---
section: Library
booktitle: "From Bondage to Freedom"
booktype: "Discourses"
bookcode: "BONDAG"
dategiven: "05 October 1985 am"
place: " in Rajneeshmandir"
chapternum: "Chapter #21"
chaptertitle: "Your work should be your joy"
acode: "8510050"
shorttitle: "BONDAG21"
audio: "Yes"
video: "Yes"
esttime: "126mins"
displaytitle: "From Bondage to Freedom: Chapter #21"
---

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  font-style: italic;
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<p class="question">BELOVED MASTER,
HOW COME PEOPLE DO NOT SEE THIS AS A MYSTERY SCHOOL, A PLACE OF HEALING, A "RELIGIO" TO ONESELF AND TO THE WORLD ALL AROUND, THE MOST POWERFUL RELIGION THERE IS... A PLACE TO FIND YOURSELF, AND TO FIND YOURSELF LOVED BY YOURSELF AND ALL THOSE AROUND YOU?</p>


It is just because of that, that people cannot see it. It is a mystery school. It is not a commonplace phenomenon, an ordinary theological college, but a mystery school. The very word "mystery" answers your question. The ordinary human mind cannot comprehend: what mystery is there? For it, there is no mystery. For the idiot, everything is already known.


Socrates says that when he was young he thought he knew everything. When he became mature, a little older, he could see that he did not know everything: a few things he knew, but much more was there which was unknown and a mystery. And the day he died he said to his disciples, "This should be my last statement: I do not know anything." Strange... from knowledgeability he is growing into a strange kind of ignorance. But when he died he was so blissful, so peaceful, so at home that even his impending death did not create a ripple in his consciousness.


Later on his disciple, Plato, made two categories. One, the first category: knowledge which is ignorance, mere knowledgeability. You have heard it, you have read it, but you are not an eyewitness to it. It is mere hearsay, knowledge which is ignorance. Unfortunately, ninety-nine percent of humanity belongs to that category.


The second: ignorance which knows. You have become a child, innocent; all knowledgeability has been dropped, existence has again become mysterious -- just as it was when you were born. When you opened your eyes for the first time, everything was a mystery.


Ignorance that knows... you have become ignorant in the sense that you do not carry the burden of scriptures, doctrines, theologies, philosophies. But you have a clarity which only innocence can give to you. In that clarity you can see, but what you see is beyond words; hence you cannot say, "I know." In fact, in that clarity, in that seeing, the seer disappears. There is only seeing. There is experiencing, but the experiencer has disappeared.


This is the state of the mystic, and this is the search of a mystery school.


Do not expect that people will understand you. Their misunderstanding is a recognition that you are a mystery school. Their misunderstanding is a qualification for you. If they start understanding you, then you are no longer a mystery school.


That's why I said, "Religion in this commune is dead" -- because religion they understand, but they do not understand the mystery, the origin, the root from which the word "religion" is derived. It is religio. It means putting yourself together: no longer split, no longer divided into body, mind, soul; no longer divided into God the creator, and existence the created. Everything that divides is against religio.


The mystic disappears in his experience, because to remain an experiencer is a division. The knower and the known -- there is still a division. There is a certain experiencing: the experience and the experiencer have become one. That is religio.


In the East, philosophy is called darshan. "Philosophy" is not the right word to translate it. It is, in fact, the most wrong word to translate it. Darshan means seeing, experiencing; the duality of the seer and the seen has dissolved. It cannot be translated as philosophy.


Philosophy means love of knowledge, and darshan means dissolution of knowledge and the knower. It is a totally different approach. And the professors of philosophy in India and outside India can never be forgiven for translating darshan as philosophy, and translating philosophy as darshan.


The East has no philosophy, the West has no darshan. They are two different categories. The West has philosophy -- love of knowledge. That makes you more and more knowledgeable. Your universities, your libraries, they all help you to become knowledgeable.


In the East, it is a mystic experience -- neither the university is needed, nor the library is needed. All that is needed is the courage within you to go as deep in your being as possible. At the very center of your being -- the explosion. There is nothing known, and there is nobody to know; there is only knowing. You cannot claim, "I know," because you were not there when it happened. You cannot claim, "I know," because what happened cannot be made knowledge.
Knowledge is something dead.
Knowing is something alive.


Knowing is something like a roseflower dancing in the wind, in the rain, in the sun. Knowledge is a roseflower you find in an old book -- crushed, dead, no fragrance. Can you believe these two roses are the same? In a way both are roses; but one is only a corpse, the other is life itself. The moment you try to bring your experiencing into words, the dancing rose dies. Then you get only a rose crushed within the pages of an old book, with no fragrance, with no dance, with no life.
Yes, it is a mystery school.
Religion we have buried, burned.
Religio we are going to live.


Religion becomes an organization. Religio remains always an individual inquiry. Religion sooner or later becomes a hierarchy. Religio never becomes a hierarchy -- the question does not arise.


This is a mystery school for people who are in search of themselves. That is the only common ground, that they are all seekers. Other than that there is no belief which joins them, no ideology to which they are connected, no faith to which they are surrendered.


Just the other day, I told President Prem Hasya that gachchhamis should be stopped, because they give a certain idea of religion. So many people doing gachchhamis looks like Mohammedans doing namaz, Christians doing prayer.


No, religio is individual; it has no collectivity. You are related to each other with a very thin thread; because the other is seeking himself, you are also seeking yourself. This seeking has brought you together. It can be of immense help, because seeking oneself means going into aloneness. One fears, one always wants to be in the crowd with someone; that way you can avoid your aloneness.


I traveled in India for thirty years continuously, and sometimes it took forty-eight hours to reach a place. The fastest train would also take that long. There were places that you could reach only in seven days. But that was the only time for me to rest, because when I reached the destination, then there was continuous work to be done from morning to night: to talk to people, to destroy their conditioning, to deprogram them.


It happened many times that traveling in an air-conditioned compartment I was with only one other passenger -- because only two passengers could travel in a compartment -- and the other passenger was very eager to know about me. So before he even opened his mouth, I would say, "Wait! This is my name... this is my father's name... this is my father's father's name.... This is their business... this is the number of my brothers and sisters" -- how many are married and how many are not married, how many have a college education, who are still in the university: somebody is becoming an engineer, somebody is becoming a doctor....


The man would look shocked. He would say, "But I have not asked!"


I said, "You were going to; now what is the point? Unnecessarily you will ask one question after another. I have given the whole thing! Do you have any more questions?"


And just thinking, "That man seems to be mad!" he said, "No, I don't."


Then I said, "Remember, for the coming twenty-four hours no questions, no yakkety-yak. This is my period of rest. If you want to talk, you can talk to yourself."


But that was also difficult -- to talk to himself in front of me. So what would the man do? He would open his suitcase, bring out something, put it back, close the suitcase; go to the bathroom, come back out -- unnecessarily. He could not tolerate it, twenty-four hours just being alone. And finally he would go to the conductor and say, "Whenever you have a seat in another compartment, please change me."


But the conductor said, "That man is innocent! He travels continuously. I know him, he has never harmed anybody."


He said, "It would have been better if he had harmed me! But it is very strange to live in that room. He does not speak, he just goes on looking at me, and I feel very tense, fidgety. I turn to this side and that, and he simply goes on looking at me. And just because of him I am doing stupid things, and I know that he is enjoying it! I cannot even smoke, because the moment I take a cigarette out, he simply indicates with his finger the sign, 'Smoking Not Allowed.' So what am I supposed to do? Just go on opening my suitcase? And I know what is there in the suitcase!


"I am unnecessarily going to the bathroom and there is no need; I am ordering the waiter to bring water or tea which I don't need! And he goes on staring. It is even difficult to sleep because of that man! I am sleeping, but just to see what he is doing I look at him and he is still looking at me. I say, 'My God! There is no possibility that he will let me sleep.' You just change me."


What was the trouble? Just to be alone is the most arduous thing. That's why people join religions. They become Christians, Jews, Hindus, Mohammedans, Christians. They join political parties -- communist, socialist, fascist, republicans, democrats. Even that does not satisfy their hunger for the crowd. They form the Lions' Club, Rotary Club -- all kinds of associations. They go to the church -- not for the church, but for the crowd. They go to meetings -- political, religious.... They feel at ease when they see so many people are there: they are not alone.


What is the fear of being alone? The fear is that in your aloneness is hidden the mystic roseflower... but you will have to go deep. And the deeper you go, the more alone you will be, because the world will be left far behind. Nobody can accompany you there.


A mystery school simply helps you, because somebody is ahead of you, somebody is behind you, somebody has already reached. The atmosphere of the commune, the milieu, gives you courage: "Don't be afraid. If others are moving inwards, why not you? If they are not losing anything, then aloneness is not dangerous. In fact, they are becoming more and more radiant, more and more loving, more and more compassionate."


Seeing so many people helps you. It creates a certain energy field which becomes your support. Of course, you have to go alone, but those who have reached can say with authority: Your inside is not empty; it is the only fullness in the whole existence. You are not hollow; you will find the greatest treasure of joy and bliss, peace and serenity, grace and gratitude, within yourself. You will find that you have always been here and you will always be here; death does not exist, life is eternal.


But your question is relevant. You are asking me, "Why don't people understand that this is a mystery school?"


They have never understood. And down the centuries such schools have existed, but behind a facade. For example, you know about alchemists. And in the chemistry books it is said -- which is absolutely nonsense -- that chemistry was born out of alchemical experiments, that alchemy was the predecessor of chemistry. They don't know what alchemy was.


Yes, there was a screen: alchemists pretended that they were trying to make gold out of base metals. This people can understand; gold they understand immediately. And if these people are trying to make gold out of baser metals, they are ready to support, to do anything for these people.


Never was any gold made out of base metals. It was just a pretense. They had tubes and bottles and lamps and the whole paraphernalia -- it looked as if it was a scientific lab, but that was just in the front of the school. Behind that facade the real alchemy was going on.


Those were mystery schools, and certainly they were not cheating anybody. They were trying to transform the base metal in you into gold -- but that was metaphorical language. And they had to do that; otherwise, Christianity was there to kill all these people, because religion was Christianity's monopoly.


How do you dare! All that you are expected to do is to believe in Jesus Christ. What is the need of a mystery school and a search inwards? Jesus has given you all that is needed. You simply believe in him. He is the savior, and on the last day, the judgment day, he will choose his sheep and save them. So all that is needed is simple faith, belief. Why go through all this arduous journey, when a shortcut is available?


Alchemists knew that nobody can save you. There is no savior, and there has never been any savior, and there will never be any savior. You can save yourself or not -- it is absolutely an individual freedom and responsibility. But for that a certain school is needed.


My only fault is that I thought, "This is the twentieth century and man has become more cultured, more civilized; we are not living in the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages" -- and I created this mystery school without any facade.


But somebody has to bring it into the open, because there are millions of people who want to be seekers, who don't want to be believers. They need to know that they are not alone, that there are millions of other people around the world who are working on the same lines, that there are people who have arrived, reached, found the ultimate source of life.


But the mob will never understand you. There is no need to bother about the mob. Don't waste your time about others understanding you. You put your whole energy into understanding yourself. The mob has remained always in the Dark Ages, and it seems it is determined to remain always in the Dark Ages. It is their freedom and their choice. Let them remain whatever, wherever, they want to be. Don't be bothered whether they understand you or not.


You put your total energy -- because your own inner work needs your totality, and life is short, and nobody knows about tomorrow. So not even a single moment has to be lost in unnecessary worries.
<p class="question">BELOVED MASTER,
ANARCHY SIMPLY MEANS ABSENCE OF AUTHORITY -- WHICH IS BEAUTIFUL. BUT IN COMMON LANGUAGE IT HAS THE MEANING OF ABSENCE OF DISCIPLINE. WHY THAT CONFUSION? COULD YOU SPEAK ABOUT DISCIPLINE, ESPECIALLY ITS RELATION TO REBELLION?</p>


Anarchy is one of the most beautiful words in the human language. Yes, it means absence of authority. It means you are accepted as an independent individual; you are no longer a slave.


Your question is: Why, in people's minds, has anarchy taken on the connotation of absence of discipline? It is a very simple psychological phenomenon. All discipline that you have known was imposed upon you by the authority. The authority of the parents disciplined you -- what to eat, what not to eat, when to eat, when to go to sleep and when to get up. What to do and what not to do was never left to your own decision. The parents were your first authority -- just like God the father was the first authority for Adam and Eve. He was the father, they were the children. And he was telling them not to eat from the tree of knowledge, not to eat from the tree of eternal life. Authority disciplines.


Then there are teachers in the school, the priest in the church, in the temple, the rabbi in the synagogue. And they are all authoritarian figures. You have to do what they say; otherwise you will have some kind of punishment either here or after death. Naturally authority and discipline become associated with each other. So whenever authority is removed, you think now there is no need of discipline.


The reality is, when authority is removed then there is a real need of discipline. Now there is nobody to impose any order on you, it is your responsibility to live a life of order, discipline. Why? -- because a man who lives without order starts falling into pieces, falling apart. His life starts losing harmony. A man who does not know discipline lives a life which cannot be called really human. He falls back into the world of the animal kingdom.


Discipline makes you integrated, gives you a certain crystallization. And without that crystallization you cannot be more conscious. Authority is slavery for you. Discipline is living an organic, harmonious life.


Just see how authority has destroyed humanity down the ages. Start from the very beginning.... It was God's authoritarian order that Adam and Eve should not eat from these two trees of knowledge and eternal life. What was the result? The result was disobedience. Any obedience forced upon you creates in you -- if you have any guts -- disobedience. You want to do just the opposite.


When I first read the story of Adam and Eve and their expulsion, I went to my father and showed him the story. He said, "But why are you showing it to me?"


I said, "I am showing it to you so that you understand: no shoulds, no should-nots; otherwise I am going to disobey. Even God could not manage; you will not be able to manage it. The story is clear."


He said, "You draw strange conclusions! The story is told so that people don't disobey, and you are drawing the conclusion that the story says people should not be authoritarian."


I said, "It is absolutely clear -- because in the Garden of Eden there were millions of trees; if God had not been so stupid, then I don't think even by now Adam and Eve would have found the tree of knowledge and the tree of life. He is responsible for their disobedience, and if anybody has to be punished, God has to be punished.


"So I am just telling you that if you tell me to do anything, I am going to do its very opposite, whatever the consequences. It may harm me, it may harm you, it may harm anybody, but one thing is certain: obedience is not going to be my way of life. You can certainly advise me, but the choice is always mine -- to do or not to do." My whole family remained in trouble continuously. And it was natural....


In my city there was a very beautiful river. But it was a mountain river, so suddenly in the rains it would become too big and huge, and in summer it would shrink and become small. In the rains the current was so great that to cross the river by swimming was almost to invite death. But I told my father, "This river is a constant challenge to me. So I am ready -- even if death happens, I am going to cross this river when it is in full flood."


It becomes almost one mile broad, and it takes nearabout three hours, four hours to cross it. And the current is so powerful that you cannot cross it directly. The current goes on pushing you downwards, so when you reach -- if you survive -- you reach almost five, six miles down on the other shore. Then you have to walk twelve miles up -- then only can you come back to the spot from where you had started. It was going to take the whole day.
My father said, "Don't do that."


I said, "You are not advising me, you are ordering me. I am going to do it."


My whole family was in a turmoil: "You are so small, and this is dangerous. Nobody has even tried it; the best swimmers in the city have not dared."
I said, "That makes it more challenging."


I went against the whole family. They even threatened me that they wouldn't allow me to come into the house if I survived. I said, "That's okay. I will sit just outside the house."


It was difficult. There were moments when I thought, "Perhaps it is not possible to reach the other shore." It was arduous, tiring, but I managed it. And then twelve miles I had to go upstream.


By the evening I was back. I didn't enter the house, I sat just on the steps. They were all amazed to see me, that I had come back alive. My mother said, "Why don't you come in?"


I said, "You made the condition that even if I survive, you are not going to let me in. So I am sitting on the steps. If you have any objection, I can sit on the street."


My father came and took me in. He said, "We are sorry. We never expected that you would be able to manage. You do not know in what agony we remained the whole day."


I said, "But the ecstasy that I have felt -- in comparison to it your agony means nothing. My suggestion is, next time you also come with me. All my uncles are invited to come with me. It is a tremendous job, but once it is done, something in you crystallizes. I feel stronger than ever!"


In the school it was continuously a problem, because I did not believe in any authority.


I have loved hats from my very childhood, but in the school I had to drop hats because it was compulsory; you could not come to the school without a hat. My family said, "But you love hats!"


I said, "I love hats, but I love freedom more... even more than my head! If I have to lose my head, I will lose it willingly, but I cannot lose my freedom. Tomorrow, I have been called by the principal of the school, so I am very excited about the encounter."


The principal was thinking that he would just threaten me and things would be settled. I entered his room and I told him, "Before you start threatening me -- and I know you have been using corporal punishment -- if you do any harm to me, I am going directly to the police station. Corporal punishment has been banished, it is illegal; you will be unnecessarily in trouble. I don't want you to be in trouble.


"So first, drop whatever you have been thinking. Man to man, let us discuss the whole problem. If you can convince me.... I love hats, but if you simply order me, then there is no way that I will use hats." I asked him, "What relationship has a hat with education? Does it increase a man's intelligence?"


He said, "These questions I have never thought about."


Then I said, "You think, and you inquire; you consult higher authorities. You have to prove that the hat has some relevance. I have come to the school to be educated. If the hat helps intelligence, I am perfectly willing to wear it. But you will have to prove it."


The reality is that in India, Punjabis are the only people.... They use turbans; that is part of their religion. The Sikh has to use it, otherwise he is not a Sikh. And they are the most unintelligent people in the whole country. The Bengalis are the people who don't use any hats, any caps, and they are the most intelligent people in the country. Not a single Punjabi has risen to world eminence for his intelligence. They have not achieved Nobel Prizes. But Bengalis have become world famous. They have achieved the Nobel Prize for science, the Nobel Prize for literature, and all other kinds of awards.


I told the principal, "What this proves is that the turbans are preventing the intelligence of the poor Sikhs. The Bengalis, without any caps, any turbans, any hats, seem to have fresher minds, are more intelligent. They have created the best literature in the whole of India, the best poetry, the best art, and their language is a beauty. Even if two Bengalis are fighting, you cannot think that they are fighting, their language is so sweet."


The principal said, "I will call you when I have figured it out, but you seem to be a difficult case."


I said, "That's true. But call me only when you have enough proof."


And I remained all my school life without a cap. Naturally, many other students stopped using caps. One day the principal called me and said, "This is too much! You are not using caps, and you are spreading a kind of rebellion, disobedience. Others are not using caps."


I said, "I have not said anything to anybody; to use or not use is their freedom. One thing is certain, you have not come with any argument to prove it helps intelligence. To you I can say that you should not use the cap! It is not dignified of you. For no reason, why are you destroying your intelligence?"


In the college, I used to have a long robe, with a wraparound lungi as it is used in India, and with no buttons on the robe, so the chest is open. And I was very healthy and robust, one hundred and ninety pounds.


The principal told me, "Coming to the college without buttons is not according to the etiquette."


I said, "Then change the etiquette, because my chest needs fresh air. And I decide according to my needs, not according to anybody's idea of etiquette."


In my first year in the college, I won the all-India university competition for debate, and the professor in charge -- he is dead now, Indrabahadur Khare -- was a very properly dressed man. Everything about him was proper. He took me to a photo studio near the college, because they wanted my picture to be released to the newspapers, to the magazines, and particularly for the college magazine: I had won the all-India competition and I was just a first-year student.


But he was very tense all the way to the studio. And when we entered the studio, he said, "Excuse me, but without the buttons, how will your photograph look?"


I said, "It will look just like me! You have not won the debate, I have won the debate. And when I was debating there were no buttons, so what is the problem now? If I can win the debate without buttons, then my photograph has to be without buttons!"


He said, "You do one thing" -- he was a very small man. He said, "You can take my coat, it will fit you. You just put it on top of your robe and it will look beautiful."


I said, "Then better you stand here and let it be perfectly proper. Let that picture go."


He said, "That cannot be done. That will be simply objectionable. The principal will say, 'This is your photograph, and....'"


So I said, "You should remember, my photograph has to be like me. I cannot use your coat. Either the photograph will go without buttons, or I am not interested in the photograph at all. So you decide."


He had to decide for something very improper. He said, "I have never done anything improper, and I never allow anybody to do anything improper. But you seem to be strange."
I said, "This is not improper."


Every child is born naked -- that is proper. Every animal is naked, and that is proper. But there are people addicted to properness....


I have heard, in the times of Victoria in England, ladies were putting clothes on their dogs, because to keep a naked dog with them was not ladylike -- and the dog does not know any etiquette. If the dog meets a lady of his own kind, he may have an erection. That is very improper in public. He may even try to make love -- in public! No, he has to be covered completely. He cannot have any erection in public, he cannot make love in public because of the clothing. And you will be surprised: even the legs of the chairs were covered with clothes -- because they are legs, and a lady's leg should not show. Stupidity can go to any length.


I have fought against authority my whole life. But I have never forgotten the difference -- on the contrary, the more I have fought against anybody imposing his authority, the more I have tried on my own to be disciplined. Because now I am alone, nobody can discipline me, I have to discipline myself; otherwise I will start falling apart, I will not be able to have an integrated individuality.
I believe in discipline.


The word "discipline" is very beautiful. It comes from a root which means learning: a man of discipline is a man who is always learning, a man who is always ready to learn. He is a man who is always open to learn -- with no prejudice, with no preconceived conclusions.


A bigot cannot learn. A Christian cannot learn, a Hindu cannot learn, a Buddhist cannot learn. They have already accepted conclusions without any experience. They are closed people.


Discipline means you remain open. It comes from the same root as disciple. A disciple means one who is ready to learn. A disciple means one who is not bigoted, who is not prejudiced, who has no unexperienced beliefs, who knows what he knows and who knows what he does not know. He is very clear about it. And when there is no authority over you, then you are the authority -- a tremendous responsibility, a great freedom.


I have been telling you that Sheela and her fascist gang are gone -- and it has been a tremendous relief to the commune, but it has created many problems. It has given you freedom, and you are not capable of being free. You are accustomed to being slaves. In four years I had never received any letter from you saying that you would like to come to work when you feel like coming, you will leave the work when you feel like it. I have heard of no problem.


Now I have received a letter just last night -- somebody wants just to meditate in the hills the whole day long. You can meditate, but then don't ask for food, don't ask for clothes, don't ask for shelter -- because the people who prepare food also would like to meditate in the hills. Why should they prepare food for you? Why should they bother about you?


It is your meditation, it is your joy. They should have their joy, and do whatever they want to do. Then you will not find the dentist in the dentist's office; he will be meditating somewhere. You will not find the doctor. One day the whole department of the medical center did not turn up for work; they just felt to relax. That's a great idea -- but what about the patients? Who is going to look after them?


I am not preventing you from meditation, but you have to understand your responsibility. It is a commune, and now that a fascist regime has been removed, if you behave in this way you cannot exist; it will be impossible.


But if you miss this opportunity, perhaps you will miss forever -- at least for this life. And this is a tremendous loss -- a mystery school, a religio, has not the guts to be independent and yet create order out of independence and love?


Work for love, not because somebody is forcing you to work. Your work should be your joy! You are doing it for the people you love.
<p class="question">BELOVED MASTER,
WHEN I HEARD ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY THAT YOU COULD BE ARRESTED, AND THEY COULD HURT OR KILL YOU THEN, UNPROTECTED AS YOU ARE, MY FIRST REACTION WAS OF TURNING INTO A WOUNDED LION, OF SPENDING THE REST OF MY LIFE BURNING EMBASSIES AND LIVING AS A FASCIST ANARCHIST, AS A REACTION TO THIS INCREDIBLE PAIN.
WHAT CAN MY MEDITATIVE RESPONSE BE TO THESE DIRTY ACTIONS OF POLITICIANS?</p>


No need to be worried. They cannot dare to arrest me, for the simple reason that arresting me means America loses its mask of democracy, and its real face of hypocrisy comes before the world.


I have not committed any crime. To be silent is not a crime. To be in isolation is not a crime. I was silent, in isolation -- that is my birthright. If somebody takes advantage of it, I am not responsible for it.


For example, if you are asleep and somebody steals from your house, it can be said you are responsible for the stealing. Why were you asleep? You gave the opportunity to the person; he took advantage of it and stole. Does that mean nobody can sleep? Do you mean to say that nobody can go into silence, into isolation, because advantage can be taken of it? This is sheer nonsense, this is not logic.


They cannot arrest me, don't be worried. And I have one million sannyasins around the earth, and more than two million sympathizers. There is no need for anybody to become terrorists, burn American embassies, or do any violent activity. All that is needed is, in front of every American embassy, go there and sit down and meditate. Let the whole world see that these people are simply meditators. Even in protest they are only meditating, not doing any harm to anybody, but just being silent; if you have some heart, it will respond.


All the sannyasins and the sympathizers meditating before American embassies will be far more effective than throwing bombs. This will humiliate them more than burning embassies. And this will bring pressure on the American government: "You are not dealing with terrorists, you are dealing with a mystic commune. And you should behave more humanly."


This will be a beautiful opportunity to show the power of silent, meditative compassion: no destruction, no violence, no ordinary political kind of protest. Just see what meditation can do. It can destroy a whole empire.
Love is more powerful than any power.


You see a waterfall: the water is so humble, so weak against the rocks on which it is falling. But soon the rocks will be gone, the water is going to be victorious. The rocks were hard, very strong, but not before water. The power of meditation is the power of water. The power of politics, violence, is the power of the rocks.


Don't be worried at all. Whatever happens -- this is my experience of the whole of life: whatever happens brings something good to me and to my people. So whatever happens will be a benefit, a blessing.


Let them arrest me. I have informed them, if they want to arrest me they should come with handcuffs, because I want the whole world to see my hands with their handcuffs, to see that this is America -- and this America is going to protect democracy in the world. It is destroying democracy itself, it is against its own Constitution. Just my hands raised with the handcuffs will have enough power. Don't be worried. All their nuclear weapons are nothing. If they are going to take this risk, they will repent forever. They will see America and its prestige going down the drain.


And how long can they keep me arrested? Two hours? I have not committed any crime, but within those two hours they will have destroyed their credibility.


So it is up to them. It is for the attorney general to decide. If he has any intelligence, then it is better to leave us alone. But if he is as idiotic as I think he is, then he is bound to do something stupid which will destroy him -- not me, not you, not the commune.
Okay?
			

> [!info]
> Copyright 1964-1990 Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh)
>