Quantitatively, there will be as many problems as ever, because the man remains the same, only the situation changes. You change the situation: old problems will not be there, but there will be new problems. And new problems are more problematic than any old problems, because you have become accustomed to old problems. With new problems you feel more inconvenience. That’s why in our times we have changed the whole situation, but problems are there – more settled, more anxiety creating.

That’s the difference between religion and science. Science thinks problems are objective, somewhere outside, somewhere there – that they can be changed without changing you. Religion thinks problems are somewhere here inside, in me – rather, I am the problem. Unless I change, nothing is going to be different. Shapes will be different, names will be different, but the substance will remain the same. I will create another…another world of problems. I will go on projecting new problems.

This man, unconscious to his own being, is the creator of problems. Unaware of himself, not knowing who he is, what he is, without any acquaintance with himself, he goes on creating problems – because unless you know yourself, you cannot know for what you are existing and living, you cannot know where you have to move, you cannot feel what your destiny is, and you can never feel any meaning. You will go on doing many things, but everything will ultimately lead you to frustration, because without knowing why you are, for what you are, if you do anything, it is not going to give you a deep contentment. It is irrelevant. The very point is missed, your effort is wasted.

And, ultimately, everyone is frustrated. Those who succeed are more frustrated than those who are not successful, because those who are not successful can still hope, but those who are successful, they cannot even hope. Their case becomes hopeless. So I say nothing fails like success.

Religion thinks in terms of subjectivity, science in terms of objectivity: “Change the situation – don’t touch the man.” Religion says, “Change the man – situation is irrelevant.” Whatsoever the situation, a different mind, a transformed being, will be beyond problems. That’s why a buddha can exist in absolute peace as a beggar, and a Midas cannot exist and live at peace even when he has the alchemical miracle with him: whatsoever he touches becomes gold. The situation with Midas has become golden, everything he touches becomes gold. But this doesn’t change anything; rather, Midas is in a more complicated, problematic situation.

Now our world has created, through science, a Midas situation. Now we can touch anything and it becomes gold. A buddha living as a beggar lives in such a deep peace and silence that emperors become jealous of him. What is the secret? The emphasis, the man, the inside of man, is significant, not the situation. So if you change the inside of man…and there is only one change. If you grow in your awareness, you change, you mutate. If you fall down in your awareness, again you change, you mutate. If your awareness is lessened, you fall down towards animals. If your awareness is increased, you fall up towards godliness.