Win the war with your love and joy

Photo Osho International Foundation

If the shocking statistics provided by the website Really-Worried.com are to be believed, the average urban person spends two hours and fifteen minutes of their day fretting.

Is it  really necessary to worry? Osho says, " worry is like a rocking-chair -- it keeps you going but gets you nowhere!"

I think worrying is a defense mechanism of the mind to avoid facing reality. The chronic worriers are anxiety ridden and have physical effects of constant worrying like difficulty swallowing, dizziness, dry mouth, fast heartbeat,fatigue,headaches ,inability to concentrate to name the few. 

So instead of worrying about the situation of the world or about our future Osho's advise is to start meditating.

He says, " We don't need bigger nuclear weapons to stop the war. We need something totally different. Love will provide the energy, meditation will provide you with tremendous strength. And you will not feel so insignificant, you will feel dignified and significant, because your love, your meditation, your blissfulness is going to save the world.

And don't be worried that you are helpless to do anything. The idea of helplessness has arisen because you have never been told what your resources are. You have never looked into your resources -- your love, your silence, your peace, your compassion, your joy. You have never looked into all this inexhaustible potentiality of your being. And if thousands of people blossom in love, music and dance, and the whole earth becomes a celebration, then any Ronald Reagan is not going to destroy this world. He will feel helpless; he will feel guilty to destroy such beautiful people and such a beautiful planet.

Explosion of joy 

You ask me, "The only thing I can see to do is to be here with you as much as possible, nourishing my consciousness and supporting your vision. Is there anything more that can be done?"
It is enough. More is not needed; more will keep you unnecessarily worried. And worry is like a rocking-chair -- it keeps you going but gets you nowhere! There is no need to worry and there is no need to feel desperate, helpless. A few idiots have prepared death for the planet; there are millions of intelligent people who can prevent it just by their love, by their joy, by their beauty, by their ecstasy. These are far more powerful experiences, because atomic energy, or nuclear energy, is part of the material world. It is the explosion of the atom, the lowest, smallest particle of matter.
We have not understood yet that nature has an absolute balance. If a small atom exploding can destroy... Have you ever thought about a living atom of your being and its explosion? In other words, we have been calling it enlightenment. It is nothing but an explosion of your being into light. And then suddenly you have a far higher and superior power. It need not fight with the lower, its very presence will make the lower impotent."
Excerpted from Hari Om Tatsat/Copyright Osho International Foundation/www.osho.com

When sadness surrounds...

Photo:Osho International Foundation

When the hype and excitement of the new year is over the real state of mind emerges. All the depressing emotions are hidden behind the momentary joy, waiting to surface. They have a life of their own and want the opportunity, too.The superficial celebration had only suppressed it little deeper but when the fire is blown away you can feel the amber smoldering inside.

One thing is sure, pushing the negative emotions down is no cure for them. On the contrary the more you are in a denial mode the more tension keeps mounting, and one day, all of a sudden it explodes.

Once a woman came to see Osho and expressed that sometimes she has these bouts of sadness. They come as a wave, for no apparent reason,but when they overcome her consciousness it is very strong and she cannot fight or pretend to be happy.

Osho's advice to her will prove to be a great insight for all of us to look into our various shades of emotions and how to deal with them. The first and foremost is: never to escape. Escaping from a situation is only strengthening it in an indirect way.

" Whenever you feel sad, sit silently and allow sadness to come; don't try to escape from it. Make yourself as sad as you can. Don't avoid it , that's the one thing to remember. Cry, weep... have the whole taste of it. Fall down on the earth, roll. This is to be remembered -- when you are feeling sad, don't lose the opportunity. Close the doors, sit down, and feel as sad as you can, as if the whole world is just a hell. Go deep into it... sink into it. Allow every sad thought to penetrate you, every sad emotion to stir you. And cry and weep and say things -- say them loudly, there is nothing to worry about."(Be realistic, plan for a miracle)

This becomes a meditation because such intense  sadness  is the moment to enter yourself. The ordinary tendency is not to allow it, we  find some ways and means so that we can look somewhere else --we go to the restaurant, or to the swimming pool, meet friends, read a book or go to a movie, play some happy music so that we can be engaged and can put  our attention somewhere else.

When it goes you will be unburdened, absolutely unburdened, as if the whole gravitation has disappeared and you can fly, weightless.And let it go by itself. Don't force it to go; it will go, because nobody can remain in a permanent mood.

Maxims to meditate upon

  Osho International Foundation

Osho encouraged people to ask questions of all kinds. His answers were very unpredictable. Sometimes he would twist the question and sometimes he would tear the questioner off. He has given lots of sutras or maxims to meditate upon in a funny way. Here is a colorful bouquet of one-liners Osho has given to meditate upon to an old actress and a theater person.

* A woman who looks like a dream usually gives a man insomnia.
* Two is company, three is the result.
* The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.
* Sometimes the best way to liven up the party is to leave.
* It is better to be in the missionary position than never to have any religion at all.
* The only time most people look like their passport photographs is during a hijack.
* In these days of jet travel, the only journeys that take a long time are the ones from your house to the             airport.
* A husband who gets his breakfast in bed is in hospital.
* Married life is like sitting in a bathtub -- after a while, it is not so hot.
* Marriage is like a violin. After the beautiful music is over, the strings are still attached.
* Nobody is ever satisfied. Poor men wish they were rich, rich men wish they were handsome, bachelors          wish they were married, and married men wish they were dead.
* The fastest way to discover your bad habits is to move in with your lover.
*  Sex is the most fun you can have without laughing.