"You are not the master of it, you are in the hands of biology. And whatever you are doing, it is not your doing either: you are forced by your instinctive nature to do it – there is no option, it is not your choice. You cannot choose – as far as instincts are concerned, their grip on you is absolute; you are simply a prisoner.

"But you go on befooling yourself: you think it is something that you are doing – it is something that is being done through you.

"There is a story in India. In Jagannathpuri, one of the sacred places of Hindus – jagannath means the lord of the world; the temple in Jagannathpuri is the temple of the lord of the world. Because of the temple, the city has grown around it, and because of the temple, the whole city is called Jagannathpuri.

"Every year there is a great festival; millions of people gather. The statue from the temple is taken on a chariot for people to see, and it goes around those millions who have gathered. The chariot is drawn by beautiful horses, twelve, of the same color, pure white – the color of the lord of the world. The chariot is golden, of immense value.

"Once it happened – this is how the story goes – that a dog started walking in front of the chariot, in front of the horses. Now, when millions of people were there, who was going to bother about a dog who is walking in front of the chariot? People were falling on the ground, prostrating, to give respect to the lord of the world. And the dog thought, 'This is great! I have so many followers – I had no idea before. Such a multitude of disciplesI must be some great master.'

"Obviously – the logic is simple – the disciples were there and everybody was prostrating to him. He was not aware of the lord of the world, who was behind. Even if he tried he could not see, because the statue was high in the chariot, and then there were twelve horses. It was not possible for the dog to find out to whomand they were almost touching his feet."