So you suggest…are you suggesting that the will of the world is in a sense looking to die?
The whole world… In fact it is not only through AIDS – that is only one side of the story. The other side is that the world itself is preparing for a global death. So the attack is double-sided: from the individual…every individual is preparing for death; and the nations and the countries and the politicians, they are preparing with nuclear weapons. We are in a very unique time, pushed from every side towards self-destruction.
Unless something helps people to rejoice in life, to dance and sing and love – which religions have crippled; that’s why I say they are the criminals… They have all been against life in some way or other, more or less. They want to renounce this life in favor of a future life after death. They don’t want you to enjoy, they don’t want you to laugh, they don’t want you to dance, they don’t want you to eat tastefully, they don’t want you to drink – they don’t want you to do anything that gives you joy. They want you to do things which are boring, utterly futile – stupid yoga exercises in which you are just torturing your body unnecessarily. There is no need; nothing is going to be gained by it. Fasting is religious, feasting is not, and if you can fast long you become a great saint – and all that you have done is repress your natural hunger.
Everything that makes life worth living has been condemned. Poverty has been praised, comfort has been condemned. For thousands of years these people have been preparing you against life. My effort in the communes is to revive your will to live and to rejoice in it without any guilt.
In Indian religions there are five basic principles. The first is aswad; it means tastelessness – you should eat but you should not enjoy the taste. If you enjoy the taste you are committing a sin. Now this type of teaching is going to destroy people in both ways: if they enjoy the taste they feel guilty and that becomes a wound; if they don’t enjoy the taste of food, much of the joy of their life is lost.
The second is celibacy. Food and sex are very deeply connected, because food keeps you alive and sex keeps the race alive. So the second is sex – remain celibate. Now a person who cannot remain celibate – and nobody can – is bound to become frustrated, perverted, guilty, to feel himself a sinner. Life becomes a sin.