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the souls. They are sleeping well, and you `hoo, hoo' every morning, and they get so disturbed that they start torturing Mohammedans."
So I had to close that center.
In my childhood in my village.... Each time that Mohammedans celebrate the holidays of Muharram, some people are "possessed by the holy spirit." The holy spirit is called wali. There are a few people who are thought to be very saintly -- they are possessed by walis -- and they dance and they shout, scream, and you can ask questions.
And they should not run away, so their hands are tied with ropes, and two persons keep them in control. There are many walis, and each wali has his own crowd, and people come with sweets and fruits -- somebody has received a blessing last year and has got a boy, a child; somebody has got married, and somebody has come to get a blessing for the future.
Only Mohammedans participate in it.
But I always enjoyed every kind of entertainment. My parents used to tell me, "Listen, that is the Mohammedans' festival, and you are not supposed to be there."
I said, "I am neither Hindu nor Mohammedan nor Jaina nor anybody. What do you mean -- that I cannot enjoy anything? All festivals belong to some religion. In fact, I belong to no religion so I can participate in all festivals." So I would go there.
Once I managed to hold the rope of one wali who was just an ordinary man and a fraud. I had told him before, "I will expose you if you don't allow me to hold your rope."
He said, "You can hold my rope, and you can share a few sweets also, but don't say anything to anybody."
We both used to go to the same gymnasium -- that's how we became friends, and he himself told me that it was all fake. So I said, "That means I am coming; if it is fake, you have to share it."
I went there with a long needle, so I could make him jump. He became the most famous wali because no other wali was jumping so high!
He could not say anything about what was happening -- because he is possessed by the wali and the wali cannot be afraid of a needle. So he could not say anything, and I went on sticking him with the needle. He managed to
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