"Learn, grow in understanding, but don't follow rules. Rules are dead, understanding is alive; rules will become an imprisonment, understanding will give you the infinite sky.

"And every man is burdened with rules, every religion becomes nothing but rules. Because Jesus attained, because Buddha attained, their life became a rule for everybody else to follow. But nobody else is a Gautam Buddha, nobody else is a Jesus Christ; so at the most you can become a decorated carbon copy, but you will never be your authentic self. If you follow Jesus too much you will become a Christian but never a Christ, and that is the danger. To become a Christian and to miss Christ is not worth it. You can become Christ, but then Jesus cannot be your rule, only your own understanding will be the law.

"Jesus followed nobody. He had a master, John the Baptist, but he never followed any rule. He felt the master, he remained with the master, he looked at the flame of the master, he absorbed the master, he was baptized by the master – but he never followed any rules. Other followers of John turned against Jesus. They said, 'This man has betrayed you. He is going on his own, he is not following the rules strictly.'

"No man of understanding can follow rules strictly. Only people who are dead can follow rules strictly because no rule is for you; you are your own rule. Understand, learn from others just to find your own rule, but remember, never impose that rule on anybody else – that is violence. Your so-called mahatmas go on enforcing rules on others because through rules they kill and destroy, and they enjoy violence. Their violence is very subtle; they don't kill you directly, they kill you very indirectly. If somebody attacks you directly you can defend yourself. When somebody attacks you indirectly – for your own sake – you become completely a victim, you cannot even defend yourself.

"Many gurus are nothing but violence, but their violence is subtle. So whenever you come near a man who wants to impose his rules on your life, wants to give you a fixed frame, wants to give you a window to look at the truth through, escape from him, there is danger."