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the world.
I wanted the Hindu priesthood to challenge me on the word `Bhagwan'. But knowing me perfectly well, they simply avoided the challenge because it was going to expose all their incarnations of god.
You will not believe what kind of criminals have been called "Bhagwan" by Hindus.
As an example I would like to tell you: Parasuram is one of the incarnations of a Hindu god. His old father, according to the Hindu scriptures, was a great seer. But I don't think that is right, because a great seer will not be suspicious of his wife. A great seer transcends all these small desires and longings, jealousies. I will call that man, not a seer, but one of the blindest of people because he was suspicious that when he goes to the river early in the morning in the dark, the Moon God comes to have a love affair with his wife. Such idiots!
The moon is not a god; it is just a piece of this planet. But he ordered his son, Parasuram, "Until you cut off the head of my wife, your mother, my suspicion and my jealousy will go on burning like fire in my heart."
Parasuram, without asking, "What are the reasons for this jealousy? A man like you is not supposed to be jealous, and in your old age..." he simply went and cut off the head of his own mother. Just because of his obedience to his father, howsoever irrational and stupid, Hindus have called him "Bhagwan." I never had any desire to belong to this category of criminals.
Yesterday, dropping that word, I have disconnected myself with this land, its ugly heritage, its slavery.
One friend has asked if it was a mistake when I referred to Tulsi as Hindu, or do I mean it. I'm not any infallible pope, but that was not a mistake; I mean it.
Jainism never could become an independent religion. It depends for all its necessities on Hindus. It is only a philosophy, not a religion; a Hindu cult, but not a culture. No Jaina would be ready to make shoes; no Jaina would be ready to clean toilets. What kind of culture is this? It is simply a small branch of the Hindu heritage, maybe differing on a few philosophical points, but that does not make it a religion. So, with absolute awareness
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