"And you have been programmed in this whole past – programmed in such a way that lust for power has become almost natural.

"If you get power, then you want more. And there is no end to more. And the more power you want, the more people are going to lose their freedom. Your power is their loss of freedom. If you become ultimately powerful, they will become just slaves. So the real struggle is between the instinct of power and the value of freedom.

"It is possible to prevent it happening in a small commune like this. Simple methods can change it. What you are suggesting is an ultimate change – a change of their awareness: they become so conscious that no lust for power can raise its head in their psyche. That is a goal of all spiritual growth, but it will happen when it will happen. Meanwhile, we have to take temporary steps. For example, decentralization of power; it should not be in one hand, it should be in many hands. It should not be concentrated but diluted.

"There should be no hierarchy. Whatever one is doing, you may be a doctor, a professor, a president of a corporation, a farmer, a gardener – these are functions, they are not definitions of your individuality. The moment you come out of the classroom you are no longer a professor; you are a professor only while you are 'professing,' you are a teacher only while you are teaching. The moment the function ceases, you are simply a human being. The function is not you. What you do is not your being.

"This is my approach, and it is working. It was just because I was silent for three and a half years, and I was not in contact with the day-to-day activities of the commune, that Sheela could get into a power trip. But that too has been of immense significance for the whole commune to learn something – how people can go on becoming more and more attached to power and how power goes on corrupting them. And it is a vicious circle: power corrupts you, then corruption needs more power; otherwise you will be exposed, More power needs more corruption…"