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incarnation, but not Rama."
He asked me further, "Next, could you give me seven names?" Now the question had become more difficult!
I gave him seven names: Krishna, Patanjali, Buddha, Mahavira, Shankara, Gorakh and Kabir.
He said: "The five you have deleted, on what basis did you drop them?"
I said: "Nagarjuna is contained in Buddha. That which was a seed in Buddha, manifested itself in Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna can be dropped when it is a question of saving, trees can be dropped, but not seeds, because seeds will again become trees. They will become new trees. When Buddha is born, hundreds of Nagarjunas will soon be born, but no Nagarjuna can give birth to Buddha. Buddha is the headwater of the Ganges. Nagarjuna is just a place of pilgrimage that appears along the course of the Ganges. Lovely, but if cutting is needed, then the place of pilgrimage can be dropped, not the source of the Ganges.
"Similarly Krishnamurti is included in Buddha. Krishnamurti is Buddha's newest edition -- the freshest; in today's language. But the difference is only of language. Krishnamurti is just an elaboration of Buddha's final sutra 'appa dipo bhau' -- be a light unto yourself.' A commentary on one sutra -- deep, profound, tremendously vast, immensely significant! But he's just a commentary on 'Be a light unto yourself: appa dipo bhau'. These were Buddha's last words on this earth. Before leaving his body, he had given this essential sutra... As if the treasure of his whole life, his whole life's experience was concentrated into this small sutra.
"Ramakrishna can easily be included in Krishna.
"Meera and Nanak can be dissolved into Kabir. They are like branches of Kabir. As if half of what came together in Kabir has manifested in Nanak and half has manifested in Meera. In Nanak the male aspect of Kabir has manifested, so it is not surprising that Sikhism became a warrior's religion, a religion of the soldier. In Meera, Kabir's feminine aspect is manifested -- hence his entire sweetness, his entire fragrance, his entire music resound from the bells on Meera's ankles. The woman in Kabir has sung on the one string of Meera's ektara.
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