Then he remembered that Birbal had said, “In the morning you will know.” Of course Birbal could not hit Akbar, the emperor – he was too powerful. Birbal was just a beautiful man, a wise man, but not powerful. He could hit only the one next down in rank. And once it was understood, who is to hit and who is to get the hit, the game started. It ended with the queen hitting Akbar. Akbar was a very honest man to write in his autobiography, “That moment I understood the great intelligence of Birbal. He had hit me, but in a very roundabout way.”

Authority has two sides. One side is: be dominated by those who have power; they are authoritative over you. And the other side is: take revenge with those who are below you, who cannot react, who have to take your hit and still smile. The husband comes home and hits the wife because the boss was very angry, and it was nasty, but still he had to smile, falsely. He wanted to hit him, but that would be dangerous – the job would be lost.

The Italian consul who was here…when he was asked, “Why are you afraid of meeting Osho with somebody present, taking notes or recording – whatever you prefer?” he said, “Do you want me to lose my job?” I laughed when I heard this.

I said, “I will make it certain that he loses his job.” Now it is all over the world in the newspapers, in Italy and everywhere. It would have been better if he had come and met me. His job is gone.

People are living in a hierarchy. Somebody is higher than you, somebody is lower than you.

One Indian saint – I should call him a so-called saint…all saints are so-called, so that does not matter. He was teaching, and I was present. He was teaching that to be contented, one fundamental rule has to be remembered: “Always look down. Look how people are suffering. Look, somebody is blind; look, somebody is crippled; look, somebody is dying. You are in a far better position. That will give you consolation and contentment.”

I had to stop him. I said, “What you are saying is absolutely stupid, because a man who looks down cannot avoid looking up. There are people who are in higher posts, having more money, more power, more prestige. Do you think he has to look continuously towards the blind, the beggars? Mind does not function like that. Mind looks at both sides. And this kind of contentment…what are you going to say to the man who is blind? Tell him, ‘At least you are alive, you are not dead. Look, many are in their graves, but you are out of the grave’? Where will this stupid logic lead?”

Just a few days ago, a very grumpy, negative type of mind was dying. His friends were around, and of course this was the greatest chance for him to show his negativity, sadness, misery: he has been treated by the world very badly; he cannot forgive this world. If he meets God, he is going to have a good talk with him.

Then somebody said, “Cool down, at least you have one thing positive – that is AIDS. Everything else is negative. Look at the positive and be happy!”