"You are wrong. Only a person who is obsessed with food can go on a fast, because fasting is the same obsession in the opposite direction. It is not really changing yourself. You are again obsessed with food. Before you were overeating; now you are remaining hungry – but the mind remains focused on food from the opposite extreme.

"A man who has been overindulging in sex can become a celibate very easily. There is no problem. But it is difficult for the mind to come to the right diet, difficult for the mind to stay in the middle.

"Why is it difficult to stay in the middle? It is just like the pendulum of a clock. The pendulum goes to the right, then it moves to the left, then again to the right, then again to the left; the whole clock depends on this movement. If the pendulum stays in the middle, the clock stops. And when the pendulum is going to the right, you think it is only going to the right, but at the same time it is gathering momentum to go to the left. The more it moves to the right, the more energy it gathers to move to the left, to the opposite. When it is moving to the left it is again gathering momentum to move to the right.

"Whenever you are overeating you are gathering momentum to go on a fast. Whenever you overindulge in sex, sooner or later, brahmacharya will appeal to you, celibacy will appeal to you.

"And the same is happening from the opposite pole. Go and ask your so-called sadhus, your bhikkus, sannyasins. They have made it a point to remain celibate, now their minds are gathering momentum to move into sex. They have made it a point to remain more and more hungry, starving, and their minds are constantly thinking about food. When you are thinking about food too much it shows that you are gathering momentum for it. Thinking means momentum. The mind starts arranging for the opposite.

"One thing: whenever you move, you are also moving to the opposite. The opposite is hidden, it is not apparent.

"When you love a person you are gathering momentum to hate him."