Why are they all so eager to be ancient? Is religion a kind of wine? Is it because the older something is, the better it is supposed to be? The reason is that something is considered more trustworthy when it can claim to be old. When a shop has been running for years, when it is old, people will say, “Its merchandise must be genuine; they could not have cheated so many people for such a long time!” This is how a shop acquires a name, a reputation – and then it can even sell rubbish. That is also why all the religions claim to be old.

But bear in mind that God is new every moment. God does not believe in the old. That is why he removes old people and gives birth to children; that is why he casts down the old experienced leaves and brings forth new sprouts, sprouts devoid of experience. Experience makes one deformed; it becomes a burden. Experience creates ego. And it has a bad smell. The freshness of new sprouts is unique. God has trust in them, and that is why he becomes fresh and new every moment.

God may have created the universe in the past, but he has not stopped his work; he is creating it every moment. Creation is an eternal, everlasting and continuing process. It is going on at this very moment. Otherwise how could new leaves come? How could new eggs break open and new birds fly away? How could seeds break apart and new sprouts burst forth? How could a fetus be created? How could new births take place? God creates new things every moment.

God believes in freshness and newness – and your religions believe in oldness. It appears your religions have no relation to God whatsoever. Your own self-confidence increases when you can claim that your religion is very ancient and that hundreds of thousands of people follow it.

People want to be with the crowd because they lack self-confidence. When you are alone you have no self-confidence. When you are walking down a lane at night you begin to hum a song. You hear your own humming and feel that you are not alone; you think there are at least two people, the singer and the listener. Then you feel bolder; then you feel more self-confident. You become as confident as you would if you were surrounded on all sides by a great crowd. And then you think, “If this path were really wrong, someone would have found it out by now.”

No one has ever reached the truth by walking on the highway. The man who seeks the smooth path of least resistance can never attain to God. The path to God is the path where one must be prepared to face difficulties. Kabir says that God is only known when one is alone, when one is not accompanied by anyone else. One has to travel there alone, and the meeting takes place in absolute aloneness. There is no one there; not even a witness. Keep this in mind. Remain alert to this fact.

Sadhu, consider this:
ride in a boat and drown midstream.

Those who rode in the boat were drowned in the current in the middle of the river.

Helpless, get across.