But it simply shows the poverty of your so-called great powers. You should be happy and rejoice the day I cannot find any place to stay anywhere in the world. You have to dance and sing and rejoice that this is happening for the first time….

Because Socrates was condemned in Athens, and Athens was only a city state. The judges had told him, “You can leave Athens and there will be no punishment for you. And there is the whole world – why should you unnecessarily get poisoned? Just leave Athens.”

Jesus was crucified in Judea – a very small place. Nobody had heard about him while he was alive. And he did not die on the cross either. Not that there was any resurrection; he was simply brought down from the cross within six hours – and on the Jewish cross it needs twenty-four hours, sometimes forty-eight hours, for a person to die.

It was a negotiation between Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, and one of the influential men who wanted Jesus to be saved. So this was the agreement: on Friday Jesus should be crucified – but as late as possible so he is not too long on the cross. Jews stop all work as the sun sets on Friday, and Saturday is the day of Sabbath; they don’t do anything. So it was delayed as long as possible; only in the afternoon when the sun was going down was Jesus crucified. And before the sun set he had to be brought down because of the Jewish tradition.

Now he had to wait in the cave. He would have to be crucified again after the Sabbath ends – and that was the time when he was stolen. He was taken out of Judea. He lived in India up to one hundred and twelve years – a very ripe age. He died in India – I have been to his grave in Kashmir, and a strange coincidence: Kashmir has the graves of Jesus and Moses too.

But nowhere was he hindered, nowhere was he persecuted, nowhere was he crucified again. In India he lived a long life. He was thirty-three when he was crucified in Judea, and he lived up to one hundred and twelve years without any persecution.

So this is something to rejoice about, that I may be the first man in the whole of history who is being persecuted around the world. But this is not bad news, it is good news. It means I have threatened all the powers of the world – religious, political, social. A single man, single-handedly has been able to prove the impotency and poverty of all great powers, great theologians, great organized religions. What more reward can I receive?

And this is going to help the movement. It means you have got a master, not just a goody-goody saint!