Socialism is the ultimate consolation
The cunning and the clever are bound to become rich but that is the only way to reach real simplicity. Unless you have been cunning, unless you have been clever, you cannot reach the status of a sage.
It is not an accident that in India all the twenty-four TEERTHANKARAS of the Jainas, the twenty-four great Masters, were princes, and all the AVATARAS of the Hindus were kings, and Buddha's twenty-three previous incarnations were all in royal families. That's why there is a tremendous difference between Jesus' teaching and Buddha's teaching. Buddha's teaching soars really high like an Everest. The Upanishadic seers were rich people; that's why the Upanishadic statements have a beauty and a deep aesthetic sense about them.
Jesus was the son of a poor man, a carpenter. His words don't have THAT flavor which the words of Mahavira, Yagnavalka, Patanjali, Buddha and Lao Tzu have. These people have a totally different height and a multi-dimensionality. Jesus' words are simple, as simple as a poor man's can be. Of course they have a certain straightforwardness, but they are not like Everest; compared to Buddha's words they are just molehills.
And you can see that -- that only poor people of the world are becoming interested in Jesus' words. In India the people who are converted to Christianity are the poorest people. Christian missionaries have not been able to convert a single rich Indian to Christianity -- all the poor people are converted.
And the other extreme is also happening: the West is turning Buddhist. The intelligentsia of the West, of the rich countries, is becoming more interested in Zen, in Tao, in Yoga, and the poor people of the East are becoming more interested in Jesus. It is not just an accident; there is some hidden reason behind it. The poor people in the East are now finding a consolation in Jesus' words, and the rich people of the West are finding insights in the words of Buddha and Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Bokuju, Rinzai. The height is appealing. Jesus seems to be plain -- beautiful words but with no sophistication.
Why is the East turning closer to Jesus and the West turning closer to Buddha? And one should also take note of the fact that socialism is a by-product of Christianity; it has not happened in Hinduism, it has not happened in Buddhism, it has not happened in Jainism, it has not happened in Taoism. Christianity has given birth to the idea of socialism, because basically Christianity has been a consolation for the poor. Socialism is now the ultimate consolation for the poor. Socialism does not make them rich, it simply destroys the rich people, but then the poor feel happy because there is no comparison left.
The poor of America are in a far better situation than the people of the so-called communist countries, but the poor of America are not happy. Even the poor people of America have cars and television sets, and in Russia even the big communist bosses did not have such beautiful cars and television sets and radios. But Russians seemed to be more contented than the Americans -- for the simple reason that the comparison was no more there -- the rich had disappeared. Poverty had been distributed. That's what socialism is all about: distribution of poverty, EQUAL distribution of poverty.
When all are equally poor you don't feel discontented: Discontent arises only when you see a few people becoming richer. You may also be becoming richer -- with those few people, but that is not the point: the distance between you and the rich hurts.
Socialism is the ultimate consolation for the poor. If religions have provided opium for the poor, then socialism provides LSD for the poor!