Question 1 Beloved master,

Theosophists have talked about different groups of masters existing physically or even non-physically. How many of these groups exist today? What are these esoteric groups, and how do they influence seekers and the world’s activity? Please tell us about your relationship with these esoteric groups of masters.

Spiritual knowledge has many difficulties in order to exist. The first difficulty is that it cannot be expressed adequately. So even when someone comes to know, he is not able to express it exactly. What has been known cannot be transferred easily. Someone knows something, there are seekers who want to know, but the knowledge cannot be communicated. Just because you want to know it and just because someone is capable of telling you does not mean that communication is possible. The very nature of spiritual knowledge is such that the moment you try to express it, you feel that it cannot be expressed. So to express it and communicate it, esoteric groups are needed.

An esoteric group is a group specially trained to receive a particular system of knowledge. We may take an analogy: Einstein made reference many times to the fact that there existed not more than half a dozen people in the world with whom he could communicate. He was talking about mathematical knowledge, not about spiritual knowledge. But it was a fact, not even half a dozen persons really existed with whom Einstein could talk easily, because in mathematics Einstein reached such peaks that he could not communicate in ordinary mathematical symbols.

Even if Einstein tries to convey his knowledge, you will hear it but not understand it, because just hearing is not understanding. And when you do not understand it, there is every possibility you will misunderstand it, because from understanding to non-understanding there is an in between phenomenon of misunderstanding. No one is ready to accept that he has not understood. When there is no understanding, it does not mean non-understanding. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, it means misunderstanding, because no one is ready to say that he has not understood. Everyone will say that he understands it, and then misunderstanding follows.

Mathematics is not an esoteric knowledge and is not concerned with the inexpressible. Mathematics has existed continuously for five thousand years. Thousands and thousands of minds are trained in mathematics. Every university all over the world teaches it, every primary school teaches it. With so much training, so much knowledge, so many departments in so many universities teaching it, Einstein still says, “Only six persons exist to whom I can communicate what I know.” If you understand this, then you can understand the difficulty of communicating spiritual experiences.

An esoteric group also means a group which is specially trained for a particular teacher. Because the phenomenon is rare, a buddha happens only after thousands of years. And if there is a happening like Buddha, how will he be able to communicate? Buddha will be there, the world will be there, but with no meaning. Buddha cannot communicate directly, so an esoteric group, an inner group, is trained. The training is completely so that this group can act as a mediator between Buddha and the world. A special group is specially trained to understand Buddha and then to interpret Buddha to the world, because between a buddha and the world there is such a gap that a buddha will not be understood at all.

It will be meaningful to refer here to Jesus. Jesus suffered because there was no esoteric group. Buddha did not suffer because here was an esoteric group. Jesus had to be crucified because the gap was such that the common people could not understand him. They misunderstood him. It had to happen, because there was not a group between Jesus and the common masses. There was no mediator between the two, so Jesus suffered. In India, neither Buddha suffered nor Mahavira suffered; no one was crucified. They were as capable as Jesus, but Jesus had to be crucified because no esoteric group existed. Misunderstanding was inevitable. Whatsoever Jesus would say was misunderstood.

Of course, Jesus had a following, but a following of the common people. All his chief disciples came from the common masses, without any esoteric training. Luke and Thomas were peasants from the common and uneducated part of the society. They loved Jesus, they felt him, but they also could not understand him, so there were so many instances in which they asked very childish questions. For example, some disciple asks Jesus, “In the kingdom of God, what will be our position? You will be by the side of the divine soul. Where will we stand? What will be the position?” They could not understand what he meant by the kingdom of God. They were common people.

This esoteric group cannot be created suddenly. Buddha happens suddenly, but this group cannot be created suddenly. So countries which have been spiritual for thousands of years have esoteric groups as a continuity, as a tradition. And whenever there is this kind of happening, the group begins to work.

Ashoka created a group which is still existing — a group of nine persons. Whenever a person dies, another replaces him, so the group still continues. Whenever one dies, the eight remaining ones will choose one to replace him. He will be trained by the eight, so the training continues. Persons change, but the group remains, and still today the group is there, because a reincarnation of Buddha is awaited. He can come at any time. And when Buddha is there, you cannot suddenly create the group, because this group of esoteric adepts is created through a long training and discipline. This is not a sudden happening.

So many times groups have been started. Sometimes they continue and then wither away. Sometimes they go on and then are no more, because so many difficulties are there. Many difficulties are there! This group of Ashoka’s nine esoteric ones still continues because there are many conditions which help it to. One is it never comes directly in contact with the masses itself. It has still other groups is between. It always remains unknown, hidden. You can never know its whereabouts. And any person who is initiated in the group, the very moment he is initiated he disappears from your world — completely disappears. Then you can never know anything about him, the group can continue anonymously.

This group has many keys and many methods. Through those keys and methods, it goes on working in many ways. This is a group whose members are in the physical body, they are as alive as we are. Once someone has become a member of the group, he cannot be chosen again in another life. Then he will work as a link between the group and the masses. This creates another circle around the nine, a greater circle, because so many persons have been members of it. They know Buddha directly, they know the esoteric adepts directly. They are so experienced that they can remain in the masses and can continue the work with the group. But they will not be its members. When someone of this group is not born on this earth, when he is without a physical body, if he remains in a non-body existence, he still continues to work.

There are so many adepts who are not in this physical body who go on working. Theosophists call them masters — such as Master Koot Humi. These are fictitious names, but they refer to a particular personality, an individuality. They are fictitious names, but they refer to a particular unembodied soul which is helping.

This Master K.-H., one of the most ancient adepts of Ashoka’s circle of nine, created the whole movement of theosophy. They were trying to create a situation in which Buddha’s coming incarnation could be possible, because Buddha had said that after twenty-five centuries he would again be born and his name would be Maitreya. And an enlightened person like Gautam Buddha is capable of knowing about who is going to be enlightened twenty-five centuries later. So Buddha predicted, and for this happening Ashoka’s circle of nine has been working for centuries. Now the time is near, so the theosophy movement was just a preparation.

It failed, the experiment failed. They experimented with three or four people to be made vehicles for Maitreya to descend, but the experiment failed. Something or other missed. Sometimes the thing was just on the brim of success, and something happened. Krishnamurti was ready, completely ready, to be made a vehicle. Everything was ready. He came on the pulpit to surrender himself and to become so empty that Maitreya could come in. But at the last moment he denied surrender. No one around him could think that this was going to happen. Not even a hint was given that Krishnamurti, in the last step, would fail and come back. And that is why, after that phenomenon, after that happening of coming back, for his whole life, continuously for forty years, he has been emphasizing individuality, “Be an individual!”

This has a meaning. The whole preparation was to lose one’s individuality, otherwise one cannot become a vehicle: “Be as if you are not! Surrender totally to forces beyond you.” He denied surrender just on the brink of jumping. Everything was ready. One step and Maitreya would have been in the world.

But the last step could not be taken. He came back. He said, “I am myself.” That is why his whole philosophy became, “Do not surrender, do not follow, do not believe, do not be a disciple.” The whole thing is just an outcome; it is just rationalization and consolation.

He has been working for forty years continuously out of that step that could not be taken. Still he is not out of it. The repentance is there, the would is there. He could not surrender at the last moment. So theosophy failed with Krishnamurti and became a dead movement, because the movement existed only for the materialization of this happening. It became meaningless. The house had been built, but the master never came to reside in it. So after Krishnamurti’s denial to be a vehicle for Maitreya, theosophy became meaningless. It still continues, just like a hangover, but nothing substantial exists now.

This whole movement was created by the nine adepts of Ashoka. They are still working. In so many ways, they go on working. And there is a history behind our so-called history of which you will not even be able to conceive. History has a deeper base. The periphery which we know as history is not of real events. Behind out so-called history continues another, a deeper one, about which we know nothing.

For example, we all have heard about Hitler, his fascism, his whole movement, his desperate efforts to do something. But no one knows that there is something behind which is hidden. Hitler was just a vehicle for other forces. Now there are glimpses that he was not the real actor in the drama. He was just a means, he was used. Someone else was behind him, some other forces were working. For example, the choice of the swastika, the symbol of Adolf Hitler’s party — this is the oldest, the most ancient symbol of a particular school of adepts.

In India, one of the most ancient groups is that of the Jains. The swastika is their symbol, but not exactly as it was with Hitler. Hitler’s swastika design was in reverse. The Jain’s swastika is clockwise; Hitler’s is anticlockwise. This anticlockwise swastika is a destructive symbol. They searched for three years continuously to choose a symbol, because a symbol is not just a symbol. If you can take a symbol from a deeper tradition, then the symbol becomes a link. So persons were sent to Tibet to discover one of the most ancient symbols of the Aryan race, because with that symbol much that is hidden can be contacted.

The swastika was chosen, but in reverse. And the person who found the symbol, Hessenhoff, convinced Adolf Hitler that the symbol should be in reverse order. He was one of the persons who was in contact with many esoteric groups, but he was confused. He was searching for two things: firstly, for a symbol which was very ancient; secondly, for a symbol which could also be made new. Because of this, the swastika was chosen and was made in reverse order. It had never existed in this way before, but due to this, events took altogether a new shape.

And with this reverse symbol it was known all over the world to those who were in contact with any esoteric knowledge that Hitler was going to destroy himself. He was going to become mad; he would be in contact with suicidal forces.

The entire concept of Hitler’s philosophy was given by some hidden schools. They used him just as Krishnamurti was going to be used by the theosophists and the hidden groups. Hitler continued winning up to a certain extent, up to a certain moment. He was just winning: there was no defeat. The thing was phenomenal, he could just win anything, it looked as if he was undefeatable. But beyond a certain time, everything begins to go in reverse. Why did this happen?

Forces which were against Nazism defeated Hitler, but that is not the real history. That was just an outward phenomenon. Hitler was used by an esoteric group. This was one of the most desperate efforts, because this esoteric group was working for centuries but could not help humanity as they desired to help. This was a desperate effort to help humanity before humanity destroys itself on this earth. So they had tried through saints, through persons who were powerless, who were poor in spirit. They tried through Adolf Hitler to win the whole world before it is destroyed and to give a certain teaching to humanity.

But just like Krishnamurti became independent at the last moment, Hitler also became independent. He began to go down. This is the miracle of war history. It had never happened before. Hitler would not take the advice of any general. He would move or attack, but no advice would be taken from any general. And even against the advice of all his trained persons, he would act and move as he liked, and still he would win. There were absurd moves, nonsensical moves. No one who knows anything about war would have taken those moves. But Hitler would take them and he won for three years.

Everyone who was around him knew that he was just a vehicle of some greater force. This was not explainable. And whenever he would order, he would not be in his conscious mind. This is a new fact which has become known now. Whenever he would order, he would just be ecstatic. His eyes would be closed, he would begin to tremble, he would perspire, and then his voice would change completely. Another voice would order. But the day he began to fall, his own voice began to order. From that point, from that moment, he was never in ecstasy. Some contact which was working was lost.

Now those who study Adolf Hitler and his life all feel that the phenomenon was not merely political. The person himself was not just a political maniac, not just a mad politician, because whatsoever he did was absolutely nonpolitical — his whole approach. And those who had remained with him felt that he was a split personality. In his ordinary moments, he was so ordinary that you could not conceive of it. There was no magic; he was just ordinary. But when he was taken over, possessed, he was quite an altogether different personality.

Who was behind this? Some esoteric group was behind this, and that esoteric group was trying something. When Hitler became independent, he lost every power. In his last days, he was just ordinary. After this particular moment, when he lost contact, whatsoever he did went against him. Before this, whatsoever he did was always in his favor.

The same group I have been talking to you about, the nine of Ashoka, was behind it. They were trying to capture the whole world. With man, it is always a possibility that if you begin to work with some force from behind, you yourself are not aware of it. If you succeed, then you are not aware that someone else is succeeding. You succeeded, your ego is strengthened. And there comes a moment when your ego is so strengthened that you will not listen to any force. This has happened so many times.

This esoteric group, as I said to you, functions primarily as a continuity whenever there is any need. In many ways, they can help. It was not just a coincidence that Japan became friendly to Germany. It was because of this group of nine people. This is the hidden fact. The esoteric group that was working behind Hitler was a Buddhist group, so a Buddhist country, Japan, could be influenced to side with Hitler. And the whole East felt exhilarated when Hitler was winning. The whole East was with Hitler inwardly. The group that was working behind him was an Eastern group.

Nothing happens accidentally, everything has a causal link behind it. Whenever a teacher like Buddha happens, the primary work of an esoteric group is to help by becoming a mediator. Another work of these esoteric groups is to preserve the knowledge once it is obtained. Buddha obtained something supreme, but who will preserve it? Preserving in books is no preservation, because the knowledge is so living and books are so dead. Only words can be preserved, not knowledge. Knowledge can be preserved only by living persons, not by books, because books will have to be interpreted again, and who will interpret them? They will have to be decoded again, and who will decode them? And if someone is able to decode them, to interpret them rightly, then that person can give you the message without the books. And those who depend on books will not be able to interpret it rightly.

You cannot read any book which you have not known in some way. You only can read “yourself” and nothing else. So if you are reading Buddha’s Dhammapada, it is not Buddha’s Dhammapada you are reading, it is your Dhammapada. Now you will be a creator. Now your depth will become the depth of Buddha’s sayings. You cannot go beyond yourself; you cannot have any glimpse beyond yourself.

So whenever knowledge is attained — subtle, foundational, ultimate — it cannot be preserved in books. Only ordinary knowledge can be preserved in books, which cannot be misinterpreted, in which any ordinary school training can train you. If you know the language, you can know it, but supreme knowledge cannot be preserved in that way. It can be preserved only in living persons, hence, esoteric groups. Then it is being transferred from one living person to another. And the transfer is not just like mechanical transfer. It is not mechanical, it cannot be. It is just like an art.

I will tell you a story,… a very esoteric one….

There is a Buddhist story of a master thief. He was so efficient, such a master, that he could not be caught. And whenever he broke into a house, he would leave behind something which would show that the master thief had entered. His art became so famous that if he came to one house, then others would be jealous, because the master thief only goes to the house of someone who is worthy of his skills.

Even the emperor of the country wanted to meet him. Everything would be declared: whenever he was to rob someone, there would be a rumor. The person would be notified somehow that the master thief is coming soon: “You make any arrangements you would like to make, and then, on the particular day, the particular moment, there will be a robbery” — and the thief would never be caught.

Then he became old and his son asked his father, “Now you are old, and I do not know even the ABC’s of your art. So let me be trained.”

The father said, “It is very difficult. It is not a science, it is not a technical know-how. I cannot tell you unless you are a born thief, then only is it possible. It is so artistic, it is a creative art. I have lived it. This has not been an evil to me, but my spirit. So we will see.”

One night he asked his son to follow him. They went to a palace. He broke the wall. His is about sixty-five or seventy, but there is no trembling in his hands. And the son is young, strong but he perspires. The night is cold; he is trembling.

His father said, “Why are you trembling? Just be a witness. I am the thief; you be a witness. Why are you trembling?”

But the more he tries not to tremble, the more he trembles. And his father is working just as if he is in his own house.

Then they went in. He opened a lock and asked his son to go in. He went in, and the father locked the door behind him. The father then made such noises that the whole house was awakened. Then he ran away, and the son was locked in. The whole house was searching for the thief. You can understand what was happening to that boy.

The father went to his house. The night was cold. He just went to his bed and relaxed. After two hours, the son came running. He pulled at his father’s blanket and said, “You nearly killed me. Is this the way to train me?”

The father looked at him and said, “Okay, you are back. Good! Then do not tell me the story, it is irrelevant. Do not go into the details. You are back; that is good. The art has been transferred. Do not tell me how you came here. It is enough that you are back. The art has been transferred.”

The son is uneasy about talking but says, “Let me tell you first that you nearly killed me. How cruel you are to your only son!”

The father said, “Tell me what happened, not what you did. What happened after I locked the door?”

The son said, “I just became another person. Death was so near! I never before felt such energy as that which came to me. Everything was at stake — life or death. I became so acutely aware. I was never so aware, I just became awareness, because each moment was precious. This way or that, everything was to be finished. Then some maid passed through my door with a candle in her hand — and you asked rightly, `WHAT happened?’ because I cannot say that I did it. Somehow I made noises as if some cat was inside. So she unlocked and opened the door, and with her candle looked in. I cannot say I did anything. It happened.

“I just blew out her candle, pushed her and ran. I just began to run with such a force that I cannot say I was running. The running happened — I was not. I was completely not. There was just a force moving. They followed me, and I passed a deep well. It happened. I cannot say that I did it, but I took a stone and threw it in the well. They all surrounded the well, they thought that the thief had fallen in. So I am here now.”

But the father was fast asleep. He had not even heard the story. In the morning, he said, “Details are irrelevant. Art cannot be told, only shown with living examples, with constant communion.”

The supreme knowledge can be transferred and preserved. And sometimes these esoteric groups have preserved knowledge for centuries for a particular person who was being awaited, so that this knowledge could be transferred to him.

For example, Mahavira had fifty thousand monks. All could not be enlightened in his time, so many remained somewhere on the path. Mahavira was not to be again in this world, so those who are somewhere on this path must be supplied further knowledge. Who will supply it? Mahavira will not be here.

Scriptures cannot be relied upon because they are absurd. Some persons will have to interpret them, but they cannot interpret beyond their understanding, so this is meaningless. There must be a group which preserves keys that can be handed to persons in a particular state of mind; otherwise they will be lost or they will have to struggle unnecessarily, meaninglessly, or they will have to change teachers.

Whenever someone changes a teacher, he has to begin anew, because nothing of the old system can be used in the new. Nothing of this path can be used on that path — every path has its own organic unity. So that which is meaningful in Mohammed’s path is not meaningful in Mahavira’s path, that which is meaningful in Buddha’s path is not meaningful in Jesus’ path. So if someone comes from the Buddhist path to Jesus’ path, he will have to begin anew. All the efforts to past lives will be thrown. That is not good; that is a sheer waste.

So when the teacher is not, these esoteric groups preserve knowledge, and that knowledge begins to work as a teacher. But that knowledge can only be preserved by living persons. Of these nine persons of Ashoka’s circle, each one is adept in a particular key. Individually, they do not have all the keys. Each one is a specialist in a particular key. And the group was formerly of nine persons because Buddha had talked about nine doors, nine keys, nine kinds of knowledge.

So each person is an adept only in one key. He knows only about one door. Those who want to enter from that door, they can be helped by him. Buddha can know about nine. But these nine cannot each know about all nine, to know one key of one door is enough. You need not enter from nine doors. One door will do; you will be in.

These nine adepts have one key each. Each one knows everything about one door, one meditative path. And whenever a meed is there, that one will help. The help may be direct, the help may be indirect, but he will help you. Whenever a new buddha is coming or a new enlightened one is coming, this group will prepare the ground. They will prepare people to listen to him, understand him. If there is no such ground, then every teacher will be crucified — crucified because there will be no group to help make the people understand him.

There are other works also with esoteric groups. Sometimes it happens that humanity forgets that which it had previously known. Somewhere, THE BOOK OF THE DEAD, the Egyptian book, says, “Ignorance is nothing but forgetfulness.” Something which was known has been forgotten. Nothing is new, just something has been forgotten. When you come to know it again, it appears new. Many keys are lost, many times — sometimes because there are no esoteric groups to preserve them.

Sometimes the group is there, but nobody is ready to be initiated in the knowledge. Then the esoteric group cannot do anything other than preserve. Sometimes preservation also becomes impossible, because this is not so easy. If one person dies out of a group of nine, it is not easy to replace him, because the replacement is not by any election. It is not democratic. Knowledge cannot depend on democracy, only ignorance can.

Knowledge is always autocratic — always. You cannot decide by election who will be the head of the atomic commission. And when you decide that way, then you decide for your suicide.

Knowledge is always autocratic. It is never from below, it is always from above. See this distinction clearly. And anything that comes from below is bound to be ignorance. So politics is ignorance par excellence. It comes from below. The one who is the lowest chooses the one who is the highest. And what is meant by the highest? The lowest decides the highest, so the highest must be lower than the lowest. So in a democracy, leaders are nothing but followers of their followers, and knowledge cannot depend on this. Knowledge is always given from above and is, therefore, autocratic.

Esoteric groups maintain keys, preserve knowledge. But the moment someone becomes capable of being given a particular system of knowledge, a particular secret, then that key is delivered. Until someone is ready, the group has to wait; it has to wait for centuries even. And it is very difficult to replace one person from them. It cannot be decided by the others. The eight have to find a person who is capable, and even a capable person has to be trained before he enters the group. Sometimes the group works on a person for many lives, and then the person becomes capable of replacing a member. And if no one is found, that key is lost, and that key cannot be found again by this esoteric group. It can be found again only when a person like Buddha happens. The esoteric group can only preserve, communicate. It cannot discover, discovery is not within their capacity.

So many keys are lost. Many groups have worked, and many are still working. The Rosicrucians have been a parallel group in the West. It has worked for centuries. Really, it is not a Christian group, it is more ancient than the Christians. Rosicrucians are of the esoteric group of the Rosy Cross. The cross is not just the Christian symbol, but older than Christ.

Christ himself was initiated by an esoteric group known as Essenes. All the Christians holy days — for example, Easter or December 25 — are older than Christ. Christianity only absorbed the old tradition. Jesus himself belonged to an esoteric group that conveyed to him many things which he tried to convey to the masses.

For Jesus also they also tried to prepare a ground, but it could not be made ready. It could not function well. But we all know that John the Baptist came before Jesus. At the River Jordan, he continued for thirty to forty years just with one teaching: that “I am the forerunner. The real one is still to come. I have come just to prepare the ground, and when he comes, I will disappear.”

He baptized people in the Jordan River, remaining on the bank for forty years. He was just baptizing everyone, and initiating everyone for the real one who was to follow.

Everyone was asking, “Who is to come?” The whole country was provoked about “the one who is to come.” The name was not known even to John the Baptist. He had to wait also. He belonged to the Essenes. Christ had been one of the important initiated members of the Essenes group in his past life. Then Jesus came to be baptized by John the Baptist, and the day Jesus was baptized, John the Baptist disappeared forever. He baptized Jesus in the Jordan River and shortly after was never seen again.

This happening became news for the country, that the new real one had come, because for forty years continuously he was saying, “When the real one comes I will baptize him as the last one, and then I will just disappear.” John the Baptist disappeared. Baptism is pre-Christian. Before Christ baptism was there, then Christianity began.

John the Baptist belonged to one esoteric group — the Essenes. There are so many groups, but always the difficulty comes that someone is no longer there, and no one can replace him. Then there is a missing link. In every teaching that missing link appears, and when a missing link appears you cannot be helped by the group because those gaps cannot be filled. There are gaps in Christianity now, many gaps. There are gaps in every teaching. If one part is lost, then it cannot be replaced unless a person like Jesus happens again. That is not predictable, that cannot be arranged, that cannot be planned. But a group of initiated seekers can be planned and created, who can be used whenever there is someone who is capable of using them.

These esoteric groups are not concerned with this earth alone. Now even scientists agree that at least fifty thousand planets other that this earth must have life. More is possible, but less is not possible. In such a great universe, by the ordinary laws of probability, at least fifty thousand planets must have life. The esoteric group has another task to do, to link the knowledge of one planet to that of another. That is a little more difficult, because we have not known everything. We may be missing something which was known. We may be knowing something partially. On another planet, there may be a greater knowledge; on another planet, there may now be another Buddha. The esoteric group works as an inner link between different systems of knowledge that exist anywhere in the universe. So missing links can be supplied from other planets also. Really, it always happens so.

Whenever something is missing and we cannot call upon a person on this earth to appear and discover it, then the knowledge can be supplied from another planet, if it exists somewhere, and it always exists somewhere. The esoteric group can be in contact with everything that exists in the whole universe. This work is as valuable as someone from a university going to a primitive village. The primitive village does not know anything, the university man knows. This man can train the primitive to receive the knowledge. Then he can deliver it, and he can always be in contact with his source of knowledge. This is just an analogy.

Many times this planet has been visited by other planetary beings. They have left so many landmarks. Sometimes they have left many keys of knowledge on this planet with some group. Those groups have been at work. Esoteric groups are interplanetary, but there is something missing, so it cannot be understood by description.

Each age has to devise its own methods, no old method can be helpful to you. You have changed, your mind has changed. The key fit the old lock but the lock has changed. Esoteric groups can only be the preservers of keys, not of locks, because locks are with you. You understand it? Locks are with you — not with Buddha, not with Jesus. They have keys. They devise keys, keys that open many locks. These keys can be preserved by esoteric groups, but in the meantime the locks are changing.

You are not the same lock which Buddha opened. The same key exactly as it is will not do. If the same key can do as it is, then any ignorant person can use it. Then no wisdom is needed, anybody can use it. I can just give you the key, and you go and open the lock; you need no wisdom. This much is enough: that this is the key and that is the lock. But as the locks are changing constantly, the keys must be given to a group who is wise — to devise new keys that are always in tune with the locks.

The locks will go on changing. They will never be the same. So not only are dead keys to be preserved, but also the science for changing these keys whenever there is any change in the lock. That is preserved in esoteric groups. You cannot preserve it in books because the locks are not known. They will change, they will go on changing. No book can write about all these possibilities of locks, about all the combinations of locks. They will go on changing. The condition changes, education changes, culture changes, everything changes, so the locks become different. Howsoever the key is preserved, it will always be faulty in a way. It will not suit the lock. So the key must be handed over to a living group of wise ones who can always change the key also. That is the difference between esoteric knowledge and exoteric tradition.

Exoteric tradition always carried the key without any reference to the lock. It continues to talk about the old key; it never notices that no lock is being opened by it. But the exoteric tradition consists of ordinary people such as members of the Christian church. The church carries the key. They know that this is the key which opened many doors in Jesus’ time. Their knowledge is right; their information is correct; of course this key has opened many locks. They carry the key, they worship the key, but now it opens no lock. They cannot devise other keys, they have no time to devise keys; they have only one key. They go on worshipping it, and if it cannot open a lock, then the lock is responsible. Then the lock must be faulty, then something is wrong with the lock, not with the key.

The exoteric tradition is always condemning the lock and worshipping the key. The esoteric group never condemns the lock, it always changes the key. The Vatican carries the key. They have the key, and they go on worshipping it. But Christianity also has inner esoteric groups. And this always happens — that the esoteric group will be in conflict with the exoteric, because the exoteric will insist that this key must do. This key is not for you, you are for this key. You must behave in such a way that this key can open the lock. The key cannot be changed; you must change. But if someone says, “We can change the key,” he becomes an infidel, he becomes a heretic. Then he must be killed because of the nonsense he is speaking: “He changed the key — the key that Jesus gave us, Buddha gave us, Mahavira gave us. This key cannot be changed!”

So always, whenever there is a teacher, a real authentic teacher who discovers something, there are two currents from him: one becomes exoteric — the visible church with the pope, the shankaracharya, the orthodox. They always insist on the same key. They never think that a key means nothing if it cannot open any lock. But then it is not a key at all: a key only means that which opens.

If it is not opening any lock, then it is just fallacious to call it a key. It is just a linguistic fallacy. It is not a key at all, it only becomes a key when a lock opens. When you are putting something in your pocket, it is not a key, it is only a possible key. When it opens the lock, it becomes the actual key. If it does not open any lock it even loses the possibility.

The visible churches are always obsessed with the key, because the key was given by an authentic teacher. But every authentic teacher also creates an inner circle. That inner circle has the key and the knowledge of how to change it in certain circumstances. This inner circle will always be in conflict with the outer, because the outer will think that you are inferior and are changing the key the master gave us: “Who are you? How can you change it?” For example, in Islam some Sufis had esoteric knowledge, but the Mohammedans killed them. Mansoor was killed because he was talking about many changes in the key.

The esoteric group is always interested in the lock, not obsessed with the key. The exoteric group is obsessed with the key, but not interested in the lock at all. If it opens, it is good; if it does not open, you are responsible. The key is never responsible.

The Mohammedans have many Sufi orders, inner circles, inner groups. Mohammedans thought that they had worked in a very rebellious way, so many Sufis were killed. Then, ultimately, they had to disappear, so now there are Sufis, but you cannot know them. Someone may be just a sweeper; you will never even be able to detect that this man may be a Sufi. Unless someone introduces you, you will never be aware. He may be coming to your house daily, still you will never be aware that this is someone who has some key.

He may just be a shoemaker. He will continue shoemaking, and you may be thinking that those who are sitting there are just being trained in the art of shoemaking. There are some customers, but, in fact, there may be some disciples among them who are not just being trained in shoemaking. This shoemaking business is just a facade. Inside, something else is going on.

Sufis had to disappear completely because the outer tradition would not tolerate them. They would just be killed, “because if these inner ones continue, then there is no future for the outward tradition; it becomes absolutely meaningless.”

Only he is a teacher who has discovered himself, who has devised a key himself, who has known the source of knowledge himself, who has encountered the reality himself. Then always there are two schools. Sometimes some teachers never allowed any exoteric groups. In Buddha’s time, there were seven other teachers of the same rank as Buddha. You may not even have heard their names. Only one name is known — Mahavira. The other six are completely unknown. They also had keys — knowledge, as much as Buddha and Mahavira — but they never allowed any exoteric group to be formed around them. Only the inner circle continued in some way, somewhere.

One man was Prabuddha Katyayan, another was Purna Kashyap, another Ajit Keshkambal, who were of the same level, of the same rank, of the same inner realization as Buddha and Mahavira. Their names are known only because Buddha has mentioned them, that is all. No scripture is found, no following, no temple, no church, but still they continue in a very hidden and subtle way. And no one can say they have not helped many; they have helped. They are not known to many, but they have helped as many as any buddha.

Buddha’s name is known; the whole world knows about him. But the more we know about him, the less we can use him. He also has inner circles running. Only these are meaningful. But they always came in conflict with the outer religious order. And the outer order is always a force, because the masses are with it. There is always a conflict.

Buddha created a very chosen circle. He created his circle with a person by the name of Mahakashyapa. This name is only mentioned once. Sariputra and Modgalayan were his chief disciples of the exoteric order; their names are known all over the world, they have shrines. But the real authentic key was given to Mahakashyapa — not to Sariputra, not to Modgalayan. But his name is mentioned only once, only once in the whole Buddhist scripture.

I will narrate the incident….

Buddha came one day with a flower in his hand. He was going to give a sermon. But no sermon was given, he just sat silently looking at the flower. Everyone wondered what he was doing. It continued for ten minutes, twenty, thirty minutes… Then everyone became uneasy. No one was able to say what he was doing. They all had gathered — at least ten thousand people — to hear him speak. And he was just sitting, only looking at the flower.

Mahakashyapa laughed. Buddha looked and said, “Mahakashyapa, come to me.” He gave the flower to Mahakashyapa and said, “All that could be said I have said to all, and all that could not be said I have given to Mahakashyap.” Never before or after is Mahakashyapa mentioned — neither who he was nor where he was born.

Why is the whole scripture so silent about him? — such an important person to whom Buddha says, “I gave to Mahakashyapa all that cannot be said.” Of course, the essential this is “that which cannot be said.” Only the nonessential can be said, only the superficial can be said, only the utilitarian can be said. The most significant transfer of knowledge is possible in silence only. But never again is his name mentioned, and then for centuries no one knew what happened to Mahakashyapa. But then after eleven hundred years, a person declared in China, “I am in direct contact, in the direct chain of Mahakashyapa.”

After eleven hundred years, someone declared in China, “I belong to Mahakashyapa. I am his disciple.” He was Bodhidharma. No Indian scripture mentions Bodhidharma. He was born in India, lived three fourths of his life in India. No one knows about him — where he was or what he was doing. Suddenly, he appears in China and says, “I belong to Mahakashyap, the man to whom Buddha gave the flower. And I have the flower with me, still fresh.”

Of course, he is talking about something which can never be other than fresh. Someone asks, “Where is that flower?” Bodhidharma says, “He is standing before you — I am that flower. This flower Buddha transferred to Mahakashyapa, and I have come to seek the right person, because now I am going to die. This is my last birth, so I have traveled from India to China with certain information that someone is here to whom the flower can be delivered. So I have come seeking him. But the same source of information has informed me that I must not go to him, he must come to me. So I will just wait.”

What does he mean by this “source of information”? Esoteric groups go on informing the persons who need to be informed. Bodhidharma said, “But the same source has informed me that I must not seek him,” because sometimes a direct seeking becomes interference. If I come to your house, it will be one thing, if you come to me, it is quite a different affair. If I come to your house, you will be closed to me; if you come to me, you will be open. You have come.

Bodhidharma said, “The same source of information has said to me that I must wait, and the same source has given me a particular indication how it should be known who the person is to whom the flower is transferable.” So he sat for nine years without facing anyone, just facing the wall. Many people would come to him. Even the emperor of China, Wu, came to meet him, but he did not turn his face. He was just facing the wall.

Wu’s courtier tried to persuade him that the emperor was coming and it is very unworthy, very unmannerly, to sit before the emperor facing the wall. Bodhidharma said, “I am not going to the emperor, the emperor is coming to me. He can choose to come to the unmannerly Bodhidharma or not. He is free. I am not coming to him.”

The emperor heard that Bodhidharma had said, “I am not going to him. He is coming to me, so he must choose. If he wants to come, he must come to me as I am.” Wu came. He had to come; it became obsessive. He could not check if the man was worth visiting; he came. Bodhidharma was sitting facing the wall. Wu asked him, “Why are you facing the wall? Why do you not look at me? Why do you not look at others?”

Bodhidharma said, “For my whole life I was facing you and all others, but in their eyes I never say anything other than a dead wall, so I decided that it is better to face the wall. One is at ease, as one knows that there is a wall. When facing someone and feeling the wall there, it becomes more difficult. I can talk with you more easily because you are behind and I am not looking at you.”

For nine years continuously he was facing the wall just like this. The person came for whom he had certain information. The person, Hui Neng, came. He cut off his hand, gave it to Bodhidharma and said, “Make a complete about-turn; otherwise I will cut my head.” And Bodhidharma took a complete turn, faced Hui Neng and said, “I deliver you the flower. I was waiting. A certain source of knowledge gave me the signs — `the person will come, will cut his hand, will put it in front of you, and if you delay a second he will cut his head.’ Do not be in a hurry. I am ready to give you the things for which I have traveled from India to China.”

That secret cult has flowered now into the exoteric cult of Zen. Zen Buddhism is just an exoteric cult around this esoteric Bodhidharma tradition. Now, whatsoever Suzuki is talking or others are talking around the world, is from the exoteric knowledge, not from the esoteric. Now that has become hidden again; it has again disappeared. But the current is there, it continues so that is why there are esoteric circles; they exist for so many reasons.

You ask me how am I connected with any esoteric group. If you can be in contact with one, you can be in contact with all. It is just a matter of tuning. If your radio can work with one station, there is no difficulty in its working with another. If the mechanism is working rightly, you can catch any station around the world. If you can be in contact with one esoteric group, you can be in contact with all. You may not like to be in contact, you may like it, but once you know the tuning you can be in contact. And many times you come across a secret school, but you lose the opportunity, you lose the track.

Whatsoever I am saying is in many ways esoteric. That is why many times I become very confusing to you. Any exoteric teaching is never confusing, it is clearcut. It is just like two plus two equals four, it is always a simple thing. But the esoteric, the inner, the secret, is difficult to understand, because your understanding becomes disturbed with any new knowledge which has to be absorbed.

Any knowledge that you know, you can absorb easily. It can become a part of you; you can easily digest it. Anything which is new to you is hard to digest. And no esoteric knowledge can be delivered in mathematical terms. It has to be delivered mystically, it has to be delivered poetically. Then it becomes living. It means many things simultaneously.

I have been in contact with many esoteric groups. I have known many persons who are still alive who belong to some group. I have known many keys which were delivered by authentic teachers. But no key of the old tradition is enough, so I am devising new keys. Because I am devising new keys, I am not directly concerned with any esoteric group, as each esoteric group is interested in and is entrusted with a particular key to preserve. I am not interested in a particular key. I am interested in devising new methods, new techniques, new keys, because all the old keys have become in many ways irrelevant.

One thing has to be understood, that all these keys were developed in a world which was local, always local. For the first time, we are in a world which is absolutely non-local, universal. Really, for the first time we are in a world. Before, we were always confined to a particular part of the world. All those keys were developed for particular local conditions and cultures. Now, for the first time, the world is, in a way, a mixed-up mess. There is no particular culture, there is no particular conditioning. Everything is mixed up. And soon this is going to be more and more the case. Soon there will be a world citizen with no local background at all — with a universal background.

Before this century ends, we will need — we are already in need of — keys which are universal. For example, Jesus’ key was for a particular Jewish group. This is really an irony of history, that Jesus invented a key, devised a key, for the Jewish mind, and now Jews are against him. And those who follow him are against the Jews. But the key was particularly devised for a Jewish-conditioned mind. As far as I am concerned, Christ can be used more easily with a Jew than with a Christian, because the Christian is just a later outgrowth; Jesus never knew any Christian. He himself was not a Christian, he was a Jew. But this is the irony of our history.

Buddha devised a key for a particular mind. Now only in India does that particular mind exist, but his key is nowhere in India. It exists in China, Japan, Ceylon, Burma and Tibet, but not in India. And he devised a key for a particular Hindu mind. He was Hindu born and as a Hindu he died. He never knew any Buddhism. So the key was developed for a Hindu mind. And then, around the key, there develops a sect which goes against Hinduism. Then the key becomes irrelevant. It is not of any use for anyone, except for a particular Hindu mind. But this is the irony of history. It always happens so.

So I am struggling and devising keys that are, in a way, universal — not for a particular localized culture, but for the human mind as such. And soon we will need them, these local keys will not do. Neither will any amalgam do, nor will all these keys put together do. That makes even more nonsense. You are unlocking one lock with so many keys: something from the Koran, something from the Bible, something from Buddha, something from Mahavira. And there are many people with very good wishes, doing much wrong. They talk about the unity of all religions. That is talking about the unity of all keys for opening one lock — the unity of all keys! One is enough, and too many keys will not enable you to open a lock. One might have opened it, now too many will not.

These are all local keys developed in a world which was divided. There was no universal mind. There never has been as far as our so-called knowledge of history is concerned. Sometimes this phenomenon of a universal mind has happened, but that is beyond our civilization, that is beyond our memory. Sometimes this phenomenon of a universal mind has happened previously also, but that has been completely forgotten.

For example, I will tell you one or two things. In England, they change the date at midnight. That makes no sense, really. It it absurd, no one will awaken out of his sleep just to change the date. It is illogical, impractical. The date should be changed in the morning — that is common sense. You always change your calendar in the morning. But why has it been done this way? There is a secret.

In India, when it is 5:30 in the morning, it is midnight in England. There was a time, before this civilization, when the Hindu concept ruled over the whole world. Just like when the British Empire was all over the world, Greenwich time was the real time; everyone would refer to it. Now, with the fall of the British Empire, Greenwich time is nearly forgotten. After ten or fifteen thousand years no one will know about it.

There was a world before Mahabharat — a prehistoric Indian war — when the Hindu mind ruled over the whole world. Whenever it was morning in India, that was the time to change the date. It was midnight in England, so they also changed the calendar date then. That continued.

You will be surprised that in England, the parliament made a special act three hundred years ago to begin the year with January 1. Before three hundred years ago, the year was ending with March 25. But what does it mean to end the year with March 25? There is no meaning in it. But that was the day in which the Indian year ended. On March 25 the Indian year ends, and that was so all over the world. They had to make a special act to change it.

The word `December’ means the tenth month, but it is the twelfth. December comes from dush — ten in Sanskrit. But why is it the twelfth month? It is the tenth in the Indian year. The old tradition had continued; their calendar was derived from India.

The last week of December is known all over the world as Xmas. X is Roman for ten, and mas in Sanskrit means month. Xmas means the tenth month, it means December. But why? December should not be the tenth month. But it has been tenth in the Indian calendar, before Mahabharat happened, about five thousand years ago.

In Mahabharat, which also means a prehistorical Indian scripture, we have a story that Arjuna was married to a Mexican girl. The Sanskrit word maxika became Mexico. And in Mexico, the civilization that existed has so many Hindu symbols that you cannot help but say that it was a Hindu civilization. The whole of the Mexican civilization was Hindu — Hindu temples, Hindu gods. Even the deity Ganesh was found there, but now it is almost as if it never was.

We have come again to a universal world in which Arjuna can marry a Mexican girl. Soon again there will be no localized cultures. For this unfocused culture we have to devise new, more liquid keys — less solid and more liquid, which can be used with so many locks.

I have known so many esoteric groups — in this life and before. I have been in contact with many esoteric groups, but I cannot tell you their whereabouts. I cannot tell you their names, because that is not permitted, and it is of no use really. But I can tell you that they still exist, they still try to help.

Some groups are still very alive — for example, Ashoka’s group. If Ashoka has done something more meaningful than any emperor has done anywhere in the world, it was creating this esoteric group of nine. Akbar tried to imitate Ashoka in many ways. He made a group of nine, but it was meaningless. They were just courtiers — Nava Ratna, the Nine Jewels of Akbar. But they were just imitation jewels — exoteric. Someone was a poet, someone was a warrior, and that makes no sense. But Akbar knew from somewhere that Ashoka had a group of nine wise persons, so he made a group of nine jewels. He did not know everything about Ashoka’s group.

The Ashoka group has persisted for two thousand years. It is still alive with the key, still working. The whole theosophical movement was initiated by this group. That is why in theosophy Buddha became the suprememost person. And the whole theosophy, in a way, was Buddhist or Hindu. That is why in Western countries it was thought that it was an Eastern effort to convert the West — that it was just Hinduism working in a new garb. This is true in a sense, because the initiator group was a Buddhist group.

You can also be in contact with some esoteric group. There are techniques and methods. But then you will have to do much work upon yourself. As you are, you can never be in contact. You will just pass by an esoteric circle, but you will not even be able to detect it. You will have to change yourself, tune yourself, for new dimensions, for new vibrations to be felt; you will have to be sensitive.

Then you will not ask me, “Have you been in contact with an esoteric group?” You will know just by sitting near me, you will know just by looking into my eyes. You will feel just by hearing my words, or even by hearing my silence. You will understand. But that will come only if you change yourself, attune yourself, for the new reality — if you open yourself for new dimensions.

Esoteric groups are and always have been there. Only you are closed — closed in thought, closed in thinking, closed within yourself — no opening, no window, no door. The sky is there — just open the window, and you will know the sky and the stars. Howsoever far off they may be, just by opening your window, which is so near, you come in contact with far-off stars. In a way, it is illogical. By opening such a near window, how can you come in contact with far-off stars? If I tell you, “Open this window behind you and then you will come in contact with the whole universe,” you will say, “It is absurd. Just by opening this window which is so near, how can I be in contact with what is so far?” But it is so. Open a window in your mind, make a meditative window, and you will be in contact with so many far-off lights, with so many happenings which are always around.

Just around the corner, just around you, everything is happening. But you are blind or asleep or just unaware. I am here; you cannot conceive of what is happening here. You cannot conceive of it!

I was a student in a university. The vice-chancellor spoke at some birthday celebration. I was just a student in the first year. The vice-chancellor said, “I wish I had been alive in the days of Gautama the Buddha, I would have gone to his feet.”

I interfered and I said, “Please reconsider this. Please think it over once again, then speak. Really, would you have gone to Buddha’s feet? Have you gone in this life to any beggar? Buddha was a beggar. Have you gone to anyone who is a teacher — a teacher of the invisible world? As far as I know, you have never gone to any, so please reconsider whether, had you been alive in Buddha’s day, you would have gone to his feet, whether you would have recognized him. Have you recognized anyone in this life?”

He was bewildered, he was taken back, he became silent. He said, “I take my words back because I never thought it over. I just said it. Really, I have never been to anyone, so it seems logical that I would not have gone to Buddha. And even if I would have passed by, I would not have looked at him. And even if I would have looked at him, I would not have recognized him, because it is not so that whosoever came in contact with Buddha recognized him. It is not so!”

Buddha passes from a village… and no one recognized him. His own father does not recognize him, with his own wife even there is no recognition.

I am here; you cannot recognize what is inside. Only the outside is known. You only become acquainted with the outside. That is how it should be. You are not in contact with your own innerness, so how can you be in contact with mine? That is an impossibility. It becomes easy if you are in contact with your own innerness. Then you can be in contact with my innerness, or innerness as such. Otherwise, you will just go on asking me, and I will continue answering you. Then everything just misses the point.

But I answer you not in order that you should get the answer from my answer. No, I never hope against hope, I never hope that my answer can become your answer. I know very well that my answer is of no use to you. But then why do I go on answering your questions?

I go on answering not in order that my answer will become your answer, but because if you can listen to me silently, totally, in that silent listening you will come directly upon your own innerness. Suddenly it can explode to you, suddenly you can be in another world that is completely different from any in which you have been living. And if that happens, then you have come into a new existence.

That new existence is your own. It is an esoteric, inner secret. That inner existence has all these things.

I Am the Gate

Chapter 8 – I am the gate (14 June 1971 pm in Bombay, India)