One drunkard, completely drunk, went to a sweet shop. He gave the shopkeeper one rupee, purchased sweets for half a rupee and asked for the remaining change. The shopkeeper said, “I don’t have any change right now. Tomorrow morning, when you pass by, pick it up. Or you can take your rupee, and tomorrow morning you can give me half rupee – whatever pleases you.”

The drunkard said, “Okay, tomorrow morning I will pick up the change.” But he thought, What if the shopkeeper changes his address? – the world is so cunning…. I should make some arrangement so that he cannot change his address without my knowing. So he looked around and he saw a bull sitting in front of the shop. He said, “That’s good. The shopkeeper may not be even aware that bull is sitting there in front of the shop.”

The next morning all that the drunkard remembered was that there was a bull sitting in front of the shop, and that he had to collect half a rupee from there. He went in search of the bull, obviously, because that was the only proof that he had. But a bull is not a static thing: the bull was sitting in front of a barber’s shop.

The drunkard went in, clutched the man by his neck and said, “You son-of-a-bitch! Just for half a rupee you change your profession, you change your caste; and just overnight the sweet shop has disappeared and you have become a barber!”

The man said, “What are you talking about? Yesterday my shop was closed.”

The drunkard said, “Great! You can’t deceive me. Look at the bull. Even though I am drunk, I am not that foolish. I knew there would be some trouble so I made a point of remembering the bull; the whole night I had to remember it again and again. And the bull is still sitting in exactly the same position, in front of your shop.”

The barber said, “Now I understand what the trouble is, because I also saw the bull sitting in front of the sweet shop last night. You please go there. A bull is not something that remains in one position, he moves; he has moved! What can I do about it?”

But people go on thinking that the child will remain the same as they are making him. Yes, most people remain the same because it is comfortable, convenient. Why bother? When all the answers have been given to you, why be skeptical?

Skepticism is condemned by all the religions.

In reality, skepticism is the beginning of a really religious man.

Skepticism means inquiry.

Skepticism means: whatsoever you have told me I cannot accept unless I experience it.

But it is inconvenient. You will have to travel a long way, and you never know whether you will reach to the point where you find the answer on your own.

Most people, the greater mass, want convenience, comfort, ready-made things, ready-made answers. It is understandable. It is an ugly fact about human beings, that even for truth they are not ready to take a little trouble.

Even truth people want cheap. And because you want truth cheap, there are peddlers who are selling it cheap.