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Maria, Catholic or communist, Mohammedan or Maoist, Jaina or Jew, it makes no difference, it is all the same. Of course, Catholics do it more systematically than Hindus, more scientifically. They have developed a great expertise for how to condition people. But all the religions are doing it more or less, all the societies are doing it in their own way: everybody is conditioned.

The moment you are born conditioning starts, from your very first breath; it cannot be avoided. The parents will condition you, the children you play with will condition you, the neighborhood will condition you, the school, the church, the state. And consciously not much conditioning is being done, but unconsciously the child goes on and on accumulating it. The child learns by imitating.

So don’t be worried. This is the normal situation in the world: everybody is conditioned. And everybody has to come out of the conditioning. It is difficult. It is not like undressing – it is like peeling your skin. It is hard, it is arduous, because we have become identified with our conditioning. We know ourselves only as Catholics, communists, Hindus, Mohammedans, Christians. And the greatest fear of dropping the conditioning is the fear that you may fall into an identity crisis. Hence sannyas.

Sannyas is just a device to help you so that you don’t start feeling that you are falling into an abyss, a bottomless abyss. I take away your conditionings – you will feel very empty – I have to give you something to play with for the time being. Sannyas is that toy to play with for the time being. But sannyas is given to you in such a way that it never becomes a conditioning; it remains fun, it remains sport – involved yet you remain a witness to it.

Maria, it is difficult to drop the conditioning, because that is your whole past, your mind, your ego, all that you are. But if you are ready, if you are courageous, if you have guts enough to come along with me it is possible, it is not impossible.

The local procurer in New Delhi grabbed the distraught tourist stepping down the gangplank. “I got a nice young girl for you – twelve years old, a virgin.” When the tourist refused the procurer said, “Then I got a nice young boy for you, twelve years old, a virg…” “Look!” roared the tourist, “I don’t want a young girl, I don’t want a young boy, I just want the American consul!” “Hmmm,” murmured the procurer. “A little difficult, but I try.”

It is a little difficult, but I try. Maria, give me a chance to try. It has happened to so many people. I have so many Marias. Become part of this happening, don’t remain a spectator. Join the dance. My invitation is for all, my invitation is unconditional. Whatever conditioning you have got can be dropped, because it has been forced on you from the outside – and because it has been forced on you from the outside it can be taken away from you from the outside.

I cannot give you God, I cannot give you truth, I cannot give you your inner core, but I can take all the rubbish that has been heaped upon you. And once that rubbish is removed, God starts becoming alive in you. Once all the obstacles are removed, the spring of your life starts flowing, the innocence is regained. Innocence regained is paradise regained; you enter again into the Garden of Eden.

And one thing is certain Maria, that you are not contented with being a Catholic. How can anybody who has any intelligence be contented with being a Catholic or a Hindu or a Jaina or a Buddhist? All these sects are dead. It was beautiful when Jesus walked on the earth; to have followed a few steps with him would have been a tremendous transformation. Those few people were fortunate who broke bread with him, drank wine with him – must have laughed, danced, sung, celebrated. Those few people were real Christians.

How can you be a Christian if Christ is missing? And how can you be a Buddhist if Buddha is not present? A master is absolutely necessary for the disciple to go through the mutation. I am available, my heart is open for you. Please come in. And all the junk that you are carrying will be dropped. It is always difficult, but not impossible. I can save at least the essential core and that is the real thing. If I can save your very center, then let the circumference remain Catholic, communist, Hindu or Mohammedan – it cannot affect you.

There was this King Edward potato who one night decided that he fancied a night out on the town. So he jumped in the tub and had a scrub, put on his best red jacket and went up West. Sitting in a bar he spied this luscious young tomato, so he thought to himself, “I fancy that – I will chat it up.” In the corner of the pub was a bunch of punk carrots – green hair, everything. One of them turns to the other and says, “Hey, yon potato is chatting up your tomato.” The other says, “I am not having that. We will get him at chucking out time.”

So come closing time they get this potato outside. What a mess. They kick in his eyes, rip up his jacket – totally mash him up. When he wakes up in the hospital the surgeon says, “I have got good news and bad news for you.” So the potato says, “Well, let me have the good first.” The surgeon says, “We managed to save your eyes. “And what is the bad?” “You will be a cabbage for the rest of your life.”

I can save your eyes, and that’s what matters. Then you can be a cabbage or a Catholic, whatsoever you want. On the circumference you can be anything, but at the center become consciousness, become a witness. Your being a Catholic or Hindu or Mohammedan is a content of your consciousness. Don’t get identified with the content; remember that you are the watcher. There is Catholic upbringing, there is Mohammedan conditioning, there is Hindu hypnosis – watch! They are separate from you. You are a pure consciousness, a mirror, reflecting all that has been put upon you from the outside.

Once you know that you are separate you are free from all conditioning, and then you can use your conditioning. I am not saying to become unnecessarily a nuisance in your society; I am not saying to get into unnecessary trouble for yourself and others. You can go on acting being a Catholic – it is beautiful. You can go to the church every Sunday and enjoy it, but remember that you are not a Catholic – the Catholic upbringing is just on the circumference. You are only a witness. Be a witness in the church, be a witness in the temple, be a witness while you are reading the Gita and be a witness while you are reading the Bible – and this witnessing will become the foundation of your liberation.