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Yes, we are part of each other. Not only humanity is one, existence is one. But this oneness can be felt on two levels: one is in deep unconsciousness and another is in superconsciousness.

Either you have to become a tree -- then you are one with the whole; or you have to become a Buddha -- then you are one with the whole. Between the two you cannot be one with the whole. Consciousness is individual, unconsciousness is universal; superconscious is universal, consciousness is individual.

So if somewhere in Arica or somewhere else they are teaching you to be part of the group, you will become unconscious. The greater possibility is that you will fall from your consciousness. Unless you become a Buddha, you cannot become one, you cannot know the real oneness with the whole. The real oneness of the whole can be known only in two ways: either become unconscious, lose your consciousness -- individuality is lost; or go beyond consciousness -- then your individuality is lost.

That's why a crowd has so much appeal for people. Have you seen people in a crowd, how happy they look? Mohammedans going to destroy a temple, or Hindus going to kill Mohammedans -- just see how happy, bubbling, radiant with energy. Dull people... you have seen them before, walking on the streets -- dull, dead. Now suddenly they have become very alive -- shouting, cheering each other, rushing towards, as if something beautiful is going to happen.

Why do people feel so happy in a crowd? Why does happiness in a crowd become so infectious?

Because in a crowd they fall down, they become unconscious. They lose their individuality, they merge their individuality. By dropping their consciousness they drop their individuality. Then they are happy, then there is no worry, then there is no responsibility.

Have you observed the fact that individuals have not committed great sins in the world? All great sins have been committed by crowds, never by individuals. An army can commit millions of sins. Ask single individuals of that army and they will start feeling responsible. Ask them, 'Can you do the same thing alone?' They will say, 'No. How can I do the same thing alone? It was the crowd, I became lost in it. I forgot myself. The crowd mood, the mob, was too much. I was lost. The crowd was doing something, I simply became a part of it. I have not done it.'

Ask single Mohammedans, 'Can you burn a temple or murder Hindus?' Ask Hindus, 'Can you murder Mohammedans -- individually?' This is a miracle, but we don't observe it. No individual Mohammedan is bad, no individual Hindu is bad..individuals are beautiful people, as people are always beautiful. In a crowd suddenly they change their faces... a metamorphosis happens. They are no more individuals, they are no more conscious beings; they are lost. Then the crowd has its own way; nobody can control it.

Then, of course, Arica is right -- The rule is this: The group only gets as high as its lowest member. That's why I say don't become a member of a group. Otherwise you will be as low as the lowest member. Become individuals. In a group you will always fall to the lowest denominator.

It is natural, it is very scientific. If you are walking with a group of one hundred people, the slowest person will decide the speed. Because the slowest person cannot move faster, he has his limitations. And if the group has to remain a group, the group has to move with the slowest. The faster person can slow down, but the slower person cannot become fast; he has his limitations.

The group is always ruled by the stupid person. The stupid cannot become intelligent, but the intelligent can relapse easily and become stupid. Have you seen any stupid person doing anything intelligent ever? But you have seen many intelligent people doing stupid actions, foolish actions. You can become any moment foolish, but it is not so easy to become any moment wise. A foolish person is very consistent -- he remains foolish. He cannot sometimes be wise, it is impossible. But a wise person is not so consistent; sometimes he relapses, becomes foolish. There are foolish moments in his life. There are holidays in his
life when he relaxes a little and does not bother about his wisdom.

If you are tied to a person who is lower than you in evolution, then you will have to walk with that person. Of course he cannot walk with you. Hence I say I also believe in the rule, but I interpret it in a different way. The rule is perfectly true -- "The group only gets as high as its lowest member." So if you want to get high, please remember -- never become a member of any group.

Remember to remain individuals. Then you are free to move at your own pace. Then you are totally free to move alone.

In a group you are tied. And of course, stupid people tend to make groups because alone they cannot rely on themselves. They are afraid, they don't have any intelligence. They know that alone they will be lost. They tend to make groups, crowds. So whenever a church exists, whenever a sect exists, ninety-nine percent it consists of fools. It has to be so. They decide policies of religion, politics and everything.

Beware of this mobocracy and be alert. Because in you also there are moments, stupid moments, when you would like to relax. Then you are not responsible, then there is no worry. Then you can always throw the responsibility on the group. You can always say, 'What can I do? I am walking with the group, and the group is slow, so I am slow. The lowest member is deciding everything.'

If you really want to grow, be alone. If you really want to be free, be responsible. Hence I insist on individuality.

That does not mean that I don't know that the universe is one. But there are two ways to know it: either fall below consciousness, then the universe is one -- but then you don't know it because you have fallen below consciousness; or, go above consciousness, become superconscious, become enlightened, become a Buddha. Then you also know that the whole is one, but then the whole cannot drag you down. In fact a Buddha starts dragging the whole up.

In an unconscious state, the lowest determines the growth rate. In the superconscious state the highest, the greatest decides. A Buddha pulls you up. His very presence pulls you up towards heights unknown to you, undreamed of. Then the highest becomes the deciding factor.

That's why in the East we have always emphasized individuality, and we have always emphasized finding an individual master rather than becoming a part of any group. Be individually related to a master. Then the highest determines your life; then you can be pulled by him.

In a group, the lowest will determine your life. Don't be a Hindu. If you can find Krishna, follow certainly -- but don't be a Hindu. Don't be a Christian. If you can find Jesus somewhere, rush to him, forget all about.... But if you cannot find a Jesus, don't be a Christian, because Christianity is a crowd. Jesus is a super-individual.

Find a master and live in satsang with a master, live in the presence of the master -- and let it be a personal contact. I give you sannyas. You don't become part of any church, you don't become part of any crowd. Your relationship is personal with me. There are thousands of sannyasins, but each sannyasin is related to me personally. You are not related to another sannyasin at all, remember. Your relationship is with me... individually, personally. You don't have to relate to other sannyasins as a group. There is no need. You are all related to me personally, and of course you are related in a certain way with each other, but that is because of me. That relationship is not direct, it is through me.

And I would like you to become more and more individual. One day you will become universal, but that is a hope, it is not a reality yet -- not for you. And if you want to make it reality, you will have to become more and more conscious -- so superbly conscious that one day consciousness is not needed. You have become so conscious that consciousness is no more needed, you can put it aside.

Go and see a drunkard walking on the street. What has he done? He has done the same thing as a Buddha. Watch a Buddha and watch a drunkard -- they both have done the same thing. The drunkard has fallen into unconsciousness and become part of the universal. He has taken alcohol to drown his consciousness and worries, individuality. He has become part of the collective unconscious.

And then there is Buddha, walking with his grace, with his beauty, with his grandeur. He has also disappeared -- but not like the drunkard. He has not fallen below humanity, he has gone beyond humanity. Both are in a way similar, because both are not individuals. So a drunkard has something similar with a Buddha -- both are not individuals. Yet you cannot find two people so far apart, such extremes -- yet they have something similar.

Or, take another example. Patanjali says that sleep and samadhi, deep sleep and samadhi, are similar. Because in samadhi the individual disappears and in deep sleep also the individual disappears. In deep sleep you become part of the unconscious, collective unconscious. In samadhi also you become part of the collective superconsciousness.

They are similar and yet they are extremes, polar opposites. The similarity is only one -- that in both the ego disappears. But it disappears in such different ways. In sleep you become again like vegetables. You vegetate, you are like a rock; you don't have any individuality. In samadhi the ego is dropped. Now you don't have any limitation, no definition, you are merged with the whole -- but merged with the whole in a tremendous awareness. You are not asleep. Worries have disappeared, because worries exist only with the ego. So there are two ways to drop the worries -- either become part of a group, or become part of the superconscious plane. The Aricans say something which is true, but what they do is absolutely wrong.

You say to sannyasins to just worry about themselves -- and they do!

Yes, I say to them just to worry about themselves, because right now that should be their only concern. If they start worrying about the whole world they will not be able to do anything. Even to worry about oneself is too much. To get rid of those worries is too much, it is difficult, and if you are worrying about the whole world then there is no way to get out of it. Then you can be certain you will remain always worried.

And don't think for even a single moment that you are helping the world by worrying about it. You are not helping the world by worrying about it, because a worrier cannot help anybody. He is a destructive force. So reduce the worries first to the minimum. That is, confine your worries to yourself, that's enough. Be absolutely selfish. Yes, that's what I say -- be absolutely selfish if someday you want to help others. If someday you want to be really altruistic, be selfish.

First change your being. First create a light within your heart, become luminous. Then you can help others. And you will be able to help without worrying. Because worrying never helps anybody.

Somebody is dying and you sit by his side and you worry. How is it going to help? If the patient is dying and the doctor is worrying, it is not going to help. How much he worries is pointless. He has to do something. And when a patient is dying, a doctor is needed who knows how not to worry. Only then can he be helpful, because only then can his diagnosis be clearer, more correct. That's why if you are ill and your own husband is a doctor, he will not be of much help, because he will worry too much about you. Somebody is needed who is impersonal.

A child needs an operation. His own father may be a great surgeon, but he cannot be allowed to operate on the child because he will be worrying too much. His hand will be shaking -- his own child; he cannot be just an observer. He cannot be objective, he is too much involved. He will kill the child. Some other surgeon is needed who can remain impartial, who can remain far away, aloof, distant, unworried.

So if you really want to help humanity, first you have to become unworried. And to become unworried you have to drop unnecessary worries first. Don't think about the world. The world has continued the same and it is going to continue the same. Don't be foolish. All Utopians are a little foolish -- they expect something which is never going to happen, which has never happened.

All that is possible -- be realistic, be scientific -- all that is possible is that you can transcend worries. So just worry about yourself and find out a way to get above them, beyond them. When you have gone beyond, you can be of tremendous benediction to the world.