Question 2

BELOVED MASTER,

IF YOU ARE NINETY-NINE PERCENT ALCOHOL, WHAT ABOUT THE ONE PERCENT?

I said it deliberately -- that the master is ninety-nine percent alcohol -- and I was aware that somebody was going to ask the question: Why not one hundred percent? But I said it deliberately, for a certain reason.

The moment the master becomes one hundred percent alcohol he disappears. He cannot exist here; that much purity cannot exist here... he becomes invisible. That one percent impurity is a must -- otherwise there will be no difference between the master and God himself. God is one hundred percent alcohol, a master is ninety-nine percent alcohol: that one percent is the bridge. That one percent makes the master visible; God is invisible. And that is the whole purpose of a master -- that he brings you something that you cannot see by your own eyes. He becomes the vehicle, he becomes the medium, the passage. Once the master is also one hundred percent alcohol then there is no difference between the master and God himself. Then he will become as absent as God is: he will be here... but he cannot be a master.

It is said about Gautam Buddha -- a beautiful parable -- that when he reached the door of the ultimate the doors were opened, there was great celebration, great rejoicing: Buddha has come home. Rarely somebody comes back. The world is so vast, and people go astray in a thousand and one ways... rarely somebody returns back. One soul has returned back. But Buddha stopped at the gate and he would not enter. And the gatekeeper said: "Sir, why are you standing there? Come in."

Buddha said, "I will not come. I have to stand outside. Unless everybody else enters in, I will cling outside, I will not come in."

The gatekeeper said, "You have attained: now disappear into the absolute."

And Buddha said, "No. I will cling to this bank, outside the absolute, as long as I can, to help those who are still stumbling. I can see millions of souls stumbling on the way. If I disappear into the absolute, then my contact is broken."

The parable is beautiful. This is one percent which is not alcohol: one hundred percent... Buddha disappears. In the Jaina mythology they say that a person becomes a master if he has one desire still left in his being. If all desires disappear then a person disappears. If there is one desire still left then a person becomes a master -- and not pure alcohol. Jainas call it "a bondage." This too is a bondage: with this bondage the master clings to this shore. If he leaves this desire too he will be gone; he will be not of any help to you.

Millions of people down the ages have attained the truth, but very few of them have become masters. All enlightened people don't become masters, remember. Very rarely an enlightened person becomes a master -- because to become a master you have to be capable of allowing at least one percent impurity in your being. Great compassion is needed. Who bothers? When you have attained, who bothers? who wants to cling? One wants to disappear into the other... great compassion is needed.

It is reported in Ramakrishna's life that he was very much attached to food -- too much: his attachment was really unbelievable. He would be discussing about God and MOKSHA and meditation, he would be doing his SATSANGA... and just in the middle of it he would say, "Wait. I am coming." And he would go into the kitchen to see what was being prepared. His wife, Sharada, would tell him, "Paramahansa Deva, this doesn't look good. People laugh and they know where you are going. Just in the middle of such a great discussion, talking about God, suddenly you remember food. This doesn't suit you. People laugh about it, they joke about it."

But Ramakrishna would laugh and he would not change his habit. One day Vivekananda caught hold of him, mm? -- his greatest disciple -- and of course he was feeling very much offended because people were asking, "What is this about your guru? Is he mad? Why does he go to the kitchen to ask?" And when Sharada his wife would bring his thali, his food, he would simply jump! He would uncover the thali and look into it -- "What have you made?" -- and the disciples were there! It was unbecoming.

So Vivekananda closed the door, locked the door, and said, "Now you have to decide something." Ramakrishna said, "If you insist, then I will tell you the truth: the day I become indifferent to food, I will disappear. This is just an effort to cling to something. And food seems to be innocent enough -- one has to cling to something. This is my only way to remain on this shore. But you insist, so now you remember: the day I am indifferent to food, remember, Ramakrishna is here only for three more days."

They laughed; they didn't believe him. Who believes the master? They laughed. They said, "He must be joking, or he must be finding an explanation to explain it to us -- otherwise, this is not so." Even Sharada his wife wouldn't believe it. But this happened. One day Sharada brought his food, and rather than jumping and looking at the food he turned his face towards the wall. Sharada remembered what he had said a few years before... the thali fell from her hands. But Ramakrishna said, "Now it is too late. Now no need to make much fuss about it. You all always wanted me to turn away from food: I have turned. Now three more days..." And within three days he was gone; on the third day he was dead. That was one percent....

You ask me: "If you are ninety-nine percent alcohol, what about the one percent?" I am clinging to that one percent for you. It is possible for me, right this moment, to become one hundred percent -- but then I will be beyond your reach. In this world absolute purity cannot exist; it is not the nature of things. A little impurity is needed.