Perfection is death

The first question:

Question 1:

Veet Aikagro, desire is desire; there is no difference at all. Whether you want to help people or you want to harm people, the nature of desire remains the same.

A buddha does not desire to help people. He helps people, but there is no desire in it; it is spontaneous. It is just the fragrance of a flower that has bloomed. The flower is not desiring that the fragrance should be released, should reach to the winds, to people.

Whether it reaches or not is not the concern of the flower at all. If it reaches, that is accidental; if it does not reach, that too is accidental. The flower is spontaneously releasing its fragrance.

The sun rises: there is no desire to wake up people, no desire to open the flowers, no desire to help the birds to sing. It all happens on its own accord.

A buddha helps not because he desires to help; compassion is his nature. Every meditator becomes compassionate, but not a servant of the people. The servants of the people are mischievous; the world has suffered too much from these servants - because it is desire masquerading as compassion. And desire can never be compassionate; desire is always exploitation.

Now they will exploit in the name of compassion; they will exploit with beautiful names. They will talk about service to humanity and they will talk about brotherhood and they will talk about religion and God and truth. And all their beautiful talk will bring only more and more wars, more and more bloodshed - more and more people will be crucified, burned alive.

That's what has been happening up to now. And if you don't bring a new understanding to the world, it is going to continue the same way.

So two things to be remembered. One: to desire is the same, whether you desire to help or to harm. It is not a question of the object of desire; the question is of the NATURE of desire. The nature of desire leads you into the future; it brings the tomorrow in. And with the tomorrow come all the tensions, all the anxieties, "whether I am going to make it or not, whether I am going to succeed or not."

The fear of failure and the ambition to succeed will be there, whether you desire money or you desire victory in the world or you desire to be compassionate to people or you desire to bring salvation to people. It is all the same game, only names change. This is very fundamental to understand.

A man asked Buddha, "I would like to help people. Instruct me."

Buddha looked at him and became very sad. The man was puzzled, confused. He said, "Why have you become sad? Have I said anything wrong?"

Buddha said, "How can you help people? You have not even helped yourself! You will only harm them in the name of help."

First bring the light within your being. Let the flame be enkindled in your consciousness... and then you will never ask this question. Then, naturally, your very presence and whatsoever you do will be of great help.

Aikagro, desire is desire: there is neither material desire nor spiritual desire. It is an ego trip, helping people, and you become holier than others, and you become wiser than others - you know and they don't know. You want to help because you have arrived and they are all ignorant people stumbling in darkness, and you want to become a light for them. You want to become a master and you want to reduce them into disciples.

If this desire is there, then this desire is not going to help them - it is not going to help you either. It will do a double harm; it is a double-edged sword. It will cut others, it will cut you too. It is destructive, it can't be creative.

Then there is another kind of help which is not out of desire, which is not out of any ego projection. That kind of help, that kind of compassion, happens only at the ultimate peak of meditation, never before it. When the spring has come to your consciousness, when you are all flowers inside, fragrance starts reaching to others. You need not desire - in fact you can't help it. Even if you want to prevent it you can't prevent it. It is inevitable - it will reach to others. It will become a light in their life, it will become a herald of new beginnings, not because you are desiring it but because you are transformed.

The second question:

Question 2:

Rupesh, then why bother? Then believe that you are a sannyasin. Who can prevent you from believing? You can believe anything!

It happened in Baghdad:

The caliph of Baghdad was very angry at a man who was brought to his court. The man was declaring that he is a new prophet, the new messiah. God has sent him after Mohammed, because now fourteen centuries have passed and the message of Mohammed has become old. A new dispensation is needed; "hence he has sent me to deliver the message."

Mohammedans can't tolerate such things! The caliph said, "You come to your senses, otherwise you will be in trouble!"

And he ordered that this man should be whipped, put into jail - no food, no water for seven days, and beaten as much as possible. "Don't allow him any sleep, any rest."

For seven days the man was tortured. Then the caliph came to the jail. The man was chained to a pillar; he was looking very pale, tired, his whole body swollen, bloody. He had not even been given water, no food, no sleep, and continuous beating.

The caliph asked him, "What do you think now?"

He said, "What do I think now? I am more convinced than ever that I am the messiah, because when I was coming, God said to me, 'Listen! My messengers have always been treated very badly; Jesus was crucified, Mohammed was continuously hunted by murderers, Socrates was poisoned, Mansoor was killed. So, many tortures will happen to you.' So I am grateful," the man said to the caliph, "that you have proved to my heart's content that I am the prophet!"

At that moment a man who was chained to another pillar started laughing loudly.

The caliph asked, "Why are you laughing?"

The man said, "This man is simply lying - because I am God myself and I have not sent this man at all!"

You can believe anything! Nobody can disturb your belief; even disturbances can become proofs that you are right. But why bother?

If you can't even change the color of your clothes, will you be able to change your soul?

If you can't even change your name, which is just a fiction.... All names are fictions: you come into the world without names and then names are given to you. If you are so identified, Rupesh, with your name, how are you going to change your inner world, your identity with the body, with the mind? If you cannot drop the identity with a fictitious name, the body is too real, the mind is too real; it will be impossible for you to change that.

A poor man came home and asked his wife, "Why don't we ever have blintzes?"

"Well," replied the wife, "blintzes are expensive. They require cheese."

"Could you not leave out the cheese?"

"Maybe," she said, "but they still require eggs."

"So leave out the eggs."

"Yes," she said, "but they require butter and cinnamon and sugar."

"So leave them out," he said.

Sometime later she served him some flat cakes made practically from flour and water.

Taking a taste he said, "I don't see what rich people like about blintzes."

The third question:

Question 3:

Suriyo, if you are looking for miracles you will find them aplenty - but miracles don't happen. The universal law always remains the same; there are no exceptions to it. But there is a stupid desire in almost everybody for miracles. We have not yet outgrown the days of magic. Only in the history books do they say that the days of magic are over.

Religion was born out of magic, philosophy was born out of religion, science was born out of philosophy. But these are only words. In fact, there are millions of people who still live in the world of magic, who are childish in their approach towards reality. So they will jump on anything.

It must have been just a coincidence. Now there are three thousand people here and everybody has questions. Three thousand people must be having at least thirty thousand questions! And I go on speaking year in and year out. Just leave a little space for coincidences!

An old farmer had three daughters. When the oldest girl married she moved to Twin Cities, Minnesota, and soon gave birth to a beautiful set of twin boys. Her sister married shortly thereafter, and she and her husband took up residence in Three Rivers, Ontario.

Pretty soon she gave birth to triplets. The youngest sister got herself engaged, but after almost a year she still refused to set the date for the wedding.

Her father grew concerned and finally demanded that she stop procrastinating and set the date. "If you love that boy, you will marry him this spring or you won't marry him at all!"

"But Pa," she wailed, "I really do love Fred, but he keeps talking about moving to the Thousand Islands!"

Suriyo, it was just a coincidence that you had the question and I talked about it. I was not aware of your question - I was not even aware that you are here! It is so difficult to remember sannyasins now - one hundred thousand sannyasins! If I try to remember them all, I will go crazy! I somehow manage.... Mukta goes on prompting me by the side every evening, who is coming... and then still I sometimes make a mess out of it.

She says, "He has just come," and I ask him, "When are you leaving?" Or somebody is leaving and I ask him, "When have you come?"

So what miracle?

The fourth question:

Question 4:

Govind, prayer simply means gratitude, thankfulness. It is not a demand, it is not a desire. And if you desire anything, then it is not prayer. Then don't call it a prayer. And that's what you must have been doing: desiring something, asking God, "Do this, do that for me." And because he is not doing it, you are becoming frustrated. And rather than thinking that something is fundamentally wrong in the very idea of prayer that you are carrying in you, you may be even suspecting whether God exists or not.

Prayer is not a demand on God, it is not a desire for something. If it is, then it will never reach to him. Desires are heavy things. They gravitate towards the earth, they can't fly into the sky.

When you have a pure gratitude, when you are not asking anything but simply feeling thankful for all that he has already done for you... and he has done more than you are worthy of, he has done more than you deserve. Just look at what he has done for you!

He has given you life and love and joy. He has given you a tremendous sensitivity for beauty. He has given you awareness. He has given you the possibility of becoming a buddha. What more do you want?

Feel thankful, and then prayers have wings, they can fly; they reach to the ultimate.

Then the earth cannot pull them downwards. Then they start rising, soaring upwards, they levitate. With desire the prayer gravitates downwards; it cannot levitate.

But millions of people go on praying with this wrong attitude: they pray only when they need something.

The Texan was on his knees in church giving thanks for all his blessings.

"Of course," he added, "I am grateful for my six houses, although I could use two or three more. Now, I am grateful for my Rolls and six Cadillacs, but I could use a couple more yachts to add to my collection. And I know I should be grateful for the banks I own, but could you see your way clear to give me five more to make it an even dozen?"

A little man kneeled next to him and talked up to God: "I need bread and a job - I would be so grateful."

The Texan whipped out a hundred-dollar bill and handed it to the man. "Will you please stop bothering God with that small stuff?"

But whether the stuff is small or big, whether you are asking for bread or for banks, it is the same, exactly the same! Don't ask for anything. Thank him for all that he has already done. Bow down! Words are not needed in thankfulness. Just bow down in deep gratitude, in silence.

A real prayer is nonverbal; words are inadequate. They are made for other things, not for prayer. Yes, once in a while you may find tears rolling down from your eyes, and they are far more significant than all the words you could use. Yes, once in a while you would like to dance like a Baul mystic - for no reason at all, for the sheer joy of being!

That dance will be prayer. Yes, once in a while you may like to play on the flute. And believe me, God loves music! He is tired of your words! Sing, dance, cry, or just be silent.

And you will be surprised: great light starts showering on you. You are bathed in bliss, in benediction.

The fifth question:

Question 5:

Sarjano, you will have to do a little more meticulous research. Just look into those fifty- three thousand, nine hundred and forty-six male disciples... how many of them are really male? And then you will understand that my legend is still exactly true; it can't be otherwise. Buddhas don't lie! If facts don't fit with the legend, the facts have to be changed!

To be male or to be female is more a question of psychology than of physiology. One may be a male physiologically and may not be a male psychologically, and vice versa.

There are aggressive women - and unfortunately they are growing in the world - very aggressive women. The whole Women's Liberation movement is rooted in these aggressive women's minds. When a woman is aggressive she is not womanly.

Joan of Arc is not a woman and Jesus Christ is a woman. Joan of Arc psychologically is a man; basically her approach is that of aggression. Jesus Christ is not aggressive at all.

He says: If somebody hits you on one cheek, turn the other. Give him the other cheek, too. That is psychological nonaggressiveness. Jesus says: Resist not evil. Even evil has not to be resisted! Nonresistance is the essence of feminine grace.

Remember that if a man is totally receptive, physically he remains a man but his interiority becomes more a womb. And only such men whose interiority becomes feminine are capable of receiving God. To be receptive, totally receptive, you will need to learn how to be a woman. Each seeker of truth has to learn to be a woman.

Science is male, religion is female. Science is an effort to conquer nature; religion is a let- go, dissolving oneself into nature. The woman knows how to melt, how to become one.

And each seeker of truth has to know how to dissolve into nature, how to become one with nature, how to go with the flow, without resisting, without fighting. And then you will see: the proportion will always be the same.

Here also you will see that change happening. Many women have reported to me, complained that, "What is happening here to men? They are becoming more and more feminine!" That is true - that is bound to happen. As you become more and more meditative, your energies become nonaggressive. Your violence disappears; love arises.

You are no longer interested in dominating; instead, you become more and more intrigued with the art of surrendering. That's what makes a feminine psychology.

To understand feminine psychology is to understand religious psychology. The effort has not yet been made, and whatsoever exists in the name of psychology is male psychology. That's why they go on studying rats, and through rats they go on concluding about man.

If you want to study the feminine psychology, then the best examples will be the mystics - the purest examples will be the mystics. Then you will have to learn about Basho, Rinzai, Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tzu. You will have to learn about these people, because only through their understanding will you be able to understand the peak, the highest crescendo of feminine expression.

Because the woman has been dominated for centuries, religion has disappeared from the earth. If religion comes back, the woman will again gain respect. And because the woman has been dominated, tortured and reduced to a nonentity, she has become ugly.

Whenever your nature is not allowed to go according to its inner needs it turns sour, it becomes poisoned; it becomes crippled, paralyzed - it becomes perverted. The woman that you find in the world is not a true woman either, because she has been corrupted for centuries.

And when the woman is corrupted, man cannot remain natural either, because after all, the woman gives birth to the man. If she is not natural, her children will not be natural.

If she is not natural - she is going to mother the child, male or female - those children naturally will be affected by the mother.

Woman certainly needs a great liberation, but what is happening in the name of liberation is stupid. It is imitation, it is not liberation.

Here there are many women who have been in the Liberation movement, and when for the first time they come here they are very aggressive. And I can understand their aggression: centuries and centuries of domination have made them violent. It is a simple revenge. They have become insane, and nobody is responsible except man. But slowly slowly, they soften, they become graceful; their aggressiveness disappears. They become, for the first time, feminine.

Real liberation will make the woman authentically a woman, not an imitation of man.

Right now that's what is happening: women are trying to be just like men. If men smoke cigarettes then the woman has to smoke cigarettes. If they wear pants then the woman has to wear pants. If they do a certain thing then the woman has to do that. She is just becoming a second-rate man.

This is not liberation, this is a far deeper slavery - far deeper because the first slavery was imposed by men; this second slavery is deeper because it is created by the women themselves. And when somebody else imposes a slavery on you, you can rebel against it, but if you impose a slavery on yourself in the name of liberation, there is no possibility of rebellion ever.

I would like the woman to become really a woman, because much depends on her. She is far more important than man because she carries in her womb both the woman and the man, and she mothers both, the boy and the girl; she nourishes both. If she is poisoned then her milk is poisoned, then her ways of bringing up children are poisoned.

If the woman is not free to be really a woman, man will never be free to be really a man either. The freedom of woman is a must for the freedom of man; it is more fundamental than man's freedom.

And if the woman is a slave - as she has been for centuries - she will make a slave of man too, in very subtle ways; her ways are subtle. She will not fight with you directly; her fight will be indirect, it will be feminine. She will cry and weep. She will not hit you, she will hit herself, and through hitting herself, through crying and weeping, through using these Gandhian methods, she will dominate you.

Even the strongest man becomes henpecked. A very thin, weak woman can dominate a very strong man simply by using Gandhian methods. Gandhi is not the inventor of those methods; they have been used for centuries by women. He simply rediscovered them and used them politically. The woman has been using them for centuries, but only in a family context.

The woman needs total freedom so that she can give freedom to man too.

This is one of the fundamentals to be remembered: if you make somebody a slave you will be reduced to slavery ultimately, finally; you can't remain free. If you want to remain free, give freedom to others; that's the only way to be free.

The sixth question:

Question 6:

Sagaro, perfect people don't exist. And perfect people, if they existed, would be very boring. It is imperfection that keeps life interesting. Just think of a perfect husband, a perfect wife: they will be utterly bored!

Bertrand Russell is reported to have said: I don't want to go to heaven, for the simple reason that there will be sages and sages, all perfect. Heaven is bound to be very boring.

Just think of all perfect people - what life can there be? Bertrand Russell is right: in hell there is much more life than in heaven. Heaven will certainly be dull and dead.

Perfection is death; perfection is not found in the world. The world lives through imperfection, because in imperfection there is growth, evolution. Perfection means you have come to a dead end; now there is no way to go further ahead. You are stuck.

You ask me, "Cannot one ever find a perfect partner in marriage?" Very difficult, almost impossible!

I have heard about a man who searched his whole life for a perfect woman, and naturally he had to die a bachelor. When he was dying, somebody asked him, "Your whole life you were searching for a perfect wife. Could you not find a single woman who was perfect?"

He said, "Who said that I didn't find her? Many times I came across a perfect woman."

Then the questioner asked, "Then what happened? Why didn't you get married?"

He said, "Because she was also looking for a perfect husband!"

In the first place, to find one person who is perfect is very difficult - and you are trying to find two persons. Impossible! It has not happened up to now; it can't happen.

And what will make a perfect marriage? If the woman is truly a woman and the man is truly a man, there is bound to be some tension, and that tension is beautiful. In fact, that's what brings beauty to marriage. A little conflict is natural; without that conflict there will be no salt. Your food will be without salt - it will not taste good. There will be no spice in your life. If the woman is really a woman, the man a real man, then they will be polar opposites - and that is their attraction.

Yes, once in a while they will come close and that closeness will bring great joy, and then they will fall away again. And this will be a constant process of coming together and going away again. Each time they go away they will fight, because that's how they can go away from each other.

Fighting is nothing but a device. If you understand things, fighting is a device for separation. And each separation is beautiful because it again gives you an opportunity for a mini-honeymoon. Then you can meet again. Fighting and then persuading each other, fighting and then making things okay again, is beautiful. If there is no fight, those two persons will not be real persons.

It was the night before the wedding.

"Honey," the young man said, "I have a confession to make. If you change your mind about marrying me it is alright, but you've got to know - I am a sadist."

"Ah baby!" cried the girl. "Am I glad you told me! I have been keeping it from you - I'm a masochist!"

... Now this is a perfect marriage: marriage between a sadist and a masochist. You can't improve upon it.

So the two got married and went away on their honeymoon. That evening at the hotel, the eager bride threw off her clothes, fell on the bed and in a throaty voice said, "Beat me! Beat me!"

The groom stood over her, crossed his arms and replied, "Hope!"

He is a REAL sadist, because if he beats her he is not torturing her, he is simply giving her joy: she wanted to be beaten and he beats her. Instead he says, "Hope!" and just stands there with crossed hands... so even this perfect marriage failed!

I have never heard about any perfect marriage. They say perfect marriages are made in heaven. Nobody comes back from there so maybe it is true, but what kind of marriage will those perfect marriages be? There will be no tension, there will be no individuality in the man or in the woman. They will never collide, they will never fight. They will be too sweet to each other.

And too much sweetness brings diabetes!

The seventh question:

Question 7:

Anand Toshen, it is true! Even Buddha was afraid, so this is nothing new. For ten years continuously he refused women. He would not accept them as his disciples, he would not initiate them - for ten years continuously. Thousands of women wanted to be initiated as his sannyasins and he would say no. He was very adamant about it. Finally he had to relax for a certain reason, out of courtesy.

When he was born, his mother died immediately after his birth and he was brought up by a stepmother. And the stepmother had served him so much that when his stepmother came and asked to be initiated as a sannyasin he could not refuse - just out of courtesy. She was the most valuable woman in his life; without her he would not have been alive at all. He could not say no to her. And because he said yes to her then the doors were opened. Then other women came and then he could not say no to anybody else.

But one thing he said: "My religion was going to last for five thousand years; now it will last for only five hundred years, because these women are going to disturb the whole thing."

I am not that much afraid! In fact, my first disciples, the first people I initiated, were women - just to put accounts right! Buddha was too adamant, and it does not look good.

But, Toshen, there is a truth in it....

Murphy's maxim: You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool your own woman.

That is impossible, she is bound to find out. Nobody can befool a woman for the simple reason that she does not function through logic; she functions through love, through the heart. Her process is illogical; she simply jumps to the conclusions. She cannot argue, but she immediately arrives at the conclusions. Her process is like a quantum leap: she immediately understands, she can see through and through. The more you try to hide from her, the simpler it is for her to find it out.

Women are powerful people, not in the muscular sense but as far as their resistance is concerned, as far as their life energy is concerned, as far as their tolerance is concerned.

And I am bound to be a little afraid because my whole work depends on them.

This is the first time that a commune is being run by women - the first time in the whole history of man. I have given more power to women knowingly, because my understanding is that their functioning is graceful, insightful, loving, compassionate. It is not rude. And when I have made them the pillars of my temple, certainly I cannot speak against them!

So whatsoever I say about women, listen very cautiously! They are in many ways more powerful than men. Modern research says they are more powerful sexually. And if they are more powerful sexually, then as a corollary, remember - spiritually they are bound to be more powerful, because it is sex energy that becomes transformed into spiritual energy.

Just the other day I was telling you: man's orgasm is local, woman's orgasm is total. Her whole body is involved in it; each fiber of her being pulsates with joy. And man became so much afraid of her joy that he has repressed, for centuries, the orgasmic qualities of women. And I can understand why he became so afraid - because when the woman REALLY goes into orgasm she will scream, she will shout, she will go into a kind of LATIHAN. She will start saying sounds, words - meaningless, gibberish, what Christian mystics call glossolalia.

There is a certain Christian sect which goes into an orgasmic state; it is a kind of meditation, deep meditation. I have used glossolalia on many of my sannyasins. I had to stop it, because three thousand persons going into glossolalia would disturb the whole of Poona! And neighbors started complaining to the police. But in old camps I used the method very much; it is tremendously powerful.

You simply become relaxed, in a state of let-go. You start swaying, moving. And then you allow whatsoever comes to your mind, you start saying it - meaningless words or sounds or anything. And soon you are possessed by it. Christian mystics say it is God speaking through you. It's exactly so. Sufis call it gibberish.

Gibberish comes from the name of a Sufi mystic, Jabbar. Jabbar used it for the first time in Sufi tradition. Just as I go on speaking every day, he also used to speak - but in gibberish! Sometimes I think that when you get tired of words - because I am never going to be tired! - when you say, "Beloved Master, enough is enough!" then I will start gibberish. Then I will simply sit here and say anything. You can make any sense out of it; it will be Greek, Latin, Arabic, Chinese, Sanskrit, any language you want to make out of it. The meaning you give to it will depend on you.

Jabbar helped many people, because he would go into such orgasmic joy when he would say these things that his disciples would also start. And then there would be chaos! It is because of his name in the word 'gibberish' that you still remember Jabbar, not knowingly. The English word 'gibberish' has come from Jabbar.

If a woman really goes into orgasmic joy, she will start saying things which will not be meaningful. Sheer joy, utterances of joy, like Alleluia! It does not mean anything; meaning is left far behind. It has a tremendous intensity and passion in it.

Man became afraid, because the whole neighborhood would know that you are making love to your woman. And police would come and dogs would start barking, and all kinds of things would happen! And people used to live in joint families. In one house there would be a hundred or more people - and one woman going into orgasmic joy would create such chaos!

And more difficulties were ahead.... When a woman goes into orgasmic joy she has the capacity of multiple orgasms, which man is incapable of fulfilling. Man can have only one orgasm and the woman can have multiple orgasms - twelve, fifteen, twenty. Then how is the man going to satisfy her? Either he will feel defeated, ashamed, poor, humiliated, or he will have to call his friends! And that too was against his ego.

Sheila and George were spending the first night of their honeymoon in a quaint medieval town in France. Sheila suggested coyly that they make love every time the old watchman rang his hourly bell. George smiled in delight at this prospect, but four rings later he pretended he had to go out for cigarettes and staggered off to the watchman's tower.

"Listen, old man," he wheezed, "do me a favor and for the rest of the night ring that bell at two-hour intervals instead of hourly. Here, I will give you some money."

"I would be happy to oblige," said the watchman, "but I cannot. A beautiful young lady has already bribed me to ring the bell every half hour."

It is because of that fear that man has repressed all of woman's orgasmic capacities.

Millions of women have lived and died without knowing that they have the capacity to experience orgasm. And without knowing that you can have great orgasmic explosions, you will not be able to understand anything of spirituality; it will be almost impossible for you. The woman is more powerful sexually. It is because of her greater power that she has been repressed; it is out of fear that man has repressed her.

You are right, Toshen, I am a little afraid - knowing perfectly well that I am doing something which has never been done before. I have to move very cautiously. It is a new experiment, but great possibilities will be released out of this experiment. If this experiment succeeds on a small scale it can succeed on a bigger scale too.

My own vision is that the coming age will be the age of the woman. Man has tried for five thousand years and has failed. Now a chance has to be given to the woman. Now she should be given all the reins of power. She should be given an opportunity to allow her feminine energies to function.

Man has utterly failed. In three thousand years, five thousand wars - this is man's record. Man has simply butchered, killed, murdered; he has lived as if only for war.

There are a few days in between two wars which we call days of peace. They are not days of peace; they are only days of preparing for the new war. Yes, a few years are needed to prepare... and again the war, again we go on killing each other. It is enough!

Man has been given enough chances. Now feminine energies have to be released.

My commune is going to be rooted in feminine energy, in the energies of the mother. To me God is more a "she" than a "he." "He" is poorer; it can't include "she."

The last question:

Question 8:

Ageha, cleverness is only a beautiful name for cunningness. Hence I am against it. I am not against being intelligent, but an intelligent person need not be clever. It is only the unintelligent person who has to be clever; because he is missing intelligence he has to replace it with something else.

Cleverness is plastic intelligence, cultivated intelligence. It is a poor substitute. And I know in life - at least in the short range - it pays, but never in the long range. And the wise person has to think of the long range. You can be cunning, and for the moment it may pay, but sooner or later you will have to pay for it.

You are sowing seeds which are wrong and you will have to crop the reap... or is it "reap the crop"? You can't avoid the consequences; the consequences are bound to come.

Homer and his pretty wife were about to check out of the hotel when Homer expostulated over the amount of the bill. The hotel manager told him that was the normal rate for a double room with bath and TV.

Homer said they did not use the TV.

"I am sorry, sir," said the manager. "It was there for you to use if you had wanted it."

"Okay," said Homer, "but in that case I am going to charge you for making love to my beautiful wife."

The manager denied it, and Homer said, "That's okay. She was there for you to use if you wanted to."

The manager was so flustered he reduced Homer's bill and Homer decided to try it again the next time they went on a trip.

"Sir, that is our normal rate," said the young clerk.

"But we did not use the TV."

"I am sorry, but it was there for you to use if you wanted to."

"In that case, I will have to charge you for making love to my beautiful wife."

To Homer's chagrin the young man stammered, "Okay, okay, I will pay you. But keep your voice down, will you? I am new at this hotel and you are apt to get me fired."

Cunningness may pay in the short range, but sooner or later you will be caught in your own net. You will fall in the ditch you have dug for others. Beware of it!

I am not against being intelligent - I am all for being intelligent - but intelligence is a totally different quality. Intelligence is of the heart and cleverness is of the mind.

Cleverness is a heady thing. Even a computer can be clever but not intelligent.

Be intelligent! But to be intelligent needs great changes in your life, in your life patterns.

Intelligence is a by-product of meditativeness. If you become silent, if you become innocent, then you will be intelligent. Intelligence means responding to the situation immediately, without any preparation, without the past, without any rehearsal... just responding as a mirror reflects immediately whatsoever confronts it.

When you start reflecting whatsoever life brings in front of you and you act out of the moment, you are intelligent. But if you are clever and cunning you are using your past, your past experiences, and you are responding according to your past experiences. That is not response - that is reaction. And that can be done by computer. You are not really human when you are bringing your past into the present and acting out of it.

Be wise, be meditative, be intelligent. Avoid being cunning. That is ugly, that is unspiritual, and that reduces you into a machine.

And you are not a machine, you are a man. Whatever can be done by a machine is not worth doing. Do that which only a man can do. Then your glory is great and then you will release great splendor in your life.

Enough for today.