But the sage goes beyond both good and bad. His behavior becomes spontaneous. He does whatsoever is natural to him, he is not considering about what is good or bad. So many times a sage may not do what others think to be good. Sometimes a sage may do what the society considers to be bad. People like Jesus, Kabir, Buddha and Mahavira are beyond the concepts of society. Mahavira lived naked, and according to the concepts of society it is immoral and indecent to live naked. Society cannot tolerate nude people.

There is a reason for this: society has not only covered the body but, with it, also the sex. There is so much fear of sex that it has to be kept hidden. A naked man’s genitals are exposed – that is why the society does not like nudity and considers it to be something immoral.

Mahavira went naked…this was very objectionable! He was beaten up and stoned and thrown out of every village and town. Stones were hurled at him, he was condemned everywhere. And he was also in silence; he was naked and silent. He did not speak, he did not explain why he was naked, what the purpose was of his standing there naked. He became a mystery, it was difficult for people to understand him. Mahavira’s nudity was not immoral, but at the same time it is difficult to say that Mahavira’s nudity was moral. Mahavira’s nudity was spontaneous, as innocent as a child’s. It was neither moral nor immoral. Mahavira had become so innocent and simple that there was nothing to hide. If someone has to hide or cover something up, then he is a complicated person. Anyone who wants to hide anything still has some complexity within him. Mahavira had become innocent and his innocence went so far as giving up the use of clothes. But ordinary society will think Mahavira’s nudity is immoral; it is very difficult to understand that Mahavira is a sage.

When Jesus was passing through a village, a prostitute threw herself at his feet. Tears started flowing from her eyes, so she washed his feet with her tears. The moralists of that village said that it was not proper that Jesus should be touched by a prostitute. Jesus said, “Nobody has ever before touched my feet with as much reverence as this woman. People have washed my feet with water, but this woman has washed them with her own soul’s tears.” This was one of the many charges against Jesus for which he was crucified. This was against the general concept of morality of his society.

One woman was brought before Jesus because she was an adulteress, and according to the Jewish law a woman who commits adultery should be stoned to death. Jesus was staying outside of the village so people went there and told him, “It is proved beyond a doubt that this woman is an adulteress, and she has also confessed to it. The old scriptures say that it is proper and legal to stone her to death. What do you say?”