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I am not a saint.

I am simply a man just like you, with only one small difference – and that difference does not make me superior to you, remember it. It does not make you inferior to me, remember it.

Never for a single moment forget that you may be asleep and I may be awake, but one day I was asleep just like you and one day you can be awake just like me.

Sleep and waking are as much your potential as they are my potential. Sleep and waking are two sides of the same coin, and how can one side be superior to the other side? Both sides are of the same coin.

You are asleep, I am awake, but this does not make me superior in any way.

In fact, Buddha has said that the day he became a buddha, the day he became enlightened, the whole universe became enlightened with him.

What does he mean?

He means the day he became enlightened he became aware that everybody can become enlightened. This is nothing special; it is an ordinary quality of every being.

You may not use it – that is your choice; you may not actualize your potential – that is your decision and you are free to decide that way.

You may choose to remain asleep, but you are not committing any sin. You are not doomed just because you are asleep. Any moment you can decide to wake up. It is your freedom to be a buddha or not to be a buddha – and if you like sleep and the dreams it’s perfectly okay with me. I respect your freedom.

You can love me.

You cannot love your saints; they are too far away. I am standing just by your side. I am not sitting on a golden throne somewhere high in the heavens; I am walking on the earth with you, I am as earthly as you are. Just a little difference – I say difference, not superiority – and the difference is that I am no longer asleep, no longer dreaming.

And you can come out of your dreams this very moment, because dreams cannot hold you; they cannot keep you imprisoned in themselves. You can burst forth from them. You are an imprisoned splendor, but you are imprisoned through your own choice.

You have gone into the prison through your own choice – this is your decision.

There is a beautiful story of a Zen monk who used to steal small things. He was a great enlightened master and he used to steal small things – somebody’s cigarette case or somebody’s shoes – and then he would be caught and he would be sent to prison.

His disciples were very puzzled; he had many disciples, and they asked him again and again, “Why do you do such things? And we are here, ready – how many cigarette boxes do you want, how many shoes do you want? We can bring as many as you want. Why do you steal?”

He would laugh and never say anything, but he continued in his own way.

In the end when he was dying his disciples asked, “Now tell us: what was the secret? There must be something!”

He said, “There is nothing much in it; it is a simple phenomenon. I wanted to go to jail again and again to help the people who were inside to come out, and that was the only way – stealing small things, then getting caught. I had to manage both: first stealing things and then getting caught. And then the magistrate would send me for six months to jail and for those six months I would try to help the people who were inside to come out. And I am happy, tremendously happy, that I have helped many to come out of jail.”

Now this man is going knowingly, consciously; it is his choice. Even in the jail he is a free man. He is not imprisoned by anybody else; he has imprisoned himself, for a certain purpose.

So is the case with you, you have imprisoned yourself. This simply proves your freedom.

Any day, if you want to get out of it, you can get out of it.

I go on hammering only one thing on your head again and again: that there is another choice also, please don’t forget. You have chosen to be in sleep, you can choose to be awake.

You have lived in sleep for many, many lives, you have seen all that sleep makes possible, now please see what awakening can give to you. I have seen both and I tell you that sleep cannot give you anything; it only promises but never delivers any goods. Sleep can give you only dreams, hallucinations; sleep cannot fulfill you. I have known both, you have known only one.

Those who have known both, listen to what they are saying. And if you come close to them you are bound to fall in love with them.

It is not a question of respect; respect is a formality. You respect the Christian priest, you respect the Hindu mahatma, you respect the Jaina muni, you respect the Catholic monk, you respect the Pope.

You don’t respect Christ or Buddha or Krishna – you love them.