The word ‘meditation’ and the word ‘medicine’ come from the same root. Medicine means that which heals the physical, and meditation means that which heals the spiritual.  Both are healing powers.

The word ‘healing’ and the word ‘whole’ also come from the same root. To be healed simply means to be whole, not missing anything. Another connotation of the word — the word ‘holy’ also comes from the same root. Healing, whole, holy, are not different in their root.

Meditation heals, makes you whole, and to be whole is to be holy.  Holiness has nothing to do with belonging to any religion, belonging to any church. It  simply means that inside you, you are entire, complete; nothing is missing, you are fulfilled. You are what existence wanted you to be. You have realized your potential….Religion is a journey inwards, and meditation is the way. What meditation actually does is, it takes you, your consciousness, as deep as possible. Even your own body becomes something outside. Even your own mind becomes something outside.

Even your own heart — which is very close to the centre of your being — becomes outside. When your body, mind and heart, all three, are seen as outside, you have come to the very centre of your existence.

This coming to the centre is a tremendous explosion which transforms everything.  You will never be the same man again, because now you know the body is only the outer shell; the mind is a little bit inner but not really your inner core; the heart is a little bit more inner, but still not the innermost centre. You are dis-identified with all the three.

You start feeling, for the first time, crystallized…not that old wishy-washy person you had always been. For the first time you start feeling a tremendous energy, inexhaustible energy that you were not aware of. For the first time you know that death will happen only to the body, to the mind, to the heart, but not to you.

You are eternal. You have always been here, and you will be always here — in different forms, and ultimately in a state of formlessness. But you cannot be destroyed — you are indestructible. That takes all fear from you. And the disappearance of fear is the appearance of freedom. The disappearance of fear is the appearance of love.

Now you can share. You can give as much as you want, because you are now at the inexhaustible source of living waters…. Meditation makes you whole, makes you holy, and makes you an inexhaustible source for all those who are hungry, thirsty, seeking, searching, groping in the dark.

You become a light…. Meditation is the way to the mastery of your own being. No God is needed, no catechism is needed, no holy book is needed. Nobody is needed to become a Christian or a Jew or a Hindu — all that is sheer nonsense. All that is needed is to find your centre, and meditation is the simplest way to find it.  It will make you whole, healthy spiritually, and it will make you so rich that you can destroy all the spiritual poverty of the world. And that is the real poverty.

The poverty of physical bodies in food, in clothes, in shelter, can be easily helped by science and technology. But science and technology cannot help to give you blissfulness — that is beyond their scope. And you may have everything that the world can offer, but if you don’t have peace, serenity, silence, ecstasy, you will still remain poor.