Jivan Mary, you are saying, “I sit here feeling the stillness of the universe, listening to a bird’s sweet song – and I wonder. Then I listen again to your vision for mankind now, and I wonder that perhaps I am your hands and your feet.” You are.

Every sannyasin is my hands, my eyes, my soul.

I am not giving you a teaching, I am giving you myself.

But that does not mean that you have to go somewhere else. To transform human consciousness you have just to go on rising higher and higher in your own consciousness – you don’t have to go anywhere.

You are saying, “Perhaps I should be out there.” There is no “out there”; everything is “in here.” Don’t waste a single moment in unnecessary worry. To me, if you are saved, the whole of humanity is saved.

It is not a question of going out into the world and trying to raise people’s consciousness – it is more of a possibility that the crowd of sleepy people is too much, and you may start feeling sleepy yourself. Unless you are enlightened, it is dangerous to try to transform people. Right now, you are the whole world. Just be total in this silence, be intense in this ecstasy, and you are working for the whole of humanity – because you are part of it. If you become enlightened, that is the beginning of humanity becoming enlightened.

There is a beautiful story about Mulla Nasruddin. He used to steal fruits and sweets in the market, if he got an opportunity. One fruit seller had a dog specially for Mulla Nasruddin. The dog was very intelligent. The shopkeeper told the dog, “I am going for my lunch; you have to take care of the shop. Sit here, and remember that man, Mulla Nasruddin. If he comes here, watch his every action.” The poor dog nodded his head.

The man went to take his lunch at home, and that was the time…Mulla Nasruddin was waiting somewhere close by. He had heard what the dog was told; he sat in front of the shop, closed his eyes, and pretended to fall asleep. Seeing him asleep – sleep is contagious – the poor dog also closed his eyes and fell asleep. And then the Mulla took away whatever he wanted from the shop.

When the shopkeeper came back, he saw the dog asleep, and he saw that things were missing. He woke up the dog and said, “What is the matter with you? I told you to watch his every action.”

Mulla Nasruddin by that time had put all the fruits in his house, and had come back to see what had transpired between the dog and the shopkeeper. He was standing just by the side of the shop.