.... SANSARA, the world, is nothing but an effort to fill this inner vacuum. Fill it with money, fill it with women, fill it with men, fill it with power, fill it with anything - big houses, fill it with fame - but fill it. Go on throwing things into it - so one day you can feel you are not just nothing, you ARE somebody, you ARE something. But it never happens, it CANNOT happen. Because the abyss is...

... - anything! Can you fill it?' And the emperor said, 'Yes! You seem to be mad! Why can't it be filled?' He called one of his viziers and told the vizier, 'You fill this man's begging-bowl with money.' And the vizier went. It was a small begging-bowl, but soon the king was getting afraid. Money was being poured, and the moment you would pour it, it would disappear. And the begging-bowl remained empty, and...

... you forgot your inner nothingness. Now, the desire fulfilled, the car in the porch, the woman in your bed, the money in your bank-balance - again, excitement disappears. Again the emptiness is there, yawning within you, ready to eat you up. Again you have to create another desire, to escape from this yawning abyss, from this death that is waiting for you there. It can swallow you in a single moment...

..., you may not even say it to yourself, you may not accept it. Because it is so frightening, that you had been working for seven years to raise enough money to purchase a house - now you have purchased the beautiful house in the mountains, and suddenly, the moment the house is yours and you have the papers in your hands, you are no more in-terested. But this is how things are - an intelligent person...

.... Arrange a group, and I will give you all the money needed. Yes, this peak HAS to be conquered. Standing there, just in front of us, it is a challenge.' The priest tried to convince the king that it is futile - 'Even if we climb it, what is going to happen?' He said, 'That is not the point. Who bothers about what is going to happen? The climb itself is going to be beautiful.' And the valley was agog. And...

... thousand by-paths. Somebody may go away through money, somebody may go through power, somebody may go through sex, somebody may go through alcohol, drugs - a thousand paths, by-paths. But they basically belong to one direction - going without, going withoutwards, going outside. Going farther and farther away from the center towards the periphery. And that periphery exists not. So you go on and on and on...

... disappeared. A religious person is a desireless person. And remember, let me remind you again: Don't start desiring desirelessness. A religious person is one who has known 'I am not'. When 'I am not', then what is the point of going on collecting things called MINE? It is 'I' that goes on collecting things which are mine - 'my house, my wife, my husband, my money, my prestige, my respectability, my church...

... not renounced anything. Because the basic disease still exists. It used to claim money before, now it claims renunciation. But the 'I', the ego, is still there. Hence, Hui-neng is right: 'All doctrine by nature is dark.' Don't create doctrines; Zen is against all doctrines. Zen says: Just look into reality, that's enough. That's why no scripture is needed. Zen says: Burn all scriptures - because...

... scriptures will just put new ideas into your head, for new peaks to be climbed. Scriptures will give you new desires, new objects, for your becoming, for TANHA. Here you get finished - one day you understand that it is meaningless to rush for money - but then you start rushing for meditation. One day you start seeing the pointlessness of this world. Then you start thinking of God. Desire has moved, but not...

... may be called love, your play may be called politics, your play may be called money. You may be playing in the market, or in New Delhi or in Washington - but if you are still playing then you are childish. If you are still involved in games and taking games very seriously - taking games so seriously that you are ready to fight, kill or be killed - then you are very childish, you are not a grown-up...

.... And the intelligent mind is in tune with the river of life, flows with it. A preoccupied mind is playing games, and playing them very seriously. You can go into the marketplace and see people playing the game of money, and very seriously. And they will die and all the money will be left here - and while they were here they played the game so seriously. Go into a capital town and see how people are...

..., you still chop wood, you still carry water - but with great serenity. You still laugh, you still love - but with a totally different quality. Now nothing matters. If the woman leaves you, you say good-bye with great gratitude. If your money is stolen, you say, 'Okay, somebody must have needed it.' You are not serious any more, that's all. That seriousness has disappeared. You still continue to play...

... 'mine' we create an 'I'. The more you have, the more you can call 'my', the bigger 'I' you will have. The bigger the territory of the 'my', the stronger will be the 'I'. So when you are a president of a country, you have an 'I' like a tower touching heaven. When you are no more a president of a country, you shrink; that tower disappears, you become just a stump of a cut tree. When you have money you...

... walk with strength. When the money disappears you start wavering. When you have money in your pocket you don't feel so cold, money gives such warmth. When the money disappears from the pocket, suddenly you feel cold and shivering. The warmth is gone, the heat is gone, the energy is gone. Those children are playing, and each is defending his castle, and the castle is made of sand. All castles are made...

... castle: you say, 'Come on, all of you! and help me to punish this man.' And yes, people will come and help you, because they have to protect THEIR castles too. So this is an agreement; that's how you punish the criminal. That's how thousands of people are in the prisons being punished by you all, because they disturbed somebody's castle. Somebody has stolen somebody's money, or somebody has taken...

... your money, he has taken somebody else's money - but all those who are there will jump on him, will beat him, throw him on the ground and stamp on him. And they will say, 'He is a thief. We have to punish him.' But why are you punishing? - he has not taken your money. No, he has not taken your money, but he is a danger - if you allow him to take somebody else's money, some day he is going to take...

... your money too. Then. So it is better to be cautious, it is better to prevent it from the very beginning. Hence the law exists. The law is always in favour of the owners, the law is always in favour of the people who have property, the law is always capitalistic. It makes no difference - even in Russia, where capitalism has disappeared, the law is all for the state, because now the state owns...

... now! They are exploiting in as many ways as possible. You will not believe it, but even today in India there are five million human beings almost functioning as slaves. They are called bonded laborers. Rich people give them money in advance, and then they give them work, dangerous work in coal mines, in marble mines, and they are paid such a small amount of money per day that they are not able to...

... back that one-thousand-rupee advance, and until he pays that he has to remain in the coal mine. People have suffered their whole lives in a strange, tricky slavery. Now, nobody can directly call them slaves, but the fact is they are bonded laborers; they will die, they will never get the money to pay the advance. The advance is given just the same way as in the past human beings were auctioned. You...

... seers were not poor people; they had many wives, they had plenty of land, and their disciples worked on the land to pay for their discipleship. They gathered much money, and that money was used to purchase women. Gadiwan Raikva was one of the most famous self-styled, so-called saints. What kind of saint is ready to purchase human beings as a commodity? But because he was defeated and the king gave...

... more money for the woman, he was very angry -- and all these people have been saying, "Don't be angry, don't be greedy." He was waiting for his chance to take revenge -- and these people have been talking about, "Drop all revengefulness, be kind, be compassionate, love your enemies." After many years the king who had purchased the woman became fed up with his kingdom and riches...

... and the whole crowd of women, and he wanted some peace of mind. Forgetting the incident that had happened twenty years before, he went to Gadiwan Raikva to find some peace of mind, taking lots of money, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, to offer to the saint. He had taken with him his prime minister. He touched the feet of Gadiwan Raikva and offered the whole lot of money. But Gadiwan Raikva was still...

... boiling with rage. Twenty years had not made any difference, the fire was still alive. He pushed aside the king and said, "Get lost, and take all your money!" The king could not believe it. He asked his prime minister, "What is the matter? Why is this man behaving so angrily? I used to think he was a great saint." The prime minister said, "He is a great saint, but you don't...

... nothing to do with anybody else; there is no question of any revolution. Mohammed said to his disciples -- and they are still following his idea and being poor -- he told his disciples one of the most absurd ideas: "You should not take interest on money, and you should not give interest on money." Now the whole world of economics depends on interest. The more the money moves, the more money...

... you have. That's why another name for money is currency: it has to be a current, continuously moving. But why should it move if I am not going to gain any interest on it? Why should I give it to anybody and take the risk? He may not return it. So Mohammedans don't give interest on money, they don't take interest on money. Their whole economics is basically false, goes against the whole science of...

... economics. The game of money depends on interest. Mohammedans have remained poor, utterly poor, and they are still following an out-of-date idea, thinking it is something spiritual. All the religions are against money. All the religions are praising the poor. When you praise the poor, you are destroying all his possibilities of becoming rich. When you talk against money, you create a non-productive...

... convert anybody to Brahmanism. Neither are the warriors, the kshatriyas, willing to accept anyone -- they are high caste -- nor the business people; they are the richest people. They don't want anybody to be converted, unnecessarily sharing their money. The only class that remains is the sudras. But nobody would like to be converted to be a sudra, because they have a definite work to do: cleaning the...

... be carried by people. He does not need to walk! He's not crippled, he's rich." On one hand, millions and millions are dying of starvation, and on the other hand, a few people have gathered all the money. Even their children have to be carried, because they can afford it. On one hand people are dying in the streets.... In the cold winter, three million Americans are living on the streets...

... bishop. But the parrot died. It was a great despair how to find another such parrot, but he went to the pet shop and he told the sad story of his parrot dying. The shopkeeper said, "It will cost much, but I have the right parrot for you -- far more refined than the one that has died." The bishop said, "Money is not the problem. You just show me the parrot." He took the bishop inside...

... tendency." And in the whole eternity ... having no fun. The psychologists say that poor people create more children for the simple reason that they don't have any other fun. To go to the cinema you need money, to go to the circus you need money, to go to Chowpatty Beach you need money. Wherever there is fun, you need money. So just go to bed -- that is the only fun without money, nobody asks for...

... money. What is God doing? -- neither can he go to Chowpatty nor can he go to a circus nor to a cinema hall. Sitting eternally bored.... Just created one son? It has many implications: perhaps he was so frustrated with this one son that he became a celibate -- "I am not going to create any more idiots." Jesus was teaching on the earth for just three years. His age was only thirty-three, and...

... it, so whenever they saw some beggar standing before his house they knew -- "This man seems to be new, from some other village. Tell him, `You won't get anything from there.'" The man's wife was dying, but he wouldn't call the doctor. He had one friend only, because to have many friends means unnecessary insecurity -- somebody may ask for money, somebody may ask for something. He had only...

... die, she is going to die. You will unnecessarily put me in trouble ... paying the fee to the doctor for the medicine, this and that. I am a religious man, and if she is not going to die she will recover without any doctor. The real doctor is God, nobody else. And I believe in God because he never asks for a fee or anything." The wife died. His friend said, "Look, just for a little money...

... you didn't call a doctor." He said, "Little money? Money is money; it is never a question of a little. And death comes to everybody." The friend was a little angry. He said, "This is too much. I am also a miser, but if my wife is dying at least I will call a pharmacist -- but I will call somebody. But you are really hard. What are you going to do with all this money?" He...

...;Friendship is one thing, but this secret I cannot tell. And the secret is such that you cannot use it when you are dying -- it has to be used before, because you have to carry all your money and all your gold and diamonds and everything to the river." He said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Yes, and go into a small boat in the middle of the river and jump with all your money and be...

... drowned -- so you have taken it. Try! Nobody has tried. If you don't succeed there is no harm, because everybody goes without it. If you succeed, then you will be the pioneer, the first one who reaches paradise with his whole bag of money. And all those saints will be looking with wide-open eyes -- `This man has done something!'" But the friend said, "That means you have to die." He said...

..., "Naturally, and you have to be in good health. When you are dying, then it will be very difficult to carry that heavy load. I am going to do it soon, because my wife is gone, now nobody is there." But even if you jump in the ocean with all your money, the money will remain in the ocean, your body will remain in the ocean. You will have to go alone, alone just as consciousness. Nothing...

... they will be the second highest class. And money he has given to the third: the businessmen, the vaishyas. To the fourth he has given nothing -- except slavery. You can see the cunningness... he divides. He does not give money to brahmins, or temporal power, because then three-fourths of the society will be against them, and it will not be possible to control. And if they have also spiritual power...

..., material power, money, then there will be resentment, anger, violence -- there will be riots. So to brahmins he gives the holy power -- they are the highest, the holiest -- but he does not give anything temporal to them. He gives the temporal power to the warriors. It is satisfying, because they are going to be the kings; brahmins cannot be the kings. And who cares about spiritual power? So let them have...

... spiritual power; it is almost like having nothing, just a nominal quality of being superior, so the warriors are not angry about it. On the contrary, they are happy that one-fourth of the society will never be in conflict with them -- they are already higher, they have nothing more to gain. And the warriors are the most powerful people. To the third he gives money and all other worldly things. These are...

... the people who cannot fight, who are not warriors -- but they can earn money, they can produce wealth. You will be surprised to know that in India all the kings, before India became a slave country, were indebted to the rich people. From where are they going to get money? -- just by borrowing. They can pay when they invade some other country; otherwise they have to borrow from the business people...

.... And the business people are happy; they have all the material things, money... Not only that, kings are borrowing from them, brahmins have to depend on them for everything -- so let them believe that they are higher... but basically the business people hold the power, they have the money. And against these three classes the poor fourth has no power to fight. They are deprived of all education...

..., deprived even of living in the city; they have to live outside the town. They cannot take water from the city well -- they have to make their own wells or carry water from the river. They are completely cut off from the society. They have just to come and serve, and do all the ugliest things that nobody else wants to do. And three powerful sections are there to go on repressing them; they have money...

... orthodox. He believes that every single word in THE BIBLE is holy, is from God's own mouth. They were in conspiracy together to destroy the commune. Just the other day I received the news that now they are making a memorial in The Dalles; bishops and politicians and all kinds of leading, prominent citizens are contributing money -- a big memorial, a memorial that they have become victorious, that they...

... the whole mess. Man is full if he is in tune with the universe; if he is not in tune with the universe then he is empty, utterly empty. And out of that emptiness comes greed. Greed is to fill it: by money, by houses, by furniture, by friends, by lovers -- by anything, because one cannot live as emptiness. It is horrifying, it is a ghost life. If you are empty and there is nothing inside you, it is...

..., `Where are you taking the bicycle?' "I can leave it anywhere. I go to see a movie -- I don't put it on a bicycle stand, because then you have to pay money. I put it anywhere, and it is always there -- when I come back it is always there. Everybody knows that it is a trouble. And even if you can get it to your home you cannot ride on it in the city -- you will be caught. So it is better not to...

... simply means you do not live just to collect things. Whenever you need something you can have it. But there are mad people all over the world, and they are collecting... Somebody is collecting money although he never uses it. That is strange. In the commune, we had made a sticker for cars: "Moses earns, Jesus saves, Osho spends." A thing has to be a utility; if it is not a utility then there...

... be existential. Let go, and move closer to existence in silence and peace, in meditation. And one day you will see you are so full -- overfull, overflowing -- of joy, of blissfulness, of benediction. You have so much of it that you can give it to the whole world and yet it will not be exhausted. That day, for the first time you will not feel any greed -- for money, for food, for things, for...

...The High and Low of Jewish Money Power...

... The High and Low of Jewish Money Power The High and Low of Jewish Money Power The International Jew, by Henry Ford "Economic crises were created by us for the Gentiles only by the withdrawal of money from circulation . . . . The present issue of money does not coincide with the need per capita, and consequently it cannot satisfy all the needs of the working classes. . ...

...;. . . You know that gold currency was detrimental to the governments that accepted it, for it could not satisfy the requirements for money, since we took as much gold as possible out of circulation." — Protocol 20.   Jewish high finance first touched the United States through the Rothschilds. Indeed it may be said that the United States founded the Rothschild fortune. And, as...

... so often occurs in the tale of Jewish riches, the fortune was founded in war. The first twenty million dollars the Rothschilds ever had to speculate with was money paid for Hessian troops to fight against the American colonies. Since that first indirect connection with American affairs, the Rothschilds have often invaded the money affairs of the country, though always by agents. None of the...

... finance has been labeled for all time as "blood money"; and the mysterious magic surrounding large transactions between governments and individuals, by which individual controllers of large wealth were made the real rulers of the people, has been largely stripped away and the plain facts disclosed. The Rothschild method still holds good, however, in that Jewish institutions are affiliated with...

... enable Jewish bankers to excel in the more highly specialized forms of finance, such as foreign exchange, they also enable them to exercise almost complete control over international money movements. There is no question whatever of International Jewish Finance being deeply concerned in the matters of war and revolution. This is never denied as to the past; but it is just as true of the present. The...

... Jews in doing business; it is opposition to an apparent program of total control which is sought not for the general good, but for a racial benefit. It was only a few years ago that the banking house of Kuhn, Loeb & Company was commonly regarded as being destined in the near future to win complete financial supremacy in Wall Street as an underwriting and money-lending institution. There were many...

... departments: in movements of men, and in movements of money. No government, no church, no school of thought could order the movement of 250,000, half a million, or even a million people, from one part of the world to another, shifting them as a general shifts his army, but the Jews can do that. They are doing it now. It is only a matter of ships. From Poland, where Jewish special privileges have been...

... at by analogy: Since her father is entitled to have the money of her betrothal57  and he is also entitled to have the money of her fine58  [the two payments should be compared to one another]: As the money of her betrothal59  belongs to her father even after she had been betrothed60  and divorced,61  so also the money of her fine should belong to her father even after she...

..., in respect of murder, Lev. XXIV, 21 does not speak. Since the text (Lev. XXIV, 21) speaks of the death penalty as the only punishment for murder. V. supra 35a, B.K. 35a, Sanh. 79b. This shows that no distinction is made in the case of murder between a downward movement or an upward movement, but in every case no money payment can be imposed in addition to the major punishment. And the same...

...; v. Tosaf. The main difficulty is presented by the second answer of Ram B. Hama. (v. p. 209, n. 11). The following may be offered in explanation: To revert to the very beginning of the discussion the Talmud, assuming that the verse 'you shall take no fine' denotes that no money payment is to be imposed in addition to a death penalty, asked, what need was there for this verse, in view of the verse...

... 'and yet no harm follow' (v. p. 205). There upon follows the reply that this verse meant to exclude the commutation of the death penalty for money payment. Then the question arises, what need was there for R. Ishmael b. R. Johanan b. Beroka to resort, for what practically amounts to the same ruling, to the verse 'None devoted'? To this Rami b. Hama in his first reply, answers that he needed this...

... latter verse in the case where the murder was committed in a downward course. This reply, however, is rebutted by Raba, as such a contingency is already provided for in the verse 'he that smiteth etc.' This forces Rami b Hama to fall back on the original assumption that the verse 'you shall take no ransom' comes to teach that no money payment may be imposed in addition to the death penalty; and as to...

... 'extend the rule to the case of a fine (v. Shittah Mekubbezeth. a.l.). This answer, however, the Talmud did not regard as satisfactory according to Rabbah, who held that a fine may be imposed in addition to the death penalty. On his view the verse 'you shall take no ransom' cannot be taken as referring to the imposition of a money payment in addition to the death penalty. Consequently, he would be...

... forced back on the alternative explanation that it serves to teach that no death penalty may be commuted for money payment and thus the question of supra p. 208 'what need is there of "None devoted"' remains. To this the answer is, that Rabbah would agree with the first Tanna who is in dispute with R. Hanania b. 'Akabia]. Na'arah, v. Glos Had she not been divorced, the offender is put to death and...

... be preferred, since] the body of the one9  had undergone a change while that of the other10  had not.11 As to R. Jose the Galilean,12  whence does he draw that logical inference?13  — He derives it from the following where it was taught: He shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins14  [implies] that this [payment] shall be the same sum as the dowry of the...

... Babylonian Talmud: Baba Kamma 118         Previous Folio / Baba Kamma Directory / Tractate List / Navigate Site Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Baba Kamma Folio 118a a cow was lying,1  and a river [subsequently] flooded it, R. Eleazar following his line of reasoning,2  while the Rabbis followed their own view.3 MISHNAH. IF A MAN HAS ROBBED ANOTHER, OR BORROWED MONEY...

... ruling not obvious? — No, for we have to consider the case where he said to him, 'Take this article in deposit with you as I intend departing to the wilderness,' and the other said to him, 'I similarly intend departing to the wilderness, so that if you want me to return it to you there,9  I will be able to do so. MISHNAH. IF ONE MAN SAYS TO ANOTHER, 'I HAVE ROBBED YOU, I HAVE BORROWED MONEY...

... FROM YOU, I RECEIVED A DEPOSIT FROM YOU BUT I DO NOT KNOW WHETHER I HAVE [ALREADY] RESTORED IT TO YOU OR NOT,' HE HAS TO MAKE RESTITUTION. BUT IF HE SAYS, 'I DO NOT KNOW WHETHER I HAVE ROBBED YOU, WHETHER I HAVE BORROWED MONEY FROM YOU, WHETHER I RECEIVED A DEPOSIT FROM YOU,' HE IS NOT LIABLE TO MAKE RESTITUTION. GEMARA. It was stated:10  [If one man alleges:] 'You have a maneh11  of mine...

...,'12  and the other says, 'I am not certain about it,'13  R. Huna and Rab Judah hold that he is liable,14  but R. Nahman and R. Johanan say that he is exempt.15  R. Huna and Rab Judah maintain that he is liable, because where a positive plea is met by an uncertain one, the positive plea prevails, but R. Nahman and R. Johanan say that he is exempt, since money [claimed] must remain...

... in the possession of the holder.16  We have learnt: BUT IF HE SAYS, 'I DO NOT KNOW WHETHER I HAVE BORROWED MONEY FROM YOU,' HE IS NOT LIABLE TO MAKE RESTITUTION. Now, how are we to understand this? If we say that there was no demand on the part of the plaintiff, then the first clause must surely refer to a case where he did not demand it, [and if so] why is there liability? It must therefore...

...) deposited with him.' Against his will. On account of the insecurity there. Is this not against the teaching of the Mishnah? By the passage quoted. Which prima facie means 'if you will be in need of money there;' it was therefore made known in the Mishnah that he may compel the creditor to accept payment there. Keth. 12b; B.M. 97b and 116b. A hundred zuz; v. Glos. I.e., 'You have to restore me a maneh...

...  we suppose the thief to have counted the money and thrown it into the purse of the other party,27  whereas in the latter statement28  we suppose him to have counted it and thrown it into the hand of the other party.29  Or if you wish, I may alternatively still say that in the one case28  as well as in the other30  the robber counted the money and threw it into the purse...

... of the other party,27  but while on the latter case28  we suppose some money31  to have been in the purse,32  the former30  deals with a case where no other money was in the purse. MISHNAH. IT IS NOT RIGHT TO BUY EITHER WOOL OR MILK OR KIDS FROM THE SHEPHERDS,33  NOR WOOD NOR FRUITS FROM THOSE WHO ARE IN CHARGE OF FRUITS.33  IT IS HOWEVER PERMITTED TO BUY FROM...

... proprietor even after counting the money could hardly have realised the restoration. As we apprehend that these articles were not their own but were misappropriated by them. As they were authorised there to do so. The name of the plain extending along the Mediterranean coast from Jaffa to Carmel; cf. Men. 87a. [The sheep there were plentiful and cheap owing to the rich pasturage.] For even if the wool was...

... succeeding in life; you have money, you have prestige, respectability, but somehow you are disappearing in it. You are losing your being, your peace, your rest. A restlessness, a great restlessness, a feverishness arises. These are the most difficult days. These are the days when a person becomes physically, mentally ill. Anxiety arises, anguish arises, psychosis and all kinds of neurosis enter into your...

... - seeing this, the ghost story that you have been reading for millions of lives simply disappears leaving no trace behind. This is what Zen people call the original face, or, the original realization. The fifth question: I AM VERY MUCH IMPRESSED BY WHAT YOU SAY AND WANT TO DONATE QUITE A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF MONEY TO YOUR WORK. BUT I WANT TO GIVE THE MONEY DIRECTLY TO YOU. IS THIS POSSIBLE? DON'T BE IN...

... SUCH A HURRY. Money is great. Impressions come and go - money remains. Impressions are not so substantial, money is substantial. If you listen to my advice, don't donate - because tomorrow you may repent. My feeling is that you will repent. This is all hypnosis. You got hypnotized. Wait! Give it time, and soon you will understand what I am saying. Money is not what is needed here. I require your life...

...! Less than that won't do. I require you, your being. Money you can keep - don't keep yourself. Then you have understood some thing. But the way the question is formulated shows you have not understood me at all. Otherwise, why this hankering to come and give the money directly to me? Do you want to show how - much money you are giving? Then you have not understood. Then you want somehow... as if you...

... are obliging me' You want to be appreciated? You will not get any appreciation from me. If you want to give out of your love - good. But don't brag about it. No need even to talk about it. Don't even wait for a thankyou. In fact, if we accept money from you, you should be thankful to me. We could have rejected. I am not obliged, you are obliged! You should thank us that we helped you to unburden...

... yourself. You have long been carrying this load - a substantial load - and we help you to put it down. Laxmi helps people! But there is no need to bring your money to me. Bring to me your mind. I am interested in that. And unless mind is dropped, money is not dropped. If you can donate a substantial amount. you must be having thousandfold more. People have too much, and they just give a little bit and...

... youth came by so much money, and he told her the whole story. Her romantic French heart was deeply moved. "Ah, mon petit cheri, quel sentiment!" she cried, and said in the circumstances she felt she ought to give him his money back. The idea thrilled the youth, and as he departed he kissed her and held out his hand. She reached for her jewelled purse and gave him a franc! HIS money! What do...

... you call substantial? You must be a miser. In the first place, when misers become impressed they start thinking about giving money. Mm? that is the indication of a miser, because that's all that he thinks is valuable. It is a miser's mind! If you are REALLY interested in what I am saying, you will think of something more significant than money. Why did you come to think about money? That must be the...

... most precious thing in your life. Naturally, when you become impressed by somebody you think, "I should give him the most precious thing." But money is not precious! And, know well, I am not averse to money. It is SO ordinary that there is no need even to be averse to it. Money is a utility. By giving money you will not be giving your heart. It may be a way of saving your heart. Then you...

... can think that "Look, I have given that much money." That may be a trick to befool yourself. Give your heart! And if by giving your heart your money also comes as a shadow, that is another matter. Then it will never be substantial. You may give your whole - all that you have - even then you will not call it substantial. Only the heart is substantial, nothing else. So if you want to give me...

... can understand it is hard for you, but it is harder for them. They cannot understand... they simply think that you have gone crazy. They may not say so, but they feel that something has gone wrong, because they live in a world, in an established pattern, where everything is judged according to money. If you are making money, you are doing something good. The more money you are getting, the more...

... valuable is your work. But out of sannyas you cannot get any money; in fact whatsoever you have got will be lost. So it is a disvalue. It has no market value - it is not a commodity. God has never been a commodity. And God has always been for crazy people; people who are not satisfied with power, prestige, money; people who really want something of the eternal - and are not concerned with the ephemeral...

... nobody was interested, but when it became an award-catching thing they were all for it, they all started praising it. But it was not because of the poetry but because of the award. People are interested in the results, not in the actual process of creativity. If you paint and don't earn money, you are crazy. If you earn money without doing anything, then you are talented. The most successful person is...

... one who earns much money without doing anything. And the failure is one who does much and earns nothing. I am a failure! (chuckling) They cannot understand because much is at stake; they have invested their whole life. So feel compassion for them. Your whole being should express your joy - that is the answer. Don't try to convince them - you cannot. If you try to be logical, they will be logical and...

.... DURING ONE OF THESE GATHERINGS A PUPIL WAS CAUGHT STEALING. Those pupils are also here - they are always everywhere, because man is so money-minded. And don't think that the one who was stealing was very much different from those from whom he was stealing; they were all in the same boat. Both are money-minded. One has the money, one does not have the money - that is the difference. But both are money...

...-minded. THE MATTER WAS REPORTED TO BANKEI WITH THE REQUEST THAT THE CULPRIT BE EXPELLED. BANKEI IGNORED THE CASE. Why did he ignore the case? Because both are money-minded. Both are thieves - one thief trying to take things away from another thief, that's all. In this world, if you hoard something you become a thief, if you have something you become a thief. There are two kinds of thieves in the world...

... ways through the rules. But there are a few people who are not so clever. Seeing that if they follow these rules they will never have anything, they drop the rules and they start doing illegal things. But everybody is a money maniac. That's why Bankei ignored the case. LATER THE PUPIL WAS CAUGHT IN A SIMILAR ACT, AND AGAIN BANKEI DISREGARDED THE MATTER. He knows that both are in the same boat; there...

... things go in the world. One who is not money-minded will ignore. THIS ANGERED THE OTHER PUPILS, WHO DREW UP A PETITION ASKING FOR THE DISMISSAL OF THE THIEF, STATING THAT OTHERWISE THEY WOULD LEAVE IN A BODY. Now, these people were not there to meditate at all. If you have come to meditate, you understand a few requirements - that you have to grow into less money-mindedness, that you have to attain a...

... certain detachedness from all your possessions. That it does not matter much that somebody has taken a few rupees - that it doesn't matter much, that it is not such a life-and-death affair. That you have to understand how the mind functions, how people are money-minded. You are against the thief because he has taken YOUR money. But how was it yours? You must have taken it from somebody else in some...

... other way - because nobody comes with money into the world, we all come empty-handed. So all that we possess we must be possessing, claiming, as our own. Nothing belongs to anybody. If a person has really come to meditate, this will be his attitude - that nothing belongs to anybody. He should start having less and less attachment to things. But these people were money-minded. And when you are money...

...-minded, naturally politics comes in. When they saw that the thief had been ignored twice, they must have thought, 'What kind of master is this? It seems he is in favour of the thief!' They could not understand why he is ignoring. He is ignoring just to show them that they have to drop their money-mindedness. Yes, his stealing is bad, but their money-mindedness is not good either. When they saw that...

... compassion for this man, for his lust for money. If they were real meditators they would have contributed some money and given it to this man - 'You please keep this money, rather than stealing.' That would have been an indication that they were there to meditate, to be transformed. But now they drew up a petition asking for the dismissal of the thief. Not only that - with a threatening, that if he is not...

... people always think they are wise. Now, these are all fools. They were not there to possess money, they were not there to have money - they were there to have something greater, something far higher. They have forgotten all about it. In fact, this man has given them an opportunity to see. If they were real meditators they would have gone to this man and thanked him - 'You have given us an opportunity...

... to see how much we cling to money. How much you have disturbed us! We have completely forgotten all about meditation, we have forgotten for what we have come here. We have forgotten this master Bankei.' They may have travelled for hundreds of miles, or thousands even - China is a big country. They must have travelled for months, because in those days travel was not so easy. They had come, they had...

... heard about this master and they had come from long faraway places to study meditation with him. And somebody steals, and they have forgotten all. All that? They should have thanked the thief: 'You have brought something into our consciousness - some mad attachment to money has bubbled up, has surfaced.' When Bankei says, 'You are wise brothers,' he is joking. He is saying, 'You are utter fools. But...