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Main Index
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is nothing compared to the library of Alexandria.
And the British Museum has even more books. They would go seven times around the earth. But it is said that even both libraries together are not comparable to the library of Alexandria. It contained the whole past. Now we know only two thousand years of history, but it contained at least one hundred thousand years of history. It was of immense value, but a fanatic burned it.
Mohammedanism has developed one characteristic of the mind. Each mind is fanatic. You want you to be right and the other to be wrong. You are always right and the other is always wrong. It is not a question of what you are right about; because it is you who believe in it, it has to be right. The fanatic is not logical, he is illogical. The fanatic is not ready to understand, he is a believer and his belief is absolute. He is not open, he is closed. And this is the characteristic of all minds.
The Jaina is a sado-masochist. And every mind is a sado-masochist. One enjoys torturing the body because the mind feels powerful. When you torture your body you enjoy that torture because your mind starts thinking, 'Now I am the master and the body is the slave.' That's what Jainism has been teaching: master your body. If the body asks for food, don't give it to the body. You are the master, you have to assert your mastery. So fasting became one of the most significant things in Jainism. And the people who can fast for many days are thought to be great saints. They are simply torturing their bodies -- they are mentally ill. When the body needs food, food has to be given to the body; the body is a temple -- it has to be loved, respected. But Jainism has developed that characteristic to its omega point.
It exists in everybody. You also enjoy torturing your body in many ways, and you feel good when you succeed in torturing it. When you can force your body like a slave, like a machine, certainly the idea of power arises in y(3u that 'I am powerful.' When you cannot force it you feel very dull.
For example, if you want to stop smoking. It may be harmful to smoke, but you are enjoying it. It must be helping you in some way. It
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