Heaven is a state of being, it is a state of love

• Heaven is not something geographical, it is not something outside you, somewhere above the clouds; it is within you. The whole idea of a geographical heaven somewhere out there has led millions of people into all kinds of stupidities.
• Heaven is a state of being, it is a state of love. When you are full of hate you are in hell, when you are overflowing with love you are in heaven. The English word ‘paradise’ comes from a Persian word ‘firdaus’. Firdaus means a walled garden with many flowers, streams, birds. That garden is your potential. Seeds are there, everything is there as a potential but you have to actualise it. God only provides seeds and the challenge of life to sow those seeds, to grow, to protect, to water, to nourish, to wait. And then spring comes and one day the mysterious has happened.

The seed has never given any clue as to what it contained; when suddenly lotuses bloom you cannot believe that they were hiding in such small seeds, in ugly seeds — closed, windowless. They almost look like small stones, pebbles — and such beautiful roses were hiding there. if you had cut open the seeds you would not have found anything.

• That’s where science is missing: it goes on dissecting, cutting seeds and trying to find roses, lotuses, marigolds. It finds nothing, not even a hint, because the potential is invisible. It needs many things, only then can it become visible.

By becoming a sannyasin one is taking a step towards the actualisation of all the potential that has come with you from the very beginning. The potential should not die as a potential. That is the only sin, to have been living with such an opportunity and not to have used it. That’s the only sin. To have used it to its maximum, its optimum capacity, is virtue.