Sadhguru: It once happened, Gautama the Buddha, you heard of him, hmm…? Everybody heard of Gautama? So Buddha is not his name. His name is Gautama Siddhartha. He became a Buddha. So he is not only the Buddha in the world. There have been thousands of them and they still are. So Gautama was sitting in a large congregation of people one morning. An early morning, earlier than this okay… A man arrived and stood there in the shadows. This man is a great devotee. He is a devotee of Rama. You heard of Rama, hmm? Not Rami, Rama. Rama is one of the most popular deities in India. If you do not already know this, In India, we have thirty six million Gods and Goddesses. It’s a very rich country. So he is a great devotee of Rama. The devotees in India, not now and not everybody but those who take this seriously, they will not utter any word than the name of the God that they believe in. So if they want you to come, they will say Ram Ram, If they want you to go, Ram Ram, If they want something Ram Ram. No other word, but Ram. The clothes are all printed Ram, Ram, they utter only Ram, Ram. They live Ram Ram. They devoted their whole life to God. You are smart, you are not like that. You kept God like insurance. Just in case something goes wrong, I have also paid my premium. (Laughs) hmm? Everything that you need to do, you do it yourself. You kept God like insurance, very smart. But this man invested his whole life in God. Total… Age is passing away; little doubt has come. Are the people here, who don’t believe in God? Nobody? Tch tch tch…No lefties, no… Only one? Okay, what’s your name.? Participant: John Sadhguru: Only John, nobody else? Another Pariticipant: I have doubts… Sadhguru: (Laugh) So little doubt has come, he knows there is God. Just a little doubt, suppose there is no God, I am wasting my whole life doing Ram Ram Ram. Tch…See this doubt will come to you only if you invest your whole life. You invest just ten minutes in a week then you will not get this doubt, it’s all right, what’s the problem. You know…(Laughs) If you invest your life completely into God, then within three days, doubt will come. Am I wasting my life, just doing this? And, there are other people who don’t believe. See, look at this “John”, he doesn’t believe. For him also, sun comes up in the morning, for him also, flowers blossom, for him also, life happens, looks like he is having a better time than me. So little doubt, he knows there is God, just a little doubt. Now there is an enlightened being here, he wants to confirm. But after being a well-known devotee for a long time, because he did not go to the temple, he built many temples. At this stage in his life, how to ask whether there is God or not now? So he came early morning, stood in the shadows there and asked this inevitable question. ‘Is there God?’ Gautama looked at the man and gave a clear emphatic ‘No’. Here, this large congregation of disciples, this is always been a struggle in their mind, is there God or no God, is there God or no God? Wooooof, one big relief… Whenever they ask such a questions to Gautama, he just becomes silent, he doesn’t say anything. For the first time he gave a clear answer, "No God". Joy spread across the congregation. Just this struggle; 'is there God or no God' is over. The enlightened one has declared, there is no God. The message spread across the town. Through the day celebration happened because just imagine the freedom of it. No God means.. nobody sitting up there, keeping accounts of what you did and what you did not do to punish you, burn you in hell or do this or that. Life is completely yours. So through the day, celebrations happened. Everybody is in great joy. The evening, once again the congregation is sitting, another man came. He also standing in the shadows. This man is a Charvaka. Charvaka means; In India there are groups of people who are known as Charvaka. These Charvakas are out and out materialists. They don’t believe anything other than what they can see. Probably, this is the only culture that allows this. You will see actively missionaries of God going from village to village, spreading their God message. And missionaries of no God, going from village to village or going with people and proving to them, how there is no God. Probably this is the only culture that allows this, anywhere else they would be killed. (Laughs) So if want, you can spread God or if you want, you can spread no God. This is true democracy, you know? (Laughs) This has been there, like this for thousands of years, people come and set up arguments in the village and they prove to you how there is no God. So this an expert Charvaka. Whatever kind of believer you are, if you talk to him for ten minutes, he will prove to you ‘no God’. For thousands of people, he has proved no God, no God, no God. Age is passing; little doubt has come. Suppose there is God? When I go there, will he leave me? And all these believers say that He has got all kind of torture equipment up there. So, because I went about proving to everybody that He does not exist, He may torture me much more? Tch… He knows there is no God, he has proved to thousands of people there is no God. Just a little doubt. Now there is an enlightened being here, he wants to confirm. So he appeared there in the evening and he asked the same inevitable question, Is there God? Gautama looked at the man and said, ‘yes.’ Once again turmoil started… Morning he said no God, they were all really happy. In the evening he says, ‘there is God’. So what’s the game, Gautama is trying to play? See, if you believe there is God, or if you believe there is no God, you are in the same boat. You believe something that you do not know. I believe this, you believe that, does not make any difference. You can believe whatever you want. Yes? Everybody can believe whatever they want. It need not have anything to do with reality as such. If you see I do not know, the longing to know will arise within you. If the longing arises, the seeking arises, If the seeking arises, the possibility of knowing exits.
