Contents :

Chapter 1 : Celibacy and Enlightenment ............................................................................................................................................ 3

Chapter 2 : Why is man insane? ...................................................................................................................................................... 22

Chapter 3 : Revolution comes through Awareness .......................................................................................................................... 50

Chapter 4 : Confronting Oneself....................................................................................................................................................... 73

Chapter 5 : The Delusion of Ego ...................................................................................................................................................... 97

 Chapter 1 : Celibacy and Enlightenment

My beloved friends,
Delusions form about all that is significant in life, but no delusions form about whatever is meaningless. The more meaningful
something is, the more it creates delusion. The reason is, the more meaningless something is, the more it is within our area of
understanding. And the more meaningful something is, the more it is beyond our understanding. So if it concerns the mundane
world, there will be no delusion, but for something concerning the sky, there will be delusion. The higher a thing is, the more
inevitable it is that misunderstanding happens. You can only grasp something from the point where you are - you can only
understand that which you are already able to understand. Trying to understand that which is beyond your understanding only
creates delusion.
For instance, sex is easily within the realm of man's understanding. Sex is within his understanding, but celibacy is absolutely
beyond his understanding. So whatever meaning he attributes to celibacy will be sex-centered in one way or the other. Whatever
meaning he makes of it will be somehow related to sex. And from there begins the delusion because celibacy has nothing to do with
sex. It has no relation whatsoever, although the outcome of celibacy certainly does affect sexuality.
Two things should be understood. First of all, in man's mind, the experience of happiness and pleasure is associated with
sexuality. This is true not only in man's mind, but also in the minds of all the animals - and maybe even in the minds of plants and
trees. Also, anything connected with the experience of happiness will be associated with the experience of suffering. So, the idea
and desire for maximum happiness and pleasure is centered in sexuality and also associated with the idea of maximum suffering.
Whenever a greater bliss has been talked about, whenever you've been told about it, your criteria for measuring that bliss is
sexual pleasure. You can only measure it by that. You have also been told that sex immediately disappears from the life of those
who attain a state of bliss. So your measurement of ultimate happiness, of bliss, of ultimate liberation, or whatever name you may
give it, is sexual. You can only think that it must be like having endless and endless sexual orgasms. This has even been mentioned
in the scriptures: achieving the ultimate state of bliss has the pleasure of endless sexual intercourse.
So you think we can measure it against sexuality. If someone talks to you about ultimate liberation and bliss and ultimate reality,
then how else can you measure it? What is your criterion? You can only measure it with the pleasures that you have known and
experienced. It is like talking to a frog in a pond. If you tell him about the ocean, he will simply measure it by the size of the pond. Fie
will ask, “Flow big is your ocean? Is it twice as big as our pond, is it ten times bigger, or is it fifty times bigger?”
And if you tell the frog, “No, your pond is in no way big enough to compare with the ocean," he will not believe you. He will say,
"Such a thing cannot exist. No matter how big the ocean may be, it must still be possible to measure it against the size of this pond."
The frog’s idea of the biggest world possible is somehow confined to the pond. In the same way, whatever tiny fountains of pleasure
our minds have experienced are all connected with sexuality.
Whenever someone talks about things like ultimate liberation, ultimate reality and bliss, if you look into your mind, you will find
you simply go on multiplying the sexual pleasure that you have experienced: it must be more, it must be much more pleasure than
that. It must be overwhelming pleasure, it must be many times more, it must be endless times more than that pleasure - but it must
be the same pleasure.
And in your mind you also have an association of suffering with sex. After the experience of every pleasure, the valley of suffering
is inevitable. On the earth, valleys are connected with mountains in the same way: a mountain cannot rise high without having
created a valley. When it rises high, a valley is created next to it. So it is with all pleasure and happiness: valleys of sufferings are
inevitably connected with them. When happiness and pleasure reach a peak, a valley of suffering immediately forms next to it. And it
is not possible to remain at the peak for very long: when you come back, you fall into the valley.
Pleasure is associated with sex, and suffering is also associated with sex. That's why when someone talks to you about ultimate
bliss, you understand it by multiplying sexual pleasure endless times and also by completely eliminating the suffering of sexual
pleasure from it - as if there is no suffering in that state whatsoever.
It has become your natural ability to just emphasize the pleasure. And on top of this, you have been told that sex had completely
disappeared from the life of those who experienced and talked of this bliss - be it Buddha or Mahavira, be it Krishna or Christ. For
them, sex was no longer there. So the idea that one can find this bliss when sex disappears has naturally arisen in man. And as this
delusion begins to form, you become engaged in trying to suppress sex, in trying to destroy and eliminate sex.
Your whole deluded idea of celibacy is about sex suppression, which means to suppress sex, to destroy it, to eliminate it
completely. This is because you have heard that those in bliss had no sexuality in their life - it was missing from their life. You have
the idea that if you too eliminate sex, then celibacy can happen in your life.
This is the wrong logic. The fact is that as bliss descends, sexual pleasure diminishes. It is not that you have to destroy sex. On
the contrary, one finds such an ultimate bliss that who bothers about the pond when one has found the ocean? If a frog jumps into
the ocean and then refuses to go back to the pond, he is certainly not renouncing the pond. It is just that he does not feel like leaving
the ocean - that is why he is not going back to the pond.
It is necessary to understand this properly. A frog still living in the pond could certainly claim that he has renounced the pond, and
tell the other frogs that if they also renounce the pond, they will reach the ocean. That is how delusion happens. But if someone
actually reaches the ocean, only then can he renounce the pond. Renouncing will happen because now there is simply no point
ingoing back to the pond.
You don't find the ocean just by renouncing the pond. If you renounce while you are still in the pond, it is possible that you will
have to stand in agony on the burning heat of the stones at the edge of the pond. You might leave the pond and not be able to find
the ocean. Just because you are out of the pond does not mean you are in the ocean. But once you are out of the pond, the water of
the pond will certainly be gone. That is why celibacy seen as the renunciation of sex is wrong.
 Our celibacy, what you think to be celibacy, is only the suppression of sex. It is forcibly jumping out of the pond of sex. And that is
why the life of those who try to suppress sex goes on becoming drier and drier in every way. They become empty, hollow, and
lifeless. That is why your so-called celibates have not contributed anything to the world. Their only contribution is that they are sitting
in agony outside the pond. And the remaining frogs in the pond, who cannot do this, are touching their feet.
The celibate frogs cannot jump back into the pond because of the frogs that are touching their feet. This has created a sort of
obstacle for them. Those standing outside have respect, they have prestige. They have become sannyasins through their
renunciation, austerity, and self-punishment, so they cannot consider jumping back in the pond. Meanwhile, the ocean is nowhere to
be seen and their anxiety is hard to imagine.
To me, celibacy is the ultimate bliss, and when ultimate bliss comes, then ordinary pleasure disappears. Misunderstanding has
happened because celibacy was thought of as renunciation - you have to leave the pond. People think a frog should simply leave the
pond, jump out of the pond. But it is a burning hot afternoon, and he has to go through austerity and severity; his whole being is in
agony and yearns to be in the pond. His each and every cell screams, “Let me go back to the pond!" But out of his desire, out of
greed to find the ocean, he is willing to abandon the pond and go through this suffering. He remains in agony sitting by the side of the
pond. He goes on croaking with his eyes closed - dying from thirst, crying out. But he goes through all this suffering in the hope that
by leaving the pond he will find the ocean.
When traditional sannyasins talk to me, I can feel they are in tremendous anxiety. Their only happiness is that people give them
respect. The day you take this away from them, you will see all of them jump back into the pond.
In my view, celibacy is not a negative thing, that you have to drop sex and you have to suppress sex. It is not so; to me, celibacy
is the search for a greater bliss. You need not drop anything. Yes, much drops when you find it; whenever you find greater riches,
smaller riches drop on their own. You merely have to create a space for it - if you are carrying stones and pebbles in your hands and
you find a diamond mine, you are going to want to empty your hands. And in that moment, you will not even realize you have
dropped the stones and pebbles; your fist will open and you will find diamonds in it. You will only see the diamonds that you have in
your hand, and you will not even remember when you dropped the stones and pebbles. You won't remember the moment when you
dropped the stones - on which date. They will just drop.
Hence, I treat celibacy as a by-product of enlightenment. The real thing is the search for enlightenment. The real thing is
meditation. As your meditation deepens, you will start entering the ocean, and as you start entering the ocean of bliss, the desire for
pleasure will become less. The desire only existed in the miserable mind, and it will start disappearing. And one day - the day you
are drowned in the ocean of bliss - if someone tells you that you have done a great thing by leaving the pond, you will only laugh.
You will say, “I really don't know when I left the pond. And it is you who is doing a great thing by remaining in the pond when the
ocean is so near. I am not doing anything so great.” You will say, “When the ocean is so close and you can be in the ocean, it is
miraculous you are still in the pond.”
So, we have these two types of people. The first are those who are in the pond; they are deprived of the ocean and they are
simply drowned in the pond. And the second type has left the pond and is standing outside. They are deprived of the ocean and
deprived of the pond as well. Their pain is unbearable, but we make their life bearable by giving them respect, we congratulate them
and honor them. By doing all this, we make their pain bearable.
As for me, I simply don’t talk of brahmacharya separately, I don't talk of celibacy separately. And the word brahmacharya itself
says that it has nothing to do with sex. The word means: brahma jaisi charya, living in a godly way. That word has nothing to do with
sexuality. There is nothing of that in the word. It means that those who have attained to brahma, the ultimate reality, their charya,
their behavior, is called brahmacharya. For those who have experienced that ultimate ocean, their thirst for the drop disappeared
because of experiencing that ultimate ocean; now there is no question of each and every drop, there is no question of counting each
drop.
I don't call celibates renunciates. I call them ultimate enjoyers because there is no greater bliss; there cannot be a greater
enjoyment than godliness. And behavior like that of the gods just means being where only bliss and more bliss remains - bliss has
showered from every door and window into every nook and corner. Now it is showering so much that nobody would go around
looking for it, asking where to find it.
And another meaning of brahmacharya is bliss that arises out of oneself. Non-celibacy means the bliss or happiness that you
search for in others. Sex is fundamentally the search for happiness in the other, and celibacy is the search for happiness within
oneself. And the process, the search within oneself, is called meditation.
So, I simply don't talk about celibacy at all. My understanding is that if meditation grows, if it deepens and spreads, celibacy will
follow. And it will come as bliss; it will come as the ultimate enjoyment, not as renunciation. Yes, much will drop upon its arrival, but it
will drop because you no longer need it. It will drop just as dry leaves fall from the tree because the new leaves are arriving - so many
green leaves are here, and the dry leaves have to make room for them.
But neither the tree is in pain that the leaves are falling, nor do the old leaves realize that they are falling because they have dried
up. The tree is dancing out of joy with the arrival of the new leaves. Why should it keep track of the dry leaves? They are falling, they
will quietly blow away in the winds and nothing will be remembered about them.
If we praise a tree which is loaded with new leaves: “You are the greatest renunciate, you have renounced so many leaves; the
leaves that you have renounced are swirling in the air all over the streets," then the tree will say, “I don't know anything about that
because I am simply enjoying dancing with the new leaves." Who would want to keep track of the old leaves? Yes, if the leaves fell
from a barren tree, if they fell from a tree that could not bear new leaves, then the tree would keep track because from then on only
the barren leafless trunk of the tree would remain.
The barren tree would keep track of how many leaves had fallen - and they are falling every day. It has fasted so many times
today... Every day the leaves are falling and nothing is known about new leaves. It has renounced its wife, home, wealth. It has
renounced everything, so it will keep an account of each and every leaf because nothing new is sprouting. The trunk goes on
becoming more and more barren, it goes on becoming drier and the leaves continue to fall. And as the leaves go on dropping, they
leave their wounds behind.
What we ordinarily call celibacy is a process of suppressing sex. But to me, celibacy is a realization of godliness; it is an evolved
state. That realization brings transformation - everything changes. And unless and until people realize celibacy in this sense, much
cruelty will continue to be done in its name. Man has created so much harm because of this wrong idea of celibacy that exists in
people's minds, this negative kind of celibacy that they are carrying. Those who leave the pond but don’t find the ocean continue to
be greeted with respect by the frogs still living in the pond. Conversely, those standing in agony on the rocks outside the pond
condemn the pond. It is inevitable; they are not condemning out of compassion for you, they are condemning to convince
themselves. If they stop condemning for even ten minutes, they are afraid they may jump back in the pond. They have to go on
condemning it.
So, from morning to evening, in the Hindu temples, in the Sikh holy places - and everywhere - they go on telling people the pond
is very dirty. They are saying it not so much for the others, but for themselves: by saying it again and again, they are consoling
themselves. Otherwise, they are always in fear that they may jump back in the pond. If they don't find anyone to listen, if they don’t
find anyone who is ready to understand them - if someone tells them, “That is alright, but we are all very happy and enjoying the
pond” - then one never knows at which moment they may jump back in the pond.
The trick behind it is that they go on condemning the pond, and by condemning it, they go on destroying their own ability to jump
back into it. You go on giving them respect and because of your respect, their ego is fulfilled and when their ego is fulfilled, it
becomes difficult for them to jump in the pond. So, what you call celibacy thrives and is nourished by these processes. And not only
does the celibate become perverted, he also perverts whoever he talks to because when the pond is condemned, those who are
living there start believing they are condemned. Surely, they cannot reach the ocean; their pond becomes poisonous by the
condemnation. Then living in the pond becomes difficult, although the frogs could have lived there comfortably - in a civilized way, in
a natural way. The voice of condemnation from the frogs sitting on the stones outside the pond becomes settled in their minds. Now
neither can they get out of the pond, nor can they remain contentedly in the pond. This puts them in tremendous difficulty.
Nietzsche said a unique thing. He said that the so-called religious people have tried to free people from sex, but not only could
they not become free, sex became poisonous to them. Not only could no one become free, but the naturalness of sex was perverted,
turned ugly. A wife starts thinking that her husband is the way to hell. So how can the flower of love blossom between a husband
who is the way to hell, and a wife who is also the way to hell? It is impossible, because the flower of love cannot blossom between
you and the one who may be dragging you toward hell. Whatever blossoms between that person and you is going to be ugly.
No wife can respect her husband, no matter how much she may say that he is god. No husband can respect his wife, no matter
how much he may say that she is his other half and she is his wife. No matter how much they say all these things, their viewpoint
about sex, the poisonous feeling they have about sex - that it is a sin, it is hell, it is suffering, sex is the root of all sin - is simply
standing between them. And meanwhile, the whole relationship between the husband and the wife is because of sex.
The whole marital relationship has become completely ugly, and it has been made ugly by those who take a negative view of
celibacy, who make celibacy a condemnation of sex. It is they who have made it ugly. And in those who have sat on the rocks
outside the pond, in their minds, a thousand and one kinds of perversions have been born.
So, in my view, the definition of celibacy needs to change radically. The root definition of celibacy is that it is the attainment of the
ultimate bliss of life. You should try to search for ultimate bliss, and you should not talk about dropping anything. Yes, upon finding
ultimate bliss, if something starts dropping, it will drop.
And one more thing: if someone suppresses the mind, if someone suppresses sex, then they need to understand clearly that the
sex energy that they have inside themselves is also a creative force. The sex energy that we have inside us is also the creative
energy. So, any society that is sex-suppressive will not be creative. It will not create anything because the energy that creates is
engaged in condemning the same energy. And once a society develops a feeling of enmity toward sex, its whole morality becomes
sex-centered.
Today in India, if I say that a person is immoral, then no one would think that he might be a liar. We only think that he is an
adulterer or indulges in sexual perversions. No one thinks that he may not be self-disciplined; no one thinks that he may not be
honoring his commitments; no one thinks that he may be selling adulterated milk; no one thinks that he may be selling on the black
market or he may be evading taxes. No one thinks this at all. The moment we say that a person is immoral, one immediately thinks
that something is definitely wrong with his sex life, as if morality is synonymous with sex. And that is why there is so much hypocrisy
in India. If a person can only accomplish this much - that he does not look at another’s wife - he is free to go on thinking about her in
his mind. If he can only accomplish this much - spending his whole life with the same wife and never showing any feeling toward
someone else’s wife - then even if he does all the other wrong things, still he will not be considered immoral.
In the West, in those countries where the idea of morality has taken a broader meaning, morality has evolved in different ways
and so other aspects are considered too. For Indians, sex itself is enough. If a person can only do one thing, if he can somehow
control sex in his life, then he will be considered a virtuous soul. Then he simply need not do anything else at all. It is enough that he
sits in one place with his eyes closed and spends his whole life avoiding sex. He will become a deity for us.
This is a very strange thing. How can the creative force become so uncreative? Our whole morality has not been able to take on
the right dimension. That is why we have no problem with other forms of morality; all kinds of immorality go on and no one bothers
about it.
And let me also tell you that when you suppress your energy, you will be afraid to experiment with it anywhere, you will be afraid
to use it anywhere. All creativity happens out of the same energy. So it usually happens that if someone is a great painter, a great
sculptor, a musician, a scientist, or a philosopher, then sex does not remain so important for him; it often remains by the side without
any difficulty. And the whole reason behind it is that all his creative energy has been channeled in a certain particular direction. Sex
does not create any problems, so someone who is a genius can live without sex naturally. As long as his intelligence has been
channeled somewhere, he has a flow of energy.
And one more interesting thing is that if you can create something, you can attain to the deepest fulfillment of sex because the
fulfillment of sex is basically the fulfillment of creativity. It is for this reason that women have not been able to create anything in the
world. By giving birth to a child, their work is finished; the thought of creating anything else does not occur to them.
It is very interesting that all creative work is done by men, and not by women - to the extent that even recipes in cookbooks have
been created by men and not by women. At least in the kitchen, women should have done the research. But even there, it is not their
work. The deeper reason behind it is that her ability to create becomes fulfilled through creating a child. As for man, he has only a
minor role as far as giving birth to a child is concerned. He does not have any great contribution, any significant part in it. After a split
second, he is simply out of it.
For thousands of years, hundreds of societies did not realize that children were born out of sexual intercourse. It was difficult for
them to discover it because a child is only born after nine months. It occurred to them much later to connect the cause and its effect
that comes after nine months. So the man seemed absolutely useless; nowhere had he had any essential role in the birth of a child.
But the woman is certainly essential. She keeps the child in her womb for nine months, takes care of him, and then brings him up.
And in doing all this, her creative mind is fulfilled.
Then what should man do? People like Adler, who has great understanding of this subject, have said that man has found a
substitute in creating other things so as not to be inferior to women, not to be behind them. Man felt an inferiority complex because
he could not create anything: woman creates and he doesn’t create anything. So man created statues, he created houses, and he
created the Taj Mahal. He goes to the moon, he makes scientific discoveries, and he writes great scriptures. He is showing women
that he too is creating. And once he creates all this, the intensity of sex vanishes from within him.
It is also interesting that as soon as a woman becomes a mother, her intensity about sex becomes less. Then she simply carries
it like a burden, then sex is no longer a pleasure for her. I know thousands of women and know their personal feelings. Up to now, I
have not found a single woman who finds sex very juicy. She starts losing all her interest in sex after becoming a mother. After that,
she carries it like a burden, she goes on carrying it like a weight because her creative work is over. She has created something in the
world.
So, those who have made celibacy into a condemnation of sex have also closed the doors of creativity. They have put all their
energy and ability into creating a conflict, into lighting with their own selves. The lighting within destroyed something that could have
been creative outside. In our country, for thousands of years, there have been millions of sannyasins who could have created so
much that the whole world would have lagged behind us. We have arranged it so a sannyasin has no worries or troubles. He doesn't
have to build a house or run a shop. We have left millions of people completely free in every way. Had they made any scientific
discoveries, had they created art, our country would have been the most prosperous in the world. But they did not do anything
because they were given no greater task than lighting with sex. And it is such a huge task that their whole life is spent doing it. The
sannyasin simply remains busy doing that. He is fighting with the woman twenty-four hours a day. He continues to fight all the time.
The third thing to be kept in mind is that wherever sex is condemned, an enmity toward beauty is developed because sex is very
closely related to beauty. So the aesthetic sense of a person diminishes, and if the aesthetic sense diminishes, life becomes dry,
very barren. In our country, this teaching of celibacy has made life very juiceless. It has created the situation where the more
juiceless a person makes his life, the more he becomes worthy of reverence. The uglier and dirtier he makes his life, the more he is
worshipped. If he does not take a bath, if he does not brush his teeth, he will become the greatest monk. If he sits on the toilet and
eats there, he will become a so-called awakened one. So, they have taken away our aesthetic sense.
And it should also be kept in mind that wherever sex is opposed, the longing to live life in bliss vanishes and a suicidal mind
arises. This is because sex, in its deepest sense, is nothing but a moving force of that same infinite life that pervades everywhere.
And once enmity with sex begins, enmity with life begins, and then life negation begins. Life will become a burden and a suicidal
instinct will be born.
 Being a traditional so-called sannyasin, according to me, is just slow suicide, a very slow and gradual suicide. Such a man cannot
gather courage to die immediately, so he goes on killing himself bit by bit and simply lives as a dead man. All the devotees who are
continuously around him go on keeping watch to check that there is not a bit of life still left in him. Is he enjoying food? If he is
enjoying eating, then he is not a true sannyasin. Is he enjoying wearing nice clothes? Is he showing any signs of love toward life? Is
he talking to a woman with a smile? Then he is not a religious man! We are keeping an eye on him in every way and evaluating him
in every way.
So on one hand, our whole society is like a prison, inside which there are prisoners whom we call sannyasins and virtuous souls -
and everybody else are the guards. And once it is proved that the prisoner is not showing interest in life, we touch his feet. Now it is
confirmed: this man is a renuciate.
All this is very burdened with psychological disease, and is a source of very deep mental disorders. Lately I have been thinking
that if we want to save religion in the world, then it will have to become life affirmative. And not only life affirmative, it will have to be a
religion that enjoys life. We need a religion that can laugh, that can dance, that can love and that can delight - only then can religion
be saved. Otherwise, the religion that has been killing all those people will now be killed by the same people. Now it cannot survive.
It has tortured enough; it has tortured immensely, in every possible way.
You will be amazed to see that ascetics and renunciates are idiots; they don't have anything like intelligence. Usually they are
unintelligent, and are that way because if they were not, then it would be very difficult to do the stupid things they are doing. These
things would raise questions in their minds: "What are you doing? What is happening?” Someone is doing a strange religious
practice, someone is sitting doing something, and someone is sitting doing something else. It needs idiocy to do this. One needs to
be a bit brainless to do this.
If we measured the IQ of our so-called sannyasins, it would be lower than any other group. But then, a sannyasin doesn't really
need intelligence; there is no necessity for him to use it. He certainly doesn't have to do all the things you usually do with your
intelligence. You may want to discover something, you may want to create something, you may want to construct something, but the
sannyasin does not have to do any of that. He only has to stand like a prisoner, a prisoner who has tied himself with his own fetters -
he needs minimal intelligence to do that.
This situation has to be changed with absolute urgency. Lately I have been thinking that it would be a blessing if a new group of
sannyasins is created throughout the country - sannyasins who can also dance, who can also sing, who can also laugh, and who
can enjoy all kinds of juice in life - and still be on the journey toward experiencing the ultimate bliss. And there is no contradiction, no
division whatsoever between the inner journey and enjoying life.
So, I can understand a concept of celibacy which accepts everything and which is in search of bliss. But I simply don't understand
the tendency for negation at all.

OSHO,
YOU SAID THAT UPON THE ATTAINMENT OF ULTIMATE BLISS ALL OTHER HAPPINESS TURNS PALE.

What do you mean it turns pale? Happiness simply disappears. That is the meaning of turning pale.

AS LONG AS WE ARE THINKING OF BLISS, WE EXPERIENCE IT. WHILE WE ARE SITTING IN MEDITATION THINKING OF
BLISS, WE EXPERIENCE BLISS. BUT LATER ON, WHEN WE AGAIN BECOME BUSY IN DAY-TO-DAY WORK, WE FORGET
ALL ABOUT IT. THEN THE MIND IS OCCUPIED IN THAT WORK. HOW CAN THIS FEELING OF BLISS REMAIN PERMANENT?

Actually, the fact is that if you experience bliss in meditation for a while and then this bliss disappears, you know that it was not
bliss; it was only the absence of suffering. Try to understand the difference: it is not bliss.
 There is a cobweb of suffering in your life because of working and thinking. In meditation, you forget that cobweb for an hour -
that world of preoccupations, worries, business, the marketplace and relationships. For one hour, you forget that world. And because
of that forgetfulness, you form the delusion that you have found bliss. You have not found bliss. It is only that you are not going
through the sufferings you are ordinarily filled with. And because of this, a delusion is created.
It is not the bliss of meditation. It is only that because of your attention moving in another direction, you forget the directions in
which it constantly remains entangled.
The day you find the bliss of meditation, that day you won’t be able to say it disappears. It simply does not disappear; there is no
question of it disappearing because the bliss of meditation is not dependent on any outer condition. Things appear and disappear if
they are dependent on an outer condition. For instance sunlight: when evening comes, it disappears because it was certainly not our
light; it was the light of the sun. As long as the sun was there, it was there; now that that the sun has disappeared, it has also
disappeared.
It’s as if you come and I become happy: and when you leave I become unhappy. How long can I ask you to sit there? And if I ask
you to stay for too long, I will also start feeling sad by your presence, just as I had found happiness by your presence. After a while,
happiness will create boredom. And when happiness creates boredom, it becomes sadness.
All those who give you happiness become those who give you sadness after a while. That is why you have to keep a little
distance from those who give you happiness. You need to have a gap in between; otherwise, they will become the ones who give
you suffering. That is why a husband and wife become such sources of misery to each other; they simply don't leave any gap
between themselves. They are together round the clock; they have taken a vow that they will be together for their whole life. And
from that day onward, the suffering begins.
But the day you find bliss, a bliss not dependent on any outer circumstances, no outer situation will change it. It doesn't matter if
you are sitting in a temple or a mosque, it doesn’t matter if you are sitting in the shop or in the office. None of these conditions are
essential for your happiness. If any conditions are required, there will be a problem.
No, there are no outside conditions required for bliss. Bliss is unconditional. It is coming from your inferiority so nothing is going to
make any difference to it, nothing is going to destroy your balance or make any difference whatsoever. And if it does make a
difference, then know well that what you had thought to be the bliss of meditation was not. It was just an escape for a while from the
sufferings of life. For an hour or so, you were out of all that.
Someone can also get out of this suffering by drinking alcohol, which is a chemical way of doing it. Someone can do it by
watching a movie, which is a worldly way. And someone can do it by singing hymns and devotional songs, which is a religious way.
But one is only out of suffering for a while.
Escaping from suffering can be done in many ways; you can find many strategies for it. We feel happier after a night’s sleep
because that is nature's natural way to get out of suffering for a while. You sleep at night, and for that time all your worries and
tensions disappear. But the bliss of meditation is a positive state and sleep is only a negation.
It is as if a man with a gun is standing in front of you and you close your eyes. Now there is no fear because with your eyes
closed, the man with the gun is no longer standing there. But he is standing there, and when you open your eyes, you will find him
there. Then you will say that the bliss you had found has disappeared. But you had not found bliss, it is just that you had forgotten
the man and he was still standing there with a gun. He was asking, "Why don’t you open your eyes?"
When you go back to the marketplace, the entanglement of the life of the marketplace will be there. You come back home and
the whole entanglement of the wife and children will be there. They will say, “Come back. Why did you run away?” And again,
everything will start disappearing. But it has nothing to do with meditation. Don’t make meditation an escape. Meditation is not
escapism.
Take it as a touchstone that whatever you find in meditation, if its inner stream starts flowing round the clock - while you are
awake, in sitting and standing, while working, while sitting idle, in the marketplace, at home, in happiness and in suffering, in meeting
with the loved one and in meeting the unloved - it is real. In the middle of all this, if its stream flows continuously, if it becomes just
like breathing - no matter what you do, the breathing simply continues - then know that you have attained to bliss out of meditation.
That is why a sannyasin escapes, why he starts renouncing everything. It is because he feels that what he finds in meditation is
spoiled when he comes home. So, he leaves home and runs away. That is nothing but a permanent escape. If you bring him home,
then he will immediately become miserable again. It does not matter if he has been a sannyasin for forty years. By escaping, he
shows he has learned one thing: when he goes out of the house for an hour or so he finds happiness. So why not go away for
twenty-four hours every day? You can also run away for years. But still it will not be the bliss of meditation.
In the bliss of meditation, there is simply nowhere to run. There is no need to run at all and there is no point either. And since bliss
is personal and deep- rooted, no outer situation can make any difference to it.
One should take it as a criterion: go on asking if what you are calling the bliss of meditation is really of meditation or if it is only a
change of attention. If you can remember it rightly, if you have it with you all the time, this is the real criteria. One simply cannot lose
bliss. Even if you want to lose it, then too you cannot lose it. You may be angry with someone and fight with him, and yet you will find
that the inner stream of bliss is continuously flowing inside you. The anger is just like acting a part on the outside, while the bliss is
present inside you. Now you can know that a positive transformation has happened inside; otherwise, it has not happened.
Once you find the bliss of meditation, there is just no question of how to make it permanent. That which you have to make
permanent, know that it is not of meditation, it is not a result of meditation.

OSHO,
HOW DO WE ATTAIN TO MEDITATION? HOW TO CONTROL THE INSTINCTS AND HABITS OF THE MIND?

Come for meditation - attend a meditation camp. But even then, it is not so easy. Actually, it is a delicate matter, a very delicate
matter, and you should understand this delicateness properly. It is simultaneously true that when meditation happens, you will find
that it has not happened out of your own doing - but also, unless you have done something, it is not going to happen. Both things are
simultaneously true. That’s why it is a very delicate matter.

OSHO,
IS IT LIKE SOMEONE TRYING TO COME OUT OF THE POND?

I am not telling you to try to come out of the pond; I am not saying that. I am saying that the one who is in the pond is also a part
of the ocean, so he should recognize the ocean. You don't have to come out of the pond at all. In any case, the pond is certainly not
separate from the ocean. Its sources are connected to the ocean from underneath, that’s all. A pond is only a pond from the outside,
but from underneath it is the ocean.
So, it is not so much about coming out of the pond - not that you should come out of the pond and jump into the ocean. It is about
searching for the ocean. If one can find the ocean, then the pond will become the ocean. It is not about going anywhere. In any case,
a pond is an ocean. From underneath it is all connected. Everything is the ocean.
Does the pond have any existence of its own? - no, it has no existence of its own. The edge of the pond that you see from the
outside might have been created by man; that is not connected with the ocean, but the rest of the pond, the water, is connected with
the ocean. Thousands and thousands of paths connect it. The ocean is giving it water from below and the ocean is giving it water
from the clouds as well. It is connected with the ocean from everywhere. It is not that there is any cutoff point.
You have to create a path from somewhere. First, you have to recognize what the pond is. If you can simply recognize the pond
completely, then you become connected with the ocean. You should properly understand these symbols; otherwise, there will be
many problems.
 And when I say that meditation - finding the ocean - will not happen by your effort, I only say it so that your ego does not become
stronger. Your ego will become a barrier. And simultaneously, I also say that it cannot happen without your effort. I say this so that it
does not strengthen your laziness. Otherwise, your laziness will become a barrier.
Ego is a barrier and laziness is also a barrier, and you have to avoid both. You should make an effort and yet not become a doer.
You should make an effort and but also not think that it will only happen by your efforts. And you will have to make an effort;
otherwise, it would have happened a longtime ago. But you are simply not making any effort.
If it could happen with no effort, then it would have already happened. And if it has to happen by no effort, then it will happen
when it will happen. Then you have nothing to do with it, and then it is simply futile to talk about it.
No, you will have to make an effort. But you will also have to remember that it will not happen only by your effort; so don't let your
"I" become stronger; otherwise it will become a barrier. When you make an effort and you find it, you will be able to say, “It has not
happened by my effort. My effort was worth nothing and what I have found is priceless. Flow can I say that it has happened by my
effort?" You will only realize it when you come across both things.
So whosoever finds it will say, "It is a blessing from existence." He will say, "Nothing has happened by my doing. What could I
have done?" But a man who has not found it, if he thinks that he will find it by the blessings of existence, he has gone wrong. One
who has not found it will have to make an effort. Actually, it is only his effort that makes him worthy to receive the blessing of
existence.
It is as if we open a door: it is not that just by opening the door the light will enter. The sun also has to be shining - only then can
the light come in. And if the light enters, you won't be able to say that you brought the light inside: so many times you have been
sitting at night with the door open and the light has not entered. So, it is not that just because of your opening the door the light has
entered. Your opening the door is only a part of it. The light entering is a totally different thing. But it is also certain that if the door
remains closed, the light cannot enter.
 Now this is a very interesting thing. By keeping the door closed, we can stop the light from entering: but we cannot necessarily
bring it inside by keeping the door open. But by keeping the door closed, we are certainly stopping it from entering. It does not matter
if even thousands of suns are standing outside. If our door is closed and we have covered it with a curtain, then the sun is certainly
not going to break down the door and enter. It will wait outside.
This is why I said it is a delicate matter. You have to keep both things in mind. You have to open the door, but the day the sunlight
enters, that day you won't be able to say, “I have brought it inside." That day you will only say, “The light has entered. Yes, from my
side, my only part was that I did not obstruct it, that’s all. Nothing more than this - nothing more than this."
 Chapter 2 : Why is man insane?

My beloved friends,
An exhibition was happening; many new things were being shown and it was very crowded - throngs of people had come. One
booth had a kangaroo on show and there was a big crowd outside. But one family was in great difficulty - the husband and wife were
sad because the whole family wanted to see the exhibition, but they had eighteen children, so all together there were twenty of them.
The entry ticket for the exhibition was ten paisa, but for twenty people it would cost them two rupees. Seeing them, the man
exhibiting the kangaroo came up to them and asked, "Why do you look so upset?"
The father said, “There are twenty of us; I have eighteen children plus me and my wife. Can you give us a concession? Is it
possible to show us the exhibition at a reduced rate?"
The man asked, “Are these eighteen children yours?"
That father said, “Yes, they are my children."
So the man said, “Then don’t worry. The kangaroo will be very happy to see you all. I will bring the kangaroo outside so that he
can see you and your children. And keep this ten paisa on the kangaroo's behalf. It is for the kangaroo’s ticket to see you."
When I heard this story, I started thinking that animals must be very interested in seeing humans. Up to now, we have been going
to see the animals. But man is in such a state of affairs on the earth that the animals will be very interested in seeing him, and we
could make arrangements for a human zoo where animals can go and see humans. But as it is, there is not so much need to create
a zoo - we can take the animals to Delhi, where they can look at the politicians. Then the matter is taken care of.
Political capitals have become zoos. The strangest kinds of people have gathered there - all sorts of mad and insane people. But
we are all responsible for all that has happened in the political capitals. We are to blame to the extent that we all are partners in the
chaos. The whole of mankind has become a big zoo.
I have heard that when Darwin died...
As long as he was alive, people kept on harassing him because he had said that man had evolved from monkeys. People had
always thought that they were the children of God, although God never said that. He never gave any such certificate. But man has
always been thinking so, and when Darwin said that man was born out of monkeys, people became very angry with him. Darwin
himself used to think that at least the monkeys must be very happy with him.
But after his death, the ghosts of the monkeys surrounded him and said, “You have done us a great injustice. You say that man is
our evolution. Man is our fall! All those monkeys who have gone astray have become human beings, the monkeys who have fallen
have become humans; the monkeys who have become sinners have become human. So please change your theory."
Darwin said, “I also wanted to say the same thing, but after saying that man is an evolution of monkeys, people harassed me so
much. If I had said that he had fallen from monkeys, then it would have created great trouble.”
But jokes aside, man's problem is very serious. And the biggest problem is that we have tried to create a society, but the effort
has been a failure. On the contrary, it has become a zoo. This thought occurred to me once when I was passing by a zoo. I have
seen animals in the forest as well - I have seen their freedom, their joy, bliss, and their delight. I have heard the songs of the birds,
seen their dance. I have seen animals leaping and running under the open sky and the open sun. And then I have also seen animals
in the zoo - sad, locked in the cages, restless, agitated and upset.
When I was passing by the zoo, the thought came to me that the same animals that are in the forests are in the zoo as well, but
there is so much difference. The biggest difference is that in the forest they are liberated and free, and in the zoo they are locked
behind iron bars. When I tried to find out what changes happen to them in the zoo, I was really astonished. I came to know that the
animals in the zoo suffer from diseases the animals in the forest never suffer from. For instance, an animal in the forest never gets
ulcers, but an animal in the zoo does. Ulcers are born out of very deep stress and worry - because of worry and tension, sores
develop in the stomach. Ulcers are a psychological disease. Animals in the zoo suffer from all the diseases that man suffers from,
but not the animals of the forest.
And I was further amazed to know that rarely do the animals of the forest suffer from any kind of insanity; usually it does not
happen. Usually the animals of the forest do not go mad, but in a zoo the animals go mad. I was also amazed to know that no animal
of the forest has ever tried to commit suicide, but the animals in a zoo try to kill themselves.
Then I started thinking that man does all these things that the animals of the zoo do. Is it that man has lost that freedom which
was essential for him? Is it that man has lost that life which could have been his life? Is it that he has lost the open sky, lost the
freedom, lost the sun, and he has made cages, has erected iron bars with his own hands, and become locked behind them?
Otherwise, it seems impossible to have so much madness, suicide, so many physical and psychological diseases.
The animals of the forest do not have any sexual perversion, but the animals of the zoo suffer from the same perversions as man.
No animal in the forest masturbates, but in the zoo, the animals start masturbating. No animal in the forest is homosexual. But in the
zoo, the animals become homosexual.
These facts were so amazing that I started feeling that somewhere we have committed a mistake. Man's society could not be
created and it became a zoo. What we call society and civilization is nothing but all kinds of diseases, all kinds of perversions and all
kinds of mental disorders. Taken all together, it is like a great disease. If we can understand the reasons for this, then perhaps we
can change it.
It is necessary to understand two or three things about this situation. One is that the iron bars that have taken away man’s
freedom cannot be seen. When I walk on the road, there are no iron bars around me. You are sitting here, but there are no iron bars
around you. It would have been better if you could see the bars, then perhaps you would not have fallen into delusion. But man has
created iron bars that are invisible, and you are imprisoned behind them.
For instance, a nation: a country is a prison that is invisible. If I want to cross India's border, then I need permission from the
government. I cannot cross the boundary freely. If I want to enter Pakistan, then I need the permission of the Pakistan government.
There is a fence erected on the border beyond which no one can come and go. But for a prisoner inside a prison, there are no
barriers inside; he is certainly free within the walls of the prison, although he cannot go outside the wall because the guards are
there. The walls of an ordinary prison are very close; they can be seen. But the walls of a country are very far away and cannot be
seen. There are soldiers standing there and you cannot go across the border. A country is a very big prison and it cannot be seen.
We are free to move inside it.
And we have made many small prisons inside the country. For instance, there are the prisons of religions. The country is one, but
within this country, there are ten religions - so there are ten smaller prisons. They also have their own boundaries and you cannot go
outside them. You cannot marry outside them, and you cannot invite friends from other religions for lunch or dinner - that is
impossible. It is very difficult to extend a hand of friendship to someone outside your religion. A Hindu has his own prison and a
Mohammedan has his own prison. Sometimes they do enter each other’s prison, but not out of friendship; it is out of hatred, as
recently happened in Ahmadabad. People sneak across each other’s walls to kill each other, not to make friends. The ones you are
prohibited from marrying, you can only kill. The ones with whom friendship is not possible, only antagonism is possible with them,
only rivalry is possible with them. Sometimes the walls of religion break, but they only break when people have a desire to sneak into
each other’s house and kill.
There are prisons of Hindus and Mohammedans, there are prisons of Jainas and Buddhists, but even that is not enough. They
are big prisons, so there are the even smaller prisons of Digambara and Shvetambara Jainas, two different sects of Jainas. But that
too is not enough, so among the Shvetambaras there are the prisons of Terapanth Jainas and Sthanakwasi Jainas, of idol
worshippers and non-idol worshippers. But that too does not seem to be enough and you go on creating further divisions. If you look
carefully, there are boundaries within boundaries and there are prisons within prisons.
You must have seen a magician's box with more boxes inside it, and there are more boxes within that and then more boxes
within, and there seems to be no end to the boxes - you start feeling amazed. In the same way, man is locked in a thousand and one
kinds of prisons. So if he does not become like an animal in the zoo, what else can he become?
If man wants to create a society and not create a zoo - if he doesn’t want to create a group of insane, mad, sick people but rather
wants to create a society of living people, full of love and compassion - then he has to show his readiness to destroy all kinds of
prisons. It does not matter what the name of the prison is. Up to now, the people belonging to the bigger prisons have been trying to
destroy the smaller prisons. The man who loves his country says we must destroy the prisons of religions so that his prison, the
prison of his country, can become stronger. Or, the man who says his country is very special says destroy the prisons of separate
states so that the prison of the country can be strengthened.
But so far, there are very few people in the country who are eager to destroy the very prison itself, who don't care about the lesser
task of destroying the smaller prisons for the sake of bigger prisons. As long as man can't see the necessity of destroying the whole
thing, the prisons are never going to be destroyed, and unless they are, man cannot come out of his imprisonment, he cannot come
out from behind the iron bars.
Man will have to decide once and for all that he doesn't want to live behind prison bars. It doesn’t matter if the prison bars are
called Hindu or are called Jaina; it doesn't matter if the prison bars are called brahmin or sudra; and it doesn't matter if the prison
bars are called India, or China or Pakistan. We do not want to live behind prison bars. All kinds of prison bars are dangerous and
they are simply driving man mad. But why? Why do prison bars drive men mad?
Every man needs living space to survive; he needs a place to expand. The more expansion there is, the more life is free. The
lesser the expansion, the more life shrinks. The bigger the space, the more his soul expands, and the smaller the space, the more
his soul shrinks. This is the difference between the joy of living in a big spacious house and living in a small cell. In a small cell, we
shrink and in a big spacious house, we expand.
The more the space - the more expanded the foundation of his life - the more a man’s soul evolves. But we go on breaking man
into smaller and smaller fragments. And even after breaking him into small pieces, if we are not satisfied, we break him further into
even smaller pieces. We go on breaking him into pieces and pieces until in the end, each and every person remains simply a tiny
particle. Each and every man remains a very small speck. He has boundaries all around him and is locked inside. He becomes
restless and disturbed.
This has two outcomes. The first is that his soul is never able to expand; and when his soul is unable to expand, he starts going
mad, insanity starts setting in. And the second outcome is that he has to find false ways to expand his soul. When life is in every way
and from everywhere in bondage, a man has to find ways to expand his consciousness, ways which in themselves are wrong. For
instance, these days drugs like LSD and mescaline are used all over the world to expand consciousness.
In a way, man has shrunken so much that now he is able to have an experience of expanded consciousness only after becoming
unconscious. They call LSD a consciousness-expanding drug; they say that by taking LSD man's consciousness becomes
expanded for a while. For six or ten hours, all his boundaries break down and he becomes one with the whole cosmos. He finds
himself one with the moon, he finds flowers blossoming within him. The sun does not seem to be so far away; it comes closer, and all
the boundaries of the world drop.
On one hand, we go on creating the boundaries, and on the other hand, man has become so restless and disturbed that he has
been compelled to use drugs and chemicals like LSD to touch the boundless, the limitless. So-called religious people oppose LSD,
but the interesting thing is that the boundaries that religious people create are forcing people to take LSD. On one side, man goes on
becoming mad, having been pinned down between the boundaries, confined within the boundaries; and on the other side, he is
feeling utterly bored with those boundaries and is finding ways to go unconscious.
If we look at mankind from this angle, we will be amazed that in the long history of mankind - beginning with alcohol, drugs,
opium, mescaline, hemp, and ending with LSD - intoxication, drugs, have been used so man's consciousness can expand and
become bigger, and his boundaries can break. Right from the seers of Rig Veda up to the Beatles and hippies, drugs have been
used so that man's consciousness can expand.
But why can't man's consciousness expand naturally? The reason is because you have created boundaries all around and you
are not ready to break those boundaries. And if the situation continues, then in the coming fifty years man's whole consciousness will
become buried under chemicals of unconsciousness. Except for that, there will be no other way left for him to experience the
expansion of consciousness. But is this the right way? Does experiencing the expansion of consciousness by taking drugs have any
spiritual significance? Absolutely not; it simply holds no spiritual value.
No changes happen by experiencing the expansion of consciousness in a state of intoxication; such a state of does not change
anything. When you come back, you again shrink. But why can't you really experience the expansion? Why can't you break all the
boundaries? Who is stopping man from breaking the boundaries?
You are simply unaware of the real situation. You simply don't realize that your self-created boundaries have put your soul in
prison and you are feeling restless and upset inside them. This restlessness is bound to express itself in numerous ways.
Today we see revolt all over the world. Everywhere there is rebellion. The young people are eager to destroy everything old. The
new generation is bent upon destroying all the old values. Who is responsible for this? The new generation? No - those who having
been giving doctrines and laws to the whole of mankind up till now are responsible - those who have not allowed man to be free and
have put him in bondage. They have tied up man so tightly that those bondages have now reached the ultimate limit and now the
young are eager to destroy those bondages.
But the young are unaware of what they are destroying. Just by burning a bus, the bondages of man’s consciousness cannot
break, nor by throwing stones at the windows of a school can the bondages of the soul be broken. Drinking wine and burning the
furniture in a school cannot break these bondages. The bondages are invisible. The bondages of being a Hindu, a Mohammedan, a
Jaina or a Christian are very intrinsic and hidden, and cannot be seen. Without breaking them, man's consciousness cannot be free.
Is it not possible for man to live simply as man? Is it not possible for the whole earth to be our mother? Not Mother India, not
Mother Pakistan - but can’t it be possible for the whole earth to be our mother? The reality is that the whole earth is one. Nowhere is
India and Pakistan divided. Nowhere is there any line on the earth where India ends and Pakistan begins, and where Germany ends
and France begins. Nowhere are there any such lines on the earth except on the maps of the mad politicians. Nowhere is the earth
divided. It is the politicians who have divided the earth.
I said that the first kind of bondage that has driven man mad has been given by the so-called religious people. And the second
kind of bondage, that has divided the earth in parts and created conflict between men, has been given by the politicians. The
religious bondages have started disappearing because it is an old disease, and slowly, slowly man is becoming aware of them. But
the political bondages are very new, and as of now, we are not yet aware that we have to wake up to them.
Actually, the politician has slowly taken the place of the religious teacher. And political capitals have replaced holy places like
Mecca and Medina - such religious places have been exchanged with political cities. Now Mecca is not important, the Kremlin is
important - it is a Mecca of a new kind. Now Kaashi is not important, Beijing is important - it is a Kaashi of the new generation. Now
the Gita and Koran are not that important; now Das Kapitalis more important - that is a holy book for a new kind of secular religious
people. The old religious leaders have changed and new secular religious leaders have come in their place. And the new leaders are
even more dangerous. The new secular religious leaders are politicians who are again dividing man. They are making divisions
everywhere. They have divided the whole earth in small pieces, and then they have divided the smaller and smaller pieces of earth
into further small pieces.
There are so many pieces, and because of these pieces there are so many wars, and because of these wars it has become
impossible for flowers of peace and bliss to blossom in man's life. In the last three thousand years, there have been fifteen thousand
wars. Lately the ratio is five wars per year. Somewhere or the other, in some corner of the earth, a war is going on. Somewhere or
the other, the earth is aflame, be it in Vietnam or Korea or Kashmir. Somewhere or the other, man goes on burning. And in some
other corner of the earth, trouble is just starting and wounds are beginning to form. So far, there has never been a time when there
has been peace on earth, not even for a single day. Somewhere or the other, trouble goes on.
Who is the force behind it? Who divides man? Who makes man fight against man? The politician is dividing them; the politician is
compelled to divide them because without dividing them he cannot rule over them.
When the British ruled India, the Indian politicians used to tell the people that the British way was to divide and rule. But let
someone ask what the rule of all the politicians of the world is. Their rule is the same - divide and rule. As long as the earth is divided
in pieces, it will be ruled by a thousand and one kinds of politicians. The day man becomes one, that day those politicians will have to
say good-bye. The unity of men will prove to be death for the politicians. That is why the politicians will not let man become one.
In his autobiography, Hitler wrote that if your country does not have enemies, create fake enemies because unless you create an
enemy, you cannot become a great leader. To become a great leader, the foundation of war is necessary. If you find real enemies,
very good; otherwise create fake enemies. But the enemy is a must because when there is an enemy, the people of the country
stand behind the politician out of anxiety, out of fear, out of insecurity. They cry, “Save us," and whoever saves them becomes a
great leader. In this way, all wars give birth to great politicians.
If one wants to become a great politician, war is an absolute must. Great leaders are not born during the time of peace. For a
great leader to arise, friction is necessary, war is necessary, violence is necessary and killing is necessary. The more killings, the
more violence, the bigger and more powerful the politician will become. A great politician does not appear during the time of peace.
And if peace ever becomes a permanent affair, politicians will completely fade out; they will depart and no one will even look back at
them. They are only needed for war.
A policeman has the job of standing on the corner because somewhere there might be a thief around. A judge has the job of
sitting in the court because the police might catch a thief. If thieves disappear, then the policeman on the corner will also suddenly
disappear. And as soon as thieves disappear, the judge will also disappear. On the surface it looks like the judge is punishing the
thieves, but deep down inside he prays to God for thieves to come every day. Naturally, his whole business is dependent on thieves.
His whole life depends on thieves.
To the outside world, the politician says we want peace, and he releases white doves with messages of peace in the air. But
deep down inside he desires war, he needs war, because if there is no war, there will be no place for the politician. If there is no war,
then politics itself has no place. Politics is born of war. If there is no big war going on, the politicians have to create a small war. If
there is no war going on across the border, then they have to create a civil war. And if there is no civil war, they will have to divide a
faction into two parts and start a fight between them.
Great leaders are born during conflict. Only smaller politicians live in peace. Minor politicians can never become big if there is no
trouble going on. So fighting has to happen at some level, or better yet, it has to go on at a thousand and one levels. Conflict makes
a leader bigger. It excites people and they start looking to the politician for leadership. That is why politicians are constantly engaged
in creating new wars.
And the interesting thing is that the politician stands on the stage every day and says, “We want peace, we want unity. People
should unite and become one.'1 On stage he will say this, and behind the curtains he will make arrangements so that people cannot
unite, people can never come together, so that the earth can never become one. He will try all this behind the stage. But we can
understand his reasons.
A doctor treats a patient and he tries in every way that the patient should be cured. The doctor is there to treat the patient. But do
you know? When there is an epidemic, when plague spreads, or the flu spreads, doctors talk privately among themselves about how
good their business is. Doctors’ busy season comes only at that time, their business season comes when the flu spreads, or plague
spreads or when malaria spreads and people are sick on a large scale. During normal times, the doctor is treating the patient and is
praying that more and more people fall sick.
That is why it becomes difficult for a rich patient to be cured. A doctor does not benefit in any way by keeping a poor patient sick
for long. But it becomes difficult for a rich patient to be cured. Rich people remain sick most of the time because the longer a rich
man remains sick, the more beneficial it is for the doctor. From the outside, it looks like the doctor is fighting the patient’s diseases,
but deep down inside he is praying for the patient to remain sick.
You need to remember that the faces you see up on the podium are not the same as the faces behind the podium. On the stage,
the faces are absolutely artificial. Behind the stage is something else. Ninety-nine out of a hundred occasions, what politicians say
on the dais, they will say exactly the opposite privately. Behind all the peace talks, the preparation for war is going on.
It is amazing that all the wars in the world happen for the sake of peace - all the wars. Politicians say that they are lighting so that
there can be peace in the world. They are lighting because they want harmony in the world. It is necessary to fight, war is necessary
for the sake of peace. Hitler fights for the sake of peace and Churchill also lights for peace. And Roosevelt and Stalin too - everyone
lights for peace. Also India and Pakistan - everyone lights for peace.
A politician's life is dependent on disturbance, so a politician cannot desire peace. And if the world wants peace, then it is
necessary to say goodbye to the politician. He should be removed; there should be no place for him. But today, only he has a place,
he is everything. We have given him all the power - and he is the fundamental reason for our trouble. We are feeding him; we are
giving him respect and garlanding him because he talks of peace. But his talk of peace has nothing to do with peace.
I have heard...
A few friends went out eating and drinking in a restaurant till late at night. At around one in the morning, as they were departing,
the restaurant manager came up to them and said, “If such nice people keep coming every day, then our life will really prosper."
The departing guests, who had just paid the bill, said, "Pray to God that we may continue to do well in business. Then we can
come every night.”
The manager said, “I will surely pray to God every day that you may do well in business. By the way, tell me what your business is"
The guest said, “Don't ask, otherwise it will be bit difficult for you to pray for us."
Still, the manager said, "Now you have put me in difficulty. At least tell me what your business is so I can pray for you.
 That man said, “I am in the business of selling wood for the crematorium. If we do good business every day, if five or ten people
die and are brought to the crematorium, then we can come to your restaurant every day."
Somewhere, someone else is also in the business of selling wood for the crematorium. He is waiting for you, he is waiting for me,
and he is waiting for us to die. Pray his business is not doing well.
A politician is absolutely in the business of selling wood for the crematorium. He is waiting for war to happen, for people to die
and for violence to happen. He is waiting for this so he can come and appeal to the people for peace. On one side, he will create a
war and trigger riots. And then he will make peace committees to stop the riots. The same person will create struggle and conflict
among people, then come and make arrangements for peace to happen.
When will we ever be able to recognize these double faces? If we cannot recognize them, man's condition will continue getting
worse day by day. Understand well that the same Mohammedan scholar and Hindu priest who triggered the riot are also members of
the peace committee. And then they only help by saying prayers in the mosque and the temple: “May everyone live in peace."
Nobody asks them who is creating disturbance among the people. Who is creating the disturbance except the mosque and
temple? They are creating the violence. The priest of the temple tells you that the cow is the mother. So now, if anyone cuts a cow’s
tail there will be riots. And afterward, the same priest tells you, “Maintain peace. You have been irreligious; a religious person always
remains peaceful"
In the mosque, the Mohammedan scholar tells you, "This is a hair from Mohammed and this hair is very precious. It is a hair of
God; it is not any ordinary hair. If this hair is stolen, then hundreds of people must die. We must guard this hair." And when riots
happen, when everything is burned and dead bodies are lying everywhere, then the same Mohammedan scholar says, "Peace is the
message of Mohammed, everyone should live peacefully. Islam means only peace. Everyone should live in peace."
When will we recognize these double faces? The politician triggers war and he goes on talking about peace. If we don't recognize
these double faces, if we don't become aware of the double role of the politician, then man's world will never become a society; it will
simply remain a zoo.
But these faces can be recognized. We can look and see behind them. After all, why is the politician so interested in war?
All ambitious people are interested in war because, in a deeper sense, ambition is the birthplace of war. All the ambitious people,
all those who have a hunger for success, will be wishing for war because in peacetime there is no way for the tree of ambition to
grow. It only grows in disturbance, and turmoil works like a fertilizer on it. And a politician is ambition par excellence; there is no
ambition greater than that. He is simply living out of ambition. He wants to become something, he wants to become somebody, he
wants to be a big man and show the world. And to become this "somebody," he creates all kinds of spider webs of theories,
ideologies on the evils of poverty, on the benefits of socialism, on public welfare - he will talk about these things. And behind them,
only one thing is there.
So, it is necessary to recognize that other face of his. Otherwise, there will be trouble. The other face wants to become
somebody. Whether he becomes that somebody by climbing the ladder of socialism, or by climbing the ladder of communism, or by
climbing the ladder of Gandhism is an altogether different matter. The ladders are meaningless. The fact is he wants to become
somebody; he wants to reach the destination of becoming a somebody. And once he reaches his destination, he leaves all the
ladders behind. After him, others can follow by climbing the same ladders. But let someone reach to the top, and the first thing he
does is to forget the ladders through which he had reached.
Stalin came to power in the name of communism, and then he started getting rid of the ladder. It is said that he killed Lenin by
giving him poison, though one cannot say this with certainty because when people like Stalin give poison it is very difficult to find out.
But in his last statements and letters, Lenin wrote that something was definitely wrong. He was not killed all of a sudden; he was
given slow poison. Stalin had to drop Lenin, whom he had used as a ladder to climb up.
Trotsky had to escape from Russia. Trotsky was another ladder by which Stalin rose to power, and Stalin's agents found Trotsky
in Mexico and killed him with a hammer blow to the head. Trotsky had left his dog behind in Russia, and Stalin's men even shot the
dog and dragged it into the streets. Even Trotsky's dog could not be allowed to live. Maybe someone could climb on the dog; the dog
might also become a ladder - after all, it was Trotsky’s dog. If Gandhi's wooden sandal can become a ladder, then why not Trotsky's
dog? Anything can serve the purpose to climb up, so they even shot the poor dog.
Afterward, Stalin continued killing. He killed six to ten million people in Russia. One wonders how there could be ten million rich
capitalists, enemies of communism, in Russia. Nowhere, in any country, are there so many rich people. Then who were those ten
million people that he killed? They included laborers and workers, the poor people.
Now this is a very interesting thing: the revolution had been fought for the benefit of those very same poor people, and the result
was they were shot. Stalin had to break all the ladders, every last one. He killed each and every person, he broke the steps of each
and every ladder - and he went on breaking them.
Some time after Stalin’s death, Khrushchev was speaking in a gathering and mentioned that Stalin had killed so many people,
and in this way had harmed socialism.
One man stood up and asked, “You were with Stalin your whole life. Why didn’t you object to this before?"
Khrushchev said, “Sir, please stand up, let me see your face properly. What is your name?"
The man did not stand up, and remained silent, hidden in the crowd.
Khrushchev said, “Why are you silent? The reason you are silent is the same reason I remained silent. You are afraid if I see your
face today, tomorrow it will not be seen at all. So I also had to remain silent because if I had spoken out once, I would have been
silent forever afterward."
When even Lenin and Trotsky could not survive, then what would have been the chances of poor Khrushchev’s survival? He
could only survive by remaining silent. This game is going on all over the world. The ladders by which the politicians climb have to be
broken. Those who climb the ladders - their only desire is to become something, to become somebody. They don’t care which
ladders they use. Naturally they use ladders which have popular appeal, they always use those issues which are popular. Many
politicians try to show their support for the poor man and climb up on the shoulders of the poor man. A poor man is in great misery
and anyone can say, “I am running for office for your benefit." But to date, no one on earth has ever really stood for the benefit of
poor people. And until and unless the poor man himself stands up for his own welfare, no one will stand up for him. The poor man
will find only new spider webs of exploitation from every politician.
The root desire of the politician is the fulfillment of his own ego. In fact, the day the race for the fulfillment of ego stops, that day
the politician will disappear. The ego is in a fierce race; it wants to become something - and it is not only the politician who is in the
race. Politicians are just the people with the strongest desire to win the race. Other people go on running in other directions, in other
ways.
In reality, right from the first day we start teaching every child to become a politician. Your child goes to school, and on the first
day you tell him that he has to come first in class. You have started sowing the seeds of politics. This child is not yet aware - you are
not aware, nor is the teacher aware - that a politician is being born. “You have to come first” - we have started poisoning him, we
have sowed the seeds of poison in his blood. Now, for his whole life he will try to be number one. And if he becomes totally mad and
obsessed to rise to the number one position, he will become a politician. If he remains not so mad, then he can find fulfillment in
other directions. He can become a painter, he can become a sculptor, or he can become a religious leader. But if he is too obsessed
by the desire to be number one, and if that desire reaches its ultimate point, then there is no other way for him except to become a
politician. Each and every person wants to be in the number one position.
Right now, this moment, many of us are sitting here in this place. Imagine all of us were made to stand in a circle and were told
that in the middle of the circle is the office of the president and everyone has to reach it. Right now, everyone here would become
mad, and we all would start running. And if someone managed to reach the center, it would be difficult for him to survive because
everyone else would start pulling and pushing him to remove him from the office. The people who could not reach would not stay at
the side: they also want to reach the center. The one who has reached cannot survive long because others want to remove him. And
if the people sitting here behaved in that way, do you think there would be anything so surprising in it?
Man is living in a zoo because everyone is busy in this mad race to become number one. It doesn't matter whether it is a race to
earn money or a race to earn fame, or for power and position. Until we free man from the race of becoming number one, he cannot
be happy.
So, the two things I want to tell you are that all kinds of boundaries have to be broken, and the fundamental basis of man's
ambition should also be dropped. If there is ambition, it will go on manifesting in ever-newer ways. Ambition is very strange: ambition
says, "I want to be somebody," but the interesting thing is that I am what I am; there is no question of becoming somebody. The very
idea of becoming somebody is wrong. I am what I am. And every person is different. Life is unique. All of you sitting here - each and
every person is incomparable, is extraordinary. I am “I" and you are “you." And who says that I have to become you and you have to
become me? If such an idea is born, you will become mad. In this world, even the thumbprints of two people are not the same. So
how can two people have the same soul? In this world, even the lines on the palms of two people are not the same. So how can two
people’s lives be the same? Each and every person is incomparable.
But the whole history of mankind teaches us comparison: we have to get ahead of the other, we have to become like others, we
have to be higher than others. No one tells you to become yourself. And until we teach children that each and every one should be
themselves - and they should never get in the race of becoming like someone else - till then, we cannot become free from politics.
But we never accept the child as he is. We simply don't accept him. We say that he has to become like someone else. We tell the
child: “Become Rama, become Buddha, become Krishna, become Gandhi, become Rabindranath, become Vivekananda, become
anyone. You can become anyone else, but never think of becoming yourself, just avoid being yourself.”
Now this is a very interesting thing. What crime has the child done that he should become Vivekananda? Someone should ask
whom Vivekananda had become like. Vivekananda became like himself. What has this child done that he should become like
Vivekananda? Vivekananda did not become like Rama, neither he became like Krishna nor like Buddha. And Buddha did not bother
about any Rama and he did not bother about any Krishna. He became like himself.
The names of the people that we find most inspiring on this earth are of those people who became themselves. The rest of
humanity loses the fragrance, loses the perfume of individuality because it joins the race of becoming someone else. It joins the race
of becoming like the other, the race of sitting in the other’s position, of having a house like others, of having clothes like others and
having power and position like others.
From the lowest clerk up to the president, everyone is engaged in this race. Life does not attain to fragrance and beauty by being
in this race. When a person loses the fragrance from within, when he loses the beauty from within, he becomes ugly. And when the
flowers of a person's life are unable to blossom, he will try to make sure that others' flowers cannot blossom. Then he thinks: “If I
could not become somebody, why should I allow anybody else to become somebody?” Just not allowing someone else will give him
enough fulfillment.
A person who is unhappy and miserable from within becomes engaged in trying to destroy others’ happiness. The only
happiness of one who is restless and disturbed from inside is that no one else should be contented. And then instead of going on the
journey of seeking happiness in life, he goes on the journey of making others unhappy. Everyone is busy on the same journey:
everyone’s hands are wrapped around each other’s neck.
One morning, G. K. Chesterton was taking a stroll in the garden along with Bernard Shaw. Chesterton was a very fat man and
Bernard Shaw was very thin and lean. Chesterton was walking with both his hands in his pockets, and Bernard Shaw casually asked
him, "Is it possible for a person to spend his whole life with his hands in pockets?"
Chesterton said, “It is possible, but they should only be one's own hands. The hands should be one’s own, and the pockets
should be of the others!"
He said this jokingly, but it is the reality. The hands are ours and the pockets are always of others. We have all put our hands in
others’ pockets. But if everyone's hands are in another’s pockets, and if everyone’s hands are wrapped around the other’s neck and
if everyone’s hands are busy snatching the other’s happiness, can life be blissful? Then life becomes suffering: it will become ugly, it
will become meaningless. There will be a crowd of murderers and cheats. Where there is so much dishonesty, so many killings, so
much stealing, and so much hatred and violence - where there is a desire to harm others - how can even one or two people be
happy and silent? It will become very difficult - it has already become difficult.
And as “civilization" grows - civilization means as one's hands move toward the other’s pockets, and we go on tightening our grip
on the other’s neck - as civilization grows, man simply goes on becoming madder and madder. Up to now, we have been putting
mad people in madhouses. It is possible that in the coming one thousand or two thousand years, it may happen that we have to keep
the sane people in prison. There will be so many mad people that it will be difficult to make prisons for them; there may be so few
sane people left that it will become a question of their survival. It could happen: it does not seem so farfetched because slowly,
slowly it gets worse.
And we give very nice names to our madnesses, we put nice labels on our ambition. We have become very good at giving
beautiful names to madness. If I stab you with a knife, I am mad; but if I say that I am a Hindu and you are a Mohammedan, I am not
mad. This is a very interesting thing. If I burn a child in a fire, I am mad; but if the child is Hindu and I am a Mohammedan, I am not
mad. What difference will it make to the poor child burning in the fire whether he is a Hindu or a Mohammedan? In any case the child
will be burned. And the child will experience the same agony: by being a Mohammedan the pain will not be less, by being a Hindu
the pain will be just as great. A child is just a child, but he is bearing the fruits of the sins of all the old people: he is simply being
punished for the sins of old people. The child is going to suffer the same pain while he is being burned.
The same ugly things are happening all over the world. The one who is burning the child is insensitive inside, no matter if he is a
Hindu or a Mohammedan. Now, if I were to burn a child directly and openly, I would be considered mad, I would be considered a
murderer. But if I burn a Mohammedan's child, then maybe even a procession might take place in my honor - this man is very
religious. Man gives nice names to his madness.
 In my neighborhood, there is a man who takes water from the street tap. If a woman passes by, he washes the water jug again. If
he even just sees a woman, he washes it again. Sometimes he has to do this exercise a hundred times because it is a busy street
and you cannot stop women from passing. He is a poor man, so there is no tap in his house and he has to fill the water from the tap
at the crossroads. But if he sees a woman, then his jug becomes impure and he cleans it again.
The people of the neighborhood say that he is a very religious man. Many people even touch his feet. One day I asked them,
“Why is he being given so much respect?"
They said, “You don't know? He is a very religious man - if a woman even passes by his side then he washes his jug again."
Now this man should be called be mad, he should be kept in the madhouse and he should be helped. But he has become
religious because so many people are saying that his cleaning the jug again and again is a very special thing. In reality, it is a
madman's ritual. If someone is sitting and turning a string of beads, we say that he is a religious person. But just think: if turning a
string of beads had not been a religious act in our minds, and if someone suddenly started turning beads with his eyes closed, then
we would have asked the doctor what was wrong with him. “What’s wrong with this man? He is continually moving a string of beads
with his eyes closed." But we do not call the doctor because we have accepted it, we have put a label of spirituality on his action.
In Tibet, people are even cleverer: they have a prayer wheel. It is like a spinning wheel, with 108 spokes going out from the
center. On each spoke, they have written a mantra. Just as we move 108 beads on a string, similarly they have made a wheel with
108 spokes. They simply give it a spin, they push it once and then the prayer wheel spins five or ten times in a circle and they get the
benefit of that many mantras. Nowadays they must have electricity, so now they should plug it in and the wheel can go on moving
the whole day. The man who spins the prayer wheel is a religious man. The number of times the wheel has moved multiplied by
hundred and eight - he gets the benefit of that many mantras.
Someday when we have a little more intelligence, we will have to help this man. What is he doing? But when we put nice labels of
spirituality on people, it becomes difficult to recognize their madness. This is why in Eastern countries, there are fewer numbers of
mad people compared to Western countries - there is no other reason. In the East, many kinds of mad people have different kinds of
labels on them, but in the West, all kinds of mad people have only the label of madman on them. In the West, they seem to be
greater in number and here the numbers seem to be fewer. But the population of mad people is the same: it is just that here in the
East mad people are divided into many groups. Many so-called religious people are mad, but we don’t call them mad. Many
politicians are mad, but we don't call them mad. And there are other kinds of madness, mad people of all kinds, but we don't call
them mad. That is why in the East there seem to be very few mad people. They have avoided the label of madman by having other
labels put on them. But we will have to recognize this.
Even ambition has a different label on it. Someone says, “I want to serve the people," but he only says this before he comes into
power. The moment he comes into power, then what people, what public? Then he is simply not bothered about it, he is not at all
concerned with the people. Public service comes to an end when a politician has come into power. He only hoped to serve the public
because he wanted to come into power. But after coming into power, it's good-bye to the public; then he is not concerned with them.
So, by putting a label of “serving the public" on it, his ambition becomes respectable; then he can continue with it. We need to be
aware of these "public servants." Even the most notorious criminals have not harmed people as much as these public servants have
- because we are aware about criminals. A criminal is someone we are alert for because we fear that he may harm us in some way.
But a public servant starts out by massaging our feet and only ends up holding our neck. It is difficult to recognize him because it
simply does not occur to us that the one who is massaging our feet will someday grab our neck. And as he goes on massaging our
feet, we go off to sleep. Then he starts looking at our neck. Actually, massaging the feet is a ladder toward reaching the neck; it is the
way.
The whole of humanity needs to be careful about these double faces, it needs to unmask their labels and see what their inner
reality is. Then perhaps it may be able to create a real society of men. Otherwise, an authentic society cannot be created.
One or two things should be understood in this regard. Why does man have such a sick mind? Why is it so? Why isn’t man
simple and natural? Everyone says that one should be natural and simple, but man is not at all natural and simple; he is very
complex. And the ones we think are natural and simple, their complexity is even greater.
Once I was boarding a train, and a sannyasin boarded along with me. He had wrapped gunnysacks around his body. Many
people had come to see him off. I asked someone about the sannyasin and they said, “He is a very simple man: you can see that he
doesn’t even wear clothes. He is so simple he has wrapped sacks around himself."
I started thinking, “What has wearing a gunnysack to do with simplicity? But still, if so many people are saying it, they must be
right.” Then the train started and I was lying down with my eyes closed. The sannyasin removed his gunnysacks; there was a small
bag in which there were two or three more gunnysacks that must have been his remaining clothes. He looked at me to see if I was
awake, but I simply kept lying with my eyes closed. He took out some money from beneath the sacks, immediately counted it, and
again put it back under the gunnysacks. He must have received the money as a donation. Although there were only two of us in the
compartment, still he was afraid, so he wrapped the money in the sacks and put them under his head before he went off to sleep.
In the morning when he woke up, I saw him standing in front of the mirror, wrapping the sacks around himself in a nice decorative
way. Now, it makes no sense putting on gunnysacks while standing in front of a mirror. If someone puts on a silk robe standing in
front of mirror, you can immediately understand that he is beautifying himself. But if a naked monk is putting on gunnysacks in front
of the mirror, you cannot understand. But he was beautifying himself, he was getting ready. He wrapped a sack in one way and then
another sack in a different way and then wrapped a third one in a third style and was ready. He was feeling happy looking at himself
in the mirror. All the while, he thought that I was sleeping.
I was amazed to see the man had such a cunning mind. He was using the gunnysacks to beautify himself, as you would silk and
velvet. Your feeling to embellish yourself is exactly the same; there is no difference. Just as a woman dresses to get ready to go out,
similarly he was getting ready.
Now, I am not against beautifying yourself, but if the idea behind this wrapping of the gunnysacks is to beautify yourself, can we
call that simplicity? That’s how we are deceived. We are deceived when complexity hides behind simplicity. On the surface there is
simplicity, and deep down inside the man is very complex. If someone is wearing white clothes on the outside and a corrupt man is
hidden inside them, we are deceived.
Man has to become innocent, simple, because without it, he cannot become blissful. But what has prevented him from becoming
innocent? Can a man become innocent just by wearing hand-woven cotton clothes? Will he become innocent if he wears
gunnysacks? Will he become innocent if he stands naked?
It is not so easy to become innocent. Innocence comes only on one condition, and that is if a man accepts himself, if he accepts
himself as he is. If he enjoys seeing his face in the mirror, he should not look secretly. He should say, “I feel joyous seeing my face in
the mirror.” Then he will be innocent. If he looks in the mirror secretly, he is not innocent, he is being complex. If he says, “I don't
want to wear silk clothes, I only need gunnysacks," and when he looks at his gunnysacks in the mirror he behaves as if they were
silk, then he is being complex. If man accepts himself as he is, only then can he be innocent.
But the past history of mankind has not allowed us innocence. It has taught us wrong things. Man has been taught the opposite of
what is natural, so he has become complex. And because he is complex, he has become sick. This sickness means he goes insane.
The old traditions say that going through suffering is renunciation, but every man wants happiness, every person wants to enjoy
his life. So if you find a person is suffering, in misery, he can only be doing that for one reason: he is finding happiness in suffering.
There cannot be any other reason. There are many sick people who find their happiness in suffering, who enjoy suffering. They are
ill because a man who lives this way is not healthy; his mind is sick.
But all the old teachings of humanity say one should undergo suffering. This is the way to make man complex and mad. Such a
man cannot be healthy. Man wants happiness, but the idea of renouncing, the talk about practicing austerity and choosing suffering
makes him complex. So, from the outside he will choose suffering, and secretly he will find ways of finding happiness. This will only
lead to hypocrisy; nothing else is possible.
 Man has been told not to enjoy the taste while eating food. All sorts of efforts have been made to drive man mad - eat but don't
enjoy the taste, only eat tasteless food. Now, a man certainly wants to enjoy the taste of his food. The fact is, only man amongst the
animals on the earth can experience and enjoy taste. Birds and animals just eat food, but enjoying the taste is a uniqueness of man.
Taste is a great evolution. Man wants to enjoy taste but he has been told not to. So someone will eat with his eyes closed and try in
every way not to enjoy the food. He avoids salt, he avoids sugar, he avoids butter, and he avoids this and that. He may feel the food
is tasteless, but he does not become free from taste. This sort of tastelessness is nothing but the changing of taste. Eating tasteless
food is also a part of taste. While he is doing this, he can taste that everything is tasteless, and he will be trying to enjoy the
tastelessness. Now he is doing things upside down. It is like he is trying to stand on his head. After some time, this will become
insanity.
I have heard that somewhere, in a far corner of the earth, there is a village where the religious scriptures say that the right way for
man to stand is on his head. Anyone who stands on his feet is a sinner. So in that village, right from birth, children are made to stand
on their heads.
The outcome of this is certainly not that the children all start standing on their heads. But it does bring one other outcome: they
become unable to walk on their own feet. They are unable to learn to stand on their heads, but in their attempt to stand on their
heads, the energy that should have been going to their feet is no longer there, and so the feet are not trained. Yes, a few children do
manage to stand on their heads; they are only the most dull-witted among all the children, because it makes no difference to a
dull-witted child. He is absolutely dull, you can ask him to stand any way. If you ask him to stand on his head, he simply stands that
way. Unintelligence can stand on its head; an intelligent person will simply refuse.
So in that village, those who are unintelligent are able to stand on their heads. Their heads become very big and their feet slowly,
slowly become smaller. They simply go on standing on their heads. Their heads become like pumpkins; they are no longer the heads
of human beings. But people call them the virtuous ones, and offer them coconuts, and touch their feet.
 Those who walk on their feet start condemning themselves; they think that they are committing a sin because they are walking on
their feet. And when they come back after having walked a few miles, then just to wash away their sins, they bow down to a
pumpkin-head saying, “O virtuous soul, we have committed a great sin. Please forgive us."
So in that village, those who are healthy are considered sinners, and those who are sick and have gone mad, lost all their
intelligence, have become virtuous souls.
I was really amazed to hear about this village. At night I went off to sleep wondering and wondering where that village might be.
And in a dream, it occurred to me that it is our own country! In the morning, I woke in great amazement. I thought that this village
would be somewhere else, but it turned out to be our own village, our own country.
In this way, the whole of humanity, the whole earth, has been trying to stand on its head. In the attempt, man has become
complex, sick, insane, and perverted. Man will have to accept himself as he is. If there is anger inside him, he will have to accept
anger. If there is sex inside him, he will have to accept sex. If there is love inside him, he will have to accept love. If he enjoys taste,
he will have to accept taste. If there is happiness, he will have to accept happiness. He will have to accept all the desires and
longings that he has.
But the old culture tells you to destroy everything. Destroy your desires, only then can you find heaven. Burn your desires, only
then can you become free. Man should not remain the same as he is; destroy everything, only then will something happen. But this
is absolutely upside down. And the only outcome of this contrary thinking is that we become one thing from the outside and
something else from within. Then our life starts running on tracks. Our life becomes hypocrisy, and a hypocrite society can only
become a zoo; it cannot become a society.
To create a healthy society, the rule should be that we accept man completely as he was made by nature. We should pay less
attention to the so-called virtuous ones and give more attention to existence. We should be aware of what existence is giving us, and
be grateful for the way it has made us.
 The so-called virtuous people are the old enemies of existence. Their virtue is very much against existence. They say, “As God
made him, man is not right. We want to create a man who will be right. The man created by God is wrong." The so-called virtuous
ones are trying to create a new man, but so far, their efforts have only succeeded in crippling him. Their efforts must be stopped. We
need to get rid of the so-called virtuous ones so that we can come closer to existence. It will look very contradictory because we had
thought the virtuous ones were taking us toward the way existence wanted us to be.
The so-called virtuous ones can never take us toward existence because they oppose everything that existence has created.
They say, "The world is meaningless; this life is sin and all the desires of man are darkness and hell.” According to them, man is not
as he appears to be; he is an ideal. They have created an ideal man who does not exist anywhere, and they want to mold everyone
in that image. And in their effort do this, each and every man is simply dying, is being crushed and broken. But these "virtuous ones"
continue with their efforts, and so far, they have been very strong and powerful. In the future, we will have to escape the grip of their
power and strength.
If we want to develop a healthy man, we must accept man's nature. Through the acceptance of nature, the door to existence can
be found. Our nature is our door to existence. You will have to accept yourself as you are. This does not mean that by your
acceptance you will remain the same as you are. No - transformation starts happening the moment you accept yourself.
Then it will be difficult to be angry. Suppose I manage to suppress it ten times during the day; if I suppress anger, all of it will
come out at once. The anger that has been suppressed ten times accumulates and then flows out in one go. So be careful of a
person who may be suppressing anger during the day because by the evening he will be angry. And a person who may have
suppressed his anger for three or four days, just don’t meet him on the weekends. And don't make friends with a person who has
been constantly angry for a year or two, because he can even kill. So much anger is accumulated inside someone who has
suppressed his anger for a year or two that he can even murder someone. It is a very interesting thing that the murderers in the
world are not those who express their anger every day, but instead those who do not express their anger for a long time. By then, so
much anger accumulates that they can murder. Otherwise, man can never accumulate so much anger if that anger can flow away
everyday. The hard-core criminals of the world are those who suppress their violence and then suddenly it explodes. And that
explosion causes great harm. An ordinary man expresses his anger every day, he lights every day and then everything is taken care
of, he calms down and carries on with his daily activities.
I am saying that once you accept anger totally, understand and recognize it totally, slowly, slowly you will find that it has become
impossible to become angry. Anger was needed because you thought that your anger would hurt the other person. But when you are
well acquainted with anger, you realize that your anger only hurts you. And no one wants to hurt himself.
Man is selfish, and up to now we have been telling him to be selfless. No one in the world is selfless, nor can one be. The ones
we call very compassionate - Buddha and Mahavira - it is difficult to find more selfish people than them. They are ultimately selfish in
the sense they did only that which was in their own interest. And they never did anything they didn't want to do. If they did not abuse
people, don't think the reason was that they felt mercy for them. No, they knew that by abusing someone one only hurts oneself and
not the other. If they did not become angry, it was not because by expressing anger someone may get harmed; it was because they
knew that getting angry is simply hurting oneself with one's own hands. They did not go out and steal, not because the other person
would lose money, but because they themselves would lose their soul. They were not ready to lose it.
If man wants to become natural and innocent, then it is necessary to make him totally aware about his selfishness. There is no
need to make him aware of selflessness at all. If each and every person can be aware of his self-nature, his selfishness - his nature
and his desires - he will suddenly find that he has started becoming religious. A transformation has started happening in his life. The
moment changes begin to happen in a man's life, transformation happens.
I would like to tell you a small story...
Buddha was passing through a village and a few people surrounded him, abusing him and calling him names. Buddha said, "If
you have finished talking, I can go. I have to reach the other village by nightfall."
 The people said, "Have you gone mad or something? We are abusing you and you are calling it talking. It is not talking! We are
insulting you. Have you gone mad?”
Buddha said, "Had you come when I was mad, I would have also thought that you are abusing me. But I have to reach the other
village urgently, so if you have finished saying what you wanted to say, can I go? And if you have not finished your talk, then I am
coming again on my way back. Meet me here and finish what you want to say.”
But the villagers said, "That is not the point. We are calling you names, insulting you to your face. Why are you not answering
us?"
Buddha said, “If you want a reply, you should have come ten years ago. If you had abused me then, I would have abused you two
times more. But now it is very difficult."
They asked, “What is the difficulty? If you want to do it, then do it. What is the problem? Just go ahead!”
“No," he said, “The problem is not because of you, the problem is simply because of my own self. In the last village, some people
brought me sweets, but my stomach was full. So I said, ‘I am sorry, I cannot accept them. But thank you,' and they took the sweets
back. Now you have brought abuse and I say, ‘Excuse me, thank you, my stomach is full,' so now what will you do? Now you are in
great difficulty, now what will you do? You can give abuse, but whether to take it or not depends on me. And what is the meaning of
your giving abuse if I don't accept it? Thank you for giving it, but I won't take it. And unless I take it, how can I give the abuse back to
you? It is necessary to first accept it before giving it back, and I simply refuse to take it. Now what will you do?"
One man said, “This is a big problem. The others took their sweets back, but how can we take our abuse back?”
Buddha said, "You can sit here and think about that if you want to, but now let me go. I want to reach the other village soon. If you
had come ten years back, I would certainly have accepted your insults because I was so ignorant. Now I only take the flowers and
leave the thorns. I never touch thorns with my hands. Before, I was so ignorant that I could not see the flowers and only used to
catch hold of the thorns. They would prick and hurt me, and I would cry, bleed, and be in pain. Your abuse is like thorns to me. Take
it back and thank you that you took so much pain for my sake. You have been standing in the heat and suffering, and I am sad
because I am not giving you anything back."
Now Buddha is being completely selfish. You are not as selfish as he is. You would have immediately accepted the abuse. And
you would have even replied with double intensity. The people of the village would have been happy because they had succeeded.
But now they must have gone away feeling very sad because they failed. They must have been in great difficulty about what to do
and what not to do. What would you do if someone didn't respond to your abuse?
Buddha is not replying to this abuse because he feels pity for the villagers. He feels compassion for himself, and that is why he is
not accepting the abuse. And if we can transform life on the principles of selfishness - which has not happened up till now - then man
can become innocent, he can become simple and straightforward, his life can have clarity. We will have to expose man completely,
we will have to make him completely naked so that we come to know his reality and accept him as he is. Then there will be no
problems; then there will be simplicity. And where there is simplicity, only then can man’s society grow.
In the coming four days, I will search for this simple and innocent man. And those who are interested are invited. Please give
whatever questions you have in writing so that we can search on the right lines. If we are able to find the simple and innocent man,
existence will not be very far away. We can find it. But if man remains mad and insane, it will be impossible to find existence. From
the madhouse there is no road that goes toward the temple of godliness.
I am grateful that you are listening to my talks with such love and silence, and I bow down to the godliness inside all of you.
Accept my bow.
 Chapter 3 : Revolution comes through Awareness

My beloved friends,
Man is caught up in such duality, in such antagonism and in such unconsciousness. What are the reasons for this dilemma in his
mind, for this dilemma for the whole civilization of man?
The first thing: as long as you are unable to see the problems of your life directly, and as long as you go on constantly filling your
mind with old solutions and old doctrines, no solution, no silence, no bliss or experience of truth is possible. Every person needs to
free his mind from solutions and scriptures before he goes in search of truth, of life. This burden prevents man’s mind from rising
upward. And because man remains trapped in old solutions, the dilemma is born.
And the second thing: if you become full of idealism, it gives birth to hypocrisy in life. You want to become that which you are not.
You want to imitate others: you want to become carbon copies of others. And then life loses its creativity: you end up being a replica,
being a duplicate of others.
In nature, no soul can be a carbon copy or replica of any other soul. Every soul has its own unique life inside. It has its unique and
distinctive intelligence and energy and it should be allowed to develop. As long as you imitate others’ knowledge, as long as you
burden your minds with borrowed knowledge, your mind will not be free from duality.
Let me tell you a small story before I begin today's discussion.
I have heard...
In a very big town, a photographer had put a sign outside his shop. A tribal king came from a faraway place to that town for the
first time. He had been thinking of having his photo taken, so he went to the photographer’s studio and read the sign. On it were
written the prices for different types of photographs:
 [1] If you want a photo in which you look the same as yourself, the cost is ten rupees.
[2] If you want a photo in which you look the way you want to look to others, the cost is fifteen rupees.
[3] If you want a photo in which you look what you think you should have looked like when God made you, the cost is twenty
rupees.
The tribal king was amazed. He was a simple and innocent king from a remote forest tribe. He simply could not understand what
the sign was about. He asked the studio owner, "Do you get customers who want the second type of photo rather than the first? Are
there also people who choose the third type?"
The studio owner said, "You are the first person to ask this. So far, no one has ever come who wants the first type. No one wants
to look like himself. By the way, which option would you like?"
The king said, "Forgive me, but I will only go for the first choice because I have come to have a picture taken of me. I have not
come to get someone else’s photo!"
He was simply an uneducated villager, but those who are more cunning never want to look the same in their photo as they really
are. They want to look like Mahavira, they want to look like Buddha, they want to look like Krishna, they want to look like Christ in
their photo. They do not want to look the same in their photo as they are.
Such is the duality in the world: no one is willing to be like himself. No one is ready, it requires great courage. It is easy to want to
be like Rama because Rama's name has respectability. But there is no such respectability with your name. It is very easy to be like
Buddha because thousands and millions of people accept Buddha as God. So, you are naturally interested in being treated like God
and being worshipped. It is easy to become a Mahavira because millions of people accept him as a tirthankara, as an enlightened
one. They bow down at his feet and make his temples and statues. It would fulfill your ego if you could become like Buddha or
Mahavira. But very few people have the courage to be themselves because being like oneself means having the courage to be a
nobody.
 It is always easy to be a carbon copy of someone because you only want to be a replica of someone whose name has
respectability, whose name has fame, power and position. And it does not matter whether that position is worldly or otherworldly.
Your ego always wants to go toward those who are standing on the peaks, toward those who are standing at greater heights. And
that is why you start imitating them. All who are replicas, all who are copies, worshippers, imitators - all these followers all over the
world, all these people who are trying to become like others - are possessed by their ego. And those who are possessed by the ego,
their minds cannot become silent, their minds cannot be free of duality.
Today I am about to tell you something about positive spiritual practice. But first a few things have to be destroyed - only then can
a few things be created. When we sow a seed, before the root can sprout out of a seed, the seed breaks and falls back into the soil.
If the seed refuses to break, if the outer shell refuses to vanish, then the roots cannot be born. Destruction comes first; it comes
before creation. Destruction is the first stage of creation.
There are some things that are worth destroying. For instance, all the ideals of the mind should be broken into pieces. As long as
someone is trying to imitate an ideal, an image, he is committing suicide. He is against himself. He doesn’t accept the authority of his
own being. He is not ready to accept his own intrinsic worthiness nor does he have an urge to evolve his own being.
When you remove all the images from our minds, when you throw out all the ideals, all the great people, all the virtuous ones
from your mind, you become absolutely alone and empty. Then you can focus positively on that individuality which is your own - on
that individuality which you have been given, that seed which you have all been born with. You can think about what you should do
for this seed - how you should nurture it, how you can sprout it.
So the first fundamental thing for positive spiritual practice is you should try to know who you are. You should not try to become
what others say you should be. You should try to know who you are - not as your ideal is, but as your fact is, as your actuality is. Who
are you really?
Don't bother about the soul and God. Ask what the reality of your mind is. What are the real distinctions of your psychological life?
It is very difficult. It is difficult not because to know one's reality is a faraway thing. It is difficult because for thousands of years you
have covered yourselves with all kinds of ideals and masks, and now you can't recognize your own face.
Have you ever noticed - when you are with your wife, do you have the same face as you have when you are with your servant? It
becomes different. When you look at your servant, your eyes are different. And when you turn your eyes toward your wife, they are
different. And when you look at your children, those eyes are different. And when you look at a beggar's child, your eyes are again
totally different. Round the clock, like a chameleon, your masks, your face, and your soul go on changing like the wind. Have you
ever noticed this? Have you ever thought about it? Have you ever focused on what your original face is? Who you are and what your
reality is?
You go on changing throughout the day, twenty-four hours a day. When you are in the office with your boss, then your face is one
way. When you are standing with the office clerk, you have a different face. When you are with your friend, you have a different face
- or when you are standing with an acquaintance. Do you know what your real face is? A person who goes on changing his face
around the clock slowly, slowly forgets what his reality is, what his actuality is.
I have heard...
A woman went to the bank to withdraw money from her account. The manager asked, "How do I know that you are this person?"
He wanted some kind of assurance, so he asked, “How can I believe that this is you?"
The woman immediately took out a mirror from her purse, looked at her face and said, “It is certainly me." She said, “Believe me,
I am I.” But before saying that, she had to take out her mirror and look at her face in the mirror.
If there are no mirrors, it will be difficult for you to recognize yourselves. You are totally unaware of your original intelligence, your
potential, and of the fact that it is there in you by birth. You have covered yourselves with too many clothes, and it is surprising the
way you have lost yourselves in those clothes, how man disappears in clothes. You have forgotten yourselves in the clothes. When
you are expressing your love, have you ever noticed, have you ever seen clearly, whether the love is there within you or not? Or is it
only in words that you have borrowed from a romantic novel? When you love someone, do you really have love inside you or are you
just pretending?
Remember, no fundamental revolution can happen in someone who does not know himself as he is, in his nakedness. It won't
happen in a person’s life until he recognizes his own face. There is an animal hidden inside us, and our ego does not want to see it.
To recognize the animal hidden inside us is to drop the ego covering our eyes; it will be crushing the ego with our own hands. The
picture that you have created of yourselves is very beautiful, but when you look inside you will find a very ugly person sitting there.
And then what will be the outcome? Whenever you see ugliness inside yourself, whenever you see any unpleasant element inside
yourself, what do you do? You try to cover the ugly with something beautiful.
I once stayed in a house in a village. The house was very dirty and the room they put me in smelled badly. The hosts had sprayed
scent all over the room and had put a lot of flowers there. It smelled entirely of perfume. I became suspicious that if they sprayed so
much perfume, then certainly there must be a terrible smell in the room. Otherwise, why would they do that? What was the need?
There must certainly be a foul odor in the room.
After a while, the perfume evaporated. When I went to sleep, the perfume was still there, but the room was stinking when I got up
in the morning. They had sprayed the perfume all over just to hide the smell.
The uglier a person is, the more he tries to cover himself with beautiful clothes. The uglier a person is, the more he tries to
manage to look beautiful, the more he searches for cosmetics to look beautiful. This entire search is to hide something.
You are hiding yourself from the world, and the one who wants to move toward godliness has to uncover and be himself. No
matter how many clothes you may wear, no matter how you hide your nakedness, it doesn't matter. It may become hidden from you,
but how can it be hidden from your own soul? And that which is impossible to hide from your soul, how can it be hidden in front of
existence? There, you are what you are, and I am the same as I am. There, in existence, no distinction is possible.
So it is necessary to know the facts. But you try to run away, you try to escape. And if you know that your mind is very greedy,
then what do you do? You start making a temple so that you can tell yourself that you are not greedy: “Look, I have made such a big
temple."
A new temple was being built in my village. I was amazed because the number of people who believe in religion goes on
decreasing day by day. Why then do they go on making new temples? There are enough old temples and no one goes to them, so I
was amazed that every day new temples are built. I was passing by, so I asked an old carpenter working on the site, “Why is a new
temple being built? You have built so many temples, so surely you must know why."
The old man must have been very wise. He told me, “Come, follow me.” He took me to where some statues were being carved.
I thought that perhaps he would say that the temple was being built for those statutes. But then I thought, “This cannot be the
answer because then the question will arise why these statues are being made. There are surely plenty of old statues, and there is
no one to worship them, there is no one to look at them. So what is the need for making these new statues?” But the old carpenter
must have been very intelligent; he must have had very clear vision. He did not tell me that the temple was being built for the sake of
these statues. He took me further on where a few workers were working on a stone.
He said, “The temple is being built for the sake of this stone.” I looked carefully and on the stone, the name of the person who had
given the money for the temple was being carved.
All the temples have been built for the same reason. They are not temples of the god whose statues are there inside. That is a lie;
they are the temples of those stones that stand in front and have the donors’ names written on them. They have been built for those
names. The person not only wants to cover his greed in this world, he also wants to make an investment in the other world. He has
built a temple; he will tell God, “Remember, I made you a temple."
I have heard a story; it must be an imaginary story...
Once a very rich man died and went to heaven, and he knocked loudly on the gates. He was very irritated, “Such an important
man like me dies, and the gates of heaven are closed! They should have opened them in advance - the news was in all the
newspapers. Why hasn't the news reached God yet?" So, he knocked on the door with a bang. A poor man knocks very softly, but a
big man certainly does not knock softly: he was pounding on the gates with a bang.
God must have been annoyed inside. He got up, opened the door, and asked, “What do you want?”
The man said, “Why are you asking that? Don't you know I have died? Has the news not reached here? Which newspaper do you
subscribe to here? The news was printed in almost all the newspapers and was on the front page.”
God said, “I know that, but what is your problem? What do you want?”
He said, “I want to come in! I want to be admitted to heaven." And he took out a bundle of rupees from his pocket. He had brought
the money with him. He thought, “Whatever works in the world, how can God be different from that?” And he tried to put the rupees
in God's hands.
God said, “Forgive me, perhaps you are not aware that the coins that are used on earth are not good here. This money is
useless"
The rich man immediately turned pale. Suddenly he had lost all his authority and power. The authority and power which he had at
the time of knocking on the door immediately vanished. The power was coming from the money. If it had been in circulation in
heaven, he would have power. But since money was not used in heaven, that power was useless. But still he said, “Please, I want to
live in heaven."
God asked the staff in the office, “Does the man at the gate have anything to his credit which qualifies him to be in heaven?" And
he also asked the man, “Have you ever done anything?"
He said, “Yes, once I gave fifteen paisa to an old woman."
God asked his staff, “Check to see if he is telling the truth." They checked and it was true. He had given fifteen paisa to an old
woman.
God asked, “Can you recall anything else?"
He said, “Once I also helped a student with five paisa.” And that too was found to be true. “Can you remember anything else?”
He said, “I cannot remember anything else." Actually he had not done anything else whatsoever. God asked his advisors, “What
should we do with this man?"
They said, “Let us give him his twenty paisa back. Twenty paisa is not enough to get into heaven."
I say to you that if twenty paisa is too little for heaven, then even twenty million is too little money for heaven - even a hundred
and twenty million is not enough for heaven. It doesn't matter how many temples you build; you cannot go to heaven by making
temples, nor can you have any realization of God, nor can you find any peace. Look at why you make temples. This sick mind tries to
find ways to deceive itself; it finds so many ways.
Someone may know very well that anger is wrong. And the scriptures say that an angry person will go to hell, he will be burned in
the fire, and he will be fried in hot oil. The person becomes afraid and frightened. He is weak, so he wants to forgive all his enemies
and not be angry with anyone. But how can a man with an angry mind forgive? This fundamental question is worth thinking about. All
this is worth considering very seriously because all our life’s processes relate to it.
How can a greedy person renounce? The two things are contrary. How can an egoistic person be humble? They are contrary
things. How can a man full of anger be loving? Or how can a man full of hatred be loving? Or how can a man with a violent mind
become nonviolent? He cannot be nonviolent, but he can create a deception that he is a nonviolent man. He can drink only the
purest water. He can stop eating meat and then he can create a delusion for himself that he has become nonviolent.
But to be nonviolent is not such a cheap affair. You cannot go to heaven for twenty paisa, nor can you make yourself nonviolent.
To be nonviolent is a complete self-revolution. But how can that happen? As long as your mind is full of anger, violence and hatred,
how can you become nonviolent?
But suppose an angry and violent-minded person wants to become nonviolent. He will disguise himself on the outside by some
means. Inside, the violence goes on moving and outside he is wearing the clothes of nonviolence. His nonviolence is not very deep -
not even skin deep. Provoke him a little and his violence will erupt.
Recently, India was attacked by another country, and suddenly all the nonviolent people disappeared. Even the monks and
saints started talking the language of war. They were saying that violence was needed to protect nonviolence. It is such a
maddening affair. If a person says that it is necessary to tell a lie in order to protect the truth, then what will be protected? If a person
says that now violence is necessary to protect nonviolence, then what will be protected? If a person says that now it is necessary to
make a temple for the Devil to protect God, then who will be protected? But this country, which we call nonviolent, had all its
nonviolence uprooted in a few seconds. It was uprooted because its nonviolence is very thin, it is only superficial. There is no
nonviolence from within, and there cannot be. How can a violent man, how can a violent mind, ever become nonviolent? He can
impose nonviolence, he can cultivate it. But what will happen by that?
If a person who has sexuality inside him imposes celibacy from outside, what will happen? Will his sexuality vanish? No - its inner
streams will remain flowing within. On the surface, he will talk about celibacy, but inside, sexuality will start moving even more
intensely.
I was once talking to a nun at the seashore. It was quite windy, and it was certainly none of my fault that the winds started blowing
my shawl in the air and it accidentally touched the nun. When it touched, it was as if her whole being started trembling. She did not
dare to say anything to me, but her followers were there and saw it, and it was beyond their tolerance.
They told me, “Look, you better hold your shawl; it is touching a holy woman. 1' The nun was talking to me about the soul and
God. She was talking to me about ultimate liberation, meditation and enlightenment. But no sooner had my shawl touched her than
all the talk of meditation, liberation, the soul and God stopped. Something worn by a man had touched her.
I was amazed and said, “Linen is simply linen, how can it be male or female?" If the touch of a man's shawl created such
nervousness inside her, then what does it indicate? It indicates that sex had been suppressed, had been suppressed so much that
her whole mind was full of sexuality. This men's garment too had become a symbol of sex; it had become a sign and part of sex. Just
by its touch, something started trembling inside her.
Celibacy means transformation of the whole sexuality of the mind into love. But any person who has a sexual mind can only
forcefully try to impose celibacy. He will go on becoming more and more sexual because suppression destroys nothing. But then
what should he do, what is the way?
When a man feels angry, he reads scriptures about forgiveness and tries to learn how to practice forgiveness. When he feels
greedy, he learns about renunciation; he tries to renounce and he makes temples. When sex troubles him, he studies books with title
like Celibacy Alone Is Life, and he may join the company of monks and sannyasins and try to become a celibate. But how can a
sexual mind be celibate?
You will say to me, “The way you are putting this, there seems to be no way to change ourselves." There is a way, but this is not
it. The way is something different. I want to talk to you about it.
If a person wants to bring a revolution to his life, then the first thing is that he must not run away from facts. A weak person runs,
but being strong is needed for transformation. A weak person, a coward, escapes - but to bring a change, a powerful person is
needed. The weak avoid the facts of their lives, and seek shelter here and there - hide their face in an ideal, in a moral principle or in
a religious scripture. It is like an ostrich in the desert. When it sees an enemy, it immediately buries its head in the sand. And with its
head in the sand, it cannot see the enemy. It is simple logic: if you cannot see the enemy, then the enemy does not exist. But of
course, the enemy is not destroyed by your inability to see him. On the contrary, when you don't see the enemy, then the real danger
begins because you are in the enemy's grip. Then there is no way for you to escape and save yourself.
But you do the same as the ostrich does. The moment you see something you don't like inside yourselves, you immediately
respond by burying your head. If you see sex, then you take a vow of celibacy. Are you mad? Just by taking a vow, has celibacy ever
happened in the world? And what does taking a vow mean? What is the meaning of it? If a person takes a vow that now he will
practice celibacy, what does it mean? It means that sexuality is pushing him from inside. Sex must be raging, and he is against
sexuality. Otherwise, why should he take a vow? Would a person who speaks the truth ever take a vow that he will always speak the
truth? No - he will say, “I simply don't lie so there is no question of taking a vow.”
People take vows only because they are being tortured by something opposite of the vow they are taking. It is a way of creating a
force against their problem, of gathering one's energy against it and gaining the support of society. "I take a vow of celibacy,” they
declare in front of people, so that now this becomes a part of their ego. They have taken a vow of celibacy in front of thousands of
people to be sure they won't break the vow. But when they erect this barrier of ego against sex, then the fight begins, then their two
hands start fighting each other. Their ego tries to keep the vow and from the other side nature pushes with jolts of sexuality. Their
mind starts filling up with duality and conflict and is crushed.
A strong person does not escape; he watches. So my first request toward bringing positive change in life is, don’t run away from
facts. As long as you have condemnation for yourself, for your nature, you will continue to run away from facts. As long as you
condemn yourself, as long as you say that anger is bad, till then you will be running. As long as you say sex is bad, till then you will
run away from it. As long as you say that such and such a thing is bad, till then you will run away from it.
So the first thing is to accept the facts of life. Life’s facts are neither bad nor good. Life’s facts are simply facts - not bad, not good.
It is like you have been given two eyes: neither is that bad nor is it good. It is a given fact. Similarly, you have been given sex, you
have been given anger, you have been given greed, and you have been given ego - they too are facts of life. Just as you have been
given bones in your body and you have been given skin and flesh - similarly you have also been given those things you have been
condemning. Just realize that they are facts. To have a feeling of bad or good toward them means you have started fighting with
them, you have started running away from them.
So once again, the first thing is to accept and watch the facts of your life with an open mind, without any condemnation and
without any praise.
There are two types of people in the world. One is those who are obsessed with sex. They have identified themselves in praise of
sex. And another is those who say that sex is simply a form of death. They have engaged themselves in opposing it, in condemning
it. Both types have become entangled. And there is a third type, which I request you to become. That third person neither believes
sex to be life nor believes it to be death. Neither does he believe it to be nectar nor to be poison. He accepts that there is sex, that it
is a fact. He wants to know all about this fact: what it is and why it is. He wants to recognize it, he wants to enter it with total energy,
he wants to uncover all its layers and keep digging until he finds its roots. Or at least he wants to become acquainted with and know
what it is.
Remember: know the realities of your life as facts, know them with a feeling of indifference. Do not become engaged in
condemning them or praising them. Both are wrong ways. Settle in the middle. I call it the middle path; I call it settling in the middle,
neither this nor that. Both condemning and praising are going too far. An indulger is one kind of extreme man and the righteous man
is another kind of extreme man. One has gone too far one way and another has gone too far the other way. He who settles in the
middle is a man of knowing; he is the awakened one.
Be alert and try to know and recognize all the facts of your self for what they are. Don’t be afraid. You are afraid of them because
they have been condemned for thousands of years. And that condemnation is sitting in your mind. When you look inside and find
that there is anger inside you, ego inside you, you think that you should do something: “What should I do to get rid of this anger?"
And you ask, "What should I do to get rid of this ego?”
Someone tells you to renounce your family and home. Someone tells you to renounce your wealth. Someone tells you to give up
wearing clothes, to give up everything, to let go of all your power and position and prestige, and then your ego will vanish.
You can renounce everything, but the ego will not vanish. The ego will remain right there. It will take a new form. It will become
the ego of an ascetic; it will become the ego of a renunciate. It will say, "I am a sannyasin and there is no one compared to me." It will
become a new kind of ego.
The ego cannot disappear so easily. You will have to know the ego; you will have to know sex, anger, attachment, and greed with
great simplicity and innocence. Know them as they are: the realities of your life, the energies of your life. And it is surprising that if
you just become aware of any fact and try look at it, by that very alertness, by the very awareness itself, the fact starts changing. You
don’t have to do anything.
If a person is a thief, he should try to look at that fact properly: “Am I a thief?" Neither should he call it bad, nor should he call it
good; he should recognize the fact and not run away from it. He should not bother about changing it. He should look into the fact
completely and understand it without any judgment about being a thief, and then see what happens. If he becomes completely
aware of the fact, if it becomes clear to him that he is a thief, then this awareness itself starts bringing changes in him. A
transformation begins. When a person knows absolutely that he is a thief, then his whole being becomes involved in changing this
ugly fact. He doesn't have to do anything consciously. His subconscious mind, his subconscious being, will be engaged in changing
everything.
But you don't want to look at facts. Look at how you avoid them. You say that you are not a thief because have built a temple.
How can a thief build a temple? You are religious; you go to the temple every day so how can you be a thief? Every day you put a
mark on your forehead, you wear a sacred thread, so how can you be a thief?
You find so many ways to avoid the facts of life. The sinners go on pilgrimages to holy places; they go to temples every day.
Why? So that they can say, “Who says that I am a thief? How can a person who goes to the temple every morning be a thief? How
can somebody who goes on a pilgrimage be a thief?” But who other than thieves has ever gone to the temple and who has ever
gone on a pilgrimage? Will a person who is free from stealing, who is free from sin, go on a pilgrimage to holy places? For him, the
holy places are already there in his heart. Will he go to the temple? Godliness has become his very nature. Wherever he is, the
temple is there; wherever he is, the place of pilgrimage is there.
You have been running away from facts. I say acceptance of the facts is the way.
Let me tell you a small story by which you will understand this. It is a story of olden days...
 A great seer was sitting in his hut and a young man came to him. The man was very dignified and strong, and he said, "I want to
become your disciple. I have a thirst for truth; I am seeking and searching for truth. I want to know the ultimate reality. Will you accept
me?"
The seer said, “What is your caste, what is your father's name?”
The man said, “I have asked my mother, but she told me that she does not know who my father is. She also does not know
anything of my caste. She told me that when she was young she used to entertain many rich and powerful people and used to
provide them sexual pleasure. She used to amuse them and give them pleasure. That’s why she has no idea who my father is. My
mother told me to tell you that when she was young she served many people and entertained many people. I am the son of one of
those people. I don’t know anything. My mother’s name is Jabali and my name is Satyakam. My mother told me to tell you that my
full name is Satyakam Jabal. Nothing is known about my father."
The seer got up, hugged the young man, and said, “You are certainly a brahmin because no one can speak the truth so directly
and authentically except one who is a seeker of ultimate reality. You are a brahmin, you have been accepted. Such direct truth, such
direct acceptance of fact, can only come from someone who is a seeker of truth."
I would like to say to you that a seeker of truth needs to accept facts directly and naturally. Trying to hide and run away is fatal.
Uncover your mind, open it, and accept whatever you find. If you find that you don’t have any caste, you don’t know anything about
your father, there is nothing to worry about. Accept that fact as it is. If you find there is a wild animal inside, accept that as well. Is it
your fault? It is the way you have found it to be. It is what nature has given you; you should accept it. And then see what happens by
that acceptance. By the very acceptance itself, a fearlessness will be born inside you and your fear will disappear.
Only someone who hides something has fear. When you hide something, you have anxiety. And when you don’t hide anything
and look at things openly as they are, fearlessness is born. Then you have no fear because the fear is of being uncovered - that
someone may uncover your nakedness, someone may uncover your lie, someone may uncover your sexuality. This is the origin of
your fear. So if you have uncovered everything yourself, all the reasons for fear disappear. Fearlessness is born, courage is born.
And when you uncover all the facts, the guilt that was there in your soul - that you have something bad inside - disappears. As
you go on uncovering things, you will find that you can see them as separate from you - and the "I” who is uncovering them is
separate from them. The awareness of your consciousness being separate becomes clear. And when something is painful to look at
- when it seems absurd and meaningless - and you uncover it completely and look through it to its very base, by this very seeing, it
starts changing.
Awareness and alertness of all the processes of our mind work like fire. If we ignite a fire, the dust and garbage will be burned
and only that which is pure gold will be left behind. Awareness is the ability to look at things, and focusing on those things is like fire.
When you become aware of everything inside you and start looking at it, it lights a fire in your being. In that fire all that is garbage
starts burning, and all that is gold becomes refined. And one day, all the garbage will be reduced to ashes and only pure gold will
remain inside you.
I am saying to light this fire of consciousness. But those who have run away cannot light it, those who have escaped cannot light
it. And there are so many ways to escape. A person may be afraid of his reality and start drinking alcohol. Someone feels afraid of
his restlessness and starts gambling, puts everything at stake in a game in order to forget everything - in that intense moment of
putting all at stake in gambling, he forgets all his worries, sufferings and pain. Someone takes drugs and forgets. And someone sits
in the corner of the temple and starts chanting, “Rama, Rama..." He goes on chanting "Rama, Rama" continuously, he goes on
chanting it very loudly, very totally. The louder he chants, the sooner he forgets his worries; for as long as he continues chanting,
nothing bothers him. And by constantly chanting “Rama, Rama" or by chanting “Om, om" or by chanting any other mantra, the
sensitivity of the mind, the awareness of the mind, decreases. Suppose here, in front of you, I go on repeating the same statement
for one hour. How many of you will remain awake? Obviously, most of you will go to sleep.
A case was going on in court and a lawyer was speaking on behalf of his client. His way of speaking was so monotonous: he
would go on saying the same things and repeating the same arguments in such a way that all the members of the jury would go to
sleep. One day he had been talking for an hour and almost all the jury were asleep. The prisoner whom he was representing was
also sleeping with his head down.
The lawyer shouted at the judge and said, “Your honor, what is this? What kind of court is this? All the jurors are sleeping!’’
The judge said, “Forgive me, I am myself a culprit because in between I also go off to sleep. But we are not responsible for this
alone; you are also responsible. Try to talk in a way that wakes people from their sleep. Please say something that makes people
wake up."
If a mother wants her child to go to sleep, she starts singing a lullaby - she goes on singing, "Go to sleep my baby, go to sleep my
baby." She has a delusion that she is singing such a great melody and that is why her baby has fallen asleep. But her child is simply
sleeping out of boredom. If you go on telling a child “Go to sleep my baby, go to sleep my baby" again and again, then not only the
child, but even the child’s father will fall asleep. Anyone would certainly become tired. Boredom of something, and weariness can
make anyone go to sleep.
Someone is chanting “Rama, Rama" and someone goes on chanting “Om, om.” This chanting creates boredom, the mind calms
down and slowly, slowly it becomes dull. This is the reason that in all the countries where “Rama, Rama" or “Om, om” and other
mantras have been chanted, people’s minds became absolutely dull; they could not create anything, they could not invent anything.
Their intelligence became stupid, blunt and lazy. It was destroyed. Their civilization was crushed because can a dull mind create
anything?
But they did find peace - who would not feel peaceful in sleep? Who would not feel silent by drinking alcohol? So they are
chanting “Rama, Rama" and their worries disappear. To be worried you at least need to have an alert mind, do you not? A stupid
person does not feel worried. A dull-witted man does not feel worried. To be worried, you need some awareness.
So there are many escapes, and all are tricky ways to forget one’s life. None of them are religious. Religiousness is not forgetting
life; it is total remembrance of life. Not forgetfulness, but remembrance - it is to be aware of all the layers of your mind and
consciousness. You have to bring your awareness to each and every layer. You have to wake up and watch what is there inside.
Don’t run away from reality. A man who runs away is irreligious and a man who remains awake is religious.
In my view, religiousness only means one thing: a constant effort to become aware, to become awake. So, wake up and watch.
When you watch, a transformation comes which is not of your doing: you are only watching that the desire to steal was inside you.
Experiment with it. What I am saying is not theoretical nonsense. You can see it everywhere. I am not giving you any teaching
because why would someone in his right mind give anyone a teaching? I am only telling you that which I see - so that you will watch
it, you will try and experiment with it a little. If you find it, then you yourself will know it as right. It will be your experience, it will have
nothing to do with me.
Watch any fact within you. Catch hold of a single fact and watch it, and then see whether that fact remains or disappears. Catch
hold of any fact with great alertness. Suppose you catch hold of violence, that there is violence inside you. Don't make any effort to
be nonviolent because to be nonviolent means that you have started avoiding violence. No - accept your violence: you have violence
and it is okay. Say to yourself, “I will live with the fact that there is violence. Let me see what happens. Now I will be with this fact.
Let’s see.”
Remain aware round the clock that there is violence inside you. “When I spoke harshly with my servant, then there was violence
inside me. When I told my wife to leave me alone, then I was violent. When I caught hold of my son's ear, then I was violent."
Watch twenty-four hours a day when and where there was violence. "When I am in competition with someone, then there is
violence. I am building a big house to make my neighbor’s house look small, then there is violence.” Watch all your violent
tendencies. Look in all your relationships to see where the violence is. Watch silently, there is no need to do anything. And as you go
on watching, you will be surprised: the more you go on becoming aware that there is violence, the more you will find that violence
disappears and a new element replaces it. That new element will be nonviolence.
 Your violence remains alive because you never look at it. Your unconsciousness is the life force of violence. If you watch
violence, that will be death of violence. All that is rotten in your life is simply alive because of your unconsciousness. You are not
aware of it, hence it is alive, hence is has life. But who is giving it energy? You are, there is no one else. Only you are giving it vitality
through your unconsciousness. It is simply drinking your energy. But if you become awake, then automatically your energies will
goon moving away from it - in that very moment when you become alert.
A friend told me, “I feel very angry. I have tremendous anger inside myself. What should I do? I have tried everything, but can’t
get rid of it. And my life is being ruined because of this anger."
I told him, “Do a small thing: write on a piece of paper, ‘Now I am getting angry,’ and always keep that paper in your pocket. The
moment you feel angry, please take it out, read it, and then again put it back in your pocket. And come and see me after a month."
He came back after a month and said, "I am amazed. The moment anger comes and my hand slips toward the pocket, I feel
anger has simply disappeared!”
Watch any fact in awareness. Your awareness is the death of the fact. And once the fact dies, all the energy that was being spent
on that fact is released. You are wasting your energy in anger; you are wasting your energy in greed, in competition, in hatred, in
dispute and in jealousy. If all these problems disappear, a tremendous energy will be released. All the energy going into those
problems accumulated there - the same energy will give power to your life. The same energy will become the driving energy of your
soul.
If the energy that is thrown away in anger, in greed and ego can be kept, that same energy can become a path to take you to
godliness. The same energy becomes a ladder to enlightenment. But by escaping, no revolution ever happens in life.
And the revolution that happens by this awareness, the transformation that happens, is not brought by your doing because you
are just keeping awake, you are just remaining aware. Transformation comes by itself. If you become awake, truth comes by itself. If
man becomes awake, truth just arrives. If man becomes awake, existence comes knocking at his door. But it is a matter of becoming
aware, it is a matter of becoming totally awake.
And that is why being awake is the only religiousness, is the only discipline. Being awake is the only effort, the only resolve and
the only spiritual practice that, if man practices it, leads to an absolutely new man being born inside him. Such a man experiences
that silence which is eternal, which is beginningless and endless - he experiences that deep silence which lies in the heart of
godliness. He finds streams of that bliss which is hidden at the center of this whole vast creation. He will attain to that immortality
which spreads everywhere in the whole of existence. But by then, the man will be finished. All that was his reality, his facts, will be no
longer there. Only awareness will remain; and in the end that flame of awareness will become one with the flame of existence.
So what can you do as a positive step? First, take a look at what you are doing. Normally you are always running, you simply go
on running. Stop - you don’t have to run, you have to stop. Stop and watch, and wake up - and don't try to change yourself. Change
will happen, but change cannot be your doing: it is not in your hands. How can your confused, split, unconscious mind bring any
change? Is change possible? If it could bring change there would be nothing left to say.
And consider, if mind could bring a transformation, would that transformation be any higher than the mind? Whatever
transformation the mind brings will have to be lower than the mind, not higher than the mind. What else could it be? Can anything be
bigger than the one who has created it? Can creation be bigger than the creator? Will that nonviolence which your mind creates by
running away from violence be bigger than your mind? It cannot be. It will be smaller than your mind.
When your mind is so small, when your mind is full of violence, anger, and lust, how can religiousness be born out of it? No -
mind cannot give birth to any religiousness. Whatever religion will be born out of it will be of the same kind: it will be a religion of
anger, it will be a religion of sin, and it will be a religion of ego. That religion cannot be bigger than your mind. A thing can never be
bigger than what it is born out of.
Then what is the solution? No solution is possible through the mind. But one thing is possible: you can become aware of this
mind. The one who becomes aware is separate from the mind. The one who is filled with awareness is not in the mind. And if he
becomes fully aware, then his awareness will start a revolution in the mind.
I would like to tell you a small story...
A man went to a mystic and told him, "I am a thief, I am a dishonest person, and I am a liar. But I also want to find God. What
should I do? The priests have told me to first stop speaking lies, first stop being dishonest, and then come back and receive their
guidance."
The mystic said, “You went to the wrong people, people who know nothing whatsoever. It is good that you have come here and I
am happy that you realize that you are a thief and a dishonest person. This is the first sign of a religious man: that he accepts that he
is a thief; that he is dishonest, that he speaks lies. Now something is possible.
“You are fully ready and your willingness is total. But don't try to drop these things; don't be concerned about letting go of them.
By doing so, by bothering about letting go of them, they will continue to exist. You will be running away from them, but they will
remain there, intact. Whenever you look back at them, you will find that they are still there. They will not go anywhere because how
can you run way from yourself?"
The mystic told the young man a small story. He said...
A man came to the outskirts of a village and asked an old man sitting at the entrance to the village, “What are the people of this
village like? What is their behavior like?"
The old man said, “Can I ask you why you are asking this? Do you want to settle down here? If you want to settle here, then first
tell me about the people where you have come from."
The man said, “Don't even talk about the people of my village. Nowhere in the world are there such wicked and bad people."
The old man said, “Then you should settle in some other village because you will find the people of this village even more wicked
than the people of your own village. This village is absolutely the worst. My own experience is that the people of the village where
you come from could never be as bad as the people of this village. Go and settle somewhere else."
 The man then went away and soon after him another man came. He also asked the old man, “I want to settle in this village. What
are the people of this village like?"
The old man said, “First let me ask you what the people of the village you are coming from are like?"
The man said, “Their very mention fills my heart with bliss. That is not the reason that I had to leave such nice people and come
here. My heart will always feel sad about it."
The old man said, “Come, you are welcome. You will find that the people of this village are even better than those of your old
village. Nowhere on earth do such nice people exist."
So, the mystic told the young man, “I am telling you this so that you know that no matter where you run, no matter where you go,
you cannot run away from yourself. Whatever you are is within you, and you see its image in others. What else do you see? All of
you are mirrors for each other - you see your own image in the other. So, no matter where you go, you cannot escape from yourself.
But you can do one thing: you can become aware of yourself.
“Whenever a thought of cheating or stealing comes to your mind, do it, but do it with awareness. If you steal, then steal with
awareness. If you try to break someone's lock, then don't break it with unawareness: break it with total awareness. Say, ‘Now I am
breaking the lock. Now I am stealing.' Break the lock with total alertness. The moment unconsciousness sets in, take your hands off
the lock immediately. And when you regain consciousness, then open the lock. Don't open it in unawareness. Be totally aware and
awake while breaking the lock and remove the money from the safe in awareness."
The young man came back after fifteen days and he told the mystic, “I am in such great trouble. When I am full of awareness, I
don’t feel like taking the money. Only when I am unaware does my hand move toward it. You have really created a big problem for
me. A few days ago, I had to let go of a very big treasure. I had managed to break through a wall, went into the house, and found the
safe. As I was about to pick the lock, I remembered that I have to steal with awareness. And that moment, the thought of stealing
disappeared."
 It is as if we light a lamp and darkness disappears. When the lamp is lit, where is the darkness? And if we extinguish the lamp,
then darkness comes back. Exactly in the same way, if we kindle our awareness, then all our inner darkness disappears. And if we
extinguish the lamp, then it comes back.
Awareness is the lamp of the soul. That is what meditation is: I call that lamp meditation. Meditation is remaining constantly
aware of what happens in one’s life, aware of all the aspects of one’s life. That alone is the lamp, that alone is the flame. Light your
lamp and watch, and you will find that darkness goes on disappearing step-by-step. And one day you will find that darkness does not
exist at all. One day you will find that your whole being is filled with luminosity, a luminosity that is otherworldly, a luminosity that is of
the whole of existence - not just of this world, this time, this age.
You will find a light that comes from a far off place, from a fundamental source. And in that very luminosity, life is filled with dance,
with music. Only then is there silence, only then is there truth. Before that, all is wandering in darkness. In that darkness, it doesn’t
matter what you do. Nothing will happen. Light the lamp and only then will the lamp be of any use to you. Once lit, the flame of
awareness, and only the flame of awareness, will do something. Awareness brings revolution.
The life of a person who has the courage to destroy and create can be transformed anytime. May you be blessed that your life
becomes a flame, a living flame. And not only is this necessary for you, at this point the whole of mankind is in distress, the whole of
mankind is in pain and suffering. If many people’s hearts can become awake and aflame, darkness can be dispelled from this world
and a new civilization that will be spiritual can be born.
Up to now, no spiritual civilization could be created. Actually, spirituality itself could not be born. In the name of religiousness,
churches have been built, sects have been created, but religiousness has not yet been born. The flame of religiousness has not yet
become awakened in man.
But there is still time. Many people will have to make the effort for themselves, but that too will be in the interest of the whole of
mankind. That will be the benediction - we can give birth to a civilization that is religious.
 But how will it be possible? What will bring about the religious mind? The one who, inside the flame of awareness, has become
aflame - he is the religious mind.
I am immensely grateful that you have listened to me with such love and silence, and I offer myself at the feet of all of you. Those
feet that I bow down to are the feet of existence.
 Chapter 4 : Confronting Oneself

My beloved friends,
In a very old town, there once was a very ancient church whose walls had started collapsing. It was dangerous to go inside and
slowly, slowly the people who used to attend the church stopped going. Even to pass by the side of the church was very risky: it
could collapse at any moment. Small gusts of wind would cause it to tremble. During the rainy season, the people of the town used
to think that the thunder and lightning was the church collapsing.
Finally, a meeting of the church’s trustees was held to discuss what to do. They decided on a few resolutions. The first was that
the old church should be demolished. It was a unanimous agreement. Their second resolution was that a new church should be built
on the same spot. Everyone was in agreement with this as well. Their third resolution was the new church should only be built from
the bricks of the old church. And everyone was in agreement with this too. And their fourth resolution was that until the new church
was finished, the old church should not be demolished. Everyone agreed with that too.
In this world also, the temple of man’s mind has become very ancient. There is a possibility of it collapsing any moment. Every
time a slight crisis comes, the whole of mankind falls into danger. Many times, the so-called saviors of man have come together and
they too have passed the same four resolutions. Today I want to talk to you about those four resolutions in detail.
The first two resolutions are okay. The old temple should definitely be demolished and a new temple should definitely be built.
But the new temple should not be built from the bricks of the old temple - nor can it be built from them because a temple built from
the old bricks will not really be new. It will still be old; it will just be a transformation of the old. The same old and dilapidated temple
will just be reestablished as the new temple. And there is a danger that the old will still remain alive. There is a danger that a new
temple will not be there; it will only appear to be new. Its being will be old, its soul will be old.
 So, I do not agree with the third resolution, and the fourth resolution is extremely idiotic: that until the new temple is built the old
temple should not be demolished. The new temple has to be built on the same ground on which the old temple was built. Only the
death of the old temple can become the birth of the new. The end of the old is the beginning of the new. The destruction of the old
becomes the foundation for the creation of the new. And those who are afraid of destroying are also incapable of creating. Those
whose ability to destroy vanishes, also lose the energy to create. And then they have to live in the same old temple which is at risk of
collapsing any moment and which also carries the possibility of their own death.
Man is now living in a very old temple; we are all residents of this temple. And as long as we live in it, we cannot be fearless. We
cannot sleep peacefully at night, nor can we be relaxed during the day. Every moment there is a danger of the temple collapsing.
This old temple of man's mind is his illness, his disease, his sickness and his insanity. Up till now, we have been worshipping the
old, and the birth of the new has been very difficult. The truth is that the old should die permanently, and the old should die every
moment.
Every year, these trees standing all around bear new leaves because the old leaves die. If the old leaves were stubborn and
refused to fall, there would be no possibility of the birth of new leaves. In life, the old people depart; that is why new people can
come, new people can grow. The old disappear every day, which is why there is the emergence of the new.
But man's mind is in such intense bondage with the old that the old cannot vanish from his mind. That bondage with the old is
why the new cannot be born in man's mind. And a person in whose mind nothing new can be born can only live under a delusion that
he is alive. Actually, he died long ago. The old has no life. Real life is that which is ever new. That which becomes new every
moment is life and one in whom the process of becoming new stops, is already dead.
So this morning I would like to ask you: Are you dead or are you alive? Has your mind lost the ability to become new, or is it still
intact? Can you become new or are you so badly tied to the old that no door in you remains open? Does your mind still have any
energy left to become new and young?
 You will have to think about these things, you will have to contemplate them. And if too many dead, old, and tattered bricks have
gathered in your mind, then you will have to throw them away. If the old house is no longer worth living in, and if it is becoming the
cause of your death, then you will have to demolish it. Only the total and proper awareness of this fact can lead man in the direction
of truth, life, and godliness. Life is never, ever old because godliness is never, ever old, truth is never, ever old. Truth is always new
and truth is always young.
And what about most men? What about you? Man simply remains old. That is why he cannot be in harmony with truth. It is not
possible - he has died. He is holding on to the past, to that which has passed, to that which has already gone. People are carrying
dead bodies around. How can they have any connection with life? If the dead bodies of all the people who have died in a house are
preserved there, will anyone be able to stay alive in that house? Even a living person will have to die in that house. No man can
remain alive amid so many dead bodies.
But many dead bodies have gathered in your mind and amid all of them your mind has become like a cemetery. With this dead
mind, if you think that you can meet the emperor of life, who is always new and young - if you think you can meet godliness and
existence - then you are mistaken. In order to meet the eternally new, you will also have to become new. You will have to make
yourself new.
It is necessary to become free from the old, and also to build the new temple. But the new temple cannot be built with the bricks
of the old. It will be absolutely impossible if there is a condition that the new temple has to be built with bricks from the old, and that
the old can be demolished only after the new temple is built. Obviously, no movement is possible in this way.
First, let us understand what makes your mind old. If you can properly understand this, it will be very easy for it to become new.
And anyway, no one wants to become old. Do you want to become an old man? Do you want to be thrown out? Do you want to die?
No one wants this. But perhaps by mistake, what you think is new, what you think to be life, is old from within and that is why you go
on holding on to it.
 So first we need to find out why a man's mind becomes old. What causes it, what are the reasons? For one thing, knowing things
that have been learned makes man's mind old. But knowing that which is known makes a man’s mind new. Whatever you learn and
collect as information makes your mind old. This is because knowledge from outside, be it from scriptures, from so-called religious
masters, or from traditions - anything which you learn and accumulate from outside - never becomes your being, your life. It only
becomes a layer of dust covering your being. Such learned knowledge has nothing to do with your soul. Things borrowed from
outside can never merge with your being, become one with your being. They go on accumulating, and the more there are, the more
your inner being becomes possessed by, tied to the old and tattered.
You have accumulated so much garbage of knowledge, but if you go on thinking of it as knowing, then there is no way to be free
from it. If you can start seeing it as garbage and if you realize that it is the only thing preventing your mind from being new, then
perhaps this very awareness will become the way to unload all this borrowed knowledge, the way to become free from it.
What have you learned? You have simply believed everything that should be the truths of life - things that can only be known and
experienced, not just believed. Everything that is precious and beautiful in life, everything that is superior and true in life, is stale, out
of date and old for you. It is from Krishna, from Mahavira, it is from Buddha and Christ. But what about your own knowing? None of it
is yours. It is from the Gita, it is from the Koran and from the Bible - not your own! None of it is your own.
You need to have a proper look at all the knowledge of your mind to see if it is from others, to see if it is borrowed and stale.
When you eat, you first look at the food to see if it is stale, if it is old and out of date. You take so much care about the food that you
eat every day, but no one thinks to check if the food of learned knowledge is stale, out of date and old. On the contrary, the reverse is
felt - that the older the knowledge, the more precious it must be. The staler it is, the more you feel it is valuable. That is why people
from every religion try to prove their religion is the most ancient.
Every religion tries to prove it is the oldest tradition - the scholars and learned ones simply beat their heads trying to prove their
tirthankaras, their prophet, their son of God to be the ancientmost. This is because the older the knowledge, the more followers, the
more customers they will get. But it should be otherwise. The older the knowledge, the fewer customers they should get. A religion
that proves itself old should also be starting its funeral preparations because the older it becomes, the more inauthentic, invalid it
becomes.
So the first thing: when something known is born in a person’s mind, it is firsthand, it is fresh and new. But the moment he speaks
about it, it becomes secondhand because in the very speaking, he is unable to say all that he knows. It can't be fully expressed, the
whole thing changes. In that very moment, the knowing starts turning into deception. And afterward, traveling from hand to hand, in
thousands of hands - the older and the longer the journey, the more it becomes distorted, the more it becomes untrue and a lie.
A researcher was doing an experiment on what happens when information passes from one person to another, on how it
changes its form. He chose a group of a hundred men and he took one of them inside a small room. There he drew a geometrical
shape and he told the man to look at it for five minutes. He then turned the picture over and said, "Now make the same drawing from
memory.” The man had seen the figure for five minutes and so he drew it as he remembered it. He was a student of geometry, as
were the other participants.
Then the researcher took another man inside and showed him the drawing that the first man had made. In the same way, the
researcher then turned the drawing over after five minutes and told him, "Now make the drawing from memory.” Then the researcher
showed the drawing which the second man had made to a third person. This way, a hundred men copied the drawing.
As a last step, the scientist took out the first drawing that he himself had made and placed it by the side of the hundredth drawing.
Out of those hundred people, not even one person could recognize that there was any similarity between the two drawings. Both
were totally unique - no relation to each other. No one could even imagine the first drawing could possibly change so much after
having passed through a hundred people’s hands.
Borrowed knowledge gets even more distorted because one can at least see drawings, but one cannot see knowing. One can
memorize sketches, but knowing is so subtle that no lines, no form remains; only a mild echo of it remains in the mind and then it
starts traveling from one hand to another.
So, after traveling through billions and billions of hands, knowledge has nothing to do with the first knowing. The older the
knowledge, the staler it is, the more dead it is and the more untrue it is. Knowing only has meaning when it is available firsthand, for
the first time. It is even wrong to call our knowledge secondhand, because it has passed through billions of hands. Passing through
so many hands, all our knowledge has become untrue and stale. Our minds cannot become new while holding on to that old
knowledge.
We have been taught for thousands of years to cling to the old. The outcome of thousands of years of propaganda and promotion
is that we value that “precious'' knowledge even more than our life. But the older this knowledge becomes, the weaker it becomes.
Fewer and fewer people can attain to truth through that path. Every day the knowledge goes on becoming older and its effect on
people goes on diminishing.
It is vitally necessary to remove all this old knowledge from your mind. It is necessary to demolish the whole temple. If any
revolution is to happen in your life, it cannot happen without taking this courageous step. There can be no compromise in this. You
may say that you will make a new temple out of the same old bricks, but the attachment for the old bricks is a barrier to the birth of a
new temple.
Who is brave enough to remove this collective burden gathered in the mind? Who will say good-bye to the Gita, the Koran and
the Bible? Who is ready to say good-bye to the thinkers of the past? I realize the ancients must have certainly known, and I am not
against their knowing; but their knowing is a burden for you. Their knowing may have liberated them, but their knowing is bondage
for you. What /know will give me liberation, but it will put you in bondage. What you know can only liberate you. Except for one’s own
knowing, liberation is not possible now, nor can it be possible.
So, this morning I want to ask you to become as fresh as this morning is. We can ask, “Why are we so in bondage with the old?”
There are reasons for this, and the first and biggest reason is laziness. People are lazy. Whatever they can get for free, they
immediately take. And borrowed knowledge is available for free - you don't have to do anything for it. Who would want to part with
this free knowledge? All the lazy-minded people, all those who are not interested in making any effort, will immediately accept it.
People are beggars. No one wants to make any effort, they prefer begging. If a person is begging on the street, we belittle him for
being a beggar, for begging for money. Some may even be heard asking him, "Why don’t you go and get a job?” But it never occurs
to you that in the world of knowing, you all are there with your begging bowls. And no one asks why you don’t go out and earn it.
A person can become rich through begging because wealth is outside. One can find wealth by begging, but one can never find
knowing by begging because it is not possible to beg for that which is inside. Knowing is not alms. One can ask for money as alms
because wealth is outside. But knowing? Knowing is not so gross, it is not outside; there are no coins attached to it. It cannot be
asked for from anyone. You simply have to know it.
But your laziness, your carelessness, and your desire to not make an effort prepare you for accumulating that stale and borrowed
knowledge, which is not knowing. There cannot be a greater degradation than for man to go to someone's door begging for knowing.
There is no greater humiliation than this, there is no greater sin that this.
Religion has simply been telling you to do that which I am calling a sin. The more a person accumulates knowledge from the
scriptures and from the spiritual masters, the more he is thought to be religious. But there is no bigger sinner than him - he is
committing the greatest sin in life, which is asking for borrowed knowing. He is begging for something that he can never get.
Remember, the moment someone gives knowing, in the giving itself, it becomes a lie.
A man was taking a stroll on the seashore. The wind was wonderful: very cool and refreshing. The man was in love with a woman
who was sick and lying in a faraway hospital. He thought, “Why not send these beautiful winds to my beloved." So, he locked the
winds in a strong box and sent it to his beloved in a parcel. And along with it, he wrote her a beautiful letter, "I am sending you very
cool, very fragrant and very refreshing winds, and I hope you will be very happy."
She received the letter but she did not find the winds in the parcel. When she opened the box, nothing was there. That woman
was very disappointed: he had sent the winds in such a very strong box and with such love. She received the letter; she also
received the box, but winds? There were no winds there.
You cannot send the sea winds in a parcel, nor can you send moonlight in a parcel. You cannot even send love in a parcel. But
for thousands of years we have been putting God in parcels and sending him to each other. We receive the beautiful parcels and we
also receive beautiful letters written along with them, of the Gita, the Koran and the Bible. But when we open the parcel, we don't find
anything. The fresh winds experienced by those who sent those letters do not reach us.
If you want to feel and experience the fresh winds of the sea, then you will have to go to the seashore - there is no other way. No
one else can bring those winds to you. You yourself will have to travel to the seaside.
No one can bring the fresh winds of truth to you either. You have to go on the journey yourself. This first thing has to be
remembered and kept in mind very carefully. If you keep this in mind, the scriptures will become futile and the information and
knowledge passed on through traditions will become a laughing matter. Your mind will be ready to welcome the new. It is only
laziness that prevents you from seeing this truth.
The second reason after laziness is that there is a kind of security in living with traditional knowledge. There is a kind of security
in believing in that which everyone believes. It is like the security of walking on a big road, the security of being on the main street.
We can all walk safely on a big road. There is no fear because everyone is walking there. But if there are side streets, narrow paths
on which we may or may not find a fellow traveler, where there may or may not be a friend or a companion - then there is fear of
getting lost. If it is a dark path, unfamiliar and unknown, then we feel afraid to go any distance on it. We all walk on the safe and
well-known roads because everyone walks on them. There is no fear there. There are other travelers there as well; there are
travelers ahead of you and also behind you.
It deepens our belief when there are people going ahead of us. They must be right; if there are people walking behind us, then
they must be right. I am certainly going in the right direction because so many people are going this way. And every person thinks
the same - so many people are going in the same direction. This is a mutual fallacy: so many people are going in one direction, and
everyone thinks that if so many people are going, they must be going in the right direction. Everyone thinks the same, but there is
still no logic to it. It is the crowd creating a kind of fallacy.
As far as traditional knowledge is concerned, a crowd of thousands of years is walking on the same road. So, when a new child is
born, how can he become separate from this crowd and follow his own way? He simply cannot believe that he can be right. He
believes that all these people must be right.
This democratic thought has proved to be the greatest hindrance for spiritual awakening. Knowing is not a democracy; it is not a
question of raising your hands and being one with the crowd. Often the contrary happens: the crowd proves to be wrong. Only once
in a while do one or two people prove to be right. If the crowd had ever been right, then the world would be a totally different place.
But the world is absolutely wrong, the crowd is wrong, and the crowd will always be wrong.
Once in a while, one or two people have certainly been right, but the crowd has never been right. The crowd nurtures the
delusion that when everyone is together, when so many people are together, then truth has to be there. There is no such guarantee
and criterion for truth. On the contrary, the fact is that, because of this belief, the journey for truth simply never begins. You think if
there are so many people, they must be right. If I am alone, then I may be wrong. It is better to be with the crowd.
If you want to seek and search enlightenment, want to find truth, want to live life fully, you need trust in yourself. The crowd
doesn't believe in itself. It believes in others. Then this journey can never be possible. To know life, you must believe in yourself. You
will never know life if you believe in the crowd, if whatever the crowd says, you simply believe it. If the crowd is Hindu, then you
believe in that. If the crowd is Jaina, then you believe in that. If the crowd is communist, then you believe in that. And then there is the
crowd of the theists and the crowd of the atheists. Whatever the crowd says, you believe in that. The crowd keeps you alive.
This collective mind does not allow man's mind to reach the truth. And the collective mind has been developed over thousands
and thousands of years.
 I have heard...
One morning a husband was reading the newspaper. Sitting across from him, his wife must have felt irritated because wives
never like their husbands to be interested in anything other than themselves. Even if he is only interested in reading the newspaper,
then too they feel jealous.
So the wife said, "It seems now you don't love me anymore. I have been sitting here for half an hour and you haven't even looked
at me. You just go on reading the newspaper.”
The husband said, “You are wrong. I love you more than ever. I can’t live without you even for a second. You are my breath, you
are my life.'
And in the end he said, "Now please stop this nonsense and let me finish the newspaper."
Enough is enough! You cover yourself with a layer of love on the outside. And behind it? Behind it, all your cruelty and all your
violence are present. Scratch someone a little, and his fake personality disappears and the real man comes out from inside. Step on
his foot, push someone a little, and the whole thing changes. The man who was on the surface disappears and another man is
suddenly there. We were not aware of this man and then he is present almost immediately.
That man is present inside you. The presence of that man and this fake covering on the outside are opposed, in conflict. You
have covered yourself with the clothes of the opposite, with the clothes of nonviolence. If there is anger inside you, then you have
covered yourself with the clothes of forgiveness. If there is hatred inside you, then you have covered yourself with the clothes of love.
Man’s mind is perverted because of these contradictions.
Man can never be happy because of this contradiction between his inside and his outside. By covering himself with this layer of
love, that which is inside him will not be destroyed. But it could have been destroyed if he hadn't covered himself. Then it would have
been very difficult to live with the inner reality; it would have been difficult to live with all that violence and cruelty even for a second.
But by covering himself with this contradiction, it has become possible.
 If a beggar starts thinking, “I am an emperor" - and often beggars start thinking so - then it is impossible for him to stop being a
beggar because he thinks that he is not a beggar: “I am an emperor," and the man is a beggar. But of course, he does not become
an emperor just by thinking so; he certainly remains only a beggar. He covers himself with the dream of being an emperor, and
because of this dream cover, it becomes easy for him to be among the beggars. If he did not think that he was an emperor, and if he
knew he was a beggar, then it would be difficult to live among the beggars. He would have to change, he would have to become free.
If a sick person starts thinking that he is healthy, then what is the possibility of his sickness being cured? What will he do to
eliminate his illness? He will do nothing. Just by thinking, “I am healthy,” he does not become healthy; he simply remains sick. But
because he thinks he is healthy, his sickness gets the chance to move inside him, it gets the chance to survive, and the possibility of
his sickness being cured disappears.
In order to cure the sickness, it is necessary to know it completely. It is fatal to forget sickness in order to become free from it. And
you try to forget your sicknesses - you find tricky ways. Then the sickness survives, moves inside you; and because you are
disconnected from it, unconscious of the situation, deep down inside the sickness has the freedom to destroy your life. This is why
man is unhealthy; this is why man's mind is sick.
Try to understand this. In a nutshell, it means that man uses great ideals to hide the facts. He creates fictions to hide those facts.
He creates illusions and false ideals to hide the facts and realities of life. And then, because of these ideals, he totally forgets the
facts; he is unaware of his reality. But by forgetting the facts, facts do not disappear. If things could disappear by forgetting, then it
would be very easy; then a person could simply drink alcohol and his suffering would disappear. But by drinking alcohol, the
suffering does not vanish: it is only forgotten.
Life's facts do not change by drinking the wine of ideals; they remain present. Our own country, India, has been drinking the wine
of nonviolence for thousands of years, but not even a single man has become nonviolent. Violence is still present. There is violence
everywhere in your mind, but you go on hiding your violence by talking about nonviolence. A slight hit and the fountain of your
violence bursts forth - and your poets start singing the songs of violence and your politicians start talking about war. Your so-called
saints and monks are also saying that now violence is needed to protect the nonviolence. All your nonviolence disappears in a split
second.
We have been talking about love for thousands of years, but where is love in our life? We have been talking about forgiveness
and serving humanity, but where is forgiveness and where is service to humanity? And our service to humanity and our forgiveness
have become servants to our deepest vested interest. Someone wants to attain to liberation - that is why he forgives and he gives to
charity. But is it really forgiveness and charity, or is it a bargain? Someone wants to find his soul, so he serves the poor. But is it
really serving the poor, or it is just making a poor person an instrument for one's vested interest?
In Sunday school, the teacher told the children that all those who wanted to go to heaven had to serve the needy. The children
asked, "How do we serve the needy? We all want to go to heaven."
The teacher said, “There are many ways of serving and helping. If someone is drowning, then you should rescue him. If a house
has caught fire, then you should go and remove the things from the house or rescue the people there. It is a very simply thing: if
someone needs help in any way, then you should help.
Next Sunday when the children came again, the teacher asked them, "Did you do any kind of service?" Three children raised their
hands. She asked one child, "What did you do?"
He said, “I helped an old woman cross the road.”
The teacher thanked him saying, “I am happy, you did a very good thing." She asked the second child, “What did you do?”
He said, "I also helped an old woman cross the road." The teacher was bit amazed, but she thanked him as well and asked the
third child, "What did you do?"
He said, "I also helped an old woman cross the road!" The teacher was very surprised and asked, “Did all three of you find three
old women to help them cross the road?"
 The children said, “Three? We only found one old woman."
So, the teacher became really surprised and asked, “All three of you had to help her cross the road?”
The three children said, “No, she did not want to cross the road. It was very difficult. She was running away but we caught her
and had to drag her across the road because we want to go to heaven and we have to serve the needy!"
The teacher said, “Next time, please don’t do such kind of service. It is good that you only made an old woman cross the road;
you did not put a house on fire, then go and save the people, or you did not drown someone in the river and then save him. This one
time is enough. Please don’t help anyone anymore."
Charity workers have been doing many such things in the world. But they have to do social service because they want to go to
heaven. All this social service, all this charity, all this forgiveness and all this nonsense of nonviolence hides the real man who is
there inside us. And that real man who is there, only he is. If anything has to happen at all, then it has to happen through him. Any
sort of revolution in life, any sort of change in life - anything that has to happen - has to happen through that real man. It has to
happen through that actual man which I am, which you are. Nothing is going to happen through any ideals.
But man hides himself in ideals. A bad man, in trying to become good, forgets that he is a bad man. He wants to forget that he is
a bad man. This is the way all such men cling to good ideals. If someone talks about high ideals, then know that a bad man is
present inside him. If the bad man is not present inside, then he simply cannot talk about high ideals - because then the man himself
will be good. Then what is there to talk about, where is the question of high ideals? A high ideal is a trick of the bad man who is
hidden inside us. And it is a very subtle trick by which he defends himself. In trying to become good, he forgets the bad. And as long
as the bad man is present inside, can anyone become good? He may try in a thousand and one ways, but whatever he does, the
bad man will again come back from inside.
This is the reality all around us, but perhaps you have lost the ability to see it. The bad man is present inside you, the man who is
full of violence and hatred. Whatever you may do, howsoever virtuous an act you may do, since that bad man is present behind your
virtuous act, it is going to be a deception. Behind that act, the reality is something else. It is possible that it may not be visible from
outside. Perhaps it may not be visible to people, but you have the ability see it. And if you can see it, then you can start on the
journey of acquiring a healthy mind; you can travel the path toward a healthy being.
So the first thing is to take the first step on the journey, the first step in the direction of acquiring a healthy mind. The first thing is
to see the truth of yourself as a fact, and not as your ideal is. What is your actuality? Not what is your ideology, not what do you
believe - but what are you? What is your reality?
If you can be ready to know that, and only then, you can drop this meaningless idea from your mind - the idea that you can
change, and you can become transformed by ideals, and by being in the competition of having the highest ideals. No one has ever
been transformed by an ideal. From outside it may appear that someone has changed, but the same man will be present inside.
Once, there was a man who was such an angry person that he threw his wife in a well and she died. He must have repented later
on. All angry people ultimately repent later on. That is the only way their guilt can vanish - and they can again be ready and eager to
express their anger. Repentance is a tricky way to wash oneself clean of the bad deeds done.
So, the man repented and told his friends, “I have been feeling very sad and upset about it. Now I want to be rid of this anger in
some way or other. This is the limit; I have simply crossed the limit. I killed my wife, whom I loved so much!"
This sentence: "I killed my wife, whom I loved so much!” looks so right, so heartfelt. But can this sentence be right? Can we kill
someone we love? But we say this every day: “I slapped my son, whom I love so much," or, "I said something that hurt my friend,
whom I love," or "I quarreled with my wife, whom I love." The fight is real, the slapping is real, the killing is real, but the idea of love is
a lie.
The man's friends said, “It is good that you are repenting. A wandering monk has arrived in the village, let us go to him. Perhaps
you may find an answer from him."
So they took the man to the monk and the monk told him the same solution which holy men have always been telling people:
“Become a sannyasin. Without becoming a sannyasin, you cannot get rid of anger. If you remain in the world, you will simply remain
trapped in the grip of anger, greed and attachment. It is everywhere in the world. Without becoming a sannyasin, you cannot go
beyond anger."
The man was so sad and upset that he immediately took off his clothes and stood naked. He said, “I have become a sannyasin."
The monk was also naked. The monk was really amazed and he thanked the man immensely and said that he had never before
seen a man of such resolve, someone who had been transformed so quickly, "...with the exception of Valmiki who became
transformed in a split second. Your story is second only to him."
But the monk had been deceived. The whole village was happy for the man, but they did not know that the transformation was
not so miraculous; it is a typical and natural characteristic of an angry person. An angry man can do anything in hastiness. It was
simply a proof of his anger, of his being an angry man. It was not a proof of any resolve, nor was it a proof of his being a man of
determination and willpower. It was only a proof of his being an angry man. The hastiness with which he had pushed his wife into the
well - with the same impulsiveness, he pushed himself into sannyas. Both were signs of the same mind. But the village was
deceived, and the monk was also deceived. He had initiated many people into sannyas, and in the beginning all of them would say,
"Yes, someday I will take sannyas," but this man had immediately thrown off his clothes. So, the monk instantly developed great
respect for this disciple.
And the austerity that disciple practiced! There was simply no comparison to it in the whole country - the kind of arduous fasts
that he observed, the way he kept standing on one leg for hours. And he practiced such difficult headstand postures. He did all
possible kinds of tortures to himself. The news of his austerity spread far and wide, and he started being praised everywhere. People
came to see him from faraway places. He became a great ascetic, and there was no competitor to his austerity.
But the people were mistaken. They did not know he was the same angry man and that this was simply a transformation of his
anger. Today standing in the hot sun, prostrating himself on the hot sand, and tomorrow lying on a bed of thorns - all were simply a
form of his anger. And he starved himself for months and became a skeleton. It did not occur to anyone that it was simply a form of
his anger. People were saying, “He is the greatest ascetic, such as has never been seen before."
And the more the man was praised, the more his ego became stronger, and the more he practiced even greater austerities. Soon
his fame spread immensely, and when an ascetic’s fame spreads far and wide, he naturally thinks to travel toward the capital. And
so he also traveled there. All ascetics finally reach the political capital. It doesn’t matter what the form of their austerity is - it may be
religious or political or of social service - but in the end an ascetic always reaches the political capital. So too did this man proceed
toward the capital because now the small villages could not serve his purpose. A great ascetic needs a great political capital as a
stage.
In the capital lived an old childhood friend the ascetic had studied with in school. When the friend heard of the incredible
disciplines his old friend had been doing, he went to see him. But he certainly had a doubt in his mind: “He was such an angry boy!
Maybe all this is an expression of the anger. Maybe all this intense austerity that he is practicing is simply a form of his anger - only
turned toward his own self. Perhaps he has only become religious on the outside.’ 1
And it was so. His anger had become religious. The friend already had his doubts, but as he was going there he thought,
"Perhaps if my friend has really become a monk, then at least he will recognize me and bless me.’’ They had been together for years
in their childhood.
But it is true of all those who climb the ladder of ego: they don't recognize anyone from their past. They certainly want everyone to
recognize them, but they don't want to admit that they recognize the other, because the one who recognizes the other becomes
smaller, inferior. The one who is recognized by everyone, the one whom everyone recognizes, becomes superior.
The friend went and sat down at the monk's feet. The monk instantly remembered his old friend, but did not show any
recognition. When do people having power and position ever recognize their friends? The friend suspected in his mind that the monk
had surely recognized him because he would quickly look at him with a sideways glance, and then start looking here and there. Had
he not recognized him, there was no need for him to look in the other direction again and again. He was so obviously avoiding
looking at his old friend.
Finally the friend asked, "Your holiness, may I ask your name?"
The monk said, “My name? Don't you read the newspaper? Don't you listen to the radio? Who is it that does not know my name?
But still if you ask, then my name is Shantinath." The way he said this, the friend realized how little shanti, how little peace, he must
have attained. This monk “Shantinath" went on to talk about the soul and God, and after a few minutes the friend again asked, “Sir,
may I ask what your name is?"
The monk was really amazed. “This is the limit. Just now you asked and I told you. Don’t you hear or are you deaf? I told you my
name is Shantinath."
His friend's doubt became further strengthened. The monk had lost whatever peace and silence he had had before. For a few
minutes the talk of God and the soul again went on. Then the friend asked again, “May I ask your name?”
The monk picked up his staff and said, “Now I will tell you my name.”
The friend said, “I recognize you, Shantinath. You are the same old classmate of mine and nowhere has any change happened in
you."
Mind is capable of deceiving itself, is capable of deceiving everyone. It is by this deception that the mind goes on becoming sick,
goes on becoming unhealthy. You are deceiving others in such ways every day. Your smile is phony, your love is phony, your
sympathy is phony, and your nonviolence is phony. Your reality inside is totally different. From outside you may be like the monk
Shantinath, but for transformation to happen, you have to search and know who you are inside. You have to recognize the real man
inside.
This whole fiction, this imagination, this dream that you have created outside - this ideal that you have covered yourself with -
does not allow a revolution, a transformation to happen in your life. Because of this, you are unable to see the facts of your life. And
the most important thing to understand is that seeing the facts as they are brings a change in the facts. To see a fact in its totality
brings a change in it. But since you are unable to see the facts with intensity, for you the changes don't happen.
A scientist did an experiment. He filled two buckets with water and caught two frogs. He filled one bucket with hot boiling water
and dropped one frog in it. Do you know what happened? The frog simply jumped immediately out of the bucket. The water was
boiling, what else could he do? What else could have happened? The heat of the water was so intense that no sooner had the
scientist put the frog in the bucket than he simply jumped out. The frog’s seeing this fact that the water was like a fire was enough. It
did not have to think about it. The matter was taken care of and it jumped out.
Then he put the other frog in a bucket of lukewarm water, and slowly, slowly heated the bucket. And the frog died because the
water slowly got hot - so slowly that at no point did the frog realize that he must get out of the bucket. The frog went on adjusting to it,
getting used to the water. As the water went on getting one degree hotter, then another degree hotter, the frog also went on
adjusting himself, dying slowly. After a while, when the water started boiling, the frog simply was boiled in it and died.
Why could the first frog jump out and the second frog not? The second frog could not see this situation with urgency - that the
water was becoming hot. The water went on becoming hot so slowly that at no point could it feel the heat of the water.
In the same way, those who live in ideals start living in lukewarm water. Their eyes are focused on the ideals. They are never
able to feel the pain and burning sensation of the real situation of their life. They are never able to see their violence in total intensity
because of their ideal of nonviolence. Their inner violence starts appearing lukewarm to them. They drink filtered water, they don't
eat in the night, they don’t eat meat, this way they become nonviolent and their inner violence starts appearing as lukewarm.
If they could put this whole ritual of nonviolent behavior aside and look at their inner violence with totality, then just as the frog
jumped out of the bucket, similarly they would also come out of their violence. This way a man can come out of his suffering and out
of his ignorance. But our ideals make our life lukewarm, and the more a person decorates his life with ideals, the more that moment
of revolution, of transformation, never comes. He needs to change his life and make it new.
 Man’s mind is sick because of ideals, but for thousands of years he has been thinking that these ideals make him a human being
and not an animal, that he is not this and not that. Ideals alone have become the goal of his life: only the man who has an ideal in life
is a great man. Only someone who has an ideal in his life is moral and only he is religious. But all these are lies. Ideals are a tricky
way of deceiving oneself. It is a whole science of self-deception, and for thousands of years man has been doing this.
You need to break this deception. To attain to a healthy mind, you have to become free from the cobweb of ideals. Then you can
see the facts of life as they are. Then you can enter within yourself and search for the violence, anger and hatred within. Your health
will improve fifty percent by this alone - the moment your mind becomes free of ideals. You will be absolutely simple and innocent.
Humility will be born in you. Because of your high ideals, you develop a kind of pretentiousness: "I am nonviolent, I am this and I am
that, I am religious." All these are simply forms of ego, they are diseases of the ego.
A person who discards the ideals of the mind and who becomes aware of the actuality of his mind - who becomes aware that his
mind is full of violence, anger, hatred, and jealousy - immediately becomes humble. Suddenly there is humility in him. He sees what
he is. His facts tell him what he is, what his reality is. And the day he sees these facts with total silence, total simplicity, and total
humbleness, that watching, that seeing itself becomes a jump in his life. His life takes a jump and the revolution comes.
How will you be able to see those facts? As of now, I only want to say that it is because of ideals you are unable to see them.
Because of ideals, a cobweb of illusion is born. You have been brought up with ideals; you are living with ideals and it has created
hypocrisy, lies and deception. The lie, the deception of thinking yourself to be something else, to be something different and opposite
from what you are, is the whole disease of your life.
A young man had set off to see the world. One day, on an out of the way road, he happened to meet a mystic. The mystic was
returning home to his village. The traveler came from a country where everyone used to wear white clothes, and the mystic looked
very strange to him because he was wearing completely black clothes.
The young man asked the mystic, “Why are you are wearing black clothes? Where I come from, everyone wears white clothes.”
 The mystic said, “Where do I have such a light heart and mind that I could wear white clothes? My heart is still black; hence I am
wearing black clothes."
The man said, “In that case, try wearing completely white clothes, and if you can find white clothes made of thick, hand-woven
cotton, then it will be even better. If your mind is dark, then it will be hidden in the white clothes. And if the clothes are made of thick
cotton, things will be much better. In my country, people never do such an unintelligent thing as wearing black clothes when having a
black mind. It simply never happens."
The mystic said, "But I am sad and upset; I only want to wear those clothes that reflect what I am. If I wear white clothes, then you
will be deceived. But I myself cannot be deceived. I will know it, and while wearing white clothes I will be even more aware that
everything is black inside."
The traveler asked, “Where do you come from? I would very much like to go there. During my travels I may pass nearby, and I
would like to come to see you. Which area do you live in?”
The mystic said, “When you come to my village, ask for Liars’ Town. I live there."
Liars’ Town? The traveler said, “This is the limit. I have never heard of such a name. There are thousands of areas in my country;
there neighborhoods, thousands of towns and thousands of villages. But it has never been heard that there is a Liars' Town. In my
city, we neighborhood where people are ready to cut each other’s throat Peaceful Quarter. And the neighborhood where everyone
has his hand in pocket, we call it Righteous Quarter. But we have never heard of this in our area. What did you say, Liars’ Town?”
The mystic said, “Yes, Liars’ Town is the name of my place. When you are in that area, ask for it.”
Sometime later during his travels, the man reached the mystic’s village. He then asked many people in the village where Liars’
Town was.
The people of the village said, “Have you gone mad or what? It is true the whole world is full of liars, but who would ever name
their neighborhood Liars’ Town?"
 He said, “There was a mystic who was wearing black clothes...”
Someone said, “Yes, there is a mystic in this village, but he does not live in Liars’ Town, he lives with the dead people, he lives in
the cemetery. It seems you are mistaken. He must have told you Dead People's Town, and you came thinking it to be Liars’ Town.
Ask anyone where the cemetery is. There is a mystic there and he wears black clothes.’”
The man reached the cemetery and it proved to be right. The mystic had a hut by the crematorium. When he went inside to meet
the mystic, he saw many bones and many skulls scattered all over the floor and the mystic sitting in the center.
The man said, “You were telling me that you live in Liars’ Town, but you live here in a town of dead people. It was such a trouble
for me to find you, I almost gave up looking."
The mystic said, “Both are true. After examining and investigating these corpses, I had to name this place Liars’ Town."
“What kind of examination and investigation?"
are thousands of have named the another person’s
“Do you see these bones and skulls lying around? I investigated and examined the skull of a brahmin, a person from the highest
caste, to find if it is different than the skull of a sudra, a person from the lowest caste, but I could not find anything. I examined the
bones of a good man and a bad man to find out if there is any difference between the two, but I could not find any difference. And all
these people, when they were alive, differentiated themselves from others: ‘I am this and you are that.' But after their death, I
realized that all of them proved to be dust.
“When they were alive, no one said, ‘I am dust.' That is why I have named this place Liars’ Town. All of them were liars; their
reality was dust. But who knows what great boasts they used to make: ‘I am this and I am that. I am a brahmin and you are a sudra. I
am a politician and you are a follower. I am a master and you are a disciple. I am so and so and you are so and so.’ Who knows what
not! But their reality was all the same: all of them were dust.
“I came to know this after coming to the cemetery, so I named it Liars' Town. And perhaps you will wonder whether it is right to
call a cemetery a town. The reason I have named it a town is because in what you call a neighborhood, an ordinary place where
people live, every day somebody or other dies and it is continually being deserted. But here, if someone settles down once, he never
leaves again. Hence I call it a town. And upon their death, I have come to realize that all these people were liars."
We are all liars, and as long as we are, we will remain unhappy. We cannot be happy: it is necessary to become free from lies in
order to be happy. We will have to become free from all the lies which we have created and believed about our personality. It is
necessary to become free from that cobweb of ideals we have created about ourselves.
One who does not become free from these lies can never have any relation with truth. If you have a fake personality, how can
you find truth? To find truth you should at least have a true personality, at least you should become clear about who you are.
So this morning, I would only like to say that we have created a cobweb of delusions all around us, and while trapped in that
cobweb, we have become phony, fake people. Our world has become a habitat of liars. We must look at it.
Now we will sit for the morning meditation...
Let me tell you a few things about the morning meditation before we start. In this meditation, sit in one place keeping the body
straight. But see that keeping the body straight does not put any strain on it. Very slowly, in a very relaxed way, let go of the body so
that there is no strain of any kind on it. You have to sit in such a way that ensures you are relaxed. And then, very slowly, close your
eyes. That also very slowly. There should be no strain on the eyes - that they are shut too tightly. Just let the eyelids drop.
Then what will you do? Then do nothing, just sit silently, just sitting. You don't have to do anything. In Japan, this meditation is
called zazen, and zazen means: just sitting, just sitting idle.
There was a very big monastery in Japan and the emperor of Japan came for a visit. Thousands of monks used to live there, and
the chief monk was showing the emperor around. He showed him each and every place: "Here the monks take their bath, here they
eat their food, and here they study and do their practice."
On the way, they came upon a huge structure. The emperor asked several times, “And what do they do here?” But hearing this,
the monk would simply remain quiet. The emperor was really amazed. He had been shown everything: the bathroom, the toilet - but
the monk simply would not say anything about the huge structure that looked so important. Finally, it was time for the emperor to
depart and they came to the gates of the monastery. The emperor was still wondering about the huge building.
He said, “Either I am mad or you are mad. You are not showing me the one building that I am most interested in. You have been
going around showing me very ordinary things. Now that I am going, may I ask you the reason?"
That monk said, “I am sorry, but because you were asking what we do there, I was unable to tell you. We don’t do anything there.
That is our meditation hall and we don’t c/o anything there. Because you were asking me again and again what we do there, I kept
on showing you those places where we do something. In one place we take a bath, and in another place we eat food, but in that big
building we don’t do anything. So how could I tell you anything? That is why I did not take you there. I understood that you
understand only the language of doing. How could you understand the language of non-doing? That’s why I avoided that building.
Nothing happens there whatsoever - we simply go there and sit and do nothing.”
So here also, you will just sit and you will just do nothing. You will hear noises, the winds will shake the leaves and the trees will
make a sound; silently go on listening to the sound - go on listening, go on listening... And as you go on listening, you will find that a
silence starts arising inside you.
If you just sit silently and go on listening to the life which in numerous forms is creating sounds all around you, then you will start
becoming completely silent inside. And as that silence deepens, a new dimension opens inside. Somewhere in that dimension there
is truth, somewhere there is godliness, and somewhere there is the experience of life. It is only by walking through that door that
there is something somewhere that is difficult to say in words.
Sit with enough space that no one is touching anyone. Don’t sit too close to each other. You can also go further away under the
trees; it will be more pleasant and you can certainly hear me there. But sit keeping a distance and don't sit in between each other. No
one should touch anyone.
 Sit down, sit anywhere. It is not a question where you sit. It is not a question how you sit; sit anywhere.
Slowly close your eyes. Let go of the body and sit totally relaxed. You are just relaxing and there is nothing else to do. Sit
absolutely silent and relaxed. Watch; be silent and relaxed. If the winds are blowing, the trees will move and make a noise; go on
listening silently. As you go on listening, as you go on listening, everything becomes silent inside. Listen, listen silently. Go on
listening to the sound of the birds. You don’t have to do anything. You are just sitting and listening.
Sit and go on listening, and slowly, slowly the mind will become calm. A silence will deepen inside you. Listen to the outer melody
of life. Listen to it silently. Don't strain yourself at all; be absolutely relaxed. Don't keep any burden on the mind. Your mind should not
be strained. Let go of everything. Listen. As you go on listening, the mind will go on becoming silent.
Sit and go on listening. Something inside you will become silent. The mind will become silent. Look within, the mind is becoming
silent - it is becoming absolutely silent, the mind is becoming silent, the mind is becoming silent. Go on listening, keep listening - the
mind goes on becoming silent, the mind has become totally silent, the mind has become silent, the mind has become silent.
Slowly take a few deep breaths, and then open your eyes very slowly. The same silence which is inside is also outside and you
will experience it. Slowly take a few deep breaths and slowly open your eyes.
We did this as an experiment. In the afternoon go to an isolated place, sit alone under a tree, and do this experiment silently.
The morning session is over.
 Chapter 5 : The Delusion of Ego

My beloved friends,
Some two thousand years ago there was a mystic in Greece, Diogenes. He was a very strange man. He used to wander in the
hot afternoon carrying a lantern in his hand. People would ask him, “Why are you carrying a lantern in your hand when the sun is
shining in the sky and the earth is full of sunlight?"
He would say, “I carry the lantern in my hand so that I can find a man. But even after carrying the lantern for years, I have not
found a single man." Finally, he gave up the search and started living with a dog in a small cave outside the town.
Last night I was reading about his life. I closed the book and went off to sleep and I had a dream...
In the dream I saw that Diogenes was sitting in his cave with his dog and I was also there. I asked Diogenes, “I have heard that
you got tired and fed up of searching for a man and you could not find a single one. Then who are all these people living in the
town?”
Diogenes said, “They are only the faces of man, but not the souls of man. And I am bored. So I have left the company of man and
now I have started living with this dog."
I asked him, “Is the dog’s company better than a man’s company?"
He said, “Yes. I do not find any of those diseases which man suffers from in a dog. And when someone calls someone “a dog"
out of hatred, then I feel angry because a dog is certainly not as bad as man is. When someone compares a dog with a man, then I
feel that it is an insult to the dog. Dogs are very special, very nice. They have never fought any wars, nor have they ever indulged in
great violence. Dogs don't possess anything, they aren’t divided among themselves or have societies and organizations. Dogs are
very simple and innocent."
 I was really surprised to hear him praising dogs so much. And then Diogenes said, “I say to you that a time will come when no
man will want to be in the company of man. People will own dogs and people will only go for outings with their dogs."
I asked him, “What is so unique about dogs?"
Diogenes did not say anything on this, but his dog started laughing. And I was quite surprised because except for man, no animal
cries and laughs. Among all the animals, only man laughs. So, seeing a dog laughing, I became disturbed and I asked the dog, “Do
dogs laugh as well?"
The dog said, “Being in the company of man for so long I have also learned a few of his diseases. Not only do I laugh, but I have
learned to talk and converse, which is also a disease of man and not of any animal."
Seeing him talking I was astonished and I asked the dog, “Why is it that Diogenes likes you so much?"
I want to tell you what that dog told me. He said, “Dogs are the only animals that have understood the weakness of man. We
simply wag our tails and man becomes happy, and this is his weakness. That is why Diogenes is happy with me, because I wag my
tail. And man is happy with dogs because man has a weakness which is fulfilled when a dog wags his tail."
I was so surprised hearing the dog talking that I woke up. I kept on thinking and thinking, “What is man’s weakness?”
And as I was trying to think of man's weakness, I was reminded of one more incident...
There was a mystic, Nasruddin. Before he became a mystic, he owned a small restaurant in a village.
One day, early in the morning, the king went hunting in the forest and he became lost. After wandering around, the king and his
hunting party came upon Nasruddin’s restaurant. He asked him if they could have some eggs to eat.
Nasruddin served the king and his companions eggs, and after they finished eating, the king asked, “How much is the bill?”
Nasrudddin said, "A hundred rupees.”
The emperor was amazed and he said, "A hundred rupees for a few eggs? They don’t even cost a few pennies! Is there any
shortage of eggs in this part of your village? Are eggs so rare here?”
 Nasruddin said, “No, your majesty. Eggs are not rare here, but kings are.” So, the king took out a hundred rupees and gave it to
him.
Nasruddin’s wife was very surprised. She said, “That was something! You got a hundred rupees for just a few eggs. What is the
trick behind it?”
Nasruddin said, “I know the weakness of man."
His wife said, “I don’t understand. What is the king’s weakness?”
Nasruddin said, “I will tell you a story, then perhaps you will understand what man's weakness is."
Nasruddin told the story...
Once it happened that I went to the royal court of a very great emperor. I was wearing a cheap turban, but it was very colorful and
very showy. Actually cheap things are always very colorful and showy. And when I entered the court wearing it, the king asked me,
“How much did you pay for your turban?"
I said, “One thousand gold coins."
The king started laughing and he said, “Are you joking? Is this turban really so expensive?"
And then the king’s prime minister bent down and whispered in his ear, “Beware of this man. This turban does not even look
worth two rupees and he is saying one thousand gold coins. He seems to be a con man."
I knew what the prime minister was saying because those who themselves rob the king always create obstacles when someone
else wants to do it. The prime minister was creating an obstacle, but I was no less clever than he. I asked the king, "Should I go
then? I bought this turban for one thousands gold coins and the person I had bought it from told me, ‘Don't worry, there is a king who
would buy this turban for five thousand gold coins.’ And I have been searching for that king. Should I go away then? It seems you are
not that king. This royal court is not the court where the turban will be bought for five thousand gold coins? Should I go?”
The king said to his prime minister, "Give him ten thousand gold coins and take the turban."
 So the turban was sold, and afterward the prime minister came up to me and asked, “You seem to be a great magician. What
have you done? This turban did not even cost ten rupees and the king bought it for ten thousand gold coins!"
And I whispered in his ear, “You may know the cost of the turbans, but I know the weakness of a man."
What is the weakness of man? Ego is the weakness of man, and the more a person is filled with ego, the weaker he is. Everyone
is full of ego - of solid ego. Everyone is so full of ego that there is no possibility of godliness entering. A person who is full of ego will
not be able to know the truth because to know the truth one needs to have an empty and vacant mind. A man who is full of ego is not
at all empty; he is not at all void and blank. There is no space inside him, there is no empty place inside him where the rays of
godliness can enter, where truth can enter and find a place. There is no other barrier than man’s ego.
So only he who becomes free from ego becomes empty. No one else can become empty, and to be empty means to become
empty of ego. What is this ego? What is the way to become free of this ego? What is our "I"?
Man simply goes on moving around this “I" his whole life, he simply lives around this “I." All his buildings are built to protect the
same "I." All his mountains of wealth are created to enrich the same “I." To protect the "I," he enters the race of acquiring fame,
position, and prestige. And not only this, he even renounces, and he observe fasts and he worships God to defend this “I.”
And he builds temples for the same reason...
A new temple was being built in a village. The village already had many temples. It was almost a village of temples. Slowly,
slowly the situation had come to such a point that there remained no houses for people to live in because God possessed all the
houses. And yet, another new temple was being built. Hardly anyone was to be found worshipping in the old temples, so when work
started on the new temple I was really amazed. When the old temples were lying vacant, when there was no one to go in them, then
why was this new temple being built?
So I went to the new temple and asked an old craftsman who was carving a statue of the temple god, “Why is this temple being
made? There are so many temples in this village, there is no shortage of them. So what is the need for the new temple?"
 The old man said, "I have worked on many temples in my life, and I carved many statues of gods, but no one has ever asked me
this. But now that you are asking, I will tell you the reason that temples are built?"
He continued, “Come, follow me behind the temple." There, big stones were being cut and carved, and he took me further back
and showed me a stone and said, “It is because of this stone that this temple is being built."
I looked at it with astonishment, and on that stone was the name of the person who had donated the money for the temple. This
temple was being built for the sake of this stone!
Temples are not there for the gods, they are temples for the people who have built them. Man's ego is unique. Man accumulates
wealth and also accumulates spirituality - but only for the ego: “I want to be someone special; I want to be something on this earth.
And if I become something on this earth, I should not forget the other world either. I also want to be something there. There I want to
have a big bank balance of virtue and religiousness; I want to be a somebody in heaven. I don’t want to remain behind, be behind
someone. My being ahead is a must."
This “I” pursues him till ultimate liberation. It is for this “I" that he tries to seek and search enlightenment. What is this “I" after all?
A man may practice austerity, but austerity is nothing but a race to fulfill one’s “I," to satisfy one’s "I"
But when a man is tired and exhausted from the race, he finds that this “I" gives only suffering; it does not bring any kind of
happiness. It brings only pain and it does not bring any bliss. Then it is very possible that he may start trying to drop this “I" He may
say, “Now I will drop ‘I,’ I will abandon 'I.' I will become free from ego. I will become humble. I will accept humility. I will say: ‘I am
nothing, I am nobody.’ I will let go of my clothes and become a naked monk. I will go to the forests and become a beggar"
But who is it that will become a beggar? Who will go to the forest? Who will renounce? When you renounce and become a
beggar and go to the forest, your “I" will be fulfilled in the thought that you have renounced: “There is no greater renunciate than I."
And if someone tells you a greater renunciate than you has arisen, your jealously will return again - the same jealousy that was there
before you renounced, the jealousy that you felt when someone built a bigger house than you. The same jealousy will come back
again if someone tells you that a greater virtuous soul than you has been born.
Ego is very unusual, very strange. Its ways are very subtle, and no matter whether you try to drop it or to fulfill it, it always remains
present.
So what to do? How to get rid of this ego? And if you cannot get rid of it, does that mean you can't get rid of suffering - you can't
get rid of pain, of anxiety? Then you also can't get rid of ignorance. Your “l-ness,'' which is at the root of your ignorance, is also the
cause of all sufferings and all pains. Yet, you constantly go on trying to defend this "I" and also go on attacking the “I" of others. That
is because all defenses, in the end, become attack; the strategy becomes attack.
All the governments of the world have a “department of defense." Up till now, no government in the world has formed an attack
department. But all governments attack and they use the so-called defense department. They say defense minister; all the ministers
of the world who are responsible for wars are called defense ministers and they only create wars.
Whatever you do to defend this “I" of yours becomes an attack on others. It has to. The nature of defending the ego leads to
attack. Chanakya said it long ago: attack is the best way to defend. If you want to defend, then attack.
So you have to defend this “I" of yours. All around the ego of the whole world is attacking you, others want to destroy you. You
feel you want to stand up and protect yourself. You want to destroy the other. Ego creates violence. It doesn't matter how pure you
are: maybe you practice religious austerities like drinking filtered water and not eating meat - it doesn't make any difference. Where
there is ego there is violence, no matter what one does. There is violence because the ego is aggressive. It wants to dominate others
and only then does it feel contented; otherwise, it is not satisfied.
I have heard...
There was a British judge in Chennai, India. In court, he would provide a chair for people to sit on if he thought the person worthy
of the privilege. If it was just an ordinary person who had no position and prestige, then the judge would simply solve his case then
and there. There was no need to even ask him to sit down. When does one ever ask an ordinary and insignificant person to have a
seat? What is the need? So, the ordinary person was simply taken care of then and there.
In a room next to the courtroom, the judge kept seven chairs, numbered from one to seven. If someone came who had money
and was wearing decent clothes, he would tell the clerk to bring in chair number one. The clerk would bring in number one, which
was actually a stool. Number two was a more comfortable stool and number three was a chair. In this way, number seven was the
best chair. Seeing the status of the person, the judge would call for the appropriate chair.
One day a man appeared who spoiled his whole arrangement. The man looked very poor and downtrodden, so the judge thought
of solving his matter then and there. The man, who was very old, came and stood in front of the judge. As he stood there, he took out
a watch from his pocket and looked at the time. His watch seemed to be very expensive so the judge became nervous and he told
his clerk to bring chair number three.
But by the time the clerk brought the chair, the old man said to the judge, “It seems you don’t recognize me. I am the landlord of a
nearby village.”
Hearing this, the judge became nervous and told the clerk, who was just bringing number three in, "Wait, not number three, bring
chair number four.” So, the clerk went back to the next room.
But now the man said, "It seems you still have not recognized me. In the last war, I donated millions of rupees to the government.
Don't you remember me?”
The judge became nervous and stopped the clerk: “Wait" - he had already brought chair number four - “bring chair number five."
The old man said, "It would be better if you call for the last chair because I am about to tell you a few more things. Actually, I have
come to donate some money. I want to donate a few million rupees to the government. So call for the best chair."
The poor clerk became exhausted with all the exercise!
We judge people by their chairs, meaning we measure people by their ego. The bigger the ego, the bigger the chair. The bigger
the chair, the bigger the ego. And people also judge us in terms of the same values, the terms in which we evaluate people. So, we
feel we must run in the same direction as everyone else. All of us are simply running so that we can find a bigger chair - a bigger
chair so that we can be a little higher, we can rise to a higher position. But no matter how high we may reach, death simply turns us
into dust. Death brings us down and buries us under the same earth as everyone else.
The Chinese mystic Chuang Tzu was passing by a crematorium. It was getting dark, night was fast approaching, and Chuang
Tzu stepped on a skull lying on the ground. He picked up the skull and said, “Forgive me,” to it.
His followers asked, “Are you mad, apologizing to a dead man?”
Chuang Tzu said, "You don't know. This is a crematorium for big and powerful people.”
The village had two crematoriums - one for the poor and inferior, and one for the big and powerful people. Man is really strange:
even after his death he tries to defend his ego. The big and powerful have one crematorium and the lesser people have a separate
one. When a big man is about to fall back into dust, he is not ready to be burned in an ordinary crematorium after his death. He
wants a special cremation - exclusive, separate. How can an extraordinary person be buried in a crematorium where all the ordinary
people are buried? The one who is about to fall into dust, the one who will soon become ashes, the one who is almost dead - life is
about to leave him - still says, “When I die, burn me in the best crematorium.'’
Chuang Tzu said, “This is not the skull of any ordinary person. If he gets angry then I will have a problem. This is the skull of a big
and powerful person. This is a crematorium for big and powerful people.”
The followers laughed and said, “Even if he gets angry, what can he do? This man has died." “Still" said Chuang Tzu, “had he been
alive, I could apologize. But now what can I do?"
He took the skull back to his monastery. Every day he would greet it with folded hands, and every day he would apologize.
People would ask, “Have you gone mad or what?"
Chuang Tzu would say, “I am not mad. If this man were alive, then what would be my situation? It is a matter of luck that he was
not there when I stepped on his skull. Had I stepped on him when he was alive, you can imagine the trouble I would be in. So, when
I think of this, I apologize.
“And there is one more thing: seeing this skull, I remember that tomorrow my skull will also be lying in the dust and people will be
stepping on it. So, if they step on my skull today, I should not be upset because how long can I go on protecting this skull of mine -
which will finally also be stepped on by people?
“Why should I protect it, what is the point in protecting it? This skull keeps reminding me of this. Ever since I have had this skull, I
have simply stopped thinking of my own skull. Now if someone steps on my skull, I'll think, ‘It is okay, it is going to happen. What is
the problem in it, what is the difficulty in it?' I will ask the one who steps on my skull if by any chance he has hurt his foot, because as
far as my skull is concerned, it is surely going to be stepped on by many people. Before it became my skull, it was the dust of the
earth. Millions of feet must have passed over it. Then I could not protect it, and after a few days, I will be dead and it will again
become dust. And again millions of feet will pass over it and I won't be able to protect it. So, to protect it for these few days between
life and death can only be my delusion."
Ego is the delusion of the few days between life and death. One who is unable to see life in its totality remains under the delusion
that he is somebody. “What am I?" Man simply doesn't know the answer to this, but he certainly has the delusion that he is someone.
“What am I? Who am I?" He simply doesn't know anything about this, but still everyone claims that he is someone.
Push someone a little and he will say, “You'd better lookout before you push! Don't you know who I am?” Now, he himself also
does not know who he is, but when it comes to others he asks, “Don't you know who I am?"
What do you know about yourself? Who are you? How much capacity and strength do you have? What is your position in the
world? But you are unaware, and in a very tricky way you weave and create the cobweb of ego. Breath comes and goes, but you
say, “/am breathing." Do you think if you are the one who is breathing, then death will never be able to come because it will go on
waiting while you go on breathing? You just have to tell death that you are continuously breathing; then death will have to go back?
But no - you know that if the breath which goes out does not come back, then you won't be able to bring it back. But still you say,
“I am breathing.” It is certainly true that the breath comes and goes, but it is absolutely untrue that you are breathing; “I am
breathing.” And in the same way, somehow birth happens to you, but you say, “It is my birthday." Did anyone ask you whether or not
you wanted to be born on that day? Did anyone ask you, did anyone take your advice or ask for your decision? No, you don’t even
know, but you say, “my birthday."
It is so strange: you say, “I am young." Have you become young? If a child wishes to be an adult, can he become older? Now you
say, “I have become old.” Have you become old? If you had wished to become old, then could you have become old? And if it had
been in your hands to become old, then would you have ever become old? Who would want to become old? Things just happen in
life, but you identify everything with your “I" and you go on thinking “I” and “I" - and the whole relationship with the “I” is unreal.
A pile of stones was lying near a royal palace and a few children were playing there. One child picked up a stone and threw it at
one of the glass windows of the palace. The stone started flying high in the air and its ego became inflated and became double the
size. Whosoever rises high becomes inflated and becomes double the weight. So that stone too became double the weight. And it
looked down at the stones lying on the ground and said contemptuously, “Hey stones! All of you are lying down looking lazy and
stupid. Look at me! I am traveling to the sky. I have always said that all of you were brainless and you would always remain lying on
the ground. Too bad you aren’t like me, who is traveling to the sky.”
Those poor stones lying on the ground must have been holding their breath, looking at the flying stone. They must have felt that a
great man had been born among them. A higher-incarnated stone had been born who was going toward the sky. Great desires
suddenly arose in them. Could they also fly through the sky? But no, they were not to be so fortunate. Today only one such fortunate
stone was flying high in the sky.
Suddenly, the flying stone hit the glass window, which shattered and fell to pieces on the floor. The stone laughed and said, “How
many times have I said, how many times have I declared, that no one should come in my way - or else he will be turned into pieces.
But still people obstruct me and are broken into pieces. There is a limit to unintelligence!”
 What he was saying was not a lie; it was certainly true that the glass had been broken into pieces by the stone. The stone said, “I
have reduced it to pieces. How many times have I said that no one should come in my way?"
The stone had landed on a fine Persian carpet that was spread on the floor. He said, “How nice the owners of this palace are. It
seems the newspapers had already spread the news of my arrival in advance. And they have spread Persian carpets in my honor -
the palace has been decorated for my arrival. They are such nice people. After all, why should they not welcome me? I am not an
ordinary stone; I am a flying stone. It is natural for them to welcome me."
The palace servants must have heard the sound of the breaking glass. They came running and picked up the stone. The stone
was in ecstasy.
He thought, “These people are so wonderful. It seems the owner of this palace has sent his special representatives to welcome
me. I am being given a royal reception. These people are so kind, so loving and good. And why should they not be? Am I just any
ordinary stone?”
The servants then threw the stone out of the open window, and the stone said, "But now I want to go back home. I am really
missing my home. I am feeling homesick missing all the stone friends I had left behind.” It is like here, when a politician stone has to
return from Delhi back to his home city, Indore - it says, “I am missing Indore so much! Now I want to go home." Similarly, that stone
was returning from the palace to be among the crowd on the ground.
He thought, “I am missing my friends so much, let me go back to them.”
The stones lying on the ground were looking up at their friend who was arriving as if in an airplane. There must have been a great
party to welcome him home. The stones must have asked, “Tell us about your experience. Where did you go and what did you do,
which foreign countries did you travel to, and which palaces did you stay in?"
The stone said, “I will tell you everything. It was the first time I had such a privilege." And then he told the whole story of how he
traveled and how he destroyed his enemies and how he stayed in royal palaces and how he was given a royal reception - he
described all that.
The stones of the ground told him, “You must write an autobiography - it will help the coming generation of stones. Generations
upon generations will read it and know that once in their family, in their history, there was such a stone - an incarnation of God! - and
they will be very happy to read his story.”
The stone is now busy writing his autobiography and he will undoubtedly get it printed and published somewhere or other. Before
him, many other stones have had their autobiographies published, so he will also be able to find someone or other to publish his
autobiography. He is still writing it.
The terms in which that stone thinks of himself, the language he uses - do you not think of yourself in the same way, in the same
language? Everyone is thinking this way.
“My birth!” Do you know why you were born? Do you know how, from where, and which hand threw the stone that was the
beginning of your journey? Do you know anything?
You don't know anything. Everything is in absolute darkness and unknown. But you say, “My birth.” You say no one should get in
your way, or else he will be destroyed. My breaths, my life! All the facts of your life - which are nothing more than the journey of a
stone - you go on fastening around your "I,” and you go on strengthening your "I.” And this "I” ultimately brings pain because there is
nothing more untrue than “I"
Remember, that which is untrue is the root of suffering, and that which is truth is the source of bliss. Man is in suffering and pain
because he lives in the ego, and until the ego disappears, the doors of bliss cannot open.
The ego is the root of suffering because the ego is unreal. The ego simply does not exist; it is only imagination. It is an absolutely
false idea, but you go on strengthening it. Most people become engaged in trying to fulfill it, while a few people become obsessed
with trying to renounce it.
In my view, both are wrong. That which does not exist can never be fulfilled, and that which does not exist can never be dropped.
If ego existed, then you could have dropped it already. This is why, if a person says that he is absolutely humble, be sure that
somewhere in his humbleness his ego is hidden. If someone says, “I am simply nobody, I am your servant," then look in his eyes and
you will see the ego - just as if he is saying he is great. He is something, somebody, either way. All this is simply a declaration of the
ego.
For thousands of years, man thought that it was the Sun that rotated around the Earth. Then science discovered that it was a
misconception. The Sun does not rotate around the Earth, but it is the Earth that rotates around the Sun; it only appears to be
otherwise.
But at the beginning of this century, Bernard Shaw declared that was wrong: neither does the Earth rotate around the Sun and
nor can it. It is really the Sun that is rotating around the earth. Now, Bernard Shaw was certainly not a scientist; his friends said,
“What kind of mad thing are you saying? Do you have any evidence?”
Shaw said, “There is evidence. This Earth where the great Bernard Shaw lives cannot rotate around any Sun. I live here on this
Earth so the Sun can only rotate around the Earth. How could I rotate around the Sun? It is absolutely wrong. The Sun must be
rotating around the Earth"
Of course, he said it jokingly, but man certainly thinks in terms of the same language. His whole life, he thinks in terms of the
whole world rotating around him, the whole world going around him. “The Moon and the stars are rotating around me, the people are
rotating around me, and the birds and animals are rotating around me. They are rotating around me!"
And man is so clever that he goes to the temple and says a few prayers and gives a little money as a sacred offering to God - and
then expects that God should also rotate around him! God should cure his child’s sickness, God should help him get his daughter
married, and God should find his son a good job. God should also rotate around him: he has given money as a sacred offering, and
he has flattered God with five or six prayers: “You are almighty, you are great..." - he has told God in every way that he should rotate
around him.
 The whole effort that man makes is that God should rotate around him. But if it becomes evident to him that God does not want to
rotate around him, then he will immediately stop going to the temple. All this is a mutual exchange: “I will rotate around your temple
and you rotate around me. And if you don’t rotate around me then I will stop all this worship and prayer." He starts threatening God.
He also tries to create fear in God: “You’d better keep this is mind, or else I will remove your statue from the temple; I will stop
worshipping you and offering prayers.” Why are the churches and temples empty? It is because many people have understood that
God does not rotate around them. So naturally, they have stopped rotating around God.
Man thinks himself to be the center of the whole world. This is his great delusion; you are not the center, you are a part of life.
Just as a wave is a part of the ocean and not its center, you too are a part of life. Your being is not separate from life. Existence is not
separate from us. But still you feel “I am." Imagine a wave feels “I am," - and the wave starts thinking that all the waves rotate around
it, that the Moon rises for its sake and the Sun rises for its sake and the ocean exists for its sake. The way that wave will remain in
delusion is the same way you live in delusion. Do you really know anything about your existence? Because of this delusion, no one
can ever fulfill the ego nor can anyone drop it. Then what should you do? Then what can be done?
So, shall I tell you what this ego is? First you should become aware of it, one should be fully conscious of it; you should make an
effort to recognize it and try to search for it within yourself. Where is the one who says, “I am”? You will be surprised that those who
have searched for it inside could not find it. They went within themselves and saw that there is no ego there, there is no “I” there.
Instead, they found infinite life, boundless, life without end. There is life like an ocean, without any end, infinite - but there is no “I”
there.
The one who awakens inside, sees, finds that there is no ego whatsoever; there is no “I" there. There is total silence, peace, but
no “I." The disturbance of “I" and the noise of T is nowhere to be heard. That is why I don’t tell you anything that may fulfill the ego.
The worldly people are all trying to fulfill the “I.” And the ones we call sannyasins are trying to become free from the “I.” But both are
wrong. “I" simply does not exist. If “I" existed, then it could have been fulfilled. Or if "I” existed, then it could have been dropped. “I" is
like a shadow. If you bring the light, then you will not find the shadow. But if you live in the gloom, in the dusk, then you will find the
shadow. So, enter within yourself and observe where “I" is. Search for it - and you will not see it, you will not find it.
What is the way to enter within? How can we observe this “I"? And through that observation, how can we get rid of this T? What is
the way? The way is very simple, the way is absolutely simple. What else can be simpler than finding oneself? What else can be
simpler than to enter within ourselves and see that we do exist inside and we are present? Just a slight glimpse of it, and a revolution
can happen inside and everything can change. But what is the way to go within?
Can you reach inside if you worship and pray? No, never, since all worship and all prayer is outside, and that which is outside
cannot take you inside. So what should you do? Should you stand on your head? What should you do? Should you do different Yoga
postures and exercises?
They won't be able to take you inside: all Yoga postures and exercises are outside the body. Yes, if one wants to join a circus,
then it is a different thing. But if one wants to go inside, then something else is needed, no exercise and no postures will serve the
purpose. Then what should you do? Should you read the scriptures, should you memorize words from the holy books? All the
scriptures are outside. No matter how much you memorize, you won't be able to go within. So what should you do? Should you go to
the Himalayas? The Himalayas are as much outside as Indore or Mumbai is. It won't make any difference. So where to go and what
to do?
Let me tell you a small incident, perhaps you may understand where to go and what to do...
It was sunrise near a small hill just outside a village in Japan. Three friends had gone for a walk and, looking up, they saw there
was a monk standing absolutely quiet and silent on top of the hill.
One of the friends asked, “What do you think this monk is doing on the hill so early in the morning?’'
One of the companions answered, "What I think is that his cow is lost in the forest and it is possible that he may be standing on
the hill and looking into the forest to see where his cow is."
 The second friend said, “But my friend, I don't think that’s right because when a person is looking for something, he moves here
and there to locate it. But this monk is absolutely simple and innocent, he does not even move here and there. It does not look like
he is searching for something. I think he must have come with a friend for a walk, and his friend has fallen behind. So he must be
standing and waiting for his friend to come."
The third man said, “No, I don’t think that’s right either because if one is waiting for someone, then sometimes he turns and looks
back to see if he is coming. But this monk has not even turned and looked back once. He is standing absolutely silent. So I guess
that he is neither waiting for a friend nor searching for a cow. He is meditating on God.”
The argument started becoming heated, just as all arguments become heated, and it became difficult to decide who was right -
just as no argument ever comes to any conclusion. Finally, there remained only one solution - that all three of them go up to the
monk and ask him what he is doing there.
All three climbed the hill and stood before the monk. The first man asked, “Your reverence, can we ask what you are doing here?
Perhaps you have lost your cow. Are you searching for it?"
The monk said, "What cow? I have nothing, so how can anything become lost? And if nothing could become lost, then how could
I search for it? No, I am surely not searching for any cow."
So, the first man was defeated. The second man asked, “Then a friend of yours must have come with you, and he must have
fallen behind and you are waiting for him."
That monk said, “What friend? How can the one who does not have any enemy have any friend? I don’t have an enemy and I
don't have a friend. And when I don't have a friend, how can he be left behind? No one has been left behind.”
And the second man was also defeated.
The third man said, “In that case, what I said is certainly right. You are meditating on God."
The monk said, “I have searched everywhere, but could not find any God. As long as the “I” that was seeking and searching was
present, how could I find God? And since my “I" has disappeared, who can meditate on whom? I am surely not meditating on any
God."
The third man also lost.
The three of them then asked, “Please sir, please tell us what is happening. What are you doing?"
The monk said, “I am just sitting and doing nothing. I just am. I am not doing anything at this moment, I just am. I am not doing
anything whatsoever. Neither am I searching for anything, noram I waiting for someone, noram I meditating on anything. I am not
doing anything whatsoever."
Let us understand this: the moment your mind does nothing - it is not searching for something, it is not waiting for someone and it
is not remembering anything - when only it is, when it just exists, then what will happen in that moment? In that moment, a revolution
happens. It is only in that moment you are able to see your own self. It is in that moment that you become aware that the ego does
not exist and all that does exist is godliness.
In such a silent and tranquil moment, mind does nothing whatsoever and becomes absolutely silent. Like a quiet lake, all the
waves have calmed down. In such a silent moment, in such a tranquil moment, in such a moment of no activity, one sees and
experiences that the ego does not exist. That is how the ego is destroyed. And where there is no ego, you can suddenly see that
which is. You may call it soul, godliness or truth - or whatever name you may give to it. But as long as the ego is standing inside, as
long as this delusion “I am" is standing inside - till then, one cannot know that which is, that which really is.
As long as you are in the delusion of the existence of the ego, the doors of truth cannot open. But in reality, the doors of truth are
always open, but the curtain of ego has blocked them. So don’t go to any mountain, don’t go to any place of pilgrimage or any
temple, and don’t do any worship, say any prayer or read any scripture. No place, no thing, no one, can take you anywhere.
Go directly there. Enter that state where there is no activity, no word, and no thought - and everything is silent and quiet. It is just
there; there is the holy place of pilgrimage, there is the temple, there is the worship, there is the prayer, there is meditation, there is
religiousness and there is that which we may call godliness.
Let me tell you a short story and conclude today's discussion.
A great poet was in his houseboat drifting on a river. It was a full-moon night, and everywhere the moonlight was showering. All
was beautiful and silent, and he was sitting in the cabin reading a book on aesthetics, on beauty, under the light of a small candle. It
was beautiful outside and all around everything was beautiful. Beauty was showering all over the faraway corners of the sky. But the
poet was reading a book on beauty under a small candle light while shut away in the houseboat cabin. And the cabin was full of
smoke from the candle.
Because of the glaring yellow light of the candle, the poet’s eyes had become tired, weary, and were irritated by the smoke. He
was tired and it was midnight, so he closed the book and blew out the candle. No sooner had he done that, no sooner he
extinguished the candle, than suddenly he got up from his cot and started dancing.
Two of his friends were sleeping nearby, but hearing his dance, they woke up and said, “What happened, have you gone mad or
what? You are dancing at midnight?’’
The poet said, “The truth is that I have just found something, I had never known it before in my life. I was reading a book under
the light of a small candle and the flame of the candle kept flickering slowly and hazily. All the while, the moonlight was waiting
outside; it could not enter. It kept waiting at the door, at the window, but it did not enter. The moment I extinguished the candle, from
each and every opening - from each and every place, from everywhere - the moonlight entered and flooded the room. And then I
could see that even a small candle’s light can prevent the vast moonlight outside from entering.
"Suddenly I saw it was this ego, this ‘l-ness’ - only this was blocking existence. Is it just this small candle that is blocking the
moon? I could see this, and I could also see that I was foolishly reading a book on beauty, while beauty was present everywhere
outside the cabin. That which was present everywhere, I was trying to search for in a book. I could suddenly see these two things.’’
I have also seen the same two things, and I would like to tell you about them. The first is that what you are searching for in the
scriptures is present everywhere. And as long as your eyes go on searching in the scriptures, you will not be able to see it. And the
second thing is that as long as the candle of the ego is burning, you will live in flickering light full of smoke. That alone is the
suffering. And as long as that candle of the ego is burning, the luminosity of godliness cannot be available to you. It has to wait at
your door for you to extinguish the candle; then it can come inside. Your extinguishing the candle is an invitation: “Come, the doors
are open.” Your getting rid of the ego is an invitation for existence: “Come, I have called you. Please come.”
He who extinguishes the candle of the ego, no sooner does he extinguish it than he attains to the luminosity of godliness. He who
is empty of ego becomes full of godliness. And he who is full of ego remains empty of godliness. When rain falls from the sky, the
valleys that were empty become filled with water and the hills which were full of themselves become barren. Godliness is showering
day and night, each and every moment, every second. And those who are empty will be filled and those who are full of ego will
become empty.
Only when you become empty of ego is religiousness born in life. Only when you become empty of the self, the “l-ness," is the
real truth revealed. I pray that godliness may make you empty so that you can find the whole.
I am extremely grateful that you have listened to my talks with such love and silence. Now I bow down to the godliness sitting
inside everyone. Please, accept my regards.