Rabia laughs and says, “Yes, I extract the promise, this promise, from all of them.”

Rabia used her beauty as a trap. Buddha used his words as a trap. Krishna used his flute as a trap. Meera used her dance as a trap.

You have to be trapped. And you can only be trapped in ways that you can understand. You have to be taken from the known into the unknown, but the beginning has to be in the known.

You understand passion. The young man was not in search of God, but he became interested in a beautiful body, in a beautiful woman – and was trapped. He had gone there because of his passion. Once he was there in the presence of Rabia, the passion started changing – it became prayer.

You can understand words, that’s why all the buddhas have used words, knowing perfectly well, saying again and again, that the truth cannot be expressed in words. But you understand words and the truth cannot be expressed in words, then how to communicate? The journey has to start from where you are. The buddhas have to speak words. Words will bring you closer to the buddhas; words will not give you truth, but they will bring you closer to the buddhas. Once you are close to them, you will start forgetting the words; you will start falling into silence.

The words cannot express truth, but they can bring you close to a buddha. And that is more than you can expect of poor words! That’s why buddhas go on saying on the one hand words are meaningless, on the other hand they go on using words.

They are meaningful for you – you don’t know the language of silence, you don’t know the language of being. You know only your mind; you have forgotten all else. If I am to bring you out of your mind, I will have to start from the mind, I will have to take your mind in confidence – then only the pilgrimage towards no-mind…..

The second question: