Fire of Rebellion

Discourse date: Fri, 12 February 1969 00:00:00 GMT

This discourse was given before teachers under the title: The Birth of New India!

Zarathustra was coming down a hill. He was rushing downwards as if he had heard some very important news from down the hill. He reached the plains, running and panting for breath. He asked the people in the market, "Have you heard the news?"

People asked, "What news?"

Zarathustra said, "Such a big event has happened and you do not know! Did you not know that the God has died?"

People were very puzzled. Zarathustra then felt that perhaps he had come too early, because the news had not yet reached the people.

I was reading this story and I felt no important news ever reaches us. Those who bring such news all feel that they have come before their time, too early.

I would also like to ask you, "Have you have heard that India has died?" Perhaps you will be shocked at this news. You may not have known it. Thousands of years have passed since; perhaps that is why you don't feel it. Perhaps the news is so old and so many events have occurred since, that you do not even remember having heard the news. But I want to tell you that India died long ago.

Iqbal has sung, "There is something about it (India), that its existence does not end." While I was reading this song I felt that first its existence has to have been, to end. If existence has already ended, what remains to be ended? If a man is living, he can die. If a man has intellect, he can be mad. If there is no intellect, man cannot go mad. If a man is healthy, he can fall ill. But if one has no health, how can there be illness?

Could it be that the real reason for the non-ending of India's existence is that it has long before ceased? Now nothing has remained with us to end! I begin my talk with this news.

This country has died thousands of years ago. It is necessary for this country to search for a new life, a new soul. Certainly the teacher could have been of help in the search, but so far he has not been. Up till now the teacher has not proved to be the torch-bearer of our life. Up till now he has remained the agent of the old dead society. The teacher has remained the instrument and the medium for pouring into the mind of the new generation the customs of the old, dead, rotten society of the past.

The teacher can become the medium and the instrument for the birth of a new world, a new life and a new man, but he has not become so far. Let us understand this truth about the teacher first.

Till today what has been the work of a teacher? What work has the society taken from the teacher?

Society says that we are taking the work of teaching and educating our children from the teacher.

But on looking deeply it is found that the society also takes the work of passing on all the old diseases, blind beliefs and false knowledge into the minds of new generations, through the teacher.

The society does not tolerate a teacher who is revolutionary, because the day the teachers become revolutionary a new society will be born. The teachers becoming revolutionaries can become the basic cause for the change of the whole society. That is why an attempt has always been made not to allow the teacher to become a reactionary and retrogressive. He is given a lot of respect, it is true, but society gives that respect to the teacher only while no ray of rebellion is seen in him. If a ray of rebellion is seen in him, the society begins to be strangle his throat.

You may be surprised to know that from the world of teachers, no revolutionary thoughts, no new vision, no new views have ever arisen. The society has always tried to keep the teacher from becoming a revolutionary because it is one of the largest and the most powerful groups of people, and in its hands are the minds and souls of the new generation. If the teacher becomes a revolutionary it will cause a break between the old and the new society, because it is the teacher who hands over the old society into the hands of new society. The teacher is the middle link through which the past enters into the future. The teacher can do a lot, but perhaps he does not even have any such idea as being the forerunner of a revolution.

Up till now the teacher has put all his energies only into adjusting the mind of the new generation to that of the old generations. He has tried to implant the beliefs and attitudes of the old society into the minds of the new generation so that those old ideas reach into the bloodstream of the new generation. The old society respects and honors the teacher just because he is the basis for saving the past. The day the teacher would be rebellious, a new society can be born every day, and the new generation can raise its eyes towards a new life.

But the teacher is not rebellious. In my view, a teacher who is not rebellious is not a teacher at all, and he loses the right to be a teacher. How can a teacher be a teacher who is not rebellious? Without being rebellious, the eyes do not open in the direction of knowledge. Without being rebellious, the soul of man does not come out of its shell. Without being rebellious, one cannot remain in step with life.

Can an education, a knowledge which does not give birth to the independent soul of man ever be called an education, a knowledge? It can be a burden, it can be just information, it can be learning - but education, never. Education should become the discovery of the soul, but it has not happened like that. The teacher has not yet acquired the attitude of a rebel. That is why the old, rotten society continues to live. What has already died remains alive in some form or the other.

In India this has become the most unfortunate happening of all. India has not even changed its old clothes; the question of changing its soul is very remote. The whole history of India is the history of non-rebelliousness. No revolution has taken place, no transformation has happened. When a society does not pass through revolutions, its life remains no longer a flowing stream but becomes a closed puddle which rots and stinks. It is just full of mud and stink because of lack of flow. There is a life like a river running towards the unknown ocean, passing through hills and valleys and crossing unknown plains. One life is like that of a river flowing towards the ocean, and there is another life like that of a pond, closed within itself, not moving anywhere.

The life of the Indian society has become like that of a pond, not that of a river. In one way the life of a pond is very secure: nowhere to go, no problems of the road, no straying away on unknown paths; no crossing of the hills, no dreams of the unknown ocean about which there can be no certainty to reach. The life of the pond has its own happiness, having a well-enclosed, carefree, fixed space.

India is enjoying the happiness of the pond, not facing the struggle of a river. We have become so accustomed to this happiness that for thousands of years we have stopped taking any risks.

Remember, the society which ceases to take risks, will slowly diminish the lighted flame of its life.

The inner flame remains powerful only in facing risks.

Nietzsche kept a signboard on his table. Only two words were written on it. Whenever anyone asked him what was the essence of his life, he would point out to that signboard on which was written "Live dangerously." The reality is that it is in living dangerously that life is felt. Living a protected life, one never experiences life. That is why those who live in graves live very safe. There is no danger. The life of a pond is a life of avoiding all dangers, but it stinks, becomes dirty and dries up.

India has been living a secured life for centuries; has created its own cocoon and lives within it. We do not want to enter the expanses of this world and we do not want to travel to the moon and stars.

We are bound to our homes. We are more like trees whose roots are bound to the land, than like man. We do not move from our places. Every son takes over his father's place, generation after generation. Repetition continues. Men continue to change, but the society remains the same.

If a man who lived a thousand years ago came to a village in India today, he would not find any difference; everything is the same as it was in his own time. We feel very happy about this, and we say, our leaders say, "Rome has died, the Greece and Egypt of old have died. Where is Assyria and where is Babylon? But we are still here." We respect our static situation greatly. It is not something to be respected, it is very insulting. This staticness clearly tells that we have become incapable of any change. We have lost that capacity for change. We are like a stone lying near a roseflower.

The roseflower blossoms in the morning, dances in the light of the sun, tries to rise towards the sky, withers by the evening and falls down. But the stone that was lying nearby in the morning is lying the same in the evening as it was in the morning. The stone must be thinking to itself, "Look! the flower withered away, but I am the same as I was earlier. Many flowers have come and are gone, but I remain." The stone must be admiring itself, but the stone does not know the joy of being a flower.

The stone does not know the thrill of change. It does not know that living, flowering, withering and falling to the ground has its own meaning and mystery. The stone does not know that only those wither who flower; only those fall who rise. It also does not know that only those die who live. If you want to avoid dying, avoid living. If you want to avoid falling, never rise up. If you are afraid of withering, do not ever blossom. But what does the poor stone know?

I have heard: One morning in a garden, a strange event happened. There were small grass flowers that had grown, well protected by the protruding stones of a stone wall. Sheltered by the wall, those flowers never knew storms nor the light of the sun. They were living a sheltered life, not knowing the rains, nor the stars that twinkled in the night, but they were very safe, there was no danger for them.

One of the grass flowers lost his head and one day peeped out. He saw a roseflower rising upwards towards the sky. A desire arose in that grass flower, "Can I not be a roseflower? Cannot I rise upwards?" In the night he prayed to God to make him a roseflower. God told him that he should not be mad, that he was so well-protected, that the roseflower blossoms in the morning and withers in the evening and falls, whereas when he blossoms he lives on for weeks on end, he does not wither easily.

The grass flower replied, "That I understood. We stay blossoming because we don't really blossom in the first place. And the grass flower is not so juicy from the very beginning, so we don't wither away easily. No, I want to blossom like a roseflower, I want to have velvety petals like the roseflower.

I do not want to live under the shadow of this stone wall, I want to rise up in the open sky - even for a moment, but I want to rise."

The grass flower was adamant. The neighboring grass flowers also tried to persuade it, saying, "Have you gone mad? Such a thing has never been done in our family and tradition. This is an old custom, we just live here, buried in the stones. Even our forefathers never thought of going out in the open sky, nor did their forefathers. It is not written in our scriptures. What madness! It seems you have gone crazy! You are spoiled by the company of others. Remain within your limits. It is dangerous to step out of this place. You will die. Don't you see how much trouble roseflowers have to endure? The day before there was a storm and all the roseflowers were lying flat on the ground.

One day when it was raining, all the rose petals were found weeping. If there are high-speed winds, the rosebush gets shaken to its very roots. We remain safe and happy.

The grass flower, however, did not agree. It said, "No, even for a day, but I want to be a roseflower."

And when one does not agree, what can God do? God can do something only when one agrees. If you don't agree, he is helpless. So in the morning the grass flower became the roseflower. Soon the sun rose, the clouds gathered in the sky, and a strong wind began to blow. All those grass flowers began to shout at the new roseflower from below: "Oh you crazy flower! Now you will die! For a moment's happiness you lost your permanent comfort. Just for a moment, just to be a roseflower, you gave up your safety!"

Soon after, thundering rains came with very strong winds. The thin stems of the roseflower started moving this way and that, and the rose petals began to fall. Even the leaves fell off. After some time the roots of the rosebush, wet and weak, became uprooted and it fell over. While it was dying, a grass flower bent down and said, "You fool! Now have you come to your senses or not? For the sake of a moment's experience under the sky, how much didn't you suffer!"

The dying roseflower replied, "Friends, what I have known during these few moments, I never knew during a long life under the shadow of the stones. Rising for a moment towards the sky, struggling against the storm... maybe for a moment, but to stand facing the sun under an open sky! That struggle with the storm with my delicate branches! A few moments of blossoming - but really blossoming! The joy I experienced, the juice I felt - I am full of gratitude to God! And shame on you that you will never know what life is and what it means to struggle and live during a storm! You will live behind your safety wall and die there. Your life is unlived."

I don't know if this really happened or not, but it seems in the life of the people of India this has happened. We are living under the shadow of security. We have become so fond of security that any courage to move in dangers is absolutely destroyed. And then of course, whatever is old feels familiar and safe. Unfamiliar feels unsafe, unknown frightens. Unfamiliar paths create fear in us. So we have made a path and like a drudge we go round and round over it for thousands of years. Our teachers also initiate the new generation into the same old path on which our forefathers used to move.

No, that way the new India cannot take birth. The teachers of India will have to courageously take steps to break this situation and raise the consciousness of the people. Certainly there are dangers in dealing with the unknown, but why be afraid of danger? It is better to face the danger of the unknown rather than be secure with what is known, because in dealing with the unknown there is an interest in life; there arises energy to live and there is a challenge in life.

If the teachers of India decide to free the new generation from moving on the old fixed paths, it is possible for the soul of India to be born - otherwise not. They should decide to encourage the new generation to take up challenges and cut new paths, climb the mountains and cross the oceans and go into space. But we are in the habit of preventing children even from going into darkness, telling them that the night has come. We prevent them from jumping into the river which is flooded, from jumping into the sea. We say, "Where is the necessity to climb Everest?" Everest is the highest crest of the Indian Himalayas, which since the past one hundred years people from the West have been trying to climb. Many have died in the attempt, and we are laughing at them, sitting secure in our caves. We tell them, "Why do you climb? Are you mad? What is there on top except ice?"

We, however, do not know that the children of those communities that are prevented from climbing the hills, the very soul of those communities is prevented from rising to new heights, and it prevents their souls also from rising.

Thousands of children climb the Alps. Every year during their holidays many of them die in their attempt to climb the Alps. But knowing this full well, their parents and teachers do not stop them, just giving them the statistics of deaths last year. Where there is youth, there will be enterprise and climbing.

Hundreds of boys and girls cross the English Channel, whereas we have lost the courage to cross even a small rivulet. First we try to find how deep it is, whether our forefathers have ever crossed it or not. If our ancestors never crossed it, we are not going to do that because we only follow in their footprints. We cannot take any initiative. Why put our easy life in danger? Our personalities are so fearful that we cling to the corpses. There is no way the new can be born. If we get rid of the old, only then the new is born.

The most important task the teacher has to do is to make India free from its clinging to the old. The teacher should know that he is guilty if he ever tries to create infatuation for the old in children. He has to prepare the children for inviting the new, for being aware of the new, for embracing the new.

Prepare the children to be attracted by the unknown and to listen to the call of the unknown.

American children are thinking of living on the moon, but Indian children do not do anything more than watch the drama of "Ramleela." Rama was beautiful and Ramleela is also beautiful, but how long will we continue to watch it? Even Rama would be feeling very much harassed by now as to, "Why are these people after me year after year to enact the same drama?" There will be other Ramas in the future, don't we need to care about that? Many other Ramleelas are going to be played, not only on this earth but on the moon and Mars, and other stars as well.

But for us everything has happened in the past. Nothing is to happen in future - all our work is over.

The god of history has closed the doors and gone ahead. Now there is no more history. Now only one work remains to be done and that is to ruminate over past history. Just as the buffaloes go on ruminating while sitting chewing grass, we also go on ruminating over past history. Don't we have to create anything new, don't we have to give birth to the future, and don't we have to be anything new?

Don't we have some dreams in our heart to create a new tomorrow? And don't we want to create some place where none of our forefathers has even set foot? What is the purpose and meaning of our life if we only have to walk in the footsteps of our forefathers?

We have to decide to walk on the paths where our forefathers never set foot. We will see such visions which our forefathers never saw, we will undertake voyages which have never been undertaken, we will walk on virgin lands where so far nobody has ever walked.

But no, our very aspirations have died. We go on looking for the old trodden paths and continue to walk on them. Hence, in India the new is not taking birth. If the new is not born, life becomes sad.

Life has become sad. Every man is sad, tired and defeated. Every man is praying to God for only one thing: to make him free from the chain of rebirth. Somehow one wants to get rid of this life:

where is liberation? Every living man goes on asking where is salvation, where is emancipation?

We have made life so wretched that except for praying to get rid of it, nothing else seems relevant.

The whole country has become very sad. It is bound to be sad. By staying in the old for long, the mind becomes sad. When a calendar is hanging in our house, we tear off the past date every day.

Likewise, every day the old must be discarded so that the new that is hidden behind can appear. In the mind of India, a new date never appears. The calendar is thousands of years old. There are so many old dates in it that the new dates cannot be found, not even with great effort. We have never thrown away the old calendar. We have to do that, so that new dates can be seen.

When we see the birth of the new, our soul dances with joy to welcome the new. A life of dance and cheer spreads all over, because there is great interest in knowing the unknown. The familiar becomes known, no interest remains for it. India has become interestless and hence it has died.

Interest is a characteristic of life.

If we want India to revive, the teacher has to do a most important work. Perhaps there is no other more important work than this, and nobody else can do it either. No other section of the society can bring about this revolution. It is the teacher who has to be clear in his mind not to allow new children to be dominated by the old. Before that can happen, sow new seeds in them. Before their mind starts being burdened with the old, make them listen to the music of the new. Before their minds become dulled by old tunes, let the tunes of new songs reach them, so that they are stirred up and engaged in the search for the new.

It is necessary to save the children of India from their parents. It may sound peculiar but it is so.

Who will do this? Parents go on casting their children in their own image. Till they complete this job they do not die. When the parents feel that their son has now reached the same development as they had, the parents pass on. Every generation is doing this. The old molds are ready for casting; every new child is being cast into the old molds. Who will prevent this? Who will protect children from their parents? If this is not done, this country cannot take a new birth.

The teacher can save the children from parents. But the teacher is not aware, the teacher is not conscious. He has become the agent of parents, he is working for them. Parents give him a salary so that he can cooperate in molding the children as they like. That is why this has become a vicious circle. How to break it? Someone should take the courage to do it. Difficulties will be there, because the society does not respect such a person, but somebody will have to bear the consequences; otherwise this country cannot take birth.

Excepting the teacher, I do not see anyone else fit for the job. It is wrong to expect this from politicians; it is wrong to expect anything from them. For politicians, if good days arrive, mental treatment will have to be arranged; that much is alright, but nothing else can be expected from them. If the politicians from all the capital cities are arrested and they are sent away for treatment, the world will be different. But it is very unlikely that something can happen through them. Perhaps if people from the planet Mars arrive, something can be done. But there is no hope from our politicians, because they are the agents of all our diseases and they are exploiting our diseases. They have made our weaknesses stepping stones to climb into positions of power. Nothing good is to be expected from them. For them our weaknesses are their ladders, our diseases are their paths, and our ignorance, blind beliefs and foolishnesses are their stepping stones.

Who else can help then? Sadhus and sannyasins? No. Once upon a time they were revolutionaries.

That time is gone. Now sadhu-sannyasins are not revolutionaries. Once there was a time there were people like Buddha, Mahavira, Christ and Shankara. Those days are gone. Now sadhu-sannyasins are servants of the society. The society gives them meals and they go on praising the society. Their condition is no better than this. Nothing can be expected of them.

There is only one class of people which has not yet bothered to do anything. That is the educated class of teachers. It is quite a big class and has immense power. Its greatest power is that the new generation is in its hands. Before the new generation changes for the worse, the teachers can give a new direction, new awareness to the new generation. There is a tremendous power in their hands about which they are not aware. If the new principles of transforming life are brought to the minds of the students, the whole country can be transformed within twenty years, because in twenty years the old generation makes way for the new generation to come. The accumulated filth of thousands of years can be removed just within twenty years. But this can only be done by the teacher and no one else.

So first the teacher should become aware that he is committing a crime if he is communicating the old diseases into the new generations. Old generations were afflicted by Hindu-Muslim labels. If a teacher is teaching the children under his guidance that "You are a Hindu," or "You are a Muslim,"

he is committing a great offence. He must teach the new generation that "You are all human beings, not Muslims and not Hindus." Then a new country will be born. If the old generation teaches that "You are a brahmin," or "You are a sudra," and if the teacher also confirms it, then he is the agent of the old generation. He will then continue the diseases, he cannot stop them.

It is enough to be a human being. If the new generation can understand this, the diseases of thousands of years can be destroyed within twenty years. Nothing can prevent this change. But the teacher is not aware and conscious about what he is doing.

We are infatuated with the old. The children should give up this infatuation with the old. In fact children are not interested in the old, they are very keen to know new things, but we are forcibly making them accept the old. Every day they must be taught the new. Courage, enterprise, risk- taking is the one virtue which, if it is inculcated into the minds of the future generations of India by the teachers - the work will be over.

But in the structure that is devised so far, the child becomes impotent because he is confused; he does not know what to do. The teacher does not know what to do and what not to do. The people in the society who are supposed to think of the subject also do not know what to do. There is restlessness, but no clear path is visible. It has to be properly thought out, what can be done, what is possible.

I feel that we have a golden opportunity in our hands today, because there is more rebellious spirit in the minds of Indian children than any time before in the history so far. If the teacher can give proper direction to these rebellious children, the old rubbish can be put to the fire. From this energy of rebellion the new can take birth.

But the teacher is unable to understand even the potential of this rebellion that is born in children.

He is not able to utilize this potential energy. In fact the teacher himself is afraid of it and he is trying to destroy this rebellion of the children from all sides. He does not know that he is committing a mistake.

The rebellion of the children is not to be destroyed, but it has to be given the right direction. This spirit of rebellion that has come in them, the soul that is born - which at present is throwing stones, breaking windows and chairs - this wonderful capacity to destroy that has arisen in them, can be directed to some worthy destruction. If we do not direct this energy properly, their anger will be wasted on destroying the wrong things. Breaking chairs and windows won't help in any way, but this courage to break chairs is welcome. With that courage the Hindu-Muslim fanaticism can be broken, the brahmin-sudra stupidity can be stopped, the foolish walls created between man and woman can be removed. The rotten morality can be exposed and a new, more healthy, more scientific morality can be given birth.

The capacity to break has arrived - but the teacher is afraid of it. He thinks that this ability to destroy is bad. Furniture is being broken, windows are being broken - but I say to you that the children do not know what to break, that is why they are breaking chairs. If the teacher explains to them what is to be broken, then they will never break chairs; they will start breaking what needs to be broken.

But the teacher is afraid. He says, "Do not break anything. Be disciplined."

However, you do not know that it is a great thing to break discipline. Discipline has a value, indiscipline has a value too. Discipline is valuable to maintain the society as it is. But when the society is to be changed, discipline is of no use, indiscipline becomes valuable. This is the time for change.

Utilize the indiscipline that is there in children. Whatsoever is rotten can be destroyed with the help of these children. What has become a great burden like rock on the life of man should be changed. The teacher can do it because he is very near and intimate to them. But he too is unable to understand the children and does not know what is happening.

It is a good sign that this rebellious spirit is aroused in children. If the teacher can become aware of his revolutionary role and can understand that the burning torch of revolution is in his hands, perhaps these children will love their teacher as they have never loved before. The teacher then will be a collaborator in making a golden future for the children as he never was before.

I have put before the teacher friends these few questions. What I am saying does not necessarily have to be right; it may all be wrong, so it is not necessary for you to believe it. But please think and meditate on whatsoever I have said.

It is necessary to give birth to a dialogue in the whole country, that the teachers begin to think, and they talk to the children, they try to understand them and then come to some decisions. Then I am very hopeful. A lot can be done. The situation is ripe, the opportunity is waiting, the whole climate is there; it is a God given opportunity and it is in our hands to utilize this great energy of transition.

Or, would you rather just sit back and watch what is going on and condemn it as bad and not do anything? Would you rather be a spectator? Would you prove to be only a spectator in the life of the coming society? Then every day you will go to school and while you teach the children that two plus two is four, or teach them the ABC's, the politicians will go on preparing atom bombs. While you teach them arithmetic and the geography of the earth, the politicians will continue the preparations for destroying the very earth itself.

No, this cannot be tolerated any more. Teach that two plus two makes four - but that is not the only work of a teacher. He should become the creator of a revolution too, then only does he become a teacher. He has to remain awake to everything that is happening around life. He has to be conscious of the new sprouts that have shot forth in children. He also has to be concerned about his own role in life.

India has good teachers, but they are asleep. India has a very intelligent group of teachers, but they are not revolutionary. India has a long line of sincere teachers and teachers full of morality, but their sincerity and morality is retrogressive and reactionary. He is not a revolutionary and that is why he is watching helplessly. He feels there is nothing in his hands; he has only remained an instrument of the society.

In the whole world, India included, the politicians have cut off the teachers from the lifestream.

Politicians tell the teachers that they should not worry about the quality of life and about politics; they must do their work within the four walls of the school. The politician is very clever. He knows that if the teacher starts actively thinking about life, he has so much power in his hands that he will transform the whole society. So, cleverly and cunningly he has kept the teacher away from and separate from life as a whole.

The politicians have persuaded the teachers to feel that they are not concerned with life as such, that their great work is to teach the children that two plus two makes four and show them on the map where Timbuktu is, unmindful of whether Timbuktu actually exists! Now the possibility of saving humanity is becoming less and less, and if the teacher continues to watch silently this situation, I am not prepared to call him a teacher. The teacher has a great responsibility. The teacher is a midwife for the new generation.

Socrates has defined the teacher as one who works as a midwife in giving birth to the new soul.

Socrates has said it rightly. He was one of the most wonderful teachers of the world. He has rightly said that the teacher has to work just like a midwife and assist in giving birth to a new soul. If you are not becoming, we are not becoming that midwife, we have no right to call ourselves teachers.

I have made a few humble suggestions here. I am grateful for your having heard me so silently and peacefully. Finally, I salute the divine residing within all of you. Accept my salutations.