Recognizing the Master

Question 1:

Sudha, the recognition of a master depends on your becoming more conscious, more aware, more alert. Coming out of your sleep, coming out of your dreams and thoughts, in an absolutely silent mind, the recognition happens - because the master is silence.

The master is awareness.

The master is love.

The master is not a person but a presence. The person died the day enlightenment happened. After enlightenment, there is no person as such but only a presence, a light. You can recognize it only if you have some of the qualities: love, awareness, compassion, consciousness - just a small window.

Not that you have to be perfectly awakened - then, certainly you will recognize, but then recognition is of no use. Recognition is of use when you are on the path moving towards the unknown, not knowing exactly whether there is something ahead of you or you just have fallen victim to some fallacious philosophy.

The recognition of the master will help you in spite of your doubts, in spite of your uncertainties, in spite of your ups and downs. The recognition of the master will keep you on the path because you know - it happens, and if it can happen to somebody else, there is no reason why it cannot happen to you.

Every human being has an equal possibility of becoming enlightened. That is true communism.

Only enlightened people can be really communist. The unenlightened is always thinking himself superior to somebody, inferior to somebody. He is always struggling to go forward, to be the first in the race, to reach the highest glory on this earth of money, of power, of prestige.

But if you are not aware and alert, if you have not yet experienced the love that is no longer part of biology, then there is only one way you can recognize the master and that is when he is crucified.

His crucifixion is bound to wake you up, at least for a moment. And in that very moment will be the recognition - and a tremendous feeling of loss, because when the master was alive, you remained asleep. Now the master is no more, and because of his death... the shock is so much that it awakens you for a moment. But even that single moment is like when lightening suddenly happens on a dark night, and you see the whole scene.

I know it hurts to think that the master you have loved can be crucified. But remember one thing which has not been discussed in the past two thousand years; even Christians have not discussed it, although their master was crucified. Neither in the Greek tradition after Socrates have his disciples ever conceived of what I am going to tell you:

The crucifixion of Jesus was not only the responsibility of the Jews. The real responsibility for his crucifixion was his disciples'.

It was very easy not to be caught by the Jews. Judea was such a small country; you could get out of Judea any moment. And Jews were not free people - they were in slavery under the Romans.

They could not do anything directly. They had to persuade the Roman emperor, the Roman viceroy, and it was known almost all over Judea that if Jesus should go to Jerusalem for the Jewish holidays when people go on a holy pilgrimage, he would be crucified.

It was common knowledge. And there was no need for Jesus to go. Jews were not listening to him - what was the need? Jews were gathering and the rumor was that they would try to crucify him, they would put as much pressure as possible on the viceroy, Pontius Pilate. But if he is not there, nothing can be done. He insisted on going there.

And I suspect that George Gurdjieff is right - that Judas simply performed the function of a devoted disciple; he was not the enemy of Jesus and he did not betray. It was Jesus himself who sent Judas to inform the enemies where he was. It must have been very difficult for Judas, but to follow the master, he went against himself. And Jesus was caught because of the information given by Judas.

And I say that he must have done it against himself because as Jesus was crucified, suddenly he became aware of what he had done. Death is not a small matter. He had killed the man he loved, he had killed the man he worshipped. He was feeling so much repentance that within twenty-four hours he committed suicide.

Christians don't talk about why Judas committed suicide, why Jesus insisted against the will of his disciples to go on that ugly night to Jerusalem.

As far as I am concerned, my feeling is that his disciples were fast asleep - and Jesus had tried everything to wake them up and they would not wake up. Hence, he had chosen the last resort of a master. Perhaps his life cannot help. There is no harm in taking the chance - maybe what life has not been able to do and perform, death succeeds in doing.

And it succeeded - the shock not only made an impact on the disciples but on sympathizers, on curiosity mongers, on people who were absolutely neutral, on people who had never thought about Jesus Christ. The crucifixion made everyone give a thought to this strange young man. Where do you think so many Christians have come from? Their basic number has come from the Jews.

While Jesus was alive, not even a single rabbi - and Jerusalem was full of learned rabbis; it had the Jewish university, all the scholars were there - not a single scholar, not a single rabbi recognized him. Not a single man of reputation... because everybody was afraid. Just to be associated with Jesus' name could be dangerous to you. But when he was crucified - and crucified in such a primitive and ugly way that it shocked the whole nation - even those who were in opposition felt that what had happened was not right. Because the man was innocent.

He may have been saying outrageous things but he had not done anything against any law, against any morality. And to reward him with crucifixion simply condemned the whole Judaic religion and tradition. Thousands of Jews who had never paid any attention to Jesus became Christians, and the basic number came from Judea.

Perhaps the strategy of crucifixion worked. And for a man like Jesus, life and death don't matter.

What matters is that he has found something and he wants to share it - but it is so difficult to find somebody willing to share life's greatest blessings and benedictions.

Sudha, it hurts but I have to tell you the truth. And you have to understand: It is not being told to somebody else, it is being told to you, to each person individually.

If you are not awake, then perhaps it is worth my being crucified. If that helps you to be more conscious, to be more loving, to be more alert, to be more integrated....

My life and my death are both for you.

For a single purpose, I go on continuing breathing. I hope... it is time that man should become more conscious on a worldwide scale, because except for that, nothing can save humanity from the destruction of the third world war that is looming darker and darker every day on the horizon.

Question 2:

The question is difficult because there is a misunderstanding on the part of Meher Baba.

In India, there are two types of religions: Hinduism believes that God comes down and becomes man. They call it avatar - the very word avatar means descendence. Rama and Krishna, according to Hindu mythology, are gods in disguise. God is coming from above to be a man; that is the Hindu idea.

In India, there are other religions - Jainism, Buddhism - which have a totally different standpoint.

God does not come down because there is no God above; God is sleeping within you. It has to be awakened. So man, slowly slowly, becomes more and more conscious and finally becomes God.

God is the transformed, purified consciousness of man.

Meher Baba must have been in difficulty - which one to choose? He tried to console both types of people in India by making this statement that "God happens in two ways: First he descends and becomes a man and second, he ascends through man and blossoms, manifests himself."

I am not, even for a single moment, in favor of consoling anybody because all consolations are lies. And this is a consolation. The truth is, there is no God above, so the very question of him descending does not arise. Secondly, just for the sake of argument - if we accept the hypothesis that God is - what could be the purpose for him, to come down and become man? According to the same scriptures, God is omnipotent, all-powerful; omnipresent, present everywhere; omniscient, knowing past, present, future, all that has happened and all that is going to happen.

God knows everything. Then what is the purpose of him descending in a human form? Can't he do something without becoming a man? Then his omnipotence is not omnipotence. That creates a great suspicion about his powers. Secondly, he has come in many reincarnations in Hinduism but humanity is living in a madhouse. What purpose has been served?

God has not been able to change anything. The world goes on and on into darker realms, into more miserable hells, into more meaningless patterns of life. What have the reincarnations of God done?

Thirdly, the reincarnations of God - if seen without any prejudice - do not look divine in any sense.

For example, Rama and his wife Sita, and his brother Laxmana, were sent to live beyond the boundaries of their kingdom for fourteen years. Because the father of Rama had four wives... and the youngest and the most beautiful wife certainly had power over the old man. She wanted her son... but her son was the youngest; there were four sons and her son was the youngest. But she wanted her son to be crowned and to succeed the old, dying father. She forced her husband to send Rama, at least for fourteen years, into the jungles.

Dasharatha, the father of Rama, must have been a very henpecked husband, a weakling. Rama was to succeed him; preparations were being made for his enthronement. But Dasharatha, almost dying, called Rama and said, "This is my last wish and I hope you are able to fulfill it."

Rama promised, not knowing what the wish was. And the wish was that he should go outside the kingdom for fourteen years into the jungles, into the mountains. Dasharatha was so weak in his last moments... and Rama's only quality was obedience, so he did not even ask why - "Why this punishment?"

But because he was going - and he was just ordered; I don't think gods can be so docile, so obedient to things which are absolutely wrong - his wife insisted that she would come with him. They had just got married, they had been coming home from their marriage.

Now Rama could not deny her. He tried to persuade her that life would be difficult in the jungles:

"You have lived as a princess of a very great king, you don't know the life.... Fourteen years will be too long. You live in the palace and wait."

But she refused. She said, "I am married to you, not to the palace. And if you can manage to live in the forest, don't be worried about me. I will manage."

And then the second brother, Laxmana, would not agree with Rama or Sita that he need not come.

He had also married at the same time as Rama; he was married to Sita's younger sister.

But he loved Rama so much, he said, "I cannot live without him, I am coming."

In the forest, as they woke up on the first day, Rama and Sita were standing outside the cottage and they saw a golden deer. Now, even an idiot knows deer are not made of gold. And Sita became very much interested in the deer and she asked Rama to go and hunt the deer: "Either living or dead, but you have to bring him to me."

And the strangest thing is that even Rama does not say to her that "Deer are not made of gold."

There is no mention of the fact. I cannot see Gautam Buddha being befooled by a deer, but Rama is befooled.

Being an incarnation of God, the mistake he is committing - it is perfectly good for human beings....

But even for intelligent human beings, it is not good; and God is behaving in the worst, most unintelligent way.

If you look at the life of Rama and dissect it, you will not find anything godly in it. He may be a great king, he may be an obedient son, but these are ordinary human qualities - nothing to do with God.

One day a brahmin came with the dead body of his son and said, "It has never happened that a young son has died before the death of his father. So something very serious is involved in it, you have to find the reason."

Rama asked, "Do you have any idea?"

The brahmin said, "I know perfectly well what happened. I will tell my story, and then you can search and find out who caused the death of my son." He said, "We were doing a Vedic ritual...."

And the sudras, the untouchables, the poorest in India - they are one-fourth of the whole population.

They are not allowed to read the VEDAS, the Hindu religious scriptures. They are not even allowed to listen. If somebody else is reading, they are not allowed to listen. And these brahmins were doing the ritual and a young, curious untouchable was hiding behind the bushes and listening to what was happening and he was caught red-handed.

The brahmin's argument was that a sudra had heard the VEDA, and that's why his son had died.

Do you see any kind of connection between the two? - logical, illogical, any connection? Animals are hearing, dogs are hearing, birds are hearing, trees are hearing. But a sudra - an untouchable, a poor man - cannot hear.

And the brahmin proposed that his act of hearing the VEDAS was the cause of the death of his son - this is absolutely unrelated. Why particularly his son? There were many brahmins in the ritual, but nobody else's son had died. And in fact, if there was to be any punishment, the young sudra should have died. If it is something as Hindus think, a book written by God, it would have looked logical that the sudra should die, because he broke God's law.

The son of the brahmin has not done anything at all. What is he being punished for? The father has also not done anything. The punishment should be pointing towards the sudra - if that is God's law, then there is no question.

But Rama does not say a single thing to this irrelevant, idiotic, conclusion. On the contrary, he orders that the sudra be brought to his court. That poor man was brought and he said "I was listening because I wanted to hear something about God. I am also human. There is a desire for search in me."

But the reincarnated God in Rama does not listen to the poor man. Instead of listening to his absolutely rational explanation, he orders that: "Such things should not happen in the country again."

To prevent it, this young man will have to suffer. Bring hot melted lead and pour it into his ears. That will be the punishment, because he heard with those ears the words prohibited to him." Melted lead was poured into the ears of the sudra and he became deaf for his whole life.

Do you think these acts are divine?

I have been to many courts unnecessarily because whenever I would say anything about Rama, somebody's heart would start having attacks; their religious feelings would be hurt. Their religious feelings are not hurt by the act of Rama. Their religious feelings are hurt but in a wrong situation; I am simply saying what is written in their scriptures.

I cannot believe that Rama is an incarnation of God. And the same is the case with other incarnations. Their life proves that they have nothing to do with God.

Gautam Buddha, or Mahavira, or Bodhidharma, or Nagarjuna - these are evolving consciousnesses.

They don't believe there is a God. Their experience is that you have to create a god within you, you have to become a womb, and you have the potential to become a god. And looking at Gautam Buddha - just the way he sits, just the way he moves, just the way he speaks, or remains silent - gives valid evidence to anybody whose heart is open to understand that he has moved to the highest peak of consciousness.

In his small acts you can see that.

Christians are very proud of the miracles of Jesus and they are most proud of one miracle: bringing Lazarus back to life. He had died. But nobody bothers that Lazarus died and remained dead for four days. Wherever he has been, in hell or in heaven, he must bring back some report. Four days is enough time - and seeing death, seeing beyond death, his consciousness must change. He cannot remain the same old person.

But he remains the same old person, nothing changes. So what is the miracle? And sooner or later, one day he has to die. So at the most his death is postponed a few years, but he will live these few years in unconsciousness, in violence, in hatred, in jealousy. And he will accumulate more sin. And you call it a miracle!

No, a miracle needs a more refined perspective of understanding.

The same situation arises in Gautam Buddha's life; that's why I have taken Lazarus' case.

One woman comes crying madly - her only son has died. Her husband has died, her other three children have died and now this child was the only hope of her life; she was living for him. Otherwise, there was nothing for her to live for. She was asking in the village, "Do you know of any physician who can help?"

They said, "No physician can do anything once a person is dead but Gautam Buddha has arrived in town today. Perhaps his presence may trigger life again, perhaps his touch.... You go directly to Gautam Buddha; don't waste time."

She took the corpse of her son, went to Buddha, laid down the corpse at his feet and said, "My only son has died. You have taken my husband - I didn't say anything, I did not complain. You have taken my three other children - I remained silent, I accepted it as my fate. But this is too much."

And for an Indian widow there is no life. She cannot go to celebrations, she cannot wear colored clothes, she has to shave her head. She has to live only in white clothes, doing all kinds of things the whole day long that nobody in the home is ready to do. Her life is simply the life of a slave.

That woman said to Gautam Buddha, "Either give life back to my son or kill me."

Buddha said, "Don't be worried. I will bring your son back to life, but you have to do a small thing."

She said, "I will do anything, just tell me."

He said, "You go into the town, inquire at a few houses. We need a few mustard seeds, but we need those mustard seeds from a house where nobody has ever died."

She was in such misery, in such a mess. She could not see the point. She ran from house to house.

They all said, "We are willing to give you as many mustard seeds as you want, because our whole village produces crops of mustard seed. We can bring bullock carts full of mustard seed if your son can be alive again, but our mustard seeds won't work. You have not heard the condition well. The condition is that nobody in the family should have died. We are sorry... so many people in our family have died."

By evening it was clear that mustard seeds from a family where nobody had died could not be found.

And slowly slowly, it became clear to the woman that death is a natural phenomenon. It happens to everybody in every family.... "Even if my child again becomes alive, he will have to die again. Asking for his life is asking for another death, it is pointless. He cannot live forever."

She came back almost a different woman and she told Buddha, "I could not find the mustard seeds.

I was in such misery that I could not understand your strategy. I could have got the idea when you told me, because I know it is impossible to find a family where people have not died. Your father must have died, your grandfather must have died... it is impossible to find a family which has had no encounter with death. But now, I come with an understanding - I don't want my son to be brought back to life, because he will have to die again. I want you to bless his future journey, so that he achieves what you have achieved.

"Life is not significant. Life is significant only when you have attained the eternal light, the eternal being, the immortal continuity from the very beginning, if there has been any beginning - to the end, if there is going to be any end.

"And for me," she said, "initiate me. Because before I die, I want to know that my essential being is not going to die."

Buddha said, "Now this seems to be reasonable. You are an intelligent woman." She was initiated and became one of the most important woman disciples of Gautam Buddha.

Now, both cases are almost the same, but the way Gautam Buddha transforms the whole thing....

From death, he turns the mind of the woman towards immortal life. He has used the opportunity for a great transformation.

Remember: God is the highest evolution of your consciousness. It is always man who becomes God. It is never God who becomes man. The idea of one God that is prevelent in Christianity, in Judaism, in Mohammedism, is childish.

According to the Eastern mystics and seers, every being is potentially a god. And finally, when the whole garden comes to blossom, there will be millions of gods.

The very idea of one God is fascist, dictatorial, monopolistic. The idea of everybody being a god brings equality to existence; it is the finest democratic foundation. All other values are secondary.

This simple fact, that everybody is a hidden god and is capable of realizing it any moment he decides, makes the whole world godly - and gives you an opportunity not to wait for some God or Godot, not to wait for some savior, messiah or messenger. Because there is no God; all these messengers are lying. They are not courageous enough to say, "This is what I am saying." They are using the name of God - "It is God who is saying it." They are simply the messengers, the vehicles.

Gautam Buddha is not a vehicle of anybody, Mahavira is not a vehicle of anybody. What they are saying is their own experience. That's why they have a great authority. You will not find that authority in other theologians - their authority is borrowed from others. Nobody knows if those people had any experience or if they were also borrowing it.

Meher Baba is trying to console this country's mind, so he accepts both possibilities: either man can rise and become God, or God can come down and become man. But he is not aware of a simple fact: that man rising towards God has an evolutionary purpose, there is some meaning.

God descending and becoming a man - that is a fall! Why should this be done? And whatever your God wants to do, he can do without becoming a man. He could create the whole world without becoming a man; now, what is the need?

On the one hand, the religious people say, "Without God's will, not even a single leaf on a tree can waver." If this is the situation, then for all the sins and for all ugly things that go on happening - God is responsible. If even a leaf cannot move without his support, how can a man be murdered without his support? How can a woman be raped without his support? And what is the purpose for him to come here? Because he has not done anything. So many times, so many incarnations but humanity has not grown up, it has not been enhanced by their presence.

So Meher Baba is simply trying so that the Hindu masses will be satisfied with him. And in India, Jainas are very few - negligible, not even one-percent. The number of Buddhists is negligible; just forty years ago there was not a single Buddhist. Even in the temple of Bodhgaya where Gautam Buddha became enlightened, the priest is a brahmin, because there was no Buddhist even to be a priest in their holiest place. This is their holiest place, their Kaaba; Buddhists come from all over the world to worship there. And strangely enough, Buddha was continuously fighting against brahminism and the priest is a brahmin! And the priest is not only a brahmin today, he has been there for fifteen hundred years - the same family. Because for fifteen hundred years, Buddhism disappeared.

So there is no problem about satisfying the Jains and the Buddhists. This country is basically Hindu - and you must be made aware that Meher Baba was not a Hindu, he was a Parsee. And because he was a Parsee, he was condemned by the Parsees - just the natural law.... So the Parsees were not ready to accept him. Now who is going to accept this man?

Jainas and Buddhists are out of the question. They are such small minorities, even if they accept him it is not going to make much difference. Moreover, it is not easy for them to accept him for the simple reason that he was proclaiming, "Up to now, God has sent only his messengers, but I myself am God." Only Hindus might be persuaded to accept the idea that God has become man.

Mohammedans cannot be persuaded, because even Hazrat Mohammed is not a reincarnation but only a messenger. Christians cannot be convinced; they have their God and they have the only begotten son of God, Jesus Christ. Whenever God needs, he sends his own son; that shows his concern.

Meher Baba was in difficulty. He had to fall on the side of the Hindus, that was the only possibility.

Parsees had renounced him and nobody else would accept him; only Hindus could give him scope.

So he says, "There are two types. First - man becoming God; Gautam Buddha comes in that category. And second - God becoming man." And he says, "I fall into the second category."

But I say to you, there is no possibility of two categories.

Life knows only evolution; it never goes backwards.

And a god becoming a man is simply stupid. For what should God become man? What will be the purpose? All that he wants to do he can do from wherever he is. But he is nowhere - and that gives the chance to a few charlatans to proclaim that they are God, reincarnations of God.

Meher Baba is certainly an enlightened person.

But every enlightened person finds himself in different situations. Meher Baba's situation was very unique, because in the history of Parsees there is no such thing as enlightenment. The Parsees were very angry when he declared that he is God himself, because to Parsees, to Mohammedans, to Christians, this declaration that "I am God" hurts very much.

They want their God to remain as far away as possible, so they can go on doing whatsoever they are doing. God standing just there... and you were going to hit your husband with the pillow... it doesn't look right. But he is standing there - that's what millions of believers think, that he is everywhere present. So remember: when you are hitting, look around and hit some suspicious place where you think God might be, rather than hitting a poor husband!

Meher Baba lived in a strange situation. Parsees were denying him, Jainas and Buddhists would not accept him; Mohammedans, Christians, Jews would deny him because he was saying he is the whole God, what to say about the only begotten son? The only possibility was that a few Hindus may gather around him, and that's what happened. Finally, only a few Hindus were around him. And as he died, his movement died too. Because he could not manage to be a master. He remained a mystic. He tried, but as a master, he was a failure.

As a mystic, he succeeded. As far as he is concerned, he has arrived, but alone - no fellow travelers, no friends, no lovers. It has not been a celebrating procession of many enlightened people, moving with him into the universal life sources. He has moved alone.

Question 3:

Enlightenment has nothing to do with mind.

In meditation, you bypass the mind. Meditation reaches with you to the highest peak - with all its silence, with all its flowers, with all its beauty. As you become enlightened, your mind drops all the rubbish it has carried for hundreds of lives; it is an autonomous happening.

As you become enlightened, the mind immediately drops all rubbish, that rubbish you were clinging to because you had no idea who you are. That rubbish had become your identity, and now you know your real identity; you don't need that false burden on you. It simply falls naturally, on its own accord.

Your mind becomes a simple, immensely powerful mechanism. But it remains now as a servant. Up to now it was the master; after enlightenment, it is a beautiful servant. And certainly, as you say, it is a computer.

The people who work with computers say that we have not yet been able to make a computer of the size of the human brain which is capable of containing so much information. Your brain has seven million cells, and each cell can contain millions of bits of information. The experts say that one percent can memorize all the books from all the libraries of the world - this is the capacity of your mind.

But in jealousy, in anger, in hate, in possessiveness - who has the time? Once you are enlightened, you can use the mind the way it is meant to be used, as a beautiful computer. And because you are enlightened, it is no longer clouded with sentiments and emotions; it is clean, a sky without any clouds.

Its clarity is its genius. And every mind is a genius, there are no other kinds of minds in the world.

So there is no possibility of an enlightened man having a muddled head, an enlightened man having the mind of an idiot - that is impossible. The enlightenment is such a transforming force, it changes everything in you; particularly in the mind.

Question 4:

Music is born out of deep experiences of meditation; it is a dimension of meditation. By meditating, you may be able to be touched by music, but the reverse is also true: If you are totally absorbed in music, your heart will be touched not only by music but by meditation too.

Music is sound. Meditation is soundlessness.

The highest music is where the sound does not destroy the soundless moments in between. As the musician becomes more and more refined, he can manage to create sound, and between two sounds he can give you an experience of soundlessness.

That soundlessness touches the heart.

In the East, music has always been part of meditation. Temples have been full of music and dance.

Ashok Bharti loves me. His music is just a communication of his love. He pours himself totally into it. The same is happening with the other sannyasin musician who is present today. They are not just technicians, they are not singing because they are paid. They are singing out of love, out of gratitude.

Their singing is just pure innocence. And their words are not just words - they mean it. And because they mean it, they can touch your heart, they can transform your heart.

Question 5:

Sarjano, perversion means your energy is not going in the natural way; the natural way has been blocked, suppressed, condemned. But the energy is there and collecting, it is bound to find some outlet. That outlet will not be natural. That outlet will be perversion.

And the whole past of man is nothing else - from different directions, for different excuses you have been told to cut off your natural paths for energy and expression.

Man is an intelligent being. Even unintelligent animals are bound to find some way. In the wild, no animals turn homosexual; there is no need because there is no priest. But man is so much conditioned against a few things - sex being the main one - that if he lives sex naturally, he feels guilty that he is going against God, against religion. If he prevents his natural expressions, then soon his energies start moving into perverted forms.

Just the other day, I received the information that by the end of this century, there will be one billion people suffering from AIDS. And this is the lowest estimate. I don't feel the number will be so low.

The number, according to me, may be double.

AIDS is the ultimate expression of perverted sexual energy. And the wonder is that you are surrounded with such dangerous things.... AIDS can destroy the whole planet, because we don't have any medicine and the doctors and the scientists are openly saying that there seems to be no possibility, at least in the near future, to find a medicine. So once you have AIDS, your death is certain within six months to two years, and you cannot do anything except wait.

A disease like AIDS has come through homosexuality. It is the ultimate.... And the perversion is not condemned; on the contrary, in different ways it is supported because every religion believes in brahmacharya, in celibacy. Now those who believe in celibacy are standing in the queue - first they will be homosexuals, lesbians and sooner or later, they will receive the ultimate reward, the Nobel prize - AIDS.

Now religions are responsible for it. But this is what I say, human insanity....

In Texas, they have made a law against homosexuality. Now it is a crime in Texas; you can get five to ten years in jail. Texas is a backward state in America. Even I was surprised that one million homosexuals demonstrated against the legislature and these may not be all the homosexuals in the state of Texas. But one million homosexuals! And they made it clear to the government that by making homosexuality illegal, you cannot prevent it. You have made many things illegal in the past, and what have you prevented? Has theft disappeared? Has murder disappeared? Is rape something of the past?

You cannot stop it with your laws because you have never stopped anything with your laws. You are just befooling the masses, making a law so people feel the government is doing something. But they don't see that what they are doing, they have been doing for ten thousand years, and things have gone from bad to worse.

When I read about it, I had two ideas: one, that to make homosexuality a crime and not to make celibacy a crime.... Because these homosexuals are products of your religion. Your religion condemns sex so much... your monks, your nuns, you have put them almost in prisons. Now these one million homosexuals in Texas will go underground. Just now, they had their clubs, their discos, their restaurants; they were openly homosexual. Now you have made it a crime. They will go underground. When they were open and known, there was a possibility to check them medically, to help them in some way. If somebody had AIDS already, he could be isolated. Places could be made where only AIDS people would be living, working.

Now, nobody is going to accept that he has AIDS - why should he go for an examination? This is the danger. A single person can spread the disease like wildfire because it not only transferred by sexual contact - that is something more than ordinary sexual diseases - it can be transferred by other means.

Blood transfusion... now you don't know whose blood is being transfused into you. And if the man whose blood is being transfused into you has AIDS, you will have it. It can be transferred even just by kissing because saliva carries the virus. Now for the first time, the Siberians have been proved right because they have never kissed in their whole history, and they always laughed when they came in contact with Christian missionaries, watching them kissing each other. They could not believe it.

These people have come to teach religion to you and they don't even know hygiene. Mixing each other's saliva, playing with each other's tongues - and these idiots have come to preach religion!

In Siberia, they have never kissed. It is a dirty habit... you just think about it. Siberians rub noses with each other - that is pure hygiene. And as far as love is concerned, it can be expressed in many ways.... But repression is going to grow.

In one monastery in Europe, half of the monastery has just declared that they are homosexuals, so the monastery is now divided in two parts. They are fighting amongst themselves - the homosexuals and the non-homosexuals. I am saying non-homosexuals because I cannot say they are celibate. It is almost impossible to be celibate unless something is wrong with your body.

I have heard that Stanley was a very healthy sperm and the whole day he used to do push-ups while all the other sperm were just relaxing. And they were puzzled: "What is wrong with this Stanley?

The whole day, exercises, exercises."

Finally, one of these lazy people asked Stanley, "Please tell us what the secret is? Why are you exercising so much? The whole day, from the time you wake up till you go to sleep, you are exercising, doing this, doing that. What is the purpose?"

He said, "You don't know? You guys are fools. Only one sperm is going to reach the woman's egg.

And next time when the release comes, I am Stanley, the one who is going to get to the egg. That is the purpose."

And one day suddenly they started feeling very hot and they all thought the time had come. Before they could have discussed among themselves what to do, they were released so suddenly... but they all saw Stanley far ahead. He was swimming so fast, they could not believe that one could swim so fast and then suddenly, Stanley turned back, screamed loudly, and said, "Go back, go back! It's a blow job!"

Even poor sperm are laughing at humanity.

If man is allowed to be simply natural, his life can give him immense joy, peace, silence, and finally the truth - but if his energies are perverted, then he goes round and round wasting himself.

I have heard about an army officer who had been around the world, posted at different places - and naturally, the monks and the soldiers are in the same boat because you don't allow soldiers their wives, their girlfriends.

This officer, Major Benson, was in Hong Kong and got into real trouble. He was going to prostitutes all over the world, but he was not aware of Chinese prostitutes. They are the most dangerous. He fell into the trap of a Chinese prostitute and seeing the situation, looking at the naked body of the prostitute, he felt that it was better to have a medical check-up: "This woman seems to be sick and one does not know what kind of sickness she is carrying."

So he went to the American section of the city and found a doctor. The doctor examined him and said, "Nothing can be done. You need an immediate operation; your cock has to be removed."

The man was shocked. He said, "My God!"

The doctor said, "You have so many diseases that in this one life, they cannot be cured."

He came out dazed. He thought it would be better to have another opinion, so he went to another American doctor.

He checked him thoroughly and said, "I'm sorry, the first doctor was right. It is too late. Nothing can be done and if you don't have the operation soon, even an operation may not help; the diseases may have spread all over your body. So don't waste time. I can do the operation tomorrow."

He said, "I will be coming tomorrow," but he was not satisfied with the idea that he would have to live his whole life without a cock.

Suddenly, he saw a Chinese doctor's signboard. He thought, "Perhaps a Chinese doctor might be helpful."

He went in. The doctor looked. The other doctors had spent hours in checking his whole body, this and that. The Chinese doctor just looked with a magnifying glass and said, "There is no need for any operation."

Benson was very happy. He said, "Really? Is there any hope?"

He said, "Every hope. First, you went to a Chinese woman - because these diseases you can get only from a Chinese prostitute. The second wrong thing you did was, you went to American doctors who are just after money, money, money - and money means you have to do something. Even if your cock disappears, they are not worried; they need money. An operation means money. You don't be worried, there is no need of any operation."

Benson was very happy. He said, "Thank you!" He gave much money to him and the old man said, "Whenever there is any trouble, come to me, don't go to American doctors. They are simply cheating people."

Just to have a final word from the doctor, he said, "So now I can go? There is no need?"

He said, "There is no need, I have told you. Just wait two or three weeks and the pecker will fall off by itself."