silence shared in words
presents
The Value of Religious Teachings
But haven’t there been some teachings handed down
from Jesus
which form the basis of
much that is good in civilization today?
Nothing.
Not a single thing has come out of Jesus
which has helped humanity in any way
All those teachings have proved
not blessings, but curses.
They are beautiful words
and because they have been repeated so often,
you have – and everybody has – forgotten
the implications of them
He says, “Blessed are the poor,
for
theirs is the kingdom of God.”
It looks beautiful,
but basically it is ugly.
It is a consolation to the poor.
It is an exploitation of the poor.
It is giving false hope to the poor,
and the ultimate result is that the world has remained poor
Who would not like to inherit the kingdom of God?
Jesus says that
even a camel can pass through the eye of a needle,
but a rich man cannot enter through the gates of heaven.
Now this man is responsible for all the poverty in the world.
He is condemning
richness,
he is condemning
the creativity
which can make the world rich.
I am all for richness in all dimensions,
and I cannot say, “Blessed are the poor.”
That is
just
what Karl Marx said:
the opium
of the people.
It is possible
to use beautiful words,
but if you go into the implications…
What are the Christians doing today
and what have they done for two thousand years?
They will open
orphanages,
they are against birth control,
they are against abortion.
Some of them.
Those who are not
will soon be expelled. They are being expelled.
And those
who are…
For example the pope himself
is against abortion, against birth control
He is against the greatest revolution in humanity
the pill.
Population goes on growing,
poverty goes on growing, and who is responsible for it?
I think these people are criminals.
The pope?
The pope.
He should be behind bars.
Why?
Teaching such stupid things to humanity:
go on producing children,
they are gifts of God.
He is responsible for Ethiopia, he is responsible for poor India.
Anywhere poverty happens,
these people are responsible.
On the one hand
they go on increasing the population, which is already too much,
in the name of God.
But the real thing is
that they can convert only the poor to Christianity.
I have never seen a single rich man being converted to Christianity in India;
beggars,
orphans,
prostitutes
these people get converted.
Is there any part of Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism,
any of the established religions that you think are good?
Nothing.
I want to be completely finished with the whole past,
I want it to be erased completely.
I want a discontinuity with the past. Only then the new humanity
is possible;
and a new world,
and a new man.
So I categorically say everything is wrong
And the proof is there: the whole world is in a mess.
These are the people
who have given to the world
principles, ideologies, systems on how to live.
This is the outcome
of Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Mohammedanism.
This is the outcome.
You say the whole world is a mess.
What is it that you’re trying to create
in man, in the world?
I’m simply saying that there is a way to be sane.
I’m saying that
you can get rid of all this insanity created by the past in you.
How?
Just by being a simple witness of your thought processes.
That’s my method of meditation.
It is not a prayer because there is no God to pray to.
It is simply sitting silently,
witnessing
the thoughts passing before you.
Just witnessing – not interfering,
not even judging,
because the moment you judge
you have lost the pure witness
The moment you say “this is good,” “this is bad,”
you have already jumped into the thought process.
It takes a little time
to create a gap between the witness and the mind.
Once the gap is there,
you are for a great surprise:
you are not the mind, you are the witness, a watcher.
This process of watching is the very alchemy of real religion,
because as you become more and more deeply
rooted in witnessing,
thoughts start disappearing.
A moment comes
when there is no thought at all. You are,
but the mind is utterly empty.
That is the moment of enlightenment.That is the moment when for the first time
you become unconditioned, sane,
a really free
human being.
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