Many are called; few are chosen

The first question:

Question 1:

Prem Indivar, there is no goal and no path for people like you - you are just crazy!

Buddha is talking about sane people. Buddha is a very rational person: he divides, categorizes. But there is a third category Buddha is not aware of. The Sufis know about the third category; they call them MASTAS - the mad people.

There is no need for you to alternate, because alternating between one path and the other you will always feel this problem - the judgment. When you are on one you will think that you are missing the other, and this will become an unnecessary anguish.

Simply be wherever you are. Enjoy the moment, all the moments - the moments of love and the moments of meditation - and don't be bothered with the other. In a particular moment, be totally in it. Playing, loving, dancing, singing, forget that there is another path. And while you are feeling silent, still, alone, and enjoying your aloneness, forget that there is any path called love.

It is not a question of consciously alternating between the two; otherwise you will become divided, schizophrenic, and to be schizophrenic is to fall below normal sanity.

Mastas, the really mad people, don't fall below sanity - they go above it, they transcend it. They both look mad; both are no longer in the world of reason: one has fallen below it, one has gone above it. In a sense they are alike and in a sense they are absolutely different.

Indivar, you are a masta. Rejoice in being whatsoever you are. And this is the best that can happen to a man, what is happening to you. It is just natural for you to be sometimes with others and enjoying their company, and sometimes to be with yourself and enjoying your own company. It is like day and night for you. You need not choose:

the day is followed by the night of its own accord. It is like summer and winter. It is not a question of choice on your part; it is something spontaneous and natural that is happening to you. I am tremendously happy with you - so simply be as you are. Drop this judgment.

So let me state it clearly. There are three possibilities: one, meditation; second, love; third, one can just be crazy - no question of choice, no question of deliberately going on a certain path, forcing yourself on a certain path.

And there are many here who are in the same situation. At least twenty questions have come to me, and the problem is the same. If there is no question for you and you can enjoy meditation without ever being worried about love, then that is your path. If you can enjoy love without ever being dragged by meditation, distracted by meditation, that is your path. If you find yourself in a deep synthesis, that both are happening, then that is your path.

My whole effort here is to help you to be your natural self. Any imposition is a violation. Indivar, rejoice in being whatsoever you are. There is no goal for you, no path for you. Rejoicing is the goal, rejoicing is the path.

In fact, we are all where we should be, we are already there. The paths are needed to awaken us. Don't be disturbed by the word 'path', because it gives you the idea that you have to go somewhere, reach somewhere; it is because of the language. We have to use words, and every word is loaded with our mundane meanings.

Hence the buddhas have always found it difficult to commune with you. You can't understand silence, because you can't be silent. That is the best thing, if you can sit silently with a buddha even for a single minute... and all is conveyed.

Here, being with me, my real message is between the words - the pauses, the intervals - - not in the words. Read me between the lines, not in the lines, and you will be able to understand me more.

There is a beautiful story:

A mystic received a letter. The letter had come from another mystic, but the letter from him was absolutely empty, nothing was written on it. There had been a problem: the man who had written the letter was older in age, but the man to whom the letter was written was older in enlightenment; he had become enlightened first. So how to start the letter?

In India, if you are writing to an older person you have to be very respectful. So how to start? How to address the person? He is younger, physically, so you cannot show respect, you have to show love. But he is older as far as enlightenment is concerned, so you cannot talk to him as if you are talking to a young man, younger than you; you have to be respectful.

The mystic was puzzled. And if you cannot start the letter, how can you write it? So he sent the paper empty.

The other mystic received it. He read it, rejoiced in it. He was so happy that a disciple who was sitting close by asked, "You look so happy - can I also read the letter?"

The letter was passed to the disciple, then he read it and rejoiced in it.

Then the third person who was present became interested - there seemed to be something very mysterious! But this man was not a disciple; just out of curiosity he had come to see the man. He said, "Can I also have a look?"

Both the master and the disciple hesitated. They looked at each other - what to say to this man? The man became even more intrigued. He said, "Is there something very mysterious in it?"

They said, "There is really nothing in it! It is a very rare letter, you will not understand its language. That's why we are hesitating. We don't want to offend you, but if you insist you can see."

The man looked this side and that side - there was nothing at all. He returned the letter without saying anything and rushed out - both these people seemed to be mad!

Buddhas cannot use silence with you, because then you will not understand; you will escape. They have to use words - words which have YOUR meanings, so they have to be very very alert in choosing their words, but even then those words are inadequate.

The word 'path' is so inadequate that Lao Tzu always uses "the pathless path." Now what is the sense of saying "pathless path"? It is empty paper. "Gateless gate," "effortless effort," "action in inaction" - WU-WEI: all these contradictions together, paradoxes together, are just to shake and shock you out of your sleep. Otherwise there is no path and there is nowhere to go. You are already there - you have been always there. All that is needed is: Wake up!

And, Indivar, I can see you are coming out of your dreams, your sleep. I can see you turning and tossing in your bed! The morning is not very far away.

Please don't be worried about the paths, because that worry can keep you asleep. Don't judge any moment. Don't compare any moment with another moment, because every comparison is a thought process and every thought process keeps you attached to the mind. Relax. Whatsoever happens, allow it to happen. Be in a let-go.

And I am saying these things to you because that is the easiest thing for you; just be in a let-go. God is going to come to you, you are not going to find him. The goal is going to happen to you. And it can happen anywhere; there is no path leading to it. In fact it is our own reality; we simply have to be alert to see.

In Japan there is the beautiful story of a really great buddha, Hotei. In Japan he is called the Laughing Buddha, because the moment he became enlightened he started laughing.

People asked him, "Why are you laughing?"

He said, "Because I have become enlightened!"

"But," they said, "we can't see any relationship between enlightenment and laughter.

What is the point of laughing?"

Hotei said, "I am laughing because I was searching for something which was already in me. I was searching the seeker; it was impossible to seek it. Where can you seek the seeker? How can you know the knower? It was like a dog chasing its own tail or you chasing your own shadow; you cannot catch hold of it. It was so ridiculous, the whole effort was so absurd! That's why I am laughing: I have always been a buddha! Now it looks very strange that for millions of lives I remained unconscious. It seems unbelievable how I went on missing myself. Now that I have known, a great laughter is arising in me."

And it is said he continued to laugh till his death; that was his only message to the world. He must have been a man like Indivar - just crazy, far out!

The second question:

Question 2:

Deva Ashoka, it is impossible to wake up if you are not open. Opening to existence is what waking up is all about: open to the sun, to the moon, to the rain, to the wind, open to this whole celebration of the trees, of the rocks, the earth and the stars, of animals, birds, people. Existence is a celebration, a continuous festival, a carnival. If you are not open, if you are closed, if you don't have any windows and doors towards existence, how can you wake up? Waking up and being open are synonymous.

People remain closed in their minds. They never come out of their minds and they never allow reality to penetrate to their hearts. A very transparent China Wall divides them from the world. And the world is divine, existence is God. And why do people remain closed? - they are afraid, afraid of being open, because when you are open you are insecure, unguarded. When you are open you are vulnerable. When you are open you don't know what is going to happen, everything is a surprise. You are moving into the unknown; each moment brings the unknown to your door.

The closed mind is afraid of the unknown; the closed mind is interested in the known.

Why? - because with the known it is easier to manage. The mind knows everything about it, it is clever and efficient about it. But a closed mind is really below normal; it is not yet human. It cannot be intelligent.

Intelligence needs constant challenges, encounters with reality, because only through those encounters is your intelligence sharpened; your potential becomes actual.

Deva Ashoka, it is impossible to remain closed and wake up. You are trying that, I know! But it is not possible in the very nature of things. I feel deep compassion for you.

I want to help you, but you won't allow me. You won't allow me to take your hand in my hand. You won't allow my energy to touch your heart, to move it, to bring a dance to it. You remain alert - you remain alert only to guard yourself. You are afraid, afraid of falling in deep love, because the moment you fall in deep love the ego disappears. It is a kind of death, and one cannot be guaranteed what will happen afterwards.

Resurrection always looks like a myth, although it happens, it is inevitable. If you are ready to die, resurrection happens.

The last words of Jesus were, "Forgive these people, because they know not what they are doing. And I don't ask anything from you: let thy will be done, let thy kingdom come."

This is surrender! This is totally opening up to God: no complaint, no grudge, not even against those who are murdering him. The trust is total; it is because of this fact that the resurrection happens. It may not be an historical fact that Jesus revived after three days, but it is a metaphysical fact. And a metaphysical fact is far more real than an historical fact; it shows something of the depth of human beings. If you can die as an ego, you will be resurrected as a buddha, as a christ.

Come out of your mind, Ashoka! But we go on moving in circles....

The mother took her son to the psychiatrist and complained that he was always thinking about sex.

The doctor drew a square on a piece of paper, looked at the boy and asked, "Son, what comes to your mind when you see this drawing?"

The kid answered, "Looks like a window."

The doc said, "What do you think is going on behind that window?"

"People are behind that window," replied the kid. "They are huggin', kissin' and makin' love."

The doctor drew a circle and asked, "What comes to your mind when you see this?"

The kid said, "That's a porthole."

"And what do you think is going on behind that porthole?" inquired the doctor.

"Ah," said the kid, "There are people behind that porthole with their clothes off, drinking, making love and having a ball."

The doctor said, "Son, would you mind leaving the room? I would like to discuss this with your mother."

The boy got up to leave and as he reached the door he turned around and said, "Hey, Doc, can I have those dirty pictures you drew?"

A closed mind goes on interpreting life, existence, according to one's own prejudices and concepts, unconsciously acquired, and hence remains unavailable to the reality.

Even if you come across a buddha, even if you meet Christ or Krishna or Confucius, you will miss. They can talk to you about the ultimate, but you will listen only about the mundane. They will talk about the sacred, but you will not listen to what THEY are saying; you will listen according to your closed mind. It has fixed ideas.

It was the nurse's day off, and the doctor stuck his head into the waiting room to ask, "Who is next?"

One guy got up and said, "Me, Doc."

"What's your trouble?" asked the doctor. So the guy told him. The doctor grabbed him by the arm, pulled him into his office and balled him out: "Never do that again, especially not in a roomful of people. Next time just say that your nose or your eyes bother you."

A couple of weeks went by and the fellow came back. The nurse was off again, and when the doctor asked, "Who is next?" the same guy said, "I am."

The doctor asked, "What is your trouble?"

The guy replied, "My ear's bothering me."

"What is wrong with it?"

"I can't urinate out of it!"

Even great advice is of no use - you will come to your own conclusion again and again.

Ashoka, that's how you have been missing much that is possible here. Be open - you have nothing to lose. Be open! Just look: what you can lose if you open up? What have you got? But people go on guarding their emptiness, their nothingness, their begging bowls, so much afraid.

In India we have a story that once a naked man was asked, "We never see you taking a bath."

He said, "I never take a bath, because if you put your clothes on the bank and you go to take a bath in the river, somebody may steal them."

The people who were asking said, "But you are naked! Why should you be worried about the clothes?"

But man is not ready even to see that he is naked. He wants to believe that he has beautiful garments. Who wants to see one's nakedness?

And, Ashoka, you are empty, you are naked. There is nothing to lose. Relax and open.

And you have all to gain, you have everything - the whole universe to gain. Just by waking up one becomes the master; otherwise one remains a slave.

The third question:

Question 3:

Sannyas can have two possibilities. One is a formal renunciation. That means repression, that means escape. That is ugly. That has been the way in the past. It is life- negative; it is anti-life. It promises you all the joys in heaven. In fact, it is out of greed that you renounce the world. The formal renunciation is pseudo; it is plastic. It is not a real flower, it has no fragrance. On the contrary, deep down it is a great greed: greed for the other life, for eternal life, for the joys of heaven.

Just look in the scriptures of the world and you will be surprised. The way they describe heaven or paradise is nothing but the dream of a very greedy, sensuous, materialistic mind. It has nothing to do with religion at all.

In the Mohammedan idea of heaven there are beautiful women; they always remain young. And not only beautiful women. Because in Mohammedan countries homosexuality has been a long long tradition, young boys are also available, beautiful young boys. And rivers of wine - you need not go to a pub!... rivers of wine. Drink, swim, dive deep into the wine! And trees are of gold, and flowers are of diamonds and emeralds. What kind of dream is this? Whose dream is this? Greed projected. It is not renunciation. It looks like renunciation but it is not.

And the same is the case with the Hindu heaven and the Christian paradise. In fact, the Christian word 'paradise' comes from the Arabic FIRDAUS. Firdaus means a walled garden of pleasure, just as emperors and great kings used to have a walled garden of pleasure. In order to gain it you have to renounce this world.

If you look at it in the true light, then the so-called worldly people are not so worldly, not so materialistic as the so-called otherworldly. It is because of this that this country, which thinks itself very religious, is not at all religious; it is very materialistic: on the surface is religion, but deep down is the desire for pleasures.

The second kind of sannyas - the kind I am introducing into the world - is not one of formal renunciation. In fact, I never use the word 'renunciation' at all. I say: Sannyas is rejoicing. Rejoice in life, in love, in meditation, in the beauties of the world, in the ecstasy of existence - rejoice in everything! Transform the mundane into the sacred.

Transform this shore into the other shore. Transform the earth into paradise.

And then indirectly a certain renunciation starts happening. But that happens, you don't do it. It is not a doing, it is a happening. You start renouncing your foolishnesses; you start renouncing rubbish. You start renouncing meaningless relationships. You start renouncing jobs which were not fulfilling to your being. You start renouncing places where growth was not possible. But I don't call it renunciation, I call it understanding, awareness.

If you are carrying stones in your hand thinking that they are diamonds, I will not tell you to renounce those stones. I will simply say, "Be alert and have another look!" If you see yourself that they are not diamonds, is there any need to renounce them? They will fall from your hands on their own accord. In fact, if you still want to carry them you will have to make a great effort, you will have to bring great will, to still carry them. But you cannot carry them for long; once you have seen that they are useless, meaningless, you are bound to throw them away.

And once your hands are empty you can search for the real treasures. And the real treasures are not in the future - as they used to be in the old concept of sannyas. The real treasures are right now, here.

A very handsome young chap was recently hired in a large accounting firm. In a short while the young man came to Mr. Diamond, his department head, and said, "I am sorry to tell you, but some of the young ladies in this office are tempting me sorely."

"Be firm, young man," was the reply, "and you will get your reward in heaven."

A few weeks later the lad complained again. "Mr. Diamond," he said, "I don't know what to do! This time it is that beautiful redhead who is pursuing me."

"Resist, my son, and you will get your reward in heaven."

"I don't know how much longer I can resist," the young man said. "By the way, Mr.

Diamond, what do you think this reward will be that I will get in heaven?"

"A bale of hay, you jackass!"

Yes, that's what you will get! If your renunciation is to get something in the other world, you will simply get a bale of hay, you jackass! Because it is greed projected, and greed is going to remain unfulfilled. The so-called religious people are greedy for the eternal - and you become religious only when greed disappears totally.

Heaven is not somewhere else: it is a way of living. So is hell - a style of life. Hell is living unconsciously; heaven is living consciously. Hell is your own creation, so is heaven. If you go on living unconsciously, through your unconscious desires, instincts, motives - of which you are not the master but only the victim - then you create hell around yourself. But if you start living a conscious life, a life of bringing more and more light to the deep, dark corners of your being, if you start living full of light, your life is moment-to-moment ecstasy.

There is no need for trees to be of gold. They are perfectly beautiful as they are. In fact, a tree of gold will be a dead tree. And the roses need not be of diamonds; roses of diamonds will not be roses, they will not be alive. And only stupid people need rivers of wine. A man who lives consciously is so drunk with the sheer joy of breathing, with the sheer joy of being, with the joy of the birds singing and the sun rising in the morning... he is so drunk with existence that he needs no other drug - alcohol, LSD, mescaline or marijuana. He needs nothing! He is always in a psychedelic ecstasy, and that ecstasy is something his inner being releases; it is his own fragrance. Not only is he drunk - whosoever comes to him, stays with him, becomes drunk with his being.

I am a drunkard! If you allow yourself to be here and available to me, you are bound to become drunkards.

That's what has happened. I am not devious, I am simply a drunkard! And I am not trying in devious ways to make you renounce the world; I am simply trying to make you aware of the real world. When the real is known the false disappears. To know the real as real is enough: the false disappears - it becomes insubstantial.

If you are here with me, it is not that you had to renounce your family; on the contrary, you are here with me because you have found your family here. If you have dropped out of your job, it is not because of your being here; on the contrary, you have found your creativity here, you have found your joy here. You have found your real, authentic work; hence the false has disappeared. It is a transformation process.

But my emphasis is never on renouncing anything; my emphasis is on rejoicing more and more. And your rejoicing is bound to change your life patterns. You can't remain the same when you meditate, when you become aware. How can you remain the same?

How can you go on doing the same foolish things? It was possible when you were unconscious; it is impossible when you become conscious.

A soldier just returning from three years overseas arrived at a camp near his home town. He was naturally very anxious to see his wife, but try as he would he could not possibly wrangle more than two hours' leave.

After six hours' absence he came back to the camp. "Why the hell are you four hours AWOL?" barked the sergeant.

"Well, you see," said the soldier, "when I got home I found my wife in the bathtub, and it took me four hours to dry out my uniform!"

When you live an unconscious life you live in a different way.

When Tom, the rising young insurance executive, appeared at his friend Ed's home in the early morning hours, asking to be put up for the night, Ed was concerned by his friend's hollow-eyed appearance. "What happened, Tom? You and your wife had a fight?"

"Yeah, when I got home last night I was really beat, tired as hell, so when she asked me for fifty dollars for a new dress...."

"Yeah?"

"Well, I guess I must have been half asleep or something, because I said, 'Alright, but let us finish this dictation first.'" Are you all British, or what? Can't you get such a simple joke? Living an unconscious life you are even bound to miss jokes!

The moment you change from mind to meditation your whole life is going to be affected. It is natural. If it is not affected, that will be something unnatural. Your relationships are bound to change.

For example, a man may believe that he loves his wife. The moment he starts meditating it will become clear and transparent whether he loves her or not. He may never have loved her. He may simply be using her as a sex object, or he may be using her as a mother substitute. He may be using her because he is unable to be alone, but he may never have loved her. He may be dependent on her; she may have great utility.

But to use another human being is immoral, ugly - and to pretend that you love.... And I am not saying that you are consciously doing it; it may be just an unconscious thing.

You may not even be aware that you don't love her; you may also think that you love her. You may not be deceiving her deliberately; you may be deceiving her and you may be deceived yourself too.

But if you start meditating, things will become clear. You will have more light in your life; just as when you bring a candle into a dark room you start seeing clearly. In the darkness the window looked like a door; now it is no longer a door. Or the painting, the frame of the painting, in the darkness and dimness looked like a window; it is no longer a window. Now that you see things clearly you cannot behave in the old way. You will have to change; you will have to rearrange your whole life.

That's what happens to every sannyasin. If your love was true, it will be deepened; if it was false, it will disappear. If your respect for your parents was just a formality, it will disappear; if your respect for your parents was a reality, it will become more and more profound. The work that you were doing - if it was your heart's fulfillment, you will go deeper into it.

A painter will become a greater painter, a musician will have new visions, a poet will have new insights - if the poet was really a poet, only then. If the poet was just playing with arranging words and was writing poetry just to become famous and the poetry was not his love affair, he was not ready to sacrifice his life for it, then poetry will disappear. But it is not renouncing anything. You are not renouncing anything! A few things are disappearing; a few other things will appear.

One thing is certain: after meditation, after MY sannyas, whatsoever happens is going to give you more fulfillment, more maturity, more rootedness, more centering. It will become a life which does not only grow old but also grows towards heights and depths.

You will start living not only a horizontal life but a vertical life too. You will live on the horizontal as far as it is needed; otherwise ninety percent of your energies will start moving in the vertical dimension, towards heights and depths.

Then this earth, this world, becomes only an opportunity to grow. And the man who is using the world, the earth, this life, as an opportunity to grow is on the right track. If you not only grow in age but you also become grown-ups, then you have lived rightly.

And it is not renunciation: it is rejoicing, it is being grateful to God.

Your society, your parents, your teachers, your priests, your politicians, they have all tried to impose something upon you, and you are carrying all that. But anything imposed on you will remain a burden and you will be crushed under the weight of it, and the weight will go on growing every day.

The function of the master is to undo what the teachers, priests, parents and politicians have done to you. Here I only make things clear to you. I don't impose any discipline. I don't give you any character. I simply give you more consciousness, more light. Then you have to find your character. Then you have to find your life-style, your life pattern.

I give you just a small candle; then you can find your path into the darkness of life. And even a small candle is enough. If a little space around you becomes lighted and you can take three, four steps in the light, that's enough; because by the time you have taken four steps, the light goes four steps ahead of you. With a small candle one can pass through ten thousand miles of darkness.

And I am not against life at all, as the old sannyas was. The old sannyas had a very strange idea: that if you want to attain to God, you have to be anti-life - as if God were against life. If God was against life, life would not exist even for a single moment. Who goes on nourishing life? Who goes on pouring energy into life?

The great Indian poet, Rabindranath, has said, "Whenever a child is born, I dance, I rejoice. Why? Because a new child gives me an absolute certainty that God has not yet become hopeless, that he still hopes. Each new child brings this certainty to the world, that God is still interested in humanity, that he has not abandoned the project, that he still hopes that buddhas will be born, that he still goes on creating new children, that he is not tired, that his hope is infinite and his patience is infinite."

God loves the world. It is his creation. To deny it is to deny him. If you deny the painting, you have denied the painter. If you condemn the poetry, you have condemned the poet. If you reject the dance, you have rejected the dancer. And this stupid logic has been going on for centuries: accept God, praise God, and deny life! And these same people went on saying again and again that God created the world. Then why did he create the world? So that you can renounce it? So that you can reject it? So that you can condemn it and become great saints?

God created the world as an opportunity to grow. Growth needs many many opportunities, challenges.

I have heard a story:

A farmer, an old farmer, mature, seasoned, one day was very very angry with God - and he was a great devotee. He said to God in his morning prayer, "I have to tell it as it is - enough is enough! You don't understand even the ABC of agriculture! When the rains are needed there are no rains; when the rains are not needed you go on pouring them. What nonsense is this? If you don't understand agriculture you can ask me - I have devoted my whole life to it. Give me one chance: the coming season, let ME decide and see what happens."

It is an ancient story. In those days people had such trust that they could talk directly to God, and their trust was such that the answer was bound to happen.

God said, "Okay, this season you decide!"

So the farmer decided, and he was very happy because whenever he wanted sun there was sun, whenever he wanted rain there was rain, whenever he wanted clouds there were clouds. And he avoided all dangers, all the dangers that could become destructive to his crops; he simply rejected them - no strong winds, no possibility of any destruction to his crops. And his wheat started growing higher than anybody had ever seen; it was going above man's height. And he was very happy. He thought, "Now I will show him!"

And then the crop was cut and he was very puzzled. There was no wheat at all - just empty husks with no wheat in them. What happened? Such big plants - plants big enough to have given wheat four times bigger than ordinary wheat - but there was no wheat at all.

And suddenly he heard laughter from the clouds. God laughed and he said, "Now what do you say?"

The farmer said, "I am puzzled, because there was no possibility of destruction and all that was helpful was provided. And the plants were going so well, and the crop was so green and so beautiful! What happened to my wheat?"

God said, "Because there was no danger - you avoided all dangers - it was impossible for the wheat to grow. It needs challenges."

Challenge brings integrity; otherwise a person remains hollow, empty. If all facilities are provided for you and there is no danger in your life, you will remain hollow and empty. God gives life with all its dangers.

My sannyas is to accept this challenge. To live dangerously is what my sannyas is all about. The more dangerously you live, the more risks you take, the more you grow, the more you become integrated, crystallized, the more your soul becomes a clear-cut, well- defined phenomenon. Otherwise it remains vague, cloudy, doubtful.

I am all for life. If you ask me, God and his creation are not two separate things. The creator has become his own creation. The creation and the creator are one. I am in immense love with life. And this is my message to you: Love life totally! Get involved with life! Don't hold back, because whatsoever you hold back will remain empty.

Become committed to life: a multidimensional commitment is needed.

Scientists say that even the greatest human beings use only fifteen percent of their potential - even the greatest! What about normal people? They use only five to seven percent of their potential. Just think: if every person was using one hundred percent of his potential, if each person was a torch burning from both ends together, with intensity, with passion, with love, then life would be a sheer celebration. And you would see so many christs and so many buddhas walking on the earth! But because of this old idea of renunciation we have missed much.

I want to bring a totally new concept of sannyas to the world: a sannyas that loves, a sannyas that knows how to become committed, a sannyas that goes to the deepest core of life.

But nobody else can decide it for you. Not even I can decide for you. I can only make things clear to you. I can give you the map, but you have to go, you have to journey, you have to move. And remember one thing: my map will really be MY map and it can't be exactly your map. It may give you a few hints, a few indications, but it can't exactly be your map because you are a totally different person. You are so unique that nobody else's map can be your map. Yes, by understanding my map you will become aware of many things about yourself, but you are not to follow it blindly; otherwise you will become a pseudo human being.

Listen to me, to my words, to my silence, to my being. Try to understand what is happening here, what is transpiring here, and then decide on your own. Don't throw the responsibility on anybody else's shoulders. This is the way to grow. This is the way to arrive.

The fourth question:

Question 4:

Satyam, you are asking from the wrong end. Never ask, "Who is my real friend?" Ask, "Am I a real friend to somebody?" That is the right question. Why are you worried about others - whether they are friends to you or not?

The proverb is: A friend in need is a friend indeed. But deep down that is greed! That is not friendship, that is not love. You want to use the other as a means, and no man is a means, every man is an end unto himself. Why are you so worried about who is a real friend?

A young honeymoon couple were touring Southern Florida and stopped at a rattlesnake farm along the road. After seeing the sights they engaged in small talk with the man that handled the snakes.

"Gosh!" exclaimed the young bride, "You certainly have a dangerous job! Don't you ever get bitten by the snakes?"

"Yes, I do," answered the handler.

"Well," she insisted, "just what do you do when you are bitten by a snake?"

"I always carry a razor-sharp knife in my pocket, and as soon as I am bitten I make a deep, criss-cross mark across the fang wound and then suck the poison from the wound."

"What? Ah, what would happen if you were to accidentally sit on a rattler?" persisted the bride.

"Ma'am," answered the snake handler, "that will be the day I learn who my real friends are!"

Why are you worried?

The real question has to be: Am I friendly to people? Do you know what friendship is?

It is the highest form of love. In love, some lust is bound to be there; in friendship, all lust disappears. In friendship nothing gross remains; it becomes absolutely subtle.

It is not a question of using the other, it is not even a question of needing the other, it is a question of sharing. You have too much and you would like to share. And whosoever is ready to share your joy with you, your dance, your song, you will be grateful to him, you will feel obliged. Not that he is obliged to you, not that he should feel thankful to you because you have given so much to him. A friend never thinks in that way. A friend always feels grateful to those people who allow him to love them, to give them whatsoever he has got.

Love is greed. You will be surprised to know that the English word 'love' comes from a Sanskrit word LOBH; lobh means greed. How lobh became love is a strange story. In Sanskrit it is greed; the original root means greed. And love as we know it is really nothing but greed masquerading as love - it is hidden greed.

Satyam, making friendships with the idea of using people is taking a wrong step from the very beginning. Friendship has to be a sharing. If you have something, share it - and whosoever is ready to share with you is a friend. It is not a question of need. It is not a question that when you are in danger the friend has to come to your aid. That is irrelevant - he may come, he may not come, but if he does not come you don't have any complaint. If he comes you are grateful, but if he does not come, it's perfectly okay. It is his decision to come or not to come. You don't want to manipulate him, you don't want to make him feel guilty. You will not have any grudge. You will not say to him that "When I was in need you didn't turn up - what kind of friend are you?"

Friendship is not something of the marketplace. Friendship is one of those rare things which belong to the temple and not to the shop. But you are not aware of that kind of friendship, you will have to learn it.

Friendship is a great art. Love has a natural instinct behind it; friendship has no natural instinct behind it. Friendship is something conscious; love is unconscious. You fall in love with a woman.... Why do we say "falling in love"? That phrase is significant:

"falling in love." Nobody ever rises in love, everybody FALLS in love! Why do you fall in love? - because it is falling from the conscious to the unconscious, from intelligence to instinct.

What we call love is more animalistic than human. Friendship is absolutely human. It has something for which there is no inbuilt mechanism in your biology; it is nonbiological. Hence one rises in friendship, one does not fall in friendship. It has a spiritual dimension.

But don't ask, "Who is a real friend?" Ask, "Am I a real friend?" Always be concerned with yourself. We are always thinking about others. The man asks whether the woman really loves him or not. The woman asks whether the man really loves her or not. And how can you be absolutely certain about the other? It is impossible! He may repeat a thousand times that he loves you and he will love you forever, but still the doubt is bound to persist: "Who knows whether he is speaking the truth or not?" In fact, repeating something a thousand times simply means it must be a lie, because truth need not be repeated so much.

Adolf Hitler in his autobiography says, "There is not much difference between truth and a lie. The only difference is that truth is a lie repeated so often that you have forgotten that it is a lie."

That's what the experts in advertisement will say: go on repeating, go on advertising.

Don't be worried about whether anybody is listening or not. Even if they are not paying any attention, don't be worried; their subliminal minds are listening, their deepest core is being impressed. You don't look at advertisements very consciously, but just passing through them in the movie, on TV or in the newspaper, just a glance and there is an imprint. And it is going to be repeated again: "Lux toilet soap" or "Coca-Cola"....

Coca-Cola is the only international thing. Even in Soviet Russia: "Coca-Cola...."

Everything American is banned and barred, but not Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola is the only international thing! Go on repeating it!

In the beginning electricity was used for advertisements - static electricity was used. It remained "Coca-Cola." But later on they discovered that if you put it on and off it is far more effective, because a man passing by will read it only once if the light remains static. But if it changes, goes on and off again and again, by the time you pass it, even in a car, you will have read it at least five to seven times: "Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola, Coca- Cola...." That goes deeper. And sooner or later you become impressed.

That's how all the religions have lived up to now: they go on repeating the same stupid beliefs, but those beliefs become truths to people. People are ready to die for them!

Now, nobody has seen where heaven is, but millions of people have died for heaven.

Mohammedans say that if you die in a religious war you will immediately go to heaven and all your sins are forgiven. And Christians also say that in a religious war, in a crusade, if you die you immediately go to heaven; then everything else is forgiven. And millions of people have died and killed others, believing that this is a truth.

We have seen such things happening even in this twentieth century; it doesn't seem to be very grown-up in that way. Adolf Hitler repeated for twenty years continuously that "Jews are the cause of all misery," and a very intelligent nation like Germany started believing in him. What to say about ordinary people? - even people like Martin Heidegger, one of the greatest philosophers Germany has produced in this century, believed that Adolf Hitler was right. He supported Adolf Hitler.

A man of the intelligence of Martin Heidegger supporting a stupid, mad person like Adolf Hitler! What must the secret be? The secret is: repeat, go on repeating. Even Jews started believing that it must be true: "We must be the cause; otherwise how could so many intelligent people believe it? If so many people believe it, there must be something in it!"

You have been brought up with such beliefs, such ideas, which have no foundation in reality. And if you go on living according to them you will live in vain. You have to go through a radical change.

Ask questions about yourself, don't ask about others. It is impossible to be certain of the other and there is no need either. How can you be certain of the other? The other is a flux. This moment the other person may be loving, and the next moment he may not be loving. There can be no promise. You can only be certain about yourself, and that too only for the moment. And there is no need to think of the whole future. Think in terms of the moment and the present. Live in the present.

If this moment is full of friendship and the fragrance of friendship, why be worried about the next moment? The next moment will be born out of this moment. It is bound to be of a higher, deeper quality. It will bring the same fragrance to a higher altitude.

There is no need to think about it - just live the moment in deep friendship.

And friendship need not be addressed to anyone in particular; that is also a rotten idea, that you have to be friends with a certain person - just be friendly. Rather than creating friendship, create friendliness. Let it become a quality of your being, a climate that surrounds you, so you are friendly with whomsoever you come in contact.

This whole existence has to be befriended! And if you can befriend existence, existence will befriend you a thousandfold. It returns to you in the same coin but multiplied. It echoes you. If you throw stones at existence you will be getting back many more stones.

If you throw flowers, flowers will be coming back.

Life is a mirror, it reflects your face. Be friendly, and all of life will reflect friendliness.

People know perfectly well that if you are friendly to a dog even the dog becomes friendly to you, so friendly. And there are people who have known that if you are friendly to a tree, the tree becomes friendly to you.

Try great experiments in friendships. Try with a rosebush, and see the miracle: slowly slowly, it will happen, because man has not been behaving with trees in a friendly way; hence they have become very much afraid.

But now scientists say that when you come with an axe to cut down a tree, even before you have started cutting it, the tree goes into a shiver, a cold shiver. It goes into a great fear, panic. You have not even started, but just the intention - as if the tree becomes aware of your intention! Now they have sophisticated instruments just like cardiographs, which can make graphs on paper showing what the tree is feeling. When the tree is feeling joyous, there is a rhythm in the graph; when the tree is feeling afraid, the fear is shown on the graph. When the tree sees the friend coming it rejoices, it jumps, it dances; the graph immediately shows a dance. When the tree sees the gardener coming....

Have you ever said hello to a tree? Try it, and one day you will be surprised: the tree also says hello in her tongue, in her own language. Hug a tree, and a day will come soon when you will feel that it was not only you who were hugging the tree - the tree was responding, you were also hugged by the tree, although the tree has no hands. But it has its own way of expressing its joy, its sadness, its anger, its fear.

The whole existence is sensitive. That's what I mean when I say that existence is God.

Be friendly, Satyam, and don't be worried whether anybody is friendly towards you or not - that is a businesslike question. Why be worried? Why not transform the whole existence into a friend towards you? Why miss such a great kingdom?

The last question:

Question 5:

It is a very difficult question for me to answer. How can I answer on behalf of thousands of people who are coming to me? They have different reasons.

A few are coming to me because I have called them: they may know it, they may not know it. There is more possibility that they will not know it, at least not in the beginning. Only later on, as they become immersed into my commune, into my world slowly slowly, they will become aware that they have been called forth, just as Jesus called to Lazarus in his grave, "Lazarus, come out!" and he came out of his grave.

The life that you have lived has been life in a grave - and I have called you. A few of you are being called. That's why you are here. About these people I can say why they are here because I have called them. They have been with me for many lives: this is a long long love affair with them. This is not the first time that they are with me: this is the LAST time certainly, because I am not going to come again. I have called them because of certain promises made in the past.

But there are many kinds of people. A few have come just accidentally; but even though they have come accidentally they have a certain potential in them and their potential became involved with me. They were not coming consciously, they were not called - they were just passing by - but they got caught in the net.

A few have come for certain needs to be fulfilled. There are a few people who are in search of father figures; because Friedrich Nietzsche says, "God is dead," and once God is dead man feels empty. The West is feeling very empty: God is dead, and God was the father, the permanent, eternal father.

It is not an accident that Christian priests are called "father," although it is very strange because they don't have any children, they are unmarried. It is a strange world:

unmarried priests are called "father"! But it is perfectly logical, because the Christian idea of God is also without a woman. How do they manage it? God the Father, Christ the Son - at least let the Holy Ghost be a woman! But they don't even allow the Holy Ghost! The trinity is not true: it is lacking something; it is missing something - the feminine energy is missing.

But at least God was there. If not the mother, God was there as the father, a protector.

And people were feeling protected - whether there was a God or not was not the question, but people were feeling protected. And on the earth was the father, the priest and the pope - or PAPA - the great father, the highest priest. 'Pope' also means father - - 'papa', 'popa', 'pope', or whatsoever you call him!

But the Vatican has lost its grip on the West; the relationship between the pope and the West is only formal. Christianity has become a Sunday religion. And exactly the same is the case in the East: all religions have become formal. Now people are in search of a father figure.

A few people come because they are missing protection, they need protection. Either they will escape from me, because I don't give protection... on the contrary, I take all security away. I give you insecurity, because to me insecurity is the right situation in which one grows. If there is no God, no father, the whole responsibility falls on your own shoulders - and it is good, it is perfectly good.

I absolutely agree with Friedrich Nietzsche. Buddha also agrees. Buddha says there is no God, Mahavira says there is no God, for the simple reason that the idea of God has been dangerous - dangerous in the sense that people feel protected and they stop growing. If you are unprotected, if you are under the sky, then you have to depend on your own self. Then you have to become stronger, more integrated. Then you are free to live in hell or in heaven; nobody can reward you and nobody can punish you.

A few people are coming because they are missing a father figure. If they stay with me I will transform this situation into a beautiful, positive phenomenon; if they escape, then it is up to them. It is very easy for them to escape, because they will see that I am destroying them. If any idea of protection is left in their minds I am destroying that too.

I am taking away all patterns, structures, strategies of the mind.

I want you to be utterly alone, so alone that you have to fall upon yourself - there is nowhere else to go - that you have to stand on your own legs, that you can't use any crutches.

A few other people are coming to find some kind of consolation. They will also be shocked, because I don't give any kind of consolation.

A pretty model took her troubles to a psychiatrist. "Doctor, you must help me!" she pleaded. "It has gotten so that every time a man takes me out I wind up in bed with him, and then afterwards I feel guilty and depressed all day long."

"I see," nodded the psychiatrist, "and you want me to strengthen your willpower?"

"Heavens, no!" exclaimed the model. "I want you to fix it so I won't feel guilty and depressed afterwards!"

People, many people, consciously or unconsciously, are here to find some kind of consolation - some kind of consolation so they don't feel guilty, so that they don't feel unworthy. I am not here to give you consolations. Why give consolations when I can give you the real thing? Why give you plastic toys when I can help you to grow into a soul?

A few other people come because they are on the verge of going insane; psychology, psychoanalysis and psychiatry have not been of much help. It can help only up to a point. It can help a person to be normal if his madness is ordinary madness, but it cannot help a person if his madness has something spiritual in it.

People like R.D. Laing are becoming aware of it: that if a person's madness is because he is too sensitive, too alert and too aware of the misery in which people are living - and he himself is living; if he becomes aware of the meaninglessness of this whole life that we have created on this earth, he is bound to go berserk. He will not be able to bear it - it will be unbearable. Those people cannot be helped by psychiatry or psychoanalysis.

Those people can only be helped if something like meditation starts happening in their being.

So if some ordinarily insane person comes here I send him back to the West, because psychiatry is perfectly capable of helping him. There is no need for me to waste my time on that kind of person: there are other plumbers who can do that! I do a special kind of plumbing. If your insanity is spiritual then I am here to help you. And spiritual insanity is really a beautiful beginning; it can become the greatest blessing in your life. It is a blessing disguised as a curse.

But still the question is difficult because there are so many people and each person comes with a different motive. But I am not much concerned about your motives - I know why I am here and I go on doing my thing, irrespective of why YOU have come here!

Those who have something significant growing in them are bound to remain with me - those who are courageous enough to move beyond the boundaries of the mind, beyond all boundaries and all limits. Those who are not courageous will leave of their own accord. Many will be called; few will be chosen. Thousands will come, but only a few will be transformed. It is all up to you. You can use this opportunity that I am making available to you; you can miss it too. I cannot be forced upon you. I am available; you can share. You can look through my eyes. I have opened a door and I am standing at the door welcoming you.

Why you have come is not the point. Come in!

The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 6