A drunkard will understand in his own way. The poor woman was saying, “I will sleep with the Lord,” meaning “I will be with the Lord and I am not going to sleep with anybody else. God will be with me.” But the drunkard has, in his drunkenness, understood that she is going to sleep with the Lord. And before the congregation could respond, the drunkard yelled out in a clear voice, “That’s right mama, make love to them all!” Why bother about one Lord? He does not understand that by “Lord” she means God. He is thinking of all the landlords, or perhaps the story happened in England where there are so many Lords – make love to them all!

In communication through words, what is said is not necessarily understood. You are free to understand according to your prejudice, according to your state of mind, according to your consciousness. Hence, realities that go beyond mind cannot be expressed. First they become distorted when you pull them into words; then they become distorted when somebody hears them who has no experience of them.

The man of understanding knows that this is a crime against truth: to distort it first, and then let it be distorted by those who are utterly drunk – some with money, some with power, some with knowledge, some with something else. But these are all ways of becoming unconscious, and in unconsciousness what you hear is not what is being said to you.

When you are conscious and silent and able to understand, then there is no need to utter even a single word.

Two mystics in India had a meeting for two days. The disciples of both were immensely interested to hear them speak with each other, they wanted to know how two enlightened men communicate. One was a Mohammedan Sufi mystic, Farid; the other was Kabir, one of the greatest mystics India has known. They hugged each other, they laughed with each other; they wept in joy, in ecstasy, with tears in their eyes, but they did not speak a single word for two days.

The departure time came and the disciples of both were really freaking out. Two days of concentrated waiting and they did not utter a single word! But they remained controlled as the mystics departed and Kabir came to lead Farid up to the boundary of his village. Again they hugged, again they laughed, again they cried, but those tears were of immense ecstasy. As they left each other the disciples of both erupted, almost enraged.

They asked Kabir, “What happened to you? You go on talking to us – it is not that you are silent – why did you remain silent for two days?” And the same question was posed to Farid by his disciples: “What kind of insanity is this? Hugging, laughing, crying, weeping, but not speaking a single word – and we were waiting with such great expectation and hope, that something would transpire between you which may help us.”

The answer of both the mystics was almost the same. Kabir said, “You don’t understand. The moment I saw him, within my heart I said, ‘My God, he has reached where I have reached. There is nothing to say – he knows it all – but we can rejoice in each other’s illumination.’ And that we did.”