A Mystery to be Lived

The first question:

Question 1:

Vivek,

CRAZY, BABY, CRAZY! That's what I am here for, to put you on fire. And once it starts happening, nothing else is needed to be done. Then it goes on growing by itself, in spite of all your fears; they cannot prevent the fire. They are natural - they come from your past, but the past is impotent when it confronts the present. The fire is present, the fire is now, and the fears come from the past; they are already dead. They belong to the non-existential, and the non-existential cannot do anything to the existential.

They are like darkness. The darkness can be very old, ancient, millions of years old, but just a small candle is enough to dispel it. It cannot say that, "I am very ancient, so how you can dare? You are just a small candle and you have come into existence this very moment, and I am so old, so ancient."

But there is no time for darkness to say all that. The moment the candle is lit, the darkness starts disappearing. The problem is how to light the candle; once it is there, then there is no problem at all. If the candle is not there then darkness is very real, too real - although it exists not. It is only an absence.

Vivek, once the fire is inside, even just a small part of you is on fire, that will do - it will spread. It is not a fire that dies. Once it is there it is going to consume you totally; that is inevitable.

My work ends the moment the fire is on. Then the fire will do...

You say: FOR DAYS NOW I HAVE BEEN ON FIRE INSIDE. I FEEL THE UNKNOWN IN PART OF ME, AND I AM AFRAID TO JUMP.

It is natural to be afraid to jump. And to jump in fire is like killing yourself In a sense it is suicide: the ego is going to die. Hence the fear, because we have existed as an ego; that is our identity. To drop it means death. The mind cannot conceive what else will be left once the ego is gone. The mind knows only the ego; it knows nothing behind, beyond. It knows nothing of the transcendental. The mind is part of ego, and when the ego starts dying the mind starts dying, and it creates all kinds of fears, anxieties. It is just a self-defense.

But once the fire is on, the mind is finished. It may take a little while for the fire to spread to the whole jungle of your being, but the mind cannot do anything to prevent it.

The moment the mind becomes impotent, the work of the Master is finished. Then he simply watches. Then he enjoys the disappearance of your ego, your mind, your whole so-called personality.

You say, Vivek: EVERYTHING IS CUCKOO.

In the beginning it will look like that, because mind is our logic and the fire is going to destroy our logic - because life is more than logic. In fact, life is illogical; it has to be because it contains contradictions. Logic is a choice; you go on choosing that which is consistent with your idea. Life is far more than that.

If you believe that life consists only of days, then you will ignore the nights. You will not take any note of the nights because they will create confusion. Then what will happen to your idea, your prejudice, that life consists of only of days? You have to cling to your idea; the nights seem so be confusing.

You have to deny, you have to keep closed to the nights. You have to say they are illusory, they are dream-stuff, they are unreal; the real is the day. This is how mind tries to be consistent and logical.

If it accepts the night, then the logic starts disappearing. then the contradiction has happened, then the consistency is lost.

If you accept only the flowers or only the thorns you will avoid the opposite, and life consists of polar opposites. Life cannot be consistent, remember it; only death is consistent. Hence logic is more in tune with death than in tune with life. Life is vast, it is so vast it can easily take in the contradictory; in fact, it rejoices in contradictions. On the same rose bush it grows flowers and thorns. How can it be logical? Logic will say, "Either grow thorns or grow flowers."

Logic means either/or, and life means both/and. Hence the moment the mind starts slipping, dying, one feels as if one is going mad.

In the East we have continuously observed the phenomenon; we call it a kind of spiritual madness.

In Bengal the mystics have been called Bauls; BAUL means the mad one. In the Sufi tradition the mystic is called a MAST; MAST means a mad one. And Jesus, Bahauddin, Francis, Eckhart, Kabir, Chuang Tzu, these are all mad people - for the simple reason because they have not chosen; they have accepted life as it is in its totality.

Science up to the time of Albert Einstein remained very consistent, very logical. Albert Einstein is the first mystic in the world of science; a scientific mysticism he introduced, and he disturbed the whole edifice of the old science. After Albert Einstein, science, particularly physics which was his field of work, is no more the same - because he accepted contradictions. In fact he said that, "When I had started my work I had thought that life and logic are synonymous - my work was to solve problems logically - but as I went deeper I became aware that life is not synonymous with logic: it contains contradictions. And in fact because of those contradictions it is beautiful, because of those contradictions it has a certain tension; that tension gives it aliveness, it gives it possibilities to be dynamic, moving."

And at the end of his life he said, "Now I cannot say that life is a problem. To call life a problem is a logical statement, because a problem means something that can be solved through logic, if not today then tomorrow. Sooner or later logic will find a way and the problem will be dissolved."

Einstein said, just two days before he died that, "Life is no more a problem for me, it is a mystery."

And the difference between mystery and problem is immense, qualitative. A problem can be solved logically; a mystery cannot be solved logically or in any other way. A mystery has to be lived, accepted as it is; there is no way to solve it. Life is a mystery; it is a mystery because it is contradictory. And thousands of contradictions are there, but those contradictions give it variety, vastness.

So in the beginning when mind starts losing its grip upon you, it feels as if one is going cuckoo. But to be a cuckoo is really far more beautiful than to be a pundit, a professor, a theologian, a priest, a politician. Have you not heard the distant call of the cuckoo, how beautiful it is? And cuckoo is crazy!

The beauty of the cuckoo's song is transcendental. It should not be so - looking at the mundane life, looking at the ordinary life. The cuckoo goes on singing as if it lives in another world.

My sannyasins ALL have to be cuckoos! They have to learn the song: the Song of Solomon, the song of love, life, laughter.

The only thing beautiful in the Old Testament is the Song of Solomon; everything else is ordinary. Of course Jews and Christians are very much embarrassed by the Song of Solomon; they would like it not to be in the Old Testament. It does not look religious: it praises life, it is very fleshy, it is very alive. It praises love - it is sheer poetry. But they cannot deny it - it is there. All that they can do is either ignore it or give it some esoteric meanings, which are all nonsense.

It is a very simple song; it is not a parable and it is not metaphorical. It is very direct, immediate. It says exactly what it says; it is like two plus two are four.

Vivek, read the Song of Solomon - it will help your inner fire. It is one of the greatest documents in the world, one of the most beautiful. Even the Bhagavad Gita, compared to the Song of Solomon, has not that beauty. It sings the song of the earth; it is rejoicing in the ordinary. And the moment you rejoice in the ordinary you transform the ordinary.

There are two things in the Old Testament: one is the Song of Solomon and the other are the Ten Commandments. About the Ten Commandments, Vivek, remember this:

Two men were wrangling vehemently about something when one of them said, "The trouble with you, Bill, is that you don't agree with anybody on anything. I'll bet you don't even accept the Ten Commandments."

"That's not true," disagreed the other. "If you make only one small change in them I'll agree with all of them."

"That's certainly surprising," said the first man. "What's the small change you want made?"

"Just strike out the word 'not' all the way through."

And that's what the Song of Solomon is: the small word "not" has been striked out all the way through.

And you ask me, Vivek: PUSH ME, OSHO! ON FIRE...

That I am doing without ever taking anybody's permission! I never come from the front door because nobody would allow me from the front door. I never knock, I never ask, "May I come in, sir or madam?" I enter as a thief, I enter from the back door. And certainly I have to enter as a thief because you are asleep; knocking on the door won't help. You will rationalize in your sleep, "It must be the wind, or an airplane passing by, or something else." You will rationalize, turn over, go under the blanket and start dreaming again. Maybe knocking on the door can trigger a few dreams in you; that's all it will do. You are so fast asleep, I have to come from the back door.

In India we have one thousand names of God; one whole scripture is devoted just only to the names.

Nothing else is written in that scripture: Vishnu Sahasranam - One Thousand Names of God. Just names are counted from one to one thousand. The most beautiful name that I love is Hari; Hari means the ultimate thief.

Just two days ago I was giving sannyas to a beautiful sannyasin. I have given her the name Haridasi - surrendered to the ultimate thief And when I told her that, "Your heart is stolen," for a moment she was transported into another world. Her hand suddenly went on her heart and I said, "It is not there!"

And she understood the point immediately. She lost few heartbeats; tears of joy came to her eyes.

She could not speak a single word; her voice was choked. It is bound to happen when your heart is gone!

I go on doing things in my own way. And with you, Vivek, I am not worried. You are on fire, your heart is stolen long before. And I am pushing you, and I am absolutely certain that the thing that you are all here for is going to happen to you. Fortunately you are not a Polack, otherwise there was a danger...

Have you heard about the new Polish parachutes?

They open on impact... but they are having great difficulty with them because most Polacks miss the ground!

The second question:

Question 2:

Ajit Saraswati,

THE WORK OF A MASTER is really the work of seduction: he seduces you into the unknown.

There is no other way, only seduction can be helpful. You cannot be convinced of the unknown; whatsoever you can be convinced about is bound to be the known. The unknown is unknown. You have not tasted of it, you have not even heard anything about it, you have no idea what it is.

I can convince you of that which you have already some idea, but the unknown is absolutely unknown - and not only unknown, it is unknowable too. There is no way to know it because it is the intrinsic quality of the knower himself It NEVER becomes the known; at no point it becomes the known.

The deeper you go into it, the more and more you realize that it is not only the unknown but the unknowable because it is the center of the knower himself How the knower can himself become the known? That is impossible; the knower will always stand beyond the known, surpassing the known.

Hence the work of a Master is actually of seduction. He allures you, he fascinates you; he promises you bliss, truth, freedom - he gives it many names. He makes you afire with longing. A moment comes when the longing is intense and passionate, that you take the jump. It is really mad! No logical person can do it.

Hence I have to destroy slowly your clinging with logic. I have to shift your energy from the head to the heart, because the heart is illogical and from the heart there is a possibility, a bridge, a rainbow bridge towards the unknown and ultimately towards the unknowable.

Hence the word "seduction" actually describes the whole work of all the Buddhas. But the people who are too much clinging to logic cannot be seduced. If they ask first to be convinced, then there is no way. If they ask for proofs, then there is no way. If the Master himself is a proof, then there is a way. If the presence of the Master is enough to give you the joy that can take you into the adventure, if the very presence of the Master gives you courage to go into the uncharted, only then the journey ever begins.

One thing is certain: once the journey begins you cannot come back. A journey begun is already half the work done; once it begins it has to reach to its climax. Only the beginning part is the most difficult part.

Hence I have to talk about the miracle mirrors and I have to praise those miracle mirrors of meditation; I have to go on saying what great ecstasies they are going to give to you. You are not interested in meditation, you are not interested in looking at your original face, but you are certainly interested in being ecstatic.

But when you for the first time take the mirror in your hand it gives you agony, not ecstasy, because you have to encounter all that is ugly in you, because the ugly is on the surface. But once you have seen the ugly you cannot rest at ease with it. That's the only hope, because nobody can rest at ease with his ugliness. Once seen, you have to destroy it, you have to remove all the masks that are ugly, you have to peel the whole skin that is ugly. And behind the surface there is tremendous beauty.

Behind the masks - and there are many masks - your original face is nothing but God's own face.

In your originality you are not separate from God; in your personality you are separate.

"Personality" comes from the Greek word PERSONA; it means the mask. In your individuality you are one with God. Then you have the beauty of a Buddha, Krishna, Christ, the same grace. But before one can reach to it one will have to peel one's ugly layers like one peels an onion. And when you peel an onion tears come to your eyes, it is painful. And your false masks have remained with you so long that they have almost become your faces. Removing them is not like removing clothes, it is actually like peeling your skin - it hurts. Hence only the courageous can be interested in inner transformation.

You ask me, Ajit Saraswati: OSHO, WHY AND HOW SO MANY KEEP ON MISSING YOU?

They are cowards, they don't have any guts. They don't want to risk anything, and without risk nothing can be gained in life. The higher the peak you want to reach, the greater the risk.

The way of inner search belongs only to the gamblers, not to the businessmen. And people are very calculating, they are constantly calculating, they are always thinking in terms of calculation. Not even for a single moment they are ready to risk anything. They want every kind of security, guarantee, safety, then only they will budge an inch. And in the spiritual inquiry there is no safety, no security.

In fact, that's why it has such tremendous beauty: it is an adventure.

The adventure cannot be secure; it is going beyond the boundaries of the known. When you are living within the boundaries of the known, things are secure; you know everything, you are efficient.

When you move beyond the known you are taking a risk. You may lose the known, and who knows whether you are going to gain anything in this adventure or not?

You ask me: ARE THEY SCARED OF THE SUPER-SALESMAN?

They are simply scared of truth. Because they have lived in so many lies for so long they are afraid:

if truth comes in all their lies will collapse. And they have invested not only this life but so many previous lives in those lies. Their investments are great, and truth is going to shatter. They are not bold enough to allow the truth to come in, to accept the fact that it truth destroys the lies it is better that those lies should be destroyed sooner than later, because if you don't destroy them today then tomorrow one day more is lost, then next life one life is more lost, and your investment becomes bigger and bigger with the lies. It is better to finish it quickly; the sooner you do the better. But for that a certain kind of youthfulness is needed.

And in this country particularly there are only two categories Or people: children and old people, the youth does not exist. From childhood people simply move into old age. The time of youth, youthfulness, rebellion, adventure, never happens.

And with me only young people - young in the spirit, I mean - can have any communion. And not only with me: it has always been so. With Buddha, with Jesus, with Lao Tzu, it was always the case: only very few youthful adventurers went with these dangerous people. They attained great treasures, but those treasurers are not certain, not guaranteed; there is no insurance.

You say:... BEFORE WE BROKE THOSE MIRRORS, YOU ENCOURAGED US TO GO ON LOOKING, TO GO ON WATCHING, TO GO ON WITNESSING, AND INTO THE BARGAIN, YOU EXTRACTED FROM US THE PRICE OF OUR VERY LIFE. HOWEVER, LOOKING BACK,

I FIND I HAVE NOT PAID A THING TO YOU.

There is no need to pay anything to me, because whatsoever I am giving to you is not mine, it is God's. It is as much yours as it is mine. What I am giving to you has been given to me. This is the way I am thanking God - by giving it to you.

And, Ajit Saraswati, the only way to feel thankful is to share it with others. Spread it far and wide.

Whatsoever you have experienced, share it. And don't be worried about what people will think of you - they will think you are mad! But If you talk to one hundred people at least there is a possibility of one person coming along with you. That's more than enough; it is a great reward. If you can transform one person even, that is enough. Millions are bound to remain in darkness; nothing can be done about it because that is their choice, it is their freedom. If they decide to remain in darkness; who are we to force them into light? We can go on trying, but ultimately it is going to be their decision.

The only way to show our gratitude to the Master is to help others. If it has been a gracious gift to you, give it to others as a gracious gift. Give it without any idea of giving only then is it gracious.

Give it without any idea of reward only then is it gracious. Simply give it for the sheer joy of giving It.

You also say: HOW SHALL I SAY THANK YOU, OSHO?

It has not to be said. You need not say it, but I am hearing it. Your very silence is enough. It can be said only through silence; there is no other way to say it. Words are very inadequate.

And lastly, you ask: OSHO, WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE WAITING FOR? WHOM ARE THEY WAITING FOR, WHEN THIS GIFT OF GIFTS IS INCESSANTLY SHOWERING ALL OVER?

Ajit Saraswati, this world has been driven crazy - crazy not in the sense of a spiritual madness, crazy in the sense that people have become split, people have become schizophrenic, people have been reduced to the lowest state of intelligence, because all the oppressors, the exploiters the leaders, the gurus, they all wanted it in this way. Man should not be allowed to be free, man should not allowed to be rebellious, man should not be allowed to be intelligent Intelligent people are dangerous for the status quo, for the establishment. The establishment wants people to be slaves, machine-like, robots, and they have succeeded. They start destroying a child the moment the child is born; they start crippling him, paralyzing him.

It is a very strange world: first they cripple you, then they provide crutches for you. And when they provide crutches for you they say, "Look what great service we are doing you!" First they make you blind and then they give you glasses so that you can see a little bit. First they make you dependent and then they start telling you how to be free.

We are living in a very strange world. Up to now humanity has lived in an insane way. It is ridiculous and absurd, and it is time that this should be finished.

That's what my effort here is: through my sannyasins to bring a new kind of man in the world, which will be DIVINELY mad but not schizophrenic - a new man centered in his being. That is the meaning of the word "individual": he will be indivisible; you cannot split him.

A woman approached a psychoanalyst and asked him, "Can you split me into two?"

The psychoanalyst could not believe his ears. People had been coming to him who suffering from a split personality, and this woman was asking, "Can you split me into two?"

He said, "What is the matter with you? Why do you want to be split in two?"

The woman said, "I feel so lonely!"

If you watch around yourself you will be surprised how an insane humanity we have created.

After several rounds of drinks at the cocktail party, a woman turned to her husband, "Henry, don't you dare take another drink. Your face is getting all blurred already!"

A big three-hundred-pound man was being led to the gallows. He looked at the trap and asked the hangman, "Are you sure that thing is safe?"

A researcher in sociology making a survey of homosexuality rang the bell of an apartment. The man who answered the door responded to his question, "Homosexual? I never heard of that word. Wait, I will ask my wife."

Turning his head, he called, "Ernest!".

The morning after she left on her honeymoon, a bride returned home. She related: "I took off my clothes. Then he took off his clothes. Then he put on my clothes and left!

A rabbi was telling a story:

"One day a poor woodcutter found a baby in the forest, but he didn't know how to feed him. So he prayed to God and a miracle happened - the woodcutter grew breasts and could feed the baby."

"Rabbi," interrupted a listener, "I don't like this story. Why such a weird thing like breasts on a man?

If God is almighty he could have just dropped a bag of gold to give the woodcutter enough money to buy food for the baby."

The rabbi meditated on this for a while, then said, "Why should God spend such a lot of money when he can just do a miracle?"

In a deserted bar two people were seated at opposite ends of the room. The Jew and the Jap had been drinking for some time without noticing each other, when suddenly the Jew go off his stool, walked over to the Jap, and punched him on the nose. The dazed Japanese, struggling to his feet, asked the Jew why he did that.

"That was for Pearl Harbor," replied the Jew, and walked back to his stool.

After a few more drinks the Jap got off his stool and walked over to the Jew. He punched him very hard on the nose. The Jew, from his crumpled position on the floor, asked what that was for.

"That was for the Titanic," stated the Jap.

"But that was an iceberg!" complained the Jew.

"Well," responded the Jap, "Iceberg, Greenberg, Silverberg... they are all the same!"

When the flood was finally over and the animals were going out of Noah's ark, the elephant turned around to the flea who was behind him and said, "Stop pushing me!"

This is the world we are living! People have been driven to the lowest intelligence possible, and to raise their intelligence back is an arduous task.

It is a miracle if somebody listens to me, understands to me and starts transforming himself. It is happening to you, AJit Saraswati - you are blessed. Very few are so blessed in the world.

The third question:

Question 3:

Sahajo,

NOSTALGIA is THE LONGING to go back to the good old days when you were neither good nor old.

The fourth question:

Question 4:

Dick,

I AM NOT AFRAID AT ALL, because even if a new sheep is created it is better than the old sheep - at least it will be new! And to be new is good, to be new is fresh, to be new opens new possibilities.

Hence I am not afraid.

But you must be attached with the old kind of sheep, hence you are afraid. I can only try to give birth to a new man, but the birth cannot be absolutely guaranteed. I will do my best. It does not matter to me whether I succeed or fail. What matters is whether I tried my best or not - and I am trying my best. And that's all that I am interested in.

I am enjoying my work. Who cares about the result? The people who care too much about the result simply waste their energy, because caring about the result takes much of their energy. Then they become worried about the result - that is a distraction - then the end becomes far more important than the journey itself.

To me the journey itself is enough, the search itself is more than enough. To me the means and the ends are not separate, they are inseparable. Hence what I am doing I am enjoying; what happens, that is not at all a question to me.

But why are you worried? You must be interested in keeping people in their old traps. I can do only one thing... You have heard the old proverb - this is a new edition of that old proverb:

You can lead a hippie to water, but you cannot make him bathe.

I will lead the hippie to the water - that much I can do - I will persuade him, but then it is up to him to take a jump into the river or not. And who I am to throw him into the river? I can show him the way to the river, I can even lead him to the river, then it IS HIS freedom. If he chooses to remain the same I am not going to disturb his freedom, I am not going to do anything against him.

I love every person as he is. I love my work; it is not work to me at all because I love it - it is just a play. But with you, Dick, there seems to be some problem inside you. Your question has nothing to do with my work, it has something to do with your prejudices.

You ask me: AREN'T YOU EVER AFRAID THAT INSTEAD OF THE CREATION OF A NEW KIND OF MAN, THIS IS THE CREATION OF A NEW KIND OF SHEEP?

I am trying to create the new man. Even if out of one hundred, one new man is created, that will bring the whole consciousness of humanity a step forward, a step upward. There is a possibility many will become only new kind of sheep, but then too it is not bad, that too is a gain. It is better to be alive, young, fresh, new, even though you are a sheep.

But you must be somehow deeply interested in keeping people in their old patterns; your investment must be there. Your prejudices must be those of a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu, a Mohammedan.

Two musicians were walking in a street when a large bell from a building being demolished fell nearby with a loud clang. "What's that?" asked one.

"I'm not sure," said the other, "but I think it was B flat."

People have their own languages, their own prejudices, and they cling to their prejudices. Even though their prejudices have been a sheer misery for them, still they cling.

If you are an old sheep, Dick, at least become a new sheep - orange! It will not be a very great revolution, but even a little change is good. Just for that little change... and a little change may open doors for greater changes.

Two hobos sat with their backs against an old oak tree. Before them flowed a rippling stream. It was a delightful day, yet one of them was disconsolate.

"You know, Slim," he said, "this tramping through life is not what it used to be. Things are getting tougher every year. I used to hop a freight chugging up a steep grade very easy, but these diesels go like mad. And I'm getting tired of spending my nights in a cold barn and on park benches, wondering where my next meal is coming from. And odd jobs are getting scarcer all the time..." His voice trailed off as he sighed.

His companion turned to face him. "If that's the way you feel, why don't you hang it all up and find yourself a real job?"

The first tramp raised his head and opened his mouth in amazement. "What!" he cried. "And admit I'm a failure?"

Even a tramp, a hobo, a beggar does not want to accept that he is a failure.

Dick, the way you have asked the question simply shows that you are an old sheep - Catholic, Protestant - and you are afraid of the new sheep. You are not concerned about the new man. The old sheep is worried, because what is going to happen to the old prejudices, the old conclusions, the old ideology? It seems as if it will be a deep discontinuity with the past, as if one dies and is reborn.

But those who are ready to drop the old are not sheep. The very courage to drop the old is enough to prove that they are lions! The very courage that they are ready to come out of their old skins. their old prejudices old idiologies, religions, philosophies, shows one thing very clearly, categorically: that they are not sheep. And that very courage is the hope for the birth of a new man.

You just put your old prejudices aside, and then try to understand what is happening here. Get a little bit involved, participate in what is happening here. You have lived according to your old beliefs.

If you are contented, I will be the last person to disturb you; but if you are contented, why you are here? For what? You must be discontented.

This is one of the strangest things about man: even if he is discontented he goes on believing, pretending that he is contented. And whenever there is an opportunity to change - and he is LOOKING for an opportunity to change, this Is the strangeness - when he finds the opportunity to change, he clings with the past.

A doctor was consulted by a prizefighter who was troubled with insomnia.

"Have you tried counting sheep?" asked the doctor.

"Yes, but it doesn't help. Every time I get up to nine I jump up!"

An old prizefighter! The moment he gets to nine he cannot resist. Instead of giving him a good sleep it will disturb him - he jumps up. People function mechanically, unconsciously. Your question has come out of your unconsciousness, Dick.

The tavern was near an army camp, and the pretty barmaid was popular with the enlisted men, especially since she preferred them to the overbearing officers.

One night a polite young private was sitting next to a cocky first lieutenant who tried to date her.

When the lieutenant went to the men's room she put her face close to the private and whispered, "Now is your chance, soldier!"

The private looked at the tempting red lips and then cried, "That's right!" And he hastily drank the officer's beer.

You are here but not really here. And the way I talk must be so difficult for you to understand. If you have been listening to the sermons by the priests in the churches or m the temples or in the mosques, then what I am saying here will look very irreligious, will look very strange to your Ideas of what spirituality should be. But I cannot talk the way your are accustomed to hearing. You may be waiting for some esoteric bullshit!

Kohn was home from seeing his doctor and meets his friend who asks, "Wha-wha-what is wrong wi-with you?"

"I've got prostatitis," replies Kohn.

"Wha-what... wha-wha-what is that?"

"I piss the way you talk!"

The new man can only be created with everything new: the way I talk, the way my people live, the way they behave, all has to be totally different from the old man. The new man cannot believe in your rotten morality - your morality has only created hypocrites. The new man can live only authentically; he cannot be concerned with your moral and immoral ideas. He can live only meditatively. He cannot be thought as a man of character, the way you have become accustomed to think of religious people.

The new man will not be a man of character, the new man will be utterly characterless . But when I say "characterless". please don't misunderstand me; I am not talking the way you understand. To me the characterless man is the only man who has character. Characterless I call him because he does not follow any dictates from the outside. He lives according to his own light, he lives meditatively.

His character does not come from his conscience.

Conscience is an agency implanted in you by the society, it is not yours. Don't call the conscience as yours - it is not yours. It belongs to the Christian church, it belongs to the Hindu religion, it belongs to the Jain philosophy, it belongs to the communist ideology. It has nothing to do with you; it is implanted by others in you. It is a very subtle strategy to dominate you from within. On the outside they have put a policeman, the magistrate, the court, and in the inside they have created a conscience.

The real man, the new man, will live according to consciousness, not according to conscience. Of course, whatsoever HIS consciousness feels right he will do, whatsoever the risk, whatsoever he has to pay for it. Even if he has to pay with his life he will be ready to pay it, because there are higher things than life itself. Consciousness is far more higher than life. But he will not follow conscience.

The man of conscience is known as a man of character - that's why I call the new man characterless, because he will not have any conscience, he will function out of consciousness. His commandments will be coming from his own center, and when they come from your own center they give you freedom. And out of freedom life takes a new flavor, a new beauty. You DO the right, but now the right is not decided by others. It is no more a slavery, it is absolute freedom.

The new man will live out of meditation, out of consciousness, out of his own inner light. The new man will be an individual, not part of any collectivity.

My sannyasins here are not a collectivity. Each of my sannyasins is related to me directly. It is not a church, it is not an organization: it is a love relationship. And because they all love me, of course they start feeling love for each other too; that is secondary. Their love towards me is primary, then their love for other sannyasins is secondary; they are fellow-travelers. But nobody is bound to follow me or to follow anybody else. It is a commune of fellow-travelers. fellow-seekers.

There is no qualitative difference between me and my sannyasins. The only difference is a very slight one, very small one: I am aware of my inner world, they are not aware, but they have the inner world as much as I have it. I don't have it more, they don't have it less. They have the whole kingdom of God within themselves. I am not special in any sense. I am not claiming that I am the son of God, I am not claiming that I am an AVATARA of God, I am not claiming that I am a teerthankara. I am simply saying one thing: that I was asleep, now I am awake; you are asleep and you can be awake also. I have known both states - the state of being asleep and the state of being awake - and you know only one state, of being asleep.

But remember, the person who is capable of sleeping is capable of awakening. The very fact he can sleep is an indication that he can be awake! There is no difference at all.

I will go on trying to help people to be awake. The awakened man will be the new man. He will not be Christian, he will not be Hindu, he will not be Mohammedan; he will not be Indian, he will not be German, he will not be English. He will be simply an awakened being.

But, Dick, it is possible that there may be a few people who will only turn into a new kind of sheep, but that too is not bad. As far as being the old sheep is concerned, it is better than that. So if your are an old sheep, become a new sheep, and from there the journey starts, a possibility. If the old sheep can become a new sheep it is a radical change. The sheep deciding to be new - it is a revolution. And if this much is possible, then much more is possible too.

The fifth question:

Question 5:

Nartan,

IF A MAN DODGES CARS, he is a pedestrian. If he dodges taxes, he is a businessman. If he dodges responsibilities, he is an executive. And if he dodges everything, he is a politician.

And the last question:

Question 6:

Anand Donna,

Okay,

A JEWISH RABBI DECIDED to sit in with the priest in his confessional box to learn the principles of the Catholic religion. Two women came, one after the other, and confessed to having had intercourse with their boyfriends, not only once but three times. For penance the priest told them to say three Pater Nosters and put ten dollars in the poor box.

The priest was called away urgently to give last rites to a dying man. He told the rabbi to stay and hear the confessions for the rest of the people. "Just remember to get the ten dollars," he said before leaving.

The first confessor was a young girl who told the rabbi that she had had intercourse with her boyfriend.

"Three times?" questioned the rabbi.

"Oh no, Father, just once," replied the girl.

"Are you quite sure it wasn't three times?"

"No, Father, only once," insisted the young girl.

"Well," suggested the rabbi, "I tell you what. just say three Pater Nosters, put ten dollars in the box, and the church will owe you two fucks."