... 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...

... 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...