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

THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 67
America is the most receptive. And next to America, Germany seems to be very receptive for the simple reason
that Adolf Hitler killed the old Germany completely, he destroyed the old completely. He created a discontinuity.
The new German generation is no longer looking backwards. Adolf Hitler is standing there and nobody wants to
look at him, so better forget all about it! Adolf Hitler has done a great service to Germany. He has destroyed
the old heritage not knowing that he is doing such good work, otherwise he would not have done it not knowing
that he is doing something immensely valuable. Unconsciously he has done it.
India also needs a discontinuity with the past. The past hinders.
Hence people from other countries are coming to me more. And certainly one becomes curious, just as Gardiner
has become curious: ”Why are not your fellow Indians crowding at the gate to get in?”
India is too old, my message is too new. India is ancient, traditional; I am rebellious. There is no meeting
ground between me and India. I am not an Indian, in fact. So please don’t call them ”fellow Indians” they
are not. I am not an Indian, I belong to no nation; only then can I be universal. If I am an Indian, then I am
already prejudiced in favor of India. Then my message cannot be universal; it will be deep down Indian, basically
Indian camouflaged, hidden behind beautiful words, abstractions, but it will remain essentially Indian; it can’t
be universal.
Mahatma Gandhi used to say that the whole universe is one, all religions are one. In his ashram he used to
teach that Hindus and Mohammedans and Christians are all one. In his prayer meetings all the prayers of all the
religions were recited. He loved one prayer the most which says: Allah ishwar tere nam Ishwar and Allah, both
are your names, God.
But when he was killed he forgot all about Allah. He said, ”Hey Ram!” Then the hidden Hindu came to the
surface. His whole life he was saying, ”Both are the same, both are names of the same.” But when the bullet
went into his heart he forgot all his philosophy. It would have been really beautiful if he had said, ”Allah!” But
he said, ”Ram!”
He used to say that the Gita and the Koran and the Bible have the same message, but he worshipped the Gita
and he called the Gita his mother. Then what is the Koran? He has not even called the Koran his auntie! The
Gita is his mother and of course he has chosen a few pieces from the Koran and from the Bible which are in
agreement with the Gita. Anything that disagrees with the Gita has not been chosen by him, so the Gita remains
the criterion. Now this is so clear, that anything that does not fit with the Gita is wrong; it may be in the Koran,
it may be in the Bible, but it is wrong. He would not say it so clearly because he was a politician.
I am not a politician I say things as they are. I call a spade a spade and sometimes a fucking spade! I am not
a politician; I simply say whatsoever is the case.
Indians are not very happy with me, they cannot be. Neither am I very happy with them, so why should they
be? I am utterly against their traditionalism, their egoistic idea that they are holier than everybody else in the
world. Nobody is holier than anybody else. I am against their idea that their country is the only religious country
in the world, that they are the source of all that is great. These are stupid ideas. Every country carries them and
every country believes in them.
You ask the Chinese, you ask the Japanese, you ask the Italians, you ask anybody. Every country believes it.
And you can find always great arguments to support it.
Indians would have crowded at the gate if I was helping in some way, nourishing and feeding their ego. I am
not doing that, I cannot do that. Only then can I be universal. I am continuously hammering on their ego. I am
continuously trying to destroy their ”holier-than-thou” look. They are angry at me. How can they crowd at the
gate to come in?
If sometimes a few of them out of curiosity come in, within five to seven minutes they start getting up. Only a
few stupid Indians get up from here. What I am saying does not suit them. They would like me to praise their
Vedas as the only scriptures, the real scriptures, written by God himself. They would like me to praise everything
that is Indian. I cannot do that. I can praise only that which is praiseworthy, not because it is Indian. I can
praise things, not because they are Hindu, Jaina, Buddhist, but simply because they are beautiful.
I praise the Taj Mahal not because it is Mohammedan, but just because it is a beautiful piece of objective
art. I praise the Upanishads not because Hindus have written them but because they are so immensely valuable,
intrinsically valuable. I praise Lao Tzu in the same way, I praise Jesus in the same way, I praise Mohammed in
the same way. Wherever truth has happened, whomsoever it has happened to to Bahauddin or to Buddha it
does not make any difference to me.
That makes Indians very angry. They would like me to criticize Mohammed and to praise Mahavira, or if I
cannot do that then at least praise Mahavira more than Mohammed, but create a hierarchy in which Buddha,
Krishna and Mahavira are at the top. Yes, Jesus is also good and Mohammed is also good, but not at the top