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-- and better than the second kind.
"Then, Ananda, you must know those horses which run just by seeing the shadow of the whip. You don't even need to crack it. That man was that kind of horse: the shadow was enough."
Ashtavakra must have looked carefully.
When you come to ask me something, you yourself are a question, more important than what you ask. Sometimes you may also feel that I have answered a question you didn't ask. And perhaps you may even feel I have avoided your question, side stepped it and answered something else. But for me your inner need is always more important, what you ask is not important -- because you yourself don't really know what you are asking, why you are asking. The answer is being given only for your need; nothing of the answer is decided by your question.
Ashtavakra must have seen that Janak is not a gyani. Is he ignorant then? No, he is not ignorant either... because the ignorant person is arrogant, he stands proudly erect. He doesn't even know how to bow down -- and this man has bowed at his feet, stretched himself full length at the feet of a twelve year old boy. This is impossible for the ignorant. The ignorant thinks he already knows -- who is going to explain anything to him? If an ignorant person does ask, he asks just to prove you wrong, because the ignorant presumes he already knows and wants to see whether you know or not. The ignorant person asks to test you.
Ashtavakra must have thought, "No, Janak's eyes are very clear. Even though he's an emperor he asked me, an unknown, unfamiliar boy of twelve years, 'Oh lord! Please explain to me....' No he is humble, he is not ignorant. Is he an idiot then? Idiots never ask. Idiots don't have any idea that there are any problems in life."
There is a similarity between idiots and enlightened ones. For the enlightened ones no problem remains; for idiots no problem has yet arisen. Enlightened ones have gone beyond problems; the idiots have not yet entered them. Idiots are so unconscious, how can they ask questions? Will an idiot ask, What is wisdom? Will an idiot ask, What is liberation? Will an idiot ask, What is nonattachment? Impossible.
And
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