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a small particle of sand. Nothing can be added to the universe or removed from it. It remains the same as it is. But still things go on appearing and disappearing. This is just the same as actors in a drama disappearing behind the curtains and reappearing again. Just the raising and dropping of the curtain. The tree has disappeared means the curtain is down. The tree has gone behind the curtains, has become a seed. The curtain rises and the seed again becomes a tree.
When you see a man dying what are you actually seeing? The 'no'-form of god: now it is, now it isn't. What was, becomes what is not and what is not will again become what is. The believer chooses half, the atheist also chooses half. There is no difference between the two. Each have chosen just one pan of the balance. Both have broken the scales. Both pans of the balance are needed. A scale is the combining of the two pans plus something more. Existence is the sum of is and is-not plus something more.
The believer is afraid, the atheist is also afraid.
If you understand the fears of the believer and the fears of the atheist you will come to know a very surprising thing: there is no difference between these two. The basic root of them both is fear. The believer is afraid, "I don't know what will happen after death, I don't know what was before birth. I do not know, will I be left all alone? The wife will be gone, friends will be gone, father, mother, the whole family will be left behind. I had arranged everything and it will all be left behind. I will travel a lonely journey all alone. No companions, no fellow travellers. Believe in god, that belief will give company. At least he will be with me."
He believes in god out of fear. The prayers of people who kneel down to pray in temples and mosques come out of fear. And whenever prayer comes out of fear, it is dirtied. Even the temples have become filthy because of your prayers. The temples have turned into centers of politics from the filthiness of your prayers. Here too are quarrelling and fighting, violence and enmity, competition. Temples and mosques do nothing but fight with each other.
The believer is afraid. The
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