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Book Name: The Last Testament, Vol 3Previous     Next
 

going back."

This man Immanuel Kant had a servant. No other servant remained with him because he was such a difficult man. If his tea was even one second late, he would make so much fuss. Every night at ten o'clock he would go to bed. Even if he was talking to somebody, he would not say goodnight to him; he would just jump into the bed and pull the blanket over him. And the visitor could not believe what was happening. The servant would come and say, "The master has gone to sleep. You can go now. It is the exact time. He cannot even say goodnight, that will make him late; so you can just go." He gave strict orders for his servant to wake him early in the morning, at four o'clock. And it was cold....

He was a hard worker, working the whole day writing treatises -- one of Germany's most significant thinkers. The orders were, "You have to wake me, and pull me out of the bed. I may shout, I may scream, I may beat you. You can beat me, but don't leave me. You have to wake me up, because at that time I want to sleep. So I am making you aware beforehand: at that time I will make every effort to go to sleep, and you have to make every effort to wake me up."

Only one servant remained with him for many years. He was really a strong man. Kant used to hit him, but he was also good at hitting. He would hit even better. And every morning this wrestling would happen. But till Kant said, "Enough!" the servant would say, "No, you go into the bathroom, and I will take up your blanket and your mattress, so you cannot go back to sleep again while I'm working outside in the kitchen." And after the bath he would come to his senses and come to the servant and thank him, and would be very grateful. "You are the only man. So many servants... just one day and they are finished."

They would say "This is not the kind of job that we want to do. You yourself say 'Wake me,' and then you start beating us. And it does not look right to beat the master -- we are just servants -- and when we allow you to sleep, you wake up later on and start shouting and screaming and making the whole neighborhood gather, asking, 'What is the matter?' And Kant would say, 'The matter is

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