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They are not ascetics, they are celebrants.
I also teach that the way to god is not through renunciation but through rejoicing. There is no need to be hard upon yourself. In fact the harder you are upon yourself, the more difficult it will be for you to reach, because the person who is hard upon himself is basically hard upon god, because who is he except god himself? To torture yourself in any way is to torture god, because there is nobody else except him. Torture yourself or torture others, it makes no difference: you are always torturing god.
Sufis say 'Love'. Sufis say 'Celebrate the gift of life! Be creative.' And true religion is bound to be creative. It is only the pseudo religion that teaches destructiveness, that teaches people to be violent -- with others and with themselves too -- that teaches people methods to be sadistic and masochistic. The pseudo religion creates pathology; the true religion gives you a wholeness, a sanity. That has to be remembered: love is your path and dance is your method. Sing and dance your way to god!
[A new sannyasin says: I don't know which meditation to do. I have been sitting quietly.]
Very good. Just sit silently for at least one hour every day, doing nothing; that's meditation. If one can manage not to do anything for one hour, that is enough. In those moments when you are not doing anything you are utterly silent; god penetrates you. When you are not doing something he starts doing something in you; when you are occupied he has no chance to work on you. When you are unoccupied you are available to him, open, and then miracles are possible.
Everyone is entitled to miracles, but we don't allow them to happen; life is lived in such a miserable way. It is so stupid, it is so ridiculous, that people go on living in misery for no reason at all. All the glory is theirs, all the beauty of existence is theirs, and god is ready to pour infinite blessings, but he cannot find a way to approach people, to enter them. People don't allow even a single passage; they are utterly closed.
So that's perfectly good. Simply sit for one hour without doing anything, so relaxed, as if you are not. That's
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