I am talking about householders and sannyasins and I do not find any difference between the two. Householders must give respect to sannyasins and vice versa. Sannyasins should not think that householders are fallen people and similarly householders should not think of sannyasins as cheats. It is true, however, that some people say that people in yellow or in the garb of sannyasins are cheats. This is very bad. Such things are politically motivated, where one side wants to show the other as being very bad. You will often hear people talking about officials as being corrupt, businessmen as being crooked, labourers as being cheats and even sannyasins as being imposters. Who then is good?
These days, people say that traders are thieves, the leaders are corrupt, the ministers are crooked. You are talking about a society in which no one is supposed to be good. No society can survive in this way. You will have to look for good people in every society. You will have to search for goodness. There are many good saints in the world. Only a few people are bad; bad people are not large in number.
You must think about this point – this world is based on righteousness, on dharma. It is being run on the basis of honesty. This world moves on faith. You should understand this fully. If this world were devoid of good people, it would become a jungle. There is no dearth of good people here. The preponderance of good to bad is like a kilogram of vegetables with a quinine tablet in it. No sooner do you taste the vegetables than you feel something is bitter and declare that all the vegetables are bad. This world is not like that. If you find a hair in your food, it does not mean that all the food is full of hairs. Take out that strand of hair and the food will be as good as ever. In the same way, this world has a lot of truth, dharma, righteousness, faith and trust. That is why this world survives. We are not thieves and you are not thieves.
18 December 2001, Rikhiapeeth