822

(part 2)

Now the sutras:
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And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple...
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He was visiting the Great Temple of the Jews, and whenever he used to go to the temple he was always sad and angry, because things were all wrong there. The temple had become a trade. The temple was no more a temple, it was dominated by the businessman. God was sold there, and of course God cannot be sold. So only the false god can be sold. The temple was no more the shrine for prayer, it was no more the place to meditate, it was no more the place where one connects with God. It was dominated by the priests, and the priest was dominated by vested interests. Whenever Jesus would go to the temple, he would always come out angry and sad. Once he got so angry that he threw out all the money-changers from the temple. He shouted at them and told them 'What have you done to my Father's house? It has become a den of robbers!'

This story also starts:
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And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple; and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple.
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But he was not interested in seeing those buildings, because the God that used to live there at some time had departed from there. It was a ruin. The soul had left the body, it was a corpse.

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And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things?
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'You still call this a temple? Don't you see all these things that are happening there?' It is politics, it is no more religion. It is reformist, it is no more rebellious. It does not transform people, it consoles them. It does not hit people awake, it goes on singing lullabies so they can fall asleep in a better way.

Remember this. Many times you go to the religious person not to be awakened but to be helped, consoled. You go begging for a lullaby, you go begging for a tranquilliser. A tranquilliser cannot help you awaken. Yes, it may help you to be less uncomfortable in this uncomfortable world, to be less insecure in this insecure world; to be less anxious, less tense. Yes, it can help you relax a little bit, but that is not going to change you or transform you. In fact, the transformation can come only when you become utterly tense, when anxiety comes to its peak– only then, and then only is there a revolution, a radical change.

The priest goes on consoling you, and the priests are very cunning, very inventive in creating consoling theories. For centuries in India they have been consoling the poor. 'You are poor because you committed wrong things in your past lives'– this is a consolation. People are not poor because they have done wrong things in their past lives. People are poor because they are being exploited. Now the priest is in the hands of the exploiters– naturally, because they are the power, they are the power-holders. The priest lives on the crusts that are thrown from the rich people's tables. He has to help the masters.

Down the ages he has been teaching poor people 'You are in bad shape because of your bad karma, and people are rich because of their good karma. Rich people are rich because they have been saintly in their past lives; and poor people are poor because they have been sinners.' Now this is a very tricky thing– great strategy, great politics in it. If you look at the rich people, they seem to be the sinners. They are exploiting, cheating, deceiving. And the poor people, who are innocent in a way, are not doing any harm to anybody, they are 'the sinners of the past'.

This does not seem logical, because if a man has been a sinner for so many lives, he will be a sinner in this life too. More is the possibility of his being a sinner rather than being an ordinary, innocent, poor person. And if people have been great saints in their past lives, then they cannot be black marketeers– that will not be logical. Then they cannot go on exploiting people; their sainthood will not allow that. The situation is just the reverse, but the ideology helps console. Then the poor person no more feels the wounds. The priest has poured ointment on the wounds. He says 'Nothing to be worried about. Nobody else is responsible. In your past lives you have done something wrong.' He gives the explanation; the explanation helps the poor person. He can find an explanation, he can find the cause– and he himself is responsible. And now nothing can be done, one has to go through it silently. That's why in India there has never been a revolution. It is because of the priests. How can there be a revolution? If you are responsible, then the only thing is to go on doing good things– whatsoever you can do. The poor man cannot afford much, but whatsoever he can do he should go on doing. He can go to the Ganges once in his life to take a bath or he can contribute a little something to the temple of the village or, once in a lifetime, he can have some ritual arranged. That's all that he can do. And he can wait for the next life. In the next life he will be happy, he will live in palaces and he will enjoy all kinds of good things.

So it is only a question of a little patience. The priest has been teaching patience to people, consolation, giving explanations so that they know why they are poor– and hiding the real facts. The temple has become the citadel of all that is wrong, and Jesus always felt this whenever he would go to the temple. He would see things that were going on there. He could not believe why people were not aware, why they could not see.

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See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another...
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'This temple has to be destroyed! This so-called religion has to be destroyed! This religion of the priests and the politicians has to be utterly effaced from the earth!'

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Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
—

He is angry. You will not find such anger in Buddha. That's why Buddha was saved from crucifixion. Even if he talks, he talks in great philosophical ways. Even if he says things, he does not say them in a raging voice, in anger; he is very polite. Buddha's message is like classical music– silent, beautiful, but no revolution in it. Jesus' message is a slogan.

It is not a coincidence, it is not an accident that all the great revolutionaries come from Jesus' tradition. They come from the West not the East. The East misses revolutionaries. The East has known great sages, but not revolutionaries. All the great revolutions and all the great revolutionary ideas come from the West. And the foundation of the West is Jesus' ideology, his approach towards reality.

You will be surprised to know that even communism comes from Christianity, not from Hinduism, not from Jainism, not from Buddhism. Communism is also an off-shoot of Christianity, howsoever much they are against it– that doesn't matter. A son can go against the father; that does not make him no more a son, that does not make him less of a son. He remains the son. Marx and Freud and Kropotkin and Tolstoy and Ruskin and Thoreau– they all come from the same seed, from the same approach towards life– that is Jesus' approach.

Jesus is an off-shoot of the Jewish approach. That also has to be understood. Nothing like the Jewish prophets have ever existed in India or in China– no, never. You cannot find a man like John the Baptist in India. Those great prophets of the Jews were all full of revolution, they were all hot, they were all burning fires. Prophets have never existed in India; saints, yes, sages, yes– but not prophets. When somebody calls Mahavir a prophet, he is not right. When somebody calls Buddha a prophet, it looks simply absurd. Buddha is not a prophet. He has no prophecy for the future, he does not bring any revolution. He brings a new consciousness, his own consciousness. He makes it available, but he does not shout. He does not say that the temple should be burnt, that this temple should fall, that not even one single stone will remain upon another.

Jesus has the quality of a Jewish prophet. He was a disciple of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was killed just like Jesus; he was beheaded. And the Judaic tradition has given birth to other revolutionaries also. Marx is a Jew, so is Sigmund Freud. Whether it is sociology or it is economics or it is psychology or even physics, the revolution comes from the Jew. Albert Einstein is a Jew. There is some element in the Jewish consciousness that makes people revolutionary.

Just think of a human history without three Jews– Jesus, Marx and Freud– and there will be no revolution. People will be patient, people will suffer, people will accept everything, people will go on dragging and finding explanations from the priests. This has to be noted, because this is specific to Jesus.

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And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

Verily I say unto you: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
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Because his words are not his words, that's why they shall not pass away. Because his words are God's words. He is just a vehicle, a medium: he is simply saying what God wants to say. But God has no mouth to speak with; God uses our mouths. God has no eyes to see with; he uses our eyes. And God has no legs to walk with; he uses our legs to walk. God used Jesus as a medium.

That's why Jesus can say: 'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.' — 'This temple is going to be destroyed, this temple is going to be demolished to the very ground, because this temple has gone against the very spirit of being a temple. It is no more a temple, it is no more religious.'

But this happens again and again. Now the Vatican, the Pope– they are no more religious. They are in the same situation as was this temple which Jesus left. Again the same has happened. It always happens! The temple sooner or later becomes the den of the robbers. Because the temple attracts innocent people, there is a logical necessity for why it happens. The temple attracts innocent people. Once the innocent people start coming, the clever and cunning start coming, because wherever the innocent are, there is the possibility to exploit.

Jesus attracts the innocent. Once the innocent are there, then the cunning people all around will see the point. When Jesus is alive they cannot come– Jesus' presence is a prevention. Once Jesus is gone, then those cunning people will start infiltrating, then they will come and start mixing with the sheep– and these are wolves although they may have sheepskins to hide themselves. And sooner or later they will come out on top because they are cunning. The innocent people are not interested in being on top; only those who are cunning come for that. Once they are on top, they become the priests, the rabbis, the shankaracharyas, the popes. And then they start dominating the whole thing, and the whole quality changes.

A temple is a temple only while Jesus is alive. Once Jesus is gone, it is very difficult for the temple to remain a temple. Because Jesus will gather the innocent people: he will gather so many sheep. While he is there he will protect; once he is gone, wolves will start coming. Because wolves only come once they see that so many sheep are there and the shepherd is missing. This is the chance for them– their life's chance. Now the same has happened in the Vatican, the same has happened in Puri, the same has happened at the Kaaba. The same has been happening down the ages.

Remember it, because the same can happen here. You will have to be very very mindful.

So I don't want you just to be innocent. Be innocent, but don't be foolish. Be innocent, but don't be childish. Be innocent, but let your innocence be illuminated by awareness. Then this cannot happen. Your awareness will make you aware if something goes wrong. Otherwise this is going to happen. Somebody who is cunning will start manipulating you. Keep alert. The temple has been made again and again, and has been polluted again and again. But man has changed down the ages very much. Maybe now this is possible. Maybe now the time has come– the time for the idea to become a reality.

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Verily I say unto you: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
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Jesus says there is no point in going to the temple and the ritual and the rabbi and the scripture. The only thing that you need to enter is watchfulness. 'Watch therefore...'– 'This temple is going to fall; don't go in it, otherwise you will also be crushed. Escape from it, it is already falling. I can see what is going to happen to it. Its soul has already left it. It is no more glued together. These are just stones upon stones without any glue holding them together. That religion is not there. It is a miracle how this temple is still standing! It is going to fall any moment. A small wind, and it may fall; a little rain, and it may fall. Any excuse is needed, and it may fall. You escape from it, and let watchfulness be your temple.'

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Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
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And the watchfulness has to be for twenty-four hours: You cannot afford to be watchful just for a few minutes once a day– in the morning you meditate and then you forget. That won't help because nobody knows when God will knock at your door. And if you are not watchful you will miss; you will not recognise him. Only in immense awareness can God be recognised.

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But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
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And the watchfulness has two purposes to it. One is: if you are not watchful you will not recognise when God comes and knocks on your door; you will miss him. And the second purpose is: if you are not watchful, you don't know how thieves enter, when they enter, and when they rob you. To make it clear, Jesus is saying 'Be watchful so that the priest cannot enter in you– he is the thief. And when a Christ knocks on your door, you can recognise him.'

For one real Master there are ninety-nine false masters in the world. If you are not watchful, those ninety-nine are going to rob you. And one never knows when the real one comes. You may encounter him, but if you are not very alert you will miss, because only alertness can become a bridge between you and the real Master.

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Therefore be ye also ready...
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So double are the purposes. First: you should be ready so no thief can rob you, nobody can exploit you. And second: you should be ready so that when the real comes you can welcome him, and he can become a guest and you can be the host. The moment you become a host to God, you have become the real temple. That is the real temple, not these buildings, Jesus is saying.

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Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
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God has given you a purpose, God has given you a certain destiny, God has given you a certain work to do here on earth. If you are not aware, you will be found unworthy. God has given you a purpose. You may not be aware of the purpose at all. He wants something to be fulfilled through you. Maybe he wants you to sing a song that nobody else can sing except you. Maybe he wants you to have a dance that is possible only through you. Only through you can he give that dance to existence. Only through you can God have that dance– there is no other way. Maybe something else...

But everybody comes here with a seed. It is just a seed and, in the seed, you cannot see what flowers are going to bloom. But the seed is there and the flowers are waiting. And unless you have bloomed, you will not be able to show your face to your God, to your Master. Only fulfilled, bloomed, can you offer yourself to him, can you bow down at his feet.

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Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
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Otherwise people are doing other things. And God will come and find you doing something else for which you were not sent, and not doing that for which you were sent! This is the only sin: not to do that which is intrinsic to you and to go on doing things which others have put upon you.

There are many people who are putting their trips upon you– avoid them. Your father wants to put a trip upon you; he wants you to become the prime minister of the country. Your mother wants to put her trip upon you; she wants that you should become a great doctor, or this and that. And your teachers are putting their trips, and your friends and your society. Everybody is interested in you, because they are interested in putting a trip upon you. Nobody seems to be interested in you as yourself.

If you can find a man who is interested in you as yourself– that is your Master. That is the criterion, the definition of a Master: one who is not putting any trip upon you, who is simply interested in helping you to be whatsoever you can be. He is not driving you in any direction, but simply nurturing you, nourishing you, so that you can have any direction that comes naturally to you; who is not pruning you, who is simply putting fertilisers onto your roots, so if you want to grow to the north or to the south, or you want to go high in the sky, or you want to become a thick bush, you become whatsoever you want to become. A Master is just a benevolent presence, a nourishment. He does not guide you to be this or that, he simply helps you to be that which is hidden in you.

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Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
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If you have fulfilled God's desire that he has put in you, you, your being, will be transformed. You will be no more a servant, you will become a Master. You will no more be a beggar, you will become an emperor. But you have to prove that you are capable of doing things. A target has been given to you, but the target is put in your deep unconscious. You have to search for it, you have to dig for it, you have to discover it. It is not available there, it is very invisible.

And it is beautiful that it is invisible; it makes you a seeker and a searcher, a discoverer. It gives you the challenge to explore, otherwise life would be very dull. Hence God has put the purpose deep in your unconscious. You will have to dig like one digs a well. Layers and layers of mud... and for days together you don't see any sign of water. Many times you become tired, exhausted, desperate. Many times you are so frustrated you stop digging, you say 'It seems useless, futile. It seems there is no water here!'

Many times in your spiritual journey this will come, but if you go on digging, one day the first signs of water will show. The mud is no more dry, it is wet– that wetness is called love. When in your inner being you go on digging and the mud becomes wet, you are getting love. Love starts flowing. It is muddy in the beginning, it is full of many other things. But one goes on digging... the mud becomes less and less and more water will be flowing. One goes on digging... then the mud disappears and fresh water will be flowing. One goes on digging... and one has come to the source, to the springs. Now you can take as much water as you want and your well will never be empty. You can go on sharing, and the more you share the more you will be getting. Jesus says 'Those who have will be given more, and those who have not, even that which they have will be taken away from them.'

So go on digging so that you can have more. The more you have, the more springs will be pouring water in you. The less you have, even that which you have will be taken away.

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Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of.
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But if you think there is no hurry... That's what everybody is thinking in the world: 'There is no hurry, we will see. Right now let us have more money, more sex, more houses, more cars. Right now let us indulge in the world. Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow we will think of God, we will think of meditation and prayer. What is the hurry?

Even people who are very old sometimes come to me and they say 'Yes, we would like to go into meditation, but the time has not come yet.' Because old people also think that they are not yet old enough. Nobody ever thinks that he is going to die. That is one of the strange things in human mind– the strangest, because death is absolutely certain. Everybody is going to die; death makes no exceptions. So it is only a question of time– today or tomorrow or the day after tomorrow– but everybody is going to die. And still people go on thinking that their death is very far away, very very far away. They have enough time yet to fool around. And when they have fooled around and finished with their fooling, then they will meditate. But that day never comes. Even on their death bed, they go on continuing the old habits.

A Jew was dying, and he opened his eyes and said 'Where is my eldest son?'
The wife was sitting by the side and she said 'You don't be worried, he is just sitting at the left. You be quiet, you relax and remember God, because the doctors say you cannot survive this night.'
He said 'Forget about doctors! Where is my other son?'
'He is sitting' the wife said 'near your feet.'
'And where is my third son?'
'He is also sitting on this side.'
And the man started getting up and he said 'Then who is looking after the shop?'

Now the man is dying, and all the three sons here... His mind is still in the shop. About this man I have heard another story too.

He was small, he was in his schooldays. And the teacher gave a question.
She said 'One percent interest on one thousand pounds given for five years– how much will the interest be?'
All the others started working, but this Manny Cohen, he was sitting there not doing anything.
The teacher asked 'Why, Manny! Why are you not doing the question?'
He said 'I am not interested in one percent.'

Now this is the beginning, and that is the end; and between also the same thing will be there. People start foolishly– that's okay, that can be understood. How can one start wisely? But people end foolishly– that cannot be understood.

And the basic trick of the mind is: that 'My lord delayeth his coming': 'That God is coming is true– but not today, so today we can enjoy. Tomorrow he will come, then we will see.' Then the day after tomorrow... and one goes on postponing. Postponement is the basic trick of the mind to avoid God, to avoid the essential, to avoid rebellion.

Never postpone. If you want to postpone, postpone that which is wrong. Postpone anger for tomorrow, but not meditation for tomorrow. Postpone hatred for tomorrow, but not love for tomorrow. Postpone money for tomorrow, but not God for tomorrow.

And people go on doing just the opposite! Anger they do right now. If somebody insults you, you don't say 'Okay, I will think over it, and I will come by at the end of the week and I will tell you what I think about the things that you have told me.' You immediately jump upon him, you pounce upon him; you don't give a single minute's gap.

If somebody loves you, spreads his hands towards you to welcome you, you shrink. You say 'I will think. Let me think over it.' You will brood over it, you will find a thousand and one reasons why not to fall into this trap: 'What is the motive of this person? Why does he want to hug me? Maybe he is a pickpocket or something? Who loves without any motive? There must be some motive. He must want to use me for something or other.'

When love comes, you withdraw; when anger comes, you stick there stubbornly. Change this whole attitude. Don't delay that which is good, because good belongs to God. Delay that which is bad, because the bad keeps you away from God.

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But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of.
—

And God always comes when you are unaware. God always comes as a surprise. God always comes suddenly, abruptly. God does not come as a cause-effect chain, he comes out of the blue. Suddenly he is there; he surrounds you and drowns you completely. So unless you are alert– moment-to-moment alert– you will miss. It may have been that God has come many times to you, and you have missed because you were not aware.

In fact, this is how it is. I know that God comes to you many times. I have seen him surrounding many of you, but you are completely unaware. He is just by the side, ready to accept you, but you are not there, you are absent. He surrounds you like a cloud, but you are not there; there is just emptiness, so no meeting is possible. You are never at home, because you are never aware! You are somewhere else. Your body is in one place, your mind somewhere else. Let your body and mind be together, let your whole being be in the moment– that's what awareness is all about: presence of now and here.

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The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of.

And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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There is. There is misery, and there will be misery. You live in misery and you will continue to live in misery, because God is bliss, and there is no other bliss. Unless you live in God, you live in misery. Yes 'there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' And your whole being facing God will be the being of a hypocrite; you will be false, pseudo. And you have become accustomed, so much accustomed to your personality that you will carry your personality in front of God too.

God can be met only when you are nude– utterly nude, nothing to hide, no secrets to keep– when you are just an openness. God can be met only when in that openness there is nothing but one taste– the taste of awareness and presence.

Jesus' whole message is that of awareness.

Enough for today.