Well, there seems to be a lot of scientific research going on in your place – many research laboratories are there. If there is something discovered here which can be dangerous for the existence of the government, then will they not close it down?

Question: Well, there seems to be a lot of scientific research going on in your place – many research laboratories are there. If there is something discovered here which can be dangerous for the existence of the government, then will they not close it down?

Shri Shri Thakur: If a discovery curtails someone's existence and if that curtailment does not unfurl further existence of the being in general and does not goad them towards the path of wellbeing, then it is an assistant of death. What is the meaning of government? We form the government – human beings. If at all we do discover something like that, then how does closing down affect that? If we learn how to give different shapes to an iron rod after heating it, then there is no problem.

Question : Materialising that discovery into a reality may lead to arrest, imprisonment or even death penalty – what is the use, if it ends up like that?

Shri Shri Thakur:  Do not interpret it that way – if I have absolutely no desire to go against the government then whatever I do  they will never oppose. My discovery is not aimed for the Bengali community alone – it is for the entire world. That is why there will not be any opposition. If I do something with the intention of killing some British officer, then they will surely resist that, otherwise why will they resist? King Ashoka fought only one war in his life out of greed for winning other states through brutal bloodshed – this only established his cruel carnage everywhere, he could not establish himself in anybody's heart. Later, he realised his mistake – then he did not have to fight any more war. The flag of culture that he carried subsequently brought fame for Bharatvarsh and prosperity for the world. Only then he achieved the ownership of the real triumph. Afterwards people spiritedly started safeguarding Ashoka's existence as he turned benefactor to their own existence.¹

Question : Then are you trying to say that our activities are not at all constricted due to our subjugation?

Shri Shri Thakur:  We are ruined more for being served than the constriction of our activities from subjugation. That is to say, we have caused more damage to ourselves by receiving service for all our necessities from others. In comparison, the damage due to subjugation is appreciably less.

 Foot notes:

¹ – Asoka, the Great, ruled India from 222 to 260 B. C., embraced the Buddhist religion, and spread it over India and far beyond the limits of India. "If a man's fame," says Kopen, "can be measured, by the number of lips that have mentioned and still mention him with honor, Asoka is more famous than Charlemagne or Caesar." - from Encyclopaedia Britannica, p.764 Vol.2, 1911 Ed.

[Ref: Nana Prasange Vol.1, Ninth Edition, Dec-2001, Page 48-49]