But it rests on absurd things: that Jesus revives the dead. What will be the outcome even if you do revive the dead? After all, the Lazarus whom Jesus saved finally died again. And when one has to die finally, what difference does it make whether one dies today or tomorrow? What significance does this reviving give to spirituality? And a man who could revive one dead person…it is not that only one person died in his country during his lifetime. People die every day. But Lazarus was a childhood friend and this is all straightforward trickery. A man has been hidden in a cave and Jesus comes and calls out, “Lazarus! Arise from the dead!” and Lazarus immediately comes out.

If Lazarus had really died and then returned after visiting the world of deathlessness that lies beyond death, some new genius should have arisen within his life; some light should have shone through his eyes; some magic should have come into his hands and some authority should have entered his words. But no, after this incident one doesn’t find any mention of Lazarus anywhere. Even when he died is not known.

Religions don’t arise on such rotten stuff, such rotten stories and fabrications. A science of consciousness is needed to found a religion. Jesus himself doesn’t know anything about the science of consciousness. That’s why on the cross he is waiting for God and the angels to arrive playing on their harps. Flowers will start showering any moment.

But neither did flowers shower, nor did any harps play, nor did any music arise anywhere. The sky remained as empty as it ever had been. And because Jesus’ whole thing was based on belief and was not an experience, in the end it collapsed. He stretched it quite far, consoled himself to the last – with the idea that it is a moment of testing. But finally he shouted toward the sky, “Oh God! Have you forsaken me?” Neither has he any experience of the eternal nor any experience of his soul.

Because I tried to expose Christianity for what it is – and as a result a unique revolution took place amongst the youth of the West, the educated class of the West, the geniuses, painters, sculptors, scientists, doctors, professors, poets, actors, dancers; world renowned people started to join the commune – a fear ran through the whole of Christianity. Up until now they had converted people in the East – from Hinduism to Christianity, from Mohammedanism to Christianity – but the people they had converted were either beggars or orphaned children, or tribal people who didn’t even know yet how to wear clothes. Utterly uneducated with no concern for religion, all that they wanted was bread – so along with bread they were also fed religion.

But they didn’t succeed in converting a single person from the East to Christianity who understands the Upanishads, who follows the footsteps of the Buddha. My success seemed fatal to them. They were converting our beggars into Christianity; I was releasing their geniuses out of the prison of Christianity. This success was intolerable. This success was my crime.

And you are right in asking, “What has happened to the intelligentsia?” But, this is true only of the intelligentsia of India, not of the intelligentsia of the West. In Italy alone, some sixty-five topmost people from the intelligentsia – amongst whom several are Nobel Prize winners, are world renowned actors, poets – have submitted an application to the Italian government saying that to stop me from visiting Italy is to murder democracy.