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in my whole life. I have lived as an agnostic.
Q: THEN WHAT DREW YOU TO AMERICA?
A: America is new, only three hundred years old. The whole world is very old. A country like India is very ancient. It's conditionings have gone very deep, they have become its blood, bones, its very marrow.
I wanted to see how a new mind, unburdened from the past responds to me. Unfortunately even three hundred years are old enough.
Q: HOW DO YOU MEAN... OLD ENOUGH TO FORM THE SOCIETY WHICH HAS ANTAGONISTIC IDEAS TO YOU?
A: Yes. It has already prejudices. And it was a great revelation that because its beliefs are new, it is more fanatic about them.
Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK AMERICA BELIEVES IN?
A: First, it believes in a rotten Christianity. At least in the old world there are other religions to create doubt. For example, in India there are so many religions that nobody can safely believe. From everywhere there is criticism.
America can believe in Christianity without any criticism and whenever there is no criticism of your belief you started thinking as if this is the truth.
Criticism is absolutely necessary to keep people alert, not falling into the sleep of blindness, unconscious faith.
Even the very intelligent people in America came across and I was surprised, I could not believe that a well educated man, a professor in the university, tells me that Bible is the word of God. I asked him, "Do you know that Hindus believe Vedas are the words of God, Mohammedans believe that the Koran is the word of God, and all the religions have their own holy book. On what criterion you choose which one is right? Because they are all contradicting each other. And on what grounds you can say that Bible is the word of God?"
And his answer was so stupid. He said, "Because it is written in the Bible. "
I said, "It is like a man who told to his friends that my wife is the most beautiful woman in the world."
The friend said, "But how you came to know about it?"
He said, "My wife said it to me herself."
Q: SUCH CERTAINTY? WAS THAT A COMMON EXPERIENCE FOR YOU IN AMERICA?
A: Very common. I have not
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