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who are following Sufism, who are following Tao, anything. Neither Lao Tzu can prevent them, nor Bodhidharma can prevent them, nor Jalaluddin Rumi can prevent them. Those people are gone, just words echoing are left.
But I am yet in the flesh.
I am yet not only a word.
My word is still living.
If you want to have any contact with me, you will have to be ready to travel with me. It is a long journey. Much of the load that you are carrying will have to be dropped. Much of the mind which you are thinking is very valuable will prove just junk. Much of your character that you valued so much will prove nothing but forced discipline.
Discipline can be forced so much that it becomes unconscious. People are behaving in the right manner -- are not stealing, are not harming others, not hurting others -- but it is not their conscious choice.
I have heard about a retired military general... it was a case after the first world war. The general had lived his whole life in the army -- and not only his life; his father was a general, his father's father was a general. As far back as he could remember their family had been in the army. It was in his blood. From the very beginning he was disciplined in the manners of the army.
He was retired now, the war was over. One day he was carrying a bucket full of eggs, and a man just played a joke on him; the man shouted, "Attention!" and the general stood to attention, dropping the bucket and all the eggs on the road. He was very angry; his eggs were all finished. And he said, "What kind of a joke is this?"
The man said, "But can't I say `Attention!'? It has nothing to do with you. You could have carried your bucket. I was not telling you to drop it."
The general said, "You don't understand, it has gone into my blood, into my bones. Even in the night, if somebody says, `Attention!' I will jump out of the bed and be at attention. Only then will I realize that it is a joke -- but first I will be in position."
This is discipline. Your morality, your character, are nothing but forced disciplines. They have become unconscious, and anything that is unconscious is of no value
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