BENGALURU: One must have observed that throughout the world man, the human being, has always been searching for something much more than the transient. He has always been, probably from time immemorial, asking himself if there is something really sacred, something that is not worldly, that is not put together by thought, by the intellect. He has always asked if there is a reality, a timeless state, not invented by the mind, not projected by thought, but actually to find oneself in that state of mind where time doesn’t exist, where there is something, if one can use the word ‘divine’, ‘sacred’, ‘holy’ that is not perishable. And organised religions seem to have supplied the answer. They say there is – there is a reality, there is God, there is something which the mind cannot possibly measure. And they begin to organise what they consider to be the real. And man is led astray by organised religions.
Organised religion throughout the world, with their dogmas, extraordinary meaningless rituals, their sense of beauty – and there is beauty – and the worship of an image made by the hand or by the mind, has become very holy, something very sacred, to which one prays. And so man, in his search for something that is beyond all the measure, all time, has been caught, trapped, deceived, because man hopes always to find something which is not entirely of this world. Because after all what has society to offer, any society, the most ancient or the most bureaucratic society like the communist society, or the other, capitalist societies and so on, what have they actually to offer? Very little except food, clothes and shelter, perhaps one may have more opportunity to work and more money to make, but ultimately when one observes, these societies have very little to offer.
One must be free also from all this social morality, because the morality of society is not moral. And a mind that is not highly moral, a mind that is embedded in righteousness is incapable of being free. And that’s why it’s important to understand oneself, to know oneself, to see all the structure of oneself: the thoughts, the hopes, the fears, the anxieties, the ambitions, the competitive, aggressive spirit. Unless one understands and deeply establishes what is the righteous behaviour, then there is no freedom, because then the mind gets confused by its own uncertainties, by its own doubts, demands, pressures.