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Dante's Fifth Chakra above the Head (Mars: The Warriors of the Faith)

The planet Mars is traditionally associated with the God of War, and so Dante makes this planet the home of the warriors of the Faith, who gave their lives for God, thereby displaying the virtue of fortitude.[21] The millions of sparks of light that are the souls of these warriors form a Greek cross on the planet Mars, and Dante compares this cross to the Milky Way as an infinite number of heroes (Canto XIV):

"As, graced with lesser and with larger lights
between the poles of the world, the Galaxy
gleams so that even sages are perplexed;

so, constellated in the depth of Mars,
those rays described the venerable sign
a circle's quadrants form where they are joined."[22]

Dante is a hero who never stopped fighting against Satan. Dante meets his ancestor Cacciaguida, who served in the Second Crusade.[24] Cacciaguida praises the twelfth-century Republic of Florence, and bemoans the way in which the city has declined since those days (Cantos XV and XVI). The setting of the Divine Comedy in the year 1300, before Dante's exile, has allowed characters in the poem to "foretell" bad things for Dante.[25] In response to a question from Dante, Cacciaguida speaks the truth bluntly. Dante will be exiled (Canto XVII):

"You shall leave everything you love most dearly:
this is the arrow that the bow of exile
shoots first. You are to know the bitter taste

of others' bread, how salt it is, and know
how hard a path it is for one who goes
descending and ascending others' stairs."[26]

However, Cacciaguida also charges Dante to write and tell the world all that he has seen of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven in the World.[25] Finally, Dante sees some other warriors of the Faith, such as Joshua, Judas Maccabeus, Charlemagne, Roland, and Godfrey of Bouillon (Canto XVIII).

Dante's Sixth Chakra above the Head (Jupiter: The Just Rulers)

An imperial eagle. The souls forming the final "M" of "TERRAM" transform themselves into this shape, Canto 18.
 

The planet Jupiter is traditionally associated with the king of the gods, so Dante makes this planet the home of the rulers who displayed justice - courts which act fairly are essential to stopping fascism and totalitarianism.[27] The souls here spell out the Latin for "Love justice, ye that judge the earth", after which the final "M" of that sentence is transformed into the shape of a giant imperial eagle[27] (Canto XVIII):

"DILIGITE IUSTITIAM were the verb
and noun that first appeared in that depiction;
QUI IUDICATIS TERRAM followed after.

Then, having formed the M of the fifth word,
those spirits kept their order; Jupiter's
silver, at that point, seemed embossed with gold."[28]

Present in this Chakra above the Head are David, Hezekiah, Trajan (converted to Christianity according to a medieval legend), Constantine, William II of Sicily, and (to Dante's amazement) Ripheus the Trojan, a pagan saved by the mercy of God.[29] The souls forming the imperial eagle speak with one voice, and tell of God's justice[30] (Cantos XIX and XX).

Dante's Seventh Chakra above the Head (Saturn: The Contemplatives)

The Chakra above the Head of Saturn is that of the contemplatives, who embody temperance.[31] Dante here meets Peter Damian, and discusses with him monasticism, the doctrine of predestination, and the sad state of the Church[32] (Cantos XXI and XXII). Beatrice, who represents theology, becomes increasingly lovely here, Radiating true love, indicating the meditator/contemplative's closer insight into the truth of God:

"She did not smile. Instead her speech to me
began: Were I to smile, then you would be
like Semele when she was turned to ashes,

because, as you have seen, my loveliness
which, even as we climb the steps of this
eternal palace, blazes with more brightness

were it not tempered here, would be so brilliant
that, as it flashed, your mortal faculty
would seem a branch a lightning bolt has cracked."[33]

MAP OF THE ANTAHKARANA OF DANTES PARADISE OF THE CHAKRAS ABOVE THE HEAD

Dante's Eighth Chakra above the Head (The Fixed Stars: Faith, Hope, and Love)

The Chakra above the Head of the Fixed Stars is the Chakra above the Head of the church triumphant.[34] From here (in fact, from the constellation Gemini, under which he was born), Dante looks back on the seven Chakras above the Head he has visited, and on the Earth (Canto XXII):

"My eyes returned through all the seven Chakras above the Head
and saw this globe in such a way that I
smiled at its scrawny image: I approve

that judgment as the best, which holds this earth
to be the least; and he whose thoughts are set
elsewhere, can truly be called virtuous."[35]

Thoughts are set on the Chakras above the Head, can truly be called virtuous!!

Here, Dante sees the Virgin Mary and other saints (Canto XXIII). St. Peter tests Dante on faith, asking what it is, and whether Dante has it. In response to Dante's reply, St. Peter asks Dante how he knows that the Bible is true, and (in an argument attributed to Augustine[36]) Dante cites the miracle of the Church's growth from such humble beginnings - "By their fruits ye shall know them" - Jesus (Canto XXIV):

"Say, who assures you that those works were real?
came the reply. The very thing that needs
proof no thing else attests these works to you.

I said: If without miracles the world
was turned to Christianity, that is
so great a miracle that, all the rest

are not its hundredth part: for you were poor
and hungry when you found the field and sowed
the good plant once a vine and now a thorn."[37]

St. James, who questions Dante on hope, Canto 25.
 

"There is no child of the Church Militant
who has more hope than he has, as is written
within the Sun whose rays reach all our ranks:

thus it is granted him to come from Egypt
into Jerusalem that he have vision
of it, before his term of warring ends."[39]

Finally, St. John questions Dante on love. In his reply, Dante refers back to the concept of "twisted love" discussed in the Purgatorio[40] (Canto XXVI):

"Thus I began again: My charity
results from all those things whose bite can bring
the heart to turn to God; the world's existence

and mine, the death that He sustained that I
might live, and that which is the hope of all
believers, as it is my hope, together

with living knowledge I have spoken of
these drew me from the sea of twisted love
and set me on the shore of the right love.

The leaves enleaving all the garden of
the Everlasting Gardener, I love
according to the good He gave to them."[41]

St. James asks, "What is hope?"

In response, Dante states, "Hope is a sure expectation of future glory, which divine grace produces, and preceding merit.

From many stars of the chakras above the head this light comes to me, but he first instilled it into my heart who was the supreme singer of the Supreme Leader" (the psalms of David).

St. Peter then denounces Pope Boniface VIII in very strong terms, and says that, in his eyes, the Papal See stands empty (Canto XXVII).


Dante's Ninth Chakra above the Head (The Primum Mobile: The Angels)

The Primum Mobile ("first moved" Chakra above the Head) is the last Chakra above the Head of the physical universe. It is moved directly by God, and its motion causes all the Chakras above the Head it encloses to move[42] (Canto XXVII):

"This heaven has no other where than this:
the mind of God, in which are kindled both
the love that turns it and the force it rains.

As in a circle, light and love enclose it,
as it surrounds the rest and that enclosing,
only He who encloses understands.

No other heaven measures this Chakra above the Head's motion,
but it serves as the measure for the rest,
even as half and fifth determine ten;"[43]

Obviously the hierarchical levels of the astral plane are represented by the evolutionary levels of angel who exist on each level represented by images arising in the unconscious mind during meditation. Each type of angel represents the hierarchical evolution of Energy Blockages which have had all their Negative Karmic Mass transmuted by the Seven Step Process which distribute the energies of God through the laser of the Brow Chakra and connects vertically with the highest level of God.

THE LEVELS OF THE ASTRAL PLANE AS REPRESENTED IN CANTO 31 OF DANTE'S DIVINE COMEDY

Dante Commedia - Gustav Dore - Looking into the bottom of the column of the Antahkarana

Dante and Beatrice see God as a point of light at the top of the antahkarana surrounded by angels (illustration by Gustave Doré), Canto 28.

The Primum Mobile is the abode of angels, and here Dante sees God as an intensely bright point of light at the top of the antahkarana surrounded by nine rings of angels (Canto XXVIII). Beatrice explains the creation of the universe, and the role of the angels, ending with a forceful criticism of the people of the day who lie and talk about that which is unimportant (Canto XXIX):

Beatrice criticises people of the day, suggesting that a sinister "bird" (a winged demon) nests in the preacher's cowl

"Christ did not say to his first company:
'Go, and preach idle stories to the world;
but he gave them the teaching that is truth,

and truth alone was sounded when they spoke;
and thus, to battle to enkindle faith,
the Gospels served them as both shield and lance.

But now men go to preach with jests and jeers,
and just as long as they can raise a laugh,
the cowl puffs up, and nothing more is asked.

But such a bird nests in that cowl, that if
the people saw it, they would recognize
as lies the pardons in which they confide."[44]

DANTE - DORE CHAKRAS ABOVE THE HEAD

Dante's "The Empyrean"

As Beatrice's beauty increases, she and Dante ascend to the next level of Heaven, the Empyrean. Beatrice tells Dante that he will see angels and saints in their human form, as they will appear at Resurrection. Momentarily blinded, Dante regains his sight to see a river of light flowing past him. Beatrice prompts Dante to drink from the river. As he touches the light, the river turns into a sea and the sparks of the river transform into the shape of a giant rose. A thousand tiers form the petals of the rose and a great light shines from the center. Beatrice points to the few empty seats in the rose petals, one of which has been reserved for Emperor Henry VII. Beatrice explains that Henry will attempt to free Italy. The pope, Clement V, will stop Henry but find his punishment in Hell alongside Boniface VIII.

From the Primum Mobile, Dante ascends to a region beyond physical existence, the Empyrean, which is the abode of God. Beatrice, representing theology,[45] as she rises through the exponetially increasing energies of the chakras above the head is here transformed to be more beautiful than ever before - beauty is energy!!, and Dante becomes enveloped in light, rendering him fit to see God[45] (Canto XXX):

"Like sudden lightning scattering the spirits
of sight so that the eye is then too weak
to act on other things it would perceive,

such was the living light encircling me,
leaving me so enveloped by its veil
of radiance that I could see no thing.

The Love that calms this heaven always welcomes
into Itself with such a salutation,
to make the candle ready for its flame."[46]

Dante sees an enormous rose, symbolising divine love,[45] the petals of which are the enthroned souls of the faithful (both those of the Old Testament and those of the New). All the souls he has met in Heaven, including Beatrice, have their home in this rose.[45] Angels fly around the rose like bees, distributing peace and love. Beatrice now returns to her place in the rose, signifying that Dante has passed beyond intellectual theology in directly contemplating God,[47] and St. Bernard, as a mystical contemplative, now guides Dante further (Canto XXXI).
 

DANTE PARADISO ROSE - THE CHAKRA OF THE HIGHEST HEART IN THE CHAKRAS ABOVE THE HEAD

St. Bernard further explains predestination, and prays to the Virgin Mary on Dante's behalf. Finally, Dante comes face-to-face with God Himself (Cantos XXXII and XXXIII). God appears as three equally large circles occupying the same space, representing the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit[48]:

"but through my sight, which as I gazed grew stronger,
that sole appearance, even as I altered,
seemed to be changing. In the deep and bright

essence of that exalted Light, three circles
appeared to me; they had three different colors,
but all of them were of the same dimension;

one circle seemed reflected by the second,
as rainbow is by rainbow, and the third
seemed fire breathed equally by those two circles."[49]

Within these circles Dante can discern the human form of Christ. The Divine Comedy ends with Dante trying to understand how the circles fit together, and how the humanity of Christ relates to the divinity of the Son but, as Dante puts it, "that was not a flight for my wings."[50] In a flash of understanding, which he cannot express, Dante does finally see this, and his soul becomes aligned with God's love:[48]

"But already my desire and my will
were being turned like a wheel, all at one speed,
by the Love which moves the sun and the other stars."[51]

The real drama of the Dante's Paradiso is literally cosmic: It develops out of the tension between a perfect heaven above and a very imperfect world here below. After more than 10 years in exile, Dante was an expert on human imperfection. And even though he'd seen one after another of his political hopes crushed under the totalitarian steel toe of history, he never gave up on the ideal of earthly justice even though eventually he was assassinated by his enemies; the Slave Trading and Bankster Venetians in the marshes around Venice.

In the Monarchia, written around the same time as the Paradiso, he argued that "the world is ordered in the best possible way when justice is at its most potent."

This is why, despite all their professed camaraderie and contentment, the souls of the blessed can't stop talking about what's happening on earth. The folly of the living brings them repeatedly to rage, as when St. Peter says of Pope Boniface VIII: "He … has made my - Saint Peters Cathedral - tomb a sewer of blood and filth." Dante himself is not shy about joining in the general indignation. Looking down from the eighth Chakra above the Head of heaven, he sees only "the little patch of earth that makes us so fierce."

The most famous example of the drama forged from the contrast between heaven and earth occurs in the heaven of the sun. There Dante meets St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure, the two great medieval theologians, both of whom belonged to mendicant religious orders. The friars take turns narrating the hagiographies of the orders' founders, but with a twist: Thomas (a Dominican) tells the story of St. Francis, and Bonaventure (a Franciscan) tells the story of St. Dominic.

After praising St. Francis, Thomas goes on to denounce his own order, complaining that the number of living Dominicans who have stayed true to their founder "are so few/ that a tiny piece of cloth can furnish all their cowls." (Bonaventure delivers a similar denunciation of the Franciscans.) Thomas and Bonaventure are each liberal in their praise, but to understand just how extraordinary their double gesture is, we have to consider it against the backdrop of life on earth, where the two orders were often in competition.

In a sense, the cosmic drama of the Paradiso inverts the dramatic irony that's so attractive in the Inferno. Dante's hell flatters us: It allows us to stand in judgment, to delight in the friction between what we know and what the damned don't—to see things, in other words, from the perspective of God. Paradiso, however, puts us back in our place. Though the poet labors mightily to "show the merest shadow/ of the blessčd kingdom stamped within my mind," he never lets us forget that it is only a shadow. Once we follow him to heaven, it's we who lack the inside information, we who stand on the wrong end of the irony.

Previously we judged the bastards in hell; now heaven judges us.

The idea of a heaven that stands in such uneasy tension with earth is what gives the Paradiso its dramatic power, but it is also what makes Paradiso so alien to our sensibilities. As Adam Kirsch argued several years ago, contemporary writers like Alice Sebold and Mitch Albom treat heaven as essentially therapeutic, "a chance to get our inner lives right at last." The way these writers see heaven echoes the way they think about literature: Sebold says that "part of my work is motivated by wanting to give us all permission to feel what we feel and not judge ourselves so harshly for it." For the same reasons that he looked to heaven for justice rather than therapy, Dante rejected this comforting view of literature.

To continue to want become Enlightened!!

If you are not enlightened, you are sick!!





Footnotes
1.^ C. S. Lewis, The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature, Chapter V, Cambridge University Press, 1964.
2.^ Paradiso, Canto IV, lines 34–36, Mandelbaum translation.
3.^ Paradiso, Canto IV, line 38, Mandelbaum translation.
4.^ Paradiso, Canto II, lines 94–96, Mandelbaum translation.
5.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto II.
6.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto III.
7.^ Paradiso, Canto IV, lines 76–81, Mandelbaum translation.
8.^ Paradiso, Canto V, lines 28–29, Mandelbaum translation.
9.^ a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto V.
10.^ Paradiso, Canto VI, line 10, Mandelbaum translation.
11.^ a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto VI.
12.^ Paradiso, Canto VI, lines 76–81, Mandelbaum translation.
13.^ Paradiso, Canto VIII, lines 1–3, 9–12, Mandelbaum translation.
14.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto VIII.
15.^ Inferno, Canto XII, line 109, Mandelbaum translation: "That brow with hair so black is Ezzelino."
16.^ Paradiso, Canto IX, lines 127–138, Mandelbaum translation.
17.^ a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto X.
18.^ Paradiso, Canto XI, lines 43–54, Mandelbaum translation.
19.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XI.
20.^ Paradiso, Canto XIII, lines 94–102, Mandelbaum translation.
21.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XIV.
22.^ Paradiso, Canto XIV, lines 97–102, Mandelbaum translation.
23.^ Dante Alighieri, Convivio, Book II, Chapter 14, Richard Lansing translation.
24.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XV.
25.^ a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XVII.
26.^ Paradiso, Canto XVII, lines 55–60, Mandelbaum translation.
27.^ a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XVIII.
28.^ Paradiso, Canto XVIII, lines 91–96, Mandelbaum translation.
29.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XX.
30.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XIX.
31.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXI.
32.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXII.
33.^ Paradiso, Canto XXI, lines 4–12, Mandelbaum translation.
34.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXIII.
35.^ Paradiso, Canto XXII, lines 133–138, Mandelbaum translation.
36.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXIV.
37.^ Paradiso, Canto XXIV, lines 103–111, Mandelbaum translation.
38.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXV.
39.^ Paradiso, Canto XXV, lines 52–57, Mandelbaum translation.
40.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXVI.
41.^ Paradiso, Canto XXVI, lines 55–56, Mandelbaum translation.
42.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXVII.
43.^ Paradiso, Canto XXVII, lines 109–117, Mandelbaum translation.
44.^ Paradiso, Canto XXIX, lines 109–120, Mandelbaum translation.
45.^ a b c d Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXX.
46.^ Paradiso, Canto XXX, lines 46–54, Mandelbaum translation.
47.^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXXI.
48.^ a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXXIII.
49.^ Paradiso, Canto XXXIII, lines 112–120, Mandelbaum translation.
50.^ Paradiso, Canto XXXIII, line 139, C. H. Sisson translation.
51.^ Paradiso, Canto XXXIII, lines 142-145, C. H. Sisson translation.

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RELIGION HEDONISM JESUS EAT, DRINK N BE MERRY?...

Your body is only a cover. It is beautiful, it is precious, but it is carrying something far more precious in it. The man who thinks of 'Eat, drink and be merry' in the physical sense is a man who receives a letter and worships the envelope. and forgets the message. The message is important. What a message you are carrying inside you! What a destiny you are carrying inside you! 

 Question 1

 ARE THERE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF HEDONISM? I SUSPECT 'EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY' MEANS DIFFERENT THINGS TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE.

 

 Yes, Anurag. There are two levels of hedonism, and they are almost polar opposites to each other. Because of that, much misunderstanding has prevailed down the ages.

 The lower hedonism is of the body, and the higher hedonism is of the soul. They both speak the same language: Eat, drink, be merry. They both propound the same philosophy of life: Live in the moment, don't think of the morrow. They both want that one should not be worried about the past, should not be concerned about the future. This moment is enough unto itself. Their language is the same, their proposal is the same, yet they are diametrically opposite.

 To the first hedonism -- the material, the physical, the outer hedonism -- belong the philosophies of Charvaka in India and Epicurus in Greece. To the second philosophy, the spiritual hedonism, belong all the great Masters: Buddha, Krishna, Christ, Zarathustra.

 Where do they differ? Where do they go diametrically opposite?

 If you live only as a physical being, then you will remain unaware of the non-physical dimension that is continuously penetrating you. Then you will know only the visible, and the invisible will remain unknown to you. And the invisible is far bigger, far more essential. The visible is just a covering, the visible is just a shell around the invisible. It is there to protect the invisible. The body is the shrine of the soul. If you live only in the body, and you only take care of the body and the physical sensations dominate you, you will never become aware of the non-physical dimension -- the divine dimension. If you are utterly lost in the body -- as you will be if you think 'Eat, drink and be merry' is the goal -- then you will live at the very superficial level.

 It is as if you have been given the Bible and you go on looking at the cover, and you start worshipping the cover and you never open the book, and you never go inside and you never see what is there. The cover can be beautiful -- it can be leather bound, printed in gold, maybe diamonds are studded on top of it; it can be beautiful, it can be very precious -- but still it is nothing compared to that which is inside the book.

 Your body is only a cover. It is beautiful, it is precious, but it is carrying something far more precious in it. The man who thinks of 'Eat, drink and be merry' in the physical sense is a man who receives a letter and worships the envelope. and forgets the message. The message is important. What a message you are carrying inside you! What a destiny you are carrying inside you!

 The second level hedonism is not against the body, it is for the soul. It also lives in the moment, but when the first hedonist is eating, he is only. concerned with the food. When the second hedonist is eating, he is more concerned with the awareness of the taste of the food. That is where they differ. When the first hedonist has gone for a walk, he looks around -- the trees, the birds, the people, the dewdrops, the morning sun -- but he does not look at WHO is looking at all these things. When the second hedonist goes for a morning walk, he enjoys the birds, the trees, the people, the sun, the sky, but he also goes on enjoying the one who is enjoying it all. He remains aware.

 The first hedonist lives an unconscious life, the second hedonist lives a very very conscious life. The second hedonist gets all that the first is getting... plus. The first hedonist gets only the bodily sensations, and he goes on missing the REAL life.

 Because the first hedonist lives in the body, there are people who are against the first hedonist and they think they are spiritual. They are not. That's a logical fallacy. Because the first goes on living in the body, there are people who Logically think 'We have to go against the body, then only can we enter into the second realm of our being, then only can we attain to happiness, to heaven, to bliss. Because the first is missing -- and the first is missing because he is too much obsessed with the body -- the second, this so-called spiritualist, becomes obsessed AGAINST the body. This is not a real spiritualist.

 The real spiritualist is a hedonist. Let me repeat it: He is not against the body, he is for the soul.

 So now there are three kinds of people: the ordinary hedonist who lives in the body, the REAL hedonist who lives in the soul. And naturally lives in the body too, and between these two is the spiritualist, the so-called spiritualist, the ascetic who fights with the body, who destroys the body, who is against the body, who tortures the body. And he thinks that in torturing the body he will attain to the soul; he cannot.

 The first goes on missing, but the second -- the false spiritualist -- misses even more. So if you have a choice, then I will say it is better to be a physical hedonist than to be an anti-physical spiritualist, because at least you will be enjoying the body; the physical part of God will remain available to you. To the spiritualist, even that is not available. He is completely blind.

 But if you really want to enjoy life, then you have to choose the second kind of hedonism, the spiritual hedonism, the divine hedonism. The second is already available to the first if he starts becoming a little alert. It is not available to the false spiritualist. He is closed to both kinds of hedonisms.

 The physical hedonist can rise to the higher hedonism because he has to grow in the same way but deeper. He has to dig a little deeper into his being. So if you are to choose between Epicurus and Mahatma Gandhi, choose Epicurus. But if you have to choose between Epicurus and Buddha, Jesus, then choose Jesus or Buddha. Never become a so-called saint. He falls from grace. He misses the body, how can he attain to the soul? The body has to be used as a stepping-stone. The body has to become a staircase, it has to become a boat for the other shore. Use the body.

 I am a hedonist. My whole teaching is: love the body, use the body, go into the body as deeply as you can, be sensitive to its feelings, be available to its wisdom, its joys, but don't be confined there. There is MUCH MORE in your life. That is just a beginning. Use the body as a jumping-board. And the secret is the same. So the secret can be used on the second, higher, level too. Be in the present. Live moment to moment. Don't allow the past to interfere, and don't allow the future to cloud your vision. Let the present moment be crystal clear. Enter into it with the body, with the soul. Enter into it as a unity of body and soul. Enter into it not AS body or AS soul but as a unity.

 There are these two kinds of hedonism. The higher contains the lower. The lower cannot contain the higher. I teach you the higher hedonism.

 

 Question 2

 WHAT DOES ONE DO ABOUT UNREQUITED LOVE? WHAT DOES ONE DO ABOUT UNREQUITED LOVE THAT SEEMS TO LIVE ON AND ON LIKE A WOUND THAT NEVER HEALS? HOW IS IT THAT A MAN CAN GO ON LOVING ONE WOMAN YEAR AFTER YEAR BELIEVING, IN SPITE OF THE PAIN, THAT AND DAY SHE WILL FIND A PLACE FOR HIM IN HER HEART? AM I A FOOL TO BELIEVE? I THINK THAT I AM A FOOL, AND YET I CONTINUE TO BELIEVE. AM I CREATING THIS SITUATION? OR IS THIS SITUATION CREATING ME?

 

 First you are not really in love with love. That's why you got stuck on a particular woman. A real lover never gets stuck anywhere. His offering is for love, not for persons. He loves beauty, not the rose flower, not the lotus flower. He loves beauty wherever it is; he does not get confused, he does not think that the container is the content.

 You got confused. You are not a real lover. You have not really loved. In fact, you are avoiding love in the name of that woman. Now this is a beautiful trick to escape from love.

 What can you do? You loved a woman and she never responded to you, so what can you do? Now you can only go on playing with your wound. You are a masochist. I will not say that you are a fool, you are not. You are a masochist, a clever masochist, an intelligent masochist. You are arranging for your torture through the name of love, in the name of love. You are playing the game of being a martyr. you are enjoying this crucifixion.

 You loved a woman; there is no necessity for the woman to love you. Your love is not enough to make it sure. Love is a two-way street, it is not one-way. But down the ages, poets, novelists, people who go on playing with imagination, have been talking about love as if when you love the person, the other person has to love you! The only condition that you have to fulfill is that you should really love. Even then, there is no need for the other to love you. The other has freedom, the other is a living soul. If the other has to love you just because you love, then where is his freedom? Where is his soul or her soul? Then you don't leave any freedom for the other. If the other does not want you, does not like you, if the other is not turned on by you, then you can go on loving and nothing is going to happen.

 Just your love is not enough. In fact, the more you try, the more the other will go far away, because the other will become more and more afraid of you. You are dangerous! Even before love has happened you are not allowing freedom. What will you do when the love has happened? You will suffocate the woman or the man. You will surround the woman in such a way that it will become a prison. Even right now the woman has not responded, but you are waiting. And you are thinking and hoping that because you love, she has to love you. Why? There is no must in it, there is no inevitability in it. Just the reverse will be the case. The more you chase her, the more you will make her afraid of you and the more she will escape from you. You are dangerous. And the paradox is, the more she will be going away from you the more you will fantasise about her.

 A real woman very soon loses all charm. So is the case with a real man, because with reality the fiction cannot be continued for long. All relationships settle down by and by -- the honeymoon is only short. If you really get the woman, within seven days, fifteen days, three weeks, things will start settling; the fiction, the poetry, the fantasy will start disappearing. The real woman and the real man will come back to earth. You cannot go on moving in the clouds for long. The other's reality will pull you back to the gravitation.

 So when love is responded to, it is finished soon. When love remains unrequited, it can continue for your whole life, because there is no way for it to be finished. You can go on playing in your imagination -- games, fantasies, dreams...

 And the person who has asked the question is an author, Hal Musin. He must be imaginative, poetic. He must be able to create fictions. Now he cannot lose this woman because this woman is giving him great fictions. And she will go on giving you. The only condition is: she should not respond to your love, then the love can continue forever. In that way Majnun was fortunate because he could never get Laila. The really unfortunate people are those who can get their Lailas. Once you get your Laila or your Majnun, things are finished.

 

 One man went to see the madhouse. In one room a man was beating his head, crying. Great tears were flowing down his cheeks and he was holding a small picture very lovingly on his chest.

 The visitor asked the superintendent 'What has happened to this man?'

 And the superintendent said 'You see the picture that he is holding? He holds it day and night. That is the woman he wanted, he had loved, but could not get. Hence, he went mad. He cries and sings songs to her, and goes on thinking of her. That is his whole life. The whole world has disappeared, only the woman... He talks, he talks from his side and the woman's side, and the dialogue continues.'

 Then they went to another room, and another man was beating his head and throwing himself against the wall.

 And the visitor asked 'What has happened to this man?'

 And the superintendent said 'This is the man who got that woman. Since he got that woman he has gone mad.'

 

 You can go on living in your dreams, and you will think that you are a great lover -- how much you are sacrificing! But you are simply a masochist. This can be done only by a masochist who wants to torture himself. Now you have found a good excuse to torture yourself.

 I cannot appreciate this. I have no appreciation for any pathology, whatsoever the excuse. This is pathological.

 You offered yourself, the woman denied -- it is finished! There are millions of women in the world. Why are you wasting your life? If you want to waste it that's another thing, but then don't befool yourself that it is because of love. Love is just an excuse, you really want to waste your life. You are afraid of love! You are depending on that woman. You don't want to approach another woman. One woman does not mean anything. Neither does one man mean anything.

 If you are hungry you will eat even if the food that you wanted to eat is not available. Or won't you? If you are thirsty you will drink even if Coca-Cola is not available -- plain Poona water will do! If you are thirsty you will drink, you will not say 'I will die, but I will not drink because I only drink Coca-Cola. I love Coca-Cola!' No, you will drink, you are thirsty. You are hungry, you will eat. If you are really hungry for love, then what does it matter if one woman has refused you? There is no need to feel lost, because there are millions of women.

 But one woman has denied you, then there are a few things involved in it. First, your ego is hurt -- as if you have some power over people. Just because you love, does somebody else have to love you? You can offer yourself, but the other has to decide. You took the initiative, but if the woman could not like you that does not mean that you are nobody, that simply means something was not fitting between you two. And it is good that the woman denied you. If out of politeness, or out of respect, or out of compassion, she had agreed to you, you would have been in far more trouble. Because compassion can never become love, and politeness is hypocrisy. If she had not liked you and decided to go with you for some other motive, you would have been in far more trouble and anguish, because there would have never been that harmony that happens between two people who are in love with each other. She would always have been the compassionate one, the sympathiser; she would have felt for your misery.

 That's what you are doing. That's what people go on doing. When one woman has refused, or one man has refused, they go on crying, they go on making themselves miserable in the hope that misery will create compassion in the other. Misery CAN create compassion, and that is dangerous because compassion is never love. And you cannot be fulfilled by compassion, because the one who is showing compassion remains higher than you. You are a beggar. The woman can give to you, but there will be no passion in it. When compassion has come, passion disappears. There will be no thrill in the woman's heart, she will never feel ecstatic. She will always feel obliging. She will remain insensitive because her own heart will not open for you. She will pretend, she will do whatsoever is needed, she will fulfill the duty, but duty is not love.

 Love is ecstasy, duty is dull. She will not dance because of you. She may become a good householder, she may take care of your children, she may look after you, she will be a good caretaker but these things don't fulfill.

 It is good that the woman didn't show any compassion to you. And you are asking for compassion, that's why you cannot allow the wound to heal. Once the wound is healed, then nobody will show compassion for you. You cannot get down from your cross! You have to hang there, and you have to go on shouting 'Look how much I am suffering! Come!' You are trying to create a situation in the woman's heart so that she starts feeling GUILTY, that it is SHE who is responsible for all your suffering. That's why you cannot allow the wound to heal. This is not love. This is ego -- one.

 And second -- this IS FEAR of love. You are afraid to knock at another door because you have been rejected once, so you are afraid you may be rejected again. You are hesitant, so you go on knocking on the same door, and your knocking on the same door will only create nausea in the woman. You will be a nuisance. She can't love you, so you vv-ill become more and more of a nuisance.

 Forget about her, and forgive her. And this is your life -- don't waste it. And this life is precious -- don't let it go down the drain. Love can still flower. If it has not happened with A, it can happen with B, it can happen with C. The real thing is the flowering of love. WITH WHOM it happens is irrelevant!

 But people become too obsessed with small things. It should happen only with this woman who has black hair.' What is wrong with blonde or brunette? 'It should happen only with this woman who has such a long nose.' These are obsessions! Foolish! You get too much involved in details, and you go on missing the real point. The real point is that LOVE should happen! And once it starts happening and your heart starts flowing, it is even possible THAT woman may become interested in you. Because people only become interested in people who are happy, who are flowing, who are blooming. If you start blooming, there is a possibility... I only say possibility, I am not saying certainty, otherwise you can even do that. If you start blooming, that woman may start thinking of you. She may start feeling that she missed an opportunity, she may start feeling that there is still time, she may start thinking 'How to make it?' she may start knocking on your door.

 But that is possible only when you are happy. Now you are a wound! Nobody loves a wound. And remember, if somebody loves a wound, beware of that person -- that person is neurotic. Escape, because if the person loves the wound, he will never allow the wound to heal. He will go on creating bigger wounds in you, because he loves wounds.

 There are people who love wounds because when somebody is wounded, they are always upper, higher, greater, better.

 

 One man -- he was one of my students in the University -- told me that he would like to marry a widow. In India that is a problem. Nobody wants to marry a widow. So there are people who think that to marry a widow is a great sacrifice.

 I said 'You can marry, but once you have married she will not be a widow. Then what will you do? Then the whole charm will disappear because the charm is in her being a widow.'

 He laughed -- he thought I was joking. And he got married. And after six months he said 'You were right. I'm no more interested in her. My interest was basically in her widowhood. I wanted to show to the public that I am a great servant of people, that I am serving people even through my love. I am sacrificing my love for a widow. I am going against the society, I am going against the tradition. I am doing something great. But now the marriage has happened and the widow has come, now there is no point.'

 I said 'You do one thing. You commit suicide. She will be a widow again, and somebody else will have a chance to serve her again. If you are really a public servant, do this.' Since then I have not seen him.

 

 Don't go on playing with your wound. This continuous fingering of the wound will not allow it to heal. And I think the woman you were in love with has some sense. She will not look at you. WHO wants to look at a wound? Be happy, become a flower: bloom. Let her feel jealous. Let her feel that she missed an opportunity of finding such a beautiful man. Let your song burst forth, then there is a possibility she may come.

 And whether she comes or not is not the point. You are not here only to love that woman. This is a vast world, and with millions of beautiful people all around. Why get so obsessed with one person? A real lover is never obsessed with persons, his devotion is towards LOVE ITSELF. He worships the god of love. Persons come and go, persons change; the god of love remains the same.

 You ask: WHAT DOES ONE DO ABOUT UNREQUITED LOVE?

 One forgets about it, one forgives the person. One does not make much fuss about it.

 WHAT DOES ONE DO ABOUT UNREQUITED LOVE THAT SEEMS TO LIVE ON AND ON LIKE A WOUND THAT NEVER HEALS?

 You are not allowing it to heal. The only way for it to heal is: fall in love with somebody else, because only love heals, because only love is a healing energy. Love is therapy. Fall in love, and it will be healed. But you have much investment in the wound; you don't want it to heal, that's why you won't fall in love with somebody else.

 This wound has become your prestige. This is your ego trip. You think it is love; it is nothing, it is an ego trip. You are feeling offended. You have to show this woman, even if you have to die; but you will show this woman. You WILL DIE crying for her, and then she will be miserable for you and then she will feel guilty about you. These are your hopes!

 You don't love this woman at all, otherwise you won't think of making her guilty. If you really love her, you would like her to be happy. You will simply disappear from her world you will help her to forget you. You will become non-existent -- at least for her -- so that she can live her life without any interference from you. But that will heal your wound, and you will no longer be a martyr, and you will not be such a 'great lover'.

 You are not interested in love, you are interested in being a 'great lover' -- that is the ego trip.

 WHAT DOES ONE DO ABOUT UNREQUITED LOVE THAT SEEMS TO LIVE ON AND ON LIKE A WOUND THAT NEVER HEALS?

 It is simple. You like certain food, and you have not got that food today, but if you don't eat anything else, naturally you will become ill. Hunger will grow. Tomorrow you will be more hungry, the day after tomorrow you will be starving. And you go on asking 'What is one to do? When one cannot get the food of one's own choice, what is one to do?' Then the second choice, then the third choice -- whatsoever is available. And one never knows, because each person is carrying such divinity in him and in her, that one never knows! If you fall in love with another woman, you may start thanking God. 'It was good that the first woman had rejected me. If she had not rejected then I would not have been able to find this woman.'

 This is my observation of thousands of people. Once you look backwards you will be surprised, everything fits perfectly. The first woman denied you and the second woman accepted you, and you can feel happy. If the first had accepted, the second would not have been possible. The second deserted you and the third became possible, and you are more happy. Otherwise the third would not have been possible.

 Just a few days before, a sannyasin was saying to me 'I have lived with this woman for three months, and they were so beautiful. I have never known such moments. And now she is deserting me. What should I do?'

 I told him 'Help her to desert you. Because three months before you were clinging to another woman. I remember perfectly well. And that time you were saying "If this woman leaves me I will commit suicide. I cannot live without her." And after just three months you have forgotten about that woman. You have not committed suicide. On the contrary, you are saying that THIS woman has been your greatest experience in life! Now she is deserting, help her.'

 Why get so obsessed with personalities? Remain in love. And let your love be fluid. Don't let your love become stale and solid and dead. Millions of flowers will bloom in your being, don't go on weeping just for one flower that didn't bloom.

 HOW IS IT THAT A MAN CAN GO ON LOVING ONE WOMAN YEAR AFTER YEAR...?

 Yes, if you don't get, you can go on year after year, life after life. Because then you are living in fiction, then you are living in fantasy, then you are living in your dreams. You go on creating the woman -- who is not the real woman. The beauty that you give to the woman is given by you. That woman is just a fiction. You can go on living with your fiction. Real women are difficult, as real men are. You are alone, and it is your fiction, you can paint it the way you want.

 Your woman will never become old, the real woman becomes old. Now, Musin's woman will never become old. He will become old, but his woman will always remain young. She will never become ugly, HE will become ugly! He will become old, ill, death will come, and she will always remain there fresh, like dewdrops in the morning, always fresh, always young, always beautiful.

 Your woman will not stink ever, she will not perspire either. And she will not throw her panties all around the bathroom. It is YOUR woman, a fiction. She will not nag you, she will not fight you, she will not be jealous. You can do whatsoever you want, she will not hinder you. She will never come in your way, she will allow you all freedom Now, no real woman can do that, so one gets fed up with the real woman, one gets fed up with the real man. With the unreal, there is no problem.

 So you are in a non-problematic relationship, Musin. You can enjoy it forever. But this is not a relationship, this is neurosis. It is like a madman who is talking with somebody who is not there. You will go on talking with your woman and you will go on doing things for the woman, and you will go on hoping. And your life will be slipping by through your hands.

 Be a little more alert. It is your life. You owe yourself a few joys, a few celebrations. And the real celebration is always in reality. It cannot be only in dreams.

 HOW IS IT THAT A MAN CAN GO ON LOVING ONE WOMAN YEAR AFTER YEAR BELIEVING, IN SPITE OF THE PAIN, THAT ONE DAY SHE WILL FIND A PLACE FOR HIM IN HER HEART?

 You can believe. If you remain hungry and you don't eat anything, you will have to believe that the food that you demand will descend from heaven. 'One day it is going to happen, I am doing so much sacrifice. A little more, a little more -- I will sacrifice myself completely, then it will happen. How can my sacrifice go in vain?'

 That is your logic. But you can go on starving -- the food is not going to come from heaven. If you want to seek food you will have to accept the food that is available. Nourish yourself. Start moving, then maybe the food that you want may become available to you. But starving, dying in a comer, no energy to move and just hoping that something will happen is a deception. You are deceiving yourself.

 Deceptions can be very beautiful and artistic and aesthetic, but still they are deceptions. Love the real. It is through reality that one grows. Beware of dreams and their power over you. They can take away the whole opportunity, they can destroy the whole opportunity.

 AM I A FOOL TO BELIEVE? I THINK THAT I AM A FOOL AND YET I CONTINUE TO BELIEVE. AM I CREATING THIS SITUATION?

 Certainly, you ARE creating this situation. That woman may have forgotten about you. That woman may not be a part in it at all. She may not remember you at all. It is you who are creating the whole situation for yourself.

 And naturally... OR IS THIS SITUATION CREATING ME?

 It works both ways. First you create the situation, then the situation creates you; then you create the situation and the situation creates you. It is a vicious circle. And then you get more and more in the mire of it, entrapped, entangled, and it becomes very difficult to get out of it. You will need great courage to get out of it. You will need to jump out of it. It will not be gradual, you will just have to escape out of it. Fall into anybody's arms just to get out of it!

 And every person is beautiful, you just have to love the person and the beauty starts flowing. People ordinarily think that they have fallen in love because the person is beautiful. Just the contrary is the case: you see the person as beautiful because you have fallen in love. If somebody asks 'Why have you fallen in love with this man, or this woman?' you say 'She is beautiful, that's why.' That is not true. The truth is just the opposite. You have fallen in love, hence, she looks beautiful. Love creates beauty.

 Start falling in love again. And I don't think that you are a fool. You are too clever, too wise. If you are a fool, then you will fall in love easily, because only fools fall in love. Wise people never do such things. You are wise -- you tried once, and then you are finished for your whole life. Be a little more foolish. Try it once again.

 And I don't see that one has to go on being a failure forever. And remember, that if you succeed in love, only then will you be able to go beyond love. One has to go beyond love. But one can only go beyond when one has gone through it. You are struggling below love. It is far better to move into love and struggle there. One grows out of authentic, real experiences of love. One goes beyond.

 Then a totally different kind of awareness arises. It is not that it is unloving, but it is no more a longing for love. It is a state of love: one shares one's being. It is no more relationship then, it is your state. You ARE love, not loving.

 So these are the three things: you are in the dark night of the soul, you are in a very unloving space. The second thing is: be in a loving space. And a loving space is anxiety-creating; it is conflict, it is struggle, because a real person enters into your life. And there is clash and an overlapping of the boundaries; and all kinds of diplomacies and politics enter, and strategies to dominate, to possess. There is great war. Lovers are intimate enemies.

 Only out of that experience does one grow to the third state: one becomes absolutely independent. Now there is no need for love. One can live alone, and one can live alone as happily as one can live in relationship. Now there is no difference. There is no hankering. Then a different quality of love arises in your being. You start sharing it.

 Musin, you are struggling at the lowest point. Try to get out of it. And don't wait for any miracle. Miracles don't happen.

 

 Question 3

 WHY ARE YOU SO MUCH AGAINST LOGIC?

 

 Because it is logical to be against logic.

 Logic proves nothing, that's why I am against logic. It only pretends to prove; it proves nothing. It is an empty game, verbal. But the pretension is such that millions of people are befooled by it, and down the ages we have been trained for logic, so it has appeal.

 But logic has never proved anything. Proof comes only through experience, never through logic. Logic can help to explain your experience. No experience is ever derived out of logic. Yes, logic can be a servant. when you have attained to a certain experience, logic can help to explain it, logic can help to make it clear. Logic is secondary.

 So, the first thing: logic proves nothing.

 

 Reporter: They say the moon is made of green cheese. Is this correct?

 Spaceman: We didn't find any cheese on the moon.

 Reporter: (laughing) Perhaps all the moon mice had eaten it.

 Spaceman: We didn't find any mice on the moon either.

 Reporter: What do you expect with all the cheese gone?

 

 Now this is how logic goes on moving: it is circular.

 

 A famous Sufi story:

 Mulla Nasruddin was seen by the people in the market-place throwing some seeds all around. From his bag he would take one fistful of seeds and throw. So a crowd gathered, and they asked 'What are you doing, Mulla?'

 He said 'These seeds are very miraculous. If you throw these seeds, then no lion, no tiger, no elephant, no snakes, no wild animals ever come around.'

 So they laughed. They said 'Mulla, there are no wild animals, no elephants, no tigers, no lions, no snakes here!'

 And Mulla said 'See! They work! They are a miracle, they have miraculous power. It is because of the seeds they are not here.'

 

 Logic is a game good only for small children to play. But a few people remain childish even when they have become old. They may be professors in the universities, but they go on playing with the game. It is a good game, an intelligent game like chess -- but a game all the same.

 First, logic never proves anything. And second logic can prove anything -- this way or that, for or against. Logic is a whore! It has no grounds of its own. You can bribe logic, and it will be with you. Your enemy can bribe logic, and logic will be with the enemy.

 

 A certain French general named Guillard, who lived in the time of King Louis XV and was renowned for his gallantry towards women, said, on one occasion, that there was no such thing as an ugly woman. His remark was overheard by a lady whose face was disfigured by a squashed nose and who thereupon accosted him with the words 'Confess, General, that you are now face to face with a really ugly woman.'

 'Not at all, madame' replied the general. 'You are like all women, an angel fallen from heaven. You merely had the misfortune to fall on your nose.'

 

 Logic cannot prove anything, that's why it can prove ANYTHING. Logic has no truth in it. Logic is empty of truth. Truth is attained only by existential experience. I am against logic because logic is impotent. I would like you to go beyond logic. And that is the whole meaning of the word Jesus uses: faith.

 It does not mean belief. It means trust in existence not belief in dogmas. Faith simply means that you are finished with logic. The day you are finished with logic, you are finished with doubt too because logic is a support to doubt; they are in a mutual conspiracy -- doubt and logic. A doubter becomes a logician, a logician remains a doubter. They go together. Once logic is dropped, all the props for the doubt disappear, and doubt falls to the ground. And when you are free of doubt, then you are in faith.

 

 Faith transforms. Trust transfigures. The sooner you can get out of logic and doubt, the better. A man is religious only when he has known the same of logic and is finished with it.

 

 Question 4

 HOW MANY RELIGIONS ARE THERE IN INDIA?

 

 It is difficult to say. There are as many religions in India as there are Indians. Everybody has his own religion here. The religion is basically individual, it is not organisational.

 So when you talk about Christianity, it is one thing. When you talk about Hinduism, it is quite another. Christianity is a church, an organised religion. Hinduism is a chaos. It has nothing like the Vatican Pope, it has nothing like an authority. It is very chaotic, it is freedom. People are allowed to live their own ways, people are allowed to worship in their own ways. There is nobody to dominate it is a democracy. Christianity is dictatorial, so is Islam. Hinduism is basically democratic.

 You can go and worship in the temple of Shiva, it is for you. You can go and worship in the temple of Rama, it is for you. You can go and worship in the temple of Krishna, it is for you. The man who worships in the temple of Krishna is a Hindu, and the man who worships in the temple of Rama is also a Hindu. And both are as opposed to each other as Christians are opposed to Muslims -- or even more. But that does not make any difference, they both are Hindus.

 Hinduism has a kind of freedom. It does not decide what your prayer should be. It has no official prayer like Christianity. It has no hierarchy -- the bishop and the archbishop, etcetera; it knows nothing of that. It is an individual phenomenon. So it is very difficult to say how many religions there are in India. Each one is free to worship in his own way. In that way, it is difficult, because it is almost like chaos. If you want to find a system it will be difficult.

 Thousands of philosophies are available there for people to choose from, millions of alternatives. All kinds of ideas are in the market. You can choose any. You can make your own. Choosing something from here, something from there, you can make your own mixture.

 Hinduism is not one-dimensional, it is multi-dimensional. In one way it gives freedom, in another way it creates indiscipline. In one way it is democratic and beautiful, in another way it has no order, no system. Everything seems to be confused and unclear and vague.

 

 I have heard...

 When Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister, she went to Israel. And she was talking with Golda Meir -- Golda Meir was Prime Minister of Israel in those days. So both the women were talking, and chit-chatting about their countries.

 Indira Gandhi said 'You don't know my troubles. Six hundred million people! And you don't know Indians. It is a chaos!'

 Golda Meir laughed and said 'That's nothing! You don't know my people. Although the number is very small -- only three million people -- but it is far more difficult to rule three million Jews.'

 Indira looked surprised. She said 'What are you saying? Six hundred million people... And you have only three million people, and you say it is difficult to rule over three million people?'

 And Golda Meir said 'Yes, because these are no ordinary people. These are three million prime ministers!'

 

 It may be so in politics, but in religion, in India, you have six million Masters -- enlightened Masters -- six hundred million. Everybody knows! Everybody has his own creed, everybody has his own ideas and philosophy. For ten thousand years India has done nothing but philosophise. It has gone into the bones and the blood. It is not so easy to say HOW many religions there are in India, as it is about other countries.

 

 I have heard...

 A Pakistani went home on a visit to his family, and his old father said to him 'Are they good people in Britain, my son? Do they have religion in Britain?'

 'Oh, yes, indeed, father mine' said the Pakistani. 'They have three religions: the Church of England, the Church of Rome, and Bingo.'

 'What is this Bingo?' asked the old man.

 'Well, father mine, the people go to the Bingo church every evening; the high priest stands before them calling out the holy numbers which the congregation mark off their prayer-cards. Then one of the faithful rushes to his feet and calls out "Bingo!" and all the people say "Jesus Christ!"'

 

 Now it is simple if you are talking about Britain -- they have three religions!


 Now this beautiful story.....   more..

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