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winter who can sit in the burning hot sun with fire all around him -- who is the topmost saint. There will be a hierarchy.
Once I was invited by a shankaracharya... there must have been some mistake. He was not aware of my way of thinking. He invited me. I was overjoyed. I said, "This is a good opportunity!" So I went there, and of course there was great trouble.
The first trouble started when we were introduced to each other. The shankaracharya was sitting on a golden throne and just by the side of him there was a smaller golden throne on which another Hindu monk was sitting, and there were other monks who were sitting on the floor.
The shankaracharya told me that, "You must be wondering who is this man who is sitting by my side on the smaller throne. He has been chief justice of the high court, but he is such a great spiritual man -- he renounced it. He renounced the world, his high salary his post, his power. He became my disciple. And he is so humble that he never sits on the equal platform with me."
I said, "I can see that he is very humble -- he is sitting on a smaller throne than you -- but then others are sitting on the floor! If he is really humble he should dig a hole in the floor and he should sit there -- if he is really humble! He is only humble towards you and about others he is very arrogant."
And I could see the anger... Both the persons became very angry. They were at a loss for a moment what to say, what not to say. I said, "You see your humbleness -- you both are angry! And this man is still sitting! If he is humble he should get down. Dig a hole immediately! Don't cling to the throne. And then there will be a competition, of course. Others will dig bigger holes... Then there is a well outside in the garden -- he should jump into the well to be the most humble person!"
All these stupid ideas have been propounded for centuries, but new competitions arise.
And I told the shankaracharya that, "He is simply waiting when you should die, and immediately he will jump on your chair, he will sit there. He is just waiting; he is already half way. He is praying in his heart that, 'You old fool -- die soon!'
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