Right from ancient times, in most parts of the world, when anyone spoke anything other than the existing organised religion of that time, the first thing people said was, “Kill”. For example, Jesus did not do anything very revolutionary. He did not talk about demolishing the temple, replacing the Gods or about a new religion. He only talked about taking the business out of the temple. For that, they did such horrible things to him.
Whether it was a Socrates, a Mansoor or a Jesus — these are the famous people — a million others who never became known to the world have been killed for this reason. In those parts of the world, most realised beings were wise enough to just keep quiet and go about their own business rather than talking in a big way and getting killed. Despite that, I would say many of them did get killed. Many women were burnt at the stake in Europe simply because they exhibited some quality that was considered a threat to organised religion.
However, in Indian culture, 500 years before Jesus, Gautama Buddha called into question all the Hindu Gods. But nobody ever thought of throwing a stone at him or crucifying him. Such things never arose here. People called him for debates, and they sat and debated for months. When they failed in the debate, they became his monks. Because the pursuit was truth, so people sat down and argued whether what they knew was true or what the other person knew was true. If his truth was more powerful than yours, you become a part of him. If your truth was more powerful than theirs, they would become a part of you. It is a very different kind of search. People were searching to know. They were not just believing and trying to prove that their belief was right.
In this culture, we established a system where whatever anyone on the spiritual path spoke, you could argue and debate with him but the question of killing him did not arise. Because of this, spiritual processes evolved in so many different and innumerable ways. Every aspect of life was made into a path and a million different paths evolved. This culture developed that seeking. Everyone is a seeker. At least at one time, the whole culture was spiritual. The only objective for anyone who was born in this land and this culture was mukti. Your family, your business and your whatever else was only secondary. Today, slowly “M” has become “MTV”, not mukti anymore, but until a couple of generations ago, the primary goal for every man was ultimate well being. Immediate well being was not considered as a very big thing.
