Gorilla sir, please be silent – although it is not your way, neither is it in your nature – but please don’t start gossiping about this temple. We don’t want tigers and lions, because we don’t have the space. Just wait a little. Once we have got a bigger space, which we will be getting, then you can bring all the gorillas – you must have friends, a wife, children. A gorilla does not believe in celibacy, he is not a Catholic monk.

And having a few gorillas here dancing with you will be a real joy. Today you will have to be satisfied with only one. But when one comes, a second will be close behind.

Just a few miles from here there is an ancient lake, Tadoba, deep in the forest. Its beauty is its deer, thousands of deer. You just have to be there at the time when the sun sets, because at the sunset those thousands of deer come to the lake to have a drink. The beauty is, as it becomes darker – you will be puzzled – their eyes shine like candles, as if thousands of candles are moving all around the lake, in a line.

I would love every species to be represented here, but unfortunately there is not much space and when such great people like gorillas start coming…. They are your forefathers, be respectful. This is not me, but Charles Darwin speaking.

This story about Hyakujo, when he became a master in his own right: when one becomes a master in one’s own right, when one dissolves, when one is no more, but just a pure energy, a space, nothing is written in this space – no scripture, no sermon…

There exists only one book in the whole of the world’s literature which can be called religious. It belongs to the Sufi tradition; for a thousand years it has been given from a master to his successor. The first master who had it, Jalaluddin Rumi, has not been surpassed by any other Sufi. He is the only man who has been called Mevlana. Mevlana means master of masters. He had this book. Nobody knows from where he got it.

He would not show it to anybody; he would not take it out. He kept it hidden under his pillow and whenever he moved anywhere he kept the book with him. The disciples asked – and he had hundreds of disciples – “Why don’t you say anything about this scripture?”

And he always said, “It is impossible to say anything about this scripture. Ask about anything, but not about this scripture; it is a religious scripture.”

They said, “If it is a religious scripture, then it should be given to us, so that we can understand what religion is.”

Rumi said, “You will get it only when I die. Wait.”

When he became old and was on his deathbed, rather than being shocked that their master was dying, they were all curious: “As soon as he dies, we can take out the book from underneath his pillow. While he is alive, he will not allow it.”