Was
there a reason that you decided to adopt the vow of silence in the first
place, or was there also no reason?
There is
never any reason. I don't live by reason. I simply allow things to happen. I
don't know why I became silent. I don't know why I started to speak again,
but I enjoyed being silent and I'm enjoying being out of silence again. I
don't know about tomorrow. I may be silent, I may be speaking. I may not be
here at all.
When
you went before the Immigration Service for a visa as a religious leader,
the comment was made by the officials of the service that how could you be a
religious leader if you didn't speak? Did that have any influence on you at
all?
No.
Nothing influences me. Nor do I want anybody to be influenced by me, because
the very fact of being influenced is a kind of mental slavery. I keep myself
totally free from influences, and I never influence anybody, never try to
convert, convince anybody.
I am the
first one who can claim to be religious. The whole past and its religions
have been pseudo, false. To me religion has a totally different meaning.
There is no God. There is no heaven and hell. All those past religions have
exploited man with fear of hell and greed for heaven, and all those
religions have kept man retarded, dependent on God, a big daddy somewhere
above who is taking care of you. This made man irresponsible. This made man
unintelligent.
My
religion is basically centered around consciousness, silence, and silence
has its own way of communication. Just as words speak, but can be
misunderstood-they ARE misunderstood-silence also speaks. It also can be
misunderstood. To understand silence, the other side, the receiving side,
should also be silent. Then there is a meeting of the hearts. Something
starts falling into tune, harmony, a kind of synchronicity. Nothing is said,
nothing is heard, but everything is understood. Lovers know it; just sitting
side by side saying nothing, something goes on moving between them.
If
you were to explain to someone listening and watching who knows nothing
about you or your religion...
What
is your theology, what is your belief what do you stand for, what are you
trying to achieve?
I have no
system of belief I have no catechism like Christians, and I don't have any
dogmas, principles, theology. If somebody wants to understand me he will
have to learn meditation, learn being silent and sit with me, live with me.
There is no other way. All those belief systems are nothing but a process of
conditioning you.
A belief
simply means you don't know -- still you believe. My effort here is that you
never believe unless you know. When you know, there is no question of
believing, you know it. I destroy all belief systems and I do not give you
any substitute. Hence, it is not easy to understand me.
You
have no philosophy of life?
No
philosophy of life. I have LIFE itself. There are people who have
philosophies of life, but they don't have any life.
Your
philosophy, if there is one, has been expressed in "the three l's, " love,
life, laughter. Is that a philosophy of life?
No.
Could you explain that?
It is just
a consequence of being silent and in tune with existence. Love arises in
you. Life becomes abundant; laughter, for no reason, just because this whole
existence is so hilarious. This is not philosophy, this is the consequence
of being silent.
Is
it to enjoy life and not worry about tomorrow?
There is
no tomorrow. If there is tomorrow, you cannot stop worrying about it.
Tomorrow never comes, it is a process of worrying. Nor is there any
yesterday. One is no more, one is not yet. All that is in our hands is the
present moment, now, here. And this is a miraculous experience. If there is
no yesterday, no tomorrow, and this very moment you are silent, all worrying
disappears. All imagining, dreaming, projecting disappears.
And it is
not that you have to enjoy this moment. That rejoicing arises out of this
moment. But you are never here, you are always somewhere else. You are never
in the now, you are always then. Otherwise, everything is available, but you
are absent. I want my people to understand a very simple fact -- not a
philosophy, something existential, not philosophical -- be present to this
moment and then see what happens.
Excerpt from
The Man of Truth: A Majority of
One
