"Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy represent the ancient idea of the religious man as serious, sad, miserable, suffering. The old religions conceive this earth as a punishment; you are imprisoned here – because of your past lives' evil acts you have been thrown into this life; this is a punishment. And how can one be joyous when life itself is condemned as punishment? Then the only way out of the miseries is to get rid of life; hence the anti-life attitude of all the religions.

"And Mahatma Gandhi is a contemporary representative of the whole rubbish of the past: Man has to fight life, man has to fight everything that makes life beautiful, joyous, everything that will make you desirous of life – because the very desire for life has to be destroyed.

"A point comes when you are against everything in life, so there is no question of desiring a future life. You desire freedom from the body: how can you enjoy your body? How can you enjoy swimming? The body is the enemy. How can you enjoy love? The body is the bondage. How can you enjoy food? You have to uproot all possibilities of enjoying your body, others' bodies.

"And the whole world is made of matter. You have to avoid enjoying the surrounding world: you have to avoid a beautiful sunset. It is materialistic to enjoy a beautiful sunset, because it is material. To enjoy a roseflower is against religions. To enjoy anything is dangerous because it will lead you deeper into life, and you have to get rid of life. So all the teachings of religion try in different disguises to cut the roots of your joy, of your pleasure, of your blissfulness.

"Maitreya is a victim, just as everybody else in the world is a victim. On the one hand he was told to be anti-life; that has been the ancient idea of renunciation, of renouncing the world and its joys. And on the other hand he was told to sacrifice himself for the freedom of the country, for others. To think of oneself, to think of meditation was condemned as selfish: 'You should think of others, you should think of others' well-being, you should think of others' freedom.'

"You should think only of others, never of yourself: that is the ideal of the religious man, the saint."