This is a game. When I say marriage is a game, don’t think that I would not say that “guru and disciples” is not a game. It is a game. Some people enjoy it, so they play it. If you enjoy it, play it deeply; if you don’t enjoy it, forget it. But this is one of the most beautiful of games. It goes even deeper than marriage.
It is one of the most beautiful, most refined of games – and only when a culture reaches the peak does this dame develop, never before. So, really, only in India has the game developed. The game of the guru and the disciple came into being here. Now the West is discovering it for the first time because now the West is reaching to a peak. This game is the most luxurious. It is not ordinary, so only people who can afford it can play it. And if you know that this is a beautiful game and you enjoy it, you can play it. But don’t get serious about it. And disciples can be forgiven if they are serious, but when teachers are serious it is absurd. It cannot be forgiven if they are not even aware that this is a game.
In reality all games disappear, but for the mind, games exist. By this I am not saying that you should stop playing, I am only saying that you should become aware that this is a play and then if you enjoy it go on playing it. If you don’t enjoy it, then stop. Once you become aware that everything in life, every relationship, is a sort of game, you are already free, because you are in bondage only because of the seriousness. You are in bondage because you think everything is so serious. Nothing is so serious. But it is difficult to conceive of this whole life as a game.
Why is it so difficult? Because then the ego falls flat. If everything is a game, the ego cannot stand. The ego needs food. Seriousness is the food. It feeds on it. So when you become a disciple, if you are just playing, your ego cannot get strong through it because you know that this is a play.
What is there to be so egoistic about? People start thinking that they are disciples of a very great guru. The guru may not be great or he may be great, that is not the point – but the disciple thinks, “I am the disciple of the greatest guru.” That becomes a vitamin and the ego grows on it, becomes stronger.
That’s why disciples go on fighting about gurus. No one can believe that his guru is number two, he is always number one. And it is not about whether he is number one or not – that is not the point – it is because you can be number one only if your guru is number one. The ego of the disciple depends on the height of the guru. If someone says something against your guru, why do you feel so hurt? Your ego is hurt. your guru means your ego, embodied, and if someone says something against your guru, you cannot tolerate it. It is impossible because it is a direct hit at your ego.