Of the three metamorphoses

Zarathustra divides the evolution of consciousness into three symbols: the camel, the lion, and the child.

The camel is a beast of burden, ready to be enslaved, never rebellious. He cannot ever say no. He is a believer, a follower, a faithful slave. That is the lowest in human consciousness.

The lion is a revolution. The beginning of the revolution is a sacred no.

In the consciousness of the camel there is always a need for someone to lead and someone to say to him, "Thou shalt do this." He needs the Ten Commandments. He needs all the religions, all the priests and all the holy scriptures because he cannot trust himself. He has no courage and no soul and no longing for freedom. He's obedient.

The lion is a longing for freedom, a desire to destroy all imprisonments. The lion is not in need of any leader; he is enough unto himself. He will not allow anybody else to say to him, "Thou shalt,"

- that is insulting to his pride. He can only say, "I will." The lion is responsibility and a tremendous effort to get out of all chains.

But even the lion is not the highest peak of human growth. The highest peak is when the lion also goes through a metamorphosis and becomes a child. The child is innocence. It is not obedience, it is not disobedience; it is not belief, it is not disbelief - it is pure trust, it is a sacred yes to existence and to life and to all that it contains.

The child is the very peak of purity, sincerity, authenticity, receptivity, and openness to existence.

These symbols are very beautiful.

We will go into the implications of these symbols as Zarathustra describes them, one by one.

I NAME YOU THREE METAMORPHOSES OF THE SPIRIT: HOW THE SPIRIT SHALL BECOME A CAMEL, AND THE CAMEL A LION, AND THE LION AT LAST A CHILD.

THERE ARE MANY HEAVY THINGS FOR THE SPIRIT, FOR THE STRONG, WEIGHT-BEARING SPIRIT IN WHICH DWELL RESPECT AND AWE: ITS STRENGTH LONGS FOR THE HEAVY, FOR THE HEAVIEST.

Zarathustra is not in favor of the weak, in favor of the so-called humble. He is not in agreement with Jesus that "Blessed are the meek," that "Blessed are the poor," that "Blessed are the humble for they shall inherit the kingdom of God."

Zarathustra is absolutely in favor of a strong spirit. He is against the ego, but he is not against pride.

Pride is the dignity of man. Ego is a false entity and one should never think of them as synonymous.

The ego is something that deprives you of your dignity, that deprives you of your pride, because the ego has to depend on others, on the opinion of others, on what people say. The ego is very fragile.

The opinion of people can change and the ego will disappear into the air.

I am reminded of a great thinker, Voltaire. In the days of Voltaire, in France, it was customary - a long, long tradition - that if you can get anything from a genius, just a piece of cloth, it will help you to find your own talents, if not to make you a genius yourself.

Voltaire was so much honored and respected as a great thinker and philosopher that he needed police protection even for his morning walk. Or if he was going to the railway station police protection was needed. The police protection was needed because people will crowd around and start tearing his clothes. There were times he reached home almost naked, with scratches on his body, blood oozing, and he was very much disturbed by the fame and the great name.

He wrote in his diary, "I used to think to be famous is something great. Now, I know it is a curse. And somehow I want again to be ordinary, anonymous; that nobody recognizes me, that I can pass by and nobody will take any note of me. I am tired of being famous, of being a celebrity. I have become a prisoner in my house. I cannot even go for a walk when the sky is so colorful and the sunset is so beautiful. I am afraid of the crowd."

The same crowd has made him a great man.

After ten years, in his diary he notes with great depression and sadness: "I was not aware that my prayers would be heard." Fashions change, people's opinions change. Somebody is famous today, tomorrow nobody remembers him. Somebody is not known today and tomorrow, suddenly rises to the heights of fame.

And it happened in the case of Voltaire. Slowly, slowly, new thinkers, new philosophers arrived on the horizon; particularly, Rousseau took the place where Voltaire used to be once; and people forgot about Voltaire. People's memories are not very reliable.

Opinions change just like fashions. Once he was fashionable, now somebody else has become fashionable. Rousseau was against every idea of Voltaire; his fame destroyed Voltaire completely.

Voltaire's prayer was fulfilled: he became anonymous. Now, no police protection was needed. Now, nobody even bothered to say, "Hello" to him. People had completely forgotten. Only then he realized that to be a prisoner was better. "Now I am free to move anywhere but it hurts. The wound goes on becoming bigger and bigger - I am alive and it seems people have thought that Voltaire is dead."

When he died, only three and a half people followed him to the graveyard. You will be surprised, why three and a half? Because three were people and his dog can be counted only as half. The dog was leading the procession.

Ego is a by-product of public opinion. It is given by them to you; they can take it away. Pride is a totally different phenomenon. The lion has pride. The deer in the forest - just look - has a pride, a dignity, a grace. A peacock dancing or an eagle flying far away in the sky - they don't have egos, they don't depend on your opinion - they are simply dignified as they are. Their dignity arises from their own being. This has to be understood, because all the religions have been teaching people not to be proud - be humble. They have created a misunderstanding all over the world, as if being proud and being an egoist are synonymous.

Zarathustra is absolutely clear that he is in favor of the strong man, of the courageous man, of the adventurer who goes into the unknown on the untrodden path without any fear; he is in favor of fearlessness. And it is a miracle that a man of pride and only a man of pride - can become a child.

The so-called Christian humbleness is just ego standing on its head. The ego has gone upside down, but it is there, and you can see in your saints that they are more egoist than ordinary people are. They are egoists because of their piousness, of their austerities, of their spirituality, of their holiness, even of their humbleness. Nobody is more humble than them. The ego has a very subtle way of coming in from the back door. You may throw it out from the front door - it knows that there is a back door, too.

I have heard that one night, in a pub, a man was drinking too much and making too much nuisance, throwing things, hitting people, shouting, abusing them and asking for more and more drinks.

Finally, the pub owner told him, "This is enough. For tonight, you will not get any more drinks." And he told his servants to throw him out of the front door.

Although he was completely drunk, even in his drunkenness he remembered there was a back door.

Groping in the dark, he came from the back door and ordered one drink.

The owner said, "Again? I have told you that tonight you will not get any drink."

The man said, "This is strange. Do you own all the pubs of the city?"

The ego knows not only the back door - it can come even through the windows. It can come in even by removing a small tile from the roof. You are so vulnerable as far as ego is concerned.

Zarathustra is not a teacher of humbleness, because all teachings of humbleness have failed. He teaches the dignity of man. He teaches the pride of man and he teaches the strong man, not the weak, the poor and the meek. Those teachings have helped to keep humanity at the stage of the camel. Zarathustra wants you to go through a metamorphosis. The camel has to change into a lion, and he has chosen beautiful symbols, very meaningful and significant.

The camel, perhaps, is the most ugly animal in the whole existence. You cannot improve upon its ugliness. What else can you do? It is such a distortion. It seems as if it is coming directly from hell.

To choose the camel as the lowest consciousness is perfectly right. The lowest consciousness in man is crippled; it wants to be enslaved. It is afraid of freedom because it is afraid of responsibility.

It is ready to be loaded with as much burden as possible. It rejoices in being loaded; so does the lowest consciousness - being loaded with knowledge, which is borrowed. No man of dignity will allow himself to be loaded with borrowed knowledge. It is loaded with morality which has been handed over by the dead to the living; it is a domination of the dead over the living. No man of dignity will allow the dead to rule him.

The lowest consciousness of man remains ignorant and unconscious, unaware, fast asleep - because it is continuously being given the poison of believing, of faith, of never doubting, of never saying no. And a man who cannot say no has lost his dignity. And a man who cannot say no... his yes does not mean anything. Do you see the implication? The yes is meaningful only after you are capable of saying no. If you are incapable of saying no, your yes is impotent, it means nothing.

Hence, the camel has to change into a beautiful lion, ready to die but not ready to be enslaved. You cannot make a lion a beast of burden. A lion has a dignity that no other animal can claim; he has no treasures, no kingdoms; his dignity is just in his style of being - fearless, unafraid of the unknown, ready to say no even at the risk of death.

This readiness to say no, this rebelliousness, cleans him of all the dirt that the camel has left - all the traces and the footprints that the camel has left. And only after the lion - after the great no - the sacred yes of a child is possible.

The child says yes not because he is afraid. He says yes because he loves, because he trusts.

He says yes because he is innocent; he cannot conceive that he can be deceived. His yes is a tremendous trust. It is not out of fear, it is out of deep innocence.Only this yes can lead him to the ultimate peak of consciousness; what I call godliness.

THERE ARE MANY HEAVY THINGS FOR THE SPIRIT, FOR THE STRONG, WEIGHT-BEARING SPIRIT IN WHICH DWELL RESPECT AND AWE: ITS STRENGTH LONGS FOR THE HEAVY, FOR THE HEAVIEST.

WHAT IS HEAVY? THUS ASKS THE WEIGHT-BEARING SPIRIT, THUS IT KNEELS DOWN LIKE THE CAMEL AND WANTS TO BE WELL LADEN. For the camel, for the lowest kind of consciousness, there is an intrinsic desire to kneel down and to be laden with as much load as possible.

WHAT IS THE HEAVIEST THING, YOU HEROES? SO ASKS THE WEIGHT-BEARING SPIRIT, THAT I MAY TAKE IT UPON ME AND REJOICE IN MY STRENGTH. But to the strong man, to the lion in you, the heaviest takes on a different meaning and a different dimension - THAT I MAY TAKE IT UPON ME AND REJOICE IN MY STRENGTH. Its only joy is its strength. The camel's joy is only to be obedient, to serve, to be a slave. IS IT NOT THIS: TO DEBASE YOURSELF IN ORDER TO INJURE YOUR PRIDE?

OR IS IT THIS: TO DESERT OUR CAUSE WHEN IT IS CELEBRATING ITS VICTORY? TO CLIMB HIGH MOUNTAINS IN ORDER TO TEMPT THE TEMPTER?

OR IS IT THIS: TO LOVE THOSE WHO DESPISE US AND TO OFFER OUR HAND TO THE GHOST WHEN IT WANTS TO FRIGHTEN US?

THE WEIGHT-BEARING SPIRIT TAKES UPON ITSELF ALL THESE HEAVIEST THINGS: LIKE A CAMEL HURRYING LADEN INTO THE DESERT, THUS IT HURRIES INTO ITS DESERT.

The lowest consciousness of man knows only a life of the desert. Where nothing grows, where nothing is green, where no flower blossoms, where everything is dead and, as far as you can see, it is vast graveyard.

BUT IN THE LONELIEST DESERT THE SECOND METAMORPHOSIS OCCURS: THE SPIRIT HERE BECOMES A LION. There are moments, even in the life of those who are groping in darkness and unconsciousness, when just like a lightning, some incident wakes them up and the camel is no more a camel: a metamorphosis, a transformation happens.

Gautam Buddha left his kingdom when he was twenty-nine years old and the reason: a sudden lightning, and the camel became a lion.

When he was born, all the great astrologers of the kingdom were called, because he was the only son of the great emperor, and he was born when the emperor was getting old. It was his life-long prayer, life-long desire to have a child; otherwise, who is going to succeed him? His whole life he has been fighting, invading and creating a vast empire. For whom? There was great rejoicing when Gautam Buddha was born and he wanted to know, in detail, the future of the child.All the great astrologers assembled in the palace. They discussed for hours and the king was asking again and again, "What is your conclusion? Why is it taking so long?"

Finally, the youngest.... Because all the old ones were feeling very embarrassed. "What to say?"

The situation was such... they were all in agreement. But the youngest stood up and he said, "These are old people and they don't want to say anything that may hurt you. But somebody has to break the ice.

"You have a very strange child. His future cannot be predicted definitely, because he has two futures.

For hours we have been discussing which one is heavier; they both are of equal weight. We have never come across such a child."

The king said, "Don't be worried. You tell me exactly but tell me the truth." And the astrologer said, with everybody's agreement, "Either your child will become the greatest emperor the world has ever known, a chakravartin, or, he will renounce the kingdom and will become a beggar. That's why we were delaying, and we were not finding what words to say to you. Both possibilities have equal weight."

The king was very much puzzled and he asked, "Can you advise me? Is there some way that he does not renounce the world and become a beggar?" They suggested all kinds of measures; particularly, that he should not become aware of sickness, old age, death, sannyasins. He should be kept in such a way... almost blind to these realities, because anything can trigger the idea of renouncing the world. The king said, "Don't be worried. That much care I can take."

Three great palaces were made for him for different seasons, so he never felt the heat or the cold or too much rain. All kinds of comforts were arranged. The gardeners were ordered: "He should not be allowed to see a dead leaf, a flower that is withering away, so in the night, clean the garden completely of all old flowers, old leaves. He should remain only aware of youth, of young flowers."

He was surrounded by all the beautiful girls of the kingdom as he became of age. His whole time was nothing but pleasure, entertainment, music, dancing, beautiful women - and he had not seen anybody sick.

It was at the age of twenty-nine... there used to be an annual affair, a kind of youth festival, and the prince had to inaugurate it; he had been inaugurating it for years; roads were closed, people had to keep their old men and women behind doors. But this year.... The story is very beautiful: up to now, it seems to be a historical thing. Beyond this point something of mythology enters into it, but the mythology is more important than the historical facts.

The story is, that the gods in heaven.... You must be made aware that Jainism and Buddhism don't believe in one god, they believe that every being is going to be a god, finally. Zarathustra will agree with them: to be a god is everybody's potential. How long he takes depends on him, but that is his destiny. And millions of people have reached to that point: they don't have physical bodies, they live in eternity, in immortality.

The gods in heaven became very much disturbed that almost twenty-nine years have passed; a man who is supposed to be a great, enlightened being is being prevented by his father. To be a great emperor is meaningless, in comparison to becoming the greatest awakened man in history, because that will raise the consciousness of humanity and the whole universe.

I say this is non-historical but mythology is more significant, because it shows that the whole existence is interested in your growth, that existence is not indifferent to you. And if you are very close to blossoming, existence will be ready to bring your spring as soon as possible. Existence has a vested interest in your becoming awakened because your awakening is going to awaken many people.

And as a general rule, the whole consciousness of humanity will be affected by it. It will leave its imprint of grandeur on every intelligent human being. Perhaps it may create the longing for the same in many, perhaps the seed may start sprouting. Perhaps that which is dormant will become active, dynamic.

That's why I say this mythological part is far more significant than the historical facts. It may be pure story, but it is tremendously symbolic.

The roads were closed, so the gods decided that one god would appear first as a sick man, coughing, by the side of the golden chariot in which Gautam Buddha was going to inaugurate the annual youth festival. Buddha could not believe what had happened to this man. So much care had been taken of him; the greatest physicians of the day had been taking care of him; he had not known any disease and he had not known anyone around him to be sick.

Another god entered into the charioteer, because Buddha asked the charioteer, "What has happened to this man?" The god answered from the charioteer's mouth: "This happens to everybody.

Sooner or later, man starts becoming weak, sick, old." When he was saying this they saw an old man - another god - and the charioteer said, "Look, that is what happens to everybody. Youth is not eternal. It is ephemeral."

Buddha was very shocked. Just then they saw a third party of gods, carrying a dead man, a corpse, going to the funeral grounds, and Buddha said, "What has happened to this man?" And the charioteer said, "After old age, this is the end. The curtain falls. This man is dead."

Just behind that procession was coming a red-robed sannyasin and Buddha said, "Why is this man wearing red clothes, shaven head and looks very joyous, very healthy, has a shine in his eyes and a certain magnetism? Who is he? What has happened to him?"

The charioteer said, "This man, seeing sickness, disease, old age, death, renounced the world.

Before death comes, he wants to know the truth of life - whether life is going to survive after death or death is all, and everything finishes. He is a seeker of truth. He is a sannyasin."

This was like a lightning. Twenty-nine years of his father's efforts simply disappeared. He told the charioteer, "I am not going to inaugurate the youth festival, because where disease happens and death happens, what is the point of being young for few years? Somebody else can do it.

You turn back." And that very night, he escaped from the palace in search of truth.

The camel has changed into a lion. The metamorphosis has happened. Anything can trigger it, but one needs intelligence.

BUT IN THE LONELIEST DESERT THE SECOND METAMORPHOSIS OCCURS: THE SPIRIT HERE BECOMES A LION; IT WANTS TO CAPTURE FREEDOM AND BE LORD IN ITS OWN DESERT.

IT SEEKS HERE ITS ULTIMATE LORD: IT WILL BE AN ENEMY TO HIM AND TO ITS ULTIMATE GOD...

Now his search is for his ultimate godliness. Any other god will be an enemy to him. He is not going to bow down to any other god, he is going to be a lord unto himself. That is the spirit of the lion - absolute freedom certainly means freedom from god, freedom from so-called commandments, freedom from scriptures, freedom from any kind of morality imposed by others.

Certainly, there will arise a virtue, but that will be something coming from your own still, small voice.

Your freedom will bring responsibility, but that responsibility will not be imposed on you by anyone else:... IT WILL STRUGGLE FOR VICTORY WITH THE GREAT DRAGON.

WHAT IS THE GREAT DRAGON WHICH THE SPIRIT NO LONGER WANTS TO CALL LORD AND GOD? THE GREAT DRAGON IS CALLED 'THOU SHALT'. BUT THE SPIRIT OF THE LION SAYS 'I WILL!' Now there is no question of anybody else ordering him. Even God is no longer anybody he has to obey.

Zarathustra, somewhere, has a great statement: "God is dead and man is for the first time free."

With God being there, man can never be free. He can be politically free, he can be economically free, he can be socially free, but spiritually, he will remain a slave and he will remain just a puppet.

The very idea that God created man destroys all possibility of freedom. If he has created you, he can uncreate you. He has put you together, he can take you apart. If he is the creator, he has every possibility and potentiality to be a destroyer.

You cannot prevent him. You could not prevent him from creating you, how can you prevent him from destroying you? It is because of this that Gautam Buddha, Mahavira and Zarathustra, three great seers of the world, have denied the existence of God.

You will be surprised. Their argument for denying God is a very strange argument, but very significant. They say, "While God is there, man has no possibility of becoming totally free."

Man's freedom, his spiritual dignity, depends on there being no God. If God is there, then man will remain a camel, worshiping dead statues, worshiping somebody he has not known, somebody who has never been known by anybody - just a pure hypothesis. You are worshiping a hypothesis.

All your temples and churches and synagogues are nothing but monuments raised in honor of a hypothesis which is absolutely unproved, without any evidence. There exists no argument for God's existence as a person who created the world.

Zarathustra uses very strong language. He is a man of strong language. All authentic men have always been of strong language. He calls God, "the great dragon."

WHAT IS THE GREAT DRAGON WHICH THE SPIRIT NO LONGER WANTS TO CALL LORD AND GOD? THE GREAT DRAGON IS CALLED 'THOU SHALT'. All religious scriptures are included in these two words: "Thou shalt." You should do this and you should not do this. You are not free to choose what is right. It has been decided by people who have been dead for thousands of years for all the coming future, what is right and what is wrong.

A man who has a rebellious spirit - and without a rebellious spirit, the metamorphosis cannot happen - has to say: No, I will. I will do whatever my consciousness feels to be right, and I will not do whatever my consciousness feels to be wrong. Except my own being, there is no other guide for me. Except my own eyes, I am not going to believe in anyone else's eyes. I am not blind, and I am not an idiot.

I can see. I can think. I can meditate and I can find out for myself what is right and what is wrong.

My morality will be simply the shadow of my consciousness.

'THOU SHALT' LIES IN ITS PATH, SPARKLING WITH GOLD, A SCALE-COVERED BEAST, AND ON EVERY SCALE GLITTERS GOLDEN 'THOU SHALT.'

VALUES OF A THOUSAND YEARS GLITTER ON THE SCALES, AND THUS SPEAKS THE MIGHTIEST OF ALL DRAGONS: ALL THE VALUES OF THINGS - GLITTER ON ME.

ALL VALUES HAVE ALREADY BEEN CREATED, AND ALL CREATED VALUES - ARE IN ME.

TRULY, THERE SHALL BE NO MORE "I WILL"!' THUS SPEAKS THE DRAGON.

All the religions, all the religious heads are included in the dragon. They all say, that all values have been created, there is no need for you to decide anymore. Everything has been decided for you by wiser people than you. There is no need of "I will."

But without "I will" there is no freedom. You remain a camel, and that's what all the vested interests - religious, political and social - want you to be; just camels; ugly, without any dignity, without any grace, without any soul, just ready to serve, very willing to be slaves. The very idea of freedom has not happened to them. And these are not philosophical statements. These are truths.

Has the idea of freedom ever happened to the Hindus, or the Christians, or the Buddhists, or the Mohammedans? No. They all say with one voice: "Everything has been decided already. We have simply to follow. And those who follow are virtuous and those who don't follow will fall into the hell-fire for eternity."

MY BROTHERS, WHY IS THE LION NEEDED IN THE SPIRIT? WHY DOES THE BEAST OF BURDEN, THAT RENOUNCES AND IS REVERENT, NOT SUFFICE? Zarathustra is saying that your so-called saints are nothing but perfect camels. They have said yes to the dead traditions, dead conventions, dead scriptures, dead gods, and because they are perfect camels, imperfect camels worship them.

Naturally.

TO CREATE NEW VALUES - EVEN THE LION IS INCAPABLE OF THAT: BUT TO CREATE ITSELF FREEDOM FOR NEW CREATION - THAT THE MIGHT OF THE LION CAN DO.

The lion cannot create himself new values but he can create the freedom, the opportunity in which new values can be created. And what are the new values?

For example, the new man cannot believe in any discrimination amongst human beings. That will be a new value: All human beings are one, in spite of their color, in spite of their race, in spite of their geographies, in spite of their histories. Just being human is enough.

The new value should be: There should be no nations at all because they have been the cause of all wars.

There should be no organized religions, because they have been preventing individual search. They go on handing over to people ready-made truths, and truth is not a toy, you cannot get it ready-made.

There is no factory that manufactures it and there is no market where it is available. You will have to search for it in the deepest silences of your own heart. And except you, nobody else can go there.

Religion is individual - this is a new value.

Nations are ugly, religious organizations are irreligious, churches and temples and synagogues and gurudwaras are just ridiculous. The whole existence is sacred. The whole existence is the temple.

And wherever you sit silently, meditatively, lovingly, you create a temple of consciousness around you. You need not go anywhere to worship because there is nobody higher than your consciousness to whom you owe any worship.

TO CREATE FREEDOM FOR ITSELF AND A SACRED NO EVEN TO DUTY: THE LION IS NEEDED FOR THAT, MY BROTHERS.

You have been told continuously that duty is a great value. In fact, it is a four-letter, a dirty word. If you love your wife because it is your duty, then you don't love. You love your duty, you don't love your wife. If you love your mother because it is your duty, you don't love your mother. Duty destroys all that is beautiful in man - love, compassion, joy. People even laugh because it is their duty.

I have heard that in one office the boss used to call all the people, just before the office day began, into his room. He knew only three jokes, and every day he will tell one joke, and it was, of course, absolutely necessary that everybody laughs. It was a duty. And they were bored with those jokes because they have heard them thousands of times, but still they would laugh as if they were hearing it for the first time. One day, when he told the joke, everybody laughed - only a girl who was a typist did not laugh.

The boss said, "What is the matter with you? Did you hear the joke or not?" She said, "The joke?

I am resigning from this post. I have joined some other office. Now it is no longer a duty for me to laugh at a joke that I have heard at least ten thousand times. Let all these idiots laugh, because these poor fellows still have to remain in this office."

Teachers want students to respect them because it is their duty. I was a professor and the education commission of India invited a few professors from all over India to participate in a conference in New Delhi on important issues which were becoming more and more troublesome in every educational institute.

The first was: that students don't pay any respect to the professors. Many professors spoke on it, saying, "Something has to be done urgently. Because unless there is respect, the whole educational system will fall apart."

I could not understand what kind of discussion this was because not a single person had objected or argued on the point. I was the youngest person and I was called because the chairman of the education committee, D. S. Kothari, had heard me while he was visiting a university. He was one of the prominent scientists of India. I was very junior and it was a conference of old, senior people.

But I said, "It seems I have to speak on this subject because all these professors are insisting on one thing, that every student has a duty to be respectful towards the teacher, and none of them has said that the teacher has to be deserving of respect. My own experience in the university is that not a single professor is worthy of any respect. And if students are not being respectful, to impose it as a duty will be absolutely ugly and fascist. I am against it. I would like the commission to decide that teachers should be worthy and deserving, and respect will follow automatically.

"Whenever there is someone who is beautiful, people's eyes immediately recognize the beauty.

Whenever there is someone who has some character, some dignity, people simply respect. It is not a question of demanding or making it a rule, that every student should respect.

"The university is not part of your armies. The university should teach every student to be free, to be alert, to be conscious. And the whole burden is on the professors to prove themselves worthy of it."

They were all angry with me. D. S. Kothari told me after the conference, "They were very angry with you and they were asking me, why did you call him? knowing perfectly well that he cannot agree on any point with anybody and anyway, he is so junior and this is a conference of senior professors."

I told D.S. Kothari, "They are senior professors but not a single one of them was able to answer my question that I had raised, 'Why you should hanker for respect?' In fact, only people who don't deserve respect desire that they should be respected. People who deserve respect get it. It is simply natural. But to make it a duty is ugly."

Zarathustra is right:

TO CREATE FREEDOM FOR ITSELF AND A SACRED NO EVEN TO DUTY: THE LION IS NEEDED FOR THAT.... TO SEIZE THE RIGHT TO NEW VALUES - THAT IS THE MOST TERRIBLE PROCEEDING FOR A WEIGHT-BEARING AND REVERENTIAL SPIRIT.

ONCE IT LOVED 'THOU SHALT' AS ITS HOLIEST THING: NOW IT HAS TO FIND ILLUSION AND CAPRICE EVEN IN THE HOLIEST, THAT IT MAY STEAL FREEDOM FROM ITS LOVE: THE LION IS NEEDED FOR THIS THEFT.

BUT TELL ME, MY BROTHERS, WHAT CAN THE CHILD DO THAT EVEN THE LION CANNOT?

WHY MUST THE PREYING LION STILL BECOME A CHILD?

THE CHILD IS INNOCENCE AND FORGETFULNESS, A NEW BEGINNING, A SPORT, A SELF- PROPELLING WHEEL, A FIRST MOTION, A SACRED YES.

YES, A SACRED YES IS NEEDED, MY BROTHERS, FOR THE SPORT OF CREATION: THE SPIRIT NOW WILLS its own WILL, THE SPIRIT SUNDERED FROM THE WORLD NOW WINS its own WORLD.

I HAVE NAMED YOU THREE METAMORPHOSES OF THE SPIRIT: HOW THE SPIRIT BECAME A CAMEL, AND THE CAMEL A LION AND THE LION, AT LAST A CHILD.

The child is the highest peak of evolution as far as consciousness is concerned. But the child is only a symbol; it does not mean that children are the highest state of being. A child is used symbolically because it is not knowledgeable. It is innocent, and because it is innocent it is full of wonder, and because its eyes are full of wonder, its soul longs for the mysterious. A child is a beginning, a sport; and life should be always a beginning and always a playfulness; always a laughter and never seriousness.

A FIRST MOTION, A SACRED YES. Yes, a sacred yes is needed, but the sacred yes, can come only after a sacred no. The camel also says yes but it is the yes of a slave. He cannot say no. His yes is meaningless.

The lion says no! But he cannot say yes. It is against his very nature. It reminds him of the camel.

Somehow he has freed himself from the camel and to say yes naturally reminds him again - the yes of the camel and the slavery. No, the animal in the camel is incapable of saying no. In the lion, it is capable of saying no but is incapable of saying yes.

The child knows nothing of the camel, knows nothing of the lion. That's why Zarathustra says: "A child is innocence and forgetfulness..." His yes is pure and he has every potential to say no. If he does not say it, it is because he trusts not because he is afraid; not out of fear, but out of trust. And when yes comes out of trust, it is the greatest metamorphosis, the greatest transformation that one can hope for.

These three symbols are beautiful to remember.

Remember that you are where the camel is, and remember that you have to move towards the lion, and remember that you have not to stop at the lion. You have to move even further, to a new beginning, to innocence and to a sacred yes; to a child.

The real sage again becomes a child.

The circle is complete - from the child back to the child. But the difference is great. The child, as such, is ignorant. He will have to pass through the camel, through the lion, and come back again to the child; and this child is not exactly the old child, because it is not ignorant. It has moved through all the experiences of life: of slavery, of freedom, of an impotent yes, of a ferocious no, and yet it has forgotten all that. It is not ignorance but innocence. The first child was the beginning of a journey.

The second childhood is the completion of the journey.

In India, in the days when Zarathustra was writing these statements in Iran, the UPANISHADS were being written, which have the same understanding. In the UPANISHADS, the brahmin is one who comes to know the ultimate reality. Not by birth is anybody a brahmin, but only by knowing the brahm, the ultimate reality, one becomes a brahmin; and another name of brahmin in the UPANISHADS is, dwij, twice born. The first birth is of the body and the second birth is of the consciousness.

The first birth makes you human, the second birth makes you a god.

... THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA.

Okay, Maneesha?

Yes, Osho.