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

190 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
it is gaining momentum to move to the left, and vice versa. It appears it is going to the left, but it is gaining
momentum, energy, to go to the right. When a society is repressive it is gaining momentum to become indulgent,
and when a society is indulgent it is gaining momentum again to become repressive.
So a strange thing is bound to happen, and in fact, it is happening: the West has been indulgent for a few
decades and the repressive trend is arising again. There are many cults which preach celibacy now. The Hare
Krishna movement preaches celibacy, brahmacharya, and thousands of people have become interested in it. And
there are many cults arising which are all agreed on one point: that sex has to be repressed. In the name of yoga,
in the name of Zen, in the name of Christianity, many cults are arising which are again repressive. The West will
become repressive soon.
And in the East, the number of porno magazines is growing every day; porno movies are coming more and
more. The East is a little slow in everything, a little lazy in everything, so it takes a little longer. The West
moves with speed. But the East is becoming West and the West is becoming East, and that is one of the greatest
problems. If this happens, then the misery remains the same. Again the pendulum has moved and again you will
go on doing the same things.
This has happened many times in the past. A repressive society becomes indulgent sooner or later. When the
repression comes to a point where you cannot repress it anymore it explodes: people go berserk. Or when a society
has been very indulgent it starts seeing the futility of it, the sheer wastage of energy. And it gives no contentment;
rather it makes one feel more and more frustrated. Then one starts thinking of brahmacharya celibacy. Maybe
the ancient rishis were right!
In the East also it has happened many times. The Hindu religion, in the beginning, was very indulgent; it was
not a repressive religion. The Hindu seers were married people. Not only were they married, they were allowed to
have a few other women also as their concubines. They were allowed even to purchase women because in those
days in India, men and women were sold in the marketplaces just like any commodity.
Beware of all those people who go on talking about the Golden Age of India. There has never been any golden
age. Even in the days of Rama... Hindus talk very much about Ramarajya the kingdom of Rama is thought
to be the highest pinnacle. People were sold like commodities in the marketplaces, and particularly women were
thought to be just property; anybody can sell, anybody can purchase. People used to give them as gifts. A guest
would come to your house and he would like one of your women, and you would present the woman to him. Even
the so-called saints used to have many women; they were all indulgent. All the stories of those days, even about
the gods, are very indulgent.
You must have seen Shiva temples temples devoted to the god Shiva. The statue is nothing but a phallic
symbol. If you look, if you observe minutely, you will be surprised: it has both man and woman’s sexual organs
in it. It depicts the meeting of man and woman. The story is this:
One day Vishnu and Brahma went to see Shiva... this is the Hindu trinity: Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva. Brahma
is the creator god, Vishnu is the maintainer god and Shiva is the destroyer god. All the three are needed to keep
the world running. One creates, one maintains, one destroys; then again one creates, the other maintains and the
third one destroys. So it remains in a flow.
Brahma and Vishnu went to see Shiva. As it happened, the guard was fast asleep, so they entered in without
asking any permission, and Shiva was making love to his wife, Parvati. He was so passionately into it, so drunk!
he may have taken some drug, because he is perfectly well known to have used drugs. Marijuana and hash and
opium were all known to him.
He continued to make love and these two gods stood there watching. Great gods! They could not even say,
”Excuse us,” and get out. They must have enjoyed the scene living pornography! Six hours it continued, the
love-making, and these two gods stood there for six hours watching. A long blue film! and nothing else, just
making love! No other incidents, nothing else... just Shiva making love to his wife. But they were very angry.
When Shiva was finished they told him, ”We have been waiting for six hours and you have not even taken any
notice of us. We are very angry and we curse you that you will be remembered forever and forever by your sexual
organs.”
That’s why in the Shiva temple you see the phallic symbol: Shiva is remembered by his sexual organ.
Now, these Hindus must have been very indulgent. Their gods, too, were very indulgent. But then came a
reaction, the pendulum moved. Buddhism and Jainism rebelled against this indulgence and they created a very
repressive world, a repressive morality.
India still lives under that influence, but it is moving slowly, slowly again towards the indulgent. The West is
influencing it Western films, Western novels are influencing it. The West is being influenced by Buddha, by Zen,