“The way I talk is a little strange. No speaker in the world talks like me; technically it is wrong, it takes almost double the time. But those speakers have a different purpose – my purpose is absolutely different from theirs. They speak because they are prepared for it. They are simply repeating something that they have rehearsed. Secondly, they are speaking to impose a certain ideology, a certain idea on you. Thirdly, to them speaking is an art – they go on refining it.

“As far as I am concerned, I am not what they call a speaker or an orator. It is not an art to me or a technique; technically I go on becoming worse every day! But our purposes are totally different. I don’t want to impress you in order to manipulate you. I don’t speak for any goal to be achieved through convincing you. I don’t speak to convert you into a Christian, into a Hindu or a Mohammedan, into a theist or an atheist – these are not my concerns.

“My speaking is really one of my devices for meditation. Speaking has never been used this way: I speak not to give you a message, but to stop your mind functioning.

“I speak nothing prepared – I don’t know myself what is going to be the next word; hence I never commit any mistake. One commits a mistake if one is prepared. I never forget anything because one forgets if one has been remembering it. So, I speak with a freedom that perhaps nobody has ever spoken with.

“I am not concerned whether I am consistent because that is not the purpose. A man who wants to convince you and manipulate you through his speaking has to be consistent, has to be logical, has to be rational, to overpower your reason. He wants to dominate through words.

“One of the very famous books of Dale Carnegie is about speaking and influencing people as an art – it has been sold second only to the Holy Bible – but I would fail his examinations. He used to run a course in America to train missionaries, to train professors, and to train orators. I would fail on all counts. First, I have no motivation to convert you, I have no desire anywhere to impress you, and I don’t remember what I have said yesterday, so I cannot bother about being consistent – that is too much worry. I can easily contradict myself because I am not trying to have a communication with your intellectual, rational mind.

“My purpose is so unique: I am using words just to create silent gaps. The words are not important, so I can say anything contradictory, anything absurd, anything unrelated because my purpose is just to create gaps. The words are secondary, the silences between those words are primary. This is simply a device to give you a glimpse of meditation. And once you know that it is possible for you, you have traveled far in the direction of your own being.”