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

56 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
In that sense, Jesus is less religious than Adolf Hitler. He loved drinking, he loved good wine. He loved it so
much that once he transformed the whole sea into wine, you know! Now, what kind of religious man is this Jesus?
He loved eating with friends, inviting friends. He was always in a festive mood.
Adolf Hitler used to eat alone. He was a perfect dog! Dogs eat alone. Even if you are just looking they will
keep their backs towards you, afraid you may snatch away their food or something. Some other dog may come
and start barking and fighting may start. They can’t invite anybody. Dogs don’t believe in parties! They are
loners, very meditative! They eat alone. And of course they eat very silently, no conversation. And they eat quick
and fast; they don’t waste time. Adolf Hitler did the same. He was also afraid of people, just like dogs.
It is said that he had not a single friend in the whole of Germany. And Buddha says: Be friendly. It is sweet
to have friends. He had no friend because he was so afraid of people, so suspicious, that he could not afford
friendship. To be friendly means to be intimate. To be friendly means to be available to the other. To be friendly
means to trust the other.
He never got married in his whole life. He got married only at the very end, just three hours before he committed
suicide. When it was absolutely decided that he was going to commit suicide he called a priest and got married,
so that at least in death he can have a companion. The woman had to commit suicide with him also. A strange
marriage! Why did he avoid marriage his whole life? for the simple reason that he was not sure whether to
allow a woman in the same room in the night when he was asleep. Who knows? she may cut your throat, kill
you, poison you. You may start uttering some secret in your sleep; she may hear it. She may open your letters.
Women are known to do such things, well known, really. In fact, it is very difficult to get your letter without it
being read by your woman; she is bound to read it.
Mulla Nasruddin’s wife was fighting with him. ”Something has to be done you have to write to your mother.
She has been very cruel and crude towards me.”
Nasruddin said, ”But she is a thousand miles away. How can she be suddenly cruel and crude towards you?”
The wife said, ”Yes, she has been. Look at this letter!”
In the letter there was a postscript. The letter was written to Nasruddin and the postscript to Nasruddin’s
wife, ”Please, after you have read it, give the letter to my son!”
Women know each other!
Adolf Hitler was very afraid to get married. He remained a bachelor, a brahmachari, a celibate. Now, what
more religious qualities do you need in a saint? no smoking, no drinking, no wife, no friends. He lived the life of
a monk!
But my feeling is, if he had smoked a little, if he had got drunk once in a while, had fallen into the hands of
some woman, had loved somebody, had some friends, played chess or gambled a little bit, he would have been a
far more human being and the world would have been saved from the second world war. But he became almost
stonelike.
You can do good things, but if you are not conscious your good things are bound to result into something
disastrous.
In Manhattan, a policeman strolling his early morning beat stopped in front of an East Eighties brownstone.
Sitting on the stoop was Millarney, completely snookered.
”Why don’t you go home?” suggested the cop.
”I live here,” said Millarney.
”Why don’t you go inside then?”
”I lost my key,” answered the drunk.
”Why don’t you ring the bell?”
”I did, an hour ago.”
”Why don’t you ring it again?” asked the officer.
”To hell with them!” snorted Millarney. ”Let them wait!”
The ordinary humanity is really in a state of stupor. People are asleep. There is no need to be a drunkard,
people are already drunk. Naturally we are not born conscious, we are born unconscious, and then we go on
becoming more and more unconscious in life because we are unconscious, we want to be more unconscious. It
seems to be natural, it fits with us. To be conscious seems to be a very uphill task.
Hence the immense attraction for alcohol or for other drugs. From the times of the Vedas up to now it has been
the same. The Vedas praise somaras very highly. Somaras seems to be something like marijuana, LSD, psilocybin,
something like that. It has not yet been discovered exactly what it was, but whatsoever it was, it was one of the
most perfect of drugs.