Q: AS FAR AS THE COMMUNE THEN, DOESN'T YOUR CHOICE OF SHEELA AS THE
DAY-TO-DAY LEADER, IN LIGHT OF HER RECENT ACTIONS, REFLECT POORLY ON YOUR
CAPABILITY AS A JUDGE OF CHARACTER, AND ULTIMATELY HURT YOUR CREDIBILITY WITH
YOUR FOLLOWERS?

A: No. My choice of Sheela was absolutely correct. In the beginning, to create this commune we needed
a very pragmatic, practical, strong person. And she is. She was not a criminal when I had chosen her;
neither was Judas a murderer when Jesus has accepted him as his disciple.

Something very basic is implied there. There are two possibilities: one is that the future is determined,
so that you can know about it, what is going to happen tomorrow. But then all freedom of humanity
disappears. Man becomes only a machine, a robot. The other alternative is, future is open. One who is a
murderer today my become a saint tomorrow. And one who is a saint today may prove to be a rapist
tomorrow. The tomorrow is absolutely open, and there is no way to predict it.

And I believe in freedom. I do not believe in God for the same reason, because if there is God, there is
no freedom. He created man; man is just a puppet. He can any moment destroy him, there is no way tochange the course.
God is whimsical. What he has been doing before he created man? According the Christianity he created
man 4004 years before Jesus Christ. So just 6000 years before the world was created, and what that guy was
doing for whole eternity? He seems to be crazy, nuts. And suddenly he creates the world in six days! And
then he creates such a big world in six days, you know you are going to have a mess. And seventh day he
retired to rest and since then nothing has been heard about him, he is resting. Now any moment he can wake
up and decide to destroy.

I do not believe in any God, because God is against freedom, against human dignity, against democracy,
against every value which we have cherished for thousands of years. Only existence without God can be an
existence beautiful, free, democratic, loving, growing. But then tomorrow remains unknown. You have to
take the risk.

So when I have chosen Sheela, she was just a simple woman. She was just a waitress in a hotel. But
because I went into silence, into isolation and she was my only communication with the commune, she got
the opportunity of becoming a power. And power corrupts.