I have heard about one palmist who used to read people’s hands. An atheist, a young man who does not believe in God and does not believe in any kind of bullshit – palmistry, astrology – went to the palmist and said, “If your science is true, just read my hand and tell me where my father is right now.”

The palmist looked at his hand and said, “Your father has gone fishing.” The atheist laughed. He said, “That’s what I say: it is all nonsense. My father has been dead for three years; how can he go fishing today?”

The palmist said, “That is not my business, but the truth is, the man who died was not your father. Your real father is fishing. You go to your mother and ask. If she is sincere and honest, she will tell you that the man who died was not your father – although you had created a relationship because you were told that he is your father.”

Your whole life is surrounded by many kinds of relationships. I don’t want any kind of relationship. Relationship as such, real or imaginary, is a very subtle kind of psychological slavery. Either you enslave the other, or you become a slave yourself.

Another point to be noted is that you cannot enslave somebody without becoming a slave yourself. Slavery is a double-edged sword. One may be stronger, one may be weaker, but in every relationship you become the jailer and the other becomes the prisoner. From his side, he is the jailer and you are the prisoner. And this is one of the fundamental causes of humanity living in such sadness, in such a sorrowful state.

You have heard me rightly: I don’t want any part of any relationship, “…certainly not our hate, but not even our love.” From my side, I will not allow any relationship; I will not nourish any relationship. But you are free to suffer – that is your birthright.

How can I prevent you, if you start having a relationship of hate with me? And hate is much stronger a relationship than your love, because your love is very superficial. Your hate is very deep. Your hate is your whole animal heritage. Your love is only a potential for the future; it is not an actuality, but only a seed.

But your hate is full-fledged, fully grown – thousands of years of your past moving through different life forms. It has had time and space to grow. It is only in man that the change starts happening.

I cannot prevent anybody from hating me, so how can I prevent anybody from loving me? All that I can do is to explain that the moment hate or love or anything becomes a relationship, it loses its purity.

Let your love be your state of being. Not that you fall in love, but just that you are loving. It is simply your nature. Love, to you, is just the fragrance of your being. Even if you are alone you are surrounded by loving energy. Even if you touch a dead thing, like the chair, your hand is showering love – it does not matter to whom.