... kill [the animal]. When Samuel saw them looking for a priest to kill it, he said to them, Why do you go looking for a priest to kill it? The shechitah may be performed by a layman! They brought him to Eli, who asked him, How do you know this? He replied: Is it written, 'The priest shall kill'? It is written, The priests shall present [the blood]:25  the office of the priest begins with the...

... taught: If an animal25  and its young fall into a pit, — R. Eliezer said: One may haul up the first in order to kill it, and for the second provisions are made where it lies that it should not die. R. Joshua said: One hauls up the first in order to kill it, but he does not kill it, then he practises an evasion and hauls up the second, and kills whichever he desires.26  How so? Perhaps R...

... sit. [Now] surely that was to imply that a thing whose function is for a forbidden purpose8  [may be handled] only when required itself,9  but not [merely] when its place is required? — This is what he said to them: Remove the log from Kahana's presence.10  Alternatively, there it was [moved] from the sun to the shade.11 R. Mari b. Rachel12  had some pillows13  lying...

... by an insane world? Somewhere something has to be decided. Strangely enough, these mad people who live naked, pull out their hair, don't take any baths, are absolutely non-violent. They are not dangerous; they never hurt anybody, they never kill anybody. They are very harmless people. And that is the whole philosophy of Mahavira -- non-violence. Perhaps he was a madman with a genius, with such a...

... about Sigmund Freud, about Jews?" And the first thing he said was: "If the skin on the male genitals was not needed, then existence would not have given it to the child. Existence gives only that which is needed. To remove that skin is egoistic, it is an effort to prove that you are wiser than existence itself. And the very idea that man is wiser than existence is stupid." I asked him...

.... The Jaina saint said, "Jesus being crucified proves that he must have done some very evil acts in his past life. Crucifixion was the punishment." It has nothing to do with Jews crucifying him or the Romans crucifying him. Those are the visible facts, but the invisible truth is that he must have committed something really heinous -- murder, rape -- and the result is crucifixion. So...

...;This is simple politics. They want to remove you from the post because when you are removed... One person is against us, one person is half-half -- he will be on the side of whoever is in power. It was because of you and your sincerity, your fairness that we got the city. Now you are leaving us in the dumps!" And what a stupid idea. Billions of people in the world, and God has chosen this poor...

... that this was just a rumor, they didn't have the courage. They had their National Guard just twenty miles away in the American town, every day collecting more and more army forces, so that if there was a need they could be ready to kill five thousand people. But once they could get me out of the commune, things became easy for them. Without any arrest warrant, they arrested me and five sannyasins who...

.... And I am not a rigid man. And I am not a serious man either. So I said, "There is no problem. Don't be worried -- I accept. And outside the court, just in front of the courthouse, I will announce to the world press that this is blackmail." And it was true that they were ready to kill me, because as I reached the jail to pick up my things, they had planted a bomb under my chair. It did not...

... timing was not right. And as I left the jail, they had to remove the bomb. And they have to accept it -- now, in jail nobody can put a bomb except for the government, nobody else can reach there. The American jail... first you have to pass three big gates, which are all automatic, electric gates. You cannot open them, they open only with remote control buttons. When one gate opens, the other two remain...

... enough - we can enter, but then it goes on narrowing. What will happen at the other end? You will kill my bullocks! And it may be difficult even to come back if once we are caught." Death looks like the other end. The passage of the mother's womb is the beginning, and then life goes on narrowing, and then one day somebody simply disappears. That means the whole process has become so narrow you...

... other extreme. Many have done that also. Then they try destroying their egos. The monks in the monasteries, the traditional sannyasins in India, you go to them, they have been trying to kill the ego, to destroy the part. But they don't know: if the part is destroyed, the very path to the whole is destroyed. It is a delicate affair. Life is very very subtle and mysterious. You should not get identified...

... try to kill the ego - you cannot. If you try to kill the ego you will become a very very humble man, but remember, "very very" is important. You cannot be an ordinary humble man but very very humble - and that will be the hiding place of your ego. Then you will claim that you are the humblest man on earth. I was reading an anecdote: Three monks belonging to three Christian monasteries met...

... they are. And when ego becomes holy it becomes more poisonous. Poison in itself is bad, but when poison becomes holy then it is very dangerous. You cannot kill the ego. If you try to kill it, two things will happen. One, your life will become monotonous, it will lose the tension of the opposites. It will lose the music. That's why monks are so monotonous. Once it was asked of a great American actor...

... very serious, deathlike places. They are more like cemeteries than temples. And in those temples only a dead god is worshipped. God is alive, near in the trees, in the clouds, in the birds chirping! God IS life, and life depends on duality. Of course it is not only duality, it is a deep harmony between the two, between the many. It is one manifesting as many. Don't try to kill the ego; otherwise you...

... himself.... I have heard from people who own caravans of camels that when you kill a camel in the desert the camel makes no resistance, he simply allows you to kill him. He is perfectly aware that this is the moment to be of some service to you. In some unknown way he feels you have been thirsty for days and you cannot survive unless he gives you his water reservoir. A camel can move in the desert for...

... six weeks without any trouble, needing no water. That much water he keeps within himself for emergency purposes. I could not believe it, that he does not resist being killed. I enquired, "If you kill a camel where there is no emergency or any danger to your life, does the camel resist?" They said, "You say resist? He will kill you! He knows that there is no need for him to be...

... sacrificed; this is simple murder." And a camel is a big animal, huge, of great power, he can simply crush you under his feet, no weapons are needed. But deep in the desert, lost in the desert, he does not resist. That is something really to be understood. The camel is graceful to the point that he can sacrifice himself. He is respectful and loving, so much so, that he is ready to die so that you can...

.... My sannyasins have been removed from colleges as teachers, from schools, from universities, for no reason - just because they are sannyasins. Strange - you don't remove anybody because he is a Christian, you don't remove anybody because he is a Hindu. Why are you afraid of the sannyasin? Their attitude makes me feel proud of the sannyasins. They are afraid of you. The whole university may have...

.... IT IS NOT THE AUSTERITIES THAT MORTIFY THE FLESH WHICH ARE PLEASED TO THE LORD. WHEN YOU LEAVE OFF YOUR CLOTHES AND KILL YOUR SENSES, YOU DO NOT PLEASE THE LORD: THE MAN WHO IS KIND AND WHO PRACTISES RIGHTEOUSNESS, WHO REMAINS PASSIVE AMIDST THE AFFAIRS OF THE WORLD, WHO CONSIDERS ALL CREATURES ON EARTH AS HIS OWN SELF, HE ATTAINS THE IMMORTAL BEING, THE TRUE GOD IS EVER WITH HIM. KABIR SAYS: 'HE...

..., because I know Jesus better. But Christians say Jesus never laughed If I write the gospels, I would write that Jesus laughed his whole life. In fact, when he was crucified he had a belly laughter. He laughed tremendously, uproariously -- because this was just ridiculous. To try to kill that which cannot be killed, to try to kill Jesus -- the very idea is ridiculous, he must have laughed. I can still...

..., then a totally different world view would have arisen. More emphasis should have been given to the resurrected Christ -- not to the crucified. Then Christianity would have been more life-affirmative, even death could not kill, even the cross could not destroy -- Jesus is resurrected. Then Christianity could have danced, then there would have been singing and celebration, and churches would have been...

... religion is not in the rituals. Rituals are formalities. Unless you are in communion with a living Master, rituals are a dead weight. They will burden you, they will dry you, they will kill you, and you will be lost in infinite formalities. With a living Master, a new ritual is born. It comes out of the contact; it has a context to it, a living reference to it. It is not learned by dead tradition being...

... LEAVE OFF YOUR CLOTHES AND KILL YOUR SENSES YOU DO NOT PLEASE THE LORD... Listen to these rebellious maxims. It is not that when you destroy your senses God is pleased; rather, he is pleased when your sensitivity goes to a peak. When you can see more beauty in the world, When you can hear more music in the world, when you can love more deeply, when you can be more alive, he is happy. WHEN YOU LEAVE...

... OFF YOUR CLOTHES AND KILL YOUR SENSES, YOU DO NOT PLEASE THE LORD: THE MAN WHO IS KIND AND WHO PRACTISES RIGHTEOUSNESS,WHO REMAINS PASSIVE AMIDST THE AFFAIRS OF THE WORLD, WHO CONSIDERS ALL CREATURES ON EARTH AS HIS OWN SELF. HE ATTAINS THE IMMORTAL BEING, THE TRUE GOD IS EVER WITH HIM. KABIR SAYS: 'HE ATTAINS THE TRUE NAME WHOSE WORDS ARE PURE, AND WHO IS FREE FROM PRIDE AND CONCEIT.' One who is...

... die. Be contented.... Marx was right when he said, "Religion is the opium of the people." I want to add a few more compliments to religion: it is not only opium, it is poison, it is suicide, it is murder, it is war, it is rape. It is keeping man continuously in slavery, it does not allow any freedom of thought -- and if there is no freedom of thought, consciousness has no possibility to...

..., Ronald Reagan, was accidentally hit on the head by a baseball. Next day, the newspaper headlines read: "Reagan's head X-rayed -- reveals nothing." A salesman knocks on the front door of a house and a little boy opens it, turns to his mother and calls, "Hey, Mom, it's a live commercial." There is always something about your success that displeases even your best friends. I have been...

... began a whole strategy to destroy this commune. Now three hundred, tomorrow three thousand... and these people will create a situation that the American government will not be able to cope with, although they have all the weapons. They can kill, but they cannot cope. And their democracy -- I have seen -- is such a hypocrisy, so ugly, that everything against the commune and me has been done illegally...

..., and my signature is well-known. It is not something personal; it is almost copyrighted in all the countries. Everybody knows my signature, and nobody knows what it means." Their plan failed. Just before sunrise I was shifted to another jail, because what was the point? -- now they could not kill me in that jail, and to keep me there was dangerous, because a young woman was also brought on the...

... new light, into a new life. I kill only that which is not yours, but you believe it is you. I kill, in short, your personality, and leave only that which cannot be destroyed: your eternal being. The moment your personality drops, you will certainly feel like dancing and celebrating and enjoying. And suddenly this universe will become totally different, because now you have fresh eyes, utterly...

... believes in rapes, it believes in murder, it believes in all kinds of crimes, and it believes in all kinds of fictions, but it does not understand even a little bit about itself. The moment a small window opens into you, you are a transformed being. The new man is born in you. Kavisho, enjoy this celebration as much as possible, because whatever remaining falsities, personalities, parts here and there...

... all becoming afraid. When they become angry at me I know that I have hit the right point. I rejoice in it! They have been pretending love, compassion, sympathy, understanding, and I am exposing them to their very core. Without knowing what they are doing, they are doing what I want them to do. They are in my hands. Anybody who gets angry at me is caught by me. Now he will be in a whirlwind. I will...

.... I have heard a beautiful story, an ancient story: A man came to China. When he entered the country -- it must be an old, ancient story -- just on the boundary he saw a crowd. Two people were almost ready to kill each other. They were shouting, jumping, making all kinds of angry gestures, swords naked in their hands. But nothing real was happening, as if it was a movie, as if it was just a play. He...

... could not even detect any anger on their faces. Their eyes were calm and quiet, their faces were relaxed. They looked very centered and grounded. So why all this shouting and swinging of swords, and jumping and jogging and running at each other? And nobody is being hit, and nobody is preventing you either. The crowd is simply standing there witnessing the whole scene. The man became a little tired...

... after a while, a little bored too. One needs some excitement, something should happen. Then one man became angry; his face became red, his eyes became flaming. And the crowd dispersed! The fight ended there. The newcomer could not believe it, he could not understand what was happening. He asked one person, "What is the matter? I cannot follow the whole sequence. They were ready to kill, but when...

... dark and dismal vision. This is the vision of an old, ancient, rotten country. India needs a rebirth, it needs a new childhood. It will protect its ideas because it is so accustomed to those ideas. They are its only treasure! So when I hit at those ideas I look like an enemy. The friend looks like an enemy, and the enemies are being taken for friends. But this is natural, this is logical. It can be...

... expose this whole lie of thousands of years is risky. But I am willing to take the risk because I have nothing to lose -- the goose is out! I have nothing to lose. At the most they can kill me; that is not going to help them. Even my death will be of tremendous help to them. It may shock them out of their nonsense. It may bring them out of their stupor, their sleepiness. Hence, Chaitanya Keerti, I am...

... on hammering. It is so rotten that there is every hope that we may get rid of it. It is falling apart on its own; just a little hammering is needed. I am going to hit it mercilessly. And you ask: WHAT IS THIS BUSINESS? This is the business of people like me. It has always been the business of people like me. Socrates was told by the court in Athens, "If you stop talking about truth, we can...

... kind of life, even the life of the trees. He would not walk on grass; it may hurt the grass. He became so loving, so compassionate, because his being changed. Then his followers have been trying the same, from the other extreme, from the other end: they have been trying it as a cultivated behavior. They try not to kill, they try to avoid any violence, but it is just an action. Action cannot change...

... yours, authentically yourself, is to get rid of any idea whatsoever that you are carrying. Zen has no idea how you should be. That's why Zen people say if you meet Buddha on the way, kill him immediately. That is just a way of saying don't allow any idea to settle into your consciousness. Kill that idea immediately. Don't be an ideologist. Don't have any ideals, and don't be a perfectionist. A...

... farm in Cheshire, Ohio, so he enlisted his forty-two-year-old son Fred D. and his eighteen-year-old grandson James to help kill them ... Now the son and the grandson didn't bother about whether those snakes were there or not. ... They attached a hose to the exhaust pipe of their pickup truck, stuck the hose into the well, and filled it with carbon monoxide. After a while, Shields lowered himself into...

... the body. If you torture the body, the mind goes berserk and starts seeing things. And once you start seeing things you are trapped. Then you want to avoid them or kill them, or, if they are beautiful things, you want to attain more of them. That which is needs no deprivation. You need not lie down on a thorn bed and you need not go on a fast and you need not torture your body by not sleeping. In...

... sleep, of snoring. No effort to hide yourself behind any facade. Once there was a famous Buddhist layman named Busol. He was a deeply enlightened man; his wife too was enlightened, and so were his son and daughter. A man came up to Busol one day and asked, "Is Zen difficult or not?" Busol said, "Oh, it is very difficult. It is like taking a stick and trying to hit the moon." The...

... tried to prove it, that it has to be real, historical. But they don't take things seriously. One Zen Master, Un-mun, said ... Somebody asked Un-mun, "What do you say about this nonsense story?" He said, "On the Buddha's birthday, I was there, present." Un-mun present? The inquirer was surprised. Un-mun said, "As he sprang from the side of his mother, I hit him and killed him...

...;I killed him and fed him to a hungry dog, and since then the world has been at peace." The inquirer went to another Master, Lin-chi. "What the Buddha said on his birthday is wrong," said Lin-chi, "so I will hit him thirty times. And what Zen Master Un-mun said is also wrong, so I will hit him thirty times. And what I just said is wrong, so I will hit myself thirty times."...

... countries were against him, against communism, because if communism succeeds in one country it is going to succeed in every country. It is better to kill it in the beginning, because soon it will be gaining more and more strength and it will become impossible to stop it. The whole credit for protecting the Soviet Union and communism goes to Joseph Stalin. But of course he had to use murder, no trials in...

... said, "You cannot leave one criminal, even if you have to kill ninety-nine innocent men." So it is not a question of individuals, it is not a question of innocence, it is a question of saving communism at any cost. Although he is the architect of Soviet Union, his successors started condemning him for his dictatorial methods -- murder, massacre, mass massacre. But the successors don't know...

... revolutionaries. Miles of trouble! Fighting, murder, being killed, jailed, and when they get into power they look just like the dog, embarrassed. "What to do now?" India has been in the hands of the revolutionaries, but they could not do anything. In fact, a revolutionary is not the right person to be in power. But this is a very difficult problem. Because the revolutionary wins the freedom, naturally...

... two years he was continuously sick, and the doctor was treating him, and his treatment was making him sicker and sicker. And Stalin was absolutely adamant not to bring in any other doctor. Just keeping Lenin sick, Stalin became more and more powerful. In the name of Lenin, who was almost in a coma, he started ordering a mass murder of all the revolutionaries -- Kamenev, Zinovyev, Trotsky, all the...

... each murder, how it happened, how the person was removed in the middle of the night -- just the last page he was finishing, when he was killed with an axe. Behind him was standing the murderer. As he finished the paragraph, the last paragraph, an axe cut his head in two parts. The last page is full of blood. It looks very cruel, inhuman. But it was Joseph Stalin who managed the Soviet Union, because...

... Joseph Stalin, and these were not the rich people. These were the poor people who were adamant, stubborn. Without Joseph Stalin, communism would not have succeeded -- although it succeeded out of violence, murder, massacre. First he had to finish all the enemies inside the country, and then he had to make an iron wall around the Soviet Union, because the whole world was against him. All the capitalist...

... the courts, no wastage of time. He had not much time to waste in fighting in the courts. Simply finishing people immediately, just on a suspicion.... It used to be said, and is still said in every capitalist country, that "You cannot kill one innocent man, even if you have to leave ninety-nine criminals just to save one innocent man." Joseph Stalin turned the whole thing upside down. He...

... were not his personal grudge against anybody; he was simply trying to save one of the greatest experiments in human history, and there was no other way to do it. So I know it is evil, but there was no alternative. When there is no alternative you have to choose the evil. Khrushchev, addressing the Communist Party, said, "Stalin was the greatest murderer, and I am going to remove his grave from...

..., but you have to report it. It may be your wife, you have to report it. And once reported it was never asked whether the report was true, whether the report was reason to kill the man. In the middle of the night the KGB, the Russian equivalent of the CIA, would knock on the door. The man would open the door, and the KGB agent would tell him to follow, and the family knew: "That man is gone. You...

... will enter into it. All the superstitions you have thrown out will come back with tremendous force. And they are coming.... Gorbachev seems to be a nice man, has a very deep respect for democracy, but does not understand that in the name of democracy America is conspiring, and puffing up his personal ego that he is a great leader, a great pacifier. If all this gets into his head it is going to kill...

... the Western intelligentsia. Only very few people -- not more than twelve, or at the most, twenty -- used to live in his monastery. Most of them were refugees from Soviet Russia. They were just seeking shelter because the communists had thrown out everybody who was not with them. They followed Jesus on that point -- anybody who is not with you is against you. Either kill him or throw him out of the...