Now this, to me, is just an insane chapter in the history of man; it has to be closed. It is time that we start a new chapter – natural, existential, life-affirmative – and create a bridge between the body and the soul…not a wall but a bridge.

There is no need for any conflict and war. Fighting with yourself, you are not going to get anything; you will be simply destroying yourself slowly. All your so-called saints are mostly mentally sick, and they have made the whole of humanity sick.

Your question is significant. I have been asked again and again, “Spiritual people are respected everywhere, why are you opposed everywhere?”

I said, “Only one thing is certain: either they are not spiritual, or I am not spiritual. We both cannot be spiritual, that is certain. And as far as I am concerned, I say that they are sick, not spiritual, and they are worshipped by a sick society.”

It is a vicious circle: the society creates the sick saint, the sick saint creates the sick society – and it goes on and on. I have no part in this sickness, the so-called spirituality. I am just a contented, fulfilled human being. What more do you want? And what more can spirituality be?

We want people to be fulfilled and contented, and this journey towards contentment, fulfillment, enlightenment should start with the body. You cannot begin from anywhere else. You can begin only from the beginning. You cannot ignore the roots and just go on praising the flowers. Your flowers will die, and you will have to replace them with plastic flowers if the roots are not taken care of. Is there any conflict between the roots and the blossoms? It is the same juice – and you have to begin with the roots, because flowers will come only in the end.

But with humanity we have been almost mad. We have never bothered about the roots, and we have talked only about flowers. We talk about people being nonviolent, being compassionate, being loving – so much that you can love your enemy, so much that you can even love your neighbor. We talk about flowers, but nobody is interested in the roots.

The question is: “Why are we not loving beings?”

It is not a question of being loving to this person, to that person, to the friend, to the enemy. The question is whether you are loving or not. Do you love your own body? Have you ever cared to touch your own body with a loving caress? Do you love yourself? No, all your religions teach you to hate yourself: you are the wrong person and you have to put yourself right; you are a sinner and you have to become a saint. How can you love yourself? – you cannot even accept yourself. And these are the roots!

I will teach you to love yourself. If you can love yourself, if you can rejoice in being yourself, naturally your love will go on spreading. It will become an aura around you; you will love your friends, and in a certain way you will love your enemies too – because just the way the friend defines you, your enemy also defines you.