..., ideals, values and the like. It will do anything to survive, to flourish and prosper. But remember, the stronger it grows the less chance that yet-unborn life hidden inside has. "The ruthlessness and hardness of the ego can kill the unborn soul that is there, in the womb of your self. The ego has to die for the soul to be born." LIFE IS FRUSTRATION BECAUSE WE OURSELVES HAVE IMPRISONED IT...

..." you remove the "I" and are left with the experience of "am" then the problem vanishes, then the solution is knocking at the door. In reality, life is simply existence; it is just the natural flow of the current of existence. "I" is an attempt to halt that flow, "I" is a man-made dam impeding that natural current. Look for the "I" in yourself. It...

... could only know the life within us! A single ray of the knowledge of out inner life would remove our everlasting ignorance about death forever. It would dispel our blind belief that we can die, that we have died before, that we will die again. But we do not know the light that we are, the light that is our selves, and we are afraid of the darkness, afraid of something that is totally alien to us. We...

..., suffering, sorrow, despair and madness seem to be the story of his life. But we do not notice this because all around us everyone else is asleep too. Once in a while a conscious, wide-awake man is born, and those who are asleep cannot tolerate him. They lose their tempers and they kill him. We crucified Jesus Christ because he was awake. People in deep sleep cannot bear the presence of such a man. He is a...

... number who are afraid of death. For those who know that the soul never perishes, that the soul is an everlasting truth, death has ceased to exist and so their fear of death has ended forever. No one can kill these people; no one can end their lives. And there is another important fact to note - not only can no one kill them, they cannot kill anyone else either. They should not harbor any illusion they...

... can kill, because the existence of death is no longer a reality for them. But those who preach the immortality of the soul over and over again are nonetheless afraid of death. Not only do they spout the doctrine of the eternal soul, they loudly support the principle of non-violence as well. They do not advocate this because they are not prepared not to kill anyone, but so that no one will step...

... forward and kill them . The world, they say, should follow the principle of non-violence. Outwardly they profess it is bad to kill, but in fact they are afraid they may become someone else's prey. But if they really come to know death does not exist, they there will be no fear of killing or of being killed, and then all this talk will cease to have any meaning or importance whatsoever. In BHAGAVAD GITA...

... so there need be no fear of dying or of being killed. There is no death and so there can be no destruction. The question is of living one's own life. As far as life is concerned, those who are afraid of dying or of being killed are impotent. Those who can neither kill nor die do not know the truth of immortality - that what is cannot die, cannot be destroyed." What a world it will be when...

... everyone realizes the soul is eternal, indestructible! That will be the day when the whole fear of death vanishes forever and, with it, the empty threats of destruction that are now so effective. That day wars will disappear. But not before. As long as man thinks he can kill or be killed war will never cease in this world. Until then war will continue, unhampered, whether it is Mahatma Gandhi or Buddha...

... thirty or forty times. If you see a film today you enjoy it. If you are made to go see it again tomorrow you may tolerate it. If you are asked to see it again on the third day you will want to avoid it because it will be boring for you. But if you are forced, say by the police to see the same film for fifteen days running, on the sixteenth day you will want to kill yourself. You will have reached a...

... attain to this knowledge I am certain we can remove the darkness that is so quickly enveloping the whole world. Two experiments, totally different from each other, have been carried on in India during the last fifty years. One experiment was Gandhi's; the other, Shree Aurobibdo's. Gandhi tried to elevate the personal character and integrity of each individual, of every human being. And it seemed for a...

..., even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. — Leviticus 20:10 Pharisaic law (the Oral law that later became the written Talmud) also decrees death for adultery. See Sentence and Execution and Accusation and Trial. When an adulteress is arrested in the act and brought to Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees challenge...

... results we found: And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. — Exodus 24:6 And he shall kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water: — Leviticus 14:50 But thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all the vessels thereof, and over all things that belong to it: they shall bear...

... one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. — John 10:24-33 Notice that the Jews admit that they intend to kill Jesus: "For a good...

... work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy" (John 10:33). One year after Jesus' death, Stephen is charged with blasphemy by Jewish officials and stoned to death (Acts 7). It is apparent that the Jews did administer the death penalty, but they did not want to kill Jesus themselves. At the time Jesus attacked the sacrifice system in the Temple, He was too popular with the people (see Mark 11:18, quoted...

... perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. — John 10:26-29 Who is the "Father" to which Jesus refers? Is it the LORD God of the Old Testament, the very entity that directs the Children of Israel to kill someone like Jesus? (Deuteronomy 13:1-5...

...: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people. — Deuteronomy 32:41-43 Consider also the LORD God of the Jews who: Commands that all the Hebrews' slaves shall be Gentiles, and that Gentile slavery shall be hereditary (Leviticus 25:44-46) Commands the Hebrews to kill their family members and close...

... conclusion without going through any reasoning. The man is simply amazed! He cannot find any clue. He may have lived with the woman his whole life, still the woman remains a mystery. And the same is true for the woman: the man remains a mystery. He cannot understand simple things which she can see clearly: that smoking can bring cancer. "Why do you go on smoking? Drinking alcohol will kill you sooner...

..., real questions, questions that are your problems in life, so that I can help you to solve them." He used to tell this story again and again: Once a man was hit by an arrow... He was a philosopher, a great metaphysician. People rushed to him; they wanted to take out the arrow, but he said, "Wait! First tell me whether the arrow is real or illusory. " Now, that has been one of the most...

... you have misunderstood it as a snake. So there is no need to kill it. How can you kill a snake which does not exist in the first place? " He puzzled people so much with all his metaphysical reasoning that they were at a loss what to do. It was difficult to prove... In fact, it is difficult to prove: nobody has been able to prove conclusively that the world exists; there is no way to prove it...

... philosopher and he said, "These questions can be answered later on, we can discuss them later on at our ease. First let us pull out the arrow because this arrow can kill you, and if you are alive we can discuss it later on. And whatsoever you decide later on, that the arrow is real or unreal, will be up to you. But right now you don't need philosophical discussion, you need a physician who can pull the...

...! Are you going to kill the father of your sons?" The young lady walks into a drugstore and asks, "Do you have intimate deodorants?" "Yes, we do," answers the druggist. "What kind would you like?" "Chlorophyll " "No, sorry, we will receive it tomorrow." "Tomorrow I cannot come. Could you give it to my husband?" "How am I going to...

... stable - he hit his head. It was a small door; because he hit his head he said, "JESUS!" Mary said to Joseph, "This seems to be a very good name for the child." This is the only impact those three wise men have left on the world; so whenever you get hit, you say, "Jesus!" I have not heard of any religious leader coming to Buddha and recognizing him, or to Mahavira and...

... home. And there was to be a meeting immediately - just time enough for me to take a cup of tea and go to the meeting. So everybody was in the meeting - ten thousand people waiting there - and these twenty-five people surrounding me in case those two hundred Hindu chauvinists do any harm to me. I could see in the faces of those two hundred people nothing but murder. The stationmaster by chance...

... country - how long can it remain free, with such people? If he wanted to kill me then he should have practised a little bit. Eight feet away ... even eight inches cannot be allowed. And what kind of knife? When I saw the knife I simply laughed: Indians will always remain without any intelligence it seems. The knife was, at the most, capable of cutting vegetables. That too it has not been used at least...

... for a few decades. It could not kill a man at all, not even a man like me who is absolutely fragile. But seven thousand eyewitnesses, twenty policemen eyewitnesses, ten police officers, one police commissioner - still the court freed the man. If the court can simply release the man - not even a three-day punishment or a five-rupee punishment - with all the evidence against him .... The court was...

... poor woman. He wants to kill this man, but the child is so small... so he represses the desire, and he is not even allowed to admit that he has seen it. And the child will never be able to forgive you, that you were secretive about things. You were not open, even with him. You talked about love, but love means many things: openness, honesty, sincerity. And about one of the most basic things in life...

... believe in God, did not believe in prayer. I want you to understand it: the moment God and prayer are discarded, the only thing that is left is to go in. Buddha also was from the warrior caste, son of a king, trained to kill. He was not a vegetarian. But when meditation started blossoming in him, just as a by-product the vegetarian idea came into his being: you cannot kill animals for eating, you cannot...

... destroy life. While every kind of delicious food is available, what is the need to kill living beings? This is nothing to do with religion. This is simply to do with your sensitiveness, your aesthetic understanding. Jainism and Buddhism are the only religions without God and without prayer, and both automatically became vegetarian. The same is happening to sannyasins. Christianity is not vegetarian...

... just a decoration for your ego. With me, meditation is the only essential religion. And everything that follows it is virtue, because it comes of its own accord. You don't have to drag it, you don't have to discipline yourself for it. I have nothing to do with vegetarianism, but I know that if you meditate you are going to grow new perceptivity, new sensitivity, and you cannot kill animals. Have you...

... you, you will not be able to figure out whether he is really going to hit you or is just pretending, acting. You will not be able to find out through your sensitivity. The reason is, man has lived for millions of years so insensitively that he has lost one of the greatest qualities of his being. Meditation slowly slowly gives you back your sensitivity; and a man who has reached to the ultimate...

...? Have you seen its subtle ways of movement, its workings? Do you know it? You don't know it" I asked the priest, "Remove this sentence from this temple. Mahavira has no understanding about ego because what he is saying is an appeal to the ego. Yes, he will get people ready to surrender, ready to be humble, ready to be meek; but behind their meekness will be a sophisticated ego, far more...

... you have to turn the other cheek. Sometimes perhaps you have to hit the man harder than he has hit you. Sometimes perhaps you have to hit him on both cheeks - but nothing can be given to you as a ready-made formula. It will depend on you, the person, the situation. But act with awareness, then whatever you do is right. So I don't label acts as right and wrong. To me, the quality of your awareness is...

... has hit you. He is the master of the situation, and you are simply a puppet. You are reacting. His action is decisive, and because he has done something, now you are doing something in reaction. This is the unconscious man's behavior. That's why the unconscious man's behavior can be manipulated very easily. You smile, he will smile. You be angry, he will be angry. It is because of this that people...

... thinks me a saint, they think that I am a monster. And these neighbors would kill me if they could manage, but knowing me they are afraid, they are cowards. You are the only man in my whole life who has understood me. What do you do?" I said, "I study in a college." He said, "Drop that college. You join my college." I said, "If you say so, I can drop anything. Dropped...

... mallet and hits the crocodile over the head as hard as he can. But still the animal won't bite. He then cracks his whip, removes his unscratched prick and the crowd goes wild. Then the trainer asks the audience if anyone else would like to try this trick. A little old lady rushes into the ring and says, "Yes, yes, let me try! But please don't hit me so hard with the hammer!" Question 2...

... mirrors, hit them hard. She used to carry a staff with her; if somebody, somewhere, had a mirror, she never bothered that it was not her possession; she would immediately hit the mirror, breaking it into pieces. The whole village where the woman lived was in utter despair. They said, "In the first place, this woman is so repulsive. Secondly, she goes on destroying our mirrors. We are poor people...

... to kill that man immediately, to shoot that man. Deep down you are calling him "bastard." But on your face that ear to ear smile: although he is harassing you, calling you all kinds of names, saying that you are lazy, that you are always a latecomer and it cannot be tolerated anymore, that you have to mend your ways, otherwise you will be fired. If you watch ... With a friend you have a...

... different mask, with the enemy you have a different mask, with a stranger you have a different mask. The authentic, the original face, is possible only when you remove all masks, when you start behaving humanly and equally to all. He may be the servant or he may be the master. Both are human beings and both need their dignity and respect. Whether it is your friend or your enemy, it doesn't matter. Both...

... will follow you and when there are people around, then he will ask, then he will hold your legs, your feet, saying, "Give me something. I am dying. For three days I have not eaten anything!" And you will give! Deep down you hate him, deep down you want to hit that beggar. But you will give something because you want to keep your prestige, your mask, before the people, so they will think...

... six-month-old baby? Just that he was born in the family of the czar? That was just accidental he could have been adopted by somebody. And what was the reason to kill the czar also? You were going to distribute wealth, not kill people. And now the czar is no longer the czar, you are in power: he is nobody, just a prisoner. What was the point of killing these people - women, old women, children - who...

... the other half So riots were very simple and easy. It was almost every two, three years that there would be a riot. Anybody can create one, it is so simple. Somebody can just go and play on a flute before a mosque, and escape. That's enough! Music before a mosque is enough to trigger a riot in which hundreds of people will be killed, houses will be burned. Or just kill a cow before a Hindu temple in...

... to come down to the plains - they remained in the Himalayas, so there was no problem. But their population increased so there was not food enough for them there; they started coming down. Now, in India there is a problem - the cow is a holy animal, the holy mother, so Hindus are against killing them. The parliament was thinking to kill all these cows which were coming to the plains, to just shoot...

... them; there seemed to be no other way. But the Hindus were against that. They said, "You cannot kill our cows. If you kill our cows then there will be immense trouble" - and there would have been immense trouble. "They are our mothers." But one man, a very intelligent man, Doctor Babasaheb Ambedkar.... He was a sudra, an untouchable and he was against the Hindus. He was a Hindu...

... Asia; it is a vast continent. He had to kill thousands of provincial leaders. This was called purification of the party. He said that these people were really of the bourgeoisie, their minds were capitalistic: "And unless they are finished the country is not safe. The enemy is within - we can fight with the enemy outside, but if the enemy is within, then it will become impossible to fight with...

..., Gandhi's instructions were, "You are not to retaliate, you have just to stand here. Let them kill you, but no violence from your side should be possible" - and thousands of people behaved in that way. The British government was in great confusion - no government has ever been in such confusion. If these revolutionaries had been using violent methods, then there would have been no problem; the...

... license. Even in countries like India where you cannot carry a weapon without a license, the Sikh carries a weapon because it is a question of his religion. And you cannot hurt anybody's religious feelings - although it is not such a religious feeling at all. Carrying a sword? - you can kill anybody. This is not a religious thing. But the Sikh religion makes it a point, and the British government had...

... even a bamboo should you carry; you should be absolutely unarmed. And let them kill. How many unarmed people can they kill? Let us see how far they can go in inhumanity." There were one hundred thousand people, and the British government attacked them unnecessarily - because they were doing nothing; they were just saying prayers and asking God to make the country free. Now, there is no problem...

... barehanded, opened their shirt fronts, and told the soldiers, "You kill as many as you can, because anyway, living in slavery is worse than death." Finally the British government caved in. Gandhi had never thought.... These people - trusted, well-known for years to be absolutely nonviolent, not power-hungry-suddenly changed. When the revolution succeeded and these people came into power they...

... - it will give you rebirth. Fear and courage, both destroy - but fear simply destroys. The seed simply goes rotten. When you sow the seed of courage in the soil, then too it dies - but it doesn't go rotten. It dies... it dies into a new phenomenon. A sprout comes up. Courage will kill you as much as fear, but fear will simply kill you without giving you a new life. Courage will give you a new life...

... not in your question and I answer it, how am I going to touch your consciousness? You will be absent! I will be knocking on a door where you are not. Don't be so much afraid of the answer. Be authentic. Be existential! Let the question have the flavour of your being! Let the question have a LIFE - it should have a heart which beats, it should BREATHE! Then only is there some possibility.... You kill...

... start an affair with your wife - he has character. You can rely on him; he can be allowed to remain in your house and work. This man will not suddenly jump upon you and kill you - you can rely on him, he has character. He has never done anything like that. He has certificates. A man of character simply means one whose past is so fixed that you can rely on it that he will not be able to change it in...

... the future either. I don't give you any discipline, any character. My basic approach is that one has to be utterly characterless! To be characterless means to be without the past. I am not saying that you have to commit murder and you have to start stealing and robbing people - I am not saying that. But I am saying this: that you should not be predictable like a man of character. Yes, you will not...

... commit murder - not because it is your character but because of your awareness you cannot do such an ugly thing. Not because it is against the Ten Commandments and Moses and Manu and Mahavir, no - but because your inner voice is against it. You will not rob anybody, not because it is written in the scriptures that you will suffer in hell, but because the very idea does not arise in a conscious mind. A...