... giving titles to only a few people. I think he was the only Sir Seth in the whole of India: best amongst the best! He was not a king, but he was given the title of Raja - the king. He owned almost three-fourths of the buildings in the whole city. Even the Maharaja - Indore was a state, a beautiful state - even the Maharaja had to borrow money from Sir Seth Hukumchand. He had a huge amount of money and...

..., near the movie hall, before your customers if you are a shopkeeper, before your friends, before anybody to whom you have been bragging about your kindness and your compassion and your greatness. Beggars know perfectly well ... and it is not only one-sided - that only you are saying something else inside while giving him some money. The beggar is also saying something else inside, he also has masks...

... rupee?" He looked at my robe. There were no pockets. He said, "You are the worst fellow I have come across. And it seems you don't believe in God." I said, "You are right! I neither believe in money nor in God. You have to find somebody else who believes in money and who believes in God and who believes in respectability." I don't believe in anything. All these professors...

... year old. New models have come out.' I have to keep a hard, stony face. That keeps her afraid to mention the new car. If I relax a little bit every child starts asking for money. Servants, if I even just stand a little bit ..." He never looked at his own garden, he never looked at the beautiful flowers. I said, "What is the purpose of this garden? You never go inside the garden, you never...

... can have it for guests or others." So I moved into his house. Then I came to see a totally different man. I told him, "This is an ugly attitude. And you have enough money to purchase a new car, you have enough money to raise those poor servants' salaries a little bit, you have enough money to give some money to your own children for toys or for sweets or something. It is not going to make...

... continue. It will become an unconscious root. So you can go on changing your food - eat this, eat that, don't eat this - but it makes no difference, because the basic root remains there. Then if you stop stuffing yourself with food, you will start stuffing with something else. And there are many ways. If you stop eating too much you may start accumulating money. Then again you have to be filled by...

... something; then you go on accumulating money. Observe deeply, and you will see that a person who accumulates money is never in love, cannot be, because the money accumulation is really a substitute. With money he will feel secure now. When you are loved there is no insecurity; in love all fears disappear. In love there is no future, no past. This moment is enough, this very moment is eternity. You are...

... accepted. There is no anxiety for the future, for what will happen tomorrow - there is no tomorrow in love. But if love is not there, then the tomorrow is there. What will happen? Accumulate money, because you cannot rely on any person. So rely on things, rely on money and wealth. There are people who say, 'Donate your money. Don't accumulate money. Be non-attached to money.' But these are superficial...

.... Where are you going by closing your eyes and watching your navel? You are becoming a fool.' In the West, when they want to condemn the East, they call them 'navel-watchers' or 'lotus-eaters'. One cannot be alive by just eating lotuses. They must be mad people. And when in the East, people want to condemn the West, they call them 'money-oriented' 'materialistic' 'worldly'. But both these types of...

... accidents; you are too worried about them. Your whole time and energy is wasted in them. You become so much occupied with the non-essential that the essential is forgotten. This is the state of the man who is asleep: always focused on the non-essential. Thinking of money, thinking of power, thinking of the house, thinking of the car, thinking of this and that - but never looking at that which is your...

... concerned. One has to eat to live. Eat - but don't make eating your whole business. There are people who continuously think of eating. Money is needed, but don't make money your God. Use it when you have it. When you don't have it, then use that non-having also, because that has its own beauties. When you have money, you can have a place. Have it. When you don't have the money, become a vagabond and live...

... under the sky. That has its own beauty. When you have money, use it. Don't be used by the money. When you don't have it, enjoy poverty. Richness has its own richness, poverty has its own richness also. There are many things which only a poor man can enjoy - never a rich man. There are many things only rich people can enjoy - never a poor man. So, whatsoever opportunity.... When you are rich, enjoy...

.... Intelligence is absolutely lacking. When you have money, enjoy it. Live like a king when you have it. But I see people - they have money and they live like beggars. They are saving it for the future, and when it is lost, then they start thinking about it: 'Why did we waste time? We should have enjoyed.' Poor persons, poor people, always thinking about living in palaces, while they can enjoy the tree where...

... not been said at all. Thirdly, they interpret it according to their own prejudice. Fourthly, they simply go on accumulating it. Just becoming a great encyclopedia is not going to help. Paddy wins some money at the horse races and treats himself to a meal at a fancy restaurant. While his dinner is being served, he notices that the spoons are made of real silver. So he eats quickly, and putting one of...

... gave Kaveesha all her money with the checkbook - that is three and a half million dollars - and said, "You take it." Kaveesha is poor. She thought that this was a good chance in a lifetime to have so much money. But she was not aware that Avirbhava is tricky! She accepted the checkbook, then Avirbhava explained to her, "These are the problems attached to the checkbook - you take them...

... the first time I'm feeling free - free of problems, free of money, unburdened." Kaveesha could not reject the offer because that would be insulting; she could not accept the offer because that would be destructive. So she told Avirbhava, "Wait, first I have to see my master." Just before I came here she came to me and she said, "This Avirbhava has created a trouble. First she...

... said to me, 'I'm giving you three and a half million dollars. You take it. I'm burdened, I want to be free of money. Our Beloved Master has been telling me again and again to be free - I have decided.' "And later on she came back and said, 'But listen, these are the problems attached: there is no cash.'" Kaveesha came to me to ask what to do. I said, "You do one thing. Rejecting is not...

... nice; accepting is dangerous because you have never taken such problems as are attached to those three and a half million dollars. You just go to Avirbhava and say, "I have offered the money and the problems to my master. And he said to me, 'I appoint Avirbhava as my agent to take care.'" In a simple way nobody is harmed. Avirbhava remains with her coal mines and three and a half million...

... or something? There is no precedent in history that a man whose money has been stolen should be punished." Lao Tzu said, "In fact, you should be given a longer term in jail than the thief - I am being much too compassionate - because you have gathered all the money of the city. Do you think money showers from the sky? Who has made these people so poor that they have to become thieves? You...

... are responsible. "And this will be my judgment in every case of stealing; both persons will go to jail. Your crime is far deeper, his crime is nothing. He is poor and you are responsible for it. And if he was stealing a little bit of money from your treasures, it was not much of a crime. That money belongs to many of the poor people from whom you got it. You went on becoming richer and richer...

... and many more people went on becoming poorer and poorer." The rich man thought, "This man seems to be crazy, utterly crazy." He said, "I want one chance to see the emperor." He was so rich that even the emperor used to borrow money from him. He told the emperor what had happened. He said to him, "If you don't remove this man from the court you will be behind bars just...

...-MERCHANT, NEVER SEEING KHIDR WHILE HE PLIED HIS TRADE FOR THREE YEARS. HE HAD SAVED QUITE A LARGE SUM OF MONEY, AND WAS THINKING OF BUYING A HOUSE, WHEN KHIDR APPEARED AND SAID, "GIVE ME YOUR MONEY, WALK OUT OF THIS TOWN AS FAR AS THE DISTANT SAMARKAND, AND WORK FOR A GROCER THERE." MOJUD DID SO. PRESENTLY HE BEGAN TO SHOW UNDOUBTED SIGNS OF ILLUMINATION. HE HEALED THE SICK, SERVED HIS FELLOW...

... SKIN-MERCHANT. I SAVED SOME MONEY THERE, BUT GAVE IT AWAY. THEN I WALKED TO SAMARKAND WHERE I WORKED FOR A GROCER. AND THIS IS WHERE I AM NOW." "BUT THIS INEXPLICABLE BEHAVIOR THROWS NO LIGHT UPON YOUR STRANGE GIFTS AND WONDERFUL EXAMPLES," SAID THE BIOGRAPHERS. "THAT IS SO," SAID MOJUD. SO THE BIOGRAPHERS CONSTRUCTED FOR MOJUD A WONDERFUL AND EXCITING STORY: BECAUSE ALL...

... many times, before one arrives to the ultimate love, God. Ordinarily we seek and search for God only in limits: whatsoever is allowed by our conditions without risking anything. You are earning money, you are having success in life; you can spare one hour for the temple or for meditation. Once in a while you can pray too. Or at least in the night, before you go to bed, you can repeat the same prayer...

.... "Poor Mojud!" they said. "He has gone mad!" - because everyone in the world thinks he is sane. They cannot believe why one should meditate. For what? They constantly go on asking the person who meditates, prays, "Why? What are you getting into? For what? Why are you wasting your time sitting silently and gazing at your navel? Don't waste time! Time is money! You can do many...

...;What has happened?" - she had become a sannyasin. And she knows much of the world, she is a money-expert, so naturally she is worldly- wise. She must have thought that this was quick and efficient, that she was not even willing to become a sannyasin and she is a sannyasin now. But she is intelligent too: soon she had understood that it was not I pushing her into sannyas. I was just mirroring her...

...: one who simply obeys. IN MOSUL HE BECAME KNOWN AS THE SKIN-MERCHANT, NEVER SEEING KHIDR WHILE HE PLIED HIS TRADE FOR THREE YEARS. HE HAD SAVED QUITE A LARGE SUM OF MONEY, AND WAS THINKING OF BUYING A HOUSE, WHEN KHIDR APPEARED AND SAID, "GIVE ME YOUR MONEY, WALK OUT OF THIS TOWN AS FAR AS THE DISTANT SAMARKAND, AND WORK FOR A GROCER THERE." MOJUD DID SO. It will happen to you too, many...

... times - this story is YOUR story. You are living in the world of a Sufi. That's why I said listen to this story as deeply as possible, let it sink in! Now he had collected a large sum of money, and natu-rally he was thinking to purchase a house. And for three years he had not heard from Khidr at all. The moment you start thinking of purchasing a house - that means the moment you start thinking of...

... settling - the Master comes and unsettles you. If he had not thought about the house Khidr might not have appeared yet. But the moment he had the money, the possibility to become a householder, to purchase a house and settle forever.... With a Master you can never settle forever in anything. The Master has to go on changing you. The moment you feel now your roots are getting deep into the soil, you will...

... the goal, then your life is the life of a sannyasin. KHIDR APPEARED AND SAID, "GIVE ME YOUR MONEY...." Now he had earned, worked for three years continuously, and all the hopes are destroyed. And not only is the money taken away, he is ordered to walk as distant as possible, to the faraway DISTANT SAMARKAND, AND WORK FOR A GROCER THERE. MOJUD DID SO. PRESENTLY HE BEGAN TO SHOW UNDOUBTED...

... beautiful. "I JUMPED INTO A RIVER, BECAME A FISHERMAN, THEN WALKED OUT OF HIS REED-HUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. AFTER THAT, I BECAME A FARMHAND. WHILE I WAS BALING WOOL,, I CHANGED AND WENT TO MOSUL, WHERE I BECAME A SKIN-MERCHANT. I SAVED SOME MONEY THERE, BUT GAVE IT AWAY. THEN I WALKED TO SAMARKAND WHERE I WORKED FOR A GROCER. AND THIS IS WHERE I AM NOW." Now what kind of spiritual life is...

... you start a bank?" "Nobody, I wrote the name 'Bank' and put the sign on my door. I had no trust in it that it would work, but I had nothing to do. I was unemployed, so I thought why not try. And within a few hours a man came and deposited his money. I was surprised. I looked at the man; I thought this seems to be the greatest fool in the town. I may escape with his money. Then came another...

... and another, and by the evening I had deposits of a lot of money. And looking into these people's eyes, I became so confident that I deposited my own money in the bank!" That's how it works. If you just declare that you are a world teacher, you are bound to find disciples. And when the disciples come, certainly, you have to be truly a world teacher. And sometimes it will happen that not only...

... his energies will start moving in other directions. He will become more ambitious. A really sexual person will not be ambitious. Why? He will not hanker to become the prime minister or the president. Why? The energy that becomes ambition is repressed sex. A sexually free person will not try to become anybody. Whatsoever he is, he is beautifully happy. Why should he bother to hoard money ...? When...

... you cannot love, you hoard money; money is a substitute. You will never find a money hoarder a loving person, and you will never find a loving person a money hoarder. It is very difficult. Money is a substitute; it is a pseudo love affair. You are afraid to make love to a woman or a man, so you make love to dollars, rupees, pounds. Have you not seen when a miser comes across money? Have you seen the...

... light that comes to his eyes, and how the face becomes luminous, as if he is looking at a beautiful woman or a beautiful man ...? Just give him a hundred-dollar note, a greenback, and see how he touches it, how he feels it. Saliva starts flowing. It is a love affair. Just look when he opens his money box and looks into it. He is facing God. Money is his God, his beloved. And when an ambitious person...

..., priests, politicians - and these are all in the same boat. Somebody is after money, somebody is after power, somebody is after fame, but nobody seems to be interested in one's own self. Nobody seems to be ready to go on that great pilgrimage of self-discovery. Buddha says: MASTER YOURSELF.... If you are at all interested in mastery - and who is not interested? - then become interested in self-mastery...

... you as if you are not a human being. He looks at you as doomed, as doomed to hell, bound towards hell, already falling into the bottomless pit of hell. He looks at you with condemnation, with pity. But pity is not compassion, and condemnation simply shows that he has not known anything at all. He is just the same type of person as you are, only standing on his head. You are greedy for money, he is...

... afraid of money. You are related to money through greed, he is related to it through fear. But both are related to money, both are obsessed with money. It is said that if you take money to Vinoba Bhave he immediately closes his eyes - he can't see money. Now this looks ridiculous - there must be great fear. Just a ten-rupee note... why should you be so afraid of it that you have to close your eyes? But...

... because he closes his eyes - he never touches money, he does not want to see money - he is revered as a great saint. But this fear of money, this antagonism, is a kind of relationship. He is not free of money, otherwise why close his eyes? And a ten-rupee note is nothing but a piece of paper. You don't close your eyes when you look at other pieces of paper - why give so much importance to this piece of...

... sane. But because insanity is so widespread, it is so normal that we don't become aware of it.... Once YOU become awakened then you are surprised how people are living, what they are doing to themselves and to others. Their whole life is nothing but sheer madness. Somebody is mad after money, somebody is mad after power, somebody is mad after fame - and all these things are futile. Death comes, and...

... religion healthy. Buddhas have been trying, but up to now they have failed, because nobody listens to them. Man's mind has a strategy: it moves to its opposite very easily. You are running after money, then one day you see the whole stupidity of it and you start escaping from money. Now this is again remaining obsessed with the same money; money still remains the center of your focus. First you were...

... moving towards it, now you are moving away from it, but it is your reference; your whole life still has that context. You still think in terms of money - how much you have or how much you have renounced, but you go on counting. Once a man came to Ramakrishna with a bag full of golden coins. He poured those golden coins onto the feet of Ramakrishna. There were many people sitting around; they were all...

... surprised by how much money this man had brought, and he was pouring it onto the feet of Ramakrishna. What devotion! But Ramakrishna was not happy. He said, "You are pouring it in such a way that it seems you want to impress people. You are performing! Fill the bag again with the money and go to the Ganges" - and the Ganges was just behind Ramakrishna's temple - - "and throw all the money...

..., look at the coin, and then throw it into the Ganges. And many people would jump into the Ganges to find the coin. He was making a great show of it. Hundreds of people had gathered and he was counting, "One, two, three, four...." Ramakrishna went there and said, "You fool! When one collects money one counts, but when one is throwing it into the Ganges what is the point of counting? For...

..., it became too boring, it became such an ugly scene. He was fed up with it, so he escaped. Buddha's father was angry, very wounded. He wanted him to become a king and he became a buddha. He was not happy. In his own mind, to be a king was a greater thing than to be a buddha. To have more money and more fame - worldly fame - was more important to him than to be a meditator and attain to samadhi...

..., that is your treasure. And you will be surprised that when you reach to the other shore, the beyond, your treasure will be awaiting you there, to rejoice, to receive, to welcome you. Either you can collect money, power, prestige - which will be left on this shore - or you can accumulate a totally different kind of treasure: of meditation, of love, of bliss, of understanding, of awareness, of...

... FATHER COULD SAY WOULD MOVE HIM. "I HAVE WASTED MY TIME, AND MY MONEY, AND THIS YOUNG MAN HAS FAILED THE TESTS IMPOSED BY MAHMUD THE KING," HE LAMENTED, AND HE ABANDONED THE WHOLE AFFAIR. MEANWHILE, THE DAY WHEN THE YOUTH WAS DUE TO PRESENT HIMSELF CAME AND WENT, AND THEN MAHMUD SAID TO HIS COURTIERS, "PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR A VISIT TO HERAT; THERE IS SOMEONE THERE WHOM I HAVE TO SEE...

... open your eyes again like a child - fresh, young, full of wonder, knowing nothing, or, only knowing that you know nothing. These few things have to be understood before we can enter into this beautiful story. Why do I call religion a risk? and not only a risk but the greatest? Why? Because you have to lose yourself. There are other risks in life, but they are small risks. You have to lose your money...

.... Or, money wise he becomes a millionaire, famous. Or he wants to become a Nobel Laureate, or something.... These are the ways of ambition. And why does ambition arise in the first place at all? It arises out of the inferiority complex. You feel inferior within yourself, you feel nobody. It hurts. It is like an open wound. You want to hide it. You become occupied in ambition. You rush away from...

... yourself as far as you can. You want to forget yourself! You want to get occupied in the world of money, power, prestige. Religion is for those who are ready to go into this nothingness of their being, who DON'T think that they have to be somebody. ALL that they want is to know who they are. They don't want to be somebody. They don't project. They simply want to enter into the innermost shrine of their...

... that. Remember it! Be very cautious in loving something, because whatsoever you love, you will become that. The man who loves money, becomes money. He thinks only in terms of money and nothing else. The man who loves things, possessions, himself becomes a possession and nothing else, becomes a thing. Love something great! If you love a flower, it is better than loving money. If you love the moon, it...

...: Nothing fails like success. When you have succeeded, then you know that you have failed. All the money that you wanted is there, and you are as poor as ever - in fact, more so. All the power that you always wanted is there, but deep inside you you are the same beggar - immature, ugly, unenlightened. You have become famous, the whole word knows you, who you are, but you yourself don't know who you are...

... think time is money, time should not be wasted. And their whole life is just a sheer wastage and nothing else. Now this is a wastage! sending a young, alive boy to the shrines of dead Masters or to study classics. But there are people whose whole mind remains businesslike: "Use this time. Gather a little more knowledge. Go to the shrines. Be blessed by the old Masters so that you can attain to a...

... intimacy, in that relatedness, all that has always been missing is no more missing - one has come home. HAIDAR ALI SHOWED NO INTEREST AT ALL IN GOING THERE. HE SIMPLY SAT AT THE FEET OF HIS TEACHER IN HERAT, AND NOTHING THAT HIS FATHER COULD SAY WOULD MOVE HIM. "I HAVE WASTED MY TIME, AND MY MONEY, AND THIS YOUNG MAN HAS FAILED THE TESTS IMPOSED BY MAHMUD THE KING..." He has passed. But...