"They were simply being obedient – whatever was told they did it, and they did it with as much efficiency as they were capable of.

"In fact to make them responsible and condemn them, punish them, send them to the gallows, according to me was not fair. It was not justice, it was revenge. If Adolf Hitler had won the war, then Churchill's people, Roosevelt's people, Stalin's people or they themselves would have been in the same situation, and they would have said exactly the same – that they are not responsible.

"If Stalin had been on the stand in the court, he would have said that it was the order of the high command of the communist party. It was not his responsibility because it was not his decision; he had not done anything on his own. So if you want to punish, punish the source of the order. But you are punishing a person who simply fulfilled what all the religions teach, and all the leaders of the world teach – obedience.

"Obedience has a simplicity; disobedience needs a little higher order of intelligence. Any idiot can be obedient, in fact only idiots can be obedient. The person of intelligence is bound to ask why? – 'Why am I supposed to do it?' And, 'Unless I know the reasons and the consequences of it, I am not going to be involved in it.' Then he is becoming responsible.

"Responsibility is not a game. It is one of the most authentic ways of living – dangerous too – but it does not mean disobedience for disobedience's sake. That will be again idiotic.

"There is a story about the Sufi mystic, Mulla Nasruddin:

"From the very beginning it was thought that he was upside down. His parents were in trouble. If they would say, 'Go to the right,' he would go to the left. Finally his old father thought that rather than bothering with him, it is better, if they want him to go to the left, to order him to go to the right – and he is bound to go to the left.

"One day they were crossing the river. On their donkey they had a big bag of sugar, and the bag was leaning more towards the right so there was a danger that it may slip into the river; it had to remain balanced on the donkey."