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The truth is you are a second-class citizen. I cannot help it. I cannot lie to you. Sannyasins are in a totally different relationship with me; they are privileged in every possible way. Non-sannyasins should feel grateful that at least they are allowed in, up to the green line.

If you want to become a first-class citizen, become a sannyasin. You cannot become a first-class citizen without paying for it. In life you can’t get anything unless you pay for it. Even if you can get something without paying, it will not have any value for you. The value arises only when you pay for it – the more you pay, the more valuable it becomes. To come close to me, you will have to do something.

And this arrangement – sannyasins sitting close to me and non-sannyasins sitting a little further away – has something else in it too. If non-sannyasins are in front of me, I cannot talk the way I am talking, because my talk is not something ready-made, it is a response. If I see my people silently sitting, attentive, drinking in every single word, focused, meditative, I can say far higher things; far more complicated things can be explained to them.

But if non-sannyasins are sitting in front of me, I always have to begin from ABC. Then the plane can never take off; then the plane has to function like a bus. You can use a plane like a bus. It can take off only when it gains speed; a certain situation is needed for it to gain speed.

I used to talk to millions of people in this country; then I had to stop. I was talking to thousands – in a single meeting, fifty thousand people. I traveled around this country for fifteen years, from one corner to another corner. I simply became tired of the whole thing, because each day I would have to start from ABC. It was always ABC, ABC, ABC, and it became absolutely clear that I would never be able to reach XYZ. I had to stop traveling.

Now I don’t even go outside the gate of this place, because there I again meet people who live in the ABC. I am no longer interested in them. If they are interested, then they will have to come, and they will have to pass through barriers, and slowly, slowly they will have to become participants. They will have to become sannyasins. I am not talking to students but only to disciples. Students are still allowed, but it will not be very long before they are stopped completely. So before it is too late, cross the green line!

Because I would like to talk only to my people, so that I can relate whatsoever I want to relate; so that I can depend and trust that whatsoever is said will be taken in good faith, in love; so that I know from the very beginning that everything can be revealed to them and nothing will be misunderstood.

Just the other day, I was reading a report in the Indian Express. Their journalist had come here just two days ago. He wrote in his report that thousands of people were sitting so silently that you could hear the birds chirping in the trees. They were so silent, it was as if there was nobody there. And what was his conclusion? He thought it was all managed, that it was a performance. He thought it was a performance to impress that poor journalist from the Indian Express! He could not believe it, because he knows Indians, and he knows Indian meetings. I also know them.

Once I was talking on Krishna in a meeting, and people were sitting with their backs toward me, talking with each other, gossiping – their backs toward me! That was the last day, the last straw on the camel. In the middle I left. The president of the meeting said, “Where are you going?” I said, “I am going forever! I am finished with these stupid people. I am talking about Krishna, they have invited me to talk to them, and nobody seems to listen.”

That Indian journalist must have seen many, many such meetings. So, seeing three thousand people sitting silently here, nobody stirring, nobody talking with each other, it was natural to conclude that it was just to impress him. When I was leaving that day, I saw two persons sitting here who looked absolutely out of place. And when I bowed down to you, they did not respond. Now, if many such people are here around me, nonresponsive, I will not be able to pour out my heart; it will be impossible.

Hence that green line. If you want to cross it, the doors are not closed. But don’t ask for anything without being really ready to pay for it. And as many, many more sannyasins will be coming, only those who are really dedicated and committed, only they will be able to sit close. And I understand your problem. To sit close, to be near to me, has its own blessing. The contact goes deeper, the vibe permeates you more totally, because it is not only a matter of the questions that I am answering or the words that I am using. Basically it is my presence; you have to drink it and you have to digest it.

But I am sorry, I cannot do anything about it. Non-sannyasins are bound to remain second-class citizens here.