"The fish also never becomes aware of the ocean unless she is thrown out of the ocean by some accident or is caught by someone. Once separated from the ocean, for the first time the fish comes to know that she has been in the ocean all along.

"Unless you know something of paradise you will never become aware that you have been living in hell – not only living in hell but creating it, helping it to be there, feeding it, strengthening it. You are its creator and you live in the world you create, and you can't live in any other world. The only place to live is the place that you create around yourself. And that which you create around yourself first has to exist at the center of your being; only then can it become the circumference.

"The hell exists first at the center of your being, then it spreads, becomes a circumference. First it exists in you, as you, then it becomes your relationship, your world.

"Hell is not something geographical; it is something psychological. Hell is another name of a diseased mind, of a mind in anguish, turmoil, of a mind suffering nightmares, of a mind living basically in unconsciousness. The unconscious mind is what hell is all about, and the conscious mind is going beyond the hell.

"Don't believe in the old children's stories that hell is somewhere else; that too is a strategy of the mind to postpone. The mind always tries to postpone; it uses all methods, ways, and means to postpone things. It says, 'Yes, hell is deep down below the earth, far, far away. You need not worry – it happens only after death. Right now, there is no question about it, no need to waste time about it. At the time of death, you can decide where to go. If you remember God you will go into heaven, if you don't remember God you will go into hell.'

"And then you are living as if hell is somewhere else. It is herenow. All is herenow, hell and heaven both.

"A buddha lives in heaven. He walks along with you, he sits amidst you."