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

68 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
far below in the hierarchy. That I cannot do because I see the same phenomenon happening in Buddha and the
same experience in Jesus. I am not helping Indians’ ego in any possible way I am doing just the opposite. They
cannot crowd at the gate to come in.
What I am trying here is not something of the past; it belongs to the future. So only a few Indians will be able
to come to me a few Indians who are capable of rising above their Indian mind, very rare individuals who are
ready to rise with me above nationality, above race, above all kinds of egoistic attitudes. They are here, but they
are here because they are also no longer Indians.
Indians believe that they know, they are very knowledgeable. Naturally it is an ancient country; you need
not read the scriptures, the scriptures are in the atmosphere. And my idea is that the knowledgeable person can
never be religious. And up to now India has believed in the knowledgeable person the pundit, the scholar, the
professor. And my effort is to help you become more and more childlike, more innocent, full of wonder not full of
knowledge, full of awe not full of information. There is no need to read the Vedas because anyway ninety-nine
percent of the Vedas is absolutely rubbish! Now this hurts the Indians. Only one percent is beautiful; you have
to be very choosy.
The same is the case with other scriptures of the world. You look at the Bible, look at the Old Testament;
ninety-nine percent is just rubbish. It would be better if we got rid of that rubbish so only diamonds can shine
forth. Otherwise the pebbles are so many, the diamonds are lost. But no no Jew will be ready to drop anything
out of the Old Testament. And the same is the case with the New Testament, and the same is the case more so
with the Koran.
I have many Mohammedan sannyasins. They go on asking me when I am going to speak on the Koran, and I
go on postponing it for the simple reason that there is not much in it to speak on. Very rarely do you come across
a line one can manage to speak about in a beautiful way. Otherwise, just very ordinary statements....
But the reason is, in those days everything was written in the religious scriptures: history, geography, mythology.
That was the only way. The old religious scriptures are like Encyclopedia Britannica; they are the encyclopedias
of the old days. Everything is written, whatsoever was happening in those days and whatsoever was thought
important. It may have been important in those days; now it is irrelevant.
And even when I speak on Buddha, Mahavira, Krishna, I speak in an absolutely nontraditional way. I speak
out of my own experience, I am not a commentator. I love Buddha because I have known the same light, I have
experienced the same truth. So when I comment on Buddha it is not a commentary. Buddha’s statements are
only excuses, just pegs; I go on hanging myself on those pegs.
The Indian mind is very much against that. They think I am distorting. They think I should comment according
to the scriptures. I am commenting according to my consciousness, not according to any scripture. And when I
see something which cannot be said by a buddha I simply drop it, I don’t comment on it.
I know what buddhahood is! I go on creating Buddha again. That is resisted very much. They would like
me to be just a historian, a commentator, a scholar. They would like me to quote their scriptures, refer to their
scriptures. I never refer, I never quote. In my books you will not find any footnotes. I don’t believe in all that
nonsense. I speak out of my heart. I love Buddha, I love Jesus. I speak, I use their statements as grounds to take
off, that’s all just jumping boards. It goes against the Indian approach, Indian scholarship.
Gardiner, because my message is universal it will appeal only to those people who are universal, who don’t
belong to any country anymore, to any religion, to any church. Yes, you are right. You say, ”Is it only for those
without a religion?”
Yes, it is for those who are without a religion, without a nation, without a race; it is only for those liberated
ones. It is for the new generation. The new generation is courageous; it has dropped much of the load that people
have been carrying for centuries. Only then can there be a communion between me and you.
And you can see this is a universal gathering. People from at least forty countries are here. Except the Chinese
and the Russians except the communist bloc you will find people from every country here. And even in Russia
the orange people are starting to work underground. Small cells have started functioning. People are meeting
really in underground basements, meditating. A few people even have become sannyasins. It is very difficult to
send them malas and names, but we have found ways and they have found ways. They cannot wear orange in the
open.
One woman who has become a sannyasin wrote to me, ”What to do?” I said, ”Use red instead of orange. Wear
red and tell people that you love communism so much that you cannot resist the temptation of wearing red!” She
loved the idea. She said, ”This is beautiful!”