And that’s what has happened in India: people are living in maya, deeply in it, and still talking that “This is all maya.” And this talk too is part of their dream; it does not destroy the dream. In fact it makes the dream more rooted in them, because now there is no need to get rid of it – because it is a dream! So why get rid of it? It does not matter.

In a subtle way all the religions have done this: they have talked from the highest peak to the people for whom that peak does not exist yet. The people are living in darkness, and you go on telling them that darkness has no existence. It is true – darkness has no existence, it is only the absence of light – but just by saying to people that darkness has no existence is not going to bring light in.

That’s what Krishnamurti is doing; it has been done by many people. Nagarjuna did it – Krishnamurti is not new, not at least in the East. Nagarjuna did it: he said, “Everything is false. The world is false, the ego is false, nothing exists. Because nothing exists you are already free. There is no need for any meditation, there is no need for any master. There is no need to find out any device, strategy, technique, because in the first place there is no problem. Why go on looking for solutions? Those solutions will create more problems; they are not going to help.”

Nagarjuna did it; before Nagarjuna, Mahakashyap did it, and it has been a long tradition. Zen people have been saying the same thing for centuries. Krishnamurti never uses the word Zen, but whatsoever he is talking is nothing but Zen – simple Zen.

Zen says no effort is needed, nothing has to be done. When nothing has to be done, what is the need of a master? – because the master will tell you to do something. Nothing has to be done – what is the need of the scriptures? – because the scriptures will tell you to do something, to know something. Nothing has to be done, nothing has to be known. You are already there where you are trying to reach.

And I know this is true, but to talk about this ultimate truth to people who are living in tremendous darkness is futile.

No enlightened person can ever be wrong, but only few enlightened persons have been of help. The majority of enlightened people have been of no help at all, for the simple reason because they never considered the other.

In fact, George Gurdjieff used to say, “Don’t consider the other.” It was one of his basic teachings: “Don’t consider the other. Just say what is absolutely true.” But the absolute truth is truth only when experienced; people are living in relative truth.

My approach is different from Krishnamurti’s. I know that one day you will come to that point where nothing is needed – no master, no teaching, no scripture – but right now the scripture can be of help, the methods can be of help, and certainly a living master can be of immense help.

The function of the master is to give you that which you already have and to take away that which you don’t have at all.