"Except Jainism, all other religions – Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity – are theistic. They are rooted in the idea of God; without God they will be at a loss what to do. They are at a loss because since Nietzsche declared 'God is dead,' humanity, by and by, has agreed with Nietzsche. His statement became very prophetic; it represents the twentieth-century mind. And the religions which have depended on the idea of God for centuries feel uprooted. They are dying, withering away.

"Buddha is unique. He is neither atheistic like Jainism, nor theistic like other religions. He is a superb agnostic. He says there is no need to worry about unnecessary things. Think of the essential, think of the intrinsic, and don't be bothered about the accidentals.

"If you are authentic, if you are compassionate, if you are meditative, then if there is a God he will come to you; you need not go in search for him. And if there is a paradise it will descend in your heart. There is no need to be bothered about such abstract ideas; they simply waste your time. And if you are not authentic, not meditative, not compassionate, not wise enough, even if you come across God what are you going to do? You will feel a little embarrassed and God will feel a little embarrassed facing you. You both will be unnecessarily in a strange situation – what to say, what to do, what not to say, what not to do. You would like to escape and he would like to escape.

"Just think: if suddenly you come across God, what will you do? You will run away from him as fast as you can!

"Rabindranath has a beautiful parable. In one of his poems he sings: I searched for God for many lives. I saw him sometimes far away on a star, but by the time I reached there he had left the star long before; he was somewhere else. He was always somewhere else and I was chasing him. The very adventure was beautiful; I was enjoying the thrill of it.

"And then one day I happened to reach his home. For a moment I was ecstatic that I had arrived, but the next moment I became very sad."