.... There are many people -- "many" is not good, almost all -- who are addicted to preparation. They earn money with the idea that some day they are going to enjoy; and they never enjoy. By and by they forget about enjoyment and they become so addicted to earning money that money becomes the goal. Money is a means. And in the beginning they also had the idea that when the money is there they...

... will enjoy -- they will do whatsoever they always wanted to do and could not do because the money was not there; when the money is there they are going to live really. But by the time money is there: now they are disciplined to earn and they have forgotten how to spend; then money becomes the goal. Then they go on earning, earning, and they die. Patanjali can become an addiction -- then you prepare...

..., then you go on earning money, methods, but you are never ready to dance and enjoy. That's why I go on talking about Lao Tzu, so that whenever you feel that now you are ready, suddenly Lao Tzu hits deep in the heart and you take the jump. When I talk on Lao Tzu I say I "talk Lao Tzu,' because from where he is talking, I am standing there. Whatsoever he says I would like to have said myself. I...

... happened: A very rich man became frustrated with his riches -- as it happens. In fact this should be the criterion of whether a man is rich or not. If a man is really rich he is bound to be frustrated with his riches. If he is not yet frustrated he is still a poor man; he may have money, but he is not rich -- because a rich man is bound to know that whatsoever he has has not satisfied him a bit. The deep...

... more? A few million more? But he cannot use those few million because right now he does not know what to do with his money. He has already more than is needed. In fact, the more money you have, the less is the value of the money. Value depends on poverty. One rupee in a poor man's pocket has more value than the same rupee in a rich man's pocket because the poor man can use it; the rich man cannot use...

... it. The more money you have, the less is the value. A point comes of saturation when the money is of no value -- whether you have it or not makes no difference; your life will continue the same. To be rich means to destroy the value of the money; then the money is valueless. You have the house that you wanted, you have cars that you wanted, you have everything that you wanted -- now the money is...

... ready to purchase the eyes. And just a few hours before, you were saying you have nothing -- and you are not ready to sell the eyes? And you were going to commit suicide. And I have persuaded the king to purchase your ears also, your teeth also, your hands, your legs. You demand the cost and we will cut everything and give the money to you. You will be the richest man in the world." The man said...

... category of people, the warriors, the kshatriyas. They have all the power, all the money, but they accept the priest as higher than themselves. They go and touch the feet of the priest because this way the masses who are following the priests and the religion are for the king. What humility, what humbleness! -- and it is sheer politics. The third class is that of the businessman. The brahmin is poor...

... the society is given to the businessman, who is the richest -- richer than the warriors, richer than the brahmins. Because of his richness, he is accepted as just below the kings. In India, kings have been borrowing money from businessmen. There were no banks in the past; the business people had all the money. They were providing kingdoms with all the money they needed, on loan, on rent, on interest...

.... The king needs money for the army, for new invasions; the king needs money for all his glory and show, marble palaces, golden thrones. From where is he going to get it? The poor brahmin cannot give it to him; the poor brahmin is used as the support for the masses. Businessmen cannot be used for that purpose, because the masses are poor, and are always against the rich. Even ten thousand years before...

... Karl Marx, the poor was always the communist. He may not know the word, but he can see that he is being exploited. He works hard from morning till evening. He works the whole year, and then too he is hungry. He produces everything, but everything is taken away by the businessman who has provided him with seeds. The businessman gave him money for his daughter's marriage. So all the poor people are in...

.... He does every kind of work that is needed by all these three classes. The businessman is the mediator. He exploits, he accumulates money. He is happy, although he is third in the position. He can purchase the king, he can purchase the brahmin; who bothers that he is third grade? He knows perfectly well that money is the highest power. The king is indebted to him and the priest has to depend on him...

... wants. It is just courtesy that he touches the feet; otherwise, he can cut off his head. The brahmin also knows it. The king is not worried that he is second class even though he is king. He knows that it does not matter what class you put him in; he is the master. He can kill the priest. He can take all the money from the business people. It is just courtesy that he takes it on interest. And he never...

... pays it; no king has ever paid back. There is no need. You cannot ask -- he has all power in his sword. For centuries he has been taking money and never paying it back, so whatever interest you want, he is willing to give. He is going to give neither the original money nor the interest. Nobody has ever done that; it is just not done. But the businessman can enjoy the idea that the king is indebted to...

... him. Without him he cannot rule the empire. It is his money and his power, and naturally he takes advantage of it. Licenses will be given to him, he will have first chance in every opportunity, because the king depends on him for money. It is a beautiful and very psychological arrangement that all feel great, all feel on the top. The sudra, who is the fourth, also feels deep down that without him...

... against the rich. And the poor man cannot even imagine revolution, because he has not been allowed any kind of education. He has been prohibited from any contact with the society of the three higher classes. He lives outside the town: he cannot live inside the town. The poor people's wells are not deep, they cannot put much money into making wells. The businessmen have big, deep wells and the king has...

... money will be distributed equally. And the man who could have been interested in communism, the fourth class, is so unintelligent, is so much in the grip of the priest, that you cannot convince a poor man in India that he is poor because he has been exploited. I have tried; it is impossible. He will go on saying, "No. It is my fate, my karma, and please don't say anything which disturbs me...

... only making shoes. They have never done anything else. They are not allowed to do anything else; the system is so strict that no movement is possible. A shoemaker's son, whatsoever he wants, cannot move into another profession. He will not be accepted anywhere. These politicians and priests are ambitious for power. There is another ambition - - the ambition for money, because that is also a power. So...

... the past in India -- and everywhere else, too -- was the power of the sword. And third is the power of money. These are the only three powers; and these three kinds of people, rather than fighting with each other, have divided their areas, which is simply intelligent. They have divided their areas and they don't interfere in each other's area. The great mass which is exploited by all the three in...

... that can be easily done: you just have to create more and more communes where there is no lust for power, where we are not against money, we are not against clothes, we are not against anything; where we want our sannyasins to live luxuriously, comfortably -- nobody is to exploit their labor and nobody is to dominate them -- and where the plumber is as much respected as the professor, there is no...

... actually mean? When things are nationalized, everything goes into the hands of the politicians: all the factories, all the fields, all the money, everything -- people included, because people are no more people, they are commodities. So in Russia something very special has happened. For the first time all three have become one. That's why Russia -- the whole country -- has become a great prison, a great...

... tremendously - this inferiority. And Jews have a certain intelligence, and because of that intelligence they become rich fast. Put them in any situation and sooner or later they will be on top. How can you avoid not hating them? They simply go directly to the top; they don't wait. And particularly about money, they are the cleverest people in the world. For a certain reason: because after Jesus' crucifixion...

..., they lost all power - all political power; Christianity became politically powerful. There was no way for the Jews to be politically powerful, so their whole mind turned to the second power - money. They became focused on money. These are the only two worldly powers: either politics or money. Because they were not in the majority, they could not be politically powerful, so naturally their whole...

... intelligence was channellised towards money. That was the only way for them to become powerful. And with money many things come. With money comes more education, with money comes more literature, more music, more drama, more art. With money Comes more intelligence. So down the ages they have been hoarding money, and money on its own creates more possibilities to be intelligent, to be clever. And when you are...

... more intelligent, you earn more money, and so on and so forth it goes' And people who have money are hated because ninety- nine per cent of people don't have any money; they are very jealous. The poor people hate the rich, and if they can get an opportunity they will kill the rich. And whenever they get the opportunity, they kill - they will find any excuse. Jews are hated because they have immense...

... power over money, and money gives them power over other things - even power over politicians. Money is such a strange power... And it goes on creating more power, so they are hated. And they have turned the whole world into a market: they reduce everything to a commodity, they reduce everything to a certain market value. That too creates a little hatred, because if everything is reduced to money, if...

... everything is reduced to the market and everything becomes a commodity, it creates an ugly world. Then there is no higher value. Then there is nothing more important than money. Then everything is reduced to money. That, too, creates hatred. So poor people hate them, and rich people also hate them. Because money is a very low value - powerful, immensely powerful! - but a lower value. And Jews don't think...

... that anything more valuable exists. And they have learned through experience that if they have money, then only can they survive. So wherever they are they are hated. But they are hated because they are clever. Of course, their cleverness turned in a wrong direction, it became money-oriented. And the whole Judaic tradition fell slowly slowly - became very worldly. It lost the spiritual dimension. So...

... the very word 'Jew' has a wrong association. Jews can only be free from this hatred of the world if they start looking for higher values than money. I have heard... The local synagogue was holding a raffle. The winner of the third prize stood delightedly as the curtain raised to show a gleaming Cadillac. The winner of the second prize held his breath as the curtain raised - to reveal a sponge cake...

... the Christians'. Jesus was born a Jew, died a Jew. He was the greatest Jew ever. He was not a Christian. If Jews can accept Jesus back home, that will change the whole climate in the world. And if Jews can put their energies - as they have put them into money - if they can put their energies into meditation, they will become the greatest meditators on the earth. They can herald a new era! Question 7...

... is saying "Hello!" and you don't listen. From everywhere He is calling you. From everywhere He is inviting you: "Come to me!" But you are somehow keeping your eyes closed, or you have got blinkers on - you don't look anywhere. You just look in a very narrow way, in a very focussed way. If you are looking for money, you only look for money; then you don't look anywhere else. If...

... you are looking for power, you look only for power and you don't look anywhere else. And remember: in money; God is not because money is man-made and God cannot be man-made. When I say God is everywhere, remember those things have not to be included which man has made. God cannot be man-made. God is not in money. Money is a very cunning invention of man. And God is not in power; that too is again a...

... madness of man. Just the very idea to dominate somebody is insane. Just the VERY idea that "I should be in power and others should be powerless" is the idea of a madman - a destructive idea. God is not in politics and God is not in money and God is not in ambition - but God is everywhere where man has not destroyed Him, where man has not created something of his own. This is one of the most...

... personal gift to you, with your initials on it. You enjoy it, you live it! And even if you have to pay much for it, it is worth paying. Even if sometimes you have to pay for your life with your life, that too is perfectly good. Tantra is very rebellious. It believes in a totally different kind of society, which will not be possessive, which will not be money-oriented, which will not be power-oriented. It...

... meaningful so I am going to answer it anyway. And I have the feeling that sooner or later Philip Martin will be a sannyasin. Even the question shows some leaning. First thing: all the religions of the world have emphasized charity - DHAN - too much. And the reason is that man has always felt guilty with money. Charity has been preached so much to help man feel a little less guilty. You will be surprised...

...: in old English there is a word'gilt' - g-i-l-t - which means money. In German there is a word'Geld' - g-e-l-d - which means money. And the gold is very close by!'Gilt','guilt','Geld','gold' somehow deep down a great guilt is involved in money. Whenever you have money you feel guilty... and it is natural because so many people don't have money. How can you avoid guilt? Whenever you have money you...

... know somebody has become poorer because of you. Whenever you have money, you know somewhere somebody will be starving - and your bank balance goes on becoming bigger and bigger. Some child will not get the medicine needed to survive. Some woman will not get the medicine; some poor man will die because he will not have food. How can you avoid these things? They will be there. The more money you have...

..., the more these things will be there erupting in your consciousness; you will feel guilty. Charity is to unburden you from your guilt, so you say, "I am doing something: I going to open a hospital, going to open a college. I give money to this charity fund, to that trust...." You feel a little happier. The world has lived in poverty, the world has lived in scarcity, ninety-nine percent of...

... people have lived a poor life, almost starving and dying, and only one percent of people have lived with richness, with money - they have always felt guilty. To help them, the religions developed the idea of charity. It is to rid them of their guilt. So the first thing I would like to say is: Charity is not a virtue; it is just a help to keep your sanity intact, otherwise you will go insane. Charity is...

... not a virtue - it is not a PUNYA. It is not that you have done something good when you do charity. It is only that you repent for all the bad that you have done in accumulating the money. To me, charity is not a great quality - it is repentance, you are repenting. One hundred rupees you have earned, ten rupees you give in charity - it is a repentance. You feel a little good; you don't feel THAT bad...

... helping others, no, but by sharing you will be growing. The more you share, the more you grow. And the more you share, the more you have - whatsoever it is. It is not only a question of money. If you have knowledge, share it. If you have meditation, share it! If you have love, share it. WHATSOEVER you have, share it, spread it all over; let it spread like the fragrance of a flower going to the winds. It...

... rushing without any reason. You must be ambitious. Try to see WHY this mind is rushing, where it is rushing - you must be ambitious. If it thinks about money, then try to understand. Mind is not the question. You start dreaming about money, that you have won a lottery or this and that, and then you even start planning how to spend it, what to purchase and what not. Or, the mind thinks you have become a...

... come to see only those moments have been saved which were moments of witnessing, and all else has gone down the drain. The money that you earned, the prestige that you earned, the respectability that you earned, is all gone down the drain. Only those few moments that you had some flashes of witnessing, only those moments are saved. Only those moments will go with you when you leave this life - only...

... muladhar. And because of constipation many other things grow into the human mind. A man becomes a hoarder - a hoarder of knowledge, hoarder of money, hoarder of virtue - becomes a hoarder and becomes miserly. He cannot leave anything! Whatsoever he grabs, he holds it. And with this anal emphasis, a great damage happens to muladhar because the man or the woman has to go to the genital. If they get fixated...

... for it. They do not arise from prayers, because prayers are addressed to a fictitious God, who does not exist. It happened in America: a poor man ... his wife was dying, and he had no money to purchase medicine or call a doctor, or have her admitted to a hospital. In desperation he thought of a great idea: "Why not write a letter to God, just for fifty dollars, not much. And for a God who is...

...? What is his strategy? The strategy is: if somebody dies, in the dead person's memory you send him the money, and the money will be sent into your account in paradise. Millions of dollars he accumulates, and the blind believers think that the money is reaching into their bank accounts. I was staying with a friend in Surat, who is a Khoja, a follower of the Aga Khan. I asked him, "Your father has...

... died. How much money have you sent?" He said, "Three lakh rupees." I asked, "Have you got the bank account number?" He said, "The account number?" I said, "When you reach to paradise, how will you find which is your bank account where the money is deposited?" He said, "That's right." And I said, "You are a well-educated man, a doctor, and...

... you could not think of a simple thing? You could not see how the Aga Khan goes on throwing money all around the world? From where does this money come? From which account?" The Aga Khan's hobby is racehorses. He is the greatest bidder all over the world, and wherever there is a race meeting, he immediately rushes to that place. This palace here has been made because Poona has a race meeting...

... palace he is ready to sell. There is another sect I have come across which is even more stupid. At least this money reaches to the Aga Khan, it does not go further -- but that cult puts the money in the coffin. Your father dies, you put ten lakh rupees into the coffin, and it goes into the graveyard. Again, I was a guest in a house with a friend, who was a professor and had been my colleague. I said...

..., "You also think that money will enter into heaven with your father's soul?" He said, "Yes. My whole religion believes it; so many people cannot be wrong." This argument I have heard so many times that I have made my own argument: If there are so many people agreed on something, they must be wrong! So many people cannot be right. Right belongs to very rare people; crowds cannot be...

..., "Look, those notes are here. You are an idiot, and your whole religion is stupid! Take these notes!" There was a moment of grave silence. I said, "You take them or I will take them!" He immediately took them out, and I said, "Now you do the remaining work, you have taken the money! I am going. You push the coffin in, put in the mud, cover it, do whatever you want -- but I have...

... been receiving radiation continuously, of a different world, vibrations .... So give him a new set of clothes, his old set is torn, too old. This will be your gratitude. So Buddha's statement will be, "It is better to receive than to give." The giver is a poor man, he has nothing else than money. I was in Jaipur, one of the most beautiful cities of India. The man who was making Jaipur...

... so rich, he was far richer than the king. In creating Jaipur, the king had borrowed much money from Sohanlal Dugar. Nobody knew how much money that man had, because he had no books. He told me, "I don't have any books, so I don't pay any income tax. Nobody knows how much I have." And then I found out where his books were. He had written them in his bathroom on the walls, in a language...

... ten thousand rupees at my feet. He said, "You have to accept them!" I said, "But I don't need them right now. You can keep them on my behalf. Whenever I need them I will inform you, 'Send me the money.'" He said, "That cannot be done -- because I am a gambler. Today I have, tomorrow I may not have." He was one of the greatest gamblers you can conceive of. He was known...

... start releasing it very slowly in different places, so the prices don't fall. He said, "Today I have, tomorrow I may not have, so I cannot take that responsibility. You have to accept them right now." Seeing that I was not interested in accepting the money, because I don't have even pockets to keep it, so where to keep it? -- just to carry ten thousand rupees in my hands? ... I don't have...

... sitting by the side of my couch in the train. Anybody can take them; I cannot just remain watching them." He said, "Listen ..." He had tears in his eyes, and he was an old man, more than seventy. He said, "Listen, just look at my tears. I am a poor man, because I don't have anything except money." I have not forgotten his statement, I have not forgotten his tears. I have nothing...

... to say to such a man who says, "I am so poor, I have nothing but money, and if you reject money you reject me. Please don't reject me. It will become a wound in me. Nobody has ever rejected me!" So I said, "Okay. For your sake I take the money." I gave half the money to the organization that had arranged the meeting and had been arranging meetings for me for years, and the other...

... half I gave to Jaipur's library to purchase more and more agnostic literature, which is neither theist nor atheist, but purely of those who are inquirers, seekers. He came with me to leave me on the railway station. He said, "I am so happy that you accepted, although you gave it away -- but that is not my problem. It was your money, you have given it. You have accepted it, so I am at ease. I...

... have never felt so happy. You have made me so blissed out, I am grateful to you. Just one promise I want ..." I said, "You are now getting greedy!" He said, "I am greedy, otherwise why should I collect so much money? Just one promise ..." I said, "Let me first hear it." He said, "No. Do you want me to cry again?" I said, "No, I don't want that...

... three months you are going to be my guest." But the way he said, "I am the poorest man in the world because I don't have anything else than money. If you reject the money, you reject me. Don't do that to an old man, the wound may be fatal" -- this is far greater than this Christian statement: "It is better to give than to receive." I have a friend in Jabalpur, who is the...

... relative, but seeing possibilities they adopted me, they educated me. Now they are dead, and I am the sole owner of a great empire. Because I have so much money, I have raised my old family also to be very rich, my brothers, my cousin-brothers, my friends. The people I knew I have helped as much as possible. Whatever they wanted ... they all have beautiful cars, they all have beautiful houses, they have...

... on giving their beautiful girls? -- only beautiful girls are chosen by the priests, by the saints -- because, in India particularly, to have a daughter is to have a catastrophe. To get her married you may have to sell your house, your business, your land, everything. You have to give so much money, because the parents of the boy to whom you are marrying your daughter ask for money. They have...

... also is frustrated. All these frustrated people -- created by religion -- and then they are jealous! The wife is afraid. She is uneducated, has no financial position and has children. All the money is in the hands of the husband; she is just a commodity. Because you have reduced the woman into a commodity she is constantly watching where you are going, what you are doing. She is looking into your...

... ten-dollar bill out of his pocket, setting it on the table. "If he takes this money," says Jack smiling, "then he will grow up to be a banker." Then Jack takes a dusty old Bible off the bookshelf and sets it on the table next to the money. "Now," says Jack excitedly, "if he takes the Bible, for sure he will grow up to be a great TV evangelist like Jimmy Bakker...

... contents. Suddenly, in one motion, he stuffs the money in his pocket, sticks the Bible under his arm, grabs the whiskey bottle by the neck and walks out of the room, whistling. "My goodness," says Mrs. Jerk, "what does that mean he will grow up to be?" "Ah!" cries her husband, "it means he is going to be a politician!" Justice Dung is the presiding judge in a case...

... the lotus starts growing -- a sunrise, and the lotus opens its petals, and on its petals you can see beautiful dewdrops shining in the morning sun with such glory, such splendor, that even pearls will feel jealous. At this moment you are the most blessed people on the earth. The whole world is looking for mundane things -- for very ordinary, mediocre, outward commodities: money, power, prestige. All...

.... 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...

... 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...