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me at all, never understanding that only if they follow past a certain point can I take them into thoughtlessness.
I understand this. Life is like that. Reason can only be an instrument, not the goal. I will, therefore, always make illogical statements after talking about fully logical matters. These statements will appear inconsistent, but they have been well thought out and are not made without a reason. There is a clear reason from my side.
I will say at certain times that I am not influenced by Mahavira, Buddha, Krishna or Christ, that I do not say anything under their influence, that everything I say, I say only after knowing it myself. Nevertheless, when I came to my own realization, I knew that it was identical to that which had been attained by these others before me. Thus, when I am speaking about them or quoting what they have said, I myself forget that I have been speaking about them. I merge with them so totally that their statements become my own.
In fact, I do not see any difference between my statements and theirs. When I start to speak about them there is the deep realization that I am only speaking about me. Therefore, when I repeat their statements, I make no conditions. I dissolve myself completely in them and in their words. Those who have heard me say that I am not influenced by these others will wonder, "How is it that you become one with them? Even those who are under their complete influence do not do so; they maintain a distance."
Those who are influenced by someone or something will, of necessity, have to maintain a certain distance between themselves and the source of the influence. Those who are influenced are ignorant. We are influenced only in ignorance. With self-knowledge the very word `influence' has no meaning.
In self-knowledge there is no question of influence. Rather, there is a similarity of experience, a similar resonance, the hearing of similar voices. If I am singing and the same tune is coming at the same time from someone else, my rhythm and the rhythm of the other singer are so at one with each other that there is no room between us for being influenced. In order to be influenced, in
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