$e you respectable, but not revolutionary. +nd that is what happened -- it is a
misfortune -- Isan became a respectable master. 'ecause he became respectable he lost the grandeur of
a revolutionary.
Whenever a person becomes respectable, he cannot say anything against the mass mind. The
collective unconsciousness will feel hurt if he says anything revolutionary, and anything revolutionary
will ta$e away the respectability.
#e was very much respected, and he managed the respect. Thats where he lost the beauty of
rebellion. That shows in his sutras: they are not very great or very profound" they are good enough, but
very lu$ewarm. -ust because he wanted to rebel against the rituals that had grown after !a T:u, Isan
left shouting, he left hitting -- but he could not substitute anything else in their place. &o he became in
a way very poor. #is humbleness was great, his simplicity was great, but he could not contribute
anything new or profound to human consciousness.
%ou have to remember it: respectability and rebellion dont go together. If you want respectability, you
have to conform to the society -- and the society consists of blind people. 2ven though you have eyes,
you have to wal$ li$e the blind, you have to $eep your eyes closed. If you want respectability from the
blind... they can give respectability only to another blind person. + man who has eyes does not belong
to the mass, seems to be a stranger. Isan could not gather the courage to be a stranger.
Those who have lived a life of being a stranger come to $now strange things, which ordinarily you
will not come across in life. -ust the other day I received a letter from a sannyasin who was present in
a -aina gathering, which also had one night invited the great poets of the country. 3ne of the greatest
poets of contemporary India, 7eeraj, was there -- he has been here, so you all are ac;uainted with him
-- and he was hooted down, forced to leave the stage, and the reason was that he mentioned my name.
#e introduced himself before the recital saying, .+ll my poetry belongs to 4ajneesh. #e is my source
of inspiration..
Thousands of other writers and poets go on repeating what I am saying, but dont have the courage to
ma$e it clear to people from where their inspiration comes. &heer fear of the crowd! 'ut 7eeraj is a
man of all the ;ualities of a lion. #e said, .It does not matter even if you shout. This hooliganism, this
goonda-ism, wont ma$e any difference.. #e left the stage saying, .5ong live 4ajneesh!.
<eople are afraid to come here, and you can see the reason: if somebody $nows that they have been
here, then they must be connected with me in some way or other. There are many people who want to
be here, but do not have the guts to face the masses. 2ven to come to hear me needs courage! 7obody
is as$ed to agree with me" they may disagree with me -- but even for disagreement they cannot come
to listen to me. They read my boo$s hiding them under the covers of other boo$s, because if
somebody $nows that they are reading my boo$s, their respectability is at ris$.
3ne of the chief ministers of /ujarat used to come here before he became chief minister. +fter
becoming chief minister he stopped coming" not only did he stop coming, he told my secretary, .%ou
should not come to see me for any wor$ in /ujarat, because I dont want anybody to $now that I have
been influenced by 4ajneesh, or any association with 4ajneesh.. Then he was defeated and again he
started coming here. When you are defeated there is no need to fear: already people are not in your
favor. #e came here a few months ago. I told my secretary, .+nyway I am not seeing anybody -- and
particularly I will not see this man who is such a coward that when he comes to power, he sends the
message that it should be $ept a secret that he has been following me, attending my camps. I dont li$e
such cowardly sheepish human beings..
#e understood that that is right. 7ow he has become again the chief minister, and I told one of my
sannyasins there, .+s$ him: does he want to see me(. #e said, .-ust dont mention his name -- at least
while I am in power!.
To be rebellious you have to live as a stranger amongst your own people. Isan had the possibility of
becoming a rebel -- and then there would have been some profoundness in his statements. In his
anecdotes some new ;uality, some new dimension, some new flowers may have blossomed. 'ut
because of respectability he $ept his rebellious spirit dormant. &o once in a while something comes
out" otherwise he is an e*ample of a rebel who has repressed his rebellion.

+ small biographical note:
I&+7& )342!3&T 9I&,I<52 W+& 8%3>+7, +5&3 873W7 +& %+7/-&#+7.
%ou will be wondering why all these masters have two names. The reason is because of ,hina and
-apan" one name is ,hinese and one name is -apanese.
'2TW227 !+&T24 +79 9I&,I<52 + 72W &2,T W+& 2&T+'5I&#29, 873W7 +& T#2
862I-%+7/ &,#335.
Isan tried his best to rebel against !a T:u, so between the master and the disciple -- between Isan and
8yo:an -- a new school was established" its name was 8uei-%ang.
IT W+& ,#+4+,T24I>29 '% T#2 9I&TI7,TI37 !+92 '2TW227 T#2 >27 3)
!29IT+TI37 '+&29 37 T#2 5+78+=+T+4+ &6T4+, +79 I7&T+7T+7236& >27,
W#I,# ,3!<52T25% 9I=34,29 IT&25) )43! T#2 &6T4+.
The 5an$avatara sutra is one of the most profound boo$s in the world. It contains the very essentials
of 'uddha, and hence it is respected and loved through all the 'uddhist countries. ,hina, -apan, &ri
5an$a, 'urma, Tibet, Taiwan, 8orea -- the whole )ar 2ast loves the 5an$avatara sutra. It has
tremendous beauty. It is not li$e other religious boo$s" it has a great poetry in it, it is a creative wor$
of art.
This new sect that Isan and his foremost disciple 8yo:an established was against the 5an$avatara
sutra. It was a difficult tas$. I dont thin$ Isan or 8yo:an was capable of doing it. 3f course, !a T:u
could have done it. They didnt have that genius, but still what they did was good. 2very rebellion is
good, even if it is a small rebellion.
The 5an$avatara sutra fundamentally preaches gradual enlightenment, which seems to be more
rational, practical, understandable -- that step by step you move and discipline yourself, and when the
time is ripe and you have come to the point where enlightenment is supposed to happen, it will
happen. 'ut it is not an instantaneous thing" it is not li$e instantaneous coffee. %ou have to prepare
yourself to receive it, and that preparation can be of years. Twenty years, thirty years it may ta$e for
you to become a vehicle for enlightenment.
It was a logical system, hence 5an$avatara sutra had never been opposed. 2ven people li$e !a T:u
and 'odhidharma did not mention it. They simply avoided it. They did what they wanted to do --
which goes against 5an$avatara sutra -- but they did not mention it, because they also loved it. Its
beauty is so profound that it will loo$ almost li$e going against yourself. &o they did not mention it,
they simply bypassed it, because their preaching was instantaneous >en. They were opposing
5an$avatara sutra in the very foundations, but they were capable -- 'odhidharma and !a T:u, these
two persons were certainly capable -- of bringing a new insight. 9rop the idea of gradualness and
bring the idea of instantaneous >en.
Its implications are great. The moment you drop the gradual >en, all discipline becomes useless, all
rituals become useless, all worshippings become useless. The only thing that remains significant is
meditation, and to remain in the present as a witness. I agree with them, rather than with 5an$avatara
sutra.
+nd that was the effort of Isan -- but he was not that great a genius to bring out something great and
profound, comparable to 5an$avatara sutra. &o he was in a difficulty.
T#2 &,#335 T#+T 2=35=29 T#436/# T#2 W348 3) I&+7 +79 8%3>+7 W+& +7
2))34T T3 )34!+5I>2 T#2 +7TI-&6T4+ <3&ITI37 3) !+ T>6.
!a T:u had an anti-sutra position, but !a T:u had the ;uality to create something as a substitute --
because you cannot ta$e away from peoples hands something that gives them consolation. %ou have
to substitute something for it, otherwise your wor$ is destructive, not constructive -- and both
'odhidharma and !a T:u substituted.
'odhidharma had his own methods, not included in 5an$avatara sutra. !a T:u went even further: the
shoutings and the beatings nobody had ever heard of. #is effort was so new -- that enlightenment is
possible if the master hits you at the right moment, or shouts at you at the right moment" that his very
shout ta$es your consciousness to the deepest center of your being. What meditation does slowly
slowly, a good shout of the master, une*pectedly, in a situation when the disciple was as$ing some
;uestion, and the master jumps and shouts, or hits him, or throws him out of the door, or jumps over
him... These methods were never $nown. It was purely the very creative genius of !a T:u, and he
made many people enlightened.
&ometimes it loo$s so hilarious: he threw a man from the window, from a two-story house, and the
man had come to as$ on what to meditate. +nd !a T:u not only threw him, he jumped after him, fell
on him, sat on his chest, and he said, ./ot it(!.
+nd the poor fellow said, .%es. -- because if you say .7o,. he may beat you or do something else. It
is enough -- his body is fractured, and !a T:u, sitting on his chest, says, ./ot it(!.
+nd in fact he got it, because it was so sudden, out of the blue -- he could never have conceived it. #e
had heard that !a T:u hits people, !a T:u shouts at people, but he had never heard that he throws
them from a two-story building. #e had multiple fractures... and then !a T:u jumped on him and sat
on his chest. +t that moment he was absolutely in such a shoc$ that the mind stopped functioning --
and that was the purpose of the whole thing. +nd because the mind stopped functioning, and !a T:u
was sitting on his chest, loo$ing into his eyes -- a great silence, the same blissfulness that comes out of
meditation. What a strange way!
#I& +7TI-&6T4+ +TTIT692 -- !a T:u burned sutras. 'uddhists have more scriptures than any
religion, because thirty-two schools have their own scriptures, commentaries upon commentaries" it is
a whole different world of literature. #e burned sutras, but he substituted something.
Isan wanted to be another !a T:u -- but he had not the guts of that man. It is not easy to throw a man
out of the window, and the man said, .What about my fractures(. !a T:u said, .)orget about the
fractures! 3ne day everybody has to die. %ou have died today. +nd there are only seven days to choose
from -- not much of a choice. 'ut you have got it, and that is the essential thing..
In that utter shoc$ the man simply moved to his center. In shoc$s that happens. &ometimes it has
happened just accidentally: your car turns over on the road, rolls into a valley, ta$es a few turns.
3bviously your mind will stop functioning" and if you understand >en, that is a great opportunity,
because you will be at the center. 9eath may occur, but if you $now anything about >en, it will not
occur to you. It will occur only to your body -- your consciousness will open its wings and fly to
freedom.
>en has to be made available to every person in the world, because no one $nows -- every day
thousands of accidents happen, but because you dont $now how to use the accident you miss a great
opportunity. %ou just get multi-fractures and a few months in the hospital -- a chance that could have
made you a buddha.
I always thin$ that if !a T:u were alive today, he may $nowingly turn over a car on a cliff and send
you rolling down, running after you, pulling you out from the wrec$age and as$ing you as the first
;uestion: ./ot it(!.
'ut Isan was not... because he remained concerned about his respectability. !a T:u dropped the idea
of respectability. <eople li$e !a T:u dont care a bit what the world thin$s about them. The world
thin$s they are cra:y -- so what( They say, .We thin$ that the world is cra:y!.
We are all e;ual in that way: the world thin$s we are cra:y" we thin$ the world is cra:y. The decisive
factor is that our cra:iness is blissful and ecstatic and intelligent, and their cra:iness is just
retardedness, misery, suffering. &o if both are cra:y, then too you have to choose our cra:iness. %our
cra:iness is simply suffering, a tragedy that you go on carrying from the cradle to the grave, from one
death to another birth, to another death. This is called the wheel of birth and death. That will come in
the sutras.
...
&o the ;uestion is not right in the first place, but Isan, being always humble and trying to be polite,
will not say so. If this ;uestion had been as$ed to !a T:u, he would have given such a good beating
that the person would have never again as$ed any ;uestion. !a T:u declared again and again that .It
does not matter what you say, you will still get a hit. 9ont thin$ that I am hitting you because you are
saying something wrong! I am hitting you because you are saying something -- and I want you to
reach to the place where nothing can be said..
&o whether you are saying something right or wrong does not matter" it is just superficial. The hit is
certain. +nd in what way will it come( It is spontaneous. 7obody $nows whether he will throw you,
or hit you on your chest with his leg, and he used to have a big staff.... +nd he was really perhaps the
rarest man in the world" he wal$ed li$e a cow, on all fours, and he loo$ed li$e a tiger. #is eyes were as
fiery as any tigers can be, and this behavior -- wal$ing li$e a cow his whole life... #e never wal$ed
li$e a man" it was below his dignity. #e was a very strong man, and everything you could e*pect from
him -- anything! 3ne never $new what he was going to do. 'ut still the man was lovable.
If this ;uestion had been as$ed to !a T:u, multiple fractures were absolutely certain, because the
;uestion is utterly baseless.
'ut Isan was a humble person. &o when 8yo:an as$ed him, .#3W +'36T %36( %ou are also a
buddha. #ave you turned into a spec$ of dust( +nd do you help the rolling of the eternal wheel of
dharma(....
I&+7 42&<37929, .T#242 I& &3!2372" !+8I7/ #I! +7 2R+!<52, W2 ,+7 /2T IT
)43! #I!..
#e avoided the ;uestion, .#3W +'36T %36(. because to say that .%es, I am also a buddha,.
needs much more humbleness than Isan possessed. To declare yourself a buddha is not a declaration of
ego, because egolessness is the essential part of a buddha. The moment you say, .I am a buddha,. you
are saying, .I am no more.. It is only a different way of saying that you dont e*ist -- only a pure
awareness, a witnessing.
8%3>+7 <3I7T29 I7T3 + W+T24-'3TT52 +79 &+I9, .<52+&2 /2T I7 IT. If you are a
buddha, and you can become a spec$ of dust, then this is the bottle -- you enter into it..
I&+7& 42&<37&2 W+&: .+55 T#2 '699#+& '% T#2I4 3,,65T <3W24& +42 +T
<42&27T I7 T#2 !36T# 3) T#2 '3TT52, T647I7/ T#2 /42+T W#225 3) T#2 5+W.
,+7 %36 &22 T#2! 93I7/ IT(.
7ow he is not being relevant. 4ather than saying clearly that .%our ;uestion is absolutely absurd,.
rather than saying that .%es, I am a buddha, but no buddha turns the wheel" every buddha is trying to
stop the wheel of life, so that everybody can be immortal -- without any birth and without any death,.
so he goes on getting into more trouble. -ust because he wants to remain humble, not to be li$e
'odhidharma...
'odhidharma told the emperor Wu of ,hina, .%ou are an absolute idiot!. +nyone else, Wu would
have cut off his head, but loo$ing at 'odhidharma he could see that .In comparison to him I am
nothing more than an idiot. #e is not being rude" he is simply being factual.. That shows the great
cultured mind of the emperor. 'ut Isan has not that ;uality, so he goes on getting into more trouble.
8yo:an brought a bottle and said, .<52+&2 /2T I7 IT.. It should be an e*ample for you, that
whenever you are getting into any absurdity, stop in the beginning! The deeper you go, the more
difficult it becomes to stop it. If you have ta$en one step into absurdity, you will have to ta$e another
step to be consistent with yourself -- and where will it lead( It is better from the very beginning to say
that .This is nonsense!.
'ut 8yo:an was his chief disciple, and between the two of them they have created a new school of
>en. &o naturally he could not be rude with 8yo:an" he was his successor. Isan considered too much
about the other person -- and that was his fault, and that is the reason that in -apan the >en people have
ignored him completely. 7obody tal$s about Isan.
It will give you an insight that you can have respectability among the contemporaries, but nobody will
remember you in the coming centuries. %ou will be forgotten completely, li$e a name written on water.
'ut those who are condemned by their contemporaries may be remembered for centuries to come.
...
Isan is forgotten, purposely, because he considered more the public opinion, and an authentic master
does not consider what the public says. #e is not here to agree with someone" he is here to declare his
truth. Whether anybody agrees with it or not, it is immaterial. 'ut that is the difficulty: Isan
understood humbleness in a very wrong sense. #is humbleness became a compromise, his humbleness
became a fear" otherwise it was so clear that he should have told 8yo:an in the beginning, .What are
you tal$ing about( -- buddhas turning into dust(! 3nly buddhas 937T turn into dust! They turn into a
more cosmic consciousness..
'ut because he did not say anything against 8yo:an, 8yo:an as$ed him, .#3W +'36T %36(.
'eing a humble person, he could not say, .I am also a buddha.. Thats where 8yo:an was trying to
drive him: to show him .whether you are really humble or not.. 'ut humbleness does not mean to
compromise with lies, to compromise with absurd hypotheses. #umbleness does not mean to have a
friendliness towards lies. #umbleness is not a sheep, it has to be a lion. 'ut because he was trying to
create a different school from !a T:u, he was caught in a difficulty: he could not shout, he could not
hit, and all these other things that from the times of 'uddha masters used to do. #e wanted to create
something new and original, and he was not capable of it.
#e was a simple man, a humble man -- but not very courageous. +nd humbleness needs more courage
than anything else" to be nothing needs more guts than to be something. When he was as$ed, .#ow
about you(., he should have said, .I am a buddha -- and no buddha helps turn the wheel of life and
death, no buddha turns into dust. +nd you are being absolutely absurd: just because I am not !a T:u
and I am trying to create a new school -- you $now perfectly well I will not shout and I will not hit
you -- that does not mean that you can go on as$ing absurd ;uestions. I can at least say to you, without
shouting, silently and peacefully and lovingly, T9ont be stupid!. 'ut even that he could not manage.
8%3>+7 <3I7T29 T3 + W+T24-'3TT52 +79 &+I9, .<52+&2 /2T I7 IT..
Thats what I am saying: 9ont agree with anything stupid, otherwise there is no way to turn bac$.
7ow he has accepted that buddhas turn into dust, he has accepted that buddhas turn the wheel of life
and death, 8yo:an is driving him deeper. #e says, .7ow, please get in this bottle. %ou are a buddha..
I&+7& 42&<37&2 W+&: .+55 T#2 '699#+& '% T#2I4 3,,65T <3W24& +42 +T
<42&27T I7 T#2 !36T# 3) T#2 '3TT52..
&uch stupid nonsense! +ll the buddhas will choose a bottle in Isans house and they are all gathered in
the nec$ of the bottle, so Isan cannot enter into it because it is bloc$ed. 3nce you accept any absurdity,
then there is no end" you will have to accept more absurdities. %ou will become more and more of a
mess.
+nd what are all these buddhas doing there( -- T647I7/ T#2 /42+T W#225 3) T#2 5+W, in
the bottle! 2ven I would have hit him as hard as possible and I am a non-violent person. #e is saying,
.They are turning the wheel of the law. ,+7 %36 &22 T#2! 93I7/ IT(.
8%3>+7 T#27 &+I9, .T#I& I& T#2 T647I7/ 3) +55 T#2 '699#+&. #3W WI55 %36
T647 IT(.
I&+7 3'&24=29, .IT ,+773T '2 9372 I) W2 +42 &2<+4+T29 )43! T#2 T#I7/
IT&25). -- +T W#I,# 8%3>+7 !+92 #I& '3W&.
Isan has not proved his mettle, although his last statement is correct -- thats why 8yo:an made his
bows. 8yo:an has as$ed, .#ow will you turn it(.
I&+7 3'&24=29, .IT ,+773T '2 9372 I) W2 +42 &2<+4+T29 )43! T#2 T#I7/
IT&25). I am no more close to the wheel" I am still alive, I have not turned into a spec$ of dust. Thats
why I am separate from the wheel and I cannot turn it..
'ut accepting the very idea that buddhas turn into dust, and then their wor$ is only to turn the wheel
of life and death, is so strange and so against the very spirit of >en, that Isan needs a good beating. If
you meet him somewhere, on my behalf do a good job!
&ose$i wrote:
=I4T62 +79 ,3!<+&&I37 T3/2T#24
!+82 6< 2+,# 372& I7T2/4IT%.
73T#I7/ T#+T ,3!2& T#436/# T#2 /+T2
)43! 36T&I92
,+7 '2 T#2 )+!I5% T42+&642.
T#43WI7/ +W+% T#2 W#352 <I52
I7 %364 #2+4T,
WIT# 2!<T% #+79& %36 ,3!2,
'4I7/I7/ &+5=+TI37.

'eautiful poetry -- and significant too.
=I4T62 +79 ,3!<+&&I37 T3/2T#24 !+82 6< 2+,# 372& I7T2/4IT%.
,ompassion in fact is another name of virtue. +ll acts of virtue are acts of compassion. They are not
two, only two words for the same ;uality.
73T#I7/ T#+T ,3!2& T#436/# T#2 /+T2 )43! 36T&I92 ,+7 '2 T#2 )+!I5%
T42+&642.
#e is saying, .7othing that comes from the outside can be considered your treasure. %our treasure is
already inside" it does not have to come from outside..
T#43WI7/ +W+% T#2 W#352 <I52 -- that comes from outside -- I7 %364 #2+4T, WIT#
2!<T% #+79& %36 ,3!2, '4I7/I7/ &+5=+TI37.
If you can throw away everything that comes from outside, your empty heart, your empty being is the
greatest treasure, which brings salvation to you.
Thats what we are doing in our meditations. 3ur meditations are concentrated >en. In a very simple
and joyful way, with a great playfulness, we are trying to find the treasure inside. There is no need to
be serious about it. It is there -- just a little moving inwards, a single step in fact, and you have arrived
at home.
6n copil e inteligenta pura, deoarece copilul e inca necontaminat. ,opilul e o tablita curata, nu scrie
nimic pe el. ,opilul e spatiul gol absolut, tabula rasa. &ocietatea incepe imediat sa scrie ca esti crestin,
catolic, hindus, mahomedan, comunist. &ocietatea nu poate sa astepte. &ocietatea se teme foarte tare
ca, daca inteligenta copilului e lasata intacta, el n-o sa faca parte din nicio sclavie, din nicio structura
de dominare.

2l nici nu va domina, nici nu va fi dominat. 7ici nu va poseda, nici nu va fi posedat. =a fi un vesnic
rebel. <entru a preveni toate astea, inocenta i se corupe imediat. I se taie aripile, i se dau carje in care
sa se sprijine pentru ca sa nu invete sa mearga pe picioarele lui, sa ramana vesnic intr-un fel de
dependenta.

5a inceput, copiii sunt dependenti de parinti, iar parintilor le place foarte mult acest lucru. ,and copiii
sunt dependenti, parintii se simt foarte bine. =iata lor incepe sa aiba sens: ei stiu ca ajuta niste oameni
noi sa creasca, ajuta niste oameni frumosi sa creasca. 7u este creativitate autentica, dar macar pot
spune ca fac ceva, ca au o ocupatie. 3cupati sa-si creasca copiii, isi uita problemele.

,u cat sunt copiii mai dependenti de ei, cu atat sunt mai fericiti. 9esi la suprafata spun intr-una ca vor
ca ai lor copii sa fie independenti, asta e numai la suprafata. 6n copil cu adevarat independent ii face
sa sufere pe parinti. 5or nu le place copilul independent, deoarece copilul independent nu are nevoie
de ei.

+sta e una din marile probleme cu care se confrunta a:i generatia mai in varsta: copiii din epoca
moderna nu depind de ei, si din cau:a ca nu sunt dependenti, nu li se pot impune anumite lucruri. 7u li
se poate spune ce sa faca si ce sa nu faca, nu pot fi stapanii lor. /eneratia batrana sufera foarte mult.

<arintii distrug inteligenta copiilor din cau:a ca asta e singura cale de a-i inrobi. +poi vin la rand
profesorii, scoala, colegiul, universitateaC7imeni nu vrea un ra:vratit, iar inteligenta inseamna
ra:vratire. 7imeni nu vrea ca autoritatea sa fie pusa la indoiala, iar inteligenta pune la indoiala.
Inteligenta e indoiala pura. 9a, intr-o buna :i, din aceasta indoiala pura rasare adevarul.

,opiii se nasc cu inteligenta pura, iar noi nu suntem in stare sa respectam acest lucru. ,opiii sunt
clasa cea mai e*ploatata din lume, sunt chiar mai e*ploatata decat femeile. 9upa eliberarea femeii,
mai devreme sau mai tar:iu o sa vina si eliberarea copilului" e mult mai necesara. 'arbatii le-au inrobit
pe femei, iar barbatii si femeile impreuna i-au inrobit pe copii. &i intrucat copilul este foarte
neajutorat, fireste ca depinde de cei mari.

2 foarte meschin din partea celor mari ca e*ploatea:a neajutorarea copilului. 9ar dintotdeauna
parintii au fost meschini. &i nu spun ca au fost meschini in mod deliberat sau constient, ci inconstient,
aproape nestiind ce fac. 9e asta lumea e in suferinta. Inconstient, fara sa stie, fiecare generatie distruge
generatia urmatoare.

+sta e prima generatie care incearca sa scape din capcana, si asta e inceputul unei istorii cu totul noi.
9ar copiii sunt cu certitudine e*trem de inteligenti. 6ita-te la copii, uita-te in ochii lor, uita-te la felul
in care raspund.

,opiii au multa inteligenta insa, de secole, nu sunt lasati sa si-o manifeste.

Trebuie sa creem un nou tip de educatie, in care copiilor sa nu li se impuna nimic, ci sa fie ajutati sa-si
intareasca inteligenta naturala data de 9umne:eu. In sistemul de asta:i originalitatea este omorata, iar
repetitia pretuita. Iar inteligenta se poate de:volta numai in acea atmosfera in care originalitatea este
pretuita.
'253=29
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'4ITI&# /3=247!27T +42 &I!<5% !I79-'3//5I7/.
<52+&2 ,3!!27T.

3ne has to understand that everything is relative, not ultimate" hence what appears to be good to one
person may loo$ evil to another. +nd there is no contradiction: both may be right.
What is good depends on your preconceived ideas" so does evil.
The 'ritish government thin$s my entry even for an overnight stay in 2ngland, is not conducive to the
public good. The same government is ready to allow +merican bombers, missiles, to use their bases,
to destroy a small country li$e 5ibya, and to the government this seems to be conducive to public
good.
There is no inconsistency. In their eyes their society, their culture, their religion, their country has to
be saved at any cost, because they thin$ they stand for good -- although the 'ritish government has
tortured humanity more than any other government in the world. )or three hundred years it has been
the greatest terrorist possible" it $illed millions of people around the world, to create the greatest
empire of history. This government is absolutely in tune with the +merican imperialistic ideology.
3ut of necessity it has been compelled to give freedom to the countries of its empire, but not willingly
and joyously. Those countries had to fight for almost one century, without any arms. They were
butchered, without any consideration of human values.
I am reminded... In India there happened an incident which can be considered one of the most
inhuman in history. In +mritsar, the holy place of the &i$hs, they have a beautiful public garden, a vast
area that can contain at least one million people for any gathering, meeting, discourse. +nd it has been
used for that purpose. It has a very high wall so that no traffic noise comes in and it has only one door,
so small that only one person can come out or go in" two persons together cannot pass through the
door.
They were having a silent meeting of almost one million people -- children, women, old men. The
prayer was, .The 'ritish government should change its heart and should leave our country.. 7ow, it is
not terrorism" they were simply praying for a change of heart. 'ut ,olonel 9yer, who was in charge of
the area, went there with his troops, fi*ed machine guns on the people, and started firing -- because it
is revolution against the empire, this prayer that the government should change its heart!
There was only one door, and from that door they were shooting bullets at random, with no
discrimination -- children, women, old men. +nd nobody could escape from there because of the high
wall. 9yer $illed the whole crowd" not a single human being came alive out of that door. 7ow, it was
their country" the 'ritish had been terrorists, had been ruling their country, e*ploiting their country.
India has been rich, $nown for thousands of years as .a golden bird. -- thats how <ythagoras
describes it, thats how +le*ander the /reat describes it. &o many invaders... but still India seemed to
be ine*haustibly rich. <eople would come, invade the country, ta$e away their treasures, ta$e over
their beautiful women...
This had been going on for thousands of years" the 'ritishers were the last. )or three hundred years
they s;uee:ed every richness, the last drop of it, from Indian soil. +nd people were not even allowed
to pray for a change of heart -- this became an act against the empire. +nd there was no need for any
magistrate, for any judge" there was no need for any trial. -ust... a colonel simply $ills all those
people!
The 'ritish government has been one of the ugliest phenomena that we $now of. It created the biggest
empire -- it was said that in the 'ritish empire the sun never set. +nd it was true, because the empire
was all around the earth. The sun may have set in one part, but it was rising in another part" there was
not any gap. The sun was always rising somewhere in the 'ritish empire.
These imperialists have a deep sympathy, friendship, with +merica. 7aturally, it is for the public good
to allow +merican troops, to allow +merica a base to destroy a small country.
+nd why destroy 5ibya( 'ecause the man who is leading 5ibya now is one of the most outspo$en
politicians in the whole world. -ust a few days ago, 8addafi said that 4onald 4eagan is .+dolf #itler
7umber Two.. +nd I, commenting on it, say that 8addafi is wrong. +nd he will agree with me when
he understands the reason why I am saying he is wrong: +dolf #itler himself is now 7umber Two.
4onald 4eagan is +dolf #itler 7umber 3ne, because what power did +dolf #itler have( 4eagan has a
million times more power. +dolf #itler could not have destroyed the world" 4eagan can do that.
To allow 4eagan a base in 2ngland seems, to the 'ritish government, to be for the public good. 'oth
are imperialists, both are agreed on e*ploiting people, both are agreed that nothing li$e communism
should happen in the world, both are agreed that ,hristianity should be imposed on people who are not
,hristian: naturally 4onald 4eagan is a friend, although he is going to do something inhuman which
may trigger the third world war.
+nd I understand 8addafi. #e is not a man to sit bac$. +nd he is not sitting bac$. #e has a small
country but he is not just a politician, he is a warrior. #e would rather the country die than to allow the
country to be enslaved. +nd I praise him for being a pioneer. #e has responded well. 7ow he is
bombing +merican bases all over 2urope. #e has bombed in &pain" in other countries he is going to
bomb -- in /reece... wherever in 2urope +merican bases e*ist, he is going to bomb them. +nd he will
have the sympathy of all the downtrodden countries. #e will rise as a world leader.
4onald 4eagan may have the power, but he will not have any sympathy.
This imperialist government of 'ritain feels afraid of me. -ust my overnight stay at the airport -- I was
not as$ing to enter their country -- and against their own laws they refused me. They said it was not
good for their public" my overnight stay would have destroyed their morality, their religion, all their
cherished values!
There is something to understand clearly: I am against imperialism. I am against e*ploiting man,
other human beings. I am against torturing people just so that you can have power. <erhaps they were
afraid that overnight my sannyasins from all over 2ngland may gather... just one night may be enough
to give them a fresh insight, a new life to go against all traditional values.
+nd it is a conspiracy. 7ot only 'ritain is responsible for it. +ll those who are living and thriving on
traditional values are really afraid -- of a man who has no power e*cept that he can show people that
their misery is caused by their own wrong ideas, and that those wrong ideas are being emphasi:ed by
their government, by their church.
There is a conspiracy.
+ll the 2uropean governments are agreeing on the point that I cannot land at their airports. They do
not understand that this is defeatism, that they have already accepted defeat. They are showing that
they have no arguments to save their religion, their morality, their politics, it is all rotten.
+nd they are afraid that their youth will be on my side, not on their side. I can give an open challenge
to any country: 5et me spea$ to your young people, and you spea$ to the same young people, and let it
be decided by those young people who are going to own the future. These governments $now
perfectly well they cannot defend anything that they believe.
These efforts to prevent me are good signs" they are good news. It means they have accepted their
defeat" otherwise, what was the fear( -- they could have allowed me to tal$ to people. +nd they have
their archbishops and popes and priests who could have demolished my arguments" that would have
been a cultured way, a human way.
I am alone -- they have millions of priests. 'ut they dont have a single argument for anything that
they thin$ is the basis of their society.
%es, it is not conducive to their rotten society. It may ring the death bell. 'ut they cannot prevent me.
It is not me who is going to destroy the rottenness" it is the time itself which is not in favor of them. If
not me, then somebody else will have to do it.
It is impossible to protect those societies, those governments, those churches. They have lost all roots.
+nd they are aware of it, that just a push and they will fall down. They cannot even resist -- even that
much power is not left. %ou can ma$e a corpse stand, but if you push it, it cannot retaliate" it is bound
to fall down.
+ll these countries are corpses.
+nd they dont want their youth to come in contact with anybody who can show them that the old is
dead and you have to find a new way of life.
This is not a ;uestion of one country" it is a ;uestion of the whole human past. -ust a deep attachment,
a deep conditioning...
...
The future is dar$, but nobody wants to see it -- the past is dead, and if you go on clinging to the past
the future is going to become dar$er and dar$er.
I will be avoided by every country.
I will be persecuted by every power, for the simple reason that I want them to see the reality. They are
$eeping their eyes closed.
In logic it is called the .ostrich argument.. The ostrich has a tendency: whenever he comes against an
enemy and $nows that death is certain, he simply puts his head into the sand. #e lives in the desert,
eyes closed, head in the sand. #e is perfectly happy because he cannot see any enemy anywhere.
'ut this does not eliminate the enemy" in fact it ma$es the enemy more powerful. 7ow this ostrich is
not going to do anything to escape, to fight, to negotiate, to do something. 7ow there is no ;uestion:
he is simply available as food. +nd ostriches are eaten by their predators without any fight, because
the ostrich is living with the idea that, .I dont see any enemy here..
This .ostrich argument. is widespread today around the world. 7obody wants to see the reality -- that
you are sin$ing, that all your values are false, that all your civili:ation is hypocrisy, that all your smiles
are just e*ercises of lips, and there is no heart in it" that you have forgotten to live, to love, to laugh,
that you dont $now what life means at all.
+nd you go on clinging because there is nothing else, there is no alternative -- and I am being
prevented because I can give you the alternative.
I can show you that this is not the only way a society can e*ist, this is not the only way that a
marriage can e*ist, this is not the only way that children can be brought up, this is not the only way
that governments should function. There are alternative ways.
'ut even to hear of the alternative, they are afraid. The message should not reach to the young --
because the young are bound to be affected by the news that there is an alternative, that you need not
remain in this misery, continuously fighting, $illing human beings unnecessarily.
7ow 5ibya is destroying +merican bases. +merica cannot remain silent: it will start destroying 5ibya
-- not only its military bases but its civilians. It is a small country, but 5ibya $nows that if +merica
starts to destroy the civilians, the whole 2ast -- particularly the !iddle 2ast -- will be on its side. +nd
behind the scenes will be the &oviet 6nion.
&o if +merica has guts, it is not going to start a fight between +merica and 5ibya -- which is very
unbalanced: 5ibya has nothing with which to fight against one of the greatest nuclear powers. 'ut
5ibya has the assurance of the &oviet 6nion: .9ont be worried, 5ibya is just a facade, just a front..
+nd once these two powers start fighting, they cannot resist using nuclear weapons" it is impossible.
'ut the government of 2ngland is not afraid of this. The government of 2ngland should have
prevented +merica: .This is not a right beginning" this is not conducive to the public good. This will
lead more and more into war. 9ont ta$e the first step" otherwise the last step will not be far away..
'ut they would prefer to have a third world war rather than change the human mind.
Why( -- because to change the human mind means that for millions of years you have been behaving
stupidly, that all your great ancestors have been simply fools and nothing else. They $new nothing
about human consciousness" they were unconscious, they were blind. +nd blind people have been
leading other blind people towards the goal of light. It seems it is difficult to accept that our whole
past has been wrong. It is better to destroy the whole future but remain stubborn that our past has been
right: 5et man die, but save your ego.
That will give you a clue why I am a danger, just for an overnight stay, and +merican nuclear missiles
are not dangerous. They thin$ ali$e" their mathematics is the same.
To them I am a dangerous person because I have no pride in the past. I am a dangerous person
because I do not consider that for thousands of years man has lived intelligently" otherwise why so
much misery, why so much an*iety, why so much anguish( The fruit shows the ;uality of the tree.
+nd the fruit that we have shows that the whole human past went somewhere wrong, and just out of
ego went on pushing in a wrong direction.
I am ready and willing to change my ideas if somebody can show me that they are wrong, that they
will not lead to the good of the people. 'ut nobody is ready to do that" they simply accept it. 7o
argument is needed, no discussion is needed.
The government of &pain was wondering for one month continuously whether to allow me into &pain
or not. They have nuclear bases for the +merican army" they are members of 7+T3, and the man who
is the prime minister became prime minister by promising the people of &pain that he would pull
&pain out of 7+T3, and that he would order the +merican bases to be removed from &pain. +nd the
people of &pain dont want... because they have seen )ranco, who ruled for forty years with absolute
dictatorship" he destroyed all freedom of thin$ing and $illed anybody who said anything against him.
+fter forty years of this e*perience, this nightmare, they dont want to get into another nightmare
again.
They voted in this man on a single point -- that he was promising that he would pull out of 7+T3 and
force the +mericans to leave &pain. Two years have passed and the people have been as$ing, .What
happened( %ou are not pulling out of 7+T3, and neither are the +merican bases moving out of
&pain..
In these two years, the man... when he had come to power he was not a politician, but these two years
have turned him into a politician. #e said, .!y e*perience of two years in power ma$es me change
my idea: we are going to remain in 7+T3, and +merican bases are going to remain in &pain..
It was such a betrayal that the people demanded a vote on the point, a referendum. 'ut the prime
minister, the whole bureaucracy, the whole government, is now )34 +merican military bases and
membership in 7+T3. &till, they do not have a big majority. The young people of &pain have still
voted against them: forty-five percent of the people have voted against 7+T3. 'ut the government
with all their powers... certainly they managed to get just a little bit bigger number of votes in favor.
If this man had any sense of dignity he would have resigned, because he was chosen for a simple
program. #e was not chosen -- the program was chosen, and because he has dropped the program he
should resign immediately. 'ut these politicians seem to be so shameless, with no dignity, with no
honor, with no self-respect.
#e wanted me to stay in &pain, but the problem was the +merican pressure. )or one month he went
on postponing. #e informed me that I should not lea$ the news that &pain had invited me, because the
royal family of &pain, the prime minister, the president, the cabinet -- they would all be at the airport
to receive me. I was going to be their invited guest, so they would proclaim the date and time, and
they would inform me.
'ut slowly, slowly he saw that if forty-five percent of the people can vote against him, then to bring a
man li$e me into the country is dangerous because these young people are bound to be influenced by
me.
The parliament decided that I should be welcomed, the cabinet decided that I should be welcomed,
but finally the prime minister informed me that it would not be possible" politically it would be
difficult.
I $now the difficulty" the difficulty came after the referendum. +nd I have been telling -ohn every day
that if any decision has to be ta$en, it should be ta$en before the referendum. +fter the referendum I
dont see any hope, because once the prime minister sees how many people can vote against him, he
will not be courageous enough to invite a person who can influence his people.
This is the fear, and the fear is now almost all over the world, in every country -- strange fears. In this
small, beautiful country, I was told that we should not mention that we have one million sannyasins
around the world and three million sympathi:ers, because that may become a fear -- this country has
only three million people, and they would not li$e such a powerful man in the country, who has four
million people around the world who love him.
The country should be proud to have someone... and I am not a political person, I am not going to
have any political contest with anybody" but still, fear is fear. +ll these powerful people are deep down
very inferior and very fearful.
They go on thin$ing... the only thing in their minds is power, what can enhance their power and what
can destroy their power. +nd they put conditions....
The president of /reece was willing for me to have a commune in /reece, and in fact he wanted it.
#is reasons were different -- that it would bring thousands of tourists and that it would boost the
economy. In fact he was the cause that I was allowed a four-wee$ visa for /reece.
'ut then the condition came in -- that if I wanted to stay there and ma$e a commune, I should
remember a few things: .The /ree$ 3rthodo* church is respected by our constitution" you cannot
critici:e it. The family is our foundation" you cannot critici:e it. 3ur code of morality" you cannot
critici:e it. We believe in virginity" you cannot critici:e it..
They certainly believe in virginity, but it is difficult to find a single virgin in the whole of /reece.
Thats o$ay -- but you should not critici:e it. %ou can see the political mind: the reality can be
tolerated but it should not be e*posed.
I cannot accept anybodys conditions.
Whatever happens to me, whatever the conse;uences... but to accept conditions, and that too for a
little piece of land...
#ow much land does a man re;uire( I might li$e to live without a country -- a wanderer in the true
sense. There have been wanderers but they had a home base. I will be really a wanderer without any
home base -- being rejected from one country to another country. 'ut their rejection of me is simply an
acceptance of their defeat, their impotency. &ooner or later they will have to pay for it, pay highly for
it, because in every country there are intelligent people. #ow long can these intelligent people tolerate
this( &ooner or later it will become a revolution. Without my entering those lands, I will find my
friends there.
I cannot lose hope, because I cannot see that intelligence is dead. It is repressed, but it is alive. It has
become an undercurrent, but my rejection is going to provo$e it to come to the surface. &oon there
will be protests in every country which is denying me entry.
In Italy they have been postponing for almost three months, just for a three-wee$ tourist visa. +nd the
president and the prime minister and the minister of foreign affairs, all are saying, .We are going to
give it to him -- just tomorrow..... +nd sannyasins are going every day" they are sitting there in their
offices, saying, .Whenever you want we are ready. 'ut when will your tomorrow come(. +nd after
three months they got so frustrated, because the pope is holding them bac$. They cannot say no to the
sannyasins because they have no reason to say no.
+nd they $now my impact in Italy. -ust a few days ago, a television interview of one and a half hours
was seen by thirty-four million people -- unprecedented. The director informed me, .We could not
believe that so many people would be interested in you. %ou have never come to this country.. 7o
other program in his whole life, had attracted so many people. +nd not only the show -- the show was
finished in one and a half hours -- but people are discussing each and every point in the mar$etplace,
in the university -- everywhere. &omebody is for, somebody is against, but everybody is intensely
involved.
&o the government could not say no because that might create trouble. +nd the pope is insisting that I
should not be allowed into Italy. &o they go on postponing. )inally the sannyasins got so frustrated
that they started ma$ing a protest, and one of the most famous Italian film directors, )ellini, has signed
their petition first. They have thirty-si* other world-$nown people who have signed the protest, and
they are collecting more names -- and I have never been there.
'ut one thing is certain, whether you agree with me or not: I cannot be prevented from presenting my
views, my perspective, to the people. +nd what is happening there, will happen in /ermany, will
happen in /reece, will happen in 2ngland, will happen in &pain, is going to happen everywhere.
&annyasins have to create a worldwide chain of protests, signed by all the important creative artists,
novelists, musicians, sculptors, dancers, actors, directors -- people of all dimensions who have made
an impact on the world.
,ollect their names for the protest first, in every country, and then send a final protest to the 6.7.,
with all the protests of all the countries together -- because now it is not a ;uestion of one country" if
the 2uropean parliament decides that I cannot even land my plane at their airports, you cannot now
ta$e me just as an individual.
I have become representative of a worldwide intelligence of creative, talented people.
That is my country.
+nd my sannyasins have to go to the 6.7., because this is simply ugly.
'ut as I said in the beginning, it is something relative.
To me it is ugly. +nd to all those who can understand, it will be ugly. 'ut to those who believe in the
ostrich logic, it is good, it is .for the public good.. 'ut we will show to the world what is good for the
public and what is bad for the public!
'ertrand 4ussell has said: There are three possibilities of mans approach towards life. 3ne is conflict
with nature, second is conflict with other human beings, and third is conflict with oneself.
The first has been the way of the Western philosophy, Western science, Western speculation, thin$ing.
+ fight with nature. The Western mill became objective: #ow to transform nature( -- that became the
root ;uestion. They have not been able to transform it, although they have destroyed it. They have
destroyed the rhythm of nature. They have destroyed the ecosystem. They have created havoc in
natures harmony. +nd now there seems to be no going bac$. The earth is dying.
There seems to be only one possibility, that man should migrate from this planet to another planet.
Within a hundred years it will be impossible to live on this earth. It is almost turning into a corpse.
This earth has been so much raped by science, so much wounded, crippled, paraly:ed, because of that
approach: con;uer nature! +nd man became absolutely absorbed and occupied with only one thing:
how to con;uer nature( -- and forgot everything else.
The ,hinese mind has moved in a different way. Its sole concern has been: #ow to live with man( Its
concern has been social. !an is a social animal. #ow to create better moralities( #ow to create better
social systems( #ow to have a better society( a higher culture( a better civili:ation( +bout nature, the
,hinese mind has not been in conflict. It appreciates nature, it loves nature. 7ature has an aesthetic
value for the ,hinese. 2njoy it! There is no need to con;uer. ,elebrate it! There is no need to fight.
The basic problem for the ,hinese mind has been: #ow should we ma$e man more human( The
whole struggle is: #ow to destroy between man and man, -- hatred, anger, rage, animality -- the beast-
li$e attitudes, the violence( ,hina has created one of most civili:ed cultures there ever has been.
The Indian mind has ta$en the third route: #ow to transform oneself( The West has given birth to
science, ,hina has given birth to a higher ;uality sociology, India has given birth to the supreme
science of psychology -- the science of the soul. Thats e*actly what psychology means. In fact,
Western psychology should not call itself psychology, because it is not a science of the soul at all. 3n
the contrary, it only observes human behavior -- from the outside. It thin$s about man also as an
object. It reduces mans dignity. It turns man into a mechanism.
It is not important for the Western psychology to thin$: What is inside man( +ll that is important is
what he 932&, how he functions -- his behavior. 'ut in the Indian consciousness, the only basic
problem has been: #ow to con;uer oneself( #ow to raise ones consciousness to the highest pea$
possible( #ow to become a 'uddha(
These three approaches have been prevalent.
+ 42'255I36& <24&37
5I=2& I7 T#2 <42&27T.

The rebellious person says,
.5eave the world to itself.
7obody has ever changed it.. #e
is more practical and down to
earth: .I can live my own way. I
can create my own world within
me.. #e is a drop-out.

'auls are drop-outs. They dont
belong to any religion, to any
society, to any nation.

They are beggars, wanderers,
vagabonds, hippies, gypsies,
moving from one village to
another, singing their song, dancing their dance, living their lives in their own way, doing their thing.

+ rebellious person is one who says, .Im not going to wait, Im going to live right now.. The
revolutionary hopes for the future. #e says, .I am going to wait. I will wait for the right moment..

The rebellious person says, .The right moment is here-now, and Im not going to wait for anybody,
Im going to live right now.. + rebellious person lives in the present.

+nd one thing more to be understood: a rebellious person is not against anybody. #e may appear
against because he is trying to live his own life, but he is not really against anybody. #e may not go to
the mos;ue but he is not against !ohammedans. #e may not go to the temple but he is not against
#indus. #e simply says, .I am not concerned" it is irrelevant.. #e simply says, .<lease leave me alone.
%ou do your thing and let me do my thing. 9ont interfere with me and I will not interfere with you..

The vision of the rebellious mind is very realistic. 5ife is short. 7obody $nows whether tomorrow
will come or not. The future is not certain, and this is the only moment one can live. Why waste it in
fighting with others( Why waste it in trying to convince others( 2njoy it, delight in it. + 'aul is a
hedonist" he is epicurean. #e starts living: he loves, he lives, he delights.
3nly people who want to be somewhere, somebody, have to suffer the sadness of failure. 'ut a person
who never wants to be anybody, never wants to be anywhere else, cannot suffer the sadness of failure.
#e is always successful. -ust li$e me.
4eligiousness is enough, more than enough. +s religions disappear, millions of mon$s and nuns who
are just parasites.... They do nothing. That is another army that is sitting on the chest of humanity.
They should disappear. They have renounced the world, but for their food, for their clothes, for their
housing, the world has to wor$. It is a very strange thing: they will earn the virtue of having renounced
the world" they will enter paradise. %ou will go to hell, because you provided food, clothes, shelter to
these saints. +nd they have been simply condemning you! &trange logic.

These people should go to hell -- who have not been doing anything e*cept condemning, calling
everybody a sinner, creating guilt in everybody, destroying everybodys integrity and self-respect. 'ut
these people will go to paradise.

With religions disappearing, all these people can be put into creative wor$. There is no need of
monasteries, there is no need of churches, temples, mos;ues. +ll these houses of /od -- and there are
millions of men who dont have any houses, who live their whole life on the street. The houses of /od
are empty -- there is no /od. +ll these houses of /od can be made available to the homeless. +ll these
mon$s can be put into creative wor$, all the armies can be put into creative wor$.
The capitalist West is too much in the mind, too much in the thin$ing. The Western part of the world
still follows people li$e +ristotle and &ocrates -- great giants, but confined only to the refinement of
the mind. &ocrates and his dialogues are beautiful, the highest that mind can reach. +nd +ristotle is the
father of Western logic. +ll the philosophers of the West, from ancient /reece to /ermany... 8ant,
#egel, )euerbach... to the contemporary world -- &artre, -aspers, !arcel, &oren 8ier$egaard, 'ertrand
4ussell, Whitehead, /.2. !oore -- they are all in the same line of intellectual giants. 'ut they dont
$now anything about meditation, and they will argue against meditation. They will say there is nothing
beyond the mind -- and without e*perimenting!
+ strange thing I remember... In /reece, traditionally it was believed that women dont have the same
number of teeth as men. 3bviously, the reason is that the woman should be in every way second-rate
to man. #ow can she have the same number of teeth as man(
+ristotle had two wives, not one -- he could have as$ed wife number one, or number two, .-ust let me
count your teeth.. 3r while they were asleep, he could have counted their teeth. +nd most women are
continuously tal$ing, and they dont have a moustache li$e me. %ou cannot count my teeth. 2ven just
when they were tal$ing he could have managed to count, but he depended on his logic that certainly
women are a lower category than men -- just a male chauvinist idea. In his boo$ of logic, he writes
that .Women have fewer teeth than men..
5ogic is non-e*perimental.
&cience is e*perimental, and >en -- which is the science of the inner -- is also e*perimental. -ust the
inner e*periment is called .e*perience,. and the outer e*perience is called .e*periment..
'ut unless you e*perience and e*periment with the inner, you dont have any right to deny that there
is anything beyond the mind. #ave you gone beyond the mind( #ave you reached beyond the mind,
just trying to find out whether there is something beyond the mind( 7o one -- neither 4ussell nor
&oren 8ier$egaard nor !artin #eidegger -- nobody has tried to reach beyond the mind.
!artin #eidegger has written a boo$ on >en, but that boo$ is also just intellectual. +nd you can see
that the man was not a meditator, because he was a follower of +dolf #itler. That was a great
intellectual giant of /ermany, and still he followed a madman, a crac$pot, +dolf #itler. That shows
the level of his insight, that he $nows nothing about the inner. 7o man of meditation will follow +dolf
#itler.
Thats why I said, by vocation I am a logician, by mista$e I am a mystic. 'ecause to be sane in an
insane world is very difficult and hard. Thats why I call it a mista$e.
'ut I would love you to commit the mista$e. I love to corrupt people! Their morality, their religion...
anything you give me and I will corrupt it! ,orruption is my business.
>en )ire and
>en Wind --
that is what is
missing in
communism.
I have to go
into a deeper
analysis...
8arl !ar*
was an
intellectual
giant, but he
had no idea of
religiousness
other than
-udaism and
,hristianity.
'oth are
religions of
prayer. 'oth
believe in /od,
which is a
fiction. 'oth
believe in
things which
are irrational.
)or e*ample,
!oses passing
through the
sea, and the
sea giving way
-- nature
ma$es no e*ceptions. +nd -esus pretending to be the only begotten son of /od is absolutely absurd to
any rational man li$e 8arl !ar*.
-esus miracles are mythological. #e made 5a:arus come out of his grave, raised him bac$ to life --
and he could not do anything when he was on the cross! #e could not even produce a little water -- he
was thirsty, it was a hot day, and he was as$ing continuously for water. +nd this man has touched
people and restored their eyes" even by touching his robe people have lost their paralysis. #e has
wal$ed on water, and this man could not fly with the cross towards /od, his father( #e was utterly
helpless on the cross. That shows all those miracles are simply invented by the ,hristians to befool the
world.
2ven ,hristian scholars are being embarrassed by all these miracles, by his virgin birth, by his
shouting towards /od on the cross, .#ave you forsa$en me(.
8arl !ar* was aware only of -udaism -- he was a -ew, just as -esus was a -ew -- and he was aware of
,hristianity and all its crimes against humanity. 'urning millions of women alive, forcing them to
confess that they are having intercourse with the devil, continuous torture to any woman -- beating,
not letting her sleep, not giving her food, putting ice on her chest for hours....
These were the people who, by chance, invented the traction machine, because they were putting
women on a traction machine which pulled the legs from one side and the head and the arms from the
other side. 3ne woman was suffering from bac$ache -- suddenly her bac$ache disappeared. 7ow that
traction machine has been transferred from the churches to the medical colleges, to hospitals. I $now it
from my personal e*perience!
+nd when they were torturing those people on the traction machine, sometimes the legs would come
out, sometimes the arms would be bro$en. &ometimes the head would be stretched so much that the
woman would start saying, .I confess that I have been having se* with the devil.. +nd once she
confessed, then they told her how to describe the devil: that he has two horns, that his se*ual
machinery is for$ed -- all the details that she had to confess in a special court appointed by the pope,
the grand jury. The poor woman has to accept it" otherwise they will torture her to death. &o what is
the point( &he $nows that confessing it means being burnt, but death seems to be more peaceful than
this life of continuous torture.
!ore people have been $illed by the ,hristian church than by anybody else.
8arl !ar* was reacting to these two religions, which are not religions at all but fictions, superstitions,
cults. #e was not aware of Taoism, he was not aware of 5ao T:u, he was not aware of /autam 'uddha
and !ahavira. #e was not aware that there are religions in the world which dont believe in /od,
which dont believe in prayer, which dont believe in heaven and hell. 'ecause of this unawareness of
the whole 2astern phenomenon, he created communism as materialism, dialectical materialism.
It was out of ignorance. 3therwise I have absolute trust that if he had been aware of the 2astern
research into the interior space of man... 8arl !ar* was not an ordinary being, but a very
e*traordinarily intelligent person. #e would have understood that ,hristianity and -udaism are not the
only religions in the world.
'uddhism has not $illed a single person, and converted the whole of +sia just by simple dialogue, just
by intellectual conversation, just by leading people into meditation.
8arl !ar* was right in his reaction against ,hristianity and -udaism. There is certainly no /od as a
creator. +nd because he denied /od, as a corollary -- a logical corollary -- he denied the human soul.
It was not his e*perience, it was simply a logical thing. To accept the human soul, which is not
material, would be self-contradictory in his philosophy.
'y vocation I am a logician, and by mista$e I am a mystic. 'ut my mista$e has paid me
tremendously. 7ow I $now that logic is just mental gymnastics.
+ll the conclusions derived by !ar* were based on logic, were based on thin$ing, philosophi:ing. #e
was not aware at all that there is something li$e meditation, that there is some way to go inwards.
+nd the human soul, the human spirit, is not a by-product of matter. It has its own e*istence. The
matter in the body seems to be alive, only because of the presence of consciousness in it. 3nce the
consciousness leaves the body, the body is simply dead, a corpse.
'ut because 8arl !ar* had no e*perience of meditation... +nd the West was not the right place for
meditation" the whole Western mind was objective, and both -udaism and ,hristianity are objective --
their /od is outside.
There is no /od outside, it is fiction.
8arl !ar* was denying fiction, not religiousness, but he thought this fiction was the only
religiousness. 'ased on 8arl !ar*s logic, the &oviet 6nion -- the first communist country, the
greatest e*periment in the whole history of man$ind -- has remained hollow within. There is a deep
urge for significance, for meaning, for eternity.
+ life which is just material has no meaning. %ou are just a machine, a robot. +t birth you start
breathing, mechanically, and at death you stop breathing. If this is the only life, between the cradle and
the grave, then this life has no meaning. What meaning can it have(
+nd then there is no good and no bad. 2ven $illing a person you are not committing a murder,
because it is only matter. If you $ill your chair I dont thin$ any court is going to ta$e action against
you, that you murdered the chair.
In ,hina, because they believed that women have no souls, husbands used to $ill their wives. In
,hina there was no law against murdering your wife, because she is just li$e furniture. %ou use it, and
when you thin$ it is useless, just finish with it! )ind some new furniture. The same is the situation in
Thailand. The woman has no soul and no rights" she is not human.
'ut in accordance with 8arl !ar*, the &oviet 6nion was based on materialism. It was good in the
beginning because it destroyed all the orthodo* ,hristians and their monasteries and their mon$s. It
turned the churches into hospitals, into schools, into colleges. 'ig monasteries -- because the 4ussian
3rthodo* church is one of the oldest churches, older than the =atican, and much more orthodo* than
any other church in the world.
%ou will not believe that in the name of celibacy, the 4ussian 3rthodo* church allowed men to cut off
their genitals. 2very year when ,hristmas came, hundreds of people would cut off their genitals in the
name of becoming celibate. Women were not left behind: they would cut off their breasts. 'ut neither
by cutting off your breasts do you become celibate, nor by cutting off your genitals do you become
celibate, because the se* center e*ists in the brain, not in the genitals. The genitals are an e*tension of
a center in the brain.
Thats why if you start just imagining about a beautiful woman, immediately your genitals start
moving. %ou are only thin$ing -- you can do it right now! The thought is in the mind. It is immediately
transferred to the genitals, but it always begins in the mind. The genitals dont have any thin$ing
power. They dont have eyes to see which woman is beautiful. It is your eyes which see and inform the
brain, and then the genitals start functioning.
If you really want celibate people, then they need a brain operation. The center of se* should be
removed. 'ut then you will be simply impotent -- not celibate.
8arl !ar* was right, that such religions should be finished. They are against humanity. They protect
poverty and they protect the rich. They are against revolution, they are against any change --
obviously, he was right to call them the opium of the people, the hope of the hopeless. If ,hristianity
and -udaism were the only religions, then the &oviet 6nion would not have any need, any urge to find
the inner world!
'ut just thin$ about it. %ou cannot have the outside world without having the inside world" they e*ist
together li$e two sides of the coin.
+nd there are scientific methods available. >en is the most scientific method to in;uire into your
consciousness. It ta$es you beyond mind into a space called no-mind. 7o self, but pure awareness, and
you have a taste of eternity and immortality. This is what is missing in &oviet communism.
+nd the danger is that /orbachev is opening the doors and all those ,hristians will immediately come
bac$. +ll those coc$roaches and rats who have been thrown out in seventy years time will be the first
to enter. -ust this ,hristmas thousands and thousands of ,hristians entered to celebrate ,hristmas in
the &oviet 6nion.
Today I received the news.... 3ne of the most idiotic cults is the cult of #+42 84I&#7+, #+42
4+!+. I have come across every $ind of idiot, but these two cults, the Witnesses of -ehovah and this
movement of #+42 84I&#7+, #+42 4+!+ -- these are the worst idiots in the whole world! 7ow
the &oviet 6nion has allotted them land to ma$e a temple for 8rishna.
7ow, these idiots... who are mostly +merican" not a single #indu is involved in the 8rishna
movement. It is only the +mericans, e*-hippies. I have even tal$ed with their founder, <rabhupad, and
he was such a senile idiot! 'ut he managed to find other idiots to be followers. 7ow giving them space
on &oviet land, allowing them to ma$e a temple for 8rishna, and allowing them to translate
&#4I!+9 '#+/+=+9/IT+ into 4ussian, is bringing poison into the country.
/orbachev is not aware what &#4I!+9 '#+/+=+9/IT+& message is. It is war. This is the only
religious scripture in the world which teaches war, violence, destruction. 7ow allowing these idiots to
translate &#4I!+9 '#+/+=+9/IT+ into 4ussian... +nd on the other hand, /orbachev is trying to
ma$e a peaceful world. It is contradictory.
'ut these people will rush in from all sides -- all $inds of cults which have no base in reality, which
dont have any logic, which dont have any rationale, which dont have any scientific approach -- they
will destroy the whole &oviet 6nions mind. Whatever has been achieved in seventy years is in
immense danger. +gain mon$s will be living as parasites, because they dont wor$. +gain these people
-- #+42 84I&#7+, #+42 4+!+ -- will be parasites. They dont wor$.
The danger is great, because the &oviet people who are present today have no idea of the revolution.
They are almost all born after the revolution, or when they were very small children the revolution
happened. They dont have any memory of it.
I dont thin$ /orbachev has any idea what happened in that revolution and how difficult it was to
destroy these stupid religions, superstitions. It too$ tremendous labor to clean the whole of the &oviet
land from the past, the hangover of primitive, barbarious fears, greed, possessiveness.
7ow calling these people bac$ again, opening the doors for all $inds of diseases... +nd the &oviet
people are feeling a certain hollowness within themselves. &omething is missing, because 8arl !ar*
cannot provide any spirituality to them. 'ut these bogus preachers will tal$ about spirituality, and it is
pure tal$. They dont $now anything about spirituality either, but they can manage to fill the vacuum in
the &oviet heart with all their belief systems, with all their superstitions.
It is going bac$wards, not forwards.
I warn the &oviet people: please be careful. Whatever /orbachev is doing, he is doing with great and
good intentions. 'ut he is not aware that once you open the doors, all the ,I+ agents and )'I agents,
all the detectives from all over the world, will be entering into the country -- as mon$s, as priests, as
bishops, as archbishops.
-ust now, a few &oviet states which have never raised their voices, are raising their voices that .We
want independence" we want to separate from the &oviet 6nion..
In one of the &oviet countries they have tried e*perimental elections, democratic elections. The &oviet
6nion has been a dictatorship of the proletariat -- only one party, the party of the proletariat, the
,ommunist <arty. &o there was no ;uestion of any election. +lthough elections were held, there was
only one candidate to vote for.
6nder /orbachevs direction they have tried in one or two places to have the ,ommunist <artys
candidate -- which is decided by the central bureau in 8remlin -- and to allow the people of that state
to have their own candidates. 3f course, they are also communists. 'ut it should be a warning, that
those people of the locality have won the election against the centrally nominated candidates. 7ow
nationalism is coming up. !ohammedans would li$e to separate -- there are a few !ohammedan
countries in the &oviet 6nion. +nd every state which constitutes the 6nion is bound to become more
and more nationalistic, which is a disease. &o without $nowing the conse;uences, /orbachev is going
ahead. #e can spoil the whole great e*periment of seventy years.
3nce the &oviet 6nion is destroyed, there is no hope for other communist countries either. They are
small countries, they can be destroyed without difficulty. The &oviet 6nion is the central force of the
whole of communism in the world. It has to survive!
'ut the trouble is, the idiots will rush in, the vested interests will rush in. 7o right person, no /autam
'uddha is going to go there unless /orbachev and the &oviet 6nion invite him. 7obody li$e that is
going there. Those who will be rushing there on their own have their motivations.
If /orbachev really wants peace in the world at the cost of communism, that peace is not worth it.
,ommunism is one of the greatest e*periments in human evolution. It has laid the foundation of a new
temple for humanity. 'ut it has only laid the foundation" the pillars are missing, the roof is missing.
That can be done only by people who are fully awa$ened, people whom I am calling the buddhas --
not 'uddhists. 'uddhists are as superstitious as any other organi:ed religion. 'ut the awa$ened people
should be invited from all over the world. There are a few people still, in the same space as /autam
'uddha. They should be invited to teach meditation in the universities, to teach meditation in the
colleges, to teach meditation to the public -- and meditation has nothing against communism.
!editation will use communism as the base, and will put the pillars and the roof on the base. The
&oviet citi:en needs something of meditative e*perience that will fill his hollowness. 3therwise just
wor$, and death... there seems to be no meaning and significance. If you had not been born there
would be no harm" if you die nobody is going to miss you, you will be replaced.
&oviet citi:ens need dignity and individuality and a certain sense of direction into eternity. That is
what is missing. +nd the danger is, before the right people can be invited, the wrong people will rush
in and start destroying the seventy years great e*periment.
I would prefer a third world war rather than the destruction of the &oviet 6nion. In the name of peace
/orbachev can go beyond the limits -- he is already going.
The death of the &oviet 6nion will be the death of all evolution, of all possibilities of a world without
boundaries, of a world without classes, of a world richer in every sense of the word -- not only money
but consciousness too" not only power but art and music and dance.
#ave you ever observed( -- there is a simple phenomenon that will give you the right direction.
'efore the revolution, the &oviet 6nion produced people li$e 5eo Tolstoy, /or$y, Turgenev, ,he$hov,
9ostoevs$y. These five names are so great, as far as literature is concerned, that if you want to find ten
great names in the whole world, these five will be the first five. The other five will be si*th, seventh,
eighth, ninth, tenth. 'ut these five cannot be dropped in any calculation, their creation is so great. -ust
a single man, )yodor 9ostoevs$y, is enough to defeat all the creative novelists of the world.
'ut what happened( +fter the revolution, no /or$y, no Turgenev, no 9ostoevs$y, no Tolstoy -- what
happened( In these seventy years the &oviet 6nion has not been able to create a single person of that
;uality.
The reason is clear. The &oviet citi:en has lost his soul, has lost his consciousness, has believed in
8arl !ar* blindly, that the soul of man is only a by-product of matter. If the soul is just a by-product
of matter, then there is no possibility of hai$us, no possibility for poetry.
I have read the poetry written before the revolution and after the revolution. In fact, after the
revolution the poetry should have risen higher, but that is not the case.
'efore the revolution when 4ussia was the poorest of countries... it was not even a capitalist country,
it was a feudal country. 8arl !ar* had never e*pected that the &oviet 6nion was going to be born out
of the poorest country, the most traditional, bac$ward in every sense. #e never e*pected that it was
going to become the first communist country. It was not even capitalist.
+ccording to 8arl !ar*s calculation, a feudal society cannot move directly to communism. It has to
move through capitalism. 3nly capitalism creates classes clearly, the proletariat and the bourgeois.
'ut I told you, logic is not everything. 5ife has its own ways. It happened in 4ussia. 'ut because the
philosophy of 8arl !ar* has been the foundation, it has destroyed all flowers of consciousness. 7o
literature of great status... even Tolstoys son was just a poor novelist after the revolution. +nd before
the revolution, in a poor country, such great literature was born.
It shows something. It shows that unless you have a fulfillment, a certain contentment inside you, you
cannot share it in poetry, in music. )rom where will you bring it( It has to flow from you -- you cannot
share it because you dont have it.
The &oviet citi:en is the poorest, as far as consciousness is concerned.
'ut 8arl !ar* has given it a right foundation. That foundation is missing in the 2ast. This has been
the dilemma of the whole of humanity....
In the 2ast people have condemned the body, condemned matter, called matter .illusory,. maya -- it
does not really e*ist, it only appears to e*ist" it is made of the same stuff as dreams are made of. They
denied the world, and that is the reason for the 2ast remaining poor, sic$, in starvation.
#alf of humanity has been accepting the inner world but denying the outer world. The other half of
humanity has been accepting the material world and denying the inner world. 'oth are half, and no
man who is half can be contented.
%ou have to be whole: rich in the body, rich in science" rich in meditation, rich in consciousness. 3nly
a whole person is a holy person, according to me.
I want >orba and 'uddha to meet together. >orba alone is hollow. #is dance has not an eternal
significance, it is momentary pleasure. &oon he will be tired of it. 6nless you have ine*haustible
sources, available to you from the cosmos itself... unless you become e*istential, you cannot become
whole.
This is my contribution to humanity: T#2 W#352 <24&37.
The 2ast has denied the body and the outside world, and the West has denied the soul and the inner
world" both have lived half. +nd just as there is no half-circle in the world... a circle means a complete
circle. + half-circle is only an arc, it is not a circle. &o the West has remained half, an arc" the 2ast has
remained half, an arc. +nd a man li$e 5ord 8ipling wrote, .2ast is 2ast, West is West, and the twain
shall never meet.. -ust bullshit! They are meeting here, now. +nd unless they meet there is no hope for
humanity.
4ussia has the foundation. It needs right pillars and a roof. What will you do with the foundation
alone( It needs to fill its hollowness with light, with blissfulness, with ecstasy, with a new
luminousness. +s$ the awa$ened ones of the world to enter into 4ussia and teach people a scientific
religiousness -- not ,hristianity, not #induism, not &#4I!+9 '#+/+=+9/IT+ or the #oly 'ible.
The #oly 'ible has three hundred eighty-eight pages of pornography, sheer pornography. +nd
&#4I!+9 '#+/+=+9/IT+ is a sermon by 5ord 8rishna of the #indus, the perfect incarnation of
/od, in favor of war.
+ great war happened because of &#4I!+9 '#+/+=+9/IT+. It happened five thousand years
ago and it bro$e Indias bac$bone. +fter that war, India has never risen beyond poverty, beyond small
things. It cannot loo$ up to the stars and the blue s$y. When you are hungry....
It will be interesting for you to $now that there are biblical scholars who have been prohibited by the
pope. The pope has said that no priests should listen to these biblical scholars -- and they are really the
great scholars of the 'ible, how it was born, how the gospels were created, what has been left out....
The four gospels in the 7ew Testament are not the only gospels. There were other gospels which have
been denied and destroyed. 3nly one gospel has survived, because it was written in India. 3ne of the
direct disciples of -esus, Thomas, immediately moved to India and he remained in &outh India,
learned all the arts of yoga and meditation.
+nd you will be surprised: he is the only person in the whole world whose body is still intact... it is in
/oa. 2very year the body is ta$en out and you can see it -- it is as if he has just died. +nd it is not by
any scientific method that it has been preserved. &cientists have been observing it, watching it with
ama:ement: two thousand years ago, how did those people manage( 'ecause there is no sign of
anything, and the body seems to be still flushed with blood. +fter two thousand years it has not
deteriorated.
The body usually starts deteriorating immediately" within three days it is stin$ing. 'ut every year the
body of Thomas is ta$en out -- this is a real miracle -- and it is the only body in the whole world which
has been preserved and scientists cannot figure out how.
It has been preserved by yoga and meditation, not by any scientific method from the outside. There
was no science in those days. 'ut Thomas became almost a sannyasin in India. #e forgot all about
-esus and his miracles and all his teachings. #e became almost a man of the 2ast" he started wearing
the robe of a sannyasin, the ochre robe. #e started using the sannyasins ancient sandals, made of
wood -- it was very difficult to wal$ on them. #e was even using the thread that #indus wear around
their nec$ and waist. #e shaved his head, just li$e any yogi, and he was well respected. #e was
allowed into the 'uddhist monasteries of 7alanda and Ta$shashila.
'oth these monasteries -esus had also visited, but not for a long time. &o he could not get into
meditation. #e heard about things -- which he repeats in the 'ible, which are really 'uddhas
statements.
The biblical scholars who are the authentic scholars -- and they are all ,hristians -- say there is every
possibility there was no -esus at all. It is a myth and it is simply 8rishna whose name has become
,hrist.
The &ans$rit name T8rishna in 'engali becomes T8risto. If it can become 8risto, there is not much
to do to ma$e it ,hrist -- from 8rishna to 8risto and from 8risto to ,hrist. These biblical scholars
have found many things which are ama:ing. It is possible that it is a myth, traveling, that has created
-esus ,hrist.
'ut /orbachev $nows nothing, and to allow &#4I!+9 '#+/+=+9/IT+ to be translated into
4ussian will be one of the most dangerous steps against peace.
...
t was 8rishna who forced him. In eighteen chapters of &#4I!+9 '#+/+=+9/IT+ is his
continuous argument in favor of war. +nd when finally he could not convince him, at last he too$ the
same step as all religions have ta$en: .It is /ods will! %ou cannot go out of the war. What /od has
chosen has to happen..
Thats what the 'ible says: .9ont change anything. Whatever is /ods will is going to happen..
7ow if I had been in place of +rjuna, I would have said to 8rishna, .Thats o$ay. This is what /od
has chosen, I am going to the #imalayas..
'ut 8rishna has been respected as the incarnation of /od. 7ot only incarnation -- #indus have many
incarnations of /od -- 8rishna is the only .perfect. incarnation. #e was so powerful that the brahmins
simply praised him. It is always power that is praised.
+ man who has captured si*teen thousand women from all over his $ingdom, all the beautiful
women... whether married, unmarried, it did not matter. #is army would just catch any woman who
was seen by 8rishna, and he simply gave the indication, .Ta$e her to the palace.. #e collected si*teen
thousand women -- you cannot even remember their names! -- and he was married only to one
woman. +ll these women had their children, their husbands, their old parents to ta$e care of. &i*teen
thousand families were destroyed by this man. +nd he forced +rjuna, saying, .This is /ods will --
you have to fight! %ou cannot go against /ods will..
/od has been used for all $inds of crimes. The war happened. It was a massacre, millions of people
died. +nd the bac$bone of India was bro$en. India became so afraid of war, because from every
family somebody was $illed -- the husband, the father, the son, every family was deprived of
somebody. The whole country was sad, and that sadness has become so deeply settled in Indias mind
that when small tribes, primitive tribes of Tur$s, of !ongols, of #unas, of !oguls, of 'ritish, came to
India, India simply gave way. They had no desire to fight.
Whoever came was accepted without any difficulty -- small groups! Tur$s came with only five
hundred people, and India was a country of thirty-three million people at that time, two thousand years
ago. &till India simply accepted them" it was not ready to fight. It had seen the war, it had seen its
destructiveness.
+nd who was responsible for all this( 8rishna was responsible for all this. To me, he is not even a
human being, nothing to say about an incarnation of /od.
When I saw today that they are giving a place to him in the &oviet 6nion, ma$ing a temple for
8rishna and allowing these hippies from +merica... that means all $inds of idiots and stupids and
superstitious people will enter into the &oviet 6nion. This opening can be dangerous.
,ertainly the &oviet 6nion needs spirituality. It has materialism -- that is the base. It needs spirituality
-- that will raise the temple of the soul. -ust as you need scientists for material wealth, technology, you
need buddhas, enlightened people, to help you become also a buddha.
'ut this $ind of people will not come on their own. %ou will have to persuade them, you will have to
invite them. 3nly then they can help you. To a welcoming heart, they will pour all that they $now.
+nd !ar*ism will become a complete philosophy if it can be joined with >en. Thats why I say,
.What is missing( >en )ire, >en Wind..
'ut ,hristianity should be prohibited. -udaism should be prohibited. #induism should be prohibited.
Islam should be prohibited. These people have been the cause of the trouble. +gain you are falling
bac$. &eventy years of struggle to create a new society, and then one single man who $nows nothing
of the revolution, who $nows nothing of how hard it was to preserve the country amongst all the anti-
communist countries... they were all ready, li$e vultures all around, to destroy the &oviet 6nion and its
communism. 'ecause if even one country becomes communist, it is dangerous. It is dangerous to all
the capitalist countries because that fragrance will start spreading.
The &oviet 6nion is a hope for humanity.
/orbachev should not ta$e the responsibility of destroying the &oviet 6nion. 'ut by opening it, he is
being praised by the capitalist press, by the capitalist news media all over the world. That is very
cunning. They are ma$ing him a great hero, and by becoming a hero he will completely forget the
implications that will follow the opening of the doors of the &oviet 6nion to all and sundry, to Tom,
and 9ic$, and #arry.
It is a scientific e*periment. The &oviet 6nion has done half the wor$, with great difficulty, with
tremendous sacrifice. The new generation is not aware. I have gone to the deepest roots of the
revolution, and I can see how much the &oviet 6nion has suffered to be a communist country, how
much it has sacrificed. +nd it has lived in constant danger of being destroyed, but now it has come to a
point where it is one of the biggest world powers. It should not be reduced from its power.
It is good to be a peacema$er, and perhaps soon /orbachev will receive a 7obel <ri:e....
That is not very noble. I call it The .Ignoble. <ri:e, because the man who created the 7obel <ri:e -- it
was his name, 7obel. 'ut his function was -- in the first world war and before that -- that he was the
biggest manufacturer of arms. #e was supplying arms to the whole world. 2very war was fought with
his weapons, both sides would be using his arms, and through these arms he collected great richness.
Then his ,hristian guilt came over him at the time of his death, that .I am the greatest creator of war
material -- and all the people who have died because of my weapons... everybody who has died, has
died because of my arms..
In any country, anywhere, both the parties were using his weapons. #e was the only person who was
refining and refining, and ma$ing better and better war material. #e became afraid of hellfire. #e
donated all his money and created a trust, so that every year, just out of the interest, 7obel <ri:es
should be given to different branches of science, art, literature, music... any contribution to humanity.
It was simply trying to erase his guilt.
+nd this 7obel <ri:e committee... the chairman of the committee is the 8ing of &weden. 3ne of my
sannyasins, who is a 7obel <ri:e winner, as$ed the $ing -- because only a 7obel <ri:e winner can
nominate somebody elses name to the committee which decides to whom the 7obel <ri:es should go.
#e told the 8ing of &weden, .What about this man(. -- and he mentioned my name. The $ing said,
.7ever utter that name again! !y suggestion for you is, dont bring that name to the 7obel committee,
because you will feel embarrassed. It is impossible for us to give this man a 7obel <ri:e..
'ut in the same way, 5eo Tolstoy was denied. 2very fifty years the 7obel committee opens its records
for the public to view. 5ast time when they opened their public records, the people found that 5eo
Tolstoy had been nominated for a 7obel <ri:e, but was denied on the grounds that he was not an
orthodo* ,hristian. #e was a ,hristian, but he was not orthodo*, he was very fle*ible. 3n these
grounds -- and the ;uestion was literature, not ,hristianity! They did not even tal$ about his literature.
The man has created the greatest novels in the world: +77+ 8+427I7+... or W+4 +79 <2+,2,
which is such a vast world that the man must have been the greatest mind of his century. 'ut the
literature was not discussed. The man who nominated him, had nominated him for a literary pri:e, for
literature, but he was denied on the grounds that he was not an orthodo* ,hristian.
That is strange -- is this pri:e only for orthodo* ,hristians( +nd this 7obel <ri:e has been used as a
political weapon. They always give 7obel <ri:es to &oviet scientists. It is tric$y game, because the
&oviet government up to now would prohibit the person from accepting this pri:e from the capitalist
world, and prohibit the person from going to the 7obel <ri:e convention to accept the pri:e...
'ecause from there, the man becomes persuaded by the capitalists. The 7obel <ri:e comes with
almost two hundred thousand dollars. The man for the first time... In the &oviet 6nion you dont have
private property" for the first time he sees two hundred thousand dollars, and for the first time he is out
of the &oviet 6nion. #e can escape and as$ for refuge in any capitalist country, and he can release the
secrets of &oviet scientists to the capitalists and gain prestige, awards, money and everything.
&o the &oviet government up to now has been preventing people li$e &a$harov and others. It was a
very dangerous thing. If you prevent, then the scientist becomes angry with the &oviet government. #e
frea$s out, he wants to accept the pri:e. 'ecause he frea$s out, the &oviet government has to ta$e
measures to prevent him from escaping out of the country.
2ven &a$harovs insistence that he would accept the 7obel <ri:e... immediately the &oviet
government had to ta$e action. #e was removed as the director general of the science academy, his car
was ta$en bac$... because nobody possesses anything, everything belongs to the nation. The
government allots things to people. +nd he was reduced to being an ordinary member of the academy.
'ut his wife, who is also a scientist, was having an operation in <aris. )rom <aris she managed to go
to the 7obel <ri:e convention, and on behalf of her husband she accepted the 7obel <ri:e.
&o either the 7obel <ri:e is a $ind of bribe to ta$e secrets out of the &oviet 6nion, or it creates a
trouble for the scientist. If the government prevents him, and if he wants to go out, then he has to be
jailed. In some way, one scientists life and his contribution to the &oviet 6nion is destroyed.
7ow the 7obel <ri:e has been given to politicians -- even a man li$e 8issinger gets a 7obel <ri:e!
+nd what is his contribution to humanity(
I call it the Ignoble <ri:e because it is full of blood, the blood of millions of people who were
massacred by 7obels weapons. 7o man of dignity should accept it.
I told my sannyasin, .%ou should not have mentioned my name. I will reject the 7obel <ri:e if they
give it to me. It is a bribe and nothing else, a bribe to shut peoples mouths who spea$ against
capitalism, a bribe to ta$e secrets from the &oviet 6nion..
7ow opening the doors of the &oviet 6nion is really dangerous -- and I am saying it as a friend. The
&oviet 6nion has done half the wor$" the base is completely solid. +ll that it needs is a few pillars and
a roof, and the shrine for the human soul will be ready.
The new man can come only out of the &oviet 6nion. 'ut what is happening ma$es me suspicious.
&oon /orbachev will have the 7obel <ri:e, I predict it. #e is being praised by all the capitalist press
for the simple reason so that this praise gets into his head and he forgets all the implications of what he
is doing that may destroy the &oviet 6nion.
+ seventy-year great e*periment in changing the structure of the society... and they have succeeded!
7ow the second step is to change the consciousness of man. %ou have changed the structure of the
society, it was an economic revolution. Thats why I said yesterday that if I come to &oviet 6nion, I
am bringing another revolution, a revolution which will be spiritual. That is what is missing: a
spiritual revolution. If that revolution happens, the &oviet 6nion will be the pride of humanity.
I see both sides of /orbachev. #e is doing good in bringing freedom, but he is also ta$ing a ris$ --
which he will not be able to prevent once all these people enter in. Then he will have to start from
+'," it will ta$e another seventy years to bring bac$ this same situation.
I would li$e him open the door for scientists, open the door for poets, open the door for mystics, open
the door for musicians, dancers, painters. 3pen the door for novelists, open the door for all creative
people, open the door for meditators -- but not for all and sundry" particularly not for any organi:ed
religion, and not for any stupid and idiotic ideology.
#e does not $now anything about '#+/+=+9/IT+, and he has allowed these #are 8rishna people
to translate it into 4ussian. #e does not $now that this is the only scripture in the whole world devoted
completely to war. It was perfectly good for +dolf #itler, it was perfectly good for 'enito !ussolini.
It is not good for people who want peace, for people who want this earth to drop its boundaries of
nations, of religions. It is not good for those who want one world, one earth, one humanity.
...
W#% 93 %36 73T W+7T T3 +553W ,#4I&TI+7IT% T3 27T24 T#2 &3=I2T 67I37(

'ecause I love the &oviet 6nion, and I would not li$e a poisonous sna$e, a cobra hiding inside the
pope, to enter the &oviet 6nion. #e can come to India, there is no problem. #e can go around in any
capitalist country, there is no problem. 'ut not the &oviet 6nion, because I consider ,hristianity to be
the most criminal religion in the world.
In seventy years they have with great difficulty been erasing the programming of ,hristianity from
the &oviet mind. 7ow the &oviet mind at least is free of ,hristianity, free of /od, free of heaven, free
of hell. This is perfectly good. 9ont introduce all these things again.
'ut one thing certainly the &oviet 6nion needs, which ,hristianity cannot provide. That can be
provided only by >en.
>en is pure meditation. It has nothing to do with hell, heaven, /od. -esus miracles, it has nothing to
do with. It does not even tal$ about any of these things. It simply tal$s about the science, step by step,
of how to enter your own inner world and see the life eternal.
3nce you have seen your life as eternity -- from eternity to eternity -- you are a totally different man.
%our life becomes of great significance. Thousands of blossoms start arising in you. %our life
becomes creative. %ou $now that e*istence cares for you.
%ou $now that e*istence never creates a carbon copy, that e*istence always comes up with absolutely
original faces. 7obody is dispensable. 3nce you are gone, your place will remain empty forever. This
gives significance, this gives meaning, this gives you a feeling you are needed by e*istence. Without
you, something will be missing" some place will remain empty and nobody else can fill it.
Thats why yesterday I argued against 4egardie, because he wanted to be a .4ajneesh. in his ne*t
incarnation. 2*istence never repeats, and you cannot be anybody else than yourself.
That is authentic religiousness. 2very individual has his own uni;ueness, and that gives him dignity
and grace.
I dont want ,hristianity or #induism or !ohammedanism to enter the &oviet 6nion because all these
religions are of prayer. <rayer is e*trovert" meditation is introvert. If you want to allow people, then
allow the people whose religion is based on meditation, not on prayer. That should be the clear-cut
distinction, a criterion that can be followed without any fear.
+llow 5ao T:u, allow people of Tao, allow people of >en, allow people who belong to &ufism, allow
people who belong to #assidism. These are all people who in some way or other are meditative.
'ut >en comes to the very highest pea$ -- the purest meditation, refined by centuries of mystics in
India, mystics in ,hina, mystics in -apan. It has moved through so much refinement, sharpening --
continuous sharpening -- that there is nothing else compared to it.
What will the poor pope do in the &oviet 6nion( -- just $iss the land! &o he can $iss in the =atican, he
has enough land -- eight s;uare miles, a sovereign country. 2ight s;uare miles is not enough for him to
$iss( /o on $issing!
#e wastes so much money in $issing different lands. #e came to India and $issed the 7ew 9elhi
airport. I was in 8athmandu -- I immediately gave a press conference and told them, .If he wanted to
$iss cow dung, we could have sent him a parcel full of cow dung! Why waste eight million dollars in
visiting India just to $iss the cow dung(. 'ut cow dung gives you a taste of #induism....
What has ,hristianity done for the whole world( It has created more poverty by preventing people
from using birth control methods. 7ow birth control methods are a hundred percent effective" at first
they were not. The pill had to be ta$en before you made love. 7ow there is another pill that you can
ta$e afterwards" there is no need to ta$e it beforehand. This is far safer. +nd sometimes the pill
disturbs the hormonal system of the woman, so a third pill has come into being which the man can
ta$e. The woman need not ta$e anything. 7ow things are so simple, why go on increasing unnecessary
population(
+nd all ,hristian priests are insisting for more poverty, for more orphans. The reason is that they need
more ,atholics, more ,hristians -- from these orphans, from these poor people, they can get new
converts. +lready the ,atholic church has si* hundred million people in its fold" still there is no
satisfaction. It wants more and more people, at the ris$ of the whole planet committing suicide! It is
because of ,hristianity -- and they have influenced all the religions because it is the greatest religion
as far as membership is concerned, the most powerful. 3ther religions have also followed the same
ideas.
!ohammed married nine wives. #e was absolutely uneducated" he used to have epileptic fits and he
married a woman just for money. The woman was forty years old and he was only twenty-si*, but the
woman was a widow and had an immense amount of money. &he was the first !ohammedan! &he
turned !ohammeds epileptic fits into .trances.. In his epileptic fit, he would tremble and foam would
come out of his mouth, and he would feel so much trembling that all the blan$ets in the house could
be put over him" still he was trembling. +nd whatever he uttered in that unconscious state, his wife
would write.
8hadija -- the woman, who was well educated, super-rich -- it is she who has written the 8oran, it is
not !ohammed. #e could not even sign his name. +nd the 8oran has been written over thirty years
time, because you have to wait for the epileptic fit to come again. Then nobody $nows whether
8hadija was writing what !ohammed was saying or she was inventing, because it is a very poor
scripture. There is nothing much in it.
!ohammedan friends have as$ed me. .Tal$ about the holy 8oran!. They have been sending me
copies, the latest editions, most beautifully printed. I loo$ed into them many times, but I could not find
a single sentence worthy to be commented upon. I can critici:e, but then all the !ohammedans will be
just ready to burn my community!
Thats what the /ree$ church threatened to do to me. When I was in /reece it was only for a four-
wee$ tourist visa. +fter two wee$s... and I had not gone out of the house. The house was on a small
island" it belonged to the best film producer in /reece, he was my host. It was just on a hilltop, a direct
drop to the ocean -- a very beautiful place, a beautiful garden, and I had never gone out of the gate.
'ut friends from all over 2urope came running to /reece and the archbishop of the /ree$ 3rthodo*
church... which is the oldest church in the world. It is the /ree$ church which has changed
,hristianity completely, according to itself. The archbishop threatened the president of the country, the
prime minister of the country, and threatened me: .If the government does not deport him immediately
I am going to dynamite the house and burn all the people inside -- alive.. This is religion!
+nd I have nothing to do with /ree$s. There were at the most ten or twelve /ree$ friends, whom I
have already corrupted, so there was no problem" they were my sannyasins. +nd he was threatening
the government and saying that my stay in /reece would corrupt the morality, destroy the religion.
I said when they deported me, to the world press representatives who had gathered at the airport to
ta$e my interview, .This country has the wea$est religion and the wea$est morality. They have had
two thousand years to condition the mind of the country to a certain $ind of morality which they thin$
is virtuous, to certain superstitions that they thin$ are religion -- and they are afraid of a tourist who is
going to be here only two wee$s more! If a religion two thousand years old can be corrupted by a
tourist in two wee$s, it is worth corrupting. It should be corrupted..
#e was threatening me: .I will organi:e a procession against you..
I informed him, .I will enjoy it!. I enjoy all $inds of things....
'ut the procession never came, so I as$ed +mrito, my ambassador in /reece -- a beautiful woman,
used to be a model, once was chosen to be the beauty ;ueen of /reece. I love beauty. I love everything
that is beautiful in this world. The flowers, the faces, the stars, the moon, the ocean -- everything.
'eauty is my religion.
I as$ed +mrito, .#ow many people here are ,hristians(.
&he said, .+lmost ninety percent..
+nd I as$ed her: .#ow many attend the church(.
&he said, .7ot more than four percent!.
I said, .Who are those four percent people(.
&he laughed, she said, .%ou wont believe -- they are the oldest women, ancient women, those whose
one foot is in the grave and one foot in the church..
I said, .#ow many women listen to this archbishop(.
&he counted. &he went there -- only si* women were listening to his thundering sermon! 3f course he
could not bring a procession of si* old women, it would have been really a great circus. I had told my
people, .When he comes, we should join the procession!.
That old idiot wanted to burn all my people who were living with me -- just for two wee$s! What has
,hristianity done for the world that you are as$ing me why I dont want to allow ,hristianity to enter
the &oviet 6nion(
I love the &oviet 6nion because it is a great e*periment. It is a milestone in the history of man. 3f
course it is only half, but still -- half is better than nothing. The other half can be raised on top of it.
What 5enin and &talin have produced has given a good foundation for anybody to raise the temple of
consciousness. +nd this temple will not belong to any religion" it will belong to all individuals who
want to enter into initiation, who want to enter on the path.
The buddhas dont lead you, they simply indicate the way. %ou have to follow your way alone,
because nobody can go inside you. The buddhas can point to the place, but you have to go there. +nd
it is good that nobody can go inside you" otherwise politicians would have reached before any buddha!
It is your privilege, your absolute privilege and freedom -- nobody else can enter there.
'ut if you go, you will start growing in a new dimension -- vertical. -ust as all animals move
hori:ontally... at a certain point in history some animals, according to ,harles 9arwin, stood up
vertically. Thats how man was born: from the hori:ontal animal, wal$ing on all fours, he started
wal$ing on two feet, and two hands were free for the first time. These two hands have created all
science, all technology -- the houses, the roads, the electricity, the television. 2verything that you
enjoy, everything that is needed for humanity has been created because these two hands were free. 7o
animal can do these things: all four legs are engaged in wal$ing.
This is one revolution: the gorilla becomes man -- from hori:ontal to vertical.
+ similar $ind of state e*ists inside. %our consciousness is still hori:ontal. %our body is vertical" your
consciousness is still moving in time -- hori:ontally. The function of meditation is to turn your
consciousness also in a vertical direction. When your body and consciousness are together, vertical,
you are an enlightened one. The vertical consciousness $nows the ultimate truth, the beauty, the good,
the godliness of e*istence.
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In the first place I
am not a religious
leader. I am a
religious man. +
leader is
fundamentally a
politician. Whether
or not his politics is
hidden behind
religion does not
matter" the very
word Tleader comes
from politics.
I dont have any
followers here"
these are all my
friends. &o please
dont call me a
religious leader -- I
am just religious.
&econdly, I am not critici:ing +merica and ,hristianity because they have tried to destroy my body.
That does not matter to me. It does not hurt me, because I $now something which is indestructible" no
poison, no bombs, no nuclear weapons can destroy it. !y being, my spirituality is beyond any
destruction. It is eternal and immortal. &o it is not a ;uestion of hurting me.
!y criticism of +merica and ,hristianity has nothing to do with my personal attitude. I am against all
religions, not only ,hristianity. I am against /od because I am against all fictions. I am against hell
and against heaven because I dont want to create a schi:ophrenia in humanity. I dont want human
beings to live in fear of hell and greed for heaven.
+nd I dont want people to have any $ind of belief system. Whether it is ,hristianity or #induism or
'uddhism, it does not matter. To me, any organi:ed religion -- and ,hristianity is the most organi:ed
religion in the world -- is a danger to human beings. Their individuality, their freedom, their dignity is
destroyed.
-esus goes on saying to people, .%ou are sheep, and I am the shepherd.. That is the attitude of all so-
called religions: .%ou dont $now -- I $now. +nd you have simply to believe in me and all your sins
will be forgiven.. -ust believing in -esus, or in 8rishna, or in 'uddha, cannot erase anybodys crimes
and sins. 2very action has its reaction: if you have done something wrong, you will have some bitter
e*periences following it. If you are doing something good, you will have flowers showering on you, a
deep peace, a deep silence, and a growth of your inner consciousness.
I have critici:ed +merica because I have been there for five years and seen with my own eyes that this
is the most hypocritical country in the world. Tal$ing about democracy, tal$ing about freedom, tal$ing
about freedom of speech -- and none of these things e*ist there.
'ecause they were against me they could not follow their own constitution concerning freedom of
speech. They had no argument against me. 7aturally, they became absolutely mad: how to destroy me,
how to destroy the commune(
The commune was a far superior version of communism. 7o dictatorship, no money -- in the
commune there was no need for money. <eople donated to the commune, but as far as their needs were
concerned, the commune was responsible to fulfill their needs. +nd the commune was living at a far
better, higher standard than any +merican. The richest +merican was jealous of the commune.
The commune was in the midst of a capitalist world. +nd when they deported me the representative of
the attorney general of +merica, 2d !eese, admitted in a press conference that I had not committed
any crime. The reason he gave for deporting me was: .We wanted to destroy the commune. That was
our priority.. +nd without deporting me, it was impossible to destroy the commune.
'ut why( Why did you want to destroy the commune( 3ur commune was not at all concerned with
+merica. The commune was located in a desert, one hundred twenty-si* s;uare miles of desert which
had been for sale for forty years. +nd nobody had purchased it, at any price, because what will you do
with a desert(
'ut my people converted the desert into an oasis. That hurt +merica very much. !y people were
living with such joy, such laughter, and they were wor$ing hard. +ll their needs were fulfilled. They
had the whole commune centrally air-conditioned" they had everything that they wanted, and there
was no e*change of money in the commune. This made the +merican government completely mad.
...
When I saw democracy, +merican style, at wor$... it was absolute nonsense to tal$ about democracy.
Their constitution is just a showpiece for the world. The country consists of criminals tal$ing about
freedom.
I raised the ;uestion that they are all foreigners. I said, .+ll +mericans are foreigners in +merica. It
belongs to the 4ed Indians whom you have $illed, whom you have forced into deep forests which you
call reservations. In fact, they are the same as the concentration camps of +dolf #itler. %ou are
occupying the land of somebody else and you tal$ about freedom(.
5oo$ing at +merican crime... when I moved through those si* jails I could not believe my eyes.
2very jail had at least si* hundred, seven hundred criminals -- all were blac$! 7ot a single white man
did I come across in si* jails. It seems only blac$ people commit crimes. +nd these blac$ people are
all young people. +merica is very much afraid of a blac$ revolution, so all these young people have
been forced into jail, without any trial.
Whenever I arrived in a jail, the prisoners shouted to me... because they had been seeing my face on
television continually. They were rejoiced to see me, and they said, .%ou will be going out of jail soon.
The whole world has been alerted about your arrest" thousands of telegrams from the most prominent
people around the world -- painters, poets, actors, film producers, mystics, 7obel <ri:e winners....
In the first jail so many telegrams came that the jailer came to me saying that .We dont have space
for so many telegrams, and we dont have space for so many flowers, and we dont have enough
personnel to receive all the telephone calls that are coming from all over the world! What do you
suppose( What should we do(.
I said, .It is your problem. Why have you arrested me(.
...
I am not against the +merican people. I love them as I love all the people of the earth, and I have
received much love from the +merican population. 'ut I am absolutely against the +merican
politicians and the +merican bureaucracy. It is absolutely against humanity. It is suicidal, murderous --
it is preparing to destroy this world.
2very day, more and more nuclear weapons are gathering. They have spent trillions of dollars on
nuclear weapons. +nd 4onald 4eagan has left the post of president, but he has given a budget of one
and half trillion dollars to create more weapons. 7ow /eorge 'ush is at a loss -- from where to get
this money(
!y criticism of +merican politicians is based not on my personal hurts -- they dont matter. +t least to
me they dont matter. 'ut I am certainly hurt because of +mericas anti-human attitude. There are three
million street people and this winter they are dying in thousands. +merica goes on sending aid to poor
countries, and it cannot save its own poor.
...
+nd I am not against only ,hristianity. I am against all religions e*cept >en, because >en is not a
religion but only religiousness. I have to ma$e it clear to you that religion is a doctrine, an organi:ed
church, a belief system, a fictitious /od, heaven and hell, and a great priesthood which functions as a
mediator between you and /od and e*ploits you in the name of religion, in the name of /od.
>en is the only religious phenomenon in the world which has no doctrine, no scripture, which has no
/od, no belief system, no organi:ed church. It is an individual phenomenon, just li$e love. %ou dont
have a church of love. %ou dont have a political party for love. It is an individual freedom.
-ust as love is individual, so is meditation. +nd to me, religion only means one thing: meditation,
going inwards and e*ploring your consciousness. -ust the way science e*plores matter, meditation is
the science of the inner" it e*plores consciousness.
I have my points of agreement with 8arl !ar*, with 2ngels, with 5enin, with /orbachev. I have my
points of disagreement.
8arl !ar* and )riedrich 2ngels were aware only of two religions, -udaism and ,hristianity, which
are both just so-so religions. !ar* and 2ngels were not aware of >en, they were not aware of Tao,
they were not aware of meditation. It is not their fault" their whole concern was how to ma$e society
economically e;ual. &o they said that man is only matter, and consciousness is a by-product of matter.
When the man dies, the consciousness also dies. 3n that point I am in absolute disagreement.
I am against all religions because they have been e*ploiting humanity, and they are e*actly what 8arl
!ar* called the .opium of the people.. They are giving the poor consolation, that .%our poverty is a
fire test. -ust listen to the words of -esus. #e says, T'lessed are the poor, for they shall inherit the
earth..
If blessed are the poor, then there is no need to remove poverty. In fact, ma$e more poor people so
they can become more blessed people and can inherit the $ingdom of /od! &pread poverty, breed li$e
animals, as many children as you can. These all will be the inheritors of /ods $ingdom.
&uch consolation has been given by all religions in different ways. The 'ible says, .9ont change
anything, because /od has made it so, and he is wiser than you.. &o dont change any structure of the
society, dont change the family. 'ut /od never made the family. In fact, /od is the greatest lie in
e*istence. +nd from one central lie, thousands of lies go on growing.
I am against not only ,hristianity, I am against #induism, I am against 'uddhism, I am against
!ohammedanism, because they are functioning in the same way -- only their names are different.
It is not that ,hristianity has hurt me so I am against it. -udaism has not hurt me, !ohammedanism
has not hurt me, 'uddhism has not hurt me, but I am against them on principle. These are the people
who have been e*ploiting humanity and protecting the vested interests.
#induism says that you are poor because of your past lifes bad actions, and you are rich because of
your past lifes good actions. They distract the mind from the reality. The reality is that you are poor
because you are being e*ploited by the rich continuously. %ou are suc$ed, your blood is continuously
being ta$en out of you" your very life is at the minimum so that you can function as a slave. %ou are
allowed to live just because without you, who is going to be able to create a vast army of slaves(
+nd all religions are in favor of the rich because the rich are donating to the churches, to the temples,
to the religions, a small part, not even one percent, of their e*ploitation. 'ut they $eep the priests rich,
comfortable, because the priests are protecting the status ;uo.
I am against the status ;uo. I want to change the whole society, its structure. I want a classless society,
a world without boundaries, without nations. + world which is one, neither blac$ nor white, neither
Indian nor 4ussian nor +merican.
This small planet can live in peace.
In three thousand years the politicians have dragged humanity into five thousand wars, but you will
be surprised: even in five thousand wars politicians have not been able to $ill more people than
religions have $illed. They have their religions wars: crusades, jihad....
-esus says, .Whoever is not with me is against me.. 7ow these are the words of a politician -- not the
words of a religious man, not the words of a man who is meditative, who can see things. The person
who is not with me may be just indifferent" it is not necessary that he should be against me. The
person who is with me can be against me any day, and the person who is against me can be in favor of
me any day. +nd there is a third category which -esus completely forgets: the indifferent, the agnostic
who is neither theist nor atheist, who does not believe in any Tism, who simply wants to in;uire into
truth.
I am against ,hristianity and other religions because they are preventing people from finding out the
truth of their own being.
To me, religiousness is acceptable. It is a ;uality -- a ;uality which brings grace to you, which brings
blissfulness to you, which brings a silence to your mind, which brings an encounter with your original
being. It is absolutely a science -- a science of the inner space, just as there is a science of the
objective world. It is not a belief system. %ou dont have to believe in any savior, in any messiah, in
any prophet, in any reincarnation of /od -- these are all arch-egoists who are pretending to save you.

Their third ;uestion is:
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76,526&.

7ucleus of what( 7ucleus of the capitalist society!
'oth !ar* and 2ngels, in their analysis of the economic structure, are very clear about it: the family
came into being only with private property. 'efore private property there was no family" hence it
follows logically that if private property is dissolved, marriage will be dissolved automatically. It is a
logical conclusion" whether 5enin agrees with it or not, does not matter. I dont care about anybody -- I
care about intelligence. It is not a ;uestion whether 2ngels contradicts himself.
The family has been the nucleus of all the organi:ed religions" it has been the nucleus of all the feudal
and capitalist societies" it has been the nucleus of all e*ploitation and war. That nucleus has to be
completely withdrawn. Without the family dying out, you cannot have a real humanity arising, of
individuals.
I have not said that 5enin was against marriage. I have said that it is the logical conclusion from !ar*
and 2ngels analysis of society. They say that the family came into being with private property. Why
did it come into being with private property( -- because every father wanted his property to be
inherited by his son. #ence, he had to guard his wife so that she would not get pregnant with
somebody else.
The family became an imprisonment of the woman, so that the child would certainly be the son of the
father. The father has no other evidence" only the mother $nows e*actly to whom the child belongs. &o
$eep the mother completely out of society: no education, no economic freedom, no financial status. In
!ohammedan countries she cannot even show her face to anybody. 8eep the woman completely
imprisoned -- that is the only security you have that your son is your son, and the property that you
have gathered will be inherited by your son.
'ut in a communist society, when the property is not private, there is no need for any family to
protect it. The property belongs to everyone. Then why bother about it, that .!y son has to be my
son.. In fact, I had said that this was the logical conclusion.
I have read all the communist literature that has been published from !ar*, 2ngels, 5enin, &talin, and
I have read all the literature that has been published against communism. I would li$e my &oviet
comrades to loo$ at my library, and they will find all the communist literature and all the anti-
communist literature there.
It is my understanding that marriage cannot e*ist in a communist society. + commune will ta$e the
place of marriage. +nd I have read somewhere... because for fifteen years I have not been reading at
all. I have read somewhere that when the revolution happened in XYXL in 4ussia, in the beginning they
had tried for three, four, or five years to dissolve marriage, to dissolve the family. 'ut they found it
very difficult.
It is one of the most ancient institutions. 2motionally, sentimentally, psychologically, it is very
difficult to dissolve it. It was difficult to dissolve private ownership of property and ma$e it public --
&talin had to $ill at least one million 4ussians just to ma$e a classless society possible. They found it
was difficult: .It can be ta$en care of later on when communism becomes more established" dont ta$e
on too many problems..
The whole world was against 4ussia when it went through its revolution. The whole world wanted to
destroy communism. If communism succeeded, that would be a danger for other nations" then the poor
in other nations would start rising up and as$ing for the same e;uality.
+fter five years of failure, they could not dissolve the family. 'ut my understanding is that they could
not dissolve the family unit because they themselves have betrayed 8arl !ar* and 2ngels. The &oviet
6nion has become another class society: the bureaucrats have become a class and the non-bureaucrats,
the public, are another class. &o the bureaucrats, who are the communists, have replaced the
capitalists. The &oviet 6nion is still not classless" it has created a new class friction. 'ecause it is not
classless, it could not dissolve the family" otherwise there would be no problem to dissolve marriage
and the family. 7ow the family has become the nucleus of communism, which is a contradiction.
I follow my own intelligence, and my conclusions dont have to be in agreement with anybody elses.
'ut anybody who is intelligent enough can see the problem.

0uestion E
Their fourth ;uestion is:
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+ revolution!
It has been too long since the &oviet 6nion has seen revolution. 3f course, my revolution will be of
spirituality. I want the &oviet 6nion to add something more to its dignity: meditation. -ust economic
e;uality is not enough -- a spiritual e;uality is needed.
-ust being a body is so poor. I want the &oviet 6nion to become richer -- not only richer in objects but
richer in consciousness, in enlightenment. I want the &oviet 6nion also to have awa$ened people li$e
/autam 'uddha, or 5ao T:u, or ,huang T:u.
I would li$e to introduce >en to the &oviet 6nion. That is my revolution.

3ne of the most famous spiritualists of 2urope, )rancis Israel 4egardie, a famous occult magician
who was regarded as a great magus and scholar of the /olden 9awn &ociety, stated just prior to his
death: .If I were to choose in what form I would come bac$ in terms of reincarnation, I would li$e to
continue the great wor$ until I become a 4ajneesh..
-ust today I received his boo$, and I could not believe what $ind of spiritualist this fellow )rancis
Israel 4egardie was.
+ spiritualist, in the first place, $nows he is not going to be born again. If he has not come to that
point, he has no right to call himself a spiritualist. + person who has $nown his spirituality has no need
to come bac$ to any body, in any reincarnation. This imprisonment in the body is only up to the point
when you become a buddha. When you become a buddha, you have learned everything that life could
teach you, and you have not only learned the outside world, you have learned your inner world also.
7ow there is nothing left.
What happens to a /autam 'uddha( #e simply dissolves into the universal life, into the eternal life.
#e does not come bac$ to the earth in a body.
This man )rancis Israel 4egardie $nows nothing of spirituality. 'ut in the West it is very easy to
befool people, because the West has no understanding of the inner world. &o any idiot can manage to
deceive them -- occultism, esotericism, spiritualism, just big words without any e*perience supporting
them.
'ecause if this man was really spiritual, he would not... at the point of death he wants a reincarnation!
'ut he has a condition also: .I would li$e to continue the wor$ until I become a 4ajneesh.. I was
alive, he was alive, he could have come here. 4ather than having the courage and guts to come here,
he is thin$ing of becoming a 4ajneesh after death -- if there is a reincarnation. That is a big if!
#e could have come here. Thousands of people come and go every day, and ten thousand people
remain around me continuously. +nd I am not a leader, and I am not a priest, and I am not teaching
any philosophy or any doctrine. I am simply helping them to enter inwards -- how to turn your eyes
inwards so you can see yourself. 3nce you have seen it, you are the buddha.
Then there is no birth, no death. %ou have gone beyond the circle of birth and death.
This is the only spirituality, the only religiousness that I would li$e to teach to my &oviet friends.
I have already in the &oviet 6nion at least three hundred sannyasins, underground. 'ecause I was in
+merica, the 8/' was thin$ing that I was an +merican agent. They were harassing my people in the
&oviet 6nion" they burned my boo$s, they too$ away all the boo$s, and my people were meeting
underground, writing and typing my boo$s by hand.
I would li$e, through my comrades here, to help my people. I am not against communism. I am a far
bigger communist than you have ever $nown, because I am a spiritual communist!
!ar* and 2ngels are out-of-date. The &oviet 6nion needs a new revolution, a spiritual revolution, and
I thin$ /orbachev is ma$ing a great mista$e in allowing the old priests bac$ in the name of opening
the doors of the &oviet 6nion.
<erhaps he does not understand these old priests -- ,atholic and <rotestant, or old 4ussian 3rthodo*.
They belonged to a certain society" they belonged to a feudal society. They cannot belong to a
communist society.
3pening the doors of 4ussia is beautiful. 3pen the doors for science, open the doors for art, open the
doors for meditation. 'ut that does not mean that you have to open the doors to all $inds of diseases.
,hristianity is a disease, and if you open the doors for the pope you are going against 8arl !ar*, you
are going against communism. %ou dont understand the implications: these are the people who are the
real agents of capitalism. They are against any revolution.
%ou can see it in India. In India, for five thousand years, as far bac$ as history can approach... India is
far more ancient than five thousand years, but for five thousand years we have not $nown anything
li$e revolution against the social structure. +nd India is one of the poorest countries, but the poor are
given the opium continuously, that .%ou are poor because of your past evil acts. It has nothing to do
with the capitalist people" they have money because they did good deeds in the past..
7ow do you want shan$aracharyas from India to be imported to the &oviet 6nion( They will teach
reincarnation, they will teach that .%ou are poor because of your past actions, it has nothing to do with
the capitalists. +nd the capitalist is a capitalist because he has done good deeds in the past, it is a
reward from /od..
<lease tell /orbachev from me: allow everything, but dont allow ,hristianity again! ,hristianity will
bring homose*uality, it will bring sodomy, it will bring bestiality, it will bring +I9& to the &oviet
6nion. +re you opening the door for all this(
'e careful, and very alert. It has ta$en seventy years to preserve a communist country against the
whole world. 9ont ta$e any ris$. 3pening the door is good, but be on guard that the <ope the <olac$
does not enter 4ussia, and that ,hristianity has no revival in 4ussia.
,ommunism can be at ease with >en, because >en has nothing to do with your social structure. >en
has nothing to do with your poverty or with your richness. >en has nothing to do with the outside
world. >en is a science to e*plore the inner. Invite >en masters, >en mystics" that will be inviting
health and wholeness.
+ man who believes only in the body is half, and a man who believes only in the spirit is also half. I
have called /autam 'uddha only half, because he denies the body, he renounces the body. I am not in
absolute favor of /autam 'uddha -- only fifty percent. +nd that is my situation with 8arl !ar* also: I
am in agreement only with fifty percent. #is acceptance of the body is good, but his denial of the spirit
is wrong.
'uddha and !ar* have to join hands -- that is my revolution. 'ring 'uddha and !ar* both together,
hand in hand, dancing in the &oviet 6nion!
If you cannot find /autam 'uddha and 8arl !ar* -- because both are dead -- I can bring my ten
thousand buddhas you see all around! These people are living a whole life -- of the body and of the
soul in absolute synchronicity. I can bring all my ten thousand buddhas to reach to every noo$ and
corner of the &oviet 6nion.
+nd these are not the only people with me" there are two million people around the earth. If you have
a real opening, I can even bring two million people to the &oviet 6nion, to bring a new revolution, a
fresh revolution which will ma$e the &oviet citi:en a complete citi:en, body and soul together.
We have to live outside and we have to live inside, in deep balance, in harmony.
This man 4egardie must have been a hocus-pocus. +t least I hope that he does not become a
4ajneesh! #e can have reincarnation as whatever he wants. #e can become a buffalo, he can become a
don$ey, there are so many species available -- just please dont thin$ about me! If you had courage,
then... at the moment of death you tal$ed about me" in your whole life you never tal$ed about me.
&uch chic$ens! Tal$ing about occultism, spiritualism... I have been here, he could have come. I could
have turned him into a meditator.
+nd if your meditation starts blossoming you will not have any other birth in the body. %ou will
simply disappear, li$e incense disappearing into the blue s$y, or fragrance of roses disappearing into
the blue s$y. %ou will become part of the cosmos.
+nd as far as I am concerned, unless you are a meditator you cannot be truly a communist. 'ecause as
far as the body is concerned, no two persons are e*actly e;ual. In their talents, in their intelligence, in
their body, physical strength -- no two persons are e;ual as far as the body is concerned. %ou can give
e;ual opportunity for growth, but the growth will bring une;ual persons. &omebody will become a
scientist and somebody will become a shoema$er" somebody will become a great novelist li$e Tolstoy,
or Turgenev, or ,he$hov, or 9ostoevs$y, or /or$y, and somebody may become just a flutist.
2verybody needs e;ual opportunity to grow une;ual! 'ut as far as spirituality is concerned,
everybody can be e;ually a buddha. That is true communism -- deeper, higher, more authentic. +nd if
we can create a situation, an education for people to understand their inner being, they will come out
of it with great compassion, with love for every being. They will have a tremendous reverence for life.
They cannot e*ploit. In fact, spiritual communism should be first" only then can the economic
communism follow it as a shadow.
-ust tell ,omrade /orbachev: I am ready to come any moment. -ust gather courage, because I am not
in absolute agreement... !ar* is now old-fashioned, and I dont $now any communist who ever reads
9+& 8+<IT+5. It gathers dust just li$e the #oly 'ible. I have never come across any communist in
India who has read 9+& 8+<IT+5. It is complicated, it is old, it is out-of-date. In its own time it was
a great phenomenon, but time goes on changing. 7ow neither 2ngels nor 5enin nor &talin are relevant.
They were very relevant in their own time.
7ow /orbachev can open the door because for seventy years 5enin $ept it closed, &talin $ept it
closed, to protect communism. 7ow communism is strong enough to open the doors. 'ut be careful --
dont open the doors to old diseases. They are just lur$ing by the side, and very an*ious to enter in.
!ohammedan priests, because you have so many !ohammedan countries in the &oviet 6nion, are
ready to go in. +nd that is a third-rate religion. ,hristians are very an*ious, and ,hristianity is also not
worthy to be called a religion. It is just an old cult.
I suggest there is only religiousness, which has come as a crossbreed between 'uddha and 5ao T:u.
+nd the crossbreed is always better than both the parents. That crossbreed is >en. Its &ans$rit name is
dhyan" its <ali name, which 'uddha used, is :han. When it reached ,hina with 'odhidharma it
became chan. When it reached -apan with 4in:ai it became >en. 7ow I am bringing it bac$ to the
land of 'uddha -- the circle is going to be complete.
It went out of India because of the brahmin priests. %ou will be surprised to $now that for two
thousand years India has had no 'uddhists. +t the time of 'uddha almost the whole country was
impressed by the man. 'ut what happened( The moment 'uddha died -- he was against the caste
system, he was against the rituals of the brahmins, he was against e*ploitation by the priesthood -- the
moment he died, the whole priesthood started $illing 'uddhists, burning them alive, destroying their
scriptures. Those who could save themselves rushed all over +sia, to Tibet, to 5ada$h, to 7epal, to
Thailand, to ,hina, to 8orea, to Taiwan, to -apan, to &ri 5an$a -- the whole of +sia became 'uddhist
2R,2<T India.
This is a strange phenomenon. 'uddha was born here" here he used to teach meditation, and this
country simply rejected him.
'eware! 9ont allow any priests of any religion in the &oviet 6nion if you want to save communism.
3therwise, these priests will prove just li$e a cancer. They will destroy the whole of communism and
they will bring all the old rotten ideologies bac$ into peoples minds. 'eware of so-called religions.
This is my message to the &oviet people. I love them. I would love to bring meditation into their life,
because meditation brings grace, peace, silence, blissfulness... a freedom which nobody can ta$e away
from you.
.I teach life in its
totality. In the past,
religions have been life
negative. They have
denied life, destroyed
life" they have been
antagonistic to life, their
/od was against life. To
me, life and /od are
synonymous" there is no
other /od than life itself
I worship life.

+nd if life is /od, then
love is #is temple.
These three ls are the
fundamentals of my
teaching: 5ife as /od,
5ove as the temple, 5ight as the e*perience. If you have learned these three ls, you have learned all..
I have been interested in communism from my very childhood. The &oviet crew has been to my
library, and they were ama:ed to see the communist literature there -- perhaps there is no boo$ that is
missing from my library. +nd they were ama:ed to see that I have signed and dated each boo$ before
XYHI. I was absolutely concerned to $now about communism, everything. )or three years, XYEU, XYEY,
and XYHI, I had collected all the literature possible. +nd I stopped at XYHI. I have not read anything
after XYHI about communism, for or against.
It is very strange... I go on forgetting small things. I cannot count up to five -- after the third finger I
start hesitating, whether it is fourth or third. 'ut in these forty years I have not forgotten a single name
of the communist revolutionaries. &mall details are so vivid before me, because that was my first entry
into the intellectual world. It got deeply rooted in me. 'ut I never became a member of a communist
party, because I could see something was missing.
It is a grand plan for humanity, but something central is missing: it has no soul, it is a corpse.
'ecause nothing new was happening, I stopped reading. +nd nothing new has happened since then,
e*cept /orbachev. &o I am tal$ing about /orbachev.
)irst I was deeply interested in communism, but finding that it is a corpse I became interested in
anarchism -- that was also a 4ussian phenomenon -- <rince 8ropot$in, 'a$unin, 5eo Tolstoy. +ll three
were anarchists: no state, no government in the world. 'ut I saw the point that they have a beautiful
dream but with this criminal humanity, with this stupid mass, if there is no government and no court
and no police there will be simply chaos, not anarchism.
I have been always very scientific in my approach, either outside or inside. ,ommunism can be the
base. Then spiritualism has to be its growth, to provide what is missing. 3nce a society is given e;ual
opportunity -- to be une;ual, to be uni;ue -- and once that society becomes interested in meditation
and spiritual growth, then there is a possibility of anarchism. That will be the very final stage, when
there is nobody who is interested in committing crime. 3nly then can the state be removed, not before
it. 'a$unin, 8ropot$in, and 5eo Tolstoy are perfectly right, but not relevant now. )irst communism
has to be aided by spirituality.
3nce spirituality gains ground in your very being, crime becomes impossible. To do anything wrong
becomes impossible. 3bviously, the state will wither away. When there is nobody committing any
crime, how long are you going to $eep your courts empty and judges sitting there( &oon you will feel
that it is better that these judges go into the fields and wor$. #ow long are you going to $eep
unnecessary policemen standing around( +rmies, millions of people unnecessarily being fed, clothed
-- and they are getting the best food, the best clothes, and they are not wor$ing at all. 2very country is
filled with millions of people in armies. They should be brought bac$ to the world, to wor$.
'ut this is possible only if communism steps into spiritualism" then spiritualism can flower into
anarchism. These are simple steps. 'ut if communism disappears, then it becomes very difficult to
transform the capitalist world towards spirituality. It is a difficult job. +nd anarchism becomes a very
faraway, remote possibility -- may be, may not be.
#ence my support for communism: because I would love the world one day to have no nations, no
religions, no boundaries, no policemen, no armies, no guns, no murderers. #ealthy people, spiritually
loving, growing deeper and growing higher simultaneously, getting roots and getting wings together,
simultaneously -- these will be the real superhuman beings, the new man I have been wor$ing for.
I see in the &oviet 6nion great possibilities, great potentialities. If /orbachev does not go wrong,
those opportunities can be transformed into a reality.
...
I $now perfectly well that neither capitalists are ready nor communists are ready. 'ut first
communists will be ready -- then the capitalists, because the capitalists are full of vested interest. The
&oviet 6nion and the people living there have nothing to lose. They are all e;ually poor, and seventy
years of revolution have created a complete vacuum in their being. That vacuum can be filled only by
meditative awareness.
+s I have told you again and again, nobody can live on negative ideas. The positive idea may be
wrong, may be fiction, may be just a hope, a consolation, but still it fills your being. It $eeps you
unaware of the hollowness. 'ut the negative idea does not fill your inner being. The positive means
your fridge may be full of rubbish, jun$, but still -- when you open it, it is full.
When somebody starts believing in no /od, in no heaven, in no hell -- drops all fictions, all the
consolations humanity has lived with for thousands of years -- then suddenly he feels a great vacuum,
a hollowness, a meaninglessness. #ence, I always give more priority to the atheist than the theist. The
atheist is in every way ready, he just has to be hit on the right point. #e has no /od, he has nothing to
cling to.
In the communist ideology he is left absolutely alone. Thats what is missing in communist ideology:
it cannot fill peoples hearts, it cannot nourish their beings" hence the communists are going to be first
to rise in consciousness. The capitalist has too much vested interest. #e has so many troubles and
problems, so much money, so many businesses. #e has no time even to loo$ inside and see that he is
hollow.
...
&ocialism is a renegade, it is a -udas. It is because of the communist danger to the capitalists that they
are proposing a new form, socialism. It sounds good, but the intention is very evil.
I am worried about /orbachev because he is not using the word Tcommunism anymore. #e is using
the word Tsocialism -- perhaps unconsciously, not being aware that socialism is a conspiracy of the
capitalist world to prevent an international revolution that will transform the whole world into a
communist world, with e;ual opportunity for everybody to attain to his potential.
+nd when the world is one, there is no need of any government -- thats why 8arl !ar* says the state
will wither away. 'ut it can wither away only when the whole world is communist.
...
That is the only alternative:
War or meditation.
War or spiritual revolution.
+nd the war has to be understood as the culmination of our whole human history. It is not coming
from the s$y -- it is coming from our past, accumulating more and more anger, more and more
violence, more and more weapons. The first world war was smaller, the second became bigger. The
third is going to be total.
'ecause it is a total war, every person has to understand his responsibility. In smaller wars it was
nothing to be worried about. If it was going on in =ietnam... who cares about =ietnam( !any people
have not even heard the 7+!2 =ietnam. If it is happening in +fghanistan, who cares( -- small pieces
of humanity are involved. 'ut this time it is the whole e*istence of life and all living beings with us:
trees, and roses, and lotuses....
+nd we are coming closer to the point where man can become a superman. 7ow we cannot afford a
war. We cannot afford a global suicide. We have to understand how to transcend the mind that the past
has created and programmed for wars and destruction and violence.
Thats my whole wor$: to erase the past from your mind and give you a present orientation to loo$ at
reality with clean eyes. +nd your future will be golden if your present is clean. 3ut of this clean
presence will arise a new future, which will not have any continuity with the past" it will be a ;uantum
leap.
If communists are turned towards a revolution for consciousness, capitalists will not be far behind --
just as they are not far behind as far as war is concerned, destruction is concerned. It is a competitive
world. If communists turn towards consciousness, that will be a great impetus for the capitalists to try
to be ahead of them. 7obody wants to be behind!
&o my whole strategy is, the communists should be turned towards a revolution of consciousness.
That will become a >en )ire and a >en Wind, going around the earth, and turning everybody towards a
new competition that they have never $nown before: who becomes the buddha first(

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T#2 /42+T 2R<24I!27T 3) %364 ,3!!672 #242(

!y commune here is a far greater e*periment than any communism. ,ommunism was only an
economic revolution, changing the economic structure of the society. It was very partial" thats why the
4ussians are feeling a little sad, something is missing.
+ partial revolution is bound to fail. It is as if only one part of your body is healthy and the rest of the
body is sic$. What are you going to do with one hand healthy and the whole body sic$(
4evolution has to be total on every plane -- economic, social, psychological, spiritual. 6nless it is a
total revolution man is going to feel himself crippled, as if your head goes on becoming bigger and
bigger and your body remains the same. &oon you will be in trouble.
...
<artial revolution is not revolution. 3nly the total revolution -- and total revolution has to arise from
your very center.
That is my wor$ here. I want every individual to clean the past from his mind completely. +ll his
prejudices, all his thoughts -- political, social, religious -- everything has to be dropped. -ust a clean
slate, and you have arrived to the space of no-mind.
7o-mind is meditation, and no-mind is the revelation, and no-mind is the greatest rebellion that has
ever happened.
In the past only very few people... a /autam 'uddha here and there, thousands of years pass and then
comes one person who blossoms into a buddha. 'ut now there is no more time. %ou cannot postpone
for tomorrow. Whatever you want to do has to be done now!
)or the first time the present is becoming more and more important. 2ach day you are coming closer
to choosing the alternative: either move towards becoming a buddha, or move towards becoming a
corpse.
I dont thin$ anybody wants to die, particularly when all life is at ris$.
This third world war cannot happen. We are going to prevent it!
3ur ways are very different... thats why I love your e*pression for me, a .spiritual terrorist.. I dont
have any weapons, I dont have any nuclear missiles, but I have something greater and something far
more effective. It is not to $ill, it is to bring life to those who are living almost as if they are dead. It is
bringing awareness to those who are behaving li$e somnambulists, wal$ing in their sleep, tal$ing in
their sleep, not $nowing e*actly what they are doing and why they are doing it.
I want people to be so awa$e that their whole consciousness goes to the deepest part of their being,
and also to the highest pea$. + vertical growth -- just li$e a tree grows. Its roots go down into the
earth, and its branches spread towards the stars. Its blossoms flower into the s$y, its nourishment
comes from the deepest part of the earth. It is always balanced: the higher the tree goes, the deeper the
roots. %ou cannot have a cedar of 5ebanon tree, four hundred or five hundred years old, rising so high
in the s$y, with small roots. It will fall down immediately.
5ife needs a balance between the depth and the height. I teach you both simultaneously. In your
entering to the center in meditation, you are growing your roots deeper into the cosmos. +nd bringing
the buddha out from the hidden center is bringing your fragrance, bringing your grace, bringing your
ecstasy higher, where it can blossom into the s$y.
%our ecstasy is a movement towards the height and your meditation is a movement towards the depth.
+nd once you have both, your life becomes a celebration.
That is my wor$, to transform your life from a sad affair into a celebration.
If we can fill the earth with laughter there is not going to be any war. If we can teach the soldiers to
tell jo$es to the enemy, there is not going to be any war. They will throw their guns and sit down and
share jo$es! +nd when somebody is telling a jo$e, can you $ill him( When he is bringing laughter to
you, can you destroy him(
2very man now is responsible to create a buddhafield around himself, an energy field that goes on
becoming bigger and bigger. ,reate as many vibrations of laughter, joy, celebration, as possible"
dance, sing, let the whole of humanity by and by catch the fire of >en and the wind of >en.
7obody is really interested to be sad. 7obody is interested to torture himself. It is your religions and
your politicians who go on ma$ing you sad and miserable, because in your misery is their whole
business. If you start laughing, if you start dancing, throwing the gun away" if you ta$e up a guitar....
-esus says to his disciples, .,arry your cross on your shoulders.. I say, dont listen to such nonsense.
,arry your guitar on your shoulders, and fresh and fragrant laughter on your lips. !a$e this whole
world a merry-go-round. %ou dont have that word. %ou have the word T&344%-go-round. I have to
create language for you!
-ust your laughter will be enough to prevent the war. %our celebration, your dance, will be enough to
prevent the war. %our ecstasy, your meditation, will create a tremendous force which will be far higher
because it is life-affirmative.
%our religions are life-negative. %our politicians are life-negative. %our religions prepare you for
beyond life, not to live here joyously. +nd your politicians create weapons to $ill you. <oliticians $ill
you and priests console you: .9ont be worried. +fter your death you will be entering paradise --
beautiful women and rivers of wine.. 7o prohibition, no marriage... have you ever heard that in
paradise there are marriages(
I am creating a paradise herenow. I dont wait for death -- why should one wait for death( +nd if there
is going to be a paradise after death, please prepare for it! 'e ready for it! 2njoy here, so that you can
enjoy there. 3nly those who are capable of enjoying here, and dancing here, and singing here, and
loving here, will be able to enjoy paradise...not your saints, only my people!
...
I want you to prepare, because paradise is going to be really great! )ar out! 'ut you have to be ready.
&o love, drin$, dance -- this is the preparation, the discipline for entering into paradise. I am an utter
hedonist, and only a hedonist has the right to enter into paradise.
<eople who are masochists, torturing themselves, need to go to hell because there they will not have
to torture themselves, the 9evil and his whole army will torture them. That will be their joy.
#ell is for saints, heaven is for sinners -- this is absolutely logical. This is my revolution! 3nce we
enter into heaven, we are going to throw all the saints into hell: .%ou enjoy torture -- get tortured! We
enjoy lu*ury, we enjoy every comfort. 5et us possess paradise" you have lived here long enough. -ust
get out!.
I am not going alone, you are all coming with me! 'ecause I am a la:y guy, I will be going still sitting
in my chair. If !ohammed can go riding on his horse, what is wrong with it( If -esus can go directly,
alive, and pulls his mother up after him, what is the problem(
<erhaps I may reach a little earlier than you, because my podium is a little higher -- but you wont be
too late. I will greet you there, .#i! &o you have arrived. 7ow do the wor$ -- throw all those saints
towards hell..
They deserve it. They have been disciplining themselves for it. We have been disciplining ourselves
for paradise. 3ur whole e*pertise, our whole speciali:ation is to possess the $ingdom of /od.
...
When I said that -oseph &talin $illed one million people to save communism, you did not give much
thought to it. Who were the one million people( <riests, bishops, cardinals, archbishops -- those were
the people, and they were not ready to give away the possessions of the church to the society. These
were the people, whether rich or poor it does not matter, who resisted revolution, who wanted their
things to be theirs.
Those things may not be much -- a house, a little piece of land, maybe a few trees, maybe a few cows
or horses. 'ut for centuries man has been programmed to possess, and to go on possessing more and
protect and defend whatever he already possesses.
&o these were the people who were obstacles to revolution. The revolution was for twenty million
people in the &oviet 6nion. +nd at that time the idea of revolution was not national, it was an idea of
international revolution.
%ou will be surprised to $now... I was very small when I became ac;uainted with a man, one of the
most intelligent men I have come across, who was with 5enin and Trots$y in the &oviet revolution.
#is name was !anvendra 7ath 4oy. #e was one of the members of the international commanding
body of the communists, the <olitburo. #e was the only Indian who ever rose to that status, and he
fought in the revolution side by side with 5enin.
+fter the revolution he thought, .7ow my wor$ is in India. I have to go and create revolution in
India.. 'ut here he found himself in utter difficulty, because the #indu mind is more possessive than
any other mind. It tal$s about non-possessiveness, it tal$s about celibacy, it tal$s about morality. 'ut
always remember, people who tal$ about these things are the people who are suppressing just the
opposite.
+ person who praises celibacy $nows perfectly well that he is not celibate. <eople who are greedy,
their religion will be teaching no greed. 3therwise why should religions teach no greed( )or five
thousand years, from !anu to %agnaval$ya to 'uddha to !ahavira to !ahatma /andhi -- all the
teachers of this country are tal$ing to people about .non-attachment.. Why( ,ertainly people are too
much attached" otherwise... their whole history is the teaching of non-attachment! <eople must be
greedy" hence the teaching, .no greed.. <eople must be violent" hence the teaching of non-violence.
+lways remember this as a fundamental. 5oo$ at the teachings of the scriptures and you will $now
what $ind of people they were -- just the opposite, otherwise there is no need. Why does 'uddha go on
telling people his whole life, forty-two years after his enlightenment, .9ont be attached to things. 'e
non-possessive.. +nd the same continues....
When !.7. 4oy came to India, he found himself in an absolutely different world. #e was thin$ing
that because everybody had been teaching non-possessiveness, communism would be the easiest thing
in India. This is where logic fails. #e had read -- he had lived his whole life in the West -- he had only
read about Indian scriptures, that they have been teaching non-possessiveness for centuries and
centuries. &o he thought people must be ready to give all their possessions to the collective" they will
not have much difficulty in dropping their private possessions.
'ut when he came to India he was utterly surprised. 7obody was ready" the very word Tcommunism
was anathema. +nd because he was a well-educated man, well dressed, used to smo$e cigarettes, the
Indian mind turned absolutely against him.
!ahatma /andhi crushed that man, who was far more intellectual, far more significant than !ahatma
/andhi himself. 'ut !ahatma /andhi crushed him because people would rather follow !ahatma
/andhi, half-na$ed -- it appeals to people. .This is a mahatma. +nd what $ind of mahatma is this who
is smo$ing cigarettes, who is well dressed in a poor country(.
7obody listened to !.7. 4oy. <erhaps I was the only person who became very deeply interested in
him. It was just by chance that I met him, in a train. I was going for my studies, traveling from my
village to the bigger city to join a university. +nd just on the platform we were both waiting for the
train... because in India no train ever arrives on time. 3nly once has it arrived on time in my
e*perience. )or twenty years I was traveling in trains continually -- only one time....
In +llahabad, the train arrived e*actly at si* ocloc$ in the morning. It was a miracle! I ran to than$
the driver, and I told him, .%ou have done it! I was waiting for a day when somebody would bring the
train at the right time..
#e loo$ed very ashamed. I said, .Why are you loo$ing ashamed(. #e said, .This is yesterdays train..
'y that time the conductor had come, and the stationmaster had come. I as$ed the stationmaster,
.This seems to be stupid. If every train is going to be late, why publish the timetable(.
#e said, .The timetable is absolutely needed" otherwise how will we $now how much the train is
late(. &o the timetable is published in India to $now how much the train is late.
I said, .That seems to be absolutely right..

The train was late and I was sitting on the bench, and !.7. 4oy came and sat by my side. I was
reading a boo$ by 5enin, his collected wor$s. #e was surprised, because I was so young -- may have
been seventeen years old. #e loo$ed at the big volume, and he as$ed me, .Where did you get this
collected wor$s of 5enin(.
I said, .I have the whole library of !ar*, 2ngels, 5enin, &talin, everybody..
#e said, .%ou are the first man... I have been here for seven years, continuously trying. +re you a
communist(.
I said, .4ight now I am nobody. 'ut who $nows( I may turn out a communist. I am loo$ing in every
direction without any prejudice. Whichever dimension fulfills me totally, I will be that. ,ommunism is
my study, I am not a communist. I have to study many more things before I can decide. I have to loo$
into anarchism, I have to loo$ into socialism, I have to loo$ into capitalism, I have to loo$ into
spiritualism. 'efore that I cannot say anything. I am just a see$er..
We became friends. #e tal$ed about his e*periences in the &oviet revolution, and he became a
constant visitor to my small house.
I was living outside the city in a very small house. 7obody else was ready to ta$e that house because
it was $nown as being haunted by ghosts. &o when I as$ed the owner, he said, .Without any rent you
can live there. +t least somebody living there may create the idea in people that it is not haunted. If a
small boy is living there alone.... &o he said, .It is good. If you need anything I will support you. I
want to sell it, but neither can I sell it nor is anybody ready to rent it. +nd I myself am afraid! !y wife
is not willing to move with me, otherwise we could sell this house and move there. That house is in a
very beautiful location..
It was absolutely alone. )or miles there were no other houses, and behind were the beautiful &atpura
!ountains. It was so peaceful there. #e said, .I purchased it just to live there, but nobody is willing.
&o you start living there..
I started living there, but I continued to create the fear in everybody that it was haunted by ghosts
because if somebody purchased it, I would be thrown out. The owner heard that I was continuing to
create the rumor. #e came to me: .This is strange. I gave it to you free of charge....
I said, .I will $eep it free of charge! 'ut remember, it is haunted with ghosts. 9ont come here --
whenever you want me, just phone me and I will come -- it is dangerous!.
#e said, .+nd it is not dangerous for you(.
I said, .I $now a few secrets about ghosts. They are afraid of me. 9o you $now anything(. #e said,
.7o, I dont.... I said, .%ou simply go bac$..
+nd I lived in that house for almost ten years without any rent. 3n the contrary, I would order him,
.&end me something. -- and he would bring it -- .otherwise I will leave the house..
!.7. 4oy used to come, and he loved the place. #e used to live in the #imalayas in 7ainital, but he
said, .2ven there it is too crowded, too many people have come. 4oads, airport, buses -- it is no more
the old 7ainital I used to $now in my childhood before I left India. 'ut your place....
I said, .This place will remain as it is, as long as I want to live in it. )or miles nobody can build a
house, because not only this house is haunted, the whole area is haunted!. I went on creating the
rumor and ma$ing the area bigger. 7obody was ready, even at the cheapest rate, to purchase the land.
When I tal$ed with !.7. 4oy, he said, .What do you thin$ is the cause of my unsuccessfulness( I
was such a successful member of the international high command of the communists. I fought in the
revolution, I was a close friend of 5enin and Trots$y, who were the architects of the revolution. +nd
here( I am nobody" nobody is ready to listen..
I said, .#ere, you will have to change. %ou will have to be a hypocrite. %ou will have to smo$e in
your bathroom, not in public -- in public, spea$ against smo$ing. %ou will have to wrap yourself in a
small cloth just covering you down to your $nees, just li$e !ahatma /andhi -- or even smaller will be
better. &have your head and become a mahatma, and I can manage everything for you. 'ut first
become a mahatma. I will call a barber here, and he will ma$e you a mahatma..
#e said, .!y /od -- first I have to become a mahatma(.
I said, .Without becoming a mahatma, in this country you dont have any appeal. This country is so
fuc$ed up that first you have to pretend all $inds of things. %ou dont drin$ tea -- if somebody sees you
drin$ing tea, finished! %ou are not a mahatma.
.In the cold, you have to remain half-na$ed. %ou will get accustomed, dont be worried. +ll the
animals are accustomed, and you are an intelligent animal so you will get accustomed. It is only a
;uestion of two or three years and then heat or cold, all are the same, because your s$in becomes
thic$er and thic$er. +nd your s$ull also becomes thic$er and thic$er! %ou will be a mahatma, and
everybody will be listening to you..
#e said, .I cannot do that..
I said, .Then forget all about leadership.. +nd he died an un$nown man. If he had lived in the &oviet
6nion he would have been a cabinet minister.
This country is so prejudiced.

%our ;uestion comes out of a prejudice. %ou dont understand the mechanism, the dynamics of life.
+dolf #itler, 'enito !ussolini, #irohito of -apan -- all three together $illed thirty million people, and
for no purpose at all, just a personal egoistic desire to become the whole and sole owner of the earth.
/enghis 8han, Tamerlane, and 7adirshah -- three generations of one family -- amongst the three they
$illed one hundred million people for no purpose. +nd you dont bother about these people.
#ow many people did 7apoleon $ill( #ow many people did +le*ander $ill( +nd how many people
has the ,atholic church $illed( -- you dont bother about it -- and for no reason!
&talin was not $illing for any personal reason, and he was not $illing those who were ready to
understand the revolution and participate in it. #e had to $ill to remove all obstacles from within,
because he was surrounded on all sides by enemies ready to enter the country and finish it. If he had
had to face both the enemies, inside and outside, there would have been no possibility for that
e*periment ever to succeed.
+nd the people he $illed... dont thin$ they were individuals. They were just robots, as the masses are.
7o individuality, no dignity, no understanding -- just greed and lust and the old mind, that .!y things
are mine. I will not give them to the collective.. +nd he is miserable because what he has is not
enough for his own nourishment or his family, but he is not ready to create a collective land where
tractors and other modern mechanisms can be used to sow the seeds. When the land is miles long,
airplanes can be used to sow seeds. Tractors can be used to prepare the land. 3n a small piece of land
this is not possible.
Whatever communism was saying to them was absolutely correct, but just their prejudices....
+nd when I said that it does not matter, everybody has to die anyway, I meant it. 6nless you are a
buddha, it does not matter. 3nly the death of a buddha matters.
What are you going to contribute( What are you going to do tomorrow, e*cept repeat today( %ou can
live for thirty years repeating the same circle, morning to evening, evening to morning, what is the
point( Where are you going( 4ound and round, reaching nowhere.
To these people the e*periment of communism was not at all important. Their own prejudice was
important, that .3ur things cannot be ta$en away by anybody.. +nd those things were their misery!
2ven a beggar was not ready to give his things, and what did he have(
The whole idea was that all the land, the whole property and everything in it, should belong to the
collective. &oviet means a commune. The village turns into a soviet, it becomes a commune. )amilies
disappear" only individual members contribute whatsoever they can and the commune will fulfill their
needs -- not according to their worth, but according to their need.
&omebody may not be such a hard wor$er and somebody else may be a hard wor$er, but in a
commune it is a bigger family. %ou have to understand that somebody is wea$er, somebody is sic$,
somebody is old, but their needs have to be fulfilled.
7ow /orbachev is saying, .2ach according to his wor$.. What about the old people( They will not be
able to wor$ the same way as the young people. What about the children( They will not be able to
wor$ the same as the young people. What about the women( They cannot be put into any muscular
wor$.
The communist idea was far higher and superior: .2ach according to his needs.. +n old man has his
own needs. #e may not be able to wor$, but he has wor$ed enough his whole life. + child has not
wor$ed yet, but one day he will wor$. +nd he has needs right now.
7ow /orbachev is saying, .2ach according to his wor$,. and that is the motto of capitalism. #e is
deceiving and betraying the whole communist approach.
-ust thin$ -- !ajid is here -- if revolution comes to Italy, are you going to allow the pope to continue
the =atican( +re you going to allow the =atican 'an$ to change blac$ money, heroin money, into
white money and earn billions of dollars per year( +re you going to allow all the priests and bishops
and archbishops and all the churches to continue as they are( They will all resist, because it is their
vested interest. Then what are you going to do( -ust sit before the churches and cry li$e small babies(
%ou will have to finish these people or throw them out in the ocean -- and you have such a beautiful
ocean.
4evolution does not care for these parasites. It is against these parasites, and these parasites will
create every $ind of difficulty for you, from inside and from outside. 7ow the ,atholics number si*
hundred million around the world. If you do anything against the pope he will fight, and the si*
hundred million ,atholics around the world will create great pressure on you from every government:
.9ont touch the =atican" otherwise we will disconnect our relationship with you..
Thats what had happened in 4ussia. +ll other countries dropped their connections with 4ussia. +ll
the countries called their ambassadors bac$, there was no communication with 4ussia -- boycott,
absolute boycott.
%ou have only heard one side of the story, which +merica goes on propagating, that &talin created an
.iron curtain.. It was not &talin who created the iron curtain, it was all the countries who withdrew
from the &oviet 6nion, boycotting it completely. Then it was absolutely necessary that the &oviet
6nion should create a situation where nobody could enter. +ll $inds of agents to provo$e people... and
people were ready to be provo$ed because they were very sad that their personal things had been
ta$en. <eople become so attached to their personal things -- small things. They were ready to be
provo$ed, and the whole country was full of spies from every capitalist country trying to provo$e
people to destroy the collectives, to burn the collectives.
+ll the different ,hristian sects agreed on the point that communism is against religion -- and all the
!ohammedans, all the 'uddhists... because the &oviet 6nion has three religions. 3ne part, !ongolia,
is 'uddhist" another part near +fghanistan is !ohammedan. The third part is orthodo* ,hristian. 7ow
these three religions were agreed: .,ommunism is against religion, so we have to give a fight.. +nd
all the people had belonged to some religion. 2verybody had belonged to some religion -- either to the
'uddhists, to the !ohammedans, or to ,hristianity. #ow to deal with the situation(
I dont see that e*cept &talin there was anybody else in the ,ommunist <arty at that time to deal with
the situation. +nd the poor fellow has been condemned because he saved communism" otherwise these
people would have destroyed it.
It was a chaos. 3nce the c:ar was $illed there was no system, there was no order in the country.
Trains were running -- nobody $new where they would end up, where they were going, because
people had ta$en out railway lines, had destroyed the bridges. Trains were moving -- burning. These
were the people for whom the revolution had been made, who were burning the trains, who were
burning the palaces of the governors, who were burning the palaces of the c:ar. +nd the ,ommunist
<arty was trying to tell them, .7ow all these belong to you. 9ont destroy them! The c:ar is finished, it
is your property.. 'ut nobody was listening, and people were carrying things to their homes.
I have heard that after the ,:ars family was ta$en out of his palace -- it used to be one of the biggest
palaces in the world, the richest" it was one of the oldest royalties -- people were ta$ing everything
from the palace to their homes. 2ven the carpet... it was so huge that nobody could ta$e it alone, so
people were cutting the carpet with scissors, just enough for their home -- ta$e-away! 7ow what can
you do with these people(
There was no time to convince them. There was no time to ma$e them understand that, .2verything
belongs to you and you are destroying it.. 2*cept &talin... neither 5enin was able to do it nor Trots$y
was able to do it. This man had certainly a heart of steel: at any cost, revolution had to survive.
+nd as I have told you again and again, the masses are the greatest enemy of themselves" they dont
$now what they are doing. &o the bullet was the only answer, and he $illed for an absolutely right end.
There are times when you have to use means which are apparently wrong -- violence, murder. 'ut
what can you do with this humanity( If you are in power you will suddenly reali:e that the only way is
to put people bac$ to their senses. When one person is $illed, a hundred persons absolutely understand
that .this is a difficult problem, $eep ;uiet.. Those one million people $illed made twenty million
people silent, settled.
'ut you have your prejudices. %ou are shoc$ed -- but that is my business. When I was critici:ing
,hristianity you were not shoc$ed, you were happy. 7ow let the ,hristians be happy, because
everybody has his own time.
...
I am against every $ind of prejudice. This is just a prejudice. If you understand the practicality of it
you will not be against it. Theoretically you can go on and on thin$ing about it: .3ne million
individuals.... )orget that word -- there is rarely an individual. 3ne million phonies, who were
obstructing a revolution which was going to be one of the greatest e*periments in human history.
It was worth it. +nd when I said anyway you have to die, I could immediately feel that you became
very shoc$ed. 'ut still I repeat: +nyway you have to die. 9ont die against revolution. If you have to
die, die for revolution. 9ont die for the status ;uo" if you have to die, die for rebellion.
2veryone has to die, and as far as I am concerned, whether &talin $ills them or +dolf #itler or
!ussolini or #irohito, it doesnt matter" he only $ills the body. The soul immediately gets into another
womans womb. 7othing is $illed, only houses are changed. 9o you thin$ those one million people are
finished( !any of them may be here! If not now, soon.
To me, these people seem to be absolutely absurd, who are against violence and still tal$ about eternal
life. They dont see their contradiction. If life is eternal, then death does not matter: life will continue
in new forms somewhere else. If not in the &oviet 6nion, then in ,hina, and if you are $illing ,hina
then India is always available. )rom where do you thin$ all these Indians go on growing(
#itler $ills, &talin $ills, #irohito $ills -- whoever $ills, Indias population goes on growing. India
gives ready-made wombs to everybody. <eople may be dying of starvation but they brag that they
have twenty children. &o what is great about it( 5oo$ at a bull -- a bull has thousands of children, so
do you thin$ the bull is greater than you(
+nd poor people are bound to produce more children because they have no other entertainment.
...
&o everywhere you $ill, India is ready to receive! )rom four hundred million people, just forty years
ago, today there are more than nine hundred million people. It seems every year, ten million people are
added. 'y the end of this century the population will have gone beyond one billion people.
...
%ou can create only one child in a year, at the most, with great difficulty. !ohammedans can create
four children. Thats why in India, just forty years ago, !ohammedans too$ away 'angladesh and
<a$istan, but within forty years again they are so many that the biggest !ohammedan country in the
world is India -- not &audi +rabia, not <a$istan, not 'angladesh or any of the other !iddle 2ast
countries. The biggest !ohammedan country is India -- second to the #indus are the !ohammedans,
and soon they will be the first because they have four women and you have only one. +nd it continues
in the name of not interfering in anybodys religion -- the government allows !ohammedans to have
four wives and #indus only one.
This $ind of stupidity can be prevented only if you are really hard.
I would li$e the population e*plosion in India to be stopped, on a war scale. The whole army should
be sent to every village and if people are not ready voluntarily, then compulsorily they have to be
sterili:ed. %ou will say, .It is not democratic.. 'ut is it democratic that five hundred million people
will die by the end of this century( <roblems are very connected. Whenever you loo$ at a problem,
loo$ from all sides and you will be able to understand what I am saying.
+nd drop your preconceived ideology.
!y effort here is to bring you to a space of no-mind. +nd from no-mind, function -- then you function
directly, loo$ing at the situation. Whatever is right immediately arises in you, and you do it. 7either is
it a ;uestion of morality nor is it a ;uestion of religion" it is a ;uestion of immediate response to a
situation. +nd immediate response comes only through meditation.
I shoc$ your mind on purpose, and I go on finding ways. I will not leave anyone! <eople are
wondering -- -ews are wondering, .!aybe our turn is coming.. Wait, it will come!
I am going to spea$ against all ideologies of the past, all moralities of the past. I am against the whole
past of humanity -- in toto -- I dont ma$e any e*ception. I want a totally new man to arise on the earth
-- the superman.
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-ust disgusting. These people, who have been thought to be messengers of /od, who have been
teaching compassion, love, have never considered at all that a woman is also human. They are born
out of a woman. &till, they have all shown nauseating disrespect towards womanhood. The reason is
very clear. The reason is: they are afraid of women.
+nd it is a psychological truth that you are afraid and at the same time fascinated. )ear and
fascination e*ist together. In fact, the fear is the byproduct of fascination. They are fascinated, which
is natural. There is nothing wrong in it, it is absolutely human. 'ut if they want to be a messiah or a
tirthan$ara or a paigambara or an avatara then they have to fulfill the conditions which the tradition
prescribes for them to fulfill. +nd all the traditions are made up by man. 6p to now we have lived in a
manmade society in which the woman has not been ta$en into consideration at all.
,onfucius -- and the whole of ,hina is influenced by ,onfucius thin$ing -- believes that there is no
soul in a woman, she is only body. 8illing a woman is not a murder. &o for thousands of years in
,hina, if somebody $illed his own wife it was not a crime. It was just as if you want to destroy your
chair, your furniture, or anything that belongs to you" you possess it, it is yours -- e*actly as the
woman is yours. %ou are the possessor" you can $ill her. There was no law in ,hina to prevent a
husband from $illing his wife. +nd there was no punishment either, because the woman was a thing,
not a being. +nd ,onfucius is thought to be one of the wisest men in the world. 7ow, what $ind of
wisdom is this( #e is the founder of ,onfucianism, but all that ,onfucius has done is to confuse the
human mind and nothing else.
2very religion is afraid of women, because every religion is afraid of se*. 2very religion is repressive
of se*, against se*. 7aturally, it is a byproduct that every religion has to be against the woman, the
woman has to be condemned. If you condemn se* you are bound to condemn the woman. If you
respect the woman -- it is a corollary -- you will respect se* also, as a natural thing.
+nd why were these people against se*( They are different in their attitudes about everything e*cept
se*. +bout se* all religions agree" that seems to be the only agreement amongst religions. &o it seems
to be tremendously important that we should go deep into the whole phenomenon: why they are afraid
of it. They are afraid of se* because it is the greatest energy in man, the most powerful pull of nature
and biology. There is no way to destroy it. 2ither you can condemn and repress it, or you can
understand and transform it. 'ut the second is a long and arduous path and needs tremendous
intelligence, awareness -- because se* is an unconscious force in you. 2ach cell in your body is made
of it, is vibrant with it. %our conscious mind is nothing compared to your unconscious se*ual energy"
hence the fear that the unconscious can ta$e possession of you any moment.
'ut to repress seems to be easier. 4epression needs no intelligence in the first place" any idiot can do
it. In fact, only idiots do it. I have been surprised, seeing hundreds of mon$s in India belonging to
different religions -- they are all repressing their se*uality. !y surprise was that the more they repress
their se*uality, the more stupid they become, e*actly in the same proportion. 4epressing nature is such
an idiotic effort that it is bound to destroy your intelligence.
The -aina mon$ is the most repressive of all in the whole world. There are only twenty-two -aina
mon$s left in India who live li$e !ahavira: na$ed, following e*actly the ancient path. I have met all
the twenty-two, because I was roaming all over India, so it was not difficult to meet these people or
anybody I wanted to meet" sooner or later, somewhere or other it was bound to happen. &trange... all
twenty-two are in the same way, stupid -- no sign of intelligence. %ou cannot see a single ray of light
in their eyes. They are dull, dead. It has to be so, because they have been repressing life energy, life
force.
When you repress life energy you will become dull. +nd the methods you are going to use to repress
life energy are bound to ma$e you more and more stupid. )or e*ample, they cannot eat even twice a
day. They have thousands of rules -- so they can eat only a few things, which cannot provide them
with all the vitamins, proteins, which are needed for intelligence to function. They are starving. +nd
intellect is a lu*ury. When all the needs of your body are fulfilled, only then intellect gets energy,
because it is at the highest level of your being. If on the lower levels your energy is starving, then it
cannot rise to reach to the higher levels.
+ -aina mon$s food is absolutely devoid of proteins. #es not a meat eater, and I am not suggesting
that he should eat meat. 'ut I have suggested to them, .%ou can use soya bean, which is as good as
meat, or even better.. 'ut those fools will not use the soya bean because it is not written in their
scriptures -- at that time the soya bean was not discovered. I have argued with them that it is not
nonvegetarian, it is vegetarian. They say, .It is vegetarian, but it is not written in the scriptures. +nd
!ahavira, who is omniscient, must have $nown better than anybody else what has to be eaten..
7ow !ahavira is not a chemist, is not a physician, is not a physiologist" he $nows nothing about the
inner wor$ing of the body. #e $nows nothing about vitamins or protein, or anything that is absolutely
necessary as a nourishment for intelligence. They cannot ta$e mil$ because it is animal food. They
cannot ta$e anything made of mil$ -- it is animal food. +nd their logic is, .%ou are depriving the
animals $ids -- that is violent.. 7aturally, they become dull, they lose gusto for life. In fact they want
to lose it" they are afraid of it. If it is there, then who $nows, in some wea$er moment it may ta$e
possession of you. #ence, the fear of the woman.
7o -aina mon$ is allowed to touch a woman. What to say of touching a woman, the -aina mon$ is not
allowed to sit in the place where a woman has been sitting before, because she leaves her vibes there!
What to say to these fools( 7ine months they have been in their mothers womb, continually
showering in the womans vibe. Then for years they have been nurtured and nourished by the mothers
mil$. Their whole body is made up by the woman.
The father is almost an inactive partner in the business" I say almost -- any injection can do his wor$.
#e can be easily removed from the whole process of reproduction and he will be removed, sooner or
later, because we can find better methods, better seeds. 4ight now it is all accidental. 7ow science has
come to a certain maturity. +bout animals we are not so accidental now" their breed has evolved. 'ut
about man we are not scientific" the breed is not evolving, because everybody and anybody is allowed
to reproduce children. This is not going to be for long. This should not be continued for long. !ans
business is finished. #e only triggers the process, then the whole burden falls on the woman.
These fools are saying that you cannot sit in the same place where a woman has been sitting before.
-aina mon$s carry their own small rug with them, because who $nows, by mista$e you may sit in a
place where a woman was sitting before. &o they carry two things: a small brush with which they
clean the place -- as if with a brush you can remove the vibrations -- then they spread their small
mattress that they are carrying with them, always carrying -- you cannot touch it, you are not allowed
to touch it -- and then they will sit on it.
I have as$ed these mon$s, .If you are really a little bit alert, then please, I will show you two places.
In one place a man has been sitting and in the other place a woman has been sitting. %ou decide by
feeling the vibration which one is the mans and which one is the womans...(. 2ven science has not
been able to discover any such detector yet.
+nd of course they decline: .We are not going to do any such thing..
'ut I said, .The reality is you cannot do it. %ou have just learned gibberish. =ibrations -- what do you
$now about vibrations( +nd what can those vibrations do to you(.
7ow, the fear is the fascination. The woman fascinates, it comes into their dreams" they have been
able to throw her out from their wa$ing hours, but in their nights.... !ahatma /andhi was very much
impressed by -aina mon$s. #e was a strange fellow -- born a #indu, but not much of a #indu: ninety
percent ,hristian, nine percent -aina, one percent #indu. !any times in his life he was on the verge of
converting to ,hristianity" one time he was ready to convert to -ainism. #e accepted three persons as
his masters: one is a -aina, &hrimad 4ajchandra" the second is 5eo Tolstoy, who was a fanatic
,hristian" and the third is #enry Thoreau, who was also a fanatic ,hristian.
I have been tal$ing to these -aina mon$s and telling them the story of !ahatma /andhi, what
happened to him. In his ashram no love affair was allowed" even husbands and wives, if they wanted
to become inmates of the ashram, had to ta$e the vow of brahmacharya, celibacy. That was a basic
rule. &o there were husbands and wives but they were both celibate. It was not being followed" they
were caught again and again. +nd /andhi was a masochist, just as I have told you that !ahavira had
masochism in him -- enjoying torturing oneself.
There is a certain mind disease which gives you pleasure out of pain. &o what !ahatma /andhi used
to do, whenever a couple was found that had bro$en celibacy.... +nd it was such a sensitive affair that
there was no need for an actual se* relationship to happen. -ust holding hands -- if somebody had seen
them, that was enough" or hugging each other -- ones own wife. What !ahatma /andhi would do is,
he would go on a fast, he would torture himself. #e would not punish those people, but it was really a
greater punishment than any you could have invented because the whole ashram would condemn the
couple. The couple would be tortured by their own conscience: .It is because of us he is fasting.. They
would weep and cry and persuade him, .)orgive us, we will never do it again" but brea$ your fast..
#e would say, .I am not punishing you" I am punishing myself. This is a symbol to me that I am not
pure enough" thats why around me such impure things happen. I am simply purifying myself.. 7ow
this too is a very subtle way of the ego: you have done something and I decide to be responsible for it.
3n the surface it loo$s, .#ow saintly!. -- but deep down nothing can be more egoistic. Who am I(
#ow does my purity or impurity come into your life( 'ut he was just thin$ing in terms of the old
scriptures -- that if you are a real saint then around you nothing impure can happen. 'ut what is
impure( + man loving a woman -- what is impure in it( #is own woman, not against her will -- what
is impure in it( +nd if it is impure, then everybody is born of impurity. %our very birth is in impurity.
I have as$ed these -aina mon$s, .What happened to !ahatma /andhi in the last years of his life(. ...
'ecause his whole life he was repressing, repressing, repressing, and the moment came when it
became too much, beyond his capacity to control it anymore. Then people find rationali:ations. Then
he started to sleep with a na$ed woman -- but he had a cunning mind, he rationali:ed it. #e said he
was just testing whether anywhere in his unconscious the woman still had some attraction. 9oes he
still feel fascinated by a na$ed young girl( +nd he was beyond seventy and the girl he was sleeping
with was only twenty.
This was not told to the public at large, because his disciples were afraid that he would lose his
mahatmahood. <eople will start thin$ing, .What is this(. It was suppressed, $ept from reaching the
public" only a few disciples, close disciples who could $eep their mouths shut, $new about it. 'ut in
the eyes of those close disciples /andhi had already fallen, he was no more the same mahatma he used
to be.
I have been telling these -aina mon$s, .Try to understand /andhi, what happened to him. +nd this
will happen to you. 'ut you can remain so starved that there is no energy left in you.. That was
!ahatma /andhis mista$e" otherwise this would not have happened. It was because he was eating
well, nourishing food, mil$, everything that was needed for the body. #e was very concerned about
the body, very careful about the body. That was the reason that it happened. 2nergy was there, and he
was not a dull man. #e was tremendously intelligent. 'ut as the energy rises to intelligence, it also
goes deeper, to your very foundation of se*uality. It goes to the roots. If the energy goes to the flowers,
it has to go to the roots. There is no other way to reach the flowers" it has to go through the roots. 'ut I
have found these people so dull. I would be tal$ing to them and I could see they have not heard
anything" their eyes loo$ almost dead, their bodies have shrun$en. They loo$ ugly.
They have been against se*, thats why they have to be against the woman. -ainas believe that nobody
can be liberated from a womans body. 3nly man can be liberated, can attain to the ultimate -- their
word is !38&#+... but only from a mans body, not from a womans body. What is wrong with a
womans body( There is no difference at all. The only difference is physiological, and that too is not
much of a difference -- not a difference that can ma$e a difference.
!ans se*ual organs are hanging out and womans se*ual organs are hanging in, thats the only
difference. -ust turn your poc$et and let it hang out" the poc$et becomes male. <ut it bac$ to its
original position, it becomes female. This you call a difference( The same poc$et( It is because there
is not much difference that now science has discovered a man can become a woman just by simple
plastic surgery" a woman can become a man just by plastic surgery. If there was some fundamental
difference then it would not be possible. 'y plastic surgery you are just turning the poc$et out or in,
and nothing much is there.
-ainas say a woman is condemned by her having a female body. )irst she has to become a man. &o
there are -aina nuns -- they are not striving for liberation, they are striving to be born in the ne*t life as
a man, then they will wor$ for liberation. There is one step more for them than for a man. .5adies
first. does not apply.
3ne woman in the history of the -ainas must have been a woman of tremendous courage, intelligence,
and a rebel" she rebelled against this idea. #er name was !allibhai. &he simply rebelled against this
whole idea" she said, .This is just created by man.. +nd she must have been a charismatic woman,
certainly, to become a -aina mon$. &he was not going to become a nun, because a nun has the goal to
become a mon$ in the ne*t life. &he became a -aina mon$. + -aina nun is allowed to have clothes, she
is not to be in the nude" that stage will come in the ne*t life, if she succeeds.
'ut this woman !allibhai is a rare rebel. I have loo$ed all around the world -- I dont find another
woman of the same rebelliousness. &he became a mon$. &he dropped her clothes and she declared to
the -ainas, .I am a mon$ and I am striving for liberation, and I dont care a bit what your scriptures
say.. &he was certainly charismatic, and she fulfilled all the re;uirements that are prescribed for a
tirthan$ara, and the -ainas had to accept her as a tirthan$ara.
'ut they played a tric$. When she died they changed her name: !allibhai -- bhai designates a woman"
they made the name !allinath -- nath designates man. &o if you read the history you will not find in
twenty-four tirthan$aras that there has been a woman, because for her name they dont say !allibhai,
they say !allinath. +nd they have deceived the whole world, and they have continued on the old trip.
3ne woman has proved it, and one womans proof is enough for all women. 'ut the cunning
priesthood changed the name when she died. They not only changed her name, they changed the
statue. It is a mans statue in the temples" in -aina temples there are twenty-four tirthan$aras statues --
all men!
I used to go to -aina temples and as$, .Who is !allibhai(.
+nd the priest would become sha$y and he would say, .2r... !allibhai( +re you a -aina(.
I said, .7o, I am not a -aina. 'ut I am not a male chauvinist. Who is !allibhai out of these twenty-
four(. +nd he would show me.
'ut I would say, .This is a mans statue. The se*ual organs are hanging out and I am absolutely
certain there was no plastic surgery at that time..
&oon they became aware, so whenever I would go to a -aina temple they would say, .The temple is
closed. %ou are not allowed in the temple..
In Indore, in India, there is one of the most beautiful -aina temples, perhaps the most beautiful in
India. It is made all of glass -- the whole temple. When you enter it you see yourself reflected in a
million mirrors around you, because the whole temple is just small pieces of mirror. I love the place
for its beautiful land, its ;uiet -- but they would not allow me to enter. 3nce I had been in, then the
door was closed on me.
I approached the man who had made the temple and said, .This is strange. %ou allow even spectators
who are not -ainas, you allow visitors" ,hristians can come, anybody can come in the visiting hours.
-- because the temple was such a uni;ue piece of art, up to twelve in the morning only -ainas could
enter it to worship, but after twelve visitors were allowed -- .I am not even allowed in with the
visitors. The moment the priest -- and he is always standing at the door -- the moment he sees me, he
says, %ou are not allowed.. I as$ed the man who had made it... and it was a very precious gift that he
had given to the country.
#e told me, .I $now, and I myself wanted to meet you. The priest has informed me.. +nd it happened
because for si* months I had to stay in Indore, because my father was very sic$ and he would not let
me go. &o I had to stay and the hospital was just five minutes wal$ from the temple, so whenever I had
time I would $noc$ on the door and the priest would hit his head with his hand and he would say, .I
have told you again and again that for you, this temple is closed forever..
The man who had made it said, .I wanted to meet you. I can tell the priest you should be allowed in,
but please dont as$ ;uestions which we cannot answer. %our ;uestion is valid" I $now you are right.
+ctually !allinath was a woman. 'ut why disturb things( )or twenty-five centuries we have
maintained that he was a man, and now nobody as$s about it. +ll history boo$s have accepted it. %ou
are a strange fellow. )rom where have you got this idea( We have made it absolutely clear in all the
history boo$s, in every possible way. In every temple the statue is of a man..
I said, .9ont be bothered from where I got the idea. The ;uestion is.... 3n the temple door you have
written, Truth is the highest religion. Inside, where the shrine is for twenty-four tirthan$aras, you
have written satyameva jayate: Truth is always victorious. I am not concerned. Who cares( What
business is it of mine to be bothered whether this was a man or a woman, whether this person e*isted
or not, even( I am not interested in that. 'ut you should erase these words: satyameva jayate. +nd just
underneath you have the statue of !allibhai as !allinath -- and truth is the highest religion! 2rase
these two sentences, and I will never come to this temple again" if you dont erase them, I am going to
continue this every day. %ou go on refusing, I will go on continuing..
+nd by and by many people became aware, because at odd hours I would go there -- sometimes in the
morning when -ainas were worshipping -- and he would be closing the door and saying, .%ou cannot
come in,. and sometimes when spectators were going in he would close the door. +nd for si* months I
had no other business" my father was sic$, and the temple was just five minutes away. I could go two,
three times, four times, as many times as I li$ed. 2ven in the night sometimes I would $noc$ and the
priest would wa$e up and he would say, .What! 2ven in the night...(.
I said, .6nless you erase those two sentences I am not going to leave..
)inally they had to erase those two sentences. I said, .I am finished with your temple. 7ow you can
do whatsoever you want. %ou have accepted that even in the name of truth there is untruth" even in the
temple of truth, you have been lying for twenty-five centuries. 3ne rebellious woman -- and you have
destroyed her completely. +nd you have been repeating the same again, that the woman cannot
achieve salvation" and the woman has proved that she has become a tirthan$ara.. -ainas had to accept
!allibhai. &he must have been a tremendously strong woman to say that she is going directly to
mo$sha, she is not going to be born in a mans body. ... 'ecause bodies are left behind -- a mans or a
womans, they will be burned on the funeral pyre and the soul is not feminine or masculine. +nd it is
the soul, the innermost consciousness, which is being transformed. .The woman had proved it
absolutely and you had accepted her" and still, when she died, you started lying again..
It is a male chauvinist world. +ll #indu avataras are men" not a single woman is accepted. 7ot that
there have not been women of much more strength, of much more power than these so-called avataras,
but they have not been accepted just because they are women, and it is a mans world.
+ !ohammedan can marry four women, he is allowed to by the 8oran. + woman is not allowed to
marry four men. 7ow this is unjust. + woman cannot enter into the !ohammedan mos;ue, she has to
pray from the outside. &he is filthy, just because she is a woman" she is not even allowed to pray inside
the mos;ue. In a synagogue there is a separate place for the woman, partitioned" she cannot sit with
the man. !ostly at the bac$ she has a place, or on the balcony she has a place.
I am reminded of a story -- I dont $now whether it is right or wrong. When /olda !eir was prime
minister of Israel, Indira /andhi, who was prime minister of India, went on a visit to Israel. &he
wanted to see a synagogue and how the -ews worship and what they do. &o /olda !eir too$ Indira
/andhi and they sat on the balcony. Indira /andhi as$ed /olda !eir, .Is it a rule of the synagogue
that only prime ministers can sit on the balcony(. -- because /olda !eir and Indira /andhi both were
women. /olda !eir did not want to say that in the -ewish tradition the woman is $ept separate. 'ut
Indira /andhi thought, .It is because we are both prime ministers, so a special place is being given to
us.. %es, it was a special place, but not for prime ministers -- it was for two women. 2ven though they
are prime ministers, it doesnt matter" a woman is a woman.
...
In my commune there are more women than men" they wor$ as hard as men, perhaps more lovingly
than men. They have the capacity of love, more than man has. They have not destroyed, they have
created the commune.
...
+s far as Im concerned, I trust everybody, even those who have betrayed me. I still trust them,
because my trust is unconditional. It does not depend on you, it depends on me. If you choose to
betray, that is your business, but you cannot destroy my trust in you. 9o you see the point( 'ecause I
trust unconditionally, you cannot destroy it" but if there are conditions, then certainly you can destroy
it -- you dont fulfill the conditions and you have destroyed the trust. 'ut trust with conditions is a
bargain, it is not trust.
Trust can only be unconditional, and its source is within me. It does not depend on you or your
behavior or action.
2ven if you $illed me, my trust in you would remain the same. %ou betrayed, really, yourself" you
fell, really, in your own eyes. 'ut for me you remain the same person.
&hiva had been my bodyguard for years. Then he dropped sannyas. Then he started spea$ing --
against me. #e wrote articles in /erman maga:ines -- &T247 and other maga:ines -- against me. 'ut
if he comes bac$ and wants to be my bodyguard he will be again by my side. +nd I $now perfectly
well what he has done. That does not matter at all, it is his doing" he should be worried and concerned
about it. +s far as I am concerned, I have remained e*actly the same. #e can come again and be my
bodyguard. 7obody else will accept him as a bodyguard, because that is the easiest place from which
to $ill a man.
-ust now Indira /andhi has been assassinated by her own bodyguards. Three bodyguards shot her --
eight bullets, creating si*teen wounds, because all the bullets passed through her chest, belly, from the
bac$ to the other side. +nd if the bodyguards want to $ill, that is the easiest and the safest place from
which to $ill a person.
'ut if &hiva comes bac$ and wants to be my bodyguard, I will be immensely happy to have him. It
does not matter. #e has to ta$e responsibility for whatsoever he is doing, whatsoever he has done" he
has to ta$e the whole responsibility for it. 'ut it is none of my business to interfere in his doings. If he
feels it right to write against me, perfectly good" if he feels happy to write against me, perfectly good.
'ut for ten years he was sitting by my side. #e must have a tremendously idiotic mind -- in ten years
he could not see anything wrong. It too$ ten years for him, and now, after dropping sannyas, he
becomes suddenly articulate. &o what was he doing for ten years -- sleeping(
7o, it is not against me that he is writing those articles. It is just to console himself that what he has
done by dropping sannyas is right, because the man was wrong. #e has to prove it to himself that .the
man was wrong, thats why I have dropped sannyas.. 3therwise it will continuously be a wound -- that
I loved him so much, trusted him so much, so unconditionally, and this is what he has done to me. I
can understand his difficult situation. &o writing against me, he is simply trying to cover up the wound
that he has inflicted upon himself.
...
%ou will be surprised -- there are ,atholic monasteries where women have not entered for one
thousand years. What to say about a woman, a si*-month-old baby girl is not allowed to enter with her
father or brother into the monastery. + si*-month-old baby! Inside the monastery what do you thin$ --
mon$s are living or monsters are living, who are afraid of a si*-month-old girl( What $ind of people
are living inside( &o se*ually perverted.... +ll se*ual perversion has come through your religions.
7inety percent of mental diseases have come through your religions, because of se*ual perversion.
%ou as$ me what my attitude is about these messiahs, apostles, tirthan$aras, avataras, paigambaras.
What to say to you( I say: simply disgusting, nauseating. They have done so much harm to humanity
that when humanity becomes aware, they are going to destroy all these synagogues and temples and
mos;ues and gurudwaras and churches. These people are your real enemies, but hidden behind a
facade, a mas$.
The ,hristian trinity could not allow a woman in it. What was so difficult( They could have done,
instead of the holy ghost -- what is the need of the holy ghost( I cant thin$ what $ind of phenomenon
this holy ghost is, and what is his purpose, and what is the need. + woman would have been far better"
father, mother, son -- it would have loo$ed more logical. This holy ghost, is he man or woman( 'ut
no, even though millions of ,hristians worship !ary, she is not accepted in the ultimate hierarchy. +
woman is, after all, a woman.
-esus had not a single woman among his twelve apostles. +nd you will be shoc$ed to $now that when
he was crucified, all those apostles escaped. 3nly three women did not escape: one was his mother
!ary" another was !ary !agdalene, a prostitute, but she had fallen in tremendous love with this man
-esus" and the third was also named !ary, sister of !artha. These three women proved far more
courageous, not afraid" thousands of enemies all around, everyone against -esus" they were shouting,
rejoicing in his crucifi*ion.... +ll the apostles had escaped, afraid that if they were caught perhaps they
would be crucified too. They may have said sometime to the master, .We will live with you and we
will die with you.. &aying is one thing, doing is totally another.
3nly these three women were ready to dare, to be crucified -- if that is what is going to happen, then
it is o$ay. It is worth dying with the master rather than to live without him. 'ut this loving heart is
very rare to find in a man. When it happens in a man then there is no difference. &till they were not
apostles -- they should have been the only apostles. Those cowards who had escaped should have been
rejected.
'ut just the other day the lord chancellor in 2ngland, who has thrown one bishop out of the church,
said, .I would believe more in !atthew, 5u$e, !ar$ -- the apostles whose words are in the 7ew
Testament -- because they were eyewitnesses.. #es absolutely wrong, they were not eyewitnesses"
they had escaped. The eyewitnesses were three women, but he does not mention them. Those three
men have written the story, but they were not eyewitnesses. Those three women have not written" they
must have thought: Who would bother about their writing( Who would listen to them( 'ut the lord
chancellor is absolutely wrong in ma$ing those three fellows eyewitnesses" they were not. +nd what
they have written is different from each other. If they were eyewitnesses it would have been e*actly
the same.
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IT is an absolute necessity to be retarded if you want to be a ,hristian.
+ny religion, any ideology, that is based only on belief, faith, is bound to cripple your intelligence.
+ belief system is nothing but poison to your capacity to understand.
/ood words are used to hide ugly things.
These 'ible-bashing ,hristians are not doing anything une*pected. )or two thousand years they have
been doing the same thing. They are full of anger if you are not ready to follow them" they are full of
love if you are ready to follow them. Their love is conditional, and any love that is conditional carries
with it hate, anger, cruelty -- everything that is against love. They give you the choice: either you
follow them, or you will have to be a victim of their anger, hatred, cruelty.
4ight now they can only be angry, but in the past they have $illed millions of people, burned people
alive. This anger is nothing. 7ow it is difficult for them to show their real face totally, but still
something of it comes out even though they try to hide it. %ou cannot hide a few things" for e*ample,
you cannot hide your love. %ou cannot hide your anger either.
,hristians are absolutely unable to listen to anything that goes against them. Thats why I say
retardedness is a categorical necessity.
3nly the open mind can be ready to listen to something that goes against it.
The closed mind can listen only to that which supports it.
The closed mind has only one dimension open, that is: everything that supports it is allowed in,
welcomed in. +ll other dimensions are $ept closed because there is fear. Things may enter you which
may sha$e up your belief system, disturb your so-called peace of mind" they may sabotage your faith.
7o person who is a believer can afford to be open.
%ou can be open to all $inds of thoughts, because I am not giving you any belief system.
I am simply helping you to open up in all the dimensions, even if you feel that they are going against
your ideas that you have held up to now. 2ven then, in fact more so, you will be available to them
because this is a chance, an opportunity, to judge whether whatsoever you have been thin$ing is right
or not. It is a golden moment when you are encountered by something contrary to your ideas,
thoughts, which up to now you have been thin$ing are rational. 'ut if they are really rational then
what is the fear(
It is fear that $eeps these people closed.
They cant hear you -- they are afraid to hear.
+nd their anger is really their fear upside down.
It is only a person who is full of fear who becomes immediately angry. If he does not become angry
then you will be able to see his fear. +nger is a cover-up. 'y being angry he is trying to ma$e you
afraid: before you get any idea of his fear, he is trying to ma$e you afraid. 9o you see the simple
psychology of it( #e does not want you to $now that he is afraid. The only way is to ma$e you afraid"
then he is completely at ease. %ou are afraid, he is not afraid -- and there is nothing to be afraid of in a
man who is afraid.
Their anger is an effort to deceive themselves.
It has nothing to do with you.
+nd these people.... %ou as$ me what -esus has done to deserve these people. %ou as$ me a wrong
;uestion. In fact, whatever -esus has done, he deserves only these people. The problem is not these
people. The problem is the people who have some intelligence and still are ,hristians. That is a
miracle: having intelligence and yet being a ,hristian.
<erhaps these intellectuals who are still ,hristians are schi:ophrenic: their one part is intelligent and
their other part is ,hristian. +nd they never meet, there is no communion between these two parts.
When these ,hristians are in their lab as a scientist they function not as a ,hristian, remember, they
function as an intelligent being.
'ut when they are out of the lab and praying in a church, dont thin$ that they are the same people.
They are not the scientists, not the discoverers, they are not the intellectuals any more. They are just as
retarded as these 'ible-bashing ,hristians -- no difference. <erhaps they are even more closed. They
have a 'erlin wall within their being, dividing themselves in two.
/alileo discovered that the earth moves around the sun. 'ut he was a believing ,hristian, and when
the pope told him that because it went against the #35% 'I'52 he had to change it, /alileo said, .3f
course. Whatever you say is my joy to do.. +nd now you can see how a person can be schi:ophrenic.
#e touched the feet, $issed the feet of the pope -- /alileo, a man of tremendous intelligence! +nd this
pope was just a third-rate mind who had never done anything intelligent. %ou would not have even
$nown that he ever e*isted" it is only because of /alileo that his name is remembered. Thats all that
he has done to be remembered.
'ut /alileo touching his feet, $issing his feet, as$ing his forgiveness.... +nd then he said, .I am going
to do it. I will change that statement and I will correct it e*actly according to the 'I'52: I will write
that the sun goes around the earth. 'ut beloved master, I can change the te*t, but neither the earth will
listen to me, nor will the sun: the earth will still go around the sun..
9o you see the schi:ophrenia( /alileos one side is $issing the feet of the pope. #is other side
reminds the pope that he can change his statement -- that is not difficult, it is his boo$. Whatsoever
/alileo wants to write, he can write. 'ut what about the earth( What about all his e*periments( What
about his discovery which proved that the earth goes around the sun, not vice versa( In that one simple
statement, /alileos split personality is clear. <erhaps the dividing wall was very thin. <erhaps there
was a little corner where both sides used to meet, just li$e neighbors ta5$ing from the windows, the
balconies, over the fences.
+nd thats what he did. #e changed the statement, put a star on it, and in the footnote with the star he
wrote, This is what I believe as a ,hristian. 'ut as far as reality is concerned, the earth goes around the
sun. +bout that I cannot do anything because I am just an ordinary man. It is not within my powers..
That footnote -- from where does it come( +nd the change of statement -- from where does it come(
There are two persons certainly in /alileo, but he is not capable of seeing this split.
2very believer is bound to be split.
There is no way to avoid it because the moment you believe in something you have decided not to
listen to reason any longer.
'ut it is reason which finds facts, realities, indubitable truths.
&o what are you going to do( 2ither you destroy your rationality completely -- thats why these
people, these 'ible-bashing ,hristians, shout and go on tal$ing" they wont even give you a chance to
spea$. %ou may be spea$ing -- they go on reading from the 'I'52 and flipping the pages. They dont
care whether you are listening, whether you are ;uestioning something, whether you are as$ing
something, whether you are saying something, no. This whole thing shows their fear that if they really
listen to you, they $now what they have repressed in themselves: 'y their belief they have repressed
their own reason, and your reason can call up their reason.
There is a certain synchronicity.... This law has to be understood, the law of synchronicity. This is the
only contribution of ,arl /ustav -ung to the modern world. It is something that is not yet scientifically
verifiable, but still it can be understood ;uite reasonably.
)or e*ample, sometimes seeing a stranger, for no visible reason you suddenly feel a tremendous surge
of lovingness, or hatred, or anger, or compassion. It seems to be that something between you and him
has transpired without any physical traces being behind it. <erhaps it was just in the vibe. It means that
one mans energy is ;uite capable of arousing a similar type of energy in the other man, so that they
both start vibrating in the same climate of feeling.
,arl /ustav -ung came upon it very accidentally. #e had two old grandfather cloc$s. They both stood
by the same wall and they always $ept the same time. They were very old and they were not e*pected
to have such accuracy. -ung changed the time of one cloc$ to be half an hour slow, and the other to be
half an hour fast. 'ut within twenty-four hours they had come bac$ to e*actly the same time. It was
mysterious and pu::ling, but he thought that perhaps subtle vibrations from both cloc$s helped them
to come to a synchronicity.
That accidental discovery -ung tried on human beings, and it proved really to be a profound
revelation. #e showed that there is a certain law which is not yet $nown to science -- perhaps were
not yet capable of finding instruments subtle enough to chec$ it, but it is perfectly reasonable and
there are hundreds of facts which will prove it. )or e*ample, if you are very loving towards a person,
you need not even say to him that .I love you. -- because in fact that is needed only when you do not
love. That statement, .I love you,. is re;uired by a husband, by a wife, at least three, four times a day
-- the more the better.
I have told you that a goldsmith used to live in front of my house. #e was a little eccentric -- that is
far better than being retarded -- and an absolutely harmless person. 'ut he used to get into fights with
his wife once in a while. That too is common... nothing abnormal about it. What was abnormal and
eccentric was that they would fight right in the shop with the doors open, and a crowd would gather
there.
+nd their fighting was not just verbal, it was physical. #e would hit the wife and the wife would hit
him, because she had learned that there was no other way with this man: unless you hit him hard he
was not going to stop. #e would catch hold of her hair, and she would catch hold of his hair, and they
would be standing there, with a crowd of hundreds of people gathered around. +nd what I used to do
was phone the police, because the police station was not far away.
I would simply phone from my house saying, .+ great drama is happening here. There are hundreds
of people, and if this thing goes any further there may be a murder or something. ,ome immediately..
They were not far away, just one furlong from my house. &o the inspector and the police constables
would come running. +nd when they came, they would catch hold of these people holding each others
hair and hitting each other.
Immediately the goldsmith would start smiling and say, .There is no problem -- we were just having a
conversation.. That was the only eccentric point worth listening to again and again: .We were just
having a conversation, just a family conversation. There is no problem..
#e would immediately be angry with the people who were standing outside: .What are you fools
doing here( 9ont you have wives( 9ont you have family conversations( It was simply a dialogue
that became a little physical, thats all.. +nd he would tell the inspector, .you need not be worried --
and I $now who has phoned you because it happens again and again..
The inspector would say, .Who phoned is not important" what is important is that you are ma$ing a
public spectacle. If it is a family dialogue at least you can close your doors and have the dialogue --
and as physically as you want. It is your wife and you are her husband. &he does not seem to be afraid
of you at all, she hits you far better than you hit her, so we are not worried about her, that you can do
any harm to her. 'ut by collecting a whole crowd it becomes a public affair" then we have to interfere.
7e*t time we find you in this public family conversation, I am going to put both of you behind bars..
3nce when they had gone and the crowd had left I as$ed, .goldsmithji, everything was perfectly
good, just.... %ou call it a dialogue( #ave you heard the name of !artin 'uber(.
#e said, .no..
I said, .%ou should read !artin 'uber -- or it would be better if !artin 'uber comes and studies you,
because he is continually after dialogues. #is whole lifes wor$ is to convince people that they should
have dialogue. #e may not have even thought that the dialogue can be physical. %ou are very
e*istential. #e thought only of verbal dialogue, but you are realistic, pragmatic, practical..
The goldsmith said, .i $now you support me, and you are the person who phoned, because only you
have a phone here in this whole neighborhood. +nd whenever the police come you are missing" the
whole crowd is there but you are not. That is enough proof +nd after the crowd has gone, you come
and support me..
I said, I certainly support you because I want people to be more physical, more grounded. This !artin
'uber $nows nothing about dialogue. #e thin$s of just tal$ing, ya$$ety-ya$$ety-ya$-that is not a
dialogue. This is real dialogue: you ma$e it from a fiction into a fact..
These ,hristians have been in such a dialogue for two thousand years. They are far more dangerous
than this poor goldsmith because no bloodshed ever happened with him" it was just a moc$ fight. 'ut
,hristians have $illed millions of people, and that was their way of ma$ing conversation. They were
telling you, .We can prove our belief by $illing you..
7ow, by $illing somebody you simply prove that you are a brute, primitive. It does not prove that you
are right, that what you are saying is true. It simply proves that whatsoever you are, you are just not
yet out of the jungle. %ou should not even utter the word truth" it is not right from your mouth. +nd
from the ,hristians, !ohammedans learned the art of conversation, dialogue.
I as$ed <andit -awaharlal 7ehru, when he was prime minister in India, .,an you allow me to have
my commune in 8ashmir(. -- because 8ashmir is the most beautiful place, not only in India but
perhaps in the whole world. When 'abar, the first invader who remained behind to rule India.... 3ther
invaders came and went away" that had been routine for thousands of years. Invaders would come and
loot the country. They would ta$e the beautiful women, they would $ill and burn people, and they
would go away with all their loot -- the gold, the diamonds, and everything that they could get.
'abar was the first man who decided not to leave. #e said, .This is foolish, to come once in a while
and loot these people and go away. It is better to remain here and rule these people and go on
e*ploiting them. Why, what is the need to go bac$(.
When he entered 8ashmir... the first words that he uttered have become very famous. 3n his horse,
loo$ing bac$ from a very high hill top at the beauty of the 8ashmir valley, 'abar said, .I have never
believed in paradise, but if there is any paradise it is here.. +nd certainly 8ashmir is paradise.
I as$ed -awaharlal, .8ashmir has enough land -- it is all mountains -- you can give me a place..
#e said, .I can give you a place but I am afraid, because ninety percent of people in 8ashmir are
!ohammedans. %ou will be $illed, you cannot remain alive there. The little bit I $now about you is
enough to convince me that you will be $illed, and I am not letting you settle in 8ashmir because I
would not li$e you to be $illed. !ohammedans will not be able to stand you even for a single day..
)rom ,hristians, !ohammedans have learned that it is the sword that decides who is right. !ight is
right! &o if you are powerful, you are right. If you are not powerful, if you dont have a sword or a gun
in your hands, then your belief system is wrong. 'ut this was given by ,hristians to !ohammedans.
!ohammedans accept -esus as one of the great prophets. Their only ;uarrel with the ,hristians is on
a very small point, which is negligible. 'ut even that negligible point has caused a constant fifteen-
century struggle between !ohammedans and ,hristians. %ou will be simply surprised -- and then you
will not thin$ that I am e*aggerating when I say that these peoples basic ;ualification is retardedness.
The negligible point is that !ohammedans dont believe that -esus had a virgin birth -- and perhaps
they are right. They say his father was not his father, that much is certain" somebody else fathered him.
The #oly /host they dont recogni:e, they believe that this is just garbage. +nd it loo$s li$e garbage.
It seems to be a cover-up story. It seems !ary became pregnant by somebody, and then to ma$e it
mysterious, the #oly /host was introduced.
!ohammedans accept -esus as a great prophet of /od, but they name him -esus ibn !ariam -- -esus
the son of !ary. +nd that is the problem, these three words: -esus ibn !ariam -- -esus, the son of
!ariam, because !ohammedans always use the fathers name with their name. If he were the son of
joseph they would have called him -esus ibn -oseph" that would have been his full name. 'ut because
he is not joseph s son-that much ,hristians agree-he is the only person in the whole of history of
whom the !ohammedans say the mothers name has to be used instead of the fathers! We certainly
cannot say -esus ibn #oly /host!
This is the only difference, otherwise they agree on everything. 'ut this simple, negligible, absurd,
irrelevant thing has caused thousands of wars, crusades, jehads -- holy wars -- amongst
!ohammedans and ,hristians. 7ow, both need to be absolutely retarded. What business is it of
!ohammedans to be bothered in the first place, whether -esus is bin !ariam, or bin -oseph( +ll three
can go to hell! What business is it of !ohammedans(
+nd ,hristians cannot prove anything about the #oly /host without any evidence, any eyewitness
who has seen the #oly /host coming to !ary. 2ven !ary was not aware of when she was made
pregnant. The #oly /host must have used some instruments which man$ind has not yet discovered.
<erhaps it was an injection, artificial insemination, but even then she would have awa$ened while
being given an injection. <erhaps it was with chloroform.... 'ut then ,hristians have to provide all
these facts: in some way they have to ma$e an arrangement to e*plain how -esus got into !arys
womb.
%ou as$ me why, what poor -esus has done to deserve such stupid idiots as his followers. %ou are
as$ing without understanding -esus. -esus, and only -esus, is responsible for all these idiots -- nobody
else. It is not that he has done anything wrong, but his whole life and his approach towards life is
appealing only to retarded people.
)or his whole life ,harles 9arwin was loo$ing for the missing lin$. 'y the missing lin$, he means
that when mon$eys became man it could not have been that a mon$ey jumped and became a man"
there must have been a lin$ in between, where he was half mon$ey and half man. 2volution happens
as a process, not as a leap or jump -- that you jump from mon$ey and become man, no. 'ut what is the
missing lin$(
If I had had the opportunity to meet ,harles 9arwin -- now there seems to be no hope -- he was also a
very sincere ,hristian, and I would have suggested to him that ,hristians are the missing lin$. Where
are you loo$ing( %ou can go to any church: if any intelligent man is found there, then he has to be
immediately put into a psychiatric ward" the remaining ones are the missing lin$. !on$eys have not
just jumped and become men, first they become ,hristians" without becoming ,hristians there is no
way.
-esus gives no logic to whatever he is saying. When 'uddha says something, he gives logic to it, it is
absolutely rational. +nd he is ready for a dialogue -- not for a physical dialogue, he is ready to argue
with you. #e welcomes argument, and if you can rationally convince him, he is willing to follow you.
That has been the tradition in the 2ast.
I am reminded of a beautiful story of &han$aras life. &han$ara is one of the most intellectual, rational
persons you can find. In the West only 8ant can be compared to &han$ara, but not totally. #e falls a
little short because &han$ara was one thousand years before 8ant, and still his arguments are far more
refined than 8ants. &han$ara traveled all over India challenging everybody, whoever wanted to argue
with him. The only condition was: .If you defeat me, I follow you" if I defeat you, you follow me.. It
was not li$e bo*ing, otherwise !uhammad +li would have forced &han$ara to follow him -- and
!uhammad +li is a religious man. +nd I am now going to hurt a few peoples religious feelings.
!uhammad +li goes once in a while to !ecca, to do hajj. #ajj is the !ohammedans holy
pilgrimage, and !ohammed has said at least once in a life every !ohammedan has to do hajj. If you
miss hajj you will not be allowed into paradise. &o truth is not important, love is not important,
compassion is not important" what is important is a pilgrimage to !ecca. +nd you can do everything
else you want, but you should do hajj. 3nce a person does hajj he is called hajji. +nd that is a title that
ma$es his paradise a certainty" all hajjis go to paradise. &o even poor !ohammedans....
In my village I have seen such poor !ohammedans collecting money, eating only one time a day so
that at least once in their whole life... because it will need their lifes savings. +nd I have seen people
selling their houses, their land, borrowing money and remaining always in debt because they could not
even pay the interest -- there was no ;uestion of paying the original money. +nd they have ta$en it at
such high interest" nobody is going to give it to them at a low interest because everybody $nows the
money is never coming bac$. +nd there is every possibility that this man may die because hajj, in the
old days, was almost a suicidal pilgrimage. 7ow it is a little better, but not much better.
&o at such a high interest, perhaps twenty-five percent per month, they have sold themselves for their
whole lives, they have become slaves. Their house is gone, their land is gone, and whatsoever they
earn they have to give in interest" but people will ta$e this ris$ because without becoming a hajji there
is no hope.
9o you thin$ these people have any intelligence( +nd who is responsible for this( -- nobody but
!ohammed, because he made it a rule. 4ather than telling his people to be truthful, to be honest, to be
sincere, to be open, to be intelligent, he re;uires them to do a pilgrimage.
+nd there is nothing in +rabia but desert, suffering, heat, sic$ness, because millions of people every
year gather at a certain period -- their holy days, 4amadan -- for one month, and there are no hygienic
arrangements, no hospitals. 7obody bothers about what they are eating, what arrangements are made
by the government for their toilets, for their bathrooms -- nothing, no ;uestion arises. !illions of
people are coming from all over the world, and thousands die every year just in the pilgrimage, either
going or coming bac$.
'ut !ohammed made it the one absolute necessity. +nd what logic does he provide( There is no
logic in it, because this place that they worship is far older than !ohammed. It used to be a temple
with three hundred and si*ty-five beautiful statues. It was one of the most beautiful temples in the
world, with these three hundred and si*ty-five statues of /od -- one statue for every day of the year.
&o one statue was worshipped on one day, the ne*t day the ne*t statue, around the year. It was a round
circle of beautiful statues and in the middle was this stone, a blac$ stone which they call $aaba.
!ohammed destroyed all those beautiful statues which were pieces of art perhaps ten thousand years
old: a great historical evidence of art, that it was not only !ichelangelo.... Ten thousand years before
him there were people as s$illful as !ichelangelo. !ohammed destroyed all those statues because he
was against statues. #e said, .There cannot be any statue of /od. /od should not be given a form..
'ut what right have you... if somebody wants to give /od a form, and a beautiful form, who are you(
What right have you to destroy somebody elses statue( 'ut religious fanaticism.... !ohammed was
thin$ing that he was helping those people, by destroying their statues, to come closer to /od. #e was
removing the statues, the forms, so that they could $now the formless /od. 'ut he saved the blac$
stone which was in the middle of the temple, and now they are worshipping that stone as /od. +nd
!ohammed started the worship!
These people cannot even see what they are saying, and what they are doing to others, and what they
are doing to their own people. !ohammed taught those people to come to $aaba at least once in a
lifetime: unless you do it you are going to fall into eternal hell. +nd !ohammed told people that you
have to convert people at the point of the sword. When so much easier methods are available, why
bother about convincing, arguing(
When just a sword put on your chest is enough to convert you to the right path, then why bother about
arguing( &o !ohammedans have been converting people at the point of the sword. 'ut that was not
the case in the 2astern religions. These three religions, -udaism, ,hristianity, !ohammedanism, are
sister religions. !oses started the game and he is responsible for all these three $ids.
&han$ara went around the country arguing. #e came to a place called !andala -- I have been to
!andala many times. It is just a two-hour drive from -abalpur, situated in a very beautiful place.
7armada, one of the holy rivers of the #indus, falls in one thousand streams. The mountain is such
that the river is divided into one thousand, e*actly one thousand, streams. It is a beautiful scene. The
story is that there was one monster who had one thousand hands. 7armada is the only river in India
which is virgin, other rivers are married. This &ahasrabahu -- one thousand arms.... That is the
meaning of the name: &ahasra means one thousand, bahu means arms -- sahasrabahu means a one-
thousand-armed man. #e said, .I am going to marry this girl. &he cannot escape me. I have got one
thousand hands" where is she going to escape(.
&o he tried to catch hold of the river with his one thousand hands. 'ut to destroy the virginity of a
woman, according to #indus, is the greatest sin possible. ,hristians would have rewarded him, given
him some place in their trinity: another holy ghost. 'ut #indus have punished him -- at least in the
story it is so" he turned into a stone. +nd really the whole mountain does loo$ as if the 7armada is
falling through one thousand hands.
&o !andala has been an ancient place of pilgrimage and has always been a seat of great #indu
scholars. 3ne #indu scholar had in his youth moved around just li$e &han$ara" !andan !ishra was
his name. !andala was called after his name, !andan, because he lived there. #e was so famous that
the name of the place was changed and called after him.
When he was young he had moved all around the country and defeated all the scholars and
philosophers. #e was old when &han$ara was young, just thirty years of age -- he died when &han$ara
was thirty-three. +fter defeating everybody &han$ara was a little reluctant to go and challenge
!andan !ishra because !andan was so old. 'ut without defeating !andan he could not declare that
he had con;uered the whole country and convinced everybody that what he was saying was true.
4eluctantly he went.
3utside the town, at the weZl, a few women were drawing water. &han$ara as$ed them, .can you tell
me where the house of !andan !ishra is(.
+nd all those women giggled and laughed, and they said, .%ou need not as$. %ou just go into the
town and you will find it, because even the parrots in front of his house recite the =29+&. %ou need
not as$ anybody, you just go. The very atmosphere around his house will tell you that you have come
close to !andan !ishra..
&han$ara was a little afraid -- he had never heard of parrots reciting the whole of the =29+&. +nd in
the end he went and he saw with his own eyes a row of parrots in the mango trees reciting the =29+&
in perfect &ans$rit. #e thought, .this man seems to be difficult. 'ut there is no way to avoid it.. #e
went in, touched the feet of the old man with respect, and challenged him.
!andan said, .I am too old, but if you feel that it is necessary, then I am ready. 'ut I feel a little
reluctant myself arguing with a young man. %ou are too young, and I am too old, too e*perienced and
I have won all over the country. %ou should thin$ twice. 4ight now you have not been defeated by
anybody, but those are the people I defeated in my youth, myself" so thin$ twice..
&han$ara said, .I never thin$ twice. I first ta$e the jump and then thin$. +re you ready or not( If you
are not ready then you will have to become my follower.
!andan said, .There is no problem for me" I enjoy a dialogue, I enjoy discussing -- and with a man
li$e you it is really joyful. 2ven to be defeated is a great blessing. To have found someone who has
more intelligence than you is not a disgrace. 'ut,. !andan said, .one thing has to be decided. %ou will
have to find somebody who can preside" otherwise the decision will be very difficult..
&han$ara had heard that !andans wife was as great an intellectual as !andan himself In fact, in
!andans youth they had a si*-month-long discussion, and only then was !andan able to defeat the
woman. 'ut the woman had, from the very beginning, put this condition: .If I am defeated then you
will have to marry me. If you are defeated then certainly I am going to marry you because..... !andan
saw that he was in a dilemma in every way" he was caught. +nd he could not refuse a woman, that
would be too unmannerly" you cannot refuse a woman. &o he fought.
+nd the woman was really a giant" it too$ si* months, and I suspect she got defeated by her own
doing. +nd I have reasons to suspect it, because anyway she was going to marry him. It would loo$
ugly to be victorious and then to marry a man who has been defeated -- that would not be nice -- and
to have a defeated husband.... &o my feeling has always been that 'harti -- her name was 'harti --
must have arranged it. &i* months was enough to prove her mettle. +ll over the country, for even si*
days nobody had been able to withstand !andan. If she could withstand si* months, she must have
turned the whole of !andans blood to perspiration.
+nd she must have got herself defeated. Why I suspect it is because of this second debate between
&han$ara and !andan. &han$ara said, .I would li$e your wife to preside..
'harti said, .I have no problem, if you choose me $nowing perfectly well that I am the wife of
!andan !ishra..
&han$ara said, .That I $now, but I $now also that you are a great intellectual, that you were the only
one who almost defeated !andan. +nd I cannot conceive of you -- being !andans wife, and yourself
an independent intellectual in your own right -- as being unfair I accept you. Whatsoever you decide
will be, without complaint, accepted..
The debate again lasted si* months. )inally !andan was defeated. &han$ara as$ed 'hartis opinion.
'harti said, .!andan is defeated but you are not victorious yet.. This was the climate of intelligence.
&he said, .!andan is defeated but you are not victorious yet because X, being his wife, according to
#indu scriptures am half of his being. &o you have only done with one half of !andan !ishra. The
other half is still here. 7ow you will have to discuss with me..
&han$ara was tired enough. &i* months with !andan had been such a difficult job that many times he
had thought that he was going to lose. +nd then immediately to begin another debate.... +nd he $new
the woman had $ept this !andan in debate for si* months" now what was going to happen( 'ut that
woman was really intelligent. &he said, .I am not interested in theology -- I am a woman -- so forget
all about your '4+#!+&6T4+& of 'adarayana" &#4I!+9 '#+/+=+9/IT+, =29+&" I am not
interested in them, my interest is in =atsyayanas 8+!+&6T4+&. -- the first boo$ on se*ology in the
whole world.
7ow, &han$ara was a bachelor, thirty years old. #e said, .=atsyayana( -- but I have not even read
him..
'harti said, .%ou can as$ for time to study..
'ut he said, .-ust study wont help, because I dont have any practical $nowledge..
'harti said, .I can give you as much time as you want. %ou can get married, you can have practical
$nowledge. 'ut till you defeat me in se*ology, on matters concerning se* and its subtleties, you have
no right to declare yourself victorious. !andan is defeated, !andan has to be your follower" he can
help you. #e is old, he is my husband and he $nows everything about se*. #e can help you now he is
your follower. 'ut half of his being still has to be con;uered..
7ow, &han$aras disciples must have invented the rest of the story because it seems contrived. 6p to
then it was perfectly right, historical. &han$ara as$ed for si* months leave, and in those si* months he
entered the body of a $ing who had just died -- because he could not have e*perience of se* through
his own body, he was a celibate mon$. +nd the woman had put him in such a spot -- either he had to
accept defeat and become a follower of 'harti.... That would be stupid: !andan, his follower, and he
himself, 'hartis follower.
I dont thin$ it is true -- &han$ara must have e*perienced se* through his own body. 7ow let #indus
and their religious feelings be hurt" what can I do( I cannot believe any nonsense that he entered a just
-- dead $ing and used the $ings body and left his own body in a cave -- I have been to the cave also --
with his disciples. They had to protect the body till he returned, so continuously, twenty-four hours a
day, they were guarding the body, ta$ing care of the body. +nd for si* months he lived in the $ings
body having all $inds of se*ual e*periences with his many ;ueens.
+nd after si* months he entered his own body" the $ing died. &han$ara went bac$ to !andan for the
debate -- and 'harti simply laughed. &he said, .I was just jo$ing. When my husband is defeated, I am
defeated. #is life is my life, his death is my death, his pleasure is my pleasure, and his pain is my pain.
#is defeat is my defeat -- you need not argue..
&han$ara said, .!y /od! Then why did you put me to such trouble(.
'ut to me this seems to be just the same $ind of story as the virgin !ary or as 'uddha being born
standing. The mother was standing" 'uddha came out of the mothers womb standing, he fell on the
earth standing. The first thing he did was, he too$ seven steps and declared: .I am the greatest
enlightened one who has ever come on the earth.. 7ow, all these hocus-pocus stories -- but these are
the things which ma$e these religions juicy, so even retarded people can enjoy a little bit.
-esus gives no argument at all. #e never confronted any rabbi" that would have been the right course.
The ;uestion is what -esus did to deserve such followers. #e did everything. #e created chaos in the
great temple of the -ews by throwing the money-changers out of the temple, upturning their tables.
This is not the way of a man who says, .god is love,. who says, .love your neighbor as yourself,. who
says, .love your enemy as yourself. but I dont thin$ he loved his enemies as himself
+nd he was not only throwing out these people, who were there for centuries.... +nd they were
playing an essential part" without them millions of poor -ews would have been in tremendous
difficulty. It was a beautiful institution. It was created to help poor -ews: they could ta$e loans from
the temple at a very minimal interest so that they were not in the hands of local e*ploiters who would
ta$e the ma*imum interest out of them. +nd they would never have been able to pay bac$ the original
money because the interest was so much" they would have been slaves for their whole lives without
being slaves. +nd this was a great institution.
I dont thin$ it was wrong. It was perfectly right that the temple provided the poor people with money
at the minimum rate. +nd the temple had so much money. It was perfectly right, in every way ethical
to help the poor people because the money was also coming from the same people. 'ut the way the
,hristians present it is wrong, it is not right. The institution was perfectly right, and -esus was just
creating a nuisance there.
#e should have gone to the high priest, argued about it, told him, .This institution of ta$ing interest
from the poor is not right,. convinced him, .give it to them without interest.. 'ut no, he behaved
violently" he was an angry man. +nd this behavior is not an argument, it is just the dialogue of my
goldsmithji. %ou are not proving that you are right by throwing those moneychangers out of the
temple. +nd you are not destroying the system: they will be bac$, soon they were bac$. +nd soon the
whole -ewish system was angry with this man. If they had to crucify him I thin$ perhaps they had no
other choice" this man was so arrogant.
I have thought about all those people who have been crucified, poisoned, $illed -- for e*ample,
&ocrates. I find him absolutely right, and the people who poisoned him and decided to $ill him,
absolutely wrong. They were not able to answer any of his arguments. They were not capable, nobody
was capable, of as much intelligence as &ocrates" those were ordinary pygmies. 'ut it was a
.democracy.....
6p to now there has never been any democracy.
9emocracy has yet to come in the world" it has not entered it yet.
It has always been a mobocracy caZled a democracy.
In the name of democracy the jurors, who were not even worthy to polish the shoes of &ocrates,
decided by voting -- and it was not a great margin, just by one vote: fifty-one were in favor of
poisoning him, forty-nine were against. They had nothing against him e*cept meaningless words: .#e
spoils the minds of people..
-ust the same complaint they have against me, that I spoil peoples minds. I simply spoil their
retardedness and help their mind to be free from their retardedness -- and that was what &ocrates was
doing.
&ocrates had never done anything that you could say was done out of arrogance, or out of anger, or
out of jealousy. #e was not standing for any public post, he was not interested in any power politics.
#e was not a man of anger at all.
-esus is arrogant" naturally, he gets arrogant followers. #e is the model. #is utterances are not those
of a humble man. +lthough he says, .'e humble, be mee$,. it seems all this teaching is for others -- he
is not humble. + humble man will not say, .I am the only begotten son of /od.. What can be more
egoistic(
+ humble man will not insist that he is the messiah, sent by /od, for whom you have been waiting.
When nobody is agreeing to it, drop the idea. It is up to them: if they dont want the messiah, if they
dont want to receive the message, what can you do( %ou are just a postman" and if the man says, .I
dont want to receive this envelope, you ta$e it bac$,. what can the postman do( 'ut he was a very
arrogant postman. #e insisted on delivering the message" whether you wanted it or not, whether you
accepted him or not, he would deliver it.
I have thought many times that perhaps the -ews were forced by -esus arrogance and anger, and his
continuously harassing them to accept that he was the messiah, to as$ for his crucifi*ion. I dont thin$
that it was just their fault" most of the responsibility falls on -esus arrogance.
In India we have seen 'uddha spea$ing against the =29+&, but ready to welcome any argument.
-esus ma$es only statements, there is no ;uestion of argument" he is the messiah and he has brought
the message.
In the whole of the four gospels there is not a single argument for anything. +nd I can visuali:e the
contemporary scene there in -erusalem. #e must have loo$ed li$e a buffoon, moving with that
company -- at least I would not have moved around with that company he was with. +ll those twelve
apostles are just 3regonians. I dont see any spar$ in those twelve people: not a single intelligent man,
not a single rabbi, not a single scholar, not a single professor -- nobody who had some sharpness of
mind was amongst those people that were following him.
&o it is not just today -- even when -esus was here only idiots were around him. 3nly -udas was a
little educated. The others were all uneducated: fishermen, farmers, woodcutters, carpenters -- all were
from the very lowest strata of society. +nd it is not that -erusalem was lac$ing, -erusalem was
throbbing with intelligence at that time. It was their pea$ hour: there were great rabbis and great
scholars and great, intelligent people.
-esus should have converted them. Then you would not have found these 'ible-thrashing -- or is it
bashing( -- bashing.... Thrashing is also good. %ou would not have these idiots who are angry, cannot
understand, are not able even to listen.
+nd ,hristianity got the major portion of humanity under it for the simple reason that the majority of
people are retarded. To be a follower of 'odhidharma you need tremendous ;ualities" to understand
7agarjuna you will have to rise to your ultimate potential of understanding. 'ut for -esus nothing is
needed. +ll that he is as$ing is: .#ave belief in me, have faith in me, and thats all you have to do. The
remainder is for me to do, and that will be done on the judgment day. I will choose and sort out my
sheep and tell my father that these people have to be saved and the remaining ones are to be thrown
into hell..
7ow, do you thin$ any intelligent person is going to follow such ideas, with no logic, no reason(
&ince that time he has been collecting these people, -esus frea$s, Witnesses of -ehovah. I have met, in
India, all these $inds of strange people, but for all of them -esus is responsible because he behaved
wrongly. #e did not follow what he was saying. If he had been humble, mee$, if he had been available
to argument, ready to listen -- but no, he was an absolute fanatic. Whatever he says is truth" no other
evidence is needed. #e is the son of /od, thats enough. The son of /od cannot tell lies. #e has been
sent by /od -- but he should have at least ta$en a certificate from /od to show people.
3n what grounds can a person say that .I am the son of /od.( +nd do you thin$ that any intelligent
person is going to believe it( 7o. &ocrates poisoning I sincerely feel was a crime against evolution.
!ansoors crucifi*ion I certainly feel was a crime against mans growing potentialities. 'ut with -esus
I dont feel the same, because he was responsible for whatsoever happened to him. +nd he is
responsible for what $ind of people have been collecting around him.
+nd these idiots around the world go on purchasing -esus ideas li$e hot ca$es -- or would it be more
correct to say, li$e hot dogs( I was thin$ing of suggesting to my !agdalena people to ma$e something
li$e vegetarian hot watchdogs. They are really going to sell -- vegetarian hot watchdogs, not ordinary
dogs.
The stupid and the imbecile, the retarded -- they have all become ,hristians, and we have to help
them come out of their prisons. They are imprisoned. +nd the people who become ,hristians by their
own desire -- it is o$ay. If they feel they want to be, thats perfectly right, but nobody should be forced
by birth to be a ,hristian, or a #indu, or a !ohammedan. 7obody should be forced by birth.
)or a political election you as$ that a person be adult, at least twenty-one years of age -- to decide
about politics, which is a third-rate matter. +nd to decide about religion, which is the ultimate concern
of man, you dont give any chance for the person to grow, to learn, to remain open and available to all
$inds of winds, and then choose. + religion has to be chosen, it cannot be inherited. 2ven if it ta$es
your whole life, it is worth it because it is your ultimate concern.
&o anything that has been given to you by birth is ugly, whether it is ,hristianity, or #induism, or
-ainism or 'uddhism" anything that is given to you by birth, drop it.
&earch for yourself
'e adult, come of age.
3nly then, perhaps, will we be able to free people from their imprisonments.
+nd if all the intelligent people are outside the cages, I have every certainty that many retarded people
will start having second thoughts. They wont be 'ible-bashing or 'ible-thrashing ,hristians. They
wont be angry if something against them is proposed. They will not be ready immediately to cut off
your head or shoot you, if you are saying something against their ideology.
+ religious person remains open to the very last moment, to his death" to the very last breath he is
open.
That is a basic and absolute ;uality for a religious man: to remain always open -- because who $nows,
tomorrow a few other facts may encounter you and you will have to change your whole idea of
e*istence, of life.
7obody $nows what tomorrow is going to reveal.
The revelations are not in the 'I'52 or in the 834+7.
The revelations are in life.
+nd every moment is a revelation if you are open.
'ut if you are closed then you are dead. The day you become closed, you become dead.
There are dead ,hristians, there are dead #indus, there are dead !ohammedans" the earth is so full of
dead people -- but they are wal$ing, tal$ing, teaching, converting, doing all $inds of things. 'ut as I
see it, rarely is there a living being amongst them, very rarely somebody who is still alive.
I call that man alive who is always open, who never closes the windows and the doors of his being,
because tomorrow is unpredictable.
+ll that we can say is: .6p to now this is my e*perience" tomorrow will ta$e care of itself.
3&#3,
+42 %36 2&<2,I+55% +/+I7&T ,#4I&TI+7IT%(

I hate to favor ,hristianity with any special attention but unfortunately it deserves it. It is the ugliest
manifestation of religion on the earth, for many reasons.
The first: ,hristianity is the only well-organi:ed religion.
The more a religion is well-organi:ed, the less is the possibility of its being a religion.
Truth, by its very nature, cannot be organi:ed.
To organi:e truth, or to $ill it, mean the same thing.
Truth is alive when organi:ation is only functional, loose. ,hristianitys organi:ation is very tight,
bureaucratic, hierarchical. 'ecause of this $ind of organi:ation, it has become more a game of power
politics than the flowering of religious ;ualities.
In the past two thousand years ,hristianity has done more harm to humanity than any other religion.
!ohammedanism has tried to compete with it but has not been successful. It came very close but
,hristianity still remains on the top. It has slaughtered people, burned people alive. In the name of
/od, truth, religion, it has been $illing and slaughtering people -- for their own sa$e, for their own
good.
+nd when the murderer is murdering you for your own good, then he has no feeling of guilt at all. 3n
the contrary, he feels he has done a good job. #e has done some service to humanity, to /od, to all the
great values of love, truth, freedom. #e feels e*cited. #e feels that he is now a better human being.
When crimes are being used for people to feel better human beings, that is the worst that can happen
to anybody. 7ow he will be doing evil, thin$ing it is good. #e will be destroying good, thin$ing it is
good.
This is the worst $ind of indoctrination that ,hristianity has put into peoples minds. The idea of the
crusade, of a religious war, is a great contribution of ,hristianity. !ohammedanism learned it from
,hristianity" they cannot claim to be the originators of the idea. They call it jehad, holy war, but they
came five hundred years later than -esus. ,hristianity had already created in peoples minds the idea
that a war too can be religious.
7ow, war as such is irreligious.
There cannot be anything li$e a crusade, a jehad, a holy war.
If you call war holy, then what is left to be called unholy(
This is a strategy to destroy peoples thin$ing. The moment they thin$ of crusade, they dont thin$
there is anything wrong: they are fighting for /od against the devil. +nd there is no /od and no devil
-- you are simply fighting and $illing people. +nd what business is it of yours anyway( If /od cannot
destroy the devil, do you thin$ you can( If /od is impotent and cannot destroy the devil, then can this
polac$ pope do it( ,an these ,hristians do it( ,an -esus do it( +nd for eternity /od has lived with the
devil.
2ven now the forces of evil are far more powerful than the forces of good, for the simple reason that
the forces of good are also in the hands of the forces of evil.
,alling war religious, holy, is the cause of war -- because the first world war happened in the
,hristian conte*t, the second world war happened in the ,hristian conte*t, and the third world war is
going to happen in the ,hristian conte*t.
There are other religions also, but why did these two great wars happen in the ,hristian conte*t(
,hristianity cannot save itself from ta$ing the responsibility. 3nce you create the idea that war can be
holy then you cannot monopoli:e the idea.
+dolf #itler was saying to his people, .This war is holy." it was a crusade. #e was simply using
,hristianitys contribution. #e was a ,hristian, and he believed himself to be the reincarnation of the
prophet, 2lijah. #e thought himself e;ual to -esus ,hrist, perhaps better, because what -esus could not
do, he was trying to do. +ll that -esus succeeded in doing was getting crucified. +dolf #itler was
almost successful. If he had succeeded -- which was ninety-nine percent possible, just by one percent
he missed -- then the whole world would have been purified of all that is -ewish, of all that is non-
,hristian. What would have remained(
+nd do you $now( -- +dolf #itler was blessed by the /erman archbishop, who told him, .%ou are
going to win because ,hrist is with you and /od is with you.. +nd the same fools were blessing
Winston ,hurchill, saying, ./od is with you and ,hrist is with you -- you are sure to win.. The same
fools, even bigger ones, were in the =atican, because the =atican is just part of 4ome, and !ussolini
was being blessed by the pope -- a representative, an infallible representative, of -esus ,hrist.
3ne can thin$ the /erman archbishop is not infallible, the archbishop of 2ngland is not infallible --
we can forgive them, fallible people -- what about the pope, who for centuries has been claimed by the
,hristians to be infallible( 7ow, this infallible pope blesses !ussolini for victory because .he is
fighting for -esus ,hrist and /od. -- and !ussolini and +dolf #itler are one party. Together they are
trying to win the whole world.
<erhaps the pope was hoping that if !ussolini wins then ,hristianity will have a chance to become
the universal religion. They have been trying for two thousand years to ma$e ,hristianity the universal
religion, to destroy all other religions. It is not only that ,hristianity has contributed to the idea of
war....
In -ainism there is no ;uestion of holy war.
2very war is unholy.
%ou may be fighting in the name of religion, but fighting itself is irreligious.
'uddhism has no idea of any holy war" hence, -ainism and 'uddhism have never contributed to any
single war -- and their history is very long. -ainism at least for ten thousand years has been in
e*istence and has not had a single war, holy or unholy. 'uddhism is also older than ,hristianity, five
hundred years older, and has as big a membership as ,hristianity -- because e*cept India, the whole of
+sia is 'uddhist -- but not a single war. There has not been a single instance of any 'uddhist priest
blessing any $ind of war.
Wars have been there" politicians have been there in those countries too. They have been fighting --
-apan and ,hina have been fighting and both are 'uddhist -- but neither -apanese 'uddhist priests nor
,hinese 'uddhist priests were in any way involved, not even by giving a blessing. These people show
a little bit of courage. +nd the pope seems to be absolutely hocus-pocus. #e has no guts.
In India, a few years bac$, ,hina attac$ed India. )or the first time in the whole history of India, a
-aina acharya, head of one of the -aina sects, blessed the government, the Indian government. #is
name is +charya Tulsi.
I had to fight against him, critici:ing him" I went all over the country telling people, .this man should
be defroc$ed and removed from his headship because he has committed a crime for which, in ten
thousand years, no single -aina priest has ever been blamed. This man is a politician -- this man is not
religious..
I tal$ed to +charya Tulsi and I told him, .If you had any sense of dignity you would resign from the
headship, because you have acted li$e a politician. What business was it of yours( Who has as$ed you
to bless India against ,hina( )or a religious man, political boundaries should not mean anything. India
is yours, ,hina is yours" and if they are fighting, let them fight. %ou should rather pray that this war
stops, that some wisdom comes to these fools -- both parties. That would be religious.. +nd I told him,
.%ou are acting more li$e a ,hristian pope than li$e a -aina priest..
#e was angry with me, but he had no substantial argument. I said, .+nger is not an answer to me" it is
simply an acceptance of defeat. +nd why do you go on hanging about in the capital, in 7ew 9elhi(
#as this whole, vast country no interest for you( %ou should go out to people, and you are simply
remaining in 7ew 9elhi.. There was only one reason for that: in 7ew 9elhi he had rich supporters.
-ainas are rich people, and those rich people have power over politicians. 2ven a man li$e <andit
-awaharlal 7ehru, Indira /andhis father, who was a very powerful man -- even he had to come to see
+charya Tulsi, because those -ainas could give donations to his party, in mil2 lions, and they were
pressuring him to come.
3f course, the head priest of their religion could not come to the prime minister. &o -awaharlal 7ehru
had to go to him, just because those people were the people who would be supporting him in the ne*t
election" otherwise in the ne*t election they would all turn to the opposite parties. +nd what did
+charya Tulsi do( #e was going to do the same to me but I prevented him. The -aina acharya, the
head, or the -aina mon$, is above humanity, he is a superman, so when you greet him in the t Indian
way of saluting, you do namas$ar before him with both your hands folded. #e will not answer your
namas$ar in the same way, as is e*pected from everybody else: he will just bless you with one hand.
7ow, -awaharlal had no idea of what +charya Tulsi was doing continually. #e went up to him, and
just as simple eti;uette he did namas$ar. +charya Tulsi put his hand over -awaharlals head, and the
photographer who is always there with +charya Tulsi immediately too$ a photograph!
+ calendar was immediately published and all over India was distributed free -- a beautiful colored
calendar of +charya Tulsi blessing -awaharlal, with -awaharlal standing with bowed down head and
folded hands. I saw that calendar, and I could also see in the calendar the embarrassment on
-awaharlals face and the joy on +charya Tulsis face. 'ut poor -awaharlal could not do anything -- it
all happened so ;uic$ly. The photograph had been ta$en and it would have loo$ed odd to say
something.
The same people, when I was passing through 7ew 9elhi, pestered me, saying, .%ou have to come to
see +charya Tulsi..
I said, .If he wants to see me he should come. Why should I go to him( I have no desire to see him..
Then they pestered my host. #e was an old man, and he loved me so much that he said to me, .They
are really an*ious for you to meet him, and what is the harm(.
I said, .%ou dont really $now me, and you have never seen me encountering such people. 9ont say
anything to me later on!. -- because he was also a -aina. .I am willing to come, but what will transpire
there only /od $nows, and there is no /od. In fact, nobody $nows.. When we say /od $nows, it
means nobody $nows... just a nice way of saying nobody $nows.
#e said, .7othing wrong will happen. ,ome..
I said, .%ou dont $now. I am not saying that something is e*pected from that person. 7o, I am saying
that anything that happens will come from me.. 'ut he could not understand, so we went. +ll +charya
Tulsis rich disciples were there, and he was sitting on a high pedestal. 'ut I did not do the namas$ar --
I had seen that calendar before -- I just held my hand over his head. 7ow he was embarrassed" what to
do( +nd I told the photographer, ./o on, you are not to stop. %ou do your job..
I went to the photographers studio" of course I could not get that negative. #e said, .What to do(
What you did was really a great thing! I hate this man. 'ut you did the right thing -- nobody has done
that yet. +nd this is his whole strategy. +ll politicians, presidents, prime ministers, ministers,
governors, ambassadors from other countries, are brought to him and told, This is the way to approach
him. &o those poor fellows approach him that way, and then he blesses them with the photographer
there.. The photographer said, .&omeone did the right thing for the first time" and +charya Tulsi was
in such a confusion about what to do..
7ow, when I was giving him my blessing he could not give me a blessing: he was in shoc$! +nd
when I told the photographer, he too$ the photograph. .'ut,. he said, .before I left they too$ the reel"
they forced me to give them the reel. They said,That photograph is not to go out..
'ut I told +charya Tulsi, .what are you doing here in 7ew 9elhi( +ll this show business is political.
+nd blessing India shows simply that you are not a man who joins the universal consciousness, you
live within boundaries.. 'ut this is the only instance of -aina involvement in politics, and no #indu
shan$aracharya has ever blessed a war.
7ow, ,hristianity deserves all the credit for ma$ing war, the most ugly thing in human life, holy. +nd
then behind the name of a crusade you can do everything: rape women, burn people alive, $ill
innocent children, old people -- anything. This is a blan$et term, a cover: a holy war, a crusade. 'ut
what actually happens behind it( +ll atomic weapons, nuclear weapons, are produced in the ,hristian
conte*t.
It is not that the world lac$s intelligence. If ,hina can produce ,onfucius, 5ao T:u, ,huang T:u,
!encius, 5ieh T:u, there is no reason why ,hina cannot produce an +lbert 2instein, a 5ord
4utherford. There is no reason at all, because ,huang T:u, 5ieh T:u, 5ao T:u, !encius, ,onfucius --
any of them is a thousand fold wiser than -esus or !oses. They are simply pygmies compared to these
people. If such geniuses can be created by ,hina, then there is no reason why ,hina cannot create
atomic scientists. +nd do you $now, ,hina was the first in creating the printing press( In ,hina the
printing press has been in e*istence for three thousand years.
In India, if they can produce a man li$e <atanjali, who single-handedly has produced the whole
system of yoga" if they could produce /autam the 'uddha, !ahavira the -aina, &han$ara, 7agarjuna
-- great philosophers" there is no one comparable from the West, not a single person can be held up in
comparison to /autam 'uddha. +nd it is not only philosophers. If you compare <atanjali of five
thousand years ago with any physiologist of today, you will find that the physiologist $nows nothing
compared to <atanjali.
Three thousand years ago in India, &ushrut, a great physician and surgeon, e*isted. In his boo$s he
describes the most intricate surgery that is possible only today -- even brain surgery, and with all the
instruments. If these people could produce that. what was missing( Why were they not trying to
produce atom bombs( India produced mathematics, without which no science is possible. Thats why
in all the languages you still follow the Indian digital system, because it was produced first in India:
the numbers one, two, three, four, five, si*, seven, eight, nine, ten.
In &ans$rit nine is nava, eight is asth, seven is &ans$rit sapt, si* is &ans$rit cha, three is &ans$rit thri,
2nglish two is &ans$rit dwa which became twa in 5atin, and from twa turned to two. +ll these
numbers in all the languages come from &ans$rit.
&even thousand years ago they created the basis of mathematics, but they never used their
mathematical understanding for destructive purposes. They used it for creative purposes because no
religion there was giving them the incentive to war. +ll religions were saying war is ugly -- about that
there was no dispute -- and those countries were not going to support any program, any project, any
research, which was going to lead them into war.
The first astronomical boo$ was written in India four thousand years ago. Those people were far
ahead of the West. )our thousand years ago the West did not even have a single name to mention. The
greatest names in the West are not more then twenty-five centuries old. <erhaps with &ocrates your
greatest name happens, but &ocrates was three or four thousand years later. What he said had already
been said and what he thought he was contributing to thought was not new. 3f course, to him it was
new because he was unaware that somewhere people had already tal$ed about this and had gone very
deep into it.
I am saying this to ma$e it clear to you that it is ,hristianity which is responsible for giving science
the incentive to war. If ,hristianity had created an atmosphere of non-violence, and had not called war
holy, then we would have avoided these two world wars" and without those two, certainly the third
could not happen. Those two are absolutely necessary steps for the third" they have led you already
towards the third. %ou are geared for it, and there is no possibility to come bac$, to turn bac$.
7ot only has science been corrupted by ,hristianity, ,hristianity itself has given birth to strange
ideologies, either directly, or as a reaction. In both ways it is responsible. <overty has e*isted in the
world for thousands of years, but communism is a ,hristian contribution. +nd dont be misguided by
the fact that 8arl !ar* was a -ew, because -esus was also a -ew. If a -ew can create ,hristianity.... The
conte*t of 8arl !ar* is ,hristian, it is not -ewish. The idea was given by -esus ,hrist. The moment he
said, .blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the $ingdom of /od,. he sowed the seed of
communism.
7obody has said it so straight, because to say it so straight you need a cra:y man li$e me -- who can
call a spade not only a spade but a fuc$ing spade! What is there in just calling a spade a spade(
3nce -esus created the idea that .'lessed are the poor for they shall inherit the $ingdom of /od,. it
was childs play to change it to the more practical and pragmatic communism. What !ar* says in
essence is, .blessed are the poor for theirs is the earth.. #e is simply changing some spiritual jargon
into practical politics.
.8ingdom of /od. -- who $nows whether it e*ists or not( 'ut why waste this opportunity when you
can have the $ingdom of earth( The whole of communism is based on that single statement of -esus. It
is just a little turn, throwing away the esoteric nonsense and bringing practical politics into it. %es,
blessed are the poor because theirs is the whole $ingdom of this earth -- thats what 8arl !ar* is
saying.
&trange, that nowhere else -- in the conte*t of 'uddhism, #induism, -ainism, &i$hism, Taoism or
,onfucianism -- does communism appear" it appears only in the conte*t of ,hristianity. It is not just
accidental, because you can see fascism also appears in the conte*t of ,hristianity. &ocialism, )abian
socialism, 7a:ism -- all are ,hristian children, $ids of -esus ,hrist. 2ither directly influenced by
him... because he is the man who says, .in my $ingdom of /od a camel can pass through the eye of a
needle but a rich man cannot enter through the gates..
What do you thin$ about this man( Is he not a communist( If he is not a communist then who is(
2ven 8arl !ar*, 2ngels, 5enin, &talin or !ao Tse-tung, have not made that strong a statement: + rich
man cannot enter into the $ingdom of /od. +nd you see the comparison he ma$es( It is possible for a
camel -- this is impossible -- to pass through the eye of a needle. #e says even that is possible, but the
entrance of a rich man into the $ingdom of /od is impossible. If it is impossible there, why leave them
here( -- ma$e it impossible here too. Thats what !ar* did.
In fact what theoretically -esus provided, !ar* gave a practical turn. 'ut the original theoretician was
-esus. 8arl !ar* may not have even recogni:ed it, but in no other conte*t is communism possible. In
no other conte*t is +dolf #itler possible. In India if you want to declare yourself a man of /od, you
cannot be an +dolf #itler. %ou cannot even participate in politics, you cannot even be a voter. %ou
cannot destroy millions of -ews, or millions of people belonging to other religions and still claim that
you are a reincarnation of an ancient prophet, 2lijah.
In India there have been thousands of people declaring that they are incarnations, that they are
prophets, tirthan$aras, but they have to prove it by their lives too. !aybe they are phony, most of them
are -- but even then, nobody can be an +dolf #itler and still say that he is a prophet, that he is a
religious man.
I received a threatening letter from somewhere in +merica. I had never thought about it, that there is,
in +merica, a 7a:i party. The president of the +merican 7a:i party wrote a letter to me saying, .We
have been hearing you spea$ against +dolf #itler -- that hurts our religious feeling.. I am rarely
ama:ed but I was ama:ed: their religious feeling! .'ecause to us +dolf #itler is the prophet 2lijah,
and we hope that you will not hurt our religious feeling in future..
I told &heela, .7ow I am especially going to hurt them more. I was not aware of that, that religious
feelings are hurt by spea$ing about or critici:ing +dolf #itler.. %ou cannot thin$ of this happening in
India or ,hina or -apan -- impossible 'ut in a ,hristian conte*t it is possible: not only possible, it has
already happened.
+nd if #itler had won the war, all these +mericans and all these 4ussians and all these 'ritish people
would be worshipping him as /od. #e would have been proclaimed as having overcome the world
and changed the whole of humanity into ,hristianity. +nd he would have changed it" he had the
power.
What power did poor -esus have( -- he could not save himself 'ut +dolf #itler winning the war
would have certainly changed the whole world into ,hristianity. 'ut that ,hristianity would not have
been the ,hristianity of -esus ,hrist" it would have been the ,hristianity of +dolf #itler. The 'I'52
would not have been the holy boo$ any more. #itlers autobiography, !% &T46//52 -- what do you
call it, <rasad, !2I7 8+!<)( 3$ay -- that would have been the holy boo$.
,hristianity has e*ploited more people than any other religion.
...
The second bit of news &heela brought to me was that in the XYUG fiscal year a ,hristian organi:ation,
I.,.+. -- International ,hristian +id -- collected thirty-four million dollars to help 2thiopia. 3n
television and in newspapers they advertised widely all over the world, and thirty-four million dollars
they collected. 7ot a single cent has reached 2thiopia: the whole of the money simply disappeared!
The president of I.,.+. was as$ed, .what happened to the money( Thirty-four million dollars and
nothing has reached 2thiopia(. They said, .3ur policy is not to give to the government" we send the
support from independent agencies, so we have sent the whole money through an independent agency
in )rance, an association of doctors called 9octors without 'orders..
When the president of .doctors without 'orders. was as$ed, he said, aWe have received not a single
cent, and we dont $now who these people are.. This is what ,hristianity has been doing down the
ages in the name of the poor, in the name of the orphans, in the name of hungry people.
InUE, they collected nearabout fifty-five million dollars again, and nothing is $nown what happened
to those fifty-five million dollars either.
+nd the third piece of news was just hilarious. The 3lympics that happened in 5.+. just a few months
ago was organi:ed by a ,hristian association, again to help the hungry people of 2thiopia. 2thiopia is
great! They should remain always hungry -- they help so many people. They should be $ept always
hungry. +nd of course, all the money that was going to be earned by the 3lympics was going to
2thiopia. 7obody $nows how much money was collected -- it must have been billions of dollars -- but
the whole of the money has simply disappeared!
+nd the great idea those people had! They had collected the whole of the money -- all $inds of bills,
small, big -- the way you collect wheat or other foodstuffs, in big metal cans, just li$e we collect our
own food here. It was so much money that small safes wouldnt do: it was collected in big, the largest
possible, metal containers. +nd after the 3lympics, when the containers were opened, the money was
missing.
The newspaper cutting &heela brought had a comment at the end: .<erhaps hungry rats have eaten it.
What else(. &o it has reached hungry people somehow -- if not in 2thiopia, then hungry rats here. 'ut
I dont thin$ rats are interested in eating money" and even if they eat it, they wont eat it so totally that
not even a fragment of it is left. The containers were absolutely clean. The hungry rats seem to be very
hygienic: they must have eaten the money and then cleaned up. 7ow, it is thought that perhaps a
second 3lympics should be arranged because those 2thiopian hungry people are still hungry.
These ,hristian associations and churches are serving people so desperately. They dont as$ you
whether you want to be served or not, they simply go on serving you. They remind me of the man I
have told you about, the opium addict barber in front of my house, 7atthu 8a$a.
In India it is almost a tradition, in barbers shops or hotels or tea shops, to $eep all $inds of papers,
newspapers, maga:ines. &o people come to loo$ at a maga:ine and a newspaper, and by the way when
they are there they will drin$ tea, or eat a samosa or something" while they are there reading they will
have something. &o 7atthu 8a$a used to have papers, and sometimes people would come. It would
always be only the strangers, because nobody who $new him would even come close to him. +
stranger, maybe somebody from outside the city, an agent from some company, an insurance company
or some pharmaceutical company, would enter his shop -- and he had a beautiful place -- and they
would start reading the maga:ines. Then 7atthu 8a$a would start shaving them, without even as$ing
them. #e always started from the head, and by the time the man was aware, a corner of his head would
be clean and he would say, .What are you doing!.
7atthu 8a$a would say, .9ont be worried. If you dont want to pay, dont pay" at the most, if you
dont want to pay, dont pay.. 'ut now the man could not go half-shaved -- that would be more
ridiculous -- so he would say, .What $ind of man are you(.
7atthu 8a$a would say, .There is no problem. It is just that having nobody else, I go on practicing on
anybody. +nd it is not necessary for you to pay: if you want to pay, you can pay" if you dont want to
pay it is o$ay. -ust for my practice.....
I had seen it happen so many times that I told 7atthu 8a$a, .%ou are almost a ,hristian..
#e said, .What do you mean( I am a #indu..
I said, .7o, you are not a #indu, you are a ,hristian" you dont even as$ people whether they want to
be shaved or not, you just start shaving..
,hristians have been trying to save the world -- but who has given you the authority to save anybody(
2ven if you save without as$ing for payment, who has given you the authority( 7o, they have the
authority from -esus, and -esus had the authority from /od himself I have thought many times: if
-esus had entered 7atthu 8a$as salon, 7atthu 8a$a would have shaved him free, and then -esus
would have understood that it is not right to save somebody without as$ing him.
I am not paying special attention to ,hristianity, but it deserves it. It has done so much harm, so much
nuisance. It is impossible to believe that people still go on $eeping it alive. The churches should be
demolished, the =atican should be completely removed. There is no need of these people. Whatever
they have done they have done wrong. 3ther religions have also done wrong, but proportionately they
are nothing compared to ,hristianity.
It has been e*ploiting the poverty of people to convert them to ,hristianity. %es, 'uddhism has
converted people, but not because people were hungry and you provided them food, and because you
provided them food they started feeling obliged to you. If you provide them clothes, if you provide
them other facilities -- education for their children, hospitals for their sic$ people -- naturally they feel
obliged. +nd then you start as$ing them, .what has #induism done for you( What has 'uddhism done
for you(.
7aturally, 'uddhism, #induism and -ainism have never opened a hospital, a school" they have never
done any such service. This is the only argument. +nd those people are so obliged that they feel
certainly no other religion has been of any help to them, and they become ,hristians. This is not an
honest way, this is bribing people. This is not conversion, this is buying people because they are poor.
%ou are ta$ing advantage of their poverty.
'uddhism has converted millions of people, but that was through 'uddhisms intelligence. The
conversion happened at the top. %ou will see that difference. 'uddhism converted $ings, emperors,
masters, great writers, poets and painters" and because the $ing of the society became 'uddhist, seeing
that the intelligent people, even the emperor, had become 'uddhist, others followed. 'uddhists argued
in the courts of emperors. If the emperor was a follower of some religion, the 'uddhists argued, and
they were ready, if they were defeated in argument, to be converted to the religion the emperor
followed. 'ut if the 'uddhists won, then the emperor and his whole court had to be converted to
'uddhism. This is honest, intelligible, rational procedure.
-ainas have converted emperors. Their first effort was to change the cream, the highest strata, because
that ma$es it simple: then the people who follow those people naturally understand that if their
topmost intelligentsia are becoming -ainas that means their religion is not able to argue for its
doctrines, its standpoint. 7ever before ,hristianity has this been done -- converting the lowest strata.
'ut you can see the difference. When the highest strata of the society was converted, the whole society
followed.
When the ,hinese emperor, Wu, and his court were converted to 'uddhism, just because the court
had the topmost intellectuals of the country and they were all defeated one by one -- they could not
answer -- the whole of ,hina was converted. They were ,onfucians, they were Taoists, but they were
converted" they could not answer the 'uddhist mon$. The emperor had simply to surrender -- this
seems to be a human, intelligent way -- and then the whole country followed automatically.
The emperor goes to the feet of the 'uddha, his court goes to the feet of the 'uddha" the emperors
son and daughter become mon$s and nuns of a 'uddhist order. The whole country simply understands
that what they have been following up to now, these people they were following, have proved wrong.
&omething better has arrived -- something more sophisticated, something more logical and rational. It
changed the whole society.
In India or in ,hina, or anywhere, ,hristians have approached the lowest strata. 'ut that does not
change the whole society, remember, because who bothers about those beggars you change( They are
not leaders, they are not the intelligentsia of the society" they are not even capable enough to earn food
for themselves. They are just retarded.
To be poor is not just accidental. %ou need to have certain ;ualifications to be poor, just as you need
certain ;ualifications to be rich. 2ven if you inherit riches and you dont have such ;ualities, then
within two or three generations you will be poor. It is possible that your father had the ;ualities to
create money" he created the money and you simply inherited, and you dont have any ;ualities to
create money. 4emember, either you create, or whatsoever you have will be gone soon. %ou cannot
remain static" either you grow upwards or you fall downwards -- you cannot remain in the same
position. &o you can see: the people who are rich, by the fourth generation may be poor.
+nd it is not necessary that a poor man remains poor. =ery poor people have risen to the highest
possibilities of richness. %ou need a certain caliber, a certain ;uality. To me, just as a painter is born, a
poet is born, a sculptor is born, a dancer is born, so a rich man is also born. Whether he is born in a
rich house or a poor house does not matter: he will be rich, he will find ways. 2ven in countries li$e
India where society is so stratified that mobility is almost impossible, there are people who have been
able to move.
The man who wrote Indias constitution after freedom, 9octor 'abasaheb +mbed$ar, was a sudra, an
untouchable. 'y his sheer effort and stubbornness he fought in every possible way and attained to the
best legal ;ualifications possible in his time. #e became one of the best legal e*perts in the whole
world.
The #indu society has followed a constitution written five thousand years ago by a brahmin
intellectual, !anu. #e was certainly one of the geniuses, so much so that his name, !anu, became
almost e;uivalent to intelligence. #ence in India and in 2nglish also, the word man comes from !anu.
The #indi word for man is manushya" that comes from !anu. The word for mind is man" that comes
from !anu. #e proved to be such a great giant that his name became e;uivalent to intelligence, to
humanity. 7ow, the 2nglish word human, if you derive it from the 5atin simply means mud, humus. It
is better to derive it from !anu, then it means intelligence" and certainly It does come from !anu.
!anu wrote the #indu code of life, the constitution that has been followed by #indus for five
thousand years without fail, without any change. !anu would have never thought, or dreamed even,
that one day the ne*t constitution would be written by an untouchable. !anu does not allow, in his
constitution, for an untouchable sudra -- the lowest, the fourth class [3f the society -- he does not
allow him even to read. #e is prohibited from reading because there is no need for him to read or to
write. #is wor$ is either to ma$e shoes, or to clean the latrines, clean the roads,,l and things li$e that.
They dont need great intelligence, ;ualifications, university degrees, and !anu had prohibited them
from getting them. +nd even if they somehow managed to read they were absolutely prohibited from
reading religious scriptures. The sentence was nothing less than the death penalty. +nd many
untouchables have been $illed because they were tryIng to understand the scriptures.
+mbed$ar was a sudra, but he tried hard -- he wouldnt listen to anybody. #e was ready to do
anything, or to die" these were the only alternatives. +nd he proved himself a great giant: in every
class, in every e*amination, he was always on top. +nd it was impossible to refuse him entry into a
further class" it was impossible to refuse him a scholarship, because others were lagging far behind,
there was no way. #e got all the scholarships possible.
#e went to 2ngland on a scholarship, and in 2ngland he also came top in his e*aminations. When
India became free, they could not find another person who was a better e*pert as far as law is
concerned than +mbed$ar. This is really a good slap on !anus face, that +mbed$ar wrote the
constitution of India -- a good hit to all the brahmins.
#e was the chairman of the constituent assembly. 'rahmins were only members" he was the
chairman, and whatsoever he said became the law because he was a man who could not be refuted on
legal grounds. That was impossible.
I was saying that even in a society li$e India where stratification has gone so deep that mobility is not
allowed.... It is not li$e +merica or 2urope where you can move from one profession to another
profession without any difficulty. + fisherman can become a cloth merchant, a cloth merchant can
become a university professor, a university professor can become a shoema$er, or whatsoever he
wants to. There is no problem, it is up to you what you want to do.
'ut in India that is not so. The profession is passed down from generation to generation" you inherit
it. %our father was a shoema$er, his father was a shoema$er. )rom the very beginning... perhaps +dam
was a shoema$er. +nd your children will be shoema$ers" there is no ;uestion about it. 'ut even in
such a society if a man has guts he can rise to any height.
8abir was even worse than a sudra because he was abandoned by his parents, perhaps both the
mother and father. #e was just an illegitimate child li$e -esus. <erhaps illegitimate children have a
certain ;uality of religiousness, because 8abir is in no way inferior to -esus" perhaps he may prove
superior. #e was left on the ban$ of the /anges by his mother or his father -- nobody $nows. 7obody
$nows to what caste he belonged" nobody $nows whether he was #indu or !ohammedan.
'ut he was a man of immense courage and ;uality, because being an illegitimate child in India, it is
very difficult even to e*ist. 'eing an illegitimate child, his caste is not $nown, his religion was not
$nown. #e might have been a !ohammedan, and perhaps he was a !ohammedan, because 8abir is
not a #indu name. #e was found by a #indu mon$, 4amananda.
4amananda had just gone to ta$e his morning bath, early, when it was still dar$, and he stumbled over
a child. #e brought the child bac$ with him to his ashram. !any people tried to persuade him that it
was not good: .we dont $now the childs caste, but you are a brahmin and your disciples are
brahmins" it will create unnecessary scandal and trouble for you..
#e said, .That doesnt matter. This poor child, where can I leave him( If it creates any scandal it is
perfectly o$ay. What does it matter to me( If people dont come to me, so far so good.. 4amananda
was a courageous man. <eople stopped coming to him and disciples left him because he was $eeping
somebody -- nobody $new who he was. +ll $inds of rumors started going around: .<erhaps he is his
own child,. or .Why is he so interested that he is ready to destroy his career( #e was becoming
famous all over the country as one of the greatest masters" now he is spoiling all his career..
To non-religious people, religion also appears as a career. 3nly to a religious person is religion not a
career. It is not a profession" it is your way of life, it is your very life, your very being. ,areers and
professions are very mundane and outside things.
4eligion is your very heart.
4amananda did not bother about what people were saying" he brought up 8abir. 8abir was not very
small when he was found. #e could say his name and spea$ a few words, but he had no $nowledge of
his fathers name or his mothers name. #e said if he saw them he would recogni:e them, but he did
not $now their name. <erhaps they were from some other place and they had left him in =aranasi
hoping that some compassionate person may pic$ him up. +nd by chance 8abir found a really
compassionate guide.
4amananda, in the last stage of his life, said, . have not lost anything. +Zl those disciples and scholars
were not worth a single 8abir. I have lost a great following, I became condemned, but it was worth it..
8abir proved to be a real diamond" and still everybody $new he was an illegitimate child. #e did not
$now his father or his mother, he did not $now what religion he belonged to -- and he did not care at
all.
The maulvi is the !ohammedan priest who gives the morning call from the tower near the mos;ue.
8abir says, .Is your /od deaf that you have to go up a tower and from the tower you have to shout(.
+nd that really is the ;ualification necessary for a maulvi, that he can shout. In those days there were
no loud spea$ers or things li$e that -- one had to be a loud spea$er and shout from the tower. 8abir
as$s, .Is your /od deaf(.
#e has critici:ed #indus, he has critici:ed !ohammedans, but still !ohammedans followed him,
#indus followed him. &trangely, because he had no religion, all the religions were open to him,
anybody could follow him. 'ut that people followed such a man certainly means that he had a great
charisma.
8abir lived his whole life in =aranasi.
7ow, =aranasi, for #indus is the most sacred place on the whole earth, and it certainly is the oldest
city in the world. %ou cannot find a single Indian scripture, howsoever old it is, where =aranasi is not
mentioned. It has always been there it seems. +nd if you go to =aranasi you can feel its ancientness" it
is almost an eternal city.
Its roads are so small that cars cannot move, buses are out of the ;uestion" not even an auto-ric$shaw
can be used. They are so small that only a man-pulled ric$shaw can pass through those streets. +nd
when two man-pulled ric$shaws are passing each other it is almost a miracle to see that they have not
got stuc$ to each other.
The roads are so small and the houses so ancient. Their doors are so small because in old times doors
were made small and steps were made big so thieves could not escape easily. If somebody is running
away, the small door and big steps will stop him. %ou cannot run" you have to be very careful. The
windows are small too -- you cannot get out of them or inside through them.
8abir lived his whole life in =aranasi. #indus believe that if you die in =aranasi you will be born in
heaven -- just a simple panacea. +ll religions have to find some simple thing, because there are
aesthetic practices but they will be followed only by a few idiots" anybody who has a little intelligence
is not going to follow them. To those unintelligent people you have to give some recipe, very simple.
&o if you just die in =aranasi, thats enough, because from =aranasi you cannot go anywhere else: the
route directly goes to heaven.
&o people come to die in =aranasi. In =aranasi you will find old people, old women, widows, almost
on the verge of death. %ou will not find that $ind of" crowd anywhere else in the world. They have all
come to die: they are certain now that there is not much time left, so they come to die in =aranasi.
'ut when he was sic$ and old, and was just on the verge of death, 8abir as$ed his disciples to move!
him from =aranasi and ta$e him to !agahar. !agahar is a poor village, a very small village on the
other side of =aranasi. I dont $now how it came about, but the story is that if you die in !agahar, the
road directly goes to hell. <erhaps just parallel to =aranasi you have to manage a road to hell too. +nd
!agahar is just on the other side of /anges" on this side is =aranasi. 8abir said, .I want to go to
!agahar..
#is disciples said, .+re you mad( %ou must be!.
#e said, .I have always been mad" but I cannot die in =aranasi, because if I die in =aranasi and reach
heaven then what credit is it to me( The whole credit goes to =aranasi. I am going to die in !agahar
and I am going to see how they can ta$e me to hell. I am going to die in !agahar +79 I am going to
heaven" otherwise I am going to create hell there..
+nd he insisted on moving" he forced his disciples and finally they had to ta$e him in a boat to
!agahar on the other side. #e died there -- the only man who ever came to die in !agahar in the
whole of history. #is samadhi is in !agahar, and on it is written: .I am going to heaven directly from
!agahar..
%ou will be surprised that after he died in !agahar, the story that people who die in !agahar go
directly hell disappeared, because nobody could thin$, could, conceive, that 8abir could go to hell.
This was his last, act of compassion towards the people of !agahar.
Those poor people, they would not have been able to change the story" but 8abir, dying in !agahar,
stopped the whole trouble about !agahar. &ince then nobody says that if you die in !agahar you will
go to hell, because what about the samadhi of 8abir( <eople go to worship there every year. There is a
great fair" almost the whole of =aranasi goes to the other side to pay respect to !agahar and to 8abir.
!agahar has now become a holy place just because 8abir decided to die there.
When he was in =aranasi, 8abir was as$ed to preside over the great council of #indus which once in
while meets to decide matters about scriptures and commentaries. #e was illiterate, he had never read
any scripture, but he was as$ed many times to preside. #e said, .I dont $now scriptures. I dont have
any idea what is right and what is wrong, and how scriptures should be commented or not commented
on" and what commentary will be in tune with tradition. .I have no idea..
They said, .%ou need not have. -ust your presence ma$es us feel wise.... -ust your presence, just your
being there. %ou need not say a single word, but we $now that because you are there we are not going
to ta$e any wrong decisions.. This is impossible to believe, but in =aranasi it can happen. +nd the man
was such....
&o I say it is a ;uality in you: if you persist in 'eing poor, you have a certain ;ualification for it. +
story is told in India.... What I am saying, that you born with a ;ualification to be poor or rich, was the
belief of a certain $ing. #is prime minister did not agree. #e said, .I dont thin$ that it is something to
do with ;uality. 7ow, a poor mans son -- what can he do( #e has to wor$ from his very childhood, he
cannot even play. There is no ;uestion of reading or studying" there is no time. 'y the time he is si*
years old he is already ta$ing the cows to the jungle or to the river. Whatsoever he can do, he starts
wor$ing -- carrying wood.... #e has no time, no space, no possibility.... 7o school will admit him, no
brahmin will teach him..
+ll the teachers in India used to be brahmins" even today, almost ninety percent of teachers in India
are brahmins. Traditionally that is their profession, to teach. +nd of course they are far more trained
than anybody else because from their very childhood the atmosphere has been of teaching. Their
father has been teaching, their grandfather has been teaching" it has come to them as inheritance. They
are more articulate than anybody else.
The prime minister said, .+ brahmins son, without any ;ualification, becomes a teacher or becomes a
priest. %our son will become the $ing -- he will not have to prove his ;ualifications. +nd,. the prime
minister said, .I will suggest an e*periment. + beggar passes along the bridge in front of our palace. --
there was a river, and a beautiful bridge along which a beggar in the early morning would pass. )or his
whole life he had been begging. +nd you say he could have become rich. 9oes he have a certain
;ualification to be poor and a beggar(.
The $ing said, .I still believe he does. Tomorrow we will see.. The ne*t day the $ing brought out a
big jar full of golden coins, at least enough for seven generations of beggars. This beggar was the first
man to pass by, so naturally it was put in the middle of the bridge: a golden jar, shining in the sun,
open, with gold coins in it. 7o possibility was left that he would miss it" just in the middle of the
bridge he was bound to see it. That was the place where he used to sit sometimes, but he always used
to pass by that place" wherever he sat on the bridge, he was bound to pass that place.
The $ing and the prime minister and a few other friends were waiting on the other side to see what
would happen. +nd strange to say, the beggar came onto the bridge, closed his eyes, and, wal$ing past
the golden jar without seeing it, reached the other side!
2ven the $ing was pu::led. This was not e*pected. #e had thought that his argument was going to be
finished, that the prime minister had won. The jar was so visible, so shiny, that even a blind man
would be able to find it" at least he would stumble upon it, put X in the place it was. 'ut that man
simply wal$ed slowly f by with closed eyes. +nd because his eyes were dosed he had to hold the
handrail of the bridge, so he did not even stumble upon the jar.
They all caught hold of him" he opened his eyes. They as$ed him, .what is the matter with your eyes(
We have never seen you wal$ing across the bridge with closed eyes..
The beggar said, .just as I was coming an idea came to me that if I become blind in my old age --
because my eyes are getting old and I cannot see rightly -- will I be able to pass over this bridge and
get t to the other side and sit there, even if I am blind( I thought it is better to try before" otherwise I
should change and live on the other side, because if I get blind.... &o I closed my eyes, and I am happy
that I managed to cross the bridge perfectly safely. &o even if I become blind there is no problem..
The $ing said to the prime minister, .&o what do you say now(.
The prime minister said, .7ow there is nothing to say -- you have won the argument. This man has
the ;ualification..
The poor have been there always" but to e*ploit their poverty to increase your population is sheer
politics -- ugly, mean. <olitics is a game of numbers. #ow many ,hristians you have in the world --
that is your power. The more ,hristians there are, the more power is in the hands of ,hristian priests,
the priesthood.
7obody is interested in saving anybody, but just in increasing the population. What ,hristianity has
been doing is continually issuing orders from the =atican against birth control, saying it is sin to use
birth control methods" it is sin to believe in abortion or to propagate abortion, or to ma$e it legal.
...
I am a person who impresses people and creates enemies, not friends -- that is not my policy. I would
love the whole world to be my enemy. 'ut all these people are so cowardly that they cannot honestly
even accept that they are enemies. 2very day do:ens of letters are received" they are praying for me,
that /od should forgive me. These fools! They should pray to me that I should forgive /od and them.
Why should /od forgive me( If there is going to be any trouble I am ready to ta$e it.
3ne thing is certain: whether /od forgives me or not, I am not going to forgive #im. &o they should
pray to me, not to /od. They dont understand what they are saying. They go on writing letters, .We
pray to /od that #e should forgive you for what you are saying..
There is no
/od.
I am spea$ing
against
nobody.
That s why I
am enjoying it,
because if
there was a
/od do you
thin$ I would
enjoy it( It
would be
trouble
It is sheer
enjoyment --
no trouble at
all.
3&#3,
+42 T#2
#35%
&,4I<T642& -6&T 6&252&&( +79 +42 T#2% #35% 34 73T(
T#2 holy scriptures are not just useless, they are absolutely harmful. If they were just useless there
would be no need to be concerned with them. They are positively harmful. They are preventing people
from becoming religious because they ma$e people $nowledgeable, and people start thin$ing that
$nowledgeability is wisdom, it is enlightenment. 'ecause they $now about great words, theological
doctrines, dogmas, philosophies, naturally they thin$, What else is there to $now( %ou have crammed
the whole 'I'52 or /IT+ or 834+7" then what else is there( +nd by cramming the 834+7, the
/IT+, or the 'I'52, you have not gained anything.
&o the holy scriptures are not just useless. If they were useless there would be no harm: they could be
preserved in libraries where many other useless boo$s are preserved. I have read so many useless
boo$s -- but they have to be preserved. They are useless only, they are not harmful.
'ut about holy scriptures I cannot say that they should be preserved. They should be completely
destroyed. +s far as you are concerned, at least within you, you should ma$e a bonfire of all holy
scriptures, because unless you burn all that nonsense you will never be able to $now your innocence,
you will never be able to $now the beauty of your ignorance. +nd out of that innocent ignorance arises
$nowing. It is not out of $nowledge that $nowing comes.
8nowledge hinders $nowing because it pretends to be $nowing.
Ignorance is sincere, honest. It has no pretensions about it: it simply is ignorance.
+nd because it is honest, true, sincere, it opens you, ma$es you available to $now" ma$es you capable
of seeing. %our eyes are no more covered with $nowledge, thic$ garbage.
7o, the holy scriptures are not just useless, they are positively harmful.
+nd you as$ me: are they holy( %es, they are one hundred percent holy: fifty percent holy cow dung
fifty percent holy bullshit!
-ust the other
day one
underground
sannyasin has
been sent by
the court in
/ermany to an
insane asylum.
+nd all that
she has done
was that she
was stic$ing
posters around
the city saying
that
,hristianity is
the greatest
crime against
humanity. &he
was caught and
brought to the
court and the
judge said, .It
is criminal to
hurt peoples feelings..
The young woman must have been of immense courage. &he said, .If truth hurts peoples feelings
what are you going to choose( <eoples feelings or the truth( Whatever I have written in the posters, I
can prove it. +nd unless you disprove it you have no right to send me to jail..
It is a truth that ,hristianity has committed immense crimes, and goes on committing them. +nd
,hristianity is not alone in it. #induism, !ohammedanism, -ainism, 'uddhism -- even these soft
religions, -ainism and 'uddhism -- go on committing crimes.
Instead of sending her to jail the judge ordered that she should be put in a mental asylum. To spea$
the truth is the greatest crime. In fact the judge should have been put into the mental asylum. #e has
no grounds to refute her, and he cannot say that truth has to be repressed because it hurts some stupid
people who are clinging to lies.
'ut this goes on happening around the world. 7ot a single protest has been made against the
treatment of the young woman" neither has anybody protested against the judge. It has been ta$en for
granted... we have ta$en for granted so many things which are not so.
/overnments are against me because I am against them. 4eligions are against me because I am against
religions. <olitical leaders are annoyed with me because I say they are mediocre, because I say only
psychologically sic$ people become interested in power politics. <eople who suffer from an inferiority
comple* are the people who see$ power, prime ministership, presidency.

These people need to be in psychiatric hospitals, and they are running the world.

I am against all religions because I am for religiousness, and religions are barriers to creating a
humanity with a ;uality of religiousness.

+ ,hristian is not needed, nor a #indu, nor a !ohammedan. These are the barriers to religious
progress. What is needed is truthfulness, sincerity, silence, lovingness... a life of joy, playfulness... a
life of deep search, in;uiry into ones consciousness. +nd these ;ualities have nothing to do with
,hristianity or -udaism or -ainism or 'uddhism.

!editation is needed, but meditation is nobodys monopoly.

7aturally, all religions are against me, annoyed. 'ecause I am the first man in the whole of history
who is saying that religions are the barriers preventing humanity from becoming religious. They are
not the vehicles of /od, they are the enemies of /od. <opes and +yatollah 8homeinis and
shan$aracharyas -- these are not the representatives of /od" they may be representatives of the devil.
'ecause these are the people who have divided humanity, and who for centuries have been
continuously creating conflicts, bloodshed, wars, crusades, jihad, holy war, and all $inds of nonsense.

In the name of religion, these people are oppressing humanity.
'253=29 3&#3,
W#+T I& ,I=I5I>+TI37(

!ilarepa, civili:ation has not happened yet. It is a false idea that we are civili:ed people -- civili:ed
people and continuously preparing for war(
2ven the animals dont eat, dont $ill their own species. It is only man who $ills his own species -- no
lion will $ill another lion, no dog will $ill another dog. 7o lion will eat another lion. !an is the only
one who can be a cannibal. There are still small groups around the world in isolated places who are
cannibals. They are remnants of the past, but they are still there.
In +frica there is a small cannibal colony in the thic$ forest. There used to be three thousand at the
beginning of this century" now they are only three hundred because, when they cannot find anybody
else, they have to eat somebody from their own group. They are getting reduced in numbers -- they eat
their own children, they eat their own parents. 3nce in a while they get a ,hristian missionary, but that
is very rare.
3nce they caught a very fat ,hristian missionary and they were immensely happy. There was dancing
and celebration, a big pot on the fire was boiling and the ,hristian missionary as$ed, .What is this
celebration for( I have come here to give you a taste of ,hristianity..
They said, .%ou wait, soon we will have the first taste of ,hristianity..
#e said, .#ow are you going to have the first taste of ,hristianity if I dont give it to you(.
They said, .9ont be worried, you will have to give it..
#e said, .I dont understand what you are tal$ing about..
They said, .5oo$ at that fire and the big pot. We will put you in the pot. When the water is hot
enough, we will ma$e a soup of you and that will be our first taste of ,hristianity!.

3nce perhaps the whole of humanity was cannibal.
In emergency situations one falls bac$. )or e*ample, when there was a famine in 'engal, people were
found eating their own children. %ou cannot conceive it, but rather than die it seems to be logical and
rational to eat your own children. Those who were not able to do such a thing sold their children,
$nowing perfectly well that the people who were purchasing their children would eat them. +nd with
the money they purchased other peoples children. This way they protected their conscience a little bit,
but not much, because it was absolutely clear what was going to happen.
In emergency situations man shows his real face" otherwise our civili:ation is only a mas$.
In a civili:ed humanity a few things are absolutely necessary. 3ne: there should be no possibility of
war because it is life-destructive. +nd a civili:ed humanity will have the sensitivity not to destroy life
in any form.
/eorge 'ernard &haw had around his house a beautiful garden where he had collected e*otic roses
from different countries, different colors, different fragrances. + friend had come to see him and he
saw the roses. #e could not believe that there were so many colors and so many different fragrances.
When he went inside he as$ed 'ernard &haw, .%ou have such beautiful flowers, but you dont put
them in a flowerpot inside your sitting room(.
'ernard &haw said, .I am a civili:ed man. I love children, but that does not mean I should cut off
their heads and decorate my sitting room with them. I love roses, but that does not mean that I have to
cut the living flower from its life source and put it here in my sitting room. That would be uncivili:ed
behavior..
2ven to cut a flower is uncivili:ed behavior, what to say about people li$e /enghis 8han, who $illed
forty million people" Tamerlane, who $illed thirty million people" 7adir &hah, he again $illed forty
million people, and statistics are not available about many others. +le*ander the /reat, 7apoleon
'onaparte, Ivan the Terrible ... no data is available, but they must have $illed more people than
/enghis 8han, Tamerlane, 7adir &hah. 9ata is available on -oseph &talin, +dolf #itler, 'enito
!ussolini, and they were not very far away from our present time, just forty years ago. They $illed
millions of people for no reason at all.
This destructiveness is a death-oriented ideology and it is so deeply rooted in our minds that it $eeps
us below the animals.
!an, !ilarepa, is not yet civili:ed. #is civili:ation will begin by dropping war, by dropping nations.
What is the need of nations if you are not going to fight( 7ations are needed for wars. Why create
these stupid lines on the map of the world(
The world is one. There are no natural lines dividing nations. Then why do you go on( There is a deep
desire to dominate and there are so many people in the world to dominate: they need many nations.
3therwise just a single government, a functional government for the whole world will be enough.
What is the need of so many laws, if man is civili:ed( What is the need of so many courts, jails, so
many legal advisers, if man is civili:ed( + civili:ed man will not commit murders, a civili:ed man
will not rape women ... but we $eep this whole paraphernalia of courts, laws, constitutions, legal
e*perts" for whom(
!an is still a criminal. +nd these jails, these judges and these laws prevent nothing. -ails go on
growing, judges go on increasing -- more and more of them" more courts, more legal e*perts,
thousands of colleges around the world producing legal e*perts every year. 'ut even they cannot
manage, for the criminals increase at a faster rate, and they dont have a college, they are not educated.
&omething is basically wrong, something is missing. What is missing( I call it meditation.
3nly meditation can ma$e humanity civili:ed, because meditation will release your creativity and
ta$e away your destructiveness. !editation will bring your compassion and will ta$e away your
cruelty. !editation will ma$e you responsible to your own being and then you cannot be a criminal.
To be a criminal needs great unconsciousness. !editation destroys your unconsciousness, opens the
doors of light and suddenly what you were doing in the dar$ness starts disappearing.
+ civili:ation can be based only on meditation. The only people who have been civili:ed were people
who were in touch with their own being: a /autam 'uddha, a &ocrates, a <ythagoras, a 5ao T:u" these
people are civili:ed. 3nly individuals once in a while have been found civili:ed, but the collective
mass is still far below the standard of civili:ation.
It has to happen!
+nd !ilarepa, those who are with me, they have to create the foundation for a civili:ation, for a
civili:ed humanity, by becoming themselves civili:ed.

It was the night before the wedding, and young #erschel /oldberg is having a drin$ with !oishe
)in$elstein, his future father-in-law.
&oon the conversation turns to 4uthie, the bride-to-be.
.Well,. says !oishe, a little the worse for drin$, .are you going to be a man and do it tonight, or are
you going to be a mouse and wait until tomorrow night(.
'efore he can stop himself, #erschel blurts out, .I guess I am a rat, sir -- I did it last wee$..

These are your civili:ed people.

3n honeymoon, the young )rench bride is becoming e*hausted by her ardent eighty-year-old
husband. 9uring a short lull, while he is shaving, she snea$s out and staggers into the hotel coffee-
shop downstairs.
.I dont get it,. says her friend, the waitress. .#ere you are, a teenage bride with an ancient husband,
and you loo$ a wrec$. What happened(.
.The old goat double-crossed me,. sobs the bride. .#e told me he had been saving up for si*ty years,
and I thought he was tal$ing about money!.

-ust loo$ around, loo$ at peoples behavior and you will be surprised. This idea that we have become
civili:ed is very dangerous. It is preventing us from being civili:ed, because once you accept that you
are civili:ed there is no need to wor$ for civili:ation. 3nce you accept you are healthy, there is no
need to remove any sic$ness that you may be suffering from. The first thing to be recogni:ed is that
you are sic$! Then only can something be done for your health. 'ut if you deny sic$ness, which has
been done for centuries by your so-called politicians ... They deny that we are uncivili:ed people, they
say we are civili:ed people.
+nd this camouflage prevents us from being civili:ed. We have completely accepted the idea and
forgotten that we have to see whether it is true or not. It is certainly not true. 6nless each man comes
to the consciousness of a /autam 'uddha, there is no ;uestion of civili:ation.
+fter I left +merica, the 6.&. attorney for 3regon gave a press conference in which he was as$ed,
.Why have you let 3sho go -- and not jailed him(.
+nd the 6.&. attorney said, .There are three reasons: one, our priority was to destroy his commune
and we could not destroy it if we had not deported him..
'ut why should they be interested in destroying the commune( The commune was not hurting
anybody. It was the most civili:ed group of people in the whole world. )ive thousand people living for
five years together in a desert, with no rape, no madness, no stealing, no murder, no suicide. +nd
people were so happy and so joyous. Why was the 6.&. attorney interested in destroying the
commune( In fact the commune became a pain in their nec$. They could see what is possible. 7o
court, no laws, no army, no police and yet five thousand people are living peacefully, lovingly,
understandingly.
This was hurting the politicians of +merica, because soon people would start comparing: .Why is it
not happening all over +merica(. That was their number one priority -- to destroy the commune.
.&econd,. he said, .we did not want 3sho to become a martyr..
It implies that they had the intention to murder me, but they were afraid that murdering me would
mean creating a new ,hristianity.
If the -ews had not crucified -esus there would not have been any ,hristianity at all. Thats why I
never li$e to call it ,hristianity. I call it ,rossianity. It has nothing to do with -esus, it has everything
to do with the cross. +nd you can see that cross hanging around the nec$s of all the missionaries and
the bishops and the cardinals and the priests and the pope. The cross is the center. +nyway ,hrist was
a -ew! +nd he always remained a -ew. #e had never even heard the word T,hristian. #e died a -ew.
'ut the cross created a great sympathy towards him.
That was the fear, that if they assassinate me, the danger is that sannyas will become a far more solid
movement around the world.
'ut there was every desire, otherwise he would not have mentioned it. Whatever you say shows not
what you are saying but what is hidden behind it. !entioning that, .We did not want 3sho to become
a martyr,. shows the desire that if it had been possible without ma$ing me a martyr they would have
certainly preferred to assassinate me. 'ut he said, .We will do everything to silence him..
+nd they did everything to silence me. Twenty-four countries they influenced not to allow me in their
territories. The Indian government is under their pressure, ma$ing every effort ... They cannot do
anything to me, but they can do one thing: they can ensure that no news media reaches me, that no
see$ers from outside India reach me. They are ma$ing all $inds of efforts to prevent people coming to
me. 7aturally I will be silenced. It will be e;uivalent to $illing me without a cross.
+nd the third thing is the most interesting that he said. #e said, .!oreover 3sho has not committed
any crime" we dont have any proof, we dont have any evidence..
This recognition by the 6.&. attorney for 3regon ... and still I was fined four hundred thousand
dollars! They dont have any proof and they dont have any evidence, they dont thin$ I have
committed any crime. )or what have I been fined( +nd they $now perfectly well, I dont have a single
dollar. I have not touched money for almost thirty-five years!
<erhaps they were hoping that because I dont have any possessions ... how was I going to pay(
+lmost half a million dollars! &o naturally, if I could not pay them they would have an e*cuse to put
me in jail for at least twenty years, thirty years.
+nd you call this world a civili:ed world( +nd for what did they deport me( They did not allow me
even to stay a single night! I was ordered from the court directly to the airport" my jet was ready, its
engine was $ept running. .%ou move out of +merica immediately..
What was the problem( Why could I not stay at least for the night( The reason was they were afraid I
might appeal to the higher court, I might go up to the &upreme ,ourt. It was better to throw me out of
+merica, so I could not do that.
+nd this is a civili:ed world! +nd +merica is very proud of its civili:ation. +bsolutely innocent
people are being tortured. Thirty million people in +merica are beggars. They are just on the street,
with no food, no shelter, no clothes" they dont $now from where they are going to get their food
tomorrow. +nd e*actly the same number -- a strange coincidence -- thirty million +mericans are
suffering from too much weight. They are loo$ed after in the hospitals, because they cannot be left
alone in their houses. 9evageet was right that in the middle of the night they empty the fridge.
Thirty million people are dying of overfeeding and thirty million people are dying without food. Is
this civili:ation( ,ant a simple understanding be there: .9ont eat too much and what remains can
save thirty million people(. 7ot eating too much is going to save the other thirty million who are
dying of starvation. +s they go on eating, si*ty million people are unnecessarily dying.
%ou call this an intelligent world, a civili:ed world, a cultured world( 7o, I refuse! + hundred times
73! This world is not yet civili:ed. It needs civili:ation, certainly. 'ut up to now no effort has been
made to civili:e it.
+nd strange things go on happening. I have been continuously receiving letters from sannyasins from
all over the world that they want to come, but the moment they mention Tmeditation, that they are
going to India for meditation, the Indian embassies refuse them. They say, .India is not for
meditation.. +nd for almost ten thousand years India has been the center of meditation, and pilgrims
from all over the world have always moved towards India in search of meditation.
7ow who are these idiots who are preventing people from coming to India because they want to learn
meditation( They are allowing people who want to see the ruins of old forts, castles, caves. Thats
perfectly o$ay, you are a tourist. 'ut if you are going to learn meditation, you are not to be allowed.
The fear is that if you are going to learn meditation you will end up in <oona. +nd this is the only
effort which is being made on a large scale around the world to ma$e people civili:ed. 'ut no
politician wants people to be civili:ed. 7o country wants people to be civili:ed. They want a pretense,
a hypocrisy, but not a deeper transformation.
We have to create that revolt around the world. It is not against anybody, it is against your own false
ideas, your false personality, your mas$s. %ou have to discover your original face, you have to
discover your authenticity and you will be creating a small energy field. Whoever comes close to you
will feel the flavor of civili:ation, of culture, of humanness, and if you go really deep into your being
you can radiate something which is the only argument and the only proof that the world is not dead,
that it is alive, it is intelligent, it is divine.
+ll religions should disappear from the world. 3nly religiousness is enough. +nd religiousness need
not be organi:ed: it is each individuals communion with the universe. There is no need of ,hristians
or #indus or !ohammedans. There is only need of religious people, see$ers, lovers of meditation,
dropping all their mas$s, courageous enough to e*pose their original face to the world.
When the world has its original face, it will be a civili:ed world, !ilarepa, not before that.
To i p\rin ii ] i fac
speran e i prin
aceste speran e ] i
distrug copiii.
Trebuie s\ te
elibere:i de p\rin i.
+ a cum ]ntr-o :i
ie i din p^ntecul
mamei... 9up\ Y
luni, copilul ] i
p\r\se te mama.
3ric^t de golit\ s-ar sim i, copilul trebuie s\ p\r\seasc\ trupul ei. =ine i o alt\ :i ]n via \, c^nd
copilul va p\r\si a tept\rile p\rin ilor. 9e-abia atunci, pentru prima oar\, va deveni o fiin \ cu
propriile drepturi, pe propriile picioare. +tunci va deveni cu adev\rat liber. 9ac\ p\rin ii sunt aten i i
]n eleg\tori, ] i vor ajuta copilul s\ devin\ liber c^t mai repede. 7u-l vor condi iona pentru a-l folosi,
ci ]l vor ajuta s\ tr\iasc\ ]n iubire. + a se va na te o lume nou\, ]n care oamenii vor munci din iubire.
T^mplarul va munci pentru c\ iube te lemnul. <rofesorul va preda pentru c\ iube te ]nv\ \tura.
,i:marul va face pantofi pentru c\-i place meseria. 9ar acum se ]nt^mpl\ ceva foarte neclar. ,i:marul
a devenit chirurg, iar chirurgul a devenit ci:mar. +m^ndoi sunt furio i. T^mplarul este politician,
politicianul este t^mplar. i ei sunt furio i. Toat\ e*isten a pare s\ fie furioas\. 6ita i-v\ ]n jur, la
fe ele oamenilor: unul e mai furios dec^t altul. )iecare pare a nu fi acolo unde trebuie. 7iciunul nu se
simte ]mplinit, nu- i simte utilitatea, i acest lucru ]l obsedea:\.

+m au:it odat\ o poveste frumoas\:
9oamna /insberg, ajuns\ ]n 4ai, ]l ]ntreab\ pe ]ngerul de la registratur\:
F &pune-mi, a putea s\ m\ ]nt^lnesc cu cineva care este aici, ]n 4ai(
F 9esigur, r\spunde ]ngerul, dac\ persoana pe care o c\uta i se afl\ aici...
F ,um s\ nu, sunt sigur\ c\ e aici. 2ste vorba de )ecioara !aria.
_ngerul ] i drese vocea:
F !da, dumneaei se afl\ ]n alt sector, dar dac\ insista i, pot ]nainta cererea. 2ste o doamn\ plin\ de
bun\tate i poate c\ va dori s\ revad\ aceste locuri.
,ererea fu ]naint\ cu ]ncetineala func ion\reasc\ obi nuit\, iar )ecioara se dovedi, ]ntr-adev\r, plin\
de bun\tate. 7u peste mult\ vreme, doamnei /insberg i se f\cu onoarea i bucuria de a se afla ]n
pre:en a )ecioarei. 9oamna /insberg privi ]ndelung chipul radiind de lumin\ care-i st\tea ]nainte,
apoi spuse:
F Ierta i-mi curio:itatea, dar mi-am dorit mereu s\ pot pune aceast\ ]ntrebare. ,um a i f\cut s\ ave i
un fiu at^t de minunat, pe care milioane de oameni ]l venerea:\ ca pe un dumne:eu(
)ecioara r\spunse:
F 9oamn\ /insberg, noi am sperat c\ va fi doctor...

<\rin ii ]ntotdeauna sper\, iar speran ele lor devin otr\vitoare. 2u v\ spun: iubi i-v\ copiii i da i-le
sentimentul c\ au fost dori i a a cum sunt. 2i n-au venit pe lume ca s\ v\ ]ndeplineasc\ vou\
dorin ele. 9ac\ vor face un lucru sau altul, nu trebuie s\ v\ :druncine dragostea pe care le-o purta i.
+ceasta este necondi ionat\. +tunci va ap\rea o lume complet nou\. 3amenii se vor ]ndrepta automat
spre lucrurile care le plac, ] i vor g\si calea spre a se ]mplini. 9oar dac\ e ti ]mplinit, dac\ ceea ce
faci nu este numai o profesie, ci voca ia ta, chemarea ta, doar atunci vei putea avea fa \ de p\rin i
sentimente po:itive. _n ca: contrar, ei sunt cau:a e*isten ei tale mi:erabile. 7u le po i fi recunosc\tor
i nici nu ai pentru ce. 7umai ]mplinit vei fi recunosc\tor. Iar ]mplinirea e posibil\ numai dac\ nu vei
deveni un obiect. Trebuie s\ devii o fiin \. Trebuie s\ devii o valoare ]n sine. 9estinul t\u este s\ devii
un om ]mplinit.

Tat\l insist\: `Trebuie s\ m\ iube ti, sunt tat\l t\uB, iar copilul trebuie s\ se prefac\. 9e fapt, nu-i
obligatoriu s\- i iubeasc\ nici mama. 2ste un lucru natural ca mama s\ aib\ un sentiment instinctiv de
iubire pentru copilul ei, dar invers nu este neap\rat la fel de valabil. ,opilul nu- i iube te mama din
instinct. ,\ are nevoie de mam\ este altceva, c\ se folose te de mam\ este, iar\ i, cu totul altceva.
9ar nicio lege a naturii nu spune c\ trebuie s\ o iubeasc\. 3 place pentru c\ ]l ajut\, pentru c\ f\r\ ea
nu se poate descurca. + a c\ ]i este recunosc\tor i-i poart\ respect, ceea ce e normal. 9ar iubirea este
cu totul altceva.

Iubirea curge ]n jos, de la mam\ la copil, i nu invers. 5ucrurile sunt simple: iubirea copilului este
pentru el ]nsu i, iar atunci c^nd va cre te, va fi pentru copilul lui, nu invers. /angele curge spre
ocean, nu invers, spre i:voare. !ama este i:vorul, iar iubirea curge c\tre genera ia nou\. + o ]ntoarce
]napoi este un act for at, nenatural, nebiologic.
,opilul trebuie s\ se prefac\, pentru c\ mama spune: `&unt mama ta, trebuie s\ m\ iube tiB. i atunci
ce face copilul( &e preface, i astfel devine politician. )iecare copil devine un politician ]nc\ din
leag\n. ,^nd intr\ mama ]n camer\, :^mbe te ca un veritabil pre edinte american. Trebuie s\
:^mbeasc\ chiar dac\ nu simte bucurie. 9eschide gura, ] i mi c\ bu:ele. +cest lucru ]l ajut\, e o
metod\ de supravie uire. Iubirea e fals\. i c^nd ai g\sit cea mai ieftin\ i mai mecanic\ form\ de
iubire, e greu s-o mai descoperi pe cea ideal\, original\, autentic\.
+poi trebuie s\- i iube ti surorile, fra ii, neamurile... f\r\ un motiv anume. 9e fapt, c^ i ] i iubesc
sora i pentru ce( +cestea sunt doar idei f\cute s\ in\ familia unit\.

Tot acest proces de falsificare te aduce la un moment dat ]n punctul de a te ]ndr\gosti tot printr-o fals\
iubire. +i uitat ce e iubirea. Te ]ndr\goste ti de culoarea p\rului cuiva. ,e are asta cu iubirea( 9up\
dou\ :ile, nici n-o mai ve:i. Te ]ndr\goste ti de o form\ a ochilor sau a nasului. 9ar dup\ luna de
miere, toate astea te vor plictisi. i atunci va trebui s\ te descurci cumva. ,um( !in ind, ]n el^nd.
&pontaneitatea ta e otr\vit\, altfel n-ai putea s\ te ]ndr\goste ti pe buc\ i. Iar tu nu ve:i dec^t p\r ile.
9ac\ te ]ntreab\ cineva de ce iube ti o anumit\ femeie sau un anumit b\rbat, vei r\spunde: ` <entru c\
e at^t de frumoas\!B ori `_mi plac ochii lui, p\rul, propor iile corpuluiB sau mai tiu eu ce... Toate
astea sunt prostii. +ceast\ iubire nu este profund\ i nu are valoare. 7u va deveni intimitate deplin\.
7u va dura o via \, se va usca foarte repede, pentru c\ este superficial\. +ceast\ iubire nu este
i:vor^t\ din inim\, ci doar un fenomen al min ii. <oate c\ arat\ ca o actri \ i de aceea ] i place de ea,
dar a pl\cea nu e totuna cu a iubi. Iubirea este un fenomen diferit, nedefinit, misterios.
+m fost ]ntrebat dac\ n-ar trebui s\ iubim c^t de mult putem. ,rede i c\ iubirea e totuna cu a munci
p^n\ ca:i lat( +ici nu este vorba de ceva ce `trebuieB s\ faci, ci de un fenomen al inimii. 2ste
transcenderea min ii i a corpului. 7u este pro:\, ci poe:ie. 7u este matematic\, ci mu:ic\. 7u o faci,
e ti ea. Iubirea nu se face, ea este. To i ace ti `trebuieB apas\ greu asupra spontaneit\ ii tale. Iubirea
nu `trebuieB, ea nu poate fi comandat\. 7u te po i for a s\ iube ti c^t de mult po i. 2*act asta
]ncearc\ oamenii s\ fac\ i de aceea lipse te iubirea din lume...
&I7,2 I #+=2 '227 #242, I #+=2 53&T !% +'I5IT% T3 ,37,27T4+T2. IT I& #+49
)34 !2 T3 6TT24 + 53/I,+5 &27T27,2. +79 I #+=2 '2,3!2 =24% )34/2T)65. I
)225 !%&25) +& + &T6<I9 ,#I59. I& T#+T T#2 W+% T3 !2 I7T255I/27,2 %36 T+58
+'36T(

The ability to concentrate is not something to feel blessed about. It is a fro:en state of mind, a very
narrow state of mind. 6seful, of course, useful -- for others. 6seful in scientific in;uiry, useful in
business, useful in the mar$et, useful in politics -- but absolutely useless for yourself. If you become
too attuned with concentration you will become very, very tense. ,oncentration is a tense state of
mind" you will never be rela*ed. ,oncentration is li$e a torch, focused, and consciousness is li$e a
lamp, unfocused.
!y whole effort here is to teach you consciousness, not concentration. +nd this is the point to be
remembered: if you become conscious, any moment you want to concentrate on a particular problem,
you can. It is not a problem. 'ut if you become too focused with concentration the vice versa is not
true: you cannot rela*. + rela*ed mind can always concentrate. easily, there is no trouble about it. 'ut
a focused mind becomes obsessed. narrow. It is not easy for it to rela* and leave the tension. It
remains tense.
If you meditate. first concentration will disappear and you will be feeling a little at a loss. 'ut if you
go on, by and by you will attain to an unfocused state of light -- thats what meditation is. 3nce
meditation is attained. concentration is childs play -- whenever you need to, you can concentrate.
There will be no problem about it and it will be easy and without any tension.
4ight now, you are being used by society. &ociety wants efficient people. It is not worried about your
soul, it is worried about your productivity. I am not worried about your productivity: man has already
too much, more than he can enjoy -- there is no need to go on producing more. 7ow there is more
need to play around more and there is more need to be more conscious. &cience has developed
enough. 7ow, whatsoever science is doing is almost futile. 7ow, going to the moon is simply useless.
'ut tremendous energy is wasted. Why( 'ecause scientists are now obsessed -- they have to do
something. They have learned a tric$ of concentration and they have to do something. They have to
produce, they have to go on producing something -- they cannot rela*. They will go to the moon, they
will go to !ars, and they will persuade people that whatsoever they are doing is tremendously
important. It is absolutely useless. 'ut this happens.
3nce you become trained in a certain thing, you go on in that line, blind, unless a cul de sac comes
and you cannot go on anymore. 'ut life is infinite. There comes no cul de sac. %ou can go on and on
and on.
+nd now scientific activity has almost become ridiculous.
4eligious activity is totally different. It is not worried about being more efficient" the whole point is
how to be more joyful, how to be more celebrating. &o if you be with me, by and by, concentration
will rela*. +nd in the beginning you will feel afraid because you will see your s$ill disappearing, your
efficiency disappearing. %ou will feel you are losing something that you have gained with so much
effort. In the beginning it will happen. The ice is melting and becoming water. The ice was solid,
something concentrated" now it is water -- loose, rela*ed, flowing in all directions. 'ut anytime you
need ice, the water can be turned into ice again. There is no problem -- just a little more cooling is
needed.
This is my own e*perience. Whatsoever I say, I say from my own e*perience -- the same has
happened to me. )irst, concentration disappeared" but now I can concentrate on anything. There is no
problem. 'ut I dont remain in concentration" I can concentrate and rela* -- whenever the need arises.
-ust as whenever the need arises, you wal$" you dont sit on the chair and go on moving your 5egs.
There are a few people who go on moving because they cannot sit rela*ed -- you will call this man
restless!
5egs in perfect order are needed so that whenever you need to, you can wal$, you can run. 'ut when
there Is no need, you can rela*, and the legs will no longer be functioning.
'ut your concentration has become almost as focused as if you are continuously preparing for an
3lympic! 4unners in an 3lympic cannot rela*. They have to run a particular amount every morning
and evening" they are continuously on the go. If they rela* for a few days they will lose their s$ill. 'ut
I call all 3lympics political, ambitious, foolish. There is no need.
,ompetition is foolish. There is no need. If you enjoy running -- perfectly good. 4un. and enjoy. 'ut
why compete( What is the point of competition( ,ompetition brings illness, unhealthiness"
competition brings jealousy, and a thousand and one diseases.
!editation will allow you to concentrate whenever the need arises, but if there is no need you will
remain rela*ed, flowing in all directions li$e water.

IT I& #+49 )34 !2 T3 6TT24 + 53/I,+5 &27T27,2.
)eel blissful, blessed. What is the point of uttering logical sentences! 6tter nonsense" ma$e sounds,
gibberish, li$e birds... 5i$e trees! J+t this moment a nearby tree decided, with the help of a passing
bree:e, to illustrate 3shos words by sha$ing its branches and causing hundreds of leaves to fall with
loud rustling sounds to the ground.K 5oo$! This way! Is this logical( The tree is enjoying. 9elighting.
&imply shedding away the past.
9elight. &ing. 6tter sounds. )orget all logic! +nd by and by you will become more alive. 5ess logical
of course that is the price one has to pay -- but you become dead if you become more logical and you
become more alive if you become less logical.
5ife is the goal, not logic. What are you going to do with logic( If you are hungry, logic is not going
to feed you" if you need love, logic is not going to hug you" if you are thirsty, logic will tell you that
water is #VI! It is not going to give you water, real water. 7o. It simply functions in formulas,
ma*ims.
5oo$ at life, and by and by you will understand that life has its own very logical logic. 'e attuned to
it and that will become the door for your ecstasy, samadhi, nirvana.

+79 I #+=2 '2,3!2 =24% )34/2T)65.
<erfectly good! If you can forget, you will be able to remember more. )orgetfulness is a great
capacity -- it simply means getting the past dusted off. There is no need to remember everything that
happens because almost ninety-nine per cent of it is trivia. What do you go on remembering(
-ust thin$... what do you go on remembering( Write it down and just loo$ at it. It is trivia. What goes
on in your mind( %ou will not be able to show it to your intimate friend because he will thin$ you are
mad. This goes on in your mind(
It is good. )orget. )orgetfulness is a great capacity because it will allow you to remember. It is part of
remembrance. The useless has to be forgotten so that the useful is remembered -- and the useful is
very, very small, the useless iH too much. In twenty-four hours, millions of bits of information are
collected by the mind. If you collect them and remember them all, you will be mad.
I have heard about a man. #e was once presented to the /overnor-/eneral in India because he was a
man of rare memory. #e $new only one language, 4ajasthani-#indi. #e was a poor man, uneducated,
but if you told him anything in any language, he would never forget it. 'ut he would repeat it li$e a
parrot, not $nowing what it meant.
To the /overnor-/enerals palace he was called, and the /overnor-/eneral was surprised to hear
about his capacity. Thirty other persons were called, and in thirty languages they uttered a few
sentences. It was arranged in the following manner: the man would go to the first person, and the first
person would say the first word of his sentence. Then he would go to another person and he would say
the first word of his sentence, in another language. Then he will go to the third. In this way he would
go to thirty people. Then he would come bac$ to the first who would now say his second word. This
was repeated -- many rounds, many hours it too$. +nd then he repeated all the sentences separately.
The /overnor-/eneral was simply pu::led. #e could not believe it.
'ut this man went mad.
This much memory is dangerous. This type of person is almost always idiotic.
Too much memory is not a good sign" it simply says that you have a very mechanical mind. It is not a
sign of intelligence. #ence you hear so many stories of absent-mindedness about great scientists,
philosophers. They are people of great memory, and great intelligence has nothing to do with great
memory. !emory is mechanical, intelligence is non-mechanical -- they are totally different.
&o dont be worried. It is good. The memory is rela*ing, many things will disappear, space will be
created in you. +nd in that space you will be able to become more brilliant, more intelligent, more
understanding. Intelligence means understanding" memory means a ;uality, a mechanical ;uality of
repetition. <arrots have good memories. 9ont be worried about your memory. In the beginning it
happens: you have accumulated much rubbish and when you meditate that rubbish starts disappearing,
falling away.

+79 I )225 !%&25) + &T6<I9 ,#I59.
That is the way, the way to the $ingdom of /od. 5ao T:u says, 'e li$e an idiot in this world so that
you can understand the illogical ways of Tao. -esus says, 'e li$e a child -- because only those who
are li$e children will be able to enter into the $ingdom of /od. 9ont be worried about those things"
the non-essential is dropping away. )eel happy and grateful. 3nce the rubbish has dropped, the real
will arise" non-essential gone, the essential will arise. This is the way to reach to ones own source.
'ut many times you will get scared because you are losing your grip on what you have valued up till
now. 'ut I can tell you only one thing: I have traveled the same path and have passed through the
same phases. They are phases -- they come and go. +nd your consciousness will become more and
more purified, virgin -- pure, uncorrupted. That uncorrupted consciousness is /od.
!y message to humanity is a new man. 5ess than that wont do. 7ot something modified, not
something continuous with the past, but utterly discontinuous.
It happened that a >en master was invited as a guest. + few friends had gathered and they were eating
and tal$ing when suddenly there was an earth;ua$e. The building that they were sitting in was a seven
storey building and they were on the seventh storey, so life was in danger. 2verybody tried to escape.
The host, running by, loo$ed to see what had happened to the master. #e was there with not even a
ripple of an*iety on his face. With closed eyes he was sitting on his chair as he had been sitting before.

The host felt a little guilty, he felt a bit of a coward, and it did not loo$ good that
a guest was sitting there and the host was running away. The others, the other twenty guests, had
already gone down the stairs but he stopped himself although he was trembling with fear, and he sat
down by the side of the master.

The earth;ua$e came and went, the master opened the eyes and started his conversation which
because of the earth;ua$e he had had to stop. #e continued again at e*actly the same sentence -- as if
the earth;ua$e had not happened at all.

The host was now in no mood to listen, he was in no mood to understand because his whole being
was so troubled and he was so afraid. 2ven though the earth;ua$e had gone, the fear was still there.

#e said: 7ow dont say anything because I will not be able to grasp it, Im not myself anymore. The
earth;ua$e has disturbed me too much. 'ut there is one ;uestion I would li$e to as$. +ll other guests
had escaped, I was also on the stairs, almost running, when suddenly I remembered you. &eeing you
sitting here with closed eyes, sitting so undisturbed, so unperturbed, I felt a bit of a coward -- I am the
host, I should not run. &o I came bac$ and I have been sitting by your side. I would li$e to as$ one
;uestion. We all tried to escape. What happened to you( What do you say about the earth;ua$e(

The master said: .I also escaped, but you escaped outwardly, I escaped inwardly. %our escape is
useless because wherever you are going there too is an earth;ua$e, so it is meaningless, it ma$es no
sense. %ou may reach the si*th storey or the fifth or the fourth, but there too is an earth;ua$e. I
escaped to a point within me where no earth;ua$e ever reaches, cannot reach. I entered my center.
2sen a ]n elepciunii este s\ ac ione:i ]n armonie cu natura. +cesta este mesajul tuturor misticilor
mari: 5ao T:u, 'uddha, 'ahauddin, &osan, &anai. +nimalele ac ionea:\ ]n mod incon tient ]n
armonie cu natura. 3mul trebuie s\ ac ione:e ]n armonie cu natura ]n mod con tient, pentru c\ omul
are con tiin \.
-ogging, dancing, swimming F anything can be a meditation. !y definition of meditation is: whenever
your body, mind and soul are functioning together in rhythm it is meditation, because it will bring the
fourth in. If you are alert to the fact that you are doing it as a meditation a not to ta$e part in the
3lympics, but doing it as a meditation F then it is tremendously beautiful.

If we give only a fi*ed pattern of meditation, then it will be applicable only to a few people. That has
been one of the problems in the past: fi*ed patterns of meditation, not fluid ? fi*ed, so they fit certain
types and all others are left in the dar$ness. !y effort is to ma$e meditation available to each and
everybody.

Whosoever wants to meditate, meditation should be made available according to his type. If he needs
rest, then rest should be his meditation. Then sitting silently doing nothing, and the spring comes and
the grass grows by itself a that will be his meditation. We have to find as many dimensions to
meditation as there are people in the world. The pattern has not to be very rigid, because no two
individuals are ali$e. The pattern has to be very li;uid so that it can fit with the individual. In the past,
the practice was that the individual had to fit with the pattern.

I bring a revolution. The individual has not to fit with the pattern, the pattern has to fit with the
individual. !y respect for the individual is absolute. I am not much concerned with means" means can
be changed, arranged in different ways.

Thats why you find so many meditations going on bin the meditation resortZ. We dont have enough
opportunities here" otherwise you would be surprised how many doors the temple of the divine has.
%ou would also be surprised that there is a special door only for you and for nobody else. Thats
e*istences love for you, its respect for you. %ou will be received through a special door, not through
the public gate. %ou will be received as a special guest.

'ut the basic fundamental is, whatsoever the meditation, it has to fill this re;uirement: that the body,
mind, consciousness F all three should function in unity. Then suddenly one day the fourth has arrived:
witnessing. 3r if you want to, call it /od" call it /od or nirvana or Tao or whatsoever you will.
The hypothesis of /od does not help. I dont have any hypothesis of /od. To me life is divine. To me
e*istence is godliness, not /od. To use the word Tgodman for me is simply stupid. 'ut journalists
started calling me that, and then started as$ing me, .Why do you call yourself godman(.
&trange! They started calling me the guru of the rich and then they started as$ing me, .Why do you
call yourself the guru of the rich(. They started calling me the se* guru, and then they started as$ing
me, .Why do you call yourself the se* guru(.
I have never called myself godman. %es, the people who love me have called me 'hagwan, but
'hagwan does not mean /od. We have called /autam 'uddha 'hagwan -- and he does not believe in
any god. We have called !ahavira 'hagwan -- and he does not believe in any /od.
&o 'hagwan cannot be synonymous with /od. 'hagwan simply means the blessed one, one who
has attained the ultimate bliss, the peace, the joy of his own being. +nd I say unto you that I am the
blessed one, but I am not the godman. I am simply a man fulfilled.
&econdly, your ;uestion as$s, .I was praised by people as a great psychologist, as a philosopher. Why
did I start calling myself a godman(.
#alf of it I have answered. +s for the other half, I am not a psychologist. + psychologist in;uires into
the complications of the mind. I am a meditator who does not bother about the mind but simply goes
beyond it.
/autam 'uddha is not a psychologist. #is achievement is not the $nowledge of the mind, but the
e*perience of no-mind. It is beyond psychology. I have e*perienced no-mind.
I cannot allow anybody to call me a psychologist. I am not. +nd I do not thin$ that the people who are
psychologists have anything to offer to a man who has $nown something beyond mind. I would li$e
you to be reminded that psychologists commit suicide twice as often as any other profession, they go
mad three times as often as any other profession. I dont want to belong to such a group of half-mad
people.
%ou as$ed, .Would it not have been better to be categori:ed with great psychologists li$e )reud and
-ung(.
7o. To me, both are sic$ because both are below the silence of their own inner being. They are still
struggling with empty thoughts, hot air, nothing. +nd if you loo$ into their lives, you can see it.
&igmund )reud, the founder of psychoanalysis, was so much afraid of death -- I dont thin$ anybody
present here is so much afraid. %ou cannot conceive, but even the word death was tabooed, it was not
to be uttered in his presence. Twice it happened that somebody mentioned death and he fell from his
chair into unconsciousness, his mouth foaming. &igmund )reud flat on the ground. The great founder
of psychoanalysis had not even enough courage to listen to the word death. I do not want to be
categori:ed with these people.
-ung was e*pelled" in the movement of psychoanalysis he was second only to &igmund )reud.
2verybody thought that he was going to be his successor. +nd he was profoundly intelligent. 'ut he
was e*pelled from the movement because he was interested in ghosts. &igmund )reud told him, .9rop
this. I cannot even tolerate those words..
#is interest was in what happens beyond death, so naturally he was interested in death, in ghosts, and
this was the basic reason that he was thrown out. %ou would thin$ he was a courageous man but it is
not so. +ll his interest in ghosts and death and what happens beyond life was only intellectual. #e
wanted to go to 2gypt to see the old, dead bodies preserved as mummies. Twelve times he boo$ed and
twelve times he cancelled. #is whole life he wanted to go, but when the day came to go, he would
become so afraid of seeing a dead body that was three thousand years old, he would find some e*cuse
and cancel the tic$et.
#e came to India" he went to the universities. #e was here for three months and it was simple
stupidity to tal$ to the psychoanalysts in the universities because they were taught in the West -- they
were parrots. #e had come to try to understand the 2astern psychology. It was suggested by many
people that if you want to understand 2astern psychology then you are going to the wrong people" if
you want to understand 2astern psychology then there is a man in the &outh, 4aman !aharshi. /o to
that man, who has not even heard the word Tpsychology.
#e went to !adras and then fear gripped him because he had heard that these people have hypnotic
powers, their eyes are hypnotic, their gestures are hypnotic, and it is dangerous to go to these people,
they can convert you. %ou will forget completely for what you had come" they can put you on a new
route. )rom !adras he came bac$. 3nly two hours more and he would have reached &hri 4aman
!aharshi -- a simple man with no boo$ish $nowledge, but of immense self-reali:ation -- a man who
has reached, who has arrived home.
,ertainly he has an aura. In his presence there is a magnetism, but it is not to mislead you, it is not to
misguide you. This is the way of the 2ast, to find a man who has found himself and to sit at his feet,
just in silence. There is no need to say anything. #is silence can start moving your heart in a new
rhythm, with a new music, which you had never heard before -- a new harmony, a new synchronicity.
)irst, it will happen between the disciple and the master, and then it will start happening with the
trees, with the rivers, with the mountains, with the ocean, with the stars, with e*istence itself. The
master is only a door. The &i$hs are right to call their temple /urudwara. It simply means Tthe master
is a door.
+nd when he reached bac$ home he was as$ed why he had not met people who were really rooted in
the 2ast. /oing to the universities, which are by-products of the West, was simply a waste of time.
#owever, he started finding e*planations, rationali:ations. +nd his rationali:ation was, .I have
avoided meeting these people because the 2ast has its own way, the West has its own way, and they
are so different, so diametrically different, that it is dangerous to mi* them..
This was a consolation and a rationali:ation, but absolutely cunning. %ou can teach 2astern people
Western ways. #e himself, in his institute in >urich, was teaching 2astern people Western ways. That
was o$ay, it was not disturbing anybody. 'ut he could not learn from the 2ast because that may
disturb. If he was really honest, he should have refused 2astern people the right to study at his
institute. #e should have told them, .This is not your way. /o to &hri 4aman !aharshi. 9ont come
here..
'ut no, if people from the 2ast were coming, it was perfectly o$ay to condition their minds, to
program their minds, to fill their minds with all $inds of rubbish. 'ut when he came here, he avoided
those people who can help you get rid of all rubbish, who can help you become absolutely silent and
peaceful, in deep harmony with e*istence.
I dont see that being in harmony with e*istence can disturb anybody. 7ot a single meditator has ever
committed suicide, not a single meditator has ever gone mad.
Western psychology has nothing to teach to the 2ast. It has everything to learn from the 2ast, because
it is still wor$ing in the mind. 3ur whole approach is to transcend mind, dont be bothered with it,
leave it behind. %ou are bigger than it.
Western psychology thin$s mind is all" it is not, it is just the surface. %our innermost reality is far
away from your mind. It is closer to the universal e*istence. It is far closer to the farthest star than it is
to your own mind. +nd the moment you transcend the mind the mind starts stopping on its own,
because you are no more feeding it energy, you are no more giving it nourishment. It dies its own
natural death. The greatest moment in life is when your mind is transcended, when you $now yourself,
that you are more than your mind -- then an*ieties, anguish, meaninglessness, all disappear.
I am not a psychologist. <sychologists need to learn much and they can learn only if they understand
that there is something more than psychology in man -- that he has a soul.
+nd I am not a philosopher either. It has been one of the most unfortunate things that the 2astern
concept of darshan has been translated into 2nglish as philosophy. 2ven people li$e 9octor
4adha$rishnan... but these are all professors, they are not mystics. They have agreed with this
translation -- I disagree. 'ecause philosophy means Tthin$ing about truth, and one thing that is
impossible in the world is thin$ing about truth. It is li$e a blind man thin$ing about light. #ow will he
thin$( +nd whatever he thin$s, is not going to be even close to the e*perience of light. 5ight either
can be seen or not seen, but you cannot thin$ about it.
%ou cannot thin$ about love. 2ither you can love, or you cannot, but you cannot thin$ about it.
I am not a philosopher, I am a mystic. I have not thought about truth, I have seen it. +nd the strangest
thing about truth is that to see it is to be it. %ou cannot see it as an object, you can see it only as
yourself. The moment you e*perience yourself -- when the observer and the observed are one, when
the seer and the seen are one, when the e*perienced and the e*periencer are one -- truth is revealed.
Western philosophy has been the longest e*ercise in futility. 7one of the Western philosophers --
<lato, +ristotle, 'acon, 8ant, #egel, 4ussell -- none of the Western philosophers has had even a
glimpse.
Their whole story is written in <+7,#T+7T4+ which is five thousand years old. In a village, one
elephant comes for the first time and the village has five blind men. They are e*cited, more e*cited
than the people who have eyes, naturally, because those who have eyes can see, then the e*citement is
gone. Those five blind people are so e*cited to find out what it is that has come.
They touched the elephant, somebody touched the legs and said, .!y /od! The elephant is nothing
but a pillar..
+nd somebody touched the ears of the elephant and said, .%ou idiot! %ou must be touching some
pillar. The elephant is not a pillar, it is li$e a big fan which is used by $ings.. and so on and so forth.
+ll five were ;uarreling, and a man who had eyes was watching and laughing.
The whole Western philosophy is written in that story. +ll these blind people are touching and coming
to conclusions and ;uarreling with each other. +nd Western philosophy is nothing but argumentation
-- not reali:ation. #ence the Western philosopher will remain just an ordinary man. #e will have great
ideas, he will ma$e great systems, but his own personality, his own individuality, will remain very
ordinary. #e cannot become a /autam 'uddha, he cannot become a 5ao T:u, he cannot become a
,huang T:u, because these are not philosophers" these are people who have tried to see within, to
reach to the very center of their being.
+nd the center of my being is also the center of every being, it is the center of the whole universe.
#ence if I can $now myself I have $nown all.
I do not want to be categori:ed as a philosopher. It is not my thin$ing about truth that I am sharing
with my people, it is my e*perience that I am sharing. It is not my idea -- it is my taste, it is my
heartbeat. If you want to call me anything you can call me a mystic, but please drop that ugly word
godman.
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+: )irst thing... I
am not a leader.
That is a four-letter
ugly word...
obscene. I am
simply a friend.
Whatever I have
e*perienced I want
to share it. I dont
want anybody to
imitate me. I dont
give any ten
commandments to
people that you
have to do this, and
you have not to do this. I simply share my blissfulness, my silence... and leave it to the people. If they
feel to be silent, that is their business. They are not following me, they are following their own
intelligence. !y appeal is not an order. !y appeal is to provo$e your intelligence and then you have to
follow your intelligence.
&econdly, I am a religious person, but I do not belong to any religion. To be a religious person is a
beautiful phenomenon and to belong to any religion is to belong to a crowd of slaves. There are
crowds of #indus. 'elonging to the crowd simply means you are losing your individuality. +nd you
will be doing stupid things. 9o you $now in #indu religious rituals they drin$ .<anchamrit.. +nd
what is .<anchamrit(. ,ow dung, the urine of the cow, mil$, curd, ghee... everything that comes out
of the cow is mi*ed and it becomes nectar. <anchamrit. 3nly idiots can call cow dung, nectar. 2*cept
!orarji 9esai. 'ecause he has fallen even below the idiots. #e drin$s his own <anchamrit. +ll
religions of the world do stupid things. 'ut because of the crowd, and the tradition, you repress your
individual intelligence. %ou can see this is stupid, but you cannot allow your intelligence because that
will ma$e you a rebel, and no religion tolerates rebellious people.
I am just a religious person. To me the word religious means my own e*perience. !y own
e*perience of an eternal being within me which proves to me the eternal being -- of you, of everybody,
of the whole e*istence. !y religiousness is a than$fulness to e*istence because it has given so much,
so much love, so much joy, so much blissfulness, so much ecstasy, that we have nothing to repay it,
e*cept gratitude. I dont have any /od, because that brings again slavery. )reedom is my /od.
+ll the religions have holy scriptures, written by /od and they are so full of nonsense, that if they are
really written by /od, he should have committed suicide long before, just out of being ashamed. I
dont have any holy scripture, I dont have a teaching. I have only a sharing. The distinction is very
delicate and fine. Teaching becomes dogmatic, solid, creates an imprisonment around you. +nd you
are e*pected to believe in it. I am against all belief. I am against all faith. 'ecause only blind people
believe that there is light. Those who have eyes dont believe in light. They $now it. 8nowing is an
e*perience, not a belief. I simply share my e*perience with those who are ready to get rid of all $inds
of bondages and who are ready to become themselves... not according to me, but according to their
own potential. 2*istence never repeats itself, thats why it never creates another /autam 'uddha,
another -esus ,hrist, another 8rishna. 2*istence is infinitely creative. 5eader wants you to follow him.
The teacher wants you to live according to his teachings. These are subtle, psychological e*ploitations.
I am a little bit strange man. I do not want you to follow me. I have never followed anybody. I have
simply discovered myself. +nd I would li$e everybody in the world to discover himself. +nd
everybody is so uni;ue that if he follows somebody else he will be only an imitator. #e will never
$now his own essential being. If he follows somebody elses teaching, he will remain blind. #is beliefs
will $eep him tethered to the chains given by somebody else. I have my friends, not followers and I
want them to become themselves. They will be uni;ue, and this is the greatest opportunity nature has
given to you... to be yourself. 7ot to be anybody else. This is the respect e*istence has paid to you.
)ulfill it. 9ont become a hypocrite. 'ecome an authentic, sincere being. 5et your own potential
blossom. &omebody will may blossom into a rose, somebody in a marigold, somebody in a lotus. +nd
if every man achieves his potentiality, this world will become so beautiful, so valuable. It will not be a
crowd. There will not be any crowd at all. There will be only uni;ue individuals. If you do not do this,
you are betraying e*istence, and betraying your own self. That is the only sin I $now of. To betray
yourself.

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+: There are people who call me the devil. There are people who call me the anti-christ, there are
people who call me the satan. I cannot prevent them. It is their freedom, what they want to call me.
There are people who love me and call me 'hagwan, but 'hagwan does not mean /od. We have
called /autam 'uddha, 'hagwan, who has absolutely denied the e*istence of /od. We have called
!ahavir, 'hagwan, who does not believe in /od. 'hagwan must have some other meaning too. +nd
the meaning is the blessed one, the one who has arrived. +nd I say to you, I have arrived. I am the
blessed one, and I would li$e you also to be the blessed one.
'ut the world is big and I cannot go after everybody, telling them what to call me. +nd I cannot
prevent anybody calling me anything. +s far as I am concerned, I dont have any name. 7either you
have any name. We are born without any names, but just for utilitarian purposes, names are needed.
They are not our reality. We are nameless e*istence. The rose does not $now that its name is rose. %ou
have given it a name. 'ut whether you give it a name or not, a rose is a rose is a rose. &o it is your
freedom... whatever you want to call me, you can call me. 'ut I dont have any name. I have the state
of blessedness" which is the meaning of 'hagwan. &o I dont have any objection against it.
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+7&W24: I love humanity more than ever. It has grown. 'ut my conception about the politicians has
certainly gone down the drain. They are the enemies of humanity. The humanity has to be freed from
the chains of politicians and their presence. /oing around the world from one nation to another, I have
seen that every nation has been turned into a concentration camp by the politicians. 'ut as far as
humanity is concerned, my compassion and my love for it has grown deeper.
#umanity is a victim of power-see$ers" of those mad people whose only ambition in life is their ego.
The whole politics is nothing but an ego game. If we can live without politicians -- and they are not
needed at all -- we can live without the boundaries of nations. #umanity is one. We can live as one
world. 3f course functional management will be needed but governments are not needed. +nd by
functional management I mean li$e the management of the post offices, railways. %ou dont even
$now who is the chief of your post offices. There is no need. #e is a functional servant.
The politicians are continuously wasting time of humanity for their own interests. The parliaments of
the world are doing nothing. They are gossiping clubs with great fanfare. The presidents and prime
ministers have nothing to do but inaugurate stupid things -- bridges, roads -- this $ind of thing can be
done by anybody. I am an anarchist. I want to see humanity without being governed by anybody,
because each government basically means slavery. 2ducation should be such that each person is
capable of being responsible for his own actions. 4esponsible for order, responsible for others with
whom he lives. There is no need of any government.
...
What you have been told is religion is nothing but politics in disguise. + religious person is not a
leader. 'ecause the basic e*perience of a religious person is that religion is an individual affair. + love
affair with e*istence. It does not need any leaders. 9o you need a leader when you fall in love( If you
need then, you are in an urgent state of psychiatric help. 4eligion is love with e*istence. There is no
need of #induism, and their shan$aracharyas. This is another $ind of hierarchy, bureaucracy, another
way of dominating man, enslaving humanity. There is no need of any pope, any church. 'ut you will
be surprised, a few days before, the pope declared that any ,atholic ,hristian, confessing to /od
directly is committing a sin. #e should confess to the priest. The priest is the mediator. +nd he is in
direct contact with /od. 9o you see the politics( 2ven with /od you cannot relate directly.
<erhaps some day the painters will start saying to you, you cannot see the sunset directly. It is a sin.
%ou should have a mediator. +ll religions are a very deep programming for enslaving human
spirituality. The politician tries to dominate your body and the religious leader tries to dominate your
soul. 7othing is left for you. There has been a conspiracy since the very beginning between the
politician and the priest. These are the greatest criminals in the world. +nd sooner we get rid of them,
the better. There is no need to be a #indu, or a !ohammedan or a ,hristian, or a 'uddhist. To be
silent, to be peaceful, to be full of love and compassion needs no adjective to it. 'ecause compassion
is compassion only. It is not ,hristian. It is not #indu. +nd to be silent you dont need your scriptures.
In fact they are not allowing you to be silent. They go on pouring crap in your mind. What is the need
of temples and mos;ues and gurudwaras and churches and synagogues( The whole e*istence is the
temple of the divine. Wherever you are, if you are in a state of prayer you are in the temple. +ll these
temples and churches are businesses.
...
+ll religions are simply nothing but businesses, and the most dangerous businesses, because they are
e*ploiting your soul, your integrity, your individuality, your freedom, everything of value. They
support the politicians. The politicians support them -- thats the conspiracy. +dolf #itler was blessed
by the archbishop of /ermany that you will be victorious, it is /ods intention, and I will pray for you,
and the +rchbishop of 2ngland -- and both are ,hristians. #e was praying that Winston ,hurchill wins
-- that it is the /ods will that 2ngland will rule over the whole world -- and nobody as$ed that you are
putting /od into a trouble. 'oth represent the same /od. +nd both are praying for enemies, and their
victories. This goes on without the wider world understanding a simple fact, that religion has nothing
to do with any nations victory. Its wor$ should be the self-reali:ation of man" but no religion bothers
about self- reali:ation. 'ecause a self-reali:ed man will be able to see the conspiracy, the business, the
power-struggle. +ll the religions are fighting, for thousands of years. &trange... they all teach love and
they all simply $ill. Thousands of living people have been burned alive in the name of /od.
<olitics and religion are the two most ugliest developments, the greatest diseases that have happened
to poor humanity. I would li$e you to be your own government -- conscious, alert -- so there is no
need of any government. +nd I would li$e you to be your own self, in immediate and direct contact
with e*istence. &o there is no need of any pope, any shan$aracharya, any imam. If these two
businesses -- which are almost li$e cancer growths -- can be destroyed, humanity can be saved. +nd if
they cannot be destroyed, then they are going to destroy humanity.
0: )34 +
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+: 7o. I dont see any change in me. +nd the news media has given attention to my ideas about se*,
because they are all se* maniacs. &uppressed se*.
I have four hundred boo$s, and only one boo$ on se*. Three hundred ninety nine boo$s have received
no response from news media. 3nly one boo$... and that boo$ is also not about se*uality" that boo$ is
how to transform se* into superconsciousness. The name of the boo$ is )43! &2R T3
&6<24,37&,I36&72&&. 7obody from the news media bothers about superconsciousness. They
are simply interested in se*. &e* maniacs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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There is nothing which is taboo, e*cept taboo itself. 5ife should be lived in its totality, in its intensity,
in its wholeness. To me, to live life in its wholeness is to be holy, there is no other holiness.
It is true that people who are against me have made it a basic point to critici:e me. 'ut the reason is
not that I am teaching the wholeness of life, teaching an uninhibited acceptance of e*istence, The
reason is that I have been cutting the very roots of all these religions" and they dont have anything else
to condemn, critici:e. They dont have any answer to any of my ;uestions. They have chosen se*,
which simply shows their repression and nothing else. I have over five hundred boo$s, and only one
boo$ tal$s about se*" all the rest are condemning all these religions from every angle. They are silent
about it because they dont have any answer.
&o se* has become their focus. They have tried all around the world, as if se* is my only teaching.
+nd their choice simply shows not only their repressions, it also shows that for centuries they have
been repressing se* in people.
It is strange that out of five hundred boo$s that one boo$ on se*... and that too is not really on se*.
The name of the boo$ is )43! &2R T3 &6<24,37&,I36&72&&. It is basically about how to
transform se*ual energy into a superconscious e*perience. In fact, that is the only way to go beyond
se*, to transcend se*, to sublimate se*. +nd that boo$ is the only one that has been translated in almost
all the languages of the world. It shows the sic$ness of human mind.
...
&e* has been repressed, but it has not been destroyed. In fact the people who have repressed it are the
people who have perverted the whole humanity into homose*uality, into lesbianism, into sodomy, into
all $inds of ugliness. &e* naturally is a beautiful phenomenon between two persons who love each
other. +nd by simply condemning se* you cannot destroy it, it is e*istential. 'ut you can poison it, and
the whole humanity is living with that poison.
I want se* to be a natural, beautiful phenomenon. 'ut that is not my basic teaching, it is simply a part
of accepting the whole of life. 'ut those se* maniacs who have repressed it, their minds are sic$.
9r. -ohnson, one of the great linguists of the 2nglish language, has written a great dictionary,
compiling all the 2nglish words available at that time. I am saying this because the 2nglish language
is the only language that goes on evolving each year -- accepting at least eight thousand new words. It
is not a dead language li$e &ans$rit or +rabic" it is not afraid, it goes on growing.
When the dictionary was published, after a few days, three old ladies, seventy, seventy-five, and
eighty -- very old, with thic$ glasses -- came with the dictionary to 9r. -ohnson and said, .%ou seem to
be destroying the morality of the country..
#e said, .What have I done(.
They said, .%ou have published this se*ual boo$..
#e said, .&e*ual boo$( This is a dictionary..
They said, .9ictionary( There are three words in it which are obscene.. +nd they had underlined
three words in those thousands of words. Those three old women had done such a great job.
9r. -ohnson said, .%ou are a miracle. -ust within three days.... !y wor$ is to collect words, but
amongst thousands of words, how could you find these three words only( %ou are not concerned with
the whole dictionary, you were loo$ing for these words. +nd because of these three words, the
dictionary has become a se* manual..

&e* is not my teaching. !y teaching is to be spontaneous, to be whole. 3f course, se* is a part of life,
and a very basic and essential part of life. It should be given respect. It is sacred, it is not profane.

&e* is not my teaching. !y teaching is vast, it comprehends your whole life. %ou cannot critici:e me
because you have se* as part of your life. I want it to be respected, to be made sacred. If you feel it is
ugly, if you feel it is profane, that means you are born out of ugliness. Then how can you respect your
father( #ow can you respect your mother( #ow can you dare to be respected by your children(
'ecause the only connection between you and your parents, between you and your children, is se*.
There is no other connection.
5ife has moved from your parents to you, from you to your children. If you want a respectful society,
where parents are loved and respected, where children are loved and respected, then you will have to
respect the energy of se* too. 3therwise, deep down in your mind your children are nothing but sin.
+nd you are too because your parents were committing sin.
I am against these people who are poisoning life and degrading it into a sin. I want it to be a beautiful,
a virtuous, a sacred phenomenon. +nd I am condemned for that around the world.
=ery strange! To say the truth seems to be a crime. 'ut I will go on committing that crime, because I
$now those who have condemned me have not thought of all the implications. They should commit
suicide, they should $ill their mothers and their fathers, because they have all indulged in se*. They
should $ill their children because they are born of se*. 9o you want this $ind of religion to spread on
the earth(
To me, whatever e*istence has given to you is beautiful. To condemn me, these people have invented
their own ideas, which have nothing to do with me. They go on teaching to their floc$s that I am
propounding free se*. I have never even used the phrase free se*. +nd what do they mean( &hould
se* be sold( It should not be free( 9o they want the whole world to become a world of prostitutes(
In fact you have made the world a world of prostitutes. + few prostitutes sell their bodies for one day"
you have purchased your wife for your whole life. +nd what a strange world -- you have purchased
your wife, and her parents, to get rid of her, have given money to you. +nd you have the right to ma$e
love to your wife or to your husband whether they are in the mood or not. I have been a guest in
hundreds of houses, and I was ama:ed. The husband and wife are continuously ;uarreling, fighting,
loo$ing li$e enemies" and they go on producing children.
To me, a woman not loving her husband and still allowing her body to be used is functioning as a
prostitute. + man not loving his wife but still ma$ing love to her because it is his duty is functioning as
a male prostitute. %ou will be surprised with the word Tmale prostitute. In the West, within these last
twenty years, male prostitutes have appeared in the mar$et. The womens liberation movement has
brought them in. The woman wants e;uality in everything, so why should only women be prostitutes(
&o now there are, in 5ondon, in &an )rancisco, in 5os +ngeles, in 7ew %or$, male prostitutes also
available. + great liberation of women!
!y effort has been to ma$e human life a love-shrine, a temple of love. I have been condemned
because they dont have any other response. I have been cutting their very roots.
'ut to condemn me about se* is easy, because everybody seems to agree with them. 2ven people who
are e*ploiting se* repression by publishing pornographic maga:ines li$e <5+%'3%, <27T#36&2
and other ugly literature are also against me.
%ou can see something very strange. <riests are against me and pornographers are against me, what
does it mean( It means that, if se* repression disappears, who will be interested in pornography( The
whole business will flop. &o there seems to be an inner conspiracy, perhaps unconscious, between the
priest and the pornographer -- that the priest creates the mar$et and the pornographer reaps the crop.
+nd what a beauty! The priest goes on condemning pornography, but the more he condemns it, the
more people are loo$ing at ugly, obscene pictures. 'ut they have to hide them behind The 'ible,
behind the /ita, so if somebody suddenly turns up, they can close The 'ible and the /ita and you
never $now what was hidden in them.
When I was arrested in +merica -- when I entered the cell there was another inmate. 3n his side he
had pasted the whole wall with na$ed women, ugly pictures. 'ut every morning, every evening, he
would put The 'ible on his bed, $neel down on the floor, put his head on The 'ible and pray for half
an hour.
The first day I watched" the second day I said, .This is strange. %ou are a religious person, you should
not have these pictures on your wall..
#e said, .7obody ever said that to me. +ll the walls in the jail are pasted with pornographic pictures,
and everybody has a 'ible. 'ut I never saw a contradiction..
I said, .There is no contradiction. %ou have repressed se*, that is written on the wall. +nd what you
do -- putting your head on The 'ible, is simply hypocrisy. 'y putting your head on The 'ible do you
thin$ The 'ible will enter into your head, change your being( -- and that is for a few minutes in the
morning, a few minutes in the evening. +nd twenty-four hours a day, I see you loo$ing at these
pictures, finding new pictures, bringing new pictures..
4eligions are responsible for pornography, religions are responsible for se*ual perversions. I am
simply teaching nature to those whose mind has been poisoned against nature.
%36 W242 + <43)2&&34 I7 + ,3552/2, +79 2=27 T39+% %36 +42 + T2+,#24, +
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I have been a teacher, and I left being a teacher in the university because I cannot do anything against
my conscience. +nd your whole education is not to help man but to cripple him. %our educational
system is to support the vested interests. I was unable to do it. I refused to do it.
+ real education will be rebellious because its eyes will be on the future, not on the past. 7ature has
not given you eyes behind your head. If nature wanted you to go on loo$ing at the bac$ it was useless
to give you eyes to loo$ ahead.
The Indian educational system is still the same as the 'ritish government had imposed on Indias
mind. Their purpose was to create cler$s, slaves, and the same educational system continues" because
now those who are in power also want cler$s, slaves. 7obody wants the truth to be spo$en, nobody
wants the future to be created, but only the past to be e*ploited.
I would li$e to see an educational system that is not devoted to the government, not devoted to this
rotten society, but devoted to the man, the growing child. !an has a body but your education does
nothing for the mans body. We $now that mans body can be trained to remain healthy, strong, young"
but nobody bothers about the body. In education there is no programme.
!an has a mind, but education is only concerned to condition the mind according to those who are in
power so it becomes servile. This is against humanity. !ind should be made clean, sharp, intelligent"
but nobody wants an intelligent mind, nobody wants a sharp consciousness. They are dangerous
because these people will not say yes to any nonsense. 2ducation has to be rebellious in the sense that
a man becomes capable of saying yes or no, on his own accord.
If too much intelligence is dangerous then every government, every country wants people to be
retarded. 4etarded people are obedient.
I have heard that after the first world war psychologists for the first time tried to measure mans
intelligence. The army was a good place and they were shoc$ed to see that thirteen years was the
average mental age in the army. The man may have been seventy years old but his mind had stopped
growing after thirteen years. 'ut in the army they dont want intelligent people.
In the second world war, a professor was recruited to the army because there was a shortage of
soldiers. The professor said again and again, .I am absolutely incapable of being a soldier.. 'ut
nobody listened to him.
The first day he was put on the ground and the orders came from the captain, .5eft turn, right turn,
turn to the bac$.... but the man simply stood where he was standing. The captain was ama:ed" he
$new this man was a famous professor.
+fter the e*ercise of right turn, left turn, turn bac$, go forward a few yards, come bac$ again... when
the line was again bac$ in the original position, he came to the professor who was standing all the time
in his place. #e said, .What is the matter with you. ,ant you hear my orders(.
#e said, .I can hear your orders but what is the point( These idiots went right, went left, went this
way, went that way... and finally ended up in the same position in which I have been standing all the
time. +nd when you say, Tright turn I cannot simply turn right. I have to convince myself -- why(
Why turn right, why not left( Without a rational support I cannot turn right or left -- you cannot ma$e
me act li$e a fool. What is the point of turning right(.
7obody had ever as$ed this of the captain. #e said, .This is strange. I will have to as$ the higher
authorities what to do with this man. If he cannot turn right and has to have everything rationally
e*plained... and what reason can I give( This is just an e*ercise..
The professor said, .2*ercise I can do at my home. There is no need to come here in this cold and to
do stupid things..
The higher authorities said, .#e is a famous professor. #e cannot do anything without an intelligent,
rational support. %ou send him to me, I will give him some other wor$..
#e too$ him to the armys mess, gave him a big pile of green peas and told him, .%ou sit down. <ut
the big peas on one side, on the other side the small peas, and after one hour I will come and see what
you have done.. +fter one hour when he came the professor was sitting and the pile of peas was sitting
e*actly as he had left it, not even a single pea was removed. #e said, .%ou have not done anything..
#e said, .There have been so many problems and so many implications..
#e said, .&uch a simple job! What problems(.
#e said, .The first problem is there are big peas, there are small peas, but there are also peas which
are in between -- where to put them( +nd what is the point of all this nonsense. +ll these peas are
going to be in one pot, big and small, so why bother(. #e was released, he was of no use.
2very army, in the morning, in the evening, goes on training people. %ou thin$ it is training, it is not
training! It is simply destroying their intelligence. It is a preparation so that when the order comes to
shoot they dont thin$ why, they simply shoot. They dont thin$, .This man has not done anything to
me, why should I shoot him(. The why has disappeared in the discipline. There is a reason for the
discipline, but it is not only in the army, it is all over the society.
If you as$ your parents about /od they have no answer because their parents never gave any answer
to them. They say, .Wait, when you are bigger you will $now..
3ne of the friends of my father was thought to be the wisest man in the town and when I used to as$
him he would say, .3n each point, just wait. When you are mature, bigger, you will understand..
This went on and on. I came from the university, I had been top in the whole university. I said to him,
.7ow it is time. I have been top in the whole university, so what about my ;uestions(.
#e said, .%ou wait..
I said, .7ow this is going to be too much. I have waited too long. 'e honest, do you $now the
answers or not(.
#e was an honest man. #e said, .To tell the truth, I dont $now. This was just a strategy that has been
used for centuries. With you the difficulty is that you go on as$ing. !ost people as they grow up
become involved in other things and no longer care about these ;uestions, they forget. +nd mostly
they get married, their children start as$ing them, so they start saying, TWait. When you become bigger
you will get the answer. The difficulty with you is that you are unmarried..
I said, .This is strange. 9o you thin$ marriage will solve the problems( I cannot see that by getting
married I will $now what /od is, otherwise all those who are married would $now. %ou have been
thrice married, you must have $nown all the mysteries..
#e said, .I dont $now anything. 'ut this is how to get rid of children, otherwise they will torture
you..
'ut this does not help their intelligence. It would have been better if they had said, .We dont $now.
We ourselves are searching .. That would have been honest, that would have been religious. This is
cunning, this is not religious.
The whole society is living in hypocrisy. %ou dont $now /od, still you worship. %ou dont $now
anything, still you are ready to answer because those answers have been given to you. &o you are
simply repeating them li$e parrots.
I would li$e an educational system which does not give you answers but ma$es your ;uestions
sharper, ma$es your intelligence $eener, and gives you an integrity.
%our body should be ta$en care of, your mind should have a clarity, and your soul -- which is
completely neglected, nobody mentions it.... %ou should be allowed to meditate, you should be taught
how to be silent. +nd silence is neither #indu nor !ohammedan nor ,hristian, silence is just silence.
%ou should be helped to become a deep silence inside so that you can understand your own self.
That will ma$e you a religious individual, without teaching you about /od, without teaching you
about things which even idiots will doubt. %ou will not be made into a !ohammedan, you will not be
made into a ,hristian or a -aina or a &i$h, but you will be made into an integrated, healthy, conscious,
intelligent, centered, well-rooted individual. 'ut that goes against all the powers because they cannot
then enslave you.
+ll other things that are being taught can be taught, but these things should be added. +n education
that does not create individuality is not education at all, it is miseducation.
)rom the very
beginning you are
being told to
compare yourself
with others. This is
the greatest disease"
it is li$e a cancer
that goes on
destroying your
very soul because
each individual is
uni;ue, and
comparison is not
possible.
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5ife is not static. In e*istence there is only one thing that never changes and that is change.
I am not a stone. I move, I change -- these are the symptoms of being alive. 'ut I always change for
the better. I love these people -- 'uddha, 8rishna, !ahavir -- but my love is not blind. I can see that
these people reached great heights of consciousness, but they have committed very grave mista$es too.
+nd when a small man commits a mista$e, the mista$e is bound to be small. When a man of the
height of /autam 'uddha or !ahavira or 8rishna commits a mista$e, the mista$e is also as great as
the man. +nd the mista$e goes on for thousands of years.
I love them because they made a great effort, a tremendous effort to come out of dar$ness, of
unconsciousness, to reach to the light. 'ut on the way they also committed a few mista$es.
The trouble is that the millions of people that have come after them cannot rise to the heights of their
consciousness, but can easily fall victim to their mista$es. 'ecause to fall is easy, to rise is very
difficult -- it is a uphill tas$.
<eople have a mind that says a man is either good or bad. <eople thin$ in terms of eitherMor" thats not
right. + bad man may have something which is beautiful and great, and a good man may have
something which is ugly and to be condemned. 'ut that does not ma$e any difference. &o first let me
ma$e it clear to you that I dont thin$ in the way of eitherMor. I ta$e the whole person. Whatever is
good I praise -- but that does not mean that I become blind to things which are not good.
7aturally, mind moves li$e a pendulum from one e*treme to another e*treme. I am not an e*tremist. I
praise /autam 'uddha, I praise !ahavira, but not their e*tremism. )irst 8rishna created a
destructiveness in the country, then they created a $ind of impotence in the name of nonviolence. )or
two thousand years you have been slaves -- who is responsible(
&uch a big country, yet small tribes came and ruled over you because nonviolence became your
cherished goal.
The man of wisdom remains in the middle. #e does not do violence to anybody -- but he does not
allow anybody to do violence to him either. 'ecause in both ways he is supporting violence.
&eeing this happening, &i$hism was born, which is e*actly in the middle. There is no ;uestion of
violence as a goal, or nonviolence as a goal" but giving man an insight that to be destructive is bad, to
destroy life is bad, yet to allow anybody to destroy you is the same. &o dont be violent with others"
but if somebody is going to be violent with you then your sword should be with you.
&i$hism made it a point that five things ma$e a &i$h -- the sword is one of them. The sword is not to
$ill anybody but it is just to ma$e everybody aware that, .We are not vegetables -- if you go on cutting
us we will respond..
I appreciate !ahavira, a man perhaps never e;ualed in his struggle to find himself, a man of
tremendous power. 'ut he went to the e*treme again.
It is good not to have many possessions because all your possessions become your an*ieties and there
is no end to it. %ou can go on and on and the mind goes on as$ing for more and more.
!ahavira was the son of a $ing, was going to be enthroned, was going to be the successor. #e
renounced the $ingdom. I do not object to it -- but dont ta$e things to e*tremes. 4enouncing the
$ingdom is perfectly good if you dont want to be worried -- and a $ingdom is a constant worry and
tension and anguish -- if you want peace and silence and you want to devote your energies towards
inner growth.
'ut I cannot support being na$ed. ,lothes are not such a worry. I have been using clothes, you have
been using clothes, and they have never worried me. &o I dont thin$ they are stopping your spiritual
growth. In fact if it is cold and you are not wearing clothes, that will stop your spiritual growth, that
will create tension in you.
'ut he went to such an e*treme point that he would not use any instrument, even a ra:or to shave his
beard or his hair. 7ow a ra:or is not an atom bomb. #e started pulling out his hair -- that is stupid.
+nd I want to maintain that even a genius can have a part in him which is idiotic. 2very year he would
pull out his hair with his hands because he could not use any instrument. I dont see any spirituality in
it.
Wherever I see something that goes to help the evolution of consciousness, I am for it. It does not
matter whether it comes from !ohammed or !oses or !ahavir. !en are unimportant" what is
important is the evolution of consciousness. 'ut there should be a balance, otherwise the pendulum
naturally moves to the other e*treme.
!ohammed gave the name Islam to his religion. Islam means peace, and Islam has created more
turmoil in the world than any other religion. ,ertainly !ohammed must be responsible for it. 3n his
sword he has written .<eace is my message.. .<eace is my message. is not to be written on a sword,
because the sword is not a message of peace.
!y approach towards all great people who have lived on the earth is to sort out what is relevant to us
and what is not relevant to us. !ohammedanism was born in a country which was not very
sophisticated. It $new only one logic, the logic of the sword. +nd the sword is not a logic.
!ohammedanism has remained e*actly where it was left by !ohammed because he said -- and I
condemn it -- .I am the last prophet of /od. The 8oran is the last amendment in /ods previous
messages. 7ow there will be no other prophets and no other changes..
7ow this is fanatical and whoever said it -- it does not matter who -- is wrong. 5ife will go on
growing and man will need new messages and new people to wor$ out new problems. +nd the 8oran
is not a great religious treatise either -- it has not the flights of 6panishads, it has not the insights of
/autam 'uddha. It was natural because !ohammed was teaching uneducated people, but those
uneducated people are still carrying the same sword in one hand and the 8oran in another. 2ither
accept the 8oran or the sword.
+ll the !ohammedans that e*ist in India, all the !ohammedans who have created <a$istan, are not
convinced intellectually that !ohammedanism is a better religion than the religion they left behind.
They have been forced into !ohammedanism. +nd religion is one thing that cannot be forced, should
not be forced. 2verybody should be allowed to e*press his vision and everybody should be allowed
either to accept it or not to accept it. 7ot accepting it is not insulting. 4eligion grows only in a climate
of freedom. !ohammedanism has not even given that to !ohammedans.
<eople are pu::led because what I have said yesterday I may not say today, and what I am saying
today I may not say tomorrow. I am a living being, I am not dead.
3nly when I am dead you can be at ease with me, otherwise you cannot be at ease with me. %ou want
to ;uic$ly cling to anything that comes into your hands and then you dont want to change it. )ear...
but life is a /anges, it goes on flowing.
The real man is always a river. 3nly dead people are ponds, their water evaporates, they become more
and more muddy, and they are dead because there is no flow.
Whatever I am saying today is not going to be contradictory tomorrow, it will be something higher
and better. 'ut to understand the better and higher you will have to rise to that height, otherwise it will
loo$ contradictory.
I am a simple man, I dont have any dogma, any creed. I simply have a clarity. I have eyes to see, and
when I see that changes are needed I dont care what the conse;uences will be for me -- thats why I
have been unnecessarily condemned by the whole world. 'ecause if I say anything against -esus,
,hristians are angry. %ou will be surprised -- when I spo$e on -esus a few years ago, many ,hristian
publishers in 2urope and +merica were eager to publish it. 3ne ,hristian publisher in 2ngland
published ten boo$s and just a few days ago I received a letter, .We cannot publish what you are
saying now..
I said, .%ou have never published anything that I have said. %ou were simply publishing because I
appreciated the light part of -esus ,hrist. 7ow I am ma$ing the picture complete, the other side has to
be shown too. +nd you dont have the courage to see the other side..
In my criticism there is no condemnation of anybody. It is a ;uestion of whether it comes close to
truth or not, and no man has the monopoly on truth. Truth is so vast and we are so small. Truth has so
many facets" at one time we can see only one side. When you see the other side, if you are a coward
you will remain ;uiet because people will say that you are now changing your attitude. I am not
addicted to any attitude, any creed. Whatsoever comes to my vision I would li$e to share with you.
I dont want you to agree with me, I dont want you to disagree with me, I simply want you to be
open, available, ready to listen. If there is some truth in it, it will reach to your heart. If there is not any
truth in it, it will drop on its own accord, it will not reach to your heart.
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I have survived -- thats enough proof that astrology has no truth. +strology is mans wea$ness,
because he cannot see the future and he wants to see it. #e is always afraid to go astray. #e wants to
be certain that he is on the right path, yet the future is absolutely un$nown, nothing can be predicted
about it. 'ut there are people who are always ready to e*ploit mans wea$nesses.
In life, only one thing is certain and that is death. 2verything else is uncertain, accidental. !an would
have loved death to be uncertain and everything else to be certain. +strology is his effort to ma$e life a
certainty.
...
+strology is against freedom. If tomorrow is decided, then I am a machine, not a man. 3nly machines
should consult astrologers, not men.
!ans future is open and an open future gives freedom, freedom to create yourself. +strology does not
give you the freedom -- it is the greatest slavery. 2very minute detail is written and there is no way to
change it -- it will happen the way it was determined. It has reduced man to a puppet, a puppet of blind
forces.
I absolutely deny the validity of astrology because I am against all slavery. !y whole effort is to
ma$e you aware of your freedom.
If astrology is right then /autam 'uddha, 8abir, 9adu, do not deserve any respect. It was determined"
they had to become what they became. &o what is great in it( +nd murderers do not need to be
condemned. -ust as 'uddha is a puppet, the murderer is a puppet, and both are in the hands of... we
$now not, we are not aware of those hands.
7o, I deny this determination. I want to say to you that the achievement of 'uddha or 8abir or 7ana$
is their own achievement. It is their creation, it is their effort, it is their struggle. +nd they deserve all
respect for it.
+nd the murderer, the rapist, the criminal -- they are also creating themselves. They could have
created themselves as a buddha, but they decided to create themselves as a murderer. The whole
responsibility is theirs. +strology ta$es away your responsibility. +nything that ta$es away
responsibility from man is dangerous because responsibility is our very soul, responsibility is our very
glory. Without responsibility we are just robots. With responsibility arises human freedom.
There is no science of astrology and there can never be. It is against mans spiritual growth, it is
against mans freedom, it is against mans humanity.

W#+T +'36T <+5!I&T4%( W#+T +'36T T#3&2 5I72&(

Those lines have nothing to do with the future. We can cut both your hands off -- still there will be a
future. We can do plastic surgery and remove your whole s$in -- still there will be a future. Those lines
are simply the fold mar$s of your hand.
'ut we want to be irresponsible. 9eep down we want somebody else to ta$e the responsibility. &ome
god should ta$e the responsibility and write your fate.
...
I used to live in 4aipur. 5iving just in front of me was an astrologer, the best in 4aipur. #is fees were
very high and every day there was a crowd of people as$ing him about their sons and daughters
marriages. 3ne day I told him, .%ou are deciding the future of other people. What about yourself(.
'ecause his wife used to beat him!
#e said, .It is all business. I dont $now what these lines mean, they dont mean anything at all. !y
whole life I have been matching -- but nothing matches..
+ deep desire not to ta$e responsibility is behind the whole game, and the man who is not ready to
ta$e responsibility has refused to be a man -- he has fallen from human dignity.
3nce another astrologer was very much interested in reading my hands, my birth chart. I said, .I dont
have any birth chart, but hands you can read. 'ut before you read my hands loo$ carefully at your
hands..
#e said, .Why(.
I said, .That will be decided later on.. #e wor$ed hard, consulted his scriptures and then he said
many things. I said, .Than$ you..
#e said, .What about my fees(.
I said, .I told you that before reading my hands you should loo$ at your own hands. %ou should have
seen that this man is not going to give you the fees. If you cannot predict such a small thing, and so
urgent, then everything else must be meaningless..
!an is born as a tabula rasa -- plain unwritten freedom. +nd this is his glory. + dog can only be a dog
and nothing else -- that is determined. + dog has a fate, all your astrologers should move towards
dogs, cats and all $inds of animals" they have a determined nature. If you study a buffalo you will see
that she will not eat any $ind of grass, only a particular grass.
!an has risen above the animals, and the basic evolution in man is that he has freed himself from all
fetters that blind him. #e is totally free to create himself, whatever he wants to be. 2very opportunity
is available. #e can reach to the highest pea$ of consciousness, he can fall to the lowest depth of
dar$ness. #e carries both heaven and hell within him. 'ut e*cept himself, nobody else can decide it
and nobody else can predict it.
In 'ombay, a few friends brought a great and famous astrologer. I said to the astrologer, .%ou can
predict only for one year from today, and I will tell you in writing that whatever you predict I will do
absolutely the opposite. 2ven to the point that if you say that I will live a long life, I will die. 'ut I will
not support any slavery..
The man loo$ed around at the people who had brought him and said, .Where have you brought me(
This man is dangerous. If he commits suicide, I will be caught. Why did you tell him that he would
live long, when he has said that he will do e*actly the opposite(.
I said, .-ust for a small e*periment you can say that I will not hit you and I will hit you right now.
That will be decisive..
#e was very angry. I said, .That does not matter. What matters is that my actions are my actions and I
ta$e the whole responsibility of my actions. /ood or bad, but I do not want to throw them on the
shoulders of /od, fate, $ismet, all that nonsense. It is time that we should get rid of it. It has $ept this
country poor because what can you do( -- your poverty is written in the stars. %ou cannot stop the
growing population. What can you do( -- children are sent by /od. %ou dont ta$e any responsibility
for anything. Without responsibility there is no freedom, and without responsibility you fall down to
the level of animals, not man.
+strology is for animals, not for man.
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There is no trinity the way ,hristians conceive it. The father, the son, the holy ghost -- in fact, the
whole idea is anti-feminine, it is against women.
In the divine trinity there is no place for any woman. There is a place for a ghost, and I dont thin$
that he is holy because this is the guy who made poor !ary pregnant, and if he is holy then every
rapist is holy. This is the most unholy ghost, but there is a place for him.
+nd what $ind of family -- father, son and holy ghost( Where is the mother(
7o, the woman cannot be accepted as part of /od.
This is the conspiracy.
3therwise it would have been far better: /od the father, /od the mother, /od the son" it would have
loo$ed more contemporary, a beautiful family, using birth control -- because centuries have passed and
only one son.
+nd the pope and !other Teresa and all these people go on around the world teaching people against
birth control and their /od has been practicing it for millions of years. They cannot see a simple fact.
'ut it is ugly simply because there is no place for woman. The whole idea is fiction, but even in
fiction the woman has e;ual rights to man but she has been denied.
2ven -esus behaved very rudely with his mother. 3nce he was spea$ing in a crowd and somebody
shouted from outside, .-esus, your mother has come to see you and she is here. When you are finished,
come out of the crowd..
+nd -esus said, before the crowd, .Tell that woman. -- he could not even call her his mother -- .Tell
that woman that I have only my father, who is in heaven. I dont have any relationship on the earth
with any man or with any woman.. &imply ugly.
'ut almost all the religions have been doing this to the women of the earth.
The other trinity, the trinity of meditation, is certainly a reality -- body, mind and the witness.
'ody is nature, body is part of the earth.
!ind is part of the society, of the whole human heritage.
+nd the watcher is your own individuality.
This is a real trinity. There is no ;uestion of man or woman because the witness is neither man nor
woman. The body will go bac$ to nature as you become awa$ened, mind will disperse bac$ to the
society as you become awa$ened, and the witness will go bac$ to what I call the godliness that
surrounds the whole e*istence.
'ut the ,hristian trinity is ugly. %ou can create a trinity for meditators which is far more real and far
more useful.
The body has to be ta$en care of, has to be respected, has to be loved. It is your home.
The mind has to be cleaned from any rubbish, from any dust that may have gathered during millions
of years of journey, and the moment you have cleaned the mind you will find the hidden reality of
your being, the witness.
+nd to find it is to con;uer the whole universe, to find it is to find all.
%ou as$ me:

T#27 W#% 932& -2&6& &+% T3 6&, .W#27 %36 <4+%, &+%... .(

-esus never said this to you. #e was tal$ing to other $inds of people. If -esus comes to you, remember
one thing: there will be no possibility of any communication between you and him. There will be a
gap of two thousand years. +nd you $now very well that even the small gap between you and your
father is almost unbridgeable. Tal$ to your father, and you are tal$ing to a wall. %our father feels the
same: tal$ing to a child is impossible" there seems to be no communication.
Two thousand years is a big gap. If -esus comes right now, he will loo$ li$e a pygmy to you. %ou will
not be able to understand why this man has been worshipped for two thousand years... for what( %ou
will not be able to appreciate him at all. %ou will find a thousand and one faults in him, very easily.
2ven the most stupid of you will be able to see: .Is this the man we have been worshipping in
thousands of churches, millions of people praying to him( Is this the man(.
'ut two thousand years of continuous painting... and that is the wor$ of the church, theologians,
philosophers, priests -- they go on ma$ing it up-to-date, as far as they can, they go on putting on new
layers of paint. If you dig deep into these thic$ layers of paint, you will be really at a loss. When you
discover -esus, you will be very frustrated. %ou will find a very ordinary man. %es, in those days he
was e*traordinary -- it is a ;uestion of time. In those days he was e*traordinary because the people
were even far more bac$ward than he was.
'ut now you are two thousand years ahead of him. The way he tal$s and the things he says are not
addressed to you, <rabodh.
%ou say:

#2 &+%& T3 6&...

7o, he has no idea of you. What I am saying I am saying to you, but what -esus is saying he is saying
to the people of his time. #e is not contemporary to you, how can he say anything to you(
+nd this is one of the problems that I am encountering every day, because the people who come to
me, either they are living with the hangover of -esus or of 'uddha or of !ahavira or of 8rishna or of
>arathustra. They have their past hangovers, and I am a contemporary man! I am simply tal$ing to the
twentieth-century, and not only to the twentieth-century crowd but to the twentieth-century elite -- the
people of the highest intelligence. #ence, it is difficult to understand what I am saying.
%ou live thousands of years bac$. It is very rare to find a contemporary man. &omebody is one
thousand years old, somebody two thousand, somebody three thousand.... +nd the older they are, the
more valuable they thin$ they are. #indus try to prove that their =edas are the oldest scriptures, as if
this is something creditable. The oldest scriptures simply means that you have not moved since then,
you are still carrying the burden. #istorians say that the scriptures of the #indus, the =edas, are five
thousand years old. 'ut #indus are not ready to accept it -- they say they are at least ninety thousand
years old. The older they are the better.
The same is true about other religions, as if all that is old is gold. In fact, life is always new, fresh, as
fresh as dewdrops in the early morning sun on the lotus leaf, as fresh as the stars, as fresh as the eyes
of a newly-born baby, as fresh as the song of the birds right now.
5ife $nows only one time, that is now.
-esus was not tal$ing to you, he could not -- he had no idea about you, he could not conceive of you.
'ut he was tal$ing to his own people, and his people lived with these ideas. #e was paraphrasing the
-ewish concept of religion.

#e was saying, ./I=2 6& 364 9+I5% '42+9. )34/I=2 6& 364 T42&<+&&2&. 52+9 6&
73T I7T3 T2!<T+TI37, '6T 925I=24 6& )43! 2=I5..

7ow, to me all that is just sheer rubbish.

./I=2 6& 364 9+I5% '42+9..

In the past, humanity has been very poor. The whole past has been one of long starvation, hunger,
illness, famine, floods -- all $inds of diseases. It is a miracle how man has survived somehow.
In countries li$e India, that is the case still. #ence, you will see one thing happening: the intelligent
core of Western youth is turning more and more towards meditation, but the 2astern masses are
turning more and more towards things li$e ,hristianity. Indians would li$e more !other Teresas in
India than me. 7aturally, because bread is needed. If you loo$ around India you will find only the poor
people being converted to ,hristianity" not a single rich man is converted to ,hristianity. 'eggars,
orphans, widows, aborigines, who cannot manage even one meal every day -- they are being converted
to ,hristianity. It appeals to them because bread is their problem.

-esus says, ./I=2 6& 364 9+I5% '42+9..

We have to create it" there is nobody to give it to us. That is the wor$ of science" religion has nothing
to do with it. We should start demar$ing lines: what can be done by science should be done by science,
what can be done by technology should be done by technology. If your car has stopped and you have
run out of gas, you dont just $neel down by your car and start praying, ./ive us our daily gas.. That
will be as stupid as this prayer. %ou $now you have to search for a gas pump! This is not the way -- it
is not going to happen.
'ut priests have been trying all along to ma$e religion dominate your whole life -- from bread to /od.
They are very much afraid to divide" hence, they were against science, against technology.
'ertrand 4ussell is right when he says, .If the whole of humanity is well-fed, well-nourished, prayers
li$e this -- /ive us our daily bread -- will become absolutely futile.. There will be no need at all! +nd
with that, your churches, your temples, your priests, will start losing their power. They have possessed
humanity for the simple reason that they have not allowed science and technology to improve your lot.
In India, !ahatma /andhi was against science, against very necessary science too. #e was against
the railway trains, the telegraph, the post office, electricity. #e wanted this country to live at least as
primitively as people used to live ten thousand years ago. The only thing that he accepted as the
greatest scientific invention was the spinning wheel. +nd he was worshipped as a mahatma.
To me, he is committing a crime, a far bigger crime than +dolf #itlers. 'ut his crime is very subtle.
%ou cannot detect it because he is tal$ing in religious verbiage: .3ne should trust /od -- why should
one trust science(.
!y emphasis is: life is a multi-dimensional phenomenon, and we should be very clear-cut about
divisions. !usic should be ta$en care of by musicians, not by mathematicians. 9ancing should be
ta$en care of by dancers, not by chemists. <oetry should be ta$en care of by poets, not by
physiologists. &cience has its own contribution -- it is mans intelligence. There is no need for any
prayer, we can provide this earth with a paradise, but we will not be able to unless we stop all $inds of
nonsense that we are stuffed with.
'ut this has been a strategy of the priest. #e can dominate you only if you are poor, he can dominate
you only if you are starving -- because when you are poor and starving and miserable, you are bound
to fall at his feet because he is the mediator between /od and you. %ou dont $now any address for
where /od lives, what language he spea$s. That is the e*pertise of the priest. #e $nows /od spea$s
&ans$rit, and he does not allow you to learn &ans$rit either, because if %36 learn &ans$rit then he
will not be needed. #e $nows /od spea$s +ramaic, #ebrew" he will not allow you to learn +ramaic
and #ebrew. If you learn them then he will be e*posed, because there is nothing in +ramaic or
#ebrew or &ans$rit, nothing of any value.
'ut if you dont $now those languages you remain ignorant" and he goes on pretending to be the wise
man. #e can go on leading you -- blind people are leading other blind people. +nd his power depends
on you, and he has become very cunning. ,enturies of e*ploitation have given him the whole craft, the
art, the $nac$ of e*ploiting you.
/rowth means you are not
moving in a circle, that something
new is happening every day,
every moment...
)ear is not natural, it has been
created. It has been imposed on
you by the parents, the priests, the
teachers. 2verybody you have
come in contact with has been
imposing fear on you, because
fear is the antithesis of freedom.
The more fear you have in you,
the less is the possibility of freedom.
The more fear is there, the less is the
possibility of rebellion.
The society, the church, the state, all want everybody to be in a state of constant fear: fear of the
$nown, fear of the un$nown, fear of death, fear of hell, fear of missing heaven, fear of not ma$ing
your name in the world, fear of just being a nobody. 2verybody around you from the very birth is
creating fear. 7o child is born with fear. 2very child is born with freedom, doubt, rebellion,
individuality, innocence -- all great ;ualities. 'ut he is helpless, dependent.
'ut when you are grown up, you can see -- you can try to peel the onion layer by layer -- how fears
have been created in you, how gullible you have been, how people have e*ploited your innocence. The
priest had no $nowledge of /od, yet he deceived you and pretended that he $nows /od. #e had no
idea of heaven and hell, yet he forced you to be afraid of hell, to be ambitious for heaven. #e created
greed, he created fear. #e himself was a victim of other people. 7ow you can loo$ bac$: your father
was not aware what he was teaching, what he was telling to you.
2verybody has been pretending to their children. +ll are hypocrites. 'ut the problem is that when you
are grown up, you have your children, you have your younger brothers, sisters, and now you are afraid
that if you dont play the game of being a hypocrite yourself, what will happen to these children( ...
'ecause that is the only game you $now, and you dont have the guts to say, .I $now nothing.. The
first thing, to drop fear, is to accept the fact, .I $now nothing..
-ust yesterday I received a letter from the president of the +theists +ssociation of +merica -- she
seems to be an old woman. &he is very much impressed with my declaration that there is no /od, that
religion is dead, that man is mature enough and needs no religion, no /od. &o she has written in great
praise: .%ou are the first man who has such courage. I would li$e to meet you. I want to come and
share thoughts with you. I am an atheist, the founder of the atheist movement in +merica and in other
countries, even in India.. &he is the founder.
I told my secretary to write to the old woman and say that, .%ou are welcome to come, but you must
be made aware of a few things. )irst I am not an atheist. If there is no /od, the theist is as stupid as the
atheist. 'oth are idiots, wasting their time on something which is not there. +nd the theist can be
forgiven" at least he believes that /od is there. %ou believe there is no /od, and your whole life you
have devoted to preaching that there is no /od. What have you gained out of it( If there is no /od --
finished! Why should you be an atheist(.
#ave you loo$ed into the word .atheist.( It contains .theist." it is only a reaction. -ust thin$, if all
theisms disappear, what will happen to atheists( They will have to die. They will lose all the
e*citement of denying /od, because nobody is proposing the e*ists. I am not an atheist. The theist
$nows not, but believes. The atheist also $nows not, but believes.
#ave you really searched every noo$ and corner of e*istence and found that there is no /od( )orget
about every noo$ and corner of e*istence -- have you searched within yourself( %our atheism is just an
ideology, a negative belief. I am not an atheist, so you have to come here $nowing perfectly well that I
will not support you. Thirdly, I teach the state of no-mind, so there is no ;uestion of e*changing
thoughts. If you are willing to e*change silence, I am ready..
<eople are very strange: they move from one e*treme into another e*treme. If they drop fear of one
thing, they will immediately catch hold of fear of something else. 'ut they will not drop fear as such,
for the simple reason that to drop fear as such means giving yourself total freedom. +nd total freedom
is ris$y, it is dangerous" one does not $now where it will lead. +nd freedom brings with it
responsibility: only you are responsible, whatever you do. The man who fears /od has a certain
consolation that whatever happens, happens through the will of /od" he is not responsible.
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+: It all depends on them. 7obody was allowing me, I too$ the liberty and the responsibility, and the
conse;uences. I was punished, but I too$ the punishment as part of the play" I enjoyed so much that
the punishment did not mean anything. +nd when my family started understanding me a little more,
they stopped punishing me" they said, .It is useless.. When my teachers started understanding me,
they said, .It is difficult to punish you,. because they will say, .&it down and stand up for ten times,.
and I will as$, .,an I do it thirty times(. +nd the teacher will say, .+re you cra:y( I am punishing you
for being late! It is not a reward, and you are as$ing thirty times!. I said, .I dont care about your
punishment" I can change it into a reward, you cannot stop me. In fact, this morning I have not done
any e*ercise. -ust be compassionate, let me do it thirty times..
They will tell me, ./o round the school one do:en times.. I will say, .Thats great. I love to run, to
jog, for miles. &o a do:en times is insulting.. They said, .What(. I said, .%es, it is insulting. Tell me,
T/o round the school the whole day. I love the field, I love the trees, I love the sun, I love the wind.
+nd I hate your dismal class and your face and your blac$board..
)inally they stopped punishing me, because it was useless. If somebody ta$es punishment as
playfulness, reward, what can you do with that man( 2verybody has to understand that. 'ut life will
not allow you -- by life I mean the society around you. The people who are purposive, utilitarian,
always as$, .)or what( What is the goal( What is the motive(. +nd if you cannot answer, then you are
mad.
-ust doing anything for its own sa$e... 3nly a few artists have been courageous enough to say that art
is for arts sa$e, but nobody listened to them. They were saying something of eternal value. It is not
only art which is for arts sa$e: love is also for loves sa$e, friendship is also for friendships sa$e. In
life everything has its own intrinsic value, no ulterior motive. That changes you completely. %ou are
no longer running for some goal" you are already there. 2ach moment you are at home. There is
nowhere to go, nothing to be achieved, no ambition to be fulfilled. 2ach moment is a fulfillment unto
itself.
+nd I call this $ind of life authentic, real, spiritual. The moment motive enters in, you are a
businessman. %ou have lost trac$ of the mysterious" you have fallen into the mundane, into the
mar$etplace, where everything can be purchased and sold. 'ut there is a space within you where
nothing can be purchased, nothing can be sold, yet tremendous e*periences are waiting for you --
invaluable, with no price tag on them.
When I say fun is the most sacred word in human language, all this is implied in it.

&eriousness is
sic$ness, it is not a
device. It leads to
death, not to
eternal life. 5ife is
playfulness, fun,
because the whole
e*istence is a
tremendous circus.
It is all fun -- all
the colors of the
flowers, so many
beautiful animals,
birds, clouds, and
for no purpose"
they dont serve
any purpose. There
is no goal to life.
5ife is a play unto
itself. It is sheer
abundance of
energy,
overflowing energy -- e*istence goes on e*panding.
7o /od has created it, because whenever something is created there is purpose. Whenever something
is created there is a motive, and when somebody creates it, the created can never be anything other
than a machine. 2*istence has no use as such, it remains eternal, an eternal play of energies in millions
of forms.
)un is the most sacred word, far more sacred than prayer. It is the only word that can give you a sense
of playfulness, can ma$e you again a child. %ou can start running after butterflies, searching for
seashells on the beach, colored stones.
In my own childhood, my tailor had much trouble with me. #e was the best tailor in the town, but he
said, .%ou are the worst customer. because I as$ed him to ma$e as many poc$ets as possible. #e said,
.'ut people will laugh at me..
I said, .I am not going to tell anybody that you are my tailor. !a$e as many poc$ets as possible,
because I have to collect so many things, so many shells, so many stones, so many flowers.. !y
mother had great trouble every night to unload my poc$ets, and she will say again and again, .#ave
you ever thought what is the purpose of all this(. +nd I always answered, I remember, that, .+s far as
purpose is concerned, what is the purpose of your giving birth to me( What is the purpose of getting
married( What is the purpose of the whole day wor$ing from four ocloc$ early in the morning till
twelve in the night( What is the purpose( &o dont as$ the ;uestion about purpose. %ou enjoy what you
are doing, I enjoy what I am doing. That is your play, this is my play. I love these stones, thats
enough. !ore than that is not needed..
5ife has intrinsic value, there is no goal outside it. #ence my whole effort is to change everything into
playfulness. To me that is real spirituality.
%our whole idea about yourself is
borrowed--
borrowed from those who have no
idea of who they are themselves.
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+7&W24:1 There are so many things in that statement.
)irst, the church has private properties. &o what the nonsense he is tal$ing about( The first thing the
churches should do, they should disown private properties if they mean business. 3therwise this is
bullshit.
4ome has the most richest private ownership than anybody else, and pope is the head of the biggest
private empire. What $ind of service they are doing to the poor( They are creating poverty in the
world. 'eing against birth control, being against abortion, being against the pill, they are creating
poverty, more population than the earth is capable to support. This is the service to the poor(
%ou create the poor and then you serve the poor.
In the first place, why create the poor( There is no need for poverty in the world. If the church drops
its stupidity against birth control methods, the poverty can disappear. 'ut they would not drop that.
7ot that any spiritual thing is involved in it, but for the simple reason that if there are not poor people,
whom they are going to convert into ,hristianity( Whom they are going to ma$e ,atholics(
They need orphans, they need beggars, they need starving people because only they can be converted.
In India I have loo$ed for almost half a century for a single rich man who has been converted to
,hristianity. I have not found. +ll the people who have been converted to ,hristianity are the poor
people.
<overty is their whole game -- power game. /reater the number, bigger is their power. It is simply the
politics of numbers.
&econdly, service to the poor is very necessary for the ,hristian. If there is nobody who is poor, then
you cannot go to heaven, you cannot be a saint. %our whole base of the religion disappears. The poor
is a must. #e should e*ist because only stepping on the shoulders of the poor people you are going to
become a saint, you are going to reach to heaven and be rewarded by /od.
'ut if everybody is comfortable, happy, lu*urious, who needs your service( +nd without service there
is no ,hristianity. The whole ,hristianity depends on the idea of service: service is religion.
If service is religion, then the poor, the sic$, the old -- they are absolutely needed. Without them the
whole edifice of religion will disappear.
+nd he is saying to me that I do not $now.
I have lived in one of the most poor countries of the world and I have seen how the poor people are
being e*ploited by the ,hristians.
They are e*ploited by the ,hristians, they are e*ploited by the communists. =ery strange bedfellows,
,hristians and communists. 8remlin and =atican together. <ope the <olac$ sleeping with -osef &talin.
The communist needs poor people. Without the poor his revolution dies. They both need the poor.
I want to destroy poverty. +nd to destroy the poverty, the first thing is to destroy the idea that poverty
is something spiritual. It is not.
-esus says, .'lessed are the poor because they shall inherit the $ingdom of /od..
I say to you, .,ursed are the poor because they have already inherited the $ingdom of the devil..
Why give them hopes which cannot be fulfilled, promises which cannot be $ept( +ll these hopes and
promises prove only opium to the people and nothing else.
&o the first thing is that poverty has nothing spiritual about it. It is nothing blessed. It is a curse,
because when you thin$ poverty as something spiritual, blessed, /od-given, how you are going to
destroy it( It seems very contradictory.
!ahatma /andhi in India was telling that the poor are the children of /od. That means /od is
loo$ing very well after his children. +nd who are the rich( ,hildren of devil( Then I thin$ it is better
to choose devil as your father than /od. #e is loo$ing far better after his children.
3n the one hand !ahatma /andhi says the poor are the children of /od and poverty is something
spiritual. +nd on the other hand he wants poverty to disappear.
I see a contradiction there. 9o you want spirituality to disappear( 9o you want /ods children to
disappear(
+nd what !ahatma /andhi is saying is nothing but pure ,hristianity. #e was ninety percent
,hristian. In his life, at least four times he was on the verge of becoming a ,hristian. #e was
constantly thin$ing of becoming a ,hristian for the simple reason because no other religion teaches
service to the poor.
The first thing to me is to withdraw the idea that poverty has something divine in it.
The second thing, the poor person has to be made clear that most of his poverty is created by himself.
4ich people produce very few children. It is the poor who go on creating children by do:ens. +nd the
spiritual teachers of all religions help them to produce children by do:ens.
These people are serving the poor or creating more and more poverty, ma$ing the world more and
more poor(
&o the second thing is that the poor should understand their responsibility. )or thirty years, total birth
control -- no children. That will be true service.
Thirdly, the poor are in the grip of the priests of different religions. They may give them different
e*planations. )or e*ample, #induism, -ainism, 'uddhism, they say, .%ou are poor because in your
past life you committed grave crimes. This is the result of it. The theory of $arma. %ou have to suffer
it. It is better to be finished with it" suffer it silently, patiently, without any complaint and without any
grudge so that in the future life you are not born poor.
7ow, this is a very great strategy to distract the mind of the poor from the social structure, the
economic structure which ma$es him poor and give him a phony e*planation for which no proof
e*ists, no evidence. +nd a simple logic is enough to destroy it and its credibility.
%ou put your hand in the fire. Will it burn now or in the ne*t life(
+ction certainly brings its conse;uence, but it is connected. It is not disconnected and so far away that
one death has to happen between. There seems to be no reason why.
%ou do something good, you should be rewarded now. 7o. In the ne*t life you will be reaping a great
crop of joy, happiness, comfort, lu*ury -- but in the ne*t life.
&trange. What is the connection( Why the conse;uence should be so delayed(
7obody $nows about the ne*t life. 7obody $nows about the previous life. That gives the priest a
good ground to deceive the poor.
The reality is that he is economically e*ploited right now. &o his eyes have to be ta$en away from the
past, away from the future, and focused in the present. #e has to fight for his rights now. #e produces
and somebody else enjoys the fruit. +nd the priests go on helping him to remain patient.
7o.
I cannot say that. 2nough is enough. &ome impatience is needed. &ome revolution is needed.
+nd the poor has to revolt.
+nd the church has been nothing but a protection for the rich. It is using the poor in two ways:
ma$ing its number bigger by serving the poor, opening the hospitals, schools, so ma$ing his ban$
balance in the other world better, and, secondly, he is protecting the rich. +nd because he is protecting
the rich, the rich are pouring their riches into the churches.
)rom where all these riches have accumulated in the =atican( )rom the poor people or from the /od(
Who gives all these donations to the =atican( +ll these big cathedrals, churches in thousands around
the world -- who creates them( +nd for what purpose(
The rich people bribe the church because church is a very great protection against revolution.
I want to destroy poverty completely, but with the poverty the church will die together. It has no place
at all anywhere.
The poor should stop producing more population and should put their whole energy not in future lives
in paradises but fighting for their right, because they produce and somebody else goes on becoming
richer and richer. They go on producing and they go on becoming poorer and poorer.
&trange $ind of economy.
This economy has to be changed.
'ut the church has no place then, because whom will it protect( 4evolution will burn this social
economy and these churches and temples and mos;ues and all their bogus ideologies.
I do not respect poverty. I respect wealth.
+nd I say blessed are the rich because theirs is the $ingdom of /od -- right now. It is not a ;uestion of
tomorrow.
+nd wealth has not been understood well. Wealth is a creation. 2verybody is not a #enry )ord just as
everybody is not a <icasso.
%ou respect <icasso for his genius, because he paints in such a uni;ue way that only he can do it. 'ut
you never bother to give some respect to #enry )ord. #e also creates something which is far more
important than <icassos paintings. #e creates wealth.
!an can live without <icassos paintings. !an cannot live without wealth. +nd <icassos paintings
can be purchased. 'ut wealth has to be produced, you cannot purchase it.
If the population of the earth can be reduced to one-fourth of what it is now -- and what it is now is
the responsibility of all these idiots: bishops, cardinals, priests, popes....
)or thirty years I have been tal$ing about birth control. It has brought me only condemnation. &tones
have been thrown at me, poison has been given to me, $nives has been thrown at me, efforts to $ill me
has been made. That was my reward because I was tal$ing about birth control and the priests became
alerted.
In thirty years time India has doubled its population. When I had started tal$ing it was only four
hundred million. Today it is eight hundred million. If they had listened to me, they would not have
been poor. 3nly fifty percent of the country is poor. That means these four hundred million people that
have increased have made the country poor.
'ut I was condemned in the name of morality, in the name of /od, that I am teaching something
immoral, that if people start using birth control methods then there is a possibility of immorality
spreading.
I had encountered #indu priests, -aina priests, 'uddhist priests, and I as$ed them, .Then your moral
people are not very moral. Then it is just the fear that if they ma$e love to some other woman than
their own wife and she becomes pregnant, they will be caught. They will be in trouble. &o it is only the
fear that is $eeping them moral. This is not morality. If they are really moral, birth control methods
cannot ma$e them immoral. There is no reason..
+nd they had no answer to it.
They were using the name of /od, that /od is giving birth to children. +nd I am teaching people to
prevent children. That means I am against /od.
I had an encounter with one of the shan$aracharyas, the e;uivalent of pope to the #indus. I as$ed him
that, .What are the basic ;ualities of /od(.
#e said, .That is irrelevant for the subject we are discussing..
I said, .It is not irrelevant. If you are not courageous to say because you are afraid, you will be caught
into it. I will say -- that all your scriptures give /od three ;ualities: that he is omnipotent, all-
powerful" omniscient, all-$nowing -- past, present, future" omnipresent, everywhere present. If /od
has these ;ualities and he can ma$e this whole universe from nothing.....
'ecause there was nothing. In #indu scriptures /od ma$es the universe out of nothing. 7aturally,
they have to accept that position because if there was something already then /od is not a creator.
!aybe a contractor. If he has to be a creator, then there must not be anything: no matter. 3ut of
nothing he creates this whole immense universe.
.9o you accept it(.
#e said, .%es, I accept it..
I said, .&uch a /od. ,annot he remove a small pill( If a man is using a condom, cannot he ma$e a
small hole in it(.
3mnipotent /od, just needs a little safety pin. +nd he is all-present, everywhere. 2ven in your
bedroom while you are ma$ing love he is just between you and your beloved. #e can ma$e all your
condoms punctured before you use them.
.&o why you should be afraid( #e cannot even ma$e a small hole in the condom. #e cannot change
the ;uality of a small pill. +nd you still want to call him omnipotent, all-powerful( Then drop these
;ualities. +nd if you want to $eep these ;ualities, then drop your argument against me, that I am
telling people to do something against /od.
.The other ;uality of /od is that he $nows everything. &o whether the person is going to use birth
control methods or not, he $nows from eternity -- before this person was even born. #e $nows that he
will use birth control methods. It is not out of his $nowledge.
.+nd if he wanted, he could have prevented the scientist who created the pill. It is such a small thing.
-ust before he was going to create it, his heart would have stopped -- and there would have been no
pill and no problem.
.If /od has allowed the pill to happen, birth control methods to be manufactured, it is according to
his will. %ou are tal$ing against /od, I am not tal$ing against /od..
'ut the problem is poor illiterate, uneducated people. They cannot understand subtleties of arguments.
If they had listened to me, India would not have been poor now.
If they still listen to me, India can recover from poverty. 3therwise, by the end of this century, Indias
population will be one billion. It will have gone beyond ,hina. )or the first time in the history it will
be the biggest, the largest populated country in the world. 3therwise it has always been number two.
,hina has been number one.
<overty can be stopped, but not by service. #ow long ,hristians have been serving the poor( Two
thousand years. +nd the poverty has been increasing. &trange $ind of service, that you go on serving
the poor and the poor go on increasing.
+ true service will be that the poor decrease and disappear.
!y suggestions are very simple.
,reate one world. 7ations are outdated.
,reate one world government, because unless there is one world government the fear of war will
always remain. +nd war goes on ta$ing seventy-five percent income of every nation. 2very nation is
just surviving on twenty-five percent of its income.
-ust thin$ if hundred percent income is available to the country, it will change the whole face. <overty
need not be there.
3ne government, one world -- then there is no need for nuclear weapons. Then there is no need for
having big armies. It is sheer foolishness that millions of people are just sitting unproductively, doing
nothing, just polishing their guns. 2very morning doing the march: left turn, right turn, forward,
bac$ward. <olishing their boots.
+nd it is not one or two person. !illions of people around the world.
+ll these people should be wor$ing, producing.
+nd they are given the best food, best clothes. They are given the best hospitals, the best doctors, best
surgeons, best medicine. They are to be $ept in perfect health because any moment they may be
needed for war.
&o these useless people are getting the best and doing nothing.
3ne world means there is no need for such big armies. !aybe a small police force is enough -- just
for hooligans, !afia, small gangs of criminals. 'ut there is no need for nuclear weapons, atomic
plants, and no need for millions of people simply go on polishing their guns.
The poverty can be so easily eradicated. If we can create one world government, then we can create
the World +cademy of &ciences. &o all the scientists of the world, who are right now in the service of
death, can be put in the service of life.
There is no need to go to the moon. When the earth is starving, you are wasting billions of dollars to
go to the moon -- for what(
Whenever I thin$ the first man standing on the moon, I always thin$ he must have thought, .What the
hell I am doing here( It is good that nobody is seeing. 3therwise I must be loo$ing silly. There is
nothing to see..
+nd so much effort, so much science, so much technology for something utterly useless.
+ world academy of sciences will put all the efforts into producing better food, more food, better
fruits, new fruits. In &oviet 4ussia they have done some crossbreeding between fruits: apple
crossbreed with lemon. + new fruit which has never been in e*istence, with a new taste.
%ou can create thousands of new fruits, new crops, new food.
%ou can ma$e this earth a paradise without any difficulty. +ll that is needed that the worship of death
should be stopped. The possibility of war should be completely eliminated. The humanity is one,
hence there is no ;uestion of war.
7ational governments can e*ist, but they will be only functional because they wont have any armies.
They will be just li$e post office, railway board.
7obody cares who is the head postmaster general. There is no need to $now about him. +ll that is
needed is that you receive your post in right time. It is a functional thing.
+s nations lose their war machines, politicians lose their significance. They should disappear from the
first pages of newspapers, televisions, radios. They have no need to be there. Those pages should be
given to the creators: musicians, poets, people who have done something to ma$e life more richer,
more glorious -- mystics, those who have opened doors of new mysteries of consciousness.
4ight now everything is simply insane.
+nd it can be put right very easily. 3nly the intelligentsia of the world has to stand up courageously
and say that, .7ow it is time. That we dont want any nations. That we dont want any passports and
we dont want any visas. This whole earth is ours..
There are countries where people are dying without food. In +merica thirty million people are dying
by overeating. 7ow, this is incomprehensible. These thirty million people in a world which is dying
with hunger are simply psychologically sic$.
+nd they are also dying, because they are eating too much.
%ou will find these people always near the free:e, always something or other. 2ither they are drin$ing
something ... if nothing, then they are chewing gum. -ust mad people.
I cannot conceive anybody chewing gum. +nd these people are educated people, have educational
degrees, maybe professors in the universities -- and chewing gum! They should be hospitali:ed.
,hewing gum cannot be forgiven! I have compassion for all, but not for people who are chewing gum.
,ompassion cannot be stretched that far. -ust their mouth has to continue, go on doing something.
+nd they are perfectly aware that people are eating. They dont have even water to drin$. )or four
years there has been no rains in 2thiopia so all water has evaporated.
In 2urope they drowned millions of tons of oranges in the ocean -- just few days before -- because
$eeping them in the mar$et was lowering the price. -ust to drown them, they had to waste one hundred
thousand dollars -- just to throw them in the ocean. +nd nearby in 2thiopia people are dying with
thirst.
If the world is one, this cannot happen. Then wherever, whatever is needed will be moved. If there are
too many oranges in 2urope, they should be moved to 2thiopia. If there is too much wheat in 4ussia....
There was a time when there was too much wheat, that they were burning wheat in the railway trains
instead of coal. <eople are dying around the world, but in 4ussia they are burning wheat because that
is cheaper than burning coal.
In one world this will be absurd.
There are countries where is so much coal you can ta$e coal to 4ussia. Wheat can move to countries
where it is needed.
7ow 4ussia is almost one-si*th land of the whole world, but the population is only two hundred
million. !ore people can be absorbed there. &i*th part of the land, and the world population is four
billion, and they are only two hundred million.
They tal$ about friendship with India. They should ta$e at least two hundred million Indians to &oviet
6nion.
They have such a vast land. It is because of their vast land that all the con;uerors who have tried to
con;uer 4ussia failed.
7apoleon 'onaparte failed because the land is so big, by the time you reach !oscow winter comes --
and a winter which only 4ussians can survive.
The same happened to +dolf #itler. The same stupidity he committed. +nd the same was the result.
4ussia simply was trying to postpone, playing hide-and-see$, waiting for winter to come. +nd once
winter sets in, then nobody can survive. +ll your vehicles stop, your planes no more function.
2verything becomes fro:en. %our people have never seen such cold. Their blood seems to be fro:en.
%ou cannot win, for the simple reason, the land is so big that whatsoever you do.... It spreads from
one corner of 2urope to almost the other corner of +sia. It covers two continents.
If there is one world government, it will be very simple to divide population, to help people move, to
ma$e it possible for crossbreeding, to mi* races -- because better children are produced.
)arther away are the parents, the best is the product. It is true about trees, it is true about animals, it is
true about man. It is not good to go on getting married in the same small community. It gives retarded
children, it gives blind children, it gives at the most normally stupid children -- which ma$e the
majority of humanity. -ust normally stupid.
This whole scene can be changed. +ll that is needed is intelligent people of the world should stand up,
because it is a cause for which no sacrifice is big enough.
!y idea of serving the poor is not the idea of ,hristians. They have served enough, and nothing has
happened.
+nd my people dont want to go to heaven anyway. &o that is no more a motivation. +nd my peoples
understand it, that it is their responsibility. Why they have been continually producing children( )or
their responsibility.
Why we are to destroy our own growth, our own silence, our own way of life( They dont listen to us.
They listen to the priests.
Then they should as$ the priests that, .+s$ your /od. #e gives the children. 7ow he should give
bread, he should give butter and he should give other things too..
3therwise, hang your priests in every church.
What is the need of $eeping -esus ,hrist statue hanging there( #ang a real priest in every church!
These are the criminals.
3n the front of the =atican, hang the pope, because these are the people who have been teaching you
wrong things, and they have led you into this situation.
!y people want to live happily, and if you want to learn to live happily you will have to learn the
ways my people are living. If these people can be happy, if these people can be without children for
four years, then what is the problem(
If for four years these five thousand people were also producing children, here also we would have
been really poor. 'ut we have understood that we dont want to be poor, then dont increase the
population.
It has been as$ed to me again and again, .Then how %ou are going to increase %our commune(.
I said, .What is the need of increasing it( +nd if there is any need, we purchase readymade clothes..
They say, .What do %ou mean(.
I say, .There are readymade people already all around the world. 3thers are producing. We can pic$
up from anywhere. There is no need for us to produce.
If we need people, people are all over the world too much. We can invite. We can choose.
When you give birth to a child, you cannot choose. %ou dont $now whether he will be crippled, blind,
paraly:ed -- who $nows what( It is better if our commune has more than its needs and feels that we
can bring few children. There are so many orphans in the world -- choose the best. +dopt them.
'ut we are not going in the same way to serve them. 5et the ,hristians do it. It is not my philosophy.
It is not my responsibility.

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'227 ,4%I7/ %364 5I)2( 9I9 %36 53=2 +7%372 I7 %364 5I)2(.

+:1 I have never been hungry. +nd I have intelligence enough to provide food for myself even though
for thirty years I dont have a single cent with me. 'ut I live the way only an emperor can live.
+nd my hands have done never anything. These are the most bourgeois hands in the whole world. 'ut
they are very e*pressive. +ll that they do, they spea$.
+nd there are many things which I cannot say, but my hands can say. Thats the only wor$ they have
done. +nd I thin$ they have done it beautifully.
+nd I am perfectly proud of it. It has been my creation. 2very gesture is creative.
+s for loving, I have loved more people than anybody else in the whole history of man. +nd I have
received love also in the same way, more than anybody else in the whole history of man.
+nd I dont see why people should be hungry. They are hungry because they have been following
stupid teachings of -esus ,hrist. They are hungry because they are following still the moral code five
thousand years old written by !anu in India. +ll $inds of garbage they are carrying as holy and trying
to follow it, which deprives them.
)or e*ample, in India !ohammedans are the second biggest community after #indus, but they are
very poor. I was continuously wondering what is the reason that all the !ohammedans in the whole
country -- and India has the biggest number of !ohammedans than any country. +lthough it is not a
!ohammedan country, but it has the biggest number of !ohammedans than any other country. Why
they are all poor(
+nd as I loo$ed into their scriptures, I found the reason. The reason was that they have been
prohibited by <rophet !ohammed that interest is a sin, so never give money on interest, one thing.
7ever ta$e money on interest.
This is the reason they are poor, because they cannot ta$e money on interest and they cannot give
money on interest. +nd the whole economy functions on interest. %ou ta$e money from the ban$ on
interest, you ta$e loan from the government on interest, but they cannot ta$e it. It is sin.
7ow, a stupid idea $eeps them poor. +m I responsible for it( &hould I go and serve them(
If they are hungry and poor, this is one reason.
The second reason, !ohammed has given them the opportunity that they can marry four women. If
one woman marries four men, that will be very helpful in reducing the world population. 3ne woman
can marry as many men as she wants, there is no harm. It will not create more poverty because she can
give only birth to one child. #ow many husbands she has ma$es no difference.
'ut one man and four women is a dangerous thing. 7ow that man can have four children every year.
&o !ohammedans are having more children than anybody in India. 7aturally, every man goes on
dividing his poverty into so many children, they all end up almost li$e beggars.
They cannot do anything, they cannot be well educated because the money is not there. They have to
do very uns$illed wor$ which cannot pay much. 7ow who is responsible for this(
+nd why !ohammedan priests go on telling them to marry four women( 'ecause that increases the
number of !ohammedans. Thats how they have become the second biggest religion in the world.
,hristianity is first, !ohammedanism is second. +nd if they continue creating children with four
wives, any day they can surpass ,hristianity.
Their only problem is how to find four women, because nature produces in a very balanced way:
almost the e;ual number of men and women. &o the idea of having four women creates criminals.
They will rape some woman.
7ow, #indus will not accept a woman bac$ if she has been raped by a !ohammedan. #indus thin$
they are the purest race. 7ow that woman has fallen. The !ohammedan has to marry her.
If a !ohammedan falls in love with a #indu woman, she has to marry the !ohammedan.
&o they have to search in every possible way for as many women as they can manage. +nd because
they have four women, the men become la:y. They start living on womens labor.
7ow, the women are illiterate. What they can do( They can do cleaning or things li$e that. 'ut four
women can manage at least one la:y man. &o men become la:y, women are burdened with wor$, with
children, and poverty goes on growing.
!y approach is very simple. I trust in mans intelligence, and if people put their intelligence
together....
)or e*ample, five thousand people are here. If they were living in the old way, the family way, then
there would have been at least one thousand families. 3ne thousand $itchens. 3ne thousand women
unnecessarily engaged in $itchen, cleaning, washing clothes, bringing up children.
+nd naturally, a woman who has nothing else than just to $eep up the house somehow together
becomes irritated, annoyed, angry, because she has no scope for her own growth. &he has no s$y to fly.
+nd her whole anger becomes arrowed towards the husband. &o directly or indirectly she is nagging.
&he becomes a pain in the nec$ -- literally. 'ut she is not responsible.
2very family is miserable. ,hildren are a torture. They are a continuous nuisance. &he has to $eep up
with those children the whole day. +nd the whole day she is burning, boiling inside. +nd this man, her
husband, is responsible for this all. 7aturally there is continuous fight, continuous ;uarrel. 5ife is not a
joy, and poverty is bound to be there.
In this commune families have dissolved.
I am against families because family is the unit of the nation, of the society, of the church. If family
dissolves there cannot be any congregation, there cannot be any nation, there cannot be any church.
)ive thousand people can be ta$en care of by one $itchen far more efficiently, in a far better way. +nd
only very few people are involved in the wor$.
)ew people can ta$e care of the whole communes laundry. There is no need for them to worry about
it. )ew people can ta$e care of the cleaning of the whole commune.
2conomically it saves much. 2conomically money becomes irrelevant. In the commune there is no
transfer of money. There is no need. ,lothes we purchase wholesale for five thousand people.
7aturally they are cheaper than anybody can purchase. 2verything that is needed we purchase
wholesale: medicine, shoes. It is cheaper.
+nd whatever is saved can ma$e the commune more comfortable.
+nd because the family is dissolved, the barriers between people are no more there. )ive thousand
people feel almost as one organic unity.
They wor$ for themselves. They wor$ hard because they $now they are wor$ing for themselves. If
they are ma$ing houses, they are ma$ing for themselves.
In the outside world everybody is wor$ing for somebody else. That ma$es wor$ a burden, a necessity,
a slavery. %ou have to wor$ because you need money.
#ere you wor$ because you want your commune to live more comfortably, have all modern
e;uipments available.
The world has passed the family. It is unnecessarily hanging around and $eeping people poor.
,ities should be divided into communes, not in families, and every commune should loo$ after itself.
+nd everything should be common.
It is just a ;uestion of little intelligence, not a ;uestion of service to the poor.
+nd we have enough intelligent people around the world who can manage it. +nd they will have to
manage it, otherwise we cannot survive. 3$ay(
The rich people bribe the church because church is a very great protection against revolution.
I want to destroy poverty completely, but with the poverty the church will die together. It has no place
at all anywhere.
The poor should stop producing more population and should put their whole energy not in future lives
in paradises but fighting for their right, because they produce and somebody else goes on becoming
richer and richer. They go on producing and they go on becoming poorer and poorer.
Things are happening. %ou feel hunger, you feel love, you feel anger -- everything happens to you, you
are not a doer. 7ature ta$es care. %ou eat and nature digests it" you need not bother about it, about how
the stomach is functioning, how the food is going to become blood. If you become too tense about it
you will have ulcers -- and $ing-si:e ulcers, not ordinary ones. 7o need to worry. The whole is
moving. The vast ocean, the infinite is moving. %ou are just a wave in it. 4ela*, and let things be.
3nce you $now how to let go, you have $nown all that is worth $nowing. If you dont $now how to let
go, whatsoever you $now is worthless, it is rubbish...
They say: Thin$ twice before you jump. I say: c-6!< )I4&T +79 T#27 T#I78 +& !6,# +&
%36 W+7T!@
/od is your chain,
religions are your chains"
the idea of sin, the idea of
virtue are your chains.
)reedom consists in a
single thing, and that is
your awareness. +ct out of
awareness and you will be
acting out of freedom --
and without interfering in
somebody elses freedom.
)reedom $nows how to
respect others freedom.
%ou dont have to do
anything, 9harmesh, to
attain freedom. It is already
there within you. -ust drop
the chains.
+nd those chains are such
that you have started
loving them" you have
become accustomed to
them. It will be a little
painful to depart from your
miseries, a little painful to depart from your old sufferings, familiar friends, and enter into a new area
of freedom, awareness. 'ut e*cept that, there is no hope for humanity.
+ll that is needed is just a little intelligence. %ou have been deprived even of that.
+nd the pope is angry with me, the shan$aracharyas are angry with me, the imams are angry with me,
for the simple reason that I want you to be intelligent. They want you to be absolutely fools, idiots,
retarded, so you can be enslaved, tortured, harassed, sacrificed, and you will not revolt against it.

4emember this: /od is neither man nor woman" he cannot be man or woman. 2ither he is both or he is
neither. /od is the ultimate synthesis of all opposites. !an is one e*treme, woman the other. /od is
not an e*treme, he is the whole e*istence. #e is vast enough to contain the opposites" all opposites
become complementaries in /od.
&o dont cling to my answers" they are not answers. I am not a teacher at all. I am not here teaching
you a certain dogma, a certain creed. I am simply trying to help you to be unburdened of your
$nowledge so that you can be silent with me. +nd I am in a hurry because soon I want to go into
silence, so you also have to be ;uic$. 9ont linger too much. 9ont go on postponing because I will not
be tal$ing for ever and ever. &oon I want to be silent. %ou can sit in silence with me then, you can
sing, you can play music, you can dance, but I want to stop all $inds of intellectual communications
between you and me. I want to be e*istentially related to you. I am simply preparing the ground -- I
am pulling out weeds.
&o it depends: whatsoever your belief is I am going to destroy it. I am against all beliefs. Thats why
you will find ,hristian priests against me, the ,atholic pope against me, the #indu shan$aracharya
against me, the !ohammedans against me, even the communists against me" for the simple reason that
I am against all beliefs, communist or ,atholic, #indu or 'uddhist, it doesnt matter -- belief is belief.
I want you to be in a state of no-belief, in a state of not-$nowing. I want you to function from that
state of not-$nowing, from that innocence. 3nly in that innocence will you be able to $now. &o if you
have communist weeds in you I will pull them out. If I need the help of ,atholic instruments, I will
use ,atholic instruments to pull out communist weeds. If you are a ,atholic and communist
instruments are needed, I will use communist instruments to pull out ,atholic weeds.
!y function here is that of a surgeon. I am not much interested in what instruments are being used --
surgery has to be done. &omething has to be pulled out of you. %our soil has to be completely cleared
of all stones, of all weeds. 3nly then will your nature start growing roses.
&o you will be pu::led. !any times you will find my statements contradictory -- they are, and I dont
want to hide the fact. They are contradictory, they are absurd! 'ecause I will say one thing one
moment and I will contradict it the ne*t moment. +nd I am not at all consistent -- or I am only
consistent in one thing: about my inconsistencies, that is my only consistency. I am consistently
inconsistent, thats all. I am always contradictory, for the simple reason that you have come here from
different bac$grounds and I am trying to destroy all bac$grounds, all conditionings.
3&#3, W#+T <5+,2 #+&
!%&TI,I&! I7 %364
425I/I37(

!y religion is pure mysticism.

There is nothing else in it.

The other religions have no
place for mysticism in them.
They cannot have, for the simple
reason that they have answers
for every ;uestion F bogus
answers, without any evidence, with no argument.

'ut for the gullible humanity they are consoling. They demystify e*istence.

+ll $nowledge demystifies e*istence.

I don@t teach you $nowledgeability.

3n the other hand all the religions do just that: they ma$e you $nowledgeable. They have a /od as
the creator. They have messengers of /od bringing all the answers from the original source,
indubitable, infallible.

These religions could e*ploit humanity for a simple reason: man feels a $ind of inner unease when
there are ;uestions and there is no way to find the answer. 0uestions are there F man is born with
;uestions, with a big ;uestion mar$ in his heart F and it is good.

It is fortunate that man is born with a ;uestion mar$, otherwise he would be just another species of
animal. 'uffaloes have no ;uestions F they accept whatever is, un;uestioningly F they are really
faithful, religious. Trees have no ;uestions, birds have no ;uestions" it is only man and man@s
prerogative, his privilege. In the whole of e*istence he alone is capable of as$ing a ;uestion.

The old religions have been trying to destroy your privilege. They have been forcing you down to the
level of the animals. That@s what they call faith: Bundoubting faith.B They want you to be buffaloes,
don$eys, but not men F because man@s only special ;uality that defines him as separate from
animalhood is the ;uestion mar$. %es, it is a turmoil. ,ertainly to live without any ;uestions is
peaceful, but that peace is a dead peace, it has no life in it. That silence is the silence of a cemetery, of
the graveyard.

I would prefer man to be in a turmoil, but alive.

I would not li$e him to become a graveyard. That peace, that silence is at a great cost: you are losing
your life, you are losing your intelligence, you are losing all possibility of discovering an ecstatic way
of life. That ;uestion mar$ is not there without significance. It is not the wor$ of the devil that each
child is born with doubt, not with faith.

9oubt is natural.

2ach child is as$ing a thousand and one ;uestions. The more a child as$s the ;uestions, the more
potential he is showing that he will be able to discover something. There are dumb children too F not
literally dumb, but psychologically dumb. <arents li$e them very much because they don@t create any
trouble, they don@t as$ any ;uestions F even a small child can destroy all your $nowledgeability.

I am reminded of my own childhood and so many things that will help you to understand the beauty
of the ;uestion mar$. +nd unless you understand the ;uestion mar$ as something intrinsic to your
humanity, to your dignity, you will not understand what mysticism is.

!ystifying is not mysticism

!ystifying is what the priests have been doing.

They have ta$en your ;uestion mar$.

They have destroyed the possibility of your e*ploring the mystery of e*istence. 'ut they have to give
you some substitute, some lollipop that is mystifying. +nd that is what all the scriptures have been
doing" their basic methodology has been the same.

)or e*ample, in #induism the scriptures are written in a very difficult language, &ans$rit. 7ot a single
Indian spea$s it" it is a dead language. +nd as far as I am concerned, I have tried hard to find out
whether it has ever been alive and I have not found a single piece of evidence. It has always been dead
from the very beginning" it was born dead. It was invented by the priests. <eople have never used it,
people cannot use it. It is so sophisticated, so grammatical, so mathematical, so phonetical that people
cannot use it.

When people use a language, the language starts becoming less grammatical but more alive" less
mathematical but more meaningful. It becomes raw, it is no longer polished and sophisticated F and it
starts growing. &ans$rit has never grown. + dead thing cannot grow. It is e*actly where it was five
thousand years before F no growth. 3bviously a dead thing cannot grow.

+ living language used by people goes on growing. Its words become more and more rounded, just
li$e stones sli

ing into the river start becoming round. The continuous flow of the river, the continuous hitting
against other roc$s, against other stones, gives them a roundness. This can be seen" and you can
immediately describe, define which languages are dead and which languages are living.

The living languages will never be perfect F dead languages will be always perfect F because living
languages are used by imperfect, fallible, human beings, and from mouth to mouth they go on
changing. They become more and more usable.

)or e*ample, in India 2nglish was introduced from the outside. + few words were bound to go into
people@s use F for e*ample, the word station. 7ow there has never been anything li$e a station in India
before" it came after the 2nglish language had already come. Then the railways were introduced and of
course the word station was there.

'ut if you move all over India in the villages, you will never find a single Indian F I mean of the
ninety-eight percent of Indians who don@t $now 2nglish using the word station. It is too difficult, too
sophisticated. Through use, they have made F without anybody actually ma$ing it, just by use F they
have come to the word tesan. That is simple. B&tationB seems to be a little difficult, it is a strain, so
Btesan.B

B4eportB... now, it came with the 2nglish language, the police stations and your having to Breport.B
'ut go to the villages and you will be surprised: nobody uses the word report, they use the word rapat.
It has become rounded, BrapatB F the sophistication of Breport,B the difficulty of BreportB is gone.
B4apatB that seems to be human. +nd so many words... and they tell a tremendously meaningful story:
when words are used by people then they start ta$ing a shape of their own. 'y mere usage they go on
changing.

&ans$rit remains static. #ebrew, +rabic, /ree$, 5atin F they all remain static, far above people@s
heads, far above their hands. &ans$rit was never the language of the people and this was mystifying F
the whole country depended on the priesthood, and in &ans$rit they would be saying pure rubbish.
3nce you $now it, you will be surprised F what is sacred about it( 'ut chanted in &ans$rit, you don@t
$now what it means, you are mystified.

To $eep the scriptures sacred it was necessary to $eep them secret. They should not reach the people,
people should not be able to read them. Whenever they need, the priest is available, he will read it.
When printing was introduced #indus were very reluctant for their scriptures to be printed: what
would ha

en to the mystifying that they had been maintaining for thousands of years(

#indus have mystified the whole country with the idea that they have all the secrets in their sacred
boo$s F but of those sacred boo$s, ninety-nine percent is simply cow-dung! )or #indus it may be
holy, but for nobody else is it holy. When those sacred boo$s were translated into other languages the
mystifying process sto

ed" #induism lost its height, its glory, because then you could read it in any language F all those
scriptures were available.

!ahavira never spo$e in &ans$rit, /autam 'uddha never spo$e in &ans$rit F for the simple reason
that they were trying to defy the priesthood. They spo$e in the language of the people. They were
condemned by the priesthood: BThis is not the right way. %ou should spea$ in &ans$rit. +nd both of
you are perfectly well educated B F both were sons of great $ings F B you $now &ans$rit, so why do
you spea$ ordinary people@s languages(B

They said, B)or a certain reason: we want people to $now that this mystifying has to be e*posed.
There is nothing in your scriptures, but because they are in a language which nobody understands, it is
left to the people@s imagination.B

2ven the priest may not understand what he is reciting because &ans$rit has to be learned by
memori:ing, not by understanding. There is a great difference between the two. &ans$rit has to be
learned by rote, by memory" you have to memori:e it. Its whole emphasis is on memory, not on
understanding. There is no need to be bothered what it means" all that you should be concerned about
is how it is chanted.

+nd of course &ans$rit is a very beautiful language, having the ;uality of singing. %ou can memori:e
a song more easily than the same length of prose. <oetry is easily memori:ed" hence, all the languages
which have depended on memory are all poetic, they loo$ li$e songs, they sound beautiful !eaning( F
you should not as$, because the meaning may be just as stupid as any of today@s newspapers, perhaps
even worse because it is a five-thousand-year-old newspaper.

When a brahmin is chanting it you will be mystified by his chanting" it creates a certain atmosphere of
song. +nd what is the meaning of what he is chanting( <erhaps the passage he is chanting is a prayer
to /od that means: B<lease destroy the crops of my enemy, and let my crops be doubled over last
year@s. 5et the mil$ disa

ear from my neighbor@s cows and let all that mil$ come to my cows.B When you understand the
meaning, you will say, BWhat nonsense! Where is the sacredness( Where is the religion( This is
religion(B F but the meaning is not to be bothered about.

The !ohammedan, if you listen to him calling from the tower of his mos;ue... you will be thrilled
with its singsong ;uality. +rabic is tremendously touching, goes directly to the heart. It is meant to go
there, it is not meant to go to your intellect, your reason. It is meant to touch your feelings, and it
certainly touches them.

&o when you hear +rabic you will be thrilled that there must be something immensely beautiful in it.
If just the sound ma$es you so thrilled and e*cited, what about the meaning( 'ut please don@t as$ the
meaning, because the meaning is going to be so third rate and ugly that you will not even be able to
believe that this $ind of crap can be put into such a beautiful language.

#ence it is not to be allowed that the people learn the sacred language, the holy language. It is only
for the priesthood F that is their monopoly.

This is the mystifying. This is a substitute to satisfy you, because they have ta$en away something of
immense potential F the ;uestion mar$ F which would have made the whole e*istence a mystery.

They had to give something as a substitute, a toy to play with. +nd they are ready with every $ind of
answer. 2ven before the child has as$ed, they start stuffing him with answers. -ust loo$ at the process.
If the ;uestion has not been as$ed, the answer is irrelevant.

This is what I was going to tell you. In my childhood they started giving me answers... because there
was a special class for -ainism in the -aina temple and every child had to attend it, one hour every
evening. I refused.

I told my father, BIn the first place I don@t have those ;uestions for which they are su

lying answers. This is stupid. When I have ;uestions I will go and learn their answers and try to find
out whether they are correct or not. 4ight now I am not even interested in the ;uestion. Who created
the world( !y foot! F I am not interested. I $now one thing for certain: I have not created it.

!y father said, B%ou are a strange child. +ll the children from the family are going, from the
neighborhood, everybody is going.B

-ainas tend to live in a neighborhood, a close-$nit neighborhood. !inorities are afraid of the majority
so they remain close to each other" it is more protective. &o all the children of the neighborhood go
and their temple is in the middle of the neighborhood. That too is for protection, otherwise it will be
burned any day if it is in a #indu neighborhood or in a !ohammedan neighborhood.

+nd it will become difficult: if there is a riot you cannot go to your own temple. +nd there are people
who will not eat without going to the temple. )irst they have to go to the temple and worship, then
only can they eat. &o -ainas live in small sections of the town, city, village, with their temple in the
middle, and surrounding it is their whole community.

B2verybody is going,B my father said. I said, BThey may have ;uestions, or they are idiots. I am not
an idiot, and I don@t have those ;uestions, so I simply refuse to go. +nd I $now what the teacher goes
on teaching the children is absolute rubbish.B

!y father said, B#ow can you prove that( %ou always as$ me to prove things" now I as$ you, how
can you prove what he says is rubbish(B I said, B,ome with me.B

#e had to go many times to many places" it was just that the arguments had to be concluded. +nd
when we reached the school, the teacher was teaching that !ahavira had these three ;ualities:
omnipotence, all-powerful" omniscient, all-$nowing" omnipresent, everywhere-present. I said, B%ou
have listened, now come with me to the temple.B The class was just by the side of the temple, a room
attached to the temple. I said, B7ow come into the temple.B

#e said, B'ut what for(B

I said, B,ome, I will give you the proof.B

What I had done was on !ahavira@s statue I had just put a laddoo F that is an Indian sweet, a round
sweet, just li$e a ball F I had put a laddoo on !ahavira@s head, so naturally two rats were sitting on
!ahavira@s head eating the laddoo. I said, This is your omnipotent !ahavira. +nd I have seen these
rats pissing on his head.B

!y father said, B%ou are just impossible. -ust to prove this you did all that!B

I said, BWhat else to do( #ow else to prove it( 'ecause I cannot find where !ahavira is. This is a
statue. This is the only !ahavira I $now and you $now and the teacher $nows. +nd he is omnipresent
so he must be present here seeing the rats and what they are doing to him. #e could have driven those
rats away and thrown away my laddoo. I was not here. I had gone to pic$ you up F I had all the
arrangements to ma$e. 7ow prove to me that this man is omnipresent. +nd I@m not bothered at all F he
may be. Why do I care(B

'ut before a child even as$s a ;uestion, you stuff his head with an answer.

That is a basic and major crime of all the religions.

This is what programming is, conditioning is.

These religions condemn me, that I am conditioning people" I am simply deconditioning people.

The conditioning, they have done: they have already filled your mind with all $inds of answers. I am
simply destroying those answers so you can find your ;uestion. They have covered the ;uestion
completely, so completely that you have forgotten that you had any ;uestion.

In fact you have never as$ed any ;uestions. 7o chance has been given to you to be ac;uainted with
your ;uestion, with your ;uestioning intelligence. The religions are so afraid that once you start
;uestioning-just once F then it is going to be difficult to force answers against your will, because that
;uestioning intelligence will be raising doubts" it will raise more ;uestions against their answer than
you could have imagined.

&o the best way is to commit this basic crime: the child should be caught F the earlier the better F and
he should be spoon-fed theology, dogmatics, doctrines, catechisms. 'efore he becomes even aware of
the ;uestion he $nows all the answers.

If you are a ,hristian how do you $now that there is a trinity( F that /od the father, the #oly /host,
the son, these three ma$e the highest power monopoly, that they dominate the world, that they are the
real dictators F how do you $now it( It has been told to you. <erhaps you have forgotten who told you.
It was told to you so early that unless you go deeper than that, further bac$ than that, you will not be
able to find who was this fellow who corrupted your mind.

The virgin birth... if you are not a ,hristian, you will immediately object: #ow can a virgin give birth
to a child( 'ut if you are a ,hristian, you simply don@t ;uestion it because before your ;uestioning
arose, the answer was put into you. They have been behaving with you as if you are a computer F they
just go on feeding the answer.

+nd if somebody says anything against ,hristianity, you are ready to $ill or be $illed for this rubbish
that you are not even responsible for discovering on your own. +nd the person who forced it on you
did not himself $now either: the same was done to him.

)or centuries it goes on and on. 2ach generation goes on giving all its stupidities and superstitions to
the new generation, thin$ing that they are helping you to become $nowledgeable.

+nd once you become $nowledgeable. the doors of mysticism are closed for you.

!ysticism means loo$ing at e*istence without any prejudice.

#ence I say no so-called religion can be really mystic F mystifying of course, but never mystic
because they cannot fulfill the basic condition to be a mystic.

%ou have to drop lal your $nowledge, all that you have ta$en on faith has to be thrown down the
drain.

7othing is valuable in it, so don@t be worried" it is not a treasure, it is a tragedy. if you can get rid of it
you will feel light, you will feel suddenly unburdened" your eyes fresh li$e a child@s eyes. +ll these
layers of $nowledge: #indu, ,hristian, !ohammedan, -ewish.... +ll these layers of $nowledge F it
does not matter who has committed the crime against you" all the religions are in the same boat,
committing the same crime. +nd because they are all committing the same crime, nobody objects.

The whole of humanity is in their grip.

+nd whenever a person li$e me objects, obviously he is to be condemned by all, critici:ed by all F but
not answered. 7obody has ever answered me. from my childhood I have been continually as$ing.

7obody has even answered a single ;uestion F there are no answers. When you understand it, that all
answers are arbitrary, created by man just to ma$e you feel at ease....

It is just li$e the mother telling the child who is not ready to sleep alone in the room B9on@t be
worried, -esus is with you. %ou can sleep. %ou are not alone.B #ow can the child thin$ that the mother
is deceiving him( F his own mother( 7or does the mother thin$ that she is deceiving" she believes it.
#er mother poisoned her" she is doing the same to her own child. 7aturally, what else can you do(

The child is afraid to be alone, but he has to learn to be alone, to sleep alone. &oon he will be going to
a boarding school, he has to learn to stand on his own. #e cannot go on clinging to his mother@s froc$
F for how long( &he finds a good reason for saying, BIf he starts feeling the presence of -esus or /od
and goes to sleep....B

The child will also feel at ease, less afraid. 7othing has changed F it is the same room, he is alone, the
dar$ness is there F but now there is a little comfort, that -esus is loo$ing after him, that /od is loo$ing
after him, that /od is everywhere. #is own mother says so, his father says so, his teacher says so, his
priest says so" everybody cannot be wrong. +nd /od is invisible so you cannot see #im, but a certain
at ease-ness comes to him.

That@s what all this $nowledge has ben doing to you. It relieves you from en;uiring, and en;uiry is
troublesome.

In this world you cannot get anything unless you are ready to ris$ something to get it. +nd /od you
have got so cheap, without even as$ing. 7ow what value can this /od have( 4eligion you have got so
cheap.... This religion, this /od, are ways of mystifying e*istence so that your ;uestion remains
repressed.

!y effort here consists in demystifying.

<erhaps that is why the ;uestion, What place mysticism has in my religion( has arisen F because I am
continuously demystifying. The ;uestioner does not understand the difference between mysticism and
mystifying. #e thin$s they are synonymous, they are not: they are against each other.

It is mystifying that prevents mysticism from growing. +nd there is no other way e*cept to destroy
mystifying completely, uproot it completely.

+nd then there is no need for me to give you any answer. %our ;uestion is there, and e*istence is
there.

Who am I to come between you and e*istence(

)ace e*istence.

5oo$ at the sunrise, the sunset.

Then you don@t have any answers F you just see what is there: a tremendously beautiful sunset.

%ou will be overwhelmed. %ou would love to sing or dance or paint or just lie down there on the grass
and not do anything, just to go on loo$ing. +nd a certain communion between you and the beauty of
the sunset starts happening.

&omething transpires F this is mysticism.

%ou $now nothing F and yet you $now.

There is $nowledge which does not $now at all.

+nd there is an ignorance which $nows everything, because ignorance is innocence.

I can say to you, blessed are the ignorant" but the second part of my sentence cannot be that they shall
inherit the $ingdom of /od. 7o, because that will be mystifying. I will say: 'lessed are the ignorant,
for theirs is the $ingdom of /od already, now, here. It is not a ;uestion that they shall inherit
sometime, somewhere in some life after death F that is mystifying.

!ysticism is cash

!ystifying is a promissory note.

7obody $nows whether you will be able to cash this promissory note. The government may fail, the
ban$ may go ban$rupt. 3nly ban$s can go ban$rupt, who else( +nd this promissory note can be
cashed only after death, that is the condition on it. BIn /od we believe... in /od we trust.B +nd the
pope promises you that this much will be given to you after death but it is always after death. They
have been e*ploiting people with such simple means of e*ploitation that anybody who has a little bit
of intelligence can see it.

5ife is mystery.

&criptures are mystifying. &criptures are dead.

+nd the priesthood lives on these dead scriptures.

+ real authentic man lives life, not scriptures.
...
-3sho, )rom <ersonality to Individuality

http:MMwww.goodreads.comMboo$MshowMXVYEGEPV-from-personality-to-individualityQ
_ntreaga omenire este bolnav\
din simplul motiv c\ n-am l\sat
nesiguran a vie ii s\ fie stilul
nostru de viata.

>eii no tri sunt siguran a
noastr\, virtu ile noastre sunt
siguran a noastr\, cuno tin ele
noastre sunt siguran a noastr\,
rela iile noastre sunt siguran a
noastr\. 7e irosim toat\ via a acumul^nd garan ii de siguran \. =irtu ile noastre, abstinen ele noastre
nu sunt dec^t un efort de a fi ]n siguran \ chiar i dup\ moarte. 7e deschidem un cont ]n banc\ pe
lumea cealalt\.

9ar, ]ntre timp, o via \ nemaipomenit de frumoas\ ne scap\ printre degete. ,opacii sunt at^t de
frumo i pentru c\ nu cunosc frica de nesiguran \. )lorile pot s\ danse:e la soare i ]n ploaie pentru c\
nu le interesea:\ ce o s\ se ]nt^mple seara. 5e vor c\dea petalele i, a a cum au ap\rut dintr-o surs\
necunoscut\, vor disp\rea ]n aceea i surs\ necunoscut\. 5a fel i omul. 9ar, ]ntre momentul apari iei
i cel al dispari iei, omul are prilejul fie s\ danse:e, fie s\ dispere.

3mul autentic renun \ la ideea siguran ei i tr\ie te ]n total\ nesiguran \, pentru c\ asta este natura
vie ii. 7u po i s-o schimbi. ,eea ce nu po i s\ schimbi, accept\, i accept\ cu bucurie. 7u te da inutil
cu capul de pere i, ie i pur i simplu pe u \...
/eorge /urdjieff, who died
only in XYHI, was a
contemporary man but
perhaps the most rare man in
this whole century. 3ne of his
disciples, 7icoll, remembers
traveling with him on a train
in +merica, when /urdjieff
started behaving as if he was
a drun$ard. 7icoll $new that
he had not touched any drin$
for years -- he had been with
him -- but he started behaving
li$e a drun$ard... shouting,
throwing things, disturbing
the whole train.
)inally the conductor came,
the guard came, and 7icoll
was very embarrassed. #e
was trying to prevent
/urdjieff -- .What are you
doing(. -- but /urdjieff wouldnt listen. #e was ma$ing a fool of himself and ma$ing a fool of 7icoll.
7icoll was even more embarrassed... because at least people thought /urdjieff was drun$: .'ut you
should ta$e care of your master, and if he is drun$ then you should not travel in the middle of the
night. #e has awa$ened the whole train!
.+nd he is not only throwing out his things, he is throwing out other peoples things. %ou stop him"
otherwise we will have to call the police at the ne*t station..
7icoll was trying to persuade /urdjieff, and said, .&top this game! Why are you unnecessarily.... I
$now perfectly well you are not drun$..
+nd /urdjieff said into 7icolls ear, .I $now it too -- dont be worried! I have my own ways of
wor$ing. %ou have to learn not to be embarrassed -- whatever the situation. If you are to be with me,
you have to learn one thing: not to be embarrassed. It is a teaching for you" I made this whole train a
teaching class for you. Why does one feel embarrassed(.
+nd people gathered and started listening. &uddenly /urdjieff was not drun$, and he was tal$ing on
embarrassment and its implications. If you can drop embarrassment, there is a certain spiritual growth
in you. Why is one embarrassed( -- because one wants respectability, deep down one wants everybody
to thin$ of one in nice ways, good respectable ways. When something happens which goes against
respectability, there is embarrassment. It is the ego that is embarrassed.
+nd /urdjieff said to 7icoll, .If you can drop embarrassment, you have dropped the ego. 7ow we
can go to sleep..
The whole train was wondering about the man. Whatever he said was absolutely right. !any people
in the morning came to visit in his compartment. They said, .)orgive us, but you have made such an
impression. We had never thought that a teacher, a spiritual master, will behave in this way just to give
a lesson to his disciple. 'ut we could not sleep the whole night -- we thought about it again and again.
It is true, we feel embarrassed. It is not our true self, it is just our idea of our prestige, of our status" of
how people should see us, how people should $now us..
We all have mas$s. +nd whenever somebody ta$es the mas$ away, suddenly you are embarrassed,
because you have been hiding your original face from the whole world and suddenly you are e*posed.
&uddenly you find your clothes have disappeared and you are standing na$ed!
'ut only a man li$e /urdjieff would do that. 3nce he called one of his most important and the
greatest of his disciples, <.9. 3uspens$y. This man, <.9. 3uspens$y, was a world-famous
mathematician. 7obody $new about /urdjieff before 3uspens$y became his disciple" it was his
becoming initiated by /urdjieff that made /urdjieffs name world-famous.
3uspens$y was a world-famous mathematician. #e has written one boo$ which is thought to be one
of the three great boo$s in the whole world. #e himself in that boo$.... It is on mathematics, higher
mathematics -- but not only on mathematics, it is also on spirituality. +nd he is the only mathematician
$nown up to now who has made some basic bridges between the highest flight of mathematics and
spirituality.
#is boo$s name is T24TI6! 34/+76!. It means .the third canon of thought.. #e writes in his
introduction: .The first canon of thought was written by +ristotle" it is called 34/+76!. The
second canon of thought was written by 'acon" it is called 73=6! 34/+76! -- the new canon of
thought. 'oth have been tremendously decisive in scientific growth.. 3uspens$y has called his boo$
the third canon of thought -- T24TI6! 34/+76! and he says, .+lthough my boo$ is coming
third, it e*isted before the first ever e*isted..
+nd certainly it is more fundamental than both 'acons and +ristotles. +nd it is now almost half a
century old, but no other boo$ has come which can be the fourth... perhaps it never will come. #e has
done such a perfect job.
This man was a professor at 5ondon 6niversity in the times of the 4ussian revolution, and /urdjieff
was in 4ussia, far away in the interior in a small place, Tiflis. /urdjieff called 3uspens$y to come
immediately. +nd it was very dangerous: the whole of 4ussian life had been disturbed, the c:ar had
been $illed. +lthough the revolutionaries had overturned the old regime, the new regime had not yet
come into e*istence" it was just chaos all over the country -- and it is a vast country, one si*th of the
whole earth. The army was scattered and nobody $new what was happening. Trains were running on
their own, or not running" there was nobody to control anything. 2verything was on fire" and to move,
everybody was at ris$.
/urdjieff called 3uspens$y immediately, and 3uspens$y dropped his well-paid job, his very
respectable professorship, and went into a dangerous 4ussia. #e was afraid that he might not be able
to reach" he might be $illed -- people were being $illed and butchered li$e anything. 'ut somehow he
managed. It too$ three months for him to find the village of Tiflis, but anyhow he reached there and he
was happy that he had managed it.
When he entered the house of /urdjieff, /urdjieff said, ./ood! &o you have come. 7ow you can go
bac$ and rejoin your job.. 3uspens$y could not believe that /urdjieff would do such a thing -- putting
him at such ris$ unnecessarily. +nd /urdjieff had not even said a single word! #e had not even as$ed
3uspens$y to sit down and rest a little before he left to go bac$. #e said, .7ow you can go bac$
immediately..
2ven other disciples who were there with /urdjieff became very suspicious: this was strange! 3ne of
the disciples said, .We cannot believe what you have done! What is the meaning of it(.
/urdjieff said, .This is the last fire test of trust -- and I dont thin$ he will be able to pass it. I have
seen on his face that he has failed" I have seen frustration. #e could not go gracefully. If he had gone
gracefully he would have been born anew, he would have become a new man.
.I had given him the opportunity to be reborn -- he missed.. +nd certainly 3uspens$y missed,
because he became so angry that he disconnected himself from /urdjieff.
2ven such a great thin$er, mathematician, scientist, could not see that when a man li$e /urdjieff does
something -- howsoever absurd, meaningless -- there is bound to be some meaning in it. %ou should
not ta$e it at face value, you should give it a chance to sin$ deep. !any of /urdjieffs disciples left
him at one point or another because they could not conceive logically what the man was doing.
+ rascal saint will not behave logically, his behavior will be very illogical. 'ut still, if you can figure
out the deeper implications of his illogicality, you will be simply surprised that he is a miracle man.
)or e*ample, /urdjieff would ma$e the vegetarians eat meat, force them to eat meat. The person who
was not drin$ing he would force to drin$ as much as possible -- till he was flat on the floor, saying
things which you could have never thought that the man would say. +nd /urdjieff would be listening
to him.
#e said, .I never believe what people say unless they are unconscious. 3nly in their unconsciousness
do they say the truth. In their consciousness they go on saying things which are respectable, which
have to be said, which are e*pected to be said. 3nly when they are unconscious are they true. Then
you can see their original face. +nd only the original can be changed, you cannot change the false. The
false does not e*ist, how can you change it( %ou can change only the real, but first you have to find
it..
/urdjieff had his own ways of finding it. 'ut these ways are not common" hence neither ,huang T:u
nor #otei created a religion, nor /urdjieff, nor 'odhidharma.
'odhidharma perhaps is the greatest of all these four. #e was born in India and went to ,hina. +nd
his fame went ahead of him" the great ,hinese emperor had come to receive him on the border. +nd
the emperor had done great service to 'uddhism -- he had made thousands of temples and thousands
of monasteries, and he had thousands of scholars translating all the 'uddhist literature from <ali to
,hinese.
#e had put all his treasures in the service of 'uddhism. #e changed the whole of ,hina to 'uddhism
-- his name was 2mperor Wu. +nd naturally, every 'uddhist who had come before 'odhidharma had
told 2mperor Wu, .%ou have earned great virtue. %ou will be born in the seventh lotus paradise, the
highest paradise in 'uddhist mythology. %ou have done such great wor$ that there is no comparison --
even +sho$a is left far behind..
2mperor Wu, gracefully bowed down, touched the feet of 'odhidharma and as$ed him, .What is my
virtue(.
+nd 'odhidharma said, .7one!.
The emperor was shoc$ed. #e said, .'ut I have made so many temples, and I have made thousands of
'uddha statues, and I feed thousands of 'uddhist mon$s. I have changed the whole of ,hina to
'uddhism. +nd you say that my virtue is nil( Will I not be able to be born into the seventh lotus
paradise(.
'odhidharma laughed, he said, .%ou will be born in the seventh hell!.
The emperor had never seen such a man" he was accustomed to courtesy, grace -- he was a great
emperor. +nd this man is simply hitting him so hard. #e as$ed 'odhidharma, .Why are you so hard
on me(.
'odhidharma said, .'ecause I love you, and whoever I love, I am hard on him" otherwise, who cares(
The people who have been telling you that you will be born in the seventh paradise dont love you,
dont understand you" they are simply cheating you, because you are serving their purpose. They are
giving you great promises to be fulfilled in the other world. I cannot give you any promise unless I see
the transformation happening here and now.
.%ou may have made thousands of temples, but you are not a temple yet. +nd you have made
thousands of 'uddha statues, but you are not a buddha yet. +nd the seventh lotus paradise is not for
statue-ma$ers" it is for those who have become a buddha themselves. I can ma$e you a buddha, but I
am going to be a hard man. %ou will have to forget completely that you are an emperor. With me no
nonsense can be tolerated.
.&o you go bac$ home and thin$ about it. If you are ready, I am always ready. 'ut dont be befooled
by these so-called 'uddhist mon$s -- who are good people, who are simple-hearted, who are not doing
any harm to anybody. 'ut they are not masters who transform, who create a new consciousness..
+nd he said, .I will wait outside the town, I will not enter your empire. %ou will have to enter into my
empire. I will wait outside. Tomorrow morning at four ocloc$, before the sun rises, if you have
decided that you are ready to travel the path whatever the conse;uences, you can come" otherwise I
will move..
The whole night the emperor could not sleep... whether to go to this man( -- because he loo$ed
dangerous. +nd to go alone at four ocloc$, in the dar$.... +nd 'odhidharma had warned him, .9ont
bring your guards or others, because you will have to go alone on the path..
Who $nows( -- the man might be a little insane or something. ,ertainly he was dangerous! #e was
not the common run-of-the-mill saint. 'ut his eyes, his gestures...! +lthough he was very rude, still
behind his rudeness there was great compassion. +nd the $ing thought about it again and again: To go
or not to go( 'ut he could not resist -- he had to go. The man was irresistible.
)earing, trembling inside, still the emperor went to the temple -- 'odhidharma was staying outside
the boundary of his empire. 'odhidharma said, .I $new you would come. I $new because although I
was hard and rude, and you were shoc$ed, you were not angry" you were understanding. %ou were
pu::led -- you have never seen such a man, a very strange type of saint! 'ut I $new that you would
not be able to sleep.
.I have also not slept the whole night. I have been waiting for you. I was certain that you would come
because whatever I had said was said with immense compassion and love..
This man, 'odhidharma, had very few disciples, but whoever had the courage and guts to be with this
strange man was certainly transformed.
7ow, 'odhidharma is not accepted by the traditional people. 'ut this is the beauty of life: there is a
traditional crowd, but there is also a small untraditional path, trodden by the rare. It is almost li$e
wal$ing on a sword. 'ut these few rare people have done more as far as transformation of
consciousness is concerned than millions of ordinary saints.
They are good -- but good for nothing. These people may not seem the right $ind, but to meet such a
man is the rarest opportunity in life. They are dangerous. It is playing with fire, but unless you are
ready to play with fire, you cannot e*pect something miraculous to happen to you.
)rom ordinary saints and priests and theologians, you can get only an ordinary $ind of religiousness.
If you get satisfied with it, you are unfortunate. It is not enough -- not enough for any man worth
calling himself a man.
I was a teacher for nine
years, and I never judged a
single student. I have never
e*amined a single
e*amination paper, because
I told the vice-chancellor,
.If I really e*amine,
nobody is going to pass.
+nd if I am going to pass a
few people, why should the
others not be passed( &o
things are clear -- you can
decide -- either I can pass
everybody, or I can fail
everybody..
#e said, .%ou always bring
strange ideas! I have been a
teacher my whole life" this
idea never happened to
me..
I said, .This is e*actly
what I am going to do, so
you can decide..
#e said, .It is better you
dont ta$e any e*amination papers. I will inform the in-charge that you should not be given any papers
to e*amine..
I said, .Thats perfectly right, because that saves me the trouble of judging people unnecessarily..
3nly once they appointed me as a superintendent of the whole e*amination. I said, .%ou are doing
something wrong -- you dont understand me.. That was my first encounter with the new vice-
chancellor. I said, .%ou dont $now me. The old man $new me" he never committed any mista$e li$e
this..
#e said, .What are you saying( Is it a mista$e(.
I said, .It is a mista$e because you dont $now me. 'ut give it a try!.
&o he said, .3$ay..
#e came two or three times to see what was happening, and he was feeling terrible when he heard me
telling the students, .5isten, if you have brought notes hiding in your poc$ets, I have no objection. -ust
dont be caught. 9o it cleverly, watchfully, because it is not a sin -- but you should not be caught. To
be caught is the crime..
The vice-chancellor was standing there, listening. +nd I said to them, .I will try my best to catch you.
&o you decide. I give you two minutes -- if you are afraid of being caught, just bring everything that
you are hiding and put it on the table, and I will not say anything to you. 'ut after that, if you are
caught, then your whole year is spoiled..
Immediately, students started bringing their notes -- one boy had written answers on his shirt, inside.
&o he said, .What am I supposed to do( I have no notes but I have written many things on my shirt,
inside -- should I give the shirt(.
I said, .%ou have to give it..
The vice-chancellor was standing there. #e said, .What is going on(.
I said, .%ou $eep ;uiet. I told you beforehand, if I am the superintendent things will be going
according to me..
I told the boy, .%ou ta$e your shirt off, put it here..
#e said, .'ut it is too cold..
I said, .Thats not my problem -- why have you.....
&o he had to ta$e off his shirt. +nd the vice-chancellor said, .This is too much..
I said, .I cannot help..... +nd nobody was doing anything -- they had even brought boo$s, whole
boo$s. They were hiding them behind their coats, shirts, pants, everything came out!
+nd I said to them, .7ow you can start answering your ;uestions. +nd dont be worried, if you cannot
answer something, I am here" I am here to help you. %ou can just raise your hand and I will come and
try to help you..
7obody raised his hand. I said, .What is the matter(. They were afraid, because this has never
happened -- a superintendent telling them, .I will help you.. I said, .This is just human. %ou are in
difficulty, and I am sitting here doing nothing.....
That was the first and the last time.... The vice-chancellor said, .%ou are a strange person. That boy is
shivering -- how can he write(. It was a cold morning... the e*aminations used to be early in the
morning, seven ocloc$.... &omebodys pants had been ta$en, because people used to write on their
pants -- people do all $inds of things.
They had their ways, and I $new. I have also been a student, and I $new all $inds of things. That was
very easy, to write on your pants -- nobody will be able to see. 'ut I told them, .It doesnt matter, even
if you have to sit na$ed... sit na$ed! 7e*t time you will not do such a thing. 'ut I am not
uncompassionate to you" if you are in need of some answer that you cannot find, I will give it to you"
you just have to raise your hand. 'ecause according to me, all e*aminations are absolutely absurd..
If it were up to me, I would allow the students to have all the boo$s available. 3nly a very intelligent
student can find out the answers from the boo$s in three hours. +nd you will be able to judge their
intelligence in a better way" otherwise somebody has just crammed five answers, and he $nows
nothing else, and he comes first in the class. +nd somebody else $nows everything, just has missed
those five ;uestions, and he is a failure.
This is not a good e*amination" they should be allowed to have the whole library available to them.
They can go to the library, they can find the answer, they can write it. In three hours, they have to find
as beautiful answers as possible. +nd only intelligent students will be able to find them.
In the &oviet 6nion they have changed this old idea of e*aminations. 7ow boo$s are available -- all
the boo$s concerned are available in the hall where the students are given their e*amination" they can
consult any boo$. It is far better, because the ultimate concern is to $now the intelligence of the
person, not his memory. &o students need not memori:e anything -- they have to understand things. In
e*amination time they can either just from their intelligence give the answer, or they can loo$ in the
boo$s. 'ut if in a five hundred page boo$ you have to find one answer, you need some intelligence --
mediocres will not be able to find the answer, they will become so nervous...
+nd there is no need that a person should have to wait for one year. I told the vice-chancellor, .If I am
going to be the superintendent I will follow my ideas, I dont care what is conventional. The
conventional is not necessarily the right thing. I will give them all the available material" they can find
out. 3nly the intelligent people will be able to find out. +nd those who have not been successful
should be given a chance again after one month. What is the problem that they should wait for one
year(.
)inally, there is no need of any e*aminations if every teacher goes on giving mar$s in his diary every
day to the students. +nd every year, all the notes from all the teachers are collected. +nd based on
those counts the students are moved, either upward or downward. 'ecause there are many who
deserve to go bac$ -- they have somehow slipped, they should not be allowed... they should be put
bac$" they should earn better mar$s and go ahead again.
+nd this should remain available: if a teacher finds that an intelligent student has unnecessarily to
wait si* months more for e*amination, he should recommend that the student be moved right now to a
higher class, because he has enough intelligence. There is no need for him to wait si* months more.
Teachers should be the decisive factors. In that situation, nobody fails, nobody passes -- people simply
move. + few move faster, a few move a little slower" everybody according to his pace. 7obody is
condemned as a failure, nobody is praised as first-class, nobody is praised as a gold medalist. +ll these
things teach people unnecessary ambition, and ambition is poison.
%ou are a teacher" you should try in every way to change the very structure of teaching, particularly
your teaching. +nd slowly, slowly things move. %ou should tell other teachers, .There are many things
wrong with the education system itself, which nobody bothers about. +nd you are judging students"
the first thing should be a right system of education.. The whole system is rotten, old, out of date" it
has to be completely changed.
&o I am not saying dont judge. <articularly systems, conventions, traditions -- judge them! 'ut dont
judge individuals. If their actions are wrong, help them to get free of those wrong actions. If they are
going in wrong directions, help them to find right paths. +nd this should be your love, this should not
be your judgment.
Thousands of people have been $illed by these people who represent .the church..
+nd what peace have they brought to the world(
%ou can see: the two world wars have been fought in the ,hristian section of the world" and the third
world war will also be fought in the ,hristian section of the world.
These people are representatives not of peace but of death.

&o I say categorically that the antichrist is already in the =atican.
#e has started doing the worst that can be done to humanity.
#e is preaching to the whole world against birth control, against the pill, against abortion.
That is enough, that will destroy this whole world through starvation, through poverty.
4ight now there are five billion people on the earth -- and the earth is capable of supporting joyously
not more than one billion people.
3ne billion people can live on this earth in a dance, in ecstasy -- but five billion people(
+nd by the end of this century the population will be si* billion.
3ut of sheer overpopulation -- no nuclear weapons are needed -- humanity can commit suicide.

!y answer is absolutely clear: <ope the <olac$ is the antichrist" all the popes have been -- and not
only in ,hristianity but in every religion.
_ntr-una din ]nt^lnirile sale cu discipolii, 3sho a fost ]ntrebat: `3sho, ce este 2*istenda( 2ste ceea ce
oamenilor le place s\ numeasc\ 9umne:eu(B. Iat\ ce a r\spuns 3sho:

e2*isten a e ceva ce e*ist\, 9umne:eu e ceva ce nu e*ist\. 2*istenda e o realitate. 9umne:eu e o
ficdiune. 2*istenda se de:v\luie numai oamenilor care meditea:\, oamenilor t\cerii. 9umne:eu este o
consolare pentru min ile bolnave. 2*istenda nu este ceva produs de tine, 9umne:eu, da. 9e aceea,
e*ist\ o singur\ 2*istend\ i mii de 9umne:ei. )iecare dup\ nevoile, suferindele sau aftept\rile lui
creea:\ un 9umne:eu sau accept\ o credind\ veche despre 9umne:eu. 9umne:eu este o alinare, dar
nu i o vindecare. 2*istenda ]ns\ nu este o alinare. + fi acordat la 2*istend\ ]nseamn\ a fi s\n\tos fi
]ntreg. Toate religiile lumii te ]nvad\ despre 9umne:eu" eu te ]nv\d despre 2*istend\. Te ]nv\d s\ fii
acordat la lumea ]nconjur\toare, la ceea ce este ]n tine fi la ceea ce este ]n afara ta. 3dat\ ce efti
acordat astfel, pentru tine nu mai e*ist\ moarte, suferind\, tensiuni sau griji. 3 pace deplin\ te ]nv\luie,
o mul umire la care nici n-ai visat. 9umne:eu este pentru cei care nu- i pot cre te nivelul con tiin ei,
care sunt ]napoiadi din punct de vedere spiritual. 2 un fel de juc\rie, de care oamenii ]napoiadi au
nevoie. gi c^nd spun c\ e o juc\rie, spun de fapt c\ depinde de tine cum vrei s\ arate: ca o maimud\,
sau ca un elefant. <o i alege s\-l faci cu E m^ini sau cu XIII de m^ini. 2 creadia ta...

!i se pare ciudat faptul c\ omul crede c\ 9umne:eu a creat totul. +dev\rul e c\ ]nsu i 9umne:eu
este o creadie a imaginadiei omului. 9umne:eu este cea mai mare minciun\ care s-a spus vreodat\,
pentru c\ de minciuna asta depind mii de alte minciuni. 'isericile, organi:adiile religioase continu\ s\
invente:e minciuni dup\ minciuni, doar pentru a proteja o singur\ minciun\. Trebuie s\ ]ndelegi
psihologia celui care minte. <rimul lucru pe care trebuie s\-l ftii despre min it este c\ ai nevoie de o
memorie bun\, ca s\- i aminte ti ce-ai min it. 9ac\ mindi pe cineva ]n leg\tur\ cu ceva i pe altcineva
]n leg\tur\ cu altceva, trebuie s\-di amintefti ce i-ai spus fiec\ruia. +dev\rul n-are nevoie de inere de
minte. 2l este ]ntotdeauna acolo, mereu la fel. 7u trebuie s\ di-l v^ri ]n memorie. !emoria e o
capcan\, te ]nchide ca o ]nchisoare. &e prinde de tine i te acoper\ ]ncet-]ncet, ]nc^t p^n\ la urm\
dispari cu des\v^rfire. +dev\rul te eliberea:\ de toate minciunile. gi brusc ai reveladia c\ faci parte din
imensul adev\r pe care eu ]l numesc 2*istend\.

7-ai nevoie de nicio biseric\, de niciun templu sau moschee. 7-ai nevoie dec^t de o inim\ iubitoare i
recunosc\toare. +cesta este templu t\u adev\rat, care-di va transforma ]ntreaga viad\. +cest templu te
va ajuta nu numai s\ te descoperi pe tine, ci i profun:imea acestei imense e*istende. 7oi suntem ca
valurile oceanului, care se manifest\ numai la suprafad\, ]n timp ce oceanul poate s\ aib\ mii de
$ilometri ad^ncime. 3ceanul <acific are i XI $ilometri ad^ncime. 9ar un mic val de la suprafad\ nu-i
va cunoafte niciodat\ ad^ncimile, pentru c\ el nu e separat de ocean. =alul se va ag\da de mica lui
entitate, se va teme de moarte, se va teme s\ nu se piard\ ]n imensitatea oceanului. 9e fapt, moartea
valului nu e o moarte, ci ]nceputul unei viedi vefnice. 9umne:eu a fost inventat pentru c\ oamenii
aveau nevoie de el" aveau nevoie de un protector. _n imensitatea 6niversului, omul se simte at^t de
singur, at^t de mic. =astitatea ]l sperie.

,e ]nseamn\ e*istenda( !i-aduc aminte de o povestire a lui 'ertrand 4ussell:
+rhiepiscopul +ngliei visea:\ c\ a ajuns la poarta sidefie a 4aiului. <e de o parte, este e*trem de
muldumit, iar pe de alt\ parte, foarte tulburat, pentru c\ poarta este afa de lat\, ]nc^t nu reufefte s-o
vad\ ]n ]ntregime. 2 at^t de ]nalt\, ]nc^t n-o poate cuprinde cu privirea. gi el pare o furnicu \ ]n
comparadie cu poarta aceea imens\. _i e pu in team\. i nu e un om obifnuit, e arhiepiscopul +ngliei!
&e simte umilit de poarta aceea i ]n el ]ncol e te teama: `9ac\ asta simt ]n fada pordii, atunci ce-am
s\ simt ]n\untru(B ,u m^ini tem\toare, bate la poart\, dar ]n imensitatea acelui spadiu numai el poate
au:i cioc\nitul. ,^teva :ile la r^nd continu\ s\ bat\ din ce ]n ce mai tare. _ntr-un t^r:iu, se deschide o
ferestruic\ ]n poart\ fi &f^ntul <etru se uit\ afar\ atent, ]ncerc^nd s\-fi dea seama cine a f\cut acel
:gomot. 3chii lui sunt str\lucitori ca stelele, ]nc^t arhiepiscopul se simte fi mai mic F aproape o non-
entitate.
&f^ntul <etru spune: `3ricine ai fi, de oriunde ai veni, te rog, vino mai aproape, s\ te v\dB.
+rhiepiscopul se apropie i se pre:int\: `&unt arhiepiscopul +ngliei. <oate n-ai au:it de mine, dar
podi s\-l ]ntrebi pe Iisus, el o s\- i confirmeB.
&f^ntul <etru spune: `7-am au:it niciodat\ de +ngliaB.
+rhiepiscopul r\spunde: `<oate n-ai au:it de +nglia, dar cu sigurand\ ai au:it de minunata noastr\
planet\ <\m^ntB.
&f^ntul <entru spune: `7u vreau s\ te jignesc, dar p^n\ nu-mi spui indicele <\m^ntului, nu pot s\-mi
dau seama despre ce vorbefti. 9ac\-mi dai indicele, m\ duc ]n bibliotec\ s\ caut sistemul solar c\ruia
]i apardii, pentru c\ sunt milioane de sisteme solare fi fiecare are multe planeteB.
+rhiepiscopul nu se g^ndise niciodat\ c\ <\m^ntul ar avea un indice: `7u cunosc niciun indice, dar
eu sunt arhiepiscopul +ngliei. 9u-te fi spune-i lui Iisus #ristos c\ sunt aiciB.
&f^ntul <etru r\spunde: `&unt din ce ]n ce mai nedumerit. ,ine-i tipul \sta, Iisus(B
+rhiepiscopul e de-a dreptul focat: `7-ai au:it de Iisus, singurul fiu al lui 9umne:eu(B
&f^ntul <etru replic\: `_n ceea ce m\ privefte, nu l-am v\:ut niciodat\ pe 9umne:eu" nici nu ftiu dac\
e*ist\ sau nu. 2u sunt doar portarul. <oate undeva, prin 4ai e*ist\ cineva care :ice c\ e 9umne:eu, dar
eu nu l-am ]nt^lnit niciodat\...B
ocul fu at^t de mare, ]nc^t arhiepiscopul se tre:i lac de sudoare.

<ovestea este relevant\, pentru c\ ne arat\ c^t de mici suntem noi ]n compara ie cu 6niversul.
2vident c\ omul primitiv nu a reu it s\ ]ndeleag\ ideea vastit\dii 6niversului f\r\ s\-i atribuie o
personalitate fi s\ se simt\ legat ]ntr-un fel de aceasta. 9umne:eu este efortul omului primitiv de a-i
da e*istendei o personalitate. +poi, acea personalitate devine 9umne:eu-tat\l. +bia atunci po i avea o
reladie cu el. <odi chiar s\ fii ]mpotriva lui, c\ci cel pu in e cineva fad\ de care podi fi pro sau contra" e
cineva mai mare ca tine, care te poate proteja, care ]di garantea:\ ceva. 9e fapt, 9umne:eu ]nseamn\
pur i simplu s\r\cia conftiindei umane.

3amenii care au c\p\tat conftiind\ de sine ]n cel mai ]nalt grad, ca /autam 'uddha, au negat e*istenda
lui 9umne:eu. 3ricine se ]ns\n\to e te ]n interior trece dincolo de minte, care de fapt e bolnav\, fi
neag\ e*isten a unui 9umne:eu. 9umne:eu, ca personaj imaginar, e bun pentru copiii de gr\dinid\. 2i
au nevoie de parabole, de fabule, de povefti. +dev\rul e c\ foarte pudini oameni au dep\ it etapa de
gr\dinid\. 9umne:eu e*ist\ pentru c\ tu nu efti conftient de tine ]nsudi. 9umne:eu e*ist\ pentru c\ tu
nu i-ai atins centrul fiindei tale. _n momentul ]n care ajungi s\ te cunofti cu adev\rat, nu mai e*ist\
niciun 9umne:eu, nu mai ai nevoie de el.

9e fapt, eu sunt ]ntru totul de acord cu ce a spus )riedrich 7iet:sche: `9umne:eu a muritB. ,ea de-a
doua parte a fra:ei lui este chiar mai semnificativ\: `9umne:eu a murit... fi omul e acum liberB.
+ceast\ parte nu s-a bucurat de prea mult\ atendie din partea filo:ofilor, a misticilor, a psihologilor,
de i e cea mai important\. <rima parte nu ]nseamn\ cine tie ce. 9e fapt, prima parte e fundamental
grefit\. 9umne:eu nu poate muri, c\ci ficdiunile nu mor. _n momentul ]n care ftii c\ sunt ficdiuni, nu se
mai pune problema ca ele s\ moar\. +fa cum nu s-au n\scut, nici nu vor muri. 9umne:eu nu s-a
n\scut niciodat\, deci cum ar putea s\ moar\( !oartea este cel\lalt cap\t al nafterii. +fadar, prima
parte nu este important\, dar i s-a acordat mult\ importand\ de c\tre teologi, pentru c\ s-au temut: `2
un sacrilegiu s\ spui oamenilor c\ 9umne:eu a murit. +sta ]nseamn\ c\ acum nu mai e nevoie de nicio
religieB. &-au temut pentru propria lor afacere. i au ignorat cea de-a doua parte, care are ]n elesuri
mult mai ad^nci: ]nseamn\ c\ 9umne:eu a fost ceva ce te lega, te inea pe loc, de care te temeai.
9umne:eu n-a fost o binefacere, ci o greutate imens\ care- i ap\sa sufletul fi te ]mpiedica s\ evolue:i.

3dat\ ce 9umne:eu este ]ndep\rtat, posibilitatea omului de a evolua fi a ]nflori nu mai este ]ngr\dit\
de nimic. 6n 9umne:eu este un despot, un fascist. )\r\ 9umne:eu, lumea devine liber\. 2*istenda ]i
d\ fiec\rui individ o e*traordinar\ demnitate. 9e la cel mai mic fir de iarb\ i p^n\ la cea mai mare
stea din 6nivers, e*isten a d\ iubire fi ]n elesuri, f\r\ s\ fac\ vreo diferend\. 2*istenda acord\ egalitate
fi anse egale. 7u mai e nevoie s\ pier:i timpul ]n rug\ciuni i s\ citefti scripturile sfinte, care sunt
cele mai pudin sfinte c\rdi din lume. 7u mai po i fi e*ploatat de preodi. 2fti dintr-odat\ eliberat de
toate landurile astea. +cum podi s\ fii tu ]nsudi.

+t^ta timp c^t pentru tine e*ist\ 9umne:eu, nu vei putea niciodat\ s\ fii tu ]nsudi. 2fti doar o
marionet\, iar sforile tale sunt ]n m^inile lui. 3 :ical\ veche din India spune c\ nici cea mai mic\
frun:\ dintr-un copac nu se mifc\ dac\ nu prime te de la 9umne:eu ordin s\ se mifte. 3ricine ai fi,
conform religiilor, efti f\cut din d\r^n\. ,uv^ntul `omB vine de la `humusB, care ]nseamn\ noroi. Iar
acela i cuv^nt ]n ivrit, arab\, urdu, hindi este `admiB, folosit ca nume pentru primul om, +dam.
`+dmiB ]nseamn\ `p\m^ntB. 9umne:eu l-a f\cut pe om din p\m^nt fi apoi a suflat viad\ asupra
p\pu ii. + adar, ce fel de libertate ai( ,ineva a suflat viad\ asupra ta fi tot ]n puterea lui st\ s\
]ncete:e ]n orice clip\ s\ mai sufle viad\ asupra ta.

3rice ai face, religiile cred c\ este soarta ta, care di-e scris\ ]n frunte. i au e*istat mul i escroci care
chiar au ]ncercat s\ citeasc\ ce di-e scris. +strologi, chiromandi, tot felul de mecheri care au e*ploatat
simplitatea fi inocenda umanit\ ii. 2*ist\ oameni care-di citesc ]n palm\, se uit\ la linii fi-di spun ce
]nseamn\ ele. Ideea e c\ nu tu deci:i cum s\- i tr\ie ti viada, faci doar parte dintr-o pies\ de teatru, iar
rolul pe care-l joci i-a fost scris cu mult ]nainte ca tu s\ te na ti. +cesta a fost i argumentul pe care
8rishna, ]ncarnarea lui 9umne:eu la indieni, i l-a dat discipolului s\u, +rjuna, ]n timpul marelui
r\:boi din epopeea antic\ !ahabharata. <rev\:^nd imensul masacru ce urma s\ aib\ loc, +rjuna s-a
hot\r^t pur i simplu s\ renun e, defi era un om de mare curaj fi cu o inteligend\ deosebit\. 2l a spus:
`7u v\d rostul acestui r\:boi. ,hiar dac\ o s\ c^ftig... fi sunt sigur c\ o s\ c^ftig F nu e*ista lupt\tor
mai destoinic ca el F s\ stau pe tronul aurit al victoriei ]nconjurat de cadavrele tuturor prietenilor fi
dufmanilor mei, todi acei oameni frumofi, nu m\ ]nc^nt\ deloc. Imaginea acestei scene m\
]nnebune te. 9ec^t s\ lupt, mai bine las locul unui v\r sau frate. _l las pe el s\ conduc\ dara fi eu plec
]n mun i, ]n #imalaya, s\ medite: i s\ devin sannyasin. !i-am pierdut orice interes s\ luptB. 8rishna
a ]ncercat ]n toate felurile s\-l conving\, ]ns\ +rjuna era foarte inteligent i tia cum s\ riposte:e. <^n\
la urm\, nemaiav^nd alte argumente, 8rishna i-a spus: `2 scris ]n destinul t\u. <lec^nd, te ]ndep\rte:i
de 9umne:eu. 4\:boiul acesta a fost predestinat de 9umne:eu s\-i distrug\ pe cei nevrednici fi s\-i
lase ]n via \ doar pe cei vredniciB. 5a acest motiv, +rjuna n-a mai avut contra-argument, pentru c\ el
credea ]n 9umne:eu fi ]n destin. + mers la r\:boi.

+stfel, 8rishna a fost r\spun:\tor, acum HIII de ani, de distrugerea acestei d\ri, prin argumentul fals
pe care i l-a adus lui +rjuna. 4\:boiul acela nu numai c\ a omor^t foarte muldi oameni, a distrus, de
asemenea, curajul acestei d\ri, care a ]nceput s\ se sperie de orice nenorocire, oric^t de mic\. VIII de
ani de sclavie... =reau s\ fie clar pentru toat\ lumea c\ responsabilii pentru acefti VIII de ani de
sclavie sunt cei mai mari oameni ai Indiei. _n capul listei st\ 8rishna" +rjuna este doar umbra lui. +poi
vine !ahavira, care i-a ]nv\dat pe oameni s\ fie nonviolendi, ]n afa m\sur\, ]nc^t adep ii lui n-au mai
f\cut nici m\car agricultur\, pentru c\ plantele sunt vii. 9ac\ cultivi, ]nseamn\ c\ omori plantele
atunci c^nd str^ngi recolta. /autam 'uddha vine pe locul al treilea: el i-a ]nv\dat pe oameni s\ accepte
totul, s\ fie muldumidi cu ceea ce au. ,hiar dac\ sunt s\raci, ]nfometadi, sclavi... s\ r\m^n\ tot timpul
muldumidi.

_nv\d\turile lor au fost minunate. 9ar trebuie s\ preci:e: ceva, ca s\ nu fiu ]n eles gre it. _nv\d\turile
lor au fost minunate, dar ei nu s-au g^ndit niciodat\ la toate implicadiile acestor ]nv\d\turi. 7u s-au
g^ndit c\ dac\ predici nonviolenda unei d\ri ]ntregi, dac\-i spui s\ renunde la orice arm\, c^nd nimeni
altcineva ]n lume nu face asta, atunci pui dara aceea ]n postura de victim\, care poate fi e*ploatat\ de
oricine. gi timp de VIII de ani, un invadator dup\ altul a venit ]n India, a e*ploatat-o fi a plecat. _ntr-
un final, au venit mahomedanii fi s-au g^ndit: `9e ce s\ mai plec\m( <utem nu doar s\ e*ploat\m
poporul \sta, ci i s\ r\m^nem aici i s\-l guvern\mB. gi apoi au venit engle:ii, france:ii,
portughe:ii... fi todi au e*ploatat dara asta. To i i-au umplut bu:unarele. 'ritanicii au fost de departe
cei mai istedi. <ortughe:ii au avut micile lor insule, 9iu, 9aman i /oa, iar france:ii au st\p^nit o
mic\ parte din dar\, <ondicherry. 'ritanicii ]ns\ au luat toat\ dara ]n st\p^nire. <oporul a murit de
foame fi nimeni nu s-a g^ndit c\, de fapt, aceste principii m\re e sunt ]ntr-un fel responsabile de
situadia nefericit\ prin care a trebuit s\ treac\ India mii de ani. gi nici ast\:i nimeni nu ]ncearc\ s\
vad\ toate implicadiile. )iecare principiu m\red ]fi are propriul lui nor negru. gi dac\ nu ve:i norul, ]n
cur^nd vei fi absorbit de el. 9ac\ ]l ve:i, ]l po i evita.

&e pare c\ 9umne:eu este cel mai mare principiu care i-a fost predicat omului de-a lungul secolelor,
dar nimeni nu i-a anali:at implicadiile. 9ac\ 9umne:eu l-a creat pe om, ]nseamn\ c\ omul nu are o
individualitate proprie i, prin urmare, nu poate pretinde nici demnitate, nici libertate. 7u se poate ca o
marionet\ s\ declare `=reau s\ fiu liber\B. Tot astfel, dac\ 9umne:eu a creat 6niversul, atunci orice s-
a ]nt^mplat ]n 6nivers a trebuit s\ se ]nt^mple. + fost voinda 5ui. 7iciun efort din partea noastr\ n-ar fi
schimbat nimic. gi ]n sf^r it, dac\ 9umne:eu a creat lumea noastr\, fi dac\ el este ]n spatele armelor
nucleare fi al oamenilor care le fabric\, atunci niciun efort din partea omului nu poate preveni
distrugerea ]ntregii planete. + l\sa crearea lumii ]n m^inile unui 9umne:eu imaginar este foarte
periculos. 7e face total neputinciofi. 7u putem face nimic. 9e aici, simpla mea ]n elegere asupra
conftiindei e c\, dac\ 9umne:eu n-a murit odat\ cu declaradia lui 7iet:sche, atunci trebuie s\-l
omor^m noi! 3riunde l-ai ]nt^lni, nu trebuie s\-i spui `'un\ :iuaB. _nt^i omoar\-l fi dup\ aia salut\-l,
dac\ vrei s\ ]ndepline ti formalit\ ile. 9ar nu e nevoie de 9umne:eu. ,u el acolo sus, omul va
r\m^ne pentru totdeauna un sclav, un inconftient care nu se va str\dui niciodat\ s\ ating\ ma*imul de
potendial la care poate ajunge.

9ac\ ]l elimini pe 9umne:eu, s-ar putea ca, din obi nuin \, s\ sim i la ]nceput pudin\ team\, care
]ns\ va disp\rea ]ncet-]ncet. 3dat\ ce vei reali:a c\ stai pe propriile picioare fi c\ ai de f\cut ceva
pentru a- i crea o conftiind\ mai bun\, o inim\ mai iubitoare, rug\ciunile acelea devin inutile, pentru
c\ nu mai e nimeni s\ r\spund\ la ele. &au foarte rar primesc r\spuns. 9in c^te tiu eu, cel pu in o
dat\, rug\ciunea unui om a primit r\spuns:

6n om s\rac l-a rugat pe 9umne:eu luni la r^nd: `9oamne, d\-mi HI de dolari, nu vreau mult, doar
HI de dolariB. !ai ]nt^i s-a rugat, dar apoi s-a g^ndit: `!ilioane de oameni se roag\... e*ist\ un singur
9umne:eu fi o gr\mad\ de oameni care se roag\. 3are umila mea rug\ciune va ajunge vreodat\ la el(
Trebuie s\ fie at^ta :gomot ]n jurul lui F rug\ciuni de la toate bisericile, moscheile, sinagogile,
templele F cum va avea el grij\ i de mine( !ai bine-i scriu o scrisoareB. gi i-a scris: `9oamne, ]di
scriu ca s\-di amintesc c\ de luni ]ntregi m\ rog, dar n-am primit niciun r\spuns. &e pare c\ rug\ciunea
mea nu a ajuns la tine. <ot s\ ]ndeleg c\ e at^ta :gomot ]n jurul t\u, de la at^tea rug\ciuni. gi di se roag\
oameni mari F papa, arhiepiscopul, shan$aracharya F deci cum s\ mai iei seama la rug\ciunea mea
umil\( gi nu- i cer mult, nu vreau raiul pe p\m^nt pentru mine, doar HI de dolari. +fa c\ m-am g^ndit
s\-di scriu scrisoarea astaB. i a scris ]n scrisoare cu litere mari: `HI 92 935+4I! hI72 !I7T2, 2
64/27T!B. +poi a ]nceput s\ se fr\m^nte, pentru c\ nu ftia pe ce adres\ s\ e*pedie:e scrisoarea. &-a
g^ndit: `,ea mai bun\ idee ar fi s-o adrese: a a: 9umne:eu, cMo 9irigintele <o teiB. 9ac\ nici
9irigintele <o tei nu poate s\-i afle adresa, atunci cine( &crisoarea a ajuns la 9irigintele <oftei.
+cesta a citit-o, mai ]nt^i a r^s fi apoi s-a ]ntristat. &-a g^ndit: `3mul \sta trebuie c\ e disperat, c\ci
nimeni nu-i scrie scrisori lui 9umne:eu. gi nici m\car nu cere afa de mult...B. +fa c\ le-a spus
prietenilor: `=\ rog s\ citi i scrisoarea acestui om s\rman. #ai s\ contribuim cu todii fi s\-i trimitem
cei HI de dolari. &\ facem ca m\car o dat\ o rug\ciune s\ fie ascultat\B. +u pus cu to ii m^n\ de la
m^n\, ]ns\ n-au reufit s\ str^ng\ dec^t EH de dolari. 9irigintele <oftei a spus: `7icio problem\, s\-i
trimitem m\car pe \ftiaB. ,^nd cei EH de dolari au ajuns la omul s\rman, acesta a num\rat banii, a
privit ]n sus fi a strigat: `9oamne, dine minte un lucru: 9ata viitoare c^nd ]mi mai trimidi bani, nu-i
mai trimite prin poft\! 2scrocii \ tia fi-au luat comisionul. +m primit numai EH de dolari!B

,u e*cepdia acestei ]nt^mpl\ri, n-am au:it de nicio alt\ rug\ciune care s\ fi fost ]mplinit\... fi nici
aceasta ]n totalitate. 7u e*ist\ nimeni acolo, sus, s\ r\spund\...

6n 9umne:eu trebuie venerat. ,\tre el trebuie ]n\ldate rug\ciuni. 2*istenda trebuie abordat\ altfel. 2a
trebuie contactat\ prin medita ie. &unt doar dou\ feluri de religii pe lume: religiile rug\ciunii fi
religiile meditadiei. Toate religiile rug\ciunii cred ]ntr-un 9umne:eu, pe c^nd religiile meditadiei, nu
cred ]n niciun 9umne:eu. <entru c\ meditadia te poart\ spre tine ]nsudi fi te ]mplinefte, nu ai nevoie s\
te rogi, nu ai nevoie de alinare. 2fti ]ntr-o stare de bucurie, de beatitudine, ]nc^t podi binecuv^nta tu
]ntreaga lume.

2u te ]nv\d e*istenda, iar intrarea ]n e*istend\ se face prin propria ta fiind\. !editadia nu ]nseamn\
rug\ciune, adic\ s\ ceri ceva. 4e ine: medita ia este opusul rug\ciunii. 4ug\ciunea face parte din
jargonul fals despre 9umne:eu, rai fi iad. 4ug\ciunea este parte a acestui ritual. !editadia este singura
cale de a intra ]n contact cu e*istenda, iar contactul acesta devine imediat o contopire. 9evii e*istenda
]ns\fi. 2fti ]n nori, ]n stele, ]n flori, ]n ploaie. 2fti pretutindeni. 7u mai efti un strop, devii oceanul
]ntreg.

hine i minte distincdia clar\ ]ntre 2*istend\ fi 9umne:eu. 9umne:eu ]nseamn\ s\ v\ condamna i
propria inteligend\, ]nseamn\ s\ accepta i umilinda, ]nseamn\ s\ recunoa te i c\ `noi suntem doar
ni te marionete" tu efti puterea" tu po i s\ faci ce vrei cu noi, i tot ce putem noi s\ facem e s\ ne
rug\m la tineB. +ceste credin e v\ schilodesc. 9umne:eu e ceva de care i-e fric\. _n schimb,
2*istenda este prospedime, frumusede fi adev\r. 7iciodat\ s\ nu amesteca i aceste dou\ cuvinte. 6nul e
pur\ fic iune, cel\lalt ]nseamn\ realitate.i
3sho: ,e este dragostea(

7-ar trebui sa punem aceasta intrebare. <e firul natural al lucrurilor, toata lumea ar trebui sa stie ce
este dragostea. Insa de fapt nimeni nu stie sau foarte rar se intampla sa mai fie cate cineva care sa stie
ce este dragostea. 9ragostea a devenit una dintre cele mai rare e*periente.

9a, se vorbeste despre ea. &e scriu scenarii de film si romane de dragoste, se compun cantece de
dragoste, o vei vedea la spectacolele de televi:iune, o vei au:i la radio, in reviste. e*ista o imensa
industrie care sa-ti puna la dispo:itie idei despre ceea ce inseamna dragostea. !ulti sunt implicati in
industria destinata sa-i ajute pe oameni sa inteleaga dragostea. Insa dragostea ramane in continuare un
fenomen necunoscut. &i ar trebui sa fie unul dintre cele mai bine cunoscute fenomene.

2ste aproape ca si cum cineva ar intreba: ,e este hrana( 7u ai fi surprins daca ar veni cineva la tine si
ti-ar pune aceasta intrebare( +ceasta intrebare ar fi relevanta numai daca persoana respectiva ar fi fost
privata de mancare de la inceputul inceputului si nu ar fi gustat niciodata hrana. 5a fel este intrebarea
,e este dragostea(

9ragostea este hrana sufletului, insa ai fost privat de ea. &ufletul tau nu a primit deloc dragoste, astfel
incat nu-i cunosti gustul. <rin urmare, intrebarea este relevanta, dar este trista. trupul si-a primit hrana,
asa ca poate sa mearga mai departe. Insa sufletul nu si-a primit hrana, drept pentru care sufletul este
mort sau nu s-a nascut inca, ori se afla etern pe patul de moarte.

,and ne nastem, suntem dotati cu capacitatea de a iubi si de a fi iubiti. 3ricare copil se naste plin de
dragoste si stie e*act ce este dragostea. 7u este deloc nevoie sa i se spuna copilului ce este dragostea.
9ar problema apare deoarece mama si tatal nu stiu ce este dragostea.
7ici un copil nu primeste parintii pe care ii merita. nici un copil nu primeste vreodata parintii pe care
ii merita" parintii aceia pur si simplu nu e*ista pe pamant. Iar pana cand acest copil devine parinte, si
el isi va fi pierdut capacitatea de a iubi.

+m au:it de o mica vale in care se nasc copii si in trei luni dupa nastere orbesc. 2ra o societate mica,
primitiva, in sanul careia e*ista o musca ce provoca o infectie si orbirea, astfel incat intreaga
comunitate orbise. )iecare copil se nastea cu ochi care functionau perfect, dar in decurs de trei luni cel
mult, orbea din cau:a acestor muste.

&i probabil ca mult mai tar:iu, in cursul vietii lor, acesti copii trebuie sa se fi intrebat, ,e sunt ochii(
,e vrei sa spui cand folosesti cuvantul ochi( ,e este vederea( ,e inseamna sa ve:i( ,e vrei sa spui cu
asta( Iar intrebarea trebuie sa fi fost lipsita de sens. +cesti copii se nasteau cu vedere, insa o pierdeau
cumva, in timpul cresterii.

+sta s-a intamplat si cu dragostea. )iecare copil se naste cu toata dragostea care poate sa incapa in el,
cu o dragoste care se revarsa din el. ,opilul se naste ca dragoste" copilul este facut dintr-o materie care
se numeste dragoste. Insa parintii nu pot sa le dea dragoste. +u propriile antecedente. ar fi trebuit ca si
parintii lor sa-i fi iubit la randul lor.

<arintii nu pot decat sa se prefaca. <ot sa vorbeasca despre dragoste. <ot sa spuna .Te iubim foarte
mult., dar ceea ce fac, de fapt, este lipsit de iubire. )elul in care se poarta, felul in care isi tratea:a
copilul este insultator" nu e*ista nici un pic de respect.
,opilul nici macar nu este considerat ca fiind o persoana. ,ui ii trece prin minte sa respecte un copil(
,opilul nici macar nu este considerat a fi o persoana.

,opilul este considerat a fi o problema. 9aca tace, este bun" daca nu tipa si nu face nici o prostie, e
bine" daca pur si simplu nu le sta in cale parintilor, e bun. +sa trebuie sa fie un copil. Insa nu e*ista
nici un fel de respect si nici un fel de dragoste.
<arintii nu stiu ce este dragostea. &otia nu si-a iubit sotul, sotul nu si-a iubit sotia. Intre ei nu e*ista
dragoste in schimb e*ista dominatie, posesiune, gelo:ie si tot felul de otravuri care distrug dragostea.
5a fel cum o anumita otrava iti poate distruge vederea, asa si otrava posesiunii si gelo:iei distruge
dragostea.

9ragostea este o floare fragila. Trebuie sa fie protejata, trebuie sa fie calita, trebuie sa fie udata"
numai atunci devine puternica. Iar dragostea copilului este foarte fragila. fapt natural, deoarece copilul
este fragil, corpul sau este fragil.
,re:i ca un copil lasat singur este capabil sa supravietuiasca( /andeste-te numai cat de neajutorat
este copilul. daca un copil este lasat singur, este aproape imposibil sa supravietuiasca. =a muri, si asta
se intampla si cu dragostea. 9ragostea este data de-o parte, este neingrijita.
<arintii nu pot iubi, nu stiu ce este dragostea, nu au plutit niciodata in dragoste. /andeste-te numai la
parintii tai, si aminteste-ti. nu spun ca ar fi raspun:atori de ceva. &unt victime, cum si tu esti o victima"
si parintii lor au fost la fel. &i asa mai departe, poti sa ajungi pana la +dam si 2va si pana la 9umne:eu
Tatal!

&-ar parea ca pana si 9umne:eu Tatal nu prea a dat dovada de respect fata de +dam si 2va. 9e aceea,
din capul locului a inceput sa le porunceasca: &a faceti asta si &a nu faceti asta... a inceput sa faca toate
mofturile pe care le fac toti parintii. &a nu mancati fructele din pomul acesta. &i, cand +dam a mancat
fructul, Tatal 9umne:eu a fost atat de furios, incat i-a alungat pe +dam si pe 2va din 4ai.
+ceasta alungare este permanent pre:enta si fiecare parinte ameninta cu alungarea copilului, ameninta
sa-l dea afara. 9aca nu asculti, daca nu te porti frumos, vei fi alungat. In mod natural, copilul se teme.
&a fie alungat( In salbaticia acestei vieti( Incepe sa faca unele compromisuri.
Incetul cu incetul, devine diform si incepe sa manipule:e. 7u vrea sa :ambeasca, dar, daca mama este
prin preajma, iar el vrea lapte, :ambeste. 9e-acum avem de-a face cu politica, inceputul, +',-ul
politicii.

In sinea lui, copilul incepe sa isi urasca parintii, pentru ca nu este respectat" in sinea lui, incepe sa se
simta frustrat deoarece nu este iubit asa cum este. &e asteapta din partea lui sa faca anumite lucruri si
abia pe urma va fi iubit. 9ragostea are conditii" nu este bun asa cum este. !ai intai trebuie sa fie bun
si abia pe urma va primi dragostea parintilor.
+sa ca, pentru a merita copilul incepe sa devina fals" isi pierde orice urma de contact cu propria
valoare intrinseca. Isi pierde respectul de sine si incetul cu incetul incepe sa se simta vinovat.

9e multe ori, copilului ii trece prin mintea ideea urmatoare: +stia chiar sunt parintii mei adevarati( +r
fi posibil sa ma fi adoptat( <oate ca ma pacalesc pentru ca s-ar parea sa nu e*iste nici un fel de
dragoste. 9e o mie de ori vede furia in ochii lor, furia urata de pe chipurile parintilor sai si inca pentru
asemenea nimicuri, incat nu intelege proportiile furiei provocate de aceste nimicuri.
5a orice nimic, vede furia parintilor, nu-i vine sa creada, este atat de injust si de nedrept! Insa trebuie
sa se supuna, trebuie sa plece capul, trebuie sa accepte ca necesitate. Incetul cu incetul, capacitatea lui
de a iubi este ucisa.
9ragostea creste numai din dragoste. 9ragostea are nevoie de un mediu plin de dragoste acesta este
aspectul fundamental care trebuie sa fie retinut. 7umai intr-un mediu plin de dragoste creste
dragostea" are nevoie de acelasi fel de palpitatie imprejurul ei.
9aca mama este iubitoare, daca tatal este iubitor nu numai fata de copil, ci daca sunt iubitori si unul
fata de celalalt, daca in casa e*ista o atmosfera de dragoste copilul va incepe sa functione:e ca o fiinta
a dragostei si nu va pune niciodata intrebarea ,e este dragostea( =a sti acest lucru de la bun inceput,
acesta va deveni fundamentul sau.

Insa acest lucru nu se intampla. 2ste pacat, dar acest lucru nu s-a intamplat pana acum. Iar copiii
invata felul de a se purta al parintilor lor reprosurile lor, conflictul dintre ei. 6ita-te la tine insusi. 9aca
esti femeie, uita-te, este posibil sa repeti, aproape identic, comportamentul mamei tale. 6ita-te la tine
cand esti impreuna cu iubitul sau cu sotul tau: ce faci( 7u cumva repeti un model( 9aca esti barbat,
uita-te ce faci. 7u cumva te porti e*act ca tatal tau( 7u cumva faci aceleasi prostii pe care le facea el(
3data, candva, erai surprins: ,um poate tata sa faca asa ceva( , iar acum faci aceleasi lucruri.
3amenii nu fac decat sa repete" oamenii sunt imitatori. )iinta umana este o maimuta. 4epeti
comportamentul mamei si al tatalui tau si trebuie sa renunti sa faci asta. +bia atunci vei sti ce
inseamna dragostea, altfel vei ramane deformat.

7u pot sa definesc ce este dragostea, pentru ca nu e*ista nici o definitie a dragostei. 2ste unul dintre
lucrurile care nu pot sa fie definite, asemenea nasterii, mortii, asemenea lui 9umne:eu, asemenea
meditatiei. 2ste unul dintre lucrurile care nu pot sa fie definite nu pot sa-l definesc.
7u pot sa spun asta inseamna dragoste , nu pot sa ti-o arat. 7u este un fenomen vi:ibil. 7u poate sa
fie disecat, nu poate sa fie anali:at" poate numai sa fie traita si numai prin traire vei sti ce este. Insa pot
sa-ti arat calea pentru a o trai.

<rimul pas este sa scapi de parintii tai. &i prin asta nu vreau sa spun sa nu-ti respecti parintii, nici
gand. +s fi ultimul care sa-ti spuna asa ceva. 7u vreau sa spun sa scapi fi:ic de parintii tai, vreau sa
spun sa scapi de vocile parintilor dinlauntrul tau, de programul dinlauntrul tau, de inregistrarile
dinlauntrul tau.
&terge-le pur si simplu, si vei fi pur si simplu surprins ca, daca vei scapa de parintii din launtrul fiintei
tale, te vei elibera. <entru prima oara vei putea sa ai compasiune fata de parintii tai, altfel acest lucru
nu se va intampla: vei ramane plin de resentimente.
3ricine are resentimente fata de propriii parinti. ,um sa nu nutresti resentimente fata de ei, cand ti-au
facut atat de mult rau( &i nu te-au ranit cu stiinta, ti-au dorit numai binele, au vrut sa faca tot ce puteau
pentru binele tau. Insa ce ar fi putut sa faca( &implul fapt ca-ti doresti ceva nu inseamna ca se va si
intampla. 9oar cu dorinta de bine nu se intampla nimic.

Iti doreau tot binele, acesta este adevarul" nu e*ista nici o indoiala in aceasta privinta" oricare parinte
vrea ca viata sa aduca toate bucuriile copiilor lor. Insa ce pot face( 2i insisi nu au cunoscut nici o
bucurie in viata. &unt roboti si cu buna-stiinta, ori fara sa-si dea seama, deliberat sau intentionat, vor
crea o atmosfera in care copiii lor se vor transforma, mai devreme sau mai tar:iu, in niste roboti.
9aca vrei sa fii o fiinta omeneasca si nu o masina, descotoroseste-te de parintii tai. &i va trebui sa fii
cu foarte mare bagare de seama. 2ste o munca grea, solicitanta" nu poti sa faci lucru acesta
instantaneu. =a trebui sa fii foarte atent la comportamentul tau. 6ita-te si ve:i cand este pre:enta
mama ta, cand actionea:a ea prin intermediul tau: opreste asta, departea:a-te de asta.
)a ceva absolut nou, un lucru pe care mama ta nici macar n-ar fi putut sa si-l imagine:e. 9e e*emplu,
iubitul tau se uita la o alta femeie cu o privire foarte apreciativa. +cum uita-te la ceea ce faci tu. )aci
acelasi lucru pe care l-ar fi facut mama ta cand tatal tau se uita la o alta femeie cu o privire plina de
apreciere(

9aca faci acest lucru, nu vei sti niciodata ce inseamna dragostea, pur si simplu vei repeta o poveste.
2*act aceleasi roluri vor fi interpretate de alti actori, asta-i tot" aceeasi piesa mi:erabila repetata din
nou si din nou.
7u fi un imitator, iesi din asta. )a ceva nou. )a un lucru pe care mama ta nici macar n-ar fi conceput
sa-l faca. )a un lucru nou, pe care tatal tau nici macar n-ar fi conceput sa-l faca. +ceasta noutate va
trebui sa fie adusa in fiinta ta si dupa aceea va incepe sa se reverse dragostea.
<rin urmare, primul lucru esential pe care trebuie sa-l faci este sa te descotorosesti de parintii tai.
+l doilea lucru esential este acesta: oamenii cred ca pot sa iubeasca numai atunci cand gasesc
partenerul potrivit: o prostie! 7u vei gasi niciodata unul. 3amenii cred ca vor iubi numai atunci cand
vor gasi barbatul perfect sau femeia perfecta. <rostie! 7u-i vei gasi niciodata, deoarece femeia
perfecta si barbatul perfect nu e*ista. Iar daca ar e*ista, nu si-ar bate capul cu dragostea ta. <ur si
simplu nu i-ar interesa.
+m au:it de un barbat care a ramas holtei toata viata pentru ca o cauta pe femeia perfecta. 5a varsta
de sapte:eci de ani, cineva l-a intrebat: +i calatorit foarte mult, ai cautat de la 7ew %or$ in 8atmandu,
din 8atmandu la 4oma, de la 4oma la 5ondra. ,hiar nu ai putut sa gasesti femeia perfecta( 7ici
macar una(

'atranul s-a intristat profund. + spus: 'a da, o data am gasit-o. Intr-o :i, candva de mult, am dat peste
o femeie perfecta.
,uriosul l-a intrebat mai departe: &i ce s-a intamplat( 9e ce nu te-ai casatorit(
Trist, batranul i-a spus: <entru ce( 2a il cauta pe barbatul perfect.
&i aminteste-ti, cand doua fiinte sunt perfecte, nevoia lor de dragoste nu este aceeasi ca nevoia ta de
dragoste. +re niste caracteristici cu totul diferite. 7u intelegi nici macar dragostea care este posibila
pentru tine, asa ca nu vei intelege dragostea lui 'uddha sau dragostea pe care o revarsa asupra ta un
5ao T:u nu vei putea sa o intelegi.
!ai intai trebuie sa intelegi dragostea care este un fenomen natural. 7ici macar acest lucru nu s-a
intamplat. !ai intai trebuie sa intelegi ceea ce este natural si apoi ceea ce este transcendental.

<rin urmare, al doilea lucru pe care trebuie sa-l retii este sa nu cauti niciodata barbatul perfect sau
femeia perfecta. &i aceasta idee ti-a fost bagata in cap: ca daca nu vei gasi barbatul perfect sau femeia
perfecta, nu vei cunoaste fericirea. +sa ca tot continui sa cauti perfectiunea si nu o gasesti, asa ca esti
nefericit.
<entru a pluti si a creste in dragoste nu este necesara perfectiunea. 9ragostea nu are nimic de-a face
cu celalalt. 3 persoana iubitoare pur si simplu iubeste, la fel cum o persoana vie respira si bea,
mananca si doarme. 2*act la fel, o persoana cu adevarat iubitoare iubeste.
7u spui, 9aca aerul nu este perfect, nepoluat, eu nu respir. ,ontinui sa respiri chiar si in 5os +ngeles"
continui sa respiri chiar si in 'ombay. ,ontinui sa respiri pretutindeni, chiar daca aerul este poluat,
otravit. ,ontinui sa respiri! 7u-ti poti permite sa nu respiri pentru ca aerul nu este asa cum ar trebui sa
fie.
9aca ti-e foame, mananci ceva, indiferent ce. In desert, daca mori de sete, bei orice. 7u vei insista sa
ti se dea o ,oca-,ola, merge orice orice este de baut, apa chioara, chiar si apa murdara. 2ste un fapt
cunoscut ca au e*istat oameni care si-au baut propria urina. ,and mori de sete, nu te mai interesea:a
ce este, bei orice sa-ti astamperi setea. 3amenii si-au ucis camilele in desert sa bea apa camilele
stochea:a apa in corpul lor.

&ituatia devenea periculoasa in acest conditii, pentru ca oamenii trebuiau sa mearga pe jos $ilometri
intregi. Insa le era atat de sete, incat setea a contat mai mult mai intai apa" altfel mureau. )ara apa,
chiar daca ar fi mai trait camila, ce-ar fi mai putut sa faca( ,amila ar fi dus un cadavru in orasul cel
mai apropiat, deoarece fara apa oamenii ar fi murit.
3 persoana vie si iubitoare pur si simplu iubeste. 9ragostea este o functie naturala.
<rin urmare, al doilea lucru pe care trebuie sa ti-l amintesti este sa nu cauti perfectiunea" altfel nu va
curge nici un fel de dragoste prin tine. 9impotriva, vei deveni ne-iubitor. 3amenii care cer
perfectiunea sunt oameni complet ne-iubitori, nevrotici. ,hiar daca isi pot gasi un iubit sau o iubita,
cer perfectiune, iar dragostea este distrusa din ca:a acestei pretentii.
9aca un barbat iubeste o femeie sau o femeie iubeste un barbat, apar imediat pretentiile. )emeia
incepe sa aiba pretentia ca barbatul sa fie perfect, doar pentru ca o iubeste pe ea. ,a si cum ar fi comis
un pacat! 9e-acum trebuie sa fie perfect, de-acum trebuie sa se descotoroseasca de toate limitarile lui,
brusc, doar din cau:a acestei femei(
9e-acum nu mai poate sa fie om( Trebuie sa devina fie supraom, fie un fals, un prefacut. 7atural, este
foarte greu sa devii un supraom, asa ca oamenii devin niste falsuri. Incep sa se prefaca, sa joace teatru,
sa se prefaca. In numele dragostei, oamenii nu fac decat devina niste prefacuti.
<rin urmare, al doilea lucru pe care trebuie sa ti-l amintesti este sa nu ceri niciodata perfectiunea. 7u
ai nici un drept sa pretin:i nimic de la nimeni. 9aca nu te iubeste nimeni, fii recunoscator, dar nu cere
nimic pentru ca celalalt nu are nici o obligatie sa te iubeasca. +tunci cand cineva iubeste, este un
miracol. )ii impresionat de miracol.

Insa oamenii nu sunt impresionati. <entru niste nimicuri, distrug toate posibilitatile de a e*ista
dragoste. 7u sunt prea interesati de dragoste si de bucuria ei. &unt mai interesati de incursiunile in alte
ego-uri.
)ii preocupat de bucuria ta. )ii cat se poate de preocupat de bucuria ta, sa nu te interese:e altceva
decat bucuria ta. Toate celelalte sunt neesentiale. 9ragostea ca functie naturala, la fel cum respiri. Iar
atunci cand iubesti pe cineva, nu incepe sa ai pretentii" altfel, de la bun inceput vei inchide portile. 7u
te astepta la nimic. 9aca ti se iveste ceva in cale, fii recunoscator. 9aca nu se iveste nimic, nu este
nevoie sa se iveasca. 7u poti sa te astepti la ceva.
Insa urmareste-i pe oameni, urmareste-i cum se tratea:a unii pe altii ca si cum ar avea obligatii
reciproce. 9aca sotia iti pregateste masa, nu-i multumesti niciodata. 7u spun ca ar trebui sa dai glas
multumirilor, insa ar trebui sa se vada in ochii tai. Insa nu-ti bati capul, iei lucrul acesta ca fiind de la
sine inteles: asta e treaba ei. ,ine ti-a spus asta( 9aca sotul tau castiga bani, nu-i multumesti niciodata.
7u simti nici un fel de gratitudine. +sta e treaba barbatului. +sta se petrece in mintea ta. ,um ar putea
sa creasca dragostea(
9ragostea are nevoie de un climat de dragoste, dragostea are nevoie de un climat de gratitudine, de
multumire. 9ragostea are nevoie de o atmosfera neconstrangatoare, de o atmosfera lipsita de asteptari.
+cesta este al doilea lucru pe care trebuie sa ti-l amintesti.
Iar al treilea lucru este urmatorul. In loc sa te gandesti cum sa faci sa primesti dragoste, incepe sa o
dai. 7u e*ista nici un alt mijloc. 3amenii sunt mai preocupati cum sa apuce si sa ia. <e toti ii
interesea:a sa primeasca si se pare ca nimanui nu-i face vreo placere sa dea.
+tunci cand dau, oamenii o fac cu o mare reticenta chiar daca dau, dau numai ca sa primeasca la
randul lor si au o atitudine comerciala. 2ste un targ. Totdeauna au foarte mare grija sa primeasca mai
mult decat dau, in felul acesta au facut un targ bun, o afacere buna. Iar celalalt face acelasi lucru.
9ragostea nu este o afacere, asa ca incetea:a sa ai o atitudine de am de afaceri.
+ltfel iti vei irosi viata si vei rata dragostea si tot ceea ce este frumos in ea: pentru ca tot ceea ce este
frumos nu are nimic in comun cu afacerile. +facerile sunt lucrul cel mai urat din lume un rau necesar,
insa e*istenta nu are nimic in comun cu afacerile.
,opacii infloresc, nu este o afacere" stelele sclipesc, nu este o afacere, si nu trebuie sa platesti nimic
nimanui pentru asta si nimeni nu cere nimic de la tine. =ine o pasare, se asa:a la usa ta, canta un
cantec si nu-ti cere nici un certificat si nici un semn de apreciere. + cantat cantecul si apoi pleaca
fericita in alta parte, fara sa lase vreo urma.
+sa creste dragostea. 9\ si nu astepta sa ve:i cat de mult poti sa iei. 9a, ea vine, inmiita, dar vine
natural. =ine dupa propria vointa, nu este nevoie sa o chemi. ,and o chemi, nu vine niciodata. ,and o
chemi, o uci:i. <rin urmare, da. Incepe sa dai.
5a inceput va fi greu, deoarece intreaga ta viata ai fost antrenat nu sa dai, ci sa iei. 5a inceput va
trebui sa te lupti cu propria platosa. !usculatura ti-a intepenit, inima ti-a inghetat, ai devenit rece. 5a
inceput iti va fi greu, dar fiecare pas facut te va duce la un altul si incetul cu incetul, fluviul va incepe
sa curga.

5a inceput descotoroseste-te de parintii tai. 9escotorosindu-te de parintii tai, te descotorosesti de
societate, descotorosindu-te de parintii tai, te descotorosesti de civili:atie, educatie, de totul: deoarece
parintii tai repre:inta toate acestea. 9evii un individ. <entru prima oara, nu mai faci parte din masa, ai
o individualitate autentica. 2sti pe cont propriu. +sta inseamna maturi:area. +sa ar trebui sa fie o
persoana matura.
3 persoana matura este o persoana care nu are nevoie de parinti. 3 persoana matura este o persoana
care nu are nevoie de nimeni de care sa se agate sau sa se sprijine. 3 persoana matura este o persoana
fericita in solitudinea ei: solitudinea ei este un cantec, o sarbatoare. 3 persoana matura este o persoana
care poate sa fie fericita cu ea insasi. +ceasta singuratate nu inseamna singuratate, faptul de a fi solitar
inseamna solitudine, este meditativa.
Intr-o buna :i a trebuit sa iesi din pantecul mamei. 9aca ai fi ramas acolo mai mult de noua luni, ai fi
murit nu numai tu, ci si mama ta ar fi murit. Intr-o buna :i a trebuit sa iesi din pantecul mamei tale"
apoi intr-o alta :i a trebuit sa iesi din atmosfera familiei tale, un alt pantec, ca sa te duci la scoala.
9upa aceea intr-o alta :i a trebuit sa iesi din atmosfera scolii, un alt pantec, ca sa iesi in lumea larga.
Insa in profun:imea sinelui tau, esti in continuare tot un copil. Inca te afli in pantec! 2*ista straturi
suprapuse de pantec si acest pantec trebuie spart. +sta repre:inta ceea ce in 3rient am numit cea de-a
doua nastere. ,and ai ajuns la cea de-a doua nastere, esti complet liber de impresiile parintilor.
&i frumusetea este ca o asemenea persoana le este recunoscatoare parintilor sai. <arado*ul este ca
numai o asemenea persoana isi poate ierta parintii. +re compasiune si dragoste pentru ei, are
sentimente e*traordinar de puternice pentru ei, pentru ca si ei au suferit la fel. 7u este o persoana
furioasa, nu, nici pe departe. <oate sa aiba lacrimi in ochi, dar nu este o persoana furioasa si va face tot
ceea ce va putea pentru a-si ajuta parintii sa avanse:e catre o asemenea plenitudine a singuratatii, la o
asemenea inaltime a singuratatii.

Trebuie sa devii o individualitate, acesta este primul lucru. +l doilea lucru este sa nu astepti
perfectiunea si sa nu ceri si sa nu pretin:i. Iubeste oamenii obisnuiti. 7u e nimic in neregula cu
oamenii obisnuiti. 3amenii obisnuiti sunt e*traordinari! )iecare fiinta umana este atat de unica" arata
respect pentru aceasta unicitate.

In al treilea rand, d\, si d\ fara nici o conditie atunci vei sti ce inseamna dragostea. 2u nu o pot defini.
Iti pot arata calea pentru a o cultiva. Iti pot arata cum sa sadesti o tufa de trandafiri, cum sa o u:i, cum
sa ii pui ingrasamant, cum sa o proteje:i. +poi, din senin, intr-o buna :i, apare trandafirul si casa ta e
plina de parfumul lui. +sa se intampla si dragostea.
Witnessing you have brought with your birth. 'ut the society, the educational system, the family, all
are trying to ma$e you ambitious.
!y father never $new -- he had eleven children -- he never $new which child was studying in which
school, in which class, and whether he had passed or failed this year. #e never in;uired. 2ven for our
progressive reports, we had to tell him, .%ou have to sign it.. +nd he would say, .%ou could have
signed it yourself !y signature is so simple. 'ut I will sign.. +nd he would sign without reading
whether I have passed or failed. +ny recommendations from the teacher, from the principal, he would
not read. When I topped the university, that was the first time I told him, .%ou will be happy to $now...
you $now me, that I am good for nothing, but by some coincidence I have topped the whole university
and received the gold medal.. #e became very serious. I said, .This is not some crime that I have
committed. %ou need not be so serious..
#e said, .7o, I am serious. 'ecause that simply means in your whole university.... If you can top the
university then the people who are studying there must be far worse than you! That ma$es me serious.
I was thin$ing you only are good for nothing. This proves that your whole university is just good for
nothing. +nd you topped -- that means you are at least better.. I said, .That is true. I never thought
about it, otherwise I would not have told you. I thought you would be happy..
To get such a father is very difficult. #e never imposed any ambition on me. If some of my brothers
failed in a class and they came home crying and weeping, he would say, .9ont cry and weep. What is
the matter( It simply means that in two years you will become far stronger and far wiser than you can
become in one year. +nd what is the loss( +nd what is the hurry( If you cannot come out of the school
one year earlier, there is no problem. %ou can ta$e your time, you can fail as many times as you want.
3ne thing is certain, the longer you remain in one class, the wiser and stronger you will become.
7othing is lost. 9ont cry and weep unnecessarily..
The principal would come just to console my father. .It is not our fault that your son has failed, but he
never pays any attention to the studies. #e is continuously interested in games, and he is almost
always absent. &o you just tell him to be present. #e is intelligent, there is no problem about it.. 'ut
my father would say, .'ut what is the problem( 5et him play, let him not be attentive. 5et him not be
present, what is the hurry( I am still alive. #e can ta$e his time" one year, two years, three years, as
much as he wants. #e will become far more mature, and failure is also a great e*perience in life. In
life, you cannot succeed in everything. &o this is good" he will $now some taste of failure and will be
able to absorb it in his life. There is no need to be worried and no need to console me. 7othing has
gone wrong..
'ut to find this $ind of parent is very difficult. 3rdinarily they are all ambitious people, and, because
they cannot fulfill their own ambitions, they project their ambitions on their children. They wanted to
become something special, but they could not" at least their sons will become.
I used to $now a very famous politician, &eth /ovinddas. #e had a very ambitious mind and wanted
to become not less than prime minister of India. #e and the man who became the first prime minister
of India were both friends, and very intimate friends. 'oth had been together in jails, both had come
from very rich families. In one of his speeches the father of -awaharlal 7ehru, !otilal, said, .I have
two sons. 3ne is -awaharlal, the other is /ovinddas..
7aturally, he was thin$ing of becoming the prime minister. If he cannot become the first prime
minister, then his must be the second chance after -awaharlal. 'ut he could not manage even to
become a cabinet minister. #e could not manage to become even a governor, a chief minister of a
state. #e had tried everything, but basically he was not a politician. #e was very simple, almost a
simpleton. &o the desire was there, burning his heart.
#e had two sons, and he tried hard that they should become what he had missed. +nd he had all the
political connections, so he helped his first son become a deputy minister. #e was hoping that the son
soon would become minister, then move to the cabinet of the central government and then become
prime minister.
If he had not been able to become the prime minister himself, at least he can claim to be the father of
a prime minister, which is far better. 'ut the son died as a deputy minister in a state council. #e was
only thirty-si* when he died.
'ut ambition is such a thing that this old man tried to commit suicide, because with the death of the
son all his ambitions had failed again. I told him, .%ou have another son. /ive him a try. %ou have all
the best connections in the country, from the lowest to the highest. It is just very easy for you.. +nd
suddenly I could see his eyes shine again, as if life returned to him. #e said .%es, I had never thought
about it. I was thin$ing simply to die, because what is the point of living( I missed, my son has died..
&o he managed that his second son enter into the same post" he became the deputy minister. 'ut
neither of his sons had the ability to be politicians. They were his sons, just as stupid as he was,
perhaps a little more.
+nd you will be surprised that the second son also died. The man was now seventy-five or seventy-
eight, and this was too much of a shoc$. +gain he started tal$ing about suicide. #is wife phoned me
and said, .%ou come. 5ast time you had done something and he dropped the idea of suicide. 7ow you
do something because again he is tal$ing of suicide.. I said, .9ont be worried. <eople who tal$ of
suicide never commit suicide. <eople who commit suicide are those who never tal$ about it. 'ut I will
come..
I went. #e was sitting again in the same posture, and I said to him, .If you want to commit suicide,
commit! Why do you harass the whole family by tal$ing about it(. #e said, .2verybody, the mayor of
the city, the chief minister, all have come to console me. Indira /andhis telegram has come.. #e was
sitting with a pile of telegrams from all the ministers and governors -- India has thirty states and chief
ministers -- and he was showing them to everybody who was coming. I told him, .%ou dont seem to
be interested in the death of the son. %ou are more interested in these telegrams..
-ust one man had not sent him a telegram, and about that he was feeling very much hurt. #e was one
of his old colleagues, but then later on they became enemies in politics. #e joined another party, and
became a chief minister. 3nly /ovinddas had not, so he was continuously telling everybody, .3nly
9war$a <rasad !ishra... his telegram has not come. +nd I have made the man.. +nd it was true, if
you thin$ that 9war$a <rasad lived in /ovinddas house and was financially supported by him. 'ut it
was not true that he had made the man. That man was capable to reach the post, any post, on his own.
#e was a very ambitious, very cunning, very clever man. #e used him, he used all his friendships with
all the great politicians.
+nd I said, .%ou are so much interested in telegrams, and you are not interested in the death of your
son. ,an you understand that you have lived your whole life in ambition( %ou failed, your first son
died, your second son died, but your ambition -- it continues. %ou are ready to commit suicide but you
are not ready to drop the ambition. +s if ambition is far more valuable than life!. +nd I said, .If you
just want to project your ambition on somebody, then why not your son-in-law(. #e said, .%ou are a
genius, certainly! I never thought about my son-in-law.. #e had only one daughter and two sons. +nd
because he was so rich the daughter was living with him, and the son-in-law also.
I said, .#e lives with you. #e is just li$e a son to you. !a$e arrangements, ma$e him deputy minister
in the cabinet somewhere and see whether he dies or not. Then we will thin$.... Why did these two
sons die( It seems they were not capable of withstanding the political pressures, challenges, worries.
They were both young and there was no need to die so soon. There was no reason e*cept that politics
proved poisonous to them. 5et us try this one.. +nd he tried. +nd this time things went well. The man
became deputy minister and &eth /ovinddas died!
+nd the moment he died, his son-in-law was thrown out of the ministry, because he was just ta$en in
because of /ovinddass pressure, that he would commit suicide. +ll the politicians had $nown him for
his whole life. #e had been in the freedom struggle and he was $nown as father of the parliament. #e
was the only man in the whole world e*cept Winston ,hurchill who had been a member of parliament
so long, continuously from XYXP to XYLU, without a brea$, so he was $nown as the father of Indian
parliament. 2verybody $new him and everybody was obliged to him in many ways. 'ut the moment
he died, the son-in-law was thrown out.
I said, .This is far better, because. if you were thrown out before, he would have tried to commit
suicide again.. +nd he was not capable of committing suicide, either, because still ambition was there,
some hope from some corner.
+ll the parents are ambitious. The whole educational system is ambitious. +ll the religions are
ambitious. They are all promising and giving hope to people that their ambitions will be fulfilled after
death. Thats why people are missing something which is very simple, which needs no ambition,
which needs no ego, which needs no effort" which needs a simple, very simple understanding" just a
little clarity, a little intelligence, and your whole life is transformed.
The whole earth can become enlightened. We have just to change the educational system, to change
the organi:ed religions of the world, to change the political structures of the society. +nd we have to
allow every child his way. Whatever he wants to become, let him become. 2ven if he turns out to be a
beggar, he will be far more fulfilled. )orced to be a $ing, he will not be happy to be a $ing" that will
not go according to his heart. 5et something happen according to his heart. If he wants to play guitar,
let him play guitar. #e will not become %ehudi !enuhin -- how many people can become %ehudi
!enuhin( -- but there is no need for everybody to become %ehudi !enuhin. #e can play and enjoy. If
he enjoys himself without disturbing the neighbors, there is no problem.
I have heard that there was a man who was practicing Indian classical music. #is neighbor came to
him and said, .Tonight we are going to have a party. ,an we have your harmonium(. #e said, .There
is no problem, you can ta$e the harmonium.. -ust after a few minutes the neighbors wife came, and
said, .It doesnt loo$ good, but we dont have a set of tablas. ,an we have your tablas(. #e said, .%es,
you can have. 'ut when is the party going to begin(. The wife said, .What party(. The man said, .'ut
your husband has ta$en the harmonium saying, We are going to have a party so some music will be
happening..
The wife said, .To be true, tonight we want to sleep. !usic is happening too much! &o when he had
ta$en the harmonium, we remembered you may start playing on the tablas. I have come to as$ for the
tablas because what will we do with only the harmonium( -- tablas are also needed. There is no party.
-ust for so many days we have not been able to sleep. -ust once in a while, let us have sleep..
&o if you are not disturbing your neighbors, there is no problem. %ou can play your guitar, your sitar.
%ou can play anything you want, and even if you dont become famous.
I dont understand what becoming famous is going to give to you. Twenty people $now you, what are
you getting( Two hundred people $now you, you will be getting ten times more. 'ut what are you
getting with twenty( Two thousand people $now you, then you will be getting still more, but what are
you getting with twenty( -ust thin$ of that: the whole world $nows you, but what will you be getting
out of it( -ust start with twenty and go on multiplying and you will be clearly able to perceive that it is
simple nonsense.
+mbition is a very stupid game in which there is no victory, only defeat. 3nly defeat because you will
never become what you are born to become. +nd you will never $now your birthright, the ultimate
bliss of being enlightened.
everything is here-now. mind
is far away. this mind is the
root cause of your misery. It
is not because of past $armas
that you are suffering, no. It is
not that god has destined you
to suffer, no. It is not because
+dam and 2ve commited sin,
that you are suffering, no.
These are tric$s to avoid the
responsability
I am a man of
very simple
taste. I am
utterly
satisfied with
anything
which is the
best. - 3sho