... like cutting off an arm. I cannot do that. Until now I've been going along with you. I was continuing to decrease the number, because until now the one's that had to be put aside were clothes. Now limbs would have to be broken, I cannot fracture limbs. Please don't insist on such violence." He said: "Some questions have arisen, one is: you can drop Mahavira, but not Gorakh?" Gorakh...

..., when you see the other, the first will disappear. But when the first disappears, will you say it is not? Creation is one form of god and annihilation another. One of his forms is presence and the other form is absence. When you stroke the strings of a veena, music arises. Where was it? Where was it a moment before? It was in the void. It certainly existed. If it didn't exist it couldn't arise. It lay...

... politics from the filthiness of your prayers. Here too are quarrelling and fighting, violence and enmity, competition. Temples and mosques do nothing but fight with each other. The believer is afraid. The atheist is also in fear. When I say this you will be a little surprised. Usually people think that if the atheist were afraid he would believe in god. People have failed in their attempts to make him...

... days, drop all worries and live it in style. Even if the other is hurt, even if violence is inflicted upon the other, don't worry about it. What violence, what hurt? It is all a facade created by the priests to frighten you. But if we enter into a Charvaka's mind the same fear is there. He is denying god out of fear. Have you noticed, there are many people who deny the existence of ghosts - just out...

... - it is self-destruction and the greatest sin ever. Only stupid people enter into such sins. Those who possess even a little bit of awareness would not do such foolish things. If forcing the other to starve is wrong, how can starving oneself to death be right? If torturing the other is violent, how can self-torturing be a non-violent act? Violence is in the very act of torture - it makes no...

..., THE DOER. THE SPIRITUAL ENDEAVOR IS RAMAN. ONE WHO APPLIES HIS TOTAL ENERGY, FOR HIM THE WORLD EXISTS NO MORE. Two ways exist of searching for the truth. One way is that of the male - aggression, violence, the scramble for power. Another is that of the female - surrender, withdrawal. Science is the male path, aggressive; religion is a female path, bowing down, submissive. Make this distinction very...

... shower upon him. Science is an act of rape. It is an assault on nature - as if nature were some kind of an enemy, as if it has to be conquered, defeated. That's why science believes in cutting things into pieces. Analysis, destruction; it believes in dissection. If you were to tell a scientist, "The flower is beautiful," he will immediately sit down and start pulling apart the flower...

... to be understood as well. The fact that at the death of his wife the first thing which occurred to him was "good riddance" shows that knowingly or unknowingly, the desire for her death must have been lurking somewhere in the unconscious. This requires to take a deeper look at it. At some level he must have wished that she be dead, finished forever; but this shows violence. Every word that...

... deathbed; and everybody is full of anger and violence and aggression and jealousy and possessiveness; and everybody is false, pseudo, and everybody is a hypocrite - this is the world. You don't feel it, but when a Jesus moves amidst you, he feels it because he comes from the heights. He descends from the mountains. If you go to the Himalayas and after living few days in the Himalayan freshness you come...

... Moses says you can stone a woman if you catch hold of her in adultery. They can't miss this great opportunity of murder, of violence. And when violence can be committed according to the law, who would like to miss it? Not only will they enjoy the violence, they will enjoy that they are very very legal people, virtuous followers of Moses. But they have all forgotten about it. Just a little turning by...

... not try to change you. The effort to change others is an expression of hatred and violence - it is a kind of surgery: "I want to carve you like a stone, mold your features, shape your insides into my image of you. I will cut into you with hammer and chisel, telling you that you are wrong, until you turn out the way I want you to be." And everyone is trying to improve upon the other by...

... something else, the uncles want something else; the grandfather and the brothers want something still different; teachers are trying something different; politicians have some other designs on him. In their very effort to make something out of the child is his destruction. We may offer our hand to help, but the other can become only that for which he carries the potential within himself. And this is...

... tricky, because we only offer our help to exploit. Our help is a kind of bargain, requiring the other to agree with you. Even the father says to his son, "Unless you are prepared to listen to me, these doors are closed to you!" It is not out of love that these doors are open, the father is committing an act of violence with his bargain: "If you comply with my wishes, with the decisions...

.... For him now there is no society. Up to now, before his buddhahood, society was; society was because it was destroying him. But now no one can destroy him, now he can return. The poison of society is no longer poison for him; his destruction is now impossible. Even someone who comes to destroy the buddha will now gain something, he will share the buddha's love. He will receive a gift which will...

... the opposite. Whatever we do, the opposite also takes place immediately. There is no way to escape the opposite. We do one thing and give rise to the other. We try to save one and we harm another. If we save one, we become the cause of another's destruction. This duality is the quintessence of all life. So whatever we do, the opposite also happens at the same time. Whether we know or we do not know...

... with Non-violence and violence. We cannot escape the opposite of whatever we do. Therefore, a strange thing happens: We are tormented by the very person we love. This should not have been so. But we find that love creates hate no sooner it is born and hate gives pain. Lao Tzu says, "Those who know, those who are wise, they know the secret - when anything is created in Existence, its opposite is...

... call wisdom is utter foolishness, those alone will be willing to step towards Lao Tzu. And to step along with Lao Tzu, is to step into danger for he gives no assurance of protection. The path he shows is so dangerous that you will be lost; you shall be no more. Lao Tzu says, "This is a path of extinction, annihilation is the way." He alone will be prepared to go with him who knows for...

... save ourselves. We are ready to accept whatever comes. If death comes, it is welcome. In this acceptance you do not feel the need of anger or violence or hate or enmity or jealousy or malice any more. Then only can the spikes break. Lao Tzu says, "This our mind, our individuality has become a ganglion." It has become a complex - like tangled thread. From wherever you pull, it gets more...

... knots." But how? When we try to unravel one end, the other end becomes more complicated. We are taught - Eschew anger, learn to forgive. This causes problems. We are told - Do not hate, love all. Commit no violence, be non-violent; tell no falsehood, be truthful. But all these cause more entanglements. If a man resolves to tell the truth, why should the knots become more entangled? But they do...

... knot, one by one. Then what we do is, we bring in its opposite to counteract it. For instance, if there is too much anger within us, we bring in a big dose of forgiveness. If we are violent by nature, we switch over to non-violence in a big way. If we are greedy, we become charitable. But nothing is solved this way. According to Lao Tzu, to disentangle means to view the conditions as they stand. All...

... hands are empty. The stress is on the annihilation of entanglements. Lao Tzu says "Eradicate all entanglements." Mahavira says, "Be sans-knots. Cast away the knots." Nowadays psychologists have begun to work a great deal on complexes. In the East, the word 'GRANTHI' (knot) is a very old word. We refer to the entanglements of the mind as granthi. The West has begun to use the word...

... body is already dead, so you are not killing. There is no murder, there is no violence at all. The body is already dead, so dust will fall unto dust; and the soul is immortal, so you are only disconnecting them, that's all. You are not killing anybody; nothing is ever killed. NA HANYATE HANYAMANE SHARIRE -- "By killing the body, nothing is killed." A beautiful argument for violence! Now...

... body needs the change. It helps the digestion to change your position -- it is a little bit of exercise. But Mahavira remained like a statue the whole night. This is their ideal. Krishna cannot fulfill it, Rama cannot fulfill it. Rama carries a bow and arrow, and they symbolize violence. Even Jesus cannot fulfill their criterion, because according to the Jainas you suffer only because of your past...

... how it is. We have to be humble, we are not the whole. We are the parts of a tremendously vast whole -- very tiny parts, atomic parts, small leaves on a big tree. It is good to tremble sometimes. Nothing wrong in it. It helps you to shake off the dust. You become again fresh. My whole point is: accept life as it is and don't try to change it into something else. Don't try to change your violence...

... into non-violence; don't try to change your cowardice into bravery; don't try to change your sex into celibacy; don't create the opposite. Rather, try to understand the fact of violence and by and by you will become non-violent. Understand the fact of cowardice and cowardice will disappear. Understand the fact of sex and you will find a new quality arising in it which goes beyond it. But always move...

... fundamental right - to pursue happiness. It is impossible to pursue happiness. Nobody has ever pursued it. One has to wait for it. And it is not a right at all. No law court can force you to be happy or force happiness to be with you. No government violence is capable of making you happy. No power can make you happy. The founding fathers committed a very deep mistake. It seems Jefferson didn't know much...

..., without any right to it, why not happiness? why not love? why not ecstasy? They can all happen, but you have to understand the law. The law is: don't try directly. Happiness cannot be pursued. It can be persuaded. Persuasion is indirect. It is not an attack. You move, but not directly, because when you are direct you are aggressive. Nothing is as direct as violence. And nothing is as violent as...

..., because if an earthworm, not related to a plant at all, of a totally different species, is thrown into hot water, and the death, the torture, the violence, is felt by the plant and the plant goes through a turmoil, a terrible turmoil, shaken to the very roots, then the other thing also seems possible. Buddha attains to nirvana, he becomes enlightened. One life has reached the goal: it does not seem too...

... because they exist for a particular purpose; for aggression, for violence. Look at the pictures or at the bodies of Mr. Universes: they are wild animals; they are no more human beings. And their bodies are also not healthy. They have been forcing their bodies into unnatural shapes. They may look like lions, but they are not even human beings. They are appreciated because we are still animalistic. If you...

... become more beautiful and graceful, less aggressive and violent, then you will choose a man like the Buddha to be Mr. Universe; not the animals that you choose but a body which has lost violence and aggression, which is completely at ease, relaxed, ready to love, not to fight. Everybody has two aspects. Just watch people. I say watch people so that finally, eventually you can watch yourself. It is very...

... violent, and how can violence be beautiful? How can aggression be beautiful? Somebody who thinks himself or herself beautiful is constantly aggressive. You cannot live with such a person happily - almost impossible, because the demand is too much. And when somebody demands, you will feel a sudden feeling not to give; because one wants to share, one wants to give, but one wants to remain one's own master...