Amrit Sadhana @ Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune, India.

Meditation is an inner bath

  

It is customary in India to take a bath, wear clean clothes before entering a temple

 It is customary in India to take a bath, wear clean clothes before entering a temple or performing a religious ritual. It is a good practice but nobody bothers to inquire what is the necessity of a bath? This outer bath is symbolic, it is an indicator of the inner bath, the bath of the mind. Unless one goes inside and looks at the immense dirt the mind has gathered one cannot conceive of the need of the inner bath. The human mind is a junk yard. There is anger, hatred, miseries, anxieties and all kinds of insanities buried in there. All these wounds release poison in the body. For example those who suppress their anger have very bad teeth and nails. As soon as anger arises, the poison begins to spread towards your nails and teeth. This happens with every negative emotion that emerges in the mind. The affect different parts of your body.  No detergent has been found to cleanse this inner filth!

However, Osho has found a highly effective method of cleansing the mind which is called catharsis. He is the first mystic who has introduced catharsis into meditation.

He says, " Release your anger, your pain, your miseries, your anxieties into the emptiness. And do not do this only mentally, let it be expressed by your whole body. If you can do it whole heartedly then you will not only find your mind becomes pure but your body will also achieve new dimensions of health, you will find that many illnesses are suddenly released by your catharsis. So many diseases which had firmly gripped you have suddenly disappeared.

"For example if you have an asthma, it means that somewhere the relation between breathing and the mind has become unnatural, somewhere the link is broken, some obstacle has arisen. If you can rightly experiment with the deep and chaotic breathing, that obstacle will dissolve. Or if you suffer from a constant headache, it means that some kind of anxieties have entered which are eating away your brain like worms from within. And you are overburdened. If those anxieties are dropped, suddenly you will find that your head has become light. "

 It will be a real purification if one cleanses the mind by this meditation and then cleanses the body before entering any religious place. In fact if the mind and the body is clean there will be no need to go to any sacred place, you become the sacred place! Just close your eyes and sit silently. All the mystics have said it again and again, don't search for any religious place, just look within. A purified mind and body is the abode of the whole.

Who posseses the river?

  

Copyright Osho International Foundation

There is a popular saying that "whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over." It is usually attributed to the great writer Mark Twain, but whoever actually said it could hardly have known just how intense that fighting would become as water gets scarcer.

Fighting over water is not new,  it is as ancient as human beings on earth.Even in Buddha's times people had the possessive attitude towards natural resources.

Osho tells a penetrating story how Gautama Buddha  resolved the water dispute between two kings. 

Buddha  was holding his camp by the side of a river, and he was surprised to see armies standing on both sides of the river. There were two kingdoms and the river was their boundary, and they had been fighting for generations over which kingdom the river belonged to . And they had not been able to decide -- so many times they had made the river red with blood and the fight had continued. Buddha had his camp there and the generals of both the armies came to seek his guidance. Just by chance, they entered his camp at the same time. They were shocked at this strange coincidence, but now there was no way to go back.

Copyright Osho International Foundation

Buddha said, "Don't be worried; it is good that you have come together. You both are blind, your predecessors have been blind, too. The river goes on flowing, and you go on killing people. Can't you see a simple fact: you both need water, and the river is big enough. There is no need to possess the river; and who can be the possessor? All the water is flowing into the ocean. Why can't both of you use it? One side belongs to one kingdom, the other side belongs to the other kingdom -- there is no problem. And there is no need even to draw a line in the middle of the river because lines cannot be drawn on water. And use the water; rather than fighting."

The generals understood that their fields and their crops were dying because they had no one to take care of them. Everyone was busy fighting. First they had to decide who possesses the river, only then could they water their fields. The stupid human mind thinks only in terms of possession. The man of insight thinks of utility.

Buddha simply said, "Use it! And come to me again when you have used all the water. If  there is still be a problem, we will see what to do about it. But come to me again only when you have finished all the water."

The warriors looked at each other, they felt trapped but they had no answer. They went back feeling like fools. We don't know what the outcome was, whether they saw their folly and ended the war or they are still fighting. But the water is still flowing as abundantly, as compassionately as ever. 

A woman's day, every day

International day for women is round the corner. Here are some chocolates and ribbons from Osho to both women and men . Enjoy!

 For the new woman:

  *The new woman does not have to compete or compare herself with man, she just have to be herself. It may look like an uphill task, but a change of gestalt will help her reclaim her lost power.

* Femininity is indeed very powerful. It is the power of creation, the power of a flower, the power of the water element; of the patience and resilience so essential for sustenance. 

   * I will continue to give woman every possible opportunity which she has been denied in the past. And there will be more women who will come to the surface. And they will prove my point that you are absolutely equal to men, there is no question of inferiority.

For the new men:

* Never argue with a woman.You may be right but she can never be wrong!

* A woman has to be loved, not to be understood.

 * The male mind, the Berliner; the female mind, the Viennese. The female mind has a grace, the male mind has efficiency. and of course, in the long run, if there is a constant fight, the grace is bound to be defeated -- the efficient mind will win. because the world understands the language of mathematics not of love. But the moment your efficiency wins over your grace, you have lost something tremendously valuable: you have lost contact with your own being. You may become very efficient, but you will be no more a real person. You will become a machine, a robot-like thing.

Participate in your child's misery

let the child cry

Why is he miserable?

When kids go astray, parents ask, " Where did we go wrong?" but when the parents go astray, what can the kids ask, to whom? They suffer silently or maybe they are silenced  by their own parents. And yet nobody dares to look with fresh eyes into this vital issue of bringing up children.

The repressive attitude of the past generations to their children will not work any longer. Osho endorses the new studies of psychologists who say that the screaming and shouting of a child is very healthy. Those children who cannot scream and shout in their childhood, who cannot throw tantrums, cannot show their displeasure openly become mentally sick forever. This screaming and crying of a child is a deep process, it is a method of relieving his pain. 

Osho has suggested a meditation for parents or elders who are bringing up children.

" If a child is crying, neither you scold him, nor pat him, nor advise him, just sit with him silently, go on watching him meditatively, lovingly. But do not stop him from crying or try to make him sleep by patting his head. Do not give him toys because it means you are bribing him. Do not distract  his mind by showing him a beautiful sparrow sitting on a tree. By doing this you are distracting him from his natural way. Just be silent without getting angry – because your anger too can function as suppression for the child. Go on looking at the child silently and lovingly, then you will be amazed. As long as you give attention to a child lovingly, he would cry heartfully, he would scream. The child will vent out his feelings  for a while and afterwards will become light. He will start smiling, will become happy. He is not smiling to please you. Now this laughter is arising from the release of his pain. Now he has become light-hearted.  

Participate in the emotional cleansing

If we silently cooperate with the children's emotional needs  the perversion, the madness would be greatly reduced in this world. Parents should participate in  the emotional cleansing of their children, it will help their own cleansing, too. The children will start trusting their parents and a deep intimate bond will be created between both. So when the children mature sexually and they have strange sensations and attractions in their body and mind they will feel free to ask their parents about it, and the parents will not doubt their children's intentions. 

Osho tips for loving and living beautifully

Copyright Osho International

Hi! Looking for the best roses for your loved ones?

Enjoy the Valentine's Day by sharing these lovely Osho roses with your friends and beloveds.

If you practice these tips you will not need any roses to gift, you yourself will bloom like a rose.

* Love is never a relationship; love is relating. It is always a river, flowing, unending. Love knows no full stop; the honeymoon begins but never ends. It is not like a novel that starts at a certain point and ends at a certain point. It is an ongoing phenomenon. Lovers end, love continues. It is a verb, not a noun.

* The moment love becomes attachment, love becomes a relationship... the moment love becomes demanding, it is a prison. It has destroyed the freedom; you cannot fly in the sky, you are encaged.

* No relationship can satisfy, because every relationship begins with great hope, and that is not possible to be fulfilled. Yes, that hope can be fulfilled, but it can be fulfilled only when you have fallen in love with the whole. No part can fulfill it.

* Remember well, the technological mind is a mathematical mind. The mind of the lover is non-mathematical; the mind of the lover is the mind of the poet. Love is a romance, not a technique. Love is a dream. not a technique. Love has a totally different approach to life.

* If you meditate and then make love, your love will have a tremendously new depth to it. Love and then meditate and suddenly you will see: when your energy is full of love, meditation goes so deep and so easily. You simply ride on the wave -- you need not make any effort. You simply float and reach higher and higher and higher.

* Sex creates jealousy but it is a secondary thing. It is not a question of how to drop jealousy; you cannot drop it because you cannot drop sex. The question is how to transform sex into love; then jealousy disappears.

Osho guest house

* The man who invented the double bed was one of the greatest enemies of humanity. Even in the bed, no freedom! You cannot move; the other is by the side. And mostly the other takes most of the space. If you can manage a small space you are fortunate !

* Love exists but you cannot possess it. If you try to possess it, you belong to the objective dimension and you are killing love -- that's why possession is destructive. If you possess a woman, if you say, 'She is my wife and I possess her' then she is no longer a person. You have reduced her to be a thing and she will never be able to forgive you.

* There are two ways of discovery. One is meditation -- without the other you search for the depth; another is love -- with the other you search for the depth. He becomes a root to reach to yourself. The other creates a circle, and both lovers help each other. The deeper love goes, the deeper they feel they are; their inner-beings are revealed.

Excerpted from Osho books/Osho International Foundation/www.osho.com

 www.osho.com

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.

Please don't make new year's resolutions

 The flowers and the butterflies don't make a new resolution, they just live the new. They are always new.
It is only the humans who make a folly of making resolutions.
Traditionally, people start thinking of making new year's resolutions at the end of the year: the things they want to change in their lives, the habits they want to drop or cultivate become part of their new resolutions.
Wait a moment! Stop and listen to the Osho advice before you jump into repeating the old pattern.

Osho says, there can only be one resolution for the new year : " I resolve never to make any resolutions for the future."
Wow! Never thought about it that this can also be a resolution.

But why does Osho say so? He has solid reasons for it.

*  All resolutions are restrictions for the future. All resolutions are imprisonments.
*You decide today for tomorrow? You have destroyed tomorrow. Allow the tomorrow to have its own being.
*Let it come in its own way! Let it bring its own gifts.
*Resolution means you will allow only this and you will not allow that.
*Resolution means you would like the sun to rise in the west and not in the east. If it rises in the east, you will not open your windows; you will keep your windows open to the west.
* What is resolution? Resolution is struggle. Resolution is ego.
*Resolution is saying, "I cannot live spontaneously." And if you cannot live spontaneously, you don't live at all -- you only pretend.
* So let only one resolution be there: I will never make any resolutions. Drop all resolutions!
*Let life be a natural spontaneity. The only golden rule is that there are no golden rules.

Walk without feet, fly without wings and think without mind

Every politician should meditate

Once Mandela was asked, how he kept himself from hating his tormentors, Mandela answered, "Hating clouds the mind... leaders can't afford to hate." Wish more politicians had this wisdom. It was an enigma for everyone close to him that how he did not carry any malice or a grievance against the whites who had tortured and humiliated him. This special quality of his being made Mandela tower over his detractors. Mandela was a politician in search of himself.

He did not talk about his interest in meditation publicly but his magnanimous heart and his behavior with his fellowmen had the fragrance of a maturity that blossomed within. He had turned his 27 years of incarceration into a retreat, where meditation transformed him into this rare human being.

He gave the same advice in a letter he wrote to his wife, Winnie Mandela, when she was sent to prison in Kroonstad: "You may find that the cell is an ideal place to learn to know yourself, to search realistically and regularly the processes of your own mind and feelings. In judging our progress as individuals we tend to concentrate on external factors such as one’s social position, influence and popularity, wealth and standard of education … but internal factors may be even more crucial in assessing one’s development as a human being: honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, purity, generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve your fellow men – qualities within the reach of every soul – are the foundation of one’s spiritual life…. Regular meditation, say of about 15 minutes a day before you turn in, can be fruitful in this regard. You may find it difficult at first to pinpoint the negative factors in your life, but the tenth attempt may reap rich rewards. Never forget that a saint is a sinner that keeps on trying.”

  

This is exactly what Osho has proposed for everyone in power, particularly politicians. “As far as I can see, all politicians should be meditators, should know something of the inner world. They should be more conscious, more compassionate, should know the taste of love. They should know the experience of the silence of existence, and the beauty of this planet, and the gifts of existence. And they should learn to be humble and grateful.”

"The world needs only one thing -- not great scriptures, just a simple method of becoming silent, of becoming yourself, of coming to your innermost center. Every politician should be forced to participate in some school of meditation, and unless he graduates from there he cannot stand for any political post. All politicians, unless they are meditative, are disqualified. They don't know themselves and they are controlling millions of people and their lives."

We saw another Osho insight inadvertently being followed outside Mandela's house, which is celebrating death. Yes, Mandela's admirers were singing and dancing instead of   mourning his death. A befitting farewell to a gorgeous life. The media lensemen who kept searching around looking for long faces outside Mandela's house were stumped!  

I am tempted to quote Osho once again, "Celebrating death will help you to understand that there is nothing in life to be afraid of. If death is a celebration, then what else can be a cause of fear? And if you can celebrate death, you have attained a maturity.It is possible only to those who live life as a rejoicing, a constant celebration."

Bharat Natyam at OSHO International Meditation Resort

Swati and Nupur Daithankar mesmerize  Osho Meditators

Renowned Bharat Natyam dancer Dr Swati Daithankar along with her competent daughter Nupur gave a stunning dance performance at Osho International Meditation Resort. The lovely duo opened the evening with a Shiva stuti and went along  presenting different aspects of this ancient temple dance namely rhythm, emotiing, foot work and theatre. Nupur's electrifying movements were a perfect foil to Swati's mature expressions and body postures. In the end Dhanjay Daithankar, Swati's famous husband, played Santoor while Swati danced to the tune of the hundred strings. A rare combination of North and South Indian music! The international audience was glued to their seats in the cold night as if mesmerized. 

Swati reads Osho's books and says they have helped through her  life, understand the art and are a great support inside.

 The union of inner man and inner woman

    

                                        Happy spectators at the concert

Allow the kids to throw tantrums

 

 When kids go astray, the parents ask, " Where did we go wrong?" but when the parents go astray, what can the kids ask, to whom? They suffer silently or maybe they are silenced forever by their own parents. And yet nobody dares to look with fresh eyes into this vital issue of bringing up children.

The repressive attitude of the past generations to their children will not work any longer. Osho endorses the new studies of psychologists who say that the screaming and shouting of a child is very healthy. Those children who cannot scream and shout in their childhood, who cannot throw tantrums, cannot show their displeasure openly become mentally sick forever. This screaming and crying of a child is a deep process, it is a method of relieving his pain. 

Osho has suggested a meditation for parents or elders who are bringing up children.

" If a child is crying, neither you scold him, nor pat him, nor advise him, just sit with him silently, go on watching him meditatively, lovingly. But do not stop him from crying or try to make him sleep by patting his head. Do not give him toys because it means you are bribing him. Do not distract  his mind by showing him a beautiful sparrow sitting on a tree. By doing this you are distracting him from his natural way. Just be silent without getting angry – because your anger too can function as suppression for the child. Go on looking at the child silently and lovingly, then you will be amazed. As long as you give attention to a child lovingly, he would cry with all his heart, he would scream. The child will vent out his feelings  for a while and afterwards will become light. He will start smiling, will become happy. He is not smiling to please you. Now this laughter is arising from the release of his pain. Now he has become light-hearted.  

If we silently cooperate with the children's emotional needs  the perversion, the madness would be greatly reduced in this world. Parents should participate in  the emotional cleansing of their children, it will help their own cleansing, too. The children will start trusting their parents and a deep intimate bond will be created between both. So when the children mature sexually and they have strange sensations and attractions in their body and mind they will feel free to ask their parents about it, and the parents will not doubt their children's intentions. 

From medicine to meditation

                                           Osho Dynamic meditation at OSHO International Meditation Resort

Ever wondered why are there so many chemists and druggists' shops in the modern  world? Almost at every corner you will find a shop packed with medicines. Have you ever thought who on earth must be taking all these pills and syrups? And in the first place do they need them?

To be honest  they don't. Recently it has been discovered that fifty to ninety percent of man’s diseases are produced by the mind. But the repercussions occur in the body. Because by and by the poison oozes out from the mind and seeps in the body  who  has to suffer its long lasting effects. Viewing this Osho introduced cathartic meditations. Just by breathing vigorously, gathering your whole energy and expelling the foul air from lungs cleanses the body so much! One feels light like a balloon filled with air. And if you can introduce some chaos in your breathing,  which means breathe irregularly, breaking the rhythm you are giving additional fuel to the mind to break down the old habits and drop the dead patterns.

Osho says," If you can do it wholeheartedly then you will not only find that your mind becomes pure but your body will also attain new dimensions of health, you will find that many illnesses are suddenly released by your catharsis. So many diseases which had firmly gripped you have suddenly disappeared. As as an example, if you have asthma, it means that somewhere the relation between breathing and the mind has become unnatural, somewhere the link is broken, some obstacle has arisen. If you can rightly experiment with the deep un-rhythmic breathing, that obstacle will dissolve, it will drop away.

If you suffer from a constant headache, then more often than not it means that some worries are corroding your brain from within like worms. You are overburdened, you have become loaded. If those anxieties are dropped, suddenly you will find that your head has become light. As if there was a constant weight inside and it has been lifted."

Mysteriously enough, health is something inherent inside everybody; no one can give the gift of health to anybody. Neither physicians nor your friends. They can wish you good health  but they cannot make you healthy.

Then what do the medicines do? They just remove the ill health. They remove the negative blocks and knots that disturb the natural harmony of the physical system. It is interesting that  those who are unhealthy have a close bond with their body whereas the healthy people live in the body but are not bogged down by it. Their body hums with them This state is the prerequisite  to meditation. So move from medicine to meditation at the earliest.

Stay fit, emotionally

 When Darwin observed many species on earth and concluded that those who are the fittest alone survive, little did he think of any other fitness than the physical one. He was certain that to be fit means to be physically fit.  With the evolution of human mind and the modern lifestyle emotional fitness has become  as much important as physical fitness . Researchers are now trying to go into the depth of  the EQ: emotional quotient. The EQ is defined as “the ability to sense, understand, and effectively apply the power and acumen of emotions as a source of human energy information and influence.”

Emotions are  indeed a great reservoir of human energy which are neglected by our education and culture. Emotions are not blind as they are considered to be, they have their own sight, their own intelligence. They may be wild, unruly but that  exactly is their power. Our society has taught us to be afraid of wildness, to be polite and restricted which means repressive. This is why most people are afraid of emotions. They mirror that side of personality which no one wants to see.

It is time we use this human potential for making life healthier and richer. Emotions tend to explode, they are irrational hence the fear. Osho is the only scientist of the inner world who has devised meditations which can be used to  release emotions methodically, and then transform them into creativity. Emotion is a high voltage energy, it needs to be expressed and thrown out. There is no need to be afraid of it. Emotions if repressed, become poisonous, they seep into the body, the organs and the whole system becomes sick. If we allow the anger or fear or jealousy full  expression  it is so cleansing, so relaxing that one feels as if a burden of centuries is off the chest. Sometime alone in your room try to bring your anger out fully, roar like a lion, forget  about  all the social restrictions, be natural and feel the freedom that follows after this explosion. As if a thunder storm has gone away leaving the nature clean and washed. In that emptiness meditation happens naturally. Now just sit down and be silent.

   "Emotion is completely disregarded in our civilization, so the balance is lost and a lopsided personality develops,"   says Osho." If emotion is also used, then there is no imbalance. A balance of emotion and intellect must be maintained in the proper ratio; otherwise the whole personality gets diseased. Emotion and intellect are like two wings: when we use only one wing the outcome will be frustration. Then the bliss that comes from using both wings simultaneously, in balance and harmony, is never attained."

The Great Challenge/Courtesy Osho International Foundation/www.osho.com

Catch yourself red-handed!

                                             Courtesy Osho International Foundation

Gurdjieff was a great Russian mystic who was very down to earth. And a strange man too. He was extremely good at giving shock treatments to his disciples. His basic premise was that everybody is dreaming all the time; whether they are awake or asleep, doesn't matter. He used to take his disciples right in the buzz of the market and ask them to experiment with their meditation. He asked them to watch people walking on the street. Just stand by the side and look at people with passing by. When the disciples started watching alertly they found that  that  the people were sleepwalkers. They were walking like somnambulists. They looked awake because their eyes were open but they were walking in  trance. Their feet followed the road mechanically because they have trodden it many times. They were walking but their consciousness was not present in their walk. Their lips were moving as if they were talking to somebody, and there was nobody around! They were even found making gestures to somebody who was not present. Their faces had an invisible cloud of daydreaming, a dullness, a dark shadow, as if somehow they are forcing themselves to be awake, ready to fall any moment into dreaming, into sleep.  

Gurdjieff would say to his  disciples, "Unless you realize in your dreams that they are dreams, you will not be able to awake during the day." A tough criterion indeed. In the first place watching oneself during the day is so difficult, how can one watch in the dream?

Osho gives a clue, he says, "catch  yourself red-handed."  Start in the daytime.The moment you feel you are daydreaming, shake yourself and take note of it. You can even make a code word for waking yourself up. Like, ' not again!' or ' wake up!" or anything that suits you. It is a delightful game. You will start enjoying yourself like a child, every moment will be a new moment. You may even giggle or clap or dance. Bring more liveliness to it.

When you start becoming alert and awake you will find the activities and people all around are also part of a dream, they stop being real. If you can deepen this experience during the daytime this awareness will sink into your dream.

Osho says: " The dream has power only because you impart power to it. The more you become alert about your dreams, the more you will see gaps arising in your consciousness. But we have great investments in our dreams. We may be afraid of nightmares, but we are not yet fed-up of dreaming. We still go on cherishing sweet dreams."

So the only alternative is, catch yourself read handed while daydreaming.

Sadhana

Osho International Foundation felicitated for 'enlightening lives' across the globe

                              The trophy awarded to Osho International Foundation

In an event called " Public Service Week" organized by the Lions Club International Mumbai a gorgeous trophy was awarded to OSHO International Foundation recognizing their contribution to awakening many souls by sharing Osho meditations and his words internationally.

Amrit Sadhana, one of the trustees of Osho International Foundation received the award on behalf of the foundation.

In a letter to the trustees of Osho International Foundation, the district governer Lion Dinesh Shah wrote," We are very happy to know that your foundation is  spreading and imparting education in Yoga, meditation and various other forms to participants without any restrictions of cast, creed or special status for the full development of mind, body and soul and make them conscious human beings. The foundation is also imparting formal training in the field of art, science and humanities to make complete self development of human beings as  ideal citizens of the world."

Business the Osho way

While addressing the students of University of Pune a few weeks back, Wipro chief Aziz Premji shared some secrets of his success. He said that for him life is an eight-lane expressway — if you use these lanes intelligently, you are bound to zoom ahead.

One of Mr Premji’s commandments was “respond, don’t act”. It was significant to note that a top-notch businessman like him advised students to be aware of their emotions and to manage them. But you cannot learn this lesson in any of the management schools; one has to learn this from life. It can be learnt if you are watchful and observe the difference between people who react impulsively and those who disengage themselves from their emotions and respond objectively. By reacting emotionally, you are letting the other person control your behavior and by using your will and reason you are looking at the issue directly.

Most people are afraid of taking a decision because they want to avoid making mistakes. This thought is an obstruction to both personal and professional growth because making mistakes is an essential ingredient of learning. Osho says, “Don’t be afraid of making a mistake, but don’t make the same mistake again. Make a new mistake!” What people forget is that making a decision is an intuitive flash, it is a gift of the heart. Intuition is to be in tune with oneself. And out of that tuning, solutions arise. It is not a logical conclusion, it is a leap of consciousness. Once your intuition has started functioning, you need not go and ask a guide for any advice.

When the brain works in sync with the heart you arrive at the right decision. But that also means living dangerously.

Heed Osho’s suggestion: “Whenever you have alternatives to choose, always choose the unknown, because the known you have already lived. The known is known, so you will simply be repeating it. Never miss the unknown. Always choose the unknown and go headlong. Even if you suffer, it is worth it, it always pays off.”

The more decisive you become, the more integrated you become. Of course there are possibilities of going astray, but the risk is worth taking.

By going astray you will become richer. You will be happy that you went astray, because there are many things that can be learnt from the new experience. From all this struggle you will emerge a winner.

But playing to win does not mean winning all the time; it means putting all your energy with maximum intensity. Then whatever happens, you will not be a loser.

Express satisfaction

Tantra says:  Whenever satisfaction is found in whatever act, actualize it.

 Satisfaction is the juice your heart extracts from each moment, each sensation, provided you know the art of squeezing it. Just look, there are so many tiny moments of gratification every day: you feel thirsty and you drink a cool glass of water, can anything match the satisfaction that is felt after the thirst is quenched? But you don't pay attention to it because you are not present in the act of drinking water. You do it mechanically, unconsciously.

Tantra says, this small act can be turned into meditation. How? Forget the thirst, forget the water, remain with the deep satisfaction you feel after drinking it. Be filled with it, like the sky is filled with warm sunshine in the morning. Let your inner sky be filled with the warmth of this feeling.

Pick up myriads of moments you come across during the day. Have you noticed the "Ah!" that slips out of your heart when you have your first hot tea or coffee after waking up? Sipping the beverage, feel the vibrations of contentment spread all over your body. It is a state of meditation.

Do you steel feel that life is misery? Look closely, misery is your interpretation, it is not real. It is a projection of the mind clouded by negative emotions. The mind basically is negative, it pounces on a negative thought and archives it in the warehouse of the unconscious.

The Osho approach is completely attuned to Tantra. He says: "This technique gives you a positive approach, a total reversal to the ordinary mind and its process. Wherever satisfaction is found, feel it, become one with it. Don't take it as a passing phase. The satisfaction can become a glimpse of a greater positive experience. Everything is just a window. If you are identified with pain, you are looking from a window; and the window of pain, of suffering opens only towards hell. If you are one with a satisfactory moment, a blissful moment, you are opening another window. The existence is the same but your windows are different."

Satisfaction is like having a bouquet of fragrant flowers in the room. Its perfume permeates all around and within.

Don't call problem a "problem"

  

If you look at the world today you will find problems and problems everywhere. You will be terrified and will  shut your eyes, or feel bogged down and try to drown the problems in drinks or in drugs. These are merely escape routes.

Osho has come up with a novel suggestion: he says, do no call problem a "problem" , call it a situation. Immediately  your attitude towards the situation will change. The mind lives in labels, and the moment we label something as negative, the mind doesn't want to look at it. The brain enters a deadlock, it is blocked by fear and worry  and our thinking capacity goes in a negative mode.  

  Simple things like a leaking water tap  or a fused light bulb, or an un ironed dress seem to be big problems for people. Life will become  very stressful if we look at these day to day incidents as problems.

Can the life stop being a hurdle race and become a dance of joy and music? Yes, if you can look upon a problem as a new situation or even a challenging situation.  Jump and say "Yahoo!" because these situations activate that unconscious part of the brain which normally we do not use. Unless we encounter difficulties and are pushed to the wall we do not not tap our hidden resources. Usually the brain  becomes trapped into thinking along the same old lines and appear to be  incapable of breaking free. 

What we require on such occasions is to press a "pause" button of our conscious  brain and to allow our deep unconscious to come up with answers. It has a great creative energy  so it is exciting to deliberately engage different parts of the brain in the problem-solving process. This is an essential part of creative thinking. Maybe the situation will not change but your attitude towards it will definitely change.  This changed attitude will open you up to look into the situation.

The mystery of existence is such that the answer lies within the question. It is like diving into a whirlpool: if you fight the current you will be drowned, but if you let go and whirl with the circular motion the current itself will throw you on the surface.

Osho says, "Look at the question deeply, and if the look is clear and total , the question disappears. No question is ever answered, it simply disappears; and  it disappears without a trace. All that you have to do is put the analytical mind away. When the unconscious finds the solution there is a leap of understanding which seems to come out of the blue. "

Courtesy OSHO International Foundation