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was going to write his name on Sumeru. That is the ultimate catalogue of all the great ones that have been, and will also be the catalogue of all the great ones who are going to be. This emperor was becoming party to a lineage of supermen.
The gatekeeper gave him the instruments to engrave his name. He wanted a few of his men who had committed suicide just because their emperor was dying -- they could not think of living without him. His wife, his prime minister, his commander-in-chief -- all the great people who were around him, they all had committed suicide, so they had come with him.
The emperor wanted the gatekeeper to let them all come to see him engrave his name, because what is the joy if you go alone and engrave your name and nobody is there even to see? -- because the real joy is that the whole world should see.
The gatekeeper said, "You listen to my advice, because this is my inherited profession. My father was a gatekeeper, his father was a gatekeeper; for centuries we have been gatekeepers to Sumeru mountain. Listen to my advice: Don't take them with you; otherwise you will repent."
The emperor could not understand, but he could not even go against his advice -- because what interest could that man have in preventing him?
The gatekeeper said, "If you still want them to see, first go engrave your name; then come back and take them with you if you want. I have no objection even now if you want to take them, but just in case you decide not to, then there will be no place, no chance ... they will be with you. You go alone." This was perfectly sane advice.
The emperor said, "That's good. I will go alone, engrave my name, come back, and call you all."
The gatekeeper said, "I am perfectly agreeable to that."
The emperor went and he saw the Sumeru shining under thousands of suns -- because in heaven you cannot be so poor as to have just one sun -- thousands of suns, and a golden mountain far bigger than the Himalayas -- and the Himalayas are almost two thousands miles long! He could not open his eyes for a moment, it was so glaring there. And then he started looking for a space, the right space, but he
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