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

THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 217
BELOVED MASTER, DID GOD REALLY MAKE THE WORLD, AND JUST IN SIX DAYS?
Sujata, looking at the world, one thing is certain: it has been made in a hurry. Whoever made it, it is in such
a mess that it must have been made in six days. Whether God made it or not I cannot say, because if you look
at the world it seems more like a creation of the devil than of God!
Man is so destructive, so violent, so mad, that it is very improbable that God made this kind of mind. Either
the devil made it or it was only the first time that God was making it so he made many mistakes. And he became
so afraid of his own creation that he has not tried again. It seems he has escaped! Seeing what he has done he
must have become frightened.
The story is that he made trees and mountains and rivers and animals. On the sixth day he made man and
since then he has not made anything. It seems man brought him to his senses: ”What are you doing?” He simply
stopped absolutely.
But, Sujata, why do such questions bother you? It is none of your business! One thing is certain: you have not
made it, so why should you be worried? You are not responsible, I am not responsible either I have not made it.
So why should we waste our time with it? There are many crazy people who have nothing else to do leave it for
them to think about. These are great subjects; one can go on thinking about them for ever and ever; they are
unending. That’s why philosophy begins but never ends, theology begins but never ends. It goes in circles. Each
answer brings more questions than it answers.
If I say, ”Yes, God made it,” then immediately many questions will arise: ”Why did he make it in the first
place? Why did he not ask us whether we wanted to be made or not? This seems to be such a dictatorial act, not
democratic at all people are being made without even asking them! And why did he make this kind of world when
he is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient? He must have seen what was going to happen, he must have seen
the future. He must have seen that there would be Genghis Khan and Tamerlane and Adolf Hitler and Mussolini
and Tojo; he must have seen all these people. He must have seen that man would fight thousands of wars. He
must have seen that sooner or later man would discover atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs and deathrays and
whatnot. Then why did he create this world? Is he a sadist? Is he enjoying all this misery? And millions of
people live in such misery and what does he go on doing? Can’t he come and help?”
In scriptures it is said... in the Shrimad Bhagavadgita Krishna declares: I will come whenever there is too much
misery. Is it not enough, the misery that man is living in now? When is he going to come? And what did he do
when he really came? He didn’t help anybody. In fact, in his days the greatest war in India was fought. If we
believe the scriptures, so many people died in that war... the whole of India could not have contained so many
people. Even now the whole world contains only three times as many. It must have been some war! Today it
would have been one person out of three; in those days, five thousand years ago, the population was not so large.
It could have been the end of the whole of humanity. What kind of help was that?
And God comes in Jesus: he sends his only begotten Son to save humanity. Nobody seems to have been saved.
Jesus could not even save himself he was crucified! The savior was crucified by those for whom he had come; he
had come to save them.
Thousands of questions will arise. Leave these questions to mad people.
Two inmates of a Michigan mental institution were chatting in the recreation room. The first loony said, ”Don’t
talk to me, I am Napoleon!”
”What do you mean, you are Napoleon?” asked the second nut.
”I told you not to speak to me. I am Napoleon.”
”How do you know you are Napoleon?”
”God told me I am Napoleon.”
A little voice from the corner piped, ”I did not!”
Leave such theological problems to nuts!
Some visitors to an insane asylum were being shown around by a guard.
”You see that man over there?” said the guard. ”He thinks he is the Lord.”
One of the visitors approached the lunatic and asked, ”Did you really make the earth in seven days?”
The nut sneered at him, ”I’m not in the mood to talk shop!”
Sujata, these are not really religious questions, although religious people have been talking about these questions
for centuries because religion has been dominated by lunatics for centuries.
The really religious questions are concerned with you, with your unconsciousness and how to transform your
unconsciousness into consciousness. Real religion is not metaphysical; it is rooted in psychology, it is psychological,
because real religion means a way to transcend the mind. Unless you understand the mind you cannot transcend
it.