Indian Meditation Paper

BHAGWAN SHREE RAJNEESH

MEDITATION

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO MEDITATION COMPILED BY SWAMI DEVA WADUD

THE FIRST AND LAST FREEDOM

M E D I T A T I O N : T H E F I R S T A N D L A S T F R E E D O M

INTRODUCTION NOTES TO THE READER

ABOUT MEDITATION

THE SCIENCE OF MEDITATION

What Is Meditation? 2 Witnessing, the spirit of meditation

6 The Flowering of Meditation 6 The great silence 7 Growing in sensitivity 7 Love, the fragrance of meditation 8 Compassion 8 Abiding joy for no reason at all 8 Intelligence: the ability to respond 9 Alonenessr your self-nature 9 Your real self

72 Methods and Meditation 12 Techniques are helpful 13 Begin with effort 13 These methods are simple 14 First understand the technique l5 The right method will click 15 When to drop the method 16 Imagination can work for you

18 Suggestions for Beginners 18 Enough space 18 The right place 19 Be comfortable 19 Bcgin with catlrarsis

Guidelines to Freedom The three essentials

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23 23

M E D I T A T I O N : T H E F I R S T A N D L A S T F R E E D O M

THE SCIENCE OF MEDITATION

23 23 a u 25 25 28 29

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Be playful Be patient Dont look for results Appreciate unawarcness Machines help but dont create meditation You are not your experiences The observer is not the witness Meditation is a knack

Dynamic Meditation: Catharsis and Celebration lnstructions for Dynamic Meditation * Giving birth to yourself Remember, rcmain a witness

Tlvo Powerful Methods for Awakening Kundalini Meditation * lvlandala Medintion *

Dancing as a Meditation Disappear in the dance Nataraj Meditation * Whirling Meditation*

Anything can be a Meditation Running, jogging and swimming I-aughing Meditation The laughing Buddha Smoking Meditation

Breath, A Bridge to Meditation Vipassana Watching the gap in the brcath Warching tte gap in the marketplace

THE MEDITAflONS 35 35 38

4l 43 4

45 45 47 48

49 5 l 53 v 55

57 59 62 &

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M E D I T A T I O N : T H E F I R S T A N D L A S T F R E E D O M

THE MEDITATIONS 6 68

69 7 l 74 '15

79 8 l 82

t5 87 88 90 95 97 98

l0r 103 105 r07

Dream mastery Thrcwing things out

Opening the Heart Frcm head tlr heart hayer Meditation * The heart of peacefulness Heart centering Atisha's heart meditation Start with yourself

Inner Centering AMullah Finding the real source Center of the cyclone Feel'I am' Who am I? To the very center ofbeing

Looking Within Seeing within Looking as a whole Inner circle

109 Meditations on Light lll Golden light meditation ll3 Heart of light ll5 Seeing etheric presence ll7 Translucentprcserrce

119 Meditations on Darkness l2l Inner darkness l2t4 Carry out inner darkness

M E D I T A T I O N : T H E F I R S T A N D L A S T F R E E D O M

THEMEDITATIONS 127 Moving Energy Upwards 129 The ascent of life energy I 135 The ascent of life energy 2

137 Listening to the Soundless Sound 139 Nadabrahma Meditation * 140 Nadabrahma for couples l4l Aum 143 Devavani (Gibberish) * I44 Instruction for Devavani Meditation 144 Instruction for Gibberish Meditation 145 Music as meditation 147 Thecenterofsound 150 Thebeginningandendofsound

153 Finding the Space Within 155 Enter the clear sky 158 Include everything 160 A meditation for the jet-set 161 Feel the absence ofthings 163 Hollow Bamboo

165 Entering into Death 167 Entering ino death l7l Celebrating death

173 Watching with the Third Eye 175 Gourishankar * l'16 Finding the witness 178 Touching as a feather 180 Looking at the tip of the nose

185 Just Sitting 187 7.qzen 189 The laughter ofzen

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THEMEDITATIONS 193 Rising in Love: A Partnership in Meditation 197 Circle of love 199 Shaking in sex 201 Circle of love alone

?I4 The T$o Difficulties 2U Theego 208 The chattering mind

213 False Methods 2I3 Meditationisnot.concentration 215 Meditation is not inmospection

217 Tricks of the Mind 217 Dont be fooled by experierrces 217 Mind can enter again 218 Mind can deceive you

OBSTACLES TOMEDITATION

QUESTIONS TO THE MASTER

222 225 228 23r 234 236 238 u2 u5 u9 252 256

Only a witness can rcally dance The goose has never been in! The watcher on the hill Where did you leave your bicycle? Just a l80o tum All paths merge on the mountain Celebrating consciousness Tune in to uncertainty Count the moments of awareness Make things as simple as possible Witnessing is like sowing se€ds Witnessing is enough

*YAA-HOO!" A Sound of Celebration The Mystic Rose Meditation

GOING DEEPER: LAUGHTER AND TEARS AND THE WATCHER 26I ON THE HILLS 263

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I N T R O D U C T I O N

he enlightened master Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is creating a worldwide rebellion for the sake of man's freedom and meditation. You may think

this is an odd choice. How are they rclated? Yet the sub- tle connection between the two is a crucial point in the understanding of man's future potential. The door to opening our capacity for love, intimacy, creativity and expansion ri meditation. And according to Bhagwan therc is no other dml no other path. For the pst thirty-five years, Bhagwan has been deci- phering many of the world's great religious, mystical, and esoteric traditions. His talks are contained in a mon- umental 350 volumes, where he has brought to life countless ancient and contemporary mystics, making tlrc wisdom of their teachings understandable and relevant to our lives today. This book is a compilation drawn from Bhagwan's pro- found work on meditation. It contains a wide variety of methods which can help us to discover what he calls "Meditation: The First and last Fr@dom." Bhagwan has said,

"Meditation is not something new; you have come with it ino the world. Mind is something new, meditation is your natue. It is your nature, it is your very being. How can it be difficult?" t

We make it difficult by struggling against something which we think is preventing us ftrom being free, or, by searching for something which we presume will give us

I N T R O D U C T I O N

freedom. It is actually found simply by relaxing into who we are, living life moment t0 momenL All over the world people are struggling wbe frcefrom something. The sruggle may be against a nagging wife, or a conmlling husband, a domineering parcnt, or a boss at work who is quashing creativity. My struggle was ei- ther a fight against a repressive plitical system or an ef- fort to tee myself of my childhood conditionings through countless thenapies. This struggle did not make me fiee; it was simply a reaction against something which I thought was not allowing me to be ftee. The freedom of meditation is not a search to hnd fiee- dunfor something, either. How many of us have dreams of being in some situation or utopia which would allow us just to relax and be ourselves, free ftrom the competi- tion and tension of everyday life? My experiences have demonstrated to me that the freedom we are searching for does not depend upon something owside ourselves. So what is the freedom we arc longing for? I have heard Bhagwan describe it as "just freedom": living in the here and now, moment [o moment, living neither in the mem- ory and oppression of the past nor the dreams of tlre fu- ture. Bhagwan has said:

"Eating - simply eat, be with it. Walking - simply walk, be there. Dont go ahead, dont jump here and there. Mind always goes ahead or lags be- hind. Remain with the moment." 2

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I N T R O D U C T I O N

Many of us have certainly experienced what Bhagwan is saying about the mind. Mind is always jumping ahead or laggrng behind, but it is never in the momenf it is a con- stant chattering. When this chattering takes place, it robs us of being in the moment and living life totally. How can we live totally when our mind is chauering to itself even while we are engaged in daily activities? To illustrate this for yor:rself you can try a small experi- menl Put this book down for a few momens and close your eyes. See how long you can just sit and enjoy the feel of your body, and any sounds that may be around you. The chances are it will not be very long, perhaps only a minute, before your mind stars chauering. If you sit for a while and notice what the chatterings are, you will be amazed: you will find ttnt you are carrying on many dif- ferent incoherent inner conversations with yourself which, if you overfieard someone else saying them out loud, you would think crazy. This constant chattering lit- erally robs us of life, preventing us from enjoying what each moment of life holds for us. So what o do about this outof-control chattering which sepi[ates us frrom, and robs us of, the precious moments of life? I have heard Bhagwan tell us over and over again to meditate. I have heard him say that we can't stop the chattering mind dircctly, but that through meditation the chattering can slow down and eventually disappear. With meditation the mind becomes a useful instrument.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

instead of enslaving us with its constant chatter. Howev- eq we often are confused by the profusion of countless meditation techniques which are generally obscure and not relevant for today's living. Bhagwan has taken these techniques, weeded out $e true from the false, and pene- trat€d to their very core, giving us a key which can open the door to a universe beyond our imagination. This master key is winessrng: a simple but profound s0ate of watching and accepting ourselves as we arc. Bhagwan tells us that

"Witnessing simply means a detached observa- tion, unpejudiced; that's the whole secret of med- itation." r

It's actually so simple tlut I went on mising it for years. We all certainly think we know what watching is; we ob- serve things around us all day long. We watch television, we watch other people go by and notice what they are wearing, what they look like, but we don't generally watch ourselves. When we do, it is usually though self- conscious criticism. We will notice something about our- selves which we dont like and then start worrying about what others will think. Usually these inner chatterings of the mind make us feel miserable. This is not witnessing. Bhagwan reminds us:

"Nothing needs !o be done; just be a witness, an observel a watcher, looking at the traffrc of the mind - thoughts passing by, desires, memories,

I N T R O D U C T I O N

dre:trns, fantasies. Simply stand aloof, cool, watching it, seeing it, with no judgment" with no condemnation, neither saying 'This is good,' nor saying 'This is bad'." e

Through the meditations that are in this book, you will discover what witnessing is. While sitting in Bhagwan's presence, witnessing just starts happening spontaneous- ly. Moments occur when you are just sitting, listening, feeling, watching whatever is happening with an inner silence. This silence is like the vast empty sky, yet vi- brating with life. Bhagwan's home is the sky and his very being is silence. His words caress the very depth of the heart" his song is the song of the empty sky.

"Your inner being is nothing but the inner sky. Clouds come and go, planes are born and disappear, stars arise and die, and the inner sky remains Lhe same, untouched, untarnished, unscarred.

"We call trat inner sky satsfuz, the witness, and that is, the whole goal of meditation.

"Go in, enjoy the inner sky. Remembel whatsoever you can see, you are not iL

I N T R O D U C T I O N

You can see thoughts, then you arc not thoughs; you can see your feelings, then you are not your feelings; you can see your dreams, desires, memories, imaginations, prrojections, then you arc not them. Go on eliminating all that you can see. Then one day a tremendous moment arises, the most significant moment of one's life, when there is nothing left to be rejected.

"All the seen has disappealed and only the seer is there. The seer is the empty sky. 'To know it is to be fearless, and to know it is to be full of love. To know il is o be God, is o be immortal." s

Through this book you are invited to experience your own inner sky. My gratitude and love for Bhagwan cannot be put ino words; only tears can convey my feeling. Through hear- ing his call to freedom I am beginning to awaken to the beauty and grace that each moment of life can bring.

Thank you, Beloved Master. Swami Deva Wadud, Poona, April 1988

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N O T E S T O T H E R E A D E R

How to use the book

n using this book as a guide in meditation you do not have to read it frrom cover to cover before trying any of the meditations. Use the book intuitivelv. Glance

through it and choose some section or meditation that appeals to you. For example, you may prefer O jump right ino one of the meditations in part III and get your feet wet before reading the guidelines. Go by what feels good io you. After choosing a meditation try il for at least three days and if it feels good, continue doing it and go deeper. The important thing is !o experiment playfully and simply ask yourself: Does this meditation help my joy and sen- sitivity to keep gowing?

Meditating to music

Music and meditation can go well together. About this, Bhagwan once said:

'"To me music and meditation arc two aspects of the same phenomenon. And without music, medi- tation lacks something; without music, meditation is a little dull, unalive. Without meditation, music is simply noise - harmonious, but noise. Wthout meditation, music is an entertainment; music and meditation should go together That adds a new dimension to both. Both are enriched by it." o

N O T E S T O T H E R E A D E R

Hence music tapes have been pepared to guide Dynarn- ic Meditation and many of the active methods, including Kundalini, Mandala, Nataraj, Devavani, Prayer, and Gourishankar, as well as Nadabrahma. The music tapes for the meditations are available ftom the distribuors listed at the back of this book.

Material printed in italics

Many of the meditations in part Itr are based on the teachings of various enlightened masters including Bud- dha, Patanjali and Shiva frcrn fudia, Atisha and Trlopa ftom Tibet and the Chine.se mast€r Lu Tsu. Where Bhag- wan quotes their verses or suFas, the selection has been inuoduced with the name of the earlier master in italics. Finally, there are a few selections in this book, for exam- ple the summary instructions for several of tlp medita- tions, which are based on Bhagwan's teachings but are not actually given in his own words. To show the differ- ence, these pieces have been printed in italics.

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About Meditation

A B O U T M E D I T A T I O N

Whatis Meditation?

the way your being can remain undisturbed, then slowly you can sart doing things, keeping alert that your being is not stirred. That is the second part of meditation - fint, leardng how just to be, and then leaming little actions: clean- ing the floor taking a shower, but keeping yourself centered. Then you can do complicated things. For example, I am speaking to you, but my meditation is not dis- turbed. I can go on speaking, but at my very center there is not even a ripple; it is just silent, utterly silent So meditation is not against ac- tion. It is not trat you have to es- cape from life. h simply teaches you a new way of life: you be- come the center of the cyclone. Your life goes on, it goes on really

Witnessing, the spirit of meditation

Meditation is adventure, thc greatest adventure the hwnan mind can undertake. Meditation is jtut to be, not doing any- thing - rn action, rn thought, rn emotion. You just are and it is a slwer delight. From where daes this delight come when you are not doing anything? It comes from nowhere, or it comes from everywlere. It is uncaused, because existence is made of the sruff called joy. '

f T /hen you are not doing also doing, contemplation is also

Vt/ anything at atl - bodily, doing. Even if for a single moment

Y V menully, on no level - you arc not doing anything and you when all activity has ceased and are just at your center, utterly re- you simply are, just being, that's laxed - tlut is meditation. And what meditation is. You cannot do once you have got the knack of it, it, you cannot practice it: you have you can remain in that state as long only to undentand il. as you want; finally you can remain Whenever you can find time for in that state for twenty-four hours a just being, drop dl doing. Think- day. ing is also doing, concentration is Once you have become aware of

A B O U T M E D I T A T I O N

more intensely - with more Joy, with more clarity, more vision, more creativiry - yet you are aloof, just a watcher on the hills, simply seeing all ttrat is happening around you. You are not the doe4 you are lhe watcher. That's the whole secret of medita- tion, that you become the watcher. Doing continues on its own level, there is no problem: chopping wood, drawing water fiom the well. You can do small and big things; only one thing is not allowed and that is, your centering should not be lost. That awareness, that watchfulness, should remain absolutelv uncloud- ed, undisturbed. z

Jn Judaism there is a rebellious I school of mystery called Has- sidism. Its foundeq Baal Shem, was a rare being. In the middle of the night he was coming from the river - that was his routine, because at the river in the night it was abso- lutely calm and quiet. And he used to simply sit there, doing nothing - just watching his own self, watch- ing the watcher. This night when he was coming back, he pased a rich man's house and the watchman was standing by the door. And the watchman was puzzled be- carse every night at exactly ttris

time, this man would come back. He came out and he said, "Forgive me for intemrpting but I cannot contain my curiosity anymore. You are haunting me day and night, ev- ery day. What is your business? Why do you go to the river? lvlany times I have followed you, and there is nothing - you simply sit there for hours, and in the middle of the night you come back." Baal Shem said, "I lnow that you have followed me many times, be- cause the night is so silent I can hear your footsteps. And I know every day you arc hiding behind the gate. But it is not only that you are curious abut me. I am also cu- rious about you. What is your business?" He said, "My business? I am a sim- ple watchman." Baal Shem said, "My God, you have given me the key word. This is my business too!" The watchman said, "But I dont understand. If you are a watchman you should be watching some house, some palace. What are you watching there, sitting in the sand?" Baal Shem said, 'There is a little difference: you are watching for somebody outside who may enter the palace; I simply watch lftis watcher. Who is ttris watcher? This is my whole life's effort; I watch myself."

The watchman said, "But this is a strange business. Who is going to pay you?" He said, "It is such bliss, such a joy, such immense benediction, it pays iself profoundly. Just a single moment, and all the treasues arc nothing in comparison tro it." The watchman said, 'This is strange. I have been watching my whole life. I never c:rme across such a beautiful experience. To- morrow night I am coming with you. Just teach me. Because I know how to watch - it seems only a dif- ferent direction is needed; you are watching in some differcnt direc- tion." There is only one step, and that step is of direction, of dimension. Either we can be focused outside or we can close our eyes to the ouside and let our whole consciousnes be centered inwards - and you will know, because you are a lnower, yon are awareness. You have never lost it. You simply got yortr awarc- ness entangled in a thousand and one things. Witldraw your awarc- ness from everywhere and just let il rest within younelf, and you have anived home. s

Th. essential core, fte spirit of I meditation is to leam how to

witness. A cmw crowing...you are listening.

A B O U T M E D I T A T I O N

These are two - object and subject. But cant you see a witness who is seeing both? - the crow, the listeneq and still there is someone who is watching both. It is such a simple phenomenon. You are seeing a trce: you are l}tere, the ree is there, but can't you find one thing more? - that you are see- ing the Dree, that there is a witless in you which is seeing you seeing the tree.4

\f,prcling is meditation. What V Y vou watch is irrelevanl You

.- *uln the uees, you can walch the riveq you can watch the clouds, you can warch children playing around. Watching ls meditation. What you watch is not the point; the object is not the point. The quality of observation, the quality of being aware and alert - ttat's what meditation is. Remember one thing: meditation means awareness. Whatsoever you do with awarcness is meditation. Action is not the question, but the qulity that you bring o your ac- tion. Walking can be a meditation if you walk alert. Sitting can be a meditation if you sit alert Listening to the birds can be a meditation if you listen with awareness. Just lis- tening to the inner noise of your mind can be a meditation if vou re- main alert and watchful.

The whole point is, one should not move in sleep. Then whatsoever you do is meditation. s

-fl h. fint step in awareness is to I be very watchful of your body.

Slowly slowly one becomes alert about each gesturc, each movement. And as you become aware, a mila- cle starts happening: many things that you used to do before simply disappear; your body becomes more relaxed, your body becomes morc atluned. A deep peace starts prevail- ing even in your body, a subtle mu- sic pulsates in your body. Then start becoming aware of your thoughts; the same has o be done with thoughts. They are more subtle than the body and of course, more dangerous too. And when you be- come aware of your thoughts, you will be surprised what goes on in- side you. If you write down wha[- soever is going on at any momenl you arc in for a great surprise. You will not believe that this is what is going on inside you. And after ten minutes read it - you will see a mad mind inside! Because we arc not aware, this whole mad- ness go€s on running like an under- current. It affects whatsoever you are doing, it aflecs whatsoever you arc not doing; it affects everything. And the sum tolal of it is going to be vour life! So this madman has to be

changed. And the miracle of aware- ness is that you need not do any- rhing except just become aware. The very phenomenon of watching it changes it. Slowly slowly the madman disappean, slowly slowly the thoughts start falling into a cer- rain pattem; tlreir chaos is no more, they become more of a cosmos. And then again, a deeper peace pre- vails. And when your body and your mind are at peace you will see that they arc attuned to each other too, there is a bridge. Now they are not running in different directions, they are not riding different horses. For the fint time there is accord, and that accord helps immensely to work on the third step - that is be- coming aware of your feelings, emotions, moods. That is the subtlest layer and the most difficult, but if you can be aware of the thoughs then it is just one step more. A little more intense awareness is needed and you start rcflecting your moods, your emG tions, your feelings. Once you are aware of all these thee they all be- come joined into one phenomenon. And when all these three are one - functioning together perfectly, humming togethe4, you can feel the music of all the three; they have be- come an orchestra - then the fourth happens, which you cannot do. It happens on its own accord. It is a

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A B O U T M E D I T A T I O N

gift'fiom the whole, it is a reward for those who have done these ttrce. And the fourth is the ultimate awarcness that makes one awak- ened. One becomes aware of one's awarcness - that is the fourth. That makes a buddha, the awakened. And only in that awakening does one come to lnow what bliss is.

The body knows pleasure, the mind knows happines, the heart knows joy, the fourth knows blis. Bliss is the goal of sannyas, of be- ing a seeke4 and awareness is the path towards iL 6

The important thing is that you I arc watchful, that you have

not forgotten to watch, that you are

watching ...watching...watching. And slowly slowly, as the watcher becomes more and more solid, sta- ble, unwavering, a transformation happens. The things that you wete watching disappear. For tlp f,ust time, tlre watcher iself becomes the watched, the observer iself becomes the observed. You have come home. z

A B O U T M E D I T A T I O N

The Flowering of Meditation

Meditation is not an Indian method; it is not simply a tech- nique. You cannot learn it. It is a growth: a growth of your to- tal living, out of your total living. Meditation is not something that can be added to you as you are. It cannot be added to you; it can only come to you through a basic transformation, a mutation. It is a flowering, a growth. Growth is always from the total; it is not an addition. Jwt like love, it cannot be added to j-ou. It grows out of you, out of your totality. You must grow towards meditation.a

The great silence

Qilence usually is understood to Ube something negative, some- thing empty, an absence of sound, of noises. This misunderstanding is prcvalent because very few people have ever experienced si- lence. All that they have experienced in

fte name of silence is noiseless- ness. But silence is a otally differ- ent phenomenon. It is utterly posi- tive. It is existential, it is not empty. It is overflowing with a music that, you have never heard before, with a fiagmnce that is unfamiliar to you, with a light that can only be seen by the inner eyes. It is not something frctitious; it is a reality, and a rcality which is al-

ready present in everyone - just we never look in. Your inner world has its own taste, has its own fragrance, has its own light. And it is utterly silent, im- mensely silent, etemally silent. There has never been any noise, and tiere will never be any noise. No word can reach there, but yor can reach. Your very center of being is the center of a cyclone. Whatever happens amund it does not affect it. It is etemal silence: days come and go, years come and go, ages come and pass. Lives come and go, but the etemal silence of your being remains exactly the same - the same soundless music, the same fragrance of godliness, the same transcendence from all that

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A B O U T M E D I T A T I O N

is mdrtal, from all that is momen- tary. It is not your silence. Youare it. It is not something in your posses- sion; you are posessed by it, and that's the grcahess of it. Even you are not there, because even your presence will be a disturbance. The silence is so profound that there is nobody, not even you. And this silence brings truth, and love, and thousands of other blessings to You. 9

Growing in sensitivity

\ fetution will bring you sen- IYlsitivity, a grcat sense of be- longing to the world. It is our world - the stars are ours, and we arc not foreigners here. We belong inninsi- cally to existence. We are part of it, we are the heart of it You become so sensitive that even the smallest blade of grass takes on an immense importance for you. Your sensitivity makes it clear to you that this small blade of grass is as important to existence as the biggest star; without this blade of grass, existence would be less than it is. This small blade of grass is unique, it is ineplaceable, it has is own individuality. And this sensitiviw will create new

friendships for you - friendships with trees, with birds, with animals, with mountains, with rivers, with oceans, with stan. Life becomes richer as love grows, as friendlines grcws. 10

Love, the fragrance of meditation

f f you meditate, sooner or later I you will come upon love. If you meditate deeply, sooner or later you will srart feeling a tremendous love arising in you that you have never known before - a new quality to your being, a new door opening. You have become a new flame and now you want to share. If you love deeply, by and by you will become aware that your love is becoming more and more medita- tive. A subtle quality of silence is entering in you. Thoughs are dis- appearing, gaps appearing. Si- lences! You are ouching your own depth. Love nrakes you meditative if it is on the right lines. Meditation makes you loving if it is on the right lines. tt

Vou want a love which is born I out of meditation. not bom out

of the mind. That is the love I con- tinually talk about.

Millions of couples around the world are living as if love is there. They are living in a world of 'as if '.

Of course, how can they be joyous? They are drained of all energy. They are trying to get something out of a false love; it cannot deliver the goods. Hence the frustration, hence the continuous boredom, hence the continuous nagging, fighting be- tween the lovers. They are both try- ing to do something which is impos- sible: they arc trying to make their love affair something of the eternal, which it cannot be. It has arisen out of the mind and mind cannot give you any glimpse of the etemal. Fint go into meditation, because love will come out of meditation - it is the fragrance of meditation. Meditation is the flowet the one- thousand-petaled lotus. Lrt it open. L€t it help you to move in tlte di- mension of the vertical, no-mind, no-time, and then suddenly you will see the fragrance is there. Then it is etemal, then it is uncondition- al. Then it is not even directed to anybody in particular, it cannot & directed o anybody in particular. It is not a relationship, it is more a quality that sunounds you. It has nothing to do with the other. You are loving, you are love; then it is eternal. It is your fragrance. It has been around a Buddha, around a Zarathustra, around a Jesus. It is a

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A B O U T M E D I T A T I O N

totally different kind of love, it is qulitatively differenL t z

Compassion

p uddha has defined comPassion I-las "love ptus medilation." When your love is not just a desfue for the o$er, when your love is not only a need, when your love is a sharing, when your love is rnt that of a beggar but that of an emperoq, when your love is not asking for something in reurn but is rcady only o give - to grve for the sheer joy of giving - tlpn add medigtion to it and the pue fragrance is re- leased, the imprisoned splendor is rcleased. That is compassion; com- passion is the highest phenomenon. Sex is animal, love is human, com- passion is divine. Sex is physical, love is psychological, compassion is spiritual. tr

Abiding joy for no reason at all

or no rciason at all you sudden- ly feel yourselfjoyous.In odi-

nary life, if there is some reason, you are -ioyful. You have met a beautiful woman and you arc -by- ous, of you have got the money that you always wanted and you arc-ioy-

ons, otr you have purchased the house with a beautiful garden and you arc joyous, but these irys can- not last long. They arc momentary, they cannot remain continuous and unintemrpted- If your joy is caused by something it will disappear, it will be momen- tary. It will smn leave you in deep sadness; all joys leave you in deep sadness. But therc is a different kind of joy that is a confirmatory srgn: you arc suddenly joyous for no rcason at all. You cannot pin- point why. If somebody asks, "Why are you so joyous?" you cannot an- swer. I cannot answer why I am joyous. There is no reason. It's simply so. Now rirs joy cannot be distubed. Now whatsoever happens, it will continue. It is there, day in, day out You may be young, you may be old you may be alive, you may be dyrng - it is always there. When you have found some joy that rc- mains - circumstances change but it abides - then you ale certainly coming closer to Brddhah@d. t4

Intelligence: the ability to respond

what is demanded of you, what is tlrc challenge of the siuration. The intelligent person behaves accod- ing o the sinration and the snpid behaves accoding to the rcady- made answen. Whether they come ftrom Buddha, Christ o Krishna it does not matt€r, He always carries scripues aroud himself, he is afraid to depend on himself. The intelligent person depends on his own insight; he trusrs his own be- ing. He loves and Espects himself. The unintelligent person respects others. Intelligence can be rediscovered The only method to rediscover it is meditation. Meditation only does one thing: it desUoys all the bani- ers that tln society has created o pr€vent you ftom being intelligenr It simply Emoves the blocks. Is function is negative: it removes the rocks that are preventing you wa- ten ftom flowing, your qprings frrom becoming alive. Everybody is carrying the geat po- tential, but society has pt geat rocks o Fr€vent ir It has created China Walls around you; it has im- prisoned you. To come out of all prisons is intelli- gence * and never to get into anoth- er again. htelligence can be discov- ercd through mediteion because all those prisons exist in your mind; they cannot reach your being, fornr-

f ntelligence simply means abiliry Io rcspond, b€cause life is a flux. You have to be aware and to see

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nat6ly. fhey carnot pollute your be- ing, they can only pollute your mind - they can only cover your mind. If you can get out of the mind you will get out of Ckistianity, Hinduisrn, Jainisn, Buddhisrn, and all kinds of rubbish will be just finished. You can come to a full stop. And when you arc or$ of ttp min4 watching it, being aware of it" just being a wirrcss, you arc intelligenr Your intelligence is discovercd. You have undone what the society has done to you. You have de- stroyed the mischiefi you have de- suoyed the conspiracy of the priests and the politicians. You have come out of it, you arc a ftee man. In fact you are for the fint time a real man, an authentic man. Now the whole sky is you-s. Intelligence brings fteedom, intelli- gerrce brings spontaneity. 15

Aloneness: vour self-nature

I loneness is a flower, a lonrs .flblooming in your trcart Aloneness is positive, aloneness is health. It is the.by of being your- self. It is the Fy of having your own space. Meditation means: bliss in being alone. One is really alive when one has become capable of it, when

there is no dependence anymore on anybody, on any situation, on any condition. And because it is one's owrL it can remain morning, evening, day, night" in youth or in old age, in health, in illness. In life, in death too, it can remain because it is not something that is happen- ing to you from the outside. It is something welling up in you. It is your very nature, it is self-nature. to

I n inside journey is a journey lLrcwarus absolute aloneness; you cannot take anybody there with you. You cannot share your center with anybody, not even with your beloved. It is not in the nature of things; nothing can be done about it. The moment you go in, all connections with the outside world are broken; all bridges are broken. In fact, the whole world disappears. That's why the mystics have called the world illusory, moya, nd'. tltctt it does not exist, but for the meditatu, one who goes in, it is almost as if the world does not exisr The si- lerrce is so profound; no noise pene- trat€s it The aloneness is so deep that one needs gus. But out of that aloneness explodes bliss. Ort of that aloneness - the experierrce of God. There is no other way; there has never been any and tlse is never going to be. tz

/^telebrate aloneness, celebrate \-,your pure spzrce, and a great song will arise in your hearr And it will be a song of awareness, it will be a song of meditation. It will be a song of a lone bird calling in the distance - not calling to somebody in particular, but just calling be- cause the heart is full and wants to call, because the cloud is full and wants to rain, because the flower is full and the petals open and the fra- gfince is rcleased...unaddre.ssed. l€t your aloneness become a dance. tr

Your real self

\ rfeditation is nottring but a de- IVIvice to make you aware of your real self - which is not qeated by you, which need not be crcat€d by you, which you already are. You are born with ir Yan are it! It needs to be discovercd- If this is not pos- sible, or if the society &s not d- low it o happen - and no society allows it to happen, because the real self is dangerous: dangerous for tlte established church, danger- ous for the soate, dangerctrs for the crowd, dangerous fu the tradition, because once a man knows his rcal self, he becomes an individual. He belongs no morc to the mob psy- chology; he will not be supersti-

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A B O U T M E D I T A T I O N

A B O U T M E D I T A T I O N

tious, and he cannot be exploited, and he cannot be led like cattle, he cannot be ordercd and commanded. He will live according to his lighq he will live ftom his own inward- ness. His life will have temendous beauty, inlegrty. But that is the fear of the society. Integrated persons become individu- als, and the society wants you to be non-individuals. Instead of individu- ality, the society teaches you to be a personality. The word'personality' has to be understood. It comes from

lhe root, persana - persota means a mask. The society gives you a false idea of who you are; it gives you just a toy, and you go on clinging to tlrc toy your whole life. le

A r I see it, almost everybody is /4, in the wrong place. The per- son who would have been a tremen- dously happy doctor is a painter and the person who would have been a uemendously happy painter is a docor Nobody seems to be in his right place; that's why this

whole society is in srch a mess. The person is dfuected by ottnrs; he is not directed by his own inurition. Meditation helps you to grow your own innritive faculty. It becomes very clear what is going o fulfill you, what is going to help you flower. And whatsoever it is, it is going o be different for each indi- vidul - that is the meaning of the word 'individual': everybody is unique. And to seek and search for you uniqueness is a great thrill, a grcat advennr€. 20

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The Science of Meditation

T H E S C I E N C E O F M E D I T A T I O N

ith a master, with scien- tific techniques, you can save much time,

opportunity and energy. And sometimes within seconds you can gow so much that even wilhin lives you would not have been able to gfow that much. If a right tech- nique is used, growth explodes. And these techniques have been used in thousands of years of ex- perimens. They were not devised by one man; they were devised by many, many seekers, and only the essence is given here.

Vou will rcach the goal, be- I cause the life energy within

you will move unless it comes to the point where no movement is possible; it will go on moving to the highest peak. And that is the rcason why one goes on being born again and again. I-eft to your- self you will reach, but you will have to Eavel very, very long, and the joumey will be very tedious and boring. t

All techniques can be helpful but they ale not exactly mediradon, they are just a groping in the dark. Suddenly one day, doir'g some- ttring, you will become a witness. Doing a meditation like Dynamic, or Kundalini or Whirling. Suddenly one day the meditation will go on but you will not be identified. You will sit silently behind, you will watch it - that day meditration has happened; that day the technique is

no more a hindrance, no morc a help. You can enjoy it if you like, like an exercise; it gives a certain vitality, but there is no need now - the real meditation has happened. Meditation is witnessing. To medi- tate means to become a witness. Meditation is not a technique at all! This will be very confusing to you because I go on giving you tech- niques. In the ulcimate sense medi- tation is not a technique; medita-

Methods and Meditation

Techniques are helpful

Techniques are helpful because they are scientific. You are savedfrom unnecessary wandering, unnecessary groping; tf you don't know any techniques,youwill take a long time.

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T H E S C I E N C E O F M E D I T A T I O N

tion is an understanding, awarcness. But you need techniques because that final undentanding is very far away from you; hidden deep in you but still very far away flom you. Right this moment you can attain it. But you will not attain it, because your mind goes on. This very me ment it is possible and yet impossi- ble. Techniques will bridge the gap; they are just to bridge the gap. So in the beginning techniques are mediuations; in the end you will laugh - techniques are not medita- tion. Meditation is a totally differ- ent quality of being, it has nothing to do with anything. But it will happen only in the end; dont tlink it has happened in the beginning, otherwise the gap will not be bridged. z

Begin with effort

l\ feditation techniques are do- lYlings, because you are ad- vised to do something - even to meditate is o do something; even to sit silently is to do something, even to nat do anything is a sort of doing. So in a superficial way, all mediration techniques are doings. But in a deeper way they arc not, because if you succeed in them, the doing disappean. Only in the beginning it appears

like an effort. If you succeed in it, the effort disappears and the whole thing becomes spontaneous and ef- fortless. If you succeed in it" it is not a doing. Then no effort on your part is needed: it becomes just like breathing, it is there. But in the be- ginning there is bound o be effort" because the mind cannot do any- thing which is not an effort. If you tell it to be effortless, the whole thing seems absurd. ln Zen, where much emphasis is put on effortlessness, the masters say tio lhe disciples, 'Just sit. Dont do anything." And fte disciple tries. Of course - what can you do other than urying? In the beginning, effort will be there, doing will be there - but only in the beginning, as a necessary evil. You have to remember con- stantly that you have to go beyond it. A moment must come when you arc not doing anything about medi- tation; just being there and it hap- pens. Just sitting or standing and it happens. Not doing anything, just being aware, il happens. All these techniques are just to help you to come to an effortless mo- ment. The inner transformation, tlp inner realization, cannot happen through effort, because effort is a sort of tension. With effort you can- not be rclaxed totally; the effont will become a banier. With tlris back-

gpund in mind, if you make effort, by and by you will become capable of leaving it also. s

These methods are simple

E u.tt of these metlrods which .Ltwe will be discussing has been told by someone who has achieved. Remember this. They will lmk too simple, and ttrey are. To our minds, things which are so simple cannot be appealing. Be- cause if techniques are so simple and the abode is so near, if you are already in it, and the home is so near, you will look ridiculous to yourself - then why are you miss- ing it? Rather than feel the ridicu- lousness of your own ego, you will think that such simple methods cannot help. That is a deception. Your mind will tell you that these simple methods cannot be of any help - that they are so simple, ttrcy cannot achieve anything. '"To achieve Divine exis- tence, to achieve the Absolute and ttrc Llltimate, how can such simple methods be used? How can they be of any help?" Your ego will say that they cannot be of any help. Remember one thing - ego is al- ways interested in something which is difficult because when something

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T H E S C I E N C E O F M E D I T A T I O N

is ffiicult, there is a challenge. If you can overcome tlrc diffrculty, your ego will feel fulfilled. The ego is never attracted oward anything which is simple - never! If you want to give your ego a challenga then you have !o have something difficult devised. If something is simple, there is no appeal, because even if you can conquer it, there will be no fulfillment of ttre ego. ln the fint place, there was nothing to be conquercd: the thing was so sim- ple. Ego asls for difficulties - some hurdles to be crosse( some peaks to be conquered. And the morc diffi- cult the pealq ttre more at ease your ego will feel. Because these techniques arc so simple, they will not have any ap- peal o your mind. Remember, that which appeals to the ego cannot help your spiritual gowth. These techniques arc so simple that you can achieve all that is possible to human consciousness at any moment that you decide to achieve i L 4

First understand the technique

choking to death; a billiard ball was stuck in his tlroat, and the assistant was at a loss for what to do. So he asked the old docor, "What am I supposed to do now?" The old doc- tor said, '"Trckle the patient with a feather." After a few minutes the assistant phoned again, very hap'py and jubi- lant, and said, "Your treaunent proved wonderful! The patient startetl laughing and he spat the ball out. But tell me - from where have you learned this remarkable tech- nique?" The old doctor said, "I just made it up. This has always been my motto: when you dont know what to do, do something." But this will not do as far as medi- tation is concemed. If you dont know what to do, dont do any- thing. Mind is very intricate, com- plex, delicate. If you dont know what to do, it is better not to do anything, because whatsoever you do without knowing is going to cre- at€ more complexities than it can solve. It may even p'rove fatal, it may even prove suicidal. If you dont know anything about the mind.... And rcally, you dont know anything about it. Mind is just a word. You donl lnow tlte complexity of it Mind is the most complex thing in existence; there is nothing comparable to it And it is

the most delicate; you can desmy it, you carr do something which then can not be undone. These techniques are based on a very deep knowledge, on a very deep encounter with tlp human mind. Each technique is based on long experimentation. So remember this: dont do any- thing on yotlr own, and dont mix two techniques, b@ause their func- tioning is different, their ways are different" their bases are different. They lead to the same end, but as means they are totally differenr Sometimes they may even be dia- merically opposite. So dont mix two techniques. Really, dont mix anything; use the technique as it is grven. Don't change it, dont improve it - because you cannot improve it, and any change you bring to it will be falal. And before you start doing a tech- nique, be fully alert that you have understood it. If you feel confused and you dont really know what the technique is, it is be0er not t0 do it, because each technique is for bringing about a revolution in you. First ry to undentand tlp tech- nique absolutely rightly. When you have understood it, then try it And dont use this old doctor's motto that when you dont know what o

Jhave heard a story about an old Idoctor. One dav his assistant phoned him because he was in very geat diffrculty: his patient was

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T H E S C I E N C E O F M E D I T A T I O N

dci, do something. No, donl do any- thing. Nondoing will be more ben- eficial. s

The right method will click

J) eallf, when you try the right l\method it clicks immediately. So I will go on talking about meth- ods here every day. You try tlrcm. Just play with them: go home and try. The right method, whenever you happen upon it, just clicks. Something explodes in you, and you know that "This is the right method for me." But effort is need- ed, and you may be surprised that suddenly one day one method has gnpped you. I have found that while you are playing, your mind is morc open. While you are serious your mind is not so open; it is closed. So just play. Do not be too serious, just play. And these methods are simple. You can just play with them. Thke one method: play with it for at least three days. If it gives you a certain feeling of affinity, if it gives you a certain feeting of well-being, if it gives you a certain feeling tlnt this is for you, tlwn be serious about it. Then forget the others. Do not play with other methods; stick to it - at least for three months.

Miracles are possible. The only thing is that the technique must be for you. If the technique is not for you, then nothing happens. Then you may go on with it for lives to- gether, but nothing will happen. If the method is for you, then even three minutes are enough. e

When to drop the method

I ll the geat masters say this, .{-l,that one day you have to drop the method. And the sooner you drop it, the better. The moment you attain, the moment awareness is re- leased in you, immediately drop the method. Buddha used to tell a story again and again. Five idiots passed through a village. Seeing them, people were surprised, because they were carrying a boat on their heads. The boat was rcally big; they were almost dying under the weight of it. And people asked, "What arc you doing?" They said, "We cannot leave this boat. This is the boat that helped us t0 come from the other shore to this shore. How can we leave it? It is because of it that we have been able t0 come here. Without it we would have died on the other shore. The night was coming close, and there

were wild animals on the other shore; it w.ls ils sure as anything that by the moming we would have been dead. We will never leave this boat. We arc indebted forever. We will carry it on our heads in sheer gratitude." Methods are dangerous only if you are unaware; otherwise they can be used beautifully. Do you think a boat is dangerous? It is dangerous if you are thinking to carry it on your head for your whole life, out of sheer gratitude. Otherwise it is just a raft to be used and discarded, used and abandoned, used and nev- er looked back at again; there is no need, no point! If you drop the remedy, automati- cally you will start senling in your being. The mind clings; it never al- lows you to setde in your being. It keeps you interested in something that you arc nou the boats. When you dont ctng to anything, there is nowhere to go; all boats have been abandoned, you cannot. go anywhere; all paths have been &opped, you qmnot go anywhere; all dreams and desires have disap- pearcd, there is no way t0 move. Relaxation happens of its own ac- cord. Just think of the word relax.B,e... settle...you have come home. One moment all is fragrance, and the next moment you are searching

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T H E S C I E N C E O F M E D I T A T I O N

for it anO you cannot find it, where it has gone. Only glimpses will happen in the begmning. Slowly slowly, they be- come morc and more solid, they abide more and more. Slowly, slow- ly, slowly, slowly, very slowly, they settle forever. Before that, you can- not be allowed to take it for grant- ed; that will be a mistake. When you are sitting in meditation, a session of medilation, this will happen. But it will go. So what are you supposed to do between ses- sions? Between sessions, continue to use the method. Drop the method when you are deep in meditation. The moment comes, as awareness is getting purer and purer, when sud- denly it is utterly pue: dmp the method, abandon the method, for- get all abut the remedy, just settle and be. But this will happen only for mo- ments in the beginning. Sometimes it happens here listening to me. Just for a moment, like a brenze, you are transported inlo another world, the world of no-mind. Jus[ for a mo- ment, you know that you know, but only for a momenl And again the darkness gathen and he mind is back with all its dreams, with all its desires and all is stupidities. For a moment the clouds had sepa- rated and vou had seen the sun.

Now the clouds are therc again; it is dl dark and the sun has disap- pearcd. Now even to believe that the sun exiss will be difficult. Now to believe that what you had experi- enced a moment before was true will be difficulr It may have been a fantasy. The mind may say it might have been just imagination. It is so incredible, it lmks so im- possible that it could have hap- pened to yor. With all this stupidity in the mind, with all these clouds and darknesses, it happened to you: you saw the sun for a moment. It doesnt look prcbable, you must have imagined it; maybe you had fallen into a dream and seen it. Between sesions start again, be in the boat, use the boat again. r

Imagination can work for you 'pit.t

you must understand what I imagination is. It is condemned very much nowadays. The moment you hear the word "imagine" you will say this is useless, we want something real, not imaginary. But imagination is a rcality, it is a ca- pacity, it is a potentiality within you. You can imagine. That shows that your being is capable of imagi- nation. This capacity is a rcality. Through this imagination you can

destroy or you can create yoursell that depends on you. Imagination is very powerful. It is potential power. What is imagination? It is getting into an atdnrde so deeply that the very attitude becomes reality. For example, you may have heard about a technique which is used in Tibet. They call it heat yoga. The night is cold, snow is falling, and the Trbetan lama is standing naked under the open sky. The tempera- ture is below zero. You would sim- ply start dying, you would frreeze. But the lama is practicing a particu- lar technique - he is imagining that his body is a buming fire and he is imagining that he is perspiring - the heat is so much that he is per- spiring. And he actually starts per- spiring although the temperature is below zero and even tlrc blood should freeze. He starts perspiring. What is happening? This perspira- tion is real, his body is rcally hot - but this rcality is created through imagination. Once you get in tune with your imagination, the body starts func- tioning. You arc alrcady doing many things without knowing that it is your imagination working. Many times you create illnesses just tlrough imagination; you imagine that now this disease is here, infec- tious, it is all over the place. You have become receptive, now therc

T H E S C I E N C E O F M E D I T A T I O N

is every possibility that you will fall ill - and that illness is real. But it has been created through imagina- tion. Imagination is a force, an ener- gy, and the mind moves through it. And when the mind moves through it" the body follows. e

fhis is the difference between I the tantra tradition and West-

ern hypnosis: hypnotists think that by imagination you are creating something; tantra thinks that you are not creating it - by imagina- tion you are simply becoming at-

tuned o something that is alrcady there. Whatsoe,ver you create by imagination cannot be permanent Ifit is not a reality, then it is false, unreal, and you are creating a hal- lucination. r

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T H E S C I E N C E O F M E D I T A T I O N

Enough space

f T /hen you are trying to \ru meditate, put dre phone Y V off the hook, disengage

yourself. Put a notice on the door that for one hour nobody should lnock, that you are meditating. And when you move ino the med- itation room, take your shoes off, because you are walking on sacred ground. Not only trke your shoes off, but everything that you are preoccupied with. Consciously, leave everything with the shoes. Go inside unoccupied. One can take one hour out of nwenty-four hours. Give twenty- three houn for your occupations, desires, thoughs, ambitions, pro- jections. Take one hour out of all this, and in the end you will hnd ttat only that one hour has been the rcal hour of your life; those twenty-tfuee hours have been a sheer wastage. Only that one hour has been saved and all else has gone down the drain. to

Suggestions for Beginners

The right place

Vou should find a place which

I enhances meditation. For ex- ample, sitting under a ree will help. Rather than going and sitting in font of a movie house or going o the railway station and sitting on the platform, go to nature, to the mountains, to the rees, to the riven where tao is still flowing, vibrating, pulsating, sueaming all around. Trees are in constant meditation. Silent, unconscious, is that medita- tion. I'm not saying to become a tree; you have to become a buddha! But Buddha has one thing in com- mon with the tree: he's as green as a

tree, as full ofjuice as a tree, as cel- ebrating as a tree - of course with a differcnce. He is conscious, tie ree is unconscious. The uee is uncon- sciously in tao; a buddha is con- sciously in no. And that is a great difference, the difference between the earth and the sky. But if you sit by the side of a tree surrounded by beautiful birds singing, or a peacock dancing, or just a river flowing, and the sound of running water, or by the side of a waterfall, and the great music of i r . . . . Find a place where nahre has not

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T H E S C I E N C E O F M E D I T A T I O N

yet be€n disturbed, polluted. If you cannot find such a place, then just close your doors and sit in your own room. If it is possible have a special room for meditation in your house. Just a small comer will do. but especially for mediarion. Why especially for meditation? - be- cause every kind of act creates its own vibration. If you simply medi- tate in that place, that place be- comes meditative. Every day you meditate it absorbs your vibration when you are in meditation. Next day when you come, those vibra- tions start falling back on you. They help, they reciprocate, they respond. When a person has rcally become a meditaor, he can meditate sitting before a picture house, he can medi- tate on the railway platform. For fifteen years I was continuously traveling around the coun!ry, con- tinuously naveling - day in, day out, day in, day out, year in, year out - always on a train, on a plane, in a car. That makes no difference. Once you have become rcally root- ed in your being, nothing makes a difference. But tttis is not for the beginner. When the uee has become rooted, let winds come and let rains come and let clouds thunder; it is all good. It gives integrity to the ree. But when the ree is small, tendel then even a small child is dangerous

enough, or just a cow passing by, tlat is enough to destroy it. tt

Be comfortable

I posture should be such that l1'you can lorget your body. What is comfort? When you forget your body, you arc comfortable. When you are reminded continu- ously of the body, you are uncom- foruble. So whether you sit in a chair or you sit on the ground, that is not the point. Be comfortable, be- cause if you are not comfortable in the body you cannot long for other blessings which belong to deeper layers: the hrst layer missed, all other layers closed. If you rcally want to be happy, blissful, then start from the very beginning to be bliss- ful. Comfort of the body is a basic need for anybody who is trying to reach inner ecslasies. 12

Begin with catharsis

Jnever tell people to begin with Ijust siaing. Begin from where beginning is easy. Otherwise, you will begin !o feel many things un- necessarily - things that are not there. If you begin with sitting, you will feel much disturbance inside. The

more you try !o just sit, the more disturbance will be felt. You will become aware only of your insane mind and nothing else. It will crc- at€ deprcssion; you will feel frus- trated, you will not feel blissful. Rather, you will begin to feel that you arc insane. And sometimes you may really go insane! If you make a sincere effort to

'just

sit', you may really go insane. Only because people do not teally try sincerely does insaniry not happen more often. With a sitting posture you begin to lnow so much mad- ness inside you that if you are sin- cere and continue it, you may really go insane. It has happened before, so many times. So I never suggest anything that can create frustration, depresion, sadness. ..anything that will allow you to be too aware of your insanity. You may not be ready to be aware of all the insanity that is inside you. You must be allowed to get to know certain things gradually. Knowledge is not always good. It must unfold iself slowly, :ls your capacity to absorb it grows. I begin with your insanity, not with a sitting posture. I allow your in- sanity. If you dance madly, the op- posite happens within you. With a mad dance, you begin to be aware of a silent point within you; with sitting silently, you begin to be

T H E S C I E N C E O F M E D I T A T I O N

aware of madness. The opposite is always the point of awareness. With you dancing madly, chaotical- ly, with rying, with chaotic brcath- ing, I allow your madness. Then you begin to be aware of a subtle point, a deep point inside you which is silent and still, in contrast to the madness on the periphery. You will feel very blissful; at your center therc is an inner silence. But if you are just sitting, then tlre inner one is the mad one. You are silent on the outside, but inside you are mad. If you begin with something active - something positive, alive, moving - it wi[ be better. Then you will be- gin to feel an inner stillness grow- ing. The more it grows, the more it will be possible for you to use a sit- ting postwe or a lying postue - the more silent meditation will be pos- sible. But by then things will be dif- fercnt, totally differcnt" A meditation technique that begins with movement, action, helps you in other ways also. It becomes a catharsis. When you are just sitting, you arc frusuated: your mind wants to move and you are just sitting. Ev- ery muscle turns, every nerve nrms. You are trying to force something upon yourself that is not natural for you. Then you have divided yourself into the one who is forcing and the one who is being forced. And really, ttre part that is being forced and sup-

pressed is the more authentic part. It is a more major part of your mind than the part that is suppressing, and the major part is bound to win. That which you are suppressing is really to be thrown, not suppressed. It has become an arcumulation within you because you have been constantly suppressing it. The whole upbringing, the civilization, the edu- cation, is suppressive. You have been suppressing much that could have been thrown very easily with a different education, with a more conscious education, with a more aware parenthood. wittr a bener awareness of the irurer mechanism of the mind, the culture could have allowed you to throw many things. For example, when a child is angry we tell him, "Do not be angry." He begins to supprcss anger By and by, what was a momentary happen- ing becomes permanent. Now he will not act utry, but he will re- main angry. We have accumulated so much anger from what were just momentary things. No one can be angry continuously unless anger has been suppressed. Anger is a momentary tldng that comes and goes; if it is expressed, then you are no longer angry. So with me, I would allow the child o be angry more authentically. Be angry, but be deep in it. Do not supprress iL Of course, there will be p'roblems.

If we say, "Be angry," then you are going to be angry ct someone. But a child can be molded. He can be given a pillow and !old, "Be angry with the pillow Be violent wittr the pillow." From the very beginning, a child can be brought up in a way in which the anger is just deviated. Some object can be given to him: he can go on throwing the object until his anger goes. Within min- utes, within seconds, he will have dissipated his anger and therc will be no accumulation of il You have accumulated ange! sex, violence, greed - everyhing. Now this accumulation is a madness within you. It is therc, inside you. if you begin with any suppressive meditation (for example, with just sitting) you are sup'pressing all of this, you arc not allowing it to be rcleased. So I begin with a cathar- sis. First, let the suppressions be thrown into the air. And when you can throw your anger into the aiq you have become maturc. If I cannot be loving alone, if I can be loving only with someone I love, then I am not rcally manle yeL Then I am depending on some- one even to be loving. Someone must be there; only then can I be loving. That loving can be only a very superfrcial thing. It is not my natwe. If I am alone in the room I am not loving at all, so the loving

20 2 l

quality tias not gone deep; it has not become a part of my being. You become more and more mature when you are les and less depen- dent- If you can be angry alone, you are more mature. You do not need any object to be angry. So I make a catharsis in the beginning a musl You must throw everything into the sky, into the open space, without being conscious ofany object. Be angry without the penon with whom you would like o be angry. Weep without finding any cause. taugh, just laugh, without anything to laugh aL Then you can just throw the whole accumulated thing. You can just throw it! And once you know the way, you are unburdened of the whole past Wthin moments you can be unbur- dened of the whole life - of lives even. If you are ready o throw ev- crylhing, if you can allow your madness to come out, within mo- ments there is a deep cleansing. Now you are cleansed: fresh, inno- cent. You are a child again. Now, in y'our innocence, sitting meditation can be done - just sitting or just ly- ing or anything - because now drere is no mad one inside to dis- rurb the sitting. Cleansing must be the fint thing - a catharsis. O{herwise, with brcathing exercises, with just sitting, with practicing asanas, yogic postures -

T I I E S C I E N C E O F M E D I T A T I O N

you are just sup'pressing something. And a very strange thing happens: when you have allowed everything o be thrown out, sining will just happen, asanas will just happen. It will be spontaneous. Begrn with catharsis and then something good can flower within you. It will have a different quality, a different beauty - altogether dif- ferent. It will be autlentic. When silence comes to you, when it descends on you, it is not a false thing. You have not been cultivat- ing it. It comes t0 you; it happens to you. You begin to feel it glowing inside you just like a mother begrns to feel a child gmwing. tr

\f, /nen I used to lead medita- V V tion camps myself, there

was one method where every af- ternoon all the participants in the camp used to sit together and ev- erybody was allowed to do what- soever he wanted - no restriction, just he was not to interfere in any- body else's work. Whatever he wants to say, he can say; if he wants to cry, he can cry; if he wants to laugh, he can laugh - and one thousand people! It. was such a hilarious scene! People you could never have imagined - seri- ous people - doing such stupid things! Somebody was making faces, putting out his tongue as far

as he can, and you know that this man is a police commissioner! One man I cannot forget, because he used to sit in ftont of me every day. He was a very rich man frrom Ahmedabad, and because his whole business w:ls the share mar- ket, he was just contin,'ally on the phone. Whenever this one hour meditation would begin, within wo or three minutes he would take up the phone. He would start dialing the numbers: "Hello!" And he would say - it looked from his face as if he was gening the answer - "Purchase it." This would continue for one hou4 and he was again and again phon- ing to this place, to that place, and once in a while he would look at me and smile: "What nonsense I'm doing!" But I had to keep absolute- ly serious. I never smiled at him. So he would again start phoning: "No- body is taking any nodce, every- body is engaged in his own work." One thousand people doing so many things ... and these tlings were continuously going on in their minds. This was a geat chance for them to bring them oul It was such a drama. Jayantibhai used to be in charge of the camp in Mount Abu, and one of his closest friends took off all his clothes. That was a surprise! Jayan- tibhai was standing by my side, and

tjr*

T t I E S C I E N C E O F M E D I T A T I O N

he could not believe it. That man was a very serious man, very rich; what was he doing in fi,ont of onc thousand people? And tlren he smn- ed pushing the car in which I had come !o the place - it was Jayantib- hai's car. We were in the mountains, and just ahead therc was a thou- sand-foot drop, and he was naked pushing the car. Jayantibhai asked me, "What has to be done? He is going to destroy the catr, and I had never thought that this man was against my car We are close friends." So I told him, "You push it from the other side; otherwise he is go- i n g t o . . . . " So he was stopping the car and his friend was jumping around and shouting, "Get out of my way! I have always hated this car" - be- cause he did not have an imported ca4 and this was an imported car which Jayantibhai was keeping for me. I was coming m Mount Abu three or four times a year, so he was keeping that carjust for me. His friend must have been feeling jealous inside that he did not have an imported car And then a few people seeing the situation rushed to help. When he saw tlnt so many people were preventing him, just out of gotest he climbed a tree in front of me. Naked he sat in the top of the tree, and he started shaking

he ree. There was every danger that he would fall witlr the Eee on top of the thousand people. Jayan- tibhai asked me, "What has to be done now?" I said, "He is your friend. Let him be, dont be worried. Just move the people to this sidc and that, and let him do whatsoever he is doing. Now he is not destroying the car. At the most he will have multiple frac- tures." As people moved away, he also stopped. Silently he sat in the tree. After the meditation was over, he was still sitting in the uee, and Jayantibhai said, "Now get down. The meditation is over." As if he woke up from a sleep, he looked all around and saw that he was naked! He jumped out of the ree, rushed to his clothes, and said, "What happened to me?" In the night he came !o see me and he said, "This was a very dangerous meditation! I could have killed my- self or somebody else. I could have desroyed the car, and I am a great friend of Jayantibhai, and I had never thought...but certainly there must have been this idea in me. "I hated tlp idea that you come in his car always, and I hated the idea that he has got an imported car, but it was not at all conscious in me. And what I was doing in the ree? I must have been carrying so much

violence in me, I wanted t0 kill people." That meditation was immensely helpful. It relaxed people in one hour so much that tiey told me, "It seems a heavy load has disappeared from the head. We were not aware what we were carrying in the mind." But m become aware of it, there was no other way except an unlimited expression. It was only a small experiment, I told people to continue i[ soon you will come to many more things, and one day you will come to a point where all is exhausted. Remember only not to interfere with anybody, not to be destructive. Say anything you want to say, shout. abuse, what- ever you want - and exhaust all that you have been collecting. But this is a srange world. The govemment of Rajasthan passed a resolution in their assembly that I cannot have camps in Mount Abu, because they had heard all these things were happening there - peo- ple who are perfectly right become almost mad, start doing any kinds of things. Now the politicians in the assembly donl have any idea of the human mind, its inhibitions and how to exhaust tlrem, how to burn them. I had to stop that meditation because otherwise they were not going to allow me to have camps in Mount Abu. ta

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The three essentials

editation has a few es- sential things in it, whatever tfre method.

but those few essentials are n@es- sary in every method. The hrst is a relaxed state: no fight with the mind, no control of the mind, no concentration. Second, just warch with a rclaxed awarcness whatever is going on, without any interfer- ence - just watching the mind, silently, without any judgment, evaluation. These are the three things: relax- ation, warching, no judgment, and slowly, slowly a great silence de- scends over you. All movement within you ceases. You are, but there is no sense of 'I am' - just a pure space. Therc are one hundred and twelve methods of meditation. I have talked on all those methods. They differ in tlpir constitution, but the fundamentals remain the same: relaxation, watcMulness, a non-judgmental attitude. ts

Be playful

\ fillions of people miss medi- lYltation because meditation has taken on a wrcng connotation. It looks very serious, looks gloomy, has sometling of the church in iq it looks as if it is only for people who are dead, or almost dead - those who are gloomy, seri- ous, have long faces, who have lost festivity, fun, playfulness, celebration.... These are the qualities of medita- tion: a really mediutive person is playful; life is fun for him, life is a leela, a play. He enjoys it Eemen-

Be patient

J\ ont be in a hurry. So often, l-l hurrying causes delay. As you thinL wait patiently - the deeper the waiting, the sooner it comes. You have sown the seed, now sit in the shade and watch what hap- pens. The seed will break, it wi[ blossom, but you cannot speed the process. Doesnt everything need time? Work you must" but leave the results to God. Nothing in life

Guidelines toFrcedom

dously. He is not serious. He is re- laxed. 16

T H E S C I E N C E O F M E D I T A T I O N

is ever wasted, especially steps taken towards truth. But at times impatience comes; im- patience comes with thirst, but this is an obstacle. Keep tlre ttrirst and throw the impatience. Do not confuse impatience with thirst. With thirst there is yearning but no sfuggle; with impatience there is struggle but no yearning. With longing there is waiting but no demanding; with impatience there is demanding but no waiting. With thirst there are silent tears; with impatience there is rcsdess sruggle. Truth cannot be raided; it is arained thmugh surrendeq not through sruggle. It is conquered through te tal sunender. tr

Don't look for results

-l-h" ego is result-oriented, the I mind alwavs hankers for re-

sults. The mind is never interested in the act itself, its interest is in the resull "What am I going to gain out of it?" If the mind can manage to gain without going through any action, then it will choose the shortcut. That's why educated people be- come very cunning, because they are able to find shortcuts. If you earn money through a legal way, it

may take your whole life. But if you can earn money by smuggling, by gambling, or by something else - by becoming a political leader, a prime minister, a president - then you have all the shortcuts available to you. The educated person be- comes cunning. He does not be- come wise, he simply becomes clever. He becomes so cunning that he wants to have everything without doing anything for it. Medilation happens only o those who are not result-oriented. Medita- tion is a non-goal-oriented state. te

Appreciate unawareness

hile aware enjoy awareness, and while unaware enjoy

unawareness. Nothing is wrong, because unawarcness is like a resl Otherwise awareness would be- come a tension. If you are awake twenty-four houls, how many days do you think you can be alive? Without food a man can live for three months; without sleep, within three weeks he will go mad, and he will try to commit suicide. In the day you arc alert; in the night you relax, and that relax- ation helps you in the day to be more alert, fresh again. Energies have passed through a rcst period

so they arc more alive in the morning again. The same will happen in media- tion: for a few moments you are perfectly aware, at the peak and for a few moments you are in the val- ley, resting. Awareness has disap pearcd, you have forgotten. But what is wrong in it? It is simple. Through unawarcness awareness will arise again, fresh, young, and this will go on. If you can enjoy both you become the third, and that is the point to be understood: if you can enjoy both, it means that you are neither - neitier awarcness nor unaware- ness - you are the one who enjoys both. Something of the beyond enters. In facu this is the real wihess. Happines you enjoy, what is wrong with it? When happiness has gone and you have become sad, what is wrong with sadness? Enjoy it Once you become capable of en- joyrng sadness, hen you are nei- ther. And this I tell you: if you enjoy sadness, it has its own beauties. Happiness is a little shallow; sad- ness is very deep, it has a depth to it. A man who has never been sad will be shallow, just on the sur- face. Sadness is like a dark night, very deep. Darkness has a silence to it, and sadness also. I{appiness

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bubbles; ttere is a sound in it. It is like a river in the mountains: sound is created. But in the moun- tains, a river can never be very deep; it is always shallow. When the river comes to the plain it be- comes deep, but the sound stops. It. moves as if not moving. Sadness has a depth. Why create trouble? While happy, be happy, enjoy it. Dont get iden- tified with it. When I say be happy, I mean enjoy it. I€t it be a climate which will move and change. The moming changes into noon, noon changes into evening, and then comes night. Irt happiness be a climate around you. Enjoy it, and then when sadness comes, enjoy that too. I teach you enjoyment whatsoever is the case. Sit silently and enjoy sadness, and suddenly sadness is no longer sadness; it has become a silent peaceful moment, beautiful in itself. Nothing is wrong in it. And then comes the ultimate alchemy, the point where suddenly you realize that you are neither - neither happiness nor sadness. You are the watcher: you watch peaks, you watch valleys; but you are nei- ther. Once this point is attained, you can go on celebrating everything. You celebrate life, you celebrate death. tc

Machines help but don't create meditation

Q o many machines are being de- t J veloped around the world, prc- tending that they can give you med- itation; you just have to put on ear- phones and relax, and within ten minutes you will reach the state of meditation. This is utter stupidity, but there is a reason why such an idea has come to the minds of technical people. Mind functions on a certain wave- lengl.h when it is awake. When it is dreaming it functions on another wavelength. When it is fast asleep it functions on a different wavelenglh. But none of these arc meditation. For thousands of years we have called meditation turiya, the fourth." When you go beyond the deepest sleep and still you are aware, that awareness is meditation. It is not an experience; it is you, your very being. But these hi-tech mechanisms can be of tremendous use in the right hands. They can help to create the kind of waves in your mind so that you start feeling relaxed, as if half asleep ... ftroughts are disappearing and a moment comes that every- thing becomes silent in you. That is the moment when the waves arc fiose of deep sleep. You will not be

aware of this deep sleep, but after ten minutes, when you are un- plugged from the machine, you will see the effects: you arc calm, quiet, peaceful, no worry, no tension; life seems to be more playful and joy- ous. One feels as if one has had an inner bath. Your whole being is calm and cool. With machines tlings arc very cer- tain, because they don't depend on any doing of youn. It is just like listening to music: you feel peace- ful, harmonious. Those machines will lead you up o the third state - deep sleep, sleep without dreams. But if you think this is meditation then you arc wong. I will say this is a good experience, and while you are in that moment of deep sleep, if you can also be aware from the very beginning, as the mind starts chang- ing its waves... You have to be mor€ alert, morc awake, more watchf,rl - what is happening? - and you will see that mind is by and by falling asleep. And if you can see the mind falling asleep...tre one who is seeing the mind falling asleep is your being, and that is the purpose of all authentic meditation. These machines cannot create that awareness. That awareness you will have to create, but these machines can certainly create within ten min- utes a possibility that you may not be able to crcate in yean of effort.

T H E S C I E N C E O F M E D I T A T I O N

So I am not against these hi-tech in- struments, I am all for them. It is just that I want the people who are spreading those machines around the world to know that tlrcy are do- ing gmd work, but it is incomplete. It will be complete only when the person in the deepest silence is also alert, like a small f'lame of aware- ness which goes on burning. Every- thing disappears, all alound is dark- ness, and silence, and peace - but an unwavering flame of awareness. So if the machine is in the right hands and people can be taught that the real thing will come not tfuough the machine, the machine can create the very essential gound in which that flame can grow. But that flame de- pends on you, not on the machine. So I am in favor of those machines on the one hand and on the other hand I am very much against them, because many, many people will think, "This is meditation," and frey will be deceived. These machines will do immense harm, but they will spread all over the world very soon. And they are simple - lhere is noth- ing much in it; it is only a question of creating certain waves. Musicians can leam from those machines, what waves lhey create in people, and they can slan creating those waves through their insruments. There is no need for the machines, just the musicians can create those waves

for you, and you will start falling asleep! But if you can remain awake even in the deepest sleep, when you see that just one step more and you will become unconscious, you have learned a secr€t. That machine can be used beautifully. And this is true about all the ma- chines of the world: in the right hands they can be used Eemendous- ly for the benefit of mankind. In the wrong hands they can become hin- drances. And unfortunately, there arc so nuu:ly wrong hands.... But it is not meditation, it is simply a change in the radio waves that are continuously moving around you in the air. It can be certainly helpful as an experience; otherwise for many people meditation remains only a word. They think that some time they will mediute. And there re- mains a doubt, whether anybody meditates or not? But in the West the mind is mechan- ical, the approach is mechanical; ev- erything they want to reduce to a machine - and they are capable of it. But there are things which are be- yond the capacity of any machine. Awareness cannot be created by any machine; il is beyond the scope of any hi+ech. But what technology can give you can ceruinly be used. This can be used as a very beautiful jumping gound into meditation. And once vou have tasted aware-

ness, perhaps a few times the ma- chine may be helpful so that it be- comes more and more clear, so your awarcness becomes more and more s€parate from the silence that machine is creating. And ttren you should start doing it without the machine. Once you have leamed to do it without the machine, the ma- chine has helpei you immensely. zo

You are not your experlences

1|,ln" o[ the most fundamental \-,/things to remember - not only by you but by everyone - is that whatever you come across in your innerjourney, you arc not iL You are the one who is wihessing it - it may be nothingness, it may be blissfulness, it may be silence. But one thing has to be remem- bered - however beautiful and however enchanting an experi- ence you come by, you are not iL You are the one who is experienc- ing it, and if you go on and on and on, the ultimate in the journey is the point when there is no experi- ence left - neither silence, nor blissfulness, nor notlringness. Therc is nothing as an object for you but only your subjectivity. The mirror is empty. It is not re- flecting anything.It is you.

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Even great travelers of the inner world have got stuck in beautiful experiences, and have become identified with those experiences thinking, "I have found myself." They have smpped beforc rcaching the final stage where all experi- ences disappear. Enlightenment is not an experience. It is the stat€ where you arc left ab- solutely alone, nothing !o know No object, however beautiful, is pre- sent. Only in that moment does your consciousness, unobstructed by any object, take a turn and move back to the source. It becomes self-realization. It be- comes enlightenment. I must remind you about the word 'object'. Every object means hin- drance. The very meaning of the word is hindrance, objection. So the object can be outside you, in the material world; the object can be inside you in your psycho- logical world, the objects can be in your heart, feelings, emotions, sen- timents, moods. And the objects can be even in your spiritual world. And they arc so ecstatic that one cannot imagine there can be more. And many mystics of the world have stopped at ecstasy. It is a beautiful spot, a scenic spot, but they have not arrived home yet. When you come to a point when all experiences are absent, there is no

object, then consciousness without obstruction moves in a circle - in existence everything moves in a circle, if not obsructed - it comes from the same source of your being, goes around. Finding no obstacle to it - no experience, no object - it moves backwards. And the subject itself becomes the object- That is what J. Krishnamurti con- tinued to say for his whole life: when the observer becomes fte ob- served, know that you have anived. Before that there are thousands of things in the way. The body gives its own experiences, which have become known as the experiences of the centers of kundalini: seven centers become seven lotus flow- ers. Each is bigger than the other and highec and the fragrance is in- toxicating. The mind gives you great spaces, unlimited, infinite. But remember the fundamental maxim that still the home has not come. Enjoy the joumey and enjoy all the scenes that come on the journey - the trees, the mountains, the flow- ers, the riven, the sun and tle moon and the stars - but dont stop anywhere, unless your very subjec- dviry becomes its own object. When the observer is the observed, when the knower is the lnown, when the seer is the seen, the home has anived.

This home is the real temple we have been searching for, for lives togethet but we always go astray. We become satisfied with beauti- ful experiences. A courageous seeker has to leave all those beautiful experiences be- hind, and go on moving. When all experiences are exhausted and only he himself remains in his aloneness...no ecstasy is bigger than that, no blissfulness is more blissful, no truth is truer. You have entered what I call godliness, you have become a god.

An old man went to his doctor. "I have got toilet prroblems," he com- plained. "Well, let us see. How is your uri- nation?" "Every morning at seven o'clock, like a baby." "Good. How about your bowel movement?" "Eight o'clock each moming, like clockwork." "So, what is the problem?" the doc- tor asked. "I dont wake up until nine."

You are asleep and it is time to wake up. AII tlese experiences are experi- ences of a sleeping mind. The awakened mind has no experi- ences at all. zt

T H E S C I E N C E O F M E D I T A T I O N

The observer is not the witness

.fh. observer and the observed I are two aspects of the witness.

When they disappear ino each oth- er, when they melt into each othe4 when they are one, the witness for the fust time arises in its totality. But a question arises to many peG ple. The reason is that they think the witness is the observer. In their mind, the observer and the witness are synonymous. It is fallacious; the observer is not the witness, but only a part of it. And whenever the part thinks itself as tlre whole, error aris- es. The observer means the subjective, and the observed means the objec- tive: the observer means that which is outside the observed, and the ob- server means that which is inside. The inside and the outside can't be separate; they are togetlpl they can only be logether. When this togeth- erness, or rather oneness, is experi- enced, the witrress arises. You cannot practice'the witness. If you practice the witness, you will be practicing only the obse.rver, and the observer is not the wimess. Then what has to be done? Melting has to be done, merging has o be done. Seeing a rose floweq forget completely that there is an object

seen and a subject as a seel l-et the beauty of the moment, the benedic- tion of the moment, ovenvhelm you botfi, so fte rose and you arc no more sepante, but you become one rhythm, one song, one ecstasy. Loving, experiencing music, look- ing at the sunset, let it happen again and again. The more it hap- pens the better, because it is not an art but a knack. You have to get the hunch of it; once you have got it, you can trigger it anywhere, any moment. When the witness arises, there is nobody who is wimessing and there is nothing to be witnessed. It is a pure mirroq mirroring nothing. Even to say it is a mirror is not righq it would be better o say it is a mirroring. It is more a dynamic pro- cess of melting and merging; it is not a static phenomenon, it is a flow. The rose reaching you, you rcaching ino the rose: it is a sharing of being. Forget that idea tlnt the witness is the observer; it is not. The observer can be practiced, the witness hap- pens. The observer is a kind of con- centration, and the observer keeps you separate. The observer will en- hance, strengthen your ego. The morc you become an observer, the more you will feel like an island - separate, alool distant" Down the ages, the monks all over

the world have been practicing the observer. They may have called it the wimess, but it is not the wit- ness. The wimess is something to- tally differcnt, qualitatively differ- ent. The observer can be practiced, cultivated; you can become a better observer through practicing it. The scientist observes, the mystic witnesses. The whole pmcess of science is that of observation: very keen, acute, sharp observation, so nothing is missed. But the scientist does not come t0 know God. Al- though his observation is very very expert, yet he remains unaware of God. He never comes across God; on fie contrary, he denies ttrrat God is, because the more he observes - and his whole process is that of ob- sewation - the more he bepomes separate fiom existence. The bridges are broken and walls arise; he becomes imprisoned in his own ego. The mystic witnesses. But remem- ber, witnessing is a happening, a byproduct - a byproduct of being tolal in any moment, in any situa- tion, in any experience. Totality is the key: out of totality arises the benediction of wimessing. Forget all about observing; that will give you mor€ accurate information about the observed object" but you will remain absolutely oblivious of your own consciousness. z

T H E S C I E N C E O F M E D I T A T I O N

Meditation is a knack

l\ rfeditation is such a mystery IVIttaI it can be called a sci- ence, an art a lrnck, wittrout any contradiction. From one point of view it is a sci- ence because there is a clear-cut technique that has to be done. There arc no exceptions to it, it is almost like a scientific law. But fiom a different point of view it can also be said to be an art. Science is an extension of the mind - it is malhematics, it is logi, it is rational. Meditation belongs to the heart, not to the mind - it is not logic, it is closer to love. It is not like other scientific activities, but more like music, poe!ry, painting, darcing; herrce, it can be called an arr But mediation is such a gl€at mys- tery that cdling it 'science' and 'art' does not exhaust ir It is a knack - either you get il or you dont get ir A knack is not a science, it cannot be taught. A lsnck is not an art. A knack is the most mysteri- ous thing in human understanding. zr

Tn *y childhood I was sent to a Imasteq a master swimmer He was the best swimmer in fte !own. and I have never come acK)ss a man who has been so uemendously in love with water Water was god o

him, he wonhiped it, and the river was his home. Early - at tluee o'clock in the moming - you would find him on the river. In the evening you would frnd him on the river and at night you would hnd him sit- ting, meditating by the side of the river. His whole life consisted of being close to the river. When I was brought to him - I wanted to learn swimming - he looked at me, he felt something. He said, "But therc is no way to leam swimming; I can just throw you in the waler and then swimming comes of is own accord. There is no way to leam it, it cannot be taught. It is a knack, notknowledge." And ttnt's what he did -he threw me in the water and he was standing on the banlc For two, three times I went down and I felt I was almost drown- ing. He was just sunding therc, he would not even try to help me! Of course when yo"u life is at stake, you do whatsoever ytxr can. So I started tlrowing my hands about - they werc haphazard, hectic, bu the lnack came. When life is at stakq you do whatsoever you can do...and whenwer you do whatsoever you can do totally, things happen! I could swim! I was thrilled! "Next time," I said, "you need not tluow me into it - I will jump myself. Now I know that there is a nanral buoy- ancy of the body. It is not a question

of swimming, it is only a question of getting in nrne with the water ele- ment. Once you are in nrne with the water element it prot@ts you." And since then I have been throw- ing many people into the river of life! And I just stand there.... Al- most nobdy ever fails f he takes the jump. One is bound to leam. z

J t may take a few days for you to I get the knack. It is a lnack! It is not an art! If meditatiolr were an art" it would have been very simple to teach. Becaue it is a knack, you have to try; slowly you get it. One of the Japanese pofessors of psycholo- gy is trying to teach small children, six months ol4 to swirn, ud he has succeeded. Then he tried with chil- &en three months old - and he has succeeded. Now he is trying wittr the newly bom, and I hope that he succeeds. There is every possibility - because it is a knack. It does not need any other kind of experience: age, education...it is simply a knack. And if a six-month or three- month old baby can swim, that mfiurs we are naturally endowed with the idea of "how" to swim...it is jrst that we have to discover it. Just a little bit of effort and you will be able to discover it. The same is true about meditation - more Eue tlnn about swimming. You jrst have to make a little effot. zs

T H R E E

The Meditations

M E D I T A T I O N S

.l f,editation is an energy

l\/l phenomenon. One very I Y lUasic thing has to be un- derstood about all types of ener- gies, and this is the basic law to be understood: energy moves in a dual polarity. That is tlrc only way it moves; tlpre is no other way for its movemenl It moves in a dual polarify. For any energy to become dyna- mic, the anti-pole is needed. It is just like elecricity moving witlr negative and positive polarities. If there is only negative polarity, electricity will not happen; or if

Dvnamic Meditation: Cathars i s and Celebration

there is only positive polarity, electricity will not happen. Both poles are needed. And when botlr poles meet, they crcate electricity; then tlte spark comes up. And tlis is so for all types of phe- nomena. Life goes on: between man and woman, the polarity. The woman is the negative life-ener- gy; man is the positive pole. They

are electrical - hence so much at- traction. With man alone, life would disappear; with woman alone there could be no life, only death. Benpeen man and woman there exists a balance. Between man and woman - these two poles, these two banla - flows the river of life. Wherever you look you will frnd

the same energy moving in polari- ties, balancing itself. This polarity is very meaningful for meditation because mind is log- ical, and life is dialectical. When I say mind is logical, it means mind moves in a line. When I say life is dialectical, it means life moves with the opposite, not in a line. It zigzags from negative o positive -

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

positive !o negative, negative to positive. It zigzags; it uses the op- posites. Mind moves in a line, a simple straight line. It never moves to lhe opposite - it denies ttre opposite. It believes in one, and life believes in two. So whatsoever mind creates, it al- ways chooses the one. If mind chooses silence - if mind has be- come fed up with all the noise that is created in life and it decides o be silent - then the mind goes to the Himalayas. It wants to be silent, it doesnt want anything to do with any type of noise. Even the song of the birds will disturb ig the breeze blowing through the trees will be a disturbance. The mind wants si- lence; it has chosen the line. Now the opposite has to be denied com- pletely. But this man living in the Hi- malayas - seeking silence, avoiding the other, the opposite - will be- come dead; he will certainly be- come dull. And the more he choos- es to be silent, the duller he will be- come - because life needs the op posite, the challenge of the oppo- site. There is a different type of silence which exists between two opposites. The first is a dead silence, the si- lence of the cemetery. A dead man is silent, but you would not like to

be a dead man. A dead man is ab- solutely silent. Nobody can disturb him, his concentration is perfect. You cannot do anything to distract his mind; his mind is absolutely fixed. Even if the whole world goes mad all around, he will remain in his concentration. But still, you would not like to be a dead man. Silence, concentration, or whatever it is called...you would not like tio be dead - because if you are silent and dead the silence is meaning- less. Silence must happen while you are absolutely alive, vital, bubbling with life and energy. Then silence is meaningful. But then silence will have a different, altogether different quality to it. It will not be dull. It will be alive. It will be a subtle balance between nro polari- ties. A man who is seeking a live bal- ance, a live silence, would like to move to both tie market and the Himalayas. He would like to go lo the martet to enjoy noise, and he would also like o go to the Hi- malayas to enjoy silence. And he will crcate a balance beween these two polar op,posites, and he will re- main in that balance. And that bal- ance cannot be achieved through linear efforts. That is what is meant by the Znn technique of effortless effort It

uses contradictory terms - effort- less effort, or gateless gate, or path- less path. Zen always uses the contradictory term immediately, just to give you the hint that the pmcess is going to be dialectical, not linear. The op- posite is not to be denied but ab- sorbed. The opposite is not to be left aside - it has to be used. Left aside, it will always be a burden on you. Left aside, it will hang with you. Unused, you will miss much. The energy can be converted and used. And then, using it, you will be more vital, more alive. The op posite has to be absorbed, then the prccess becomes dialectical. Effortlessnes means not doing anything, inactivily - aktrma. Ef- fort means doing much, activity - karma. Both have to be therc. Do much, but dont be a doer - then you achieve both. Move in the world, but dont be a part of it. Live in the world, but donl let the world live in you. Then the contradiction has been ab- sorbed.... And that's what I'm doing. Dynam- ic meditation is a contradiction. Dynamic means effon, much ef- fort, absolute effort. And medita- tion means silence, no effort, no ac- tivity. You can call it a dialectical meditation. t

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

lnstructions for Dynamic Meditation

First stage: 10 minutes

p reathing rapidly in and out LD through the nose, concemrate always on the exhalation. TIE breath should nave deeply iuo tlu lungs, and the chest expands with each inhalation. Be as fast os you can in your breathing, making sure breathing stays deep. Do this as totally as you possibly can; withow tightening up yow body, make sure neck and slnulders stay relaxcd. Contirurc on, wrtil you lit- erally beconw tlw breathing, al- lowing breath to be chaotic (tlwt means not in a steady, predictable way). Once your energy is moving, ilwill begin to move your fudy. Al- low thcse body movenunts to be there, use tlwm to help you build up even mare energy. Moving yottr arms and body in a natural way will lulp your energy to rise. Feel yow energy building up; don't let go dwing tlw first stage and never slow down.

Second stage: 10 minutes

Follow yow body. Give your body freedom to express wlntever is there ... . EXPLODEI ... . I*t yow

body take over. Let go of every- tdng that needs to be thrown out. Go totally nud..' Sing, screarn, laugh, shout, cry, jump, shake, dance, kick, and throw yourself around. Hold nothing back, kcep your wlole body naving. A little acting often helps to get you started. Never allow your mind to interfere with what is lwppening. Remember to be total with your body.

Third stage: 10 minutes

Leaving your slwulders and ncck relaxed, raise both arms as high as you can without locking the elbows. With raised arms, jwnp up and down shouting the mantra HOO !...HOO!.. HOO! as deeply as possible, coming from the bot- tom of your belly. Each time you land on the flats of your feet (making sure heels touch the ground), let the sound hammer deep into the sex center. Give all you hcve, exhaust yourself com- pletely.

Fourth stage: 15 minutes

STOP! Freeze whcre you are in wlatever position you find yow- self. Don't arrange thc body in any way A cough, a movement, any- thing will dissipate the erwrgy flow

and tlte $ort will be lost. Be a witness to everything that is lwp- pening to you.

Fifth stage: 15 minutes

Celebrate!...with music and dance express whatsoever is there. Carry your aliveness with you through- out the day.z

Giving birth to yourself Helpful hints

y system of Dynamic Medi- tation begins with breathing,

because brcathing has deep mots in ttte being. You may not have ob- served it, but if you can change your heathing, you can change many things. If you observe your brcathing carefully, you will see that when you are angry you have a particular ftythm of breathing. When you are in love, a totally dif- fercnt rhythm comes to you. When you arc Flaxed you breathe differ- ently; when you are tense you heathe differently. You cannot brcatlp the way you do when you arc rclaxed and be angry at the same time. It is impossible. \Vhen you are sexually aroused, your heathing changes. If you do

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

not allow the bleathing to change, your sexual arousal will drop auo- matically. This means ttnt brcath- ing is deeply related to your mental state. If you change your breathing, you can change the srate of your mind. Or, if you change the state of your mind, breathing will change. So I sart with brcathing and I sug- gest ten minutes of chaotic breath- ing in the first stage of the tech- nique. By chaotic brcathing I mean deep, fast" vigorous breathing, with- out any rhythm - just aking the heath in and thr,owing it out, aking it in and ttuowing it out, as vigm- ously, as deeply, as intensely as possible. Thke it in; then tfuow it ouL This chaotic brcathing is to create a chaos within your rep'ressed system. Whalever you arc, you are with a certain type of heathing. A child bleatlres in a particular way. If you are sexually afraid, you heathe in a particular way. You cannot breattre deeply because every deep breath his the sex center. If you are fear- ful, you cannot take deep brcaths. Fear creates shallow breathing. This chaotic breathing is to desuoy all your past patterns. What you have made out of yourself, this chaotic heathing is o desfioy. Chaotic brcathing creates a chaos within you because unless a chaos is created, you cannot rclease your

repressed emotions. And those emotions have now moved ino the body. You are not body and mnd; you arc body/mind, psycho/somatic. You are both togetler. So whatever is done with your body reaches to the mind and whatever is done with the mind reaches to the body. Body and mind are two ends of the same enti- ty. Ten minutes of chaotic brcathing is wonderful! But it must be chaotic. It is not atype of prarcyarna, yogrc breathing. It is simply creating chaos through breathing. And it cre- ates chaos for many rcasons. Deep, fast breathing gives you morc oxygen. The more oxygen in the body, the more alive you become, the more animal-like. Animals are alive and man is halfdead, hatf- alive. You have to be made ino an animal again. Only then can some- thing higher develop in you. If you arc only half-alive, nothing can be done with you. So this chaotic breathing will make you like an animal: alive, vibrating, vi- tal - with more oxygen in your blood, more energy in your cells. Your body cells will become more alive. This oxygenation helps to oeate body elecnicity - or, you can call it bio-energy. When therc is elecricity in the body you can move deep within, beyond yourself.

The electricity will wort within you. The body has its own elecrical sources. If you hammer them with more breathing and more oxygen, ftey begin to flow And if you be- come really alive, then you arc no longer a body. The more alive you b@ome, the more energy flows in your system and the les you will feel yourself physically. You will feel more like energy and less like matter. And whenever it happens 0rat you arc more alive, in those moments you arc not body-oriented. If sex has so much appeal, one of the rea- sons is this: that if you are really in the act, otally moving, totally alive, then you arc no longer a body - just energy. lio feel this en- ergy, to be alive with this energy, is very necessary if you are to move beyond. The second step in my technique of Dynamic Meditation is a cathanis. I tell you to & conscionsly insane. Whatever comes to your mind - whatever - allow it o express it- self; cooperate with it. No rcsis- tance; just a flow of emotions. If you want [o scrcam, tlpn scream. Cooperate with it. A deep scream, a otal scream in which your whole being becomes involved, is very therapeutic, deeply therapeutic. Many things, many diseases, will

M E D I T A T I O N S

be released just by the scream. If the scream is total, your whole be- ing will be in iL So for the next ten minutes (this second step is also for ten minutes) allow yourself expression tlrough crying, dancing, screaming, weep- ing, jumping, laughing - 'freaking

out' as they say. Within a few days, you will come to feel what it is. In the beginning it may be forced, an effort, or it may even be just act- ing. We have become so false that nothing real or authentic can be done by us. We have not laughed, we have not cried, we have not screamed authentically. Everything is just a facade - a mask. So when you begin to do this technique - in the beginning - it may be forced. It may need efforq there may be just acting. But do not bother about it. Go on. Soon you will touch those sources where you have repressed many things. You will touch those sources, and once they are released, you will feel unburdened. A new life will come to you; a new birth will take place. This unburdening is basic and with- out it there can be no meditation for man as he is. Again, I am not talk- ing about the exceptions. They are irrelevanl With this second step - when things are thrown out - you become va- cant. And this is what is meant bv

emptines: o be empty of all rc- pressions. In this empl.iness some- thing can be done. Transformation can happen; meditation can happen. Then in the third step I use the sound ioo. Many sounds have been used in the past. Each sound has something specific to do. For ex- ample, Hindus have been using the sound cun. This may be famiLiar to you. But I wont suggest aum. Aum strikes at the heart cenrc4 but man is no longer centered in the heart. Aum is sriking at a door wherc no one is home. Sufis have u*A hoo, and if you say hoo loudly, it goes deep o the sex center. So this sound is used just as a hammering within. When you have become empty and vacant, this sound can move within you. The movement of the sound is pos- sible only when you are empty. If you arc filled with repressions, nothing will happen. And some- times it is even dangerous to use any mantra or sound when you are filled with repressions. Each layer of repression will change the pattr of the sound and the ultimate rcsult may be something of which you never dreamed, never expected, never wished. You need a vacant mind; only then can a mantra be used. So I never suggest a mantra to anyone as he is. Fint there must be

a catharsis. This mantra froo should never be done without doing the fnst fwo steps. It should never be done without them. Only in the third step (for ten minutes) is this hoo to be used - used as loudly as possible, bringrng your total energy to it" You arc to harnmer your ener- gy with the sound. And when you are empty - when you have been emptied by the catharsis of the sec- ond step - this hoo goes deep down and his the sex center. The sex center can be hit in two ways. The fint way is nanrally. Whenever you are attracted to a member of 0re op,posite sex, the sex center is hit fiom without. And fnt hit is also a subtle vibration. A man is attracted t0 a woman or a woman is attracted o a man. Why? What is there in a man and what is there in a woman to account for it? A positive or negative electricity hits them, a subtle vibration. It is a sound, really. For example, you may have observed that birds use sound for sex appeal. All their singing is sexual. They are repeat- edly hitting each other with partic- ular sounds. These sounds hit the sex centers of birds of ttre op,posite sex. Subtle vibrations of elecricity are hitting you ftom without. When your sex center is hit ftom without, your energy begins to flow outward

M E D I T A T I O N S

- toward *re other. Then there will be reproduction, birth. Someone else will be bom out of you. Hoo is hining the same center of energy, but fiom within. And when the sex center is hit ftom within, the energy starts to flow within. This inner flow of ene4gy changes you completely. You become trans- formed: you give birth to yourself. You are fansformed only when your energy moves in a totally op- posite direction. Right now it is flowing out, but then it begins to flow within. Now it is flowing down, but then it flows upward. This upward flow of energy is what is known a kundalini. You will feel it actually flowing in your spine, and the higher it moves, the higher you will move with it. When this energy reaches the brahnnrandhra - the last center in you: the seventh cenleq located at the top of ttp head - you arc tlre highest man possible. In the third step, I use loo as a ve- hicle to bring your energy upward. These fint three steps are cathartic. They are not meditation, but just preparation for it. They arc a'get- ring ready' to take the jump, not the jump itself. The fourth step is the jump. In the fourth step I tell you to stopl When I say "Stop!' stop completely. Dont do anything at all because anything you do can become a di-

version and you will mis the poinr Anything - just a cough or a sn@ze - and you may miss the whole thing because the mind has become diverted. Then the upward flow will stop immediately because your at- tention has moved. Dont do anything. You are not go- ing o die. Even if a sn@ze is com- ing and you do not sneeze for t€n minutes, you will not die. If you feel like coughing, if you feel an ir- ritation in the thmat and you do not do anything, you are not going to die. Just let your body rcmain dead so that the energy can move in one upward flow. When the energy moves upward, you become more and more silent. Silence is the by-poduct of energy moving upward and tension is the by-product of energy moving downward. Now your whole body will become so silent - as if it has disappealed. You will not be able to feel it. You have become bodiless. And when you are silent, the whole existence is silent because the exis- tence is nothing but a minor. It re- flects you. In thousands and thou- sands of minors, it reflects you. When you are silent, the whole ex- istence has become silent. In your silence I will tell you to just be a wihess - a constant alerhes: not doing anything, but just remain- ing a witness, just remaining with

yourself; not doing anything - no movement, no desire, no becoming - but just remaining then and there, silently wirresing what is happen- ing. That remaining in the center, in yourself, is posible because of the first three steps. Unless these three arc done, you cannot remain with yourself. You can go on talking about it, thinking about it" dream- ing about it, but it will not happen because you are not ready. These f,rst three steps will make you ready to remain with the mo ment. They will make you awarc. That is meditation. In that medita- tion something happens ttnt is be- yond words. And once it happens you will never be the same again; it is impossible. It is a growth; it is not simply an experience. It is a Sowth. s

Remember. remain a ufrtness

f his is a meditation in which I you have to be continuously

alert, conscious, aware, whatsoever you do. Remain a witness. Dont get lost. It is easy to get lost. While you are breathing you can forget. You can become one with the brcathing so much that you can forget the wit-

M E D I T A T I O N S

ness. But then you miss the point. Breathe as fast, as deeP as Possi- ble, bring your total energy to it, but still remain a witness. Observe what is happening, as if you are just a spectatol as if the

whole ttring is happening to some- body else, as if the whole thing is happening in the body and the consciousness is just centered and looking. This witnessing has to be carried

in all the three steps. And when everything stops, and in the fourth step you have become completely inactive, frozen, then this alertness will come to its p e a k . 4

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

TIvo Powerful Methods for Awakening

f hese arc not really meditations. You are just getting

I in tune. It is like...ifyou have seen Indian classical musicians playing...for half an hour, or sometimes even more, they simply go on lxing their instruments. They will move their knobs, they will make the strings tight or loose, and the drum player will go on checking his drum - whether it is perfect or not. For half an hour they go on doing this. This is not music, this is just preparation. Kundalini is not really meditation. It is just preparation. You are preparing your instrument. When it is ready, then you stand in silence, then meditation starts. Then you are utterly therc. You have woken yourself up by jumping, by dancing, by breathing, by shouting - these are all devices to make you a little more alert. than you ordinarily are. Once you are alert, then the waiting. Waiting is medita- tion. Waiting with full awareness. And then it comes, it descends on you, it zunounds you it plays alound you, it dances around you, it cleanses you, it purifies you, it transforms you.

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

fTl his is ilv much-loved sis-

I rer meditation of Dynarnic t- Meditation. It consists of

four stages of 15 minutes each.

First stage: 15 minutes

Be loose and let your whole body shake,feeling the energies moving up from yow feet. Let go every- where and become the shaking. Your eyes m6y fu opened or closed.

Second stage: 15 minutes

Dance ... any way you feel, and let the whole body move as it wishes.

Kundalini Meditation Third stage: 15 minutes

Close your eyes and be still, sitting or standing ... witnessing what- ever is happening insidc and ow.

Fourth stage: 15 minutes

Keeping your eyes closed, lie down and be still.

If you are doing the Kundalini Meditation, then allow the shak-

ing, don't do it" Sand silently, feel it coming and when your body starts a little uembling, help it but dont do ir Enjoy it, feel blissful about it, allow it, receive it, wel- come it, but dont will ir If you force it, it will become an exercise, a bodily physical exercise. Then the shaking will be there but just on the surface, it will not pene- trate you. You will rcmain solid, stone-like, rocklike within; you will remain the manipulator, tln

doeq and the body will just be fol- lowing. The body is not the ques- tion - you are the question. When I say shake I mean your so- lidity, your rock-like being should shake o the very foundations so that it becomes liquid, fluid, melts, flows. And when the mck-like be- ing becomes liquid, your body will follow. Then there is no shake, only shaking. Then nobody is do- ing it, it is simply happening. Then the doer is noL t

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

|fihis is another powerful,

I cathartic technique that t- creates a circle of energy that results in a natural centering. Tlrcre are four stages of 15 min- utes each.

First stage: 15 minutes

With open eyes run on the spot, starting slowly and gradually, get- ting faster and faster. Bring your knees up as high as possible. Breathing dceply and evenly will nnve the energy wilhin. Forget

Mandala Meditation the mind and forget the body. around. This will bring your second hand of a vast clock, but Keepgoing. awakened energies to the navel asfastaspossible. Itisimportant

center. tlnt the mouth remains open and Second stage: 15 minutes fte jaw relaxed, with the breath

Third stage: 15 minutes soft and even. This will bring Sit with your eyes closed and yow centered energies to the mouth open and loose. Gently ro- Lie on your back, open your eyes third eye. tate your body from the waist, like and, with tlu head still, rotate a reed blowing in the wind. Feel them in a clockwise direction. Fourth stage: 15 minutes thewindblowingyoufromside to Sweep them fully around in the side, back and forth, around and sockets os dyou are following the Closeyour eyes andbe still.z

A A ++

1 <

M E D I T A T I O N S

Dancing as a Meditation

Disappear in the dance

E otg"t the dancel the center of the ego; become the I

' dance. That is the meditation. Dance so deeply that

you forget completely that 'you' are dancing and begin to feel that you arc the dance. The division must disap pea4 then it becomes a meditation. If the division is there, then it is an exercise: gmd, healthy, but it cannot be said to be spiritual. It is just a simple dance. Dance is good in iself - as far as it goes, it is good. After it, you will feel fiesh, young. But it is not meditation yet. The dancer must go, until only the dance remains. So what to do? Be rohlly in the dance, because division can exist only if you are not fotal in it. If you are standing aside and looking at your own dance, the division will rcmain: you are the dancer and you are dancing. Then dancing is just an act, something you are doing; it is not your being. So get involved totally, be merged in it" Dont stand aside, dont be an observer. Participate!

M E D I T A T I O N S

I.et the dance flow in its own way; dont force ir Rathe! follow it; al- low it o hap'pen. It is not a doing but a happening. Remain in tlp mood of festivity. You are not do- ing something very serious; you are just playing, playrng with your life energy, playing with your bioener- gy, allowing it to move in its own way. Just like the wind blows and the river flows - you are flowing and blowing. Feel ir And be playful. Remember this word'playful' always - with me, it is very basic. In this coun!ry we call creation M\ leela - God's play. God has not qeated ttte world it is his play. t

Nataraj Medttatton ataraj is dance as a total meditation. There ore three stages, luting a to-

over completely. Do not control fuwn immediately. Be silent and yow movements or be a witness still. to what is lappening. Jttst be totally in tlw dance.tal of 65 minutes.

First stage: 40 minutes

With eyes closed dance as tf pos- sessed. I*t yow unconscbw take

Secnnd stage: 20 ninutes

Keeping yow eyes closed, lie

Third stage: 5 minutes

Duce in celebrubn and enjoy. t

M E D I T A T I O N S

Ct ufr Whirling is one of ttre \most ancient t€chniques, one L-f of the most forceful. It is so de4 that even a single experience can make you lotally different Whirl wittr open eyes, just like small children go on twirling, a5 11 your inner being has become a cen- ter and your whole body has be- come a wheel, moving, a pott€r's wheel, moving. You are in the cen- teq but the whole body is moving.

Whirling Meditation It is recommended that rc food or dri* fu takenfor three houts be- fore whirling. It is best to have bare feet and wear loose clothing. The meditation is dividcd into two stages, whirling ard resting. There is rc fixed tinu for the whirling - it can go on for hows - bw it is suggested that you contirutc for al least an hour to get fuUy iruo the feeling of the energy whirlpool. The whirling is done on the spot in an anti-clockwise direction, with the right arm held high, palm up- wards, and the left arm low, palm downwards. People who feel dis- con{ort from whirling anti-clock- wise can change to clockwise. kt yonr body be soft and keep yow

eyes open, but unfocused so that images becorne blurred and flow- ing. Remain silent. For the first 15 minutes, rolale slowty. Then gradually build up speed over the nex 30 minutes until the whirling takes over and you be- conrc awhirlpool of energy - the pe- riphery a storm of rnovemeru but the winess at the center silent and stiil. When you are whirling so fast that you cannot remain upright, your body will fall by itself. Don't make the fall a decision on your Wrt nor attempt to arrange the landing in advance; if your body is soft you will land softly and the earth will absorb your energy. Once you lwve fallen, tlw secord

part of tlu meditation starts. Roll onto your stomach immediately so that your bare navel is in contact with the earth. If anybody feels strong discomfort lying this way, he slnuld lie on his back. Feel your body blending into the earth, like a small child pressed to the motlrcr's breasts. Keep your eyes closed and remain passive and silentfor at least l5 minutes. After the meditation be as qutet and inacrive as possible. Some people may feel nsusezw dwing the Whirling Meditation, br.tt this feeling should disappear within two or three days. Only discontinue the meditation if it Wrsists.2

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

Anything Can Be a Meditation

f his is the secref de-autonatize. If we can de-autom- L anze our activities. then the whole life becomes a

meditation. Then any small thing, taking a shower, eating your food, talking !o your friend, becomes meditation. Meditation is a quality; it can be bmught ta anything.lt is not a specific act. People think that way, they think meditation is a specific act - when you sit facing o the east, you repeat certain mantras, you burn some incense, you do this and that at a parricular time in a particular way with a particular gesture. Meditation has nothing o do with all those things. They are all ways to autiomatize it and meditation is against automatization. So if you can keep alert, any activity is meditation; any movement will help you immensely. t

49

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

t is nanral and easy to keep alert while you arc in move- ment. When you are just sit-

ting silently, the natural thing is to just fall asleep. When you are ly- ing on your bed il is very difhcult to keep alert because the whole sit- uation helps you !o fall asleep. But in movement naturally you cannot. fall asleep, you function in a more alen way. The only problem is that the movement can become me- chanical. Leam to melt your body, mind and

Running,Jogging, andSwimming soul. Find ways where you can function as a unity. It happens many times to runners. You might not think of running as a meditation, but runners some- times have felt a tremendous expe- rience of meditation. And they were surprised, because they were not looking for it- who thinks that a runner is going to experience

God? But it has happened. And now, more and more, running is be- coming a new kind of meditation. It can happen when running. If you have ever been a runneq, if you have enjoyed running in tle early moming when lhe air is ftesh and young and the whole world is coming back from sleep, awakening - you were running and your body

was functioning beautifully, the fresh ai4, the new world born again out of the dartness of the night, everything singing all around you were feeling so alive ... a moment comes when the runner disappean, and there is only running. The body, mind and soul start function- ing togetheq suddenly an inner or- gasm is released.

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

Runners have sometimes come irc- cidentally on the experience of the fourth, twiya, altlnugh they will mis it - 0rey will think it was just because of running that they en- joyed the momenu that it was a beautiful day, the body was healthy and the world was beautiful, and it was just a certain mood. They will not take note of it - but if they do take note of it, my own observation is that a nnner can come close to mediuation more easily *ran any- body else. Jogging can be of immense help, swimming can be of immense help. All the.se things tnve to be trans- formed ino meditations. Drop the old ideas of meditations - that just sining undemeath a tree in a yoga posture is meditation. That is only one of the ways, and it may be suitable for a few people but it is not suitable for all. For a small child il is

not meditation, it is tortue. For a young man who is alive and vibrant it is repression, it is not meditation. Start running in the morning on the road. Start with half a mile and then one mile and come eventually to at le:tst three miles. While run- ning use the whole body; dont run as if you are in a straitjacket" Run like a small child, using the whole body - hands and feet - and run. Breathe deeply and from the belly. Then sit under a E€e, r€st, perspire and let the cool breeze come: feel peaceful. This will help very deeply. Sometimes just stand on the earttr without shoes and feel the coolness, the softness, the warmth. Whatso- ever the earth is rcady to give in that moment, just feel it and let it flow through you. And allow your energy to flow into 0re earth. Be connected with the earth.

If you are connected with the earth, you are connecM wifr life. If you are connected with the earth, you are connected with your body. If you are connected with the earth, you will become very sensi- tive and centered - and that's what is needed. Never become an expert in run- ning; remain an amateur so that alertness may be kept. If you feel sometimes that running has be- come automatic, drcp it; try swimming. If that hcomes auto- matic, then try dancing. The point to remember is that the movement is just a situation to cEate aware- ness. While it crcates awareness it is good. If it stops crcating awarc- ness, then it is no morc of any use; change to another movement where you will have to be alert again. Never allow any activity o become autornatic. z

52

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

aughter brings some energy fiom your inner source to your surface. Energy starts

flowing, follows laughter like a shadow. Have you watched it? When you really laugh, for those few moments you arc in a deep

Laughing Meditation

meditative state. Thinking stops. It is impossible to laugh and think o- gether. They are diametrically op- posite: either you can laugh or you can think. If you really laugh, thinking stops. If you are still thinking, laughter will be just so- so, lagging behind. It will be a crippled laughter. When you really laugh, suddenly mind disappears. As far as I

lnow, dancing and laughter are the best, natural, easily approachable doors. If you really dance, think- ing stops. You go on and on, you whirl and whirl, and you become a whirlpool - all boundaries, all di- visions are losl You donl even lnow where your body ends and where existence begins. You melt into exislence and existence melts into you; there is an overlapping

of boundaries. And if you are re- ally dancing - not managing it but allowing it to manage you, al- lowing it to possess you - if you are possessed by dance, thinking stops. The same happens with laughter. If you are possessed by laughter, thinking stops. Laughter can be a beautiful inuo- drction to a non-thinking stat€. 3

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

Instructions for Laughing Meditation

The laughing Buddha

puery morning upon waking, f here is a slory, in Japan, of tlre Ltbefore opening yotu eyes, I laughing Buddha, Hotei. His

would start laughing, and then tlp laughter would qpead, and tidal waves of laughter, and the whole village would be overwhelmed with laughter. People used to wait for Hotei to come to their village because he brought such joy, such blessings. He never uttered a single word, never. You asked about Buddha and he would laugh; you asked about enlightenment and he would laugh; you asked about truth and he would laugh. L^augh- t€r was his only message. 5

stretch likz a cat. Stretch every fiber of yow body. After three or four mirwtes, with eyes still closed, be- gin to lutgh. For five mirutes just laugh. At first you will be doing it, but soon the sourd ofyour attempt will cause genairc laughter. Lose yourself in laughter. It may take sev- eral days before it real$ lwppers, for we are sa un(rccustomed to tlu phernmernn. But before long it will be spontaneow and will change the wlnle ruure of yow day. ,

whole teaching was just laughter. He would move ftom one place to another, fiom one markeplace to another marketplace. He would stand in the middle of the market and start laughing - that was his sermon. His laughter was catching, infec- tious; a reallaughter, his whole bel- ly pulsating with the laughter, shak- ing wittr laughter. He would roll on the ground with laughter Feople who would collect together, they

54

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

A man came to me. He had

A Ueen suffering from chain- L \smoking for thirty yean; he was ill and the doctors said, "You will never be healthy if you dont sop smoking." But he was a chronic smoker; he could not help it He had rried - not thar he had not Fied - he had tried hard, and he had suffered much in trying, but only for one day or two days, and then again the urge would come so remendously, it would simply take him away. Again he would fall into the Mme pattern.

Smoking Meditation Because of this smoking he had lost all self-conf,rdence: he knew he could not do a small rhing; he could not stop smoking. He had become worthless in his own eyes; he thought himself just the most worthless person in the world. He had no rcspect for himself. He came m me. He said, "What can I do? How can I stop smoking?" I said, "No- body can stop smoking. You have

to understand. Smoking is not only a question of your decision now. It has entered into your world of habits; it has taken roots. Thirty years is a long time. It has taken roots in your body, in yow chem- istry; it has spread all over. It is not just a question of your head decid- ing; your head cannot do anything. The head is impotent; it can start things, but it cannot stop them so easily. Once you have started and

once you have practiced so long, you are a g€itt yogl - thlrty years' practicing smoking! It has become autonomous; you will have to de-automatize it." He said, "What do you mean by 'de-

automatization'?" And that's what meditation is all about, de-automatization. I said, "You do one thing: forget about stopping. Theie is no need either. For thirty years you have

5 5

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

smoked and lived; of course it was a suffering but you have become accustomed to that too. And what does it matter if you die a few houn earlier than you would have died without smoking? What ale you go- ing to do here? What have you done? So what is the point - whether you die Monday or Tues- day or Sunday, this year, that year - what does it matter?" He said, "Yes, lhat is fue, it doesnt matter." Then I said, "For- get about it; we are not going to sop it at all. Ratheq we are going to understand iL So next time, you make it a medication." He said, "Meditation out of smok- ing?" I said, "Yes. If Zen people can make a meditation out of drinking tea and can make it a ceremony, why not? Smoking can be as beau- tiful a meditation." He lmked tirilled. He said, "What arc you sayrng?" He became alive! He said, "Medita- tion? just tell me - I can't, wait!" I gave him the meditation. I said, "Do one thing. When you are tak- ing the packet of cigarettes out of your pocket, move slowly. Enjoy it, there is no hurry. Be conscious,

alert, aware; take it out slowly with full awarcness. Then take tlre cigarette out of the packet with full awareness, slowly - not in the old hunied way, the unconscious way, mechanical way. Then start tap- ping the cigarene on your packet - but very alertly. Listen to the sound, just as Zen people do when the samovar stars singing and the tea stans boiling ... and the aroma. Then smell the cigarette and the beauty of it. . .." He said, "What ale you saying? The beauty?" "Yes, it is beautiful. Tobacco is as divine as anything. Smell iq it is God's srnell." He looked a little surprised. He said, "What! fue you joking?" No, I am not joking. Even when I joke, I dontjoke. I am very serious. "Then put it in your mouth, with full awar€ness, light it with full aware- ness. Enjoy every act, every small act, and divide it into as many acts as possible, so you can become morc and morc awarc. '"Then have the hrst puff: God in the form of smoke. Hindus say, 'Annam Brahm' - 'Food is God'. Why not smoke? AII is God. Fill your lungs deeply - this is a

pranayam.I am giving you the new yoga for the new age! Then release the smoke, relax, another puff - and go very slowly. "If you can do it, you will be sur- prised; soon you will see the whole stupidity of ir Not because others have said that it is stupid, not be- cause others have said tlnt it is bad. You will see it. And the seeing will not just be intellectual. It will be from your total being; it will be a vision of your totality. And then one day, if it drops, it drops; if it continues, it continues. You need not worry about iL" After tluee months he cane and he said, "But it dropped." "Now," I said, "0ry it on other things too." This is the secret, tie secrec de-au- lomatize.

Walking, walk slowly, watchfully. looking, look watcffully, and you will see trees are grcener than they have ever been and roses are rosier than they have ever been. Listen! Somebody is talking, gossiping: listen, listen attentively. When you are talking, talk attentively. lrt your whole waking activity be- come de-automatized. o

56

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

Breath - a Bridge to Meditation

f f you can do something with the breath, you will sud-

Idenly tum to the present If you can do something with breath, you will attain to the source of life. If you can do something with heath, you can transcend time and space. If you can do some- thing with breath, you will be in the world and also be- yond it t

:

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

ipassana is the meditation that has made more peo- ple in the world enlight-

ened than any other, because it is the very essence. All other medita- tions have the same essence, but in different forms; something non-es- sential is also joined with them. But vipassana is pure essence. You cannot drop anything out of it and you cannot add anything to im- prove it Vipassana is such a simple thing that even a small child can do ir In fact, the smallest child can do it better tlran you, because he is not

Vipassana yet filled with ttr€ garbage of tln mind; he is still clean and inno- cenL Vipassana can be done in three ways - you can chmse which one zuis you thebest The fint is: awareness of your ac- tions, your body, your mind, your hean" Walking, you should walk with awarcness. Moving hand, you should move

your with

awaleness, tnowing perfectly that you arc moving the hand. You can move it without any conscioumess, like a mechanical thing...you arc on a morning walk; you can go on walking without being aware of your feet Be alert of the movements of your body. While eating, be alert to the movements that are needed for eat- ing. Taking a showet be alert o the

coolness that is coming to you, the water falling on you and the remendous joy of it - just be alert. It should not go on happening in an unconscious state. And the same about your mind. Whatever thought passes on the screen of your mind, just be a watcher Whatever emotion passes on tie screen of your heart" just rc- main a witness - dont get in-

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

vol{ed, dont get identified, dont evaluate what is good, what is bad; that is not part of your meditation. The second form is breathing, be- coming aware of brcathing. As the breath goes in, your belly starts ris- ing up, and as the heath goes out, your belly starts seu.ling down again. So the second method is to be aware of the belly: its rising and falling. Just the very awareness of the belly rising and falling...and the belly is very close to ttre life sources because the child is joined with the mother's life tlrough the navel. Behind tlp navel is his life's source. So, when the belly rises up, it is rcally the life energy, the spring of life that is rising up and falling down with each breath. That too is not difficult, and pertnps maybe even easier because it is a single technique. In the first, you have to be aware of the body, you have o be aware of the mind, you have to be aware of your emotions, moods. So it has ttuee steps. The second app'roach has a single step: just the belly, moving up and down. And the re- sult is the same. As you become more awarc of the belly, the mind becomes silent, the heart becomes silent, the moods disappear. And the third is to be aware of the brcath at the entrance, when the breath goes in tfuough your nostrils.

Feel it at tlnt extreme - the otrer polarity ftrom tlre belly - feel it from the nose. The heath going in gives a certain coolness to your nostrils. Then the brcath going out...breath going in, breath going oul That too is possible. It is easier for men than for women. The woman is more aware of the belly. Most of the men dont even breathe as deep as the belly. Their chest rises up and falls down, because a wmng kind of athletics prevails over the world. Certainly it gives a morc beautiful form to the body if your chest is high and your belly is al- most non-existent. Man has chosen o breathe only up to the chest, so the chest becomes bigger and bigger and the belly shrinks down. That appea$ to him to be morc athletic. Around the world, except in Japan, all athletes and teachers of athletes emphasize to breathe by filling yow lungs, expanding your chest, and pulling the belly in. The ideal is the lion whose chest is big and whose belly is very small. So be like a lion; t]rat has become the rule for athletic gymnasts, and the people who have been working with the body. Japan is the only exception where they dont care that the chest should be hoad and the belly should be pulled in. It needs a certain disci- pline to pull the belly in; it is not

natural. Japan has chosen the natu- ral way, hence you will be sur- prised to see a Japanese statue of Buddha. That is the way you can immediately discriminate whether the statue is Indian or Japanese. The Indian statues of Gautam Bud- dha have a very athletic body; the belly is very small and the chest is very bmad. But the Japanese Bud- dha is otally different; his chest is almost silent, because he breathes from the belly, but his belly is big- ger. It doesnt look very good - be- cause tlle idea prcvalent in the world is so old, but breathing fiom the belly is more natural, morc rc- laxed. In the night it happens when you sleep; you don't breathe fiom the chest, you breathe from the belly. That's why the night is such a re- laxed experience. After your sleep, in the morning you feel so fiesh, so young, because the whole night you werc brcathing natually... you werc in Japan! These are the two points: if you are afraid that breathing from the belly and being attentive to is ris- ing and falling will desroy your athletic form...men may be more interested in that athletic form. Then for them it is easier to watch near the nostrils where the breath enters. Watch, and when the breath goes out" watch.

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M E D I T A T I O N S

These are trb tuee forms. Any one will do. And if you want to do two forms together, you can do two forms together; then the effort will become more intense. If you want to do all three forms together, you can do all three forms together. Then the possibilities will be quick- er. But it all depends on you, what- ever feels easy. Remember: easy is right. As meditation becomes sefiled and mind silent, the ego will disappear. You will be there, but there will be no feeling of 'I'. Then 0rc doon are open. Just wait with a loving longing, with a welcome in the heart for that grcat moment - the greatest mo- ment in anybody's life - of enlight- enment. It comes. . . it certainly comes. It has never delayed for a single momenl Once you are in the right tuning, it suddenly explodes in you, trans- forms you. The old man is dead and the new man has arrived. z

Sitting

Find a reasonably cornfortable and alert position to sit for 40 to 60 minutes. Back and luad shotld be straight, eyes closed and breathing normal. Stay as still as possible, only changing position if il is really necessary. While silting, the prirrury object is to be watching the rise and fall of the belly, slightly above the navel, caused by breathing in and out. It is not a concentration technique, so while watching the breath, many other things will takc your attention away. Nothing is a dis- traction in vipassana, so when something else comes up, stop watching tlrc breath, pay attention to wlatever is lappening until it's possible to go back to your breath. This rnay include thoughts, feel- ings, judgrrcnts, body sensations, impressions Irom the outside world, etc. It is the process of watching that is significant, not so much what you

are watching, so remember not to become idenffied with wlatever comes up; questions or problems may just be seen as mysteries to be enjoyed!

Vipassana walk

This is a slow, ordinary walk based on the awareness of the feet touching the ground. You can walk in a circle or a line of l0 to 15 steps going back and forth, inside or out of doors. Eyes should be lowered on the ground a few steps ahead. While walking, the atlention should go to the contact of each foot as it buches the ground. If other things arise, stop paying atten- tion to the feet, notice what else took your attention'and then re- turn to the feet. It is the swne techniqrc as in sit- ting - bw watching a diferent pri- muy object. You can walk for 20 to 30 minutes.t

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

fihiva said: Radiant one, this

\experience nny dawn be- L) ween two breaths. After breath comes in (down) and just before twning up (ow) - the beneficence.

When your breath comes tn, ob- seme. Fot a single moment or a thousandth part of a moment, lherc is no breathing - before it tums up, before it tums outward. One breath comes int then therc is a cerain point and b,reathing stops. Then the brcathing go€s oul When the breath goes out, then again for a single

Watching the Gap in the Breath moment, or a part of a momeni" breathing stops. Then breathing comes in. Beforc the breath is turning in or turning out, there is a moment when you are not brcathing. In tlnt moment the happening is possible, because when you arc not brcath- ing you arc not in the world. Un- dentand this: when you arc not brcathing you are dead; you are

still, but dead. But the moment is of such a strort duration, you never obsene iL Breath coming in is rcbirth; heath going out is death. The outgoing brcath is synonymous with death; the incoming breath is synonymous with life. So with each breath you are dying and being reborn. The gap benveen the two is of a very short duration, but keen sincere ob-

servation and attention will make you feel the gap. Then nothing else is needed. You are blessed. You have lnown; the thing has hap'pened. You are not to rain the breath. l"eave it just as it is. Why such a simple technique? It looks so sim- ple. Such a simple technique o lnow the truth? To know tlp trutlr means to know thiat which is nei-

62

M E D I T A T I O N S

ther b6n nor dies, o know that etemal element which always is. You can lnow the heath going out, you can tnow the breath coming in, but you never know the gap be- tween the two. Try it. Suddenly you will get tlrc point - and you can get ir it is al- ready there. Nothing is o be added to you or to your structue: it is al- ready there. Everything is already there except a certain awarcnes. So how to do this? First, become aware of the breath coming in. Watch it. Forget everything: jus warch heattr coming in - the very passage. When the keath touches your nos- trils, feel it there. Then let the breath move in. Move with the breath fully conscious. Whan you are going dowrq down, down with the breath,

do not miss the h€ath. Do not go ahead; do not follow behind. Just go with it. Remember this: do not go ahead; do not follow it like a shad- ow. Be simultaneous with it. Brcath and consciousness should be- come one. The breath goes in; you go in. orily then will it be possible to get the point which is between two breaths. It will not be easy. Move in with the breath, then move out with the heath: in-out, inout Buddha ried particularly o use this method, so this method has become a Buddhist method. In Buddhist ter- minology it is tnown as 'Ana-

panasati Yoga'. And Brddha's en- lightenment was based on this tech- nique - only this. If you go on practicing breath con- scioumess, breath awaleness, snd-

denly, orc day without knowing, you will come to the interval. As your awar€ness will become keen and deep and intense, as your awarcness will become bracketed - the whole wqld is bracketed ouq only your breath coming in or go- ing out is your wal( the whole arena for you consciousness - sud- denly yur arc bound o feel the gap in which therc is no breath. When you are moving wittr breattr minutely, when there is no breath, how can yur remain unaware? You will suddenly become aware that therc is no breath, and the moment will come when you will feel that the b'reath is neither going out nor coming in. The breath has $opped completely. In that stryping, "the beneficence." r

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

(-l hiva said: When in worldly \ acnviry keep attentive be-

LI ween the two breatls, and so practicing, in a few days be born anew.

Whatsoever you are doing, keep your affention in the gap betrveen the nvo breaths. But it must be practiced while in activity. We have discussed the technique that is just similar. Now tlrere is only this ffierence, that this has o be practiced while in worldly ac- tivity. Do not practice il in isola- tion. This practice is to be done

Watching the Gap in the Mlrketplace while you are doing something else. You are eating: go on eating, and be auentive to the gap. You are walking: go on walking and be at- tentive to the gap. You are going to sleep: lie down, let sleep come. But you go on being attentive to the gap. \thy in activitf Because activity disracls the mind Activity calls your attention again and 4gain. Do

not be disuacted. Be fued at the gap, and do not stop activity; let ttre activ- ity cmtinue. You will have two lay- ers of existerrce - doing and being. We have two layers of existence: the world of doing and the world of be- ing, the circumference and the cen- ter. Go on working on the periphery on the circumference; do not stop it. But go on working attentively on the center also. What will happen?

Your activity will become an act- ing, as if you are playing a part. If this method is practiced, your whole life will become a long dra- ma. You will be an actor playlng roles, but constantly centered in the gap. If you forget tlre gap, then you arc not playrng roles; you have be- come the rcle. Then it is not a dra- ma. You have mistaken it as life. That is what we have done. Everv-

& 6

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

fi hiva said: When in worldly

\ acrrviry kcep attentive be- L) ween the two breaths, and so practicing, in a few days be born anew.

Whatsoever you arc doing, keep your attention in the gap benveen the two brcaths. But it must be practiced while in activity. We have discussed the technique tlnt is just similar. Now there is only this difference, that this has o be practiced while in worldly ac- tivity. Do not practice it in isola- rion. This practice is o be done

Watching the Gap in the VtErketplace while you are doing something else. You are eating: go on eating, and be atlentive to tlre gap.You are walking: go on walking and be at- tentive o the gap. You are going to sleep: lie down, let sleep come. But you go on being attentive to ttte gap. Why in activity? Becar:se aaivity distracls the mind Aaivity calls your attention again and agai[ h

not be disracted. Be lxed at the gap, and do not stop aaivity; let the aaiv- ity continue. You will have wo lay- €rs of existence - doing and being. We have two layers of existence: the world of doing and the world of be- ing, the circumference and the cen- ter. Go on working on the periphery on the circumference; do not stop it. But go on working attentively on the center also. What will happen?

Your activity will become an act- ing, as if you are playing a part. If this method is practiced, your whole life will become a long dra- ma. You will be an actror playrng roles, but constantly centercd in the gap. If you forget the gap, then you arc not playrng nles; you have be- come the role. Then it is not a dra- ma. You have mistaken it as life. That is what we have done. Everv-

&

M E D I T A T I O N S

one rhfuils he is living life. It is not life. It is just a role - a part which has been given to you by society, by circumstances, by culnrrc, by fadi- tion, by the counEy, the situation. You have been given a role. You are playing iq you have become identi- fied with iL To brcak that identifica- tion, use this technique.

This technique is just to make yourself a psychodrama - just a play. You are focused in the gap benpeen two breaths, and life moves on, on the periphery. If your attention is at the center, then your atention is not rcally on the periphery; that is just 'sub-atten-

tion'. It just happens somewhere

near your attention. You can feel it, you can know it, but it is not significant. It is as if it is not hap- pening to you. I will repeat this: if you practice this technique, your whole life will be as if it is not happening to you - as if it is hap- pening to someone else. s

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

f-lhiva said: With innngible \ brecrlr in tlu center of rlu

L) forelead, as this rerchcs thc laart at thc monuu { sleep, lwve direction over dreatns and over dcath ilself.

Ii*e this lechnique in tluee parc. One, you must be able to feel the prana in breath, fte intangible part of it" the invisible part of it, the im- material part of it. The feeling comes if you arc attentive between the two eyebrcws. Then it comes easily. If you are auentive in the gap, then too it comes, but a little less easily. If you ale aware of the

DrcamMastery center at your navel where breath comes and touches and goes out, it also comes, but with less ease. The easiest point fiom which to know the invisible part of heath is to be centercd at the third eye. But wher- ever you arB centered, it comes. You begin to feel the prana flowing in. The ingoing breath and the outgo- ing breath are the same as vehicles,

but the incoming breath is filled with prana and the outgoing breath is empty. You have sucked the pran4 and the breath has become empty. This suEa is very, very signihcanc "With intangible breath in the cen- ter of the folehead, as this rcaches tlrc heart at, the moment of sleep, have direction over dreams and over death itself." While vou are

falling ino sleep, this technique has to be practiced - then only, not at any other time. While you are falling asleep, only then. That is ttrc right moment to practice this technique. You are falling asleep. Little by little, sleep is overtaking you. lilithin moments, your con- sciousne^ss will dissolve; you will not be awarc. Beforc that moment comes, become aware - aware of

6

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

the breath and the invisible part, prana, and feel it coming to the heart. If this happens - that you are feel- ing invisible breath coming ino the heart and slcep overtakes you - you will be aware in dreams. You will know that you arc dreaming. fti- narily we do not lnow that we are dreaming. While you dream you think that this is reality. That too happens because of the third eye. Have you seen anyone asleep? His eyes move upward and become fo- cused in the third eye. Because of this focusing in the third eye, you take your dreams as real; you cannot feel they are dreams. They are real. You will know when you get up in the morning, tren you will know that "I was dreaming." But this is the lateq reuospective realization. You cannot rcalizn, in the dream that you

are dreaming. If you realize it, then there are two layen: the &eam is there, but you are awake, you are aware. For one who becomes aware in dreams. this sutra is wonderful. Il. says, "Have direction over dreams and over death itself." If you can become aware of dreams, you can create dreams. Ordinarily you cannot create dreams. How impotent man is! You cannot even create dreams. You cannot create dreams! If you want to dream a particular thing, you cannot dream it; it is not in your hands. How powerless man is! Even dreams cannot be created. You are just a victim of dreams, not the creator. A dream happens to you; you cannot do anything. Neither can you stop it nor can you create it. But if you move into sleep remem- bering the heart being filled with

prana, continuously being ouched by prana with every breath, you will become a master of your dreams - and this is a rare mastery. Then you can drcam whatsoever dreams you like. Just note while you are falling asleep that "I want to dream this dteam," and that dream will come to you. Just say while falling asleep, "I do not want to dream that dream," and that dream cannot enter your mind. But what is the use of becoming tlp master of your &eaming? Isnt it useless? No, il is not useless. Once you become master of your dreams you will never dream. It is absurd. When you are master of your dreams, &eaming stops; therc is no need for it And when dream- ing stops, your sleep has a different quality altogettnr, and the quality is the same as of death. o

M E D I T A T I O N S

the breath and the invisible part, prana, and fecl il coming o the heart. If this happens - that you are feel- ing invisible breath coming ino the heart and sleep overtakes you - you will be aware in dreams. You will know that you arc &eaming. ffii- narily we do not lnow that we are dreaming. While you dream you think that this is reality. That oo happens because of the third eye. Have you seen anyone asleep? His eyes move upward and become fo- cused in the third eye. Because of this focusing in the third eye, you take your dreams as real; you cannot feel they are dreams. They are rcal. You will know when you get up in the morning, then you will know that "I wa^s dreaming." But this is the later, reuospective rcalization. You cannot rcalize in the dream ftat vou

are dreaming. If you realize it, then there are two layers: the dream is there, but you arc awake, you are aware. For one who becomes aware in dreams, this sutra is wonderful. It says, "Have dfuection over dreams and over death itself." If you can become aware of dreams, you can create drcams. Ordinarily you cannot create dreams. How impotent man is! You cannot even create dreams. You cannot create dreams! If you want to dream a particular thing, you cannot dream it; it is not in your hands. How powerless man is! Even dreams cannot be created. You are just a victim of dreams, not the creator. A dream happens to you; you cannot do anything. Neither can you stop it nor can you create it. But if you move into sleep remem- bering the heart being filled with

pnana, continuously being ouched by prana with every breath, you will become a master of your dreams - and this is a rare mastery. Then you can dream whatsoever dreams you like. Just note while you are falling asleep that "I want to dream this dream," and that dream will come to you. Just say while falling asleep, "I do not want to dream that dream," and that dream cannot enter your mind. But what is the use of becoming the master of your &eaming? Isnt it useless? No, it is not useless. Once you become master of your dreams you will never drcam. It is absurd. When you arc master of your drcams, &eaming sbps; therc is no need for it. And when dream- ing stops, your sleep has a different quality altogetheq and the quality is the same as of death. o

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

atdnjali said: The mind also becotnes tranquil by alternately expelling and

retaining the breath.

Whenever you feel that the mind is not uanquil - tense, worried, chat- tering, anxious, constantly drcam-

Throwing Things Out ing - do one thing: fint exhale deeply. Always start by exhaling. Exhale deeply; as much as you can, throw the air out. Throwing out the arg the mood will be thrown out loo, because brcathing is everything. And then expel the heath as far as possible. Pull the belly in and rctain for a few seconds; dont inhale. I-et the

air be ouL and don't intule for a few seconds. Then allow the body to inhale. Inhale deeply - as much :rs you cur. Again stop for a few seconds. The gap should be tle sarne as when you retain the breatlr out - if you retain it out for three seconds, retain the breath in for tfuee seconds. Throw it out and hold for three seconds; take it in

and hold for three seconds. But it has o be thrown out completely. Exhale totally and inhale otally, and make a rhythm. Hold, breathe in; hold, breathe out. Hold, breathe in; hold, breathe out Immediately you will feel a change coming into your whole being. The mood will go; a new climate will enter into

You. r

M E D I T A T I O N S

Opening the Heart

tl- h" heart is the gateles gate to reality. Move frrom I the head to the heart-

We are all hung up in the head. That is our only problem, the only one problem. And therc is only one solution: get dowm ftom the head ino the heart and all problems dis- appear. They are created by the head. And suddenly everything is so clear and so Eansparcnt that one is sur- prised how one was continuously inventing problems. Mysteries remain but problems disappear. Mysteries abound but problems evaporate. And mysteries are beau- tiful. They arc not to be solved. They have o be lived. t

M E D I T A T I O N S

he fint point try to be headless. Visualize your- self as headless: move

headlessly. It sounds absurd, but it is one of fte most important exer- cises. Try it, and then you will know. Walk, and feel as if you have no head. In the beginning it will be only

'as if '. It will be very weird. When the feeling comes to you that you have no head, it will be very weird and strange. But by and by you will settle down at the heart. There is a law. You may have seen tlnt someone who is blind has

From Headto Heart keener sars, morc musical ears. Blind men are more musical; their feeling for music is deeper. Why? The energy that ordinarily moves through the eyes now cannot move through them, so it chmses a dif- ferent path - it moves through the ears. Blind men have a deeper sensitivi- ty of ouch. If a blind man touches you, you will feel the difference,

because we ordinarily do much work with ouch through our eyes: we are touching each other through otu eyes. A blind man cannot touch through the eyes, so the energy moves through his hands. A blind man is more sensitive than anyone who has eyes. Sometimes it may not be so, but generally it is so. En- ergy sffts moving from another center if one center is not there.

So ury this exercise I am talking about - the exercise in headles- ness - and suddenly you will feel a strange thing: it will be as if for the hrst time you are at the heart. Walk headlessly. Sit down to meditate, close your eyes and sim- ply feel ttnt therc is no head. Feel, "My head has disappeared." In the beginning it will be just 'as if ', but by and by you will feel that the

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

head has really disappeared. And when you feel that your head has disappeared, your center will fall down to the heart - immediately! You will be looking at the world through the heart and not through the head. When for the first dme Westemen reached Japan, they couldn't believe that the Japanese traditionally have been thinking for centuries that they think through the belly. If you ask a Japanese child - if he is not educat- ed in Westem ways - "Where is your ttrinking?" he will point to his belly. Centuries and centuries have passed, and Japan has been living without the head. It is just a con- cept. If I ask you, "Where is your thinking going on?" you will point toward the head, but a Japanese person will point to the belly, not to the head - one of the reasons why the Japanese mind is more calm, quiet and collected. Now this is disturbed because the West has spread over everyhing. Now there exists no Easr Only in some individuals who are like is- lands here and tlpre does the East exist. Geognphically, the East has disappealed. Now the whole world is Westem. Try headlessness. Mediate standing before your minor in the batlroom. Look deep ino your eyes and feel

that you are looking fiom the heart. By and by the heart center will be- gin to function. And when the hearr functions, it changes your trotal per- sonality, ttrc total structure, the whole pattern, because the heart has its own way. So the hrst thing: ry headlesmess. Secondly, be more loving, because love cannot function through the head. Be more loving! That is why, when someone is in love, he loses his head. People say that he has gone mad. If you are not in love and mad, then you are not rcally in love. The head must be lost. If the head is there unaffected, function- ing ordinarily, tien love is not pos- sible, because for love you need the heart to function - not the head. It is a function of the heart. It happens $rat when a very rational person falls in love, he becomes stupid. He himself feels what stu- pidity he is doing, what silliness. What is he doing! Then he makes two parts of his life; he creates a di- vision. The heart becomes a silent, intimate affair. When he moves out of his house, he moves out of his heart. He lives in the world with the head and only comes down to the heart when he is loving. But it is very difficult. It is very difficult" and ordinarily it never happens. I was staying in Calcutta at a friend's house, and the friend was a

justice of the High Court. His wife told me, "I have only one problem t0 tell you. Can you help me?" So I said, "What is the problem?" She said, "My husband is your friend. He loves you and respecb you, so if you say something to him it may be helpful." So I askeJ her. "What is to be said? Tell me." She said, "He remains a High Courtjudge even in bed. I have not known a loveq a friend or a hus- band. He is a High Court judge twenty-four hours a day." It is difficult: it is difficult to come down from your pedestal. It be- comes a fixed attitude. If you are a businessman, you will remain a businessman in bed also. It is dif- ficult to accommodate fwo per- sons within, and it is not easy to change your pattern completely, immediately, anytime you like. It is difficult, but if you are in love you will have to come down from the head. So for this meditation try to be more and more loving. And when I say be more loving, I mean change the quality of your relationship: let it be based on love. Not only with your wife or with your child or with your friend, but toward life as such, become more loving. That is why Mahavir and Buddha have ralked about non-violence: it was

't2

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M E D I T A T I O N S

just to crcate a loving a$inrde to- ward life. When Mahavir moves, walks, he remains aware not even to kill an ant Why? Really, the ant is not concemed. Mahavir is coming down fiom the head to the heart, creating a loving attitude toward life as such. The more your rela- tionship is based on love - all rela- tionships - the more your heart center will function. It will start working; you will look at the world through different eyes: be- cause the heart has its own way of

looking at the world. The mind can never look in that way: that is im- possible for the mind. The mind can only analyze! The heart syn- thesizes; the mind can only dis- sect, divide. It is a divider. Only the heart gives unity. When you can look through the heart the whole universe looks like one unity. When you approach through the mind, the whole world becomes atomic. Therc is no unity: only atoms and atoms and atoms. The heart gives a unilary experi- ence. It joins together and the ulti-

mate synthesis is God. If you can look through the heart, the whole universe looks like one. That one- ness is God. That is why science can never find God. It is impossible, because the metlrcd applied can never reach to the ultimate unity. The very method of science is reason, analysis, divi- sion. So science comes to molecules, aloms, electrons, and they will go on dividing. They can never come to the organic unity of the whole. The whole is impossible to look at through the head. z

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

t is best to do this prayer at night, in a darkened room, go- ing to sleep immediately after-

wards; or it can be done in the moming, but it must be followed by frfteen minutes rcsL This rcst is necessary, othenvise you will feel as if you are drunk, in a snrpor. This merging with energy is prayer.It changes you. And when you clnnge, the whole existence changes. Raise both your hands owards the sky, palms uppermost, head up, just feeling existence flowing in you. fu the energy flows down your arms you will feel a gentle tremor

Prayer Meditation - be like a leaf in a breeze, trem- bling. Allow it" help il Then let your whole body vibrate with en- ergy, and just let whatever happens happen. You feel again a flowing with the earth. Earfir and heaven, above and below yin and yang, male and fe- male - you float, you mix, you drop yourself completely. You are not. You become one ... merge. After two to thee minutes, or whenever you feel completely

filled, lean down to ttre earth and kiss the earth. You simply become a vehicle to allow the divine energy to unite with that of the earth. These two stages should be repeat- ed six more times so that each of the chabas can'become unblocked. More times can be done, but if you do less you will feel restless and unable to sleep. Go into sleep in that very state of prayer. Just fall asleep and tlte ener- gy will be there. You will be flow-

ing with it, falling ino sleep. That will help very greatly because then the energy will surround you ilre whole night and it will continue to work. By the moming you will feel more frestr than you have ever felt before, more vital than you have ever felt before. A new elan, a new life will start penetrating you, and the whole day you will feel full of new energy; a new vibe, a new song in your heart, and a new dance in your step. I

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hiva said: In any easy posi- tion gradually pervade an area between the armpits

into great peace.

A very simple method but it works miraculously - try it. And anyone can try it, there is no danger. In an easy position: the hrst thing is to be in a relaxed position - easy, whatsoever is easy for you. So dont try some particular position or asana. Buddha sits in a particu- lar posture. It is easy for him. It can also become easy for you if you practice it for a time, but, in the very begrnning it will not be

The Heart of Peacefulness easy for you. And there is no need to practice ic srart from any pos- nue ftat comes easy to you right now. Dont sruggle with posture. You can sit in an easy chair and re- lax. The only thing is your body must be in a relaxed state. Just close your eyes and feel all over the body. Start from the legs feeling whether there is some ten-

sion. If you feel somewhere there is some tension, do one thing: make it more tense. If you feel that in the leg, in the right leg, therc is tension, then make that tension as intense as possible. Bring it to a peak and then suddenJy relax so that you can feel how rclaxation settles there. Then go all over the body just finding if there is some tension somewhere.

Wherever you feel the tension make it more, because it is easy to relax it when it is intense. In just a mid-state it is very difficult be- cause you cannot feel it. It is easy to move from one ex- treme to another, very easy, be- cause tlte very extreme creates the situation to move to the other. So if vou feel some tension in the face

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

then strain all the face muscles as much as possible, create tension and bring it o a peak. Bring it o a point wherc you feel that now no more is possible - then suddenly re- lax. So see tlnt all parts of the body, all the limbs, are relaxed. Be particular about the face mus- cles, because they carry ninety per- cent of the tensions - the rest of the body carries only ten percent - be- cause all your tensions are in the mind and the face becomes the stor- age. So strain your face as much as possible, dont be shy about it- In- tensely make it in anguish, anxiety - and then suddenly rclax. Do it for five minutes so you can feel now the whole body, every limb, is rc- laxed. You can do it lying on the bed, you can do it siaing also - howsoever you feel is easy for you. The second thing: when you feel that the body has come to an easy posturc, dont make much fuss about it. Just feel that the body is relaxed, then forget the body. Becar.rse rcally, remembering the body is a sort of tension. So that's why I say dont make much fuss about it. Relax it and forget it. Forgetting is relax- atiorL because whenever you re- mernber loo muctr, that v€ry r€mem- bering hings a tension to the body. Then close your eyes and just feel the area benpeen the wo armpis:

the heart area, your chesr Fint feel it, just benpeen the npo armpits, bring your total attention, total awarcness. Forget the whole body, just ttn heart area between the wo armpits, your chest, and feel it filled wilh geat peace. The moment lhe body is rclaxed, auomatically peace happens in your heart The tpafi becomes silent, relaxed, harmonious. And when you forget the whole body and bring your attention just to the chest and consciously feel that it is filled with peace, much peace will happen immediately. There are two arcas in the body, particular cent€rs whete particular feelings can be crcated consciously. Between fte npo armpis is the cen- ter of the heart, and the heart center is the source of all peace ttrat hap pens to you, whenever it happens. Whenever you are peaceful, the peace is coming fiom the hearr The heart radiates peace. That's *hy people fiom all over the world, without any distinction of caste, re- ligion, counury, culhred s uncul- hled, every race, have felt this: that love arises somewhere forn the heart No scientific explanation ex- ists. So whenever you think of love you think of tte heart ReallX whenever you arc in love you are relaxed, and because you arc rclaxed you arc

filled with aenanpeace. And tlut peace arises ftun the ttearr So peace and love have become Fined, associated. Whenever you are in love you are peaceful; when- ever you are not in love you are disurbed. Because of peace the heart has become associated witlr love. So you can do two things. Either you can search for love, then sometimes you will feel peace. But the path is dangerous, because the other person whom you love has become mue important than you. The other is the other, and you are becoming dependent in a way. So love will give you peace sometimes but not always. Therc will be many disnrbances, many moments of anguish and anxiety, because the other has entercd and whenever the other enters there is bound to be some disnrbance be- cause you can meet with the other only on your surface, and the sur- face will be disnrbed. Only some- times - when the two of you will be so deeply in love with no con- flict - only sometimes you will be relaxed and ttre heart will glow with peace. So love can grve you only glimpses ofpeace but never really any esab lishment, any mote&tess in peace. No etemal peac€ is poasible thmrgh it, only glimpces. And be-

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tween two glimpses herc will be deep valleys of conflict, violence, haued, anger. The other way is not to find peace through love, but !o find peace di- rectly. If you can find peace dfuectly - and his is ttre method - yow life will become filled with love. But now the quality of love will be dif- ferenL It will not be possessive; it will not be centercd on one. It will not be dependent and it will not make anyone dependent on you. Your love will become just a lov- ingness, a compassion, a deep em- pathy. And now no one, not even a lover, can diswb you, because your peace is already rmted and you love is coming as a shadow of your inner peace. The whole thing has become revened: so Buddha is also loving but his love is not an anguish. If you love you will suffeq, if you dont love you will suffer. If you dont love you will suffer the ab- sence; if you love you will suffer the prcsence of love. You are on the surface and whatsoever you do can give you only momentary satisfac- tions, and then again, the da* val- ley. The trcart is nanrally the source of peace, so you arc not crcating any- thing. You arc simply coming o a source which is always therc. And this imagination will help you be-

oome aware tlnt the treart is filled with peace, not that this imagina- tion will crcate the peace. This is the difference between the tanra at- titude and Western hlpnosis: hyp notists think that by imagination you are creating iq anra thinks that you are not crcating it - by imagi- nation you ale simply becoming at- nrned to something that is akeady there. Whatsoever you can crcate by imagination cannot be perma- nenl If it is not a rcality then it is false, unreal, and you are creating a hallucination. Try this: whenever you arc able o feel the peace benveen the two armpits frlling you, pervading your own heart centet the world will look illusory. This is a sign that you have entered meditation - when the world feels, appears io be illusory. Dont think that the world is illuso- ry; there is no need to thlnk - you will feel ir It will suddenly occur to your mind - "What has happened to the wuld?" The wold has sud- denly gone dreamy, a dreamlike ex- istence. It is there, without any sub- stance, just like a film on 0te scr€en. It looks so rcal; it can even be tlrce-dimensional - just looks, looks a projected thing. Not that the world is a pojected thing, not that it is rcally unreal - no. The world is rcal but you crcate distance, and the distarrce becomes geater and

greate[ And you can undenand whether he distarce is becoming g€ater and geater or not" by know- ing how you arc feeling about the world. So tlnt is the criterion. This is not a truih - that the world is un- rcal - this is a meditative criterion. If tlle world has become urueal, you have become centercd into tlp being. Now the surface and you are so far away that you can look at the surface as something objective, something otlpr than you. You are not identified" This technique is very easy and will not take much time if you try iL Even sometimes il happens with this technique that in the very fint effort you will feel the beauty and the miracle of it. So ury ir But if you arc not feeling it in the very first effort, dont be disap'pointed. Wait, and go on doing ir And it is so easy you can do it any time. Just lying on your bed at night you can do ig just in tlte moming when you feel that you arc now awake you can do iL Do it fnst and then get up, even ten minutes wiu be enough, or ten minutes at night just beforc falling asleep. Make the world unreal, and your sleep will be so deep - you may not have slept like that beforc. If the wsld becomes urueal just befue falling asleep, dreams will be fewer be- cause if the world has become a

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&eam, drcams cannot continue. And if ttp world is unrcal, you are toully rclaxed, othenvise tlrc rcality of the world goes on impinging on you, hammering on you. As far as I know - I have suggested this technique to many people who suffer ftrom insomnia - it helps deeply. If ttp world is unreal, ten- sions dissolve. And if you can move ftrom the periphery you have akeady moved to a deep state of sleep - before sleep comes you are alrcady deep into ir And then in the moming it is beautiful because you are so fresh, so young, the whole energy vibrating and just coming fiom the cenbr back to tlrc periph- ery. The moment you become dert that now sleep is finished, dont open your eyes first. First do this: the

body is rclaxed after tlre whole night, feeling fiesh and alive so do this experiment for ten minutes, then open the eyes. Relax. You are akeady rclaxed; it will not trke much time. Just relax. Bring your consciousness to the heart just be- tween the two armpits: feel it filled with deep peace. For ten minutes remain in that peace, and then open the eyes. And the world will look totally different because that peace will be radiated fiom your eyes also. And the whole day you will feel different - not only will you feel diffetent, you will feel people are behaving differently with you. To every rclationship you con- tribute something. If your contribu- tion is not there, people behave dif- ferently because they feel you are a

different person. They may not be aware of it. But when you are filled with peace everyone will behave differcndy with you. They will be more loving and more kind, less rc- sisant, more qpent closer. The magnet is there. The peace is fte magneL When you arc peaceful people come nearcr to you; when you arc disturbed everyone is re- peled. This is so physical a phe- nomenon that you can obsene it easily. Whenever you ale peaceful you will feel everyone wants to be closer to you because that peace ra- diates, it becomes vibrations around you. Circles of pe4ce move around you and whosoever comes near feels to be nearer to you -just like the shadow of a ree and you feel to move under the shadow and relax there. I

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M E D I T A T I O N S

liva said: Blessed one, ss senses are absorbed in the heart, reach the center of

the lotus.

So what is to be done in this tech- nique? "As senses are absorbed in the hear..." Try! Many ways are possible. You touch someone: if you arc a heart-oriented person the touch immediately goes to your heart, and you can feel the quality. If you take the hand of a person who is head-oriented, the hand will be cold - not just cold, but the very quality will be cold.

HeartCentering A deadness, a certain deadness, will be in the hand. If the person is heart-oriented, then there is a certain warmth. Then his hand will rcally melt with you. You will feel a certain thing flowing from his hand to you, and there will be a meeting - a communication of warmth. This warmth comes fiom the

heart. It can never come fiom the head because the head is always cool, cold, calculative. The heart is warm, non-calculative. The head always thinks about how to take more, the heart always feels how to give more. That warmth is just a giving - a giving of energy, a giv- ing of inner vibrations, a giving of life. That is why you feel a differ-

ent quality in it. If the person real- ly embraces you, you will feel a deep melting with him. Touch! Close your eyes; touch anything. Touch your beloved or your lover, touch your child or your mother, or your friend, or touch a uee or a flower, or just touch the earth. Close your eyes and feel a communication from

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

your heart to the earth, or to your beloved. Just feel that your hand is your heart stretched out to touch the earth. Let the feeling of ouch be related to the heart. When you are listening to music, do not listen to it fiom the head. Just forget your head and feel that you are headless. There is no head at all. It is gmd to have your own picture in your be&oom without the head. Concentrate on it: you are without the head; do not allow the head to come in. While listening to music, listen to it from the heart. Feel the music coming to your heart; let your heart vibrate with it. tet your senses be joined to the heart" not to the head. Try this with all the sens- es, and feel more and more that ev- ery sense goes into the heart and dissolves into it. "Blessed one, as senses are ab- sorbed in the heart, reach the center of the lotus." The heart is the lotus. Every sense is just the opening of

the lotus, the petals of the lotus. Try to relate your senses to the heart first. Secondly, always think tlnt every sense goes deep down ino the heart and becomes absorbed in it. When these two things become established, only then will your senses begin to help you: they will lead you t0 the heart, and your heart will become a lotus. This lotus of the heart will give you a centering. Once you lnow the center of the heart, it is very easy to fall down into the navel center It is very easy! Really, this sutra does not even mention this; there is no need. If you arc rcally absorbed in the heart totally, and reason has stopped working, then you will fall down. From the heart, the door is opened oward the navel. Only from the head is it difficult o go toward the navel. Or, if you are between the two, between the heart and the head, then too it is difhcult to go to the navel. Once you are absorbed in

fte navel, you have suddenly fallen beyond the hearr You have fallen into tlp navel center which is the basic one - the original. If you feel that you are a heart-ori- ented person, then this method will be very helpful to you. But know well that everyone is trying to deceive himself that he is heart- oriented. Everyone tries o feel that he is a very loving person, a feeling type - because love is such a basic need that no one can feel at ease if he sees that he has no love, no loving heart. So everyone goes on thinking and believing, but be- lief will not do. Observe very im- partially, as if you are observing someone else, and then decide - because there is no need to de- ceive yourself and it will be of no help. Even if you deceive younelf, you cannot deceive the technique. So when you do this technique, you would feel that nothing is hap- pening. s

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tisln said: Train in join- ing, sending and taking to- getlur. Do this by riding

the breath.

Atisha says: start being compas- sionate. And the method is, when you breathe in - listen carcfully, it is one of the geatest methods - when you breathe in, think that you arc breathing in all the mis- eries of all the people in the world" All the darkness, all the negativity, all the hell that exisls anywhere, you are brcathing it in. And let it be absorbed in your heart.

Atisha's He art Meditation You may have read or heard about the so-called positive thinkers of the West. They say just the oppo- site - they dont know what they are saying. They say "When you breathe out" throw out all your misery and negativity. And when you breathe in, breathe in joy, positivity, happiness, cheerful- ness." Atisha's method is just ttre oppo- site: when you brcatln in, breathe in all ttre misery and suffering of

all the beings of the world - past, present and futue. And when you breathe ouE breathe out all the joy that you have, all the blissfulness that you have, all ttte benediction that you have. Brcathe out" pour yourself ino existence. This is the method of compassion: drink in all the suffering and pour out all tlte blessings. And you will be surprised if you do it. The moment you take all the suf- ferings of the world inside you, they

are no longer zufferings. The hean immediately transforms the energy. The heart is a ransforming force: ddnk in rnisery, and it is uans- formed into blissfulness... then pour it out. Once you have leamed that your heart can do this magic, this mira- cle, you would like o do it again and again. Try it. It is one of the most practical methods, simple, and itbrings immediatercsults. Do it todaX and see. o

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

Start \dth yourself

1l tisla said: Begin the fovel- .f-l,opment of taking wirh your- self .

Atisha says: before you can do this witlr the whole existence, you will have to start first with yourself. fiis is one of the fundamental se- crets of inner growth. You cannot do anything with others that you have not done in the fint place with younelf. You can hurt othen if you hurt yourself, you will be a pain in the neck to otlren if you are a pain in the neck to yourself, you can be a blessing to others only if you are a blessing o yourself. Whatsoever you can do with others, you must have done to yourself be- fore, because that is the only thing that you can share. You can share only that which you have; you can- not share that which you dont have. Atisha says: "Begin ttre develop ment of taking with yourself." Ratlrer than starting by taking the whole misery of the world and ab sorbing it in the heart, start with your own misery. Dont go ino tlre deep sea so fast; learn swimming in shallow water. And if you immedi- ately start uaking the misery of the whole existence, it will remain sim- ply an experirnent in speculation. It

wont be rcal, it cant be rcal. It will bejust verbal. You can say !o yourself "Yes, I am taking the misery of the whole world" - but what do you tnow of the misery of the whole world? You have not even experienced your own misery. We go on avoiding our own misery. If you feel miserable, you put on the radio or the TV and you be- come engaged. You start reading the newspaper so that you can for- get your misery, or you go to the movies, or you go to your woman or your man. You go t0 the club, you go shopping in the market, just somehow to keep yourself away from yourself, so tlrat you need not see the wound, so that you need not look at how much it hurts within. Pmple go on avoiding themselves. What do they know of misery? How can they think of the misery of the whole cxisknce? FLst, you have to begin with your- self. If you are feeling miserable, let it become a medindon. Sit silently, close the dmrs. Fint feel the mis- ery with as much intensity as possi- ble. Feel the hurt. Somebody has insulted you: now the best way to avoid the hurt is to go and insult him, so that you become occupied with him. That is not meditration. If somebody has insulted you, feel thankful to him that he has given

you an opportunity to feel a deep wound. He has opened a wound in you. The wound may have been created by many many insuls that you have suffered in your whole Iife; he may not be the cause of all the suffering, but he has figgered a pIOCeSS.

Just lock your room, sit silently, with no anger fon the person but with total awareness of the feeling that is arising in you - the hurt feel- ing that you have been rejected, that you have been insulted. And then you will be surprised that not only is this man there: all the men and all the women and all the peo- ple that have ever insulted you will start moving in your memory. You will start not only remember- ing them, you will start reliving them. You will be going into a kind of primal. Feel the hurt, feel the pain, dont avoid it. That's why in many tlrera- pies the patient is told not to take any drugs before the therapy be- grns, for the simple rcason that drugs are a way to escape from your inner misery. They dont al- low you t0 see your wounds, they rcpress them. They dont allow you to go into your suffering and unles you go into your suffering, you cannot be released from the impris- onment of it. It is perfectly scientific to drop all

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drugs before going into a grouP - if possible even drugs like coffee, tea, srnoking, because these are all ways to escape. Have you watched? Whenever You feel nervous you immediately start smoking. It is a way to avoid ner- vousness; you become occuPied with smoking. Really it is a regres- sion. Smoking makes You again feel like a child - unworried, non- responsible - because smoking is nottring but a symbolic breast. The hot smoke going in simPlY takes you back to the days when You were feeding on the mother's breast and the warm milk was going in: the nipple has now become the cigareue. The cigarette is a symbol- ic nipple. Through regression you avoid the responsibilities and the pains of be- ing adult. And that's what goes on through many many drugs. Modern man is drugged as never beforc, be- cause modern man is living in great suffering. Without drugs it would be impossible to live in so much suffering. Those drugs create a bar-

rier; they keep you drugged, theY donl allow you enough sensitivitY to know your pain. The first thing o do is close your dmn and stop any kind of occupa- tion: looking at the TV, listening to the radio, r€ading a book. StoP all occupation, because th,at too is a subtle drug. Just be silent" utterly alone. Dont even pray, because that again is a drug, you arc becoming occupied, you start talking to God, you start praying, you escaPe from yourself. Atisha is saying: just be Yourself. Whatsoever the pain of it and what- soever the zuffering of it" let it be so. First experience it in its total in- tensity. It will be difficult, it will be heart-rending: you may start crying like a child, you may start rolling on the ground in deeP Pain, Your body may go through contortions. You may suddenly become aware that the pain is not only in the heart, it is all over the body - that it is rchlng all over, tlnt it is painful all ovel that your whole bodY is noth- ing but pain.

If you can experience it - this is of tremendous imporance - then start absorbing it" Dont thmw it away. It is such a valuable energy, dont tluow it away. Absorb it, drink it, accept it, welcome it, feel gateful to it. And say to yourself,

'This

time I'm not going to avoid it, this time I'm not going to reject it, tltis time I'm not going o tlrow it away. This time I will drink it and receive it like a guest This time I will digest iL" It may take a few days for you to be able to digest it, but the daY it happens, you have surmbled upon a door which will take you really far, far away. A new journey has start- ed in your life, you are moving ino a new kind of being - because im- mediately, the moment you lrccept the pain with no rejection any- wher€, its energy and is quality changes. It is no longer pain. In fact one is simply surprised, one cannot believe it, it is so incredible. One cannot believe that suffering can be transformed into ecstasY, that pain can become joy. r

8 3

T I I E M E D I T A T I O N S

Inner Centering

l\ToUoOt can exisr wirhour a cenrer. It has not ro be I \ created but only rediscovered. Essence is the cen- tel that which is your natue, that which is God-given. Personality is the circumference, that which is cultivated by society; it is not God-given. It is by nurture, not by nature. I

M E D I T A T I O N S

1ft'ne Sufi mystic who had | | remained happy his whole \-t life - no one had ever seen him unhap'py - he was always laughing. He was laughter, his whole being was a perfume of cel- ebration. In his old age, when he was dying - on his deathbed, and still enjoying death, laughing hilar- iously - a disciple asked, "You pttzzls us. Now you are dying. Why are you laughing? What is ttrere funny about it? We are feel- ing so sad. We wanted to ask you many times in your life why you

are never sad. But no% con- ftonting death, at least one should be sad. You are still laughing! How are you managing it?" And the old man said, "It is a sim- ple clue. I had asked my master. I had gone to my master as a young man; I was only seventeen, and al- ready miserable. And my master was old, seventy, and he was sit- ting under a tree, laughing for no reason at all. Therc was nobody else, nothing had hap'pened, no- body had cracked a joke or any-

thing. And he was simply laughing, holding his belly. And I asked him, 'What is tlte matter with you? Are you mad or something?' "He said, 'One day I was also as sad as you are. Then it dawned on me that it is my choice, it is my life.' "Since that day, every morning when I get up, the first thing I de- cide is, before I open my eyes, I say to myself, 'AMullah' - tlnt was his name - 'what do you want? Misery? Blissfulnes? What arc

you going !o choose today?' And it happens that I always choose blissfulness." It is a choice. Try it The first mo- ment in the morning when you be- come awarc that sleep has left, ask yourself, "AMullah, another day! What is your idea? Do you choose misery or blisfulness?" And who would choose misery? lnd why? It is so umatual - un- less one feels blissful in misery but then too you are choosing bliss, not misery. z

Abdullah

M E D I T A T I O N S

hiva said: On joyoruly see- ing a long absent friend, permeate thk joy.

When you ser a friend and sudden- ly feel a joy rising in your heart, concentrate on this joy. Feel it and become iL and meet the friend while being aware and filled with your joy. l,et the friend be just on the periphery, and you remain cen- tered in your feeling of happiness. This can be done in many other sit- uations. The sun is rising, and sud- denly you feel something rising within you. Then forget the sun; let

Whenever there is joy, you feel that it is coming ftom withoul You have met a friend - of course, it ap- pean that the joy is coming from your friend, ftom seeing him. That is not the actual case. The joy is al- ways within you. Ttre friend has just become a situation. The friend has helped it to come out" has helped you to see that it is there. And this is not only with joy, but

with everything: with anger, with sadness, with misery, with happi- nes, with everyhing, it is so. oth- ers arc only situations in which ttrings that are hidden in you are expessed. They are not causes; they are not causing something in you. Whatsoever is happening, it is happening to you.It has always been there; it is only that meeting with this friend has become a situ-

Findins the ReIl Source it remain on the periphery. You be centered in your own feeling of ris- ing energy. The moment, you lmk at iE it will sprcad- It will become your whole body, your whole be- ing. And dont just be an observer of iq merge ino ir There are a few moments when you feel joy, happi- ness, bliss, but you go on missing them because you become object- centercd.

M E D I T A T I O N S

ation in which whatsoever was hid- den has come out in the open - has come out ftom the hidden sources - it has become apparent, manifest Whenever this happens remain cen- tered in the inner feeling, and then you will have a different attitude about everyhing in life. Even with negative emotions, do this. When you are angry, do not be cenlered on the person who has aroused it. I-et him be on the pe- riphery. You just become anger. Feel anger in its 0otality; allow it to happen within. Dont rationalize; dont say ttnt this man has created it Do not condemn the man. He has

just become the situation. And feel grateful toward him that he has helped something which was hid- den to come into the open. He has hit you somewhere, and a wound was hidden there. Now you know it, so become the wound. With negative or positive, with any emotion, use this, and there will be a geat change in you. If the emo- tion is negative, you will be frced of it by being aware that it is with- in you. If the emotion is positive, you will become the emotion it- self. If it is joy, you will become joy. If it is ange6 the anger will dissolve.

And this is the difference between negative and positive emotions: if you become aware of a certain emotion, and by your becoming aware the emotion dissolves, it is negative. If by your becoming aware of a cerlain emotion you then become the emotion, if the emotion then sprcads and becomes your being, it is positive. Aware- ness works differently in both cas- es. If it is a poisonous emotion, you are relieved of it through awarcness. If it is good, blissful, ecstatic, you become one with it. Awareness deepens it. I

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

f-lhiva said: In moods of \ extreme desire, be undis-

L) turbed.

When desire gnps you, you are disturbed. Of course, that is natu- ral. Desfue gnps you, then your mind stars wavering and many ripples go on, on the surface. The desire pulls you somewhere ino the future; the past pushes you somewhere ino the futurc. You are disturbed: you arc not at ease. De- sire is, therefore, o'dis-eos€'. This sutra says, "In moods of ex- treme desire be undisturbed." But

Center of the Cyclone how to be undisnrbed? Dcsire means disturbance, so how to be undisturbed - and in exEeme mo- ments of desfue! You will have to do certain experiments; only then will you understand what it means. You are in angen anger grips you. You are temporarily mad, pos- sessed: you are no more in your senses. Suddenly rcmember to be undisturbed - as if you arc un-

dressing. Inside, become naked, naked ftom the anger, undressed. Anger will be there, but now you have a point within you which is not disturbed. You will know that anger is therc on the periphery. Like fever, it is there. The periphery is wavering; the periphery is disnubed, but you can look at it. If you can look at it, you will be undisturbed. Become a

wihess to it, and you will be undisturbed. This undisturbed point is your original mind. The original mind cannot be dis- turbed; it is never disturbed. But you have never looked at it. When anger is there, you become identified with the anger. You for- get that anger is something ofter than you. You become one with it, and you start acting through it,

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you slart doing something through ir. Two things can be done. In anger you will be violent to someone, to the object of your anger. Then you have moved t0 the other. Anger is just in between you and the other. Here I am, therc is ange4 and there you arc - the object of my anger. From anger I can tnavel in two di- mensions. Either I can travel to you: then you become my center of consciousness, the object of my anger. Then my mind becomes fo- cused on you, the one who has in- sulted me. This is one way that you can travel fiom anger. There is another way: you can !rav- el o yourself. You dont move to the penon whom you feel has caused the anger. You move to the person who feels to be angry; you move lo the subject and not ro the object. Ordinarily, we go on moving to the object" If you move to the object, the dust part of your mind is dis- tubed, and you will feel, disturbed." If you move within to the cenier of your own being, you will be able to witness the dust paru you will be able o see that the dust part of the mind is dishrbed, but "I am not disturbed". And you can ex- periment upon this with any desire, any disnubance. A sexual desire comes to your

mind; your whole body is taken by iu you can move to the sexual ob- ject, the object of your desire. The object may be there, it may not be there. You can move to the object in imagination also, but then you will get morc and more disturbed. The further away you go fiom your cen- teq the more you will be disturbed. Really, the distance and disturbance are always in goportion. The more distant you arc frrom your cente4 the more you ale disturbed; the nearer you arc to the centeq the less you are disturbed. If you are just at the cente4 there is no disturbance. In a cyclone, there is a center which is undisturbed - in the cyclone of anger, the cyclone of sex, the cy- clone of any desire. Just in the cen- ter therc is no cyclone, and a cy- clone cannot exist without a silent center. The anger also cannot exist without something within you which is beyond anger. Remember this: nothing can exist without is opposite. The opposite is needed therc. Without it, there is no possibility of it existing. If there werc no center within you which re- mains unmoved, no movement would be possible there. If there were no center within you which re- mains undisturbed, no disturbance could happen to you. Analyze this and observe this. If there were no center of absolute undisnrbance in

you, how could you feel that you are disturbed? You need a compari- son. You need two points o com- pare. Suppose a person is ill: he feels ill- ness because somewhere within him, a point, a center of absolute health exiss. That is why he can comparc. You say that your head is aching: how is it that you know about this ache, this headache? If you were the headache, you could not know it. You must be someone else, something else - the observer, tlp witness, who can say, "My head is aching." This sutra says, "In moods of ex- treme desirc, be undisnubed." What can you do? This technique is not for suppression. This tech- nique is not saying that when there is anger, supprcss it and remain undisturbed - no! If you supprcss, you will crcate more disturbance. If the anger is there and an effort o suppress is there, it will double the disturbance. When anger is there, close your doors, meditate on the angetr allow the anger to be. You remain undisturbed, and dont sup press it" It is easy to supgess; it is easy to exprcss. We do both. We express if the situation allows, and if it is con- venient and not dangemus for you. If you can harm the other and the other cannot harm you, you will

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

exprcss the anger. If it is dangerous, if tfte otlrer can harm you more, if your boss or whoever you are angry at is more strong, you will supprcss ir- Expression and sup'pression are easy: witnessing is difficult Wit- nessing is neither It is not supprcss- ing, it is not expressing. It is not ex- pressing because you arc not ex- pressing it o the object of anger. It is not being suppressed either. You are allowing il o be expresed - ex- pressed in a vacuum. You are medi- tating on it. Stand before a mirror and express your anger - and be a witrress fo iL You are alone, so you can meditate on it. Do whatsoever you want to do, but in a vacuum. If you want to beat someone, beat, $rc empty sky. If you want to be angry, be angry; if you want to scr€arn, scream. But do it alone, and remember yourself as a point which is seeing all this, this drama. Then it becomes a psy- chodrama, and you can laugh at it and it will be a deep catharsis for you. Afterwards you will feel re- lieved of it - and not only relieved of ic you will have gained some- thing tfuough it. You will have ma- tured; a growth will have come to you. And now you will know that even while you werc in anger there was a centrer within you which was undisturbed. Now fy to uncover

this center more and more, and it is easy to uncover it in desfue. This technique can be very useful, and much benefit can happen to you tfuough it. But it will be diffi- cult because when you become dis- turbed, you forget everything. You may forget that you have to medi- tate. Then ry ft in this way: don't wait for the moment when anger happens to you. Dont wait for ttrat moment! Just close tle door O your room, and think of some past experience ofanger when you went mad. Remember it, and re€nact iL That will be easy for you. Re-enact it again; do it again; relive it. Dont just remember ir relive it. Remem- ber that someone had insulted you and what was said and how you re- acted to him. React again; replay it. This re-enacting something from the past will do much. Everyone has scars in his mind, unhealed wounds. If you re-enact them, you will be unburdened. If you can go to your pst and do something which has rcmained incomplete, you will be unburdened ftom your past Your mind will become fiesh- er; the dust will be thrown away. Remember in your past something which you feel has remained sus- pended. You wanted lo kill some- one, you wanted to love someone, you wanted this and that" and that has remained incomplete. That in-

complete thing goes on hovering anund the mind like a cloud. "In m@ds of extreme desire, be undisturbed": Gurdjieff used this technique a great deal. He created situations, but to create situations a school is needed. You cannot do ftat alone. Gurdjieff had a small school in Fontainebleau, and he was a taskmaster. He knew how to create situations. You would enter the room where a group was sit- ting, and something would be done so that you would get angry. And it would be done so natually that you would never imagine ttut some situation was being created for you. But it was a device. Someone would insult you by say- ing something, and you would get disturbed. Then everyone would help the disturbance and you would become mad. And when you werc right at the point where you could explode, Gurdjieff would shout, "Remember! Remain undisturbed!" You can help. Your family can be- come a schml; you can help each other. Friends can become a schml and they can help each ofter. You can decide with your family. The whole family can decide that now a sinration has o be created for tre father or for the motheq and then the whole family works to create the sinnion. When the fatlrcr or

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mofter goes completely mad, then everyone stafls laughing and says, "Remain completely undisturbed." You can help each otheg and the ex- perience is simply wonderful. Once you know a cool center within you in a hot situation, you cannot forget iL And then in any hot sinndon you can remember it, rcclaim it, regain ir In the West now one technique, a therapeutic technique, is used: it is called "psychodrama." It helps, and it is also based on techniques like this. In psychodrama you just enact, you just play a game. In the beginning it is a game, but sooner or later you become pos- sessed. And when you become pos- sessed your mind starts functioning, because your mind and your body function automatically. They furrc- tion auomatically! So if you se€ an actor acting in a psychodrama who, in a situation of ange4 rcally becomes angry, you may think that he is simply acting, but it is not so. He might have real- ly become anry; it may not be act- ing at all now. He is possessed by the desire, by tlrc disturbance, by the feeling, by the mood, and if he is rcally possesed, only tlrcn does his acting look real. Your body cannot know whether you are playing or whether you arc doing it for real. You may have ob-

served yourself at some time in your life that you were just playing at being angry, and you didnt know when the anger became rcal. Or, you werc just playing and you were not feeling sexual: you were play- ing witlt your wife or with your girlfriend, or with your husband, and then suddenly it became rcal. The body took over. The body can be deceived. The body cannot know whether it is real or urueal, particularly with sex. If you imagine it, your body thinks it is rcal. Once you start do- ing something, the body thinls it is real and it sarts behaving in a real way. Psychodrama is a techniqrc based on such methods. You are not an- gry: you are simply acting angry - and then you get into it. But psy- chodrama is beautiful because you know that you are simply acting. And then on the periphery anger becomes real, and just behind it you are hidden and looking at it. Now you know that you are not dis- turbed, but the anger is there, tle disturbance is there. The distur- bance is there, and yet the distur- bance is nol This feeling of two forces working simultaneously gives you a Ean- scendence, and then in real anger also you can feel it. Once you know how to feel it, you can feel it in rcal

situations also. Use this technique. This will change your life totally. Once you know how to remain undisturbed, tle world is not mis- ery for you. Then nothing can cre- ate any confusion in you, nothing can hurt you, really. Now there is no suffering for you, and once you know it you can do another thing. Once you can detach your cent€r from the periphery, you can do it. Once the center is detached com- pletely, if you can remain undis- tu6ed in ange4 in desire, you can play with desires, with ange4, with disturbances. This technique is to create a feeling of two extremes within you. They are there: two polar opposites are there. Once you become aware of this polarity, you become for tlrc fint time a master of younelf. Oth- erwise others arc your mast€rs; you are just a slave. Your wife knows, your son knows, your father knows, your friends know that you can be pushed and pulled. You can be disturbed, you can be made hap py and unhappy. If someone else can make you happy and unhappy, you are not a master. You are just a slave. The other has a hold. Just by a single gesture, he can make you unhappy; just by a small smile he can make you happy. So you are just at the mercy of someone else; the other can do anything to you.

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

And if ttris is the situation, then all your reactions are simply reactions, not actions. This lnowledge of the center or this grounding in the center makes You a master. Otherwise You are a slave,

and a slave of so manY - not onlY of one masteq but of manY. Every- thing is a masteq and You are a slave to the whole universe. Obvi- ously, you will be in uouble. With so many masters Pulling You in so

many directions and dimensions, you arc never together; you arc not in a unity. And Pulled in so manY dimensions, you arc in anguish. Orly a master of oneself can tran- scend anguish. I

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ldlhtva said: Oh, lotus-eyed \ ane, sweet of touch, when

LJ singing, seeing, tasting, be cnvare you are and discover the ever-living.

This technique says while doing anything - singlng, seeing, tasting - be aware that you are and discov- er the ever-living: and discover within yourself the cunent, the en- ergy, the life, the ever-living. But we are not aware of ourselves. Gurdjieff used self-remembering as a basic technique in the West.

Feel'IAm' The self-remembering is derived ftom this sutra. The whole Gurdji- effian system is based on this one sutra: Remember yourself, what- soever you arc doing. It is very difficult. It looks very easy, but you will go on forgetting. Even for three or fow seconds you can- not remember yourself. You will have a feeling that you arc rc- membering, and suddenly you

will have moved to some other thought. Even with this thought that "Okay, I am remembering myself," you will have missed, be- cause tlis thought is not self-re- membering. ln self-remembering there will be no thought; you will be completely empty. And self-re- membering is not a mental pro- cess. It is not that you s{ly, "Yes, I am." Saying "Yes, I am," you have

missed. This is a mind thing; this is a mental prccess: "I am." Feel "I am," not the wotds "I am." Dont verbalize. Just feel that you are. Dont think. Feel! Try iL It is difficult" but if you go on insisting it haprpens. While walking, remember you are, and have the feeling of your being, not of any thought, not of any idea. Just feel. I touch Your hand

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

or I put my hand on your head: dont verbalize. Just feel the touch, and in that feeling feel not only the touch, but feel also the touched one. Then your consciousness be- comes double-anowed. You are walking under rres: the trces are there, the heeze is there, the sun is rising. This is the world all around you; you are aware of it. Stand for a moment and suddenly remember that you are, but dont vsrbelizs. Just feel that you are. This nonverbal feeling, even if for only a single moment" will give you a glimpse - a glimpse which no LSD can give you, a glimpse which is of the real. For a single moment you arc thrown back to the center of

your being. You are behind the mir- roE you have transcended the world of reflections; you are existential. And you can do it at any time. It doesnt need any special place or any special time. And you cannot say, "I have no time." When eating you can do it, when taking a bath you can do it, when moving or sit- ting you can do it - anytime. No matter what you arc doing, you can suddenly remember yourself, and fien ry to continue that glimpse of your being. It will be difficult" One moment you will feel it is there, the next moment you will have moved away. Some thought will have en- tered, some reflection will have

come to you, and you will have be- come involved in the reflection. But dont be sad and dont be disap pointed.This is so because for lives together we have been concerned witlt the rcflections. This has be- come a robot-like mechanism. In- stantly, automatically, we arc thrown to the reflection. But if even for a single moment you have the glimpse, it is enough for the begin- ning. And why is it enough? Be- cause you will never get two mo- ments together. Only one moment is with you always. And if you can have the glimpse for a single mo- ment, you can remain in it. Only ef- fort is needed - a continuous effon is needed.

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Aurdjieff tried from one cor- I Tne[, Just try to remembr \J you are. Raman Matnrshi ried ftom another corner. He made it a meditation to ask, to inquire, "Who am I?" And dont believe in any answers tlnt the mind can sup- ply. The mind will say, "What non- sense arc you asking? You are this, you are that" you ate a man, you arc a woman, you are educated or uneducated, rich or poor" The mind will supply answers, but go on asking. Dont accept any an- swer because all the answers given by the mind are false.

WhoAmI? They are ftom ttre unreal part of you. They are coming from words, ttpy ale coming ftom scriptures, ttpy arc coming frrom conditioning, they are coming from society, they are coming from others. Go on asking. Irt this anow of "Who arn I?" penetrate deeper and deeper A moment will come when no an- swer will come. That is the right moment. Now you

are nearing the answer. When no an- swer comes, you arc near the an- swer because mind is becoming silent - oq you have gone far away from lhe mind. When there will be no answer and a vacuum will be cr€ated all around yort your ques- tioning will look absunl. Whom are you questioning? There is no one to answer you. Suddenly, even your questioning will stop. With the

questioning, the last part of ttre mind has dissolved because this question was also of the mind. Those answers wer€ of the mind and this question was also of the mind. Both have dissolved, so now you are. Try this. There is every possibility, if you penist" that this technique can give you a glimpse of the rcal - and tlp rcal is ever-living. s

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

perceived ing.

Each thing is tlvough htow-

The self shines in space through knowing. Perceive one being as knower and known.

Whenever you know something, it is known though tnowing. The object comes to your mind thmugh tlrc taculty of knowledge. You look at a flower You know 0ris is a rcse flower, The rcse flower is therc and you arc inside. Something ftom you comes to ttrc rose floweq something ftrom you is pmjected

Tothe Verv Center of Being on the rose flower Some energy moves ftrom you, comes to the rose, takes its furn, colu and smell, and comes back and informs you that this is a rcse flower. All knowledge, whatsoever you lnow, is revealed through the fac- ulty of tnowing. Knowing is your faculty. Knowledge is gathercd thmugh this faculty. But lnowing rcveals nvo &ings: the known and

the knower. Whenever you are knowing a rose flowel your knowl- edge is half if you forget the know- er who is knowing ir So while knowing a nrse flower there are three things: the mse flower - the known; the knower - you; and the rclationship between tlp npo - knowledge. So lnowledge can be divided into three poins: knoweq lnown and

knowing. Knowing is just like a bridge benveen nvo poinrs - the subject and the obFct Ordinarily your knowledge reveals only the known; the lnower remains unre- vealed. ffiinarily your knowl- edge is one-anowed: it poina o the rose but it never poins o you. Unless it starts pointing to you, that tnowledge will allow you to know about the world, but it will

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not'allow you to know about you- self. All the techniques of meditation are to reveal the knower. George Gurd- jieff used a particular technique just like this. He called it self-rcmem- bering. He said tlrat whenever you are knowing something, always re- member the knower. Dont forget it in the object. Remember the sub- ject. Just now you are listening to me. When you are listening to me, you can listen in two ways. orle: your mind can be focused towards me - then you forget the listener. Then the speaker is known but the listener is fo'rgonen. Gudjieff said that while listening, know the speaker and also lnow the listener Your lnowledge must be double-anowed, pointing to two poinls - the lnower and the known. It must not only flow in one direc- tion towards the object. It must flow simultaneously towards two directions - the known and the knower. This he called self-remem- bering. Buddha called it satnyal< smiti - righr mindfulness. He said that your mind is not in a right-mindful- ness if it knows only one point. It must know both. And then a mira- cle happens: if you are aware of both the known and the knower, suddenly you become the third - you arc neither. Just by endeavoring

to be aware of both the known and the knowe4 you become the third, you become a witness. A third pos- sibility arises immediately - a wit- nessing self comes into being - be- cause how c:n you tnow both? If you arB the knower, then you re- main lxed o one point In self-re- membering you shift from the lxed point of the knower. Then the knower is your mind and the known is the world, and you be- come a third point, a consciousnes, a witrressing self. This third point cannot be ran- scended, and that which cannot be transcended is the ultimate. That which can be transcended is not worthwhile, because then it is not your nature - you can transcend iL You are sitting near a rose flowen look at it. The lnst thing to do is be totally attentive, give total anendon to the rose, so that the whole world disappean and only the rose re- mains there - your consciousness is totally attentive to he being of the rose. If the atlention is total then the world disappears, because the more the attention is concentrated on the rose, the more everything else falls away. The world disappears; only the rose remains. The rose becomes lhe world. This is tlre frst step - to concen- trate on the rose. If you cannot con- centrate on the rose, it will be diffi-

cult to move to the knower, because then your mind is always diverted. So concentration becomes the hrst step towards meditation. Only the rose remainst the whole world has disappealed. Now you can move inwards; now the rose becomes the point fiom where you can move. Now see the rose, and start becom- ing aware of younelf - the knower In the beginning you will miss. When you shift to the knower, the rose will drop out of conscious- ness. It will become faint, it will go away, it will become distant. Again you will come to the nose, and you will forget the self. This hide-and-seek play will go on, but if you persist, sooner or later a moment will come when suddenly you will be in-between. The knower, the mind, and the rose will be there, and you will be just in the middle, looking at both. That middle point, that balancing point, is the witness. Once you know that, you have be- come both. Then the rose - the lnown, and the knower - the mind, are just two wings of you. Then the object and the subject are just nro wings; you are the center of both. They are extensions of you. Then the world and tlre divine are both extensions of you. You have come to the very center of being. And this center is just a witness. o

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Looking Within

T h* techniques are concerned with the practice of I looking. Befqe we enter ttrese techniques, sorne-

thing tus to be undentood about the eyes, because these techniques depend on thaL The fust thing: eyes are the most non-bodily part of the human body, the least bodily. If mauer can become non-matte4 then such is the case with eyes. Eyes are material, but simultaneously they are also non-material. Eyes are a meeting point of you and your body. Nowhere else in the body is the meeting so deep. The human body and you are much separated. A great distance is there, but at the point of the eyes you are near- est to your body and the body is neares to you.That is why eyes can be used fa the inner.innney. A single jump ftorn the eyes can lead you to the sotrrce. That is not possible ftorn the hand, rnt posible fiom the hea+ not possible ftom anywhere else in the body. From else- wherc you will have to travel long; the distance is greaf But firom the eyes a single st€p is enough to enter into youself. Eyes are very liquid, moving, in consant movement, and that movement has its own rhythm, is own system, its own mechanism. Yotn eyes arc not moving at random, anarchically. They have a rhythm of their own and that

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

rtythm shows many things. If you have a sexual tlrought in the min{ your eyes move differently - with a different rhythm. Just by looking at your eyes and the movement, one can say what type of thought is moving inside. When you feel hun- gry and a thought of food is inside, eyes have a different movemenL So remember this, that eye move- ments and thinking are joturcd o- gettrer That is why, if you sop your eyes and their movements, your thought process will stop immedi- ately. Or if your thought process stops your eyes will stop automati- cally. And one point more: the eyes move continuously ftom one object to another From A to B, from B 0o C, they go on moving. Movement is their naure. It is just like a river flowing: movement is their naturc!

And because of that movement, they are so alive! Movement is also life. You can try to stop your eyes at a particular point, at a particular ob- Fcq anA not allow them to move, but movement is their nanle. You cannot stop movement, but you can stop your eyes: undentand the dis- tinction. You can stop your eyes at a particular fixed point - at a dot on the wall. You can stare at the doq you can stop your eyes. But move- ment is their nature. So they may not move ftom object A to object B because you have forced them to re- main at A, but then a very strange phenomenon happens. Movement is bound to be there; that is their naturc. If you do not al- low them movement fiom A o B, they will move from outwards to in-

wards. Either they can move fiom A to B, or if you do not allow this outward movement they will move inwards. Movement is their naturc; tlrcy need movemenl If you sud- denly stop and do not allow them to move outwards, they will start moving inwards. So there arc two possibilities of movemenl One is from object A O object B - this is an outward move- meng this is how it is happening naturally. But there is anotlrr pos- sibility which is of tanra and yoga - not allowing movement fiom one outside object o another and stop ping this movemenl Then the eyes jump ftom an outside object to the inner consciousness. They begin to move inwards. Remember these poins; tlpn it will be easy to un- derstand the techniques. t

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hiva said: Eyes closed, see your inner being in futail. Thus see your true nalure.

"Eyes closed" - close your eyes. But this closing is not enough. To- tal closing means to close your eyes and stop their movements. Otherwise the eyes will continue to see something which is of the out- side. Even with closed eyes you will see things - images of things. Actual things are not there, but im- ages, ideas, collected memories - they will start flowing. They ale also fiom outside, so your eyes are

SeeingWithin still not totally closed. '"To!ally"

closed eyes means nothing to see. Understand the difference. You can close your eyes; that is easy. Ev- eryone closes them every momenL In the night you close your eyes, but ttnt will not rcveal the inner nan[e to you. close your eyes so that nofiing remains to be seen - no outside object, no inside image of any outside object, just a blank

darkness as if you have suddenly gone blind - not blind only o rcali- ty, but to the &eam rcality also. orre has to practice it" A long peri- od will be needed; it cannot be done suddenly. You will need a long raining. Close your eyes. Anytime you feel it is easy and you have time, close your eyes and then inwardly stop all movements of the eyes. Do not allow any movemenl

Feel! Do notallow any movement. Sop all movements of the eyes. Feel as if they have become stones, and then remain in that "stony" state of 0re eyes. Do not do anything; just remain there. Suddenly someday, you will be- come aware that you are looking inside yourself. You have seen your body only from the outside. You have seen

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your body in a mirror or you have se€n your hands ft,om the outside. You do not know what the inside of your body is. You have never en- tered ino your own self; you have never been at the center of your body and being o look around at what is there from the inside. Close your eyes, see your inner be- ing in detail and move &rom limb to limb inside. Just go to your toe. Forget the whole body: move to the toe. Stay there and have a look. Then move through the legs, come on upwards, go t0 every limb. Then many things happen. Many things happen! Then your body becomes such a sensitive vehicle, you cannot even imagine it. Then if you touch someone, you can move into your hand otally and that touch will be- come transforming. That is what is meant by a teacher's touch, a mas- ter's touch: he can move to any limb otally, and then he is concen- trated there. If you can move to any part of your body totally, that part becomes alive - so much alive that you cannot imagine what hap- pens to that part Then you can

move to the eyes totally. If you can move to your eyes otally and then look in someone's eyes, you will penetrate him; you will go to his very depths. Close your eyes; see your inner be- ing in detail. The first, outer part of it is o look at yorn body ftom in- wardly - fiom you inner center. Stand there and have a lmk. You will be separated ftrom the body be- cause the looker is never the looked at. The observer is different ftom the object If you can see your body otally from the inside, then you can never fall into the illusion that you are 0te body. Then you will remain differ- ent - totally differenr inside it but not it, in the body but not the body. This is the first parl Then you can move. Then you arc free to move. Once fiped from the bodX freed from the identity, you arc free to move. Now you can move into your mind - deep down. This is the inner cave of the mind. If you enter this cave of the mind, you will become separate frrom the mind also. Then you will see that the mind is also an object which

you can look at, and that which is entering the mind is, again, sepa.- rate and differenr This entering into the mind is what is meant by "inner being in detail." Body and mind both should be entered and looked at ftom within. Then you are simply a witness, and this wit- ness cannot h penetrated. That is why it is your innermost core: that is you. That which can be penerated, that which can be seen, is not you. When you have come to that which cannot, be pen- etrated, that in which you cannot move, which cannot be observed, then only have you come to the rcal self. You cannot witrress the witnessing source, remember; that is absurd. If someone says that "I have wit- nessed my witness," that is absurd. Why is it absurd? Because if you have witnessed your witnessing self, then the witnessing self is not the wihessing self. That who has wimessed it is the witness. That which you can see, you are not; that which you can observe, you arc not; tlnt which you can become aware of, you are nol 2

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hiva said: lnok upon a bowl withow seeing the sides or the material. In a few mo-

tncnts becorne aware.

Look at anything. A bowl or any object will do, but look with a dif- ferent quality. "look upon a bowl without seeing the sides or the ma- terial." I-ook upon any object, but with these two conditions. Do not look at the sides: look at tlrc object as a whole. fuinarily, we look at paru. It may rrct be done so con- sciously, but we look at parts. If I look at you, first I see your face,

Looking as aWiole then your torso and then your whole body. lnok at an object as a whole; do not divide it in parrs. Why? Because when you divide in parts, the eyes have an opportunity !o move from one part to another. Iook at a thing as a whole. You can do it. Try it. First look at a thing fiom one fragment to another. Then suddenly look at this thing as a

whole; do not divide ir When you look at a thing as a whole, the eyes have no need to move. In order not to give any opportunity for move- ment, 0ris has been made a condi- tion: look at an object totally, ak- en :N a whole; secondly, without seeing the material. If the bowl is of wood, do not see the wood: just see the bowl, the form. Do not see fie substiance.

It may be of gold, it may be of sil- ver Observe it. Do not look at the material of which it is made. Just look at the form. The hnt thing is to look at it as a whole. Secondly, look at it as a form. not as a sub- stance. Why? Because substance is the material part, form is the spiritual part, and you are to move from the matcrial to the non-mate- rial It will be helpful.

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

Trj'it. You can try it with anyone. Some man or some woman is standing: look and rake the man or woman wholly into your lmk, to- tally into it. It will be a weird feel- ing in the beginning because you are not habituated, but it is very beautiful in the end. And then, do not think about whether the body is beautiful or not, white or black, man or woman. Do not think; just look at the form. Forget the sub- stance and just look at the form. In a few moments become aware. Go on looking at the form as a

whole. Do not allow the eyes any movement. Do not start thinking about "the material." What will happen? You will suddenly become aware of your self. Looking at something, you will become aware of your self. Why? Because for the eyes *rere is no possibility !o move outwards. The form has been taken as a whole, so you cannot move to the pars. The material has been &opped; pure form has been taken. Now you cannot think about gold, wmd, silver, etc. Remain with the whole and the

form. Suddenly you will become aware of yourself because now the eyes ffinnot move. And they need movemenL that is their naturc: so your look will move toward you. It will come back, it will retum home, and suddenly you will become aware of your self. This becoming aware of one's seH is one of the most ecstatic moments possible. When for the hrst time you become aware of your self, it has such beauty and such bliss that you can- not comparc it with anything else vou have known. r

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f u-tsu said: When the light

I is made to mave in a circle, -Llall tlu energies of heaven and earth, of the light and the dark, are crystallized.

Your consciousness is flowing out- ward - this is a fact, there is noth- ing to believe in it. When you look at an object, your consciousness flows towards the object. For example, you are looking at me. Then you forget younelf, you become focused on me. Then your ene{gy flows towards me, then your eyes are anowed towards me.

Inner Circle This is extroversion. You see a flower and you are enchanted, and you become focused on the flower. You become oblivious of yourself, you are only attentive to the beauty of the flower. This we know - every moment it is happening. A beautiful woman passes by and suddenly your ener- gy starts following her. We know this outward flow of light- This is

only half of the story. But each time the light flows out, you fall ino the background, you become oblivious of yourself. The light has to flow back so that you arc both the subject and the object at the same time, simulta- neously, so that you see yourself. Then self-knowledge is released. Ordinarily, we live only in this half way - half-alive, half-dead,

that's the situation. And slowly slowly, light goes on flowing out- ward and never returns. You be- come more and more empty in- side, hollow. You become a black hole. The Thoist experience is tlnt this energy that you spend in your ex- troversion can be more and more crystallized rather than qpent if you leam the secret science of

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tuming it backwards. It is possible; that is the whole science of all methods of concentration. Just standing before a mirror some day, try one small experiment. You are looking at tre mirroq your own face in the mirror; your own eyes in the mirror. This is extroversion: you are looking into the minored face - your owl face, of course, but it is an object outside you. Then, for a moment, reverse the whole process. Stan feeling that you are being looked at by the reflection in the mirror - not that you arc looking at the reflection but the reflection is looking at you - and you will be in a very strange space. Just try it for a few minutes; you will be very alive, and something of immense power will start entering you. You may even become frightened because you have never lnown ig you have never seen the complete circle of energy. Although it is not mentioned in Taoist scriptures this seems tro me the most simple experiment any-

body can do - and very easily. Just standing before the mirror in your bathroom, first look into the reflec- tion: you are looking and the reflec- tion is the object. Then change the whole situation, reverse fte process. Start feeling that you are the reflec- tion and the reflection is looking at you. Immediately you will see a change happening, a grcat energy moving towads you. In the beginning it may be fright- ening because you have never done it and you have never known it; it will look crazy. You may feel shaken, a rembling may arise in you, or you may feel disoriented, because your whole orientation up to now has been extroversion. In- troversion has to be leamed slow- ly, slowly. But the circle is com- plete. If you do it for a few days you will be surprised how much more alive you feel the whole day - just a few minutes standing be- fore the mirror and letting the ener- gy come back to you so the circle is complete - and whenever the

circle is complete there is a great silence. The incomplete circle cre- ates restlessness, when the circle is complete it creates rest. It makes you centered, and to be centered is to be powerful. The power is yours. This is just an experiment; you can try it in many ways. Looking at a rose floweq lust look at it for a few momens, a few min- utes, and then start the reverse pro- cess: the rose flower is looking at you. You will be surprised how much energy the rose flower can give to you. The same can be done with trees and the stan and with people. The best way to do it is with the woman or man you love. Just look into each other's eyes. Fint begin looking at the other and then start feeling the other rcturn- ing the energy to you; the gift is coming back. You will feel replen- ished, you will feel showered, bathed, basked in a new kind of en- ergy. You will come out of it rcju- venated, vitalized. +

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Meditations on Light

J n your heart a flame is burning; your body is just a

I light around the flame. t

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

T\ o tlds at least twice a day I I - the best time is early in

t-, the moming, just before you get out of bed. The moment you feel you are alert, awake, do it for nventy minutes. Do itTirsl thing in the moming! - dont get out of bed. Do it there, then and there, im- mediately! - because when you are coming out of sleep you arc very very delicate, receptive. When.you are coming out of sleep you are very fiesh, and the impact will go very deep. When you arc just com- ing out of sleep you are less in the mind than ever. Hence some gaps

Golden Light Meditation are there through which the method will penetrate into your innermost corc. And early in lhe moming, when you are awakening and the whole earth is awakening, therc is a geat tide of awakening energy all over the world. Use tlnt tide; dont miss that opportunity. All ancient religions used to pray early in the moming when the sun rose, because the rising of the sun

is the rising of all the energies in existence. In ttrat moment you can simply ride on the rising energy wave; it will be easier. By the evening it will be difhcult, energies will be falling back; then you will be fighting against the cunent. In the moming you will be going with the cunent. So the best time to begin is in the early moming, immediately, just

when you are half-asleep, half- awake. And the prccess is so sim- ple. It needs no posntre, no ya- gasana, no bath is needed, noti- ing. You simply lie down, as you are lying down in your bed, on your back. Keep your eyes closed. When you breathe in, just visual- ize great light entering from your head ino your body, as if a sun

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has risen just close t0 your head - golden light pouring into your head. You are just hollow and the golden light is poudng ino your head, and going, going, going, deep, deep, and going out ftrcugh your toes. When you breathe in, do it with this visualization. And when you breathe out, visrrel- ize another thing: darkness entering thtough your toes, a great dark river entering tluough your toes, coming up, and going out through the head. Do slow, deep breathing so you can yisrralize. Go very slowly. And just out of sleep you can have very deep and slow breaths because the body is rested, relaxed. lrt me rcpeat: breathing in, let

golden light come into you through your head, because it is there that the Golden Flower is waiting. That golden lighr will help. Ir will cleanse your whole body and will make it absolutely full of creativity. This is male energy. Then when you exhale, let dark- ness, the darkest you can conceive, like a dark night, riverJike, come from your toes upward - this is feminine energy: it will soothe you, it will make you receptive, it will calm you, it will give you rest - and let it go out of the head. Then in- hale again, and golden light enters in. Do it for twenty minutes early in the morning.

And then the second best time is when you are going back o sleep, in the night. Lie down on the bed, relax for a few minutes. When you start feel- ing tlat now you are wavering be- tween sleep and waking, just in that middle, start the prccess again, and continue for twenty minutes. If you fall asleep doing it, that is the best, because the impact will remain in the subconscious and will go on working. After a three-month period you will be surprised: the energy that was constantly gathering at the mulad- lwr, at the lowest, tie sex center, is no morc gathering there.It is going upwarrds. z

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T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

hiva said: Waking, sleeping, dreaming, know you as light.

While "waking," moving, eating, working, remember yourself as light, as if in your heart a flame is burning, and your body is nothing but the aura around the flame. Imagine it in your heart a flame is burning, and your body is nothing but a light aura around 0re flame; your body is just a light around the flame. Allow it o go deep within your mind and your consciousness. Imbibe it.

Heartof Light It will take time, but if you go on thinking about it, feeling it, imag- ining it, within a certain period you will be able to remember it the whole day. While awake, moving on the sreet, you are a flame mov- ing. No one else will be aware of it in the beginning, but if you contin- ue it, after three months others will also become aware. Only when othen become awarc can you then

be at ease. Donl say anything to anyone. Simply imagine a flame, and your body as just the aura around it - not a physical body, but an elecric body, a light body. Go on doing it. If you persist, within three monlhs, or somewhere nearabout lhen, oth- ers will become aware that some- thing has happened to you. They will feel a subtle light alound you.

When you come near them, they will feel a different warmth. If you touch them, they will feel a fiery touch. They will become aware that something strange is happening to you. Dont tell any- one. When others become aware, then you can feel at ease, and then you can enter the second step, not before it. The second step is to take it into

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T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

dreaming. Now you can take it into dreaming. It has become a rcality. Now it is not an imagination. Through imagination you have un- covered a rcality. It is rcal. Every- thing consiss of lighr You are light - unaware of the fact - because ev- ery particle of matter is lighr The scientists say it consiss of electons; it is the same thing. Light is the source of all. You are also condensed light: through imagination you are simply uncov- ering a reality. Imbibe it - and when you have become so filled with it, you can carry it into dreams, not beforc. Then, while falling asleep, go on thinking of the flame, go on see- ing it, feeling you are the light. Remembering it. . .remembering... remembering you fall hto sleep, and the remembrance continues. In the beginning you will sart having some dreams in which you will feel you have a flame within, that you are lighr By and by, in the dreams also you will move with the same feeling. And once this feeling enters the dleams, dreams will start disappearing. There will be fewer and fewer drcams and more and more deep sleep. When in you dreaming, this reality

is revealed - that you are light, a flame, a buming flame - all dreams will disappear Only when dreams disappear can you carry this feeling into sleep, never before. Now you arc at the dmr When dreams have disappearcd and you remember yourself as a flame, you are at the door of sleep. Now you can enter with the feeling. And once you en- ter sleep with the feeling that you are a flame, you will be aware in it - the sleep will now happen only to your body, not to you. Yoga and Thnra divide the life of man's mind into tttrce divisions - the life of the mind, remember. They divide mind into three divi- sions: waking, sleeping, dreaming. These are not the divisions of your consciousness, these are the divi- sions of your mind, and conscious- nes is the fourth. They have not given any name to it in the East; they call it simply the fourth, turiya. The first three have names; these are the clouds. They can be named - a waking cloud, a sleeping cloud, a dream- ing cloud. They are all clouds, and the space in which they move - lhe sky - is unnamed, left simply as the fourth. This technique is to help you go be- yond these tluee states. lf you can

be aware that you are a flame, a light, tlat sleep is not happening to you, you are conscious. You are carrying a conscious effort; now you arc crystallized around that flame. The body is asleep, you arc noL This is what Krishna says in the Gita: that yogis never sleep. While others are asleep, they are awake. Not that their bodies never sleep, their bodies sleep - but only bod- ies. Bodies need rest, consciousness needs no rest; because bodies are mechanisms, consciousness is not a mechanism. Bodies need fuel, they need rest. That's why when they are born, they arc young, then they be- come old, and then they die. Con- sciousness is never born, never be- comes old, never dies. It needs no fuel, it needs no rest. It is pure ener- gy, perpenral eternal energy. If you can carry this image of flame and light through the doon of sleep, you will never sleep again, only the body will rest. And while the body is sleeping, you will know it Once this happens, you have become the founh. Now the waking and the &eaming and the sleeping arc paru of the mind. They are parts, and you have become the fourth - one who goes tluough all of them and is none of them. r

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

f-lhiva said: Kind Devi, enter

\ erlreric presence penading

L) fa, above and below your

form.

This method can be done only if you have done "Touching as a Feather". It can be done separately also, but then it will be very difh- cult" But if you do the other fust" then it is good o do the second and very easy. Whenever this happens - that You feel light, levitating, as if you can fly - suddenly you will become aware that around your bodY form

Do it with closed eyes in the be- ginning. And when this light goes on spreading and you feel an aura, a bluish aura, all around the form, then sometimes while doing it at night with no light in a dark mom, open your eyes and you will see it exactly around your body - a bluish form, just light, blue light, all around your bodY. If you actually want to see it, not

Seeins Etherii Presence there is a bluish light. But that you can see only when you feel that you can levitate, that your bodY can fly, ttrat it has become light, completely fiee of any burden, completely fiee of any gravitation towards lhe earth. Whenever you feel this weightless- ness, just with closed eyes become aware of the form of your bodY. Just with closed eyes, feel your

toes and their form, and the legs and their form, and then the form of ttre whole body. If you are sitting n siddlwsana, just like a Buddha, then feel the form while sitting like a Buddha. Inside just ury to feel the form of your body. It will become apparent, it will appear before you, and you will simultaneouslY be- come aware that just around the form there is a bluish light.

1 1 5

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

with closed eyes, but with open eyes, do it in a dark rmm with no light at all. This bluish form, this bluistr light, is the presence of the etheric body. You have many bodies. This tech- nique is concemed with the ettreric body, and through the etheric body you can enter into the highest ecsta- sy. Therc are seven bodies, and ev- ery body can be used to enter into the divine; every body is just a door This technique uses the etheric body, and the etheric body is the easiest to realize. The deeper the body, the more difficulq but the etheric My is just near you, just near the physical. It is just near. The second form is of the etheric - just around you, just around your body. It penetrates your body and it is also around your body just like a

hazy light, a blue light, hanging all around like a lmse robe. Whenever someone loves y@, whenever some<xrc touches you with deep love, he touches yow etheric body. That's why you feel it a.s such a soothing thing. It has even been phoographed. Two lovers in deep love, making love: if their in- tercourse can continue for a certain limit, beyond forty minutes, and therc is no ejaculation, around both the bodies, deep in love, a blue light appears. It has even been phe tographed. First you will have to become aware of the form that sunounds your physical form, and when you have become aware, then help il to gow help it to incrcase and ex- pand. What can you do? Just sitting silently, looking at ig not doing anything, just looking at

the bluish form around you; not doing anyfting, just looking at it - you will feel it is irrcreasing, spreading, becoming bigger and bigger. Because when you arc not doing anything, the whole energy goes to the etheric. Remember this. When you are doing any- thing, the energy is taken out of the etheric. When you arc not doing anything, your energy is not moving out. It goes to the etheric. It is accumulated there. Yoru etheric body becomes an elecric rcservoir. And the more it grows, the morc you become silent. The more you become silent, the more it grows. And once you know how to give energy to the etheric body and how not to waste it umec- essarily, you have come to reaJize; you have come to know about a se- crctkeY. r

1 1 6

M E D I T A T I O N S

hiva said: Feel the cosmos as a translucen ever-living presence.

This technique is based on inner sensitivity. First glow in sensitiv- ity. Just close your doors, make the room dark, and light a snall candle. Sit near the candle with a very loving attitude - ra0rel with a prayerful attitude. Just pray to lhe candle, "Reveal yourself o me." Thke a bath, throw cold wa- t€r on your eyes, then sit in a very prayerful mood before 0re candle. Look at it and forget ev-

Translucent Resence erything else. Just look at the small candle - the flame and the candle. Go on looking at it. After five minutes you will feel that many things are changing in the candle. They are not changing in the candle - remember. Your eyes are changing. With a loving attitude, wift the whole world closed out. with total concentration, with a feeling heart,

just go on looking at the candle and the flame. Then you will discover new colors around the flame, new shades which you werc never aware were there. They are there: the whole rainbow is there. Wher- ever light is, the rainbow is there because light is all color. You need a subtle sensitivity. Just feel it and go on looking at it Even il tean start flowing, go on lmking at it.

Those tears will help your eyes to be more fresh. Sometimes you may feel that the flame, the candle, has become mysterious. It is not the ordinary candle you brought with you. It has taken on a new glamour A subtle divineness has come inlo it. Go on doing this. You can also do this wittr many other things. Sensitivity must grcw Your every

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

sense must become more alive. Then you can experiment with this technique. "Feel the cosmos as a translucent ever-living presence." Everywhere light is - in many, many shapes, forms, light is hap- pening everywhere. Look at it! And light is everywhere, because the whole phenomenon is based on the foundation of light. t ook at a leaf or a flower or a rock, and sooner or later you will feel rays coming out of it. Just wait patient- ly. Don't be in a hurry because nothing is revealed when you are in a hurry. In a hurry you are dull.

Wait silently with anything, and you will discover a new phe- nomenon which was always there, but to which you were not alert - not aware of it. "Feel fte cosmos as a translucent ever-living plesgnce," and your mind will become completely silent as you feel the presence of the ever-living existence. You will be just a part in it, just a note in the great symphony. No burden, no tension: the drop has fallen into the ocean. But gleat imagination will be needed in the beginning, and if you arc also trying other sensitivity

training it will be helpful. You can try many ways. Just take someone's hand into your hand. Close your eyes and feel the life in the other. Feel it, and allow it to move toward you. Feel your own life and allow it to move toward the other. Sit near a tree and touch the bark of the tree. Close your eyes and feel the life arising in the ree, and you change immedi- ately. If this method is done for three monttts, you will be living in a dif- ferent world because now you will be different. s

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

Meditations on Darkness

Just like the seed that starts its life in the darkness of J tlp soil, or the child that starts is life in the darkness of the womb, all beginnings are in tlre dark, because darlaress is one of the most essential things for anything to begin. The beginning is mysterious, hence dartness is needed. And tlrc begrnning is so delicate, tlrat's also why dark- nes is needed. The beginning is also very intimate, that's also why darkness is needed. Darlness has depth and a tremendous power to nourish. The day tires you; the night rejuvenates. The moming will come, the day will follow, but if you are afraid of the dartness then tlrc day will never come. If one wants to skip dartness then the day is imposible. One has to go tluough the dark night of the soul o reach to the dawn. Death is fint, then [fe is. In the ordinary sequence of things birth is hnq then is life, but in the inner world, in the inner journey, it is just the opposite: death is hrst, then is life. t

l l 9

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

hiva said: In rain during a black nigltt, enter tlat blackness as tlv form of

forms.

How can you enter blactness? Three things.

Step 1:

Stare into blackness. Difficult. It is easy to starc at a flame, at any source of light, because it is therc as an object, pointed; you can di- rect your a0ention to it. Darkness is not an objec[ it is everywhere,

Inner Darkness it is all around. You cannot see it as an object. Stare ino the vrcu- um. All around it is there; yotr just look ino it. Feel at ease and look into it It will start entering your eyas. And when the darkness en- ters your eyes, you are entering into it. Remain with open eyes when do- ing this technique in the dark nighr Dont close your eyes, be- cause with closed eyes you have a different darlness that is your own,

nrental; it is not rcal. Really, it is a negative part; it is not positive darkne,ss. Herc is lighr you close your eyes and you can have a darkness, but that darkness is simply the nega- tive of the lighr Jus[ as when you look at the window and then you close your eyes, you have a nega- tive figure of the window. All our experience is of light, so when we clme qr eyes lve have a negative experience of light which we call

darkness. It is not real, it wont do. Open your eyes, remain with open eyes in darkness, and you will have a different darlapss - the positive dartness that is therc. Stare ino ir Go on staring ino darkness. Your tears will start, your eyes will get sore, they will hurt. Dont get wonied, just go on. And the moment the dartness, the rcal daltness which is there, enters in yorr eyes, it will give you a

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

very deep soothing feeling. When real darkness enters in you, you will be filled by it. And this entering of darkness will empty you of all negative darkness. This is a very deep phenomenon. The darknes tlnt you have within is a negative thing; it is against the light. It is not the absence of light; it is against the light" It is not the darkness that Shiva is speaking of as the form of all forms - the real darkness tlnt's therc. We are so afraid of it tlnt we have created many souces of light just as protection, and we live in a lighted world. Then we close our eyes and the lighted world reflects negatively inside. We have lost contact with the rcal darkness tlnt is tlpre - the dar*ness of the Essenes, or the darkness of Shiva. We have no con- tact with it" We have become so much afraid of it that we have tumed ounelves completely away. We are standing with our backs to ir So this will be difficult, but if you can do it, it is miraculous, it is mag- ical. You will have a different being altogether. When dartness enters you, you enter into it. It is always reciprocal, mutual. You cannot en- ter ino any cosmic phenomenon without the cosmic phenomenon entering into you. You cannot rape it, you cannot force any entry. If you arc available, open, vulnerable,

and if you give way for any cosmic rcalm o enler in you, then only will you enter ino ir It is always mutu- al. You cannot force it; you can only allow it. It is difncult o hnd real darkness in cities now; difficult in our houses to frnd rcal darkness. Wth the unreal light we have made everything un- real. Even our darknes is polluted, it is not pure. So it is good !o move to some rcmot€ place only to feel darkness. Just go to a very rcmote village where there is no elecricity, or move to a mountain peak. Just be there for one week to experience pure darlmess. You will come back a different man, because in those seven days of absolute darkness, all the fean, all fte primitive fears, will come up. You will have to face monst€rs, you will have to face your own un- conscious. The whole humanity will...it will be as if you arc pass- ing through the whole passage that has passed, and deep ftrom your un- conscious many things will arise. They will lmk real. You may get afraid, scarcd, because they will be so real - and ttrey are just your mental creations. You have to come o terms witlr your unconscious. And this medita- tion on darkness will absorb all your madness completely. Try it Even in your home you can try it.

Every night, for one hour remain with darkness. Dont do anything, just stare into darkness. You will have a melting feeling, and you will feel that something is entering you and you arc entering into something. Stayrng, living with darkness for three months, for one hour a day, you will lose all feeling of individ- uality, of separation. Then you will not be an island; you will become tlre ocean. You will be one with darkness. And darkness is so oceanic: nothing is so vast, nothing is so eternal. And nothing is so near you, and of nothing are you so scared and afraid. It is just by the corneq always waiting.

Step 2:

Lie down and feel as if you are near your mother. The darkness is the motheq the mother of all. Think when there was nothing, what was there? You cannot think of anything other than dar*mess. If everything disappears, what will still be there? Darlness will be there. Darlness is the motheq the womb, so lie down and feel that you are ly- ing in the womb of your mother. And it will become real, it will b€- come wann, and sooner or later you will start feeling ttrat the dark-

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M E D I T A T I O N S

ness, the'womb, is enveloping you from everywhere, you arc in it-

Step 3:

Moving, going to work, talking, eating, doing whatsoeveq carry a patch of darkness within you. The darkness that has entercd in you, just carry it As we were discussing about the method of carrying a f1ame, carry darkness. fu I said to you, if you carry a flame and feel you are light, your body will start radiating a certain srange light and those who are sensitive will start feeling iq the same will happen with darkness. If you carry darkness within you, your whole body will become so re- laxed and calm, so cml, that it will be felt" And as when you carry light within you some people will be- come attracted to you, when you carry darkne.ss within you, some people will simply escape from you. They will become afraid and scared. They will not b able to bear so silent a hing; it will be- come unbearable o them. Carrying darlqress within for the

whole day will help you very much, because then when you cont€m- plate and meditate on dartness in the night" the inner dartness tlrat you have canied the whole day will help you to meet - the inner will come to meet the outer. And just by remembering that you arc carrying darkness - you are filled with darlness, every pore of the body, every cell of the body is filled with darkness - you will feel so relaxed. Try ir You will feel so rclaxed. Everything in you will be slowed down. You will not be able t0 run, you will walk, and that walk will be slowed down also. You will walk slowly, just as a prcgnant woman walks. You will walk slow- ly, very carefully. You are carrying something. And quite the opposite will happen when you are carrying a flame: your walk will become faster; ratheq you would like to run. There will be mor€ movement, you will become more active. Carrying darkness you will be relaxed. Others will sart feeling that you arelazy. h the days when I was at the uni- versity, I was doing this experiment

for two yean. I became so lazy that even to get out of bed in the mom- ing was difhcult. My professors be- came very much disturbed about it, and they thought something had gone wrcng with me - either I was ill, or I had become absolutely in- different. One professor who loved me very much, the head of my de- parfrnent, became so worried that on my examination days he would come to fetch me from the hostel in the morning just to lead me o the examination hall so ttnt I would be there on time. Every day he would see ttnt I had entered the hall, and only then would he feel okay and go home. Try it. It is one of the most beauti- ful experiences in life to carry darkness in your womb, to become da*. Walking, eating, sitting, doing whatsoeveq remember, the darkness is filled in you; you arc hlled with it. And then see how things change. You cannot get excited, you cannot be very active, you cannot be tense. Your sleep will become so deep that deams will disappear and the whole day you will move as if in- toxicated. z

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

flhiva said: When a moonless \ rarny night is not present,

L) close eyes and find btack- ness before you. Opening eyes, see blackness. So faults disappear forever.

This is a little bit more difficult. In the previous meditation, you carry the real darkness within. ln this one you carry the false out - go on car- ryrng it. Close your eyes, feel dark- ness; open your eyes, and with open eyes see the darkness out. This is how you throw the inner false darkness out - go on throwing

Inner Darkness Cany Out

it. It will take at least three to six w@ks, and then one day suddenly you will be able to carry the inner darkness out. The day you can car- ry the inner darkness out, you have come upon the real inner darkness. The real can be canied; the false cannot be canied. And it is a very magical experience. If you can cany the inner darkness out, even in a lighted rcom you can

carry it out" and a patch of darkness spreads before you. The experience is very weird, because the room is lighted. Or even in sunlight...if you have come to the inner darkness you can bring it out. Then a patch of darkness comes before your eyes. You can go on spreading it. Once you know that it can hap- pen, you can have darkness, dark as the darkest night, in the full

sunny day. The sun is there, but you can spread the darkness. The darkness is always there; even while the sun is there the dark- ness is lhere. You cannot see it; it is covered by the sunlight. Once you know how to uncover it, you can uncover iL That's the method. First feel it in- side; feel it deeply so you can per- ceive it out. Then open the eyes

r24

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

sudilenly and feel it out. It will take time. And if you can bring ttre inner darkness outside, faults disappear forever, because if the inner dark- ness is felt, you have become so cool, so silent, so unexcitable, that faults cannot remain with you. Remember this: fauls can exist only if you arc prone t0 be excited, if you tend to be excited. They dont exist in themselves; they exist in your capacity to get excited. Someone insults you, and you have no darkness within to absorb the in- sult you become inflamed, you get angry, you get fiery, and then ev- erything is possible. You can be vi-

olent, you can kill, you can do what only a madman can do. Anything is possible - you are now mad. Some- one praises you: you again go mad to the other exErcme. All around you there are situations, and you are not. capable of absorb- ing. Insult a buddha: he can absorb it, he can simply swallow it, digest it. Who digests that insult? An in- ner pool of darkness, silence. You throw anything poisoned; it is ab- sorbed. No reaction comes out of it. Try this, and when someone insults you, just remember that you are filled with darkness, and suddenly you will feel there is no reaction. You pass through a street; you see a

beautiful woman or a man - you get excited. Feel that you are frlled wift darkness; suddenly the pas- sion will disappear. You try it. This is absolutely experimental, there is no need to believe it- When you feel that you are filled with passion or desire or sex, sim- ply remember the inner darkness. For a single moment close your eyes and feel darkness and see - the passion has disappearcd, the de- sire is no more there. The inner darknes has absorbed it. You have become an infrnite vacuum into which anything can fall and it will not renrm. You are now like an abYss. I

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M E D I T A T I O N S

Moving Energy Upwards

Th" hrst thing is to feel onc's energy. The hrst thing is I not thc quesrion, "How to use it?" The first thing is:

how to fecl it and how to feel it intcnsely, passionately, totally. And the beauty is that. once you havc felt your energy, out of that vcry fecling the insight ariscs: how to use it. The energy starts directing you. It is not that you dtert the energy: on fte contrary, the cnergy starts moving on its own accord and you simply follow it. Thcn there is spontancity and then there is frcedom. t

M E D I T A T I O N S

fi hiva said: Consider your

\ essence as tight rays rising L) from center to center up the vertebrae, and so rises 'living-

n e s s ' i n y o u .

Many yoga methods are based on this. First understand what it is, then the application. The verte- brae, the spine is the base of both your body and mind. Your mind, your head, is the end part of your spine. The whole body is rooted in the spine. If tlrc spine is young, you are young. If the spine is old, you are old. If you can keep your

of Life Energy 1 The Ascent

qpine young, it is difficult to be- come old. Everything depends on your spine. If your spine is alive, you will have a very brilliant mind. If the spine is dull and dead, you will have a very dull mind. The whole of yoga ries in many ways to make your spine alive, brilliant" frlled witlt light, young and ftesh. The spine has nvo ends. The be- grnning is the sex center and the

end is salasrar (the seventh center at the op of the head). The begin- ning of the spine is attached to the earth, and sex is the most earthly thing in you. From the beginning center in your spine you arc in con- tact with natlrrc, with what has &nncalled prakrari - the eafih, the material. From ttre last centei or the second pole, salwsrae in the head, you are in contact with the di-

vine. These are the two poles of your existence: fint is sex and the other is the salwsrar. There is no word for 'sahasrar' in English. These are the two poles - either your life will be sexoriented or sahasrar-oriented. Either your en- ergy will be flowing down hom fte sex cent€r back to tlte earth, or your energy will be released ftom the sahasrar ino the cosmos. From

M E D I T A T I O N S

ihe sahasrar you flow into the Brah- man. into the absolute existence. From sex you flow down into the relative existence. These are thc two flows, the two possibilities. Unless you start flowing upward, your mis- ery will never end. You may have glimpses of happiness, but only glimpses - and very illusory oncs. When the energy starts moving up- ward, you will havc more and morc real glimpses. And once it reaches fte sahasrar and is relcased from there, you will have absolute bliss with you - that is nirvana. Then there is no glimpse: you become the bliss itself. So the whole thing for yoga and tantra is how !o move en- ergy upward through the vertebrae, through the spinal column, how to help it move against gravity. Sex is very easy because it follows gravi- ution. The earth is pulling every- thing down, back; your sex energy is pulled by the earth. You may not have heard it, but astronauts have felt this - the moment they move beyond the earth's gravity, they dont feel much sexuality. As the body loses weight, sexuality dis- solves, disappears. The earth is pulling your life energy down and Lhis is natural, because the life energy comes from the earth. You eat food and you are cre- ating life energy within you; it comes from the earth, and the eanh

is pulling it back. Everything gocs to its source. And if it condnucs to movc in this way, liie encrgy going back again and again, you arc mov- ing in a circle; you will go on mov- ing for lives and lives. You can go on moving this way infinitcly un- less you rake a jump just like the astronauts. Like the astronauts you have to rake a jump and move be- yond the circle. Then the pattem of earth's gravitation is broken. It can bc brokcn! The tcchniqucs for how it can be broken are hcre - for how the ener- gy can move vcrtically and rise up within you, rcaching new centers; for how new energies can be re- vealcd within you, making you a new pcrson wilh every move. And the moment the energy is released from your sahasrar, the opposite pole of sex, you are no morc man. Then you don't belong to this earth; you have become divine. That is what. is meant when we say Krishna is God or Buddha is God. Thcir bodies are just like yours. Their bodies will havc to fall ill and thcy will have to die. Everything hap- pens in their bodies as it happcns to you. Only one thing is nol happcn- ing in their bodies which is happcn- ing to you - the energy has broken the gravitation patt€m. That you cannot see; it is not visible to your eyes. But sometimes when

you are sitting by tlre side of a bud- dha, you can feel this. Suddenly you feel an upsurge of energy with- in you, and your energy slarts mov- ing upward. Only then do you know that something has happened. Just by being in contact with a bud- dha your energy begins to move upward toward the sahasrar. A bud- dha is so powerful that even tre earth is lcss powerful, it cannot pull your energy downwards. Those who have fclt this around a Jesus, a Buddha, a Krishna, have callcd thcm God. Thcy have a differcnt sourcc of energy which is sEDnger than thc earth. How can the pattem be broken? This technique is very useful for breaking the pattem. First under- stand something basic. One, if you have observed at all, you must have observed that your sex energy moves with imagination. Just through imagination your sex cen- ter starts functioning. Really, with- out imaginarion it. cannot function. That is why if you are in love witlr somcone it functions bctter: be- cause with love imagination enters. I[ you are not in love it is very dif- ficult. It will not function. Since tlre sex center functions through imagination, you can get erections and ejaculations even in dreams - they arc rcal; dreams are just imagination. It has been ob-

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

l l l l

served hat every man, if physically fit, will have at least ten erections in the night. With every movement of the mind, with only a slight thought of sex. an erection will come. Your mind has many energies, many fac- ulties, and one is will. But you can- not will sex. For sex, will is impo- tent. If you Ery lo love someone, you will feel you have gone impo- tent. so never try. Will never functions with sex; only imagination will function. Imagine, and the center will stafi to function. Why am I emphasizing this fact? - because if imagination helps the en- ergy to move, then you can move it upward or downward just by imagi- nation. You cannot move your blmd by imagination; you cannot do anything else in the body by imagination. But sex energy can be moved by imagination, you can change its dircction. This sutra says, "Consider your essence as light rays..." Think of yourself, your being, as light rays ..."from center !o center up the ver- [ebrae," up your spine, "and so rises 'livingness' in you." Yoga has divided your spine into seven centers. The first is the sex center and the last is sahasrar, and between these two there are five centers. Some systems divide into nine, some into three, some into foun division is not very meaning-

ful. You can make your own divi- sion. Just five centers are enough to work with: the frrst is the sex cen- teq the second is just behind the navel, rhe third is just behind the heart, the fourth is behind your two eyebrows, just in between, in the middle of the forehead. And the fifth, sahasrar, is just on the peak of your head. These five will do. This suua says, "Consider your- self': which means imagine your- self - close your eyes and imagine yourselfjust as if you are light. This is not just imagination. In the be- ginning it is, but it is a rcality also because everyhing consists of light. Science siays now that every- thing consists of lighq science says that everything consists of elecrici- ty. Tantra has always said that ev- erything consists of light particles - and you also. That is why the Ko- ran s:lys that God is light. You are light! Imagine fint that you are just light rays; 0ren move your imagination to the sex center. Concentrate your attention there and feel that light rays are rising upward fiom the sex centel as if the sex center has be- come a source of light and light rays arc moving in an upsurge - up- ward toward the navel center Division is needed because it will be difhcult for you to connect your sex center with the sahasrar. So

smaller divisions will be of help. If you can connect, no divisions are needed. You can just &op all divi- sions fiom yotu sex center on- wards, and the energy, the life force will rise up as light oward the sa- hasrar But divisions will be more helpful because your mind can con- ceive of smaller fragments more easily. So just feel that ttre energy, the light rays, are rising up ftom your sex center to your navel like a river of light. Immediately you will feel a warmth rising in you. Soon your navel will become hot. You can feel the hotness; even others can feel that houpss. Through your imagination the sex energy will have started to rise. When you feel that now the second center at tlte navel has become a source of light, tlnt the mys arc coming and being collected there, tlpn start to move o the heart center. As the light reaches the heart centet as the rays are coming, your heartbeat will be changed. Your breathing will be- come deepeq and a warmth will come to your heart. Go on up- wards. And as you feel warmth, jusl side by side you will feel a 'livingness',

a new life coming to you, an in- ward light rising up. Sex energy has two parts: one is physical and one is psychic. In your body everything

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T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

has trvo parts. Just like your body and mind, everything within you has two parts - one material and the other spirinral. Sex energy has two pans. The mat€rial part is semen. It cannot rise upwards; there is no passage for it. Because of this, many physiologists of the West say that tantra and yoga methods are nonsense and they deny them com- pletely. How can sex energy rise up? There is no passage and sex en- ergy cannot rise. They are right and still wrong. Semen, the material part, cannot rise, but that is not the whole of it - it is only the body of sex energy; it is not the sex eneryy. The sex energy is the psychic part of it, and the psychic part can rise. And for that psychic part, the spinal passage is used - the spinal passage and is centers. But that has t0 be felt and your feelings have gone dead. I remember somewhere that a cer- tain psycho0rerapist wrote about a patient, a woman. He was telling her to feel sometlfng but the psy- chotherapist felt that whatever she did she was not feeling, but think- ing about feeling, and that is a dif- ferent thing. So the therapist put his hand on the woman's hand and presscd it, telling her to close her eyes arld rclate what she felt. She said immediately, "f feel your hand."

But the therapist said, "No, this is not your feeling. This is just your thinking, your inference. I have put my hand in your hand; you say you are feeling my hand. But you arc not. This is inference. What do you feel?" So she said, "I feel your fin- gers." The therapist again said, "No, this is not feeling. Dont infer anything. Just close your eyes and move to the place where my hand is; then tell me what you feel." Then she said, "Oh! I was missing the whole ttring. I feel presure and warmth." When a hand touches you, a hand is not felt. Pressure and warmth are felt. The hand is just inference, it is intellect, not feeling. Warmth and pressurc, that is feeling. Now she was feeling. We have lost feeling completely. You will have to devel- op feeling. Only then can you do such techniques. Otherwise, they will not function. You will just in- tellectualize. You will just think that you are feeling, and nothing will happen. That is why people come t0 me and say, "You tell us this technique is so significant, but nothing happens." They have tried, but they are missing a dimension - the feeling dimension. So fint you will have to develop ftaq and there are some meftds which you can ry. The feeling center must start func-

tioning; only then will these tech- niques be of any help. Otherwise you will go on thinking that energy is rising, but there will be no feel- ing. And if there is no feeling, imagination is impotent, futile. Only a feeling imagination will give you a resulL You can do many other things and there is no need o make a specific effort to do them. When you go to sleep just feel your bed, feel the pillow - the coldnes. Just tum on to it play with the pil- low. Close your eyes and listen to the noise of the air conditioner, or of the naffic or of 0re clock or any- thing. Just listen. Dont label, dont say anything. Dont use the mind. Just live in the sensation. In the morning, in the first moment of waking, when you feel that now sleep has gone, dont start thinking. For a few momenls you can again be a child - innocent. fresh. Dont start rhinking. Dont think abour what you are going to do and when you are starting for the office and what tnain you arc going to catch. Dont start thinking. You will have enough time for all that nonsense. Just wait. For a few moments just listen to the noises. A btud is singing or the wind is passing through the [ees or a child is crying or the milkman has come and is making sounds or

M E D I T A T I O N S

the niilk is being poured. With any- thing that happens, feel it. Be sensi- tive to it, open to it Allow it to hap- pen to you and your sensitivity will gow Create sensitivity and feeling. Then it will be easy for you to do these techniques, and then you will feel 'livingness' arising in you. Donl leave this energy anywhere. Allow it !o come to the sahasrar. Remem- ber this: whenever you do this ex- periment, dont leave it in the mid- dle. You have to complete it. lbke care that no one disturbs you. If you leave this energy somewhere in the middle, it can be harmful. It has to be rcleased. So bring it to the head and feel as if your head has become an opening. In India we have pictued the sahas- ruu as a lotus - as a thousand- petaled lotus. 'Sahasrar' means thousand-petaled, an opening of a thousand petals. Just conceive of the lotus with a thousand petals, opened, and from every petal this light energy is moving into the cos- mos. Again, this is a love act - not with nature now, but with the ulti- mate. Again, it is an orgasm. There are two types of orgasms: one is sexual and the other spiritual. The sexual comes fiom the lowest center and the spiritual ftom the highest center. From the highest you meet the highest and from t}le low-

est you meet the lowest. Even while actually in the sex act you can do this exercise: both the parhers can do this. Move the energy upwards, and then the sex act becomes tantra sadlwna: it becomes meditation. But dont leave the energy some- where in the body at some center. Someone may come and you will have some business, or some phone call will come and you will have to snp. So do it at such a time that no one will disnrb you, and dont leave the energy in any center. Oth- erwise that center where you leave the energy will become a wound, and you may create many mental illnesses. So be aware: otherwise dont do this. This method needs absolute privacy and no distur- bance, and it must be done com- pletely. The energy must come t0 the head, and it should be released from there. You will have various experiences. When you will feel tlnt the rays arc starting to come up from the sex cente4 there will be erections or sensations at the sex centec Many, many people come to me very afraid and scared. They say that whenever they start meditation, when they start to move deep, there is an erection. They wonde4 "What is this?" They are afraid because they think that in meditation sex should not be therc. But vou dont

know life's functioning. It is a good sign. It shows that energy is now there alive. Now it needs move- ment. So dont become scared and dont think that something is wrcng. It is a gmd sign. When you start meditation the sex center will become more sensitive, alive. excited, and in the beginning the excitement will be just the same as any sexual excitement - but only in the beginning. As your medita- tion becomes d*p"r, you will feel energy flowing up. As the energy flows, the sex center becomes silent, less excited. When the energy really moves to the sahasrar, there will be no sensa- tion at the sex center. It will be to- lally still and silenl It will have be- come completely cool, and the warmth will have come to the head. And this is physical. When the sex center is excited, it becomes hot. You can feel that hotness; it is physical. When the energy moves, the sex center will become cooler and cooler and coolel and the hor ness will come to the head. You will feel dizzy. When the energy comes to the head, you will feel dizzy. Some- times you may even feel nausea be- cause for the fint time energy has come to the head and your head is not acquainted with it. It has to be- come tuned. So dont become

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

afraid. Sometimes you may become unconscious immediately, but dont be afraid. This happens. If so much energy moves suddenly and ex- plodes in the head, you may be- come unconscious. But that uncon- sciousness cannot remain for more than one hour. Within one hour the energy auOmatically falls back or is released. I say one hour, but in fact it is exactly 48 minutes. It can-

not be more trat that. It never has been in thousands of years of ex- periments, so dont be afraid. If you do become unconscious, it is okay. After that unconsciousness you will feel so fresh that it is as ifyou have been in sleep for the fint time, in the deepest sleep. Yoga calls it by a special name: 'yogatantra'-yogic sleep. It is very deep: you move to your deepest cen-

ter. But dont be afraid. And if yoru head becomes hot" it is a good sigr. Release the energy. Feel as if your head is opening like a lons flower, as if energy is being released into the cosmos. fu the energy is re- leased, you will feel a coldness coming to you. You have never felt the coldness that comes after this hotness. But do the technique com- pletely; never do it incompletely. z

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hiva said: Or in tlu spaces between, feel this as light- ning.

This is a very similar method with a slight difference: "Or in the spaces berween, feel this as light- ning." Between one cenEr and an- otheq as the rays are coming, you can feel it tike lighming - just a jump of light" For some people the second will be more suitable and for otlprs tlp first. This is why there is a modification. There are people who cannot imagine things gndually and there are people who

of Life Energy 2 The Ascent

cannot imagine in jumps. If you can tlfnk and imagine gradually, then the fint method is good. But if you try the fint method and you suddenly feel that from one center tln rays jump dfuectly o the sec- ond, then dont do tlrc hrst method. The second is better for you. "Feel this as lightning" - like a spark of light jumping frrom one center t0 the nexl And the second is more

rcal because light rcally jumps. There is no gradual stetrby-step gowth.Light is a jump. For women the fint technique will be easier and for men tlre serond. The feminine mind can conceive of gradualness more easily and the male jumps more easily. The male mind is Jumpy': it jumps firom one thing o another. There is a subtle uneasiness in the male mind. The

female mind has a gradual prccess. It is not jumpy. That is why female and male logic are very different. A man goes on jurnping fiom one thing to anothel and for women this in inconceivable. For them there must be gowth - gradual gowth. But choose. Try these, and choose whichever you feel is good for you. Two or three things more about

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T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

this method. With lightning you may feel such hotrress that it may seem unbearable. If you feel that, dont try it. Lightning can give you much heat. If you feel this, that it is unbearable, then donl try this. Then with the first method, if you are at ease, then it is good. Otherwise - with uneasiness - dont try it. Sometimes the explosion can be so great tllat you may become atraid of it, and once afraid you will never

be able to do it again. Then fear en- ters. So one has to be aware always not to become afraid of anything. If you feel that fear will come and it is too much for you, dont u-y it. Then the fint method with light rays is best. If you feel that even with light rays too much hotness is coming to you, and it depends because people differ, then conceive of the rays as cool, imagine them as cool. Then

instead of feeling warmth you will feel a coldness with everything. That. too will be effective. So you can decide: bry and decide. Re- member, with this technique, and with others also, if you feel very uneasy or anything unbearable, dont do it. Thele arc other meth- ods, and this one may not be for you. With unn@essary disnubance inside, you will create more prob' lems than vou will solve. r

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M E D I T A T I O N S

Listening to the Soundless Sound -l- h. meditations concemed with ear energy are femi- I nine meditations, passive - you have just to listen,

not to do anything.Listening to the birds, the wind pass- ing through the pine tres, or to some music, or to the noise of the raffic - just listening, doing nothing - geat silence comes in, and geat peace starts falling and show- ering on you. It is easier though the ear than thrcugh the eye. It is easier through the ear because tre ear is passive, non-aggresive. It cannot do anything to existence, it can only let it happen. The ear is a door: it allows. I

M E D I T A T I O N S

I Tadabrahma is an old Ti -

l\l trto, teclmique which L V was originally done in the early hours of the nnrning. It can be done at any time of the day, alone or with others, but lnve an empty stonnch and re- main inactive for at least 15 min- wes afterwards. The meditation lasts an hour, and there are three sm8es.

First Stage: 30 minutes

Sit in a relaxed position with eyes closed and lips together. Start lwmming, loudly enough to be heard by others and create a

Nadabrahma Meditation vibration tlvoughow yow body. You can visualize a hollow tube or an empty vessel, filled only with the vibrations of the lwmming. A point will come when the hum- ming continues by itself and you become the listener. There is no special breathing and you can al- ter the pitch or move your body smoothly and slowly if youfeel it.

Second Stage: 15 minutes

The second stage is divided into two 7 rlz mirute sections. For the first half, move thc lwrds, palms up, in an outward circular motion. Starting at the navel, both lnnds move forwards and tlun divide to mak two large circles mirroring each otlur left and ight. The

movement shotid be so slow tlnt at tinas there will appear to fu no movement at all. FeeI that you are giving energ! outwards to the universe. After 7 rlz minutes turn tlrc hands, palms down, and slart moving them in thc opposile di- rection. Now the lwnds will come together towards the navel

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

and divide outwards to the sides of the body. Feel that you are tak- ing energy in. As in the first stage, don't inhibit any soft, slow move- ments of the rest ofyour body.

Third Stage: 15 minutes

Sit or lie absolwely quiet and still. z

Nadabrahma for couples

each other's crossed hands. It is best to wear ro other clothing. Light tlv room only by four vrwll candles and burn a particular in- cense, kept only for this nudita- tion. Close your eyes and lvm togetlvr for thirty minutes. After a short while tle energies will be fett to meet, merge and unite.t

plhagwan has given a beautiful I-l variation of this techniquc for couples. Partners sit facing each other, covered by a bedsheet and holding

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fihiva said: Intone a souttd as

\ eU,u slowly. As sound en- L) ters sotudfnlness, so do y o u .

"Intone a sound as AUM slowly": for example, take AUtr4 This is one of the basic sounds. A-U-M: these three sounds arc combined in it A-U-M are thee basic sounds. A/l sounds are made of them or de- rived ftom them; all sounds are combinations of these three sounds. So these three are basic. They are as basic as tlp claim of physics tlnt the electon, neutron

Aum and posiuon are basic. This has to be deeply understood. The inoning of a sound is a very subtle science. First you have to intone it loudly, outwardly. Then others can hear it, and it is good to start loudly. Why? Because you can also hear it clearly when you intone it loudly: because whatso- ever you say, it is to othen - and this has become a habir Whenev-

er you are talking you are talking to others, and you hear yourself talk only when you arc talking to others. So start from the natural habit. Intone the sound 'Aum', &en by and by, feel attunement with the sound. When you intone the sound Aum, be filled with it. Forget ev- erything else. Become the Aum, become the sound. And it is very

easy to become tle sound because sound can vibrate through your body, tlrough your mind, through your whole nervous system. Feel the reverberation of Aum. lntone it and feel it as if your whole body is being filled with it, every cell is vibrating with it. Inoning is also "in-tuning." Tune yourself with the sound, become the sound. And then, as you feel a

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T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

ddep harmony between you and the sound and you develop a deep af- fection for it (and the sound is so beautiful and so musical - Aum), then the more you intone it the more you will feel yourself filled with a subtle sweehes. There are sounds which are biner, there are sounds which are very hard. Aum is a very sweet sound, the purest. In- tone it and be fi[ed with it. And when you begin to feel harmo- nious with it, you can &op intoning loudly. Then close your lips and in- tone it inwadly, but inwardly also fint try loudly. lntone inwardly, but loudly so that the sound spreads all over your body, ouches every part, every cell of your body. You will feel vitalized by it, you will feel re- juvenated, you will feel a new life entering you because your body is a musical instrument. It needs harmo- ny, and when the harmony is dis- turbed you are disnrrbed. That is why, when you hear music, you feel good. Why do you feel good? What is music but just some harmonious sounds! Why do you feel such a well-being when there is music around.you? And when there is chaos, noise, why do you feel so distufted? You yourself are deeply musical. You are an instrument and that instrument re-echoes tlings. Intone 'Aum' inside, and you will feel that your whole body dances

with it. You will feel that your whole body is undergoing a cleans- ing bath; eYery porc is being cleansed. But as you feel it more in- tensely and as it penerates you more, go on becoming more and more slow because the slower the sound, the deeper it can go. It is just like homeopathy. The smaller tre dose, the deeper it penetrates - be- cause if you want to go deeper, you have to go more subtly, more sub- tly, more subtly. Crude, coarse sounds cannot enter you heaft. They can ent€r your ears, but lhey cannot enter your hean. The passage is very narow and the heaft is so delicate. that only very slow, very rhythmic, very atomic sounds are allowed !o enter it. And unless a sound enters your heart, the mantra is not complete. The mantra is complete only when the sound enters your heart - the deepest, most cenral core of your being. Then go on being more slow, more slow, more slow. And therc are also other reasons for making these sounds slower and more subtle: the more subtle a sound is, the more intense an awarcness you will need to feel it inside. The more coarse the sound. the less need there is of any awarc- ness. The sound is enough to hit you; you will become aware of it. But then it is violent.

If a sound is musical, harmonious, subtle, then you will have to listen to it inside and you will have !o be very alert to listen o it. If you arc not. alert, you will go to sle€p and miss the whole point. That is the problem with mantra, with any chanting, with any use of sound: it can crcate sleep. It is a subtle tran- quilizer. If you continuously repeat any sound without being alert. about it, you will fall asleep be- cause tien the repetition becomes mechanical.'Aum-Aum-Aum' be- comes mechanical, and then repeti- tion creates boredom. So two things have to be done: sound has to be slowed down and you have to become more alert. The more sound becomes subtle, t}te more alert you are. To make you more alert the sound has to be made more subtle, and a point comes when sound enters sound- lessness, or soundfulness, and you enter total awareness. When the sound enters soundlessness or soundfulness, by that time your alertness must have touched the peak. When the sound reaches the valley, when it goes to the down- most, deepest center in the valley, your alertness has gone to tle very peak, to the Everest. And there, sound dissolves into soundfulness or soundlessness, and you dissolve into total awarcness.4

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T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

fr n".t night before you go to

fl sleep, you can do a small IJtechnique that will help temendously. Put the lights out, sit in your bed ready to sleep, but sit for frfteen minutes. Close your eyes and then start any monotonous nonsense sound, for example: la, la, la - and wait for the mind to supply new sounds. The only thing to be remembered is that those sounds or words should not be of any language that you know. If you know English, German, and Italian, then they should not be of ltalian, German, or English. Any other language

Devavani that you dont lnow is allowed - Trbetan, Chinese, Japanese. But if you lnow Japanese then it is not allowed, tlren Italian is wonderful, Speak any language ftat you don't know. You will be in a difficulty for a few seconds only for the frnt day, because how do you speak a language you dont know? It can be spoken, and once it starts, any sounds, nonsense words, just to put the conscious off and allow the un- conscious to speak... .

When the unconscious qpeaks, the unconscious lnows no langrrage. It is a very, very old method. It comes from the Old Tesamenl It was called in those days glossolalia, and a few churches in America still use it They call it 'talking in tongues'. And it is a wonderful method, one of the most deep and penetrating into the unconscious. You start with 'la, la, la,' and then you can go on with anything that comes. Just for the fint day you

will feel it a litrle difficulr Orrce it comes, you know the knack of it. Then for hfteen minutes, us€ the language that is coming to you, and use it as a language; in fact you are talking in it" This fifteen minutes will relax the conscious mind so deeply and then you just simply lie down and go to sleep. Your sleep will become deeper. Within weeks you will feel a depth in your sleep, and in the moming you will feel completely fresh. s

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M E D I T A T I O N S

Devavani is the Divine Voice which moves and spealcs through the meditator, who becomes an empty vessel, a channel. This meditation is a Latihan of the tongue. It relaxes the conscious mind so deeply that, when done last thing at night, it is sure to be followed by a profound sleep. There are four stages of 15 min- utes each. Keep your eyes closed throughout.

Instructions for Devavani Meditation

First stage: 15 minutes

Sil quietly, preferably wilh gentle music playing.

Second stage: 15 minutes

Start making nonsense sounds,for example "la...la...la," and con- tinrc until unfamiliar word-like

sounds arise.These sounds need to come from the unfamiliar part of the brain used as a child, before words were learned. Allow a gen- tle conversational intonation: do not cry or slnut,laugh or scream.

Third stage: 15 minutes

Stand up and continue to speak, allowing your body to move softly in lwrmony with the sounds. If your body is relaxed the subtle energies will ueate a Latihan outside your control.

Fourth stage: 15 minutes

Lie down. be silent and still. a

Instructions for Gibberish Meditation

his is a variation on Deva- vani meditation. Where De-

vavani is gentle, Gibberish medi- tation is cathartic.

Eilher alone or in a group, close your eyes and begin Io say non- sense sounds - gibberish. For fifteen minutes nnve totally in the gibberish. Allow yourself to express whatever needs to be expressed within you. Throw ev- erything out. The mind thinks, always, in terms of words. Gib- berish helps to break up his pat- tern of continual verbalization. Wilhout suppressing your thoughts, you can throw them out - in gibberish. Let your body likcwise be ex- pressive. Tlun,for fifteen minutes,Iie down on your stomach and feel as if you are mergin.g with mother earth. With each exhalation, feel your- self merging into the ground be- neathyou.l

M E D I T A T I O N S

hiva said: While listening to stringed insffuments, hear their composite central

sound; thus omnipresence.

You are hearing an instrument - a sitar, or anything. Many notes arc there. Be alert and listen lo the central core, the backbone of it around which all the notes are flowing, the deepest cunent which holds all fte notes together - that which is central, just like your backbone. The whole body is held by the backbone. Listening o the music, be alert, penebate the mu- sic, and hnd the backbone of it -

Music as Medttatton the central thing which goes on flowing, holding everyhing o- getlrer. Notes come and go and dis- appea4 but the central core flows on. Become aware of it. Basically, originally, music was used for meditation; in particular, Indian music developed as a method for meditation, Indian dancing developed as a method of meditation. For the doer it. was a

deep meditation, and for the audi- ence also it. was a deep meditation. A dancer or a musician can be a technician. If there is no meditation in it, he is a technician. He can be a great technician. He can be a great technician, but then the soul is not there - only the body. The soul comes only when lhe musician is a deep meditator. And music is iust the outward

thing. While playing on his sitar, one is not only playng on his sitar: he is also playing on his alerEress inside. The sitar goes on outwardly and his intense awareness moves inside. The music flows outwardly, but he is awarc, constantly alert of the innermost core of it. And that gives samadhi! That becomes ec- srasy! That becomes the highest peak!

M E D I T A T I O N S

But what are you doing when you listen to music? You are not medi- tating. On the contrary, you arc us- ing music as something like alco- hol. You are using it to be relaxed, you arc using it for self-forgetful- NESS.

This is the misfortune, the misery: the techniques which were devel- oped for awareness are being used for sleep. And this is how man goes on doing mischief with himself.

This sutra says while listening to stringed instruments, hear their complete central sound, their com- posite central sound; "thus om- nipresence." And then you will know what is to be known or what is worth knowing. You will become omnipresent. With that music, hnding ttre com- posite central core, you will be- come awake, and with that awaken- ing you will be everywhere.

Right now, you arc "somewhere" - a point which we call 'ego'.

That is the point where you are. If you can become awake, this point will disappear. You will not be any- where tren: you will be every- where - as if you have become the all. You will have become ttre ocean, you will have become the infinite. The finiteness is with the mind; the infiniteness enters with meditation. s

M E D I T A T I O N S

hiva said: Bathe in tlv cen- ter of soturd, as in the con- tintnus sotutd of a water-

fall, or by puuing the fingers in the ears, hear the sound of sounds.

This technique can be done in many ways. One way is o begin by just sining anywhere. Sounds are always presenL It may be in a market or it may be at a Hi- malayan rereaf sounds are there. Sit silently, and with sound there is something very qpecial. Whenever there are sounds, you are the center.

The Center of Sound All the sounds come to you fiom everywhere, from all directions. With sight, with eyes, this is not so. Sight is linear. I see you, then tlrcre is a line toward you. Sound is circular; it is not linear. So all sounds come in circles and you are fte center. Wherever you are, you are always the center of sound. For sounds, you arc always'God," the center of the whole universe. Ev-

ery sound is coming to you, mov- ing toward you, in circles. This technique says, "Bathe in the center of sound." Wherever you arc, if you are doing this technique, just close your eyes and feel the whole universe frlled with sound. Feel as if every sound is moving toward you and you are the center. Even this feeling that you are the center will give you a very deep

peace. The whole universe be- comes the circumfercnce, and you are the center and everything is moving oward you, falling oward you. "As in the continuous sound of a waterfall" - if you are sitting by the side of a waterfall, close your eyes, and feel the sound all around you, falling on you, ftom every side, creating a center in you fiom

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

every side. Why this emphasis on feeling that you are in the center? Because in the center there is no sound. The center is without sound; that is why you can hear sounds. Otherwise, you could not hear them. A sound cannot hear another sound. Because you iue soundless at your centei you can hear sounds. The center is absolute silence: hat is why you can hear sounds enter- ing you, coming to you, peneradng you, encircling you. If you can find out where the center is, where in you 0rc field is to which every sound is coming, sud- denly sounds will disappear and you will enter inlo soundlessness. If you can feel a center where every sound is being heard, there is a sud- den transference of consciousness. One moment you will be hearing the whole world filled with sounds, and another moment your awarc- ness will suddenly turn in and you will hear the soundlessness, the center of life. Once you have heard that, then no sound can disturb you. It comes to you, but it never reaches you. It comes to you, it is always coming to you, but it never reaches you. There is a point where no sound en- ten. That point is yor. Do it in a markec there is no other place like a market. It is so much filled with sounds - mad sounds.

But do not start thinking about sounds - that this is good and this is bad and this is disturbing and that is very beautiful and harmonious. You arc not supposed to think about sounds. You are simply supposed to think of the center. You are not sup- posed to think about every sound moving toward you - whether it is good, bad, beautiful. You are just to remember that you are the center and all the sounds are moving to- ward you - every sound, whatsoev- er the sort. Sounds are not heard in the ears. They are notheard in the ears; ears cannot hear them. They only do a transmission work, and in the nans- mission they cut out much which is useless for you. They choose, they select, and then those sounds enter you. Now hnd out within where your center is. Ears are not the cen- ter You are hearing ftrom some- where deep down. The ears are sim- ply sending you selected sounds. Where are you? Where is your cen- wr? If you are working with sounds, then sooner or later you will be sur- prised - because the center is not in the head. The center is not in the head! It appea$ in the headbecause you have never heard sounds: you have heard words. With words the head is the center; with sounds it is not the center. That is why in Japan

they say that man thinks not through the head, but through the belly - because they were working with sounds since long ago. You have seen in every temple a gong. That was placed there to cre- ate sounds around a seeker. Some- one would be meditating, and the gong would be sounded or a bell would be rung. The very distur- bance seems to have been crcated by ttre sound of the bell. Someone is meditating, and this bell or gong seems disturbing. This seems dis- turbing! In a temple, every visitor who comes will hit the gong or ring the bell. With someone meditating there, this would seem !o be a con- stant disturbance. It is not - be- cause the person is waiting for this sound. So every visitor is helping. Again and again the bell is hit, and the sound is created and the meditator again enters himself. He looks at the center where this sound goes deep. Therc is one hit on the bell: the visitor has done that. Now the second hit will be inside the medi- tatoq somewhere inside. Where is it? The sound always hits at the belly, at the navel, never in the head. If it his in the head, you can understand well that it is not sound: it is words. Then you have started thinking about the sound. Then the purity is lost.

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"Bathe in the center of sound, as in the continuous sound of a waterfall, or, by puning the fingen in the ears, hear the sound of sounds." You can create ihe sound just by using your finge4 or with anything which clos- es your ears forcibly. Then a certain sound is head. What is that sound and why do you hear it when the ears are closed, when the e:trs are plugged? Just as there are negatives of pho- tographs, there are negative sounds. Not only can the eyes see the nega- tive: the ears can even hear the neg- ative. So when you close your ean, you hear the negative world of sounds. All tlte sounds have stop'ped. Suddenly a new sound is heard. This sound is tlre absence of sound. A gap has come in. You are mising something, and then you hear this absence. "Or, by putting the frngers in the ears, hear the sound of sounds" - that negative sound is known as the sound of sounds - because it is not really a sound, but its absence. Or, it is a

natural sound because it is not cre- ated by anything. "Puning the fingers in the ean, hear the sound of sounds" - this absence of sound is a very subtle experi- ence. What will it give to you? The moment there are no sounds, you fall back upon yourself. With sounds we move away; with sounds we move to the other. Try to under- stand this: with sounds we are relat- ed to the ofte[ we communicate with the other. If sound is the vehicle to move to the othel then soundlessness be- comes the vehicle to move to one- self. With sound you communicate with the otheq with soundlessness you fall down into your own abyss, ino yourself. That is why so many techniques use soundlessness to move within. Become absolutely dumb and deaf - even if only for a few moments. And you cannot go anywhere else than to yourself: so suddenly you will find that you arc standing with- in; no movement will be possible.

That is why silence was practiced so much. In it, all the bridges for moving to the other are broken. "Oc by putting the hngers in the ean, hear the sound of sounds" - in one technique two opposites have been shown. "Bathe in the center of sound, as in the continuous sound of a waterfall" - this is one ex- Eeme; "or, by puring ttre fingen in the ears, hear the sound of sounds": this is another extreme. One part is o hear the sounds coming to your cente4 another part is to stop all sounds and feel fte soundles cen- ter. These both have been given in one technique for a special purpose - so that you can move fiom one to another. The "or" is not a choice o do 0ris or that. Do both! That is why both have been given in one technique. Fint do one for a few months, then do the other for a few montls. You will be more alive, and you will know two extremes. And if you can move t0 the two extremes easily, you can remain young forever. r

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

hiva said: In the beginning and gradual refinentcnt of thc soud of any letter,

awake.

How can you do il? Go to a tem- ple. A bell is there or a gong. Take the bell in your hand and wait" First become totaily alert. The sound is going o be there and you arc not to miss the beginning. Fint become totally alert, as if your life depends on this, as if someone is going o kill you this very mornent and you will be awake. Be alert

The Besinnins and Endof Scifund as if this is going o be your death. And if there is thought, wait, be- cause thought is sleepiness. Wiilt thought you cannot be alert When you :rre alert, therc is no thoughL So wait! When you feel that now the mind is without thought, that there is no cloud and you are alert, then move with the sound. Look when the sound is not therc, then close your eyes. Then look when the sound is created. struck:

then move with the sound. The sound will become slower and sloweq subtler and subtler and sub- tlel and then it will not be there. Then go on with the sound. Be aware, alert. Move with the sound to the very end. See both the poles of tlte sound, both the beginning and the end. Try it with some outer sound like a gong or a bell or anything, then close your eyes. Utter any letter in-

side - Aum or any other - and then do the same experiment with iL It is difhculq that is why we do it outwardly first. When you can do it outwardly, then you will be able o do it inwardly. Then do it. Wait for the moment when the mind is vacant, then create the sound inside. Feel it. move with it. go with it, until it disappears com- pletely. It will take time until you can do

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ttris. A few months will be needed, at least three months. In these three months, you will become more and more alert, more and more alert.

The pre-sound state and the after- sound state have to be watched. Nothing is to be missed. Once you become so alert that you can walch

the beginning and the end of a sound, through this process you will have become a toallv different person. 10

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T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

Finding the Space Wthin mpdness is your innermost center All activity is on the periphery: the innermost center is just a zero. t

M E D I T A T I O N S

f1 ntro said: In summer when

\ yo, see the enrire sky end- L) lessty clear, enter such clarity.

Meditate on the sky: a summer sky with no clouds, endlessly empty and clear, nothing moving in it, in its total virginity. Contemplate on it, meditate on it, and enter this clarity. Become this clarity, this space-like clarity. To meditate on the sky is beautiful. Just lie down so you forget the earth; just lie down on your back on any lonely beach, on any

Try this technique, it will be help- ful, but remember three things. One: dont blink - stare. Even if your eyes start to feel pain and tears come down, don't be wor- ried. Even those tears will be a part of unloading; they will be helpful. Those tears will make your eyes morc innocent and fiesh-bathed. You just go on star- ing.

Enter the Clear Sky ground, and just look at the sky. A clear sky will be helpful - un- clouded, endless. Just looking, staring at the sky, feel the clarity of it - the uncloudedness, the bound- less expanse - and then enter that clarity, become one with it. Feel as if you have become t}re sky, the space. This technique - to look into the clarity of the sky and lo become

one with it - is one of the most practiced. Many traditions have used this. And particularly for the modem mind it will be very useful, because nothing is left on earth n meditate on - only the sky. If you look all around, everything is man- made, everything is limited, with a boundary, a limitation. Only the sky is still, fortunately, open to meditate on.

a-a-

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

The second poinu dont think about the sky, remember. You can start thinking about the sky. You can rc- member many poems, beautiful po- ems about the sky - then you will miss the point. You are not to think about it - you are to entrer it, you are tro be one wittr it - because if you start thinking about it, again a barrier is created. You are missing the sky again, and you arc enclosed in your own mind again. Dont think about the sky. Be the sky. Just stare and move into the sky, and al- low the sky to move into you. If you move into the sky, tle sky will move into you immediately. How can you do it? How will you do it - this moving into the sky? Just go on staring further and fur- ther away. Go on staring - as if you arc trying to hnd the boundary. Move deep. Move as much as you can. That very movement will break the barrier. And this method should be practiced for at least forty minutes; less than that will not do, will not be of much help. When you rcally feel that you have become one, tien you can close the eyes. When the sky has entered in you, you can close the eyes. You will be able to see it within also. So only after forty minutes, when you feel that the oneness has happened and there is a communion and you have become part of it and the mind

is no more, close the eyes and re- main in the sky within. The clarity will help the third point: "enter such clarity." The clarity will help - the uncontaminated un- clouded sky. Just be aware of the clarity ttrat is all around you. Dont think about it; just be aware of the clarity, the purity, the innocence. These words are not to be repeated. You have to feel them rather than tlink. And once you stare into the sky tie feeling will come, because it is not on your part to imagine these things - they are there. If you starc they will staft happening to you. If you meditale on open unclouded sky, suddenly you will feel that the mind is disappearing, the mind is &opping away. There will be gaps. Suddenly you will become aware that it is as if the clear sky has en- tered in you also. There will be in- tervals. For a time, thoughts will cease - as if the traffic has ceased and there is no one moving. In the beginning it will be only for moments, but even those moments are Fansforming. By and by the mind will slow down, bigger gaps will appear. For minutes logether there will be no thought, no cloud. And when there is no thought, no cloud, the outer sky and the inner become one, because only the thought is the banier; only the thought creates ttre wall. Only be-

cause of thought the outer is outer and the inner is inner. When thought is not, there, tlp outer and tlte inner lose their boundaries, they become one. Boundaries never rc- ally existed therc. They appeared only because of the thought, the barrier. But if it is not summer what will you do? If t}re sky is clouded, not clear, then close your eyes and just enter the inner sky. Just close your eyes, and if you see some thoughts, just see them as if they are clouds floating in the sky. Be aware of the background, the sky, and be indif- ferent !o thoughs. We are too much concemed with thoughts and never aware of the gaps. One thought passes, and be- fore another enters there is a gap - in that gap the sky is there. Then, whenever there is no thought, what is there? The emptiness is there. So if the sky is clouded - it is not sum- mertime and the sky is not clear - close your eyes, focus your mind on the background, the inner sky in which thoughts come and go. Don't pay much attention to thoughs; pay attention to the space in which they move. For example, we are sitting in this room. I can look at this room in two ways. Either I can look at you, so that I am indifferent to the space you are in, the roominess, the room

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M E D I T A T I O N S

you are'in - I look at you, I focus my mind on you who are here, and not on the room in which you are -

or, I can change my focus: I can look into the room, and I become indif- ferent to you. You are lhere, but my emphasis, my focus, is on the room.

Then the total perspective changes. Just do this in the inner world. Look at the space. Thoughts are moving in it be indifferent to them, dont pay any attention to them. They are there; note it down that they are there, moving. The trafhc

is moving in the sreet. Look at the sueet and be indifferent to the raf- fic. Don't look !o see who is pass- ing; just know that something is passing and be aware of the space in which it is passing. Then the summer sky happens within. z

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

hiva said: Beloved, at this manunt let mind, knowing, br eat h, form be includc d.

This technique is a little difficult, but if you can do it, then it is very wonderfiJ, beautiful. Sining, dont divide. Sitting in meditation, be in- clusive of all - your body, your mind, your heath, your thinking, your knowing, everything. Be in- clusive of all. Dont divide, dont create any fragmenlation. ffiinari- ly we are fragmenting; we go on fragmenting. We say, "The body is not me." There are techniques

Include Everything which can use that also, but this technique is totally different, rather it is the opposile. Donl divide. Dont say, "I am not the body." Dont say, "I am not the heath." Donl say, "I am not the mind." Just say, "I am all" - and be all. Donl create any fragmentation within you. This is a feeling. Witl closed eyes include everything that exists in you. Dont get yourself

centered anywherc - be uncentered. The brcath comes and goes, the thought comes and moves. The form of your body will go on changing. You have not observed this. If you sit with closed eyes, you will feel that sometimes your body is big, sometimes your body is small; sometimes it is very heavy, some- times just light, as if you can fly.

You can feel this increasing and decrcasing of the form. Just close your eyes and sit and you will feel lhat sometimes the body is very big - filling the whole room; sometimes it is so small - just atomic. Why does this form change? As your attention chan- ges, the form of tle body changes. If you are inclusive, it will become big; if you exclude - "this is not I,

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this i's not I" - then it will become very minute, very small, atomic. Include everything in your being and dont discard anything. Dont say, "This is not I." Say, "I am," and include everything in it. If you can do this just sining, wonderful, absolutely new happenings will happen to you. You will feel there is no center; in you there is no cen- ter And with the center gone, there is no self, there is no ego; only con- sciousnes remains - consciousness like a sky covering everything. And when it grcws, not only your own brcath will be included, not only your own form will be ircluded; ul- timately the whole universe be- comes inclusive to you. The basic point is to remember in- clusiveness. Dont exclude. This is

the key for this sutra - inclusive- ness, include. Include and grow. In- clude and expand. Try it with your body, and then try it with the out- side world also. Sitting under a Eee, look at the ree, then close your eyes and feel tlnt the uee is within you. l,ook at the sky, then close your eyes and feel that the sky is within you.look at the rising sun, then close your eyes and feel that the sun is rising within you. Feel more inclusive. A uemendous experience will hap pen to you. When you feel that 0re E€e is within you, immediately you will feel more young, more ftesh. And this is not imagination, be- cause the tree and you both belong to the earth. You are both rmted in the same earth and ultimately rmt-

ed in the same existence. So when you feel that the tree is within you, 0re ree is within you - this is not imagination - and immediately you will feel the effect. The uee's alive- ness, the greenery, the fteshness, the breeze passing through it" will be felt within you in your trearr In- clude morc and more existence and dont exclude. So remember this: make it a style of life to include - not only medita- tion, but a style of life, a way of living. Try o include more and more. The more you include, the morc you expand, the more your boundaries rcede to the very cor- ners of existence. One day only you are; the whole existence is in- cluded- This is the ultimate of all rcligious experience. r

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

ou cannot frnd a better sit- uation in which to medi- tate than while flying at a

high altitude. The higher the alti- tude, the easier is the meditation. Hence, for centuries, meditators have been moving to the Hi- malayas !o frnd a high altifude.

AMeditation for the Jet-Set When gravitation is less and the earth is very far away, nurny pulls of the earth are far away. You are far away from the cor- rupted society that man has built. You are surrounded by clouds and the stars and the moon and the sun and the vast space. So do one thing: start feeling one with

that vastness, and do it in three steps. The first step is: for a few minutes just think that you are becoming bigger...you are filling the whole plane. Then the second step: start feeling that you are becoming even bigger, bigger than the plane, in fact the plane is now inside vou. And the third

step: feel that you have expand- ed into the whole sky. Now these clouds that are moving, and the moon and fre stars - they are moving in you; you are huge, unlimited. This feeling will become your meditation, and you will feel com- pletely relaxed and non-tense. n

M E D I T A T I O N S

atanjali says: On attain- ing the utmost purity of the nirvichara stage of

Look at the face of your husband, your wife, your friend, your beloved, with alertness; meditate on it, and suddenly you see not only the tndy, but tlat which is beyond the body, which is coming out of the body. There is an aura of the spiritual around the body. The face of the beloved is no more the face of your beloved; the face of the beloved has become the face of the divine. Look at your child. Wilh full alermess, awareness,

samadhi, there is a dawning of the spiritual light.

Your innermost being is of the na- nre of light. Consciousness is light, consciousness is the only light. You are existing very unconsciously: doing things, not knowing why; de- siring things, not knowing why; asking things, not knowing why; drifting in an unconscious sleep.

Feel the Absence of Things You are all sleepwalkers. Somnam- bulism is the only spiritual disease - walking and living in sleep. Be- come more conscious. Start being conscious with objecs. Look at things with more alertness. You pass by a tree; look at the tree wrth more alertness. Stop for a while, look at the uee; rub your eyes, look at the tree with rnore alertness. Collect your awarcness, look at the tree, and watch the dif- ference. Suddenly when you are

alert, ttre tree is different: it is more green, it is more alive, it is more beautiful. fte uee is the same, only you have changed. Look at a flower as if your whole existence depends on this look. Bring all your awareness to the flower and suddenly the flower is ranshgured - it is more radiant, it is more luminous. It has something of the glory of the eternal, as if the eternal has come into the temporal in the shape of a flower.

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

*arch him playing and suddenly the object is transfigwed. For example, a bird sings in the trce: be alert, as if in that moment you exist and ttre song of tlte bird - the whole doesnt exist, doesnt matter. Focus your being owards the song of the bird and you will see the difference. The traffic noise exists no more, or exists at the very periptpry of existence, far away, distant. The srnall bird and is song fill your being completely - only you and the bird exist And then when the song has stopped, listen to the absence of the song. Then the object becomes subtle. Remember always: when a song sops it leaves a certain quality to ttn aunosphere - the abserrce. It is no more the same. The atmosphele has changed completely because the song existed and then the song disap'pearcd. Now the absence of the song - watch it" the whole exis- tence is filled by the absence of the song. It is more beautiful than any song because it is the song of si- lerrce. A song uses sound, and when the sound disappears the absence uses the silence. After a bfud has sung, the silence is deeper. If you can watch it, if you can be alert, you arB now meditating on a very subtle obirt" a very subtle objecr A person moves, a beautiful person moves - watch the person. And

when he has left, watch the ab- sence; he has left something. His energy has changed the room; it is no mole the same rmm. If you have a good nose - very few people have; humanity has almost lost the nose completely. Animals are better; their smell is far more sensitive, more capable than man's. Something has happened to man's nose, something has gone wong; very few people have a capable nose, but if you have - then be near a flower, let the smell lill you. Then, by and by, move away fiom the flower, very slowly, but continue be- ing attentive to the smell, the fra- grance. As you move away, the fra- grance will become more and more subtle, and you will need more awareness to feel it. Become the nose. Forget about the whole body, bring all your energy to the nose, as if only the nose exists. If you lose track of the smell by and by, go a few steps fruther ahead. Again catch hold of the smell, then move back, move backward. By and by, you will be able to smell a flower from a very very great distance - nobody else will be able to smell that flower fiom there. Then go on moving. ln a very simple way you are making the object subtle. Then a moment will come when you will not be able to smell the srnell: now smell the ab- sence. Now smell the absence where

the fragance was just a moment be- fore, and it is no longer there. That is the other part of its being, the ab- sent part, the dark pan. If you can smell the absence of the smell, if you can feel it, that it makes a differ- ence - it makzs a differcnce - then the object has become very subtle. You can do it with incense. Burn incense, meditate on it, feel it, smell it, be filled with it, and then move backwards, away fiom ir And go on, go on meditating on it and let it become more and more subtle. A moment comes when you can feel the absence of a certain thing. Then you have come to a very deep awarcness. But when the object completely disappean, and the presence of the object disappean, and the absence of the object disappears, thought disappean and tlrc idea of no-mind disappears, only then have you at- tained to lhe utmost Now this is t}te moment when suddenly grace descends on you. This is the mo- ment when flowers shower. This is the moment when you are connect- ed with the source of life and being. This is the moment when you are no morc a beggar; you have be- come the empemr. This is the mo- ment when you arc crowned. Be- fore it you were on a cross; this is the moment the cross disappean and you are crowned. s

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fT ilopa said: Like a hollow

I bamboo rest at ease with t- yow body.

This is one of Tilopa's special methods. Every master has his own special method through which he has attained, and through which he would like to help others. This is Tilopa's specialty: "Like a hol- low bamboo rcst at ease with your body." A bamboo - inside completely hollow. When you rest, you just feel that you are like a bamboo - inside completely hollow and emp-

Hollow Bamboo ty. And in fact this is the case: your body is just like a bamboo, and in- side it is hollow Your skin, your bones, your blood, all are part of the bamboo, and inside therc is space, hollowness. When you are sitting witi a com- pletely silent mouth, inactive, tongue touching the rcof and silent, not quivering with thoughs, mind watching passively, not wait-

ing for anything in particular, feel like a hollow bamboo - and sud- denly infinite energy stars pouring within you, you are hlled with the unknown, with the mysterious, with the divine. A hollow bamboo becomes a flute and the divine starts playing it. Once you arc emp ty then there is no barrier for the di- vine to enter in you. Try this; this is one of the most

beautiful meditiations, the medita- tion of becoming a hollow bam- boo. You need not do anything else. You simply become ftis - and all else happens. Suddenly you feel something is descending in your hollowness. You are like a womb and a new life is entering in you, a seed is falling. And a mo- ment comes when the bamboo completely disappean. o

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

Entering into Death

T ife is a pilgrimage towards death. From the very be- I--rginning, death is coming. From the moment of birth, death has started coming towards you; you have started moving towards death. And the geatest calamity that has happened to the human mind is that it is against death. Being against death means you will miss the geatest myst€ry. And be- ing against death also means that you will miss life iself - because they are deeply involved in each other; they are not two. Life is growing, death is the flowering of it. The journey and the goal are not separate - the journey ends in the goal. t

M E D I T A T I O N S

hiva said: Focus on fire ris- ing through your form, from the toes up, until the body

burns to ashes but not you.

Buddha liked this technique very much; he initiated his disciples into this technique. Whenever someone was initiated by Buddha, the first thing was this: he would toll him just to go t0 the burning place and observe a body being bumed, a dead body being bumed. For three months he was not to do anything, but just sit there and watch.

Entering into Death Buddha said, "Don't think about it" Just look at it." And it is difficult not to come upon the thought that sooner or later your body is going to be bumed. Tfuee months is a long time, and continuously, day and night, whenever there was a body o be burned, the seeker was to meditate. Sooner or later he would start seeing his own body on the buming pyre. He would

start seeing himself being bumed. If you are very much afraid of death you cannot do this technique, because the very fear will protect you. You cannot enter into it. Or, you can just imagine on the sur- face, but your deep being will not be in it. Then nothing will happen to you. Remember, whefter you are afraid or not, death is the only certainty.

In life, nothing is certain except death. Everything is uncertain; only death is a certainty. All else is accidental - it can happen, it may not happen - only death is not ac- cidenral. And lmk at the human mind. We always talk about death as if it is an accident. Whenever someone dies we say his death was untimely. Whenever someone dies we start talking as if it has

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

been an accident. Only death is not an accident - only death. Every- thing else is accidental. Death is ab- solutely certain. You have to die. And when I say you have o die, it seems in the future, very far away. It is not so - you have alrcady died. The moment you werc born, you died. With birth, death has become a fixed phenomenon. One part of it has already hap'pened - the birti; now only the second, later part has to happen. So you are alrcady dead, half-dead, because once one is born. one has come into the rcalm of death, entered into it. Now noth- ing can change it, now there is no way to change it You have entered into it. You are halfdead with birth. Secondly: death is not going o hap pen in the end; it is already happen- ing. It is a process. Just as iife is a process, death is a process. We cre- ate the dualism - but life and death are just like your mo feet, your two legs. Life and death are both one pmcess. You are dying every mo- ment. lrt me put it this way: whenever you inhale, it is life, and whenever you exhale, it is death. The fint thing a child does is to in- hale. A child cannot exhale. The fint thing is inhalation. He cannot exhale, because therc is no air with- in his chest; he has to inhale. The fust act is inhalation. And the old

man, while dying, will do the last act, which will be exhalation. Dy- ing, you cannot inhale - or can you? When you are dying, you can- not inhale. The last act cannot be inhalation; the last act will be exha- lation. The first act is inhalation and the last is exhalation. Inhalation is birth and exhalation is death. But every moment you arc doing both - inhaling, exhaling. Inhalation is life. exhalation is death. You may not have observed, but try to observe it. Whenever you exhale, you arc more at peace. Exhale deeply and you will feel a certain peace within. Whenever you inhale, you become intense, you become bnse. The very intensity of inhala- tion creates a tension. And the nor- mal, ordinary emphasis is always on inhalation. If I tell you !o take deep breaths, you will always start with inhalation. Really, we are afraid of exhaling. That's why breathing has become shallow. You never exhale, you go on inhaling. Only the body goes on exhaling, because the body cannot exist with inhalation alone. It needs both: life and death.

Step 1:

Try one experiment. The whole day, whenever you remember, ex- hale deeply and dont inhale. Allow

the body to inhale; you simply ex- hale deeply. You will feel a deep peace, because death is peace, death is silence. And if you can pay attention, more attention, to exhala- tion, you will feel egoless. With in- halation you will feel more egois- tic; with exhalation you will feel more egoless. Pay more attendon tio exhalation. The whole day, when- ever you remember, exhale deeply and dont inhale. Allow tire body to inhale; you don't do anything. This emphasis on exhalation will help you very much to do this ex- periment, because you will be ready to die. A readiness is needed, otherwise the technique will not be of much help. And you can be rcady only if you have tasted dearh in a certain way. Exhale deeply and you will have a taste of it. It is beautiful. Death is just beautiful, because nothing is like death - so silent, so relaxing, so calm, so unpertubed. But we are afraid of death. And why are we afraid of death? Why is there so much fear of death? We are afraid of death not because of death - because we dont know it. How can you be afraid of something you have never encountered? How can you be afraid of something that you dont know? At least you must know it to be afraid of it. So really you are not afraid of death; the fear

M E D I T A T I O N S

is som'ething else. You have never really lived - that cr%tes the fear of death. The fear comes because you arc not living, so you are afraid - "I have not lived yet, and if death happens, then what? Unfulhlled, unlived, I will die." The fear of death comes only to those who arc not really alive. If you are alive, you will wel- come death. Then there is no fear. You have known life; now you would like to know death also. But we are so afraid of life iself that we have not lnown it, we have not. en- tered deep into it. That creates the fear of death. If you want to enter this technique you must be aware of this deep fear. And this deep fear must be thrown away, purged, only tlen can you en- ter the technique. This will help: pay more attention to exhalation. The whole day you will feel relaxed, and an inner silence will be created.

Step 2:

You can deepen this feeling morc if you do another experiment. Just ex- hale deeply for fifteen minutes a day. Sit in a chair or on lhe ground, exhale deeply, and while exhaling close tre eyes. When the air goes out, you go in. And then allow the body to inhale, and when the air goes in, open the eyes and you go

out. It is just the opposite: when the air goes out, you go in; when ttre air goes in, you go oul When you exhale, space is crcated within, because breath is life. When you exhale deeply, you are vacant, life has gone out. In a way you arc dead, for a moment you are dead. In that silence of death, enter within. Air is moving oul you close your eyes and move within. The space is there and you can move easily. Before doing the following tech- nique, do this experiment for fifteen minutes so that you arc ready - not only ready, but welcoming, recep- tive. The fear of death is not there, because now death appears like re- laxation, death ap'pean like a deep rcst.

Step 3:

Just lie down. Fint conceive of yourself as death; the body is just like a corpse. Lie down, and then bring your attention t0 the toes. With closed eyes move inward. Bring your attrention to the Oes and feel that the frre is rising from there upward, everything is being bumed. As the hre rises, your body is disap- pearing. Start frrom the toes and move upwards. Why start from the toes? It will be easie4 because the toes are very far away fnm your I, frrom your ego.

Your ego exists in the head. You &mnot start ftom the head, it will be very diffrcult, so start from the faraway point - tlre toes are the most faraway point ftom the ego. Start the fire ftrom there. Feel tlnt the oes are bumed, only ashes rc- main, and then move slowly, burn- ing everything that the fire comes across. Every part, the legs, the thighs, will disappear Just go on seeing that they have be- come ashes. The fire is rising up ward, and the parts it has passed are no longer therc; they have become ashes. Go on upward, and lastly the head disappears. You will remain just a watcher on the hill. The body will be there - dead, bumed, ashes - and you wiU be the watche4 you will be the witness. This witness has no ego. This technique is very good o rcach the egoless state. Why? - be- cause so many things are implied in it. It appean simple; it is not so simple. The inner mechanism is very complex. First thing: your memories are part of the body. Memory is matter; that's why it can be rccorded - it is rccorded in the brain cells. They are material, part of tlrc body. Your brain cells can be operated on, and if certain brain cells are removed, certain memo- ries will disappear from you. Remembe4 this is the point to un-

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

de*tand: if the memory is still there, then lhe body rcmains and you have been playing ricks. Ifyou go rcally deep ino feeling that the body is dead, burning, and the fire has completely destoyed it, you will not have any memory in that momenl In that moment of watch- ing, there will be no mind. Every- thing will have sopped - no move- ment of thought, just warching, just seeing what has happened. And once you know this, you can remain in this state continuously. Once you have known that you can

separat€ younelf fom the body - this technique is just a method o separate yourself from the body, just to cr€ate a gap between you and the bodX just for a few mo- ments to be out of &e body. If you can do this, then you can remain in the body and you will not be in the body. You can go on living as you were living before, but you will not be the same again. This technique will tiake at least ihree months. Go on doing ir It is not going to happen in one day, but if you go on doing it for one hour

every day, within thee months, one day suddenly your imagination will have helped and the gap will be crcated, and you will acurally see the body gone to ashes. Then you can watch. In that watching you will rc:,lizo a deep phenomenon - that the ego is a false entity. It was there because you werc identihed with the body; with the thoughts, with the mind. You are neither - neither the mind nor the body. You are different ft,om all that sunounds you; you arc different ftrom yourperiphery. ,

1 7 0

M E D I T A T I O N S

Celebrating Death

f have lrcad about tlree monks. I No name is mentioned, because they never told their n:rmes to any- body, they never answered any- thing. So in China they are only known simply as 'the three laugh- ing monks'. They did only one thing: they would enter a village, stand in the marketplace, and start laughing. Suddenly people would become aware, and they would laugh with their whole being. Then others would also get the infection, and then a crowd would gathe4, and just lmking at ftem tlp whole crowd would strt laughing. What is hap pening? Then the whole town would get involved, and they would move to another town. They were loved very much. That was their only sermon, the only message - that laugh. And they would not teach, they would simply cteate the situation. Then it happened that they became famous all over the counly - 'the

tfuee laughing monks'. The whole of China loved them, respected ttrcm. Nobody had preached that way - that life must be just a laugh- ter and nothing else. And they were not laughing at anybdy in particu-

laq but simply laughing, as if they had undentood the cosmic joke. They spread so much joy all over China without using a single word. People would ask their names, but they would simply laugh, so that became their name - 'the three laughing monks'. Then they became old, and in one villags one of the three monks died. The whole village was very expec- tant, very frlled with expectations, because now at least when one of them has died, tlny must weep. This would be something worth seeing, because no one could even conceive of these people weeping. The whole villags gathercd. The two monks werc standing by the side of the corpse of the third and laughing, such a belly laugh. So the villaggrs asked, "At least explain this!" So for the hrst rime ttrey spoke, and they said, "We are laughing because this man has won. We were always wondering who would die fint, and this man has defeated us. We are laughing at our defeat" at his victo- ry. And then, he lived with us for many years, and we laughed to- gether and we enjoyed each other's togetherness, presence. There can be no other way of giving him the last send-off. We can only laugh." The whole village was sad, but

when the dead monk's body was put on the funeral pyre, then the village realized that not only these two werc joking - the third who was dead was also laughing. Be- cause the third man who was dead had told his companions, "Dont change my dress!" It was conven- tional that when a man died, they changed the dress and gave a bath to the body, so he had said, "Dont give me a bath, because I have nev- er been unclean. So much laughter has been in my life that no impurity can accumulate near me, can even come t0 me. I have not gathercd any dust; laughter is always young and fresh. So dont give me a bath and dont change my clothes." So, just to pay him respect, they had not changed his clothes. And when the body was put on the hrc, suddenly they became aware that he had hidden many things under his clothes and those things started

Chinese fueworks!! So the whole village laughed, and those two said, "You rascal! You have died, but again you have defeated us. Your laughter is the last." There is a cosmic laughteq when the whole joke of this cosmos is understood. That is the highest, only a buddha can laugh like that. These three monks must have been three buddhas. s

M E D I T A T I O N S

Watching with the Third Eve f t is one of the conributions of the East to the world: I the understanding that between these two eyes, there is a third eye inside which normally remains dormant. One has to work hard, bring his whole sexual energy up- ward, against gravitation, and when tlre energy rcaches the third eye, it opens. Many methods have been ried to do that, because when it opens there is suddenly a flash of light, and things which have never been clear to you suddenly become clear. When I emphasize watching, witnessing...that is the hnest method to bring the thid eye inlo action, because that watching is inside. These two eyes cannot be used, they can only lmk outward. They have tio be closed. And when you try !o watch inside, that certainly means there is something like an eye which sees. Who sees your thoughs? Not these eyes. Who sees that anger is arising in you? That place of seeing is called symbolically 'the

third eye'. t

M E D I T A T I O N S

|fl his technique consists of

I four stages of 15 minutes t- each. The first wo stages prepare the meditator for the spontaneous Latihan of the third stage. Bhagwan las said that if the breathing is done correctly in the ftrst stage the carbon dioxide forrned in the bloodsteam will make you feel as high as Gotui- shankar (Mt. Everest).

Fourth stage: 15 minutes

Lie down wilh closed eyes, silent and still.

The first three stages should be accompanied by a steady rhyth- mic beat, preferably combined with a soothing background mu- sic. The beat should be seven times the normal heartbeat and. if possible, the flashing light should be a synchronized strobe. z

Gouri shank ar Meditation First stage: 15 minutes

Sil with closed eyes. Inlnle deeply through the nose,filling tlw lungs. Hold the breath for as long as possible, then exhale gently through the mouth and kcep the lungs empty for as long as possi- ble. Continue this breathing cycle throughout the first stage.

Second stage: 15 minutes

Return to norilal breathing and

with a gentle gaze look at a candle flame or a flashing blue light. Keep your body still.

Third stage: 15 minutes

With closed eyes, stand up and let yow body be loose and receptive. The subtle energies will be felt to move the body outside your nor- nul control. Allow this Latilan to lnppen. Don't you do the moving: let moving happen, gently and gracefully.

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

f-lhiva said: Attention between

\ eyeDrows, let mind be be- L) fore thought. Let form fill with breath essence to the top of the head and there shower as light.

This was the technique given to futhagoras. Pythagoras went with this technique to Grcece. And, re- ally, he became the fountainhead, fre source, of all mysticism in the West. He is the father of all mysti- cism in thc West. This technique is one of the very deep metiods. Try to understand

This is one of ttre simplest methods of being attentive. You cannot be attentive to any other part of the body so easily. This gland absorbs attention like anything. If you give attention to it, both your eyes be- come hypnotized with the thid eye. They become fixed; they can- not move. If you are trying to be attentive to any other part of the body, it is difficult. This third eye

Finding the Witness this: "Attention between the eye- brows..." Modern physiology, sci- entific research, says that beween the two eyebrows is t}re gland which is the most mysterious paft in the body. This gland, called the pineal gland, is the third eye of the Tibetans - Shivarctra: the eye of Shiva, of tantra. Between the two eyes tiere is a third eye existing, but ordinarilv it is non-functioruns.

You have to do something about it to open it. It is not blind. It is sim- ply closed. This technique is !o open the third eye. "Attention between the eyebrows ..." Close yotu eyes, then focus both of your eyes just in tre middle of fie two eyebrows. Focus just in the middle, with closed eyes, as if you are looking with your two eyes. Give total attention to it.

M E D I T A T I O N S

catches attention, forces attention. It is magnetic for attention. So all the methods all over the world have used it. It is the simplest !o train at- tention because not only are you trying to be attentive: the gland it- self helps you; it is magnetic. Your attention is brought to it forcibly. It is absorbed. It is said in the old mnna scriptures that attention is food for t}te third eye. It is hungry; it has been hungry for lives and lives. If you pay atten- tion to it, it becomes alive. It be- comes alive! The food is given to il And once you know that auention is food, once you feel that your at- tention is magnetically drawn, at- tracted, pulled by the gland isell attention is not a difhcult thing then. One has only to know the right point" So just close your eyes, let your two eyes move just in the middle, and feel the point. When you are near the point, suddenly yotu eyes will become frxed. When it will be difficult to move them, then know you have caught the right point. "Attention between the eyebrows, let mind be before thought..." If this attention is there, for the hnt time you will come to experience a strange phenomenon. For the hrst time you will feel thoughts running before you; you will become the wihess. It is iust like a film scr@n:

thoughs are running and you are a witness. Once your anendon is fo- cused at tie thild eye centet you become immediately the witness of thoughts. Ordinarily you are not the witness: you are identified with thoughts. If anger is there, you become anger. If a tlrought moves, you are not the witness - you become one with the thought, identihed, and you move with it. You become the thought; you take the form of the tiought. When sex is there you become sex; when anger is there you become anger; when geed is there you be- come greed. Any thought moving becomes identified with you. You do not have any gap between you and the thought- But focused at the third eye, sud- denly you become a witness. Through the third eye, you become the witness. Through the third eye, you can see thoughts running like clouds in the sky or people moving on the street. Try to be a witness. Whatsoever is happening, ry to be a witness. You are ill, the body is aching and painful, you have misery and suf- fering, whatsoever: be a witness to it. Whatsoever is happening, do not identify yourself with it. Be a wit- ness - an observer. Then if witness- ing becomes possible, you will be focused in the third eye.

Secondly, vice versa is also the case. If you arc focused in the third eye, you will become a wit- ness. These two things are part of one. So the first thing: by being centered in the thfud eye there will be the arising of the witnessing self. Now you can encounter your thoughts. This will be the first thing. And the second thing will be that now you can feel the sub- tle, delicate vibration of breathing. Now you can feel the form of breathing, the very essence of brcathing. First try to understand what is meant by 'the form', by 'the

essence of breathing'. While you are breathing, you are not only brcathing air. Science says you are breathing only air - just oxygen, hydrogen, and other gases in their combined form of air. They say you arc breathing "air!" But tantra says that air is just the vehicle, not the real thing. You are breathing prane - vitality. Air is just the medium; prana is the content. You are breathing prana, not only air. By being focused in the third eye, suddenly you can observe the very essence of breath - not breatl. but the very essence of breath, prana. And if you can observe the essence of breath, prana, you are on the point from which the jump, the breaktlrough happens. r

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

hiva said: Touching eye- balls as a feather, lightness berween them opens into and there permeates the

cosmos.

Use both your palms, put them on your closed eyes, and allow the palms to louch the eyeballs - but just like a featheq with no pressue. If you press you miss the point, you miss the whole technique. Dont press; just touch like a feath- er. You will have m adjust, because in the beginning you will be press- ing. Put less and less pressure until

Touching as aFeather you are just touching with no pres- sue at all - just your palms touch the eyeballs. Just a touch, just a meeting with no prcssure, because if the pressure is there, then the technique will not function. So - like a feather Why? - because a needle can do something which a sword cannot do. If you press, the quality has changed - you arc aggressive. And

the energy that is flowing through the eyes is very subtle: a small pressure and it starts fighting and a resistance is created. If you press, then the energy that is flowing through the eyes will start a resis- tance, a fight; a struggle will ensue. So dont press; even a slight pres- sure is enough for the eye energy to judge. It is very subtle, it is very delicate.

Donl press - like a feather, just your palm is touching, as if not ouching. Touching as if not touch- ing, no prcssue; just a touch, a slight feeling that the palm is ouching the eyeball, tlnt's all. What will happen? When you sim- ply touch without any pressure, the energy slarts moving within. If you prcss, it stars fighting with the hand, with the palm, and

M E D I T A T I O N S

moves out. Just a touch and the en- ergy starts moving within. The door is closed; simply the door is closed and the energy falls back. The mo- ment energy falls back, you will feel a lighmess coming all over your face, your head. This energy moving back makes you light. And just between these two eyes is the third eye, 0re wisdom-eye, the prajna-chnltsftz. Just benveen the two eyes is the third eye. The ener- gy falling back ftom the eyes hits the third eye. That's why one feels light, levitating, as 11 there is no gravitation. And ftom the third eye the energy falls on the heart. It is a physical prccess: just drip, drip, it drops, and you will feel a very light feeling entering in your heart. The heartbeats will slow down, the beathing will slow down. Your whole body will feel relaxed. Even if you are not entering de€p meditation, this will help you phys- ically. Any time during the day, re- lax on a chair - or if you dont have a chair, when just siuing in a train - close your eyes, feel a relaxed be- ing in the whole of your body, and then put both your palms on your eyes. But dont press - that's the very signilicant thing. Just touch like a featlrcr When you touch and dont press, your thoughts will stop immediate- ly. In a rclaxed mind thoughts can-

not move; they get fr,ozen. They need frenzy and feve4 tlrcy need tension to move. They live thrcugh tension. When the eyes are silent, rclaxed, and the energy is moving backwards, thoughts will stop. You will feel a certain quality of eupho- ria, and that will deepen'leily. So do it many times in the day. Even for a single moment, touching will be good. Whenever your eyes feel exhausted, dry of energy, ex- ploited - after reading, seeing a film, or watching TV - whenever you feel it, just close the eyes and touch. Immediately there will be the effect. But if you want to make it a meditation, then do it for at least forty minutes. And the whole thing is not to press. It is easy for a single moment to have a feather- like touch; it is difficult for forty minules. Many times you will for- get and you will start p'ressing. Dont press. For forty minutes, just remain aware that your hands have no weight; they are just ouching. Go on being aware liat you arB not pressing, only touching. This will become a deep awareness, just like brcathing. As Buddha says t0 breathe with full awarcness, 0re same will happen with touching, because you have to be consantly mindful ttr,at you arc not pressing. Your hand should just be a featheq a weightles thing, simply ouching.

Your mind will be totally there, alert, near the eyes, and the energy will be flowing constantly. In the beginning it will be just dropping in drops. Within months you will feel it has become a river-like thing, and within a year you will feel it has become a flood. And when it happens - "touching eye- balls as a feather, lightness be- tween them" - when you touch you will feel lightness. You can feel it right now. Immediately, the moment. you touch, a lightness comes. And that "lightness be- tween them opens into the heart"; that lightness penetnates, opens into the heart. In the heart, only lightness can enter; nothing heavy can enter. Only very light things can happen to the heart This lighmess between the two eyes will start &opping ino the heart, and the heart will open o re- ceive it - "and therc permeates the cosmos." As the falling energy be- comes a stream and then a river and then a flood, you will be washed completely, washed away. You will not feel that you are. You will feel simply the cosmos is. Breathing in, heathing out, you will feel you have become the cosmos. The cos- mos comes in and the cosmos g@s ouL The entity ftat you have al- ways been, ilre ego, will not be there. r

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

u-tsu said: One should look at the tip of one's nose.

'ffhy? - because this helps, it brings you in line wittr the third eye. When both your eyes are fxed on the tip of the nose it does many things. The basic is that your third eye is exactly in line with the tip of the nose - just a few inches above, but in the same line. And once you are in the line of the third eye, the attraction of the third eye, the pull, the magretism, of the third eye is so great that if you

Lookine at the Tip6f the Nose have fallen in line with it, you will be pulled even against yourself. You just have to be exactly in line with it so that the anraction, the gravitation, of the third eye starts functioning. Once you are exacdy in line with it there will be no need to make any effort. Suddenly you will find the gestalt has changed, because the two eyes create the dualitv of the world and

thought, and the single eye benveen the two eyes crcates the gaps. This is a simple method of changing the gestalt. The mind can distort it - the mind can say, "OUut, now look at the tip of the nose. Think of the tip of the nose, concentrate on it." If you concentrate too much on the tip of the nose you will miss the point, because you have to be therc at the

tip of the nose but very relaxed so that the thfud eye can pull you. If you are too concentrated on the tip of the nose, rooted, focused, hxed there, your third eye will not be able o pull you in, because your third eye has never functioned be- fore. Its pull cannot be very great in the beginning. Slowly slowly it grcws morc and more. Once it sarts functioning and the dust that

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

has gathered around it disappean with use, and the mechanism is humming well, then even if you are fixed on the tip of the nose you will be pulled in. But not in the begin- ning. You have to be very very light, not a buden, without any s[ess and strain. You have to be simply there, present, in a kind of I e t - g o . . . . If one is not guided by the nose, ei- ther one opens wide the eyes and looks into the distance, so that the nose is not seen. or the lids shut too much, so that the eyes close, and again the nose is not seen. Another function of looking very lightly at the tip of the nose is this: that it doesnt allow you to open your eyes wide. If you open your eyes wide the whole world becomes available, and there are a thousand and one distractions. A beaudful woman passes by and you start fol- lowing - at least in the mind. Or somebody is fighting; you arc not concemed, but you start thinking. "What is going to happen?" Or somebody is crying and you become curious. A thousand and one things are continuously moving around you. If the eyes are wide open, you become masculine energy, yang. If the eyes are completely closed you fall ino a kind of reverie, you start drcaming; you become femi- nine energy, yin. To avoid both just

lcok at the tip of the nose - a sim- ple device, but the result is almost magical. And this is not only so with the Taoiss. Buddhists know it, Hindus know it. Down the ages all the meditators have somehow stumbled upon the fact that if your eyes arc just half open, in a very miraculous way you escape mo pitfalls. One is being distract€d by the ouside world, the olher is being distracted by the inside dream world. You re- main exactly on the boundary of the inner and the outer. And that's the point: lo be on the boundary of the inner and the outer means you are neither male nor female in that mo- ment. Your vision is free of duality; your vision has nanscended the di- vision in you. Only when you are beyond the division in you do you fall into the line of the magnetic field of the third eye. The main thing is to lower the eye- lids in tlw right way, and then to allow the light to stream in of il- self . That is very imporunt to remem- ber: you are not to pull the light in, you are not tro force the light in. If the window is open, the light comes in of its own accord. If the door is open, the light floods in. You need not bring it in, you need not push it in, you need not drag it in. And how can you drag light in? How

can you push light in? All that is needed is that you strould be open and vulnerable to it. One looks wilh both eyes at the tip of the nose. Remember, you have o look with both eyes at the tip of the nose so that at the tip of the nose, your two eyes lose their duality. So, on the tip of the nose lhe light that is streaming out from your eyes be- comes one; it falls on a single point. Where yottr two eyes meet, that is tlrc place where the window opens. And then all is well. Then let il be, then simply enjoy, then simply celebrate, delight, rejoice. Then nothing has to be done. One looks wilh both eyes at tlu tip of the nose, sits upright.... It is helpful to sit upright. When your spine is straight, the energy fiom your sex center also becomes available to the third eye. Just sim- ple devices, nothing complex about them ... it is just that when your two eyes meet at the tip of the nose, you arc available to the third eye. Make your sex energy also available to the third eye. Then the effect will be double, the effect will be forceful, because your sex center has all the energy that you have. When the spine is erect, straight, the sex center is also available to the lhird eye. It is better to attack the third eve from

l 8 r

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

both dimensions, to try to pene- trate the third eye ftom both direc- tions. One ... sits upright and in a com- fortable position. The master is making things very clear. Upright, certainly, but dont make it uncomfortable; othenpise again you will be disracted by your discomfort fhat is the meaning of a yoga posMe. The sanslait word asarut means a comfortable posture. Comfort is the basic quality of it If it is not comfortable ttren your mind will be disnacted by the discomfort It has o be comfortable. It does not necessarily nuan the middle of the lwad. And by centering it is not meant that you have to be centercd in the middle of the head. The center is omnipresent; every- thing is contained in it; it is con- nected with the release of the whole process of creation. And when you have rcached the third eye point and you are centered there and tlrc light is flooding in, you have rcached the point from which the whole creation has arisen. You have reached the form- less, the unmanifesL Cdl it God if you will. This is the point" this is the space, ftrom which all has arisen. This is the very seed of the whole existence. It is omnipotent, it is omnipresent, it is etemal.

Fixating contemplation is indis- pensable. What is contemplation? A moment of no-thought A state of no- thought, an interval. And it is al- ways happening, but you are not alert about it; othenvise therc is no problem in it- One thought comes, then another comes, and between these two thoughs therc is always a small gap. And that gap is the dmr to the divine, tlat gap is contempla- tion. If you lmk ino tlat gap deeply, it starts becoming bigger and bigger. The mind is like a road full of raf- fic; one car passes by, then another car passes by, and you become so concerned with the can that you dont see tlrc gap that is always there between two cars. Othenpise they would collide. They dont col- lide; something is there between ttrem tlnt keeps them separate. Your thoughts dont collide, they dont nrn over each other, ino each other. They don't even overlap in any way. Each thought has its own boundary, each thought is defrn- able, but the procession of thoughts is so fast, so speedy, that you can- not see the gap unless you ale rcally waiting for it, searching for it. Contemplation means changing the gestalr frinarily we look at thoughts: one thought, anolher thought, another thought. When

you change the gestalt you look at one interval, another intenval, an- other interval. Your emphasis is no longer on tlrc thoughs but on the interval. One must not st6y itting rigidly if worldly tlnughts come up, but one must exan ine where the thought is, where it began, and where it

fades out. This is not going to happen in the first ry. You will be looking at the tip of fte nose and thoughts will come. They have been coming for so many lives, they cannot leave you alone so easily. They have be- come part of you, they have be- come almost built-in. You are liv- ing almost a pmgrammed life. This hap'pens: when people sit silently in meditation morc thoughts come tlnn odinarily, tlnn usually come - unusual explosions. Mil- lions of thoughs rush in, because they have some invesrnent in you - and you are trying to get out of heir power? They will give you a hard time. So thoughs are bound to come. What are you going to do with thoughts? You cannot just go on sitting there, you will have !o do something. Fighting is not going !o help because if you start fighting you will forget to look at the tip of the nose, the awareness of the third eye, the circulation of the lighq you will forget all and you will be lost

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in the jungle of thoughts. If you start chasing thoughs you are lost, if you follow them you are lost, if you fight them you are lost. Then what is to be done? And this is the secret. Buddha has also used the same secret. In fact, the secrets are almost the same be- canse man is the same - the lock is the same, so the key has !o be the same. This is the secref Buddha calls it swnmosoti, right remem- brance. Just rememben this tlrought has come, see where it is, with no antagonism, with no justification, with no condemnation. Just be ob- jective as a scientist is objective. See where it is, from where it is coming, where it is going. See the coming of it, see the staying of it, see the going of it. And thoughs ar€ very mobile; they dont stay long. You simply have to watch the arising of the thought, the staying of the thought, and the going of the thoughr Dont nry to fight, dont try to follow, just be a silent observer. And you will be surprised: the more settled observation becomes, the less thoughts will come. When ob- servation is perfect, thoughs disap pear. There is only a gap left, an in- terval left. But rememhr one more poinf the mind can again play a trick. Nothing is gained by pushing re-

flectbnfurtlur.

That's what Freudian psychoanaly- sis is: the fiee association of thoughs. One thought comes, and then you wait for another thought, and then another, and the whole chain.... That's what all kinds of psychoanalysis do - you stafl mov- ing backwards into the pasl One thought is connected with another, and so on and so forth, ad infini- tum.T\ere is no end to it. If you go ino it you will be moving into an etemal joumey tlnt will be a sheer wastage. Mind can do that So be- ware of it You cannot go with consciousness beyond consciousness, so dont trv tle futile, the unnecessary; other- wise one thing will lead you to an- other and so on and so forth, and you will completely forget what you were rying to do therc. The tip of the nose will disappear, the third eye will be forgotten, the circula- tion of the light will be miles away fiom you. So these two things have to be re- membered, these are two wings. One: when therc is an interval, no thought is coming, contemplate. When a thought comes then just look at tiese three things: where the thought is, from where it has come, where it is going. For a moment stop looking into the gap, look at the thought, watch the thought, say gmd-bye to it. When it leaves,

again immediately move back to contemplation. When tlu flight of tlu thoughts kceps extending furilter, one slnuld stop and begin contemplat- ing. Let one contemplate and then startftmting again. So, whenever the thought comes, fxate. Whenever the thought goes, contemplate. Tlat is the double method of mak- ing fast the enlightenment. It means lhe circulation of the light. Tlu circulstion is fixntion. The light is co ntemplation. Whenever you contemplate you will see light flooding in, and whenever you fixate you will create fte circu- lation, you will make the circulation possible. Both are needed. The light is contemplation. Fim- tion without contemplation is cir- culationwilhow light. That's what has happened; that calamity has happened to hatha yoga. They fixate, they concen- trate, but they have forgotten the light. They have completely for- gonen about the guest. They only go on prcparing the house, they have become so engrossed in preparing the house that they have forgotten the purpose for which they are preparing the house, for whom. The hatha yogi continuous- ly prepares his body, purifies his body, does yoga postures, breath-

1 8 3

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ing exercises, and goes on doing it ad nauseam. He has completely forgotten what he is doing it for. And the light is standing therc but he wont allow it because the light can come in only when he is com- pletely in a let-go. Fixqtion withow contemplation is c ir culatio n wil hout li g ht. This is the calamity that happens to

the so<alled yogis. The other kind of calamity happens to psychoana- lysts, philosophers. Contemplation withow ftxation is light wilhout cir culation. They think about the light, but they have not made the preparation for it to flmd in; they only think of light. They think of the guest, they imag- ine a thousand and one things about

the guest, but their house is not ready. Both miss. Takc note of that! Dont fall into either of these two fallacies. If you can rcmain alert, it is a very simple pmcess and im- mensely transforming. In a single moment, a man who understands rightly can enler into a separate kind of reality. s

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Just Sitting

Vou are simply siuing there, doing nothing ... and all I is silence and all is peace and all is bliss. You have

entered God, you have entered truth. t

two :G it

rm- rngle ands arate

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

fflhe Zen people say just sit"

I dont do anything. The I nost difficult thing in the

world is just to sit doing nothing. But once you have got the knack of it, if you go on sitting for a few months doing nothing for a few hours every day, slowly, slowly many things will happen. You will feel sleepy, you will &eam. Many thoughs will crowd your mind, many things. The mind will say, "Why are you wasting your time? You could have eamed a little money. At least you could have gone to a frlm, entertained your-

Zazen self, or you could have relaxed and gossiped. You could have watched the TV or listened to the radio, or at least you could have read the newspaper you have not seen. Why are you wasting your time?" Mind will give you a thousand and one arguments, but if you just go on listening without being bottr- ered by the mind...it will do all kinds of ricks; it will hallucinate,

it will dream, it will become sleepy. It will do all that is possible to drag you out of just sitting. But if you go on, if you perseverc, one day the sun rises. One day it happens, you are not feeling sleepy, the mind has be- come tired of you, is fed up with you, has dropped the idea that you can be trapped, is simply finished with you! There is no sleep, no hal-

lucination, no dream, no thought. You are simply sitting there, doing nothing ... and all is silence and all is peace and all is bliss. You have entered God, you have en- t€red truth.2 You can sit anywhere, but what- soever you are looking at should not be too exciting. For example things should not be moving too much. They become a distraction.

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You can watch the trees - that is not a problem because they are not moving and the scene remains con- stant. You can watch the sky or just sit in the corner watching the wall. The second thing is, dont look at anything in particular - just empti- ness, because the eyes are there and one has to look at something, but you are not looking at anything in particular. Don't focus or concen- trate on anything - just a diffuse image. That relaxes very much. And the third thing, relax your breathing. Dont do it, let it happen. L€t it be natural and that will relax even morc. The fourth thing is, let your body

remain as immobile as possible. First hnd a good posturc - you can sit on a pillow or mattress or what- soever you feel to, but once you settle, remain immobile, because if the body does not move, the mind automatically falls silent. In a mov- ing body, the mind also continues to move, because body-mind are not two tiings. They are one ... it is one energy. In the beginning it will seem a little difficult but after a few days you will enjoy it tremendously. You will see, by and by, layer upon layer of the mind starting to drop. A mo- ment comes when you are simply there with no mind. s

Instructions

Sit facing a plain wall, approxi- mately et your arm's length away. Eyes should be half-open allow- ing the gaze to rest softly on the wall. Keep your back straight, and rest one hand inside the oth- er with thumbs touching to form an oval. Stay as still as possible

for 30 minutes.

While silting, just allow a choice- less awareness, not directing the qttention anywhere in particular, but remaining as receptive and alert as possible moment-to-mo- m e n t . 4

M E D I T A T I O N S

ftuddha was to give a special

5ff"1,:"-H;*.f;:Hfr miles around. When Buddha appeared he was holding a flower. Trme passed, but Buddha said nothing. He just lmked at the flower The crowd grew restless, but Mahakashyap, who could restrain himself no longer, laughed. Buddha beckoned him oveq hand- ed him the flower, and said to the crowd: "I have the eye of the rue teaching. All that can be given with words I have given to you;

The Laughter of kn but with this floweq I give o Ma- hakashyap the key to this teach- ing." This story is one of the most sig- nificant ones, because ftom this was passed tlre radition of 7en. Buddha was he source, and Ma- hakashyap was the fust, the origi- nal master of 7nn. Buddha was the source, Mahakashyap was the fint masteq and this story is ilte source

frrom where the whole radition -

one of the most beautiful and alive th,at exists on earth, the nadition of Znn- swtel. Try to understand this story. Bud- dha came one moming, and as usu- al a crowd had gathered. lvfany people werc waiting to listen to him. But one thing was unusual -

he was carrying a flower in his hand. Never before had he carried

anything in his hand. Pmple thought tlat someone must have prcsented it. Buddha came; he sat under the ree. The crowd waited and waited and he would not speak. He wouldnt even look at ftem. He just went on looking at the flower Minutes passed, then hours, and the people became very restles. It is said that Mahakashyap

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

couldnt contain himself. He laughed loudly. Buddha called him, gave him the flower and said to the gathered crowd, "Whatsoever can be said through words, I have said to you, and that which cannot be said through words, I give o Ma- hakashyap. The key cannot be com- municated verbally. I hand over the key to lvlahakashyap." But for Zen this is the origin. Ma- hakashyap became the hrst holder of tlre key. Then six holden in suc- cession existed in India, up to Bod- hidharma. He was the sixth holder of the key, and then he searched and searched all over lndia, but he couldnt find a man of the capabili- ty of Mahakashyap - a man who could undentand silence. He had to leave India just in search of a man to whom the key could be given; otherwise the key would be lost Buddhism enter€d China with Bod- hidharma in search of a man to whom the key could be given, a man who could understand silence, who could talk heaft to heart with- out being obsess€d in the mind, who had no head. This communication beyond words is possible only from heart to h€art So, for nine years, Bodhidharma searched in China, and then he could find only one man. A Chinese became the seventh master. And up to now it has been

traveling. The key is still there; somebody is still holding it. The river has not dried. We require even a Buddha to talk, because that's all we understand. This is fmlish. You should learn to be silent with a Buddha, because only then can he ent€r you. Though words he can knock at your door, but can never entec through silence he can ent€r you, and unless he enters, nothing will happen to you. His enry will bring a new element to yottr world; his enEy into the heart will give you a new beat and a new pulse, a new rc- lease of life, but only his entry. Mahakashyap laughed at the fool- ishness of man. They were rcstless and thinking: When will Buddha stand up and drop this whole si- lerrce so that we can go home? He laughed. l,aughter started with Mahakashyap, and has been going on and on in Zen uadition. There is no other tradition which can laugh. In Zen monaster- ies, they have been laughing and laughing and laughing. Mahakashyap laughed, and this laughter canied many dimensions in it. One dimension was at the foolishness of the whole situation, at a Buddha silent and nobody un- dentanding him, everybody expect- ing him tro speak. His whole life Buddha had been saying that the

truth cannot be spoken, and still ev- erybody expected him to qpeak. The second dimension - he laughed at Buddha also, at tle whole dramatic sinr,ation he had created, sining there with a flower in his hand, looking at the floweq creating so much uneasiness, rest- lessness, in everybody. At this dra- matic gesnrc of Buddha, he laughed and he laughed. The third dimension - he laughed at his own self. Why couldnl he undentand up to now? The whole thing was easy and simple. And the day you understand, you will laugh, because there is nothing o be undentood. There is no difficul- ty t0 be solved. Everything has al- ways been simple and clear. How could you miss it? With Buddha sitting silent, the birds singing in the trees, the brceze passing through the trees, and ev- erybody restless, Mahakashyap un- derstood. What did he understand? He under- stood that there is nofting to be un- dentood, there is nothing o be said, there is nothing to be ex- plained. The whole situation is sim- ple and transparcnt. Nothing is hid- den in it- There is no need to search, because all that is, is here and now, within you. He laughed at his own self also, at tlre whole absurd effort of many

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lives just to understand this silence - at so much thinking. Buddha called him, gave him the flower and said: "Hereby, I give you the key." What is the key? Silence and laugh- ter is the key - silence within, laughter withoul And when laugh- ter comes out of silence, it is not of this world, it is divine. When laughter comes out of silence you arc not laughing at anybody's cosl You are simply laughing at the whole cosmic joke. And it really is a joke. That's why I go on telling jokes to you, b@ause jokes carry more than any scriptures. It is a ilke because inside you, you have every- thing, and you arc searching every- wherc. Whatelse should a joke be? You are a king, and acting like a beggar in the sueets; not only act- ing, not only deceiving others, but deceiving yourself that you are a beggar. You have the source of all knowledge and are asking ques- tions; you have the lnowing self and think that you are ignorant; you have the deathles within you and are afraid and fearful of death and disease. This really is a joke, and if Mahakashyap laughed, he did well. Mahakashyap has remained silent, and silently the inner river has been flowing. To others the key has been given, and the key is still alive, still opens the doo.

The.se two are the parts. The inner silence - the silence so deep that there is no vibration in your being; you are, but tlpre are no waves; you are just a pool, without waves, not a single wave arises; the whole being silent, still; inside, at the centeq si- lence - and on the periphery, cele- bration and laughter. And only si- lence can laugh, because only si- lence can understand the cosmic joke. I tell you, the silence tlnt exists with sadness cannot be true. Some- hing has gone wrong. You have missed the path; you arc off the rack. Only celebration can give prmf ttrat the real silence has hap- pened. What is the difference between a real silence and a false silence? A false silence is always forced. Though effort il is achieved. It is not spontaneous, it has not happened to you. You have made it happen. You are sitting silently and there is much inner turmoil. You supprcss it and then you cannot laugh. You will become sad because laughter will be dangerous - if you laugh you will lose silence, because in laughter you cannot suppress. laughter is against suppression. If you want to suppress, you should not laugh; if you laugh, everything will come out. The real will come out in laughter, and the unreal will be lost.

This is the key - the inner part of it is silence, and the outer part of the key is celebration, laughter. Be fes- tive and silenl Crcate more and more possibility amund you - dont force the inner !o be silent, just crc- ate more and morc possibility around you so ttnt the inner silence can flower in it. Meditation doesnt lead you to si- lence. Meditation only creates the situation in which the silence hap- pens. And 0ris should be the criteri- on - that whenever silence hap- pens, laughter will come into your life. A vital celebration will happen all around. When silence is too much, it be- comes laughter. It becomes so overflmded that it starts overflow- ing in all di.rections. He laughed. It must have been a mad laughter, and in that laughter there was no Mahakashyap. Silence was laugh- ing. Silence had come to a blos- soming. Your enlightenment is perfect only when silence has come to be a cele- bration. Herrce my insisterrce that after you meditate, you must cele- brate. After you have been silent, you must enjoy it, you must have a thanksgiving. A deep gratitude must be shown towards the whole just for the oppornrnity that you are, that you can meditate, that you can be silent, that you can laugh. s

M E D I T A T I O N S

Rising in Love: A Partnership in Meditation

here are a few very fundamental things to be under- stood.

Fint, a man and a woman are on the one hand halves of the other, and on the other hand, opposite polarities. Their being opposites attracts them to each other The farther away they are, the deeper will be the atfraction; llre more different fiom each other they are, the more will be tlre charm and beauty and attraction. But there lies the whole p'roblem. When they come close, they want !o come closer, they want to merge into each other, they want to become one, a harmonious whole - but tleir whole attraction depends on opposition, and the harmony will depend on dissolv- ing the opposition. Unless a love affair is very conscious, it is going o cre- ate geat an$ush, great tiouble. All lovers are in trouble. The rouble is not personal; it is in the very nature of things. They would not have been attracted lo each other - they call it falling in love - they cannot give any reason why they have such a tremendous pull towards each oth- er. They arc not even conscious of the underlying causes;

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

hence a strange thing happens: the happiest lovers are those who never meet. Once they meet, the same opposi- tion that created the attraction be- comes a conflict. On each small point, their attitudes are different, their approaches are different. Al- though they qpeak the same lan- gMge, they cannot understand each otler. The way a man looks at tle world is different ftom a woman. For ex- ample, a man is interested in far- away things - in the future of hu- manity, in the faraway strars, whether there are living beings on other planets or not. A woman simply giggles at the whole nonsense. She is only inter- est€d in a very small, closed circle - in the neighbors, in the family, in who is cheating his wife, whose wife has fallen in love with the chauffeur. Her interest is very local and very human. She is not wonied about reincarnation; neitier is she concerned about life after death. Her concern is more pragmatic. She is concemed with the present" herc and now. Man is never here and now. He is always somewhere else. He has strange preoccupations - reincama- tion, life after death. If both partners are conscious of the fact that it is a meeting of opposi-

tions, that there is no need to make it a conflict, then it is a geat oppor- tunity to understand the totally op posite point of view and absorb it" Then the life of a man and woman together can become a beautiful harmony. Otherwise, it is a continu- ous frght. There are holidays. One cannot continue to fight fwenty-four hours a day, one needs a lirle rcst too - a rest to get ready for a new frght. But it is one of the strangest phe- nomena that for thousands of years men and women have been living Ogether, yet they arc strangers. They go on giving birth o children, but still they rcmain strangers. The feminine approach and the mascu- line aP'P'roach are so oPPosed O each other that unless a conscious effort is made, unless it becomes your meditation, there is no hope of having a pea.ceful life. It is one of my deep concems: how to make lore and meditation so in- volved in each other that each love affair automatically becomes a part- nership in meditation - and each meditation makes you so conscious that you need not fall in love, you can rise in love. You can find a friend consciously, deliberately. You feel a deep harmony with me, moments of pea.ce, love and si- lence, and naturally the question has arisen in you that if this is pos-

sible with me, why is it not possi- ble with the man you love? The difference has o be under- stood. You love me, but you dont love me in the same way you love your hus- band, your wife. Your love towads me is not biological; with me your love is a totaly different phe- nomenon - it is of the spirit" not of the body. And secondly, you are connected with me because of your search for truth. My relationship with you is tlnt of meditation. Meditation is the only bridge benreen me and you. Your love will deepen as your meditation deepens, and vice-versa: zrs your meditation blossoms, your love will also blossom. But it is on a totally different level. With your husband, you are not connected in meditation. You never sit silently fm one hour together just to feel each other's conscious- ness. Either you are frghting or you are making love, but in both cases, you are rclated with the body, the physical part, the biology, the hor- mones. You are not rclated with the innermost core of the other Your souls rcmain separate. In the tem- ples and in tlp churches and in the courts, only your bodies arc mar- ried. Your souls are miles aparl If you want a harmonious relation- ship with your man, you will have

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to learn to be more meditative. Love alone is not enough. Love alone is blind; meditation gives it eyes. Meditation gives it understanding. And once your love is both love and meditation, you be- come fellow travelers. Then it is no longer an ordinary relationship be- tween husband and wife. Then it becomes a friendliness on the path towards discovering the mysteries of life. Man alone, woman alone, will find the joumey very tedious and very long, as they have found it in the pasr seeing this continuous con- flict, all the religions decided tlat those who wanted t0 se€k should renounce the other - the monks should be celibate, the nuns should be celibate. But in five thousand years of history how many monks and how many nuns have become re:.lized souls? You cannot even give me enough names to count on ten fingers. And millions of monks and nuns of all religions - Bud- dhist, Hindu, Christian, Mo- hammedan - what has happened? The path is not so long. The goal is not tlnt far away. But even if you want to go t0 your neighbor's house, you will need both your legs. Just jumping on one leg, how far can you go? I am intoducing a totally new vi- sion, that men and women ogether

in deep friendship, in a loving, meditative relationship, as organic wholes, can reach the goal any mG ment they want. Because the goal is not outside you; it is the center of the cyclone, it is the innermost part of your being. But you can find it only when you arc whole, and you cannot be whole without the other. Man and woman are two parts of one whole. So rafter than wasting time in fighting, ury to understand each oth- er. Try to put yourself in the place of the other; Ery to see as a man sees, try to see as a woman sees. And four eyes arc always betler than two eyes - you have a full view; all four directions are avail- able to you. But one thing has to be remem- bercd: that without meditation, love is destined to fail; there is no possibility of is being a success. You can pretend and you can de- ceive others, but you cannot de- ceive yourself. You know deep down that all the prcmises love has given to you have remained unful- filled. Only with meditation does love stan taking on new colors, new mu- sic, new songs, new dances - be- cause meditation gives you the in- sight to understand the polar oppo- site, and in that very undentanding the confl ict disappears.

All the conflict in the world is be- cause of misunderstanding. You say some*ring, your wife under- stands something else. Your wife says something, you understand something else. I have seen couples who have lived together for thirty or forty yean; still, they seem to be as immature as they were on their fint day to- gether. Still the same complaint: "She doesnt understand what I am sayrng." Fo(y yeffs being together and you have not been able to fig- ure out some way that your wife can understand exactly what you are saying, and so you can under- stand exactly what she is saying. I think there is no possibiliry for it t0 happen except through medita- tion, because meditation gives you the qualities of silence, awarcness, a patient listening, a capacity O put yourself in the otler's position. It is possible with me: I am not concerned with the trivia of your life. You are here basically to listen and understand. You are here to grow spirinrally. Nanrally therc is no question ofconflict, and the har- mony arises without any effort. You can love me with totality, be- cause with me your relationship is of meditation. With any other man or with any other woman, if you want to live in harmony you will haYe to bring the same atmosphere

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

and ttre same climate that you have brought here. Things arc not impossible, but we have not uied the right medicine. I would like to remind you that the word 'medicine' come,s from the vrme mot as 'meditation'. Medicine curcs your body; meditation cures your soul. Medicine heals the mate- rial part of you; meditation heals the spiritual part of you. People are living together and their spirits are full of wounds; hence, small things hurt them so much. People are living without any un- derstanding. Hence, whatsoever they do is going o end in disaster If you love a man, meditation will be the best prcsent tlnt you can give to him. If you love a woman, then

the Kohinooq the world's largest di- amond, is nothing; meditation will be a far more precious gift - and il will make your life sheer joy. We are potentially capable of sheer joy, but we dont lnow how to manage iL Alone, we are at tlrc most sad. Togethe4 it becomes real- ly hell. Even a man like Jean-Paul Sarfre, a man of geat intelligence, has to say that the other is hell, tllat to be alone is betlel you cannot make it with the other. He became so pessimistic that he said it is impos- sible o make it with the othel the other is hell. frinarily, he is right With meditation the other becomes your heaven. But Jean-Paul Sartre had no idea of meditation.

That is the misery of Western man. Westem man is missing the flower- ing of life because he lnows noth- ing about meditation, and Eastern man is missing because he knows nothing of love. And to me, juS as man and woman are halves of one whole, so are love and meditation. Meditation is man; love is woman. In the meeting of meditation and love is the meeting of man and woman. And in that meeting, we crcate the fanscenden- tal human being - which is neither man nor woman. Unless we crcate tlp transcendenal man on tte eardt, there is not much horpe. But I feel my people are ca- pable of doing fte apparently im- Possible. t

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(lhiva said: Feel tlw fine . \ erclrries of creativiry per- l1l meating your breast and as swnin g del icate c onfi g uratio ns.

Just concentrate on tlre breasts, become one, forget the whole body. Move your total conscious- ness t0 the breasts and there will be many phenomena haprpening to you. If you can do this, concen- trate totally near the breasts, the whole body will lose weight, and a very sweet, deep sweehess will envelop you. It will pulsate around you, within you, above,

Circle of Love below, everywhere - a deep feel- ing of sweetness. Really, all the techniques that have been developed have been devel- oped more or less by men, so they always give centers which are easi- er for men to follow. As far as I tnow, only Shiva has given some techniques which are basically for women. A man cannot do this technique.

Really if a man uies to concentrate near the breasts he will become very uneasy. Try it" Even within five minutes you will feel perspira- tion, you will become very uneasy, because male breasts are negative, they will give you negativity. you will feel uneasy, uncomfortable, feel that something is going wrong in tlte bodS unhealthy, ilI. But female breasts are positive. If

women concentrate near the breasts, they will feel very happy, very blissfirl, a sweetrrcss will per- vade all over their being and the body will lose gravity. They will feel light, as if rhey can fly. And with this concentration many things will change: you will be- come morc motherly. You may not be a mother but you will become more motherly. To everyone your

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

relationship will become motherly - more compassion, more love will happen. But this concentration near the brcasts should be done very rc- laxedly, not tensely. If you arc tense about it therc will be a division be- tween you and the heass. Relax and melt into them, and feel that you arc no more, only the breasts are there. If man has to do the same he will have to do it with the sex centeq not with the breasts. Hence tlrc impor- tance of the fint chalaa in all kun- dalini yogas. He has to concentrate just at the root of the penis - there he has the creativity, therc he is pos- itive. And remember this always: neverconcentrate on anything nega- tive because with the negative ev- erything negative will follow. With the positive, everything positive will follow. When man and woman meet, these two poles - negative is in tlrc upper part of man, and positive in the lowe4 negative is in the lower part of woman and positive in tlrc upper - these wo poles of positive and negative meet and a circle is creat- ed. That circle is blissful, but it is not ordinary. In ordinary sexual acts, the circle is not happening - that is why you feel so aEracted to-

wards sex, and so rcpelled also. You feel so much for it, you need so much, you ask so much, but when it is given, when it is there, you feel frustration - nothing happens. This is possible only when both the bod- ies are so rclaxed and so open r) each other without any fear, without any resistance. The let-go is so complete ttnt the elecricities can merge and meet and become a cir- cle. Then therc is a very srange phe- nomenon...tantra has rccorded it and you may not have heard of that phenomenon. This is the phe- nomenon, the very strangest one - when two loven rcally meet and become a circle, tlpn a flickering happens. For a moment the lover becomes the beloved and the beloved becomes the loveq and the next moment, again the lover is lover and tlrc beloved is beloved. The male becomes the female for a moment" then the female becomes the male for a moment - because the circle is moving, the energy is moving, it has become one circle. So it will happen tlnt the male will be active for a few minutes and then he will rclax and the female will become active. That means now the male energy has passed o

the feminine body and she will act and tlte male will remain passive. And this will go on. Ordirnrily you arc man, woman. In deep love, in deep orgasm, it will hap'pen ttnt for moments you will become woman, and the woman will become man. And this will be felt" absolutely felt and recognized, that the passivity changes. In life there is rhyttm; in every- ttring there is rhytlm. You take a breath, the breath goes in - then fu a few seconds it stops, there is no movemenl Then again it moves, out it goes - then again there is a stop, a gap, no movement, tllen again movemenL Movement, no movement, movement. Your heart is beating, one beat, gap, another beat" gap. The beat means activity, the gap means passivity. The beat means male, the non-beat means female. Life is rhythm. While two persons meet, male and female, it becomes a circle: there will be gaps - for both. You will be a woman and suddenly there will be a gap, you arc no morc a woman, you have be- come a man. You will be man and woman and man. And wtpn these gaps are felt, then you can feel that you have achieved a circle. z

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hiva said: When in such embrace your senses are slnken as leaves, enter this

shaking.

"When in such embrace," in such deep communion with the beloved or the lovet "your senses are shak- en as leaves, enter this shaking." We have even become afraid: while making love you do not al- low your bodies to move much, because if your bodies are al- lowed much movement the sex act spreads all over your body. You can control it when it is local-

Shaking in Sex :ged at the sex center. The mind can remain in conrol. When it spreads all over your body, you cannot control it You may start shaking, you may start screaming, and you will not be able !o control your body once the body takes over. We suppress movements. Particu- larly, all over the world, we sup- press all movements, all shaking

for women. They remain just like dead bodies. You are doing some- thing to them; they are not doing anything to you. They are just pas- sive partners. Why is this happen- ing? Why all over the world do men suppress women in such a way? Therc is fear - because once a woman's body becomes pos- sessed, it is very difficult for a man t0 satisfy her because a wom-

an can have chain orgasms; a man cannol A man can have only one orgasm; a woman can have chain orgasms. There are cases of multi- ple orgasms reported. Any wom- an can have at least three orgasms in a chain, but man can have only one. And with man's orgasm, the woman is aroused and is ready for further orgasms. Then it is diffi- cult. Then how to manage it!

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

Shake! Vibrate! Allow every cell of your body to dance, and this should be for both. The beloved is also dancing, every cell vibrating. Only then can you both meet, and then that meeting is not mental. It is a meeting of your bioenergies. Shaking is just wonderfrrl because when you shake in your sex act the energy starts flowing all over the body, the energy vibrates all over the body. Every cell of the body is involved then. Every cell becomes alive because every cell is a sex cell. When you were born, two sex cells met and your being was cre- ated, your body wzrs created. Those wo sex cells arc every- where in your body. They have multiplied and multiplied and multiplied, but your basic unit re- mains the sex cell. When you shake all over your body, it is not only a meeting of you with your beloved. Within your body also, each cell is meeting with the op-

posite cell. This shaking shows it. It will look animal like, but man is an animal and there is nothing wnng in ir Enter this shaking, and while shak- ing dont remain aloof. Dont be a spectator, because mind is the spec- tator. Dont stand almf! Be the shaking, become the shaking. For- get everyhing and become the shaking. It is not that your body is shaking: it is yor, your whole be- ing. You become the shaking itself. Then there are not two bodies, two minds. In the beginning, there are trvo shaking energies, and in the end just a circle - not two. What will hap'pen in this circle? One, you will be part of an existen- tial force - not a societal mind, but an existential force. You will be part of the whole cosrnos. In that shaking you will be part of the whole cosmos. That moment is of great creation. You are dissolved as solid bodies. You have become liq- uid - flowing into each other. The

mind is lost, the division is lost- You have a oneness. This is adwaita: this is non-duali- ty. And if you cannot feel tfus non- duality, then all the philosophies of non-duality arc useless. They are just words. Once you know tiis non-dual existential moment, then only can you understand the Upanishads. Then only you can understand the mystics - what they are talking about when they talk of a cosmic oneness, a whole- ness. Then you are not soparate from the world, not alien to it Then existence becomes your home. And with that feeling that 'Now I am at home in existence," all worries are losL Then there is no anguish, no sEuggle, no con- flict. This is what I-ao Tzu calls Tao, what Shankara calls adwai- la. You can choose your own word for it, but through a deep love em- brace, it is easy to feel it. Be alive, shaking, and become the shaking itself. t

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hiva said: Even remember- ing union, without tlu em- br ac e, the tr usfonrution !

Once you know these previous two meditations, even the partner is not needed. You can simply remember the act and enter ino ir But frnt you must have the feeling. If you lnow ttre feeling, you can enter into the act without the paroer. This is a little difhcult" but it hap- pens. And unless it happens, you go on being dependenu a depen- dency is created. Fon so many rea- sons it happens.

Circle of Love Alone If you have had the feeling, if you have known the moment when you were not there but only a vi- brating energy - you had become one and there was a circle with the partner - in that moment there was no partner. In that moment only you arc, and for the parher you aro not: only he or she is. That oneness is centered within you; the partner is no more there. And it is easier

for women to have this feeling be- cause they are always making love with closed eyes. During the technique, it is good if you have your eyes closed. Then only an inner feeling of a circle is there, only an inner feeling of one- ness. Then just remember it. Close your eyes; lie down as if you are with your parlner. Just remember and start feeling it. Your body will

begin to shake and vibrate. Allow it! Forget completely that the other is not there. Move as if the other is present. Only in the beginning is it 'as if'. Once you know, then it is not 'as if '. Then the other is there. Move as if you are actually going into the love act. Do whatsoever you would have done with your partrE[ Scream, move, shake. Soon the circle will be there. and

T H E M E D I T A T I O N S

this circle is miraculous. Soon you will feel that the circle is crcate4 but now this circle is not created with a man and woman. If you are man, then tlre whole universe has become wonum; if you are woman, then the whole univene has become man. Now you arc in a deep com- munion with existence itself, and the doot the otheq is no more there. The other is simply a door. While making love to a woman, you are rcally making love to existence it- self. The woman is just a dool the man is just a door. The other is just a door for the whole, but you are in such a hurry you never feel it If you remain in communion, in deep embrace for houn together, you will forget the otlpr and the other will just become an extension of the whole. Once this technique is known you can use it alone, and when you can use it alone it gives you a new freedom - freedom from the other. Really, it happens tlat the wtple existence becomes the other - your beloved, your lover - and then this technique can be used continuously,

and one can remain in constant communion with existerre. And *ren you can do it in other dimen- sions also. Walking in the morning, you can do it. Then you arc in com- munion with the air, with the rising sun and the stan and the trees. Star- ing at the stars in the night" you can do it" Lmking at the moon, you can do it. You can be in the sex act wi*t the whole universe once you know how it happens. But it is gmd o start with human beings because they are nquest to you - ttre nearest part of the uni- verse. But they are dispensable. You can take a jump and forget the dmr completely. "Even remember- ing union, the nansformation." And you will be transformed: you will become new. Tantra says move in it otally. Just forget yourself, your civilization, your religion, your culture, your ideology. Forget everything. Just move in fte sex acl move in it t0- tally; donl leave anything out. Be- come absolutely non-thinking. Then only does the awareness happen that you have become one with

som@ne. And tttis feeling of one- ness can then be detached ftom the partner and it can be used with tlte whole universe. You can be in a sex act with a tree, with the moon, with anything. Once you know how to qeate this circle, it can be created with anything - even with- out anything. You can crc{rt€ this circle within yourself because man is both man and woman, and woman is both woman and man. You are both be- cause you were crcated by two. You were crcated by man and woman both, so half of you rc- mains the other. You can forget ev- erything completely, and the circle can be created within you. Once the circle is created within you (your man is meeting your wom- an; the inner woman is meeting the inner man), you are in an em- brace within yourself. And only when this circle is created is real celibacy auained. Otherwise all celibacies are just perversions, and then they create their own prob- lems. When this circle is created inside, you are freed..

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The TWo Difficulties There are only two dffictities on the path of meditation: oru is the ego. You are continuously prepared by the society, by tlrc fwnily, by the school, by the church, by everybody around you, to be egoistic. Even modern psycltology is based on strengthening the ego.

The ego

Thr whole idea of modern psy- I chology, modem education, is

tlnt unless a person has a very sfrong ego he will not be able to struggle in life wherc therc is so much competition that, if you are a humble man, anybody will push you aside; you will always remain backward. You need a very steely, shong ego to fight in ttris competi- tive world; then only can you be- oome a success. In any field - it

may be business, it may be politics, it may be any profession - you need a very assertive personality, and our whole society is geared to produce the assertive personality in the child. From the very beginning we start telling him, "Come first in your class"; when the child does come fint in the class, everybody praises him. What are you doing? You are feeding his ego fmm the very be- gmning. You are giving him a cer- tain ambition: "You can become the pesident of he country, you can become the prime minister of

the country." He starts tlle joumey with these ideas, and his ego goes on becoming bigger and bigger as he succeeds. In every way the ego is the great- est disease that can happen !o man. If you succeed your ego becomes big - that is a dangeg because then you will have !o rcmove a big rock which is blocking the path. Or if the ego is small, you have not been successful, you have proved to be a failure, then your ego will become a wound. Then it huru. then it crcates an inferiority com- plex - then too it creates a prob- lem. You are always afraid to enter into anything, even meditation, be- cause you lnow you are a failure, that you are going to fail - that has become your mind. Everywherc you have failed, and meditation is such a great thing...you cannot succeed. If you enter into meditation with this idea - that failure is bound o be, that it is your destiny, that it is your fate - then of course you cannot succeed. So if the ego is big it prevents you. And if the ego

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is very small it becomes a wound which also prcvents you. In each case the ego is one of the prob- lems. t

fn the mother's womb each child Iis profoundly blissful. Of course he is unaware of it, not knowing anything about it- He is so one with his bliss that there is no knower left behind. Blissfulness is his being, and there is no distinc- tion between the knower and the known. So of course the child is not aware that he is blissful. You become aware only when you have lost something. It is so. It is very difficult to know something without losing it, be- cause when you have not lost it you arc so totally one with it. There is no distance: the observer and the observed are one; lhe known and the knower arc one. Every child is in a profoundly bliss- ful state. Psychologists also agree with this. They say that the whole search of religion is nothing but a way to again find the womb of tlre mother. They use it as a criticism of religion, but to me it is not criticism at all. It is simply true. Yes, the search for religion is again a search for the womb. The search for reli- gion is again a search to make this whole existence a womb. The child is absolutely in tune with

the mother. The child is never out of tune with the mother. The child does not know that he is separate from the mofirer. If the mother is healthy the child is healthy; if the mother is ill the child is ill. If the mother is sad the child is sad; if the mother is happy the child is happy. If the mother is dancing the child is dancing; if the mother is sitting silently the child is silent. The child has no boundaries of his own yet. This is the purest bliss, but it has to be lost. The child is bom, and suddenly he is thrown off<enter. Suddenly he is uprooted fiom the earth, from the mother. He loses his moorings and he does not lnow who he is. There was no need lo know it when he was with the mofter. There was no need to know - he was all, and there was no need !o know, therc was no distinction. There was no 'you" so there was no question of 'I'. The reality was undivided. It was adwaita - pure adwaita, ptxe non-duality. But once the child is born, the um- bilical cord is cut and he starts breathing on his own; suddenly his whole being becomes a quest to know who he is. It is natural. Now he starts becoming aware of his boundaries - his body, his needs. Sometimes he is happy, sometimes unhappy; sometimes he is fulfrlled

sometimes not fulfilled; sometimes he is hungry and crying and there is no sign of mother anywhere; some- times he is on the mother's breast, again enjoying oneness with the mother. But now there are many moods and many climates, and he will start, by and by, to feel the sep- aration. A divorce has happened; the marriage is bmken. He was absolutely married to the mother; now he will always be sep- arate. And he has m hnd out who he is. For the whole life one goes on trying to find out who one is. This is the most fundarnental ques- tion. First the child becomes awaie of 'mine', then of 'me', then of 'you',

then of 'I'. This is how it proceeds. This is precisely the procedure, ex- actly in this order. Fint he becomes aware of 'mine'. Warch it, because this is your construction, the stmc- ture of your ego. First the child be- comes aware of 'mine' - this toy is mine, this mother is mine. He starts possessing. The possessor enlers first; possessiveness is very basic. Hence all the religions say: become non-possessive, because with pos- session hell starts. Watch small children: very jealous, possessive, each child trying to snatch everything from everybody else and trying to protect his own toys. And you will see children

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who are very violent, almost indif- ferent to others' needs. If a child is playing with his oy and another child comes you can see an Adolf Hitlel a Genghis Khan, a Nadir- shah. He will cling o his toy; he is ready to hit, he is ready to hght" It is a question of territory a question of domination. Possessiveness enters first; that is the basic poison. And the child starts saying, "This is mine." Once the 'mine' enten then you are a competitor with everybody. Once the 'mine' enters, your life will now be a life of competition, srug- gle, conflict, violence, aggtession. The next sep after 'mine' is 'me'.

When you have something to claim as yours, suddenly though that claim arises tlle idea tlrat now you are the center of your possessions. The posessions become your terri- tory, and through those possessions arises a new idea: 'me'.

Once you are settled with 'me', you can see clearly that you have a boundary, and those who are out- side the boundary are 'you'. The other becomes cleaq now things start falling apart The universe is one, it is a uniry. Nothing is divided. Everything is connected with everything else; it is a tremendous connectedness. You are connected with the earth, you are connected with the Eees,

you are connected with the stars; stars are connected with you, stan are connected witl the rees, with the riven, with the mountains. Ev- eryhing is interconnected. Nothing is separate; nothing can be separate. Separation is not possible. Each moment you are brcathing - you breathe in, you breathe out - continuously tlrere is a bridge witlr existence. You eat, existence enters ino you; you defecate, it becomes manurc - the apple on the tree will become part of your body tomor- row, and some part of your body will go and become manure, will become fmd for the ree...a contin- uous give-and-ake. Not for a single moment does it sOp. When it stops, you arc dead. What is death? - separation is death. To be in unity is to be alive, to be out of unity is o be dead. So the mqe you think, "I am sepa- rate," the less sensitive you will be, more dead, dragging, dull. The more you feel you are connected, tre more this whole existence is part of you and you arc part of this whole existence. Once you under- stand that we are memben of each othel then suddenly the vision changes. Then these trees are not alien; they are continuously pepar- ing food for you. When you breathe in, you take oxygen in, when you breathe out, you give carbon diox-

ide; the uees brcathe in carbon dioxide and brcathe out oxygen - tlrcre is a continuous communion. We are in tune. The rcality is a uni- ty, and with the idea of 'me', 'you',

we arc falling out of rcality. And once a wlong conception setrles in- side, your whole vision becomes upside down.... 'Me', then 'you', and then as a re- flection arise.s 'I'. 'I' is the subtlest, the most crystellized form of the possessiveness. Once you have ut- ter€d 'I', you have committed sac- rilege. Once you have said'I', you are broken completely from exis- tence - not really broken, othenyise you would die; but in your ideas you are completely broken ftrom le- ality. Now you will be in a continu- ous frght with rcality. You will be fighting your own rmts. You will be lighting with yourself. That's why Buddha says: "Be a driftwood." You can be a driftwood only if you have dropped the idea of 'I' - otherwise you cannot be a driftwood; struggle will persist. That's why it becomes so difficult when you come to meditate. If I say to just sit silently, you cannot do ttnt - such a simple thing. One would think il is the most simple thing; there should be no need to teach it. One should simply sit and be. But you cannot sit because the 'I' cannot allow you a moment of

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relaxation. Once a moment of relax- ation is allowed, you will be able to see reality. otrce reality is lnown, lhe 'I' will have to be drop'ped. Then it cannot persist So the 'I'

never even allows you a holiday. Even if you go to the hills, to the summer resorts, the 'I' never allows you a holiday even there. You take your radio, you ake your TV seq you take all your problems and you remain acupied. You had gone there o relax, but you continue your whole pattem in the same way. You dontrelax. The 'I' cannot relax. It exiss through tensions. It will create new tensions, it will crcate new wor- ries; it will constantly manufacture new pnoblems, it wont allow you any rest. Even a minute's rest and the whole house of the 'I' starts toppling down - because the rcali- ty is so beautiful and the 'I' is so ugly. One continues to fight his way un- necessarily. You are fighting for things which are going to happen of heir own accord. You are unneoes- sarily fighting. You are desiring things which are going to be yours ifyou dont desire. In fact, by desir- ing you will lose them. That's why Buddha says: "Float with tlp stream. L€t it take you to the @ean." ' M i n e ' , ' m e ' , ' y o u ' , ' I ' - t h i s i s t h e

rap. And this rap crcates misery, neurosis, madness. Now tle prcblem is: the child has to go through it, because he does not know who he is and he needs some sort of identity - maybe a false identity, but it is beUer than no iden- tity. He needs some identity. He needs to know exactly who he is, so a false center is created. The 'I' is not your real center. It is a false cen- ter - utilitarian, make-believe, just manufactured by you. It has nothing to do with your real center. Your rcal center is he center of all. Your real self is the self of ail. At the center, the whole existence is one - just as at the source of light, the sun, all rays are one. The farther away they go, the farther away $rey are fiom each other. Your real center is not only your cente4 it is the center of the whole. But we have created small centers of our own, homemade, manufac- med by ourselves. There is a need ...because the child is bom without any boundary, with no idea of who he is. It is a sunrival necessity. How will he survive? He has to be given a name; he has to be given an idea of who he is. Of course this idea comes from the outside: somebody says you are beautiful, somebody says you are intelligent, somebody says you are so vital. You gather the things tlnt people say.

Out of all that people say about you, you gather a certain image. You never look into yourself, at who you are. This image is going o be fatse - because nobody else can know who you arc, and nobody else can say who you are. Your inner rc- ality is not available o anybody else except you. Your inner reality is impenerable to anybody else ex- c€pt you. Only you can be there. The day you rcalizc that your iden- tity is false, put togetheq that you have collected opinions ftom peo ple...sometime just rhink; just sit silently and think who you are. Many ideas will arise. Just go on watching 6om where they come and you will be able to hnd the source. Some things come from your mother - much, about eighty to ninety percenL Something comes ftom your fatheq, something comes fiom your schmlteehers, something comes ftrom your friends, something from the soci- ety. Just watch: you will be able to divide ftrom where it comes. Noth- ing comes ftom you, not even one percent comes from you. what rype of identity is this, in which you have not contributed at all? And you are the only one who could have contributed, in fact, the whole hun&ed percent. The day you understand this, rcli- gion becomes important The day

O B S T A C L E S T O M E D I T A T I O N

you realize this you start seeking for some technique, some method to enter into your being; how to know exactly, really, existentially, who you are. No more collections of images ftrom tlre outside, no more asking othen to mirror your reality - but to face it directly, immediate- ly; to enter inlo your nature, to feel it there. What is the need t0 ask anybody? And whom are you ask- ing? They are as ignorant about themselves as you are about your- self. They dont know themselves; how can they know you? Just see how things are functioning, how things go on functioning, how things go on happening: one falsity leads to another falsity. You are al- most swindled, duped. You are conned, and those who have swin- dled you may not have done it knowingly. They may have been swindled by others. Your father, your mothe4 your teachers, have been duped by othen - tlpir fa- thers, their mothen, their teachen. And they have duped you in turn. Are you going to do the same to your children too? In a better world, where people are mole intelligent, more aware, they will teach the child that the idea of identity is false: "It is needed, we are giving it to you, but it is only for the time being, before you yowself dis- cover who you are."

It is not going lo be your reality. And the sooner you find out who you are, the bener. The sooner you can drop this idea, the better - be- cause fiom that very moment you will really be bom, and you will be really real, authentic. You will be- come an individual. The ideas that, we gather from oth- ers give us a personality, and the knowledge that we come to know from within gives us individuality. Penonality is false, individuality is real. Personality is bonowed; di- ty, individuality, your authenticity, can never be bonowed. Nobody can say who you are. At least one thing can never be done by anybody else - that is, to give you the answer to who you are. No, you have to go, you have to dig deep into your own being. Layers and layers of identity, false identity, have to be broken. There is fear when one enters into oneself, be- cause chaos comes in. Somehow you have managed with your false identity. You have settled with it. You know your rulme is this or that; you have certain credentials, certifi- cates, degrees, universities, colleges, prestige, money, heritage. You have certain ways to define yourself. You have a certain delurition - howsoev- er workable, but it works. Going in means &opping this workable defi- nition...there will be chaos.

Before you can come to your cen- ter, you will have to pass through a very chaotic state. That's why there is fear. Nobody wants to go in. Peo- ple go on teaching: "Know thy- self'; we listen, but we never listen. We never bother about it. There is a very certain idea in the mind that chaos will be let loose and you will be lost in it, you will be engulfed in it. Because of the fear of that chaos, we go on clinging to anything from the ouside. But this is wasting your life. z

The chattering mind

Tlw second hindrance on the I path of medilation is your constantly clwtteing mind. You cannot sit even for a single minute, tlrc mind goes on chatter- ing : relevant, irrelevant, tncaning- ful, meaningless thoughts go on. It is a constant trafic and it is al- ways rrch-hotu.z

Vou see a flower and you ver- I balize iU you see a man

crossing the street and you verbal- ize it. The mind can translate ev- ery existential thing into a. word, everything is being transformed. These words create a barrier, these words become an imprisonment. This constant flow toward the

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traniformation of things ino words, of existence into words, is the barrier. It is an obstacle to a meditative mind. So the frst requirement toward a meditative growth is to be aware of your constant verbalizing, and o be able to stop it. Just see things; do not verbalize. Be aware of their presence, but do not change them inoo words. Let things be without language; let persons be without language; let situations be without lan- guage. It is not impossible, ttris is natural and possible. It is the situ- ation as it now exists that is artifi- cial, it is a created situation, but we have become so habituated to it, it has become so mechanical, that we are not even aware of the transformation, of the translation of experience into words. The sunrise is there. You are never aware of the gap between seeing it and verbalizing. You see the sun, you feel it, and immediately you verbalize it. The gap between see- ing and verbalizing is losq it is never fell In that interval, in that gap, one must become aware. One must be aware of the fact that the sunrise is not a word. It is a fact" a prcsence, a situation. The mind au- tomatically changes experiences ino words. These words arc accu- mulated and lhen come between

existence (the existential) and con- sciousness. Meditation means living without words, living nonlinguistically. Then these piled up memories, these linguistic memories, become obsta- cles towards meditative glowth. Meditation means living without words, living in a situation non-lin- guistically. Sometimes it happens spontaneously. When you are in love with som@ne it happens. If you arc really in love, then presence is felt - not language. Whenever two lovers are intimate wilh one an- other they become silent. It is not tlnt therc is nothing to express; on the contrary, there is an overwhelm- ing amount to be expressed. But words are never there; they cannot be. They come only when love has gone. If two lovers are never silent, if they are always talking, it is an in- dication that love has died. Now they are hlling the gap with words. When love is alive, words are not there, because the very existence of love is so overwhelming, so pene- trating, ttnt the barrier of language and words is crossed. And ordinari- ly, it is only crossed in love. Meditation is the culmination of love: love not for a single person, but love for the total existence. To me, meditation is a living relation- ship with the total existence that

surrounds you. If you can be in love with any situation, then you are in meditation.... Society gives you language, it can- not exist without language; it needs language. But existence does not need it I am not saying tlnt you should exist witlrout language. You will have to use it, but the mecha- nism of verbali'ation must be a mechanism that you can tum on and off. When you are existing as a social being, tlrc mechanism of lan- $rage is needed; without it you cannot exist in the society. But when you are alone with existence, the mechanisn must be turned off; you must be able to turn it off. If you cant tum it off the mechanism has gone mad. If you cant tum it off - if it goes on and on, and you are incapable of turning it off, then the mechanism has taken hold of you. You have become a slave to iL Mind must be an ins0ument, not the master. But it has become the masrcr. When mind is the masteq a non- meditative state exists. Wtren you are the maste4 your consciousness is the maste4 a meditative state ex- ists. So meditation means master- ing the mechanism, becoming a master to the mechanism. Mind, and the linguistic furrction- ing of the mind, is not the ultimate. You are beyond it and existence is

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beyond iL Consciousness is beyond linguistics; existence is beyond lin- guistics. When consciousness and existence are one, tlrcy are in com- munion. This state is called medita- tion. The communion between con- sciousness and existence is medita- tion. language must be dmpped. I dont mean that you must push it aside, that you must suppress it or elimi- nate iL What I mean is that some- thing which is needed in society has become a twenty-foru-hour-aday habit for you and is not needed as such. When you walk, you need to move your legs but they must not move when you are sitting. If your legs go on moving while you are siaing then you are mad, then the legs have gone insane. You must be able to turn them off. In the same way, when you arc not alking with any- one, language must not bo therc. It is a talking instrument, a technique to communicate; when you arc communicating something, lan- gunge should be used; but when you are not communicating with anybody it should not be therc. If you are able o do this - and it is possible if you undersrand it - tlpn you can grow into meditation. I say "you can gtow" b@ause life po- cesses arc never dead additions, they are always a growing process.

So meditation is a growing p'mcess, not a t€chnique. A technique is al- ways dead; it can be added to you, but a P,rocess is alwaYs living. It grows, it expands. Language is needed, it is necessary, but you must, not always remain in it. There must be moments when you are existential and there is no verbalizing. When you just exist, il is not that you arc just vegetating - consciousness is there, and it is more acute, more alive, because language dulls consciousness. [an- guage is bound o be repetitive but existence is never repetitive. So lan- guage creates borcdom. The more important language is to you, the more linguisticallyoriented the mind is - the more borcd you will be. hnguage is a rcpetition, exis- tence is nol When you see a rcse, it is not a rep- etition. It is a new ose, altogether new. It has never been and it will never be again. For the fnst time and the last time, it is tlse. But when we say this is a rose, the word 'rose' is a repetition: it has al- ways been therc; it will always be there. You have killed the new with an old word. Existence is always young, and lan- guge is always old. Though lan- guage you escape existence, through language you escape life, because language is dead. The more

involved you arc with language, the morc you arc being &adened by it. A pundit is completely dead be- cause he is language, words and nothing else. Sarue has wduen his autobiography. He calls it:Words. Meditation means living,living to tally, and you can live otally only when you are silenl By being silent I do not mean urconscious. You can be silent and unconsciors but tlnt would not be a living silence - again, you would have missed. I

Q o what to do? The question is U rclevanl Watch - dont try to stop. Therc is no need to do any ac- tion against the mind. In the first place, who will do it? It will be mind fighting mind itself. You will divide your mind into two: one that is trying o boss ove4 the topdog, uying to kill the other part of itself - which is absurd, it is a foolish game. It can drive you crazy. Dont Ery to stop the mind or the thinking - justwarch iL allow it" Allow it to- tal frcedom. I-et it nm as fast as it wants. You dont try in any way o conuol it You just be a wirpss. It is beautiful! Mind is one of the most beautiful mechanisms. Science has not yet been able to create anything paral- lel to mind. Mind still remains the masterpiece - so complicated, so temendously powerful, with so

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many potentialities. Watch it! Enjoy it! And dont watch like an enemy, be- cause if you look at the mind like an enemy, you cannot watch. You are already prejudiced; you are al- ready against. You have already de- cided tlnt something is wrong with the mind - you have already con- cluded. And whenever you look at somebody as an enemy you never look deep. You never look ino the eyes; you avoid. Watching the mind means: look at it with deep love, with deep rcspect, revercnce - it is God's gift o you! Nothing is wrong in mind itself. Nothing is wrong in thinking itself. It is a beautiful process as other prccesses ale. Clouds moving in the sky arc beautiful - why not thoughts moving in the inner sky? Flowers coming to the trees arc beautiful - why not tloughts flow- ering in your being? The river run- ning o the ocean is beautiful - why not this strcam of thoughts running somewhere to an unlnown destiny? Is it not beautiful? I-ook with deep reverence. Dont be a fighter, be a lover. Watch the sub- 0e nuances of the mind: the sudden tums, tlrc beautiful tums; the sud- den jumps and leaps; the games that mind goes o,n playing; the dreams tlut it weaves - the imagination, the memory; the thousand and one pro-

jections that it creatres. Watch! Smnding there, aloof, distant, not involved, by and by you will start feeling.... As your watchfulness becomes d*p"r, your awarcness becomes d*p"t, gaps start arising, intervals. One thought goes, another has not come; there is a gap. One cloud has passed, another is coming; there is a gap. In those gaps, for the fnst time you will have glimpses of no-mind, you will have the taste of no-mind. Call it the taste of 7nn, or Tho, or Yoga. In those small intervals, suddenly the sky is clear and the sun is shin- ing. Suddenly the world is full of mystery because all barriers are dropped. The screen on your eyes is no longer there. You see clearly, you see peneratingly; ttre whole existence becomes transparent. In the beginning, these will be just rarc moments. few and far in be- tween. But they will give you glimpses of what sanadhi is. Small pools of silence - they will come and they will. disappear. But now you know that you are on the right track - you start watching again. When a thought passes, you watch it; when an interval passes, you watch it. Clouds are beautiful; sun- shine also is beautiful. Now you are not a chooser. Now you dont have a fixed mind: you dont say, "I

would like only the intervals." That is stupid - because once you be- come attached to wanting only the intervals, you have decided again against thinking. And then those in- tervals will disappear They happen only when you are very distant, aloof. They happen, they cannotbe brought. They happen, you c:mnot force them to happen. They are spontaneous happenin gs. Go on watching. Irt thoughts come and go - wherever they want to go - nothing is wrong! Dont try to manipulate and dont try to di- rect; let thoughts move in otal fiee- dom. And then bigger intervals will be coming. You will be blessed with small saloris, minisatoris. Sometimes minutes will pass and no thought will be there; therc will be no raffic - a total silence. undisturbed. When the bigger gaps come, you will not only have clarity to see into the world - with the bigger gaps you will have a new clarity arising; you will be able to see into the inner world. With the first gaps you will see ino the world: rees will be more grcen than they look right now. You will be sunounded by an inhnite music - the music of the sphercs. You will be suddenly in the prcsence of God - ineffable, mysterious, touching you although you cannot grasp it; within your

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rcac'h and yet beyond. With the big- ger gaps, the same will happen in- side. God will not only be outside, you will be suddenly surprised - he is inside also. He is not only in the seen; he is in the seer also - within and without. But dont get aftached to that either. Attachment is the food for the mind to conLinue. Non-anached witness- ing is the way to sop it without any effort to stop it. And when you start

enjoying those blissful moments, your capacity o rctain them for longer periods arises. Finally, eventually, one day, you become mastel Then when you want to think, you think; if thought is needed, you use iq if thought is not needed, you allow it o rest Not that mind is simply no longer there - mind is trere, but you can use it or not use it Now it is your deci- sion. Just like legs: if you want to

run you use them; if you dont want to run you simply rcst - legs are there. In the same way, mind is al- ways there. No-mind is not against mind; no- mind is beyond mind. Nomind does not come by killing and de- sroying the mind; nomind comes when you have understood the mind so torally that thinking is no longer needed. Your understanding has replaced it. s

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T1 1

f.alse Methods Meditation is not concentration

Meditations can be wrong. For exwnple, any meditation tlnt leads you deep into concentration is wrong. You will become more and more closed rather than becoming open. If you nar- row down your consciousness, concentrate on something, and you exclude the whole of extstence and become one-pointed, it will create more and more tension in you. Hence the word'attention'. It means 'at-tension'. Concentration, the very sound of the word, gives you a feeling of tenseness.

noncentration has its uses Only the problem that you are con-

I but it is not meditation. In cenrating upon is your world- \-/ scientihc work - in scien- That's why scientists become ab- tific research, in the science lab - sent-minded. People who concen- you need concentration. You have trate too much always become ab- to concentrate on one problem and sent-minded because they dont exclude everyhing else - so much know how to remain open to the so that you almost become un- whole world. mindful of the remaining world. I was reading an anecdote.

"I have bmught a fiog," said a sci- entist, a p'rofessm of zmlogy, beaming at his class, "ftresh ftom the pond, in order th,at we might study is outer appearirnce and later dissect iL" He carefrrlly unwrapped the pack- age he carried and inside was a neatly pepared ham sandwich. The good professor looked at it with as- onishment. "Oddl" he said, "I distinctly re- member having eaten my lunch." That goes on happening to scien- tists. They become one-pointed and their whole mind becomes narrow. Of course, a nanow mind has its use: it becomes more pene- trating, it becomes like a sharp needle; it hits exactly the right point, but it misses the great life that surrounds it. A buddha is not a man of concen- fation; he is a man of awareness. He has not been trying to nanow down his consciousness; on the contrary, he has been trying o drop all baniers so that he becomes to tally available to existence. Watch ...existence is simulaneous. I am

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speaktng here and the raffic noise is simultaneous. The train, the birds, the wind blowing tluough the Eees - in this moment the whole of existence converges. You listening to me, I speaking to you, and mil- lions of things going on - it is tremendously rich. Concentration makes you one- pointed at a very grcat cosfi ninety- nine percent of life is discarded. If you are solving a mathematical problem, you cannot listen to the bfuds - they will be a distraction. Children playing around, dogs bark- ing in the street - they will be a dis- traction. Because of concentration, people have ried to escape from life - to go to the Himalayas, to go to a cave, to remain isolated, so that they can concentrate on God. But God is not an object" God is this wholenes of existence, this mo- menq Gd is the totality. That's why science will never be able to know God. The very method of sci- ence is concenEation and because of that method, science can never know God. So what o do? Repeating a manra, doing transcendental meditation, is not going !o help. Transcendental meditation has become very impor- tant in America because of the ob- jective ap'proach, because of the sci- entific mind - it is the only medita- tion on which scienffic work can

be done. It is exactly concentration and not meditation, so it is comprc- hensible for the scientihc mind. In the universities, in ttre science labo- ratories, in psychological research work, much is being done about TM, because it is not meditation. It is concentration, a method of con- centration. It falls under the same category as scientific concentration; there is a link between the two. But it has nothing to do with medita- tion. Meditation is so vast, so tremen- dously infinite, that no scientific re- search is possible. Only if a man becomes compassion will it show whether he has achieved or not. Al- pha waves wonl be of much help because they are still of the mind and meditation is not of the mind, it is something beyond. So, let me tell you a few basic things. One, meditation is not con- centration but relaxation - one sim- ply relaxes into oneself. The more you relax, the more you feel your- self open, vulnerable, the less you are rigid. You are more flexible, and suddenly existence starts penetrat- ing you. You are no longer like a rock, you have openings. Relaxation means allowing yourself to fall ino a state where you arc not doing anything, because if you are doing something, tension will con- tinue. It is a state of non-doing: you

simply relax and you feeling of relaxation. yourself, just close your eyes, and listen to dl that is happening all amund. No need o feel anything as a distraction. The moment you feel it is a distraction, you are denying God. This moment God has come to you as a bird - dont deny. He has knocked at your door as a bird. The next moment he has come as a dog barking, or as a child crying and weeping, or as a madman laughing. Dont deny; dont rcject - accept, because if you deny you will be- come tense. All denials crcate ten- sion - accept. If you want to dax, acceptance is the way. Accept whatsoever is happening all around; let it become an organic whole. It is - you may know it or you may not lnow it - everything is interrelated. These birds, these rees, this sky, this sun, this earth, you, me, all are rclated. It is an or- ganic unity. If the sun disappears, the trees will disappear; if the rees disap'pear, the birds will disappeaq if the birds and rees disappear, you cannot be here, you will disappear. It is an ecology. Everyhing is deeply relat- ed with each other. So dont deny anything, because the moment you deny, you arc denying something in you. If you

enjoy the Relax into

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deny fhese singrng birds then some- thing in you is denied. If you relax, you accept; rcceptaulrce of existence is the only way to rc- lax. If small things disnrb you then it is your anitude that is disturbing you. Sit silently; Iisten to all tlnt is happening all around, and relax. Accept, relax, and suddenly you will feel immense energy arising in you. And when I say watch, donl rry rc watch; otherwise you will become tense again, and you will start con- cenmting. Simply relax, remain re- laxed, loose, and lmk...because what else can you do? You are there, nothing to be done, every- thing accepted, nothing to be de- nied, rejected. No sEuggle, no fight" no conflicl You simply watch. Re- member, simply watch.6

Meditation is not introspection

Jntospection is thinking about Iyourself. Self-rcmembering is not thinking at all: it is becoming aware of yourself. The differcnce is subtle, but very great Westem psychology insists on inuo- spection, and F^stern psychology insists on self-remembering. When you inuospect, what do you do? For example, you arc angry: you start

thinking about ange4 how it is carsed. You start arl'alyang why it is caused. You start judging whether it is good or bad. You start rationaliz- ing that you had been angy because the sitr:ation was such. You brood about angeq, you malyze anger, but the focus of attention is on the anga, not on the self. Your whole con- sciousness is focused on the anger: you arc watching, analyzing, associ- ating, thinking about it, trying to fig- tlle out how to avoid, how to get rid of it, how not to do it again. This is a thinking pmcess. You will judge it "bad" because it is destructive. You will uke a vow thal "I will never commit the same mistake again." You will try to control this anger through will. That's why Westem psychology has become analytical: analysis, dissection. Eastern psychology says, "Be aware. Dont try to analyze anger, there is no need. Just lmk at it, but look with awarcness. Dont start thinking." In fact if you start think- ing then thinking will become a barrier to looking at the anger. Then thinking will garb it Then thinking will be like a cloud sunounding ig the clarity will be lost. Dont ttrink at all. Be in a sote of no thought, and look. When therc is not even a ripple of thinking between you and the angeg the anger is faced, encoun-

tered You dont dissect it You dont bother to go to its source, be- cause the souce is in the past. You dont judge it, because the moment you judge it, thinking starts. You dont take any vow that "I will not do it"" because that vow leads you into the futue. In awarcness you remain with the feeling of ange4, exactly herenow You are not inter- ested in changing it" you are not in- tercsted in thinking about it - you are interested to lmk at it dfuectly, face to face, immediate. Then it is self-remembering. And this is the beauty of it tbat if you can look at anger it disappean. It not only disappears in that mo- rnent - tlrc very disappearance of it by your deep look gives you the key - therc is no rped o use will, there is no need to make any deci- sion for the future, and there is no need to go to tlrc original source ftom which it comes. It is unneces- sary. You have the key now: look at angeq and anger disappean. And this look is available forever. When- ever anger is there you can look; then this looking grows deeper. There are tluee stages of looking. First, when the anger has already happened and gone; as if you look at a tail disappearing - an elephant has gone; only the tail is therc. When the anger was there, you werc so deeply involved in it you

O B S T A C L E S T O M E D I T A T I O N

cctuld not rcally be aware. When the anger has almost disappeared, ninety-nine percent gone - only one percent, the last part of it, is still going, disappearing into the far horizon - then you become aware. This is the first state of awareness - good, but not enough.

The second state is when the ele- phant is there - not the tail - when the situation is ripe. You are really angry to the peak, boiling, burning - then you become awarc. Then there is still a third stage: the anger has not come, is still coming - not the tail but the head. It is just

entering your arca of conscious- ness and you become aware, then the elephant never materializes. You killed the animal before it was born. That is birth control. The phenomenon has not happened; then it leaves no mce. ?

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Tricks of the Mind Don't be fooled by experiences

All experiences are just tricks of the mind, all experiences are jwt escapes. Meditation is not an experience, it is a real- ization. Meditation is rnt an experience; rather, it is a stop- ping of all experience.

xperience is something out- side you. The experiencer is your being. And this is the

distinction between rue spirituali- ty and false: if you are after experi- ences, the spirituality is false; if you are after the experiencer, then it is true. And then you arc not concemed about kundalini, not concemed about chakras, not con- cemed about all these things. They will happen, but you are not con- cerned, you arc not interested, and

you will not move on these by- paths. You will go on moving to- wards the inner center where noth- ing remains except you in your to tal aloneness. Only the conscious- ness remains, without content. Content is the experience; whatso- ever you experience is the content. I experience misery; tren the mis- ery is the content of my conscious- ness. Then I experience pleasure; the pleasure is the content. I experi- ence boredom; then boredom is the

contenl You can experience si- lence: then silence is the contenL You can experience bliss; then bliss is the content. So you go on changing the content - you can go on changing ad infinitum - but this is not the rcal thing. The rcal is the one to whom these experiences happen - to whom boredom hap pens, to whom bliss happens. The spirinral search is not what happens, bat ta whom it happens. Then there is no possibility for the ego to arise. e

Mind can enter again

Jn meditation sometimes you feel Ia sort of emptines that is not rc- ally emptiness. I call it just "a sort of emptines." When you are medi- tating, for certain moments, for a few seconds, you will feel as if the thought prccess has stopped. In the beginning these gaps will come. But because you are feeling as if the thought process has stopped, this is again a thought process, a very subtle thought process. What

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arc y6u doing? You are saying in- side, '"The thought prwess tus stopped" But what is this? This is a secondary thought process which has started And yotr say,'"This is emptiness." You say, "Now some- thing is going to happen." What is this? Again a new thought process has started. Whenever this happens again, dont become a victim of it When you feel a certain silerrce is descending, dont start verbalizing it, because you arc destoyrng it Wait - not for something - simply wait. Dont do anything. Dont say,'"This is empti- ness." The moment you have said thaq you have destoyed it. Just look at it, penetrate into it, en- oountor it - but wait, dont veftalize ir What is the hurry? Through ver- batization the mind has again en- tered ftom a different nute, and you are deceived. Be alert about this rick of the mind. In the beginning it is bound o hap- perL so whenever this hapens, just wair Dont fall in the uap. Dont say anything, rcrnain silenL Then you will enter ino emptiness, and then it will not be temporary, because orrce you have known the rcal emptiness you cannot lose it Ttre rcal canrnt be losq thu is its quality. Once you have known the inner treasure, once ytru have come in contact with yotn deepest c@, then

yon can move in activity, then you can do whatsoever you like, then you can live an ordinary worldly life but the emptirnss will rcmain with you. You cannot forget ir It will go inside. The music of it will be head. Whatsoever you are do- ing, the doing will be only on ttrc periphery; inside you will rcmain empty.e

Mind can deceive You

fhere arc patterns tlp seeker I gets entangled with.

The fir* thing is: most seekers get lost in an illusmy feeling that they have arrived It is like the kind of dream in which you feel yotr ale awake. You are still &eaming - your feeling of being awake is part of ttre &eam. The same kind of thing happens to the seeker. The mind is capable of creating the illusion that "now therc is nowhere to go, you have anived." The mind is a deceiver, and ttre function of the master for orr in this condition is to make him alert ttut this is not tlp reality but only a dream that he has not arrived. This can hapen at many points, again and again. And one can get very initated and annoyed with the master fu the simple reason that whenever you feel you have got it"

trc simply takes it away and puts you back into your igntrant state. For example, it was happening o a German disciple continully - he would get the feeling that he had become enlightened. And the force of the illusion was so much that he could not keep it o himself, he would tell others. He was so certain. This happened three times, and because of his cer- tainfy tp came to India to get my blessings. Nanrrally, il shows his certainty tlnt he came for my bless- ings. Erch time I had to tell him, "You ale just being deceived by your own mind. Nuhing has tnppened to you, you arc simply the old man - the new man has not arrived. And all tlnt you arc doing - writing let- ters to the U.N., to other govem- ments - are just ways of the ego. You are in the grip of the ego." It is very easy to live in a beautiful drcam. It is hard to see your drcams shauered by rcality. In the ancient scriptures of the East it is called the power of maya. Mind has the hypnotic power to crcat€ any illusion. If you are after a certain thing, desperately, it is one of the functions of the mind o qeat€ the illusion to stop your des- perat€ness. It happens every day to everybody in $eir dreams, but peo- ple dont leam things.

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If at night you go to bed hungry, that night you arc going o have a dream about eating delicious fmd. The mind is trying to help you so that your sleep is not disturbed; oth- erwise you are hungry and you are bound o be awakened by your hunger. The mind gives you a dream that you are eating delicious food of your choice, which satisfres your mind. The hunger remains but sleep is not distur&d. The hunger is covered by the illusion of the dream; itprotects your sleep. You feel in sleep that your bladder is full. If the mind does not create the dream that you have gone to the

toilet, come back and gone to sleep again, then your sleep will be dis- tubed - and sleep is a great neces- sity for the body. The mind is lak- ing care that you are not disturbed again and again; you can have a long sleep, rest, so in the morning you arc rejuvenated. This is the ordinary function of the mind; on a higher plane the same thing happens. One is an ordinary sleep and an ordinary awakening that mind prevents. On the path, it is an extraordinary sleep and an ex- raordinary awakening, but ttp mind is pmgrammed - it is just a mechanical thing. It simply does its

wort without bothering, because it has no way of checking whether it is ordinary sleep or spiritual sleep, o'rdinary awakening or spirinnl awakening. To the mind it is all the same. Its function is to keep your sleep in- tact and crcate a barrier for any- thing that disnrbs your sleep. If you are hungry it gives you food; if you are desperately in search of truth, it gives you truth, it gives you enlightenmenL You ask for anything, and it is ready to give it to you. It can create the illusion of the rcal thing - that is ia inrinsic Power. to

Meditation Is Your Mastercard! I Jewish disciple of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh takes a

.f1. gorgeous woman out to dinner. They go to the most expe.nsive restaunmt in Poona and feast on Italian spaghetti, Japanese sushi and French wine. For dessert they choose German chocolate cake and finish with Brazilian coffee. When ttre waiter brings them the bill, Goldstein finds he has lefr his wallet at home. So he takes out his picture of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and hands it to ttre waiter. "What is this?" demands the waiter. "My mastercard," replies Goldstein. tr

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Questions to the Master

Q U E S T T O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

Only aWitness CanReally Dance

You continuously tell us to "be awarertt

to "be a witness." But can a witnessing

consciousness really sing, dance and taste life?

Is a witness a mere spectator of life

and never a participant?

ind is bound to raise 0ris question sooner on later, because mind is very

much afraid of you becoming a wimess. Why is the mind so much afraid of you becoming a wirres? - because becoming a wihess is the death of ttre mind. Mind is a doer - it wants to do things - and witnessing is a stale of nondoing. The mind is afraid that, "If you become a wihess, I will not be needed any more." And in a way ttrc mind is righc Once the wihess arises in you the mind has to disapear, just as when you bring light into yorn room and the darkness ftas o dis- appear; it is inevitable. Mind can exist only if you remain fast asleep because mind is a state of dream- ing, and dreams can exist only in sleep.

By becoming a wihess you are no more asleep; you are awake. You become awareness - so crystal- clear, so young and tesh, so vital and potent. You become a flame, intense, as if buming from both ends. In that state of intensity, light, of consciousness, mind dies, mind commits suicide. Hence the mind is afraid, and mind will create many p'roblems fon you. It will raise many, many questions. It will make you hesitate to take the jump into the unknown; it will try to pull you back. It will try to convince you: "With me is safety, security; with me you are living under a shelteq well guarded. I take every care of you. With me you are eflicient, skillful. The moment you leave me you will have to leave all your knowledge, and you will have to leave all your securities, safeties.

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You will have to drop your armor and you will be going into the unknown. You are unnecessarily taking a risk for no reason at all." It will try to bring beautiful rational- izations. This is one of the rational- izations which almost always hap- pens to every meditator It is not you who is asking the ques- tion; it is the mind, your enemy, who is puuing the question though you. lt is mind who is saying "Bhagwan, you continuously tell us to 'be aware,' to 'be a wilness.' But can a witnessing consciousness really sing, dance and taste life?" Yes! In fact, only a witnessing con- sciousness can rcally sing, dance and taste life. It will appear like a paradox - it is! - but all that is rue is always paradoxical. Remember: if ruth is not paradoxical tlpn it is not truth at all, then it is something else. Paradox is a basic, inrinsic quality of truth. Let it sink into your heart forever: truth as such is paradoxi- cal. Although all paradoxes are not truths, all truths are paradoxes. The truth has to be a paradox because it has to be both poles, the negative and the positive, and yet a transcen- dence. It has to be life and death, and plus. By 'plus' I mean the tran- scendence of both - both, and both not. That is the ultimate paradox. When you are in the mind, how can

you sing? The mind creates misery; out of misery there can be no song. When you are in the mind, how can you dance? Yes, you can go through certain empty gestues called dance, but it is not a real dance. Only a Meera knows a real dance, or a Krishna, or a Chaitanya; these arc the people who know real dance. Others know only the tech- nique of dancing, but there is noth- ing overflowing; their energies are stagnant. People who are living in the mind are living in the ego, and the ego cannot dance. It can make a performance but not a dance. The rcal dance happens only when you have become a wilness. Then you arc so blissful that the very bliss stars overflowing you; that is the dance. The very bliss starts singing, a song arises on its own accord. And only when you are a witness can you taste life. I can understand your question. You are worried that by becoming a witness you will become merely a spectator of life. No, to be a specta- tor is one thing, and to be a witness is a torally different thing, qualita- tively different. A spectator is indifferent; he is dull, he is in a kind of sleep. He does not participate in life. He is afraid, he is a coward. He stands by the side of the road and simply goes on seeing

others living. That's what you are doing all your life: somebody else acts in a movie and you see it. You are a spectalor! People are glued O their chain for houn logether before their TVs - spectators. Somebody else is singing, you are listening. Somebody else is danc- ing, you are just a spectator. Some- body else is loving and you are just seeing, you are not a participant. Professionals are doing what you should have done on your own. A witness is not a spectator. Then what is a witness? A witness is one who participates yet remains alert. A witness is in the state of wei-wu-wei. That is lao Tzu's word; it means action through inac- tion. A wihess is not one who has escaped fiom life. He lives in life, lives far more totally, far more pas- sionately, but yet remains a watcher deep down, goes on remembering, "I am a consciousness." Try it. Walking on the road, remember that you are a conscious- ness. Walking continues, and a new thing is added - a new richness is added, a new beauty. Something interior is added to the outward act. You become a flame of conscious- ness, and then the walking has a totally different joy to it you are on the earth and yet your feet arc not touching the earth at all. That's what Buddha has said: Pass

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thro'ugh a river but don't let the water touch your feel That's the meaning of the Eastern symbol of the lotus. You must have seen Buddha's statues, picnues, sit- ting on a lotus; that is a metaphor. A lotus is a flower that lives in the water and yet the water cannot touch it. The lotus does not escape to the Himalayan caves; he lives in the water and yet remains far, far away. Being in the marketplace but not allowing the marketplace to enter into your being, living in the world and yet not of the world: that is what is meant by 'witnessing

consciousness'. That's what I mean by saying to you again and again: Be aware! I am not against action, but your action has to be enlightened by awareness. Those who are against action, they are bound to be repres- sive, and all kinds of repressions make you pathological, not whole, not healthy. The monks living in the monasteries - Cattrolic or Hindu, the monk of the Jains and the Buddhiss - who

have escaped ftom life arc not true sannyasins. They have simply repressed their desires and they have moved away from the world, the world of action. Wherc can you be a wihess if you move away from the world of action? The world of action is the best opportunity to be aware. It gives you a challenge, it remains constantly a challenge. Either you can fall asleep and become a doer - then you are a worldly man, a dreamel, a victim of illusions; or you can become a wit- ness and yet go on living in the world. Then your action has a dif- ferent quality to it: it is really action. Those who are not aware, their actions are not real actions but reactions. They only rcact Somebody insuls you and you rcact. lnsult the Buddha - he does not react, he acts. Reaction is dependent on tlte othen he pushes a button and you arB only a victim, a slave; you function like a machine. T\e real person who knows what awareness is never rcacts: he acts out of his own awareness. The

action does not come from the other's acq nobody can push his buton. If he feels spontaneously that ttris is right to do, he does it; if he feels nothing is needed he keeps quiet. He is not rep'ressive; he is always open, expresive. His expression is multidimensional: in song, in poetry, in dance, in love, in prayel in compassion, he flows. If you dont become aware, then ftere are only two possibilities: either you will be repressive or indulgent. In both ways you remain in bondage. A nun was raped just ouside the monastery. When she was finaily found, she was carried inside and the nearby physician was called. He came, raised his hands and said, 'This is work for a plastic sur- geon!" A plastic surgeon was called. When he saw the poor nun he exclaimed. "Oh, my God! What a mess! Where should I start?" The Mother Superior replied, "Well, that is easy. First get that smile off her face!" t

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

The Goose Has Never Been In!

Sometimes, when dark sides

of my mind come up, it really scares me.

It is very difficult for me to accept

that it is just the polar opposite of the bright ones.

I feel dirty and guilty and not worth

sitting with You in Your immaculate presence.

I want to face all facets of my mind

and accept them because I hear You often say

that acceptance is the condition to

transcend the mind. Can You please

talk about acceptance?

TTlhe basic thing to be under-

I stood is that you are not the I mind - neither the bright

one nor the dark one. If you get identified with the beautiful parl then il is impossible to disidentify yourself from the ugly part; they are two sides of the same coin. You can have it whole, or you can throw it whole, but you cannot divide it. And the whole anxiety of man is, he wants to choose lhat which looks beautiful, bright. He wants to choose all the silver linings, leav- ing the dark cloud behind. But he does not know silver linings cannot exist without tlre dark cloud. The dark cloud is the background, abso lutely necessary for the silver lin- ings to show. Choosing is anxiety. Choosing is creating trouble fbr yourself. Being choiceless means: ttte mind

is there and it has a dark side and it has a bright side - so what? What has it to do with you? Why should you be worried about it? The moment you are not choosing, all worry disappears. A great acceptance arises, that this is how the mind has to be, this is the nature of the mind. And it is not your problem, because you arc not the mind. If you were the mind, there would have been no problem at all. Then who would choose and who would think of ranscending? And who would try to accept and understand acceptance? You are separate, totally separate. You are a witness and nothing else, an observer who gets identified with anything that he finds pleasant - and forges that the unpleasant is coming just behind it as a shadow.

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

You are not troubled by the pleasant side - you rejoice in it. The trouble comes when the polar opposite asserts; then you are lorn apart. But you stafled the whole trouble. Falling ftom being just a witness, you became identified. The biblical story of the fall is just a fiction. But this is the real fall: the fall from being a witness into get- ting identified with something and losing your witnessing. Just try once in a while: let the mind be whatever it is. Remember. you are not it. And you are going to have a great surprise. As you are less identified, the mind starts becoming less powerful because its power comes from your identifrca- tion; it sucks your blood. But when you start standing aloof and away, the mind starts shrinking. The day you are completely uniden- tihed with the mind, even for a sin- gle moment, therc is the revelation: mind simply dies, it is no longer there. Where it was so full, where it was so continuously - day in, day out; waking, sleeping, it was there - suddenly it is not there. You look all around and it is empti- ness, it is nofiingness. And with the mind disappean the self. Then there is only a certain quality of awareness with no 'I' in it. At the most you can call it something similar [o 'am-ness', but not 'I-

ness'. To be even morc exact, it is 'is-nes', because even in 'am-ness'

some shadow of the 'I' is still there. The moment you know its is-ness, it has become univenal. With the disaprpearance of 0re mind disap- pears the self. And so many things disappear which were so important t0 you, so troublesome to you. You were trying lo solve them and they were becoming more and more complicated; everything wuls a problem, an anxiety, and there seemed to be no way out. I will remind you of the sory l/re Goose is Out. lt is concerned with the mind and your is-ness. The master says to the disciple to meditale on a koan. A small goose is put into a bottle, fed and nour- ished. The goose goes on becoming bigger and bigger and bigger, and fills the whole bottle. Now it is too big; it cannot come out of the bot- tle's mouth, the mouth is too small. And the koan is that you have !o bring the goose out without desuoying the bottle, without killing the goose. Now it is mind-boggling. What can you do? The goose is too big; you cannot take it out unless you break the bottle, but that is not allowed. Or, you can bring it out by killing it; then you dont care whether it comes out alive or dead. That is not, allowed either.

Day in, day out, the disciple medi- tates, hnds no way, thinks this way and that way - but in fact there is no way. Tued, utterly exhaust€d, a sudden revelation - suddenly he understands that the master cannot be interested in the bottle and the goose; they must represent some- thing else. The bottle is the mind, you arc the goose...but with wit- nessing it is possible. Wittrout being in the mind, you can become identified with it so much that you start feeling you cre in it! He runs Lo the maste4 to say that the goose is out. And the master says, "You have understood it. Now keep it out. It has never been in." If you go on struggling with the goose and the bottle there is no way for you !o solve it. It is the realiza- tion that "lt must rcprcsent. some- thing else; otherwise the master cannot give it to me. And what can il be?" - because the whole func- tion between the master and the disciple, the whole business is about the mind and awarcness. Awareness is the goose which is not in the bottle of the mind. But you arc believing that it is in it, and asking everyone how !o get it out. And there are idios who will help you with techniques to get out of it. I call them idiots because they have not undentood the thing at all. The goose is out, has never been in;

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So the question of bringing it out does not arise. Mind is just a procession of thoughts passing in fiont of you on the scrcen of the brain. You are an observer. But you start getting iden- tified with beautiful things - those are bribes. And once you get caught in the beautiful things you are also caught in the ugly things, because mind cannot exist without duality. Awareness cannot exist with duali- ty, and mind cannot exist without dualify. Awareness is nondual, and mind is dual. So just watch. I dont teach you any solutions. I teach you r/r solution. Just get back a little and watch. Create a distance between you and your mind. Whether it is good, beautiful, delicious, something that you would like to enjoy closely, or it is ugly - you rcmain as far away as possible. L,ook at it just the way

you look at a film. But people get identified even with films. I have seen, when I was young - I have not seen any movie for a long time - but I have seen people weeping, tears falling. It is good that it is dark in a movie house: it saves them from feeling embar- rassed - and nothing is happening! I used o ask my father, "Did you see? The fellow by your side was crying!" He said, "The whole hall was cry- ing. The scene wir such..." "But," I said, "there is only a scrcen and nothing else. Nobody is killed, there is no ragedy happening - just a p'rojection of a film. Just pictures moving on the scrcen; and people laugh, and people weep, and for three houn they are almost lost They become part of the movie, they become identified with some character." My father said to me, "If you are

raising questions about people's reacdons, then you cannot enjoy the hlm." I said, "I can enjoy the film, but I donl want to cry, I dont see any enjoyment in it. I can see it as a film, but I donl want to become a part of it. These people are all becoming part of iL" You get identified with anything. People get identified with other persons and then they creale misery for themselves. They get identihed with things, then tlrcy get miserable if that thing is missing. Identification is the root cause of your misery. And every identifica- tion is identification with the mind. Just step aside, let the mind pass. And soon you will be able o see that there is no pmblem at all - the goose is ouL You dont have to break the boale, you dont have to kill tlrc goose either. z

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I seem to be neither totally

in the world, nor the watcher

on the hill. How to be someplace?

I feel like I am in between

everything I do.

The Watcher onthe Hill

hen that is exactly the place you should be. You go on creating prob-

lems. Wherever you are, be there. There is no need to be a watcher on the hills. Thele should be no 'should'. Orrce

'should' enters life

you arc akeady poisoned. Therc strould be no goal. There should be no right or wrDng. This is the only sin: o think in terms of division, values, condemnation, ap'gecia- tion. Wherever you are ... nothing is wrong in between the watcher on the hills and a man in the world. T"hat\ exnctly where you should be. And I say: wherever you are, if you can accept it, immediately then and there you have become lhe watcher on the hills. Even in hell, if you accept it, hell disappears, because hell can remain only through your

rjection. Hell disappean and heav- en appea$. Whatsoever you accept becomes heavenly, and whatsoever you reject becomes hell. It is said tlut a saint cannot be thrown ino hell because he knows the alchemy to transform it. You have heard that sinnen go o hell and sains to heaven - but you have heard the wrong thing. The case is just the other way around: wherever sinnen go, they create hell and wherever saints go, they create heaven. Sain6 arc not sent to heaven. Therc is nobody to send and manage all this - there is nobody. But wherever tlrcy go, this is the way they are: they crcate their heaven. They carry their heaven with them, within them. And sinners? - you can send them to heaven: they will create hell. They cannot do othenpise.

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

So what is the definition of a saint or a sinner? My dehnition is: a saint is one who has come to know the alchemical secret of ransforming everything into heaven. And a sin- ner is one who does not know the secret of ransforming things into beautiful existences. Rather, on the contrary, he goes on making things ugly. Whatsoever you are will be reflecf ed around you. So dont try to be anything else. And dont try to be some other place. That is the dis- ease called man: always to become somebody, to be some other place, always rejecting that which is, and always hankering for that which is not. This is the disease called man. Be alert! Do you see it?! It is a simple fact to be seen. I am not theorizing about it; I am not a the- oretician. I am simply indicating a bare, naked fact - that if you can live in this moment wherever you are and forget about the future, goals, the idea of becoming some- Lhing else, immediately, the whole world around you is transformed; you have become a transforming force. Acceptance ... a deep, total accep- tance is what rcligion is all about. A wants t,o become B: B wants to become C. Then the fever of becoming is created. You are not a becoming; you arc a

being. You are alrcady that which you can be, which you can ever be - you are akeady that. Nothing more can be done abut you; you are a finished producl This is the meaning I give to the story that God created the world: when the perfect creatres, the cre- ation is perfect. When God crcates, how can you improve upon it? Just think of the whole absurditv: the whole idea is absurd. You are trying to improve upon God; you cannot improve. You can be miserable, that's all. And you can suffer unnecessarily. And you will suffer diseases which are just in your imagination and nowhere else. God creating means: out of perfection comes perfection. You are perfect! Nothing else is needed. Look right now, this very moment, within yourself. Have a direct insight. What is needed? Everything is simply perfect and beautiful. Not even a cloud can I see. Just look within yourself - not even a cloud in your inner space. Everything is full of light. But the mind will say, sooner or later, to be something else, to be somewhere else, to become. The mind doesnt allow you to be. The mind is becoming, and your soul is being. That's why Buddhas go on saying: "Unless you drop all desir- ing you will not attain!"

Desiring means becoming. Desir- ing means !o be something else. Desiring means not to accept the case as you are, not to b in a total 'yes' mood - no matter what the situation. To say "yes" to life is o be rcli- gious; to say "no" o life is to be irreligious. And whenever you desire something you are saying "no." You are saying that some- thing better is possible. The rees are happy and t}te birds arc happy and the clouds are happy - because they have no becoming. They are simply whatsoever tiey arc. The rosebush is not trying to become a lotus. No, the rosebush is absolutely happy o be a rosebush. You cannot persuade the msebush. Howsoever you advertise the lotus, you will not be able to corrupt the mind of the rosebush to become a lotus. The rosebush will simply laugh - because a rosebush is a rosebush is a rosebush. It is simply settled and centered in its being. That's why the whole nature is without any feven calm and quiet and ranquil. And settled! Only the human mind is in a chaos, because everybody is hankering to be somebody else. This is what you have been doing for a thousand and one lives. And if you don't awaken now, when are you thinking to

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awaken? You are aleady ripe for awakening. Just start from this very moment to live and enjoy and delight. Drop desiring! Whatsoever you are, enjoy it. Delight in your being. And then suddenly time disappcars, because time exists only with desiring. Future exists bccause you dcsire.

Then you will be like birds; listen !o them. Then you will be like uees; look - the freshness, the greenery, the flowers. Please be where you are. I am not here to create a new desire in you; I am simply herc to make you aware of the whole absurdity of desiring. Desiring is sansar. Undentanding the futility of desire

is to become enlightened. One who has found out that he is alrrcady that which he always wanted O be is a buddha. And you are all buddhas, howsoever fast asleep and moring. That makes no difference. lrt me be your alarm. Open your eyes. You have slept long enough. It is time to awaken. The moming is knocking at the door I

230

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WhereDidYou LeAve Your Bicycle? During the meditations,

my mind still goes five hundred miles

per hour. I never experience silence,

and whatever witnessing happens

is very short,like flashes. Am Iwasting my time?

\ Zour mind is mighty slow.

Y Five hundred miles per I hour, only?! And do you

think this is speed? Mighty slow you arc. Mind goes so fast it knows no speed. It is faster than light" Light Eavels 186,000 miles in one second; mind is faster than that. But nothing o be wonied about - that is the beauty of the mind, that is a great quality! Rarher than taking it negatively, rather than fighting with it, befriend the mind. You say: "During the meditations, my mind still goes five hundred miles per hour" - let it go! Let it go faster. You be a watcher You watch the mind going around so fast, with such speed. Enjoy this! Enjoy this play of the mind. In Sanskrit we have a special term for it; we call it chidvilas - the play

of consciousness. Enjoy it! - ttris play of mind rushing towards the stan, moving so fast frrom here and there, jumping all over existence. What is wrong in it? Let it be a beautiful dance. Accept it. My feeling is tlnt what you are doing is Erying to slop it - you can- not do that. Nobody can stop the mind! Yes, mind stops one day, but nobody can stop it. Mind stops, but $rat is not out of your effort. Mind stops out of your understanding. You just watch and try t0 see what is happening, why ttris mind is rushing. It is not rushing without any reason. Try to see wfty this mind is rushing, where it is rushing - you must be ambitious. If it thinks about money, then fy to understand. Mind is not the ques- tion. You sart dreaming about money, that you have won a lottery

23r

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

or this and that, and lhen you even strrt planning how to spend it, what to purchase and what not. Or, the mind thinks you have become a president, a prime ministeq and then you start thinking what o do now, how to run the country, or the world. Just watch the mind! - what mind is going owards. There must be a deep seed in you. You cannot stop the mind unless that seed disappean. The mind is simply following the order of your innermost seed. Somebody is think- ing about sex; then somewhere there is repressed sexuality. Watch where mind is rushing. lnok deep into younelf, find where the seeds are. I have heard: The parson was very much worried. "Listen," he said to his vergeq "somebody has stolen my bicycle." "Where have you been on it, Rec- tor?" inquired that worthy. "Only amund the parish on my calls." The verger suggested tiat the best plan would be for the rector to dfuect his Sunday sermon to the ten commandments. "When you get to 'Thou shalt not steal,' you and I will watch the faces - we will soon see." Sunday came, the rcctor started in fine flow about the commandments, then lost his thread, changed his subject, and trailed off lamely.

"Sir," said the verger, "I thought you were going to..." "I know, Giles, I know. But you see, when I got to 'Thou shalt not commit adultery,' I suddenly remembered where I had left my bicycle." Just see where you have left your bicycle. The mind is rushing for certain reasons. The mind needs undentanding, awareness. Dont try o stop it. If you try to stop it, in the first place you cannot succeed; in the second place, if you can succetd - one can succeed if one makes pnevcring effort for years - if you can suc- ceed, you will become dull. No satori will happen out of it. In the hrst place, you cannot suc- ceed; and it is good tfrat you cannot succeed. If you could succe*i,If you managed to succeed, that would be very unfortunate - you would become dull, you would lose intelligence. With that speed there is intelligence, with that speed there is continuous sharpening of the sword of thinking, logic, intellect. Please dont ry to strop it. I am not in favor of dullards, and I am not here !o help anybody to become stupid. In tre name of religion, many peo- ple have become stupid, they have almost become idiots - just trying to stop the mind without any under-

standing about why it is going with such speed...why in the frst place? The mind cannot go without any rcason. Without going into the rea- sons, in the layers, deep layen of the unconscious, they just try to stop. They can stop, but they will have to pay a price, and the price will be that their intellieence will be lost. You can go around India, you can hnd thousands of sannyasins, mahatmas; look into their eyes - yes, tlrey are good people, nice, but stupid. If you look in their eyes there is no intelligence, you will not see any lightning. They are uncreative people; they have not crmted anything. They just sit tlrcre. They are vegetating, they are not alive people. They have not, helped the world in any way. They have not even produced a painting or a poem or a song, because even to produce a poem you need intelli- gence, you need certain qualities of the mind. I would not suggest that you stop the mind, ratheq, that you under- stand it. With understanding a mir- acle happens. The miracle is that with understanding, by and by, when you understand the causes and those causes are looked int'o deeply, through looking deeply into those causes, those causes disap- pear, mind slows down. But intelli-

232

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jl i\

I l_12

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gence is not lost, because mind is not forced. What are you doing if you dont remove the causes by understand- ing? You are driving a car, for example, and you go on pressing the accelerator and at the same time you try (o press the brake. You will desroy the whole mechanism of the car And there is every possibility you will have some accident. This cannot be done together. If you are pushing the brake, then leave the accelerator alone; dont push it any more. If you are pushing the accel- erato4 then dont push the brake. Don't do both the things togethe4 otherwise you will destroy the whole mechanism; you are doing two contradictory things. You carry ambition - and you ury to stop the mind? Ambition creates the speed, so you are accelerating the speed - and putting a brake on the mind. You will desuoy the whole subtle mechanism of the mind, and mind is a very delicate phe- nomenon, the most delicate in the whole of existence. So dont be foolish about it. There is no need to stop it. You say: 'T never experience silence, and whatever wimessing happens is very short, like flashes." Feel happy! Even that is something

of tremendous value. Those flashes, they are not ordinary flashes. Dont just take them for ganted! There are millions of people for whom even those small glimpses have not happened. They will live and die and they will never lnow what wit- nessing is - even for a single momenl You are happy, you are fornrnate. But you arc not feeling grateful. If you don't feel grateful, those flash- es will disappear; feel grateful, they will grow. With gratitude, every- tiing grows. Feel happy that you are blessed - they will grcw. With thatpositiviry, ftings will grow "And whatever witnessing happens is very shorl" Let it be very short! If il can hap'pen for a single split moment, it is hap- pening; you will have the taste of it And wittr tre taste, by and by, you will creale morc and more situa- tions in which it happens more and more. "Am I wasting my time?" You cannot waste time, because you dont possess time. You can waste something that you possess. Time you dont possess. Trme will be wasted anyway whether you meditate or not - time will be wast- ed. Trme is rushing by. Whatsoever you do, do anything or dont do

anything, time is going. You cannot save time so how can you waste time? You can waste only some- thing which you can save. You dont posses time. Forget about il! And the best use you can have of time is to have these small glimpses -because finally you will come to see only those moments have been saved which were moments of wimessing, and all else has gone down the drain. The money that you earned, the pres- tige that you earned, the resp€ctability that you eamed, is all gone down the drain. Only those few moments that you had some flashes of witnessing, only those moments are saved. Only those moments will go with you when you leave this life - only those moments can go, because those moments belong o etemity, they dont belong o time. Feel happy it is happening. It always happens slowly, slowly. One &op by one drop, a great ocean can become full. It happens h d.prt in drops the ocean is com- ing. You just receive it with gnti- tude, with celebration, with thank- fulness. And dont try to stop the mind.I-et the mind have its speed - yon watch.4

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Two Polacks were driving along in the front seat oT

their car. As they approached a corner, the

one who was driving said to his friend, "Will you

look out of the window and see if the indicator, the

turn signal, is working?" He promptly leaned out of the window and looked at

the indicator light and shouted back at his friend,

"Yes it is - no it's not, yes it is - no it's not,

yes it is - no it's not." Bhagwan, if anybody were

to ask me whether I was witnessing or not, my

answer would have to be the same: Yes I am, no I'm

notl yes I am, no I'm not. Is it like that

all the wav home?

Just a 180" Turn

t is not, because as far as your witnessing is concerned, it may be coming and going, and your

answer may be perfectly the same as the Polack who said that the indicator is working, "Yes - no - yes again..." That is the function of the indica- tor; to be, not to be; to be, not to be. But dont laugh at the poor Polack. As far as lrH awareness is con- cerned, he is fully aware. Whenev- er it is working he says "yes": whenever it is not working he says "no." His awareness of the indica- tor is continuous. The indicator goes on changing, but the Polack remains fully aware of when it is working, when it is not working, when it is on, when it is off. His awareness is a continuity. If you can give the same answer about your witnessing: "Yes I am

witnessing, no I am not witnessing, yes I am witnessing, no I am not witnessing," then you have to remember tlat there is something morc behind ftese witnessing moments which is witnessing all this process. Who is witnessing that sometimes you are witnessing and sometimes you are no[ wit- nessing? Something is constant. Your witnessing has become just an indicator; don't be bothered by it. Your emphasis should be on the eternal, the constant, the continu- um - and it is ttrere. And it is in everyone, we have just forgotten ir. But even in times when we have forgotten it, it is there in its abso lute perfection. It is like a mirror which is able to mirror everything, is still mirroring everything, but you are standing with your back

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towards the mirror. The poor mirror is mirroring your back. Tum, it will mirror your face. Open your heart, it will mirror your hean. Put everything on the table, donl hide even a single card and it will reflect your whole reality. Brn if you go on standing with your back to the miror looking all around the world asking people, "Who am I?" then it is up to you. Because there are idios who will come and teach you that "This is the way. Do this and you will know who you are." No method is needed, just a 180- degree turn - and that is not. a method. And the minor is your very being.

You may not have looked at the joke in this light. If you tell the joke to anyMy he is going to laugh because the Polack is so stupid, because that is the function of the indicator - lo be on, off, on, off. But you have brought me a joke - I cannot simply laugh at it because I see something more in it which per- haps nobody will see. The Polack is constant. alert" He does not miss a single point, a sin- gle moment. And when you say "witnessing, yes" and then it disappears and you say "no" - again it appears, you say "yes"...it simply shows that there is something behind all these moments of witnessing and not wit- nessing. The truc witness, which is

reflecting the changing process of what you think is your witness, is behind. It is not the true witrress. it is only the indicator. Forget the indicator. Remember the constant minoring that goes on twenty-four hours within you, silently watching everything. Slowly, slowly clean it - there is so much dust on it, cen- turies of dust. Remove the dust. And one day, when the mirror is completely clean, those moments of wimessing and not-witnessing will disappeaa you will be simply a witness. And unless you hnd that eternity of witnessing, all other kinds of wit- nessing are part of mind. They have no value. s

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A11 Paths Merge on the Mountain

Is awareness a higher value than love?

he highest peak is the cul- mination of all values: truth, love, awareness, authentici-

ty, totality. At the highest peak they are indivisible. They are sepante only in tlp dark valleys of our unconsciousness. They are separato only when ttrey are polluted mixed with other things. The moment they become purc they become one; the morc pue, the closer they come to each other For example, each value exists on many planes; each value is a lad- der of many rungs. Love is lust - the lowest rung, which touches hell; and love is also prayer - the highest rung, which touches par- adise. And between these two there are many planes easily dis- cernible. In lust, love is only one percent: ninety-nine percent arc other

things: jealousies, ego rips, pos- sessiveness, ange4 sexuality. It is more physical, more chemical; it has nothing deeper tlnn thar It is very superficial, not even skin deep. As you go higheq things become d*p"q they start having new dimensions. That which was only physiological starts having a psy- chological dimension o it. That which was nothing but biology starts becoming psycholqgy. We share biology with all the animals; we dont share psychology with all the animals. When love goes still higher - or d*p"r, which is the same - then it starts having something of the spir- itual in it It becomes metaphysical. Only Buddhas, Krishnas, Christs, know that quality of love. Love is spread all the way and so

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ire other values. When love is one hundred percent pwe you cannot make any distinction between love and awareness; then they are no more two. You cannot make any distinction even between love and God; they are no more two. Hence Jesus' statement that God is love. He makes tiem synonymous. There is great insight in it. On the periphery everything appears separate fiom everything else; on the periphery existence is many. As you come closer to the center, the manyness starts melting, dissolving, and oneness stafls aris- ing. At the center, everything is one. Hence your question is right only if you don't undentand the highest quality of love and awarenes. It is absolutely irrelevant if you have any glimpse of Everest, of the high- est peak. You ask "Is awareness a hisher value than love?" There is nothing higher and nothing lower; in fact, there arc not two val-

ues at all. There are two paths from the valley leading to the peak. One path is of awareness, meditation: the path of Z,ea. The other is the path of love, the path of the devo' tees, the bhaktas, the Sufis. These nvo paths are separate when you stan the joumey; you have to choose. Whichever you choose is going to lead to the same peak. And as you come closer to t}te peak you will be surprised: the travelers on tre other path are coming closer to you. Slowly slowly, the paths start merging into each other. By the time you have reached the ultimate, they are one. The person who follows the path of awarcness hnds love as a conse- quence of his awareness, as a by- product, as a shadow. And the per- son who follows the path of love finds awareness as a consequence, as a by-product, as a shadow of love. They arc two sides of the same coin. And remember: if your awarcness

lacks love then it is still impure; it has not yet known one hundred percent purity. It is not yet really awarcness: it must be mixed with unawareness. It is not pure lighq there must be pockets of darkness inside you still working, function- ing, influencing you, dominating you. If your love is without awareness, then it is not love yet. It must be something lower, something closer to lust than to prayer. So let it be a criterion: if you fol- low the path of awareness, let love be the criterion. When your aware- ness suddenly blooms into love, know perfectJy well that awarcness has happened, sanadhi has been achieved. If you follow the path of love, then let awarcness function as a criterion. as a touchstone. When suddenly, from nowhere, at lhe very center of your love, a flame of awareness starts arising, know per- fectly well.... Rejoice! You have come home. o

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

After working with the cathartic techniques for a

few years, I feel that a deep inner harmony,

balance and centering is happening to me.

But you said that before entering into the final

stage of samadhi, one passes through

a great chaos. How do I know if I am finished

with the chaotic stage?

Celebrating Consciousness

int, for hundreds of lives you have [ved in a chaos. It is nothing new. It is very

old. Secondly, the dynamic meth- ods of meditation which have catharsis as their foundation allow all chaos within you to be thrown out. That is the beauty of these techniques. You cannot sit silently, but you can do the dynamic or the chaotic meditations very easily. Once the chaos is thrown out a silence starts happening to you. Then you can sit silently. If rightly done, conl.inuously done, then ttre cathartic techniques of meditation will simply dissolve all your chaos into the outside world. You will not need to pass tfuough a mad stage. That's ttre beauty of these tech- niques. The madness is being thrown out alrcady. It is in-built in the technique.

But if you sit silently as Pamnjali suggests...Patanjdi had no cathar- tic methods; it seems they were not needed in his time. People were naturally very silent, peaceful, primitive. The mind was not yet functioning too much. People slept well, lived like animals. They were not very much thinking, logical, rational, they were more centered in the heart, as primitive people are even now And life was such that it allowed manv catharses aulomati- cally. For example, a woodcutt€n he need not have any cathanis because just by cutting wood, all his murderous instincts are thrown out. Cutting wmd is like murder- ing a ree. A stone breaker need not do cathartic meditation. He is doing it the whole day. But for modem man things have changed.

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

Now you live in such comfort that there is no possibility of any cathar- sis in your life, except that you can drive in a mad way. That's why in the West more people die every year through car accidents than by anything else. That is the grcatrest disease. Neither qmcer nor tuberculosis nor any other disease takes such a toll of lives as car driv- ing. In one year of the second world war, millions of people died; more people die every year around the earth just because of mad automo- bile drivers. You may have observed if you are a driver, that whenever you arc angry you go fast. You go on pushing the accelerator, you simply forget about the brake. When you are very hate- ful, initated, the car becomes a medium of expression. Otherwise you live in such comfort, doing less and less with the body, living more and more in the mind. Those who know about the deeper centers of the brain say that people who work with their hands have less anxiety, less tension; they sleep well because hands are connected with the deepest mind, the deepest center of the brain - your right hand with the left brain, your left hand with the right brain. When you work with the hands, energy is flowing frrom the head ino the hands and being rcleased. People

who are working with their hands dont need cathanis. But people who work with their heads need much cathanis because they accu- mulate much energy, and there is no way in their body, no opening for it to go out. It goes on and on inside the mind; the mind goes mad. In our culture and society - in the office, in the factory, in the market - people who work with heads are known as heads: head clerk. or head superintendent, and people who work with hands are known as hands. It is condemnatory. The very word 'hands' has become condem- nalory. When Patanjali was working on these sutras, the world was lotally different People were 'hands'.

There was no need for catharsis specihcally; life was itself a cathar- sis. Then they could sit silently very easily, but you cannot sit. Hence, I have been inventing cathartic meth- ods. Only after them can you sit silently, not beforc. "After working witi the cathartic techniques for a few years, I feel that a deep inner harmony, balance, and centering is happening to me." Now dont cr€ate trouble; let it hap- pen. Now the mind is poking in is nose. The mind says, "How can it happen? First I must pass through chaos." This idea can create chaos. This has been my observation: peo

ple hanker for silence, and when it starts happening, they cant believe it. It is too good to be 8ue, and par- ticularly people who have always condemned themselves cannot believe that it is happening to them: "Impossible! It may have happened to a Buddha or a Jesus, but to me? No, it is not possible." They come to me; they are so disn[bed by silence, that it is happening: "Is it true, or am.I imagining it?" Why bother? Even if it is imagination, it is better than imagining anger, it is better than imagining sex, lust. And I tell you, nobody can imagine silence. Imagination needs some form; silence has no form. Imagi- nation means thinking in images, and silence has no image. You can- not imagine it. There is no possibil- ity. You cannot imagine enlighten- ment, you cannot imagine saOri, samadhi, silence, no. Imagination needs some base, some form, and silence is formless, indefinable. Nobody has ever painted a picnue of it; nobody can palnt one. Nobody has carved an image of it; nobody could do it. You cannot imagine silence. The mind is playing tricks. The mind will say, "It must be imagination. How can it be possible for you, such a stupid man as you, and silence happening to you? - must be you are imagining," o4 'This

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guy Rajneesh has hypnotized you. You must be deceived somehow." Dont create such problems. Life has enough problems. When silence is hap'pening, enjoy it, celebrate it It means the chaotic forces have been thrown oul The mind is play- ing ia last game. It plays o the very end; to the very, very end it goes on playing. At the last moment, when enlightenment is just about to happen, then too the mind plays the last game, because it is the last battle. Dont worry about it" whether it is real or unreal, or whether chaos will come after it or not, because by thinking in this way you have already brought the chaos. It is your idea which can create chaos, and when it is created, 0re mind will say, "Now lislen, I told you so." Mind is very self-frrlfilling. Fint it gives you a seed, and when it sprouts the mind says, "hok, I was telling you beforehand that you are deceived." The chaos has come, and it has been brought by the idea. So why bother about whether the chaos is still to come in the future or not, or whether it has passed or not? Right this moment, you are silent - why not celebrate it? And I tell you, if you celebrate, it grows. In this world of consciousness, nothing is so helpful as celebration. Celebration is like watering a plant

Worry is just the opposite of cele- bration, it is just like cuuing tlre roots. Feel happy! Dance with your silence. This moment is there - enough. Why ask for more? Tomor- row will take care of itself. This moment is too much; why not live il, celebrate it, share it, enjoy it? Lct it become a song, a dance, a poetry; let it be creative. lrt your silence be creative; do something with it. Millions of things are possible because nothing is more crcative than silence: no need to become a very great painteq world famous, a Picasso; no need to become a Henry Moore; no need !o become a grcat poet Those ambitions of being grcat arc of the mind, not of the silence. In your own way, howsoever small, paint. In your own way, howsoever small, make a haiku. In your own way, howsoever small, sing a song, dance a little, celebrate, and you will find the next moment brings more silence. Once you know ttnt the more you celebrate, tle more is given to you; the more you share, the more you become capable of rcceiving it, each moment it goes on growing, growing. The next mornent is always born out of this moment, so why worry about it? If this moment is silent, how can the next moment be chaos? From where will it come? It

is going to be born out of this moment. If I am happy this moment, how can I be unhaprpy in the next moment? If you want the next moment to be unhamy, you will have to become unhappy in this moment, because out of unhappiness, unhappiness is bom; out of happiness, happiness is bom. Whasoever you want to rcap in the next moment, you will have !o sow right now. Once the worry is allowed and you start thinking that chaos will come, it will come; you have already brought it. Now you will have to reap iq it has akeady come. No need to wait for tlrc next moment; it is alrcady there. Remember this, and this is rcally something strange: when you are sad you never think that it may be imagrnary. Never have I come :lcrcss a man who is sad and who says to me that maybe it is just imagtnary. Sadness is perfectly real. But happines? - immediately something goes wrcng and you start thinking, "Maybe it is imagi- nary." Whenever you arc tense, you never think it is imaginary. If you can think that your tension and anguish are imaginary, they will disappear. And if you think your silence and happiness are imagi- nary, they will disappear. Whatsoever is taken as real, becomes real. Wharsoever is taken

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as urueal. becomes uffeal. You are the creator of your whole world around you; remember this. It is so rare tro achieve a moment of happi- ness, bliss - dont waste it in think- ing. But if you donl do anything, the posibility of worry is there. If you dont do anything - if you donl dance, if you don't sing, if you donl share - the posibility is there. The very energy that could have been creative will create the worry. It will start creating new tensions inside. Energy has to be creative. If you dont use il for happiness, the same energy will be used for unhappiness. And for unhappiness you have such deep-rooted habits that the energy flow is very loose and natural. For happiness it is an uphill task. So the first few days you will have to be constantly aware. Whenever

there is a happy moment, let it grip you, possess you. Enjoy it so total- ly; how could the next moment be different? From where would it be different? Flom where would it come? Your time is created within you. Your time is not my time. There exist as many parallel times as there are minds. There is no one time. If there were one time, then there would be difficulty. Then amidst the whole miserable humankind, nobody could become a buddha because we belong to the same time. No, it is not the same. My time comes from me - it is my creativity. If this moment is beautiful, the next moment is bom more beautiful - this is my time. If this moment is sad for you, then a sadder momenl. is bom out of you - that is your time. Millions of parallel lines of time

exist. And there are a few people who exist without time - those who have attained to no-mind. They have no time because they don't think about the past; it is gone, so only fools think about it. When something is gone, it is gone. Therc is a Buddhist mmaa: Gate, gate, Wa gate - swaln, "Gone, gone, absolutely gone; let it go to the fire." The past is gone, the future has not yet come. Why worry about it? When it comes, we will see. You will be thele to encounter it, so why worry about it? The gone is gone, the not{ome has not come yet. Only this moment, is left, pure, intense with eneryy. Live it! If it is silence, be grateful. If it is blissful, thank God, trust it. And if you can rusL it will gow If you distrust, you have already poisoned it. I

241

The more I watch myself, the more I experience

the falseness of my ego. I have started to feel

like a stranger to myself, no longer knowing

what is false. This leaves me with

an uncomfortable feeling of having no guidelines, as I sensed I had before.

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

his happens; this is bound to happen. And remember that one should be happy

tJrat it has happened; it is a good indication. When one starts on the inner journey everything seems to be cleag rooted, because the ego is in contol and the ego has all the guidelines. The ego has all the maps, the ego is the masler. When you move a little further into tle joumey, the ego scarts evapo- rating, seems lo be more and more false, seems to be more and more a deception, a hallucination. When one starts awakening out of ilre drcam, then guidelines are lost. Now the old master is no more the ma$eq and the ngw master has not yet arisen. There is a confusion, a chaos. This is a good indication. Ilalf the journey is oveq but there will be an uncomfortable feeling,

Tune In to Llncertainty

an uneasiness, because you feel lost, a stranger o yourself, not knowing who you are. Before, you knew who you were: your name, your form, your address, your bank balance - everything was certain, this was you. You had an identifi- cation with the ego. Now the ego is evaporating, the old house is falling and you dont know who you arc, where you ate. Everything is murky, cloudy, and the old cer- tainty is lost. This is good because the old cer- tainty was a false certainty. It was not a certainty, in fact. Deep behind it there was uncertainty. That's why, when the ego evapo- rates, you feel uncertain. Now the deeper layers of your being are revealed tro you - you feel a stranger. You werc always a stranger, only the ego deceived you

Q U E S T I O N S

ino feeling that you knew who you were. The dream was too much. it looked too rcal. In the morning when you are com- ing out of a dream, suddenly you dont know who or where you are. Have you felt this feeling some- times in the moming? - when sud- denly you are awakened out of a dream, and for some moments you dont lnow where you are, who you are and what is happening? The same happens when one comes out of the dream of the ego. Discom- fort, uneasiness, uprootedness will be felt, but one should be happy about it. If you become miserable about it, you will fall back to the old state of affairs where things were certain, where everything was mapped, charted, where you knew, wherc guidelines were clear. Drop uneasiness. Even if it is there, dont be too impressed by it. lrt it be there, watch, and that too will go. Soon uneasiness will disappear. It is just there because of the old habit of certainty. You don't know how to live in an uncertain uni- verse. You donl know how gr live in insecurity. The uneasiness is there because of the old security. It is just because of the old habit, a hangover It will go. One just has to wait, watch, relax, and feel happy that something has happened. And I tell you, it is a good indication.

Many have turned back from that point just to feel comfortable again, at ease, at home. They have missed. They were just coming nearer tre goal, and they tumed back. Dont do thaq go ahead. Uncertainty is good, nothing is wrong with it. You have only to be tuned, ftat's all. You are tuned with the certain universe of the ego, the secure uni- vene of the ego. Howsoever false on the surface, everything seems lo be perfectly as it should be. You need a little tuning with the uncer- tain existence. Existence is uncertain, insecure, dangerous. It is a flux - things mov- ing, changing. It is a strange world; get acquainted with it. Have a little courage and dont look backwards, look forward; soon the uncertainty itself will become beaut"iful, tre insecurity itself will become beauti- ful. In fact, only insecurity is beautiful, because insecurity is life. Security is ugly, it is a part of death - that's why it is secure. To [ve without guidelines is the only way to live. When you live with guidelines, you live a false life. Ideals, guidelines, disciplines - you force something on your life, you mold your life, you dont allow it to be, you try to make something out of it. Guide- lines are violent and all ideals ale ugly. Through them you will miss

yourself. You will never attain to your being. Becoming is not being. All becom- ing, and all effort to become some- thing, will force something on you. It is a violent effort. You may become a saint, but in your saintli- ness there will be ugliness. I tell you, and I emphasize it: to live life without any guidelines is the only saintliness possible. Even then, you may become a sinner; but in being a sinner, there will be a holiness, a saintliness. Life is holy; you need not force anything upon it, you need not mold it, you need not. give it a pat- tern, a discipline and an order Life has its own order, it has its own dis- cipline. You simply move with it, you float with it, you dont ry to push the river. The river is flowing - you become one with it and the river takes you to the ocean. This is the life of a sannyasin: a life of happening, not of doing. Then your being reaches, by and by, above the clouds, beyond the clouds and con- flica. Suddenly you arc fiee. In the disorder of life you f,rnd a new order But the quality of the order is totally different now. It is nothing imposed by you, it is intimate o life itself. Trces also have an order, as do rivers, mountains, but those arc not orden imposed by moralists, puri-

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

tanS, priests. They dont go to somebody to find the guidelines. fuer is intrinsic; it is in life itself. Once the ego is not therc to manip- ulate, to push and pull here and there - "Do this and that" - when you are completely freed ftom the ego, a discipline comes to you, an inner discipline. It is unmotivated. It is not seeking something, it sim- ply happens: as when you breathe, as when you feel hungry and you eat, as when you feel sleepy and you go to bed. It is an inner order, an inrinsic order That will come when you become tuned with inse- curity, when you become tuned with your strangeness, when you become tuned with your unknown being. ln 7*n tiey have a saying, one of the most beautiful: when a person

lives in tle wodd, mountains are mountains, rivers are riven. When a person moves into medilation, now mountains arc no morc moun- tains, rivers arc no more rivers. Everything is a confusion and a chaos. But when a man has attained to satori, to samadhi, again rivers are rivers and mountains are moun- tains. There are three stages: in the first, you are certain with the ego, in the third you are absolutely certain with the non+go, and just in benveen the two, the chaos; when the cer- tainty of the ego disappears and rhe certainty of life has not yet come. This is a very, very potential moment, very pregnant. If you become afraid and turn back, you will miss the possibility. Ahead is the real certainty. That real

certainty is not against uncertainty. Ahead is the rcal security, but that security is not against insecudty. That security is so vast that it con- tains insecurity within itself. It is so vast that, it is not afraid of insecuri- ty. It absorbs insecurity into itself, it conlains all connadictions. So somebody can call it insecurity and somebody can call it security. In fact it is neithe4 or both. If you feel that you have become a stranger t0 yourself, celebrate it, feel gpteful. Rare is this moment; enjoy it. The more you enjoy, the more you will Iind that the certainty is coming nearcr to you, coming faster and faster towards you. If you can cele- brate your strangeness, your uprootedness, your homelessness, suddenly you arc at home - the tltid stage has come. s

a A A L n a l̂ -

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

CounttheMoments of Avarcness

You tell us to be aware of everything - which means to be a witness

to everything, every act. When I decide

to be aware in work, I forget about awareness,

and when I become aware that I was

not aware, I feel guilty;

I feel that I have made a mistake.

Could You please explain?

t is one of the basic problems for anybody who is rying to be aware while at work -

because work demands that you should forget yourself completely. You should be involved in it so deeply ... as if you arc absenl Unless such total involvement is there, the work remains superfi- cial. All that is geat, crcated by man - in painting, in poet y, in architec- [ure, in sculpture, in any dimension of life - needs you to be totally involved. And if you arc u'ying to be aware at fre same time, your wor* will never be hrst rate, because you will not be in it. So awareness while you are work- ing needs a tremendous raining and discipline, and one has o start from very simple actions, for example, walking. You can walk,

and you can be aware that you are walking - each step can be full of awarcness. Eating ... just the way they drink teanZ,en monasteries - they call it the 'tea ceremony', because sipping the tea, one has to remain alert and aware. These are small actions but to begin wittr they are perfectly good. One should not start with some- thing like painting, dancing - those arc very deep and complex phe- nomena. Start with small actions of daily routine life. As you become more and more accus- tomed to awarBness, ils awarcness becomes just like breathing - you dont have to make any effort for it, it has become spontaneous - then in any act, any work, you can be aware. But remember the condition: it has to be effortlessl it has to come out

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of spontaneity. Then painting or composing music, or dancing, or even fighting an enemy wilh a sword, you can remain absoluoely aware. But that awareness is not the awareness you arc trying for It is not the beginning; it is the culmina- tion of a long discipline. Somedmes it can happen without discipline too. But this can happen only rarely - in exreme conditions. In everyday life you should follow the simple course. First become aware about actions which do not need your involvement. You can walk and you can go on thinking; you can eat and you can go on thinking. Replace thinking by awarenes. Go on eat- ing, and remain alert that you are eating. Walk, replace thinking by awareness. Go on walking; perhaps your walking will be a little slower and more graceful. But awareness is possible with these small acs. And as you become more and more articulate, use more complicated activities. A day comes that there is no activi- ty in the world in which you cannot remain alert at the sarne time, doing the act with totality. You are saying, "When I decide to be aware in work, I forget about awareness." It has not to be your decision, it has to be your long dis- cipline. And awareness has to come

spontaneously; you are not to call it, you are not to force it. "And when I become aware that I was not aware, I feel guilty." That is absolute stupidity. When you become aware that you were not aware, feel happy that at least now you are aware. For the concept of guilt, there is no place in my teach- ings. Guilt is one of the cancen of the soul. And all the religions have used guilt to desnoy your digniry, your pride, and to make you just slaves. There is no need to feel guilty, it is natural. Awareness is such a gre,at thing that even if you can be aware for a few seconds, rejoice. Dont pay attention to those moments when you forgot. Pay attention to that state when you suddenly remembeq "I was not aware." Feel fortunate that at least, after a few hours, awareness has retumed. Dont make it a repentance, a guilt, a sadness - because by being guilty and sad, you arc not going to be helped. You will feel, deep down, a failue. And once a feeling of fail- ule settles in you, awareness will become even more difficult. Change your whole focus. It is geat ttnt you became aware that you had forgotten to be aware. Now dont forget for as long as possible. Again, you will forget; again, you will remember - but each time. the

gap of forge$ulness will become smaller and smaller. If you can avoid guilt, which is basically Christian, your gaps of unaware- ness will become shorte4 and one day they will simply disappear. Awareness will become just like breathing or heartbeat, or the blood circulating in you - day in, day out. So be watchful that you dont feel guilty. There is nothing to feel guilty about. It is immensely signif- icant that the rees dont listen to Catholic priests. Othenvise, they would make the roses feel guilty: "Why do you have thorns?" And tie rose, dancing in tle wind, in the rain, in the sun, would suddenly become sad. The dance would dis- appeaC the joy would disappear; the fragrance would disappear. Now the thorn would become his only rcaliry, a wound - "Why do you have thoms?" But because there are no rosebush- es so foolish as to listen to any priest of any religion, rcses go on dancing, and with the roses, thorns also go on dancing. The whole existence is guiltless. And the moment a man becomes guiltless, he becomes part of the universal flow of life. That is enlightenment, a guiltless con- sciousness, rejoicing in everything tlnt life makes available: the light is beautiful; so is darkness.

246

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H E M A S T E R

When you cannot find anything to bc guilty about, to me you have bccomc a religious man. To tre so- callcd religions, unless you are guilty you arc not rcligious; the more guilty you arc, the more reli- gious you are. People are torturing themselves as punishment, as penance. People are fasting; people are beating their chess with their fists till blood oozes from thcir chess. These pco- ple, to me, are psychopaths; they are not religious. Their so-called religions have taught them that if you commit anything wrong, it is better to punrsh yourself than to be punished by God on Judgment Day - because that punishment is to be thrown into the abysmal darkness of hcll for etemity. Thcre is no escape, no exit - once you enter hell, you have entered. The whole humanity has been made guilty in some measue or olher. It has taken away the shine from your eyes; it has taken away the beauty fnom your face; it has taken away the grace of your bcing. It has reduced you to a criminal - unnec- essarily. Remember: nran is frail and weak, and to err is human. And the people who invented the proverb, "To en is human," have also invented the proverb, "To forgive is divine." I donl agree with the second part.

I say, "To en is human and to for- give is also human." And to forgive oneself is one of the geatest virtues, because if you cannot for- give yourself, you cannot forgive anybody else in the world - it is impossible. You are so full of wounds, of guilt, how can you for- give anybody? Your so-called saints go on saying that you will be trrown into hell. The reality is, they are living in hcll! They cannot allow even God to forgive you! One geat Sufi poet, Omar Khayyam, has written in his Rubaiyat, his world-famous collec- tion ofpoetry: "l am going to drink, to dance, to love. I am going to commit evcry kind of sin bccause I trust God is compassionate - hc will forgive. My sins arc very small; his forgiveness is immense." When the priesls came !o know about his book - because in those days books were written by hand, there were no printing presses.... The priess discovered that he was writing such sacrilegious things, that he wa^s saying, "Don't be wor- ried, go on doing anything you want because God is nothing but pure compassion and love. How much sin can you commit in seven- ty years of lifc? - in comparison to his forgiveness, it is nothing." He was a famous malhematician too, renowned in his country. The

priests approached him and said, "What kind of things are you writ- ing? You will destoy people's reli- giousness! Creatc fear in people, tell people that God is very just: if you have committed a sin, you will be punished. There will be no com- passion." Omar Khayyam's book was bumed in his day. Whenever a copy was found, it was bumed by the priess, because this man was teaching such a dangerous idea. If it spreads among human beings and everybody starts rejoicing in life, what will happen to the priests? What will happen to the saints? What will happen to their mythologies of hell and heaven and god? All will disappear into thin air. At least with me, Omar Khayyam is one of the enlightened Sufi mystics, and what he is saying has immense truth in it. He does not mean that you should commit sin. What he means simply is that you should not feel guilty. Whatever you do - if it is not right, donl do it again. If you feel it huru somebody, dont do it again. But there is no need to feel guilty, there is no need to be repen- tant, there is no need to do penance and torture younelf. I want to change your locus com- pletely. Rather than counting how many times you forgot to remem- ber to be aware, count those few

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Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

beautiful moments when you were crystal clear and aware. Those few moments are enough !o save you, are enough |o cure you, !o heal you. And if you pay attention to them, they will go on growing and spread- ing in your consciousness. Slowly, slowly the whole darkness of unawareness will disappear. In the beginning you will also find many times that perhaps it is not possible to be working and o be aware together. But I say unto you

that it is not only possible, it is very easily possible. Just begin in the right way. Just dont start ftom XYZ; start fiom ABC. In life, we go on missing many things because of wrong starts. Everything should be started from the very beginning. Our minds are impatient; we want to do every- thing quickly. We want to reach the highest point without passing through every rung of the ladder. But that means an absolute failure.

And once you fail in something like awareness - it is not a small failure - perhaps you will not try it again, ever The failure huts. So anlthing that is as valuable as awueness - because it can open all the doon of the mysteries of exis- tence, it can bring you t0 the very temple of God - you should start very carefully and from the very beginning and move very slowly. Just a little patience and the goal is not far awav. e

' . 1 r

Q U E S T T O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

o should

Make Things as Simple as Possible

How can I tell the difference between one

part of the mind watching another part of the mind, and the watcher. Can the

watcher watch itself? One time,I thought I had got it, and then that same

day I heard you say in discourse, "If you think you've got the watcher,

youtve missed.tt Since then,I've tried

watching feelings in the body, thoughts and

emotions. Mostly,I'm just caught in them, but, once in a while,

rarely l feel tremendously relaxed,

and nothing stays - it just keeps moving. Is there

anything to do?

ne has to start watching the body walking, sitting, going to bed, eating. One start ftrom the most solid

because it is easier. And then one should move to subtler experi- ences. One should start watching thoughs. And when one becomes an expert in warching thoughs, then one should start warching feelings. After you feel that you can watch your feelings, then you should start watching your moods, which are even more subtle than your feelings, and more vague. The miracle of watching is that as you are warching the body, your watcher is becoming stronger; as you arc watching the thoughs, your watcher is becoming strongec as you are watching the feelings, the watcher is becoming even more strong. When you are watching

your moods, the watcher is so strong that it can remain itself - watching iself, just as a candle in the dark night not only lighs everything around it" it also lights itself. To find the watcher in ia purity is the greatest achievement in qpiritu- ality, because the watcher in you is your very soul, the watcher in you is your immortality. But never for a single moment think, "I have got it," because that is the moment when you miss. Watching is an etemal process; you always go on becoming deeper and doprr, but you never come to the end where you can say "I have got it." In fact, the deeper you go, the morc you becorne aware that you have entered into a process which is eternal - without any beginning and without any end.

249

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

But people are watching only oth- ers; they never bother to watch ftemselves. Everybody is watching - that is the most superlicial watch- ing - what the other person is doing, what the other person is wearing, how he looks. Everybody is watching; watching is not some- thing new to be introduced in your life. It has only to be deepened, taken away from others and arrowed towards your own inner feelings, thoughts, moods - and finally, the watcher iself. A Jew is sitting in a train opposite a priest. "Tell me, your worship, why do you wear your collar back to front?" "Because I am a father," answers the priest. "I am also a father, and I dont wear my collar like that," says the Jew. "Ah," says fte priest, "but I am a father to thousands." 'Then maybe," replies tlre Jew, "it is your trousers you should wear back to front."

People are very watchful about everybody else. Two Polacks went. out for a walk when suddenly it began to rain. "Quick," said one man, "open your umbrella." "lt wont help," said his friend, "my umbrella is full of holes."

"Then why did you bring it in the first place?" "I did not think it would rain." You can laugh very easily about ridiculous acts of people, but have you ever laughed about yourself? Have you ever caught, yourself doing something ridiculous? No, you keep yourself completely unwatched; your whole watching is about othen, and that is not of any help. Use this energy of watchfulness for a transformation of your being. It can bring you so mu;h bliss and so much benediction that you cannot even dream about it. A simple pru cess, but once you start using i[ on yourself, it becomes a meditation. One can make meditations out of anything. Anything that leads you to yourself is meditation. And it is immensely significant to find your own medi- tation, because in the very hnding you will find geat joy. And because it is your own finding - not some ritual imposed upon you - you will love to go deeper into it. The deeper you go into it, the hap- pier you will feel - peaceful, more silent, more togetheq more digni- fied, more gaceful. You all know watching, so there is no question of learning it, it is just a question of changing the objects of watching. Bring them closer.

Watch your body, and you will be surprised. I can move my hand without watching, and I can move my hand with watching. You will not see the difference, but I can feel the difference. When I move it with watchfulness, there is a grace and beauty in it, a peacefulness, and a silence. You can walk watching each step, it will give you all 0re beneht that walking can give you as an exercise, plus it will give you the bcnefit of a great simple medi- tation. The temple in Bodhgaya where Gautam Buddha became enlight- ened has been made in memory of two things - one is a Bodhi ree under which he used to sit. Just by the side of the tree there are smail stones for a slow walk. He was meditating, sitting, and when he would feel that sitting had been too much - a little exercise was needed for the body - he would walk on those stones. That was his walking meditation. When I was in Bodhgaya, having a meditation camp therc, I went. to tle temple. I saw Buddhist lamas from Trbet, from Japan, from China. They were all paying their respect to the tree, and I saw not a single one paying his rcspect to those stones on which Buddha had walked miles and miles. I told them, "This is not right. You

250

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

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should not forget those stones. They have been touched by Gau- tam Buddha's feet millions of times. But. I know why you are not paying any attention to them, because you have forgol.ten com- pletely that Buddha was emphasiz- ing that you should watch every act of your body: walking, sitting, lying down." You should not let a single moment go by unconsciously. Watchfulness

will sharpen your consciousness. This is the essential religion - all else is simply talk. But you ask me, "Is tiere something more?" No, if you can do only watchfulness, nothing else is needed. My effort here is to make religion as simple as possible. All the reli- gions have done just the opposite: they have made things very com- plex - so complex that people have never tried them. For example, in

the Buddhist scriptwes there are thirty-tfuee thousand principles to be followed by a Buddhist monk; even to remember them is impossi ble. Just the very number ttrirty- tlree thousand is enough t0 frcak you out: "I am finished! My whole life will be disturbed and destroyed." I teach you: just furd a single princi- ple that suits you, that feels in nure with you - and that is enough. to

25r

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

Witnessing Is Like Sowing Seeds

How does watching lead to no-mind?

I am more and more able to watch my body,

my thoughts and feelings and this feels beautiful.

But moments of no thoughts

are few and far between. When I hear you saying

"Meditation is witnessing,"

I feel I understand. But when you talk about

6no-mindt,

it doesn't sound easy at all. Would you

please cpmment?

I f,editation covers a very ll / I long pilgrimage. When I

I V Isay "Meditation is wit- nessing," it is the beginning of meditrtion. And when I say "Medi- tation is no-mind," it is the comple- tion of the pilgrimage. Witnesing is the beginning, and no-mind is the fulfillment Mtnessing is the method to reach to no-mind. Nanrally you will feel witnessing easier. It is close to you. But wit- nessing is only like seeds and then is the long waiting period - not only waiting, but trusting that this seed is going to spout, that il is going to become a bush, that one day the spring will come and the bush will have flowers. No-mind is the last stage of flowering. Sowing the seeds is of coune very easy. It is within your hands. But bringing the flowen is beyond you.

You can preparc the whole ground, but the flowers will come on their own accord. You cannot manage !o force them to come. The spring is beyond your reach. But if your preparation is perfect, spring comes. That is absolutely guran- teed. The way you are moving is per- fectly good. Witnessing is the path and you are starting to feel a thoughtless moment once in a while. These are glimpses of no- mind, but just for a moment. Remember one fundamental law: that which can exist just for a moment, can also become etemal, because you are given always one moment - not two moments together. And if you can transform one moment into a thoughtless sl,at$, you are learning the secrct Then there is no hindrance whv

252 L ,]

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

you cannot change. The second moment will also come alone with thc same potential and the same capacity. If you know the secret, you have the master key which can open every moment into a glimpse of no- mind. No-mind is the hnal stage, when mind disappean forever, and the thoughtless gap becomes your inrinsic reality. If these few glimpses are coming, they show you are on the right path and you are using tie right method. But dont be impatient. Existence needs immense patience. The ulti- mate mysteries are opened only to those who have immense patience. Once a man is in a state of no- mind, nothing can distract him from his being. There is no power bigger than the power of no-mind. No harm can be done to such a person. No attachment, no greed, no jeal- ousy, no angeq nothing can arise in him. No-mind is absolutely a pure sky without any clouds. You say, "How does watching lead to no-mind?" There is an intrinsic law: thoughts dont have their own life. They are parasites. They live on your identification with them. When you say, "I am angry," you are pouring life energy into anger, because you are getting identified with anger. But when you say, "I am watching

anger flashing on tlre screen of the mind within me," you arc not giv- ing any life, any juice, any energy to anger any morc. You will be able to see that because you arc not identified. The anger is absolutely impotent, has no impact on you, does not change you, does not. affect you. It is absolutely hollow and dead. It will pas on and it will leave the sky clean and the screen of the mind empty. Slowly, slowly, you slart getting out of your thoughts. Thatt t}te whole prccess of witnessing and watching. In other words, George Gurdjieff used to call it 'non-identification'.

You are no more identifying with your thoughts. You are simply standing aloof and away - indiffer- ent, :ls if they may be anybody's thought. You have broken your con- nections with them. Only then can you watch them. Watching needs a certain distance. If you are identified, there is no dis- tance, they arc too close. It is as if you are putting the mirrors too close to your eyes - you cannot see your face. A certain distance is needed, only then can you s€e your face in the mirror. If thoughts are too close to you, you cannot watch, you become impressed and colored by your ttroughts. Anger makes you angry, greed makes you grcedy, lust makes

you lustful, because there is no dis- tance at all. They are so close that you arc bound to think that you and your thoughts are one. Warching desroys this oneness and creates a separation. The more you watch, the bigger is the distance; the bigger the distance, the less energy your thoughs are gening from you and they dont have any other source. Smn they start dying, disappear- ing. In these disappearing moments you will have the fint glimpses of no-mind - as you are experiencing. You say, "I am more and more able to watch my body, my thoughts and feelings. And this feels beautiful." This is only just the beginning. Even the beginning is immensely beautiful. Just to be on tlre right path, even without taking a single step, will give you immense joy for no re.ason at all. And once you stafi moving on the right path, your blissfulness, your beautiful experiences are going to become more and more deep, more and more wide with new nuances, with new flowers, with new fra- gr:rnces. You say, "But moments of no- thoughs are few and far between." It is a great achievement, because people dont know even a single gap. Their thoughs are always in a rush hour. Thoughs upon thoughs,

253

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

bumper to bumper. The Line contin- ues - whetlcr you are awake or asleep. What you call your dreams are nothing but thoughts in the form of pictures, because the uncon- scious mind does not lnow alpha- betical languages. What you are feeling is a great indi- cation that you arc on the right path. It is always a question for the seek- er whether he is moving in the right direction or not. There is no securi- ty, no insurance, no guzuantee. All the dimensions are open; how are you going to choose the right one? These are the ways and the criterion of how one has to choose. If you move on any path, any methodolo- gy, and it brings joy to you, more sensitivity, more watchfulness and gives a feeling of immense well- being, this is the only criterion trat you arc going on the right path. If you become more miserable, more angry, morc egoist, more greedy, more lusful, those are the indica- tions you are moving on a wrong path. On the right path your blissfulness is going !o grcw more and more every day. And your experiences of beautiful feelings will become tremendously psychedelic, more colorful, colors that you have never seen in the world, fragrances that. you have never experienced in the world. Then you can walk on the

path without any fear that you can go wrong. These inner experiences will keep you always on the right path. Just remember that they are growing. That. means you are moving. Now you have only a few moments of thoughtlessness. It is not a simple attainment, it is a geat achievement because people. in their whole life know not even a single moment when there is no thought. These gaps will grow. As you will become more and more centered, more and more watchful, these gaps will surt growing bigger and the day is not far if you go on moving witlrout Iooking back, without going asray. If you keep going straight, the day is not far away, when you will feel for the first time that the gaps have become so big that hours pass and not even a single thought arises. Now you are having bigger experi- ences of no-mind. The ultimate achievement is when you are surrounded with no-mind for twenty-four hours. That does nol. mean that you cannot use your mind. That is a faliacy propounded by those who know nothing about no'mind. No-mind does not mean that you cannot use the mind. It simply means that the mind cannot use you. No-mind does not mean that the mind is destroved. No-mind

simply means that the mind is put aside. You can bring it into action any moment you need to communi- cate with the world, then it will be your servant. Right now, it is your master. Even when you are sitting alone, it goes on: yakkety-yak, yakkety-yak, and you cannot do anything. You are so unerly help- less. No-mind simply means that the mind has been put in its right place. fu a servant, it is a geat instru- ment. As a master, it is very unfor- tunate. It is dangerous. It will desroy your whole life. Mind is only a medium when you want to communicate with othen. But when you arc alone, there is no need of the mind. So whenever you want to use it, you can use it. And remember one thing more: when t}re mind remains silent for hours, it becomes fresh, young, more cre- ative, more sensitive, rejuvenated through rest. Ordinary people's minds start somewhere around three or four years of age and then they go on continuing for sevenfy years, eighty years without any holiday. Naturally they can not. be very cre- ative. They are utterly tired, and tired with rubbish. Millions of peo- ple in the world live without any creativity. And crearivity is one of the greatest blisful experiences.

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

gui ttreir minds are so tired. They are not in a state of overflowing energy. The man of no-mind keeps the mind in rcst, full of energy, immensely sensitive, rcady to jump into action the moment it is ordered. It is not a coincidence that the peo- ple who have experienced no-mind ...their words start ha"ing a magic of theh own. When they use their mind, it has a charisma, it has a magnetic force. It has tremendous spontaneity and the freshnes of the dewdrops in the early morning before the sun rises. And the mind is nature's greatest evolved medium of exp'ression and creativity. So the man of meditation, or in other words, the man of no-mind, changes even his prose into poetry. Wittrout any effort - his words become so full of authority that they dont need any arguments, they become their own arguments. The force that they carry becomes a self-evident truth. There is no need for any other support from logic or from scriptures. The words of a man of no-mind have an inninsic certainty about them. And if you are ready lo receive and listen, you

will feel it in your heart the self- evident truth. You say, "When I hear you say 'meditation is witnessing,' I feel I understand. But when you talk abut no-mind, it doesnt sound easy at all." How can it sound easy? It is your future possibility. Medira- tion you have started, it may be in the beginning stages, but you have a certain experience of it that makes you understand me. But if you can understand meditation, dont be worried at all. Meditation surely leads o no-mind, just as every river moves lowards the ocean without any maps, without any guides. Every river without exception frnal- ly reaches to the ocean. Every med- itation, without exception finally reaches to the state of no-mind. But naturally when the Ganges is in the Himalayas wandering in the mountains and in the valleys, it has no idea what the ocean is, cannot conceive the existence ofocean, but it is moving towards the ocean because water has the intrinsic capacity of always finding the low- est place, and the oceans are the lowest place. So the rivers are born on the peaks of the Himalayas and

start moving immediately lowards lower spaces and finally they are bound to find the ocean. Just the rcverse is the process of meditation - it moves upwards to higher peaks. And the ultimate peak is nomind. Nomind is a sim- ple word, but it exactly means enlightenment, liberation, freedom from all bondage, the experience of deathlessness and immortality. Those are big words and I don't want you to be frightened. So I use a simple word: nomind. You know the mind. You can conceive a state when this mind will be non-func- tioning. Once this mind is non-functioning, you become part of the mind of the cosmos, the universal mind. When you are part of the universal mind your individual mind functions as a beautiful servant. It has recognized the master And it brings news fr,om the univenal mind to those who are still chained by the individual mind. When I am speaking to you, it is in fact the universe using me. My words are not my words. They belong !o the univenal truth. That is their power, that is their charis- ma, that is their magic. t:

255

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

I have always heard You say, "Stop doing. Watch."

Several times lately I've heard You say

that the mind should be the servant instead of our master.

It feels that there is nothing

to do except watch. But the question

still arises: is there anything to do

with this unruly servant but to watch?

Witnessing Is Enough

here is nothing else to do with this unruly servant, but just to watch. Apparent-

ly it appean too simple a solution for too complex a problem. But this is part of the mysteries of exis- tence. The problem may be too complex, the solution can be very simple. Warching, witnessing, bcing aware seem to be small words to solve the whole complexity of mind. Mil- lions of yean of heritage, tradition, conditioning, prcjudice, how will they disappear just by watching? But they disappear fu Gautam Buddha used to say, if the lights of the house are on, tiieves dont come close to that house - knowing that the master is awake because the light is shown from the windows, from the doon, you can see that the light is on. It is

not the time to enter into the house. When the lights are off, thieves are attracted to the house. Darkness becomes an invitation. As Gautam Buddha used to say, the same is the situation about your thoughts, imaginations, dreams, anxieties, your whole mind. If tle witnes is there, the witness is almost like the light- These trieves start dispersing. And if these thieves find tlrere is no wit- ness, they stan calling their brotlr- ers, and cousins and everybody saying, "Come on." I[ is as simple a phenomenon as the light. The moment you bring the light in, the darkness disappears. You donl ask, "Is just light enough for darkness to disappear?" Or, "When we have brought the light, will we have to do sometling more for the dark- ness to disappear?"

Q U E S T I O N S T O T H E M A S T E R

No, just the presence of the light is the absence of the darkness and the absence of the light is the presence of darkness. The presence of the witness is the absence of the mind and the absence of the witness is the presence of the mind. So the moment you start watching, slowly, slowly as your watcher becomes stmnger, your mind will become weaker. The moment it realizes that the watcher has come to maturity, the mind immediately submits as a beautiful servanl It is a mechanism. If fte master has arrived, then the machine can be used. If the master is not there or is fast asleep, then the machine goes on working things, whatsoever it can do on its own. There is nobody to give orden, there is nobody to sily: "No, s!op. That thing has not to be done." Then the mind is slowly convinced that it itself is the masler and for thousands of years, it has remained your master. So when you try to be a witness, it fighs, because it is a question. It has completely forgotten that it is only a servant. You have been so long absent - it does not recognize you. Hence the sruggle between the witness and the thoughs. But final victory is going to be youn, because nature and existence both want vou to be the master and the

mind to be the servant. Then things are in harmony. Then the mind can- not go wrcng. Then everything is existentially relaxed, silent, flowing towards its destiny. You dont have !o do anything else but t0 watch. Paddy bought a parrot at an auction. He asked the auctioneer: "I have spent a geat deal of money for this parot - arc you sure he can talk?" The auctioneer rcplied, "Of course I am sure; he was bidding against you." Such is the unawareness of the mind and such are the stupidities of the mind. I have heard that the Irish atheists - seeing that tlp theists have started a dial-a-prayer service - also started one although they are atheists. The competitive mind... they have also started started a dial- a-prayer service. When you phone them up, nobody answers. Two tramps were sitting by a camp fire one night. One of them was very depressed. "You know Jim," he mused, "tlre life of a tramp is not as grcat as it is made out. to be. Nights on park benches, or in a cold barn. Tiaveling on foot and always dodging the police. Being kicked from one town to another. Wonder- ing where your next meal is coming fiom; being sneered at by your fel- low man...." His voice trailed off and he sighed heavily.

"Well," said the other tramp, "if that is how you feel about it, why dont you go and find yourself a job?" "What!" said the first tramp in amazement, "and admit that I'm a failure?" Mind has become accustomed to being a master. It will take a little time to bring it to its senses. Wit- nessing is enough. It. is a- very silent process, but the conse- quences are tremendously great. There is no other method which can be better than witnessing as far as dispersing the darkness of the mind is concerned. In fact, there are one hundred twelve methods of meditation. I have gone through all those methods - not intellectually. It took me years to go tluough each method and to find out its very essence. And after going through one hun- dred twelve methds, I was amazed tlnt the essence is witnessing; the methods' non-essentials are differ- ent, but the center of each is wit- nessing. Hence I can say t0 you, there is only one meditation in the whole world and that is the art of wihess- ing. It will do everyhing - the whole transformation of your being - and it will open the dmrs of Satyam, Shivam, Smdrun: the ruth, the godliness and the beauty of it all. tz

257

Going Deeper: Laughter and Tears And the Watcher on

the Hills

G O I N G D E E P E R : L A U G H T E R A N D T E A R S

65YAA-HOO!"

A Sound of Celebration

I\T" word has a meaning of itself. Meanings are given, I \ they are arbitrary; otherwise every word is just a sound, meaningless. But we can give meaning to any sound, and the sound becomes a word when we give a meaning to it. Sometimes the meaning is very relevant and sometimes it is not relevant. Most of the time it is not relevant - it is arbitrary, useful; utiliurian but not existential. Hence, languages don't consist of existential words. For example 'om' has no meaning, it is not part of any alpha- bet, but it has some existential purpose: it provokes in you the sound of the etemal. It is somettring similar to the sound of existence iself - not exactly the same, a faraway echo, but still very representative. In the same way is the word 'Yaa-Hoo!' 'Hoo' is an an- cient practice of the Sufis. They have discovered 0rat rafter than just repeating fte mantra Allah, repal.jlng Allah-lno helps you to go de€per into yourself. And somebody found on the way that there is no need even to say "Allah-hoo" - just "Hoo" serves the purpose, because the sound "Hoo" hits at fte very center of your being. Just by repeating "hoo" again and again - you will be surprised - you have left your mind far away, your

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thoughs have ceased, time has disappeared and you have come into a space which is yours but you have never been aware of il. I have joined wilh 'Hoo', 'Yaa' also, because in my feeling 'Hoo' works certainly, but it is serious. It makes you centered, but in your center there is no laughteg no dance. Certainly the flower blossoms, but lhere is no fragrance. The sound "Yaa" does the work; it makes the word 'Hoo' complete and otal. Yaa-Hoo! not only his your centel your very being, it also brings in you a tremendous feeling of joy, a laughter, a dance. It is celebration. Just repeating Yaa-Hoo! you will be surprised - you are not becoming sad and serious as the saints arc sup- posed to be, but a totally new dimension is opening up: the laughing saint, the dancing god. "Yaa-Hoo!" is only a representative expression of a laughing and dancing being.

G O I N G D E E P E R : L A U G H T E R A N D T E A R S

T-lor those who want to go

H Ar.po, I have created a new I meditative therapy.The first part will be laughter - for three hours, people simply laugh for no rcason at all. And whenever their laughter starts dying they again say, "Yaa-Hoo!" and it will come back. Digging for three hours you will be surprised how many layen of dust have gathered upon your being. It will cut them like a sword in one blow. For seven days continuously, three hours every day...you cannot conceive how much transformation c{m come to your being.

Mystic Rose Meditation And then the second part is tears. The first part removes everyhing that hinders your laughter - all the inhibitions of past humanity, all the rcpressions, it cuts them away. It brings a new space within you. But you still have to go a few steps mor€ to rcach the temple of yoru being, because you have suppressed so much sadness, so much doparq so much anxiety, so nnny tears - they are all therc, covering you and

desu,oying your bezury your grace, yourjoy. In old Mongolia they had an ancient idea that wery life, whatever pain is supprcssed ... and pain is sup- pressed, because nobody wants it. You dont want to be painful, so you suppess it, you avoid, you look somewhere else. But itrcmains. And the Mongolian idea was - and I agree with it - that life after life it goes on accumulating in you; it be-

comes almost a hard shell of pain. If you go in you will find both, laughter and tears. That's why sometimes it happens that by laughing, suddenly you find tears also start coming together with it - very confusing, because odinarily we think they are contrary. When you are full of tears it is not a time to laugh, or when you arc laughing it is not the right season for tears. But existence does not believe in

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your concepts, ideologies; existence transc€nds all your concepts, which are dualistic, which are based on du- ality. Day and night, laughter and tears, pain and blisdulness, they both come together. When a man reaches into his inner- most bing he will find that the fint Iayer is of laughter and the second layer is of agony, tears. So for seven days you have to allow yourself to weep, cry for no reason at all - just the tears arc rcady to come. You are preventing them; just dont prwent. And whenever you feel they are not coming, just say, "Yaa-Boo!'These are pure sounds, used as a technique to bring all yotu laugbter and all your tears and clean you completely, so that you can be- come an innocent child. Finally, the third part is witnessing - lhe watcher on the hills. Frnally, af- ter the laughter and 0te tears, therc is only a witnessing silence. Witness- ing on its own is automatically sup- pressive. Weeping stops when you witness it, it becomes dormant. This meditation gets rid of the laughter and tears beforchand so ilrat there is nothing to suplBss in your wihess- ing. Then the witnessing simply opens a pue sky. So for seven days you experience simply a clarity. This is absolutely my meditation. You will be surprised that no medi- tation can glve you so much as this

small strategy. This is my experi- ence of many meditations, ttrat what has to be done is to break two layers in you. Your laughler has been re- pressed; you have been tol( "Dont laugh, it is a seriou matte['You are not allowed !o laugh in a church, or in a university class.. .. So the fint laya is of laughte{, but orce laughter is over you will sud- denly find yourself flooded with tears, agony. But that too will be a geat ubudening phenunenon. lvlany lives of pain and suffering will disappear If you can get rid of these two layers you have fowrd yourself. Therc is no meaning in the words 'Yaa-Hoo' or 'Yaa-Boo'. These arc simply techniques, sounds which can be used for a certain purpose to enter into your own being. I have invented many meditations, but perhaps this will be the most es- sential and fundalental one. It can take over the whole world.... Every society has done so much harm by preventing your joys ard your tears. If an old man starts crying you will say, "What arc ycu doing? You strould feel ashfired you arc not a chil4 that sornebody has taken your banana and you arc crying. llave another bana4 but dont cry." Just see - stand on the sueet and start crying and a crowd will gatha to console you: "Dont cry! Wbat- ever has happened forget all about

it, it has happened" Nobody knows what has happened, nobody can help yoq but everybody will try - 'Dont cry!" And the reason is that if you go on crylng, then tlrcy will start crying, because they are also flooded witl tears. Those tears are very close to the eyes. And it is healthy to cry to we€,p, to laugh. Now scientists are discover- ing that crying, weeping, laughter are immensely healthful, not only physically but also psychologically. They ale very much capable of keeping you sane. The whole ofhu- mmity has gone a little cuckoo for the simple reason that nobody laughs fully, because all around there are people who will say, "What ar€ you doing? Are you a child? - at this age? What will pur chil&en think? Keep quiet!" If you cry urd weep withqrt my rca- son, just as an exercise, a mediation ... nobody will believe it. Tean have nwer been accepted as meditation And I tell you, they are not only a meditatioq they ale a medicine also. You will have better eyesight md yon will have better inrpr vision. I am giving you a very fimdamental techniqug fiesh urd unused. fuid it is going to become worldwide, without any doubt, because its ef- fects will show anybody that the penon has become youngeq the per- son has become morc loving, tbe

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penon has become graceful. The person has become more flexible, less fanatic; the penon has become more joyfrrl, more a celebrant. All tlnt this world needs is a good cleansing of the heart of all the inhi- bitions of the past. And laughter and rcars can do both. Tean will take out all the agony that is hidden inside you and laughter will take all that is preventing your ecstasy. Once you have leamed the art you will be im- mensely surprised: why has this not been told up to now? There is a rca- son: nobody bas wanted humanity to have the fresbness of a roseflower and the fragrance md the beauty. I have called this series of lcturcs Tlu Mystb Rose.'Yaa-Hoo!" is the mantra to bring the mystic rcse in your very cente!, !o open your conter and release your fragnnce and the Mystic Rose is the fulfiltnent of you inner being. t

Instructions

This unique nudilaionfuctiorc as a plrysiological change, a nudical transfomution which brings ou tlv fresluess and the wonfur of tlv child within you. It is an absolutety rcw medilatbnwhich las never ex- isted before in tlv history of nta*ind. It will b a dcep cleans- ing of nary wounds and tlw scars of centwies. Srciety lws repressed laughter and crying because tlrq

distwb tlu statw qrc; this hos been going on for millenia. We lwve been so mvch repressed and wlatever is repressed in this way beconus a wound. These woutds and scars ha,e been dcveloping for mary lives.Thq are rct part of the bdy - thq are swrowding llre conscbtutnss and lwve to be re- leased. So this is a new hcaling process Blagwan lus given us. Even scientists are ,ow fucoming aware of the fun$ts of laughter andwlut it can do for yow luakh, flexibility and playfilness. A good laugh or cry cut rejuverute you. This rnediation lasts for 2I days. Tlv first part, laughter, lasts for soen days, tlvee lours a day, Be- gin with "Yaa-Hoo!" and tlen laughfor three hows. Simpty laugh for no reason at all. And whenever yow laughter starts dying, again say, "Yaa-Hoo!" and it will contc back. Find your own iruur source of laughter, your oigirul sponta- rcous laugh. It is lhcre, so don't worry, it will conu. Tlvn end with "Yaa-Hoo!" The second part, tean, also lasts for seven dcys, tlvee lnws a day Begin with "Yaa-Boo!" and tlun cry for three lours. Just cry for rc reason. At tlw erd of thc three lwws, end with "Yaa- Boo." We go into laughter first because it is easier; crying has been re-

pressed more deepty than laugh- ing. Tlwre will be no talking in tlu group. It is important &tring the laughter not to cry, and not to laugh dwing tlp tears. Just start laughing. If sotneorc in the group is not laughing, the othcr mernbers of the group can bvingty tickle him or lnr. futd if sonuonc cannot cry, then the otlwr numbers can just soft$ tonch Nm and share their tears wilh him. If it is still difiicult for tlw person to laugh or cry, they shottld nlk gibfurish - as if mad - util tlu laughter or tlv tears come up. Nobody slould be left in a fud, unfeeling sprce. kt yow laughter ard tears fu released and you will feel likz a netv nun. Three hows lws been clnsen be- cause otu lnw is rct ercugh. Wlun tlv laughing and crying break, it is jtut lilu a dan break- ing. Tle qrcstbn is hov, to break thc dort You will fitd it very re- freshing. The third part, tln watcler on tfo hills, is he sanu - tlvee luws a day fo, seven fuys. Just sit, com- fortabty and alert, for 45 minues watcMng yow breath coming in and going out. Then furce for 20 mirutes with luartful nusb - and kcep watching during the dance. Then sit again for 45 mirutes, funce again for 20 minutes, and finishwith 50 minues sitting. z

265

R E F E R E N C E S

INTRODUCTION 1. The Book, Series tr, p. 240. NOTES TO THE READER 2. Ibid., p. 305.

3. Ibid., p. 240. 4. Ibid., p. 2,10. 5. Sannyas, Number 3, 1980, p. 4. 6. The Book of the Books, Vol. I, Session 2,Iune22,1979.

ABOUT MEDITATION l. The Orange Book, p.94. 2. TheRajneesh Bible, Vol. I{Session 2,Iamtary 30, 1985. 3. The Rajneesh Upanishad, Sessiqr 3, August 18, 1986. 4. Ught on the Path: Talks in the Himalayas, December 3, 1985, moming. 5. The Search, Session 7, March 7 ,1976. 6. The Book, Series I, pp. 87-88. 7 . Beycrd Enlightenment, Sessicn 9, October I I, 1986. 8. The Psychology ofthe Esoteric, Session 2. 9. The Golden Future, Sessiqr l, April 19, 1987.

10. Beymd Enlightenment, Sessiqr 28, October3l, 1986. I l. The Search, Session 7, March 7, 1976. 12. Guida Spirituale, Sessiqr 15, Sepember 9, 1980. 13. The Book, Series I, p. 230. 14. The Secret of Secrets, Vol. II, Session 3, August 29, 1978. 15. Guida Spirituale, Sessicr 12, SeFember 6, 1980. 16. The Book, Series I, p. 28,30. 17. Ibid., p. 30. 18. Ibid., p. 31. 19. The Book of the Books, Vol. II, Session 8, July 8, 1979. 20. Guida Spirituale, Sessian 2, August27, 1980.

THE SCIENCE OF MEDITATION l. The Book of the Secrets, Vol. Itr, Session 15, March 31, 1973. 2. Tanrra: The Supreme Undentanding, Session 8, February 18, 1975. 3. The Book of the Secrcts. Vol. IV. Session 2. 4. The Book of the Secrets, Vol. Itr, Session 9, March 25,1973. 5. The Book of the Secrcts, Vol. IV, Session 9. 6. The Book of the Secrers, Vol. I, Session I, October I, 1972. 7. The Book of Wisdom, Vol. I, Session I, February 11,1979. 8. fie Book of the Secrets, Vol. V, Sessisr I l, Novernber 3, 1973. 9. The Book of the Secrcts, Vol. V Sessisr 7 ,Iuly 31,1973.

R E F E R E N C E S

T H E S C I E N C E O F M E D I T A T I O N 1 0 . T h e S e c r e t o f S e c r e t s , V o l . I I , S e s s i o n l , A u g u s t n , 1 9 ' 7 8 .

THE MEDITATIONS

1 1 . I b i d . 12. Yoga: The Alpha and the Ornega, Vol. VI, Session 7, September 4, 1975. 13. Meditation - The An of Ecstasy, Session 4. L4. The Great Zen Master: Ta Hui, Session Z0,Iuly 24,1987 . 15. Ibid., Session 14, July 21, 1987. 16. Ancient Music In the Pines, Session 7, February 27,1976. 17. ACupof Tea, Lener72,1970. 18. The Book of Wisdom, Vol. I, Session 9, February 19,1919. 19. Yoga: The Science ofthe Soul, Vol. [I, Sessiqr 10, March 10, 1975. 20. Yahoo! The Mystic Rose, Session 8, March 28, 1988. 21. The Hidden Splendoq, Sessiqr 10, March 17, 1987. 22. The Book of Wisdom, Vol. tr, Session 7, March 5, 1979. 23. Sermons in Stones, Session 4, November 8, 1986. 24. What Is, Is, What Ain't, Ain't, Session 10, February 10,1977. 25. Light on the Path: Talks in the Himalayas, January 27, 1986.

Dynamic Meditation: Catharsis and Celebration l. My Way: The Way of the White Clouds, Session 4,May 13, 1974. 2. Instrucrions currently in use at Rajneesh Mandir, Poona, India. 3. Meditation: The Art of Ecsrasy, Session 3. 4. The Orange Book, pp.29-30.

T$o Powerful Methods for Awakening L The Orange Book, pp.132-136. 2. Ibid.,pp.26-37.

Dancing as e Meditation l . I b i d . , p . 4 9 - 5 2 . 2. Ibid., pp 143-145.

Anythlng Can Be a Medltatlon l. The Orange Book, p. 64. 2. Ibid., pp.23-26. 3. A Sudden Clash of Thundeq Sessicr 9, August 19, 1976. 4. The Orange Book, p. 16. 5. Ttre Secret of Secrets, Vol. II, Session 4, August 30, 1978. 6. The Orange Book, pp. 6569.

R E F E R E N C E S

THEMEDITATIONS Breath, a Brldge to Medltatlon l. The Book of the Secrcts, Vol. I, Session 3, October 3, 1972. 2. The New Dawn, Session 16, June

'26, 1987. 3. Instructions ornently in use at Rajnee.sh Mandir, Poqra, India. 4. The Book of the Secrets, Vol. I, Session 3, October 3, 1972. 5. Ibid., Session 5, Ocober 5, 1972. 6. Ibid. 7. Yoga: The Science of the Soul, Volume II, Sessiqr 9, January 9, I 975.

Opening the Heart 1. The Book, Series I, p. 634. L The Book of the Secrets, Vol. I, Session 12, November 15, L972 3. The Orange Bmk, pp. 195-196. 4. The Book of the Secrets, Vol. V' Sessiur 7, July 31, 1973. 5. The Book of the Secr€ts, Vol. I, Session ll, November 14, 1972. 6. The Book of Wisdom, VoL I, Session l, February ll,1979. 7. Ibid., Session 5, February 15, ln9.

Inner Centering l. Unio Mystica, Vol. I, Session 2, November 2, 1978. 2. The Book of Wisdom, Vol. II, Session 2, February 28,1979. 3. The Book of the Secrets, Vol. I[, Session l, February 22, 1973. 4. Ibid., Session 5, February 26, 1973. 5. Ibid., Session 3,February 24,lfil3. 6. The Book of the Secrets, Vol. IV. Session 13.

Loohlng Vhthln 1. The Book of the Secrets, Vol. II, Session 5, December 14,1972. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 4. The Secrct of Secrcts, Vol. I, Session 7, August 17,1978.

Meditations on Llght l. The Book oflhe Secrets, Vol. [V, Session 1. 2. The Secret of Secrets, Vol. II, Session 13, September 8, 1978. 3. The Book of the Secrets, Vol. [V, Session 1. 4. Ibid.. Session 15. 5. The Book of the Secrets, Vol. [I, Session 15, March 31,1973.

Meditatlons on Darkness l. The Shadow ofthe Bamboo, Session 11, April ll, 1979.

R E F E R E N C E S

THE MEDITATIONS 2. The Book of the Secrets, Vol. [V. Session 3. 3. Ibid.

Moving Enerjy Upwards l. You Aint Seen Nothin'\'et, Sessiqr 7, March 7, 1979. 2. The Book of the Secrets, Vol. III, Sessioqr 15, March 31, l9?3. 3. Ibid.

LlSenlng to lhe Soundlcss Sound l. The Secrcr of Secnts, Vol. l, Session 13, August 23, 1978. 2. The Orange Book, pp. 153-154 3. Ibid. 4. The Book of the Secrets, Vol. tr, Session ll, January 24, 19'13. 5. Yoga: The Science ofthe Soul, Vol. III, Sessicn 6, March 6,1975. 6. The Orange Bo"k, pp. ml-202. 7. Ibid., p. 191-192 E. The Book of the Secrets, Vol. II, Sessioo ll, January 24, 1973. 9. Ibid., Session 9,Ianuary 22,1973. l0 lbid.,Session ll, January 24, 1973.

' Flndlng the Sprce Wthln

l. The Book of the Secrcts, Vol. fV, Session 8. 2. Ibid., Session l. 3. Ibid., Session 13. 4. The Orange Book p.6243. 5. Yoga: The Science ofthe Soul, Vol. III, Sessiqr 7, March 7,1975. 6. Tirntre: Tlre Supreme Undentanding, Session 4, February 14, lns.

Enterlng Into Derth l. The Revolution, Sessisr 9, February 19, 1978. 2. The Book ofthe Secrets, Vol. [V, Session 5. 3. Vedanu--Sever Steps to Samadhi, Session 15, January 18, 1974.

We3chlng wlth the Thlrd Eye l. The Hidden Splendoq, Sessicr 19, March 22,1987. 2. The Orange Book, p. 199-2ffi. 3. The Book ofthe Secrcts, Vol. I, Sessiqr 5, October5, 1972. 4. The Book of the Secrcts, Vol. [V, Session 15. 5. The Secret of Secrcts, Vol. I, Sessiqr ll, August 21, 1978

R E F E R E N C E S

THEMEDTTAflONS Just Slttlng The Book of the Books, Vol. I, Session 9, June 29, 1979. Ibid. The Orange Book, p. 114-115. Instructions ornently in use at Rajneesh Mandir, Poqra, Indra. Roors and Wings, Session 10, June 19,1974.

Rlslng ln Love: A Prrtnershlp ln Meditatlon Beyond Enlightenm€nt, Sessiqr 16, October 18, 1986. The Book of the Secrcts, Vol. V, Sessicr 3,Iuly /7 , 1973. The Book of the Secrcts, Vol. Itr, Session | ,Fe&,aaty 22, 1973. Ibid.

Light on the Path: Thlks in the Himalayas, January 27,1986, evening. The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol. IV, Session 3, November 2, 1976. Light on the Path: Talks in the Himalayas, January 21 ,1986, evening. The Psychology of the Esoteric, Session 2. A Sudden Clash of Thundcq Sessim 2, August 12, 1976. Ancient Music In the Pines, Session 3, February 23,1976. Yoga: The Alpha and the Ornega, Vol. VI, Session 6, September 6, 1975. The Book of the Secrcts, Vol. IV, Session 8. Ibid. Ughr on the Path: Talks in the Hi$alayas, Ianuary 19, 1986, moming. The Rebcl. Session 17, Iune 9, 1987.

The Book of the Books, Vol. IV, Session 10, August 31, 1979. Beycrd Psychology, Session 18, April 21,1985. The True Sage, Sessicr 5, Ocober lE, 1975. The Tantra Visiqr, Vol. I, Session E, April 28, 1977. TheRajneesh Upanishad, Sessisr 10, August 25, 1986. Ah, Thirl, Session 8, January 10, 1980. Yoga: The Science of the Sol, Vol.Itr, Session 4, March 4,1975. Yoga: The Alpha and the Ornega, Vol. IV, Sessicn 10, April 30, 1975. The Hidden Splendoq, Sessicn ll, March 17, 1987.. The Golden Fuulrc, Sessict 19, May 21, 1987. Saty"tn, Shivam, Sundram, Session 7, November 10, 1987. Ibid., Session 22, November l7, 198'l .

Yaa-Hoo! The Mystic Rose, Sessicr 30, April 21, 1988. Instruoions annently in use at Rajneeshdhem, Poona, India.

OBSTACLES TO MEDITATION

l . t

4. 5.

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QTJESTIONS TO THE MASTER-

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GOING DEEPER: LAUGHTER ANDTEARS ANDTHEWATCHER ON TIIE HILLS -

C O M P L E T E L I S T O F M E D I T A T I O N S

MEDITATION PAGE

Abdullah Ascent of life energy I Ascent of life energy 2 Atisha's heart meditation Aum

Beginning and end of sound

Carry out inner darkness Celebratins dearh Center of 6und Center of the cyclone Circle of love Circle of love alone

Devavani Dream masterv Dynamic Meditation

Enter the clear skv Entering into dearh

F e e l ' I a m ' Feel the absence of things Finding the wimess Finding the real source From head to heart

Gibberish Golden Light Meditarion Gourishankar

Heart centering Heart of light Heart of peacefulness Hollow Bamboo

Include everything

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1 5 0

124 r7l 147 90

197 20r

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C O M P L E T E L I S T O F M E D I T A T I O N S

MEDTTATION PAGE

Inner circle Inner darlness

Jet-set, a meditation for the Kundalini Meditation Laughing Meditation Looking as a whole Looking at the tip of the nose Mandala Music as meditation Mystic Rose Mediarion Nadabrahma Meditation Nadabrahma for couples Nataraj Meditation Prayer Medilation Running, Jogging and Swimming Seeing etheric prcsence Seeing within Shaking in sex Smoking Meditation Throwing things out To the very center of being Touching as a fealher Translucent presence

Vipassana Vipassana walk Watching the gap in the breath Watching the gap in the marketplace Whirting Who am I? Zazen

107 r2l 160 43 53

105 1 8 0 44

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l l 5 103 r99 5 5 68 98

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187

R A J N E E S H

The Childhood Years

r 9 3 l Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was born in Kuchwada, Madhya Pradesh, India, on December 11, 1931, the eldest son of a modest clotJr mer- chant who belonged to the Jain re- ligion. He spent His first seven years with His grandparents who allowed Him absolute frccdom to do exactly as He liked, and who fully supported His early and in- tense investigations into the truth about life.

1 9 3 8 Afier the death of His grandfattre4, He went. to live with His parcns at Gadawara, a town of 20,000. His grandmotier moved to the same lown and remained His most gener- ous friend until she died in 1970. declaring herself to be a disciple of her grandson.

1946 Bhagwan expcricnced His first satori at 14 years of age. Over tre years, His experiments with medi- tation deepcned. The intensity of His spiritual search took is toll on

SOME BIOGRAPHICAL FACTS AND EVENTS FROM TIM LIFE OF BHAGWAN SHREE RAJNEESH

His physical condition. His parents and friends fearcd He might not live long.

art of meditation. Throughout the sixties, He traveled the length and breadth of India as the "Acharya (teacher) Rajneesh," arousing the wrath of the Establishment wher- ever He went. He exposed the hypocrisy of ttre vested interests and their attempts to obsfruct man's access to his greatest human right - the right to be himself. He addressed audiences of tens of frousands of people, touching the hearts of millions.

The Bombay Years

1968 He settled in Bombay, living and teaching there. Regularly, He held "meditation camps," mostly in hill stations, where He inroduced His revolutionary Dynamic Meditation, a technique that helps to stop the mind by first allowing it to cathart. Fmm 1970 He started initiating people into NcoSannyas, a path of commitment t,o self-exloration and meditation, hclped by His love and pcrsonal guidance. He began to be called "Bhagwan" - "The Blessed One."

The Univenity Yean

1 9 5 3 At the age of 21, on March 21, 1953, Bhagwan attained enlighten- ment, $e highest peak of human consciousness. Here, He said, His outer biograhy ended, and He has since lived in an egoless state of at-oneness with the inner laws of life. Outwardly, He continued to pursue His studies at the Universi- ty of Saugar, from which He grad- uatcd with First Class Honors in Philosohy in 1956. He was All-In- dia Debating Champion and won the Cold Medal in His graduating class.

t957 Bhagwan taught at the Sanskrit College, Raipur. A year latel He became philosophy professor at the University of Jabalpur. He gave up this post in 1966 in ordcr to dedicate Himsclf entirely to the task of teachins modcm man lhe

B H A G W A N S I I R E E R A J N E E S I I

1970 The first seekers from the West ar- rived, among them many profes- sional people. Bhagwan's fame be- gan to spread throughout Europe, America, Australia and Japan. The monthly Meditation Camps continued and in 1974 a new place was found in Poona, where the teaching could be intensified.

The Poona Years

t974 On the twenty-first anniversary of Bhagwan's enlightenment, the ash- ram in Poona opened. The radius of Bhagwan's influence became world- wide. At the same time, Bhagwan retreated more and more into the privacy of His room, emerging only twice daily: lecturing in lhe morn- ing and initiating and advising seekers in the evenings. Therapy goups combining Eastern insight into meditation with West- ern psychotherapy were created. Within two years, the ashram eamed a reputation as "ttre world's finest growth and therapy centcr." Bhagwan's locturcs encompasscd all the great religious traditions of the world. At the same time. His vast erudition in Western science and thought, His clarity of speech and dcpth of argument made the

time-honored gap bctween East and West disappcar for His listeners. His lectures, taped and transcribed into books. fill hundreds of vol- umes and have been absorbcd by hundreds of thousands of readers. By thc late seventies, Bhagwan's ashram in Poona had become a mecca to modcrn seekers of truth. Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai, a dcvout traditional Hindu, thwarted all attemps of Bhagwan's disciples to move their ashram to a remote comer of India where tlrey would be able to experiment wil.h applying Bhagwan's teachings to crcate a sclf-sufficicnt community living in medilation, love, creativity and laughtcr.

1 9 8 0 An attempt was made to murder Bhagwan at one of His lectures by a member of a traditional Hindu sect. Although the oificial religions and churches opposed Him in the East and in tie West, Bhagwan by then had over a quarter of a million dis- ciples worldwide.

A New Phase - Rajneeshpuram, USA

1 9 8 l On May lst Bhagwan stoppcd speaking and entcrcd a phase of

"silent heart-to-heart communion" while His body, now seriously ill from a back condirion, was resdng. He was taken to the USA by His doctors and caretakers in view of possible emc{gency surgery. His American disciples purchased a 64.000 acre ranch in the Central Orcgon desert. They invited Bhagwan there - where He recov- ered rapidly. A model agricultural commune evolved around Him with breathtaking spced and im- pressive results, reclaiming over- gMd and depleted land from the desert and tuming it into a green oasis feeding a city of 5,000. At yearly summer festivals held for Bhagwan's friends from all over the world, up to 20,000 visitors were houscd and fcd at this new city of Rajnccshpuram. Parallcl to the rapid growth of the commune in Oregon, large com- munes sprang up in all major Westem counlries and Japan, sup- ported by their own independent businesses. Bhagwan had by then applied for permanent residence in the U.S. as a rcligious leadcr, but was relused by the American govemment; one of the reasons given was His vow of public silcnce. At the same time tie ncw city was undcr increasing legal attack from the Orcgon gov- emmcnt and he Christien maioritv

B } I A G W A N S I T R E E R A J N E E S I I

in'the state. Oregon's land use laws, meant to protect the environment, became a major weapon in the fight against a city that had put enormous effort into reclaiming barrcn land and enhancing the environment - in fact a city which had become an ecological model for the world. In October 1984, Bhagwan started speaking to small goups in His res- idence, and in July 1985 He staned giving public discourses every morning to thousands of seekers in Rajneesh Mandir.

1 9 8 5 On September 14, Bhagwan's per- sonal secretary and several mem- bers of the commune's management suddenly left, and a whole pattern of illegal acts committed by them came to light. Bhagwan invited the American authorities to the city to fully investigate the matter. The au- thorit.ies uscd this opportunity to ac- celerate their fight against the com- mune. On October 29, Bhagwan was ar- rested without a warrant in Char- lotte, NC. At the bail hearings He was put in chains. The trip back to Oregon whcre He was to appear in cout- normally a five hour flight - took four days. For two of those days there was no trace of Bhagwan. Later He rc- vealed that in the Oklahoma State

penitentiary He was signed in under the name of "David Washington" and put into an isolation cell with a prisoner suffering from infectious herpes, a disease that could have proven fatal for Bhagwan. Just an hour bcforc being finally rc- leased, after a 12-day ordeal in pris- ons and chains, a bomb was drscov- ered at the Ponland, Oregon jail in which Bhagwan was being kept. Everybody was evacufed except Bhagwan, who was kept inside for an hour. In mid-November His lawyers urged Him to plead guilty to two of thirty-four minor "immigration violations" with which He had been charged, so as to avoid fur- ther risks to His life in the hands of the American judicial system. Bhagwan acquiesced and entered an "Alford plea," a plea pcculiar to the US judicial system, whereby He could accept lhe contendon of guilt while at the same time main- tain His innocence. He was fined four hundred thousand dollars and ordered to leave the USA, not to return for five years. He left by private jet the same day and flew to India, wherc He rested in the Himalayas. A week later, the Oregon commune decided to disperse. In a press conference, U.S. Attor- nev Charles Turner made three

telling points in answcring thc question: Why wcrcn't thc charges brought against His secrctary also brought against Bhagwan? Tumcr said that the governmcnt's firsl priority was to dcstroy the com- mune and that the authoritics kncw that thc removal o[ Bhagwan would precipitate this. Sccond, they did not want to make Bhagwan a mart}r. Third, there was no evidcnce whatsoever im- plicating Hirn in any of the crimes.

The World Tour- A Study In Human Rights

December,1985 Bhagwan's new secretary, His companion, His doctor and other westcrn disciples accompanying Him were ordered out of India, their visas cancelled. No reason was given by the Indian govern- ment for this unprecedentcd acLion except, "You are not wanted here." Bhagwan left to join them in Kathmandu, Nepal, where He rc- sumed His daily discourses.

Februzry, 1986 Bhagwan went !o Greece on a 30- day tourist visa, where He lived in the villa of a Greek film producer and started to speak twice daily. Disciplcs flocked to hear Him. The

B H A G W A N S H R E E R A J N E E S H

Greek Orthodox clergy threatened the Grcek government that blood would flow unless Bhagwan was thrown out of the country.

March 5, 1986 Police broke into the villa and ar- rested Bhagwan without warrant, shunting Him off to Athens where only a twenty-five thousand dollar bribe could move the aurhorities not to put Him on the boat to India.

March 6,1986 He lcft in a private jet for Switzcr- land where His 7-day visa was can- celled by armed policemen upon ar- rival. He was declared 'persona non grata' because of "immigration of- fenses in the United States" and asked to leave. He flew on to Sweden where He was met the same way - surround- ed by rifled policemen. He was told He was "a danger to national secu- rity," and ordercd to leave immedi- ately. He flew on to England. His pilos were now lcgally bound to rcst for eight hours. Bhagwan wanted to wait in the First Class Transit Lounge, but He was not allowed; nor was He allowed to stay in a ho- tel ovemight. Instead, He and His companions were locked up in a small, dirty cell crowded with refugees.

March 7, 1986 Bhagwan and His group flew to Ire- land, where they werc given tourist visas. They went lo a hotel near Limerick. The next morning police anived and ordered them to leave immediatcly. Howeveq this was not possible because Canada had by then refused Bhagwan's plane permission to land at Gandcr for refuelling on the intended flight to Antigua in the Caribbean. This extraordinary denial of the right to rcfuel was made in qpite of a bond from Lloyds of London guaranteeing that Bhagwan would not step outside the plane. On the condition that there was no publicity that might embarrass the authorities, He was allowed to re- main in Ireland until other arrange- ments could be made. During the wait, Antigua withdrcw permission for Bhagwan to go there. Holland, when asked, also re- fused Bhagwan. Germany had already passed a 'pre-

ventative decree' not to allow Bhagwan to enter tlcir country. In Italy, His tourist visa application rc- mained stalled - and in fact has still not been granted 15 months later.

March,1986 At the last momenq Uruguay tumed up with an invitation, and so, on March l9th, Bhagwan, His

devotees and fellow travelers flew to Montevideo via Dakar, Senegal. Uruguay even opened up the possi- bility of permanent residence. Howeveq in Uruguay it was dis- covered why He was being denied access to every country He tried to enter - telexes with "diplomatic se- cret information" (all from NATO government sources) mentioning INTERPOL rumors of "smuggling charges, drug dealing and prostitu- tion" conccming Bhagwan's circle had invariably preceded them l.o their prospective host counlrics. The source of these stories was found to be the USA. Uruguay soon came under the same pressure.

lvlay 14, 1986 The government decided to an- nounce at a press confercnce that Bhagwan had been granted perma- ncnt rcsidence in Uruguay. That night Sanguinctti, the Presi- dent of Uruguay, received a call from Washington, DC, saying that if Bhagwan suyed in Uruguay, cur- rcnt US loans of six billion dollars would be called in, and no future loans given. Bhagwan was request- ed to leave Uruguay by June l8ttr. On the day after He left, Sanguinet- ti and Reagan announced from Washington a new US loan to Uruguay of one hundred and fifty million dollars.

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June 19, 1986 Jamaica ganted Bhagwan a lO-day visa. Moments after He landed there, a US navy jet landed next to Bhagwan's private jet, and two civilians descended. The next. moming, the visas of Bhagwan and His group were cancelled, "for tea- sons of national security." Bhagwan flew on to Lisbon via Madrid, and remained "undiscov- ered" for some time. A few weeks later policemen were placed around the villa where He was resting. Bhagwan decided to rc- turn back to India the next day, July 28. In all, twenty-one countries had either deported Him or denied Him entry.

July 29, 1986 Bhagwan arrived in Bombay, India, where He settled for six months as a personal guest of an Indian friend. In the privacy of His

host's home, He resumed His daily discourses.

January 4,1987 Bhagwan moved ino the house at the ashram in Poona where He had lived for the major part of the sev- enties. Immediately upon His arrival, the police chief of Poona ordered Bhagwan to leave on the grounds that He was a "controver- sial person" who may "disturb the tranquility of the city." The order was revoked the same day by the Bombay High Court. The same Hindu fanatic who, in May 1980, tried to murder Bhagwan by throwing a knife at Him during a public lecture began making ag- gressive threats about forcing his way into the ashram with 200 commandoes trained in martial arts - unless Bhagwan was ex- pelled from Poona. At the same time Indian Embassies around the world, and immigration

officers at Bombay airport, began rc- fusing entry to Westerners "known to be followers of Acharya Rajneesh."

November 6. 1987 After a 7-week illness in which a simple infection failed to respond to any Ueatment, Bhagwan's physi- cians diagnosed a general deteriora- tion of His physical condition due to poisoning; a further analysis con- cluded thalium poisoning. During a public discoune, Bhagwan stated tlrat He believed the govemment of the U.S.A. had slow-poisoned Him during the 12 days He was in their custody in September 1985.

February, 1988 At the time of writing, despite the attempts of the govemments of the "fiee world" to isolate Bhagwan in virtual intemal exile, thousands of disciples have managed !o travel to Poona to be with fteir Master once again.

B H A G W A N S H R E E R A ' N E E S H

June 19, 1986 Jamaica granted Bhagwan a 10-day visa. Moments after He landed ftere, a US navy jet Ianded next to Bhagwan's private jet, and two civilians descended. The nexl moming, the visas of Bhagwan and His group were cancelled, "for rea- sons of nadonal security." Bhagwan flew on to Lisbon via Madrid, and remained "undiscov- ered" for some time. A few weeks later policemen were placed around the villa where He was resting. Bhagwan decided to re- turn back to India the next day, July 28. In all, twenty-one countries had either deported Him or denied Him entry.

July 29, 1986 Bhagwan arrived in Bombay, India, where He settled for six months as a personal guest of an Indian friend. In the privacy of His

host's home, He resumed His daily discourses.

January 4,1987 Bhagwan moved into the house at the ashram in Poona where He had lived for the major part of the sev- enties. Immediately upon His arrival, the police chief of Poona ordered Bhagwan to leave on the grounds that He was a "conEover- sial person" who may "disturb the tranquility of fte city." The order was revoked the same day by the Bombay High Court. The same Hindu fanatic who, in May 1980, tried to murder Bhagwan by thrcwing a knife at Him during a public lecture began making ag- gressive threats about forcing his way into the ashram with 200 commandoes nained in martial arts - unless Bhagwan was ex- pelled from Poona. At the same time Indian Embassies around the world, and immigration

officers at Bombay airport, began rc- fusing entry to Westemers "known to be followers of Acharya Rajneesh."

November 6,1987 After a 7-week illness in which a simple infection failed to respond to any fieatment, Bhagwan's physi- cians diagnosed a general deteriora- tion of His physical condition due to poisoning; a further analysis con- cluded thalium poisoning. During a public discourse, Bhagwan stated that He believed the govemment of the U.S.A. had slow-poisoned Him during the 12 days He was in their custody in September 1985.

February, 1988 At the time of writing, deqpite the attempts of the govemments of the "free world" to isolate Bhagwan in virtual intemal exile, thousands of disciples have managed to travel !o Poona to be with their Master once again.