"And the world is nothing but the collectivity of individuals, so whatever it is, it is a contribution of individuals. If it is ugly, you have contributed to its ugliness. If it is full of hate, jealousy, anger, greed, ambition, you have contributed to this whole hell in which we are living. You cannot throw the responsibility on somebody else; you have to accept the responsibility on your own shoulders.

"That is another way of understanding the statement, 'You are the world.'

"We are continuously shifting the responsibility. If there is war, if there is an Adolf Hitler, a Ronald Reagan, it becomes easy for us to point to these people and say that they are responsible. But who creates them?

"Adolf Hitler is our contribution. Without us, he is nobody.

"Ronald Reagan is nothing but our opinion. It is our vote, it is our support.

"So the moment you condemn anybody, remember: you are condemning yourself. However indirect your contribution may be, your contribution is there.

"It is possible to live like a Jaina monk or a Buddhist monk or a Catholic monk in a monastery, completely closed as far as the world is concerned.

"There are monasteries in Tibet…there used to be many in China before the communist revolution. There are a few in Europe with a strange and long history.

"The monastery at Athos in Europe is one thousand years old. In one thousand years, whoever has entered the monastery has not come out living. You only enter: once a monk, forever a monk. And the monastery does not allow its inmates to come out into the world; they are brought out only when they are dead.

"Do you think they are not responsible for Adolf Hitler? they are not responsible for world wars?

"Apparently it looks…How can you make these people responsible? – who have left the world, who have never looked back, who have disconnected themselves with the world.

"But still I say to you they are responsible. They are responsible by escaping – they escaped their responsibility. It does not make any difference.

"The Buddhist monks, the Jaina monks, the Hindu monks are not participating in worldly activities. But you can contribute in a positive way or you can contribute in a negative way."