But what Birbal did is the real story. He did not wait for a single moment; he immediately slapped the man who was standing on his other side. The other man was shocked, and even Akbar was shocked. He had thought that this man was very wise. “Is he mad, or what? I have slapped him…. This is strange; absolutely absurd and illogical.”

And the other man was standing there, shocked, and Birbal said, “Don’t stand there like a fool! Just pass it on.” So that man slapped somebody else who was standing by his side – and now the game became clear: you have to pass it on.

In the night, when Akbar went to sleep with his wife, his wife slapped him. He said, “What is the matter?”

She said, “It has been going on around the city, and finally it has reached to its original source. Somebody else slapped me, and when I asked, ‘What is the matter?’, I was told that this is the game that Akbar started. I thought it is better to finish it, to complete the circle.”

And the next day, the first thing, Birbal asked was, “Have you received my slap back or not?”

Akbar said, “I had never thought that this would happen!”

Birbal said, “I was absolutely certain, because where will it go finally go? It will go around the city. You cannot escape; it is bound to come to you.”

Everything goes on being transferred for centuries; being passed on from one hand to another, from one generation to another generation – and the game continues. This is the game that you have to come out of. The only way to come out of it is to rediscover your self-respect, to again attain your dignity – which you had when you were a child, when you were still not contaminated, when you were still not conditioned and poisoned by the society and by the people around you.

Be a child again and you will not be running away from yourself, you will be running within yourself. That is the way of the meditator. The worldly man runs away from himself, and the seeker runs within himself, to find the source of this life, this consciousness. And when he discovers the source, he has discovered not only his life source, he has discovered the life source of the universe, of the whole cosmos.

A tremendous celebration arises in him. Life becomes moment to moment just a song, a dance. One becomes absolutely free from all the jargon that the society has handed down. One simply throws away all conditionings, all traditions – the whole past.

I say unto you, only one thing you have to renounce, and that is the past and nothing else.

If you can renounce the past you will be absolutely fresh, just born. And to be in that freshness is such a blessing, such an ecstasy, you cannot even think of going away even for a single moment. The man who knows himself never takes any holiday. But most people go on behaving stupidly….