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

172 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
A lovely signora stepped forward, shaking her finger. ”Look,” she chided the pontiff, ”you no play da game-a,
you no make-a da rules!”
The last question:
Question 8
BELOVED MASTER, MY HUSBAND IS MAD, BUT SOMETIMES WHAT HE SAYS IS TRUE. IS IT
POSSIBLE FOR A MADMAN TO DO THAT? 8
Neelam, madmen can do anything, obviously they are mad! They can even say the truth. It is the so-called
sane people who are unbelievable, who are expert in lying. Mad people are simple; they can say the truth. They
don’t worry, they don’t care.
Listen to your husband. He is far saner than the other so-called sane people. If sometimes you find that he is
telling you the truth, maybe at other times also he is telling you the truth, you are just not aware of it.
Mad people are beautiful people. They are mad only because they are so sensitive that they cannot live in this
mad world. This mad world drives them mad! They are so sensitive and vulnerable that they become victims.
They are not cunning; they are innocent, sincere and honest people. I know many mad people in fact, I know
only mad people and I respect them.
You ask me, Neelam, ”Can a madman do that? Is it possible for a madman to say the truth?”
Only madmen can say the truth.
Jesus must have been mad; otherwise he would not have said the truth. He would have played the game of the
crowd and he would have become a famous rabbi, not crucified but crowned. But he was mad and he said the
truth.
Socrates must have been mad, utterly mad; otherwise why bother about truth? Live as other people live,
imitate them; lie as they lie, deceive as they deceive, be hypocrites as they are. Why try to be true? Why insist
on truth? But he must have been mad.
The judges had asked him in the last moment... because they also felt sorry for the man, they knew his sincerity.
They told him that if he was ready to leave Athens he could be forgiven but he could not enter Athens again.
Socrates said, ”That I cannot do. I have lived in Athens, I have taught in Athens, my disciples are here, my
people are here. Now in this old age, where am I going to start my business again?”
Yes, he actually used the word ’business’.
The judges asked, ”What do you mean by your business?”
He said, ”The business of telling the truth that is my business.”
The judges were really sympathetic. They said, ”Then you do one thing. You can live in Athens, but stop
talking, be silent.”
He said, ”That is not possible. It is better to die because then my death will speak. And let me remind you,”
he said to the judges, ”even after centuries, when I am dead, my death will go on speaking to people about the
truth. And you will be remembered only because of me; otherwise nobody will remember you. I cannot stop my
business of speaking the truth. I am ready to die.”
He must have been mad! Even his disciples thought that he was mad. Life is so valuable! But to a man of
truth, truth is more valuable.
And mad people can do anything. Help your husband, don’t hinder him. Help him to be authentic and true
and don’t call him mad. Who knows who is mad? In fact, no definition exists. Psychoanalysts call Jesus neurotic.
Friedrich Nietzsche says Buddha is mad. Freud says Nietzsche is mad. Jung thinks Freud is mad. Who is to be
believed?
The noted doctor opened the patient’s stomach and a bunch of butterflies flew out.
”Say,” the doctor said, ”this guy was really telling the truth!”
And maybe he is just playing a role, just acting, because sometimes it is really beautiful.
I know one madman. When he was alone with me he was absolutely sane, and when he would go home he
would become mad. I asked him, ”What is the matter?”
He said, ”This is very comfortable. I don’t have to go to work, I don’t have to bother about the family business,
I don’t have to worry about anything. I enjoy! I swim in the river, I lie down in the sun, and everybody thinks,
’He is mad!’ My wife, my children, they have all taken all the responsibility. My wife runs the shop, my children
about whom I was always worried now they are worried about me! And I am enjoying, I am having the time of
my life!” He said, ”I have done enough. Now this is the only way.”
There are many mad people who are simply pretending to be mad.
Just help your husband. Maybe it is just because of you that he is pretending to be mad! Neelam, women are
dangerous! You should see Aseema....