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And one wonders why human beings live the way we are living - the battle, the conflict, the confusion, the utter misery, sorrow, pleasure, and joys that soon fade away and we are left empty handed, bitter, cynical, not believing in a thing, or we turn to tradition, which is perhaps the safe thing to do. And even that tradition is now losing its grip and if you observe very closely the mind is now living not only physically but much more psychologically on commentaries, books, scriptures, the Bible and the Koran.
What happens to a mind that lives on books - which we are all doing, not only in the schools, colleges and universities, but also religiously? I am using the word 'religious' in the ordinary sense of the word. And when one lives by the book, we live by words, by theories about what other people have said. And when one lives in that fashion, degeneration obviously must take place. Or you go back to the book as the Islamic world it doing, and use that as authority - brutal, dogmatic, cruel and destructive. And in this country too, the Indians, the Hindus, whatever your name be, you live by the book, what other people have said, which you have accepted, the commentaries and the commentaries on commentaries and so on and so on and so on. And when faced with crises, this civilization which has existed perhaps for 3000 years or more collapses, degeneration takes places, corruption at all levels of life - the industrialized gurus, the politicians, the businessmen, the religious people, the whole thing is collapsing.
What happens to a mind that lives on books - which we are all doing, not only in the schools, colleges and universities, but also religiously? I am using the word 'religious' in the ordinary sense of the word. And when one lives by the book, we live by words, by theories about what other people have said. And when one lives in that fashion, degeneration obviously must take place. Or you go back to the book as the Islamic world it doing, and use that as authority - brutal, dogmatic, cruel and destructive. And in this country too, the Indians, the Hindus, whatever your name be, you live by the book, what other people have said, which you have accepted, the commentaries and the commentaries on commentaries and so on and so on and so on. And when faced with crises, this civilization which has existed perhaps for 3000 years or more collapses, degeneration takes places, corruption at all levels of life - the industrialized gurus, the politicians, the businessmen, the religious people, the whole thing is collapsing.
Public Talk 3 Madras (Chennai), India - 29 December 1979
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