THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 The ...

THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 101
When Moses was coming from Egypt and the enemies were following on his heels and they came close to the
sea, now there was a problem: What to do? The sea was a barrier and the enemy was closing in. They were
coming closer and closer every moment.
And then suddenly a miracle happened: the sea became divided into two parts. Huge columns of water on both
the sides and a small pathway....
Moses looked at the sky and said, ”My God, only one thing I have to ask you. Why is it always me who has
to be the first? Now I have to enter into this danger! Why do I have to be the first always?”
You can even complain about your miracles and I don’t complain even about my ordinariness.
Golda Meir, the ex-prime minister of Israel, used to say again and again, ”I cannot forgive Moses. For forty
years he led our people in the desert, and he found Israel the only place where there is no oil! I cannot forgive
this man. And he passed many places which had oil.”
Amit Prem, simply accept the way you are. You can’t be anybody else. Because you are trying to be somebody
else, that creates the trouble.
He goes on writing to me, ”I want to be an insider in the ashram, and I remain on the periphery.” So what is
wrong with being on the periphery? I am not even on the periphery! You are at least on the periphery. Wherever
you are, enjoy it. If you become accustomed to creating misery for yourself, even if you are at the very center
you will be suffering. You will say, ”God, why do I have to be at the center always and to carry the whole
responsibility?”
I say, I am not at the center because I carry no responsibility at all. You will not find a more irresponsible
person in the whole world than I am. I have no responsibility at all. Even on the periphery you have some
responsibilities. Even the guards sitting on the gate have some responsibility.
Learn to enjoy wherever you are and whatsoever you are. Don’t make much fuss about it. If there is resistance
it is natural, because this whole process is of surrender. Sannyas is surrender. Resistance is natural. So accept it,
and through acceptance it will die a natural death.
The fifth question:
Question 5
BELOVED MASTER, ARE YOU AGAINST THE WOMEN’S LIBERATION MOVEMENT?
Shakti, I am not against women, I am all for them. But the liberation movement is something ugly and I
know the responsibility is on the male chauvinists. They have been doing so much harm to women down the ages
that now the woman wants to take revenge. But whenever you start taking revenge you become destructive. The
movement is still in a destructive phase; it has not become creative. And I am against destructiveness.
It is of no use to go on looking at past wounds. It is of no use to take revenge because of the past. One should
learn to forgive and forget. Yes, it was wrong accept it. Whatsoever has been done to women down the ages was
absolutely wrong. Man has exploited them. Man has been very brutal, very animalistic. Man has reduced women
to slaves; even more than that, he has reduced them to things, to possessions. But what is the point of taking
revenge? Then you become the pursuer and man becomes the pursued. Then another kind of chauvinism begins
to take form and shape. Then the female chauvinist is born. And this is not going to put things right. Then the
women will start doing harm to men, and sooner or later they will take revenge. Where is this going to stop? It
is a vicious circle.
And my feeling is that instead of men stopping it, it is far easier for women to stop it, to come out of the vicious
circle because they are more loving, more compassionate. Man is more aggressive, more violent. I don’t have
much hope from men, I hope much from women. Hence I am not in favor of the aggressive attitude and approach
of the Women’s Lib movement.
Mrs. Farid presented herself at the gate of heaven and knocked with trembling hand.
”Madam,” said Father Abraham, peering suspiciously through a peephole, ”from whence did you come?”
”From Flatbush I came,” replied Mrs. Farid with embarrassment, as great beads of perspiration spangled her
spiritual brow.
”Never mind, my daughter,” replied the patriarch compassionately. ”Eternity is a long time; you can live that
down.”
”Mister, I got something to confess,” she went on, obviously worried.
”In our religion we don’t have confessions.”
”But this is different. If you will take a look in your records, you will see that maybe I don’t belong here. I I
well I poisoned my husband and I chopped up my brother-in-law. Not only that, I....”
Father Abraham suddenly grew stern. ”Your aggressive behavior does indeed present a problem, madam. Were
you a member of the Women’s Liberation movement?”