Anil Bharti is a professor in Lucknow University. He is my sannyasin and he has experienced great joy, he has slowly entered into deeper layers of meditation. But those students were not even aware of what is happening here. First you should have introduced them through the books, through the tapes. You should have prepared them, and by preparation I mean, unless they ask you to bring them here, don’t bring them, because once they come here through force they will never come again; they will become antagonistic forever. They have nothing to do with me, but because you forced them they will take revenge on me.

So, one has to be very conscious. These experiences are very delicate; you should not behave in a gross way. If you had prepared your students, and you were coming in the morning and a few of them came, that would have been okay.

I was a professor in a Sanskrit university. The first day I reached the university I was not yet allotted a quarter so I had to stay in the hostel for a few days.

It was a Sanskrit university, and nobody wants to learn Sanskrit nowadays; it is a dead language – it serves no purpose, it will not help you to earn your bread and butter. So almost ninety percent of the students were on government scholarships; they were there only because of the scholarships. They had no desire to learn Sanskrit, they were not interested in it, but they were poor students and they could not get scholarships anywhere else, so it was better than nothing.

So they had come there unwillingly, reluctantly, and because they were almost all scholarship holders they were forced to pray every morning at four o’clock – so early!

When I reached the university it was winter-time, and by four o’clock they were shivering and taking cold baths. No hot water was provided – Sanskrit scholars are not supposed to have such luxuries as hot water, they are supposed to live like the ancient rishis and their disciples. And they used to get up early, at four o’clock, brahmamuhurta; this is one of the most divine moments according to the Hindu mythology. And they could be forced because otherwise they would lose their scholarships. So they had to go through these things, but in a very angry mood.

They did not know that I was a professor that first day. I loved to have a cold bath early in the morning, so I went to the well to take a bath. And the students were so angry. They were using all kinds of four-letter words about the vice-chancellor – not only about the vice-chancellor but about God also! Not knowing that I was also a professor, they continued their use of violent, ugly words.

I reported to the vice-chancellor, “This is not right. You are not teaching them prayer. And then after the cold bath they have to stand in a line and pray for hours in Sanskrit. Now, how can they be prayerful? They are angry with God. If they come across God they will kill him! And they are praying, so what prayer can it be?”

But the vice-chancellor was an old Sanskrit scholar. He said, “No, that’s not right. They are doing it on their own, we are not forcing anybody.”