“Haven’t you heard the decree?” replied the mouse. “Yes, but you are a mouse,” the elephant said.

“Ah yes,” the mouse sighed, “but if they say I am an elephant, then how will I prove that I am not?”

It is difficult to prove, but there are things which need not be proved – a mouse knows that he is a mouse. Proof may be difficult. When you listen to the truth, it may be difficult for you to prove that it is true, but you will know. It will be an inner feeling that it is true, and that feeling is enough, because that feeling simply transports you into another world. It is not a question of your deciding whether it is true or untrue. If you decide, you will miss the whole point, because how are you going to decide? You will decide by your past. And you don’t know what truth is. If you had known there would have been no need to listen to the buddhas – you would be a buddha yourself. You don’t know, so your past has no idea of what truth is. How can your past decide what is what? Put the past aside. Just listen.

And I am not saying believe – just listening is not synonymous with believing. It has nothing to do with belief or disbelief – just listening is just listening. You are neither in favor nor disfavor; you are simply open. You allow it inside you.

And let me repeat: the beauty of truth is that when it reaches you, your heart simply jumps in joy. It knows. Truth synchronizes with your heart. It has the same rhythm. Suddenly the heart starts dancing, and that dance is the proof. And if it is not true, the heart will not dance, and then you will know that it is not true. But it is not a question of logical decision, of logical evaluation.

Listen to these words very meditatively:

Friend, wake up!

Kabir calls you “friend” – that’s how all the buddhas have always felt. The disciple thinks, “Buddha, Krishna, Christ or Kabir, they are masters and we are disciples.” From the disciples’ side this is so, but how is it from the master’s side?

The master knows there is no master and no disciple. The master knows that it is a company of friends. The master is not holier-than-thou; the master has no superiority complex. The master is a nobody; the master is just ordinary, but his ordinariness is luminous. The whole existence is either ordinary or extraordinary – but the whole. It is not that a few things are ordinary and a few things are extraordinary. For the master, everything is unique. His reverence for life is infinite.