But he forgets what Alexander gained. He lived only thirty-three years, spent his whole life fighting, invading, killing. He had no chance to live, no time to live.

He had met a great philosopher, sage, wise man, Diogenes, before he was going to invade India. He asked Diogenes if he had any message for him.

Diogenes said, “Only one: rather than wasting time, live it. You are not living yourself, and you are not allowing others to live. You are committing immense crimes against life – for what? Just to be called Alexander the Great?

“Everybody thinks like that. Just inside, you can call yourself Alexander the Great; nobody is preventing you. If you want, you can even put a signboard on your chest: ‘Alexander the Great’ – but live! You will look like a buffoon, but that is far better than to be a buffoon; at least you will have time to live, love, sing, dance.”

Alexander understood the message. He said, “I can see the point. When I come back, I will try to follow it.”

Diogenes said, “Remember, nobody comes back from such an ego trip, because this ego trip never ends, it goes on and on. You will end, not your ego trip.”

And that’s what happened: he never came back home. On the way, he died. And when he was dying, he remembered Diogenes’ statement that nobody comes back. Ego drives you, and there is no end for the ego. It creates more goals, new goals, higher goals.

In deep respect for Diogenes, he told the people who were going to carry his body to the grave, “Let my hands hang out of the casket.”

His prime minister asked, “But this is not the tradition. Hands have to be inside the casket. Hanging them out will look really odd.”

But he said, “I want them to hang out, because I want people to know that empty-handed I had come into the world, empty-handed I lived in the world, and empty-handed I am going from the world.”

These empty hands of Alexander the Great represent almost everybody’s hands.

If you want to live authentically and sincerely, then just be ordinary. Then nobody can compete with you. You are out of the race of competition, which is destructive.

Suddenly you are free to live. You have time to live. You have time to do what you want to do. You can laugh, you can sing, you can dance. You are an ordinary man. Even if the whole world laughs at it, so what? I am an ordinary man. They are all extraordinary people. They have the right to laugh; I have the right to dance. Their laughter is phony; your dance is real.

Sheela could not tolerate it. I even sent her the message, “If it gives you pleasure that I should not speak, I can go into silence again. Of course, millions of sannyasins today and tomorrow and in the future will be at a loss, because there is much which I have yet to say. But to make you happy, I can do that.