And by these acts of violence, the inhumanity, the cruelty goes on condemning itself. Each time a Socrates is poisoned or a Jesus is crucified or a Mansoor is killed, nothing is lost; only the inhuman part becomes weaker, starts feeling guilty, becomes criminal in its own eyes.

I am reminded of Judas. Judas betrayed Jesus, sold him into the hands of the enemies for only thirty silver pieces. But at the moment Jesus was crucified, Judas was standing in the crowd. And when Jesus said, “Father, forgive these people because they know not what they are doing” – a great shock; Judas could not live more than twenty-four hours. He committed suicide within twenty-four hours. Within twenty-four hours he was hanging from a tree on the mountain. He killed himself, those thirty silver pieces lying on the ground.

The ugly cannot be victorious. It is not power that wins; it is peace, it is love, it is consciousness which goes on winning. Look at the whole history – the powerful have not been of any importance in human growth, and they have not been able to hinder anything that is of authentic value.

So don’t be worried. All that you can do is be more loving – because we have to fight nuclear weapons with love, bullets with roseflowers. And don’t be worried about small battles. In a war you can lose small battles, that is not decisive; what is decisive is ultimate victory, and we are moving towards the ultimate victory. Each day in the life of humanity we are becoming closer to Gautam Buddha – not closer to Genghis Khan, Nadirshah, Tamerlane, Adolf Hitler, Ronald Reagan. They may have power but the existence is not with them; the existence is absolutely supportive to consciousness, and all that brings more consciousness into the world.

Existence is a tremendous experiment in becoming conscious and man is the pinnacle of the experiment. There are problems, and there are difficulties – but they are the challenges, they keep us alert. They are not ultimately against us, but perhaps they are needed to keep us awake.

Existence has staked much on man; otherwise man is just what the word means – it comes from “mud.” “Human” comes from humus. What is the difference between mud and man? There is a difference which is not of quantity, but of quality. Man is not only alive but conscious too, and has the potential to become fully self-conscious.

Feel compassion for those people who are still living in the dark, still crawling like animals, thinking in inhuman terms. Perhaps your compassion, your love may help them. Nothing else can help them.

But you can love them only if you don’t condemn them. You can be compassionate only if you feel pity, if you feel a deep concern for their undeveloped souls. This is the only way to help them, and this is the only way to help my work.