So actually we bow to innocence within us. And this innocence is the one that gives you the enlightenment. As I told you yesterday the light has innocence, but this is innocent without knowledge. But your light is innocent with knowledge. We always think that the people who have got knowledge can never be innocent, can never be simple. And the idea we have got about innocence is that an innocent person is always deceived, can be befooled, and can be always taken for granted. But innocence is a power. It is a power which protects you, which gives you light of knowledge.

Knowledge that we have in the worldly sense is how to exploit others, how to cheat others, how to make money out of them, how to make fun of others, how to look down upon others. But the light of innocence is the light by which you know that love is the highest thing. And it teaches you how to love others, how to care for others, how to be gentle about others. It also gives you the light within.

It’s just the other way round of this avidya that we have in this world; just the other way round. The avidya outside teaches us competition; how to put the other person down. Because it has fear, it is insecure. This knowledge is not secure at all. If it had security it would not have behaved like this.

But the light of innocence knows everything. It has no fear. When we say children are innocent, we mean to say that they have that power of innocence. Many times people have noticed if a child falls from a height, it doesn’t die, while a young man may die with a much smaller height. And the child is not afraid while falling. He just enjoys, as if there is a parachute coming down, you know, nicely. And then when he falls down, also he just gets up, laughs, smiles at everyone. He doesn’t understand why everybody is worried. Because in that innocence he knows that he’s looked after, he’s protected. He knows that there is a power, which is much higher than him and he does not have to worry.

Then, we start putting ideas into the head of the child, and that is how he starts losing his power of innocence and he becomes a coward; he becomes a cunning fellow; he becomes an unrighteous personality. But, still we would say that the innocence of children is innocence of ignorance in a way, because they do not know the dangers of life. But the light of innocence knows all the dangers, and also knows how to get rid of it; also knows how to be away from such a person.

There was a wise man who was going on a staircase, and there was a stupid man coming from the other side: foolish man. So foolish people are always aggressive, that is one of the signs, because they have inferiority complex. So the foolish man says to the man who was coming up, he says—one had to move on one side—so he says, “I don’t move for fools.” The foolish one says. So the wise man says, “I do,” and he moved.

That’s how the light of innocence tells you how far to go with a person, how far to talk to a person, how far to indulge in another person’s personality or his problems. Otherwise, he recedes. He understands that this gentleman is a stupid fool so “I move for a fool like that.” He doesn’t pay attention to such a person, he doesn’t bother about such a person. This is the light of innocence which gives you discrimination; how far to go with others.