"The whole sky…perhaps even the sky is not the limit, and the words are so small. It is so deep that even oceans are not so deep; and words…they don't have any depth. It is multi-dimensional. Words are linear, one dimensional. How to bring this strange experience to those who are groping on the path, just the way I was groping for millions of lives?'

"It is natural that a compassion should arise, because those who are groping are not strangers, they are fellow-travelers. You are blessed that you have found the door – now don't be hard; somehow make the deaf listen, the blind see. Make the words dance and sing and express the ecstasy – but how?

"And there is a great dilemma: on the one hand there is compassion pulling you towards the other seekers, and there is a diametrically opposite pull to remain silent because it is so beautiful to be silent, so blissful, such a benediction. The experience wants you to drown yourself completely in it and the compassion wants you to stay on the shore a little more and shout from the rooftops of the houses to those who are deaf. Perhaps somebody may hear.

"For seven days Buddha remained silent. He could not decide what to do. It was easier to remain silent and enjoy the sweetness of the experience and not to bother about others – but it was cruel, it was violent, it was not right for a man of heart. But the trouble was, even if he should decide to express, there are no words in human language which can bring the ultimate experience. In communication, explanation, there is no argument to prove it. The only argument is to experience it. If you ask for proof before the experience, there is no way; it cannot be proved. Puzzled, he remained silent.

"The story is tremendously beautiful, but remember it is a parable, it is not history.

"The gods in heaven… Buddhism does not believe in a God because that is too much a fascist idea. Buddhism believes in gods, a more democratic approach – and each human being ultimately has to become a god; that is the flowering of your potential."