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are you right or wrong? With a great crowd doing something, you become part of it. The question never arises whether you are right or wrong. "So many people can't be wrong," the mind goes on saying, "they must be right. And for so many centuries they have been doing the same thing; there must be some truth in it." If doubt arises in you, then doubt is your fault. For centuries and centuries a crowd has been doing a certain thing. One can follow easily, imitate. But once you imitate others, you will never be able to know who you are. Then self-knowledge becomes impossible.
In the Malayan language, they have a word, lattah. It is very beautiful. The word means: people imitate others because they are frightened; out of fear people imitate others. Have you watched? If you are sitting in a theater and suddenly the theater is on fire and people start running, you will follow the crowd -- wherever the crowd is going. It happens when a ship is sinking, the greatest problem becomes this: that the whole crowd runs towards one direction, they all gather together on one side, which helps the ship to sink sooner.
Whenever you are in fear, you lose individuality. Then there is no time to think and meditate, then there is no time to decide on your own; time is short and a decision is needed. In times of fear people imitate others. But ordinarily, also, you live in lattah, you live in a constant frightened state. And the crowd does not like you to become different, because that creates suspicion in others' minds also.
If one person goes against the crowd -- one Jesus or one Buddha -- the crowd doesn't feel good with this man, the crowd will destroy him; or, if the crowd is very cultured, the crowd will worship him. But both ways are the same. If the crowd is a little wild, uncultured, Jesus will be crucified. If the crowd is like the Indians -- very cultured, centuries of culture, of nonviolence, of love, of spirituality -- they will worship the Buddha. But by worshipping they are saying: We are different; you are different. We cannot follow you, we cannot come with you. You are good, very good, but too good to be true. You don't belong to us. You are a god
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