BHAGWANSHREERAJNEESH

MEDITATION
THE FIRSTAND LAST FREEDOM

A PRACTICALGUIDETO MEDITATION
COMPILEDBY SWAMI DEVA WADUD

MEDITATION:

THE

FIRST

AND

LAST

INTRODUCTION
xi
NOTESTO THE READER xvii
ABOUT MEDITATION

THE SCIENCE
OF MEDITATION

2
2

What Is Meditation?
Witnessing,the spirit of meditation

6
6
7
7
8
8
8
9
9

The Floweringof Meditation

The greatsilence
Growingin sensitivity
Love, the fragranceof meditation
Compassion
Abidingjoy for no reasonat all
Intelligence:
theabilityto respond
Alonenessryour self-nature
Yourrealself

72
12
13
13
14
l5
15
16

Methodsand Meditation
Techniques
arehelpful
Beginwith effort
Thesemethodsaresimple
First understandthe technique
Theright methodwill click
Whento dropthe method
Imagination
canwork for you

18
18
18
19
19

for Beginners
Suggestions
Enoughspace
Theright place
Be comfortable
Bcginwith catlrarsis

23
23

Guidelinesto Freedom
The threeessentials

FREEDOM

MEDITATION:

THE SCIENCE
OF MEDITATION

23
23

25
25
28
29
THE MEDITAflONS

THE

FIRST

AND

LAST

FREEDOM

Be playful
Be patient
Dont look for results
Appreciateunawarcness
Machineshelpbut dont createmeditation
You arenot your experiences
The observeris not the witness
Meditation is a knack

33 Dynamic Meditation: Catharsisand Celebration

35 lnstructionsfor Dynamic Meditation *
35 Giving birth to yourself
38 Remember,rcmaina witness
4l Tlvo Powerful Methods for Awakening
43 KundaliniMeditation*
4
lvlandalaMedintion *
45
45
47
48

Dancingas a Meditation
Disappearin the dance
NatarajMeditation*
Whirling Meditation*

49
5l
53
55

Anything can be a Meditation

Running,jogging andswimming
I-aughingMeditation
The laughingBuddha
SmokingMeditation

57
59
62
&

Breath, A Bridge to Meditation

Vipassana
Watchingthe gap in the brcath
Warchingtte gap in the marketplace

vl

MEDITATION:

THE MEDITATIONS

THE

FIRST

AND

6
68

Dreammastery
Thrcwingthingsout

69
7l
74
'15
79
8l
82

Openingthe Heart
Frcm headtlr heart
hayer Meditation*
The heartof peacefulness
Heartcentering
Atisha'sheartmeditation
Startwith yourself

t5
87
88
90
95
97
98

Inner Centering
AMullah
Findingtherealsource
Centerof thecyclone
Feel'I am'
Who am I?
To the very centerofbeing

l0r
103
105
r07

Looking Within
Seeingwithin
Lookingasa whole
Innercircle

109
lll
ll3
ll5
ll7

Meditations on Light
Goldenlight meditation
Heartof light
Seeingethericpresence
Translucentprcserrce

119
l2l
l2t4

Meditations on Darkness
Inner darkness
Carry out inner darkness

LAST

FREEDOM

MEDITATION:

THEMEDITATIONS

THE

FIRST

AND

LAST

FREEDOM

127
129
135

Moving Energy Upwards

The ascentof life energyI
Theascentof life energy2
137 Listening to the SoundlessSound
139 NadabrahmaMeditation *
140 Nadabrahmafor couples
l4l
Aum
143 Devavani(Gibberish)*
I44 Instructionfor DevavaniMeditation
144 Instructionfor GibberishMeditation
145 Musicas meditation
147 Thecenterofsound
150 Thebeginningandendofsound
153
155
158
160
161
163
165
167
l7l
173
175
l'16
178
180
185
187
189

Finding the SpaceWithin

Entertheclearsky
Includeeverything
A meditationfor thejet-set
Feeltheabsence
ofthings
Hollow Bamboo
Enteringinto Death
Enteringino death
Celebratingdeath
Watchingwith the Third Eye
*
Gourishankar
Findingthewitness
Touchingasa feather
Lookingat thetip of the nose
Just Sitting
7.qzen
The laughterofzen
vlll

MEDITATION:

FIRST

AND

LAST

FREEDOM

THEMEDITATIONS

193
197
199
201

Rising in Love: A Partnershipin Meditation

Circle of love
Shakingin sex
Circle of love alone

OBSTACLES
TOMEDITATION

?I4
2U
208

The T$o Difficulties

Theego
The chatteringmind

213
2I3
215

FalseMethods
Meditationisnot.concentration
Meditation is not inmospection

217
217
217
218

Tricks of the Mind

Dont be fooled by experierrces
Mind canenteragain
Mind can deceiveyou

222
225
228
23r
234
236
238

Only a witnesscanrcally dance

The goosehasneverbeenin!
The watcheron the hill
Wheredid you leaveyour bicycle?
Justa l80o tum
All pathsmergeon the mountain
Celebratingconsciousness
Tunein to uncertainty
Countthe momentsof awareness
Make thingsassimpleaspossible
Witnessingis like sowingseds
Witnessingis enough

QUESTIONS
TO THE MASTER

u2
u5
u9

252
256
GOING DEEPER:
LAUGHTER AND TEARS
AND THE WATCHER
26I
ON THE HILLS
263
lx

THE

*YAA-HOO!"

A Soundof Celebration
The Mystic RoseMeditation

INTRODUCTION

he enlightenedmasterBhagwanShreeRajneesh
is creatinga worldwide rebellion for the sakeof
man's freedom and meditation. You may think
this is an odd choice.How arethey rclated?Yet the subtle connectionbetweenthe two is a crucial point in the
understandingof man's future potential. The door to
openingour capacityfor love, intimacy, creativity and
expansionri meditation. And according to Bhagwan
thercis no otherdml no otherpath.
For the pst thirty-five years,Bhagwanhas been deciphering many of the world's great religious, mystical,
and esoterictraditions.His talks arecontainedin a monumental 350 volumes,where he has brought to life
mystics,makingtlrc
countlessancientandcontemporary
wisdomof their teachingsunderstandable
andrelevantto
our lives today.
This book is a compilationdrawn from Bhagwan'sprofound work on meditation.It containsa wide variety of
methodswhich can help us to discoverwhat he calls
"Meditation:The First andlast Fr@dom."Bhagwanhas
said,
"Meditation is not something new; you have
come with it ino the world. Mind is something
new,meditationis 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 preventingus ftrombeing free, or, by
searchingfor somethingwhich we presumewill give us

INTRODUCTION

freedom.It is actuallyfoundsimplyby relaxinginto who

we are,living life momentt0 momenL
All overthe world peoplearestrugglingwbe frcefrom
something.The sruggle may be againsta naggingwife,
or a conmlling husband,a domineeringparcnt,or a boss
at work who is quashingcreativity.My strugglewas either a fight againsta repressiveplitical systemor an effort to tee myself of my childhood conditionings
throughcountlessthenapies.This struggledid not make
me fiee; it was simply a reaction against something
which I thoughtwasnot allowing me to be ftee.
The freedomof meditationis not a searchto hnd fieedunfor something,either.How manyof us havedreams
of being in somesituationor utopia which would allow
us just to relax and be ourselves,free ftromthe competition and tensionof everydaylife? My experienceshave
demonstratedto me that the freedomwe are searching
for doesnot dependuponsomethingowsideourselves.
So what is the freedomwe arc longing for? I haveheard
Bhagwandescribeit as"just freedom":living in the here
andnow,moment[o moment,living neitherin the memory and oppressionof the past nor the dreamsof tlre future.Bhagwanhassaid:
"Eating- simplyeat,be with it. Walking- simply
walk, be there.Dont go ahead,dont jump here
and there. Mind always goes aheador lags behind.Remainwith themoment."2

xll

INTRODUCTION

Many of us havecertainlyexperiencedwhatBhagwanis
sayingaboutthemind.Mind is alwaysjumpingaheador
laggrngbehind,but it is neverin themomenf it is a constantchattering.Whenthis chatteringtakesplace,it robs
us of being in the momentand living life totally. How
can we live totally when our mind is chaueringto itself
evenwhile we areengagedin daily activities?
To illustrate this for yor:rselfyou can try a small experimenl Put this book down for a few momens and close
your eyes.Seehow long you can just sit and enjoy the
feel of your body, and any soundsthat may be around
you.
The chancesare it will not be very long, perhapsonly a
minute,beforeyour mind stars chauering.If you sit for
a while and notice what the chatteringsare,you will be
amazed:you will find ttnt you arecarryingon manydifferent incoherent inner conversationswith yourself
which, if you overfieardsomeoneelse sayingthem out
loud,you would think crazy.This constantchatteringliterally robs us of life, preventingus from enjoying what
eachmomentof life holdsfor us.
So whato do aboutthis outof-controlchatteringwhich
sepi[atesus frrom,and robs us of, the preciousmoments
of life? I haveheardBhagwantell usoverandoveragain
to meditate.I have heardhim say that we can't stop the
chatteringmind dircctly, but that throughmeditationthe
chatteringcanslow down andeventuallydisappear.
With meditationthe mind becomesa usefulinstrument.

INTRODUCTION

insteadof enslavingus with its constantchatter.Howeveq we often are confusedby the profusionof countless
meditationtechniqueswhich are generallyobscureand
not relevantfor today'sliving. Bhagwanhastakenthese
techniques,weededout $e truefrom the false,andpenetratdto their very core,giving us a key which canopen
the door to a universebeyond our imagination.This
masterkey is winessrng:a simple but profounds0ateof
watchingandacceptingourselvesaswe arc.
Bhagwantells us that
"Witnessing simply meansa detachedobservation, unpejudiced;that'sthe whole secretof meditation."r
It's actuallyso simpletlut I went on mising it for years.
Weall certainlythink we know what watchingis; we observethingsaroundusall day long. We watchtelevision,
we watch other peoplego by and notice what they are
wearing, what they look like, but we don't generally
watchourselves.When we do, it is usuallythough selfconsciouscriticism. We will noticesomethingaboutourselveswhich we dont like and thenstartworrying about
whatotherswill think. Usually theseinnerchatteringsof
the mind makeus feel miserable.This is not witnessing.
Bhagwanremindsus:
"Nothing needs!o be done;just be a witness,an
observel a watcher,looking at the traffrc of the
mind - thoughtspassingby, desires,memories,

INTRODUCTION

dre:trns, fantasies. Simply stand aloof, cool,

watchingit, seeingit, with no judgment"with no
condemnation,neithersaying 'This is good,' nor
saying'This is bad'." e
Throughthe meditationsthat are in this book, you will
discoverwhat witnessingis. While sittingin Bhagwan's
presence,witnessingjust startshappeningspontaneously. Momentsoccur when you are just sitting, listening,
feeling, watching whateveris happeningwith an inner
silence.This silenceis like the vast empty sky, yet vibratingwith life.
Bhagwan'shomeis the sky and his very beingis silence.
His wordscaressthe very depthof the heart"his songis
the songof theempty sky.
"Your innerbeingis
nothingbut the inner sky.
Cloudscomeandgo,
planes areborn anddisappear,
starsariseanddie,
and the inner sky remainsLhesame,
untouched,untarnished,unscarred.
"We call trat innersky satsfuz,the witness,
andthatis, thewholegoalof meditation.
"Go in, enjoytheinnersky.
Remembelwhatsoeveryou cansee,
you arenot iL

INTRODUCTION

You canseethoughts,
thenyou arcnot thoughs;
you can seeyour feelings,
thenyou arenot your feelings;
you can seeyour dreams,
desires,memories,imaginations,prrojections,
thenyou arcnot them.
Go on eliminatingall that you cansee.
Thenoneday a tremendousmomentarises,
themostsignificantmomentof one'slife,
whenthereis nothingleft to be rejected.
"All the seenhasdisappealed
and
only theseeris there.
The seeris the emptysky.
'To know it is to be fearless,
andto 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 experienceyour
own innersky.
My gratitudeand love for Bhagwancannotbe put ino
words;only tearscan conveymy feeling.Throughhearing his call to freedomI am beginningto awakento the
beautyandgracethateachmomentof life canbring.
Thankyou, BelovedMaster.
SwamiDevaWadud,Poona,April 1988

xvl

NOTES

TO THE

READER

How to use the book

n usingthis book asa guidein meditationyou do not

haveto readit frromcoverto coverbeforetrying any
of the meditations.
Use the book intuitivelv.Glance
through it and choosesome sectionor meditationthat
appealsto you. For example,you may prefer O jump
in part III andget your
right ino oneof the meditations
feet wet beforereadingthe guidelines.Go by what feels
goodio you.
After choosinga meditationtry il for at leastthreedays
and if it feelsgood,continuedoing it and go deeper.The
importantthing is !o experimentplayfully and simply
ask yourself:Doesthis meditationhelp my joy and sensitivity to keepgowing?
Meditating to music
Music and meditationcan go well together.About this,
Bhagwanoncesaid:
'"To me music and meditationarc two aspectsof
And withoutmusic,medithesamephenomenon.
tationlackssomething;withoutmusic,meditation
is a little dull, unalive.Withoutmeditation,music
is simplynoise- harmonious,
but noise.Wthout
musicand
meditation,musicis an entertainment;
meditationshould go together That addsa new
dimensionto both.Bothareenrichedby it." o

NOTES

TO THE

READER

Hencemusictapeshavebeenpeparedto guideDynarnic Meditationand manyof theactivemethods,including

Kundalini, Mandala, Nataraj, Devavani, Prayer, and
Gourishankar,as well as Nadabrahma.The music tapes
for the meditationsare available ftom the distribuors
listedat the backof this book.
Material printed in italics
Many of the meditationsin part Itr are basedon the
teachingsof variousenlightenedmastersincluding Buddha, Patanjaliand Shiva frcrn fudia, Atisha and Trlopa
ftom Tibet and the Chine.semastrLu Tsu.WhereBhagwan quotestheir versesor suFas,the selectionhasbeen
inuoducedwith the nameof the earliermasterin italics.
Finally, therearea few selectionsin this book, for example the summaryinstructionsfor severalof tlp meditations, which are basedon Bhagwan'steachingsbut are
not actuallygiven in his own words.To show the difference,thesepieceshavebeenprintedin italics.

xvlll

About Meditation

ABOUT

MEDITATION

Whatis
Meditation?
the way your being can remain
undisturbed,then slowly you can
sart doing things, keeping alert
Meditationis adventure,thc greatestadventurethe hwnan that your being is not stirred.That
mind can undertake.Meditationis jtut to be, not doingany- is the secondpart of meditationthing- rn action,rn thought,rn emotion.Youjust are and it fint, leardng how just to be, and
is a slwer delight.From wheredaesthis delightcomewhen then leaming little actions:cleanyou are not doing anything?It comesfrom nowhere,or it ing the floor taking a shower,but
comesfrom everywlere.It is uncaused,
becauseexistenceis keeping yourself centered.Then
madeof thesruffcalledjoy. '
youcando complicated
things.
For example, I am speaking to
f T /hen you are not doing also doing, contemplationis also you, but my meditationis not disanythingat atl - bodily, doing.Evenif for a singlemoment turbed. I can go on speaking,but
Vt/
you arcnot doinganythingandyou at my very centerthereis not even
Y V menully, on no level when all activity has ceasedand are just at your center,utterly re- a ripple; it is just silent, utterly
you simply are,just being, that's laxed - tlut is meditation.And silent
whatmeditationis. You cannotdo onceyou havegot the knackof it, So meditationis not againstacit, you cannotpracticeit: you have youcanremainin thatstateas long tion. It is not trat you haveto esonly to undentandil.
asyou want; finally you canremain cape from life. h simply teaches
Wheneveryou can find time for in that statefor twenty-fourhoursa you a new way of life: you bejust being, drop dl doing. Think- day.
comethecenterof thecyclone.
is Once you have becomeawareof Your life goeson, it goeson really
ing is also doing, concentration

Witnessing,the spirit of meditation

ABOUT MEDITATION

more intensely- with more Joy,

with more clarity, more vision,
morecreativiry- yet you are aloof,
just a watcheron the hills, simply
seeingall ttrat is happeningaround
you.
You are not the doe4 you are lhe
watcher.
That's the whole secretof meditation, that you becomethe watcher.
Doing continueson its own level,
there is no problem: chopping
wood,drawingwaterfiom the well.
You can do small and big things;
only one thing is not allowedand
thatis, yourcenteringshouldnot be
lost.
That awareness,that watchfulness,
should remain absolutelvunclouded, undisturbed.z
Jn Judaismthere is a rebellious
I school of mystery called Hassidism.Its foundeqBaalShem,was
a rare being. In the middle of the
night he wascomingfrom the river
- that was his routine, becauseat
the river in the night it was absolutely calm and quiet.And he used
to simplysit there,doingnothingjust watchinghis own self, watching thewatcher.This night whenhe
was coming back, he pased a rich
man'shouseandthewatchmanwas
standingby thedoor.
And thewatchmanwaspuzzledbecarse every night at exactly ttris

time, this man would come back.

He cameout and he said,"Forgive
me for intemrptingbut I cannot
containmy curiosityanymore.You
arehauntingme day and night,every 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
therefor hours,andin themiddleof
thenightyoucomeback."
Baal Shemsaid,"I lnow that you
havefollowedme manytimes,becausethe 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
arecuriousabut me.I am alsocurious about you. What is your
business?"
He said,"My business?
I am a simple watchman."
Baal Shem said, "My God, you
have given me the key word. This
is my business
too!"
The watchmansaid, "But I dont
If you area watchman
understand.
you should be watching some
house,somepalace.What are you
watchingthere,sittingin thesand?"
Baal Shemsaid,'There is a little
difference: you are watching for
somebodyoutsidewho may enter
the palace;I simply watch lftis
watcher.Who is ttriswatcher?This
is my whole life's effort; I watch
myself."

The watchmansaid,"But this is a

strangebusiness.Who is going to
payyou?"
He said, "It is such bliss, such a
joy, such immensebenediction,it
paysiself profoundly.Justa single
moment, and all the treasuesarc
nothingin comparison
troit."
The watchman said, 'This is
strange.I havebeen watchingmy
whole life. I never c:rme across
such a beautiful experience.Tomorrow night I am coming with
you.Justteachme.Because
I know
how to watch- it seemsonly a different direction is needed;you are
watching in some differcnt direction."
Thereis only onestep,andthat step
is of direction,of dimension.Either
we can be focusedoutside or we
can close our eyes to the ouside
andlet our wholeconsciousnesbe
centeredinwards- and you will
know, becauseyou are a lnower,
yonare awareness.
You havenever
lost it. You simplygot yortrawarcnessentangledin a thousandand
one things.Witldraw your awarcnessfrom everywhere
andjust let il
rest within younelf, and you have
anivedhome.s
essentialcore,fte spirit of
Th.
I meditationis to leam how to
witness.
A cmw crowing...you
arelistening.

ABOUT

Thesearetwo - objectand subject.

But cant you seea witnesswho is
seeingboth?- thecrow,thelisteneq
and still there is someonewho is
watchingboth. It is sucha simple
phenomenon.
You areseeinga trce:you arel}tere,
the ree is there,but can't you find
one thing more?- that you are seeing the Dree,
that thereis a witless
in you which is seeingyou seeing
thetree.4
is meditation.What
\f,prcling
V Y vou watchis irrelevanlYou
.- *uln the uees,you can walch
theriveq you canwatchtheclouds,
you can warch children playing
around. Watching ls meditation.
What you watch is not the point;
theobjectis not thepoint.
The quality of observation, the
quality of being awareand alert ttat's whatmeditationis.
Rememberone thing: meditation
meansawareness.Whatsoeveryou
do with awarcnessis meditation.
Action is not the question,but the
qulity that you bring o your action. Walkingcanbe a meditationif
you walk alert. Sitting can be a
meditationif you sit alert Listening
to the birds can be a meditationif
you listenwith awareness.
Justlistening to the inner noise of your
mind can be a meditationif vou remain alertandwatchful.

MEDITATION

The wholepoint is, one shouldnot changed.And the miracleof awaremove in sleep.Then whatsoever nessis that you neednot do anyrhingexceptjustbecomeaware.
you do is meditation.s
The very phenomenon
of watching
-fl h. fint stepin awareness
is to it changesit. Slowly slowly the
I bevery watchfulof your body. madmandisappean,slowly slowly
Slowly slowly one becomesalert the thoughtsstartfalling into a cerabouteachgesturc,eachmovement. rainpattem;tlreirchaosis no more,
And as you becomeaware,a mila- they becomemore of a cosmos.
cle startshappening:many things And thenagain,a deeperpeaceprethat you usedto do beforesimply vails. And when your body and
your bodybecomes
disappear;
more your mind areat peaceyou will see
relaxed,your body becomesmorc that they arc attunedto eachother
atluned.A deeppeacestartsprevail- too, thereis a bridge.Now they are
ing evenin your body,a subtlemu- not running in different directions,
in yourbody.
they arenot riding different horses.
sicpulsates
Thenstartbecomingawareof your For the fint time there is accord,
thoughts;the samehas o be done andthat accordhelpsimmenselyto
with thoughts.Theyaremoresubtle work on the third step- that is bethan the body and of course,more coming aware of your feelings,
too. And when you be- emotions,moods.
dangerous
comeawareof your thoughts,you That is the subtlest layer and the
will be surprisedwhat goeson in- most difficult, but if you can be
side you. If you write down wha[- awareof the thoughsthenit is just
soeveris goingon at any momenl onestepmore.A little moreintense
you arc in for a greatsurprise.You awarenessis neededand you start
will not believethat this is what is rcflectingyour moods,your emG
goingon insideyou.
tions,your feelings.Once you are
And afterten minutesreadit - you awareof all thesethee they all bewill seea madmindinside!Because comejoined into onephenomenon.
we arc not aware,this wholemad- And when all thesethreeareone nessgoson runninglike an under- functioning together perfectly,
you can feel the
current. It affects whatsoeveryou hummingtogethe4,
you musicof all the three;they havebearedoing,it aflecs whatsoever
arc not doing;it affectseverything. comean orchestra- thenthe fourth
And thesumtolalof it is goingto be happens,which you cannotdo. It
vour life! Sothismadmanhasto be happenson its own accord.It is a
4

ABOUT MEDITATION

gift'fiom the whole, it is a reward

for those who have done these
ttrce.
And the fourth is the ultimate
awarcnessthat makes one awakened.One becomesawareof one's
awarcness- that is the fourth. That
makes a buddha, the awakened.
And only in that awakeningdoes
one come to lnow what bliss is.

The body knows pleasure, the

mind knows happines, the heart
knowsjoy, the fourth knowsblis.
Blissis thegoalof sannyas,
of being a seeke4and awarenessis the
pathtowardsiL 6
The importantthing is that you
I arc watchful, that you have
not forgottento watch,that you are

watching ...watching...watching.
And slowly slowly,as the watcher
becomesmoreand moresolid, stable, unwavering,a transformation
happens.The thingsthat you wete
watchingdisappear.
For tlp f,usttime, tlrewatcheriself
becomesthe watched,the observer
iself becomestheobserved.
Youhavecomehome.z

ABOUT

MEDITATION

TheFlowering
of Meditation
Meditationis not an Indian method;it is not simplya technique.Youcannotlearn it. It is a growth:a growthof your total living,out of your total living.Meditationis not something
that can be addedto you as you are. It cannotbe addedto
you; it canonly cometo you througha basictransformation,
a mutation.It is a flowering, a growth. Growth is always
from thetotal; it is not an addition.Jwt like love,it cannotbe
addedto j-ou. It grows out of you, out of your totality.You
mustgrow towardsmeditation.a
fte name of silenceis noiselessness.But silenceis a otally differIt is utterlyposient phenomenon.
is
it is not empty.
usually
It
is
understood
to
tive.
existential,
Qilence
is
something
negative,
someIt
with
overflowing
a musicthat,
Ube
thing empty,an absenceof sound, youhaveneverheardbefore,with a
of noises.This misunderstanding fiagmncethat is unfamiliarto you,
is prcvalent because very few with a light that can only be seen
peoplehave ever experiencedsi- by theinnereyes.
lence.
It is not somethingfrctitious;it is a
in
All that they have experienced
reality,and a rcality which is al-

The greatsilence

ready presentin everyone- just

we neverlook in.
Yourinnerworld hasits own taste,
hasits own fragrance,hasits own
light. And it is utterly silent,immensely silent, etemally silent.
There has never been any noise,
and tiere will neverbe any noise.
No wordcanreachthere,but yor
canreach.
Your very centerof being is the
center of a cyclone. Whatever
happensamundit doesnot affect
it. It is etemalsilence:dayscome
and go, yearscomeand go, ages
come and pass.Lives come and
go, but the etemalsilenceof your
beingremainsexactlythe samethe same soundlessmusic, the
samefragranceof godliness,the
from all that
sametranscendence
6

ABOUT

is mdrtal,from all that is momentary.

It is notyour silence.
Youareit.
It is not somethingin your possession; you are posessedby it, and
that'sthe grcahessof it. Even you
are not there, becauseeven your
presencewill be a disturbance.
The silence is so profound that
thereis nobody,not evenyou. And
this silencebrings truth, and love,
and thousands
of otherblessingsto
You.9

Growing in sensitivity

MEDITATION

friendships for you - friendships

with trees,with birds,with animals,
with mountains,with rivers, with
oceans,with stan. Life becomes
richeraslove grows,asfriendlines
grcws.10

Love,the fragrance
of meditation
f f you meditate,sooneror later
I you will comeuponlove.If you
meditatedeeply,sooneror later you
love
will srartfeelinga tremendous
arising in you that you have never
known before - a new quality to
your being, a new door opening.
You havebecomea new flameand
now youwantto share.
If you love deeply,by and by you
will becomeawarethatyour love is
becoming more and more meditative. A subtlequality of silenceis
enteringin you. Thoughs are disappearing, gaps appearing. Silences!You areouching your own
depth.
Love nrakesyou meditativeif it is
on therightlines.
Meditationmakesyou loving if it is
on theright lines.tt

will bring you sen\ fetution

IYlsitivity, a grcatsenseof belongingto theworld.It is our world
- the starsare ours, and we arc not
foreignershere.We belonginninsically to existence.We arepart of it,
we aretheheartof it
You becomeso sensitivethat even
the smallestbladeof grasstakeson
an immense importance for you.
Your sensitivitymakesit clear to
you that this small bladeof grassis
as important to existence as the
biggeststar; without this blade of
grass,existencewould be less than
it is. This small blade of grassis Vou want a love which is born
I out of meditation.not bom out
unique,it is ineplaceable,it hasis
of the mind.That is the love I conown individuality.
And this sensitiviw will createnew tinually talk about.
1

Millions of couples around the

world are living as if love is there.
Theyareliving in a worldof 'asif '.
Of course,how cantheybejoyous?
They aredrainedof all energy.They
aretrying to get somethingout of a
false love; it cannot deliver the
goods.Hencethe frustration,hence
the continuousboredom,hencethe
continuous nagging, fighting betweenthe lovers.They areboth trying to do something
whichis impossible: they arc trying to maketheir
love affair somethingof the eternal,
which it cannotbe. It hasarisenout
of the mind and mind cannotgive
you anyglimpseof theetemal.
Fint go into meditation, because
love will comeout of meditationit is the fragranceof meditation.
Meditation is the flowet the onethousand-petaled
lotus.Lrt it open.
Lt it help you to move in tlte dimensionof the vertical, no-mind,
no-time, and then suddenly you
will seethe fragranceis there.Then
it is etemal,then it is unconditional. Then it is not even directedto
anybodyin particular,it cannot&
directedo anybodyin particular.It
is not a relationship,it is more a
quality that sunoundsyou. 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,arounda Jesus.It is a

ABOUT MEDITATION

ons, otr you have purchasedthe

housewith a beautiful gardenand
you arcjoyous, but theseirys cannot last long. They arc momentary,
they cannotremaincontinuousand
Compassion
unintemrptedp uddhahasdefinedcomPassion If your joy is causedby something
"love ptus medilation." it will disappear,it will be momenI-las
When your love is not just a desfue tary. It will smn leaveyou in deep
for the o$er, when your love is not sadness;all joys leave you in deep
only a need, when your love is a sadness.But therc is a different
sharing,when your love is rnt that kind of joy that is a confirmatory
of a beggarbut that of an emperoq, srgn: you arc suddenlyjoyous for
when your love is not asking for no rcasonat all. You cannot pinsomething in reurn but is rcady point why. If somebodyasks,"Why
only o give - to grve for the sheer are you sojoyous?" you cannotanjoy of giving - tlpn add medigtion swer.
to it and the pue fragranceis re- I cannotanswerwhy I am joyous.
leased,the imprisonedsplendoris There is no reason.It's simply so.
rcleased.That is compassion;com- Now rirs joy cannot be distubed.
passionis the highestphenomenon. Now whatsoeverhappens,it will
Sexis animal,love is human,com- continue.It is there,day in, day out
passionis divine. Sex is physical, You may be young, you may be
love is psychological,compassion old you may be alive, you may be
is spiritual.tr
dyrng - it is always there. When
you have found somejoy that rcmains- circumstances
changebut it
Abiding joy
abides - then you ale certainly
comingcloserto Brddhah@d.t4
for no reasonat all
totally different kind of love, it is
qulitatively differenLtz

what is demandedof you, what is

tlrc challengeof the siuration.The
intelligent person behavesaccoding o the sinrationand the snpid
behaves accoding to the rcadymadeanswen.Whetherthey come
ftromBuddha,Christ o Krishna it
doesnot mattr,He alwayscarries
scripues aroud himself, he is
afraid to dependon himself. The
intelligent person dependson his
own insight; he trusrshis own being. He lovesand Espectshimself.
The unintelligent person respects
others.
Intelligence can be rediscovered
The only methodto rediscoverit is
meditation. Meditation only does
one thing: it desUoysall the baniers that tln society has createdo
prventyou ftom being intelligenr
It simply Emoves the blocks. Is
function is negative:it removesthe
rocks that are preventingyou waten ftom flowing, your qprings
frrombecomingalive.
Everybodyis carryingthe geat potential, but society has pt geat
rocks o Frventir It has created
ChinaWalls aroundyou; it hasimprisonedyou.
or no rciasonat all you suddenly feel yourselfjoyous.Inodi- Intelligence:
To comeout of all prisonsis intelligence* andneverto get into anothnary life, if thereis somereason, the ability to respond
you are -ioyful. You have met a
er again.htelligencecanbe discovbeautifulwomanandyou arc-by- f ntelligence
simplymeansabiliry ercdthroughmediteion becauseall
life is a flux. those prisons exist in your mind;
ous,of youhavegotthemoneythat Io rcspond,
bcause
youalwayswantedandyouarc-ioy- You haveto be awareand to see they cannotreachyour being,fornr8

=
ABOUT

MEDITATION

=
3

nat6ly.fhey carnot polluteyour being, theycanonly polluteyour mind

- they can only coveryour mind. If
you cangetout of the mind you will
get out of Ckistianity, Hinduisrn,
Jainisn, Buddhisrn,and all kinds of
rubbish will be just finished. You
cancometo a full stop.
And when you arc or$ of ttp min4
watchingit, being awareof it" just
beinga wirrcss, you arc intelligenr
Your intelligence is discovercd.
You have undonewhat the society
has done to you. You have destroyedthe mischiefi you have desuoyedthe conspiracyof thepriests
and the politicians.You havecome
out of it, you arc a ftee man.In fact
you arefor the fint time a real man,
an authenticman. Now the whole
sky is you-s.
Intelligencebrings fteedom,intelligerrcebringsspontaneity.15

Aloneness:
vour self-nature
I lonenessis a flower, a lonrs
in your trcart
.flblooming
Alonenessis positive, alonenessis
health.It is the.by of being yourself. It is the Fy of having your
own space.
Meditationmeans:bliss in being
alone.One is really alive when one
has become capable of it, when

-t'F

thereis no dependence
anymoreon
anybody,on any situation,on any
condition.And becauseit is one's
owrL it can remain morning,
evening,day, night" in youth or in
old age,in health,in illness.In life,
in deathtoo, it can remainbecause
it is not somethingthat is happening to you from the outside.It is
somethingwelling up in you. It is
your very nature,it is self-nature.to

/^telebrate aloneness,celebrate
\-,your pure spzrce,and a great
songwill arisein your hearr And it
will be a songof awareness,
it will
be a songof meditation.It will be a
song of a lone bird calling in the
distance- not calling to somebody
in particular,but just calling becausethe heartis full and wantsto
call, becausethe cloud is full and
wantsto rain, becausethe flower is
full andthe petalsopenandthe frajourney
journey
gfince is rcleased...unaddre.ssed.
n
inside
is
a
I
absolutealoneness; lt your aloneness become a
lLrcwarus
you cannot take anybody there dance.tr
with you. You cannot shareyour
centerwith anybody,not evenwith
your beloved.It is not in the nature Your real self
of things; nothing can be done
about it. The moment you go in, \ rfeditation is nottringbut a deto make you awareof
all connections with the outside IVIvice
your
real
world are broken; all bridges are
self - which is not qeated
you,
fact,
the whole world by
which neednot be crcatd
broken. In
you,
by
which you alreadyare.You
disappears.
mystics
have
That's why the
called areborn with ir Yan are it! It needs
illusory,
nd'.
moya,
tltcttit to be discovercd-If this is not posthe world
doesnot exist,but for the meditatu, sible, or if the society&s not done who goesin, it is almostas if low it o happen- and no society
the world does not exisr The si- allows it to happen,becausethe
lerrceis soprofound;no noisepene- real self is dangerous:dangerous
trats it The alonenessis so deep for tlte establishedchurch,dangerthat one needsgus. But out of that ous for the soate,dangerctrsfor the
alonenessexplodes bliss. Ort of crowd, dangerousfu the tradition,
that aloneness- the experierrceof becauseoncea manknows his rcal
God. There is no other way; there self, he becomesan individual. He
has never been any and tlse is belongsno morc to the mob psychology; he will not be superstinevergoingto be. tz

ABOUT MEDITATION

tious, and he cannot be exploited,

and he cannotbe led like cattle,he
cannotbe ordercdand commanded.
He will live accordingto his lighq
he will live ftom his own inwardness.His life will havetemendous
beauty,inlegrty. But that is the fear
of the society.
Integratedpersonsbecomeindividuals, andthe societywantsyou to be
non-individuals.Insteadof individuality, the societyteachesyou to be a
personality.The word'personality'
hasto be understood.It comesfrom

lhe root,persana- persota meansa

mask.The societygivesyou a false
idea of who you are; it gives you
just a toy, andyou go on clinging to
tlrc toy your wholelife. le
A r I seeit, almosteverybodyis
/4, in the wrong place.The personwho would havebeena tremendously happy doctor is a painter
and the person who would have
beena uemendouslyhappypainter
is a docor Nobody seemsto be in
his right place; that's why this

whole society is in srch a mess.

The personis dfuectedby ottnrs; he
is not directedby his own inurition.
Meditationhelpsyou to grow your
own innritive faculty. It becomes
very clear what is going o fulfill
you, what is going to help you
flower. And whatsoeverit is, it is
going o be different for eachindividul - that is the meaningof the
word 'individual': everybody is
unique.And to seekand searchfor
you uniquenessis a great thrill, a
grcatadvennr.20

l0

The Scienceof Meditation

THE

SCIENCE

OF MEDITATION

Methodsand
Meditation

ith a master,with scientific techniques, you

can save much time,
opportunity and energy. And
within secondsyou can
sometimes
gow so much that even wilhin
livesyou wouldnot havebeenable
to gfow that much.If a right technique is used, growth explodes.
And these techniqueshave been
usedin thousandsof yearsof experimens.They werenot devised
by one man;theyweredevisedby
many,many seekers,and only the
essence
is givenhere.

Techniques
are helpfulbecausetheyare scientific.You are
groping; tf
savedfromunnecessary
wandering,unnecessary
youdon'tknowanytechniques,youwill
takea longtime.

will rcach the goal, beVou

I causethe life energywithin
you will move unlessit comesto
the point where no movementis
possible;it will go on moving to
the highestpeak.And that is the
rcason why one goes on being
bornagainandagain.I-eft to yourself you will reach,but you will
haveto Eavelvery,very long, and
the joumey will be very tedious
andboring. t

All techniquescan be helpful but

they ale not exactly mediradon,
theyarejust a gropingin the dark.
Suddenlyone day, doir'g somettring,you will becomea witness.
Doing a meditationlike Dynamic,
or Kundalinior Whirling.Suddenly
one day the meditationwill go on
but you will not be identified.You
will sit silently behind, you will
has
watchit - that day meditration
happened;
thatday the techniqueis

Techniquesare helpful

no more a hindrance,no morc a

help.You can enjoy it if you like,
like an exercise;it gives a certain
vitality,but thereis no neednow the realmeditationhashappened.
Meditationis witnessing.To meditate meansto becomea witness.
Meditationis not a techniqueat all!
This will be very confusingto you
becauseI go on giving you techniques.In the ulcimatesensemeditation is not a technique;medita-

12

THE

SCIENCE

OF MEDITATION

tion is an understanding,
awarcness. like an effort. If you succeedin it,
But you need techniquesbecause the effort disappearsand the whole
and efthat final undentandingis very far thing becomesspontaneous
awayfrom you; hiddendeepin you fortless.If you succeedin it" it is
but still very far away flom you. not a doing.Then no effort on your
Rightthismomentyou canattainit. part is needed:it becomesjust like
But you will not attainit, because breathing,it is there.But in the beyour mind goeson. This very me ginning thereis boundo be effort"
mentit is possibleandyet impossi- becausethe mind cannot do anywill bridgethegap; thing which is not an effort. If you
ble.Techniques
theyarejust to bridgethegap.
tell it to be effortless,the whole
So in the beginningtechniquesare thing seemsabsurd.
mediuations;in the end you will ln Zen, where much emphasisis
laugh- techniquesare not medita- put on effortlessness,the masters
tion. Meditationis a totally differ- saytiolhe disciples,'Just sit. Dont
ent quality of being,it hasnothing do anything." And fte disciple
to do with anything. But it will tries.Of course- what can you do
happenonly in the end;dont tlink otherthanurying?
it has happenedin the beginning, In the beginning, effort will be
otherwise the gap will not be there,doing will be there- but only
bridged.z
in the beginning, as a necessary
evil. You have to rememberconstantlythat you haveto go beyond
it. A momentmustcomewhenyou
Beginwith effort
arc not doinganythingaboutmedil\ feditation techniquesare do- tation;just beingthereand it haplYlings,
becauseyou are ad- pens.Justsittingor standingand it
vised to do something- even to happens.Not doing anything,just
meditateis o do something;even beingaware,il happens.
to sit silently is to do something, All thesetechniques
arejust to help
evento nat do anythingis a sortof you to come to an effortlessmodoing. So in a superficial way, all ment.The innertransformation,
tlp
mediration techniquesare doings. inner realization, cannot happen
But in a deeperway they arc not, through effort, becauseeffort is a
becauseif you succeedin them,the sort of tension.With effort you candoingdisappean.
not be rclaxedtotally; theeffontwill
Only in the beginning it appears becomea banier. With tlris back-

rf-!E=

gpund in mind, if you makeeffort,

by andby you will becomecapable
of leavingit also.s

Thesemethodsare
simple
E u.tt of thesemetlrodswhich
.Ltwe will be discussinghas
been told by someone who has
achieved.Remember this. They
will lmk too simple, and ttrey are.
To our minds,thingswhich are so
simple cannot be appealing. Becauseif techniquesare so simple
and the abodeis so near,if you are
already in it, and the home is so
near, you will look ridiculous to
yourself- thenwhy are you missing it? Rather than feel the ridiculousness
of your own ego,you will
think that such simple methods
cannothelp.
That is a deception.Your mind will
tell you that thesesimple methods
cannotbe of any help - that they
are so simple, ttrcy cannotachieve
anything.'"ToachieveDivine existence,to achievethe Absoluteand
ttrc Llltimate, how can suchsimple
methodsbe used?How can they be
of any help?" Your ego will say
thatthey cannotbe of anyhelp.
Rememberone thing - ego is alwaysinterestedin somethingwhich
is difficult becausewhensomething

THE

is ffiicult, there is a challenge.If

you can overcome tlrc diffrculty,
your ego will feel fulfilled. The ego
is never attractedoward anything
which is simple - never! If you
want to give your ego a challenga
then you have !o have something
difficult devised.If somethingis
simple, thereis no appeal,because
even if you can conquer it, there
will be no fulfillment of ttre ego.ln
the fint place,therewas nothing to
be conquercd:the thing wasso simple. Ego asls for difficulties - some
hurdlesto becrosse( somepeaksto
be conquered.And the morc difficult thepealqttremoreat easeyour
egowill feel.
Because these techniques arc so
simple,they will not haveany appeal o your mind. Remember,that
which appeals to the ego cannot
help your spiritualgowth.
Thesetechniquesarc so simplethat
you can achieveall that is possible
at any
to human consciousness
momentthat you decideto achieve
iL4

First understand
the technique
Jhave hearda story about an old
Idoctor. One dav his assistant
phonedhim becausehe was in very
geat diffrculty: his patient was

SCIENCE

OF MEDITATION

chokingto death;a billiard ball was

stuckin his tlroat, and the assistant
was at a loss for what to do. So he
asked the old docor, "What am I
supposedto do now?" The old doctor said, '"Trcklethe patient with a
feather."
After a few minutes the assistant
phonedagain,very hap'pyandjubilant, and said, "Your treaunent
proved wonderful! The patient
startetllaughingandhe spattheball
out. But tell me - from wherehave
you learned this remarkabletechnique?"
The old doctor said,"I just madeit
up.This hasalwaysbeenmy motto:
when you dont know what to do,
do something."
But this will not do as far as meditation is concemed.If you dont
know what to do, dont do anything. Mind is very intricate,complex, delicate. If you dont know
what to do, it is better not to do
anything, becausewhatsoeveryou
do withoutknowing is going to creat more complexitiesthan it can
solve. It may even p'rovefatal, it
may evenprovesuicidal.
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
complexityof it Mind is the most
complexthing in existence;thereis
nothing comparableto it And it is

the most delicate;you can desmy

it, you carr do something which
then can not be undone. These
techniquesare based on a very
deep knowledge,on a very deep
encounterwith tlp human mind.
Each techniqueis based on long
experimentation.
So rememberthis: dont do anything on yotlr own, and dont mix
two techniques,b@ausetheir functioning is different, their ways are
different" their basesare different.
They lead to the sameend, but as
means they are totally differenr
Sometimesthey may even be diamerically opposite.So dont mix
two techniques.Really, dont mix
anything;usethe techniqueas it is
grven.
Don't changeit, dont improveit becauseyou cannotimproveit, and
any changeyou bring to it will be
falal.
And beforeyou start doing a technique,be fully alert that you have
understoodit. If you feel confused
and you dont really know what
the techniqueis, it is be0ernot t0
do it, becauseeach techniqueis
for bringing about a revolution in
you.
First ry to undentand tlp techniqueabsolutelyrightly. When you
haveunderstoodit, thentry it And
dont use this old doctor's motto
that when you dont know what o

t4

THE

SCIENCE

OF MEDITATION

No, donl do any- Miracles are possible.The only

dci,do something.
thing. Nondoing will be moreben- thing is that the techniquemustbe
for you. If the techniqueis not for
eficial.s
you, then nothing happens.Then
you may go on with it for lives toThe right method
gether,but nothingwill happen.If
the methodis for you, then even
will click
threeminutesareenough.e
you
right
try the
J) eallf, when
l\method it clicks immediately.
So I will go on talking aboutmeth- When
ods here every day. You try tlrcm. to drop the method
Justplay with them:go homeand
try. The right method, whenever I ll the geat masterssay this,
you happenupon it, just clicks. .{-l,that oneday you haveto drop
Somethingexplodesin you, and the method. And the sooner you
you know that "This is the right drop it, the better.The momentyou
is remethodfor me." But effort is need- attain,the momentawareness
ed, and you may be surprisedthat leasedin you, immediatelydrop the
suddenlyone day one methodhas method.
gnppedyou.
Buddha used to tell a story again
I have found that while you are and again. Five idiots passed
playing, your mind is morc open. through a village. Seeing them,
While you are seriousyour mind is peopleweresurprised,becausethey
not so open; it is closed.So just werecarryinga boaton their heads.
play. Do not be too serious,just The boat was rcally big; they were
play.And thesemethodsaresimple. almostdyingundertheweightof it.
And peopleasked,"What arc you
Youcanjust play with them.
Thkeone method:play with it for at doing?"
leastthreedays. If it gives you a They said, "We cannot leave this
certainfeelingof affinity, if it gives boat.This is the boatthat helpedus
you a certainfeetingof well-being, t0 comefrom the othershoreto this
if it gives you a certainfeeling tlnt shore.How can we leaveit? It is
this is for you, tlwn be serious becauseof it thatwe havebeenable
aboutit. Then forget the others.Do t0 comehere.Withoutit we would
not play with other methods;stick have died on the other shore.The
night was comingclose,and there
to it - at leastfor threemonths.

<rr-

were wild animals on the other

shore;it w.ls ils sure as anything
thatby themomingwe wouldhave
beendead.We will neverleavethis
boat. We arc indebtedforever.We
will carry it on our headsin sheer
gratitude."
Methodsare dangerousonly if you
are unaware;otherwisethey can be
used beautifully. Do you think a
boat is dangerous?It is dangerous
if you are thinking to carry it on
your headfor your whole life, out
of sheergratitude.Otherwiseit is
just a raft to be usedand discarded,
usedandabandoned,
usedandnever lookedback at again;thereis no
need,no point!
If you drop the remedy,automatically you will start senlingin your
being.Themind clings;it neverallows you to setdein your being.It
keepsyou interestedin something
that you arcnou theboats.
Whenyou dont ctng to anything,
there is nowhereto go; all boats
have been abandoned,you cannot.
go anywhere;all paths have been
&opped, you qmnot go anywhere;
all dreamsand desireshave disappearcd,there is no way t0 move.
Relaxationhappensof its own accord.
Justthinkof the wordrelax.B,e...
havecomehome.
settle...you
One momentall is fragrance,and
the next momentyou are searching

THE

SCIENCE

OF MEDITATION

for it anOyou cannotfind it, where Now thecloudsarethercagain;it is destroyor you can createyoursell
it hasgone.
dl dark and the sun has disap- thatdepends
on you.Imaginationis
Only glimpses will happenin the pearcd.Now even to believe that verypowerful.It is potentialpower.
begmning.Slowly slowly,they be- thesunexiss will be difficult.Now What is imagination?It is getting
come morc and more solid, they to believethatwhatyou hadexperi- into an atdnrdeso deeply that the
abidemoreandmore.Slowly,slow- enced a moment before was true very attitudebecomesreality. For
ly, slowly,slowly,very slowly,they will be difficulr It may havebeena example, you may have heard
settle forever.Before that, you can- fantasy.The mind may sayit might abouta techniquewhich is usedin
not be allowed to take it for grant- havebeenjust imagination.
Tibet. They call it heatyoga.The
It is so incredible,it lmks so im- night is cold, snow is falling, and
ed;thatwill bea mistake.
When you are sitting in meditation, possible that it could have hap- the Trbetanlama is standingnaked
a sessionof medilation,this will penedto yor. With all this stupidity under the open sky. The temperahappen.But it will go. So what are in the mind, with all theseclouds tureis belowzero.You would simyou supposedto do between ses- anddarknesses,
it happened
to you: ply startdying, you would frreeze.
you saw the sun for a moment.It But thelamais practicinga particusions?
Betweensessions,continueto use doesnt look prcbable,you must lar technique- he is imaginingthat
the method.Drop the methodwhen have imaginedit; maybeyou had his body is a buming fire and he is
you are deep in meditation.The fallen into a dreamandseenit.
imaginingthat he is perspiringmoment comes, as awarenessis Betweensesions start again,be in the heatis so muchthat he is pergetting purer and purer,when sud- theboat,usetheboatagain.r
spiring. And he actually startsperdenly it is utterly pue: dmp the
spiringalthoughthe temperature
is
method,abandonthe method,forbelow zero and even tlrc blood
get all abut the remedy,just settle Imaginationcanwork
shouldfreeze.He startsperspiring.
is happening?
you
What
This perspiraandbe.
for
But this will happenonly for mo- 'pit.t
tion is real,his body is rcally hot you must understand
what but this rcality is createdthrough
mentsin the beginning.Sometimes
it happensherelisteningto me.Just I imaginationis. It is condemned imagination.
for a moment,like a brenze,you are very muchnowadays.
The moment Once you get in tune with your
transportedinlo anotherworld, the you hear the word "imagine" you imagination,the body startsfuncworld of no-mind.Jus[ for a mo- will say this is useless,we want tioning. You arc alrcady doing
ment,you know thatyou know,but somethingreal,not imaginary.But many thingswithoutknowing that
only for a momenl And againthe imaginationis a rcality,it is a ca- it is your imaginationworking.
just
darknessgathen and he mind is pacity, it is a potentialitywithin Manytimesyou createillnesses
you imagine
backwith all its dreams,with all its you. You can imagine.That shows tlrough imagination;
thatyourbeingis capableof imagi- thatnow this diseaseis here,infecdesiresandall is stupidities.
For a momentthe cloudshadsepa- nation. This capacityis a rcality. tious, it is all over the place.You
rated and vou had seen the sun. Throughthis imaginationyou can havebecomereceptive,now therc

THE

is everypossibilitythat you will fall

ill - and that illnessis real. But it
has been createdthrough imagination. Imaginationis a force,an energy, and the mind movesthroughit.
And when the mind movesthrough
it" thebodyfollows.e

<FF'

SCIENCE

OF MEDITATION

is the differencebetween
fhis
I the tantratradition and Western hypnosis:hypnotiststhink that
by imagination you are creating
something;tantra thinks that you
are not creatingit - by imagination you are simply becomingat-

tunedo somethingthat is alrcady

there. Whatsoe,veryou create by
imagination cannotbe permanent
Ifit is not a reality,thenit is false,
unreal,and you arecreatinga hallucination.r

THE

Enoughspace
f T
\ru

/hen you aretryingto

putdrephone
meditate,

SCIENCE

OF MEDITATION

Suggestions
for Beginners

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 whenyou moveino themeditation room, take your shoesoff,
becauseyou are walking on sacred The right place
ground.Not only trke your shoes
off, but everything that you are Vou shouldfind a placewhich
preoccupied with. Consciously, I enhancesmeditation.For exleave everythingwith the shoes. ample, sitting under a ree will
help. Ratherthan going and sitting
Go insideunoccupied.
One can take one hour out of in font of a moviehouseor going
nwenty-fourhours. Give twenty- o therailwaystationandsittingon
threehoun for your occupations, the platform, go to nature,to the
to therees,to theriven
desires,thoughs, ambitions,pro- mountains,
jections.Takeone hour out of all wheretaois still flowing,vibrating,
this, and in the end you will hnd pulsating, sueaming all around.
ttat only that one hour has been Treesare in constantmeditation.
is that meditathe rcal hour of your life; those Silent,unconscious,
I'm
not
tion.
saying
to becomea
twenty-tfuee hours have been a
you
have
tree;
to
become
a buddha!
sheerwastage.Only that one hour
Buddha
But
has
thing
in comone
has been saved and all else has
to
green
with
he's
as
mon
thetree:
asa
gonedownthedrain.

;
I

r
t

tree,asfull ofjuice asa tree,ascelebratingasa tree- of coursewith a

tie ree
differcnce.He is conscious,
is unconscious.
The uee is unconsciouslyin tao; a buddhais consciouslyin no. And that is a great
difference,the differencebetween
theearthandthe sky.
But if you sit by the side of a tree
surrounded by beautiful birds
singing,or a peacockdancing,or
just a river flowing, and the sound
of runningwater,or by the sideof
a waterfall,and the greatmusicof
ir....
Find a place wherenahre has not
l8

L
t

ir
(

e
d
b
!
It
a
g

B
rl
l9

THE

SCIENCE

OF MEDITATION

yet bendisturbed,polluted.If you enough,or just a cow passingby,

cannotfind sucha place,thenjust tlat is enoughto destroyit. tt
close your doors and sit in your
own room. If it is possiblehavea
specialroom for meditationin your Be comfortable
house.Justa small comer will do.
but especiallyfor mediarion.Why
I postureshould be such that
can lorget your body.
especiallyfor meditation?- be- l1'you
causeevery kind of act createsits What is comfort?Whenyou forget
own vibration.If you simplymedi- your body, you arc comfortable.
tate in that place, that place be- When you are remindedcontinucomesmeditative.Every day you ously of the body,you are uncommeditateit absorbsyour vibration foruble. So whetheryou sit in a
when you are in meditation.Next chairor you sit on the ground,that
beday when you come, thosevibra- is not thepoint.Be comfortable,
tionsstartfallingbackon you.They causeif you arenot comfortablein
theyrespond. the body you cannotlong for other
help,theyreciprocate,
When a personhasrcally becomea blessingswhich belong to deeper
meditaor, he can meditatesitting layers: the hrst layer missed,all
beforea picturehouse,hecanmedi- other layers closed.If you rcally
wantto behappy,blissful,thenstart
tateon therailway platform.
For fifteenyearsI wascontinuously from theverybeginningto be blisstraveling around the coun!ry, con- ful. Comfort of the body is a basic
tinuously naveling - day in, day needfor anybodywho is trying to
12
out, day in, day out, year in, year reachinnerecslasies.
out - alwayson a train,on a plane,
in a car.That makesno difference.
Onceyou havebecomercallyroot- Beginwith catharsis
ed in your being,nothingmakesa
difference.But tttis is not for the Jnever tell peopleto beginwith
beginner.
Ijust siaing. Begin from where
When the uee has becomerooted, beginningis easy.Otherwise,you
let winds comeand let rainscome will begin !o feel many thingsunand let clouds thunder; it is all necessarily- things that are not
good.It gives integrityto the ree. there.
But when the ree is small,tendel If you begin with sitting,you will
thenevena smallchild is dangerous feel much disturbanceinside.The

more you try !o just sit, the more

disturbancewill be felt. You will
becomeawareonly of your insane
mind and nothingelse.It will crcyou will feel frusat deprcssion;
trated, you will not feel blissful.
Rather,you will begin to feel that
you
you arcinsane.And sometimes
mayreallygo insane!
If you makea sincereeffort to 'just
sit', you mayreallygo insane.Only
becausepeople do not teally try
sincerelydoesinsanirynot happen
more often. With a sitting posture
you begin to lnow so much madnessinsideyou that if you aresincereandcontinueit, you mayreally
go insane.It has happenedbefore,
so manytimes.So I neversuggest
anythingthatcancreatefrustration,
depresion,sadness.
..anythingthat
will allow you to be too awareof
your insanity. You may not be
readyto be awareof all theinsanity
thatis insideyou.
You must be allowed to get to
know certain things gradually.
Knowledgeis not alwaysgood.It
must unfold iself slowly, :ls your
capacityto absorbit grows.
I beginwith your insanity,not with
a sitting posture.I allow your insanity.If you dancemadly, the oppositehappenswithin you. With a
mad dance,you begin to be aware
of a silent point within you; with
sitting silently, you begin to be

THE

The oppositeis
awareof madness.
alwaysthepointof awareness.
With you dancingmadly,chaotically, with rying, with chaoticbrcathing, I allow your madness.Then
you begin to be awareof a subtle
point,a deeppoint insideyou which
is silentand still, in contrastto the
madness
on the periphery.You will
feel very blissful; at your center
thercis an inner silence.But if you
arejust sitting,thentlreinneroneis
the mad one. You are silenton the
outside,but insideyouaremad.
If you beginwith somethingactive
- somethingpositive,alive,moving
- it wi[ be better.Thenyou will begin to feel an inner stillnessgrowing. The moreit grows,the moreit
will be possiblefor you to usea sitting postweor a lying postue - the
moresilentmeditationwill be possible.But by thenthingswill bediffercnt,totally differcnt"
A meditationtechniquethat begins
with movement,action,helpsyou in
other ways also. It becomesa
Whenyou arejust sitting,
catharsis.
you arc frusuated:your mind wants
to moveandyou arejust sitting.Every muscleturns,everynervenrms.
You are trying to force something
upon yourselfthat is not naturalfor
you.Thenyou havedividedyourself
into the one who is forcing and the
onewho is beingforced.And really,
ttrepartthat is beingforcedandsup-

SCIENCE

OF MEDITATION

pressed
is themoreauthenticpart.It If we say,"Be angry,"thenyou are
is a moremajor part of your mind goingto be angryct someone.
But
thanthepartthat is suppressing,
and a child can be molded. He can be
given a pillow and !old, "Be angry
themajorpartis boundto win.
That which you are suppressing
is with the pillow Be violent wittr the
reallyto be thrown,not suppressed.pillow." Fromtheverybeginning,a
It has become an arcumulation child canbe broughtup in a way in
within you becauseyou havebeen which the anger is just deviated.
constantlysuppressing
it. Thewhole Someobjectcan be given to him:
upbringing,thecivilization,theedu- he can go on throwing the object
cation, is suppressive.
You have until his angergoes.Within minbeen suppressing
much that could utes,within seconds,he will have
havebeenthrownvery easilywith a dissipatedhis angerand thercwill
different education,with a more be no accumulation
of il
consciouseducation,with a more You have accumulatedange! sex,
aware parenthood.wittr a bener violence,greed- everyhing. Now
awarenessof the irurer mechanism this accumulation is a madness
of the mind, the culturecould have within you.It is therc,insideyou.if
allowedyouto throwmanythings. you begin with any suppressive
For example,whena child is angry meditation(for example,with just
we tell him, "Do not be angry."He sitting) you are sup'pressing
all of
beginsto supprcssanger By and this, you arc not allowing it to be
by, whatwasa momentaryhappen- rcleased.So I begin with a catharing becomespermanent.Now he sis. First, let the suppressionsbe
will not act utry, but he will re- thrown into the air. And when you
main angry. We have accumulated can throw your anger into the aiq
so muchangerfrom whatwerejust you havebecomematurc.
momentarythings.No one can be If I cannotbe loving alone,if I can
angry continuouslyunless anger be loving only with someoneI
has been suppressed.Anger is a love, then I am not rcally manle
momentarytldng that comes and yeL ThenI am dependingon somegoes;if it is expressed,
thenyou are one even to be loving. Someone
no longer angry. So with me, I must be there; only then can I be
would allow the child o be angry loving. That loving can be only a
moreauthentically.
Be angry,but be very superfrcialthing. It is not my
Do
not
iL
deepin it.
supprress
natwe. If I am alonein the room I
p'roblems.
Of course,there will be
am not loving at all, so the loving

20

2l

TIIE SCIENCE

OF MEDITATION

qualitytiasnot gonedeep;it hasnot you arejust sup'pressing

something. as he can, and you know that this
becomea partof my being.
And a very strangething happens: manis a policecommissioner!
You becomemoreandmoremature whenyou haveallowedeverything One man I cannot forget, because
when you are les and lessdepen- o be thrownout, sining will just he usedto sit in ftont of me every
dent-If you canbe angryalone,you happen,asanaswill just happen.It day. He was a very rich man frrom
are more mature.You do not need will be spontaneous.
Ahmedabad, and because his
any object to be angry.So I makea Begrn with catharsis and then whole businessw:ls the sharemarcatharsisin the beginning a musl somethinggood can flower within ket, he wasjust contin,'allyon the
You must throw everythinginto the you. It will havea differentquality, phone. Wheneverthis one hour
sky, into the open space,without a different beauty- altogetherdif- meditationwould begin,within wo
ferent.It will be autlentic.
beingconscious
ofany object.
or threeminuteshe would take up
Be angry without the penon with When silencecomesto you, when the phone.He would start dialing
whom you would like o be angry. it descends
on you, it is not a false the numbers: "Hello!" And he
Weep without finding any cause. thing. You have not been cultivat- would say- it lookedfrom his face
taugh, just laugh,withoutanything ing it. It comest0 you;it happens
to as if he was geningthe answerjust
to laughaL Thenyou can
throw you. You begin to feel it glowing "Purchaseit."
the whole accumulatedthing. You insideyoujust like a motherbegrns This would continuefor one hou4
can just throw it! And once you to feela child gmwing.tr
and he was againand againphonknow the way, you are unburdened
ing to this place,to that place,and
of thewholepast
I
lead
used
to
meditain a while he would look at
once
\f, /nen
Wthin momentsyou canbe unbur- V V tion camps myself, there me andsmile:"What nonsense
I'm
denedof the whole life - of lives was one methodwhere every af- doing!"But I hadto keepabsoluteeven.If you arereadyo throwev- ternoonall the participantsin the ly serious.I neversmiledat him. So
crylhing, if you can allow your camp usedto sit togetherand ev- he wouldagainstartphoning:"Nomadnessto come out, within mo- erybodywas allowed to do what- body is taking any nodce,everyments there is a deep cleansing. soeverhe wanted- no restriction, bodyis engaged
in hisown work."
Now you arecleansed:fresh,inno- just he wasnot to interferein any- One thousand people doing so
cent.You area child again.Now, in body else's work. Whatever he many things ... and thesetlings
y'ourinnocence,sitting meditation wants to say, he can say; if he werecontinuously
goingon in their
canbe done- just sittingor just ly- wants to cry, he can cry; if he minds.This wasa geat chancefor
ing or anything - becausenow wantsto laugh,he can laugh- and themto bringthemoul It wassuch
drereis no mad one inside to dis- one thousandpeople!It. was such a drama.
rurbthesitting.
a hilarious scene! People you Jayantibhaiusedto be in chargeof
Cleansing
mustbe thefint thing- a could neverhaveimagined- seri- thecampin Mount Abu, andoneof
catharsis.O{herwise,with brcathing ous people - doing such stupid his closestfriends took off all his
exercises,with just sitting, with things! Somebody was making clothes.Thatwasa surprise!Jayanpracticingasanas,yogic postures- faces,puttingout his tongueas far tibhaiwasstandingby my side,and

tjr*

TtIE SCIENCE OF MEDITATION

he could not believeit. That man

wasa very seriousman, very rich;
what was he doing in fi,ontof onc
people?And tlrenhe smnthousand
ed pushingthe car in which I had
come!o theplace- it wasJayantibhai'scar.We werein themountains,
and just aheadtherc was a thousand-footdrop, and he was naked
pushingthecar.
askedme,"What hasto
Jayantibhai
be done?He is goingto destroythe
catr,and I had never thoughtthat
thismanwasagainstmy car Weare
closefriends."
So I told him, "You pushit from
the other side;otherwisehe is goi n gt o . . . . "
So he wasstoppingthe car and his
friend was jumping around and
shouting,"Get out of my way! I
have alwayshatedthis car" - becausehe did not havean imported
ca4 and this was an imported car
which Jayantibhaiwas keepingfor
me. I was coming m Mount Abu
threeor four timesa year,so he was
keepingthatcarjust for me.
His friend must havebeenfeeling
jealousinsidethat he did not have
an imported car And then a few
peopleseeingthe situationrushed
to help.Whenhe sawtlnt so many
people were preventinghim, just
out of gotest he climbeda treein
front of me. Nakedhe sat in the top
of the tree,and he startedshaking

he ree. There was every danger violencein me, I wantedt0 kill

that he would fall witlr the Eeeon people."
top of the thousandpeople.Jayan- That meditation was immensely
tibhai askedme, "What has to be helpful. It relaxedpeople in one
hourso muchthattiey told me,"It
donenow?"
I said,"He is your friend.Let him seemsa heavyloadhasdisappeared
be, dont be worried.Justmovethe from the head.We werenot aware
peopleto this sidcandthat,andlet what we were carrying in the
him do whatsoeverhe is doing. mind."But m becomeawareof it,
Now he is not destroyingthecar.At therewas no other way exceptan
themosthe will havemultiplefrac- unlimitedexpression.
It was only a small experiment,I
tures."
As people moved away, he also told peopleto continuei[ soonyou
stopped.Silentlyhe sat in the tree. will cometo manymorethings,and
After the meditationwas over,he one day you will cometo a point
was still sitting in the uee, and whereall is exhausted.
Remember
Jayantibhaisaid,"Now get down. only not to interferewith anybody,
Themeditationis over."
not to be destructive.
Sayanything
As if he woke up from a sleep,he you wantto say,shout.abuse,whatlookedall aroundand saw that he everyou want- andexhaustall that
was naked!He jumpedout of the youhavebeencollecting.
ree, rushedto his clothes,andsaid, But this is a srange world. The
"What happenedto me?" In the govemmentof Rajasthanpasseda
night he came !o see me and he resolutionin their assemblythat I
said, "This was a very dangerous cannothavecampsin Mount Abu,
meditation!I couldhavekilled my- becausethey had heard all these
self or somebody
else.I couldhave thingswerehappeningthere- peodesroyed the car,and I am a great ple who areperfectlyright become
friend of Jayantibhai,and I had almostmad, start doing any kinds
never thought...butcertainlythere of things. Now the politiciansin
musthavebeenthisideain me.
theassembly
donl haveanyideaof
"I hatedtlp ideathat you comein thehumanmind,its inhibitionsand
his car always,andI hatedthe idea how to exhausttlrem,how to burn
that he hasgot an importedcar,but them.I had to stopthat meditation
in me. becauseotherwisethey were not
it was not at all conscious
And whatI wasdoingin the ree? I goingto allow meto havecampsin
must have beencarryingso much MountAbu. ta

22

THE

The threeessentials
editation has a few essential things in it,
whatever tfre method.
but thosefew essentialsare n@essaryin 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 rclaxedawarcnesswhatever
is going on, without any interference - just watching the mind,
silently, without any judgment,
evaluation.
These are the three things: relaxation,warching,no judgment,and
slowly, slowly a greatsilencedescendsover you. All movement
within you ceases.You are, but
thereis no senseof 'I am' - just a
pure space.Therc are one hundred
and twelvemethodsof meditation.
I havetalkedon all thosemethods.
They differ in tlpir constitution,
but the fundamentalsremain the
same: relaxation, watcMulness,a
non-judgmentalattitude.ts

OF MEDITATION

SCIENCE

Guidelines
toFrcedom
Be playful
\ fillions of peoplemissmedilYltation
because meditation
has takenon a wrcng connotation.
It looks very serious, looks
gloomy, has sometling of the
churchin iq it looksas if it is only
for peoplewho aredead,or almost
dead- thosewho aregloomy,serious, have long faces, who have
lost festivity, fun, playfulness,
celebration....
Theseare the qualities of meditation: a really mediutive personis
playful; life is fun for him, life is a
leela,a play. He enjoysit Eemen-

dously.He is not serious.He is relaxed. 16

Be patient
ont be in a hurry. So often,
J\
l-l hurrying causesdelay. As
you thinL wait patiently - the
deeperthe waiting, the soonerit
comes.
You have sown the seed,now sit
in the shadeand watch what happens.The seedwill break,it wi[
blossom,but you cannotspeedthe
process.Doesnt everythingneed
time? Work you must" but leave
the resultsto God. Nothing in life

TH E SCIENCE

is ever wasted, especially steps

takentowardstruth.
But at timesimpatiencecomes;impatiencecomeswith thirst, but this
is an obstacle.Keep tlre ttrirst and
throw the impatience.
Do not confuse impatiencewith
thirst. With thirst thereis yearning
but no sfuggle; with impatience
there is strugglebut no yearning.
With longing thereis waiting but
no demanding; with impatience
thereis demandingbut no waiting.
With thirst there are silent tears;
with impatiencethere is rcsdess
sruggle.
Truth cannotbe raided;it is arained
thmugh surrendeq not through
sruggle. It is conqueredthroughte
tal sunender.tr

Don't look for results

-l-h" ego is result-oriented,
the
I mind alwavs hankersfor results.The mind is neverinterested
in theact itself, its interestis 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 educatedpeople become very cunning,becausethey
are able to find shortcuts.If you
earnmoney througha legal way, it

OF MEDITATION

may take your whole life. But if

you canearnmoneyby smuggling,
by gambling,or by somethingelse
- by becominga politicalleader,a
prime minister,a president- then
you haveall theshortcutsavailable
to you. The educatedperson becomes cunning.He does not become wise, he simply becomes
clever. He becomesso cunning
that he wants to have everything
withoutdoinganythingfor it.
Medilation happensonly o those
Meditawho arenot result-oriented.
tion is a non-goal-oriented
state.te

so they arc more alive in the

morningagain.
The samewill happenin mediation: for a few momentsyou are
perfectlyaware,at the peakandfor
a few momentsyou are in the valley, resting. Awarenesshas disap
pearcd, you have forgotten. But
whatis wrongin it?
It is simple.Throughunawarcness
awarenesswill arise again,fresh,
young,andthis will go on. If you
can enjoy both you becomethe
third, and that is the point to be
if you canenjoy both,
understood:
it means that you are neither neitier awarcnessnor unawareAppreciate
ness- you arethe onewho enjoys
both.
Somethingof the beyond
unawareness
enters.
hile awareenjoy awareness, In facu this is the real wihess.
and while unawareenjoy Happines you enjoy, what is
has
unawareness.Nothing is wrong, wrongwith it? Whenhappiness
gone
you
is
like
have
unawarcness
a
resl
and
become
sad,
because
Enjoy
Otherwise awarenesswould be- whatis wrongwith sadness?
you
you
If
it
are
Once
become
capable
of enawake
come a tension.
joyrng
you
houls,
many
how
sadness,hen
are neitwenty-four
you
you
can be ther.
think
days do
alive? Without food a man can And this I tell you: if you enjoy
live for three months; without sadness,it has its own beauties.
sleep,within threeweekshe will Happinessis a little shallow;sadgo mad,and he will try to commit nessis very deep,it hasa depthto
suicide.In the day you arcalert;in it. A man who hasneverbeensad
the night you relax,and that relax- will be shallow,just on the suration helps you in the day to be face.Sadnessis like a dark night,
more alert, fresh again. Energies very deep.Darknesshasa silence
have passedthrough a rcst period to it, and sadnessalso. I{appiness

24

THE

SCIENCE

OF MEDITATION

awareof this deep sleep,but after

bubbles;ttere is a soundin it. It is
help but
ten minutes, when you are unlike a river in the mountains: Machines
soundis created.But in the moun- don't createmeditation pluggedfrom themachine,you will
seethe effects:you arc calm, quiet,
tains, a river can never be very
arebeingde- peaceful,no worry, no tension;life
deep; it is always shallow.When Q o manymachines
the river comesto the plain it be- t J velopedaroundthe world,prc- seemsto be more playful and joycomesdeep,but the sound stops. tendingthat theycangive you med- ous.One feelsas if one hashad an
It.movesas if not moving.Sadness itation;you just haveto put on ear- inner bath. Your whole being is
phonesand relax, and within ten calmandcool.
hasa depth.
Why createtrouble?While happy, minutesyou will reachthe stateof With machinestlings arc very certain, becausethey don't dependon
be happy,enjoy it. Dont get iden- meditation.
tified with it. WhenI saybe happy, This is utterstupidity,but thereis a any doing of youn. It is just like
I meanenjoy it. It it be a climate reasonwhy suchan ideahascome listeningto music:you feel peacewhich will moveand change.The to the minds of technicalpeople. ful, harmonious.Those machines
moming changesinto noon, noon Mind functionson a certainwave- will leadyou up o the third statechangesinto evening, and then lengl.hwhenit is awake.Whenit is deepsleep,sleepwithoutdreams.
comes night. Irt happinessbe a dreaming it functions on another But if you think this is meditation
Whenit is fastasleepit thenyou arcwong. I will saythis is
climate aroundyou. Enjoy it, and wavelength.
then when sadnesscomes,enjoy functionson a differentwavelenglh. a good experience,and while you
arein that momentof deepsleep,if
that too. I teach you enjoyment But noneof thesearcmeditation.
whatsoeveris the case.Sit silently For thousandsof years we have you canalsobe awarefrom thevery
and enjoy sadness,and suddenly called meditation turiya, the beginning,asthe mind startschangit has fourth." When you go beyondthe ing its waves... You have to be
is no longersadness;
sadness
peaceful
moment,
deepestsleep and still you are mor alert, morc awake, more
becomea silent
is meditation. watchf,rl - what is happening?is
Nothing
aware,that awareness
in
itself.
beautiful
it is you, andyou will seethatmind is by and
It
is
not
experience;
an
in
it.
wrong
your
very
by falling asleep.And if you cansee
being.
the
ultimate
And then comes
point
hi-tech
mechanisms
can
the mind falling asleep...treone
But
these
wheresuddenly
alchemy,the
you realize that you are neither - be of tremendoususe in the right who is seeing the mind falling
nor sadness.
You hands.They can help to createthe asleepis yourbeing,andthat is the
neitherhappiness
are the watcher:you watch peaks, kind of wavesin your mind so that purposeof all authenticmeditation.
you watchvalleys;but you arenei- you start feeling relaxed,as if half Thesemachinescannotcreatethat
you will
That awareness
asleep... ftroughtsaredisappearing awareness.
ther.
Once this point is attained,you and a moment comes that every- have to create,but thesemachines
silentin you.That is cancertainlycreatewithin ten mincan go on celebratingeverything. thingbecomes
You celebratelife, you celebrate the moment when the waves arc utesa possibility that you may not
fiose of deepsleep.You will not be be able to crcatein yean of effort.
death.tc

THE

SCIENCE

OF MEDITATION

So I am not againstthesehi-techin- for you, and you will start falling

struments,I am all for them. It is asleep!But if you canremainawake
just that I want the peoplewho are evenin the deepestsleep,whenyou
spreadingthose machines around seethat just one stepmoreand you
you have
the world to know that tlrcy aredo- will becomeunconscious,
ing gmd work,but it is incomplete. learneda secrt.That machinecan
It will be completeonly when the be usedbeautifully.
personin thedeepestsilenceis also And this is true about all the maalert, like a small f'lame of aware- chines of the world: in the right
nesswhich goeson burning.Every- handsthey canbe usedEemendousthing disappears,
all aloundis dark- ly for the benefitof mankind.In the
ness,andsilence,andpeace- but an wrong handsthey can becomehinSo drances.And unfortunately,there
unwaveringflameof awareness.
if the machineis in the right hands arcsonuu:lywronghands....
and people can be taught that the But it is not meditation,it is simply
real thing will comenot tfuoughthe a changein the radio wavesthat are
machine,the machinecan createthe continuouslymoving aroundyou in
very essentialgound in which that the air. It canbe certainlyhelpful as
flame can grow. But that flame de- an experience;otherwisefor many
people meditation remainsonly a
pendson you,not on themachine.
So I am in favor of thosemachines word. They think that some time
on the one hand and on the other they will mediute. And there rehandI am very much againstthem, mains a doubt, whether anybody
becausemany, many people will meditatesor not?
think,"This is meditation,"andfrey But in theWestthemindis mechanis mechanical;
will be deceived.Thesemachines ical,theapproach
evwant
reduce
will do immenseharm,but theywill erything they
to
to a
spreadall overthe world very soon. machine- andtheyarecapableof it.
And they are simple- lhereis noth- But there are things which are being muchin it; it is only a question yond the capacityof any machine.
cannotbe createdby any
of creatingcertainwaves.Musicians Awareness
canleamfrom thosemachines,what machine;il is beyondthe scopeof
waves lhey createin people,and any hi+ech. But what technology
they can slan creatingthosewaves can give you canceruinly be used.
through their insruments.There is This canbe usedasa very beautiful
no need for the machines,just the jumpinggound intomeditation.
musicianscan createthose waves And once vou have tastedaware-

ness,perhapsa few times the machine may be helpful so that it becomes more and more clear, so
your awarcness
becomesmoreand
moresparatefrom the silencethat
machineis creating.And ttrenyou
should start doing it without the
machine.Onceyou haveleamedto
do it withoutthe machine,the machinehashelpei you immensely.zo

You are not

your experlences
1|,ln" o[ the most fundamental
- not only
\-,/things to remember
by you but by everyone- is that
whateveryou comeacrossin your
innerjourney,you arcnot iL
You aretheone who is wihessing
it - it may be nothingness,
it may
be blissfulness,it may be silence.
But one thing has to be remembered - however beautiful and
however enchantingan experienceyou comeby, you arenot iL
You arethe one who is experiencing it, andif you go on andon and
on, the ultimatein the journey is
the point when thereis no experience 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 reflectinganything.Itis you.

26

TI{E SCIENCE

OF MEDITATION

without This home is the real temple we

Even great travelers of the inner object,then consciousness
world have got stuck in beautiful obstructionmovesin a circle - in havebeen searchingfor, for lives
experiences,and have become existenceeverythingmoves in a togethetbut we alwaysgo astray.
identified with those experiences circle,if not obsructed- it comes We becomesatisfiedwith beautithinking, "I have found myself." from the samesourceof your being, ful experiences.
They have smppedbeforcrcaching goesaround.Findingno obstacleto A courageousseekerhas to leave
the final stage where all experi- it - no experience,no object- it all thosebeautifulexperiences
bemovesbackwards.And the subject hind,andgo on moving.Whenall
encesdisappear.
Enlightenment
is not an experience. itselfbecomes
theobjectexperiencesare exhausted and
It is the statwhereyou arc left ab- That is what J. Krishnamurticon- only he himself remainsin his
solutelyalone,nothing!o know No tinued to say for his whole life: aloneness...no
ecstasyis bigger
object, however beautiful,is pre- whentheobserverbecomesfte ob- than that, no blissfulnessis more
sent. Only in that moment does served,knowthatyou haveanived. blissful,no truth is truer.You have
your consciousness,
unobstructed Beforethat thereare thousandsof enteredwhat I call godliness,you
by any object,takea turn andmove thingsin the way. The body gives havebecomea god.
backto thesource.
its own experiences,which have
It becomesself-realization.It be- becomeknown as the experiences An old man went to his doctor."I
comesenlightenment.
of the centersof kundalini: seven havegot toilet prroblems,"
he comI mustremindyou aboutthe word centersbecomesevenlotus flow- plained.
'object'. Every object meanshiners. Each is bigger than the other "Well, let us see.How is your uridrance.The very meaningof the and highecand the fragranceis in- nation?"
word is hindrance,objection.
toxicating.The mind gives you "Every morningat seveno'clock,
So the object can be outsideyou, great spaces,unlimited, infinite. like a baby."
in the material world; the object But remember the fundamental "Good. How about your bowel
can be insideyou in your psycho- maxim that still the homehas not movement?"
"Eight o'clock eachmoming,like
logicalworld, the objectscanbe in come.
your heart,feelings,emotions,sen- Enjoy the joumey andenjoy all the clockwork."
timents, moods. And the objects scenesthat comeon the journey- "So,whatis theproblem?"thedoccan be even in your spiritual the trees,the mountains,the flow- tor asked.
world. And theyarcsoecstaticthat ers, the riven, the sun and tle "I dont wakeup until nine."
one cannot imagine there can be moonand the stars- but dont stop
more. And many mystics of the anywhere,unlessyour very subjec- You are asleep and it is time to
world havestoppedat ecstasy.It is dviry becomes its own object. wakeup.
a beautifulspot,a scenicspot,but Whenthe observeris theobserved, AII tlese experiencesare experiwhen the knower is the lnown, encesof a sleepingmind.
they havenot arrivedhomeyet.
mind hasno experiWhenyou cometo a point whenall whenthe seeris theseen,thehome The awakened
encesat all. zt
experiencesare absent,there is no hasanived.

THE

The observer
is not the witness
.fh.

observerand the observed

I aretwo aspectsof the witness.
When they disappearino eachother, when they melt into eachothe4
when they are one, the witnessfor
the fust time arisesin its totality.
But a questionarisesto manypeG
ple. The reasonis that they think
the witnessis the observer.In their
mind, the observerand the witness
It is fallacious;the
aresynonymous.
observeris not thewitness,but only
a part of it. And wheneverthepart
thinksitself as tlrewhole,errorarises.
The observermeansthe subjective,
and the observedmeansthe objective: theobservermeansthatwhich
is outsidetheobserved,and theobservermeansthat which is inside.
The insideand the outsidecan'tbe
separate;they aretogetlpl they can
only be logether.When this togetherness,or ratheroneness,
is experienced,thewitrressarises.
You cannotpractice'thewitness.If
you practicethe witness,you will
and
be practicingonly the obse.rver,
theobserveris not thewimess.
Then what hasto be done?Melting
has to be done,merginghas o be
done. Seeinga rose floweq forget
completely that there is an object

SCIENCE

OF MEDITATION

seenand a subjectas a seel l-et the

beautyof the moment,thebenediction of themoment,ovenvhelmyou
botfi, so fte rose and you arc no
moresepante,but you becomeone
rhythm,onesong,oneecstasy.
Loving, experiencingmusic,looking at the sunset,let it happen
againand again.The moreit happensthe better,becauseit is not an
art but a knack. You have to get
the hunchof it; onceyou havegot
it, you cantriggerit anywhere,any
moment.
When the witnessarises,there is
nobodywho is wimessingandthere
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 bettero sayit is a
mirroring.It is morea dynamicprocessof meltingand merging;it is
not a static phenomenon,it is a
flow. The rose reachingyou, you
rcachingino therose:it is a sharing
of being.
Forget that idea tlnt the witnessis
theobserver;it is not. Theobserver
can be practiced,the witnesshappens.Theobserveris a kind of concentration,and the observerkeeps
you separate.The observerwill enhance, strengthenyour ego. The
morc you becomean observer,the
more you will feel like an island separate,alool distant"
Down the ages,the monksall over

the world have beenpracticingthe

observer.They may have called it
the wimess,but it is not the witness.The wimessis somethingtotally differcnt, qualitatively different. The observercan be practiced,
cultivated;you canbecomea better
observerthroughpracticingit.
The scientistobserves,the mystic
witnesses.The whole pmcessof
very
scienceis that of observation:
keen,acute,sharpobservation,so
nothingis missed.But the scientist
doesnot come t0 know God. Alis very very
thoughhis observation
expert, yet he remainsunawareof
God. He nevercomesacrossGod;
on fie contrary,he deniesttrratGod
is, becausethe morehe observesandhis wholeprocessis thatof obsewation - the more he bepomes
separate fiom existence. The
bridgesare brokenand walls arise;
he becomesimprisonedin his own
ego.
The mysticwitnesses.
But remember, witnessingis a happening,a
byproduct- a byproductof being
tolal in any moment,in any situaTotality is
tion, in any experience.
the key: out of totality arises the
benediction
of wimessing.
Forgetall aboutobserving;that will
give you moraccurateinformation
about the observedobject"but you
will remainabsolutelyobliviousof
z
yourown consciousness.

THE

Meditationis a knack
l\ rfeditation is such a mystery
IVIttaI
it can be called a science,an art a lrnck, wittrout any
contradiction.
From one point of view it is a science becausethere is a clear-cut
techniquethat hasto be done.There
arc no exceptionsto it, it is almost
like a scientificlaw.
But fiom a differentpoint of view it
canalsobe saidto be an art. Science
is an extensionof the mind - it is
malhematics,
it is logi, it is rational.
Meditationbelongsto 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 canbe calledan arr
But mediation is sucha glat mystery that cdling it 'science' and
'art'
does not exhaust ir It is a
knack - either you get il or you
dont getir A knackis not a science,
it cannotbe taught.A lsnck is not
an art. A knackis the mostmysterizr
ousthing in humanunderstanding.
Tn *y childhoodI was sentto a
Imasteq a masterswimmer He
was the best swimmerin fte !own.
andI havenevercomeacK)ssa man
who has been so uemendouslyin
love with water Water was god o

SCIENCE

OF MEDITATION

him, he wonhiped it, and the river

was his home. Early - at tluee
o'clockin themoming- you would
find him on theriver.In theevening
you would frnd him on the river
andat night you would hnd him sitting, meditatingby the side of the
river. His whole life consistedof
beingcloseto theriver.
When I was brought to him - I
wanted to learn swimming - he
lookedat me, he felt something.He
said,"But therc is no way to leam
swimming;I canjust throw you in
the walerandthenswimmingcomes
of is own accord.Thereis no way
to leam it, it cannotbe taught.It is a
knack,notknowledge."
And ttnt's whathedid -he threwme
in the waterandhe was standingon
thebanlcFor two, threetimesI went
down andI felt I wasalmostdrowning. He was just sunding therc,he
would not eventry to help me! Of
coursewhenyo"ulife is at stake,you
do whatsoeverytxr can.So I started
tlrowing my hands about - they
werc haphazard,hectic, bu the
lnack came.When life is at stakq
youdo whatsoever
you cando...and
whenwer you do whatsoeveryou
cando totally,thingshappen!
I could swim! I wasthrilled!"Next
time," I said, "you neednot tluow
meinto it - I will jump myself.Now
I know that thereis a nanral buoyancyof thebody.It is not a question

of swimming,it is only a question

of gettingin nrnewith the waterelement.Onceyou arein nrnewith the
waterelementit prot@tsyou."
And sincethen I have beenthrowing many people into the river of
life! And I just standthere....Almost nobdy ever fails f he takes
thejump. Oneis boundto leam.z
J t may take a few daysfor you to
I get the knack.It is a lnack! It is
not an art! If meditatiolrwerean art"
it would have beenvery simple to
teach. Becaue it is a knack, you
haveto try; slowly you getit. Oneof
pofessorsof psycholotheJapanese
gy is trying to teachsmall children,
six monthsol4 to swirn,ud he has
Then he tried with chilsucceeded.
&en threemonthsold - and he has
succeeded.
Now he is trying wittr
the newly bom, and I hopethat he
succeeds.
Thereis every possibility
- becauseit is a knack.It doesnot
needany other kind of experience:
age, education...it is simply a
knack.And if a six-monthor threemonth old baby can swim, that
mfiurs we are naturally endowed
with the ideaof "how" to swim...it
is jrst that we have to discoverit.
Justa little bit of effortandyou will
be able to discoverit. The sameis
true about meditation- more Eue
tlnn aboutswimming.Youjrst have
to makea little effot. zs

THREE

The Meditations

MEDITATIONS

.l

f,editation is an energy
phenomenon.
One very
l\/l
I Y lUasic thinghasto be understoodabout all types of energies,and this is the basiclaw to be
understood:energy moves in a
dual polarity. That is tlrc only way
it moves;tlpre is no other way for
its movemenlIt movesin a dual
polarify.
For any energyto becomedynamic, the anti-poleis needed.It is
just like elecricity moving witlr
negativeandpositivepolarities.If
there is only negative polarity,
electricity will not happen;or if

DvnamicMeditation:
i s andCelebration
Cathars
there is only positive polarity,
electricity will not happen.Both
polesare needed.And when botlr
polesmeet,they crcateelectricity;
thentlte sparkcomesup.
And tlis is so for all typesof phenomena.Life goes on: between
manandwoman,the polarity.The
woman is the negativelife-energy; manis the positivepole.They

are electrical- henceso much attraction. With man alone, life

would disappear; with woman
alone therecould be no life, only
death. Benpeenman and woman
there exists a balance.Between
man and woman - these two
poles,thesetwo banla - flows the
river of life.
Whereveryou look you will frnd

the sameenergymoving in polarities,balancingitself.

This polarity is very meaningful
for meditationbecausemind is logical, and life is dialectical.WhenI
saymind is logical,it meansmind
movesin a line. When I say life is
dialectical,it means life moves
with the opposite,not in a line. It
zigzagsfrom negativeo positive-

THE MEDITATIONS

positive !o negative,negative to be a deadman. A deadman is ab- uses contradictoryterms - effortpositive. It zigzags;it usesthe op- solutelysilent.Nobodycan disturb lesseffort,or gateless
gate,or pathposites.
him, his concentrationis perfect. lesspath.
Mind moves in a line, a simple You cannotdo anythingto distract Zen alwaysusesthe contradictory
just to give you
straightline. It nevermovesto lhe his mind; his mind is absolutely termimmediately,
opposite- it deniesttreopposite.It fixed.Evenif thewholeworld goes the hint that thepmcessis goingto
believesin one,and life believesin mad all around,he will remainin be dialectical,not linear.The ophis concentration.But still, you positeis not to be deniedbut abtwo.
So whatsoevermind creates,it al- would not like to be a deadman. sorbed.The oppositeis not to be
ways choosesthe one. If mind Silence,concentration,
or whatever left aside- it hasto be used.Left
choosessilence- if mind has be- it is called...youwouldnot like tio aside,it will always be a burden
comefed up with all the noisethat be dead- becauseif you aresilent on you. Left aside, it will hang
is createdin life andit decideso be and dead the silenceis meaning- with you. Unused,you will miss
much.
silent - then the mind goesto the less.
Himalayas.It wantsto be silent,it Silencemusthappenwhileyou are The energycan be convertedand
doesnt want anythingto do with absolutelyalive, vital, bubbling used.And then, using it, you will
any typeof noise.Eventhe songof with life and energy.Then silence be morevital, morealive. The op
the birds will disturb ig the breeze is meaningful. But then silence positehas to be absorbed,then the
blowing throughthe treeswill be a will have a different, altogether prccessbecomes
dialectical.
disturbance.The mind wants si- differentquality to it. It will not be Effortlessnes means not doing
lence;it has chosenthe line. Now dull. It will be alive. It will be a anything,inactivily - aktrma. Efthe oppositehasto be deniedcom- subtlebalancebetweennro polari- fort meansdoing much,activity pletely.
ties.
karma.Bothhaveto be therc.
But this man living in the Hi- A man who is seekinga live bal- Do much, but dont be a doer malayas- seekingsilence,avoiding ance,a live silence,would like to thenyou achieveboth.Move in the
the other, the opposite - will be- move to both tie market and the world,but dont be a partof it. Live
come dead; he will certainly be- Himalayas.He would like to go lo in theworld,but donl let theworld
comedull. And the morehe choos- the martet to enjoy noise,and he live in you.
esto be silent,thedullerhe will be- would also like o go to the Hi- Thenthe contradictionhasbeenabcome - becauselife needsthe op malayasto enjoy silence.And he sorbed....
posite, the challengeof the oppo- will crcatea balancebeween these And that'swhatI'm doing.Dynamand he will re- ic meditationis a contradiction.
site.
two polar op,posites,
Thereis a different type of silence main in that balance.And that bal- Dynamic meanseffon, much efwhichexistsbetweentwo opposites. ance cannot be achieved through fort, absoluteeffort. And meditaThe first is a deadsilence,the si- linearefforts.
tion meanssilence,no effort,no aclenceof the cemetery.A deadman That is what is meantby the Znn tivity. You can call it a dialectical
is silent,but you would not like to technique of effortless effort It meditation.t

THE MEDITATIONS

body take over. Let go of every- and tlte $ort will be lost. Be a
tdng that needsto be thrownout. witnessto everythingthat is lwpGo totally nud..' Sing,screarn, peningto you.
laugh, shout, cry, jump, shake,
dance, kick, and throw yourself Fifth stage:15minutes
First stage:10minutes
around. Hold nothing back, kcep
p reathing rapidly in and out your wlole body naving. A little Celebrate!...withmusicand dance
LD throughthenose,concemrate acting often helps to get you expresswhatsoeveris there.Carry
always on the exhalation. TIE started.Never allow your mind to your alivenesswith you throughbreathshouldnave deeplyiuo tlu interfere with what is lwppening. outtheday.z
lungs, and the chestexpandswith Rememberto be total with your
eachinhalation.Be asfast os you body.
can in your breathing, making
Giving birth
surebreathingstaysdeep.Do this Third stage:10 minutes
to yourself
as totally as you possibly can;
withow tightening up yow body, Leavingyour slwuldersand ncck Helpful hints
makesureneckand slnulders stay relaxed,raise both arms as high
relaxcd.Contirurcon, wrtil you lit- as you can without locking the
y systemof Dynamic Medierally beconw tlw breathing,al- elbows. With raised arms, jwnp
tation beginswith breathing,
lowing breath to be chaotic (tlwt up and down shoutingthe mantra becausebrcathinghasdeepmots in
meansnot in a steady,predictable HOO!...HOO!..HOO! as deeply ttte being. You may not have obway).Onceyour energyis moving, as possible,comingfrom the bot- served it, but if you can change
ilwill beginto moveyourfudy. Al- tom of your belly. Each time you your heathing, you can change
low thcse body movenunts to be land on the flats of your feet many things. If you observeyour
there, use tlwm to help you build (making sure heels touch the brcathing carefully, you will see
up evenmare energy.Moving yottr ground), let the sound hammer that whenyou areangryyou havea
arms and body in a natural way deepinto the sex center.Give all particular ftythm of breathing.
will lulp your energyto rise. Feel you hcve, exhaustyourself com- Whenyou arein love, a totally difyow energybuilding up; don't let pletely.
fercnt rhythm comesto you. When
go dwing tlwfirst stageand never
you arc Flaxed you breathedifferFourth stage:15 minutes
slow down.
ently; when you are tense you
heathe differently. You cannot
STOP! Freeze whcre you are in brcatlp the way you do when you
Secondstage:10 minutes
wlatever position you find yow- arc rclaxed and be angry at the
Follow yow body.Give your body self.Don't arrangethc bodyin any sametime. It is impossible.
freedom to express wlntever is way A cough,a movement,any- \Vhen you are sexually aroused,
there... . EXPLODEI... . I*t yow thing will dissipatethe erwrgyflow
your heathing changes.If you do

lnstructionsfor
DynamicMeditation

THE

not allow the bleathing to change,

your sexualarousalwill drop auomatically. This meansttnt brcathing is deeplyrelatedto your mental
state.If you changeyour breathing,
you can changethe srate of your
mind. Or, if you changethe stateof
your mind,breathingwill change.
So I sart with brcathingand I suggest ten minutesof chaotic breathing in the first stage of the technique.By chaoticbrcathingI mean
deep,fast"vigorousbreathing,without any rhythm - just aking the
heath in and thr,owingit out, aking
it in and ttuowing it out, as vigmously, as deeply, as intensely as
possible.Thke it in; then tfuow it
ouL
This chaoticbrcathingis to createa
chaoswithin your rep'ressed
system.
Whalever you arc, you are with a
certain type of heathing. A child
bleatlresin a particularway. If you
aresexuallyafraid, you heathe in a
particular way. You cannotbreattre
deeply becauseevery deep breath
his the sex center.If you are fearful, you cannot take deep brcaths.
Fearcreatesshallowbreathing.
This chaoticbreathingis to desuoy
all your past patterns.What you
have made out of yourself, this
chaotic heathing is o desfioy.
Chaotic brcathing createsa chaos
within you becauseunlessa chaos
is created,you cannotrcleaseyour

MEDITATIONS

repressed emotions. And those

emotionshavenow movedino the
body.
Youarenot bodyand mnd; you arc
body/mind, psycho/somatic.You
are both togetler. So whateveris
donewith your body reachesto the
mind andwhateveris donewith the
mind reachesto thebody.Body and
mindaretwo endsof thesameentity.
Ten minutesof chaoticbrcathingis
wonderful!But it must be chaotic.
It is not atypeof prarcyarna,yogrc
breathing. It is simply creating
chaosthroughbreathing.And it createschaosfor manyrcasons.
Deep,fastbreathinggivesyou morc
oxygen. The more oxygen in the
body, the more alive you become,
the more animal-like.Animalsare
alive and man is halfdead, hatfalive. You haveto be madeino an
animal again.Only then can something higherdevelopin 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, vital - with more oxygen in your
blood, more energy in your cells.
Your body cells will becomemore
alive. This oxygenation helps to
oeate body elecnicity - or, you can
call it bio-energy.When therc is
elecricity in the body you can
movedeepwithin, beyondyourself.

The electricity will wort within

you.
The body has its own elecrical
sources.If you hammerthem with
more breathingand more oxygen,
ftey begin to flow And if you becomereally alive, then you arc no
longer a body. The more alive you
b@ome,the more energyflows in
your systemand the les you will
feel yourself physically. You will
feel more like energyand lesslike
matter.
And wheneverit happens0rat you
arc more alive, in those moments
you arc not body-oriented.If sex
hasso muchappeal,oneof the reasonsis this: that if you arereally in
the act, otally moving, totally
alive, then you arc no longer a
body - just energy.lio feel this energy,to be alive with this energy,is
very necessaryif you are to move
beyond.
The secondstepin my techniqueof
DynamicMeditation is a cathanis.
I tell you to & conscionslyinsane.
Whatever comes to your mind whatever- allow it o expressitself; cooperatewith it. No rcsistance;just a flow of emotions.
If you want [o scrcam,tlpn scream.
Cooperatewith it. A deepscream,a
otal screamin which your whole
being becomesinvolved, is very
therapeutic, deeply therapeutic.
Many things,many diseases,will

MEDITATIONS

This mantrafrooshould
be releasedjust by the scream.If emptines: o be empty of all rc- a catharsis.
your
pressions.
is
whole
In
total,
this
empl.iness
never
the scream
besomebe done without doing the
in
iL
Transformation
fnst
ing will be
thing can be done.
fwo steps.It shouldneverbe
(this
minutes
meditation
So for the next ten
canhappen;
canhappen. done without them. Only in the
secondstepis alsofor ten minutes) Then in the third step I use the third step (for ten minutes) is this
allow yourself expressiontlrough soundioo. Many soundshavebeen hoo to be used- usedas loudly as
crying, dancing,screaming,weep- used in the past.Each soundhas possible,bringrngyour total energy
ing, jumping, laughing- 'freaking somethingspecificto do. For ex- to it" You arc to harnmeryour enerout' astheysay.Within a few days, ample,Hindushavebeenusingthe gy with the sound.And when you
you will cometo feelwhatit is.
soundcun. This maybe famiLiarto are empty - when you have been
In the beginning it may be forced, you.But I wont suggest
aum.Aum emptiedby the catharsisof the secan effort, or it may evenbe just act- strikesat the heartcenrc4but man ond step- this hoo goesdeepdown
ing. We havebecomeso falsethat is no longer centeredin the heart. andhis the sexcenter.
nothing real or authentic can be Aum is sriking at a door whercno The sex center can be hit in two
ways. The fint way is nanrally.
doneby us. We havenot laughed, oneis home.
we have not cried, we have not Sufishaveu*A hoo,andif you say Whenever you are attractedto a
screamed
authentically.Everything hoo loudly, it goesdeepo the sex memberof 0re op,positesex, the
is just a facade- a mask.So when center.So this soundis usedjust as sexcenteris hit fiom without.And
you begin to do this technique- in a hammeringwithin. When you fnt hit is alsoa subtlevibration.A
thebeginning- it may be forced.It have becomeempty and vacant, man is attractedt0 a woman or a
may needefforq theremay be just this soundcanmovewithin you.
womanis attractedo a man.Why?
acting.But do not botheraboutit. The movementof the soundis pos- What is therein a man and what is
Go on. Soonyou will touchthose sible only when you are empty.If therein a womanto accountfor it?
sourceswhere you have repressed you arc filled with repressions, A positive or negativeelectricity
many things.You will touchthose nothing will happen.And some- hits them,a subtlevibration.It is a
sources,and oncethey arereleased, times it is even dangerousto use sound, really. For example, you
you will feel unburdened.A new any mantraor soundwhenyou are may have observedthat birds use
life will cometo you; a new birth filled with repressions.
Each layer sound for sex appeal. All their
will takeplace.
of repressionwill changethe pattr singing is sexual.They are repeatThis unburdening
is basicandwith- of the soundand the ultimatercsult edly hitting eachother with particout it therecanbe no meditationfor may be somethingof which you ular sounds.These soundshit the
manas he is. Again,I am not talk- never dreamed,never expected, sexcentersof birds of ttre op,posite
ing aboutthe exceptions.They are never wished.You needa vacant sex.
irrelevanl
mind; only then can a mantrabe Subtle vibrations of elecricity are
hitting you ftom without. When
With this secondstep- whenthings used.
are thrown out - you becomeva- So I never suggesta mantra to your sexcenteris hit ftom without,
cant.And this is what is meantbv anyoneashe is. Fint theremustbe your energybeginsto flow outward

MEDITATIONS

- toward *re other.Then therewill

be reproduction,birth. Someone
elsewill bebom out of you.
Hoo is hining the samecenter of
energy,but fiom within. And when
the sexcenteris hit ftom within, the
energy starts to flow within. This
inner flow of ene4gychangesyou
completely. You become transformed:you give birth to yourself.
You are fansformed only when
your energymovesin a totally opposite direction.Right now it is
flowing out, but then it beginsto
flow within. Now it is flowing
down, but then it flows upward.
This upwardflow of energyis what
is known a kundalini.You will feel
it actually flowing in your spine,
and the higherit moves,the higher
you will move with it. When this
energyreachesthebrahnnrandhra
- the last centerin you: the seventh
cenleqlocatedat the top of ttp head
- you arctlrehighestmanpossible.
In the third step,I use loo as a vehicle to bring your energyupward.
Thesefint threestepsare cathartic.
They are not meditation,but just
preparationfor it. They arc a'getring ready'to takethejump, not the
jump itself.
The fourth step is the jump. In the
fourth stepI tell you to stopl When
I say "Stop!' stop completely.
Dont do anything at all because
anything you do can becomea di-

versionandyou will mis thepoinr

Anything- just a coughor a sn@ze
- and you may miss the whole
thing becausethe mind hasbecome
diverted.Thenthe upwardflow will
stop immediatelybecauseyour attentionhasmoved.
Dont do anything.You arenot going o die.Evenif a sn@zeis coming and you do not sneezefor tn
minutes,you will not die. If you
feel like coughing,if you feel an irritation in the thmatand you do not
do anything, you are not going to
die. Justlet your bodyrcmaindead
so that the energycan move in one
upwardflow.
When the energy moves upward,
you becomemoreand moresilent.
Silenceis the by-poductof energy
moving upwardand tensionis the
by-product of energy moving
downward.Now your whole body
will becomeso silent - as if it has
You will not be ableto
disappealed.
feel it. You have becomebodiless.
And whenyou aresilent,the whole
existenceis silentbecausetheexistenceis nothingbut a minor. It reflects you. In thousandsand thousandsof minors, it reflects you.
Whenyou aresilent,the wholeexistencehasbecomesilent.
In yoursilenceI will tell you to just
be a wihess - a constantalerhes:
not doinganything,butjust remaining a witness,just remainingwith

yourself; not doing anything - no

movement,no desire,no becoming
- butjust remainingthenandthere,
silentlywirresing what is happening.
That remaining in the center, in
yourself,is posible becauseof the
first threesteps.Unlessthesethree
arc done,you cannotremainwith
yourself. You can go on talking
about it, thinking about it" dreaming about it, but it will not happen
becauseyou arenot 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 meditation somethinghappensttnt is beyond words. And once it happens
you will neverbe the sameagain;it
is impossible.It is a growth; it is
not simply an experience.It is a
Sowth. s

Remember.
remaina ufrtness
his is a meditationin which
I you have to be continuously
alert, conscious,aware,whatsoever
you do. Remaina witness.Dont
getlost.
It is easyto get lost.While you are
breathingyou can forget.You can
becomeone with the brcathingso
much that you can forget the witf

MEDITATIONS

ness.But thenyou missthe point.

Breatheas fast, as deePas Possible, bring your total energyto it,
but still remaina witness.
Observewhat is happening,as if
you are just a spectatolas if the

wholettringis happeningto somebody else,as if the whole thing is

happeningin the body and the
and
is just centered
consciousness
looking.
This witnessinghas to be carried

in all the three steps.And when

everything stops, and in the
fourth step you have become
completelyinactive, frozen, then
this alertnesswill come to its
peak.4

THE MEDITATIONS

TIvoPowerfulMethods
for Awakening
hesearc not reallymeditations.
You arejust getting
I in tune.It is like...ifyou haveseenIndianclassical
musiciansplaying...forhalf an hour,or sometimes
even
more,they simply go on lxing their instruments.
They
will movetheirknobs,theywill makethestringstight or
loose,and the drum playerwill go on checkinghis drum
- whetherit is perfector not. For half an hour they go on
doingthis.This is not music,this is just preparation.
Kundaliniis not reallymeditation.It is just preparation.
You arepreparingyour instrument.Whenit is ready,then
you standin silence,thenmeditationstarts.Thenyou are
utterly therc.Youhavewokenyourselfup by jumping,by
dancing,by breathing,by shouting- theseareall devices
to makeyou a little morealert.than you ordinarilyare.
Onceyou arealert,thenthe waiting.Waitingis meditation. Waitingwith full awareness.
And then it comes,it
descendson you, it zunoundsyou it playsaloundyou, it
dancesaround you, it cleansesyou, it purifies you, it
transformsyou.

THE

MEDITATIONS

his is ilv much-lovedsisrer

meditationof Dynarnic
I
Meditation.It consistsof
tfour stagesof 15 minuteseach.
fTl

First stage:15minutes
Be looseand let your wholebody
theenergiesmoving
shake,feeling
up from yow feet. Let go everywhere and becomethe shaking.
Your eyes m6y fu opened or
closed.
Secondstage:15minutes
Dance... any way youfeel, and
let the whole body move as it
wishes.

KundaliniMeditation
Third stage:15 minutes
Closeyour eyesandbe still, sitting
or standing ... witnessingwhateveris happeninginsidcandow.
Fourth stage:15 minutes
Keeping your eyes closed, lie
downand 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
startsa little uembling, help it but
dont do ir Enjoy it, feel blissful
about it, allow it, receive it, welcomeit, but dont will ir
If you force it, it will becomean
exercise,a bodily physicalexercise.
Then the shakingwill be therebut
just on the surface,it will not penetrate you. You will rcmain solid,
stone-like,rocklike within; you
will remain the manipulator,tln

doeqandthe body will just be following. The body is not the question - you arethequestion.
WhenI sayshakeI meanyour solidity, your rock-like being should
shakeo the very foundationsso
that it becomesliquid, fluid, melts,
flows. And when the mck-like being becomesliquid, your body will
follow. Then there is no shake,
only shaking.Then nobody is doing it, it is simply happening.Then
thedoeris noL t

THE

MEDITATIONS

is another powerful,
|fihis
cathartic
technique that
I
createsa circle of energy
tthatresultsin a naturalcentering.
Tlrcreare four stagesof 15 minuteseach.
First stage:15minutes
With open eyesrun on the spot,
startingslowlyandgradually,gettingfaster andfaster.Bring your
knees up as high as possible.
Breathingdceplyand evenlywill
nnve the energy wilhin. Forget

MandalaMeditation
the mind and forget the body.
Keepgoing.

around. This will bring your

awakenedenergiesto the navel
center.

Secondstage:15 minutes
Third stage:15minutes
Sit with your eyes closed and
mouthopenand loose.Gentlyrotateyour bodyfrom thewaist,like
a reedblowingin the wind. Feel
thewindblowingyoufromsideto
side,back andforth, aroundand

secondhand of a vast clock, but

asfastaspossible.
Itisimportant
tlnt the mouthremainsopenand
fte jaw relaxed,with the breath
soft and even. This will bring
yow centeredenergies to the
third eye.

Lie on your back,openyour eyes

and, with tlu head still, rotate
them in a clockwisedirection. Fourth stage:15minutes
Sweepthemfully around in the
socketsos dyou arefollowing the Closeyoureyesandbe still.z

AA

++

1<

MEDITATIONS

Dancingasa Meditation
Disappearin the dance
E ' otg"t the dancel the centerof the ego; becomethe
I
dance.That is the meditation.Danceso deeplythat
you forget completelythat 'you' are dancingand begin
to feel that you arc the dance.The division must disap
pea4 then it becomesa 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 simpledance.Danceis
good in iself - as far as it goes,it is good.After it, you
will feel fiesh,young.But it is not meditationyet. The
dancermustgo, until only thedanceremains.
So what to do? Be rohlly in the dance,becausedivision
canexistonly if youarenot fotalin it. If you arestanding
asideand lookingat your own dance,the division will
rcmain: you are the dancerand you are dancing.Then
dancingis just an act,somethingyou aredoing;it is not
your being. So get involved totally, be mergedin it"
Dont standaside,dont be anobserver.
Participate!

MEDITATIONS

I.et the danceflow in its own way;

dont force ir Rathe! follow it; alIt is not a doing
low it o hap'pen.
but a happening.Remain in tlp
mood of festivity. You are not doing somethingvery serious;you are
just playing, playrngwith your life
energy,playing with your bioenergy, allowing it to move in its own
way. Just like the wind blows and
the river flows - you are flowing
andblowing.Feelir
And be playful. Rememberthis
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

NatarajMedttatton
ataraj is danceas a total
meditation. There ore
threestages,luting a total of 65 minutes.

over completely.Do not control fuwn immediately.Be silentand

yow movementsor be a witness still.
to what is lappening. Jttst be
totally in tlw dance.

First stage:40 minutes

With eyescloseddanceas tf possessed.I*t yow unconscbw take

Secnndstage:20 ninutes

Third stage:5 minutes

Keeping yow eyes closed, lie

Duce in celebrubn and enjoy. t

MEDITATIONS

Ct ufr Whirling is one of ttre

ancienttchniques,
one
\most
L-f of the most forceful.It is so
de4 that evena singleexperience
can make you lotally different
Whirl wittr open eyes, just like
small childrengo on twirling, a5 11
your innerbeinghasbecomea center and your whole body has become a wheel, moving, a pottr's
wheel,moving.You arein the centeqbutthewholebodyis moving.

Whirling Meditation
It is recommended
that rc food or
dri* fu takenfor three houts before whirling. It is best to have
barefeet and wear looseclothing.
Themeditationis dividcdinto 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 contirutcfor al
leastan hour to getfuUy iruo the
feelingof theenergywhirlpool.
Thewhirling is doneon thespotin
an anti-clockwisedirection, with
the right arm held high,palm upwards,and the left arm low, palm
downwards.Peoplewhofeel discon{ort from whirling anti-clockwisecan changeto clockwise.kt
yonr body be soft and keepyow

eyesopen, but unfocusedso that

imagesbecorneblurred and flowing.Remainsilent.
For the first 15 minutes, rolale
slowty. Then gradually build up
speedoverthenex 30 minutesuntil
the whirling takesover and you beconrcawhirlpoolof energy- theperipherya stormof rnovemeru
but the
winessat thecentersilentandstiil.
Whenyou are whirlingsofast that
you cannot remain upright, your
bodywill fall by itself.Don't make
the fall a decisionon your Wrt
nor attemptto arrangethelanding
in advance;if your body is soft
you will land softly and the earth
will absorbyour energy.
Onceyou lwvefallen, tlw secord

part of tlu meditationstarts.Roll

ontoyour stomachimmediately
so
thatyour barenavelis in contact
with the earth. If anybodyfeels
strongdiscomfortlying this way,
he slnuld lie on his back. Feel
your bodyblendinginto theearth,
like a small child pressedto the
motlrcr'sbreasts.Keepyour eyes
closed and remain passive and
silentforat leastl5 minutes.
After the meditationbe as qutet
andinacriveaspossible.
Somepeople may feel nsusezw
dwing the Whirling Meditation,
br.ttthisfeeling shoulddisappear
within two or three days. Only
discontinuethe meditationif it
Wrsists.2

THE

MEDITATIONS

Anything
Can Be a Meditation
If we cande-automhis is thesecrefde-autonatize.
L anzeour activities.then the whole life becomesa
meditation.Thenanysmallthing,takinga shower,eating
your food, talking !o your friend, becomesmeditation.
Meditationis a quality;it canbe bmughtta anything.lt
is not a specific act. Peoplethink that way, they think
meditationis a specificact - whenyou sit facingo the
east,you repeatcertainmantras,you burn someincense,
you do this and that at a parriculartime in a particular
way with a particulargesture.Meditationhasnothing o
do with all thosethings.They areall waysto autiomatize
it andmeditationis againstautomatization.
So if you cankeepalert,any activity is meditation;any
t
movementwill helpyou immensely.

49

TH E MEDITATIONS

t is nanral and easy to keep

alert while you arc in movement. When you are just sitting silently, the naturalthing is to
just fall asleep.When you are lying on your bed il is very difhcult
to keepalertbecause
thewholesityou
helps
fall
!o
asleep.But
uation
in movementnaturallyyou cannot.
fall asleep,you functionin a more
alen way.Theonly problemis that
the movementcan become mechanical.
Leamto melt yourbody,mind and

Running,Jogging,
andSwimming
soul. Find ways where you can
functionasa unity.
It happensmanytimesto runners.
You might not think of runningas
a meditation,but runnerssometimeshavefelt a tremendous
experience of meditation.And they
were surprised,becausethey were
not lookingfor it- who thinksthat
a runner is going to experience

God? But it has happened.And

now,moreandmore,runningis becominga new kind of meditation.
It canhappenwhenrunning.
If you haveever beena runneq,if
you have enjoyedrunning in tle
earlymomingwhenlhe air is ftesh
and youngand the whole world is
comingbackfromsleep,awakening
- you wererunningand your body

was functioning beautifully, the

freshai4,the new world bornagain
out of the dartnessof the night,
everythingsingingall aroundyou
werefeelingso alive ... a moment
comeswhentherunnerdisappean,
and there is only running. The
body,mind andsoulstartfunctioning togetheqsuddenlyan innerorgasmis released.

THE MEDITATIONS

Runnershave sometimescome irccidentallyon the experienceof the

fourth, twiya, altlnugh they will
mis it - 0reywill think it wasjust
becauseof running that they enjoyed the momenu that it was a
beautifulday,the body was healthy
and the world was beautiful,and it
wasjust a certainmood.They will
not take note of it - but if they do
takenoteof it, my own observation
is that a nnner can come close to
mediuationmore easily *ran anybody else.
Joggingcan be of immensehelp,
swimmingcanbe of immensehelp.
All the.sethings tnve to be transformedino meditations.
Drop the old ideasof meditationsthatjust siningundemeatha treein a
yoga postureis meditation.That is
only oneof the ways,andit may be
suitablefor a few peoplebut it is not
suitablefor all. For a smallchild il is

not meditation,it is tortue. For a

youngmanwho is aliveandvibrant
it is notmeditation.
it is repression,
Start running in the morning on
theroad.Startwith half a mile and
thenone mile andcomeeventually
to at le:tstthreemiles. While running usethe wholebody;dont run
Run
as if you are in a straitjacket"
like a smallchild, usingthe whole
body - handsand feet - and run.
Breathedeeplyand from the belly.
Thensit undera Ee,rst,perspire
and let the cool breezecome: feel
peaceful. This will help very
deeply.
Sometimesjust standon the earttr
without shoesand feel thecoolness,
the softness,the warmth. Whatsoever the earth is rcady to give in
that moment,just feel it and let it
flow throughyou. And allow your
energy to flow into 0re earth. Be
connectedwith theearth.

If you are connected with the

earth,you are connecM wifr life.
If you are connected with the
earth,you areconnectedwith your
body.If you areconnectedwith the
earth,you will becomevery sensitive and centered- and that'swhat
is needed.
Never becomean expert in running; remain an amateurso that
alertnessmay be kept. If you feel
sometimesthat running has become automatic, drcp it; try
swimming.If that hcomes automatic,thentry dancing.The point
to rememberis that the movement
is just a situationto cEate awareness.While it crcatesawareness
it
is good.If it stopscrcatingawarcness,then it is no morc of any
use;changeto anothermovement
where you will have to be alert
again.Never allow any activity o
becomeautornatic.z

52

TH E MEDITATIONS

aughterbrings someenergy
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 momentsyou arc in a deep

LaughingMeditation
meditativestate.Thinking stops.It
is impossibleto laughandthink ogether.They are diametricallyopposite:eitheryou can laughor you
can think. If you really laugh,
thinking stops. If you are still
thinking, laughterwill be just soso, lagging behind. It will be a
crippledlaughter.
When you really laugh, suddenly
mind disappears. As far as I

lnow, dancingand laughterarethe

best, natural, easily approachable
doors.If you really dance,thinking stops.You go on and on, you
whirl and whirl, andyou becomea
whirlpool - all boundaries,all divisions are losl You donl even
lnow whereyour body ends and
whereexistencebegins.You melt
into exislenceand existencemelts
into you; thereis an overlapping

of boundaries.And if you are really dancing - not managingit

but allowing it to manageyou, allowing it to possessyou - if you
are possessed
by dance,thinking
stops.
The samehappenswith laughter.If
you are possessedby laughter,
thinking stops.
Laughtercan be a beautiful inuodrction to a non-thinkingstat.3

THE

MEDITATIONS

Instructionsfor
Laughing Meditation

The laughingBuddha

puery
morning upon waking,
Ltbefore opening yotu eyes,
stretchlikz a cat.Stretcheveryfiber
of yow body.After three or four
mirwtes,with eyes still closed,begin to lutgh. For five mirutes just
laugh.At first you will be doing it,
but soonthesourd ofyour attempt
will causegenairc laughter.Lose
yourselfin laughter.It maytakeseveral days before it real$ lwppers,
to tlu
for we are sa un(rccustomed
phernmernn.But beforelong it will
be spontaneowand will changethe
wlnle ruure of yow day. ,

hereis a slory,in Japan,of tlre

I laughing Buddha,Hotei. His
whole teachingwas 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, infectious;a reallaughter,his wholebelly pulsatingwith the laughter,shaking wittr laughter.He would roll on
the ground with laughter Feople
who would collect together,they
f

would startlaughing,and thentlp

laughter would qpead, and tidal
wavesof laughter,and the whole
village would be overwhelmed
with laughter.
Peopleused to wait for Hotei to
come to their village becausehe
broughtsuchjoy, 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^augh5
tr washis only message.

54

THE MEDITATIONS

man cameto me. He had

Ueensufferingfrom chainL \smoking for thirty yean;
he was ill and the doctors said,
"You will neverbe healthyif you
dont sop smoking."But he wasa
chronic smoker;he could not help
it He had rried - not thar he had
not Fied - he had tried hard,and
he hadsufferedmuchin trying, but
only for one day or two days,and
thenagainthe urgewould comeso
remendously,
it wouldsimplytake
him away. Again he would fall
into the Mmepattern.
A
A

SmokingMeditation
Becauseof this smoking he had to understand.
Smokingis not only
lost all self-conf,rdence:
he knew a questionof your decisionnow.It
he could not do a small rhing; he has entered into your world of
could not stop smoking.He had habits; it has taken roots. Thirty
becomeworthlessin his own eyes; yearsis a long time. It has taken
he thoughthimself just the most rootsin your body,in yow chemworthlesspersonin the world. He istry; it hasspreadall over.It is not
had no rcspect for himself. He just a questionof your headdecidcamem me.
ing; your headcannotdo anything.
He said, "What can I do? How The headis impotent;it can start
can I stop smoking?"I said,"No- things,but it cannotstop them so
body can stopsmoking.You have easily. Once you have startedand

55

onceyou havepracticedso long,

you are a gitt yogl - thlrty
years' practicingsmoking!It has
become autonomous;you will
have to de-automatizeit." He
said, "What do you meanby 'deautomatization'?"
And that's what meditationis all
about,de-automatization.
I said, "You do one thing: forget
about stopping.Theie is no need
either. For thirty years you have

THE

smokedand lived; of courseit was

a suffering but you have become
accustomedto that too. And what
doesit matterif you die a few houn
earlier than you would have died
withoutsmoking?Whatale you going to do here?What have you
done? So what is the point whetheryou die Monday or Tuesday or Sunday,this year,that yearwhatdoesit matter?"
He said, "Yes, lhat is fue, it
doesnt matter."Then I said,"Forget about it; we are not going to
sop it at all. Ratheqwe are going
iL So next time, you
to understand
makeit a medication."
He said, "Meditation out of smoking?"
I said, "Yes. If Zen people can
make a meditationout of drinking
tea and can make it a ceremony,
why not? Smokingcan be as beautiful a meditation."
He lmked tirilled. He said, "What
arcyou sayrng?"
He becamealive! He said,"Meditation?just tell me- I can't,wait!"
I gave him the meditation.I said,
"Do one thing. When you are taking the packetof cigarettesout of
your pocket, move slowly. Enjoy
it, thereis no hurry.Be conscious,

MEDITATIONS

alert,aware;takeit out slowly with

full awarcness.Then take tlre
cigaretteout of the packetwith full
slowly - not in the old
awareness,
hunied way, the unconscious
way,
mechanical way. Then start tapping the cigareneon your packetbut very alertly. Listen to the
sound,just as Zen peopledo when
the samovarstars singingand the
teastansboiling ... and thearoma.
Then smell the cigaretteand the
beautyof it. . .."
He said,"What ale you saying?The
beauty?"
"Yes, it is beautiful. Tobaccois as
divine as anything.Smell iq it is
God'ssrnell."
He looked a little surprised. He
said,"What! fue youjoking?"
No, I am not joking. Even whenI
joke,I dontjoke.I amveryserious.
"Thenput it in your mouth,with full
light it with full awareawarness,
ness.Enjoy every act, every small
act, and divide it into as many acts
as possible,so you can become
morcandmorcawarc.
'"Then have
the hrst puff: God in
the form of smoke. Hindus say,
'AnnamBrahm' - 'Food is God'.
Why not smoke?AII is God. Fill
your lungs deeply - this is a

pranayam.Iam givingyou thenew

yoga for the new age! Thenrelease
the smoke, relax, another puff andgo very slowly.
"If you can do it, you will be surprised;soonyou will seethe whole
stupidity of ir Not becauseothers
have said that it is stupid, not becauseothershavesaidtlnt it is bad.
You will seeit. And the seeingwill
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 aboutiL"
After tluee monthshe cane and he
said,"But it dropped."
"Now," I said, "0ry it on other
thingstoo."
This is the secret,tie secrecde-aulomatize.
Walking, walk slowly, watchfully.
looking, look watcffully, and you
will seetreesare grcenerthan they
haveever beenand rosesarerosier
than they haveever been.Listen!
Somebodyis talking, gossiping:
listen, listen attentively.When you
are talking, talk attentively. lrt
your whole waking activity beo
comede-automatized.

56

THE

MEDITATIONS

Breatha Bridgeto Meditation

you will sudf f you can do somethingwith the breath,
Idenly tum to thepresent
If you can do somethingwith breath,you will attain to
the sourceof life. If you can do somethingwith heath,
you can transcendtime and space.If you can do something with breath,you will be in the world and also beyond it t

THE

MEDITATIONS

ipassanais the meditation

that has made more people in the world enlightened than any other,becauseit is
the very essence.All othermeditations havethe sameessence,but in
differentforms; somethingnon-essential is also joined with them.
But vipassanais pureessence.You
cannotdrop anythingout of it and
you cannot add anything to improveit
Vipassanais such a simple thing
that evena smallchild can do ir In
fact, the smallestchild can do it
better tlran you, becausehe is not

Vipassana
yet filled with ttr garbageof tln
mind; he is still clean and innocenL
Vipassanacan be done in three
ways- you can chmse which one
zuis you thebest
The fint is: awarenessof your actions, your body, your mind, your
hean" Walking, you should walk
with awarcness. Moving your
hand, you should move with

awaleness,tnowing perfectly that coolnessthatis comingto you, the

you arc moving the hand.You can water falling on you and the
moveit withoutany conscioumess, remendousjoy of it - just be alert.
like a mechanicalthing...you arc It should not go on happeningin
on a morning walk; you can go on an unconsciousstate.
walking without being aware of And the sameabout your mind.
your feet
Whatever thought passeson the
Be alert of the movementsof your screenof your mind, just be a
body. While eating,be alert to the watcherWhateveremotionpasses
movementsthat areneededfor eat- on tie screenof your heart"just rcing. Takinga showetbe alert o the main a witness- dont get in-

THE MEDITATIONS

vol{ed, dont get identified,dont Feel it at tlnt extreme- the otrer

evaluatewhat is good, what is bad; polarity ftromtlrebelly - feel it from
that is not part of your meditation. the nose.The heath going in gives
The secondform is breathing,be- a certain coolnessto your nostrils.
coming awareof brcathing.As the Then the brcathgoing out...breath
breathgoesin, your belly startsris- goingin, breathgoingoul
ing up, and as the heath goesout, That too is possible.It is easierfor
your belly starts seu.ling down men than for women.The woman
again. So the secondmethodis to is moreawareof the belly. Most of
be awareof the belly: its rising and the men dont evenbreatheas deep
falling. Just the very awarenessof as the belly. Their chest rises up
the belly rising and falling...and and falls down, becausea wmng
the belly is very close to ttre life kind of athleticsprevails over the
sourcesbecausethe child is joined world. Certainly it gives a morc
with the mother's life tlrough the beautiful form to the body if your
navel.Behindtlp navelis his life's chestis high and your belly is alsource.So, when the belly risesup, mostnon-existent.
it is rcallythelife energy,thespring Man haschoseno breatheonly up
of life that is rising up and falling to the chest,so the chestbecomes
down with eachbreath.That too is bigger and bigger and the belly
not difficult, and pertnps maybe shrinksdown. That appea$to him
even easier becauseit is a single to be morcathletic.
technique.
Around the world, exceptin Japan,
In the first, you haveto be awareof all athletesand teachersof athletes
the body, you have o be awareof emphasize
to breatheby filling yow
the mind, you have to be awareof lungs, expandingyour chest,and
your emotions, moods. So it has pullingthe belly in. The idealis the
ttuee steps. The second app'roach lion whosechestis big and whose
has a single step: just the belly, belly is very small.Sobe like a lion;
moving up and down. And the re- t]rathasbecomethe rule for athletic
sult is the same.As you become gymnasts,and the peoplewho have
more awarc of the belly, the mind beenworkingwith thebody.
becomessilent, the heart becomes Japanis the only exceptionwhere
silent,the moodsdisappear.
theydont carethatthechestshould
And the third is to be awareof the be hoad and the belly should be
brcath at the entrance,when the pulled in. It needsa certain discibreathgoesin tfuoughyour nostrils. pline to pull the belly in; it is not

natural.Japanhaschosenthe natural way, hence you will be surprised to see a Japanesestatueof

Buddha.That is the way you can
immediately discriminate whether
the statue is Indian or Japanese.
The Indianstatuesof GautamBuddha have a very athletic body; the
belly is very small and the chestis
very bmad.But the Japanese
Buddha is otally different;his chestis
almost silent, becausehe breathes
from the belly, but his belly is bigger.It doesnt look very good- because tlle idea prcvalent in the
world is so old, but breathingfiom
the belly is more natural,morc rclaxed.
In the night it happenswhen you
sleep; you don't breathefiom the
chest, you breathefrom the belly.
That'swhy the night is sucha relaxed experience.After your sleep,
in the morningyou feel so fiesh, so
young, becausethe whole night
you wercbrcathingnatually... you
wercin Japan!
Theseare the two points: if you
are afraid that breathingfrom the
belly andbeingattentiveto is rising and falling will desroy your
athletic form...men may be more
interestedin that athletic form.
Thenfor themit is easierto watch
near the nostrils where the breath
enters.Watch,andwhenthebreath
goesout"watch.

60

MEDITATIONS

are watching,so remembernot to

Thesearetrb tuee forms.Any one Sitting
you
becomeidenffied with wlatever
want
will do. And if
to do two
reasonably
comesup; questionsor problems
you
Find
a
cornfortable
forms together,
can do two
justbe seenas mysteriesto be
position
40
sit
to
may
to for
forms together;thenthe effort will and alert
you
Back
luad
shotld
enjoyed!
want 60 minutes.
and
becomemoreintense.If
to do all three forms together,you be straight, eyes closed and
can do all three forms together. breathingnormal. Stayas still as
Thenthepossibilitieswill be quick- possible,only changingpositionif Vipassanawalk
er.But it all dependson you, what- il is reallynecessary.
Whilesilting,theprirrury objectis This is a slow, ordinary walk
everfeelseasy.
of thefeet
Remember:
to be watchingthe rise andfall of basedon theawareness
easyis right.
As meditationbecomessefiledand the belly, slightlyabovethe navel, touchingtheground.
mind silent,the ego will disappear. causedby breathingin and out. It Youcan walk in a circle or a line
You will be there,but therewill be is not a concentrationtechnique, of l0 to 15 stepsgoing backand
no feelingof 'I'. Then0rcdoon are so while watching the breath, forth, inside or out of doors.
many other things will takc your Eyes should be lowered on the
open.
Just wait with a loving longing, attentionaway.Nothing is a dis- ground a few stepsahead.While
with a welcomein theheartfor that traction in vipassana,so when walking,the atlentionshouldgo
grcat moment - the greatestmo- something else comes up, stop to the contact of eachfoot as it
mentin anybody'slife - of enlight- watchingtlrc breath,pay attention buches the ground. If other
to wlatever is lappeninguntil it's things arise, stop paying attenenment.
It comes.. .it certainlycomes.It has possibleto go backto your breath. tion to the feet, notice what else
neverdelayedfor a singlemomenl This rnay include thoughts,feel- took your attention'andthen reOnceyou are in the right tuning,it ings,judgrrcnts,body sensations, turn to thefeet.
suddenlyexplodesin you, trans- impressions Irom the outside It is the swne techniqrcas in sitformsyou.
world,etc.
ting - bw watchinga diferent priThe old man is dead and the new It is theprocessof watchingthat is muy object.Youcan walk for 20
manhasarrived.z
significant,not so muchwhat you to 30 minutes.t

THE MEDITATIONS

fihiva said: Radiantone, this

\experience nny dawn beL) ween two breaths. After
breath comesin (down) and just
before twning up (ow) - the
beneficence.
When your breathcomes tn, obseme.Fot a single momentor a
thousandthpart of a moment,lherc
is no breathing- beforeit tums up,
beforeit tums outward.One breath
comes int then therc is a cerain
point andb,reathingstops.Thenthe
brcathinggosoul Whenthebreath
goes out, then again for a single

WatchingtheGap
in theBreath
moment,or a part of a momeni"
breathing stops. Then breathing
comesin.
Beforc the breathis turning in or
turning out, there is a moment
whenyou arenot brcathing.In tlnt
momentthe happeningis possible,
becausewhen you arc not brcathing you arc not in the world. Undentand this: when you arc not
brcathing you are dead; you are

still, but dead.But the momentis

of sucha strortduration,you never
obseneiL
Breathcoming in is rcbirth; heath
going out is death. The outgoing
brcath is synonymouswith death;
theincomingbreathis synonymous
with life. So with eachbreathyou
are dying and being reborn. The
gap benveenthe two is of a very
shortduration,but keensincereob-

servationand attentionwill 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"eaveit just as it is. Why sucha
simpletechnique?
It looksso simple. Such a simple techniqueo
lnow the truth?To know tlp trutlr
meansto know thiatwhich is nei62

MEDITATIONS

ther b6n nor dies, o know that do not miss the hath. Do not go
etemal element which always is. ahead;do not follow behind.Justgo
You canlnow the heath going out, with it. Rememberthis: do not go
you cantnow thebreathcomingin, ahead;do not follow it like a shadbut you never know the gap be- ow. Be simultaneous
with it.
tweenthe two.
Brcathandconsciousness
shouldbeTry it. Suddenlyyou will get tlrc comeone.The breathgoesin; you
point - and you can get ir it is al- go in. orily then will it be possible
readythere.Nothing is o be added to get the point which is between
to you or to your structue: it is al- two breaths.It will not be easy.
ready there. Everything is already Move in with the breath,thenmove
thereexcepta certainawarcnes.So out with the heath: in-out, inout
how to do this?First, becomeaware Buddharied particularlyo usethis
of the breath coming in. Watch it. method,so this methodhasbecome
Forgeteverything:jus warchheattr a Buddhistmethod.In Buddhisttercoming in - the very passage. minology it is tnown as 'AnaWhen the keath touchesyour nos- panasatiYoga'. And Brddha's entrils, feel it there.Thenlet the breath lightenmentwasbasedon this techmovein. Move with the breathfully nique- only this.
conscious. Whan you are going If you go on practicingbreathcondowrqdown, down with the breath, scioumess,breath awaleness,snd-

denly, orc day without knowing,

you will come to the interval. As
your awarnesswill becomekeen
and deep and intense, as your
awarcness
will becomebracketedthe whole wqld is bracketedouq
only your breathcoming in or going out is your wal( the whole
- sudarenafor you consciousness
denly yur arcboundo feel the gap
in which thercis no breath.
When you are moving wittr breattr
minutely, when there is no breath,
how can yur remainunaware?You
will suddenlybecomeaware that
thercis no breath,and the moment
will come when you will feel that
the b'reathis neither going out nor
coming in. The breathhas $opped
completely.In that stryping, "the
beneficence."r

THE

MEDITATIONS

(-l hiva said: Whenin worldly

acnviry keep attentive be\
ween the two breatls, and
LI
so practicing, in a few days be
born anew.
Whatsoeveryou are doing, keep
your affentionin the gap betrveen
the nvo breaths.But it must be
practicedwhile in activity.
We have discussedthe technique
that is just similar. Now tlrere is
only this ffierence, that this haso
be practicedwhile in worldly activity. Do not practice il in isolation. This practiceis to be done

WatchingtheGap
in theMlrketplace
while you are doing something
else.You are eating:go on eating,
andbe auentiveto thegap.You are
walking: go on walking and be attentiveto thegap.Youaregoingto
sleep: lie down, let sleep come.
But you go on being attentive to
thegap.
\thy in activitf Becauseactivity
disracls the mind Activity calls
your attentionagainand 4gain.Do

not bedisuacted.Be fued at thegap,

anddo not stopactivity;let ttreactivity cmtinue.You will havetwo lay- doingandbeing.
ersof existerrce
Wehavetwo layersof existence:the
world of doingandthe world of being, the circumference
and the center.Go on workingon theperiphery
on the circumference;
do not stopit.
But go on working attentively on
the centeralso. What will happen?

Your activity will becomean acting, asif you areplayinga part.

If this method is practiced,your
whole life will becomea long drama. You will be an actor playlng
roles,but constantlycenteredin the
gap.If you forgettlregap,thenyou
arc not playrngroles;you havebecomethercle.Thenit is not a drama. You havemistakenit as life.
Thatis whatwe havedone.Everv-

&

THE

MEDITATIONS

fi hiva said: Whenin worldly

acrrviry kcep attentive be\
L) ween the two breaths,and
so practicing, in a few days be
born anew.
Whatsoeveryou arc doing, keep
your attentionin the gap benveen
the two brcaths.But it must be
practicedwhile in activity.
We have discussedthe technique
tlnt is just similar. Now there is
only this difference,that this haso
be practicedwhile in worldly activity. Do not practice it in isolarion. This practice is o be done

WatchingtheGap
in theVtErketplace
while you are doing something
else.You are eating:go on eating,
andbe atlentiveto tlre gap.Youare
walking: go on walking and be attentiveo thegap.You aregoing to
sleep: lie down, let sleep come.
But you go on being attentive to
tttegap.
Why in activity? Becar:seaaivity
distracls the mind Aaivity calls
your attentionagainand agai[ h

not bedisracted.Be lxed at thegap,

anddo not stopaaivity; let theaaivity continue.You will havewo lay- doingandbeing.
rsof existence
Wehavetwo layersof existence:the
world of doingandthe world of being, the circumference
and the center.Go on workingon the periphery
do not stopit.
on the circumference;
But go on working attentivelyon
the centeralso. What will happen?

Your activity will becomean acting, asif you areplayinga part.

If this method is practiced,your
whole life will becomea long drama. You will be an actrorplayrng
roles,but constantlycentercdin the
gap.If you forgetthegap,thenyou
arcnot playrngnles; you havebecometherole.Thenit is not a drama. You have mistakenit as life.
Thatis whatwe havedone.Everv-

&

MEDITATIONS

one rhfuilshe is living life. It is not

life. It is just a role - a part which
hasbeengiven to you by society,by
by culnrrc,by fadicircumstances,
tion, by the counEy,the situation.
You havebeengiven a role.You are
playing iq you havebecomeidentified with iL To brcakthat identification, usethis 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 attentionis at the center,then
your atention is not rcally on the
periphery;that is just 'sub-attention'. It just happenssomewhere

near your attention. You can feel

it, you can know it, but it is not
significant. It is as if it is not happening to you. I will repeatthis: if
you practice this technique, your
whole life will be as if it is not
happeningto you - as if it is happeningto someoneelse.s

THE

MEDITATIONS

f-lhiva said: With innngible

\ brecrlr in tlu center of rlu
L) forelead, as thisrerchcs thc
laart at thc monuu { sleep,lwve
direction over dreatns and over
dcathilself.
Ii*e this lechniquein tluee parc.
One, you must be able to feel the
prana in breath,fte intangiblepart
of it" the invisiblepart of it, the immaterial part of it. The feeling
comesif you arc attentivebetween
the two eyebrcws.Then it comes
easily. If you are auentivein the
gap,then too it comes,but a little
lesseasily.If you ale awareof the

DrcamMastery
centerat your navel where breath
comesand touchesand goesout, it
alsocomes,but with lessease.The
easiestpoint fiom which to know
the invisible part of heath is to be
centercdat the third eye.But wherever you arB centered,it comes.
Youbeginto feel the pranaflowing
in.
The ingoing breathand the outgoing breatharethe sameasvehicles,

but the incoming breath is filled

with pranaand the outgoingbreath
is empty. You have sucked the
pran4 and the breathhas become
empty.
This suEais very, very signihcanc
"With intangiblebreathin the center of the folehead,as this rcaches
tlrc heart at, the momentof sleep,
have direction over dreams and
over death itself." While vou are

falling ino sleep, this technique

hasto be practiced- thenonly, 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, sleepis overtaking
you. lilithin moments,your consciousne^ss
will dissolve;you will
not be awarc.Beforcthat moment
comes,becomeaware- awareof
6

THE MEDITATIONS

the breathand the invisible part,

prana,and feel it coming to the
heart.
If this happens- that you are feeling invisiblebreathcomingino the
heartandslcepovertakesyou- you
will be awarein dreams.You will
know that you arc dreaming.ftinarily we do not lnow that we are
dreaming.While you dream you
think that this is reality. That too
happensbecauseof the third eye.
Have you seenanyoneasleep?His
eyesmoveupwardand becomefocusedin the third eye.
Becauseof this focusing in the
third eye,you take your dreamsas
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 reuospectiverealization.You
cannotrcalizn,in the dreamthat you

aredreaming.If you realizeit, then

there are two layen: the &eam is
there,but you are awake,you are
aware
aware.For onewho becomes
in dreams.this sutrais wonderful.
Il. says, "Have direction over
dreamsandoverdeathitself."
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 cannotcreatedreams!If you
want to dreama particularthing,
you cannotdream it; it is not in
your hands.How powerlessman
is! Evendreamscannotbe 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 createit.
But if you moveinto sleepremembering the heart being filled with

prana,continuouslybeingouched
by prana with every breath, you
will become a master of your
dreams- andthis is a raremastery.
Then you can drcam whatsoever
dreamsyou like. Just note while
you are falling asleepthat "I want
to dream this dteam," and that
dreamwill 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 masterof your &eaming?Isnt
it useless?No, il is not useless.
Once you becomemasterof your
dreamsyou will neverdream.It is
absurd.When you are master of
your dreams,&eaming stops;therc
is no needfor it And whendreaming stops,your sleephasa different
quality altogettnr,and the quality is
thesameasof death.o

MEDITATIONS

the breath and the invisible part,

prana,and fecl il coming o the
heart.
If this happens- that you are feeling invisiblebreathcomingino the
heartand sleepovertakesyou - you
will be awarein dreams.You will
know that you arc &eaming. ffiinarily we do not lnow that we are
dreaming.While you dream you
think that this is reality.That oo
happensbecauseof the third eye.
Haveyou seenanyoneasleep?His
eyesmoveupwardand becomefocusedin thethird eye.
Becauseof this focusing in the
third eye, you takeyour dreamsas
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^sdreaming."But this is the
later, reuospectivercalization.You
cannotrcalizein the dreamftat vou

aredreaming.If you realizeit, then

there are two layers: the dreamis
there,but you arc awake,you are
aware.For onewho becomes
aware
in dreams,this sutrais wonderful.
It says, "Have dfuection over
dreamsandoverdeathitself."
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 cannotcreatedreams!If you
want to dreama particularthing,
you cannotdream it; it is not in
your hands.How powerlessman
is! Evendreamscannotbe 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 createit.
But if you moveinto sleepremembering the heart being filled with

pnana,continuouslybeing ouched
by prana with every breath, you
will become a master of your
dreams- and this is a raremastery.
Then you can dream whatsoever
dreamsyou like. Just note while
you are falling asleepthat "I want
to dream this dream," and that
dreamwill 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 masterof your &eaming?Isnt
it useless?No, it is not useless.
Once you becomemasterof your
dreamsyou will neverdrcam.It is
absurd. When you arc master of
your drcams,&eaming sbps; therc
is no needfor it. And whendreaming stops,your sleephasa different
quality altogetheqandthe quality is
thesameasof death.o

THE

MEDITATIONS

atdnjali said: The mind

also becotnestranquil by
alternately expelling and
retainingthebreath.
Wheneveryou feel that the mind is
not uanquil- tense,worried,chattering, anxious,constantlydrcam-

ThrowingThingsOut
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, becausebrcathing
is everything.And then expel the
heath asfar aspossible.
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
sarneas when you retainthe 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 threeseconds.But it

has o be thrown out completely.
Exhale totally and inhale otally,
and makea rhythm. Hold, breathe
in; hold, breatheout. Hold, breathe
in; hold, breatheout Immediately
you will feela changecominginto
your wholebeing.The moodwill
go; a new climatewill enterinto
You.r

MEDITATIONS

Openingthe Heart
tl-

h" heart is the gateles gate to reality. Move frrom

I the headto the heartWeareall hungup in thehead.That is our only problem,
theonly oneproblem.And thercis only onesolution:get
dowm ftom the headino the heartandall problemsdisappear.They are createdby the head. And suddenly
everythingis so clearandso Eansparcnt
thatone is surprisedhow onewascontinuously
inventingproblems.
Mysteries remain but problemsdisappear.Mysteries
aboundbut problemsevaporate.And mysteriesarebeautiful. Theyarcnot to be solved.Theyhaveo be lived.t

ME DITATIONS

he fint point try to be

headless. Visualize yourself as headless: move
headlessly.
It soundsabsurd,but it
is one of fte most importantexercises. Try it, and then you will
know. Walk, and feel as if you
have no head.In the beginning it
'as if '. It will
will be only
be very
weird. When the feeling comesto
you that you haveno head,it will
be very weird and strange.But by
and by you will settledown at the
heart.
Thereis a law. You may haveseen
tlnt someonewho is blind has

FromHeadtoHeart
keener sars, morc musical ears.
Blind men are more musical;their
feeling for music is deeper.Why?
The energy that ordinarily moves
throughtheeyesnow cannotmove
throughthem, so it chmses a differentpath - it movesthroughthe
ears.
Blind men havea deepersensitivity of ouch. If a blind man touches
you, you will feel the difference,

becausewe ordinarily do much

work with ouch throughour eyes:
we aretouchingeachother through
otu eyes.A blind mancannottouch
through the eyes, so the energy
movesthroughhis hands.A blind
man is more sensitivethan anyone
who has eyes.Sometimesit may
not be so,but generallyit is so.Energy sffts moving from another
centerif onecenteris not there.

So ury this exerciseI am talking

about- the exercisein headlesness- andsuddenlyyou will feel a
strangething: it will be as if for
the hrst time you are at the heart.
Walk headlessly. Sit down to
meditate,closeyour eyesandsimply feelttnt thercis no head.Feel,
"My headhasdisappeared."
In the
beginningit will bejust 'as if ', but
by and by you will feel that the

THE

MEDITATIONS

head has really disappeared.And thatyou arelookingfiom theheart. justiceof the High Court.His wife
when you feel that your head has By andby the heartcenterwill be- told me,"I haveonly oneproblem
disappeared,your center will fall gin to function.And whenthehearr t0 tell you.Canyou helpme?"
down to the heart- immediately! functions,it changesyour trotalper- SoI said,"What is theproblem?"
You will be looking at the world sonality, ttrc total structure, the She said, "My husbandis your
through the heart and not through wholepattern,becausethehearthas friend. He loves you and respecb
its own way.
you, so if you say somethingto
thehead.
When for the first dme Westemen So the hrst thing:ry headlesmess.him it maybe helpful."
reachedJapan,theycouldn'tbelieve Secondly,be moreloving, because So I askeJher."What is to be said?
that the Japanesetraditionally have love cannot function through the Tell me."
beenthinking for centuriesthat they head.Be moreloving! That is why, She said, "He remains a High
think throughthebelly.If you aska when someoneis in love, he loses Courtjudgeevenin bed.I havenot
Japanese
child - if he is not educat- his head.Peoplesay that he has known a loveq a friend or a hused in Westemways - "Where is gone mad. If you are not in love band. He is a High Court judge
your ttrinking?"he will point to his and mad,thenyou arenot rcally in twenty-fourhoursa day."
love. The headmustbe lost. If the It is difficult: it is difficult to come
belly.
Centuries and centuries have head is there unaffected,function- down from your pedestal.It bepassed,and Japanhas been living ing ordinarily,tien love is not pos- comesa fixed attitude.If you area
you will remain a
without the head.It is just a con- sible,becausefor love you needthe businessman,
cept. If I ask you, "Where is your heartto function- not the head.It businessman
in bed also.It is difficult to accommodatefwo perthinkinggoingon?" you will point is a functionof theheart.
very
rational
head,
a
Japanese
It
happens
when
sons
within, and it is not easyto
toward the
but
$rat
a
personwill point to thebelly,not to person falls in love, he becomes change your pattern completely,
the head- one of the reasonswhy stupid.He himself feels what stu- immediately,
anytimeyou like. It
pidity
he is doing, what silliness. is difficult, but if you are in love
the Japanesemind is more calm,
quiet andcollected.
What is he doing! Then he makes you will haveto comedown from
Now this is disturbedbecausethe two partsof his life; hecreatesa di- thehead.
West has spread over everyhing. vision.The heartbecomesa silent, So for this meditation try to be
Now there exists no Easr Only in intimateaffair. When he movesout moreandmoreloving.And whenI
some individualswho are like is- of his house,he movesout of his saybe moreloving,I meanchange
lands here and tlpre does the East heart.He livesin theworld with the the qualityof your relationship:let
exist. Geognphically, the East has headand only comesdown to the it be basedon love.Not only with
disappealed.Now the whole world heartwhen he is loving. But it is your wife or with your child or
very difficult. It is very difficult" with your friend,but towardlife as
is Westem.
such,becomemoreloving.That is
Try headlessness.
Mediate standing andordinarilyit neverhappens.
beforeyour minor in the batlroom. I was staying in Calcutta at a why Mahavir and Buddha have
Look deep ino your eyes and feel friend'shouse,and the friend wasa ralkedabout non-violence:it was

't2

t
l

MEDITATIONS

just to crcatea loving a$inrdetowardlife.

When Mahavir moves,walks, he
remainsawarenot 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 relationshipis basedon love - all relationships - the more your heart
center will function. It will start
working; you will look at the
world throughdifferent eyes: becausethe hearthasits own way of

lookingat theworld.The mind can

neverlook in that way: that is impossiblefor the mind. The mind
can only analyze!The heart synthesizes;the mind can only dissect, divide. It is a divider.Only
the heartgivesunity.
When you can look through the
heartthe whole universelooks like
one unity. When you approach
throughthe mind, the whole world
becomesatomic.Thercis no unity:
only atomsand atomsand atoms.
The heart gives a unilary experience.It joins togetherand the ulti-

mate synthesisis God. If you can

look through the heart, the whole
universelooks like one. That onenessis God.
That is why sciencecan neverfind
God. It is impossible,becausethe
metlrcdapplied can neverreachto
the ultimateunity.The very method
of scienceis reason,analysis,division. So science comes to
molecules,aloms, electrons,and
they will go on dividing. They can
nevercome to the organicunity of
thewhole.The wholeis impossible
to look at throughthe head.z

THE

MEDITATIONS

t is best to do this prayer at

night, in a darkenedroom, going to sleepimmediatelyafterwards; or it can be done in the
moming,but it must be followed
by frfteenminutesrcsL This rcst is
necessary,othenviseyou will feel
asif you aredrunk,in a snrpor.
This merging with energy is
prayer.It changesyou. And when
you clnnge, the whole existence
changes.
Raiseboth your handsowards the
sky,palmsuppermost,headup,just
feelingexistence
flowingin you.
fu the energy flows down your
arms you will feel a gentle tremor

PrayerMeditation
- be like a leaf in a breeze,trembling. Allow it" help il Then let
your whole body vibrate with energy,andjust let whateverhappens
happen.
You feel againa flowing with the
earth.Earfirandheaven,aboveand
below yin and yang, male and female - you float, you mix, you
drop yourself completely.You are
not.Youbecomeone ... 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 vehicleto allow thedivine energy
to unitewith thatof theearth.
Thesetwo stagesshouldbe repeated six more times so that each of
thechabas can'becomeunblocked.
More timescanbe done,but if you
do less you will feel restlessand
unableto sleep.
Go into sleepin that very stateof
prayer.Justfall asleepand tlte energy will be there.You will be flow-

ing with it, falling ino sleep.That

will help very greatlybecausethen
the energy will surroundyou ilre
whole night and it will continueto
work. By the moming you will
feel morefrestrthanyou haveever
felt before, more vital than you
haveever 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 songin your heart,and
a new dancein your step.I
74

MEDITATIONS

hiva said: In any easy position gradually pervade an

area between the armpits
into greatpeace.
A very simplemethodbut it works
miraculously- try it. And anyone
can try it, thereis no danger.In an
easyposition: the hrst thing is to
be in a relaxed position - easy,
whatsoeveris easy for you. So
dont try some particular position
or asana.Buddhasits in a particular posture.It is easyfor him. It
can also becomeeasy for you if
you practice it for a time, but, in
the very begrnningit will not be

TheHeart
of Peacefulness
easyfor you. And thereis no need
to practice ic srart from any posnue ftat comeseasy to you right
now. Dont sruggle with posture.
You can sit in an easychair andrelax. The only thing is your body
mustbe in a relaxedstate.
Just close your eyes and feel all
over the body. Start from the legs
feeling whetherthereis someten-

sion.If you feel somewhere

thereis Wherever you feel the tension
sometension,do onething:makeit makeit more,because
it is easyto
more tense.If you feel that in the relaxit whenit is intense.In just a
leg,in theright leg,thercis tension, mid-stateit is very difficult bethenmakethat tensionas intenseas causeyou cannotfeel it.
possible.Bringit to a peakandthen It is easy to move from one exrelax so that you can feel treme to another,very easy, besuddenJy
how rclaxation settlesthere. Then causetlte very extremecreatesthe
go all over the bodyjust finding if situationto moveto theother.Soif
there is sometensionsomewhere. vou feel sometensionin the face

THE

then strain all the face musclesas

much as possible,create tension
and bring it o a peak.Bring it o a
point wherc you feel that now no
moreis possible- thensuddenlyrelax. So see tlnt all parts of the
body,all the limbs,arerelaxed.
Be particularabout the face muscles,becausetheycarry ninetypercentof the tensions- the restof the
body carriesonly ten percent- becauseall your tensionsare in the
mind andthe facebecomesthe storage.So strainyour face as muchas
possible,dont be shy about it- Intenselymake it in anguish,anxiety
- and then suddenlyrclax. Do it for
five minutes so you can feel now
the whole body, every limb, is rclaxed.
You can do it lying on the bed,you
can do it siaing also - howsoever
you feel is easyfor you.
The secondthing: when you feel
that the body has come to an easy
posturc,dont makemuchfussabout
it. Justfeel that the body is relaxed,
thenforgetthe body.Becar.rse
rcally,
rememberingthe 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 relaxatiorL becausewhenever you remernberloo muctr,that vry rmemberinghings a tensionto thebody.
Then close your eyesand just feel
the areabenpeenthe wo armpis:

MEDITATIONS

the heartarea,your chesr Fint feel

it, just benpeenthe npo armpits,
bring your total attention, total
awarcness.Forget the whole body,
just ttn heartareabetweenthe 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 attentionjust to the
chestand consciouslyfeel that it is
filled with peace,much peacewill
happenimmediately.
There are two arcas in the body,
particular centrswhete particular
feelingscanbe crcatedconsciously.
Betweenfte npo armpis is the center of the heart,and the heartcenter
is the sourceof all peacettrat hap
pens to you, wheneverit happens.
Whenever you are peaceful, the
peaceis comingfiom thehearr The
heart radiates peace. That's *hy
people fiom all over the world,
without any distinctionof caste,religion, counury,culhred s unculhled, everyrace,havefelt this: that
love arises somewhereforn the
heart No scientific explanationexists.
So wheneveryou think of love you
think of tte heart ReallX whenever
you arc in love you arerelaxed,and
becauseyou arc rclaxed you arc

filled with aenanpeace. And tlut

peace arises ftun the ttearr So
peace and love have become
Fined, associated.Wheneveryou
arein love you arepeaceful;whenever you are not in love you are
disurbed. Becauseof peace the
heart has becomeassociatedwitlr
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 dependentin a
way. So love will give you peace
sometimesbut not always. Therc
will be many disnrbances,many
momentsof anguish and anxiety,
becausethe other has entercdand
wheneverthe other entersthere is
bound to be somedisnrbance becauseyou can meetwith the other
only on your surface,and the surface will be disnrbed. Only sometimes - when the two of you will
be so deeply in love with no conflict - only sometimesyou will be
relaxed and ttre heart will glow
with peace.
So love cangrveyou only glimpses
ofpeacebut neverreally any esab
lishment,any mote&tessin peace.
No etemal peac is poasible
thmrgh it, only glimpces.And be-

76

THE MEDITATIONS

tween two glimpses herc will be

deep valleys of conflict, violence,
haued,anger.
The other way is not to find peace
throughlove, but !o find peacedirectly.If you can find peacedfuectly
- and his is ttre method- yow life
will becomefilled with love. But
now the quality of love will be differenL It will not be possessive;it
will not be centercdon one. It will
not be dependentand it will not
make anyone dependenton you.
Your love will becomejust a lovingness,a compassion,a deepempathy.
And now no one, not even a lover,
candiswb you,becauseyour peace
is alreadyrmted and you love is
coming as a shadowof your inner
peace.The whole thing hasbecome
revened: so Buddhais 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 absence;if you love you will suffer
the prcsenceof love. You areon the
surfaceand whatsoeveryou do can
give you only momentarysatisfactions, and then again,the da* valley.
The trcartis nanrally the sourceof
peace,so you arc not crcatinganything. You arc simply coming o a
sourcewhich is always therc. And
this imaginationwill help you be77

oomeawaretlnt the treartis filled

with peace,not that this imagination will crcate the peace.This is
the differencebetweenthe tanra attitude and Westernhlpnosis: hyp
notists think that by imagination
you arecreatingiq anra thinksthat
you are not crcatingit - by imaginationyou ale simply becomingatnrned to somethingthat is akeady
there. Whatsoeveryou can crcate
by imagination cannot be permanenl If it is not a rcality then it is
false,unreal,and you arecreatinga
hallucination.
Try this: wheneveryou arc able o
feel the peace benveen the two
armpits frlling you, pervadingyour
own heart centet the world will
look illusory.This is a signthat you
haveenteredmeditation- when the
world feels, appearsio be illusory.
Dont think that the world is illusory; thereis no needto thlnk - you
will feel ir It will suddenlyoccurto
your mind - "What has happened
to the wuld?" The wold has suddenly gonedreamy,a dreamlikeexistence.It is there,without any substance, just like a film on 0te
scren.It looks so rcal; it can even
be tlrce-dimensional- just looks,
looks a projectedthing.Not that the
world is a pojected thing, not that
it is rcally unreal- no. The world is
rcal but you crcatedistance,and the
distarrce becomes geater and

greate[ And you can undenand

whether he distarce is becoming
gater andgeater or not"by knowing how you arc feeling about the
world. So tlnt is the criterion. This
is not a truih - that the world is unrcal - this is a meditativecriterion.
If tlle world has become urueal,
you havebecomecentercdinto tlp
being.Now the surfaceandyou are
so far awaythat you can look at the
surface as something objective,
somethingotlpr than you. You are
not identified"
This technique is very easy and
will not take much time if you try
iL Even sometimesil happenswith
this techniquethat in the very fint
effort you will feel the beautyand
the miracleof 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 easyyou cando it any time.Just
lying on your bed at night you can
do ig just in tlte momingwhenyou
feel that you arc now awake you
can do iL Do it fnst and then get
up, even ten minutes wiu be
enough,or tenminutesat nightjust
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
becomesuruealjust befue falling
asleep,dreamswill be fewer becauseif the world has becomea

THE

MEDITATIONS

body is rclaxed after tlre whole

night, feelingfiesh andalive so do
this experimentfor ten minutes,
thenopen the eyes.Relax. You are
akeady rclaxed; it will not trke
much time. Just relax. Bring your
consciousness
to the heartjust betweenthe 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 becausethat
peace will be radiated fiom your
eyesalso.And the wholeday you
will feel different- not only will
you feel diffetent, you will feel
people are behaving differently
with you.
To every rclationship you conery.
The momentyou becomedert that tribute something.If your contribunow sleepis finished,dont open tion is not there,peoplebehavedifyour eyes first. First do this: the ferentlybecausethey feel you area
&eam, drcams cannot continue.
And if ttp world is unrcal,you are
toully rclaxed,othenvisetlrc rcality
of the world goeson impinging on
you, hammeringon you.
As far as I know - I havesuggested
this techniqueto many peoplewho
suffer ftrom insomnia - it helps
deeply.If ttp world is unreal,tensions dissolve. And if you can
move ftromthe periphery you have
akeady moved to a deep state of
sleep- beforesleepcomesyou are
alrcadydeepinto ir And thenin the
moming it is beautifulbecauseyou
are so fresh, so young, the whole
energy vibrating and just coming
fiom the cenbr back to tlrc periph-

different person.They may not be

awareof it. But whenyou arefilled
with peace everyone will behave
differcndy with you. They will be
moreloving and morekind, lessrcsisant, more qpent closer. The
magnetis there. The peaceis fte
magneL When you arc peaceful
people come nearcr to you; when
you arc disturbedeveryoneis repeled. This is so physical a phenomenonthat you can obsene it
easily.Wheneveryou ale peaceful
you will feel everyonewantsto be
closerto you becausethat peaceradiates, it becomes vibrations
aroundyou. Circlesof pe4cemove
aroundyou and whosoevercomes
nearfeelsto be nearerto you -just
like the shadowof a ree and you
feel to move underthe shadowand
relaxthere.I

78

ME DITATIONS

liva said: Blessedone, ss

sensesare absorbedin the
heart, reach the center of

thelotus.
So what is to be donein this technique?"As sensesareabsorbedin
the hear..." Try! Many ways are
possible.You touch someone:if
you arc a heart-orientedperson
the touch immediately goes to
your heart, and you can feel the
quality. If you take the hand of a
personwho is head-oriented,
the
handwill 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 handto you, and therewill be
a meeting- a communicationof
warmth.
This warmth comes fiom the

heart.It can nevercomefiom the

head becausethe head is always
cool,cold,calculative.Theheartis
warm, non-calculative.The head
always thinks about how to take
more, the heartalways feels how
to give more.Thatwarmthis just a
giving- a givingof energy,a giving of innervibrations,a giving of
life. That is why you feel a differ-

entqualityin it. If thepersonreally embracesyou, you will feel a

deepmeltingwith him.
Touch! Close your eyes; touch
anything.Touchyour belovedor
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 communicationfrom

THE

your heart to the earth, or to your

beloved.Justfeel that your handis
your heart stretchedout to touch
the earth.Let the feeling of ouch
be relatedto theheart.
Whenyou arelisteningto music,do
not listen to it fiom the head.Just
forget your head and feel that you
areheadless.Thereis no headat all.
It is gmd to haveyour own picture
in your be&oomwithout the head.
Concentrateon it: you are without
the head;do not allow the headto
comein. While listeningto music,
listen to it from the heart.Feel the
music coming to your heart; let
your heartvibratewith it. tet your
sensesbe joined to the heart"not to
the head.Try this with all the senses, and feel moreand morethat every sensegoes into the heart and
dissolvesinto it.
"Blessed one, as sensesare absorbedin the heart,reachthe center
of the lotus."The heartis the lotus.
Every senseis just the openingof

MEDITATIONS

thelotus,thepetalsof thelotus.Try
to relate your sensesto the heart
first. Secondly,always think tlnt
every sensegoes deep down ino
the heartand becomesabsorbedin
it. When thesetwo things become
established,only then will your
senses
beginto help you: they will
leadyou t0 the heart,andyour heart
will becomea lotus.
This lotus of the heartwill give you
a centering. Once you lnow the
centerof the heart,it is very easyto
fall down into thenavelcenterIt is
very easy! Really, this sutra does
not even mentionthis; thereis no
need.If you arc rcally absorbedin
the heart totally, and reason has
stoppedworking, then you will fall
down. From the heart, the door is
openedoward the navel.Only from
the headis it difficult o go toward
thenavel.Or, if you arebetweenthe
two, between the heart and the
head,thentoo it is difhcult to go to
the navel.Onceyou areabsorbedin

fte navel,you havesuddenlyfallen

beyond the hearr You have fallen
into tlp navel center which is the
basicone- theoriginal.
If you feel that you area heart-oriented person, then this method
will be very helpful to you. But
know well that everyoneis trying
to deceivehimselfthat he is heartoriented. Everyone tries o feel
that he is a very loving person,a
feeling type - becauselove is such
a basicneedthatno onecanfeel at
easeif he seesthat he hasno love,
no loving heart.So everyonegoes
on thinking and believing,but belief will not do. Observevery impartially, as if you are observing
someoneelse, and then decidebecausethere is no need to deceiveyourselfand it will be of no
help.Evenif you deceiveyounelf,
you cannotdeceivethe technique.
So when you do this technique,
you would feel thatnothingis happening.s

80

MEDITATIONS

tisln said: Train in joining, sendingand takingtogetlur. Do this by riding

the breath.
Atisha says: start being compassionate.And the methodis, when
you breathein - listen carcfully,it
is one of the geatest methodswhen you breathe in, think that
you arc breathingin all the miseriesof all the peoplein the world"
All the darkness,all the negativity,
all the hell that exisls anywhere,
you are brcathingit in. And let it
be absorbedin your heart.

Atisha'sHeartMeditation
You may havereador heardabout
the so-called positive thinkers of
the West.They sayjust the opposite - 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, cheerfulness."
Atisha's method is just ttre opposite: when you brcatln in, breathe
in all ttre misery and suffering of

all the beings of the world - past,

presentandfutue.
And whenyou breatheouEbreathe
out all thejoy that you have,all the
blissfulnessthat you have, all ttte
benedictionthat you have.Brcathe
out" pour yourself ino existence.
This is the methodof compassion:
drink in all the suffering and pour
out all tlte blessings.
And you will be surprisedif you do
it. The momentyou takeall the sufferingsof the world insideyou,they

areno longerzufferings.The hean

immediatelytransformsthe energy.
The heart is a ransforming force:
ddnk in rnisery, and it is uansformed into blissfulness...then
pour it out.
Once you have leamed that your
heartcan do this magic,this miracle, you would like o do it again
and again.Try it. It is one of the
most practical methods, simple,
Do
anditbrings immediatercsults.
it todaXandsee.o

THE

Start \dth yourself

1l tisla said: Begin the fovel.f-l,opment of taking wirh yourself.
Atisha says:beforeyou can do this
witlr the whole existence,you will
have to start first with yourself.
fiis is one of the fundamentalsecrets of inner growth. You cannot
do anything with others that you
havenot donein thefint placewith
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 blessingto othersonly if you area
blessingo yourself.
Whatsoeveryou cando with others,
you must havedoneto yourselfbefore, becausethat is the only thing
that you can share.You can share
only thatwhich you have;you cannot sharethatwhichyou dont have.
Atisha says: "Begin ttre develop
mentof taking with yourself."
Ratlrer than starting by taking the
whole miseryof the world and ab
sorbing it in the heart, start with
your own misery.Dont go ino tlre
deepseaso fast; learnswimmingin
shallow water.And if you immediately start uakingthe misery of the
wholeexistence,
it will remainsimply an experirnentin speculation.
It

MEDITATIONS

wont be rcal,it cant be rcal.It will you an opportunity to feel a deep

bejust verbal.
wound.He hasopeneda wound in
You can say !o yourself"Yes, I am you. The wound may have been
taking the misery of the whole createdby many many insuls that
world" - but whatdo you tnow of you have suffered in your whole
the miseryof the wholeworld?You Iife; he may not be the causeof all
have not even experiencedyour the suffering,but he hasfiggered a
own misery.
pIOCeSS.
We go on avoidingour own misery. Just lock your room, sit silently,
If you feel miserable,you put on with no anger fon the personbut
the radio or the TV and you be- with total awarenessof the feeling
come engaged.You start reading thatis arisingin you - thehurt feelthe newspaperso that you can for- ing that you have been rejected,
get your misery, or you go to the that you have been insulted. And
movies,or you go to your woman then you will be surprisedthat not
or your man. You go t0 the club, only is this man there:all the men
you go shoppingin the market,just and all the womenand all the peosomehow to keep yourself away ple that haveever insultedyou will
from yourself,so tlrat you neednot startmoving in your memory.
seethe wound,so that you neednot You will start not only rememberlook at how muchit hurtswithin.
ing them, you will start reliving
Pmple go on avoidingthemselves. them.You will be goinginto a kind
What do they know of misery? of primal.
How can they think of the misery Feel the hurt, feel the pain, dont
of thewholecxisknce?
avoidit. That'swhy in manytlreraFLst, you haveto beginwith your- pies the patient is told not to take
self.If youarefeelingmiserable,
let any drugs before the therapy beit becomea medindon.Sit silently, grns, for the simple rcason that
closethe dmrs. Fint feel the mis- drugs are a way to escapefrom
ery with asmuchintensityaspossi- your inner misery.They dont alble. Feel the hurt. Somebodyhas low you t0 seeyour wounds,they
insultedyou: now the bestway to rcpressthem.They dont allow you
avoid the hurt is to go and insult to go into your sufferingand unles
him, so that you becomeoccupied you go into your suffering, you
with him. Thatis not meditration. cannotbe releasedfrom the imprisIf somebodyhasinsultedyou, feel onmentof it.
thankful to him that he has given It is perfectly scientific to drop all

82

THE

MEDITATIONS

drugsbeforegoing into a grouP- if rier; they keep you drugged,theY

possibleevendrugslike coffee,tea, donl allow you enoughsensitivitY
srnoking,becausetheseareall ways to know your pain.
The first thing o do is close your
to escape.
Have you watched?WheneverYou dmn and stopany kind of occupafeel nervousyou immediatelystart tion: looking at the TV, listeningto
smoking.It is a way to avoid ner- the radio, radinga book. StoPall
vousness;you become occuPied occupation,becauseth,at too is a
with smoking.Reallyit is a regres- subtle drug. Just be silent" utterly
sion. Smoking makes You again alone.Dont evenpray,becausethat
feel like a child - unworried,non- again is a drug, you arc becoming
responsible- becausesmoking is occupied,you start talking to God,
nottringbut a symbolic breast.The you start praying, you escaPefrom
hot smoke going in simPlY takes yourself.
you back to the days when You Atisha is saying:just be Yourself.
werefeedingon the mother'sbreast Whatsoeverthepain of it andwhatand the warm milk was going in: soeverthe zuffering of it" let it be
the nipple has now become the so.First experienceit in its total incigareue.The cigaretteis a symbol- tensity.It will be difficult, it will be
heart-rending:you may startcrying
ic nipple.
like a child, you may start rolling
you
the
avoid
Through regression
pains
on the ground in deePPain, Your
of
beresponsibilitiesand the
goes
body may go through contortions.
on
what
ing adult. And that's
You may suddenlybecomeaware
Modern
many
drugs.
throughmany
that thepain is not only in theheart,
bebeforc,
never
manis druggedas
great
it is all over the body - that it is
in
is
living
causemodernman
rchlng all over,tlnt it is painful all
it
would
suffering. Without drugs
ovel that your whole bodYis nothmuch
in
so
live
be impossibleto
ing but pain.
a
barcreate
suffering.Thosedrugs

83

If you can experienceit - this is of

tremendousimporance - then start
absorbingit" Dont thmw it away.It
is such a valuable energy, dont
tluow it away. Absorb it, drink it,
acceptit, welcomeit, feel gateful
'This
to it. And say to yourself,
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
receiveit like a guest This time I
will digestiL"
It may take a few days for you to
be able to digest it, but the daY it
happens,you havesurmbledupona
door which will take you really far,
far away.A new journey has started in your life, you aremoving ino
a new kind of being- becauseimmediately,the momentyou lrccept
the pain with no rejection anywher, its energy and is quality
changes.It is no longerpain.
In fact one is simply surprised,one
cannotbelieveit, it is so incredible.
One cannot believe that suffering
can be transformedinto ecstasY,
thatpain canbecomejoy. r

TIIE MEDITATIONS

Inner Centering
l\ToUoOt can exisrwirhoura cenrer.It hasnot ro be
I \ createdbut only rediscovered.
Essenceis the centel that which is your natue, that which is God-given.
Personalityis thecircumference,
that which is cultivated
by society;it is not God-given.It is by nurture,not by
nature.I

MEDITATIONS

Sufi mystic who had

1ft'ne
remained
happyhis whole
|
|
life
no
one had ever
\-t
seenhim unhap'py- he wasalways
laughing. He was laughter, his
wholebeing was a perfumeof celebration.In his old age, when he
was dying - on his deathbed,and
still enjoyingdeath,laughinghilariously - a disciple asked, "You
pttzzls us. Now you are dying.
Why are you laughing? What is
ttrerefunny about it? We are feeling so sad.We wantedto ask you
many times in your life why you

Abdullah
are never sad. But no% conftonting death,at least one should
be sad.You arestill laughing!How
areyou managingit?"
And the old mansaid,"It is a simple clue. I had askedmy master.I
had goneto my masteras a young
man;I was only seventeen,and already miserable.And my master
was old, seventy,and he was sitting under a tree, laughing for no
reasonat all. Therc was nobody
else, nothing had hap'pened,nobody had crackeda joke or any-

thing. And he wassimply laughing,

holding his belly. And I askedhim,
'What is tlte matterwith you? Are
you mador something?'
"He said, 'One day I was also as
sadas you are.Then it dawnedon
me that it is my choice,it is my
life.'
"Since that day, every morning
when I get up, the first thing I decide is, beforeI openmy eyes,I say
'AMullah' - tlnt was
to myself,
his name - 'what do you want?
Misery? Blissfulnes? What arc

you going !o choosetoday?'And

it happensthat I always choose
blissfulness."
It is a choice.Try it The first momentin the morningwhenyou becomeawarcthat sleephasleft, ask
yourself, "AMullah, anotherday!
What is your idea?Do you choose
miseryor blisfulness?"
And who would choosemisery?
lnd why? It is so umatual - unlessonefeelsblissfulin miserybut
thentoo youarechoosingbliss,not
misery.z

MEDITATIONS

hiva said: On joyoruly seeing a long absentfriend,

permeatethk joy.
Whenyou ser a friend andsuddenly feel a joy rising in your heart,
concentrateon this joy. Feel it and
become iL and meet the friend
while being awareand filled with
your joy. l,et the friend be just on
the periphery,and you remaincenteredin your feelingof happiness.
This canbe donein manyothersituations.The sunis rising,andsuddenly you feel something rising
within you. Thenforgetthe sun;let

Findins
theReIl Source
it remainon the periphery.You be
centeredin your own feelingof rising energy.The moment,you lmk
at iE it will sprcad-It will become
your whole body, your whole being. And dont just be an observer
of iq mergeino ir Therearea few
momentswhenyou feeljoy, happiness,bliss, but you go on missing
them becauseyou becomeobjectcentercd.

Wheneverthereis joy, you feel that

it is coming ftom withoul You
havemet a friend - of course,it appean that the joy is coming from
your friend, ftom seeinghim. That
is not the actualcase.Thejoy is always within you. Ttre friend has
just becomea 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 happines, with everyhing,it is so.others arc only situations in which
ttrings that are hidden in you are
expessed. They are not causes;
they are not causingsomethingin
you. Whatsoeveris happening,it
is happeningto you.It hasalways
beenthere;it is only that meeting
with this friend hasbecomea situ-

MEDITATIONS

ation in which whatsoeverwas hidden hascomeout in the open- has

comeout ftom the hiddensourcesit has become apparent,manifest
Wheneverthis happensremaincenteredin the inner feeling, and then
you will have a different attitude
abouteveryhing in life.
Even with negative emotions, do
this. When you areangry,do not be
cenlered on the person who has
arousedit. I-et him be on the periphery. You just become anger.
Feel angerin its 0otality;allow it to
happen within. Dont rationalize;
dont say ttnt this man has created
it Do not condemnthe man.He has

just becomethe situation.And feel

grateful toward him that he has
helpedsomethingwhich was hidden to come into the open.He has
hit you somewhere,
and a wound
was hidden there.Now you know
it, sobecomethe wound.
With negativeor positive,with any
emotion,usethis,andtherewill be
a geat changein you. If the emotion is negative,you will be frced
of it by beingawarethat it is within you. If the emotionis positive,
you will becomethe emotion itself. If it is joy, you will become
joy. If it is ange6the anger will
dissolve.

And this is the differencebetween

negativeand positiveemotions:if
you become aware of a certain
emotion, and by your becoming
awarethe emotiondissolves,it is
negative. If by your becoming
aware of a cerlain emotion you
then becomethe emotion, if the
emotionthen sprcadsand becomes
your being, it is positive.Awarenessworks differently in both cases. If it is a poisonousemotion,
you are relieved of it through
awarcness.If it is good, blissful,
ecstatic,you becomeone with it.
Awareness
deepensit. I

THE MEDITATIONS

said: In moods of
f-lhiva
\ extreme desire, be undisL) turbed.
When desire gnps you, you are
disturbed.Of course,that is natural. Desfuegnps you, then your
mind stars wavering and many
ripples go on, on the surface.The
desire pulls you somewhereino
the future; the past pushes you
somewhereino the futurc.You are
disturbed:you arc not at ease.Desireis, therefore,
o'dis-eos'.
This sutrasays,"In moodsof extreme desirebe undisturbed."But

Center
of theCyclone
how to be undisnrbed? Dcsire
meansdisturbance,so how to be
undisturbed- and in exEememomentsof desfue!You will have to
do certain experiments;only then
will you understandwhat it means.
You are in angenangergrips you.
You are temporarily mad, possessed:you are no more in your
senses.Suddenlyrcmemberto be
undisturbed- as if you arc un-

dressing. Inside, become naked,

naked ftom the anger,undressed.
Anger will be there,but now you
havea point within you which is
not disturbed.
You will know that anger is therc
on the periphery.Like fever, it is
there.The peripheryis wavering;
the peripheryis disnubed,but you
canlook at it. If you canlook at it,
you will be undisturbed.
Becomea

wihess to it, and you will be

undisturbed. This undisturbed
point is your original mind. The
original mind cannot be disturbed;it is never disturbed.But
you have never looked at it.
When anger is there,you become
identifiedwith theanger.You forget that angeris somethingofter
than you. You becomeone with
it, and you start acting throughit,

90

MEDITATIONS

you slart doing somethingthrough

ir.
Two things can be done. In anger
you will be violent to someone,to
the object of your anger.Then you
havemovedt0 the other.Anger is
just in betweenyou and the other.
Here I am, therc is ange4and there
you arc - the object of my anger.
From angerI can tnavelin two dimensions.Either I can travel to
you: thenyou becomemy centerof
consciousness,
the object of my
anger.Then my mind becomesfocusedon you, the one who hasinsultedme.This is oneway thatyou
cantravelfiom anger.
Thereis anotherway: you can!ravel o yourself.You dont move to
the penon whom you feel has
causedthe anger.You move to the
personwho feels to be angry; you
move lo the subjectand 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 distubed, and you will feel,
disturbed."If you move within to
the cenier of your own being, you
will be ableto witnessthe dustparu
you will be able o seethat the dust
partof themind is dishrbed,but "I
am not disturbed".And you canexperimentupon this with any desire,
anydisnubance.
A sexual desire comes to your

mind; your wholebody is takenby

iu you can moveto the sexualobject, the objectof your desire.The
objectmay be there,it may not be
there.You canmoveto the objectin
imaginationalso,but thenyou will
get morc and more disturbed.The
furtherawayyou go fiom your centeq the moreyou will be disturbed.
Really,the distanceand disturbance
are alwaysin goportion. The more
distantyou arc frromyour cente4the
more you ale disturbed;the nearer
you arc to the centeqthe less you
aredisturbed.If you arejust at the
cente4thereis no disturbance.
In a cyclone,thereis a centerwhich
is undisturbed- in the cyclone of
anger,the cycloneof sex, the cycloneof any desire.Justin thecenter therc is no cyclone,and a cyclone cannotexist without a silent
center.The angeralso cannotexist
without something within you
whichis beyondanger.
Rememberthis: nothing can exist
without is opposite.The opposite
is neededtherc.Withoutit, thereis
no possibilityof it existing.If there
wercno centerwithin you whichremains unmoved, no movement
would be possiblethere. If there
wereno centerwithin you whichremains undisturbed,no disturbance
could happento you. Analyze this
and observethis. If there were no
centerof absoluteundisnrbancein

you, how could you feel that you

aredisturbed?You needa comparison. You need two points o compare.
Suppose
a personis ill: he feelsillness because somewhere within
him, a point, a centerof absolute
healthexiss. That is why he can
comparc.You say that your headis
aching: how is it that you know
about this ache, this headache?If
you were the headache,you could
not know it. You mustbe someone
else,somethingelse- theobserver,
tlp witness, who can say, "My
headis aching."
This sutrasays,"In moodsof extreme desirc, be undisnubed."
What can you do? This technique
is not for suppression.
This techniqueis not sayingthat whenthere
is anger, supprcssit and remain
undisturbed- no! If you supprcss,
you will crcatemoredisturbance.
If
the anger is thereand an effort o
suppressis there,it will doublethe
disturbance.When anger is there,
close your doors, meditateon the
angetrallow the anger to be. You
remainundisturbed,and dont sup
pressit"
It is easyto supgess;it is easyto
exprcss.We do both. We expressif
thesituationallows,andif it is convenientand not dangemusfor you.
If you can harm the other and the
other cannot harm you, you will

THE MEDITATIONS

exprcssthe anger.If it is dangerous, this centermoreand more,and it is

if tfte otlrer can harm you more, if easyto uncoverit in desfue.
your bossor whoeveryou areangry This techniquecan be very useful,
at is morestrong,you will supprcss and much benefit can happen to
you tfuoughit. But it will be diffiirExpression and sup'pressionare cult becausewhenyou becomediseasy: witnessingis difficult Wit- turbed, you forget everything.You
nessingis neitherIt is not supprcss- may forget that you have to mediing, it is not expressing.
It is not ex- tate.Then ry ft in this way: don't
pressingbecauseyou arc not ex- wait for the momentwhen anger
pressingit o the object of anger.It happensto you. Dont wait for ttrat
is not being suppressed
either.You moment! Just close tle door O
areallowing il o be expresed- ex- your room, and think of somepast
pressedin a vacuum.You are medi- experience
ofangerwhenyou went
tatingon it.
mad.Rememberit, and renactiL
Stand before a mirror and express That will be easyfor you.Re-enact
your anger- and be a witrressfo iL it again;do it again;reliveit. Dont
You are alone,so you can meditate just rememberir reliveit. Rememon it. Do whatsoeveryou want to ber that someonehad insultedyou
do, but in a vacuum.If you wantto and what was saidand how you rebeat someone,beat,$rc empty sky. actedto him. Reactagain;replayit.
If you want to be angry,be angry;if This re-enacting something from
you wantto scrarn,scream.But do the past will do much. Everyone
it alone,and rememberyourself as has scars in his mind, unhealed
a point which is seeingall this, this wounds.If you re-enactthem,you
drama. Then it becomesa psy- will be unburdened.If you can go
chodrama,and you can laugh at it to your pst and do something
and it will be a deep catharsisfor which has rcmained incomplete,
you. Afterwards you will feel re- you will be unburdenedftom your
lieved of it - and not only relieved past Yourmind will becomefieshof ic you will have gained some- er; the dust will be thrown away.
thing tfuoughit. You will havema- Rememberin your past something
tured; a growth will have come to which you feel has remainedsusyou. And now you will know that pended.You wantedlo kill someeven while you werc in angerthere one, you wantedto love someone,
was a centrer
within you which was you wanted this and that" and that
undisturbed.Now fy to uncover has remainedincomplete.That in-

complete thing goes on hovering

anund the mind like a cloud.
"In m@ds of extreme desire, be
undisturbed":Gurdjieff used this
techniquea greatdeal. He created
situations,but to createsituations
a schoolis needed.You cannotdo
ftat alone. Gurdjieff had a small
school in Fontainebleau,and he
was a taskmaster.He knew how to
createsituations.You would enter
the room where a group was sitting, and something would be
done so that you would get angry.
And it would be doneso natually
that you would neverimaginettut
some situation was being created
for you. But it was a device.
Someonewould insult you by saying something,and you would get
disturbed.Then everyonewould
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 become a schml; you can help each
other.Friendscan becomea schml
and they can help eachofter. You
can decide with your family. The
wholefamily candecidethat now a
sinrationhas o be createdfor tre
father or for the motheqand then
the whole family works to create
the sinnion. When the fatlrcr or

92

MEDITATIONS

mofter goes completelymad, then

everyonestafls laughing and says,
"Remain completely undisturbed."
You canhelpeachothegand theexperienceis simply wonderful.Once
you know a cool centerwithin you
in a hot situation,you cannotforget
iL And thenin any hot sinndon you
can rememberit, rcclaim it, regain

ir
In the West now one technique,a
therapeutictechnique,is used:it is
called"psychodrama."It helps,and
it is also basedon techniqueslike
youjust enact,
this.In psychodrama
youjust play a game.
In the beginning it is a game,but
sooner or later you become possessed.And whenyou becomepossessedyour mind startsfunctioning,
becauseyour mind and your body
function automatically.They furrction auomatically!
So if you sean actor acting in a
psychodramawho, in a situationof
ange4 rcally becomesangry, you
may think that he is simply acting,
but it is not so.He mighthavereally becomeanry; it may not be acting 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 actinglook real.
Your body cannot know whether
you are playing or whetheryou arc
doing it for real. You may haveob-

served yourself at some time in

your life that you werejust playing
at beingangry,and you didnt know
when the anger becamercal. Or,
you wercjust playingand you were
not feeling sexual:you were playing witlt your wife or with your
girlfriend, or with your husband,
and then suddenlyit becamercal.
The body took over.
The body can be deceived. The
body cannot know whether it is
real or urueal, particularly with
sex. If you imagineit, your body
thinks it is rcal. Onceyou start doing something,the body thinls it is
real and it sarts behavingin a real
way.
Psychodramais a techniqrc based
on such methods.You are not angry: you aresimply actingangryand then you get into it. But psychodramais beautiful becauseyou
know that you are simply acting.
And then on the periphery anger
becomesreal,andjust behindit you
are hidden and looking at it. Now
you know that you are not disturbed, but the anger is there, tle
disturbance is there. The disturbance is there,and yet the disturbanceis nol
This feeling of two forcesworking
simultaneouslygives you a Eanscendence,and then in real anger
alsoyoucanfeelit. Onceyouknow
how to feel it, you can feel it in rcal

situationsalso.Use this technique.

This will changeyour life totally.
Once you know how to remain
undisturbed,
tle world is not misery for you. Then nothing can create any confusionin you, nothing
can hurt you, really. Now thereis
no sufferingfor you, and onceyou
know it you cando anotherthing.
Once you can detachyour centr
from the periphery,you can do it.
Once the center is detachedcompletely, if you can remain undistu6ed in ange4in desire,you can
play with desires,with ange4,
with
disturbances.
This techniqueis to createa feeling
of two extremeswithin you. They
are there: two polar oppositesare
there. Once you becomeawareof
this polarity, you becomefor tlrc
fint time a masterof younelf. Otherwiseothersarc your mastrs;you
arejust a slave.Your wife knows,
your son knows, your father
knows,your friendsknow thatyou
can be pushedand pulled. You can
be disturbed,you canbe madehap
py and unhappy.If someoneelse
can makeyou happyand unhappy,
you arenot a master.Youarejust a
slave.The otherhasa hold.Justby
a singlegesture,he can makeyou
unhappy;just by a small smile he
can make you happy.So you are
just at the mercyof someoneelse;
the othercan do anythingto you.

THE

MEDITATIONS

And if ttris is the situation,then all and a slaveof so manY not onlY
EverymanY.
of
but
masteq
your reactionsaresimplyreactions, of one
and
masteq
is
a
thing
You are a
not actions.
Obviuniverse.
whole
the
This lnowledge of the centeror this slave to
With
in
uouble.
be
you
will
groundingin the centermakesYou ously,
in
masters
many
PullingYou so
a master.OtherwiseYouarea slave, so

many directionsand dimensions,

you arc nevertogether;you arc not
in a unity. And Pulledin so manY
dimensions, you arc in anguish.
Orly a masterof oneselfcan transcendanguish.I

94

MEDITATIONS

ldlhtva said: Oh, lotus-eyed

\ ane, sweet of touch, when
LJ singing, seeing, tasting,be
cnvareyou are and discover the
ever-living.
This technique says while doing
anything- singlng, seeing,tasting
- be awarethat you areanddiscover the ever-living: and discover
within yourselfthe cunent, the energy, the life, the ever-living. But
we arenot awareof ourselves.
Gurdjieff used self-remembering
as a basic techniquein the West.

Feel'IAm'
The self-rememberingis derived
ftom this sutra.The wholeGurdjieffian systemis basedon this one
sutra:Rememberyourself, whatsoever you arc doing. It is very
difficult. It looks very easy,but
you will go on forgetting.Even
for threeor fow secondsyou cannot rememberyourself. You will
have a feeling that you arc rcmembering, and suddenly you

will have moved to some other

thought. Even with this thought
that "Okay, I am remembering
myself,"you will havemissed,becausetlis thought is not self-remembering. ln self-remembering
therewill be no thought;you will
be completelyempty.And self-remembering is not a mental process.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 mentalprccess:"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, rememberyou are, and
have the feeling of your being,
not of any thought, not of any
idea.Just feel. I touch Yourhand

THE

or I put my hand on your head:

dont verbalize.Justfeel the touch,
and in that feeling feel not only the
touch, but feel also the touched
one. Then your consciousness
becomesdouble-anowed.
You are walking under rres: the
trces are there,the heeze is there,
the sun is rising. This is the world
all aroundyou; you areawareof it.
Standfor a momentand suddenly
rememberthat you are, but dont
vsrbelizs.Just feel that you are.
This nonverbalfeeling, even if for
only a singlemoment"will give you
a glimpse - a glimpse which no
LSD cangive you,a glimpsewhich
is of the real.For a singlemoment
you arc thrownbackto thecenterof

MEDITATIONS

your being.You arebehindthe mirroE you havetranscended

the world
of reflections;you are existential.
And you can do it at any time. It
doesnt need any special place or
any specialtime. And you cannot
say,"I haveno time." Wheneating
you can do it, when taking a bath
you can do it, whenmovingor sitting you can do it - anytime.No
matterwhat you arc doing,you can
suddenly rememberyourself, and
fien ry to continuethatglimpseof
your being.
It will be difficult" One moment
you will feel it is there, the next
moment you will have moved
away.Somethoughtwill haveentered, some reflection will have

cometo you, andyou will havebecome involved in the reflection.

But dont be sadanddont bedisap
pointed.Thisis sobecause
for lives
togetherwe have been concerned
witlt the rcflections.This has become a robot-likemechanism.Instantly, automatically, we arc
thrownto thereflection.But if even
for a singlemomentyou havethe
glimpse,it is enoughfor thebeginning. And why is it enough?Becauseyou will never get two momentstogether.Only one moment
is with you always.And if you can
have the glimpse for a single moment,you canremainin it. Only effort is needed- a continuouseffon
is needed.

96

MEDITATIONS

tried from onecorAurdjieff

Just
try to remembr
I
Tne[,
you are.RamanMatnrshi
\J
ried ftom anothercorner.He made
it a meditationto ask, to inquire,
"Who am I?" And dont believein
any answerstlnt themind cansupply. The mind will say,"What nonsensearc you asking?You arethis,
you are that" you ate a man, you
arc a woman,you are educatedor
uneducated,rich or poor" The
mind will supply answers,but go
on asking. Dont acceptany answerbecauseall the answersgiven
by the mind arefalse.

WhoAmI?
They are ftom ttre unreal part of
you. They arecoming from words,
ttpy ale coming ftom scriptures,
ttpy arccomingfrromconditioning,
they arecoming from society,they
are coming from others. Go on
asking.Irt this anow of "Who arn
I?" penetratedeeperand deeperA
momentwill come when no answerwill come.
That is the right moment.Now you

arenearingtheanswer.Whenno answer comes,you arc near the answer becausemind is becoming

silent- oq you havegonefar away
from lhe mind. Whentherewill be
no answerand a vacuum will be
cratedall aroundyort your questioning will look absunl.Whom are
you questioning?
Thereis no oneto
answer you. Suddenly,even your
questioning will stop. With the

questioning,the last part of ttre

mind has dissolved becausethis
question was also of the mind.
Those answerswer of the mind
and this questionwas also of the
mind. Both havedissolved,so now
you are.
Try this. Thereis everypossibility,
if you penist" that this technique
can give you a glimpseof the rcal
- andtlp rcal is ever-living.s

THE MEDITATIONS

Each thing is
perceived tlvough htowing.
The self shines in space through
knowing. Perceive one being as
knowerand known.
Wheneveryou know something,it
is known though tnowing. The
objectcomesto your mind thmugh
tlrc taculty of knowledge.You look
at a flower You know 0ris is a rcse
flower,The rcseflower is thercand
you arc inside. Something ftom
you comes to ttrc rose floweq
somethingftrom you is pmjected

TotheVerv
Centerof Being
on the rose flower Some energy
moves ftrom you, comes to the
rose, takes its furn, colu and
smell,andcomesbackandinforms
you that this is a rcseflower.
All knowledge, whatsoever you
lnow, is revealedthroughthe faculty of tnowing. Knowing is your
faculty. Knowledge is gathercd
thmugh this faculty. But lnowing
rcvealsnvo &ings: the known and

the knower. Whenever you are

knowing a roseflowel your knowledgeis half if you forgetthe knower 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 benveennvo poinrs - the
subjectand the obFct Ordinarily
your knowledgerevealsonly the
known; the lnower remainsunrevealed. ffiinarily your knowledge is one-anowed:it poina o
the rosebut it neverpoins o you.
Unless it starts pointing to you,
that tnowledge will allow you to
know about the world, but it will
98

9r

THE MEDITATIONS

not'allow you to know aboutyouself.

All the techniquesof meditationare
to revealthe knower.GeorgeGurdjieff useda particulartechniquejust
like this. He called it self-rcmembering. He said tlrat wheneveryou
are knowing something,always rememberthe knower.Dont forget it
in the object. Rememberthe subject. Just now you are listeningto
me. When you are listening to me,
you can listen in two ways. orle:
your mind can be focusedtowards
me - then you forget the listener.
Then the speakeris known but the
listeneris fo'rgonen.
Gudjieff said that while listening,
know the speakerand also lnow
the listener Your lnowledge must
be double-anowed,pointing to two
poinls- the lnower and the known.
It mustnot only flow in one direction towards the object. It must
flow simultaneouslytowards two
directions - the known and the
knower.This he called self-remembering.
Buddha called it satnyal<smiti righr mindfulness.He said that
your mind is not in a right-mindfulnessif it knows only one point. It
mustknow both. And thena miracle happens:if you are awareof
both the known and the knower,
suddenly you become the third you arcneither.Justby endeavoring

99

to be awareof both the known and cult to moveto the knower,because

the knowe4 you becomethe third, thenyour mind is alwaysdiverted.
you becomea witness.A thirdpos- So concentration
becomesthe hrst
sibility arisesimmediately- a wit- step towardsmeditation.Only the
nessingself comesinto being- be- roseremainstthe whole world has
causehow c:n you tnow both?If disappealed.Now you can move
you arB the knower, then you re- inwards;now the rosebecomesthe
main lxed o one point In self-re- point fiom where you can move.
memberingyou shift from the lxed Now seethe rose,and startbecompoint of the knower. Then the ing awareof younelf - the knower
knower is your mind and the In the beginningyou will miss.
known is the world, and you be- Whenyou shift to the knower,the
comea thirdpoint,a consciousnes, rose will drop out of consciousness.It will becomefaint, it will
a witrressingself.
This third point cannot be ran- go away, it will becomedistant.
scended,and that which cannotbe Again you will come to the nose,
transcendedis the ultimate. That and you will forget the self. This
play will go on, but
which can be transcendedis not hide-and-seek
worthwhile, becausethen it is not if you persist, sooneror later a
your nature- you cantranscendiL
momentwill comewhen suddenly
You are sitting near a rose flowen you will be in-between. The
look at it. The lnst thing to do is be knower, the mind, and the rose
totallyattentive,give totalanendon will be there,and you will be just
to the rose,so that the whole world in the middle, looking at both.
disappean and only the rose re- That middle point, that balancing
is point,is the witness.
mainsthere- yourconsciousness
totally attentiveto he being of the Onceyou know that,you haveberose.If the atlentionis total thenthe come both. Then the rose - the
world disappears,
becausethe more lnown, andtheknower- themind,
the attentionis concentratedon the arejust two wingsof you.Thenthe
rose,the moreeverythingelse falls objectand the subjectarejust nro
away. The world disappears;only wings;you are the centerof both.
the roseremains.The rosebecomes They are extensionsof you. Then
the world and tlre divine are both
lhe world.
of you. You havecome
This is tlre frst step- to concen- extensions
trateon therose.If you cannotcon- to the very center of being. And
centrateon the rose,it will be diffi- thiscenteris just a witness.o

MEDITATIONS

LookingWithin
T h* techniquesare concernedwith the practiceof
I looking. Befqe we enter ttresetechniques,sornething tus to be undentoodaboutthe eyes,becausethese
techniquesdependon thaL The fust thing: eyesare the
mostnon-bodilypartof thehumanbody,the leastbodily.
If mauer can becomenon-matte4then such is the case
with eyes.Eyesarematerial,but simultaneouslythey are
also non-material.Eyes are a meetingpoint of you and
your body. Nowhereelse in the body is the meetingso
deep.
The humanbody and you are much separated.A great
distanceis there,but at thepoint of theeyesyou arenearest to your body and the body is nearesto you.That is
why eyes can be used fa the inner.innney. A single
jump ftorn the eyescan lead you to the sotrrce.That is
not possibleftorn the hand,rnt posible fiom the hea+
not possibleftom anywhereelsein the body.From elsewhercyou will haveto travel long; the distanceis greaf
But firomthe eyesa single stp is enoughto enter into
youself.
Eyesarevery liquid, moving,in consantmovement,and
that movementhas its own rhythm, is own system,its
own mechanism.Yotn eyesarc not moving at random,
anarchically.They have a rhythm of their own and that

THE

rtythm showsmany things. If you

havea sexualtlroughtin the min{
your eyesmovedifferently- with a
differentrhythm. Just by looking at
your eyes and the movement,one
can say what type of thought is
moving inside.When you feel hungry and a thoughtof food is inside,
eyeshavea differentmovemenL
So rememberthis, that eye movements and thinking are joturcdogettrerThat is why, if you sop your
eyes and their movements,your
thought processwill stop immediately. Or if your thought process
stopsyour eyeswill stop automatically. And one point more:the eyes
movecontinuouslyftom one object
to anotherFrom A to B, from B 0o
C, they go on moving. Movement
is their naure. It is just like a river
flowing: movementis their naturc!

MEDITATIONS

And becauseof that movement,

they areso alive! Movementis also
life.
You can try to stop your eyesat a
particularpoint, at a particularobFcq anA not allow them to move,
but movementis their nanle. You
cannotstopmovement,but you can
stop your eyes:undentandthe distinction. You can stop your eyesat
a particularfixed point - at a dot on
the wall. You can stareat the doq
you can stopyour eyes.But movement is their nature.So they may
not moveftom objectA to objectB
becauseyou haveforcedthemto remain at A, but then a very strange
phenomenon
happens.
Movement is bound to be there;
that is their naturc.If you do not allow them movementfiom A o B,
theywill movefrom outwardsto in-

wards.Either they can move fiom

A to B, or if you do not allow this
outwardmovementthey will move
inwards.Movementis their naturc;
tlrcy need movemenl If you suddenly stop and do not allow them
to move outwards,they will start
movinginwards.
So there arc two possibilities of
movemenlOne is from objectA O
objectB - this is an outwardmovemeng this is how it is happening
naturally.But thereis anotlrr possibility which is of tanra and yoga
- not allowing movementfiom one
outsideobject o anotherand stop
ping this movemenl Then the eyes
jump ftom an outsideobject to the
inner consciousness.
They begin to
move inwards. Remember these
poins; tlpn it will be easy to understandthetechniques.t

r02

THE

MEDITATIONS

hiva said: Eyes closed,see

your inner being in futail.
Thusseeyour true nalure.
"Eyes closed"- close your eyes.
But this closingis not enough.Total closing meansto close your
eyes and stop their movements.
Otherwisetheeyeswill continueto
seesomethingwhich is of the outside. Even with closedeyes you
will seethings- imagesof things.
Actualthingsarenot there,but images,ideas,collectedmemoriesthey will start flowing. They ale
also fiom outside,so your eyesare

SeeingWithin
'"To!ally"
still not totally closed.
closedeyesmeansnothingto see.
Understandthedifference.You can
closeyour eyes;that is easy.EveryoneclosesthemeverymomenL
In the night you closeyour eyes,
but ttnt will not rcveal the inner
nan[e to you. close your eyesso
that nofiing remainsto be seenno outsideobject,no insideimage
of any outsideobject,just a blank

103

darknessas if you have suddenly

goneblind - not blind only o rcality, but to the&eamrcality also.
orre hasto practiceit" A long period will be needed;it cannot be
done suddenly.You will need a
long raining. Close your eyes.
Anytime you feel it is easyand you
havetime, closeyour eyesandthen
inwardly stopall movementsof the
eyes.Do not allow any movemenl

Feel!Do notallow anymovement.

Sop all movementsof the eyes.
Feel as if they have become
stones, and then remain in that
"stony" stateof 0re eyes. Do not
do anything; just remain there.
Suddenlysomeday,you will become aware that you are looking
insideyourself.
You have seen your body only
from the outside. You have seen

THE

your body in a mirror or you have

senyour handsft,om the outside.
You do not know what the insideof
your body is. You have never enteredino your own self; you have
never been at the center of your
body and being o look around at
what is therefrom the inside.
Closeyour eyes,seeyour inner being in detail and move&romlimb to
limb inside. Just go to your toe.
Forgetthe whole body: moveto the
toe. Stay there and have a look.
Then move throughthe legs,come
on upwards,go t0 everylimb. Then
many things happen.Many things
happen!
Then your body becomessuch a
sensitivevehicle,you cannoteven
imagine it. Then if you touch
someone,you can move into your
handotally and thattouchwill becometransforming.That is what is
meantby a teacher'stouch,a master's touch: he can move to any
limb otally, and thenhe is concentrated there. If you can move to
any part of your body totally, that
part becomesalive - so muchalive
that you cannotimaginewhat happens to that part Then you can

MEDITATIONS

moveto theeyestotally.If you can

moveto your eyesotally and then
look in someone'seyes,you will
penetratehim; you will go to his
very depths.
Closeyour eyes;seeyour innerbeing in detail.The first, outerpart of
it is o look at yorn body ftom inwardly - fiom you inner center.
Stand there and have a lmk. You
ftromthe body bewill be separated
looker
is
neverthe looked
causethe
at. The observeris different ftom
theobject
If you can see your body otally
from the inside,thenyou can never
fall into the illusion that you are0te
body. Then you will remaindifferent - 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- deepdown.This is the
innercaveof the mind.
If you enterthis caveof the mind,
you will becomeseparatefrromthe
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 meantby
"inner being in detail." Body and
mind both should be enteredand
looked at ftom within. Then you
aresimply a witness,and this witnesscannoth 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
cometo that which cannot,be penetrated,that in which you cannot
move, which cannotbe observed,
then only have you come to the
rcal self. You cannot witrressthe
witnessingsource,remember;that
is absurd.
If someonesays that "I have witnessedmy witness,"that is absurd.
Why is it absurd?Becauseif you
have witnessed your witnessing
self, then the witnessingself is not
the wihessing self. That who has
wimessedit is the witness. That
which you cansee,you arenot; that
which you can observe,you arc
not; tlnt which you can become
awareof, you arenol 2

104

MEDITATIONS

hiva said: lnok upona bowl

withow seeingthe sidesor
the material. In a few motncntsbecorneaware.
Look at anything. A bowl or any
objectwill do, but look with a different quality. "look upon a bowl
without seeingthe sidesor the material." I-ook upon any object,but
with thesetwo 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 consciously,but we look at parts.If I
look at you, first I see your face,

Looking

as aWiole

then your torso and then your

wholebody.lnok at an objectasa
whole; do not divide it in parrs.
Why?Becausewhenyou dividein
parts,the eyeshavean opportunity
!o move from one part to another.
Iook at a thing as a whole. You
cando it.
Try it. First look at a thing fiom
one fragment to another.Then
suddenlylook at this thing as a

whole;do not divide ir Whenyou

look at a thingasa whole,theeyes
haveno needto move.In ordernot
to give any opportunityfor movement,0ris hasbeenmadea condition: look at an objecttotally,aken :N a whole; secondly,without
seeingthe material.If the bowl is
of wood,do not seethe wood:just
seethe bowl, the form. Do not see
fie substiance.

It may be of gold,it may be of silver Observeit. Do not look at the

materialof 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 substance.Why? Becausesubstance
is the material part, form is the
spiritualpart,andyou areto move
from the matcrialto thenon-material It will behelpful.

THE

Trj'it. You can try it with anyone.

Some man or some woman is
standing:look and rake the man or
womanwholly into your lmk, totally into it. It will be a weird feeling in the beginningbecauseyou
are not habituated,but it is very
beautifulin the end. And then,do
not think aboutwhetherthe body is
beautiful or not, white or black,
man or woman.Do not think; just
look at the form. Forget the substanceandjust look at theform.
In a few momentsbecomeaware.
Go on looking at the form as a

MEDITATIONS

whole.Do not allow the eyesany

movement.Do not start thinking
about "the material." What will
happen?You will suddenlybecome
aware of your self. Looking at
something,you will becomeaware
of your self.Why? Becausefor the
eyes*rereis no possibility!o move
outwards.The form hasbeentaken
as a whole,so you cannotmoveto
the pars. The material has been
&opped;pure form hasbeentaken.
Now you cannotthink aboutgold,
wmd, silver,etc.
Remain with the whole and the

form. Suddenlyyou will become

awareof yourselfbecausenow the
eyesffinnot move. And they need
movemenLthat is their naturc: so
your look will movetowardyou. It
will comeback,it will retumhome,
and suddenly you will become
awareof your self. This becoming
awareof one's seH is one of the
most ecstatic moments possible.
Whenfor thehrst time youbecome
aware of your self, it has such
beautyand suchblissthatyou cannot comparcit with anythingelse
vou haveknown.r

106

THE MEDITATIONS

u-tsu said: Whenthe light

f
is
madeto mavein a circle,
I
tlu energiesof heaven
-Llall
and earth, of the light and the
dark,are crystallized.
Yourconsciousness
is flowing outward - this is a fact, thereis nothing to believein it. Whenyou look
at an object, your consciousness
flows towardsthe object.
For example, you are looking at
me. Thenyou forgetyounelf, you
becomefocusedon me. Then your
ene{gy flows towards me, then
your eyesareanowedtowardsme.

InnerCircle
This is extroversion.You see a
flower and you areenchanted,and
you becomefocusedon the flower.
You becomeobliviousof yourself,
you areonly attentiveto thebeauty
of the flower.
This we know - every momentit
is happening.A beautifulwoman
passesby and suddenlyyour energy starts following her. We know
this outwardflow of light- This is
107

only half of the story. But each

time the light flows out, you fall
ino the background,you become
obliviousof yourself.
The light hasto flow back so that
you arc both the subjectand the
object at the sametime, simultaneously,so that you seeyourself.
Then self-knowledgeis released.
Ordinarily, we live only in this
half way - half-alive, half-dead,

that's the situation. And slowly

slowly,light goeson flowing outward and never returns.You become more and more empty inside,hollow.You becomea black
hole.
The Thoist experienceis tlnt this
energythat you spendin your extroversioncan be more and more
crystallized rather than qpent if
you leam the secretscienceof

THE

MEDITATIONS

tuming it backwards.
It is possible; body cando - andvery easily.Just
that is the whole science of all standingbeforethe mirror in your
methodsof concentration.
bathroom,first look into the reflecJust standingbeforea mirror some tion: you arelooking andthe reflecday, try one small experiment.You tion is the object.Then changethe
are looking at tre mirroq your own wholesituation,reversefte process.
facein the mirror;your own eyesin Startfeelingthat you arethe reflecyou tion and the reflectionis looking at
themirror.This is extroversion:
are looking into the minored face- you. Immediatelyyou will see a
your owl face,of course,but it is changehappening,a grcat energy
an objectoutsideyou. Then, for a movingtowadsyou.
moment,reversethe wholeprocess. In the beginningit may be frightStan feeling that you are being ening becauseyou have never
looked at by the reflection in the doneit and you haveneverknown
mirror - not that you arc looking at it; it will look crazy.You may feel
the reflection but the reflection is shaken,a rembling may arise in
looking at you - and you will be in you, or you may feel disoriented,
a very strangespace.Justtry it for a becauseyour whole orientationup
few minutes;you will be very alive, to now has beenextroversion.Inand somethingof immensepower troversionhas to be leamedslowwill start enteringyou. You may ly, slowly.But the circle is comeven become frightened because plete. If you do it for a few days
you haveneverlnown ig you have you will be surprisedhow much
never seen the complete circle of morealive you feel the whole day
- just a few minutesstandingbeenergy.
Although it is not mentionedin forethe mirrorandlettingtheenerTaoist scripturesthis seemstro me gy comeback to you so the circle
the most simple experimentany- is complete- and wheneverthe

circle is completethereis a great

silence.The incompletecircle createsrestlessness,
whenthecircleis
completeit createsrest. It makes
you centered,and to be centeredis
to be powerful. The power is
yours.
you can
This is just an experiment;
try it in manyways.
Looking at a rosefloweq lust look
at it for a few momens,a few minutes,and then startthe reverseprocess:the roseflower is looking at
you. You will be surprisedhow
much energy the rose flower can
give to you.The samecanbe done
with trees and the stan and with
people. The best way to do it is
with the womanor man you love.
Just look into each other's eyes.
Fint beginlooking at the otherand
then start feeling the other rcturning the energyto you; the gift is
comingback.You will feel replenished, you will feel showered,
bathed,baskedin a newkind of energy.You will comeout of it rcjuvenated,vitalized.+

108

Meditationson Light
your hearta flame is burning;your body is just a
J n
I light aroundtheflame.t

THE

MEDITATIONS

o tlds at leasttwice a day

T\
I
I - the best time is early in
the moming, just before
t-,
get
you
out of bed. The moment
you feel you arealert, awake,do it
for nventyminutes.Do itTirsl thing
in the moming!- dont get out of
bed.Do it there,thenandthere,immediately!- because
whenyou are
comingout of sleepyou arc very
very delicate,receptive.When.you
are coming out of sleep you are
very fiesh, and the impact will go
very deep.Whenyou arcjust coming out of sleepyou arelessin the
mind than ever.Hencesomegaps

GoldenLight Meditation
aretherethroughwhich the method
will penetrateinto your innermost
corc. And early in lhe moming,
when you are awakeningand the
wholeearthis awakening,thercis a
geat tide of awakeningenergyall
overtheworld.Usetlnt tide;dont
missthatopportunity.
All ancientreligions used to pray
earlyin the momingwhenthe sun
rose,becausethe rising of the sun
111

is the rising of all the energiesin

existence.In ttrat momentyou can
simply ride on the rising energy
wave; it will be easier.By the
eveningit will be difhcult,energies
will be falling back; then you will
be fighting againstthe cunent.In
themomingyou will be goingwith
thecunent.
So the besttime to beginis in the
early moming, immediately,just

when you are half-asleep,halfawake.And the prccessis so simple. It needsno posntre,no yagasana,no bath is needed,notiing.
You simply lie down, as you are
lying down in your bed, on your
back.Keepyoureyesclosed.
Whenyou breathein, just visualize greatlight enteringfrom your
headino your body, as if a sun

THE

hasrisenjust closet0 your headgoldenlight pouringinto your head.

You arejust hollow and the golden
light is poudngino your head,and
going, going, going, deep,deep,
and going out ftrcugh your toes.
Whenyou breathein, do it with this
visualization.
And when you breatheout, visrrelize anotherthing:darknessentering
thtoughyour toes,a greatdark river
enteringtluoughyour toes,coming
up, andgoingout throughthe head.
Do slow,deepbreathingso you can
yisrralize.
Go veryslowly.Andjust
out of sleepyou canhavevery deep
and slow breathsbecausethe body
is rested,relaxed.
lrt me rcpeat: breathingin, let

MEDITATIONS

goldenlight comeinto you through

your head,becauseit is therethat
the GoldenFloweris waiting.That
golden lighr will help. Ir will
cleanseyour whole body and will
makeit absolutelyfull of creativity.
This is maleenergy.
Then when you exhale,let darkness,the darkestyou canconceive,
like a dark night, riverJike, come
from your toes upward - this is
feminineenergy:it will sootheyou,
it will makeyou receptive,
it will
calmyou,it will giveyourest- and
let it go out of the head.Then inhaleagain,and goldenlight enters
in.
Do it for twenty minutesearly in
themorning.

And then the secondbest time is

whenyou aregoing back o sleep,
in thenight.
Lie down on the bed, relax for a
few minutes.When you startfeeling tlat now you are waveringbetweensleepandwaking,just in that
middle,starttheprccessagain,and
continuefor twentyminutes.If you
fall asleepdoingit, that is thebest,
becausethe impactwill remainin
the subconsciousand will go on
working.
periodyou will
After a three-month
be surprised:the energy that was
constantlygatheringat themuladlwr, at thelowest,tie sexcenter,is
no morcgatheringthere.It is going
z
upwarrds.

rt2

THE

MEDITATIONS

hiva said: Waking,sleeping,

dreaming, know you as
light.
While "waking," moving, eating,
working, remember yourself as
light, as if in your hearta flame is
burning, and your body is nothing
but the aura around the flame.
Imagineit in your hearta flame is
burning, and your body is nothing
but a light aura around0re flame;
your bodyis just a light aroundthe
flame. Allow it o go deepwithin
yourmindandyourconsciousness.
Imbibeit.

HeartofLight
It will taketime, but if you go on
thinking about it, feeling it, imagining it, within a certainperiodyou
will be able to rememberit the
whole day. While awake,moving
on thesreet,you area flamemoving. No oneelsewill be awareof it
in thebeginning,but if you continue it, after threemonthsotherswill
also become aware. Only when
othen becomeawarccan you then
ll3

be at ease.Donl say anything to

anyone.Simply imaginea flame,
and your body as just the aura
aroundit - not a physicalbody,but
an elecric body,a light body.Go
on doingit.
If you persist,within threemonlhs,
nearaboutlhen,othor somewhere
ers will becomeawarethat something has happenedto you. They
will feel a subtlelight aloundyou.

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 somethingstrangeis
happeningto you. Dont tell anyone.When othersbecomeaware,
then you can feel at ease,and
then you can enter the second
step,not beforeit.
The secondstep is to take it into

THE

MEDITATIONS

dreaming.Now you can take it into is revealed- that you are light, a
dreaming.It has becomea rcality. flame,a buming flame- all dreams
Now it is not an imagination. will disappearOnly when dreams
Throughimaginationyou have un- disappearcan you carry this feeling
covereda rcality. It is rcal. Every- into sleep,never before.Now you
thingconsissof lighr Youarelight arc at the dmr When dreamshave
- unawareof the fact - becauseev- disappearcdand you remember
yourself as a flame, you are at the
ery particleof matteris lighr
The scientistssay it consiss of door of sleep.Now you can enter
electons; it is the same thing. with the feeling.And onceyou enLight is the sourceof all. You are ter sleepwith the feeling that you
also condensed light: through area flame,you will be awarein it
imaginationyou aresimply uncov- - the sleepwill now happenonly to
ering a reality. Imbibe it - and your body,not to you.
when you have becomeso filled Yoga and Thnra divide the life of
with it, you can carry it into man'smind into tttrcedivisionsdreams,not beforc.
the life of the mind, remember.
Then, while falling asleep,go on They divide mind into threedivithinking of the flame, go on see- sions:waking,sleeping,dreaming.
ing it, feeling you are the light. Theseare not the divisionsof your
Remembering
theseare the diviit. . .remembering... consciousness,
rememberingyou fall hto sleep, sionsof your mind,andconsciousand the remembrancecontinues. nes is the fourth.
In the beginning you will sart They have not given any nameto
having somedreamsin which you it in the East; they call it simply
will feel you havea flame within, the fourth, turiya. The first three
that you are lighr By and by, in have names;theseare the clouds.
the dreams also you will move They can be named - a waking
with the same feeling. And once cloud, a sleepingcloud, a dreamthis feeling enters the dleams, ing cloud.They areall clouds,and
dreams will start disappearing. thespacein which theymove- lhe
There will be fewer and fewer sky - is unnamed,left simply as
drcams and more and more deep the fourth.
This techniqueis to help you go besleep.
When in you dreaming,this reality yond thesetluee states.lf you can

be aware that you are a flame, a

light, tlat sleepis not happening
to
you, you are conscious.You are
carrying a consciouseffort; now
you arc crystallized around that
flame.The body is asleep,you arc
noL
This is what Krishna says in the
Gita: that yogisneversleep.While
others are asleep,they are awake.
Not that their bodiesneversleep,
their bodiessleep- but only bodies.Bodiesneedrest,consciousness
needsno rest; becausebodies are
mechanisms,
consciousness
is not a
mechanism.
Bodiesneedfuel, they
needrest.That'swhy whentheyare
born, they arc young,thenthey becomeold, and thenthey die. Conis neverborn, neverbesciousness
comesold, neverdies.It needsno
fuel,it needsno rest.It is pureenergy, perpenraleternalenergy.If you
can carry this imageof flame and
light through the doon of sleep,
you will neversleepagain,only the
body will rest.And while the body
is sleeping,you will know it Once
this happens,you havebecomethe
founh. Now the waking and the
&eamingand the sleepingarcparu
of the mind. They are parts, and
you havebecomethe fourth - one
who goestluoughall of themandis
noneof them.r

THE

MEDITATIONS

f-lhiva said: Kind Devi, enter

erlrericpresencepenading
\
L) fa, above and below your
form.
This method can be done only if
you have done "Touching as a
Feather".It can be doneseparately
also,but then it will be very difhcult" But if you do the otherfust"
then it is good o do the second
andvery easy.
Wheneverthis happens- that You
feel light, levitating,as if you can
fly - suddenlyyou will become
awarethat aroundyour bodYform

Seeins
Etherii Presence
thereis a bluishlight. But thatyou
can see only when you feel that
you can levitate, that your bodY
can fly, ttrat it has becomelight,
completely fiee of any burden,
completelyfiee of any gravitation
towardslhe earth.
Wheneveryou feel thisweightlessness,just with closedeyesbecome
aware of the form of your bodY.
Just with closed eyes, feel your
115

toes and their form, and the legs

and their form, and then the form
of ttrewholebody.If you aresitting
n siddlwsana,just like a Buddha,
thenfeel theform while sittinglike
a Buddha.Insidejust uryto feel the
form of your body. It will become
apparent,it will appearbeforeyou,
beand you will simultaneouslY
come aware that just around the
form thereis a bluishlight.

Do it with closedeyesin the beginning.And whenthis light goes

on spreadingand you feel an
aura,a bluish aura,all aroundthe
form, thensometimeswhile 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 aroundyour bodY.
If you actuallywant to seeit, not

THE

with closed eyes, but with open

eyes,do it in a dark rmm with no
light at all.
This bluish form, this bluistrlight,
is the presenceof the ethericbody.
You have many bodies.This technique is concemedwith the ettreric
body, and throughthe ethericbody
you canenterinto the highestecstasy. Therc are sevenbodies,and every body can be usedto enter into
the divine; every body is just a
door
This technique uses the etheric
body, and the etheric body is the
easiestto realize. The deeper the
body, the more difficulq but the
etheric My is just near you, just
nearthephysical.It is just near.The
secondform is of the etheric- just
aroundyou, just aroundyour body.
It penetratesyour body and it is
also around your body just like a

MEDITATIONS

hazy light, a blue light, hangingall

aroundlike a lmse robe.
Whenever someone loves y@,
whenever some<xrctouches you
with deep love, he touches yow
ethericbody.That'swhy you feel it
a.ssucha soothingthing.It haseven
been phoographed.Two lovers in
deeplove, making love: if their intercoursecan continuefor a certain
limit, beyond forty minutes, and
thercis no ejaculation,aroundboth
thebodies,deepin 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
havebecomeaware,then help il to
gow help it to incrcaseand expand.What canyou do?
Just sitting silently,looking at ig
not doinganything,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.Becausewhen you arc not
doing anything, the whole energy
goes to the etheric. Remember
this. When you are doing anything, the energy is taken out of
theetheric.
When you arc not doing anything,
your energyis not moving out. It
goesto theetheric.It is accumulated
there.Yoruethericbodybecomesan
elecric rcservoir.And the more it
grows,the morc you becomesilent.
The more you become silent, the
moreit grows.And onceyou know
how to give energyto the etheric
bodyandhow not to wasteit umecessarily,you have come to reaJize;
you havecometo know abouta secrctkeY.r

116

MEDITATIONS

hiva said: Feel the cosmos

as a translucenever-living
presence.
This technique is basedon inner
sensitivity.First glow in sensitivity. 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." Thkea bath, throw cold watr 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 just go on looking at thecandleand
small candle- the flame and the the flame. Then you will discover
candle.Go on looking at it. After new colors aroundthe flame, new
five minutes you will feel that shades which you werc never
many things are changingin the aware were there.They are there:
candle.They are not changingin the whole rainbow is there.Wherthe candle- remember.Your eyes ever light is, the rainbow is there
arechanging.
becauselight is all color.You need
With a loving attitude, wift the a subtlesensitivity.Justfeel it and
whole world closedout. with total go on looking at it Even il tean
concentration,with a feeling heart, start flowing, go on lmking at it.

Thosetearswill help your eyesto

be morefresh.
Sometimesyou may feel that the
flame, the candle, has become
mysterious.It is not the ordinary
candleyou broughtwith you. It
has taken on a new glamour A
subtledivinenesshascomeinlo it.
Go on doingthis. You canalsodo
thiswittr manyotherthings.
Sensitivitymustgrcw Your every

THE

MEDITATIONS

sense must become more alive. Wait silently with anything, and
Thenyou canexperimentwith this you will discover a new phetechnique."Feel the cosmosas a nomenonwhich was alwaysthere,
translucentever-living presence." but to which you werenot alertEverywherelight is - in many, not awareof it.
many shapes,forms,light is hap- "Feel fte cosmosas a translucent
pening everywhere.Look at it! ever-living plesgnce," and your
And light is everywhere,because mind will become completely
the wholephenomenon
is basedon silent as you feel the presenceof
the foundationof light. t ook at a the ever-livingexistence.You will
leaf or a flower or a rock, and bejust a part in it, just a notein the
sooneror later you will feel rays great symphony.No burden, no
comingout of it. Justwait patient- tension:thedrophasfalleninto the
ly. Don't be in a hurry because ocean.But gleat imaginationwill
nothing is revealedwhen you are be neededin the beginning,and if
in a hurry. In a hurry you are dull. you arcalsotrying othersensitivity

trainingit will be helpful.

You can try many ways.Justtake
someone'shand into your hand.
Close your eyesand feel the life
in the other.Feelit, andallow it to
move towardyou. Feel your own
life and allow it to move toward
the other.Sit neara treeand touch
the bark of the tree. Close your
eyes and feel the life arising in
the ree, and you changeimmediately.
If this method is done for three
monttts,you will be living in a differentworld becausenow you will
be different.s

THE

MEDITATIONS

Meditations on Darkness
Just like the seedthat startsits life in the darknessof
J tlp soil, or the child that startsis life in the darkness
of the womb, all beginningsare in tlre dark, because
darlaressis one of the mostessentialthingsfor anything
to begin.
The beginningis mysterious,hencedartnessis needed.
And tlrc begrnningis so delicate,tlrat's also why darknes is needed.Thebeginningis alsovery intimate,that's
also why darknessis needed.Darlness hasdepthand a
tremendouspower to nourish. The day tires you; the
nightrejuvenates.
The momingwill come,the day will follow, but if you
are afraid of the dartnessthen tlrc day will nevercome.
If one wantsto skip dartnessthenthe day is imposible.
One hasto go tluoughthe dark night of the soul o reach
to thedawn.Deathis fint, then[fe is.
In the ordinary sequenceof things birth is hnq then is
life, but in the inner world, in the innerjourney,it is just
theopposite:deathis hrst, thenis life. t

ll9

THE MEDITATIONS

hiva said: In rain during a

black nigltt, enter tlat
blackness as tlv form of
forms.
How can you enter blactness?
Threethings.
Step1:
Stare into blackness.Difficult. It
is easyto starcat a flame, at any
sourceof light, becauseit is therc
as an object,pointed;you can direct your a0entionto it. Darkness
is not an objec[ it is everywhere,

InnerDarkness
it is all around.You cannot seeit
as an object. Stareino the vrcuum. All aroundit is there;yotrjust
look ino it. Feel at easeand look
into it It will start entering your
eyas. And when the darknessenters your eyes, you are entering
into it.
Remainwith open eyeswhen doing this technique in the dark
nighr Dont close your eyes, becausewith closedeyesyou havea
differentdarlnessthat 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 darknessis simply the negative of the lighr Jus[as when you
look at the window and then you
close your eyes,you have a negative figure of the window. All our
experienceis of light, so when we
clme qr eyeslve have a negative
experienceof light which we call

darkness.It is not real, it wont

do.
Openyour eyes,remainwith 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 momentthe dartness,the
rcal daltnesswhich is there,enters
in yorr eyes, it will give you a

THE

MEDITATIONS

very deep soothing feeling. When andif you give way for any cosmic
realdarknessentersin you, you will rcalm o enlerin you, thenonly will
you enterino ir It is alwaysmutube filled by it.
And this enteringof darknesswill al. You cannot force it; you can
empty you of all negativedarkness. only allow it.
This is a very deep phenomenon. It is difncult o hnd realdarknessin
The darknes tlnt you have within cities now; difficult in our housesto
is a negativething; it is againstthe frnd rcal darkness.Wth the unreal
light. It is not the absenceof light; light we havemadeeverythingunit is againstthe light" It is not the real. Even our darknes is polluted,
darknessthat Shiva is speakingof it is not pure.So it is good!o move
as the form of all forms - the real to somercmot place only to feel
darkness.Just go to a very rcmote
darknesstlnt's therc.
We areso afraidof it tlnt we have village wherethereis no elecricity,
createdmanysoucesof light just as or move to a mountainpeak. Just
protection,and we live in a lighted be therefor oneweek to experience
world. Thenwe closeour eyesand puredarlmess.
the lightedworld reflectsnegatively You will come back a different
inside. We have lost contactwith man, becausein those sevendays
the rcal darknesstlnt is tlpre - the of absolutedarkness,all the fean,
dar*ness of the Essenes,or the all fte primitive fears, will come
darkness
of Shiva.Wehaveno con- up. You will haveto face monstrs,
tact with it" We have become so you will haveto face your own unmuch afraid of it that we have conscious. The whole humanity
tumed ounelvescompletelyaway. will...it will be as if you arc passWearestandingwith our backsto ir ing throughthe whole passagethat
So this will be difficult, but if you haspassed,and deepftromyour uncando it, it is miraculous,it is mag- consciousmany things will arise.
ical. You will havea differentbeing They will lmk real. You may get
altogether.When dartness enters afraid, scarcd,becausethey will be
you, you enterinto it. It is always so real - and ttrey are just your
reciprocal,mutual. You cannoten- mentalcreations.
ter ino any cosmic phenomenon You have to come o terms witlr
And this meditawithout the cosmic phenomenon your unconscious.
enteringinto you. You cannotrape tion on darknesswill absorb all
it, you cannot force any entry. If your madnesscompletely.Try it
you arc available,open,vulnerable, 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 somethingis entering
you and you arc entering into
something.
Stayrng, living with darknessfor
three months,for one hour a day,
you will lose all feeling of individuality, 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:nothingis so vast,nothing
is soeternal.And nothingis so near
you, and of nothing are you so
scaredand afraid. It is just by the
corneqalwayswaiting.
Step2:
Lie down and feel as if you are
near your mother.The darknessis
the motheq the mother of all.
Think when there was nothing,
what was there?You cannot think
of anythingother than dar*mess.If
everything disappears,what will
still be there? Darlness will be
there.
Darlness is the motheqthe womb,
solie down andfeel that you arelying in the womb of your mother.
And it will becomereal,it will bcome wann, and sooner or later
you will startfeeling ttrat the dark-

122

MEDITATIONS

ness,the'womb,is envelopingyou wholedaywill helpyou verymuch,

from everywhere,you arcin itbecausethen when you contmplate and meditateon dartness in
Step3:
the night" the inner dartness tlrat
you havecanied thewhole day will
Moving, going to work, talking, help you to meet - the inner will
eating, doing whatsoeveqcarry a cometo meettheouter.
patch of darknesswithin you. The And just by rememberingthat you
darknessthat has entercd in you, arc carrying darkness- you are
just carry it As we werediscussing filled with darlness,every pore of
about the method of carrying a the body, every cell of the body is
f1ame,carry darkness.fu I said to filled with darkness- you will feel
you, if you carry a flame and feel so relaxed.Try ir You will feel so
you are light, your body will start rclaxed.Everythingin you will be
radiatinga certainsrange light and sloweddown. You will not be able
those who are sensitive will start t0 run, you will walk, andthat walk
feeling iq the same will happen will be sloweddown also.You will
with darkness.
walk slowly, just as a prcgnant
If you carry darknesswithin you, womanwalks. You will walk slowyour wholebody will becomesore- ly, very carefully.You are carrying
laxed and calm, so cml, that it will something.
be felt" And aswhenyou carry light And quite the oppositewill happen
within you some people will be- whenyou arecarryinga flame:your
come attractedto you, when you walk will becomefaster;ratheqyou
carry darkne.sswithin you, some would like to run. There will be
people will simply escape from mor movement,you will become
you. They will becomeafraid and moreactive.Carryingdarknessyou
scared.They will not b able to will be relaxed.Others will sart
bear so silent a hing; it will be- feelingthatyou arelazy.
comeunbearableo them.
h the days when I was at the uniCarrying darlqresswithin for the versity,I wasdoing this experiment

for two yean. I becameso lazy that

evento get out of bed in the moming wasdifhcult.My professors
becamevery muchdisturbedaboutit,
and they thought something had
gonewrcng with me - eitherI was
ill, or I had becomeabsolutelyindifferent.One professorwho loved
me very much,the headof my deparfrnent,becameso worried that
on my examinationdayshe would
cometo fetchme from the hostelin
the morningjust to lead me o the
examinationhall so ttnt I would be
thereon time. Every day he would
seettnt I had enteredthe hall, and
only then would he feel okay and
go home.
Try it. It is oneof the mostbeautiful experiencesin life to carry
darknessin your womb, to become
da*. Walking,eating,sitting,doing
whatsoeveq
remember,thedarkness
is filled in you; you arc hlled with
it. And thenseehow thingschange.
You cannotget excited,you cannot
be veryactive,youcannotbe tense.
Your sleep will become so deep
that deams will disappearand the
wholeday you will moveas if intoxicated.z

THE

MEDITATIONS

flhiva said: Whena moonless

\ rarny night is not present,
L) close eyesand find btacknessbefore you. Opening eyes,
seeblackness.Sofaults disappear
forever.
This is a little bit moredifficult. In
the previousmeditation,you carry
the realdarknesswithin. ln this one
you carrythe falseout - go on carryrngit. Closeyoureyes,feel darkness; open your eyes, and with
open eyes see the darknessout.
This is how you throw the inner
falsedarknessout - go on throwing

CanyOut
InnerDarkness
it. It will take at leastthreeto six
w@ks,and then one day suddenly
you will be able to carry the inner
darknessout. The day you cancarry the inner darknessout, you have
comeupon the real inner darkness.
The real can be canied; the false
cannotbe canied.
And it is a verymagicalexperience.
If you can cany the inner darkness
out, evenin a lightedrcom you can

carry it out"anda patchof darkness

spreadsbeforeyou. The experience
is very weird, becausethe room is
lighted.Or evenin sunlight...ifyou
havecometo theinnerdarknessyou
can bring it out. Then a patch of
darknesscomesbefore your eyes.
Youcango on spreading
it.
you
know
Once
that it can happen, you can havedarkness,dark
as the darkest night, in the full

sunny day. The sun is there,but

you can spreadthe darkness.The
darknessis always there; even
while the sun is there the darknessis lhere.You cannotseeit; it
is coveredby the sunlight.Once
you know how to uncoverit, you
canuncoveriL
That'sthe method.First feel it inside;feel it deeplyso you can perceive it out. Then open the eyes

r24

THE

sudilenlyandfeel it out. It will take

time.
And if you can bring ttre inner
darknessoutside, faults disappear
forever,becauseif the inner darknessis felt, you have becomeso
cool, so silent,so unexcitable,that
faultscannotremainwith you.
Rememberthis: fauls can exist
only if you arc pronet0 be excited,
if you tend to be excited. They
dont existin themselves;
theyexist
in your capacity to get excited.
Someoneinsultsyou,and you have
no darknesswithin to absorbtheinsult you becomeinflamed,you get
angry, you get fiery, and then everythingis possible.You canbe vi-

125

MEDITATIONS

olent,you cankill, you cando what

only a madmancando. Anythingis
possible- you arenow mad.Someonepraisesyou: you againgo mad
to theotherexErcme.
All aroundyou therearesituations,
and you are not.capableof absorbing. Insulta buddha:he canabsorb
it, he can simply swallowit, digest
it. Who digeststhat insult?An inner pool of darkness,silence.You
throw anything poisoned;it is absorbed.No reactioncomesout of it.
Try this,andwhensomeoneinsults
you, just rememberthat you are
filled with darkness,and suddenly
you will feel there is no reaction.
You passthrougha street;you seea

beautiful woman or a man - you

get excited.Feel that you are frlled
wift darkness;suddenlythe passion will disappear.You try it. This
is absolutelyexperimental,thereis
no needto believeitWhen you feel that you are filled
with passionor desireor sex,simply rememberthe inner darkness.
For a single moment close your
eyes and feel darknessand see thepassionhasdisappearcd,
the desire is no more there. The inner
darknes hasabsorbedit. You have
become an infrnite vacuum into
which anythingcan fall and it will
not renrm. You are now like an
I
abYss.

MEDITATIONS

MovingEnergyUpwards
hrst thingis to feelonc'senergy.Thehrst thingis
Th"
"How to useit?" Thefirstthingis:
I not thcquesrion,
how to fecl it and how to feel it intcnsely,passionately,
totally.And the beautyis that.onceyou havc felt your
energy,
out of thatvcry feclingtheinsightariscs:how to
useit.
The energystartsdirectingyou. It is not thatyou dtert
the energy:on fte contrary,thecnergystartsmovingon
its own accordand you simplyfollow it. Thcn thereis
spontancity
andthenthereis frcedom.t

MEDITATIONS

fi hiva said: Consider your

essenceas tight rays rising
\
L) from centerto centerup the
vertebrae,and so rises 'livingness'inyou.
Many yoga methodsare basedon
this. First understandwhat it is,
then the application. The vertebrae,the spine is the baseof both
your body and mind. Your mind,
your head,is the end part of your
spine.The whole body is rootedin
the spine. If tlrc spine is young,
you are young. If the spine is old,
you are old. If you can keep your

TheAscent
of Life Energy1
qpineyoung, it is difficult to becomeold. Everythingdependson
your spine.If your spineis alive,
you will havea 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 makeyour spinealive, brilliant"
frlled witlt light, youngandftesh.
The spine has nvo ends.The begrnning is the sex center and the

endis salasrar (the seventhcenter

at the op of the head).The beginning of the spineis attachedto the
earth, and sex is the most earthly
thing in you. From the beginning
centerin your spineyou arc in contact with natlrrc, with what has
&nncalled prakrari - the eafih,the
material. From ttre last centei or
the secondpole, salwsrae in the
head,you arein contactwith thedi-

vine. Theseare the two poles of

your existence:fint is sexand the
other is the salwsrar. There is no
word for 'sahasrar'in English.
Theseare the two poles - either
your life will be sexoriented or
sahasrar-oriented.
Either your energy will be flowing down hom
fte sexcentrback to tlte earth,or
your energywill be releasedftom
the sahasrarino the cosmos.From

MEDITATIONS

you flow into theBrah- is pullingit back.Everythinggocs you aresittingby tlresideof a budihe sahasrar
to dha, you can feel this. Suddenly
man. into the absoluteexistence. to its source.And if it condnucs
From sex you flow down into the movcin thisway,liie encrgygoing you feel an upsurgeof energywithThesearethc two backagainandagain,you arcmov- in you,andyourenergyslartsmovrelativeexistence.
Unless ing in a circle;you will go on mov- ing upward. Only then do you
flows,the two possibilities.
you startflowing upward,yourmis- ing for livesandlives.You can go know thatsomethinghashappened.
ery will neverend. You may have on movingthis way infinitclyun- Justby beingin contactwith a budglimpsesof happiness,but only lessyou rakea jump just like the dha your energybegins to move
you upwardtowardthesahasrar.
Like the astronauts
A budglimpses- andveryillusoryoncs. astronauts.
Whenthe energystartsmovingup- haveto rakea jump and movebe- dha is so powerful that even tre
ward,you will havcmoreandmorc yondthecircle.Thenthepattemof earthis lcsspowerful,it cannotpull
real glimpses.And once it reaches earth'sgravitationis broken.It can your energy downwards.Those
whohavefclt thisarounda Jesus,
a
fte sahasrarand is relcasedfrom bc brokcn!
you
how
it
will haveabsolutebliss The tcchniqucsfor
can be Buddha, a Krishna, have callcd
there,
with you - that is nirvana.Then brokenarehcre- for how theener- thcm God. Thcy have a differcnt
thereis no glimpse:you becomethe gy canmovevcrticallyandrise up sourccof energywhich is sEDnger
blissitself.So the wholething for within you, rcachingnew centers; thanthc earth.
yogaandtantrais how !o moveen- for how new energiescan be re- How can the pattem be broken?
ergy upwardthroughthe vertebrae, vealcdwithin you, makingyou a This techniqueis very useful for
throughthe spinalcolumn,how to new pcrsonwilh everymove.And breakingthe pattem.First underhelp it moveagainstgravity.Sexis the momentthe energyis released standsomethingbasic.One,if you
very easybecauseit follows gravi- from your sahasrar,the opposite haveobserved
at all, youmusthave
ution. The earth is pulling every- pole of sex,you are no morc man. observed that your sex energy
thing down, back;your sex energy Thenyou don'tbelongto thisearth; moves with imagination. Just
is pulledby theearth.You may not you have becomedivine.That is throughimaginationyour sex cenhave heardit, but astronautshave what.is meantwhenwe sayKrishna ter startsfunctioning.Really,withfelt this - the momentthey move is God or Buddhais God. Thcir out imaginarion
it.cannotfunction.
beyond the earth's gravity, they bodies are just like yours. Their That is why if you arein love witlr
dont feel much sexuality.As the bodieswill havcto fall ill andthcy somconeit functions bctter: bebody loses weight, sexualitydis- will haveto die. Everythinghap- causewith loveimagination
enters.
pens
you
very
disappears.
in
their
bodies
it
happcns
I[
not
in
love
it
is
solves,
as
to
are
difTheearthis pullingyour life energy you. Only one thing is nol happcn- ficult.It will notfunction.
down and Lhisis natural,because ing in theirbodieswhichis happcn- Since tlre sex center functions
the life energy comes from the ing to you - the energyhasbroken throughimagination,you can get
earth.You eat food and you arecre- thegravitationpattm.
erectionsand ejaculationseven in
ating life energy within you; it Thatyoucannotsee;it is not visible dreams- they arc rcal; dreamsare
comesfrom the earth,and the eanh to your eyes.But sometimeswhen just imagination.It has been ob-

THE

MEDITATIONS

servedhat everyman,if physically ful. You can makeyour own divifit, will haveat leasttenerectionsin sion.Justfive centersareenoughto
the night.With everymovementof work with: the frrst is the sexcenthemind,with only a slightthought teq the secondis just behind the
of sex.an erectionwill come.Your navel, rhe third is just behindthe
mind hasmanyenergies,
manyfac- heart,the fourth is behindyour two
ulties,andoneis will. But you can- eyebrows,just in between,in the
not will sex.For sex,will is impo- middle of the forehead.And the
is just on the peakof
tent. If you Ery lo love someone, fifth, sahasrar,
you will feel you havegoneimpo- your head.Thesefive will do.
This suua says, "Consider yourtent.so nevertry.
Will neverfunctionswith sex;only self': which meansimagineyourimaginationwill function.Imagine, self - close your eyesand imagine
and the centerwill stafi to function. yourselfjustasif youarelight.This
Why am I emphasizing
this fact?- is not just imagination.In the bebecauseif imaginationhelpsthe en- ginningit is, but it is a rcality also
ergyto move,thenyou canmoveit because everyhing consists of
upwardor downwardjust by imagi- light. Sciencesiaysnow that everynation. You cannot move your thing consistsof lighq sciencesays
blmd by imagination;you cannot thateverythingconsistsof elecricido anything else in the body by ty. Tantrahas always said that evimagination.But sexenergycanbe erythingconsistsof light particlesmoved by imagination,you can and you also.That is why the Koran s:lys that God is light. You are
changeits dircction.
This sutra says, "Consider your light!
essence
as light rays..." Think of Imaginefint that you arejust light
yourself,your being, as light rays rays; 0ren move your imagination
your
..."from center!o centerup thever- to the sexcenter.Concentrate
[ebrae,"up yourspine,"and sorises attention there and feel that light
'livingness'in you."
rays arerising upwardfiom the sex
Yoga has divided your spine into centel as if the sex centerhas besevencenters.The first is the sex come a sourceof light and light
centerand the last is sahasrar,and raysarcmoving in an upsurge- upbetween these two there are five wardtowardthe navelcenter
centers.Somesystemsdivide into Division is neededbecauseit will
nine, some into three, some into be difhcult for you to connectyour
foun divisionis not very meaning- sex center with the sahasrar.So
l3l

smallerdivisionswill be of help.If
you can connect,no divisionsare
needed.You canjust &op all divisions fiom yotu sex center onwards,and the energy,the life force
will rise up as light oward the sahasrar But divisions will be more
helpful becauseyour mind canconceive of smaller fragments more
easily.
So just feel that ttre energy, the
light rays, are rising up ftom your
sexcenterto your navellike a river
of light. Immediatelyyou will feel
a warmthrising in you. Soonyour
navel will become hot. You can
feel the hotness;even others can
feel that houpss. Through your
imagination the sex energy will
havestartedto rise. When you feel
that now the secondcenter at tlte
navelhasbecomea sourceof light,
tlnt the mys arc coming and being
collectedthere, tlpn start to move
o the heart center. As the light
reachesthe heartcentet as the rays
are coming, your heartbeatwill be
changed.Your breathingwill become deepeqand a warmth will
come to your heart. Go on upwards.
And as you feel warmth,jusl side
by sideyou will feela 'livingness',
a new life coming to you, an inwardlight risingup.Sexenergyhas
two parts: one is physical and one
is psychic.In your bodyeverything

l
l
l

TH E ME DITATIONS

has trvo parts. Just like your body

and mind, everythingwithin you
hastwo parts- one materialandthe
other spirinral. Sex energyhas two
pans.The matrialpart is semen.It
cannot rise upwards; there is no
passagefor it. Because of this,
manyphysiologists
of the Westsay
that tantra and yoga methodsare
nonsense
andtheydenythemcompletely. How can sex energyrise
up?Thereis no passageand sexenergycannotrise.Theyareright and
still wrong. Semen,the material
part, cannotrise, but that is not the
wholeof it - it is only the body of
sex energy;it is not the sexeneryy.
The sex energyis the psychic part
of it, and the psychicpart canrise.
And for thatpsychicpart,thespinal
passageis used- the spinalpassage
and is centers.But that has t0 be
felt and your feelings have gone
dead.
I remembersomewherethat a certain psycho0rerapistwrote about a
patient,a woman.He was telling
her to feel sometlfngbut the psychotherapistfelt that whatevershe
did shewas not feeling,but thinking aboutfeeling, and that is a differentthing.So thetherapistput his
hand on the woman's hand and
presscdit, telling her to close her
eyesarld rclatewhat she felt. She
said immediately, "f feel your
hand."

But the therapistsaid,"No, this is

not your feeling.This is just your
thinking,your inference.I haveput
my handin your hand;you sayyou
are feeling my hand.But you arc
not. This is inference.
Whatdo you
feel?"So shesaid,"I feel your fingers."
The therapistagainsaid,"No, this
is not feeling.Dont infer anything.
Just closeyour eyesand move to
the place wheremy hand is; then
tell me what you feel." Then she
said,"Oh! I wasmissingthe whole
ttring.I feelpresureandwarmth."
Whena handtouchesyou,a handis
not felt. Pressureand warmth are
it is
felt. The handis just inference,
intellect,not feeling.Warmthand
pressurc,that is feeling.Now she
was feeling.We have lost feeling
completely.Youwill haveto develop feeling.Only then can you do
such techniques.Otherwise,they
will not function.You will just intellectualize.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 techniqueis so significant,but
nothinghappens."They havetried,
but theyaremissinga dimensionthe feelingdimension.So fint you
will haveto developftaq and there
are somemeftds which you can

tioning;only then will thesetechniquesbe of any help. Otherwise

you will go on thinkingthatenergy
is rising,but therewill be no feeling. And if there is no feeling,
imagination is impotent, futile.
Only a feeling imaginationwill
give you a resulLYou cando many
otherthingsandthereis no needo
makea specificeffort to do them.
Whenyou go to sleepjust feel your
bed,feel the pillow - the coldnes.
Justtum on to it play with thepillow.
Close your eyesand listen to the
noiseof the air conditioner,or of
the naffic or of 0re clock or anything.Justlisten.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
sleephasgone,dont startthinking.
For a few momenlsyou can again
be a child - innocent.fresh.Dont
start rhinking. Dont think abour
whatyou aregoingto do andwhen
you are starting for the office and
what tnainyou arc going to catch.
Dont startthinking.You will have
enoughtime for all that nonsense.
Justwait.
For a few momentsjust listen to
the noises.A btudis singingor the
wind is passingthroughthe[ees or
a child is crying or the milkman
ry.
The feelingcentermust startfunc- hascomeand is makingsoundsor

MEDITATIONS

the niilk is beingpoured.With anyfeel it. Be sensithingthathappens,

tive to it, opento it Allow it to happento you andyour sensitivitywill
gow
Createsensitivityand feeling.Then
it will be easyfor you to do these
techniques,
and then you will feel
'livingness' arising in you. Donl
leavethis energyanywhere.Allow
it !o cometo the sahasrar.
Remember this: wheneveryou do this experiment,dont leaveit in the middle. You haveto completeit. lbke
carethatno onedisturbsyou.If you
leave this energysomewherein the
middle,it can be harmful.It hasto
be rcleased.So bring it to the head
andfeel as if your headhasbecome
an opening.
In India we havepictued the sahasruu as a lotus - as a thousandpetaled lotus. 'Sahasrar' means
thousand-petaled,
an opening of a
thousandpetals.Just conceiveof
the lotus with a thousandpetals,
opened,and from every petal this
light energyis movinginto thecosmos.Again,this is a love act - not
with naturenow, but with the ultimate.Again,it is anorgasm.
Therearetwo typesof orgasms:one
is sexual and the other spiritual.
The sexualcomesfiom the lowest
center and the spiritual ftom the
highestcenter.Fromthehighestyou
meetthe highestand from t}le low-

estyoumeetthelowest.Evenwhile know life'sfunctioning.It is a good

actually in the sex act you can do sign. It showsthat energyis now
this exercise:both the parhers can there alive. Now it needsmovedo this. Move the energyupwards, ment.So dont becomescaredand
and thenthe sexact becomestantra dont think that something is
meditation.
sadlwna:it becomes
wrcng.It is a gmd sign.
But dont leave the energysome- When you start meditationthe sex
where in the body at somecenter. centerwill becomemoresensitive,
Someonemay come and you will alive.excited,and in thebeginning
havesomebusiness,
or somephone theexcitement
will bejust thesame
- but only
call will comeandyou will haveto asanysexualexcitement
snp. Sodo it at sucha time thatno in the beginning.As your meditaone will disnrb you, and dont tion becomesd*p"r, you will feel
leavetheenergyin any center.Oth- energyflowing up. As the energy
erwise that centerwhereyou leave flows, the sex center becomes
the energywill becomea wound, silent,lessexcited.
and you may createmany mental When the energy really moves to
illnesses.So be aware:otherwise the sahasrar,
therewill be no sensadont do this. This methodneeds tion at the sexcenter.It will be toabsolute privacy and no distur- lally still andsilenl It will havebebance,and it must be done com- come completely cool, and the
pletely.The energymust come t0 warmthwill havecometo thehead.
the head,and it shouldbe released And this is physical.Whenthe sex
from there.
centeris excited,it becomeshot.
You will havevariousexperiences. You can feel that hotness;it is
Whenyou will feeltlnt theraysarc physical.When the energymoves,
starting to come up from the sex the sex centerwill becomecooler
cente4there will be erectionsor and cooler and coolel and the hor
sensations
at the sex centecMany, nesswill come to the head.You
many people come to me very will feeldizzy.
afraid and scared.They say that When the energy comes to the
whenever they start meditation, head,you will feel dizzy. Somewhen they startto movedeep,there timesyou mayevenfeelnausea
beis an erection.They wonde4"What causefor the fint time energyhas
is this?" They are afraid because cometo the headand your headis
they think that in meditationsex not acquainted
with it. It hasto beshouldnot be therc.But vou dont come tuned. So dont become

THE

afraid.Sometimesyou may become

unconsciousimmediately,but dont
be afraid. This happens.If so much
energy moves suddenly and explodes in the head, you may beBut that unconcomeunconscious.
sciousnesscannotremain for more
than one hour.Within one hour the
energy auOmaticallyfalls back or
is released.I say one hour, but in
fact it is exactly48 minutes.It can-

MEDITATIONS

not be more trat that. It never has

been in thousandsof yearsof experiments,so dont be afraid.If you
it is okay.
do becomeunconscious,
you will
After that unconsciousness
feel so freshthatit is asifyou have
been in sleep for the fint time, in
the deepestsleep.
Yoga calls it by a special name:
'yogatantra'-yogicsleep.It is very
deep:youmoveto yourdeepestcen-

ter.But dont be afraid.And if yoru

headbecomeshot" it is a goodsigr.
Releasethe energy.Feel as if your
headis openinglike a lons flower,
as if energyis being releasedinto
the cosmos.fu the energyis released, you will feel a coldness
comingto you. You haveneverfelt
the coldnessthat comes after this
hotness.But do the techniquecompletely;neverdo it incompletely.z

134

THE

MEDITATIONS

hiva said: Or in tlu spaces

between,feel this as lightning.
This is a very similar methodwith
a slight difference: "Or in the
spacesberween,feel this as lightning." BetweenonecenErandanotheqas the rays are coming, you
can feel it tike lighming - just a
jump of light" For somepeoplethe
secondwill be more suitable and
for otlprs tlp first. This is why
there is a modification. There are
peoplewho cannotimaginethings
gndually and therearepeoplewho

TheAscent
of Life Energy2
cannotimagine in jumps. If you
can tlfnk and imagine gradually,
then the fint methodis good. But
if you try the fint methodand you
suddenlyfeel that from one center
tln rays jump dfuectlyo the second,thendont do tlrc hrst method.
The secondis betterfor you. "Feel
this as lightning" - like a sparkof
light jumping frromone center t0
the nexl And the secondis more

135

rcal because light rcally jumps.

There is no gradual stetrby-step
gowth.Lightis a jump.
For womenthe fint techniquewill
be easierand for men tlre serond.
The femininemind canconceiveof
gradualnessmore easily and the
malejumps moreeasily.The male
mind is Jumpy': it jumpsfiromone
thing o another.There is a subtle
uneasinessin the male mind. The

femalemind hasa gradualprccess.

It is notjumpy.Thatis why female
and male logic are very different.
A man goeson 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
choosewhicheveryou feel is good
for you.
Two or three things more about

THE

this method. With lightning you

may feel suchhotrressthat it may
seemunbearable.If you feel that,
dont try it. Lightningcan give you
muchheat.If you feel this,thatit is
unbearable,
thendonl try this.Then
with the first method,if you are at
ease,then it is good. Otherwisewith uneasiness- dont try it.
Sometimes
the explosioncanbe so
great tllat you may becomeatraid
of it, andonceafraidyou will never

MEDITATIONS

be ableto do it again.Thenfearenters.
So one hasto be awarealwaysnot
to becomeafraid of anything.If
you feelthatfearwill comeandit is
too muchfor you,dont u-yit. Then
the fint methodwith light rays is
best.If you feel thatevenwith light
raystoo muchhotnessis comingto
people
you, and it depends
because
differ,thenconceiveof the rays as
cool, imaginethem as cool. Then

insteadof feeling warmth you will

feel a coldnesswith everything.
That.too will be effective. So you
can decide: bry and decide.Remember,with this technique,and
with others also, if you feel very
uneasy or anything unbearable,
dont do it. Thele arc other methods, and this one may not be for
you. With unn@essary
disnubance
inside, you will createmore prob'
lemsthanvou will solve.r

r36

MEDITATIONS

Listeningto
Sound
the Soundless
-l- h. meditationsconcemedwith ear energyare femipassive- you havejust to listen,
I nine meditations,
not to do anything.Listening
to thebirds,thewind passing throughthe pine tres, or to somemusic, or to the
noiseof the raffic - just listening,doing nothing- geat
silencecomesin, andgeat peacestartsfalling andshowering on you. It is easierthough the earthanthrcughthe
eye.It is easierthroughtheearbecausetre earis passive,
it can
non-aggresive.
It cannotdo anythingto existence,
only let it happen.Theearis a door:it allows.I

MEDITATIONS

I
Tadabrahmais an old Ti trto, teclmique which
l\l
L V was originally done in
the early hoursof the nnrning. It
can be done at any time of the
day, alone or with others, but
lnve an empty stonnch and remain inactivefor at least15 minwes afterwards.The meditation
lastsan hour,and thereare three
sm8es.
First Stage:30 minutes
Sitin a relaxedpositionwith eyes
closed and lips together. Start
lwmming, loudly enough to be
heard by others and create a

Meditation
Nadabrahma
vibration tlvoughow yow body.
Youcan visualizea hollowtubeor
an emptyvessel,filled only with
the vibrationsof the lwmming.A
point will come when the humming continuesby itself and you
becomethe listener.There is no
specialbreathingand you can alter the pitch or moveyour body
smoothlyand slowlyif youfeel it.

SecondStage:15 minutes
The secondstage is divided into
two 7 rlz mirute sections.For the
first half, movethc lwrds, palms
up, in an outwardcircular motion.
Starting at the navel,both lnnds
moveforwards and tlun divide to
mak two large circles mirroring
each otlur left and ight. The

movementshotid be so slow tlnt

at tinas there will appear to fu
no movement
at all. FeeI that you
are givingenerg! outwardsto the
universe.
After 7 rlz minutes turn tlrc
hands, palms down, and slart
moving them in thc opposiledirection. Now the lwnds will
cometogethertowardsthe navel

THE

and divide outwardsto the sides

of thebody.Feel that you are taking energyin. As in thefirst stage,
don't inhibit any soft, slow movementsof the rest ofyour body.

Third Stage:15minutes
Sitor lie absolwelyquietand still.z

MEDITATIONS

each other's crossedhands.It is

best to wear ro other clothing.
Light tlv room only byfour vrwll
candlesand burn a particular incense,kept only for this nuditaplhagwan hasgiven a beautiful tion.
I-l variationof thistechniquc
for Closeyour eyesand lvm togetlvr
couples.
for thirty minutes. After a short
Partners sit facing each other, while tle energieswill
be fett to
coveredby a bedsheet
and holding meet,mergeandunite.t

Nadabrahma
for couples

140

L_
I

THE

MEDITATIONS

fihiva said: Intone a souttdas

\ eU,u slowly.As sound enters sotudfnlness, so do
L)
you.
"Intonea soundas AUM slowly":
for example, take AUtr4 This is
one of the basic sounds.A-U-M:
thesethreesoundsarc combinedin
it A-U-M are thee basic sounds.
A/l soundsaremadeof themor derived 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 arebasic.This hasto
be deeplyunderstood.
The inoning of a soundis a very
subtle science.First you have to
intone it loudly, outwardly.Then
others can hear it, and it is good
to startloudly.Why? Becauseyou
can also hear it clearly when you
intone it loudly: becausewhatsoeveryou say,it is to othen - and
this hasbecomea habir Whenevt4l

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 attunementwith the
sound.When you intone the sound
Aum, be filled with it. Forget everything else. Become the Aum,
becomethe sound.And it is very

easyto becometle soundbecause

sound can vibrate through your
body, tlrough your mind, through
your whole nervoussystem.Feel
thereverberationof Aum. lntoneit
andfeel it asif your wholebodyis
being filled with it, every cell is
vibratingwith it.
Inoning is also "in-tuning."Tune
yourself with the sound,become
the sound.And then,as you feel a

THE

ddepharmonybetweenyou and the

soundand you developa deep affection for it (and the sound is so
beautifuland so musical- Aum),
then the more you intone it the
more you will feel yourself filled
with a subtlesweehes. Thereare
soundswhich are biner, there are
soundswhich arevery hard.Aum is
a very sweetsound,the purest.Intoneit andbe fi[ed with it.
And whenyou begin to feel harmoniouswith it, you can&op intoning
loudly. Then closeyour lips and intone it inwadly, but inwardlyalso
fint try loudly. lntone inwardly,but
loudly so that the soundspreadsall
over your body,ouches everypart,
every cell of your body. You will
feel vitalizedby it, you will feelrejuvenated,you will feel a new life
enteringyou becauseyour body is a
It needsharmomusicalinstrument.
ny, and when the harmonyis disturbedyou aredisnrrbed.
That is why, whenyou hearmusic,
you feel good. Why do you feel
good?What is musicbut just some
harmonioussounds!Why do you
feel sucha well-beingwhenthereis
musicaround.you?
And whenthere
is chaos,noise,why do you feel so
distufted? You yourself are deeply
musical.You arean instrumentand
re-echoes
thatinstrument
tlings.
Intone 'Aum' inside,and you will
feel that your whole body dances

MEDITATIONS

with it. You will feel that your

wholebody is undergoing
a cleansing bath; eYery porc is being
But asyou feelit moreincleansed.
tensely and as it peneratesyou
more, go on becomingmore and
more slow becausethe slower the
sound,thedeeperit cango.It is just
The smallertre
like homeopathy.
dose,the deeperit penetrates- becauseif you wantto go deeper,you
haveto go moresubtly,moresubtly, moresubtly.
Crude,coarsesoundscannotenter
you heaft. They can entr your
ears, but lhey cannot enter your
hean. The passageis very narow
and the heaft is so delicate.that
only very slow,very rhythmic,very
atomic soundsare allowed !o enter
it. And unlessa soundentersyour
heart,the mantrais not complete.
The mantrais completeonly when
the sound enters your heart - the
deepest,most cenral core of your
being.Thengo on beingmoreslow,
moreslow,moreslow.
And thercarealsootherreasonsfor
making these soundsslower and
more subtle: the more subtle a
sound is, the more intense an
awarcnessyou will need to feel it
inside.The more coarsethe sound.
the lessneedthereis of any awarcness.The sound is enoughto hit
you; you will becomeawareof it.
But thenit is violent.

If a soundis musical,harmonious,
subtle,thenyou will haveto listen
to it insideand you will have!o be
very alert to listen o it. If you arc
not.alert, you will go to slepand
miss the whole point. That is the
problem with mantra, with any
chanting,with any useof sound:it
cancrcatesleep.It is a subtletranquilizer.If you continuouslyrepeat
any sound without being alert.
about it, you will fall asleepbecausetien the repetitionbecomes
mechanical.'Aum-Aum-Aum'
beandthenrepeticomesmechanical,
tion createsboredom.
So two things have to be done:
soundhas to be sloweddown and
you have to becomemore alert.
The more sound becomessubtle,
t}te more alert you are. To make
you morealert the soundhasto be
made more subtle, and a point
comeswhen soundenterssoundlessness,
and you
or soundfulness,
enter total awareness.When the
sound enters soundlessnessor
soundfulness,by that time your
alertnessmust have touched the
peak. When the soundreachesthe
valley,when it goesto the downmost,deepestcenterin the valley,
your alertnesshasgoneto tle very
peak, to the Everest. And there,
sounddissolvesinto soundfulness
and you dissolve
or soundlessness,
into totalawarcness.4

r42

THE

MEDITATIONS

n".t night beforeyou go to

fr
sleep, you can do a small
fl
IJtechnique
that will help
temendously.Put thelightsout, sit
in your bed ready to sleep,but sit
for frfteen minutes. Close your
eyes and then start any
monotonousnonsensesound,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
shouldnot be of any languagethat
you know. If you know English,
German, and Italian, then they
shouldnot be of ltalian, German,
or English. Any other language

Devavani
that you dont lnow is allowed Trbetan,Chinese,Japanese.
But if
you lnow Japanesethen it is not
allowed, tlren Italian is wonderful,
Speakany languageftat you don't
know. You will be in a difficulty
for a few secondsonly for the frnt
day, becausehow do you speaka
languageyou dont know? It can
be spoken,and once it starts,any
words,just to put
sounds,nonsense
theconsciousoff andallow the unconscious
to speak....

r43

When the unconsciousqpeaks,the

unconsciouslnows no langrrage.It
is a very,veryold method.It comes
from the Old Tesamenl It was
called in thosedays glossolalia,
anda few churchesin Americastill
use it They call it 'talking in
tongues'. And it is a wonderful
method,one of the most deepand
penetratinginto the unconscious.
You startwith '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 Orrceit

comes,you know the knackof it.
Then for hfteen minutes,us the
languagethat is coming to you,
and use it as a language;in fact
you are talking in it" This fifteen
minuteswill relax the conscious
mind so deeplyand thenyou just
simply lie down and go to sleep.
Your sleep will become deeper.
Within weeksyou will feel a depth
in your sleep,and in the moming
you will feel completelyfresh.s

MEDITATIONS

Devavani is the Divine Voice

which movesand spealcsthrough
the meditator,who becomesan
empty vessel, a channel. This
meditation is a Latihan of the
tongue.It relaxesthe conscious
mind so deeply that, when done
last thingat night,it is sureto be
followed by a profound sleep.
Thereare four stagesof 15 minuteseach.Keepyour eyesclosed
throughout.

Instructionsfor
DevavaniMeditation
First stage:15minutes
Sil quietly,preferablywilh gentle
musicplaying.
Secondstage:15 minutes
Startmakingnonsense
sounds,for
example"la...la...la," and continrc until unfamiliar word-like

soundsarise.Thesesoundsneedto
comefrom the unfamiliarpart of
the brain usedas a child, before
wordswere learned.Allow a gentle conversationalintonation: do
notcry or slnut,laughor scream.

vavaniis gentle,Gibberishmeditationis cathartic.

Eilher aloneor in a group,close

your eyesand beginIo say nonsensesounds- gibberish.
For fifteen minutesnnve totally
Third stage:15minutes
in the gibberish.Allow yourself
to expresswhateverneedsto be
Stand up and continueto speak,
within you. Throwevexpressed
allowingyour body to movesoftly
erything out. The mind thinks,
in lwrmony with the sounds.If
always, in terms of words. Gibyour body is relaxed the subtle
berishhelpsto breakup his patenergies will ueate a Latihan
tern of continualverbalization.
outsideyour control.
Wilhout suppressing your
thoughts,you can throw them
Fourth stage:15minutes
out - in gibberish.
Lie down.besilentand still. a
Let your body likcwise be expressive.
Tlun,for fifteen minutes,Iiedown
on your stomachand feel as if
Instructionsfor
you are mergin.gwith mother
GibberishMeditation
earth.
With each exhalation,feel yourhis is a variation on Devaself merginginto the ground bevani meditation. Where Deneathyou.l

MEDITATIONS

hiva said: Whilelisteningto

stringed insffuments,hear
their composite central
sound;thusomnipresence.
You are hearingan instrument- a
sitar,or anything.Many notesarc
there. Be alert and listen lo the
central core, the backboneof it
around which all the notes are
flowing,the deepestcunentwhich
holds all fte notestogether- that
which is central,just like your
backbone.
The wholebody is held
by the backbone.Listeningo the
music,be alert,penebatethe music, and hnd the backboneof it -

Music asMedttatton
the central thing which goes on
flowing, holding everyhing ogetlrer.Notescomeandgo anddisappea4but the centralcore flows
on.Becomeawareof it.
Basically, originally, music was
used for meditation;in particular,
Indian music developed as a
method for meditation, Indian
dancingdevelopedas a methodof
meditation.For the doer it. was a

deepmeditation,and for the audiencealsoit.wasa deepmeditation.

A danceror a musiciancan be a
If thereis no meditation
technician.
in it, he is a technician.
He canbe a
greattechnician.He can be a great
technician,but thenthe soul is not
there - only the body. The soul
comesonly whenlhe musicianis a
deepmeditator.
And music is iust the outward

thing. While playing on his sitar,

oneis not only playng on his sitar:
he is alsoplayingon his alerEress
inside.Thesitargoeson outwardly
and his intenseawareness
moves
inside.Themusicflowsoutwardly,
but he is awarc,constantlyalertof
the innermostcoreof it. And that
gives samadhi!That becomesecsrasy!That becomesthe highest
peak!

MEDITATIONS

But what are you doing when you

listen to music?You are not meditating.On the contrary,you arc using music as somethinglike alcohol. You areusingit to be relaxed,
you arc using it for self-forgetfulNESS.

This is the misfortune,the misery:

the techniqueswhich were developed for awarenessare being used
for sleep.And thisis how mangoes
on doingmischiefwith himself.

This sutra says while listeningto

stringed instruments, hear their
completecentralsound,their composite central sound; "thus omnipresence."And then you will
know what is to be known or what
is worthknowing.You will become
omnipresent.
With that music,hnding ttre composite central core, you will becomeawake,andwith thatawakening you will be everywhere.

Right now,you arc "somewhere"

'ego'.
point
a
whichwe call
That is the point whereyou are.If
you can becomeawake,this point
will disappear.
You will not be anywhere tren: you will be everywhere- as if you havebecomethe
all. You will have become ttre
ocean,you will have becomethe
infinite. The finitenessis with the
mind; the infinitenessenterswith
meditation.s

ME DITATIONS

hiva said: Bathein tlv center of soturd,as in the contintnus sotutd of a wateror
by puuing thefingers in
fall,
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 alwayspresenLIt may be in a
market or it may be at a Himalayanrereaf soundsare there.
Sit silently,and with soundthereis
somethingvery qpecial.Whenever
therearesounds,you arethecenter.

TheCenterof Sound
All the soundscome to you fiom
everywhere,from all directions.
With sight, with eyes,this is not
so. Sight is linear.I see you, then
tlrcreis a line towardyou. Soundis
circular; it is not linear. So all
soundscomein circlesand you are
fte center.Whereveryou are, you
arealwaysthe centerof sound.For
sounds,you arcalways'God," the
centerof the whole universe.Ev-

ery soundis comingto you, moving towardyou,in circles.

This techniquesays,"Bathein the
center of sound." Whereveryou
arc,if you aredoingthis technique,
just close your eyes and feel the
whole universefrlled with sound.
Feel as if every soundis moving
towardyou and you are the center.
Even this feeling that you are the
centerwill give you a very deep

peace. The whole universe becomesthe circumfercnce,

and you
are the centerand everythingis
movingoward you, fallingoward
you.
"As in the continuoussoundof a
waterfall" - if you are sitting by
the sideof a waterfall,closeyour
eyes,andfeel thesoundall around
you, falling on you, ftom every
side,creatinga centerin you fiom

THE

MEDITATIONS

every side.Why this emphasison But do not start thinking about they say that man thinks not
feeling that you are in the center? sounds- thatthisis goodandthisis throughthe head,but throughthe
Becausein the center there is no badandthis is disturbingandthatis belly - becausethey were working
sound.Thecenteris withoutsound; very beautifulandharmonious.You with soundssincelongago.
that is why you can hear sounds. arc not supposedto think about You have seenin every temple a
to gong.That wasplacedthereto creOtherwise, you could not hear sounds.Youaresimplysupposed
hear
not
them.A soundcannot
another think of thecenter.Youare sup- ate soundsarounda seeker.Somesound.Becauseyou iue soundless posed to think about every sound one would be meditating,and the
at your centeiyou canhearsounds. movingtowardyou - whetherit is gong would be soundedor a bell
The centeris absolutesilence:hat good,bad,beautiful.Youarejust to would be rung. The very disturis why you can hearsoundsenter- rememberthat you are the center banceseemsto have beencrcated
ing you,comingto you,peneradng and all the soundsare moving to- by ttre soundof the bell. Someone
you,encirclingyou.
wardyou - everysound,whatsoev- is meditating,and this bell or gong
If you can find out wherethe center er the sort.
seemsdisturbing.This seemsdisis, where in you 0rc field is to Soundsare not heardin the ears. turbing! In a temple,every visitor
which everysoundis coming,sud- They are notheardin theears;ears whocomeswill hit thegongor ring
denly soundswill disappearand cannothearthem.They only do a the bell. With someonemeditating
you will enterinlo soundlessness.
work,andin thenans- there,this would seem!o be a conIf transmission
you can feel a centerwhere every missiontheycut out muchwhichis stant disturbance.It is not - besoundis beingheard,thereis a sud- uselessfor you. They choose,they causethe personis waiting for this
den transference
of consciousness.select,and then thosesoundsenter sound.
One momentyou will be hearing you. Now hnd out within where So every visitor is helping.Again
the whole world filled with sounds, your centeris. Earsarenot thecen- and again the bell is hit, and the
and anothermomentyour awarc- ter You are hearingftrom some- soundis createdand the meditator
nesswill suddenlyturn in and you wheredeepdown.Theearsaresim- again entershimself. He looks at
will hear the soundlessness,
the ply sendingyou selectedsounds. the center where this sound goes
centerof life.
Whereareyou?Whereis your cen- deep.Thercis one hit on the bell:
Onceyou haveheardthat, thenno wr?
the visitor has done that. Now the
soundcan disturbyou. It comesto If you are working with sounds, secondhit will be insidethe mediyou, but it never reachesyou. It thensooneror later you will be sur- tatoq somewhereinside.Whereis
comesto you, it is alwayscoming prised- becausethe centeris not in it? The sound always hits at the
to you, but it never reachesyou. the head.The centeris not in the belly, at the navel, never in the
Thereis a point whereno sounden- head!It appea$in theheadbecause head.If it his in thehead,you can
you haveneverheardsounds:you understand
well thatit is not sound:
ten. Thatpointis yor.
Do it in a markec thereis no other haveheardwords.With wordsthe it is words.Then you havestarted
placelike a market.It is so much headis the center;with soundsit is thinkingaboutthe sound.Thenthe
filled with sounds- mad sounds. not thecenter.Thatis why in Japan purityis lost.
148

MEDITATIONS

"Bathein thecenterof sound,asin naturalsoundbecauseit is not cre- That is why silencewas practiced
so much. In it, all the bridges for
the continuoussoundof a waterfall, atedby anything.
or,by puning the fingen in the ears, "Puning the fingersin the ean, hear movingto theotherarebroken.
hearthe soundof sounds."You can the soundof sounds"- this absence "Oc by putting the hngers in the
createihe soundjust by using your of sound is a very subtle experi- ean, hearthe soundof sounds"- in
finge4or with anythingwhichclos- ence.What will it give to you?The one techniquetwo oppositeshave
esyour earsforcibly. Thena certain moment there are no sounds,you beenshown."Bathein thecenterof
soundis head. What is that sound fall back upon yourself. With sound,as in the continuoussound
and why do you hear it when the soundswe moveaway;with sounds of a waterfall" - this is one exears are closed, when the e:trs are we moveto the other.Try to under- Eeme;"or, by puring ttre fingen in
plugged?
standthis: with soundswe arerelat- the ears,hearthe soundof sounds":
Just as thereare negativesof pho- ed to the ofte[ we communicate this is anotherextreme.One part is
o hearthe soundscomingto your
tographs,therearenegativesounds. with theother.
Not only can the eyesseethe nega- If soundis the vehicleto move to cente4 anotherpart is to stop all
be- soundsand feel fte soundles centive: theearscanevenhearthe neg- the othel then soundlessness
ative.So whenyou closeyour ean, comesthe vehicleto moveto one- ter. Theseboth have beengiven in
you hear the negative world of self. With soundyou communicate one techniquefor a specialpurpose
sounds. All tlte sounds have with the otheq with soundlessness- so that you canmovefiom oneto
stop'ped.Suddenlya new sound is you fall down into your own abyss, another.
heard.This soundis tlre absenceof ino yourself.That is why so many The "or" is not a choice o do 0ris
sound.A gap hascomein. You are techniques use soundlessnessto or that. Do both! That is why both
have been given in one technique.
mising something,and then you movewithin.
hear this absence."Or, by putting Becomeabsolutelydumb and deaf Fint do one for a few months,then
the frngers in the ears, hear the - evenif only for a few moments. do the otherfor a few montls. You
soundof sounds"- that negative And you cannotgo anywhereelse will be more alive, and you will
And if you can
sound is known as the sound of than to yourself: so suddenlyyou know two extremes.
sounds- becauseit is not really a will find that you arc standingwith- move t0 the two extremeseasily,
sound,but its absence.Or, it is a in; no movementwill be possible. you canremainyoungforever.r

THE

MEDITATIONS

hiva said: In the beginning

and gradual refinentcntof
thc soud of any letter,
awake.

How can you do il? Go to a temple. A bell is thereor a gong.Take

the bell in your hand and wait"
First become totaily alert. The
soundis going o be thereand you
arc not to miss the beginning.Fint
becometotally alert, as if your life
dependson this, as if someoneis
goingo kill you this very mornent
and you will be awake.Be alert

TheBesinnins

andEndofScifund

as if this is going o be your death. then move with the sound. The
And if there is thought, wait, be- sound will become slower and
causethought is sleepiness.Wiilt sloweqsubtlerand subtlerand subthoughtyou cannotbe alert When tlel and then it will not be there.
you :rre alert, therc is no thoughL Then go on with the sound. Be
So wait! When you feel that now aware,alert. Move with the sound
the mind is without thought,that to the very end.Seeboth the poles
thereis no cloud and you arealert, of tlte sound, both the beginning
thenmovewith thesound.
andtheend.
Look when the soundis not therc, Try it with someouter soundlike a
then close your eyes. Then look gong or a bell or anything, then
when the soundis created.struck: closeyour eyes.Utterany letterin-

side - Aum or any other - and

thendo the sameexperimentwith
iL It is difhculq that is why we do
it outwardly first. When you can
do it outwardly,then you will be
ableo do it inwardly.Thendo it.
Wait for the moment when the
mind is vacant, then create the
soundinside.Feelit. movewith it.
go with it, until it disappears
completely.
It will take time until you can do
150

THE

ttris. A few monthswill be needed,

at leastthreemonths.In thesethree
months,you will becomemoreand
more alert, more and more alert.

151

MEDITATIONS

The pre-soundstate and the aftersound state have to be watched.

Nothing is to be missed.Onceyou
becomeso alert that you can walch

the beginning and the end of a

sound, through this process you
will havebecomea toallv different
person.10

THE

MEDITATIONS

Findingthe SpaceWthin
mpdnessis your innermostcenterAll activityis on
theperiphery:theinnermostcenteris just a zero.t

MEDITATIONS

f1 ntro said:In summerwhen

yo, seethe enrire skyend\
lessty clear, enter such
L)
clarity.
Meditateon thesky:a summersky
with no clouds, endlesslyempty
and clear,nothingmovingin it, in
its total virginity. Contemplateon
it, meditateon it, and enter this
clarity. Become this clarity, this
space-like
clarity.
To meditateon the sky is beautiful.
Just lie down so you forget the
earth;just lie down on your back
on any lonely beach, on any

EntertheClearSky
ground,andjust look at the sky.A
clear sky will be helpful - unclouded, endless. Just looking,
staringat thesky,feel theclarityof
it - the uncloudedness,
the boundlessexpanse- and thenenterthat
clarity,becomeonewith it. Feelas
if you have becomet}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
usedthis. And particularlyfor the
modemmind it will be very useful,
becausenothingis left on earthn
meditateon - only the sky. If you
look all around,everythingis manmade,everythingis limited,with a
boundary,a limitation. Only the
sky is still, fortunately,open to
meditateon.

Try this technique,it will be helpful, but rememberthree things.

One: dont blink - stare.Even if
your eyes start to feel pain and
tears come down, don't be worried. 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 staring.

a-a-

THE

MEDITATIONS

The secondpoinu dont think about is no more,closethe eyesand re- causeof thoughtthe outeris outer
and the inner is inner. When
the sky, remember.You can start mainin thesky within.
thinkingaboutthe sky.You canrc- The clarity will help the third point: thoughtis not,there,tlp outerand
membermanypoems,beautifulpo- "entersuchclarity."Theclaritywill tlte innerlosetheir boundaries,they
ems aboutthe sky - then you will help - the uncontaminatedun- becomeone. Boundariesneverrcmissthepoint.You arenot to think cloudedsky. Just be awareof the ally existed therc. They appeared
about it - you are to entrerit, you clarity ttratis all aroundyou. Dont only becauseof the thought,the
are trobe one wittr it - becauseif think aboutit; just be awareof the barrier.
you start thinking about it, again a clarity, the purity, the innocence. But if it is not summerwhat will
barrieris created.You are missing Thesewordsarenot to be repeated. you do? If t}resky is clouded,not
the sky again,andyou arc enclosed You have to feel them ratherthan clear,thencloseyour eyesandjust
in your own mind again. Dont tlink. And onceyou stareinto the enterthe innersky.Justcloseyour
it eyes,andif you seesomethoughts,
think aboutthe sky.Be thesky.Just sky tie feelingwill come,because
stareandmoveinto the sky,andal- is not on yourpartto imaginethese just seethem as if they areclouds
low the sky to move into you. If things- theyarethere.If you starc floatingin the sky.Be awareof the
you moveinto the sky,tle sky will theywill stafthappening
to you.
background,
the sky, and be indifIf you meditaleon openunclouded ferent!o thoughs.
moveinto you immediately.
How can you do it? How will you sky,suddenlyyou will feel that the We are too much concemedwith
the mind is thoughtsand never aware of the
do it - this moving into the sky? mind is disappearing,
Just go on staringfurtherand fur- &oppingaway.Therewill be gaps. gaps.One thoughtpasses,and betheraway.Go on staring- asif you Suddenlyyou will becomeaware foreanotherentersthereis a gaparc trying to hnd the boundary. that it is as if the clearsky hasen- in that gap the sky is there.Then,
Move deep.Move as muchas you teredin you also.Therewill be in- wheneverthereis no thought,what
is there.So
can. That very movement will tervals.For a time, thoughtswill is there?The emptiness
break the barrier.And this method cease- as if the traffic has ceased if thesky is clouded- it is notsummertimeand the sky is not clearshouldbe practicedfor at leastforty andthereis no onemoving.
minutes;lessthan that will not do, In the beginningit will be only for closeyour eyes,focus your mind
moments,but eventhosemoments on thebackground,
theinnersky in
will not be of muchhelp.
Whenyou rcally feel that you have are Fansforming.By and by the whichthoughtscomeandgo. Don't
becomeone,tien you canclosethe mind will slow down, biggergaps pay much attentionto thoughs;
eyes.When the sky hasenteredin will appear.For minutes logether pay attentionto the spacein which
you, you can close the eyes.You therewill be no thought,no cloud. theymove.
will be ableto seeit within also.So And when thereis no thought,no For example,we are sittingin this
only after forty minutes,whenyou cloud, the outer sky and the inner room.I canlook at thisroomin two
feel that the onenesshas happened become one, becauseonly the ways.EitherI can look at you, so
and thereis a communionand you thought is the banier; only the that I am indifferent to the space
the room
havebecomepartof it andthemind thoughtcreatesttre wall. Only be- you arein, the roominess,
156

MEDITATIONS

you are'in - I look at you, I focus

my mind on you who arehere,and
not on the roomin which you areor,I canchangemy focus:I canlook
into the room, and I becomeindifferentto you. You arelhere,but my
my focus,is on theroom.
emphasis,

changes.
Thenthetotalperspective
Just do this in the inner world.
Look at the space.Thoughtsare
movingin it be indifferentto them,
dont pay any attentionto them.
They are there; note it down that
they are there,moving. The trafhc

is movingin the sreet.Look at the

sueetand be indifferentto the raffic. Don't look !o seewho is passing; just know that somethingis
passingand be awareof the space
in which it is passing.Then the
within.z
summersky happens

THE MEDITATIONS

hiva said: Beloved,at this

manuntlet mind,knowing,
breath,form be includcd.
This techniqueis a little difficult,
but if you can do it, then it is very
wonderfiJ,beautiful.Sining,dont
divide.Sittingin meditation,be inclusive of all - your body, your
mind, your heath, your thinking,
your knowing, everything.Be inclusiveof all. Dont divide, dont
createany fragmenlation.ffiinarily we are fragmenting;we go on
fragmenting.We say,"The body is
not me." There are techniques

IncludeEverything
which can use that also, but this
techniqueis totally different,rather
it is theopposile.
Donl divide.Dont say,"I am not
thebody."Dont say,"I am not the
heath." Donl say,"I am not the
mind." Justsay,"I am all" - andbe
all. Donl createany fragmentation
within you. This is a feeling.Witl
closedeyesincludeeverythingthat
exists in you. Dont get yourself

centeredanywherc- 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 closedeyes,you will
feel that sometimesyour body is
your body is small;
big, sometimes
sometimesit is very heavy,sometimesjust light, as if you can fly.

You can feel this increasingand

decrcasing
of the form. Justclose
youreyesand sit andyou will feel
lhat sometimesthe body is very
big - filling the whole room;
sometimesit is so small - just
atomic. Why does this form
change?As your attention changes,theform of tle bodychanges.
If you areinclusive,it will become
big; if you exclude- "this is not I,

r58

MEDITATIONS

this i's not I" - then it will become the key for this sutra - inclusivevery minute,verysmall,atomic.
ness,include.Includeandgrow.InInclude everything in your being clude and expand.Try it with your
and dont discardanything.Dont body, and then try it with the outsay, "This is not I." Say, "I am," sideworldalso.
and includeeverythingin it. If you Sitting undera Eee,look at the ree,
can do this just sining, wonderful, then close your eyes and feel tlnt
absolutely new happeningswill the uee is within you. l,ook at the
happento you. You will feel there sky, then close your eyes and feel
is no center;in you thereis no cen- that the sky is within you.look at
ter And with the centergone,there the rising sun, thencloseyour eyes
is no self,thereis no ego;only con- and feel that thesun is rising within
sciousnesremains- consciousness you.Feelmoreinclusive.
like a sky coveringeverything.And A uemendousexperiencewill hap
when it grcws,not only your own pen to you. When you feel that 0re
brcath will be included, not only Eeis within you, immediatelyyou
your own form will be ircluded; ul- will feel more young, more ftesh.
timately the whole universe be- And this is not imagination, becomesinclusiveto you.
causethe treeand you both belong
The basic point is to rememberin- to the earth.You areboth rmted in
Dont exclude.This is the sameearthand ultimatelyrmtclusiveness.

ed in the sameexistence.So when

you feel that the treeis within you,
0re ree is within you - this is not
imagination- and immediatelyyou
will feel the effect.The uee'saliveness, the greenery,the fteshness,
the breezepassingthrough it" will
be felt within you in your trearr Includemorc and moreexistenceand
dont exclude.
So rememberthis: make it a style
of life to include- not only meditation, 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
boundariesrcede to the very corners of existence.One day only
you are; the whole existenceis included-This is the ultimate of all
rcligiousexperience.r

THE

MEDITATIONS

ou cannotfrnd a bettersituation in which to meditate than while flying at a

high altitude.The higher the altitude, the easieris the meditation.
Hence, for centuries,meditators
have been moving to the Himalayas!o frnda highaltifude.

AMeditation
for theJet-Set
When gravitationis less and the
earth is very far away, nurny
pulls of the earth are far away.
You are far away from the corruptedsocietythat man hasbuilt.
You are surroundedby 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 stepis: for a few
minutes just think that you are
becomingbigger...youare filling
the whole plane.Then the second
step: start feeling that you are
becoming even bigger, bigger
than the plane,in fact the planeis
now inside vou. And the third

step: feel that you have expanded 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,andyou will feelcomn
pletelyrelaxedandnon-tense.

MEDITATIONS

atanjali says:On attaining the utmost purity of

the nirvichara stage of
samadhi,there is a dawning of
thespiritual light.
Your innermostbeingis of the nais light,
nre of light.Consciousness
is theonly light. You
consciousness
are existing very unconsciously:
doingthings,not knowingwhy; desiring things, not knowing why;
asking things, not knowing why;
drifting in an unconscioussleep.

Feelthe
Absence
of Things
Youareall sleepwalkers.
Somnambulismis the only spiritualdisease
- walkingand living in sleep.Becomemoreconscious.
Startbeingconsciouswith objecs.
Look at thingswith morealertness.
You passby 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 difference.Suddenlywhen you are

alert, ttretreeis different:it is more

green,it is more alive, it is more
beautiful.fte ueeis thesame,only
you havechanged.
Look at a flower as if your whole
existence depends on this look.
Bring all your awarenessto the
flower and suddenlythe flower is
ranshgured- it is moreradiant,it
is moreluminous.It hassomething
of the glory of the eternal,as if the
eternalhascomeinto the temporal
in theshapeof a flower.

Look at the face of your husband,

your wife, your friend, your
beloved,with alertness;meditate
on it, and suddenlyyou see not
only the tndy, but tlat which is
beyondthebody,which is coming
out of thebody.Thereis an auraof
the spiritual aroundthe body. The
face of the belovedis no morethe
face of your beloved;the face of
the beloved has becomethe face
of the divine. Look at your child.
Wilh full alermess,awareness,

THE

*arch him playing and suddenly

the objectis transfigwed.
For example, a bird sings in the
trce: be alert, as if in that moment
you exist and ttre songof tlte bird the whole doesnt exist, doesnt
matter. Focus your being owards
the song of the bird and you will
seethe difference.The traffic noise
existsno more,or existsat the very
periptpry of existence,far away,
distant.The srnallbird and is song
fill your being completely- only
you and the bird exist And then
whenthe songhasstopped,listento
the absenceof the song. Then the
objectbecomessubtle.
Rememberalways: when a song
sops it leavesa certain quality to
ttn aunosphere- the abserrce.It is
no more the same.The atmosphele
has changed completely because
the songexistedand then the song
disap'pearcd.Now the absenceof
the song- watchit" the whole existenceis filled by the absenceof the
song.It is more beautiful than any
song becauseit is the song of silerrce.A songusessound,andwhen
the sound disappearsthe absence
uses the silence. After a bfud has
sung, the silence is deeper.If you
can watch it, if you can be alert,
you arBnow meditatingon a very
subtleobirt" a very subtleobjecr
A personmoves,a beautifulperson
moves - watch the person. And

MEDITATIONS

when he has left, watch the absence;he has left something.His

energyhaschangedthe room; it is
no molethesamermm.
If you havea goodnose- very few
people have; humanity has almost
lost the nose completely.Animals
are better; their smell is far more
sensitive,morecapablethanman's.
Somethinghas happenedto man's
nose, somethinghas gone wong;
very few people have a capable
nose,but if you have- thenbe near
a flower,let thesmelllill you.Then,
by and by, move away fiom the
flower,very slowly,but continuebeing attentiveto the smell, the fragrance.As you moveaway,the fragrancewill becomemoreand more
subtle, and you will need more
awareness
to feel it. Becomethe
nose.Forgetaboutthe wholebody,
bring all your energyto the nose,as
if only the noseexists.If you lose
track of the smell by and by, go a
few stepsfrutherahead.Againcatch
hold of the smell,thenmoveback,
movebackward.
By andby,youwill
be able to smell a flower from a
very very greatdistance- nobody
elsewill be ableto smellthatflower
fiom there.Thengo on moving.ln a
very simpleway you aremakingthe
objectsubtle.Then a momentwill
comewhenyou will not be ableto
smellthe srnell:now smellthe abwhere
sence.Now smelltheabsence

the fragancewasjust a momentbefore, and it is no longerthere.That

is the otherpart of its being,the absent part, the dark pan. If you can
smell the absenceof the smell, if
youcanfeel it, thatit makesa difference- it makzsa differcnce- then
theobjecthasbecomevery subtle.
You can do it with incense.Burn
incense,meditate on it, feel it,
smellit, be filled with it, and then
move backwards,away fiom ir
And go on, go on meditatingon it
and let it becomemore and more
subtle.A momentcomeswhenyou
can feel the absenceof a certain
thing. Then you have come to a
very deepawarcness.
But when the object completely
disappean,and the presenceof the
object disappean,and the absence
of the object disappears,thought
disappeanand tlrc ideaof no-mind
only thenhaveyou atdisappears,
tained to lhe utmost Now this is
t}te moment when suddenlygrace
descendson you. This is the momentwhenflowersshower.This is
the momentwhenyou areconnected with the sourceof life andbeing.
This is the momentwhen you are
no morc a beggar; you have become the empemr.This is the moment when you arc crowned.Before it you wereon a cross;this is
the moment the cross disappean
andyou arecrowned.s

r62

MEDITATIONS

fT
I
t-

ilopa said: Like a hollow

bamboorest at easewith
yow body.

This is one of Tilopa's special

methods.Every master has his
own specialmethodthroughwhich
he hasattained,andthroughwhich
he would like to help others.This
is Tilopa's specialty:"Like a hollow bamboorcst at easewith your
body."
A bamboo - inside completely
hollow. When you rest, you just
feel that you are like a bambooinsidecompletelyhollowandemp-

HollowBamboo
ty. And in factthisis thecase:your
body is just like a bamboo,andinside it is hollow Your skin, your
bones,your blood, all are part of
the bamboo,and inside therc is
space,hollowness.
When you are sittingwiti a completely silent mouth, inactive,
tongue touching the rcof and
silent,not quiveringwith thoughs,
mind watchingpassively,not wait-

ing for anything in particular,feel

like a hollow bamboo- and suddenlyinfinite energystars pouring
within you, you are hlled with the
unknown, with the mysterious,
with the divine.A hollow bamboo
becomes a flute and the divine
startsplayingit. Onceyou arcemp
ty thenthereis no barrierfor the divineto enterin you.
Try this; this is one of the most

beautiful meditiations,the meditation of becominga hollow bamboo. You need not do anything
else. You simply becomeftis and all else happens.Suddenly
you feel somethingis descending
in your hollowness.You arelike a
wombanda newlife is enteringin
you, a seedis falling. And a moment comes when the bamboo
completelydisappean.o

THE

MEDITATIONS

Enteringinto Death
pilgrimagetowardsdeath.From the very beT ife is a
I--rginning, deathis coming.Fromthemomentof birth,
deathhas startedcoming towardsyou; you have started
movingtowardsdeath.
And the geatest calamity that has happenedto the
humanmind is that it is againstdeath.Being against
deathmeansyou will missthe geatestmystry.And being againstdeathalsomeansthat you will misslife iself
- becausethey are deeply involved in eachother; they
arenot two. Life is growing,deathis thefloweringof it.
The journey and the goal are not separate- thejourney
endsin thegoal.t

MEDITATIONS

hiva said: Focusonfire rising throughyourform, from

the toes up, until the body
burnsto ashesbut not you.
Buddha liked this techniquevery
much; he initiated his disciples
into this technique.
Wheneversomeonewas initiated
by Buddha,thefirst thingwasthis:
he would toll him just to go t0 the
burning place and observea body
being bumed, a dead body being
bumed.For three months he was
not to do anything, but just sit
thereandwatch.

Enteringinto Death
Buddhasaid,"Don't think aboutit"
Justlook at it." And it is difficult
not to comeupon the thoughtthat
sooneror later your body is going
to be bumed. Tfuee months is a
long time, and continuously,day
and night, wheneverthere was a
body o be burned,the seekerwas
to meditate. Sooner or later he
would start seeinghis own body
on the buming pyre. He would

startseeinghimselfbeingbumed.
If you are very much afraid of
deathyou cannotdo this technique,
becausethe very fear will protect
you. You cannot enter into it. Or,
you can just imagine on the surface, but your deepbeing will not
be in it. Then nothing will happen
to you.
Remember,whefter you are afraid
or not, deathis the only certainty.

In life, nothing is certain except

death. Everything is uncertain;
only deathis a certainty.All elseis
accidental- it can happen,it may
not happen- only deathis not accidenral. And lmk at the human
mind. We always talk aboutdeath
as if it is an accident.Whenever
someonedies we say his death
wasuntimely.Wheneversomeone
dies we start talking as if it has

TH E M EDITATIONS

beenan accident.Only deathis not

an accident- only death.Everything elseis accidental.Deathis absolutelycertain.You haveto die.
And whenI sayyou haveo die, it
seemsin the future, very far away.
It is not so- you havealrcadydied.
The momentyou werc born, you
died. With birth, deathhas become
a fixed phenomenon.
Onepart of it
has already hap'pened- the birti;
now only the second,later part has
to happen.So you arealrcadydead,
half-dead, becauseonce one is
born. one has come into the rcalm
of death,enteredinto it. Now nothing can changeit, now thereis no
way to changeit You haveentered
into it. You arehalfdead with birth.
Secondly:deathis not goingo hap
pen in the end; it is alreadyhappening. It is a process.Justas iife is a
process,deathis a process.We create the dualism- but life and death
arejust like your mo feet,your two
legs. Life and deathare both one
pmcess.You are dying every moment.
lrt me put it this way: whenever
you inhale,it is life, and whenever
you exhale,it is death.
The fint thing a child doesis to inhale. A child cannot exhale.The
fint thing is inhalation.He cannot
exhale,because
thercis no air within 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.Dying, you cannot inhale - or can
you?Whenyou aredying,you cannot inhale.The last act cannotbe
inhalation;thelastact will be exhalation.Thefirst actis inhalationand
the last is exhalation.Inhalationis
birth and exhalationis death.But
everymomentyou arcdoingbothinhaling, exhaling. Inhalation is
life. exhalationis death.
You maynot haveobserved,
but try
to observeit. Wheneveryouexhale,
you arc more at peace. Exhale
deeply and you will feel a certain
peacewithin.Wheneveryou inhale,
you becomeintense,you become
bnse.The very intensityof inhalation createsa tension.And the normal, ordinaryemphasisis always
on inhalation.If I tell you !o take
deepbreaths,you will alwaysstart
with inhalation.
Really,we are afraid of exhaling.
That's why breathinghas become
shallow.You neverexhale,you go
on inhaling.Only thebodygoeson
exhaling,becausethe body cannot
existwith inhalationalone.It needs
both:life anddeath.

the body to inhale;you simplyexhale deeply. You will feel a deep

peace, becausedeath is peace,
deathis silence.And if youcanpay
attention,moreattention,to exhalation, you will feel egoless.
With inhalationyou will feel moreegoistic; with exhalationyou will feel
moreegoless.
Paymoreattendontio
exhalation.The whole day, whenever you remember,
exhaledeeply
anddont inhale.Allow tirebodyto
inhale;you don'tdo anything.
This emphasison exhalationwill
help you very muchto do this experiment, becauseyou will be
readyto die. A readinessis needed,
otherwisethe techniquewill not be
of much help. And you can be
rcadyonly if you havetasteddearh
in a certainway.Exhaledeeplyand
you will have a tasteof it. It is
beautiful.
Death is just beautiful, because
nothingis like death- so silent,so
relaxing,so calm, so unpertubed.
But weareafraidof death.And why
arewe afraidof death?Why is there
so much fear of death? We are
afraidof deathnot becauseof death
- becausewe dont know it. How
can you be afraidof somethingyou
Step1:
haveneverencountered?
How can
you be afraidof somethingthat you
Try one experiment.The whole dont know? At least you must
day, wheneveryou remember,ex- know it to be afraidof it. So really
haledeeplyanddont inhale.Allow you arenot afraidof death;the fear

MEDITATIONS

is som'ething
else.You have never out.It is just theopposite:whenthe
reallylived - thatcr%testhe fearof air goesout, you go in; whenttreair
goesin, you go oul
death.
The fearcomesbecauseyou arcnot When you exhale,spaceis crcated
living, so you are afraid - "I have within, becausebreathis life. When
not lived yet, and if deathhappens, you exhaledeeply,you are vacant,
then what? Unfulhlled, unlived, I life hasgoneout. In a way you arc
will die." The fear of deathcomes dead,for a momentyou aredead.In
only to those who arc not really that silenceof death,enterwithin.
alive.If you arealive,you will wel- Air is movingoul you closeyour
come death.Then thereis no fear. eyesandmovewithin.Thespaceis
You have known life; now you thereandyoucanmoveeasily.
would like to know deathalso.But Before doing the following techwe areso afraidof life iself that we nique,do this experimentfor fifteen
havenot lnown it, we havenot.en- minutesso thatyou arcready- not
tered deep into it. That createsthe only ready,but welcoming,recepfearof death.
tive. The fearof deathis not there,
If you want to enterthis technique becausenow deathappearslike reyou mustbe awareof this deepfear. laxation,deathap'peanlike a deep
And this deepfear must be thrown rcst.
away,purged,only tlen canyou enThis will help:pay Step3:
ter thetechnique.
more attention to exhalation.The
wholedayyouwill feelrelaxed,and Just lie down. Fint conceiveof
yourselfas death;the body is just
aninnersilencewill becreated.
like a corpse.Lie down, and then
Step2:
bring your attentiont0 the toes.
With closed eyes move inward.
to theOesand
You candeepenthis feelingmorcif Bring your attrention
you do anotherexperiment.
Justex- feel that the frre is rising from there
hale deeply for fifteen minutesa upward,everythingis beingbumed.
day.Sit in a chairor on lhe ground, As thehrerises,yourbodyis disapexhaledeeply,and while exhaling pearing. Start frrom the toes and
close tre eyes.When the air goes moveupwards.
out, you go in. And thenallow the Why start from the toes?It will be
body to inhale, and when the air easie4becausethe toesare very far
goesin, openthe eyesand you go away fnm your I, frromyour 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 ftromthere.Feel tlnt
the oes are bumed,only ashesrcmain, and then move slowly, burning everythingthat the fire comes
across.Every part, the legs, the
thighs,will disappear
Justgo on seeingthat theyhavebecome ashes.The fire is rising up
ward,andthepartsit haspassedare
no longer therc; they havebecome
ashes.Go on upward,andlastly the
head disappears.You will remain
just a watcheron thehill. Thebody
will be there- dead,bumed,ashes
- and you wiU be the watche4you
will be the witness.This witness
hasno ego.
This technique is very good o
rcachtheegolessstate.Why?- becauseso manythingsareimplied in
it. It appean simple; it is not so
simple. The inner mechanismis
very complex. First thing: your
memories are part of the body.
Memoryis matter;that'swhy it can
be rccorded- it is rccordedin the
brain cells. They are material,part
of tlrc body.Your brain cells canbe
operatedon, and if certain brain
cells are removed,certain memories will disappearfrom you.
Remembe4
this is the point to un-

THE

de*tand: if the memory is still

there, then lhe body rcmains and
you havebeenplayingricks. Ifyou
go rcally deepino 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 momentof watching, therewill be no mind. Everything will havesopped - no movementof thought,just warching,just
seeingwhat hashappened.
And once you know this, you can
remain in this state continuously.
Onceyou haveknown that you can

MEDITATIONS

separatyounelf fom the body this techniqueis just a method o

separateyourself from the body,
just to cratea gap betweenyou
and the bodX just for a few momentsto be out of &e body.If you
can do this, then you can remainin
the body and you will not be in the
body. You can go on living as you
wereliving before,but you will not
be thesameagain.
This technique will tiake at least
ihree months.Go on doing ir It is
not going to happenin one day,but
if you go on doing it for one hour

everyday,within thee months,one

day suddenlyyour imaginationwill
have helped and the gap will be
crcated,and you will acurally see
the body gone to ashes.Then you
canwatch.
In that watchingyou will rc:,lizoa
deepphenomenon- that the ego is
a false entity. It was therebecause
you werc identihed with the body;
with the thoughts,with the mind.
You are neither- neitherthe mind
nor the body. You are different
ft,omall that sunoundsyou; you arc
differentftromyourperiphery.,

170

MEDITATIONS

CelebratingDeath
f have lrcad about tlree monks.
I No nameis mentioned,because
they nevertold their n:rmesto anybody, they never answeredanything. So in China they are only
known simply as 'the three laughing monks'.
They did only one thing: they
would enter a village, standin 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
thena crowd would gathe4,andjust
lmking at ftem tlp whole crowd
would strt laughing.What is hap
pening? Then the whole town
would get involved,andtheywould
move to anothertown. They were
loved very much. That was their
only sermon,the only messagethat laugh. And they would not
teach,they would simply cteatethe
situation.
Then it happenedthat they became
famousall over the counly - 'the
tfueelaughingmonks'.The whole
of China loved them, respected
ttrcm. Nobody had preachedthat
way - thatlife mustbejust a laughter andnothingelse.And they were
not laughingat anybdy in particu-

laq but simply laughing,as if they

had undentood the cosmic joke.
They spreadso much joy all over
Chinawithoutusinga singleword.
Peoplewould ask their names,but
they would simply laugh, so that
became their name - 'the three
laughingmonks'.
Then they becameold, and in one
villagsoneof thethreemonksdied.
The whole village was very expectant, very frlled with expectations,
becausenow at least when one of
them has died, tlny must weep.
This would be something worth
seeing,becauseno one could even
conceiveof thesepeopleweeping.
The whole villags gathercd.The
two monks werc standingby the
side of the corpseof the third and
laughing,sucha belly laugh.So the
villaggrs asked,"At least explain
this!"
So for the hrst rime ttreyspoke,and
they said,"We arelaughingbecause
this manhaswon.We werealways
wonderingwho would die fint, and
this man has defeatedus. We are
laughingat our defeat"at his victory. And then, he lived with us for
many years, and we laughed togetherand we enjoyedeachother's
togetherness,presence.There can
be no other way of giving him the
lastsend-off.Wecanonly laugh."
The whole village was sad, but

when the dead monk's body was

put on the funeral pyre, then the
village realizedthat not only these
two werc joking - the third who
was dead was also laughing. Becausethe third man who was dead
had told his companions,"Dont
changemy dress!"It was conventional that when a man died, they
changedthe dressand gave a bath
to the body, so he had said,"Dont
give me a bath,becauseI havenever beenunclean.So muchlaughter
hasbeenin my life that no impurity
can accumulatenear me, can even
come t0 me. I have not gathercd
any dust; laughteris alwaysyoung
and fresh.So dont give me a bath
anddont changemy clothes."
So, just to pay him respect,they
had not changedhis clothes. And
whenthebody wasput on the hrc,
suddenlythey becameaware that
he had hiddenmany things under
his clothesand thosethings started
Chinese fueworks!! So the
whole village laughed,and those
two said, "You rascal! You have
died, but again you have defeated
us.Yourlaughteris thelast."
There is a cosmic laughteqwhen
the whole joke of this cosmosis
understood.That is the highest,
only a buddhacan laughlike that.
Thesethreemonksmust havebeen
threebuddhas.s

MEDITATIONS

Watching
with theThird Eve
f t is oneof the conributionsof the Eastto the world:
I theunderstanding
thatbetweenthesetwo eyes,thereis
a thirdeyeinsidewhichnormallyremainsdormant.
Onehasto work hard,bring his wholesexualenergyupward,againstgravitation,and when tlre energyrcaches
thethird eye,it opens.Many methodshavebeenried to
do that,becausewhenit opensthereis suddenlya flash
of light, and thingswhich haveneverbeenclearto you
suddenlybecomeclear.
When I emphasize
watching,witnessing...that
is the
hnestmethodto bring the thid eyeinlo action,because
that watchingis inside.Thesetwo eyescannotbe used,
theycanonly lmk outward.Theyhavetiobe closed.And
whenyou try !o watchinside,thatcertainlymeansthere
is somethinglike an eye which sees.Who seesyour
thoughs?Not theseeyes.Who seesthatangeris arising
in you?Thatplaceof seeingis calledsymbolically'the
thirdeye'.t

MEDITATIONS

his technique consistsof

four stagesof 15 minutes
I
teach.Thefirst wo stages
prepare the meditator for the
spontaneous
Latihan of the third
stage.Bhagwanlas said that if
the breathingis donecorrectlyin
theftrst stagethe carbon dioxide
forrned in the bloodsteam will
makeyou feel as high as Gotuishankar(Mt. Everest).
|fl

Gourishank
arMeditation
First stage:15minutes

witha gentlegazelookat a candle Fourth stage:15 minutes

flame or a flashing blue light. Lie down wilh closedeyes,silent
Sil with closedeyes.Inlnle deeply Keepyour body still.
and still.
throughthenose,fillingtlw lungs.
Third stage:15minutes
Hold the breathfor as long as
Thefirst three stagesshould be
possible, then exhale gently With closedeyes,standup and let accompaniedby a steadyrhyththrough the mouth and kcep the yow bodybe looseand receptive. mic beat, preferably combined
lungsemptyfor as long as possi- Thesubtleenergieswill befelt to with a soothingbackgroundmuble. Continuethis breathingcycle move the body outsideyour nor- sic. The beat should be seven
throughoutthefirst stage.
nul control.Allow this Latilan to timesthe normal heartbeatand.
lnppen.Don't youdo the moving: if possible, the flashing light
Secondstage:15 minutes
let moving happen, gently and should be a synchronized
Return to norilal breathingand gracefully.
strobe.z

THE

MEDITATIONS

f-lhiva said:Attentionbetween
\ eyeDrows,let mind be beL) fore thought. Let form fill
with breathessenceto the top of
the head and there shower as
light.
This was the techniquegiven to
futhagoras.Pythagoraswent with
this techniqueto Grcece.And, really, he becamethe fountainhead,
fre source,of all mysticismin the
West.He is the fatherof all mysticismin thcWest.
This techniqueis one of the very
deep metiods. Try to understand

FindingtheWitness
this: "Attention betweenthe eyebrows..."Modernphysiology,
scientific research,
saysthat beween
the two eyebrows is t}re gland
which is the most mysteriouspaft
in the body.This gland,calledthe
pinealgland,is the thirdeyeof the
Tibetans- Shivarctra:the eye of
Shiva,of tantra.Betweenthe two
eyestiere is a third eye existing,
but ordinarilvit is non-functioruns.

You haveto do somethingaboutit

to openit. It is not blind. It is simply closed.This techniqueis !o
openthethird eye.
"Attention betweenthe eyebrows
..." Close yotu eyes,then focus
bothof youreyesjust in tre middle
of fie two eyebrows.Focusjust in
the middle,with closedeyes,as if
you are looking with your two
eyes.Give totalattentionto it.

This is oneof ttresimplestmethods

of beingattentive.You cannotbe
attentiveto any other part of the
body so easily.This glandabsorbs
attentionlike anything.If you give
attentionto it, both your eyesbecome hypnotizedwith the thid
eye.Theybecomefixed; theycannot move.If you are trying to be
attentiveto any other part of the
body,it is difficult. This third eye

MEDITATIONS

catchesattention,forcesattention.It thoughs arerunning and you are a

is magneticfor attention.So all the witness.Onceyour anendonis fomethodsall over the world have cusedat tie thild eye centet you
usedit. It is the simplest!o trainat- becomeimmediatelythe witnessof
tention becausenot only are you thoughts.
trying to be attentive:the gland it- Ordinarilyyou arenot the witness:
self helpsyou; it is magnetic.Your you are identifiedwith thoughts.If
attentionis broughtto it forcibly.It angeris there,you becomeanger.If
a tlroughtmoves,you are not the
is absorbed.
It is saidin theold mnnascriptures witness- you becomeonewith the
that attentionis food for t}te third thought,identihed,and you move
eye.It is hungry;it hasbeenhungry with it. You becomethe thought;
for livesandlives.If you pay atten- you take the form of the tiought.
tion to it, it becomesalive. It be- Whensexis thereyou becomesex;
comesalive!Thefoodis givento il when anger is there you become
And once you know that auention anger;whengeed is thereyou beis food, once you feel that your at- come greed.Any thoughtmoving
tention is magneticallydrawn, at- becomesidentifiedwith you. You
do not haveany gap betweenyou
tracted,pulled by the gland isell
attention is not a difhcult thing andthethoughtthen. One has only to know the But focusedat the third eye, sudright point"Sojust closeyour eyes, denly you become a witness.
let your two eyesmovejust in the Throughthe third eye,you become
middle, and feel the point. When the witness.Throughthe third eye,
you are near the point, suddenly you can seethoughtsrunninglike
yotu eyeswill becomefrxed.When cloudsin the sky or peoplemoving
it will be difficult to move them, on the street.
is
then know you have caught the Try to be a witness.Whatsoever
happening,
ry to be a witness.You
right point.
"Attention betweenthe eyebrows, are ill, the body is aching and
let mind be beforethought..."If painful, you have miseryand sufbe a witnessto
this attentionis there,for the hnt fering,whatsoever:
happening,
is
do not
a it. Whatsoever
time you will cometo experience
yourself
it.
Be
with
a witFor the hrst identify
strangephenomenon.
Then
if
witnesstime you will feel thoughtsrunning ness anobserver.
before you; you will becomethe ing becomespossible,you will be
wihess.It is iust like a film scr@n: focusedin thethirdeye.

Secondly,vice versa is also the

case. If you arc focused in the
third eye,you will becomea witness.Thesetwo thingsare part of
one. So the first thing: by being
centeredin the thfudeye therewill
be the arising of the witnessing
self. Now you can encounteryour
thoughts.This will be the first
thing. And the secondthing will
be that now you can feel the subtle, delicatevibrationof breathing.
Now you can feel the form of
breathing, the very essenceof
brcathing.
First try to understandwhat is
meant by 'the form', by 'the
essence
of breathing'.While you
are breathing,you are not only
brcathingair. Sciencesaysyou are
breathingonly air - just oxygen,
hydrogen,and othergasesin their
combinedform of air. They say
you arcbreathing"air!" But tantra
saysthatair is just thevehicle,not
the real thing. You are breathing
prane - vitality. Air is just the
medium;pranais thecontent.You
arebreathingprana,not only air.
By being focusedin the third eye,
suddenlyyou canobservethe very
essence
of breath- not breatl. but
the very essenceof breath,prana.
And if you canobservetheessence
of breath,prana,you are on the
point from which the jump, the
r
breaktlroughhappens.

THE

MEDITATIONS

hiva said: Touching eyeballs as a feather,lightness

berween them opens into
and there permeatesthe
cosmos.

Use both your palms,put themon

your closed eyes, and allow the
palmsto louch the eyeballs- but
just like a featheqwith no pressue.
If you pressyou miss the point,
you miss the whole technique.
Dont press;just touchlike a feather.You will havem adjust,because
in the beginningyou will be pressing. Put lessandlesspressure
until

Touching
as aFeather
you arejust touchingwith no pressue at all - just your palmstouch
the eyeballs.Just a touch,just a
meetingwith no prcssure,
because
if the pressureis there, then the
techniquewill not function.So like a feather
Why? - becausea needlecan do
somethingwhich a sword cannot
do. If you press, the quality has
And
changed- you arc aggressive.

the energythat is flowing through

the eyes is very subtle: a small
pressure
and it startsfightinganda
resistanceis created.If you press,
then the energy that is flowing
throughthe eyeswill starta resistance,a fight; a strugglewill ensue.
So dont press;evena slightpressureis enoughfor theeyeenergyto
judge.
It is very subtle,it is very delicate.

Donl press- like a feather,just

your palm is touching,as if not
ouching.Touchingasif not touching, no prcssue;just a touch, a
slight feeling that the palm is
ouchingtheeyeball,tlnt's all.
Whatwill happen?
Whenyou simply touchwithoutanypressure,
the
energy slarts moving within. If
you prcss,it stars fighting with
the hand, with the palm, and

ME DITATIONS

movesout. Justa touchandthe energystartsmovingwithin.Thedoor

is closed;simply the door is closed
and the energyfalls back. The moment energy falls back, you will
feel a lighmesscoming all over
your face, your head. This energy
movingbackmakesyou light.
And just betweenthesetwo eyesis
the third eye, 0re wisdom-eye,the
prajna-chnltsftz.Just benveenthe
two eyesis the third eye.The energy falling back ftom the eyeshits
the third eye. That's why one feels
light, levitating,as 11there is no
gravitation.And ftom the third eye
the energyfalls on the heart.It is a
physicalprccess:just drip, drip, it
drops,andyou will feel a very light
feeling entering in your heart. The
heartbeats will slow down, the
beathing will slow down. Your
wholebody will feel relaxed.
Even if you are not enteringdep
meditation,this will helpyou physically. Any time during the day, relax on a chair- or if you dont have
a chair,whenjust siuingin a traincloseyour eyes,feel a relaxedbeing in the wholeof 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 thoughtswill stopimmediately. In a rclaxedmind thoughtscan-

not move; they get fr,ozen.They

need frenzy and feve4 tlrcy need
tensionto move.They live thrcugh
tension.When the eyesare silent,
rclaxed,and the energyis moving
backwards,
thoughtswill stop.You
will feel a certainqualityof euphoria,andthatwill deepen'leily.
So do it many times in the day.
Evenfor a singlemoment,touching
will be good. Wheneveryour eyes
feel exhausted,dry of energy,exploited - after reading, seeing a
film, or watching TV - whenever
you feel it, just closethe eyesand
touch. Immediatelythere will be
the effect.But if you wantto make
it a meditation,then do it for at
leastforty minutes.And the whole
thing is not to press.It is easyfor a
single momentto have a featherlike touch; it is difficult for forty
minules.Many timesyou will forgetandyou will startp'ressing.
Dont press.For forty minutes,just
remainawarethat your handshave
no weight; they are just ouching.
Go on beingawareliat you arBnot
pressing,only touching.This will
just like
becomea deepawareness,
brcathing. As Buddha says t0
breathe with full awarcness,0re
same will happen with touching,
becauseyou have to be consantly
mindful ttr,atyou arc not pressing.
Your handshouldjust be a featheq
a weightlesthing,simplyouching.

Your mind will be totally there,

alert,nearthe eyes,andthe energy
will be flowing constantly.In the
beginningit will be just dropping
in drops.Within monthsyou 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- "touchingeyeballs as a feather,lightnessbetween 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 betweenthem opensinto the heart";
that lightness penetnates,opens
into the heart. In the heart, only
lightnesscan enter;nothingheavy
can enter.Only very light things
can happento the heart
This lighmess between the two
eyes will start &opping ino the
heart,and the heartwill openo receiveit - "and thercpermeates
the
cosmos."As the falling energybecomesa streamandthena river and
then a flood, you will be washed
completely,washedaway.You will
not feel that you are.You will feel
simplythecosmosis. Breathingin,
heathing out, you will feel you
havebecomethe cosmos.The cosmoscomesin andthe cosmosg@s
ouL The entity ftat you have always been, ilre ego, will not be
there.r

THE MEDITATIONS

u-tsu said: One should

look at the tip of one's
nose.
'ffhy? - becausethis helps, it
brings you in line wittr the third
eye. When both your eyes are
fxed on the tip of the noseit does
manythings.Thebasicis thatyour
third eye is exactly in line with the
tip of the nose- just a few inches
above,but in the sameline. And
onceyou arein the line of the third
eye,the attractionof the third eye,
the pull, the magretism,of the
third eye is so great that if you

Lookineat
theTip6f theNose
havefallenin line with it, you will
be pulled even againstyourself.
Youjust haveto be exactlyin line
with it so that the anraction,the
gravitation,of the third eye starts
functioning.Onceyou are exacdy
in line with it therewill be no need
to makeany effort.
Suddenlyyou will find the gestalt
haschanged,becausethe two eyes
createthe dualitv of the world and

thought,andthesingleeyebenveen
the two eyescrcatesthe gaps.This
is a simplemethodof changingthe
gestalt.
The mind can distortit - the mind
can say,"OUut, now look at the tip
of the nose.Think of the tip of the
nose, concentrateon it." If you
concentrate
too muchon the tip of
the noseyou will miss the point,
becauseyou haveto be thercat the

tip of the nosebut very relaxedso

that the thfudeye can pull you. If
you aretoo concentrated
on the tip
of the nose,rooted,focused,hxed
there, your third eye will not be
able o pull you in, becauseyour
third eye hasneverfunctionedbefore. Its pull cannotbe very great
in the beginning.Slowly slowly it
grcws morc and more. Once it
sarts functioningand the dust that

THE MEDITATIONS

has gatheredaround it disappean lcok at the tip of the nose- a simwith use, and the mechanismis ple device,but the resultis almost
hummingwell, thenevenif you are magical.
fixed on thetip of thenoseyou will And this is not only so with the
be pulled in. But not in the begin- Taoiss.Buddhistsknow it, Hindus
ning. You have to be very very know it. Down the ages all the
light, not a buden, without any meditators
havesomehowstumbled
s[ess and strain. You have to be upon the fact that if your eyesarc
simply there,present,in a kind of just half open,in a very miraculous
I e t - g o . ...
way you escapemo pitfalls.Oneis
If oneis not guidedby thenose,ei- being distractdby the ouside
ther one openswide the eyesand world, the olher is beingdistracted
looksinto the distance,so that the by the insidedreamworld. You renoseis not seen.or the lids shut mainexactlyon theboundaryof the
too much,so that the eyesclose, inner and the outer.And that'sthe
point: lo be on the boundaryof the
and againthenoseis not seen.
Another function of looking very inner and the outer meansyou are
lightly at the tip of the noseis this: neithermalenor femalein thatmothat it doesnt allow you to open ment.Yourvisionis freeof duality;
your eyeswide. If you open your your vision hasnanscended
the dieyeswidethewholeworldbecomes vision in you. Only when you are
available,and thereare a thousand beyondthe divisionin you do you
and one distractions.A beaudful fall into the line of the magnetic
womanpassesby andyou startfol- field of thethirdeye.
lowing - at least in the mind. Or Themain thingis to lower theeyesomebodyis fighting; you arc not lids in tlw right way, and then to
concemed,but you start thinking. allow the light to streamin of il"What is going to happen?"Or self.
somebody
is cryingandyoubecome That is very imporunt to rememcurious.A thousandand one things ber: you arenot to pull thelight in,
are continuouslymoving around you arenot troforcethe light in. If
you. If the eyesarewide open,you thewindowis open,thelight comes
becomemasculine
energy,yang.
in of its own accord.If the door is
If the eyes are completelyclosed open,the light floodsin. You need
you fall ino a kind of reverie,you not bring it in, you neednot pushit
start drcaming;you becomefemi- in, you need not drag it in. And
nineenergy,yin. To avoidbothjust how can you drag light in? How

l8r

can you push light in? All that is

neededis that you strouldbe open
andvulnerableto it.
Onelookswilh botheyesat the tip
of thenose.
you have o look with
Remember,
both eyesat the tip of the noseso
thatat the tip of the nose,your two
eyeslose their duality.So, on the
tip of the nose lhe light that is
streamingout from your eyesbecomes one; it falls on a single
point. Whereyottr two eyesmeet,
that is tlrc placewherethe window
opens.And then all is well. Then
let il be, then simply enjoy, then
simply celebrate,delight, rejoice.
Thennothinghasto be done.
Onelookswilh botheyesat tlu tip
of thenose,sitsupright....
It is helpful to sit upright. When
your spine is straight,the energy
fiom your sexcenteralsobecomes
availableto thethird eye.Justsimple devices, nothing complex
aboutthem ... it is just that when
your two eyes meet at the tip of
the nose,you arc availableto the
third eye. Make your sex energy
also available to the third eye.
Thenthe effectwill be double,the
effect will be forceful, because
your sex centerhas all the energy
that you have. When the spine is
erect, straight, the sex center is
alsoavailableto the lhird eye.It is
betterto attackthe third eve from

THE

both dimensions,to try to penetrate the third eye ftom both directions.
One ... sitsuprightand in a comfortable position.
The masteris making things very
clear. Upright, certainly, but dont
make it uncomfortable;othenpise
againyou will be disractedby your
discomfort fhat is the meaningof
a yoga posMe. The sanslait word
asarutmeansa comfortableposture.
Comfort is the basicquality of it If
it is not comfortablettrenyourmind
will be disnactedby thediscomfort
It haso be comfortable.
It does not necessarilynuan the
middleof the lwad.
And by centering it is not meant
that you have to be centercdin the
middleof the head.
The centeris omnipresent;everything is containedin it; it is connected with the release of the
wholeprocessof creation.
And when you have rcached the
third eyepoint and you arecentered
there and tlrc light is flooding in,
you have rcachedthe point from
which the whole creation has
arisen.You havereachedthe formless,the unmanifesLCdl it God if
you will. This is the point" this is
the space, ftrom which all has
arisen.This is the very seedof the
whole existence.It is omnipotent,it
is omnipresent,
it is etemal.

MEDITATIONS

Fixating contemplationis indis- you changethe gestaltyou look at

pensable.
one interval, another intenval,anWhat is contemplation?A moment other interval.Your emphasisis no
of no-thought A state of no- longer on tlrc thoughs but on the
thought, an interval. And it is al- interval.
ways happening,but you are not One mustnot st6y itting rigidly if
alert about it; othenvisetherc is no worldly tlnughtscomeup, but one
problem in it- One thoughtcomes, must exanine where the thought
then anothercomes, and between is, where it began,and where it
thesetwo thoughs thercis alwaysa fades out.
small gap. And that gap is the dmr This is not going to happenin the
to the divine, tlat gapis contempla- first ry. You will be looking at the
tion. If you lmk ino tlat gap tip of fte nose and thoughtswill
deeply, it starts becoming bigger come.They have beencoming for
andbigger.
so many lives, they cannot leave
The mind is like a road full of raf- you aloneso easily.They havebefic; one car passesby, thenanother come part of you, they have becar passesby, and you becomeso comealmostbuilt-in. You are livconcernedwith the can that you ing almosta pmgrammedlife.
dont see tlrc gap that is always This hap'pens:when people sit
therebetweentwo cars.Othenpise silentlyin meditationmorcthoughts
they wouldcollide.Theydont col- come tlnn odinarily, tlnn usually
lide; something is there between come - unusualexplosions.Milttrem tlnt keeps them separate. lions of thoughs rush in, because
Your thoughts dont collide, they they havesomeinvesrnentin you dont nrn over eachother,ino each andyou aretrying to getout of heir
other. They don't even overlap in power?They will give you a hard
any way.Eachthoughthasits own time. So thoughs are bound to
boundary, each thought is defrn- come. What are you going to do
able,but the processionof thoughts with thoughts?You cannotjust go
is so fast, so speedy,that you can- on sitting there,you will have!o do
not seethegapunlessyou ale rcally something.
Fightingis not going!o
waiting for it, searchingfor it.
help becauseif you start fighting
meanschangingthe you will forget to look at the tip of
Contemplation
gestalr frinarily
we look at the nose,the awareness
of the third
thoughts: one thought, anolher eye,thecirculationof thelighq you
thought, another thought. When will forgetall and you will be lost

r82

THE MEDITATIONS

in the jungle of thoughts.If you That's what Freudianpsychoanaly- again immediately move back to
startchasingthoughs you are lost, sis is: the fiee associationof contemplation.
if you follow them you are lost, if thoughs.One thoughtcomes,and When tlu flight of tlu thoughts
you fight them you are lost. Then then you wait for anotherthought, kceps extending furilter, one
what is to be done?
and then another,and the whole slnuld stopand begincontemplatAnd this is the secret.Buddhahas chain.... That's what all kinds of ing. Let one contemplate
and then
also used the samesecret.In fact, psychoanalysis
do - you stafl mov- startftmting again.
the secretsare almost the samebe- ing backwardsinto the pasl One So, wheneverthe thoughtcomes,
canseman is the same- the lock is thought is connectedwith another, fxate. Wheneverthe thoughtgoes,
the same,so the key has !o be the and so on and so forth, ad infini- contemplate.
same. This is the secref Buddha tum.T\ere is no endto it. If you go Tlat is the doublemethodof makcalls it swnmosoti,right remem- ino it you will be movinginto an ing fast the enlightenment.It
brance.Justremembenthis tlrought etemaljoumey tlnt will be a sheer meanslhe circulationof the light.
has come,seewhereit is, with no wastage.Mind can do that So be- Tlu circulstion is fixntion. The
antagonism,with no justification, wareof it
light is contemplation.
with no condemnation.Just be ob- You cannotgo with consciousnessWhenever
youcontemplate
youwill
jective as a scientistis objective. beyondconsciousness,
so dont trv seelight floodingin, and whenever
See where it is, from where it is tle futile, the unnecessary;
other- you fixateyou will createfte circucoming,whereit is going. Seethe wiseone thing will leadyou to an- lation,you will makethecirculation
comingof it, seethe stayingof it, other and so on and so forth, and possible.
Bothareneeded.
see the going of it. And thoughs you will completelyforget what The light is contemplation.Fimar very mobile; they dont stay you wererying to do therc.The tip tion without contemplationis cirlong.You simplyhaveto watchthe of the nosewill disappear,
the third culationwilhowlight.
arisingof the thought,the staying eye will be forgotten,the circula- That's what has happened;that
of the thought,andthegoingof the tion of the light will be milesaway calamity has happenedto hatha
yoga. They fixate, they concenthoughrDont nryto fight, dont try fiom you.
to follow, just be a silentobserver. So thesetwo thingshaveto be re- trate, but they have forgottenthe
And you will be surprised:themore membered,these are two wings. light. They have completelyforsettled observation becomes, the One: when thercis an interval,no gonenaboutthe guest.They only
lessthoughtswill come.Whenob- thought is coming, contemplate. go on prcparingthe house,they
servationis perfect,thoughs disap When a thoughtcomesthen just have become so engrossedin
pear.Thereis only a gap left, an in- look at tiese threethings:wherethe preparingthe housethat they have
tervalleft.
thoughtis, from whereit hascome, forgotten the purpose for which
But rememhr one morepoinf the where it is going. For a moment they are preparingthe house,for
mindcanagainplay a trick.
stop looking into the gap, look at whom.The hathayogi continuousgained
Nothing is
by pushingre- the thought,watchthe thought,say ly prepareshis body, purifies his
gmd-bye to it. When it leaves, body, does yoga postures,breathflectbnfurtlur.

183

THE

ing exercises,and goeson doing it

ad nauseam.He has completely
forgottenwhat he is doing it for.
And the light is standingthercbut
he wont allow it becausethe light
can comein only when he is completelyin a let-go.
Fixqtion withow contemplationis
cir culation wil houtli ght.
This is the calamitythat happensto

MEDITATIONS

the so<alledyogis.The otherkind the guest, but their house is not

of calamityhappensto psychoana- ready.Both miss.
lysts,philosophers.
Takcnoteof that!
Contemplationwithow ftxation is Dont fall into eitherof thesetwo
light wilhoutcirculation.
fallacies.If you canrcmainalert,it
They think aboutthe light, but they is a very simple pmcessand imhavenot madethepreparationfor it menselytransforming.In a single
to flmd in; they only thinkof light. moment,a man who understands
They think of theguest,theyimag- rightly can enler into a separate
ine a thousand
andonethingsabout kind of reality.s

184

THE

two
:G it
rmrngle
ands
arate

MEDITATIONS

Just Sitting
Vou aresimplysiuingthere,doingnothing... andall
I is silenceandall is peaceandall is bliss.You have
enteredGod, you haveenteredtruth. t

THE MEDITATIONS

Zen peoplesayjust sit"

fflhe
dont
do anything. The
I
nost difficult thing in the
I
world is just to sit doing nothing.
But once you havegot the knack
of it, if you go on sittingfor a few
months doing nothing for a few
hours every day, slowly, slowly
manythingswill happen.You will
feel sleepy,you will &eam. Many
thoughs will crowd your mind,
many things.The mind will say,
"Why are you wastingyour time?
You could have eamed a little
money.At least you could have
gone to a frlm, entertainedyour-

Zazen
self, or you could haverelaxedand
gossiped.You could havewatched
the TV or listenedto the radio, or
at least you could have read the
newspaper you have not seen.
Why areyou wastingyour time?"
Mind will give you a thousandand
one arguments,
but if you just go
on listening without being bottrered by the mind...it will do all
kinds of ricks; it will hallucinate,
187

it will dream,it will becomesleepy.

It will do all that is possibleto drag
youout of just sitting.But if yougo
on, if you perseverc,one day the
sunrises.
One day it happens,you are not
feeling sleepy, the mind has become tired of you, is fed up with
you, hasdroppedthe idea that you
can be trapped,is simply finished
with you! Thereis no sleep,no hal-

lucination,no dream,no thought.

You aresimply sitting there,doing
nothing ... and all is silenceand
all is peaceand all is bliss. You
have enteredGod, you have entredtruth.2
You can sit anywhere,but whatsoeveryou are looking at should
not be too exciting.For example
things shouldnot be moving too
much.They becomea distraction.

THE

You can watch the trees - that is not

a problem because they are not
moving and the sceneremains constant. 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 emptiness, 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 concentrate on anything - just a diffuse
image. That relaxesvery much.
And the third thing, relax your
breathing.Dont do it, let it happen.
Lt it be natural and that will relax
even morc.
The fourth thing is, let your body

MEDITATIONS

remain as immobile as possible. Instructions

First hnd a good posturc- you can
sit on a pillow or mattressor what- Sit facing a plain wall, approxisoever you feel to, but once you mately et your arm's length away.
settle, remain immobile, becauseif Eyes should be half-open allowthe body does not move, the mind ing the gaze to rest softly on the
automatically falls silent. In a mov- wall. Keep your back straight,
ing body, the mind also continues and rest one hand inside the othto move, because body-mind are er with thumbs touching to form
not two tiings. They areone ... it is an oval. Stay as still as possible
one energy.
for 30 minutes.
In the beginning it will seema little
difficult but after a few days you While silting, just allow a choiceYou will
will enjoy it tremendously.
less awareness,not directing the
see, by and by, layer upon layer of qttention anywhere in particular,
the mind starting to drop. A mo- but remaining as receptive and
ment comes when you are simply alert as possible moment-to-motherewith no mind. s
ment.4

MEDITATIONS

ftuddha

was to give a special

5ff"1,:"-H;*.f;:Hfr

milesaround.
When Buddha appearedhe was
holding a flower. Trmepassed,but
Buddha said nothing. He just
lmked at the flower The crowd
grew restless,but Mahakashyap,
who could restrain himself no
longer,laughed.
Buddhabeckonedhim oveq handed 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;

TheLaughterof kn
but with this floweq I give o Mahakashyapthe key to this teaching."
This story is one of the most significant ones, becauseftom this
was passedtlre radition of 7en.
Buddhawas he source,and Mahakashyapwas the fust, the original masterof 7nn. Buddhawasthe
source,Mahakashyapwas the fint
masteqand this story is ilte source

frromwhere the whole radition one of the mostbeautifuland alive

th,atexistson earth,the nadition of
Znn- swtel.
this story.BudTry to understand
dhacameonemoming,andasusual a crowd had gathered.lvfany
people werc waiting to listen to
him. But one thing was unusualhe was carrying a flower in his
hand.Never before had he carried

anything in his hand. Pmple

thoughttlat someonemust have
prcsented
it.
Buddha came; he sat under the
ree. The crowd waitedand waited
and he would not speak. He
wouldnt even look at ftem. He
just wenton lookingat the flower
Minutes passed,then hours,and
thepeoplebecamevery restles.
It is said that Mahakashyap

THE

couldnt contain himself. He

laughedloudly. Buddhacalledhim,
gavehim the flower and saidto the
gatheredcrowd, "Whatsoevercan
be said throughwords, I have said
to you, and that which cannot be
said through words, I give o Mahakashyap.
The key cannotbe communicatedverbally.I handover the
key to lvlahakashyap."
But for Zen this is the origin. Mahakashyapbecamethe hrst holder
of tlre key. Then six holden in successionexistedin India,up to Bodhidharma.He was the sixth holder
of thekey, andthenhe searched
and
searchedall over lndia, but he
couldnt find a man of the capability of Mahakashyap- a man who
could undentandsilence.He hadto
leave India just in searchof a man
to whom the key could be given;
otherwisethekey would be lost
BuddhismenterdChinawith Bodhidharma in searchof a man to
whom the key could be given, a
man who could understandsilence,
who could talk heaft to heartwithout being obsessdin the mind,
who hadno head.
This communicationbeyondwords
is possibleonly from heartto hart
So, for nine years, Bodhidharma
searchedin China, and then he
could find only oneman.
A Chinese became the seventh
master.And up to now it hasbeen

MEDITATIONS

traveling. The key is still there; truth cannotbe spoken,andstill evsomebodyis still holding it. The erybodyexpectedhim to qpeak.
The second dimension - he
river hasnot dried.
We requireeven a Buddhato talk, laughed at Buddha also, at tle
becausethat's all we understand. whole dramatic sinr,ationhe had
This is fmlish. You shouldlearn to created,sining therewith a flower
be silent with a Buddha,because in his hand,looking at the floweq
only then can he entr you. creatingso much uneasiness,
restThough words he can knock at lessness,in everybody.At this drayour door, but can never entec matic gesnrc of Buddha, he
through silence he can entr you, laughedandhe laughed.
and unlesshe enters,nothingwill The third dimension- he laughed
happento you. His enry will bring at his own self. Why couldnl he
a new elementto yottr world; his undentandup to now? The whole
enEy into the heartwill give you a thingwaseasyandsimple.And the
new beatanda new pulse,a newrc- day you understand, you will
laugh, becausethere is nothing o
leaseof life, but only his entry.
Mahakashyaplaughedat the fool- be undentood.Thereis no difficulishnessof man.They werercstless ty t0 be solved.Everythinghas aland thinking: When will Buddha ways been simple and clear.How
stand up and drop this whole si- couldyou missit?
lerrceso that we can go home?He With Buddha sitting silent, the
laughed.
birdssingingin the trees,thebrceze
l,aughterstartedwith Mahakashyap, passingthroughthe trees,and evandhasbeengoingon andon in Zen erybodyrestless,Mahakashyap
unuadition.Thereis no othertradition derstood.
which can laugh.In Zen monaster- Whatdid he understand?
He underies, they have been laughing and stoodthat thereis nofting to be unlaughingandlaughing.
dentood, there is nothing o be
Mahakashyap laughed, and this said, there is nothing to be exlaughter canied many dimensions plained.Thewholesituationis simin it. One dimensionwas at the ple andtransparcnt.Nothing is hidfoolishnessof the whole situation, den in it- There is no need to
at a Buddhasilentand nobodyun- search,becauseall that is, is here
dentandinghim, everybodyexpect- andnow,within you.
ing him tro speak.His whole life He laughedat his own self also, at
Buddha had been saying that the tlre whole absurd effort of many
190

MEDITATIONS

lives just to understandthis silence

- at so muchthinking.
Buddha called him, gave him the
flower and said: "Hereby, I give
you thekey."
What is thekey?Silenceandlaughter is the key - silence within,
laughterwithoul And when laughter comesout of silence,it is not of
this world, it is divine.
Whenlaughtercomesout of silence
you arc not laughing at anybody's
cosl You aresimply laughingat the
wholecosmicjoke. And it reallyis
a joke. That'swhy I go on telling
jokes to you, b@ausejokes carry
morethanany scriptures.It is a ilke
becauseinsideyou, you haveeverything, and you arc searchingeverywherc.Whatelseshoulda joke be?
You are a king, and acting like a
beggarin the sueets;not only acting, not only deceivingothers,but
deceiving yourself that you are a
beggar.You have the sourceof all
knowledge and are asking questions; you have the lnowing self
and think that you areignorant;you
have the deathles within you and
are afraid and fearful of deathand
disease.This really is a joke, and if
Mahakashyaplaughed,he did well.
Mahakashyaphas remainedsilent,
and silently the inner river hasbeen
flowing. To othersthe key hasbeen
given,andthekey is still alive,still
opensthe doo.

The.setwo are the parts.The inner This is thekey - the inner part of it
silence- the silenceso deepthat is silence,and the outer part of the
thereis no vibration in your being; key is celebration,laughter.Be fesyou are,but tlpre areno waves;you tive and silenl Crcate more and
arejust a pool,withoutwaves,not a morepossibilityamundyou - dont
singlewave arises;the whole being forcethe inner !o be silent,just crcsilent,still; inside,at the centeqsi- ate more and morc possibility
lence- and on the periphery,cele- aroundyou so ttnt the inner silence
bration and laughter.And only si- canflower in it.
lence can laugh, becauseonly si- Meditation doesnt lead you to silence can understandthe cosmic lence. Meditation only createsthe
joke.
situationin which the silencehapI tell you, the silence tlnt exists pens.And 0ris shouldbe thecriteriwith sadnesscannotbe true. Some- on - that whenever silence haphing has gone wrong. You have pens,laughterwill come into your
missed the path; you arc off the life. A vital celebrationwill happen
rack. Only celebration can give all around.
prmf ttrat the real silencehas hap- When silenceis too much, it bepened.
comes laughter. It becomes so
is
between
a
overflmded that it startsoverflowWhat the difference
ing in all di.rections.
He laughed.It
false
A
real silenceand a
silence?
must
have
been a mad laughter,
false silence is always forced.
Though effort il is achieved.It is and in that laughter there was no
it hasnot happened Mahakashyap.
Silencewas laughnot spontaneous,
ing. Silencehad come to a blosto you.Youhavemadeit happen.
You are sitting silently and thereis soming.
muchinner turmoil. You supprcssit Your enlightenmentis perfectonly
andthenyou cannotlaugh.You will whensilencehascometo bea celebecomesadbecauselaughterwill be bration. Herrcemy insisterrcethat
dangerous- if you laugh you will after you meditate,you must celein laughteryou brate. After you have been silent,
losesilence,because
laughter is against you mustenjoyit, you musthavea
cannotsuppress.
If youwantto suppress, thanksgiving. A deep gratitude
suppression.
you shouldnot laugh;if you laugh, must be shown towardsthe whole
everythingwill comeout. The real just for the oppornrnity that you
will come out in laughter,and the are,that you can meditate,that you
canbe silent,that you canlaugh.s
unrealwill belost.

MEDITATIONS

Risingin Love:
A Partnershipin
Meditation
herearea few very fundamentalthingsto be understood.
Fint, a man anda womanareon the onehandhalvesof
the other,andon theotherhand,oppositepolarities.
Their being oppositesattractsthem to each other The
farther away they are,the deeperwill be the atfraction;
llre moredifferentfiom eachothertheyare,the morewill
be tlre charmandbeautyandattraction.But therelies the
wholep'roblem.
When they comeclose,they want !o comecloser,they
want to mergeinto eachother,they want to becomeone,
a harmoniouswhole- but tleir wholeattractiondepends
on opposition,and the harmonywill dependon dissolving theopposition.
it is goingo creUnlessa love affair is very conscious,
ategeat an$ush,greattiouble.All loversarein trouble.
The rouble is not personal;it is in the very natureof
things.They would not havebeenattractedlo eachother
- theycall it falling in love - theycannotgive any reason
pull towardseachothwhy theyhavesucha tremendous
of theunderlyingcauses;
er.Theyarcnotevenconscious

THE

MEDITATIONS

hencea strangething happens:the tions, that thereis no needto make

happiestloversarethosewho never it a conflict, thenit is a geat oppormeet.
tunity to understandthe totally op
Once they meet,the sameopposi- posite point of view and absorbit"
tion that createdthe attractionbe- Then the life of a man and woman
comes a conflict. On each small together can become a beautiful
point, their attitudes are different, harmony.Otherwise,it is a continutheir approachesare different. Al- ousfrght.
though they qpeak the same lan- There are holidays. One cannot
gMge, they cannotunderstandeach continueto fight fwenty-fourhours
otler.
a day,one needsa lirle rcst too - a
The way a man looks at tle world restto getreadyfor a new frght.
is different ftom a woman.For ex- But it is one of the strangestpheample, a man is interestedin far- nomenathat for thousandsof years
away things- in the futureof hu- men and women have been living
manity, in the faraway strars, Ogether, yet they arc strangers.
whether thereare living beingson They go on giving birth o children,
otherplanetsor not.
but still they rcmain strangers.The
A woman simply giggles at the feminine approachand the mascuwhole nonsense.
Sheis only inter- line aP'P'roach
are so oPPosedO
estdin a very small,closedcircle- eachother that unlessa conscious
in the neighbors,in the family, in effort is made, unless it becomes
who is cheatinghis wife, whose your meditation,thereis no hopeof
wife has fallen in love with the havinga pea.cefullife.
chauffeur.Her interestis very local It is oneof my deepconcems:how
andvery human.Sheis not wonied to makelore and meditationso inabout reincarnation;neitier is she volved in eachother that eachlove
concernedabout life after death. affair automaticallybecomesa partHer concernis morepragmatic.She nership in meditation- and each
is concemedwith the present"herc meditationmakesyou so conscious
andnow.
that you neednot fall in love, you
Man is never here and now. He is can rise in love. You can find a
always somewhereelse. He has friend consciously,deliberately.
- reincama- You feel a deepharmonywith me,
strangepreoccupations
momentsof pea.ce,love and sition, life after death.
If both partnersareconsciousof the lence, and naturally the question
fact that it is a meetingof opposi- hasarisenin you that if this is pos-

sible with me, why is it not possible with themanyou love?

The difference has o be understood.
Youloveme,but you dont loveme
in the sameway you love your husband,your wife. Your love towads
me is not biological;with me your
love is a totaly different phenomenon- it is of the spirit" not of
thebody.
And secondly,you are connected
with me becauseof your searchfor
truth. My relationshipwith you is
tlnt of meditation. Meditation is
the only bridge benreen me and
you. Your love will deepenas your
meditationdeepens,andvice-versa:
zrsyour meditationblossoms,your
love will alsoblossom.But it is on
a totally differentlevel.
With your husband,you are not
connectedin meditation.You never
sit silently fm one hour together
just to feel eachother'sconsciousness.Either you arefrghtingor you
aremaking love, but in both cases,
you are rclated with the body, the
physicalpart, the biology, the hormones.You arenot rclatedwith the
innermostcore of the other Your
souls rcmain separate.In the temples and in tlp churchesand in the
courts, only your bodies arc married. Your soulsaremilesaparl
If you want a harmoniousrelationship with your man,you will have
194

THE

to learn to be more meditative.

Love aloneis not enough.
Love alone is blind; meditation
gives it eyes. Meditationgives it
understanding.And once your love
is bothlove andmeditation,you becomefellow travelers.Thenit is no
longer an ordinary relationshipbetween husbandand wife. Then it
becomesa friendlinesson the path
towards discovering the mysteries
of life.
Man alone,womanalone,will find
the joumey very tedious and very
long, as they have found it in the
pasr seeing this continuousconflict, all the religions decidedtlat
thosewho wantedt0 sekshould
renounce the other - the monks
shouldbe celibate,the nunsshould
be celibate.But in five thousand
yearsof history how many monks
and how many nuns havebecome
re:.lized souls? You cannot even
give me enoughnamesto counton
ten fingers.And millions of monks
and nuns of all religions- Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Mohammedan- what hashappened?
The pathis not so long.The goalis
not tlnt far away. But even if you
want to go t0 your neighbor's
house, you will need both your
legs.Justjumpingon one leg, how
far can you go?
I am intoducing a totally new vision, that men and womenogether

MEDITATIONS

in deep friendship,in a loving,

meditativerelationship,as organic
wholes,canreachthegoalany mG
menttheywant.Because
thegoalis
not outsideyou; it is the centerof
the cyclone,it is the innermostpart
of your being.But you can find it
only whenyou arc whole,and you
cannotbe wholewithouttheother.
Man and woman are two parts of
onewhole.
So rafter than wasting time in
fighting, uryto understandeachother. Try to put yourself in the place
of the other; Eryto 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 directionsare availableto you.
But one thing has to be remembercd: that without meditation,
love is destinedto fail; thereis no
possibility of is being a success.
You can pretendand you can deceive others,but you cannot deceive yourself. You know deep
downthatall theprcmiseslove has
given to you haveremainedunfulfilled.
Only with meditationdoes love
stantakingon newcolors,newmusic, new songs,new dances- becausemeditationgives you the inthe polaropposightto understand
site,andin that very undentanding
theconflict disappears.

All the conflict in the world is because of misunderstanding.

You
say some*ring,your wife understandssomethingelse. Your wife
says something,you understand
something
else.
I haveseencoupleswho havelived
togetherfor thirty or forty yean;
still, they seemto be as immature
as they were on their fint day together.Still the same complaint:
"Shedoesntunderstand
whatI am
sayrng."Fo(y yeffs beingtogether
and you havenot beenable to figure out someway that your wife
can understandexactly what you
are saying,and so you can understandexactlywhatsheis saying.
I think thereis no possibiliryfor it
t0 happenexcept through meditation, becausemeditationgivesyou
the qualitiesof silence,awarcness,
a patientlistening,a capacityO put
yourselfin theotler's position.
It is possiblewith me: I am not
concernedwith the trivia of your
life. You areherebasicallyto listen
and understand.You are here to
grow spirinrally.Nanrally therc is
no questionofconflict, andtheharmonyariseswithout any effort.
You can love me with totality, becausewith me your relationshipis
of meditation.With any other man
or with any other woman,if you
want to live in harmony you will
haYeto bring the sameatmosphere

THE

and ttre sameclimate that you have

broughthere.
Things arc not impossible,but we
have not uied the right medicine.I
would like to remind you that the
word 'medicine' come,sfrom the
vrmemot as 'meditation'.Medicine
curcs your body; meditation cures
your soul.Medicinehealsthe material part of you; meditation heals
the spiritualpart of you.
Peopleare living togetherand their
spirits are full of wounds; hence,
small things hurt them so much.
People are living without any understanding. Hence, whatsoever
theydo is going o endin disaster
If you love a man, meditationwill
be the bestprcsenttlnt you cangive
to him. If you love a woman,then

MEDITATIONS

the Kohinooqthe world's largestdiamond,is nothing; meditationwill

be a far morepreciousgift - and il
will makeyour life sheerjoy.
We arepotentiallycapableof sheer
joy, but we dont lnow how to
manageiL Alone, we are at tlrc
mostsad.Togethe4it becomesreally hell.
Evena man like Jean-PaulSarfre,a
man of geat intelligence, has to
say that the other is hell, tllat to be
alone is betlel you cannotmake it
with the other. He became so
pessimisticthat he said it is impossible o makeit with the othel the
otheris hell.frinarily, he is right
With meditationthe other becomes
your heaven.But Jean-PaulSartre
hadno ideaof meditation.

That is the miseryof Westernman.

Westemmanis missingthe flowering of life becausehe lnows nothing about meditation,and Eastern
man is missingbecausehe knows
nothingof love.
And to me,juS as manand woman
arehalvesof onewhole,so arelove
and meditation.Meditationis man;
love is woman. In the meetingof
meditationand love is the meeting
of man and woman. And in that
meeting,we crcatethe fanscendental humanbeing - which is neither
mannor woman.
Unlesswe crcatetlp transcendenal
manon tte eardt,thereis not much
horpe.But I feel my peopleare capable of doing fte apparentlyimPossible.t

196

MEDITATIONS

(lhiva
said: Feel tlw fine
of creativiry pererclrries
.\
l1l meating your breast and
asswning delicate configuratio ns.
Just concentrateon tlre breasts,
become one, forget the whole
body.Move your total consciousnesst0 the breastsand there will
be manyphenomena
haprpening
to
you. If you can do this, concentrate totally near the breasts,the
whole body will lose weight,and
a very sweet,deepsweehesswill
envelop you. It will pulsate
around you, within you, above,

Circleof Love
below, everywhere- a deep feeling of sweetness.
Really,all the techniquesthat have
been developedhave been developedmoreor lessby men, so they
alwaysgive centerswhichareeasier for men to follow. As far as I
tnow, only Shivahasgiven some
techniqueswhich are basically for
women.
A man cannot do this technique.

Really if a man uies to concentrate

near the breastshe will become
very uneasy.Try it" Even within
five minutesyou will feel perspiration, you will becomevery uneasy,
becausemale breastsare negative,
they will give you negativity.you
will feel uneasy, uncomfortable,
feel that somethingis goingwrong
in tltebodSunhealthy,
ilI.
But femalebreastsare positive.If

women concentrate near the

breasts,they will feel very happy,
very blissfirl, a sweetrrcss
will pervade 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 becomemorcmotherly.You may not
be a motherbut you will become
more motherly.To everyoneyour

THE MEDITATIONS

relationshipwill becomemotherly wardssex,andsorcpelledalso.You

- morecompassion,morelove will feel so much for it, you need so
happen.But this concentrationnear much,you asksomuch,but whenit
the brcastsshouldbe done very rc- is given,when it is there,you feel
laxedly,not tensely.If you arc tense frustration- nothing happens.This
aboutit thercwill be a division be- is possibleonly whenboth the bodtween you and the heass. Relax ies are so rclaxed and so open r)
and melt into them, and feel that eachotherwithoutany fear,without
you arc no more, only the breasts any resistance.The let-go is so
arethere.
complete ttnt the elecricities can
If man has to do the samehe will mergeand meetand becomea cirhaveto do it with the sexcenteqnot cle.
with the breasts.Hencetlrc impor- Then therc is a very srange phetanceof the fint chalaain all kun- nomenon...tantrahas rccordedit
dalini yogas.He hasto concentrate and you may not haveheardof that
just at the root of the penis- there phenomenon.This is the phehe hasthe creativity,therche is pos- nomenon,the very strangestone itive. And rememberthis always: when two loven rcally meet and
neverconcentrate
on anythingnega- becomea circle, tlpn a flickering
tive becausewith the negativeev- happens.For a moment the lover
erything negativewill follow. With becomes the beloved and the
the positive, everything positive belovedbecomesthe loveq and the
next moment, again the lover is
will follow.
When man and womanmeet,these lover and tlrc beloved is beloved.
two poles- negativeis in tlrc upper The malebecomesthe femalefor a
part of man, and positive in the moment"then the femalebecomes
lowe4 negativeis in the lower part the male for a moment - because
of womanand positivein tlrc upper the circle is moving, the energyis
- these wo poles of positive and moving, it has becomeone circle.
negativemeet and a circle is creat- So it will happentlnt the male will
ed. That circle is blissful,but it is be active for a few minutes and
not ordinary. In ordinary sexual then he will rclax and the female
acts, the circle is not happening- will become active. That means
that is why you feel so aEractedto- now the male energyhaspassedo

the femininebody and shewill act

and tlte male will remain passive.
And this will go on. Ordirnrily you
arc man, woman.In deep love, in
deeporgasm,it will hap'penttnt for
momentsyou will becomewoman,
and the woman will becomeman.
And this will be felt" absolutelyfelt
and recognized,that the passivity
changes.
In life there is rhyttm; in everyttring there is rhytlm. You take a
breath,the breathgoesin - thenfu
a few secondsit stops,thereis no
movemenl Then again it moves,
out it goes- then again thereis 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 meansactivity,
the gap meanspassivity.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
suddenlythere will be a gap, you
arcno morca woman,you havebecomea man. You will be man and
woman and man. And wtpn these
gapsarefelt, then you can feel that
you haveachieveda circle.z

198

MEDITATIONS

hiva said: When in such

embrace your sensesare
slnken as leaves,enter this
shaking.
"When in suchembrace,"in such
deepcommunionwith the beloved
or the lovet "your sensesareshakenasleaves,enterthisshaking."
We have even become afraid:
while makinglove you do not allow your bodies to move much,
becauseif your bodies are allowed much movementthe sex
act spreadsall over your body.
Youcancontrolit whenit is local-

Shakingin Sex
:gedat the sex center.The mind
can remain in conrol. When it
spreadsall over your body, you
cannot control it You may start
shaking,you may startscreaming,
andyou will not be able!o control
your body once the body takes
over.
We suppressmovements.Particularly, all over the world, we suppressall movements,all shaking

for women.They remainjust like

deadbodies.You are doing something to them; they are not doing
anythingto you. They arejust passive partners.Why is this happening? Why all over the world do
men suppresswomen in such a
way?Thercis fear- becauseonce
a woman's body becomespossessed,it is very difficult for a
mant0 satisfyherbecausea wom-

an canhavechainorgasms;a man
cannol A man can haveonly one
orgasm;a womancan havechain
orgasms.Therearecasesof multiple orgasmsreported.Any woman can haveat leastthreeorgasms
in a chain,but mancan haveonly
one. And with man'sorgasm,the
womanis arousedand is readyfor
further orgasms.Then it is difficult. Thenhow to manageit!

THE

Shake!Vibrate!Allow everycell of
your body to dance,and this should
be for both. The beloved is also
dancing,everycell vibrating.Only
then can you both meet, and then
that meetingis not mental.It is a
meetingof yourbioenergies.
Shaking is just wonderfrrlbecause
when you shakein your sexact the
energy starts flowing all over the
body, the energy vibrates all over
the body. Every cell of the body is
involvedthen.Every cell becomes
alive becauseevery cell is a sex
cell.
When you were born, two sex
cells met and your being was created, your body wzrs created.
Those wo sex cells arc everywhere in your body. They have
multiplied and multiplied and
multiplied, but your basic unit remains the sex cell. When you
shakeall over your body, it is not
only a meetingof you with your
beloved. Within your body also,
each cell is meetingwith the op-

MEDITATIONS

positecell. This shakingshowsit.

It will look animallike, but manis
an animal and there is nothing
wnng in ir
Enter this shaking,and while shaking dont remain aloof. Dont be a
spectator,becausemind is the spectator. Dont stand almf! Be the
shaking,becomethe shaking.Forget everyhing and become the
shaking.It is not that your body is
shaking:it is yor, your whole being. You becomethe shakingitself.
Then thereare not two bodies,two
minds. In the beginning,there are
trvo shaking energies,and in the
endjust a circle- not two.
What will hap'penin this circle?
One,you will be part of an existential force- not a societalmind, but
an existential force. You will be
part of the whole cosrnos.In that
shaking you will be part of the
whole cosmos.That momentis of
greatcreation.You are dissolvedas
solid bodies.You havebecomeliquid - flowing into eachother.The

mind is lost, the division is lostYou havea oneness.

This is adwaita: this is non-duality. And if you cannotfeel tfusnonduality, then all the philosophies
of non-duality arc useless.They
are just words. Once you know
tiis non-dualexistentialmoment,
then only can you understandthe
Upanishads.Then only you can
understandthe mystics - what
they are talking about when they
talk of a cosmiconeness,
a wholeness.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 homein existence,"
all worries are losL Then there is
no anguish,no sEuggle,no conflict. This is what I-ao Tzu calls
Tao, what Shankaracalls adwaila. You canchooseyour own word
for it, but througha deeplove embrace,it is easyto feel it. Be alive,
shaking, and become the shaking
itself.t

2W

MEDITATIONS

hiva said: Even remembering union, without tlu embrace, the tr usfonrution !
Onceyou know theseprevioustwo
meditations,eventhepartneris 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 happens.And unlessit happens,you
go on being dependenua dependencyis created.Fonso manyreasonsit happens.

Circleof LoveAlone
If you havehad the feeling, if you
have known the moment when
you werenot therebut only a vibrating energy- you had become
one and therewas a circle with the
partner- in that momenttherewas
no partner.In that moment only
you arc,and for theparher you aro
not:only heor sheis. Thatoneness
is centeredwithin you; the partner
is no morethere.And it is easier

for womento havethis feelingbecausethey are alwaysmakinglove

with closedeyes.
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 feelingof oneness.Thenjust rememberit. Close
your eyes; lie down as if you are
with your parlner.Just remember
and start feeling it. Your body will

begin to shakeand vibrate.Allow

it! Forgetcompletelythat the other
is not there.Move asif the otheris
present.Only in thebeginningis it
'as if'. Onceyou know,thenit is
not 'asif '. Thentheotheris there.
Move as if you are actuallygoing
into the love act. Do whatsoever
you would have done with your
partrE[ Scream, move, shake.
Soon the circle will be there.and

THE

thiscircle is miraculous.Soonyou
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 universehas
becomewonum;if you arewoman,
thenthewholeunivenehasbecome
man.Now you arc in a deepcommunion with existenceitself, and
thedoot theotheqis no morethere.
The other is simply a door. While
making love to a woman, you are
rcally making love to existenceitself. The woman is just a dool the
manis just a door.The otheris just
a door for the whole,but you arein
such a hurry you never feel it If
you remainin communion,in deep
embrace for houn together, you
will forget the otlpr and the other
will just becomean extensionof the
whole. Once this technique is
known you can use it alone, and
when you can useit aloneit gives
you a new freedom- freedomfrom
theother.
Really, it happenstlat the wtple
existencebecomesthe other- your
beloved,your lover - and then this
techniquecanbe usedcontinuously,

MEDITATIONS

and one can remain in constant

communion with existerre. And
*ren you can do it in other dimensionsalso.Walking in the morning,
you cando it. Thenyou arcin communion with the air, with the rising
sunandthe stan andthe trees.Staring at the starsin the night"you can
do it" Lmking at the moon,you can
do it. You canbe in the sexact wi*t
the whole universeonce you know
how it happens.
But it is gmd o startwith human
beingsbecausethey are nquest to
you - ttre nearestpart of the universe. But they are dispensable.
You can take a jump and forgetthe
dmr completely."Even remembering union,the nansformation."And
you will be transformed:you will
becomenew.
Tantrasaysmove 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 t0tally; donl leaveanythingout. Becomeabsolutelynon-thinking.Then
only does the awarenesshappen
that you have become one with

som@ne.And tttis feeling of onenesscan thenbe detachedftom the

partnerand it can be usedwith 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
createdwith anything- evenwithout anything.
You can crc{rtthis circle within
yourself becauseman is both man
and woman, and woman is both
womanand man. You areboth because you were crcated by two.
You were crcated by man and
woman both, so half of you rcmainsthe other.You can forgeteverything completely,and the circle
can be createdwithin you. Once
the circle is created within you
(your man is meeting your woman; the inner woman is meeting
the inner man),you are in an embrace within yourself. And only
when this circle is createdis real
celibacy auained. Otherwise all
celibaciesarejust perversions,
and
then they create their own problems. When this circle is created
inside,you arefreed..

202

OBSTACLES

TO MEDITATION

TheTWo
Difficulties
Thereare only two dffictities on thepath of meditation:oru
preparedby the society,by
is the ego.Youare continuously
tlrcfwnily, by theschool,by the church,by everybody
around
you, to be egoistic.Even modernpsycltologyis basedon
strengthening
theego.
may be business,
it may be politics,
it may be anyprofession- you need
a very assertivepersonality,andour
psywhole
idea
modern
whole societyis gearedto produce
of
Thr
I chology,modemeducation,is the assertivepersonalityin thechild.
tlnt unless a person has a very From the very beginningwe start
sfrongego he will not be able to telling him, "Come first in your
strugglein life wherc therc is so class";when the child doescome
muchcompetitionthat, if you area fint in the class,everybodypraises
humble man, anybody will push him. What are you doing?You are
you aside;you will alwaysremain feeding his ego fmm the very bebackward.You needa very steely, gmning.You are giving him a cershongego to fight in ttris competi- tain ambition: "You can become
tive world; then only can you be- the pesident of he country, you
In any field - it can becomethe prime minister of
oomea success.

The ego

the country."He startstlle joumey

with theseideas,and his ego goes
on becomingbigger and bigger as
he succeeds.
In everyway the ego is the greatestdiseasethatcanhappen!o man.
If you succeedyour ego becomes
big - that is a dangegbecause
then
you will have!o rcmovea big rock
which is blocking the path. Or if
the ego is small, you have not
beensuccessful,you have proved
to be a failure,thenyour ego will
becomea wound. Then it huru.
then it crcatesan inferiority complex - then too it createsa problem. You arealwaysafraidto enter
into anything,evenmeditation,becauseyou lnow you area failure,
thatyou aregoingto fail - thathas
becomeyour mind. Everywherc
you havefailed,and meditationis
such a great thing...you cannot
succeed.
If you enter into meditationwith
this idea- that failure is boundo
be, that it is your destiny,thatit is
your fate - then of course you
cannotsucceed.So if the ego is
big it preventsyou. And if theego

2U

OBSTACLES

is very small it becomesa wound

which also prcventsyou. In each
case the ego is one of the problems.t
fn the mother'swombeachchild
Iis profoundlyblissful.Of course
he is unawareof it, not knowing
anything about it- He is so one
with his bliss that there is no
knowerleft behind.Blissfulness
is
his being,and thereis no distinction betweenthe knower and the
known. So of coursethe child is
not awarethat he is blissful. You
becomeawareonly whenyou have
lostsomething.
It is so. It is very difficult to know
somethingwithout losing it, becausewhenyou havenot lostit you
arc so totally one with it. Thereis
no distance:the observerand the
observedare one; lhe known and
theknowerarcone.
Everychild is in a profoundlyblissful state.Psychologists
also agree
with this. They say that the whole
searchof religion is nothingbut a
way to againfind the womb of tlre
mother.Theyuseit asa criticismof
religion,but to me it is not criticism
at all. It is simply true. Yes, the
searchfor religion is againa search
for the womb. The searchfor religion is againa searchto makethis
wholeexistence
a womb.
The child is absolutelyin tunewith

205

TO MEDITATION

the mother.The child is neverout

of tunewith the mother.The child
doesnot know that he is separate
from the mofirer.If the mother is
healthythe child is healthy;if the
motheris ill the child is ill. If the
motheris sadthechild is sad;if the
motheris happythe child is happy.
If themotheris dancingthe child is
dancing; if the mother is sitting
silentlythechild is silent.Thechild
has no boundariesof his own yet.
This is thepurestbliss,but it hasto
be lost.
The child is bom, and suddenlyhe
is thrownoff<enter.Suddenlyhe is
uprootedfiom the earth, from the
mother.He loseshis mooringsand
he doesnot lnow who he is. There
was no needlo know it when he
was with the mofter. Therewas no
need to know - he was all, and
there was no need !o know, therc
was no distinction.Therewas no
'you" so therewas no questionof
'I'. The reality was undivided.It
was adwaita- pure adwaita,ptxe
non-duality.
But oncethe child is born,the umbilical cord is cut and he starts
breathingon his own; suddenlyhis
whole being becomesa quest to
know who he is. It is natural.Now
he startsbecomingaware of his
boundaries- his body, his needs.
he is happy,sometimes
Sometimes
unhappy;sometimeshe is fulfrlled

not fulfilled; sometimes

sometimes
he is hungryandcryingandthereis
no signof motheranywhere;sometimeshe is on the mother'sbreast,
again enjoying onenesswith the
mother.But now there are many
moodsand many climates,and he
will start,by andby, to feel the separation.A divorce has happened;
themarriageis bmken.
He was absolutelymarried to the
mother;now he will alwaysbe separate.And he hasm hnd out who
he is. For the whole life one goes
on trying to find out who one is.
quesThis is themostfundarnental
tion.
First the child becomesawaie of
'mine',thenof 'me', thenof 'you',
'I'. This is how it proceeds.
thenof
This is preciselythe procedure,
exactly in this order.Fint hebecomes
awareof 'mine'. Warchit, because
this is your construction,
the stmctureof your ego.First the child becomesawareof 'mine' - this toy is
mine,this motheris mine.He starts
possessing.The possessorenlers
first; possessiveness
is very basic.
Henceall thereligionssay:become
non-possessive,
becausewith possessionhell starts.
Watchsmallchildren:veryjealous,
possessive,each child trying to
snatcheverythingfrom everybody
elseand trying to protecthis own
toys. And you will see children

OBSTACLES

TO MEDITATION

who are very violent, almost indif- you are connectedwith the stars;
ferentto others' needs.If a child is starsare connectedwith you, stan
playing with his oy and another are connectedwitl the rees, with
child comesyou can seean Adolf the riven, with the mountains.EvHitlel a Genghis Khan, a Nadir- eryhing is interconnected.
Nothing
shah.He will cling o his toy; he is is separate;nothingcanbe separate.
readyto hit, he is readyto hght"It Separationis not possible.
is a questionof territory a question Each moment you are brcathingyou breathein, you breatheout of domination.
Possessiveness
enters first; that is continuouslytlrereis a bridge witlr
the basic poison. And the child existence.You eat, existenceenters
startssaying,"This is mine."
ino you; you defecate,it becomes
'mine'
Oncethe
enten thenyou are manurc- the appleon the treewill
a competitorwith everybody.Once becomepart of your body tomorthe 'mine' enters,your life will row, and some part of your body
now be a life of competition,srug- will go and becomemanure,will
gle,conflict,violence,aggtession. becomefmd for theree...a continThe next sep after 'mine' is 'me'. uousgive-and-ake.Not for a single
Whenyou havesomethingto claim momentdoesit sOp.Whenit stops,
as yours, suddenly though that you arcdead.
claim arisestlle idea tlrat now you What is death? - separation is
are the centerof your possessions. death.To be in unity is to be alive,
The posessionsbecomeyour terri- to be out of unity is o be dead.So
tory, and throughthosepossessions the mqe you think, "I am sepaarisesa newidea:'me'.
rate,"the lesssensitiveyou will be,
Onceyou aresettledwith 'me', you more dead, dragging, dull. The
can see clearly that you have a more you feel you are connected,
boundary,and those who are out- tre more this whole existenceis
side the boundaryare 'you'. The part of you and you arc part of this
other becomescleaq now things whole existence.Once you understartfalling apart
standthat we are membenof each
The universeis one, it is a uniry. othel then suddenly the vision
Nothing is divided. Everything is changes.Then these trees are not
connectedwith everythingelse;it is alien; they arecontinuouslypepara tremendousconnectedness.
ing food for you. Whenyou breathe
You are connectedwith the earth, in, you take oxygenin, when you
you are connectedwith the Eees, breatheout, you give carbondiox-

ide; the uees brcathe in carbon

dioxide and brcatheout oxygen tlrcre is a continuouscommunion.
We arein tune.The rcality is a unity, andwith theideaof 'me', 'you',
we arc falling out of rcality. And
oncea wlong conceptionsetrlesinside, your whole vision becomes
upsidedown....
'Me',
then 'you', and thenas a re'I'. 'I' is
flectionarise.s
thesubtlest,
the most crystellizedform of the
possessiveness.
Once you have utterd'I', you havecommittedsacrilege.Onceyou havesaid'I', you
are broken completely from existence- not really broken,othenyise
you would die; but in your ideas
you arecompletelybrokenftromleality. Now you will be in a continuous 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 canbe a driftwood
only if you have droppedthe idea
of 'I' - otherwiseyou cannotbe a
driftwood; struggle will persist.
That's why it becomesso difficult
when you come to meditate.If I
say to just sit silently, you cannot
do ttnt - sucha simple thing. One
would think il is the most simple
thing; there should be no need to
teachit. One shouldsimply sit and
be. But you cannotsit becausethe
'I'
cannotallow you a momentof

206

OBSTACLES

ME DITATION

relaxation.Oncea momentof relax- rap. And this rap crcatesmisery,

ation is allowed,you will be able to neurosis,
madness.
see reality. otrce reality is lnown, Now tle prcblemis: thechild hasto
lhe 'I' will have to be drop'ped. go throughit, becausehe doesnot
Then it cannotpersist So the 'I' know who he is andhe needssome
never even allows you a holiday. sort of identity - maybe a false
Even if you go to the hills, to the identity,but it is beUerthanno idensummerresorts,the 'I' neverallows tity. He needs some identity. He
you a holiday even there.You take needsto know exactlywho he is, so
your radio, you ake your TV seq a false centeris created.The 'I' is
you takeall your problemsand you not your realcenter.It is a falsecenremain acupied. You had gone ter - utilitarian, make-believe,just
there o relax, but you continue manufactured
by you. It hasnothing
your whole pattem in the same to do with your realcenter.
way.Youdontrelax.
Your rcal centeris he centerof all.
The 'I' cannot relax. It exiss Your real self is the self of ail. At
throughtensions.It will createnew the center,the whole existenceis
tensions,it will crcate new wor- one - just as at the sourceof light,
ries; it will constantlymanufacture the sun,all raysareone.The farther
new pnoblems,it wont allow you awaythey go, the fartheraway$rey
any rest.Even a minute'srest and arefiom eachother.
the whole houseof the 'I' starts Your real center is not only your
topplingdown - becausethe rcali- cente4it is the centerof the whole.
ty is so beautifuland the 'I' is so But we have createdsmall centers
ugly.
of our own, homemade,
manufacOne continuesto fight his way un- med by ourselves.Thereis a need
necessarily.You are fighting for ...because
thechild is bom without
thingswhich aregoing to happenof any boundary,with no ideaof who
heir own accord.You are unneoes- he is. It is a sunrivalnecessity.
How
sarily fighting. You are desiring will he survive?He hasto be given
things which are going to be yours a name;he hasto be given an idea
ifyou dont desire.In fact,by desir- of who he is. Of coursethis idea
ing you will losethem.
comesfrom the outside:somebody
That's why Buddha says: "Float says you are beautiful, somebody
with tlp stream.Lt it take you to says you are intelligent, somebody
the@ean."
saysyou areso vital. You gatherthe
'Mine','me','you','I'thisis the thingstlnt peoplesay.

Out of all that people say about

you, you gathera certain image.
You never look into yourself, at
who youare.This imageis goingo
be fatse- because
nobodyelsecan
know who you arc,andnobodyelse
cansaywho you are.Yourinnerrcality is not availableo anybody
else exceptyou. Your inner reality
is impenerableto anybodyelseexcptyou. Only you canbe there.
The day you rcalizcthat your identity is false, put togetheqthat you
have collectedopinions ftom peo
just rhink;just sit
ple...sometime
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, abouteighty
to ninety percenL Something
comesftom your fatheq,something
comes fiom your schmlteehers,
something comes ftrom your
friends, somethingfrom the society. Just watch: you will be ableto
divide ftromwhereit comes.Nothing comesftom you, not evenone
percentcomesfrom you. what rype
of identity is this, in which you
have not contributedat all? And
you are the only one who could
havecontributed,in fact, the whole
hun&edpercent.
The day you understandthis, rcligion becomesimportant The day

OBSTACLES

TO MEDITATION

you realize this you start seeking It is not going lo be your reality. Beforeyou can cometo your cenfor sometechnique,somemethod And the sooneryou find out who ter,you will haveto passthrougha
to enter into your being; how to you are,the bener.The sooneryou very chaoticstate.That'swhy there
know exactly,really, existentially, can drop this idea, the better- be- is fear.Nobodywantsto go in. Peowho you are. No more collections causefiom that very momentyou ple go on teaching:"Know thyof imagesftromtlreoutside,no more will reallybe bom, andyou will be self'; we listen,but we neverlisten.
askingothen to mirror your reality really real, authentic.You will be- Weneverbotheraboutit. Thereis a
- but to faceit directly,immediate- comean individual.
very certain idea in the mind that
ly; to enterinlo your nature,to feel The ideasthat,we gatherfrom oth- chaoswill be let looseandyou will
it there.What is the need t0 ask ers give us a personality,and the be lost in it, you will be engulfedin
anybody?And whom are you ask- knowledgethat we come to know it. Becauseof the fearof thatchaos,
ing? They are as ignorant about from within givesus individuality. we go on clingingto anythingfrom
themselves
as you are aboutyour- Penonalityis false,individualityis theouside.But thisis wastingyour
life. z
self. They dont know themselves; real. Personalityis bonowed;dihow cantheyknow you?
ty, individuality,your authenticity,
Justseehow thingsarefunctioning, can never be bonowed. Nobody
how thingsgo on functioning,how cansaywho you are.
The chatteringmind
one falsity At leastonethingcanneverbedone
thingsgo on happening:
leadsto anotherfalsity.You areal- by anybodyelse- that is, to give Tlw
secondhindranceon the
most swindled, duped. You are you the answerto who you are.No, I path of medilation is your
conned,and thosewho haveswin- you have to go, you have to dig constantlyclwtteing mind. You
dled you may not have done it deepinto your own being.Layers cannot sit even for a single
knowingly. They may have been andlayersof identity,falseidentity, minute,tlrc mind goeson chatterswindled by others. Your father, have to be broken. There is fear ing: relevant,irrelevant,tncaningyour mothe4 your teachers,have when one entersinto oneself,be- ful, meaningless
thoughtsgo on.It
been duped by othen - tlpir fa- causechaoscomes in. Somehow is a constanttrafic and it is althers,their mothen,their teachen. you havemanagedwith your false waysrrch-hotu.z
And they have duped you in turn. identity.You have settledwith it.
Are you going to do the same to Youknow yourrulmeis this or that;
you verVou seea flower and
your childrentoo?
you havecertaincredentials,certifiI balize iU you see a man
In a betterworld, wherepeopleare cates,degrees,
universities,
colleges, crossingthe streetand you verbalmole intelligent,more aware,they prestige,money,heritage.You have ize it. The mind can translateevwill teachthe child that the ideaof certainwaysto defineyourself.You ery existentialthing into a. word,
identityis false:"It is needed,
we are havea certaindelurition- howsoev- everythingis being transformed.
givingit to you,but it is only for the er workable,but it works.Goingin Thesewords createa barrier,these
time being,beforeyou yowselfdis- means&oppingthis workabledefi- words becomean imprisonment.
nition...there
will bechaos.
This constant flow toward the
coverwhoyouare."
208

OBSTACLES

traniformation of things ino

words,of existenceinto words,is
the barrier. It is an obstacleto a
meditativemind.
So the frst requirementtowarda
meditativegrowth is to be aware
of your constantverbalizing,and
o be able to stop it. Just see
things;do not verbalize.Be aware
of their presence,but do not
changetheminoowords.
Let things be without language;
let personsbe without language;
let situations be without language.It is not impossible,ttris is
naturalandpossible.It is the situationas it now existsthat is artificial, it is a createdsituation,but
we havebecomeso habituatedto
it, it has becomeso mechanical,
that we are not evenawareof the
transformation,of the translation
of experienceinto words.
The sunriseis there.You arenever
awareof the gap betweenseeingit
and verbalizing.You seethe sun,
you feel it, and immediatelyyou
verbalizeit. The gap betweenseeing and verbalizing is losq it is
never fell In that interval, in that
gap,one mustbecomeaware.One
must be awareof the fact that the
sunriseis not a word.It is a fact"a
prcsence,
a situation.The mind automatically changes experiences
ino words.Thesewords arc accumulated and lhen come between

MEDITATION

existence(the existential)and con- surroundsyou. If you can be in

sciousness.
love with any situation, then you
Meditation means living without arein meditation....
words, living nonlinguistically. Societygivesyou language,
it canThenthesepiledup memories,
these not exist without language;it needs
linguistic memories,becomeobsta- language.But existencedoes not
cles towards meditative glowth. need it I am not saying tlnt you
Meditation means living without shouldexistwitlroutlanguage.
You
words,living in a situationnon-lin- will haveto use it, but the mechaguistically. Sometimesit happens nism of verbali'ation must be a
spontaneously.When you are in mechanismthat you can tum on
love with som@neit happens.If andoff. Whenyou areexistingasa
you arcreally in love, thenpresence socialbeing,tlrc mechanismof lanis felt - not language.Whenever $rage is needed;without it you
two loversareintimatewilh onean- cannot exist in the society. But
other they becomesilent. It is not when you arealonewith existence,
tlnt thercis nothingto express;on the mechanisnmustbe turnedoff;
the contrary,thereis an overwhelm- you must be able to turn it off. If
ing amountto be expressed.
But you cant tum it off the mechanism
words are never there;they cannot has gonemad.If you cant tum it
be. They comeonly whenlove has off - if it goeson and on, and you
gone.
are incapableof turning it off, then
If two lovers are never silent, if the mechanismhas taken hold of
they are alwaystalking, it is an in- you. You havebecomea slaveto iL
dication that love has died. Now Mind must be an ins0ument,not
they are hlling the gap with words. the master.But it has becomethe
When love is alive, words are not masrcr.
there,becausethe very existenceof When mind is the masteqa nonlove is so overwhelming,so pene- meditativestateexists.Wtrenyou
trating, ttnt the barrierof language are the maste4your consciousness
and wordsis crossed.And ordinari- is the maste4a meditativestateexly, it is only crossed
in love.
ists. So meditationmeansmasterMeditation is the culminationof ing the mechanism,becominga
love: love not for a singleperson, masterto themechanism.
but love for the total existence.To Mind, and the linguistic furrctionme, meditationis a living relation- ing of themind,is not theultimate.
ship with the total existencethat You are beyondit and existenceis

OBSTACLES

is beyond
beyondiL Consciousness
linguistics;existenceis beyondlinguistics. When consciousnessand
existenceare one, tlrcy are in communion.This stateis called meditation. The communionbetweenconsciousness
and existenceis meditation.
language must be dmpped.I dont
mean that you must push it aside,
that you must suppressit or eliminate iL What I meanis that something which is neededin societyhas
become a twenty-foru-hour-aday
habit for you and is not neededas
such.
When you walk, you needto move
your legs but they must not move
whenyou aresitting.If your legsgo
on moving while you are siaing
then you are mad, then the legs
havegoneinsane.You mustbe able
to turn them off. In the sameway,
when you arc not alking with anyone, languagemust not bo therc.It
is a talking instrument,a technique
to communicate; when you arc
communicating something, langunge should be used; but when
you are not communicatingwith
anybodyit shouldnot be therc.
If you areable o do this - and it is
possibleif you undersrandit - tlpn
you cangrow into meditation.I say
"you can gtow" b@auselife pocessesarc never dead additions,
they are always a growing process.

TO MEDITATION

So meditationis a growingp'mcess,
not a tchnique.A techniqueis always dead;it can be addedto you,
but a P,rocessis alwaYsliving. It
grows,it expands.
Languageis needed,it is necessary,
but you must,not alwaysremainin
it. There must be momentswhen
you are existentialand thereis no
verbalizing.When you just exist, il
is not that you arcjust vegetatingconsciousnessis there, and it is
more acute, more alive, because
languagedulls consciousness.
[anguageis boundo be repetitivebut
existenceis neverrepetitive.Solanguagecreatesborcdom.The more
important languageis to you, the
more linguisticallyoriented the
mind is - the more borcd you will
be. hnguage is a rcpetition,existenceis nol
Whenyou seea rcse,it is not a repetition.It is a new ose, altogether
new. It has never been and it will
never be again. For the fnst time
andthe lasttime, it is tlse.
But when we say this is a rose,the
word 'rose' is a repetition:it hasalways been therc; it will always be
there.You havekilled the new with
an old word.
Existenceis alwaysyoung,andlanguge is always old. Though language you escape existence,
through languageyou escapelife,
becauselanguageis dead.The more

involvedyou arcwith language,the

morcyou arcbeing &adenedby it.
A pundit is completely dead because he is language,words and
nothing else. Saruehas wduen his
He calls it:Words.
autobiography.
Meditationmeansliving,living to
tally, and you can live otally only
whenyou aresilenl By beingsilent
I do not mean urconscious.You
can be silent and unconsciorsbut
tlnt would not be a living silenceagain,you would havemissed.I
questionis
Q o what to do? The
U rclevanl Watch - dont try to
stop.Thercis no needto do any action againstthe 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 bossove4 the topdog,
uying to kill the otherpart of itself
- which is absurd,it is a foolish
game.It can drive you crazy.Dont
Eryto stop the mind or the thinking
- justwarchiL allow it" Allow it total frcedom.I-et it nm as fast as it
wants.You dont try in any way o
conuolit Youjust be a wirpss. It
is beautiful!
Mind is one of the most beautiful
mechanisms.Sciencehas not yet
beenable to createanythingparallel to mind. Mind still remainsthe
masterpiece- so complicated,so
temendously powerful, with so

2r0

OBSTACLES

ME DITATION

manypotentialities.
Watchit! Enjoy jections that it creatres.Watch!
it!
Smnding there, aloof, distant, not
And dont watchlike an enemy,be- involved,by and by you will start
causeif you look at the mind like feeling....
an enemy,you cannotwatch.You As your watchfulnessbecomes
are alreadyprejudiced;you are al- d*p"r, your awarcnessbecomes
readyagainst.You havealreadyde- d*p"t, gapsstartarising,intervals.
cidedtlnt somethingis wrongwith One thoughtgoes,anotherhasnot
the mind - you have alreadycon- come;thereis a gap.Onecloudhas
anotheris coming;thereis a
cluded.And wheneveryou look at passed,
somebodyas an enemyyou never gap.
look deep.You neverlook ino the In thosegaps,for the fnst time you
will haveglimpsesof no-mind,you
eyes;you avoid.
Watchingthe mind means:look at will havethe tasteof no-mind.Call
it with deeplove,with deeprcspect, it the tasteof 7nn, or Tho,or Yoga.
revercnce- it is God'sgift o you! In thosesmall intervals,suddenly
Nothing is wrong in mind itself. the sky is clearand the sunis shinNothing is wrong in thinking itself. ing. Suddenlythe world is full of
It is a beautiful processas other mystery becauseall barriers are
prccesses
ale.Cloudsmovingin the dropped.The screenon your eyesis
sky arc beautiful - why not no longer there. You see clearly,
thoughtsmoving in the inner sky? you see peneratingly;ttre whole
Flowers coming to the trees arc existence
becomes
transparent.
beautiful- why not tloughts flow- In the beginning,thesewill be just
ering in your being?The river run- rarc moments.few and far in bening o the oceanis beautiful- why tween. But they will give you
not this strcamof thoughtsrunning glimpsesof whatsanadhiis. Small
somewhereto an unlnown destiny? pools of silence- they will come
Is it not beautiful?
and they will. disappear.But now
I-ook with deepreverence.Dont be you know that you areon the right
a fighter,be a lover.Watchthe sub- track- you startwatchingagain.
0e nuancesof the mind: thesudden Whena thoughtpasses,you watch
tums, tlrc beautiful tums; the sud- it; when an interval passes,you
denjumps andleaps;thegamesthat watchit. Cloudsarebeautiful;sunmind goeso,nplaying; the dreams shinealsois beautiful.Now you are
Now you dont have
tlut it weaves- the imagination,the not a chooser.
memory;the thousandand one pro- a fixed mind: you dont say, "I

would like only the intervals."That

is stupid - becauseonce you become attachedto wanting only the
intervals, you have decidedagain
againstthinking.And thenthoseintervalswill disappearThey happen
only when you are very distant,
aloof.Theyhappen,theycannotbe
brought.They happen,you c:mnot
force them to happen. They are
gs.
happenin
spontaneous
Go on watching. Irt thoughts
comeand go - whereverthey want
to go - nothingis wrong!Dont try
to manipulateand dont try to direct;let thoughtsmovein otal fieedom.And thenbiggerintervalswill
be coming. You will be blessed
with small saloris, minisatoris.
Sometimesminuteswill passand
no thoughtwill be there;thercwill
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 ableto seeinto
the innerworld. 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 musicof
the sphercs.You will be suddenly
in the prcsence
of God - ineffable,
mysterious,touchingyou although
you cannotgrasp it; within your

OBSTACLES

rcac'hand yet beyond.With the bigger gaps,the samewill happeninside.God will not only be outside,
you will be suddenlysurprised- he
is insidealso. He is not only in the
seen;he is in the seeralso- within
and without.But dont get aftached
to that either.
Attachmentis the food for the mind
to conLinue.
Non-anachedwitnessing is theway to sop it withoutany
effort to stopit. And whenyou start

TO MEDITATION

enjoying those blissful moments,

your capacity o rctain them for
longerperiodsarises.
Finally, eventually, one day, you
become mastel Then when you
want to think, you think; if thought
is needed,you use iq if thoughtis
not needed,you allow it o rest Not
that mind is simply no longer there
- mind is trere,but you can useit
or not use it Now it is your decision.Justlike legs:if you want to

run you usethem;if you dont want

to run you simply rcst - legs are
there.In the sameway, mind is alwaysthere.
No-mind is not againstmind; nomind is beyond mind. Nomind
does not come by killing and desroying the mind; nomind comes
when you have understood the
mind so torally that thinking is no
longer needed.Your understanding
hasreplacedit. s

2t2

OBSTACLES

MEDITATION

"I havebmughta fiog," saida scientist, a p'rofessm of zmlogy,

beamingat his class, "ftreshftom
the pond, in order th,atwe might
studyis outerappearirnce
andlater
dissectiL"
He carefrrllyunwrappedthe package he carried and inside was a
neatlypeparedhamsandwich.The
goodprofessorlookedat it with asMeditationis not concentration
onishment.
"Oddl" he said, "I distinctly reMeditationscan be wrong.For exwnple,any meditationtlnt memberhavingeatenmy lunch."
leadsyou deepinto concentration
is wrong.Youwill become That goeson happeningto scienmoreandmoreclosedratherthanbecomingopen.If you nar- tists. They become one-pointed
row downyour consciousness,
concentrate
on something,
and and their whole mind becomes
you excludethe wholeof extstence
and becomeone-pointed, narrow.Of course,a nanow mind
it will createmoreand moretensionin you. Hencethe word hasits use:it becomesmorepene'attention'.It means'at-tension'.Concentration,
the very trating, it becomeslike a sharp
soundof theword,givesyouafeelingof tenseness.
needle; it hits exactly the right
point, but it missesthe greatlife
problemthat you arecon- thatsurrounds
Only
the
has
its
it.
uses
noncentration
your
is
worldcenrating
upon
it
is
not
meditation.
In
A
is
not
but
buddha
a man of concenI
\-/
scientihc work - in scien- That's why scientistsbecomeab- fation; he is a man of awareness.
sent-minded.People who concen- He has not been trying to nanow
tific research,in the sciencelab you needconcentration.You have trate too much alwaysbecomeab- down his consciousness;on the
to concentrate
on oneproblemand sent-mindedbecausethey dont contrary,he hasbeentrying o drop
excludeeveryhing else- so much know how to remain open to the all baniers so that he becomesto
tally availableto existence.Watch
so that you almost become un- wholeworld.
I
was
reading
an
anecdote.
is simulaneous.
I am
mindful of the remaining world.
...existence

T1

f.alse

Methods

OBSTACLES

TO MEDITATION

ispeaktnghere and the raffic noise be done.It is exactlyconcentration simply relax and you enjoy the
is simultaneous. The train, the andnot meditation,so it is comprc- feeling of relaxation.Relax into
birds,the wind blowing tluoughthe hensiblefor the scientihcmind. In yourself,just closeyour eyes,and
in ttresciencelabo- listen to dl that is happeningall
Eees- in this momentthewholeof theuniversities,
existenceconverges.You listening ratories, in psychologicalresearch amund.No needo feel anythingas
to me, I speakingto you, and mil- work, much is being done about a distraction.The momentyou feel
it is not meditation.It it is a distraction,you are denying
lions of things going on - it is TM, because
rich.
is concentration,
a methodof con- God.
tremendously
Concentration makes you one- centration.It falls under the same This momentGod hascometo you
pointedat a very grcatcosfi ninety- categoryasscientificconcentration; as a bird - dont deny. He has
nine percentof life is discarded.If thereis a link betweenthetwo. But knockedat your door asa bird. The
you are solving a mathematical it has nothing to do with medita- nextmomenthe hascomeas a dog
problem,you cannotlisten to the tion.
barking, or as a child crying and
bfuds- they will be a distraction. Meditationis so vast, so tremen- weeping,or asa madmanlaughing.
Childrenplayingaround,dogsbark- douslyinfinite,thatno scientificre- Dont deny; dont rcject - accept,
ing in the street- they will be a dis- searchis possible.Only if a man becauseif you deny you will betraction.Becauseof concentration, becomescompassionwill it show come tense.All denialscrcatetenpeople have ried to escapefrom whetherhe hasachievedor not. Al- sion- accept.If you want to dax,
life - to go to the Himalayas,to go pha waveswonl be of much help acceptanceis the way. Accept
to a cave,to remainisolated,so that becausethey are still of the mind whatsoever is happening all
they can concentrateon God. But andmeditationis not of themind,it around;let it becomean organic
God is not an object" God is this is something
whole.It is - you may know it or
beyond.
wholenes of existence,this mo- So, let me tell you a few basic you may not lnow it - everything
menq Gd is the totality. That's things.One,meditationis not con- is interrelated.These birds, these
why sciencewill never be able to centrationbut relaxation- onesim- rees, this sky, this sun, this earth,
know God. The very methodof sci- ply relaxesinto oneself.The more you, me, all are rclated.It is an orence is concenEationand because you relax,the moreyou feel your- ganicunity.
of that method, sciencecan never self open,vulnerable,the lessyou If the sun disappears,the treeswill
knowGod.
the
arerigid. Youaremoreflexible,and disappear;if the rees disap'pear,
So what o do?Repeatinga manra, suddenlyexistencestarts penetrat- birds will disappeaqif the birds
meditation,is ing you. You are no longer like a and rees disappear,you cannotbe
doing transcendental
not going !o help. Transcendental rock,youhaveopenings.
here, you will disappear.It is an
meditationhasbecomevery impor- Relaxationmeansallowingyourself ecology.Everyhing is deeplyrelattant in Americabecauseof the ob- to fall ino a statewhereyou arcnot ed with eachother.
jective ap'proach,
becauseof the sci- doing anything,becauseif you are So dont deny anything,because
entific mind - it is the only medita- doing something,tensionwill con- the moment you deny, you arc
tion on which scienffic work can tinue.It is a stateof non-doing:you denyingsomethingin you. If you
214

OBSTACLES

MEDITATION

denyfhesesingrngbirds thensome- thinking about ange4 how it is

thing in you is denied.
carsed.Youstartarl'alyangwhy it is
If you relax,you accept;rcceptaulrcecaused.You startjudging whetherit
of existenceis the only way to rc- is good or bad.You startrationalizlax. If small thingsdisnrb you then ing that you hadbeenangy because
it is your anitude that is disturbing the sitr:ationwas such. You brood
you. Sit silently;Iistento all tlnt is aboutangeq,you malyze anger,but
happening all around, and relax. thefocusof attentionis on the anga,
Accept, relax, and suddenly you not on the self. Your whole conis focusedon the anger:
will feel immenseenergyarising in sciousness
you.
you arc watching,analyzing,associAnd when I saywatch, donl rry rc ating,thinkingaboutit, trying to figwatch; otherwiseyou will become tlle out how to avoid,how to get rid
tenseagain,and you will start con- of it, how not to do it again.This is a
cenmting. Simply relax,remainre- thinkingpmcess.You will judge it
laxed, loose, and lmk...because "bad" becauseit is destructive.You
what else can you do? You are will uke a vow thal "I will never
there, nothing to be done, every- commit the same mistake again."
thing accepted,nothing to be de- You will try to control this anger
nied,rejected.No sEuggle,no fight" through will. That's why Westem
no conflicl You simplywatch.Re- psychologyhas becomeanalytical:
member,simplywatch.6
analysis,
dissection.
Eastern psychology says, "Be
aware.Dont try to analyzeanger,
Meditation
thereis no need.Justlmk at it, but
look with awarcness.Dont start
is not introspection
thinking." In fact if you startthinkis
about
ing then thinking will become a
thinking
Jntospection
Iyourself. Self-rcmembering is barrierto looking at theanger.Then
not thinking at all: it is becoming thinking will garb it Then thinking
awareof yourself.The differcnceis will be like a cloud sunoundingig
subtle,but very great
the clarity will be lost. Dont ttrink
Westempsychologyinsistson inuo- at all. Be in a sote of no thought,
spection,and F^stern psychology andlook.
insists on self-remembering.
When When therc is not even a ripple of
you inuospect,what do you do?For thinking between you and the
example,you arc angry: you start angegthe anger is faced, encoun-

tered You dont dissect it You

dont botherto go to its source,becausethe souce is in the past.You
dont judge it, becausethe moment
you judge it, thinking starts.You
dont take any vow that "I will not
do it"" becausethat vow leadsyou
into the futue. In awarcnessyou
remain with the feeling of ange4,
exactlyherenowYou arenot interestedin changingit" you arenot intercstedin thinking about it - you
are interestedto lmk at it dfuectly,
face to face, immediate.Then it is
self-remembering.
And this is the beautyof it tbat if
you canlook at angerit disappean.
It not only disappearsin that mornent- tlrc very disappearance
of it
by your deep look gives you the
key - therc is no rped o usewill,
thereis no needto makeany decision for the future, and thereis no
need to go to tlrc original source
ftom which it comes.It is unnecessary.You havethe key now: look at
angeq and anger disappean.And
this look is availableforever.Whenever anger is there you can look;
thenthis lookinggrowsdeeper.
There are tluee stagesof looking.
First, when the anger has already
happenedand 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 deeplyinvolvedin it you

OBSTACLES

TO MEDITATION

cctuldnot rcally be aware.When The secondstateis when the elethe anger has almost disappeared, phantis there- not the tail - when
ninety-ninepercent gone - only the situation is ripe. You arereally
one percent,the last part of it, is angry to the peak,boiling, burning
still going, disappearinginto the - thenyou becomeawarc.
far horizon - then you become Thenthereis still a third stage:the
aware. This is the first state of angerhasnot come,is still coming
- good,but not enough. - not the tail but the head.
awareness
It is just

entering your arca of consciousnessand you becomeaware,then

the elephant never materializes.
Youkilled theanimalbeforeit was
born. That is birth control. The
phenomenonhas not happened;
thenit leavesno mce. ?

2t6

OBSTACLES

MEDITATION

Tricks
of theMind

contenl You can experiencesilence:then silenceis the contenL

You can experiencebliss; then
bliss is the content.So you go on
changingthe content- you cango
on changingad infinitum- but this
is not the rcal thing. The rcal is the
one to whom these experiences
happen- to whom boredomhap
pens,
to whomblisshappens.
Don't be fooledby experiences
The spirinral searchis not what
happens,bat ta whom it happens.
All experiencesare just tricks of the mind, all experiences Then thereis no possibility for the
are jwt escapes.Meditation is not an experience,it is a real- egoto arise.e

ization. Meditation is rnt an experience;rather, it is a stopping of all experience.

Mind canenteragain
xperienceis somethingoutsideyou. The experienceris
your being.And this is the
distinctionbetweenrue spirituality andfalse:if you areafter experiences,the spirituality is false; if
you are after the experiencer,then
it is true. And then you arc not
concemed about kundalini, not
concemedaboutchakras,not concemedaboutall thesethings.They
will happen,but you are not concerned,you arc not interested,and

you will not move on thesebypaths.You will go on moving towardsthe inner centerwherenothing remainsexceptyou in your to
tal aloneness.
Only the consciousnessremains,withoutcontent.
whatsoContentis the experience;
is the content.
everyou experience
I experiencemisery;tren the misery is the contentof my consciousness.Then I experiencepleasure;
thepleasureis the content.I experienceboredom;thenboredomis the

you feel
Jn meditationsometimes
Ia sortof emptinesthatis not rcally emptiness.I call it just "a sort
of emptines."Whenyou aremeditating, for certain moments,for a
you will feel as if the
few seconds,
thoughtprccesshasstopped.In the
beginning these gaps will come.
But becauseyou are feeling as if
the thought processhas stopped,
this is again a thoughtprocess,a
very subtle thoughtprocess.What

OBSTACLES

arc y6u doing? You are saying inside, '"The thought prwess tus
stopped" But what is this?This is a
secondarythought processwhich
has started And yotr say,'"Thisis
emptiness."You say, "Now something is going to happen."What is
this? Again a new thought process
hasstarted.
Wheneverthis happensagain,dont
becomea victim of it When you
feel a certainsilerrceis descending,
dont start verbalizing it, because
you arc destoyrngit Wait - not for
something- simply wait. Dont do
anything.Dont say,'"Thisis emptiness." The moment you have said
thaq you have destoyed it. Just
look at it, penetrate into it, enoountorit - but wait, dont veftalize
ir What is the hurry?Throughverbatization the mind has again enteredftom a differentnute, andyou
are deceived. Be alert about this
rick of themind.
In the beginningit is boundo happerLso wheneverthis hapens, just
wair Dont fall in the uap.Dont say
anything, rcrnain silenL Then you
will enterino emptiness,andthenit
will not be temporary,becauseorrce
you haveknown the rcal emptiness
you cannotlose it Ttre rcal canrnt
belosq thu is its quality.
Once you have known the inner
treasure,once ytru have come in
contactwith yotn deepestc@, then

TO MEDITATION

yon can move in activity, then you

can do whatsoeveryou 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. Whatsoeveryou are doing, the doing will be only on ttrc
periphery; inside you will rcmain
empty.e

Mind can deceiveYou

arc patterns tlp seeker
fhere
gets
entangled
with.
I
The fir* thing is: most seekersget
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 awakeis part
of ttre &eam. The same kind of
thing happensto the seeker.
The mind is capableof creatingthe
illusion that "now therc is nowhere
to go, you haveanived." The mind
is a deceiver,andttrefunctionof the
masterfor orr in this conditionis to
make him alert ttut this is not tlp
reality but only a dreamthat he has
not arrived.
This can hapen at many points,
again and again. And one can get
very initated and annoyedwith the
master fu the simple reasonthat
wheneveryou feel you havegot it"

trc simply takes it away and puts

you backinto your igntrant state.
For example,it washappeningo a
German disciple continully - he
would get the feeling that he had
becomeenlightened.And the force
of the illusion was so muchthat he
could not keep it o himself, he
would tell others.
He was so certain. This happened
threetimes,and becauseof his certainfy tp came to India to get my
blessings.Nanrrally, il shows his
certaintytlnt he camefor my blessings.
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
- thenew manhasnot arrived.And
all tlnt you arc doing - writing letters to the U.N., to other govemments- are just ways of the ego.
You arein the grip of theego."
It is very easyto live in a beautiful
drcam.It is hardto seeyour drcams
shaueredby rcality.
In the ancientscripturesof the East
it is called the power of maya.
Mind has the hypnotic power to
crcatany illusion. If you are after
a certain thing, desperately,it is
one of the functionsof the mind o
qeat the illusion to stop your desperatness.
It happensevery day to
everybodyin $eir dreams,but people dont leamthings.
218

OBSTACLES

If at night you go to bed hungry,

that night you arc going o have a
dreamabout eating delicious fmd.
The mind is trying to help you so
that your sleepis not disturbed;otherwise you are hungry and you are
bound o be awakenedby your
hunger. The mind gives you a
dreamthat you are eatingdelicious
food of your choice,which satisfres
your mind.The hungerremainsbut
sleepis not distur&d. The hungeris
covered by the illusion of the
dream;itprotectsyour sleep.
You feel in sleepthat your bladder
is full. If the mind doesnot create
the dreamthat you havegoneto the

ME DITATION

toilet, comeback and goneto sleep

again, then your sleepwill be distubed - and sleepis a greatnecessity for the body. The mind is laking carethat you are not disturbed
again and again; you can have a
long sleep,rest, so in the morning
you arcrejuvenated.
This is the ordinaryfunction 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 extraordinarysleepand an exraordinary awakening, but ttp
mind is pmgrammed- it is just a
mechanicalthing. It simply doesits

wort without bothering,becauseit

hasno way of checkingwhetherit
is ordinary sleepor spiritual sleep,
o'rdinary awakening or spirinnl
awakening.
To the mind it is all the same.Its
function is to keep your sleep intact and crcate a barrier for anything that disnrbs your sleep. If
you arehungryit givesyou food; if
you are desperatelyin searchof
truth, it gives you truth, it gives
you enlightenmenLYou ask for
anything,and it is readyto give it
to you. It can createthe illusion of
the rcal thing - that is ia inrinsic
Power.to

MeditationIs Your
Mastercard!
takesa
I Jewishdiscipleof BhagwanShreeRajneesh
.f1. gorgeous
womanout to dinner.Theygo to themost
expe.nsiverestaunmtin Poona and feast on Italian
spaghetti,Japanese
sushiand Frenchwine. For dessert
they chooseGermanchocolatecake and finish with
Braziliancoffee.When ttre waiterbringsthem the bill,
Goldsteinfinds he has lefr his wallet at home.So he
takesout his pictureof BhagwanShreeRajneeshand
handsit to ttrewaiter.
"Whatis this?"demands
thewaiter.
"My mastercard,"
repliesGoldstein.tr

220

Questionsto the Master

QUESTTONS

TO THE

MASTER

Only aWitness
CanReallyDance
You continuouslytell us
to "be awarertt
to "be a witness."
But can a witnessing
consciousness
really sing,
danceand tastelife?
Is a witnessa
merespectatorof life
and nevera participant?

ind is boundto raise0ris

questionsooneron later,
because mind is very
much afraid of you becoming a
wimess.Why is the mind so much
afraidof you becominga wirres?
- becausebecominga wihess is
the death of ttre mind. Mind is a
doer - it wantsto do things- and
witnessingis a staleof nondoing.
The mind is afraid that, "If you
becomea wihess, I will not be
neededany more." And in a way
ttrcmind is righc
Once the wihess arisesin you the
mind has to disapear, just as
when you bring light into yorn
room and the darknessftas o disappear;it is inevitable. Mind can
exist only if you remainfastasleep
becausemind is a stateof dreaming, and dreamscan exist only in
sleep.

By becominga wihess you areno

more asleep;you are awake.You
become awareness- so crystalclear,so young and tesh, so vital
and potent. You becomea flame,
intense, as if buming from both
ends. In that state of intensity,
light, of consciousness,
mind dies,
mindcommitssuicide.
Hencethemind is afraid,andmind
will createmanyp'roblemsfonyou.
It will raisemany,manyquestions.
It will make you hesitateto take
the jump into the unknown;it will
try to pull you back. It will try to
convinceyou: "With me is safety,
security; with me you are living
undera shelteqwell guarded.I take
everycareof you. With me you are
eflicient,skillful. The momentyou
leaveme you will haveto leaveall
your knowledge,and you will have
to leaveall your securities,safeties.

222

2.

QUESTIONS

TO THE

MASTER

You will haveto drop your armor you sing?Themind createsmisery;

and you will be going into the out of misery therecan be no song.
unknown. You are unnecessarilyWhenyou arein themind,how can
takinga risk for no reasonat all." It you dance? Yes, you can go
will try to bring beautifulrational- through certain empty gestues
izations.This is oneof therational- called dance,but it is not a real
izationswhich almostalwayshap- dance.
pensto everymeditator
Only a Meeraknows a real dance,
It is not you who is askingtheques- or a Krishna,or a Chaitanya;these
tion; it is the mind, your enemy, arc the people who know real
who is puuingthe questionthough dance.Othersknow only the techyou. lt is mind who is saying niqueof dancing,but thereis noth"Bhagwan,you continuouslytell us ing overflowing;their energiesare
'be
'be a wilness.'But stagnant.Peoplewho are living in
to
aware,'to
can a witnessingconsciousnessthe mind are living in the ego,and
reallysing,danceandtastelife?"
theegocannotdance.It canmakea
Yes!In fact,only a witnessingcon- performancebut not a dance.
sciousnesscan rcally sing, dance The rcal dancehappensonly when
and tastelife. It will appearlike a you havebecomea wilness.Then
paradox- it is! - but all thatis rue you arc so blissful that the very
is alwaysparadoxical.Remember: bliss stars overflowingyou; that is
if ruth is not paradoxicaltlpn it is the dance. The very bliss starts
not truth at all, thenit is something singing,a song ariseson its own
else.
accord.And only when you are a
quality
Paradoxis a basic,inrinsic
witnesscanyou tastelife.
your
of truth.Let it sink into
heart I can understandyour question.
paradoxiforever:truth as such is
You areworriedthat by becominga
cal. Althoughall paradoxes
arenot witnessyou will becomemerelya
truths,all truthsareparadoxes.
The spectator
of life. No, to be a spectatruth hasto be a paradoxbecauseit tor is onething,andto be a witness
has to be both poles,the negative is a torally differentthing,qualitaandthepositive,andyet a transcen- tively different.
is indifferent;he is dull,
dence.It has to be life and death, A spectator
andplus.By 'plus' I meanthetran- he is in a kind of sleep.He doesnot
scendence
of both - both,andboth participatein life. He is afraid,he is
not.Thatis theultimateparadox.
a coward.He standsby the sideof
Whenyou arein themind,how can the roadandsimplygoeson seeing
223

othersliving. That'swhat you are

doing all your life: somebodyelse
actsin a movieandyou seeit. You
area spectalor!Peopleare gluedO
their chain for houn logether
before their TVs - spectators.
Somebodyelseis singing,you are
listening.Somebodyelse is dancing, you arejust a spectator.
Somebodyelseis loving andyou arejust
seeing,you are not a participant.
Professionals
are doing what you
shouldhavedoneon yourown.
A witnessis not a spectator.
Thenwhat is a witness?A witness
yet remains
is onewho participates
alert. A witnessis in the stateof
wei-wu-wei. That is lao Tzu's
word;it meansactionthroughinaction. A wihess is not one who has
escapedfiom life. He lives in life,
lives far moretotally, far morepassionately,
but yet remainsa watcher
deepdown,goeson remembering,
"I ama consciousness."
Try it. Walking on the road,
rememberthatyou area consciousness.Walkingcontinues,
anda new
thing is added- a new richnessis
added,a new beauty.Something
interioris addedto theoutwardact.
You becomea flameof consciousness,and then the walking has a
totallydifferentjoy to it you areon
the earthand yet your feet arc not
touchingtheearthat all.
That'swhat Buddhahassaid:Pass

QUESTIONS

TO THE MASTER

thro'ugha river but don't let the haveescapedftom life arc not true
watertouchyour feel
sannyasins.They have simply
That's the meaningof the Eastern repressed
their desiresandthey have
symbolof the lotus.You musthave moved away from the world, the
seenBuddha'sstatues,picnues,sit- worldof action.Wherccanyoubea
ting on a lotus;thatis a metaphor.
A wihess if you moveawayfrom the
lotus is a flower that lives in the world of action? The world of
water and yet the water cannot action is the bestopportunityto be
touch it. The lotus doesnot escape aware.It givesyou a challenge,it
to the Himalayancaves;he livesin remains constantly a challenge.
the water and yet remainsfar, far Either you can fall asleep and
away.Beingin the marketplace
but becomea doer - then you are a
not allowing the marketplaceto worldly man,a dreamel,
a victim of
enterinto your being,living in the illusions;or you canbecomea witworld and yet not of the world: that nessand yet go on living in the
is what is meant by 'witnessing world. Then your actionhasa difconsciousness'.
ferent quality to it: it is really
That's what I mean by saying to action.Thosewho are not aware,
you againand again:Be aware!I their actionsarenot real actionsbut
am not against action, but your reactions.
Theyonly rcact
action has to be enlightenedby Somebodyinsuls you and you
Thosewho are against rcact.lnsult the Buddha- he does
awareness.
action,they areboundto be repres- not react, he acts. Reaction is
sive, and all kinds of repressions dependenton tlte othenhe pushesa
makeyou pathological,not whole, buttonandyou arBonly a victim, a
not healthy.
slave;you functionlike a machine.
Themonksliving in themonasteriesT\e real personwho knows what
- Cattrolicor Hindu, the monk of awarenessis never rcacts: he acts
the Jainsand the Buddhiss- who 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 doesit; if
he feelsnothingis neededhe 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,
heflows.
If you dont becomeaware,then
ftere are only two possibilities:
either you will be repressiveor
indulgent.In bothwaysyou remain
in bondage.
A nun was rapedjust ouside the
monastery.When she was finaily
found, she was carried inside and
thenearbyphysicianwascalled.
He came,raisedhis handsand said,
'This is work for
a plastic surgeon!"
A plasticsurgeonwascalled.When
he sawthe poor nun he exclaimed.
"Oh, my God! What a mess!
WhereshouldI start?"
The Mother Superior replied,
"Well, that is easy.First get that
smileoff herface!"t

QUESTIONS

TO THE

MASTER

TheGooseHas
NeverBeenIn!
Sometimes, TTlhe basicthing to be understoodis that you arenot the
when dark sides
I
mind - neither the bright
I
of my mind comeup,
it really scaresme. one nor the dark one. If you get
It is very difficult identified with the beautiful parl
for me to accept then il is impossibleto disidentify
that it is just yourselffrom the ugly part;theyare
the polar opposite two sidesof thesamecoin.Youcan
of the bright ones. have it whole, or you can throw it
I feeldirty and guilty whole,but youcannotdivideit.
and not worth And the whole anxietyof man is,
sitting with You in Your he wants to choose lhat which
immaculatepresence. looksbeautiful,bright.He wantsto
I want to face chooseall the silver linings,leavall facetsof my mind ing the dark cloud behind.But he
and acceptthem doesnot know silverliningscannot
becauseI hear exist without tlre dark cloud. The
You often say dark cloudis thebackground,abso
that acceptance lutely necessaryfor the silver linis the conditionto ings to show.
transcendthe mind. Choosingis anxiety.Choosingis
Can You please creatingtroublefbr yourself.
talk about acceptance? Being choicelessmeans:ttte mind

is thereand it hasa dark sideandit

hasa bright side - so what?What
hasit to do with you? Why should
you be worriedaboutit?
The momentyou arenot choosing,
all worry disappears. A great
acceptancearises,that this is how
the mind has to be, this is the
natureof the mind. And it is not
your problem,becauseyou arc not
the mind. If you were the mind,
therewould havebeenno problem
at all. Thenwho wouldchooseand
who would think of ranscending?
And who would try to acceptand
understandacceptance?
You are separate,totally separate.
Youarea witnessandnothingelse,
an observer who gets identified
with anything that he finds
pleasant - and forges that the
is comingjust behindit
unpleasant
asa shadow.

QUESTIONS

TO THE

MASTER

You arenot troubledby thepleasant ness'.To be evenmorc exact,it is

side- you rejoicein it. The trouble 'is-nes',because
evenin 'am-ness'
comes when the polar opposite someshadowof the 'I' is still there.
asserts;thenyou arelorn apart.But The momentyou know its is-ness,
you stafled the whole trouble. it has becomeunivenal. With the
Falling ftom beingjust a witness, disaprpearance
of 0re mind disapyou becameidentified.
pearsthe self. And so manythings
Thebiblicalstoryof thefall is just a disappearwhich wereso important
fiction. But this is the real fall: the t0 you, so troublesome
to you. You
fall from beinga witnessinto get- weretrying lo solvethemand they
ting identifiedwith somethingand were becoming more and more
losingyourwitnessing.
complicated; everything wuls a
problem,
an anxiety, and there
Just try once in a while: let the
mind be whateverit is. Remember. seemedto be no way out.
you arenot it. And you aregoingto I will remindyou of the sory l/re
have a great surprise.As you are Gooseis Out. lt is concernedwith
less identified, the mind starts themindandyour is-ness.
becominglesspowerfulbecauseits The mastersaysto the discipleto
power comesfrom your identifrca- meditaleon a koan.A smallgoose
tion; it sucksyour blood.But when is put into a bottle, fed and nouryou startstandingaloof and away, ished.The goosegoeson becoming
themind startsshrinking.
bigger and bigger and bigger,and
Thedayyou arecompletelyuniden- fills the wholebottle.Now it is too
tihed with themind,evenfor a sin- big; it cannotcomeout of the botgle moment,thercis the revelation: tle'smouth,themouthis too small.
mind simply dies, it is no longer And the koan is that you have !o
there.Whereit wasso full, whereit bring the goose out without
was so continuously- day in, day desuoying the bottle, without
out; waking,sleeping,it wasthere- killing thegoose.
suddenlyit is not there.
Now it is mind-boggling.
You look all aroundandit is empti- Whatcanyou do?Thegooseis too
ness,it is nofiingness.And with the big; you cannottake it out unless
minddisappeantheself.
you breakthe bottle,but that is not
Thenthereis only a certainquality allowed.Or,you canbring it out by
of awareness
with no 'I' in it. At killing it; then you dont care
the mostyou can call it something whetherit comesout alive or dead.
similar [o 'am-ness',but not 'I- Thatis not,allowedeither.

Day in, day out, the disciplemeditates,hndsno way,thinksthis way

and that way - but in fact thereis
no way. Tued,utterlyexhaustd,
a
suddenrevelation- suddenlyhe
understands
that the mastercannot
be interestedin the bottle and the
goose;they must representsomething else.The bottle is the mind,
you arc the goose...butwith witnessing it is possible. Wittrout
beingin the mind,you canbecome
identifiedwith it so muchthat you
startfeelingyoucre in it!
He runs Lo the maste4to say that
the gooseis out. And the master
it. Now
says,"You haveunderstood
keepit out.It hasneverbeenin."
If you go on strugglingwith the
gooseandthebottlethereis no way
for you !o solveit. It is the realization that "lt must rcprcsent.
something else; otherwisethe master
cannotgive it to me.And whatcan
il be?" - becausethe whole function between the master and the
disciple, the whole business is
aboutthemindandawarcness.
Awarenessis the goosewhich is
not in the bottle of the mind. But
you arcbelievingthatit is in it, and
askingeveryonehow !o get it out.
And thereare idios who will help
you with techniques
to getout of it.
I call themidiotsbecausethey have
not undentoodthethingat all.
Thegooseis out,hasneverbeenin;
226

QUESTIONS

TO THE MASTER

So the questionof bringing it out you look at a film. But peopleget

identifiedevenwith films.
doesnotarise.
Mind is just a procession of I haveseen,whenI wasyoung- I
thoughtspassingin fiont of you on havenot seenany moviefor a long
the scrcenof the brain. You are an time - but I have seen people
observer.But you startgettingiden- weeping,tears falling. It is good
tified with beautiful things - those that it is dark in a movie house:it
arebribes.And onceyou getcaught saves them from feeling embarin the beautiful things you are also rassed- and nothingis happening!
caughtin the ugly things,because I usedo ask my father,"Did you
mind cannotexist without duality. see?The fellow by your side was
Awarenesscannotexist with duali- crying!"
ty, and mind cannotexist without He said,"The whole hall was crying.Thescenewir such..."
dualify.
Awareness
is nondual,andmind is "But," I said,"thereis only a scrcen
dual.Sojust watch.
and nothingelse.Nobodyis killed,
- just
I dont teachyou any solutions.I thereis no ragedyhappening
teachyou r/r solution.
a p'rojection
of a film. Justpictures
Just get back a little and watch. moving on the scrcen;and people
Createa distancebetweenyou and laugh, and people weep, and for
your mind. Whether it is good, three houn they are almost lost
beautiful,delicious,somethingthat They become part of the movie,
you would like to enjoy closely,or they becomeidentified with some
it is ugly - you rcmainas far away character."
as possible.L,ookat it just the way My father said to me, "If you are

_o

227

raising questions about people's

reacdons,then you cannot enjoy
thehlm."
I said,"I can enjoy the film, but I
donl want to cry, I dont seeany
enjoymentin it. I can see it as a
film, but I donl want to becomea
part of it. These people are all
becomingpartof iL"
You get identified with anything.
People get identified with other
personsandthenthey crealemisery
for themselves.
They get identihed
with things,thentlrcy get miserable
if thatthingis missing.
Identification is the root causeof
your misery.And every identification is identificationwith themind.
Juststepaside,let themindpass.
And soon you will be able o see
that thereis no pmblemat all - the
gooseis ouL
You dont have to breakthe boale,
you dont have to kill tlrc goose
either.z

QUESTIONS

TO THE

MASTER

TheWatcher
ontheHill
hen that is exactly the
I seemto be
placeyou shouldbe.
neithertotally
You go on creatingprobin the world,
nor the watcher lems.Whereveryou are, be there.
on the hill. Thereis no needto be a watcheron
hills. Thele should be no
How to be someplace? the
'should'
'should'.
Orrce
enterslife
I feellike I am
in between you arc akeady poisoned.Therc
everythingI do. strouldbe no goal.Thereshouldbe

rjection. Hell disappeanandheaven appea$.Whatsoeveryou accept

becomesheavenly,and whatsoever
you rejectbecomeshell.
It is said tlut a saint cannot be
thrown ino hell becausehe knows
the alchemy to transform it. You
have heardthat sinnen go o hell
and sains to heaven- but you
no right or wrDng.This is the only have heard the wrong thing. The
sin: o think in terms of division, caseis just the other way around:
values, condemnation,ap'gecia- wherever sinnen go, they create
tion.
hell and whereversaints go, they
Whereveryou are ... nothing is createheaven.Sain6arcnot sentto
wrong in betweenthe watcheron heaven.Therc is nobody to send
the hills and a man in the world. and manage all this - there is
T"hat\exnctlywhereyou shouldbe. nobody.But wherevertlrcy go, this
And I say:whereveryou are,if you is the way they are: they crcate
can acceptit, immediatelythenand their heaven. They carry their
thereyou havebecomelhe watcher heavenwith them, within them.
on the hills. Even in hell, if you And sinners?- you can sendthem
acceptit, hell disappears,because to heaven: they will create hell.
hell can remainonly throughyour They cannotdo othenpise.

QUESTIONS

TO THE

MASTER

So what is the definitionof a saint being.You are alrcadythat which

or a sinner?My dehnitionis: a saint you canbe, which you caneverbe
is one who hascome to know the - you are akeady that. Nothing
alchemicalsecretof ransforming more can be done abut you; you
everythinginto heaven.And a sin- area finishedproducl
ner is one who doesnot know the This is the meaningI give to the
secretof ransforming things into story that God createdthe world:
the creRather,on the when the perfectcreatres,
beautifulexistences.
contrary,he goeson makingthings ation is perfect.WhenGod crcates,
how canyou improveuponit? Just
ugly.
Whatsoeveryou arewill be reflecf think of the whole absurditv:the
ed aroundyou. So dont try to be wholeideais absurd.
anythingelse.And dont try to be You are trying to improve upon
someother place.That is the dis- God; you cannotimprove.You can
easecalledman:alwaysto become be miserable,that's all. And you
And you
somebody,to be someotherplace, can suffer unnecessarily.
alwaysrejectingthatwhichis, and will suffer diseaseswhich arejust
alwayshankeringfor that which is in your imaginationand nowhere
not.This is thediseasecalledman. else. God creatingmeans:out of
Be alert! Do you see it?! It is a perfectioncomesperfection.
simple fact to be seen.I am not You are perfect! Nothing else is
theorizingaboutit; I am not a the- needed.Look right now, this very
oretician.I am simplyindicatinga moment,within yourself.Have a
bare,nakedfact - that if you can direct insight. What is needed?
live in this momentwhereveryou Everythingis simply perfect and
are and forget about the future, beautiful.Not even a cloud can I
goals,the ideaof becomingsome- see.Justlook within yourself- not
the whole even a cloud in your inner space.
Lhingelse,immediately,
world aroundyou is transformed; Everythingis full of light.
you have becomea transforming But the mind will say, sooneror
later, to be somethingelse, to be
force.
Acceptance... a deep,total accep- somewhereelse, to become.The
mind doesntallow you to be. The
tanceis whatrcligionis all about.
A wantst,obecomeB: B wantsto mind is becoming,andyour soulis
become C. Then the fever of being.That'swhy Buddhasgo on
becomingis created.
saying:"Unlessyou dropall desirYou are not a becoming;you arc a ing youwill notattain!"
229

Desiring meansbecoming.Desiring means!o be somethingelse.

Desiringmeansnot to acceptthe
caseas you are,not to b in a total
'yes' mood - no matterwhat the
situation.
To say "yes" to life is o be rcligious;to say "no" o life is to be
irreligious. And whenever you
desire somethingyou are saying
"no." You are saying that somethingbetteris possible.
The rees are happy and t}te birds
arc happyand the cloudsarehappy
- becausethey haveno becoming.
They are simply whatsoevertiey
arc.
The rosebushis not trying to
is
becomea lotus.No, therosebush
absolutelyhappyo be a rosebush.
You cannotpersuadethe msebush.
Howsoeveryou advertisethe lotus,
you will not be able to corrupt the
mind of the rosebushto becomea
lotus. The rosebushwill simply
laugh - becausea rosebushis a
rosebushis a rosebush.
It is simply
settled and centeredin its being.
That's why the whole nature is
without any feven calm and quiet
andranquil. And settled!
Only thehumanmind is in a chaos,
becauseeverybodyis hankeringto
be somebody
else.This is whatyou
havebeendoing for a thousandand
onelives.And if you don'tawaken
now, when are you thinking to

QUESTIONS

TO THE

MASTER

awaken?You are aleady ripe for Then you will be like birds;listen
awakening.
!o them.Thenyou will belike uees;
Juststartfrom this very momentto look - the freshness,the greenery,
live and enjoy and delight. Drop theflowers.
desiring! Whatsoever you are, Pleasebe whereyou are.I am not
enjoyit.
hereto createa new desirein you; I
Delight in your being. And then am simplyhercto makeyou aware
suddenlytime disappcars,
because of the wholeabsurdityof desiring.
time exists only with desiring. Desiringis sansar.
Futureexistsbccause
you dcsire.
Undentandingthe futility of desire

is to becomeenlightened.One who
hasfound out that he is alrrcadythat
which he alwayswantedO be is a
buddha.And you are all buddhas,
howsoeverfast asleepand moring.
That makesno difference.
lrt me be your alarm. Open your
eyes.You havesleptlong enough.
It is time to awaken.The moming
is knockingat thedoor I

230

QUESTIONS

TO THE MASTER

WhereDidYou
LeAveYourBicycle?
During the meditations,
my mind still goes
five hundredmiles
per hour.I never
experience
silence,
and whatever
witnessinghappens
is very short,like flashes.
Am Iwasting my time?

23r

Zour mind is mighty slow.

Five hundred miles per
Y
hour,only?! And do you
I
think this is speed?Mighty slow
you arc. Mind goes so fast it
knows no speed.It is faster than
light" Light Eavels186,000miles
in one second;mind is fasterthan
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,
befriendthe mind.
You say: "During the meditations,
my mind still goes five hundred
milesperhour"- let it go! Let it go
faster.Yoube a watcherYou watch
themindgoingaroundsofast,with
suchspeed.Enjoy this! Enjoy this
playof themind.
In Sanskritwe havea specialterm
for it; we call it chidvilas- theplay
\

of consciousness.
Enjoy it! - ttris
play of mind rushingtowardsthe
stan, movingso fastfrromhereand
there,jumping all over existence.
What is wrong in it? Let it be a
beautifuldance.Acceptit.
My feeling is tlnt what you are
doingis Eryingto slopit - you cannot do that. Nobody can stop the
mind!Yes,mind stopsoneday,but
nobodycanstopit. Mind stops,but
$ratis not out of your effort.Mind
stopsout of yourunderstanding.
Youjust watchandtry t0 seewhat
is happening,why ttris mind is
rushing.It is not rushingwithout
any reason.Try to see wfty this
mind is rushing,whereit is rushing
- you must be ambitious.If it
thinks about money, then fy to
understand.
Mind is not the question. You sart dreaming about
money,thatyou havewon a lottery

QUESTIONS

TO THE MASTER

or this and that,and lhen you even "Sir," said the verger,"I thought
strrt planninghow to spendit, what youweregoingto..."
to purchaseand what not. Or, the "I know, Giles, I know. But you
'Thou shaltnot
mind thinks you have becomea see,when I got to
president,a prime ministeq and commit adultery,' I suddenly
then you start thinking what o do rememberedwhere I had left my
now, how to run the country,or the bicycle."
world.Justwatchthemind! - what Just seewhereyou have left your
mindis goingowards.
bicycle. The mind is rushing for
Theremustbe a deepseedin you. certainreasons.
You cannotstop the mind unless The mind needs undentanding,
Dont try o stop it. If
that seeddisappean.The mind is awareness.
simply following the orderof your you try to stopit, in the first place
innermostseed.Somebodyis think- you cannotsucceed;in the second
ing aboutsex;thensomewhere
there place,if you cansuccetd- onecan
is repressed
sexuality.Watchwhere succeedif one makespnevcring
mind is rushing.lnok deep into effort for years- if you can sucyounelf, find wherethe seedsare.
ceed, you will becomedull. No
I haveheard:The parsonwas very satoriwill happenout of it.
much worried."Listen," he saidto In the hrst place,you cannotsuchis vergeq"somebodyhas stolen ceed;andit is goodtfratyou cannot
my bicycle."
If you could succe*i,If
succeed.
"Where have you been on it, Rec- you managed to succeed,that
tor?" inquiredthatworthy.
would be very unfortunate- you
"Only amund the parish on my wouldbecomedull, you wouldlose
intelligence.With that speedthere
calls."
The vergersuggestedtiat the best is intelligence,
with thatspeedthere
plan would be for the rector to is continuoussharpeningof the
dfuecthis Sundaysermonto the ten swordof thinking,logic, intellect.
"When you get to Pleasedont ry to stropit. I am not
commandments.
'Thou shalt not steal,' you
and I in favor of dullards,and I am not
will watchthe faces- we will soon here !o help anybody to become
see."
stupid.
Sundaycame, the rcctor startedin In tre nameof religion,manypeofine flow aboutthecommandments,ple havebecomestupid,they have
then lost his thread, changedhis almostbecomeidiots- just trying
subject,andtrailedoff lamely.
to stopthemindwithoutanyunder-

standingaboutwhy it is goingwith
in thefrst place?
suchspeed...why
The mind cannotgo without any
rcason.Withoutgoing into the reasons,in the layers,deeplayen of
the unconscious,they just try to
stop.They can stop,but they will
haveto pay a price, and the price
will be that their intellieencewill
be lost.
You can go aroundIndia, you can
hnd thousands of sannyasins,
mahatmas;look into their eyesyes,tlreyaregoodpeople,nice,but
stupid. If you look in their eyes
there is no intelligence,you will
not see any lightning. They are
uncreativepeople; they have not
crmted anything. They just sit
tlrcre.They arevegetating,they are
not alive people.They have not,
helpedthe world in any way.They
havenot evenproduceda painting
or a poemor a song,becauseeven
to producea poemyou needintelligence,you needcertainqualitiesof
themind.
I would not suggestthat you stop
the mind, ratheq,that you understandit. With understanding
a miracle happens.The miracle is that
with understanding,by and by,
when you understandthe causes
and those causesare looked int'o
deeply,throughlooking deeplyinto
thosecauses,thosecausesdisappear,mind slowsdown.But intelli-

232

QUESTIONS

-l

jl
i\

l _12

TO THE

MASTER

value.Thoseflashes,
genceis not lost, becausemind is of tremendous
they arenot ordinaryflashes.Dont
not forced.
What are you doing if you dont just take them for ganted! There
remove the causesby understand- are millions of people for whom
ing? You are driving a car, for eventhosesmallglimpseshavenot
example,and you go on pressing happened.They will live and die
the acceleratorandat the sametime andtheywill neverlnow whatwityou try (o pressthe brake.You will nessing is - even for a single
of the momenl You are happy, you are
desroythewholemechanism
possibility
fornrnate.
car And there is every
you will havesomeaccident.This But you arc not feelinggrateful.If
cannotbe done together.If you are you don't feel grateful,thoseflashpushing the brake, then leave the es will disappear;feel grateful,they
accelerator
alone;dont pushit any will grow. With gratitude,everymore.If you arepushingthe accel- tiing grows.Feel happy that you
erato4then dont push the brake. are blessed- they will grcw. With
Don't do both the thingstogethe4 thatpositiviry,ftings will grow
otherwise you will destroy the "And whateverwitnessinghappens
whole mechanism;you are doing is very shorl"
Let it be very short!If il canhap'pen
two contradictory
things.
You carry ambition- andyou uryto for a singlesplit moment,it is hapstopthe mind?Ambition createsthe pening;you will havethetasteof it
speed,so you are acceleratingthe And wittr tre taste,by and by, you
speed- and putting a brakeon the will creale morc and more situamind. You will desuoythe whole tions in which it happensmoreand
subtlemechanismof the mind,and more.
mind is a very delicate phe- "Am I wastingmy time?"
nomenon,the most delicatein the You cannot waste time, because
whole of existence.So dont be you dont possesstime. You can
foolish aboutit.
waste somethingthat you possess.
Trmewill
Time you dont possess.
Thereis no needto stopit.
You say: 'T never experience be wasted anyway whether you
silence, and whatever wimessing meditateor not - time will be wasthappensis very short,like flashes." ed. Trmeis rushingby. Whatsoever
Feel happy!Even that is something you do, do anythingor dont do

233

anything,time is going.Youcannot
save time so how can you waste
time? You can waste only something which you can save. You
dont possestime.Forgetaboutil!
And the best use you can have of
time is to have these small
glimpses-becausefinally you will
come to see only thosemoments
have been saved which were
moments of wimessing,and all
else hasgone down the drain. The
money that you earned,the prestige that you earned, the
respctabilitythat you eamed,is all
gone down the drain. Only those
few momentsthat you had some
flashesof witnessing,only those
momentsare saved. Only those
momentswill go with you when
you leave this life - only those
moments can go, becausethose
momentsbelong o etemity, they
dont belongo time.
Feel happy it is happening. It
always happens slowly, slowly.
One &op by one drop, a great
oceancan becomefull. It happens
h d.prt in dropstheoceanis coming. You just receiveit with gntitude, with celebration,with thankfulness.
And dont try to stopthe mind.I-et
the mind have its speed - yon
watch.4

QUESTIONS

TO THE

MASTER

Justa
180"Turn
Two Polacksweredriving
alongin thefront seatoT
their car.As they
approached
a corner,the
onewho wasdrivingsaidto
hisfriend,"Will you
look out of thewindow
and seeif theindicator,the
turn signal,is working?"
He promptlyleanedout of
thewindowandlookedat
the indicatorlight and
shoutedbackat hisfriend,
"Yesit is - no it's not,
yesit is - no it's not,
yesit is - no it's not."
Bhagwan,if anybodywere
to askmewhetherI was
witnessing
or not, my
answerwouldhaveto be
thesame:YesI am,no I'm
notl yesI am,no I'm not.
Is it like that
all thewavhome?

t is not, becauseas far as your

witnessingis concerned,
it may
be comingandgoing,andyour
answermay be perfectlythe same
as the Polack who said that the
indicatoris working,"Yes - no yesagain..."
That is the functionof the indicator; to be,notto be;to be,not to be.
But dont laughat thepoorPolack.
As far as lrH awarenessis concerned,he is fully aware.Whenever it is working he says "yes":
wheneverit is not workinghe says
"no." His awareness
of the indicator is continuous.The indicator
goeson changing,but the Polack
remainsfully awareof when it is
working, when it is not working,
when it is on, when it is off. His
is a continuity.
awareness
If you can give the sameanswer
aboutyour witnessing:"Yes I am

witnessing,
no I am notwitnessing,
yes I am witnessing,
no I am not
witnessing," then you have to
remembertlat thereis something
morc behind ftese witnessing
momentswhich is witnessingall
this process.Who is witnessing
you arewitnessing
thatsometimes
and sometimesyou are no[ witnessing?
Somethingis constant.
Your witnessinghas becomejust
an indicator;don't be botheredby
it. Youremphasis
shouldbe on the
eternal,the constant,the continuum - and it is ttrere.And it is in
everyone,we havejust forgotten
ir.
But evenin timeswhen we have
forgottenit, it is therein its abso
lute perfection.It is like a mirror
whichis ableto mirroreverything,
is still mirroringeverything,but
you are standingwith your back

234

QUESTIONS

towardsthe mirror.The poor mirror

is mirroringyourback.
Tum,it will mirroryourface.
Openyour heart,it will mirroryour
hean.
Put everythingon the table, donl
hide evena singlecardand it will
reflectyour wholereality.
Brn if you go on standingwith your
back to the miror looking all
around the world asking people,
"Who am I?" then it is up to you.
Becausethereare idios who will
come and teachyou that "This is
theway.Do this andyou will know
whoyouare."
No methodis needed,just a 180degree turn - and that is not. a
method.
And theminor is yourverybeing.

235

TO THE MASTER

You may not have looked at the reflectingthe changingprocessof

joke in thislight.If you tell thejoke what you think is your witness,is
to anyMy he is going to laugh behind.It is not the truewitrress.it
becausethe Polack is so stupid, is only theindicator.
becausethat is the function of the Forgetthe indicator.
indicator- lo be on, off, on, off. Rememberthe constantminoring
But you havebroughtme a joke - I that goes on twenty-four hours
cannotsimply laughat it becauseI within you, silently watching
morein it whichper- everything.Slowly,slowly cleanit
seesomething
- thereis so much duston it, cenhapsnobodywill see.
The Polack is constant.alert" He turiesof dust.Removethedust.
doesnot missa singlepoint,a sin- And one day, when the mirror is
gle moment.
completelyclean, those moments
And when you say "witnessing, of wimessingand not-witnessing
yes" andthenit disappears
you will be simplya
andyou will disappeaa
"no"
you
it
say
again appears, say witness.
"yes"...itsimplyshowsthatthereis And unlessyou hnd thateternityof
something behind all these witnessing,all other kinds of witmomentsof witnessingandnot wit- nessingarepartof mind.Theyhave
nessing.The truc witness,which is no value.s

QUESTIONS

TO THE MASTER

A11PathsMerge
on theMountain
Is awareness
a highervaluethan love?

he highestpeak is the culminationof all values:truth,

love, awareness,
authenticity, totality.At the highestpeakthey
are indivisible. They are sepante
only in tlp dark valleys of our
Theyareseparato
unconsciousness.
only whenttreyarepolluted mixed
with otherthings.Themomentthey
becomepurc they becomeone; the
morcpue, the closertheycometo
eachother
For example,eachvalueexistson
many planes;eachvalue is a ladder of manyrungs.Love is lust the lowest rung, which touches
hell; and love is also prayer- the
highestrung, which touchesparadise. And between these two
thereare many planeseasily discernible.
In lust, love is only one percent:
ninety-nine percent arc other

things:jealousies,ego rips, possessiveness,

ange4 sexuality. It is
more physical,more chemical;it
has nothing deepertlnn 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 psychologicaldimensiono it. That
which was nothing but biology
starts becoming psycholqgy. We
sharebiology with all the animals;
we dont sharepsychologywith all
theanimals.
When love goes still higher - or
d*p"r, which is the same- then it
startshavingsomethingof the spiritualin it It becomesmetaphysical.
Only Buddhas,Krishnas,Christs,
know that quality of love.
Love is spreadall the way and so

236

QUESTIONS

ire othervalues.When love is one

hundredpercentpwe you cannot
makeany distinctionbetweenlove
and awareness;then they are no
more two. You cannot make any
distinctioneven betweenlove and
God; they areno moretwo. Hence
Jesus'statementthat God is love.
He makestiem synonymous.
There
is greatinsightin it.
On the periphery everything
appears separatefiom everything
else;on the peripheryexistenceis
many.As you come closerto the
center,the manyness
startsmelting,
dissolving,and onenessstaflsarising. At thecenter,everythingis one.
Henceyour questionis right only if
you don't undentandthe highest
qualityof love and awarenes.It is
absolutelyirrelevantif you have
anyglimpseof Everest,of thehighestpeak.
You ask "Is awarenessa hisher
valuethanlove?"
Thereis nothinghigherandnothing
lower;in fact,therearcnot two val-

TO THE MASTER

uesat all. Therearetwo pathsfrom lackslove thenit is still impure;it

the valley leadingto the peak.One has not yet known one hundred
path is of awareness,
meditation: percentpurity. It is not yet really
the path of Z,ea.The other is the awarcness:
it mustbe mixedwith
path of love, the path of the devo' unawareness.
It is not pure lighq
tees,the bhaktas,the Sufis.These theremust be pocketsof darkness
nvo paths are separatewhen you insideyou still working, functionstan the joumey; you have to ing, influencing you, dominating
choose.Whicheveryou chooseis you. If your love is without
goingto leadto thesamepeak.And awareness,
then it is not love yet.
as you comecloserto t}tepeakyou It must be something lower,
will be surprised:the travelerson somethingcloser to lust than to
tre otherpatharecomingcloserto prayer.
you. Slowly slowly,the pathsstart So let it be a criterion:if you folmerging into each other. By the low the pathof awareness,
let love
time you havereachedtheultimate, be the criterion.Whenyour awareness suddenlyblooms into love,
theyareone.
person
path
who
The
followsthe
of know perfectJywell that awarcness
awarcnesshnds love as a conse- has happened,sanadhi has been
quenceof his awareness,
as a by- achieved.If you follow the pathof
product,as a shadow.And the per- love, thenlet awarcness
functionas
son who follows the path of love a criterion.as a touchstone.
When
finds awareness
fromnowhere,at lhe very
as a consequence,suddenly,
as a by-product,as a shadowof center of your love, a flame of
love. They arc two sides of the awareness
startsarising,know perfectly well.... Rejoice!You have
samecoin.
And remember:if your awarcness comehome.o

QUESTIONS

TO THE MASTER

Celebrating
Consciousness
After working with the
cathartictechniquesfor a
few years,I feelthat a
deepinner harmony,
balanceand centering
is happening
to me.
But you saidthat before
enteringinto the final
stageof samadhi,
onepasses
through
a greatchaos.
How do I know
if I am finished
with the chaoticstage?

int, for hundredsof lives

youhave[ved in a chaos.It
is nothing new. It is very
old. Secondly,the dynamicmethods of meditation which have
catharsisas their foundationallow
all chaoswithin you to be thrown
out. That is the beautyof these
techniques.
You cannotsit silently,
but you cando the dynamicor the
chaotic meditationsvery easily.
Once the chaosis thrown out a
silence starts happeningto you.
Thenyou cansit silently.If rightly
done,conl.inuously
done,then ttre
cathartictechniquesof meditation
will simplydissolveall yourchaos
into theoutsideworld.Youwill not
needto passtfuougha mad stage.
That's ttre beauty of these techniques. The madnessis being
thrownout alrcady.It is in-built in
thetechnique.

But if you sit silentlyas Pamnjali

suggests...Patanjdi
had no cathartic methods;it seemstheywerenot
neededin his time. People were
naturally very silent, peaceful,
primitive. The mind was not yet
functioningtoo much.Peopleslept
well, lived like animals.Theywere
not very much thinking, logical,
rational,they were more centered
in theheart,asprimitive peopleare
evennow And life wassuchthatit
allowedmanv catharses
aulomatically.
For example, a woodcuttn he
need not have any cathanis
becausejust by cutting wood, all
his murderousinstinctsare thrown
out. Cutting wmd is like murdering a ree. A stonebreakerneednot
do cathartic meditation. He is
doing it the whole day. But for
modemman thingshavechanged.

QUESTIONS

TO THE

MASTER

Now you live in suchcomfortthat who are working with their hands
thereis no possibilityof anycathar- dont need cathanis. But people
sis in your life, exceptthatyou can who work with their heads need
much cathanisbecausethey accudrivein a madway.
people
in
more
mulatemuchenergy,andthereis no
That'swhy the West
year
throughcar accidents way in theirbody,no openingfor it
die every
than by anythingelse.That is the to go out. It goeson andon inside
grcatrest
disease.Neitherqmcernor themind;themindgoesmad.
tuberculosisnor any other disease In our culture and society- in the
takessucha toll of lives as car driv- office, in the factory,in the market
ing. In oneyearof thesecondworld - peoplewho work with headsare
war, millions of peopledied; more known as heads: head clerk. or
people die every year around the head superintendent,
and people
earthjust becauseof mad automo- who work with handsareknown as
hands.It is condemnatory.
Thevery
bile drivers.
You may haveobservedif you area word 'hands'hasbecomecondemdriver, that wheneveryou arc angry nalory.
you go fast.You go on pushingthe When Patanjali was working on
you simply forgetabout thesesutras,the world was lotally
accelerator,
'hands'.
the brake.When you are very hate- different People were
ful, initated, the car becomes a There was no need for catharsis
medium of expression.Otherwise specihcally;life wasitself a catharyou live in suchcomfort,doingless sis.Thentheycouldsit silentlyvery
and lesswith the body,living more easily,but you cannotsit. Hence,I
havebeeninventingcatharticmethandmorein themind.
Thosewho know about the deeper ods. Only after them can you sit
centersof the brain say that people silently,not beforc.
who work with their hands have "After working witi the cathartic
lessanxiety,lesstension;theysleep techniquesfor a few years,I feel
well becausehands are connected that a deepinner harmony,balance,
with the deepestmind, the deepest andcenteringis happening
to me."
centerof thebrain - your right hand Now dont cratetrouble;let it hapwith the left brain, your left hand pen.Now the mind is poking in is
with the right brain. When you nose.The mind says,"How can it
work with the hands, energy is happen?First I must passthrough
flowing frrom the head ino the chaos."This ideacancreatechaos.
hands and being rcleased.People This hasbeenmy observation:peo

239

ple hankerfor silence,and whenit

startshappening,they cant believe
it. It is too goodto be 8ue, andparticularly peoplewho have always
condemned themselves cannot
believethatit is happening
to them:
"Impossible!It mayhavehappened
to a Buddhaor 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 imaginingit?" Why
bother?Evenif it is imagination,it
is betterthan imagininganger,it is
betterthanimaginingsex,lust.
And I tell you,nobodycanimagine
silence. Imaginationneeds some
form; silencehas no form. Imagination means thinking in images,
andsilencehasno image.Youcannot imagineit. Thereis no possibility. You cannotimagineenlightenment, you cannotimagine saOri,
samadhi,silence,no. Imagination
needssomebase,someform, and
silence is formless, indefinable.
Nobody has ever painteda picnue
of it; nobody can palnt one.
Nobodyhascarvedan imageof it;
nobodycould do it.
You cannot imagine silence. The
mind is playing tricks. The mind
will say,"It must be imagination.
How can it be possiblefor you,
such a stupid man as you, and
silencehappeningto you? - must
'This
be you are imagining,"o4

QUESTIONS

TO THE MASTER

guy Rajneeshhas hypnotizedyou. Worry is just the oppositeof celeYoumustbe deceivedsomehow." bration,it is just like cuuing tlre
Dont createsuch problems.Life roots.Feelhappy!Dancewith your
hasenoughproblems.Whensilence silence.This moment is there is hap'pening,
enjoy it, celebrateit enough.Why askfor more?TomorIt meansthe chaotic forces have row will take care of itself. This
beenthrown oul The mind is play- momentis too much;why not live
ing ia last game. It plays o the il, celebrateit, shareit, enjoy it? Lct
very end; to the very, very end it it becomea song,a dance,a poetry;
goes on playing. At the last let it be creative.lrt your silence
moment, when enlightenmentis be creative;do something
with it.
just about to happen,then too the Millions of things are possible
mind playsthe lastgame,becauseit becausenothing is more crcative
is thelastbattle.
than silence:no needto becomea
Dont worry about it" whetherit is very greatpainteqworld famous,a
realor unreal,or whetherchaoswill Picasso;
no needto becomea Henry
come after it or not, becauseby Moore; no need!o becomea grcat
thinking in this way you have poet Those ambitions of being
alreadybroughtthechaos.It is your grcat arc of the mind, not of the
idea which can createchaos,and silence.
when it is created,0re mind will In yourown way,howsoever
small,
paint.In your own way,howsoever
say,"Now lislen,I told you so."
Mind is very self-frrlfilling.Fint it small,makea haiku.In your own
gives you a seed, and when it way,howsoever
small,singa song,
sproutsthemind says,"hok, I was dance a little, celebrate,and you
telling you beforehandthat you are will find the next momentbrings
deceived."The chaos has come, moresilence.Onceyou know ttnt
and it hasbeenbroughtby the idea. the moreyou celebrate,tle moreis
So why botherabout whetherthe given to you; the moreyou share,
chaosis still to comein the future the more you becomecapableof
or not, or whetherit haspassedor rcceivingit, eachmomentit goes
not? Right this moment,you are on growing,growing.
silent- why not celebrateit? And I The next mornentis always born
tell you,if youcelebrate,
it grows. out of this moment,so why worry
In this world of consciousness,about it? If this momentis silent,
nothing is so helpful as celebration. how can the next moment be
Celebrationis like wateringa plant chaos?Fromwherewill it come?It

is going to be born out of this

moment. If I am happy this
moment,how can I be unhaprpy
in
thenextmoment?
If you wantthe next momentto be
unhamy, you will have to become
unhappyin this moment,because
out of unhappiness,
unhappiness
is
is
bom;out of happiness,
happiness
bom. Whasoeveryou want to rcap
in the next moment,you will have
!o sowright now.Oncethe worry is
allowedand you start thinking that
chaoswill come,it will come;you
have alreadybrought it. Now you
will have to reap iq it has akeady
come.No needto wait for tlrc next
moment;it is alrcadythere.
Rememberthis, and this is rcally
somethingstrange:when you are
sadyou neverthink that it may be
imagrnary. Never have I come
:lcrcssa man who is sad and who
says to me that maybe it is just
imagtnary. Sadness is perfectly
real.But happines?- immediately
somethinggoes wrcng and you
startthinking,"Maybe it is imaginary."Wheneveryou arctense,you
neverthink it is imaginary.If you
can think that your tension and
anguish are imaginary, they will
disappear.And if you think your
silenceand happinessare imaginary,theywill disappear.
Whatsoever is taken as real,
becomesreal. Wharsoeveris taken

240

QUESTIONS

TO THE

MASTER

as urueal.becomesuffeal. You are thereis a happymoment,let it grip

you. Enjoy it so totalthe creator of your whole world you, possess
aroundyou; rememberthis. It is so ly; how could the next momentbe
raretroachievea momentof happi- different?From where would it be
ness,bliss- dont wasteit in think- different? Flom where would it
ing. But if you donl do anything, come?
the posibility of worry is there.If Your time is createdwithin you.
you dont do anything- if you donl Your time is not my time. There
dance,if you don'tsing,if you donl existasmanyparalleltimesasthere
share- the posibility is there.The areminds.Thereis no one time. If
very energy that could have been there were one time, then there
creative will create the worry. It wouldbe difficulty.Thenamidstthe
will start creating new tensions whole miserable humankind,
nobody could become a buddha
inside.
we belongto thesametime.
Energy has to be creative.If you because
dont use il for happiness,the same No, it is not the same.My time
energywill be usedfor unhappiness.comesfromme - it is my creativity.
you havesuch If this momentis beautiful,the next
And for unhappiness
deep-rootedhabits that the energy momentis bom more beautifulflow is very looseand natural.For this is my time. If this momentis
is
happiness
it is anuphilltask.
sadfor you,thena saddermomenl.
So the first few daysyou will have bom out of you - that is your time.
to be constantlyaware.Whenever Millions of parallel lines of time

241

exist. And there are a few people

who existwithouttime- thosewho
have attained to no-mind. They
have no time becausethey don't
think aboutthe past;it is gone,so
only fools think about it. When
something
is gone,it is gone.
Thercis a Buddhistmmaa: Gate,
gate, Wa gate - swaln, "Gone,
gone,absolutelygone;let it go to
the fire." The past is gone, the
future has not yet come. Why
worry aboutit? Whenit comes,we
will see. You will be thele to
encounterit, so why worry about
it? The goneis gone,the not{ome
has not come yet. Only this
moment,is left, pure, intensewith
eneryy.Live it! If it is silence,be
grateful.If it is blissful,thankGod,
trustit. And if you can rusL it will
gow If you distrust, you have
alreadypoisonedit. I

QUESTIONS

TO THE

MASTER

TuneIn to
Llncertainty
The moreI watchmyself,
the moreI experience
the falseness
of my ego.
I havestartedto feel
like a strangerto myself,
no longerknowing
what is false.
This leavesmewith
an uncomfortablefeeling
of havingno guidelines,
asI sensedI had before.

his happens;this is bound

to happen.And remember
that one should be happy
tJratit has happened;it is a good
indication.Whenone startson the
innerjourney everythingseemsto
be cleagrooted,becausethe ego is
in contol and the ego has all the
guidelines.The ego has all the
maps,theegois themasler.
Whenyou movea little furtherinto
tle joumey, the ego scartsevaporating, seemslo be moreand more
false,seemsto be moreandmorea
deception,a hallucination.When
one starts awakening out of ilre
drcam, then guidelinesare lost.
Now theold masteris no morethe
ma$eqand the ngw masterhasnot
yet arisen.Thereis a confusion,a
chaos.This is a goodindication.
Ilalf the journey is oveq but there
will be an uncomfortablefeeling,

an uneasiness,becauseyou 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 identificationwith theego.Now theego is
evaporating, the old house is
falling and you dont know who
you arc,whereyou ate.Everything
is murky, cloudy, and the old certaintyis lost.
This is good becausethe old certainty was a false certainty.It was
not a certainty, in fact. Deep
behind it there was uncertainty.
That'swhy, when the ego evaporates,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 deceivedyou

QUESTIONS

ino feeling that you knew who you Many have turned back from that yourself. You will never attain to
were.The dreamwas too much.it pointjust to feelcomfortableagain, yourbeing.
lookedtoo rcal.
at ease,at home.Theyhavemissed. Becomingis not being.All becomIn the morningwhenyou arecom- They were just coming nearertre ing, and all effort to becomesomeing out of a dream,suddenlyyou goal, and they tumed back. Dont thing,will forcesomethingon you.
dont know who or whereyou are. do thaq go ahead.Uncertaintyis It is a violent effort. You may
Have you felt this feeling some- good,nothingis wrongwith it. You becomea saint,but in your saintlitimesin the moming?- whensud- haveonly to be tuned,ftat's all.
nesstherewill be ugliness.I tell
denly you are awakenedout of a You are tuned with the certain you,andI emphasize
it: to live life
dream,and for somemomentsyou universeof the ego,the secureuni- without any guidelinesis the only
possible.Eventhen,you
dont lnow whereyou are,who you vene of the ego. Howsoeverfalse saintliness
are and what is happening?The on the surface,everythingseemslo may becomea sinner;but in being
samehappenswhenone comesout be perfectly as it should be. You a sinner,therewill be a holiness,a
of the dreamof the ego. Discom- needa little tuningwith the uncer- saintliness.
fort, uneasiness,uprootednesswill tainexistence.
Life is holy; you need not force
be felt, but one should be happy Existence is uncertain,insecure, anything upon it, you need not
about it. If you becomemiserable dangerous.
It is a flux - thingsmov- mold it, you neednot.give it a patabout it, you will fall back to the ing, changing.It is a strangeworld; tern, a disciplineand an order Life
old state of affairs where things get acquainted
with it. Havea little hasits own order,it hasits own diswerecertain,whereeverythingwas courageand dont look backwards, cipline. You simply move with it,
mapped,charted,where you knew, look forward; soon the uncertainty you float with it, you dont ry to
whercguidelineswereclear.
itself will become beaut"iful,tre pushtheriver.The river is flowing
Drop uneasiness.
Evenif it is there, insecurityitself will becomebeauti- - you becomeone with it and the
dont be too impressed
by it. lrt it ful.
river takesyou to the ocean.This is
be there,watch, and that too will In fact,only insecurityis beautiful, the life of a sannyasin:a life of
go. Soonuneasiness
will disappear. becauseinsecurityis life. Security happening,
not of doing.Thenyour
It is just therebecauseof the old is ugly, it is a partof death- that's beingreaches,by andby, abovethe
habit of certainty.You don't know why it is secure.To [ve without clouds,beyondthecloudsandconhow to live in an uncertainuni- guidelinesis the only way to live. flica. Suddenlyyou arc fiee.In the
verse.You donl know how gr live Whenyou live with guidelines,
you disorder of life you f,rnd a new
in insecurity. The uneasinessis live a falselife. Ideals,guidelines, order But the quality of the orderis
therebecauseof the old security.It disciplines- you force something totally differentnow. It is nothing
is just becauseof the old habit, a on your life, you mold your life, imposedby you, it is intimateo
hangoverIt will go. Onejust hasto you dont allow it to be, you try to life itself.
wait, watch,relax, and feel happy make somethingout of it. Guide- Trces also have an order, as do
And I lines are violent and all ideals ale rivers,mountains,
thatsomethinghashappened.
but thosearcnot
tell you, it is a good indication. ugly. Throughthem you will miss orden imposedby moralists,puri-

QUESTIONS

TO THE

MASTER

tanS, priests. They dont go to lives in tle wodd, mountainsare

somebodyto find the guidelines. mountains,rivers are riven. When
fuer is intrinsic; it is in life itself. a person moves into medilation,
Oncethe ego is not thercto manip- now mountainsarc no morcmounulate, to push and pull here and tains, rivers arc no more rivers.
there- "Do this and that" - when Everythingis a confusionand a
you are completelyfreed ftom the chaos.But whena manhasattained
ego,a disciplinecomesto you, an to satori,to samadhi,againrivers
inner discipline.It is unmotivated. areriversandmountainsaremounIt is not seekingsomething,it sim- tains.
ply happens:as when you breathe, Thereare threestages:in the first,
as when you feel hungry and you you are certainwith the ego, in the
eat, as when you feel sleepyand thirdyou areabsolutelycertainwith
you go to bed. It is an inner order, the non+go, and just in benveen
an inrinsic order That will come the two, the chaos;when the cerwhenyou becometunedwith inse- tainty of theego disappearsand rhe
curity, when you become tuned certaintyof life has not yet come.
with your strangeness,
when you This is a very, very potential
becometunedwith your unknown moment, very pregnant.If you
being.
becomeafraid and turn back, you
ln 7*n tiey havea saying,one of will missthepossibility.
the most beautiful: when a person Aheadis therealcertainty.That real

certaintyis not againstuncertainty.

Ahead is the rcal security,but that
securityis not againstinsecudty.
That securityis so vastthat it containsinsecuritywithin itself.It is so
vast that,it is not afraid of insecurity. It absorbsinsecurity into itself,
it conlainsall connadictions.So
somebody
cancall it insecurityand
somebodycan call it security. In
fact it is neithe4or both.If you feel
that you havebecomea strangert0
yourself, celebrateit, feel gpteful.
Rareis this moment;enjoy it. The
moreyou enjoy,the moreyou will
Iind that the certaintyis coming
nearcr to you, coming faster and
fastertowardsyou. If you cancelebrate your strangeness,your
your homelessness,
uprootedness,
suddenlyyou arc at home - the
tltid stagehascome.s

aAA
Lna

^
l-

QUESTIONS

TO THE

MASTER

CounttheMoments
of Avarcness
You tell us to be aware
of everything- which
meansto be a witness
to everything,everyact.
When I decide
to be awarein work,
I forget about awareness,
and when I become
awarethat I was
not aware,
I feelguilty;
I feelthat I have
madea mistake.
CouldYou pleaseexplain?

245

t is one of the basicproblems

for anybodywho is rying to
be aware while at work becausework demandsthat you
shouldforgetyourselfcompletely.
You should be involved in it so
deeply ... as if you arc absenl
Unless such total involvementis
there, the work remainssuperficial.
All that is geat, crcatedby man in painting, in poet y, in architec[ure,in sculpture,in anydimension
of life - needsyou to be totally
involved. And if you arc u'ying to
be awareat fre sametime, your
wor* will never be hrst rate,
you will notbe in it.
because
while you areworkSo awareness
ing needs a tremendousraining
and discipline,and one haso start
from very simple actions, for
example,walking. You can walk,

and you can be awarethat you are

walking - eachstepcan be full of
awarcness.
Eating ... just the way
theydrink teanZ,en monasteries
they call it the 'tea ceremony',
becausesippingthe tea, one hasto
remainalert andaware.
These are small actions but to
begin wittr they areperfectlygood.
One shouldnot start with something like painting,dancing- those
arc very deep and complex phenomena.Start with small actions
of daily routine life. As you
become more and more accustomedto awarBness,
ils awarcness
becomesjust like breathing- you
dont have to makeany effort for
it, it has become spontaneousthen in any act, any work, you can
be aware.
But rememberthecondition:it has
to be effortlesslit has to comeout

QUESTIONS

TO THE

MASTER

of spontaneity.Then painting or spontaneously;you are not to call

composingmusic, or dancing,or it, youarenot to forceit.
even fighting an enemy wilh a "And when I becomeawarethat I
sword, you can remainabsoluoely was not aware,I feel guilty." That
is not the is absolutestupidity. When you
aware.But thatawareness
awarenessyou arc trying for It is becomeaware that you were not
not thebeginning;it is theculmina- aware,feel happythat at leastnow
tion of a longdiscipline.Somedmes you are aware.For the conceptof
it can happen without discipline guilt, thereis no placein my teachings.
too.
But thiscanhappenonly rarely- in Guilt is one of the cancenof the
exremeconditions.In everydaylife soul.And all thereligionshaveused
you should follow the simple guilt to desnoyyour digniry,your
course.First becomeawareabout pride,and to makeyou just slaves.
actions which do not need your Thereis no needto feel guilty,it is
Youcanwalk andyou natural.Awareness
involvement.
is sucha gre,at
cango on thinking;you caneatand thing thatevenif you canbe aware
you can go on thinking. Replace for a few seconds,rejoice.Dont
thinking by awarenes.Go on eat- pay attention to those moments
ing, and remainalert that you are when you forgot.Pay attentionto
eating. Walk, replacethinking by that state when you suddenly
"I was not aware."Feel
awareness.
Go on walking;perhaps remembeq
your walkingwill be a little slower fortunatethat at least, after a few
is hours,awareness
hasretumed.
andmoregraceful.But awareness
possiblewith thesesmallacs. And Dont makeit a repentance,
a guilt,
- becauseby beingguilty
as you become more and more a sadness
articulate, use more complicated and sad, you arc not going to be
activities.
helped.You will feel,deepdown,a
A daycomesthat thereis no activi- failue. And oncea feelingof failty in theworld in whichyou cannot ule settlesin you, awareness
will
remainalertat thesarnetime,doing becomeevenmoredifficult.
theactwith totality.
Change your whole focus. It is
You are saying,"When I decideto geat ttnt you becameaware that
be aware in work, I forget about you hadforgottento be aware.Now
It has not to be your dont forgetfor as long aspossible.
awareness."
decision,it hasto be your long dis- Again, you will forget;again,you
hasto come will remember- but eachtime.the
cipline.And awareness

gap of forge$ulnesswill become

smaller and smaller.If you can
avoid guilt, which is basically
Christian,your gaps of unawarenesswill becomeshorte4and one
day they will simply disappear.
Awarenesswill becomejust like
breathingor heartbeat,or the blood
circulatingin you - dayin, dayout.
So be watchfulthat you dont feel
guilty. There is nothing to feel
guilty about.It is immenselysignificant that the rees dont listen to
Catholic priests.Othenvise,they
would make the rosesfeel guilty:
"Why do you have thorns?"And
tie rose,dancingin tle wind,in the
rain, in the sun, would suddenly
becomesad.The dancewould disappeaCthe joy would disappear;
the fragrance would disappear.
Now the thorn would becomehis
only rcaliry,a wound - "Why do
you havethoms?"
But becausethereareno rosebushes so foolish as to listen to any
priestof any religion,rcsesgo on
dancing,and with the roses,thorns
alsogo on dancing.
The whole existenceis guiltless.
And the momenta man becomes
guiltless,he becomespart of the
universal flow of life. That is
enlightenment,a guiltless conrejoicingin everything
sciousness,
tlnt life makesavailable:the light
is beautiful;so is darkness.
246

QUESTIONS

rne
can
tlly
uelrrc
.rke
nd
)ut.
ic-el
nifto
lcy
It1':
tnd
the
nly
Jise-ar.
hrs
do
shany
on
)fns
ess.
nes
the
ls
'o{lring
rght

TO

'f

HE MASTER

Whenyou cannotfind anythingto I say,"To en is humanand to for- priestsapproachedhim and said,

bc guilty about,to me you have giveis alsohuman."And to forgive "Whatkind of thingsareyou writbccomca religiousman.To tre so- oneself is one of the geatest ing?You will destoy people'srelicallcd religions,unless you are virtues,becauseif you cannotfor- giousness!Creatc fear in people,
guilty you arc not rcligious;the give yourself,you cannotforgive tell peoplethat God is veryjust: if
moreguilty you arc, the morereli- anybodyelse in the world - it is you havecommitted
a sin,you will
giousyouare.
impossible.You are so full of bepunished.Therewill be no comPeopleare torturingthemselves
as wounds,of guilt,how canyou for- passion."
punishment,
Peopleare give anybody? Your so-called OmarKhayyam'sbook wasbumed
as penance.
fasting; people are beating their saintsgo on sayingthatyouwill be in his day. Whenevera copy was
chess with their fists till blood trrowninto hell.Therealityis, they found,it wasbumedby thepriess,
oozesfrom thcir chess.Thesepco- are living in hcll! They cannot becausethis man was teaching
ple, to me, are psychopaths;
they allowevenGodto forgiveyou!
idea.
sucha dangerous
are not religious.Their so-called One geat Sufi poet, Omar If it spreads
amonghumanbeings
religionshavetaughtthem that if Khayyam, has written in his and everybodystartsrejoicing in
you commitanythingwrong,it is Rubaiyat,his world-famous
collec- life, what will happen to the
betterto punrshyourselfthanto be tion ofpoetry:"l amgoingto drink, priests?What will happento the
punished
Day to dance,to love. I am going to saints?What will happento their
by Godon Judgment
- because
is to be commitevcrykind of sin bccause
I mythologies
of hellandheavenand
thatpunishment
- hc god?All will disappear
thrown into the abysmaldarkness trust God is compassionate
into thin air.
of hcll for etemity. Thcre is no will forgive. My sins arc very At leastwith me,OmarKhayyamis
is immense." oneof theenlightened
escape,no exit - once you enter small;his forgiveness
Sufimystics,
hell,youhaveentered.
When the priesls came !o know andwhathe is sayinghasimmense
Thewholehumanityhasbeenmade abouthis book - becausein those truth in it. He doesnot meanthat
guilty in somemeasueor olher.It daysbooks were written by hand, you shouldcommit sin. What he
hastakenawaythe shinefrom your therewere no printingpresses.... meanssimplyis thatyoushouldnot
eyes;it hastakenaway the beauty The priess discovered
that he was feel guilty.Whateveryou do - if it
fnomyour face; it has takenaway writing such sacrilegiousthings, is notright,donl do it again.If you
the grace of your bcing. It has that he wa^ssaying,"Don't be wor- feel it huru somebody,
dont do it
reducedyou to a criminal- unnec- ried, go on doing anythingyou again.But thereis no needto feel
want becauseGod is nothing but guilty,thereis no needto be repenessarily.
Remember:nranis frail and weak, pure compassionand love. How tant,thereis no needto do penance
andto err is human.And thepeople muchsincanyoucommitin seven- andtortureyounelf.
who inventedtheproverb,"To en is ty yearsof lifc? - in comparison
to I want to changeyour locuscompletely.Ratherthan countinghow
human," have also inventedthe hisforgiveness,
it is nothing."
proverb,"To forgiveis divine." I He was a famous malhematician many times you forgot to rememdonl agreewith thesecondpart.
too, renownedin his country.The ber to be aware,count thosefew

QUESTIONS

beautifulmomentswhen you were

crystalclearand aware.Thosefew
momentsare enough!o saveyou,
areenough|o cureyou,!o healyou.
And if you pay attentionto them,
theywill go on growingandspreading in your consciousness.
Slowly,
slowly the whole darkness of
unawareness
will disappear.
In the beginningyou will also find
many times that perhapsit is not
possible to be working and o be
awaretogether.But I say unto you

TO THE MASTER

thatit is not only possible,it is very

easily possible.Just begin in the
right way. Just dont start ftom
XYZ; startfiom ABC.
In life, we go on missing many
things because of wrong starts.
Everythingshouldbe startedfrom
the very beginning.Our mindsare
impatient;we want to do everything quickly. We want to reachthe
highest point without passing
througheveryrung of theladder.
But that meansan absolutefailure.

And once you fail in something

- it is not a small
like awareness
failure perhapsyou will not try it
again,everThefailurehuts.
So anlthing that is as valuableas
it canopenall
awueness- because
the doon of the mysteriesof existence,it can bring you t0 the very
templeof God - you shouldstart
very carefully and from the very
beginningandmoveveryslowly.
Justa little patienceandthegoalis
not far awav.e

QUESTTONS

TO THE

MASTER

MakeThingsas
SimpleasPossible
How can I tell the
differencebetweenone
part of the mind watching
anotherpart of the mind,
and the watcher.Can the
watcherwatch itself?
Onetime,I thoughtI had
got it, and thenthat same
day I heardyou sayin
discourse,"If you think
you've got the watcher,
youtvemissed.tt
Sincethen,I've tried
watchingfeelingsin the
body,thoughtsand
emotions.Mostly,I'm
just caughtin them,
but, oncein a while,
rarely l feel
tremendouslyrelaxed,
and nothingstays- it just
keepsmoving.Is there
anythingto do?
'.1

249

ne hasto startwatchingthe
body walking, sitting,
going to bed, eating. One
should start ftrom the most solid
becauseit is easier.And then one
should move to subtler experiences.One shouldstart watching
thoughs.And when one becomes
an expert in warching thoughs,
then one should start warching
feelings. After you feel that you
can watchyour feelings,then you
shouldstartwatchingyour moods,
which are even more subtlethan
your feelings,andmorevague.
The miracleof watchingis that as
you are warchingthe body, your
watcheris becomingstronger;as
you arc watching the thoughs,
yourwatcheris becomingstrongec
as you are watchingthe feelings,
thewatcheris becomingevenmore
strong. When you are watching

your moods, the watcher is so

strong that it can remain itself watchingiself, just as a candlein
the dark night not only lighs
everythingaroundit" it also lights
itself.
To find the watcherin ia purity is
the greatestachievement
in qpirituthe watcherin you is
ality, because
your very soul,the watcherin you
is your immortality.But neverfor a
singlemomentthink, "I have got
it," becausethat is the moment
whenyoumiss.
you
Watchingis an etemalprocess;
alwaysgo on becomingdeeperand
doprr, but you nevercometo the
end whereyou can say"I havegot
it." In fact, the deeperyou go, the
morc you becorneaware that you
haveenteredinto a processwhich
is eternal- withoutany beginning
andwithoutanyend.

QUESTIONS

TO THE

MASTER

But peopleare watchingonly oth- "Then why did you bring it in the Watchyour body,and you will be
surprised.I can move my hand
ers; they never bother to watch first place?"
without watching,and I can move
ftemselves.Everybodyis watching "I did not thinkit wouldrain."
- thatis themostsuperlicialwatch- You can laugh very easily about my handwith watching.You will
ing - what the other personis ridiculousactsof people,but have not seethedifference,
but I canfeel
doing, what the other person is you ever laughedabout yourself? thedifference.
WhenI moveit with
wearing,how he looks.Everybody Have you ever caught,yourself watchfulness,
thereis a graceand
is watching;watchingis not some- doing somethingridiculous?No, beautyin it, a peacefulness,
and a
thing new to be introducedin your you keep yourself completely silence.You can walk watching
yourwholewatchingis eachstep,it will give you all 0re
life. It has only to be deepened, unwatched;
taken away from others and aboutothen, and that is not of any benehtthat walking can give you
plusit will giveyou
asan exercise,
arrowed towardsyour own inner help.
for the bcnefitof a greatsimplemedifeelings, thoughts,moods - and Usethis energyof watchfulness
finally,thewatcheriself.
a transformation
of your being. It tation.
A Jewis sittingin a trainoppositea canbring you so mu;h blissandso The temple in Bodhgayawhere
priest.
much benedictionthat you cannot GautamBuddha becameenlight"Tell me, your worship,why do evendreamaboutit. A simplepru enedhasbeenmadein memoryof
you wear your collar back to cess,but onceyou startusingi[ on two things - one is a Bodhi ree
yourself,it becomes
front?"
a meditation. underwhich he usedto sit. Justby
"BecauseI am a father,"answers One can make meditationsout of the sideof the treethereare smail
anything.
stonesfor a slow walk. He was
thepriest.
"I am alsoa father,andI dont wear Anythingthatleadsyou to yourself meditating,sitting, and when he
is meditation.
my collarlike that,"saystheJew.
And it is immensely wouldfeel thatsittinghadbeentoo
"Ah," saysfte priest,"but I am a significantto find your own medi- much- a little exercisewasneeded
fatherto thousands."
tation,becausein the very hnding for the body - he would walk on
'Then maybe,"repliestlre Jew,"it you will find geat joy. And those
stones.That washis walking
is your trousersyou should wear because
it is yourown finding- not meditation.
some ritual imposedupon you - WhenI wasin Bodhgaya,havinga
backto front."
you will love to go deeperinto it. meditationcamp therc,I went.to
People are very watchful about The deeperyou go into it, the hap- tle temple.I saw Buddhistlamas
pier you will feel - peaceful,more from Trbet, from Japan, from
everybodyelse.
Two Polackswent.out for a walk silent, more togetheqmore digni- China.They were all payingtheir
when suddenlyit beganto rain. fied,moregaceful.
respectto the tree,and I sawnot a
"Quick," saidoneman,"openyour You all know watching,so thereis single one paying his rcspectto
umbrella."
no questionof learningit, it isjust a thosestoneson which Buddhahad
"lt wont help,"saidhis friend,"my questionof changingthe objectsof walked miles and miles. I told
watching.Bringthemcloser.
umbrellais full of holes."
them, "This is not right. You

250

QUESTIONS

f!..

rnd
)\

L-

I lll
' -

- l

Ith

md
Ja
ing
*rc
;ou
:Ou

TO THE

MASTER

should not forget those stones. will sharpenyour consciousness.the Buddhist scriptwes there are
They have been touchedby Gau- This is the essentialreligion - all thirty-tfuee thousandprinciples to
tam Buddha's feet millions of elseis simplytalk.But you askme, be followed by a Buddhistmonk;
times.But.I know why you arenot "Is tiere somethingmore?"No, if evento rememberthemis impossi
paying any attention to them, you can do only watchfulness, ble. Just the very number ttrirtybecauseyou have forgol.tencom- nothingelseis needed.
tlree thousandis enought0 frcak
pletelythat Buddhawas emphasiz- My effort hereis to makereligion you out: "I am finished!My whole
ing thatyou shouldwatcheveryact as simpleas possible.All the reli- life will be disturbed and
of your body: walking, sitting, gions havedonejust the opposite: destroyed."
lyingdown."
they have madethings very com- I teachyou:just furda singleprinciYou shouldnot let a singlemoment plex - so complexthatpeoplehave ple that suitsyou, thatfeelsin nure
go by unconsciously.
Watchfulness never tried them.For example,in with you- andthatis enough.to

,,{ i

f,-fe

lhr;of
h'.'

nall
\r aS
L -

Itc

too
'dcd
,on
r:fl j

nga
Ito
mi.ls
'rom
ircir
ota
tto
had
told
\bu

25r

QUESTIONS

TO THE MASTER

Is Like
Witnessing
SowingSeeds
How doeswatching
leadto no-mind?
I am moreand moreable
to watch my body,
my thoughtsand feelings
and this feelsbeautiful.
But momentsof
no thoughts
are few and far between.
When I hearyou saying
"Meditation
is witnessing,"
I feelI understand.
But whenyou talk about
6no-mindt,

it doesn'tsoundeasyat all.
Would you
pleasecpmment?

f,editation covers a very

ll / I long pilgrimage.WhenI
I V Isay "Meditationis witnessing,"it is the beginningof
meditrtion.And whenI say"Meditationis no-mind,"it is thecompletion of the pilgrimage.Witnesing
is the beginning,and no-mind is
the fulfillment Mtnessing is the
methodto reachto no-mind.
Nanrally you will feel witnessing
easier.It is closeto you. But witnessingis only like seedsand then
is the long waiting period - not
only waiting,but trustingthat this
seedis going to spout, that il is
going to becomea bush,that one
day the spring will come and the
bushwill haveflowers.No-mindis
thelaststageof flowering.
Sowingthe seedsis of coune very
easy.It is within your hands.But
bringingtheflowen is beyondyou.
I

You canpreparcthe whole ground,

but the flowers will come on their
own accord.You cannotmanage!o
forcethem to come.The springis
beyond your reach. But if your
preparation is perfect, spring
comes.That is absolutelyguranteed.
The way you are moving is perfectly good.Witnessingis the path
and you are starting to feel a
thoughtlessmoment once in a
while. These are glimpsesof nomind,butjust for a moment.
Rememberone fundamentallaw:
that which can exist just for a
moment,can also becomeetemal,
becauseyou 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 hindrancewhv
L

252

,]

QUESTIONS

TO THE MASTER

thereis no disyou cannot change.The second angerflashingon tlre screenof the you lustful,because
momentwill also comealonewith mind within me," you arc not giv- tanceat all. They are so closethat
thc same potential and the same ing any life, any juice, any energy you arcboundto think that you and
to angeranymorc.You will be able yourthoughtsareone.
capacity.
and
If you know the secret,you have to see that becauseyou arc not Warchingdesroysthis oneness
you
is
The
more
The
absolutely
creates
a
separation.
which
identified.
anger
master
key
can
open
the
everymomentinto a glimpseof no- impotent,has no impact on you, watch, the bigger is the distance;
mind. No-mind is the hnal stage, does not change you, does not. the bigger the distance,the less
when mind disappeanforever,and affect you. It is absolutelyhollow energy your thoughs are gening
the thoughtlessgap becomesyour anddead.It will pas on and it will from you and they dont haveany
inrinsic reality. If these few leave the sky clean and the screen othersource.
glimpsesare coming, they show of themindempty.
Smn they start dying, disappearmoments
you are on the right path and you Slowly,slowly,you slartgettingout ing. In thesedisappearing
of your thoughts.Thatt t}te whole you will havethe fint glimpsesof
areusingtie right method.
But dont be impatient.Existence prccessof witnessingandwatching. no-mind- as you areexperiencing.
needsimmensepatience.The ulti- In other words, GeorgeGurdjieff You say,"I am moreandmoreable
matemysteriesare openedonly to usedto call it 'non-identification'.to watchmy body,my thoughtsand
patience. You are no more identifyingwith feelings.And this feelsbeautiful."
thosewhohaveimmense
Once a man is in a stateof no- your thoughts. You are simply This is only just the beginning.
mind,nothingcandistracthim from standingaloof andaway- indiffer- Even the beginningis immensely
his being.Thereis no powerbigger ent, :ls if they may be anybody's beautiful.Just to be on tlre right
than the power of no-mind. No thought.Youhavebrokenyourcon- path,evenwithout taking a single
harmcanbe doneto sucha person. nectionswith them.Only thencan step,will give you immensejoy for
no re.ason
at all.
No attachment,no greed,no jeal- you watchthem.
ousy,no angeqnothingcanarisein Watchingneedsa certaindistance. And onceyou stafi movingon the
him. No-mind is absolutelya pure If you areidentified,thereis no dis- right path, your blissfulness,your
tance,they arc too close.It is as if beautiful experiencesare going to
sky withoutanyclouds.
You say,"How doeswatchinglead you are putting the mirrors too becomemoreand moredeep,more
to no-mind?"Thereis an intrinsic closeto your eyes- you cannotsee and morewide with new nuances,
law: thoughtsdont havetheir own your face. A certain distanceis with new flowers, with new fralife. They are parasites.They live needed,only thencan you seyour gr:rnces.
You say, "But momentsof noon your identificationwith them. facein themirror.
When you say,"I am angry,"you If thoughtsaretoocloseto you,you thoughsarefew and far between."
because
are pouringlife energyinto anger, cannot watch, you become It is a greatachievement,
becauseyou are getting identified impressed and colored by your peopledont know even a single
with anger.
ttroughts.Anger makesyou angry, gap.Their thoughsarealwaysin a
But whenyou say,"I am watching greedmakesyou grcedy,lust makes rushhour.Thoughsuponthoughs,

253

QUESTIONS

TO THE

MASTER

bumperto bumper.The Linecontin- path withoutany fear that you can simply meansthat the mind is put
aside.You can bring it into action
ues - whetlcr you are awake or go wrong.
will keep anymomentyou needto communiasleep.What you call your dreams Theseinner experiences
arenothingbut thoughtsin theform you alwayson the right path.Just catewith the world, thenit will be
of pictures, becausethe uncon- rememberthat they are growing. your servant.Right now, it is your
sciousmind doesnot lnow alpha- That.meansyou are moving.Now master.Even when you are sitting
you have only a few momentsof alone, it goes on: yakkety-yak,
beticallanguages.
It is not a simple yakkety-yak,and you cannot do
What you arefeelingis a greatindi- thoughtlessness.
it is a geat achievement anything.You are so unerly helpcationthatyou arcon theright path. attainment,
It is alwaysa questionfor theseek- becausepeople.in their whole life less.
er whetherhe is movingin theright know not even a singlemoment No-mind simply means that the
directionor not. Thereis no securi- when there is no thought.These mindhasbeenput in its right place.
ty, no insurance,no guzuantee.
All gapswill grow.As you will become fu a servant,it is a geat instruthe dimensionsare open; how are moreand morecentered,moreand ment.As a master,it is very unforyou goingto choosetherightone? morewatchful,thesegapswill surt tunate. It is dangerous.It will
Thesearethewaysandthecriterion growingbiggerand the day is not desroyyourwholelife.
of how one has to choose.If you far if you go on moving witlrout Mind is only a mediumwhen you
moveon any path,any methodolo- Iookingback,withoutgoingasray. want to communicatewith othen.
gy, and it bringsjoy to you, more If you keepgoing straight,the day But whenyou arcalone,thereis no
sensitivity,more watchfulnessand is not far away,whenyou will feel needof themind.Sowheneveryou
gives a feeling of immensewell- for the first time that the gapshave want to useit, you can useit. And
being,this is the only criteriontrat becomeso big that hourspassand rememberone thing more: when
you arc going on the right path.If not even a single thought arises. t}remindremainssilentfor hours,it
you becomemoremiserable,more Now you arehavingbiggerexperi- becomesfresh, young, more creangry, morc egoist, more greedy, encesof no-mind.
ative, more sensitive,rejuvenated
more lusful, thoseare the indica- The ultimateachievement
is when throughrest.
tions you are moving on a wrong you are surroundedwith no-mind Ordinary people's minds start
path.
for twenty-fourhours. That does somewherearound three or four
On the right path your blissfulness nol.meanthat you cannotuseyour yearsof age and then they go on
is going !o grcw more and more mind.That is a faliacypropounded continuing for sevenfy years,
everyday.And your experiences
of by thosewho know nothingabout eighty yearswithout any holiday.
beautiful feelings will become no'mind.
Naturallythey cannot.be very cretremendously psychedelic, more No-mind does not mean that you ative. They are utterly tired, and
colorful,colorsthat you havenever cannot use the mind. It simply tiredwith rubbish.Millions of peoseenin the world, fragrancesthat. meansthat the mind cannot use ple in the world live without any
you haveneverexperienced
in the you. No-mind doesnot meanthat creativity.And crearivityis one of
world. Then you can walk on the the mind is destroved.No-mind the greatestblisful experiences.

QUESTIONS

TO THE

MASTER

gui ttreir minds are so tired. They will feel it in your heart the selfare not in a state of overflowing evidenttruth.
You say, "When I hear you say
energy.
The man of no-mind keeps the 'meditationis witnessing,'I feel I
mind in rcst, full of energy, understand.But when you talk
immenselysensitive,rcadyto jump abut no-mind, it doesnt sound
into actionthe momentit is ordered. easyat all." How canit soundeasy?
It is not a coincidence
thatthe peo- It is your futurepossibility.Mediraple who haveexperienced
no-mind tion you have started,it may be in
...their wordsstartha"ing a magic the beginningstages,but you have
of theh own. When they use their a certainexperienceof it that makes
mind, it has a charisma,it has a you understand
me. But if you can
magneticforce. It has tremendous understandmeditation, dont be
spontaneityand the freshnesof the worried at all. Meditation surely
dewdrops in the early morning leadso no-mind,just aseveryriver
beforethe sunrises.And the mind moves lowardsthe oceanwithout
is nature'sgreatestevolvedmedium anymaps,withoutanyguides.
Everyriver withoutexceptionfrnalof exp'ression
andcreativity.
So the man of meditation,or in ly reachesto theocean.Every medother words,the man of no-mind, itation, without exceptionfinally
changeseven his proseinto poetry. reaches
to thestateof no-mind.
Wittrout any effort - his words But naturallywhentheGangesis in
become so full of authority that the Himalayas wandering in the
theydont needanyarguments,
they mountainsandin the valleys,it has
becometheir own arguments.The no idea what the oceanis, cannot
force that they carry becomesa conceivetheexistence
ofocean,but
self-evidenttruth. Thereis no need it is moving towards the ocean
for any other supportfrom logic or becausewater has the intrinsic
from scriptures.The words of a capacityof alwaysfindingthe lowman of no-mind have an inninsic est place, and the oceansare the
certainty about them. And if you lowestplace.So the rivers areborn
are readylo receiveand listen, you on the peaksof the Himalayasand

255

start moving immediatelylowards

lower spacesand finally they are
boundto find theocean.
Just the rcverseis the processof
meditation- it moves upwardsto
higher peaks. And the ultimate
peakis nomind. Nomind is a simple word, but it exactly means
enlightenment,
liberation,freedom
from all bondage,the experienceof
deathlessness
andimmortality.
Thoseare big words and I don't
wantyou to be frightened.So I use
a simpleword:nomind. Youknow
the mind. You canconceivea state
when this mind will be non-functioning.
Oncethis mind is non-functioning,
you becomepartof themind of the
cosmos,the universalmind. When
you are part of the universalmind
your individualmind functionsasa
beautifulservant.It hasrecognized
themasterAnd it bringsnewsfr,om
theunivenalmindto thosewho are
still chainedby theindividualmind.
WhenI am speakingto you, it is in
fact the universeusing me. My
words are not my words. They
belong !o the univenal truth. That
is their power,that is their charisma,thatis theirmagic.t:

QUESTIONS

TO THE MASTER

Witnessing
Is Enough
I havealwaysheardYou
say,"Stop doing.Watch."
Severaltimeslately
I've heardYousay
that the mind
shouldbe the servant
insteadof our master.
It feelsthat
thereis nothing
to do exceptwatch.
But the question
still arises:
is thereanythingto do
with thisunruly servant
but to watch?

here is nothingelse to do
with this unruly servant,
butjust to watch.Apparently it appeantoo simplea solution
for too complex a problem.But
this is partof themysteriesof existence.The problem may be too
complex,the solutioncan be very
simple.
Warching,
witnessing,
bcingaware
seemto be smallwordsto solvethe
whole complexityof mind. Millionsof yean of heritage,tradition,
prcjudice,how will
conditioning,
they disappearjust by watching?
But they disappear
fu GautamBuddhausedto say,if
the lights of the house are on,
tiieves dont come close to that
house- knowingthatthemasteris
awakebecausethe light is shown
from the windows,from the doon,
youcanseethatthelight is on. It is

not thetime to enterinto thehouse.

Whenthe lightsareoff, thievesare
attractedto the house.Darkness
becomesan invitation.As Gautam
Buddhausedto say,thesameis the
situation about your thoughts,
imaginations,dreams, anxieties,
yourwholemind.
If tle witnes is there,the witness
is almost like the light- These
trieves start dispersing.And if
thesethievesfind tlrereis no witness,they stan calling their brotlrers, and cousins and everybody
saying,"Comeon." I[ is as simple
a phenomenonas the light. The
momentyou bring the light in, the
darkness
disappears.
You donl ask,
"Is just light enoughfor darkness
to disappear?"Or, "When we have
broughtthe light, will we haveto
do sometling more for the darknessto disappear?"

QUESTIONS

TO THE MASTER

No, just the presence

of the light is mind to be theservant.Thenthings
the absenceof the darknessand the arein harmony.Thenthemind canabsenceof the light is the presence not go wrcng. Then everythingis
of darkness.The presenceof the existentiallyrelaxed,silent,flowing
witnessis the absenceof the mind towardsits destiny.
and the absenceof the witnessis You dont have!o do anythingelse
thepresence
of themind.
but t0 watch.
So the momentyou startwatching, Paddyboughta parrotat anauction.
slowly, slowly as your watcher He askedthe auctioneer:"I have
becomesstmnger,your mind will spenta geat dealof moneyfor this
become weaker.The moment it parot - arc you surehe can talk?"
rcplied,"Of courseI
realizesthat the watcherhascome Theauctioneer
to maturity,the mind immediately am sure; he was bidding against
submitsas a beautifulservanl It is you."
of the
a mechanism.If fte master has Such is the unawareness
arrived, then the machinecan be mind andsucharethe stupiditiesof
themind.I haveheardthattheIrish
used.
If the masteris not thereor is fast atheists- seeingthat tlp theists
service
asleep,then the machinegoes on havestarteda dial-a-prayer
working things,whatsoeverit can - also startedone althoughthey are
do on its own. There is nobody to atheists.The competitivemind...
give orden, thereis nobodyto sily: they havealso startedstarteda dial"No, s!op.That thing hasnot to be a-prayerservice.When you phone
done." Then the mind is slowly themup,nobodyanswers.
convincedthatit itself is themasler Two trampsweresittingby a camp
and for thousandsof years,it has fire one night. One of them was
"You know Jim,"
very depressed.
remainedyour master.
"tlre
you
life
of a trampis not
So when
try to be a witness,it he mused,
question.
grcat
It as
as it is made out. to be.
fighs, becauseit is a
has completelyforgottenthat it is Nightson parkbenches,
or in a cold
only a servant.You have been so barn.Tiavelingon foot and always
long absent- it doesnot recognize dodging the police. Being kicked
you. Hence the sruggle between from one town to another.Wonderthe witnessand the thoughs. But ing whereyournextmealis coming
final victory is going to be youn, fiom; beingsneered
at by your felbecausenatureand existenceboth low man...." His voicetrailedoff
want vou to be the masterand the andhe sighedheavily.

257

"Well," saidtheothertramp,"if
that is how you feel aboutit, why
dont you go andfind yourselfa
job?" "What!" saidthefirst tramp
"andadmitthatI'm
in amazement,
a failure?"
Mind has becomeaccustomedto
beinga master.It will takea little
time to bring it to its senses.Witnessingis enough.It. is a- very
silent process, but the consequencesare tremendouslygreat.
There is no other method which
can be better than witnessingas
far as dispersingthe darknessof
the mind is concerned.In fact,
there are one hundred twelve
methods of meditation. I have
gone throughall thosemethodsnot intellectually.It took me years
to go tluough each methodand to
find out its very essence.
And after going throughone hundredtwelvemethds, I wasamazed
tlnt the essenceis witnessing;the
methods'non-essentials
are different, but the centerof eachis witnessing.
HenceI can say t0 you, thereis
only one meditationin the whole
world andthatis theart of wihessing. It will do everyhing - the
wholetransformation
of yourbeing
- and it will open the dmrs of
Satyam, Shivam, Smdrun: the
ruth, the godlinessand the beauty
of it all. tz

GoingDeeper:
Laughterand Tears
And the Watcheron
the Hills

GOING

DEEPER:

LAUGHTER

AND

TEARS

65YAA-HOO!"

A Soundof Celebration
given,
I\T" wordhasa meaningof itself.Meaningsare
I \ they are arbitrary;otherwiseevery word is just a
But we can give meaningto any
sound,meaningless.
sound,and the soundbecomesa word when we give a
meaningto it. Sometimesthe meaningis very relevant
and sometimesit is not relevant.Most of the time it is
not relevant- it is arbitrary,useful;utiliurian but not
existential.
Hence,languages
don't consistof existentialwords.For
example'om' hasno meaning,it is not partof anyalphabet, but it has someexistentialpurpose:it provokesin
you the soundof the etemal.It is somettringsimilar to
the soundof existenceiself - not exactlythe same,a
farawayecho,but still veryrepresentative.
In the sameway is the word 'Yaa-Hoo!''Hoo' is an ancient practiceof the Sufis.They have discovered0rat
rafter than just repeatingfte mantraAllah, repal.jlng
Allah-lno helps you to go deperinto yourself.And
somebodyfoundon theway thatthereis no needevento
say "Allah-hoo" - just "Hoo" serves the purpose,
becausethe sound"Hoo" hits at fte very centerof your
"hoo" againandagain- you will
being.Justby repeating
be surprised- you haveleft your mind far away,your

261

GOING

DEEPER:

LAUGHTER

AND

TEARS

thoughs haveceased,time hasdisappeared

andyou have
come into a spacewhich is yoursbut you have never
beenawareof il. I havejoined wilh 'Hoo', 'Yaa' also,
'Hoo' works
becausein my feeling
certainly,but it is
serious.It makesyou centered,
but in yourcenterthereis
no laughtegno dance.Certainlytheflowerblossoms,
but
The sound"Yaa" doesthework; it
lhereis no fragrance.
makestheword 'Hoo' completeandotal. Yaa-Hoo!not
only his your centel your very being,it also bringsin
you a tremendous
feelingof joy, a laughter,a dance.It is
celebration.
Just repeatingYaa-Hoo!you will be surprised- you
arenot becomingsadand seriousas the saintsarc supposedto be,but a totallynewdimensionis openingup:
the laughingsaint, the dancinggod. "Yaa-Hoo!" is
only a representative
expressionof a laughingand
dancingbeing.

GOING DEEPER: LAUGHTER AND TEARS

those who want to go

T-lor
I havecreateda new
Ar.po,
H
meditativetherapy.Thefirst
I
part will be laughter - for three
hours,peoplesimply laugh for no
rcasonat all. And whenevertheir
laughterstartsdying they againsay,
"Yaa-Hoo!"and it will comeback.
Digging for threehoursyou will be
surprisedhow many layen of dust
have gatheredupon your being. It
will cut them like a sword in one
blow. For sevendayscontinuously,
threehourseveryday...youcannot
conceivehow muchtransformation
c{mcometo your being.

MysticRoseMeditation
And then the secondpart is tears.
The first part removeseveryhing
that hindersyour laughter- all the
inhibitionsof pasthumanity,all the
rcpressions,it cuts them away. It
bringsa new spacewithin you. But
you still have to go a few steps
mor to rcach the temple of yoru
being,becauseyou havesuppressed
so much sadness,so much doparq
so much anxiety,so nnny tearsthey areall therc,coveringyou and

263

desu,oyingyour bezury your grace,

yourjoy.
In old Mongoliatheyhadan ancient
ideathat wery life, whateverpainis
supprcssed... and pain is suppressed,becausenobody wants it.
You dont wantto be painful,soyou
suppess it, you avoid, you look
else.But itrcmains.
somewhere
And theMongolianideawas- andI
agreewith it - that life after life it
goeson accumulatingin you; it be-

comesalmosta hard shell of pain.

If you go in you will find both,
laughter and tears. That's why
sometimes it happens that by
laughing,suddenlyyou find tears
also startcomingtogetherwith it very confusing,becauseodinarily
we think they are contrary.When
you arefull of tearsit is not a time
to laugh,or whenyou arc laughing
it is not the right seasonfor tears.
But existencedoesnot believein

GOING

DEEPER:

LAUGHTER

AND

your concepts,ideologies;existence small strategy.This is my experitranscndsall your concepts,which enceof manymeditations,ttratwhat

aredualistic,which arebasedon du- hasto be doneis to breaktwo layers
ality. Day and night, laughterand in you. Your laughlerhas beenretears, pain and blisdulness, they pressed;you havebeentol( "Dont
laugh,it is a seriou matte['You are
bothcometogether.
Whena man reachesinto his inner- not allowed!o laughin a church,or
mostbing he will find that the fint in a universityclass....
Iayer is of laughterand the second So the fint laya is of laughte{,but
layeris of agony,tears.
orce laughteris over you will sudSofor sevendaysyou haveto allow denly find yourself flooded with
yourselfto weep,cry for no reason tears,agony.But that too will be a
at all - just the tears arc rcady to geat ubudening phenunenon.
come.You arepreventingthem;just lvlanylivesof painandsufferingwill
dont prwent. And wheneveryou disappearIf you cangetrid of these
feel they are not coming,just say, two layersyouhavefowrdyourself.
"Yaa-Boo!'Thesearepure sounds, Therc is no meaningin the words
usedasa techniqueto bring all yotu 'Yaa-Hoo'or 'Yaa-Boo'.Thesearc
laugbterandall your tearsandclean simply techniques,sounds which
you completely,so that you canbe- canbe usedfor a certainpurposeto
comean innocentchild.
enterinto yourown being.
Finally,thethird part is witnessing- I have inventedmany meditations,
lhe watcheron the hills. Frnally,af- but perhapsthis will be themostester the laughterand0tetears,thercis sentialand fundalental one. It can
only a witnessingsilence.Witness- takeoverthewholeworld....
ing on its own is automaticallysup- Every society has done so much
pressive.Weepingstops when you harm by preventingyour joys ard
witnessit, it becomesdormant.This yourtears.If anold manstartscrying
meditationgets rid of the laughter you will say,"What arc ycu doing?
andtearsbeforchandsoilrat thereis Youstrouldfeelashfired youarcnot
nothing to suplBssin your wihess- a chil4 that sornebodyhas taken
ing. Then the witnessing simply your bananaand you arc crying.
opensa pue sky. So for sevendays llave anotherbana4 butdont cry."
you experiencesimplya clarity.
Just see - standon the sueet and
This is absolutelymy meditation.
startcrying and a crowdwill gatha
You will be surprisedthat no medi- to consoleyou: "Dont cry! Wbattation can glve you so much as this ever has happenedforget all about

TEARS

it, it hashappened"Nobodyknows
what has happened,nobody can
help yoq but everybodywill try 'Dont
cry!" And the reasonis that
if you go on crylng, then tlrcy will
start crying, becausethey are also
flooded witl tears.Thosetearsare
very closeto theeyes.
And it is healthyto cry to we,p,to
laugh.Now scientistsare discovering that crying, weeping,laughter
are immenselyhealthful, not only
physicallybut alsopsychologically.
They ale very much capable of
keepingyou sane.The wholeofhummity has gonea little cuckoofor
the simple reason that nobody
laughs fully, becauseall around
there are people who will say,
"What ar you doing? Are you a
child?- at this age?What will pur
chil&en think?Keepquiet!"
If youcry urd weepwithqrt my rcason,just asan exercise,a mediation
... nobodywill believeit. Teanhave
nwer beenacceptedas meditation
And I tell you, they are not only a
meditatioqtheyale a medicinealso.
You will have better eyesightmd
yonwill havebetterinrpr vision.
I am giving you a very fimdamental
techniqugfiesh urd unused.fuid it
is going to become worldwide,
without any doubt, becauseits effects will show anybody that the
penonhasbecomeyoungeqtheperson has becomemorc loving, tbe
264

GOING DEEPER: LAUGHTER AND TEARS

penon has become graceful. The

person has becomemore flexible,
lessfanatic; the penon hasbecome
morejoyfrrl, morea celebrant.
All tlnt this world needsis a good
cleansingof the heartof all the inhibitionsof the past.And laughterand
rcarscando both.Tean will takeout
all the agony that is hidden inside
you andlaughterwill takeall that is
preventingyour ecstasy.Once you
haveleamedthe art you will be immenselysurprised:why hasthis not
beentold up to now?Thereis a rcason:nobodybaswantedhumanityto
have the fresbnessof a roseflower
andthefragrancemd thebeauty.
I have called this seriesof lcturcs
Tlu Mystb Rose.'Yaa-Hoo!"is the
mantra to bring the mystic rcse in
your very cente!,!o openyour conter
and releaseyour fragnnce and the
Mystic Rose is the fulfiltnent of
you innerbeing.t
Instructions
This uniquenudilaionfuctiorc as
a plrysiologicalchange,a nudical
transfomution which brings ou
tlv fresluess and the wonfur of tlv
child within you. It is an absolutety
rcw medilatbnwhichlas neverexisted before in tlv history of
nta*ind. It will b a dcep cleansing of nary woundsand tlw scars
of centwies.Srciety lws repressed
laughter and crying becausetlrq

265

distwb tlu statw qrc; this hos

been going on for millenia. We
lwve been so mvch repressedand
wlatever is repressedin this way
beconus a wound. Thesewoutds
and scarsha,e beendcvelopingfor
mary lives.Thq are rct part of the
bdy - thq are swrowding llre
conscbtutnssand lwve to be released.So this is a new hcaling
process Blagwan lus given us.
Even scientistsare ,ow fucoming
aware of the fun$ts of laughter
andwlut it can dofor yow luakh,
flexibility and playfilness.A good
laughor cry cut rejuveruteyou.
This rnediation lastsfor 2I days.
Tlv first part, laughter, lasts for
soen days,tlvee lours a day, Begin with "Yaa-Hoo!" and tlen
laughfor threehows. Simptylaugh
for no reasonat 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 spontarcous laugh. It is lhcre, so don't
worry,it will conu. Tlvn end with
"Yaa-Hoo!"
The secondpart, tean, also lasts
for sevendcys, tlvee lnws a day
Begin with "Yaa-Boo!" and tlun
cry for threelours. Justcry for rc
reason. At tlw erd of thc three
lwws, endwith "Yaa-Boo."
Wego into laughterfirst becauseit
is easier; crying has been re-

pressedmore deepty than laughing. 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 sotneorcin the group
is not laughing,the othcr mernbers
of thegroup can bvingty tickle him
or lnr. futd if sonuonccannotcry,
then the otlwr numbers can just
soft$ tonch Nm and share their
tearswilh him. If it is still difiicult
for tlw personto laughor cry, they
shottldnlk gibfurish - as if madutil tlu laughteror tlv tearscome
up. Nobody slould be left in a
fud, unfeeling sprce. kt yow
laughterard tearsfu releasedand
you will feel likz a netvnun.
Three hows lws been clnsen because otu lnw is rct ercugh.
Wlun tlv laughing and crying
break, it is jtut lilu a dan breaking. Tle qrcstbn is hov, to break
thc dort You will fitd it very refreshing.
The third part, tln watcler on tfo
hills, is he sanu - tlvee luws a
day fo, sevenfuys. Just sit, comfortabty 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

REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION
NOTESTO THE READER

ABOUT MEDITATION

THE SCIENCE OF MEDITATION

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
l.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
I l.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
l.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

The Book,Seriestr, p. 240.

Ibid., p. 305.
Ibid., p. 240.
Ibid.,p. 2,10.
Number3, 1980,p. 4.
Sannyas,
The Book of the Books,Vol. I, Session2,Iune22,1979.
The OrangeBook,p.94.
TheRajneesh
Bible,Vol.I{Session 2,Iamtary30, 1985.
Sessiqr3, August18,1986.
TheRajneesh
Upanishad,
Ught on the Path:Talksin the Himalayas,December3, 1985,moming.
7, March7,1976.
Session
TheSearch,
The Book,SeriesI, pp. 87-88.
Sessicn9, OctoberI I, 1986.
Beycrd Enlightenment,
The Psychologyofthe Esoteric,Session2.
TheGoldenFuture,Sessiqrl, April 19, 1987.
Sessiqr28, October3l, 1986.
Beymd Enlightenment,
TheSearch,Session7, March7, 1976.
GuidaSpirituale,Sessiqr15,Sepember9, 1980.
The Book,SeriesI, p. 230.
Vol. II, Session3, August29, 1978.
The Secretof Secrets,
GuidaSpirituale,Sessicr12,SeFember6, 1980.
TheBook,SeriesI, p. 28,30.
Ibid.,p. 30.
Ibid.,p. 31.
The Bookof the Books,Vol. II, Session8, July 8, 1979.
GuidaSpirituale,Sessian2, August27,1980.
Vol. Itr, Session15,March31, 1973.
The Book of the Secrets,
Session8, February18, 1975.
Tanrra:TheSupremeUndentanding,
The Book of theSecrcts.Vol. IV. Session2.
Vol. Itr, Session9, March25,1973.
The Book of theSecrets,
TheBook of theSecrcts,Vol. IV, Session9.
Vol. I, SessionI, OctoberI, 1972.
The Book of the Secrers,
The Book of Wisdom,Vol. I, SessionI, February11,1979.
Vol. V, SessisrI l, Novernber3, 1973.
fie Book of theSecrets,
The Book of theSecrcts,Vol. V Sessisr7,Iuly 31,1973.

REFERENCES

THESCIENCEOFMEDITATION 10.
11.
12.
13.
L4.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.

TheSecretof
Secrets,Vol.
II,Session
l,Augustn,19'78.
Ibid.
Yoga:The Alphaandthe Ornega,Vol. VI, Session7, September
4, 1975.
Meditation- TheAn of Ecstasy,
Session4.
The GreatZenMaster:Ta Hui, SessionZ0,Iuly 24,1987.
Ibid.,Session
14,July21, 1987.
AncientMusic In the Pines,Session7, February27,1976.
ACupof Tea,Lener72,1970.
The Book of Wisdom,Vol. I, Session9, February19,1919.
Yoga:TheScienceofthe Soul,Vol. [I, Sessiqr10,March 10, 1975.
Yahoo!TheMystic Rose,Session8, March28, 1988.
The HiddenSplendoq,
Sessiqr10,March 17, 1987.
The Book of Wisdom,Vol.tr, Session7, March5, 1979.
Sermonsin Stones,Session4, November8, 1986.
WhatIs, Is, WhatAin't, Ain't, Session10,February10,1977.
Light on the Path:Talksin theHimalayas,January27, 1986.

THE MEDITATIONS
l.
2.
3.
4.

DynamicMeditation:Catharsisand Celebration
My Way:TheWay of theWhiteClouds,Session4,May 13, 1974.
Instrucrionscurrentlyin useat Rajneesh
Mandir,Poona,India.
Meditation:The Art of Ecsrasy,
Session3.
TheOrangeBook,pp.29-30.

L
2.

T$o Powerful Methodsfor Awakening

TheOrangeBook,pp.132-136.
Ibid.,pp.26-37.

l.
2.

Dancingas e Meditation
Ibid.,p.49-52.
Ibid.,pp 143-145.

l.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

AnythlngCan Be a Medltatlon
TheOrangeBook,p. 64.
Ibid.,pp.23-26.
A SuddenClashof Thundeq
Sessicr9, August19,1976.
The OrangeBook,p. 16.
TtreSecretof Secrets,
Vol. II, Session4, August30, 1978.
TheOrangeBook,pp. 6569.

REFERENCES

l.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Breath,a Brldge to Medltatlon

The Book of the Secrcts,Vol. I, Session3, October3, 1972.
'26,
TheNew Dawn,Session16,June 1987.
Mandir,Poqra,India.
Instructionsornently in useat Rajnee.sh
Vol. I, Session3, October3, 1972.
The Book of theSecrets,
Ibid., Session5, Ocober 5, 1972.
Ibid.
Yoga:TheScienceof theSoul,VolumeII, Sessiqr9, January9, I 975.

1.
L
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Openingthe Heart
The Book,SeriesI, p. 634.
Vol. I, Session12,November15, L972
The Book of theSecrets,
TheOrangeBmk, pp. 195-196.
Vol. V' Sessiur7, July 31, 1973.
The Book of theSecrets,
Vol. I, Sessionll, November14, 1972.
The Book of theSecrts,
The Book of Wisdom,VoLI, Sessionl, Februaryll,1979.
Ibid., Session5, February15, ln9.

l.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Inner Centering
Unio Mystica,Vol. I, Session2, November2, 1978.
TheBook of Wisdom,Vol.II, Session2, February28,1979.
The Book of theSecrets,Vol.I[, Sessionl, February22, 1973.
Ibid., Session5, February26, 1973.
3,February
24,lfil3.
Ibid.,Session
Vol. IV. Session13.
The Book of theSecrets,

1.
2.
3.
4.

Loohlng Vhthln
Vol. II, Session5, December14,1972.
The Book of theSecrets,
Ibid.
Ibid.
TheSecrctof Secrcts,Vol.I, Session7, August17,1978.

l.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Meditationson Llght
Vol. [V, Session1.
The Book oflhe Secrets,
Vol. II, Session13,September
TheSecretof Secrets,
8, 1978.
Vol. [V, Session1.
The Book of theSecrets,
Ibid.. Session15.
Vol. [I, Session15,March31,1973.
The Bookof theSecrets,

l.

Meditatlonson Darkness
11,April ll, 1979.
TheShadowofthe Bamboo,Session

THEMEDITATIONS

REFERENCES

THE MEDITATIONS

2.
3.

Vol. [V. Session3.

The Book of theSecrets,
Ibid.

l.
2.
3.

Moving Enerjy Upwards

You Aint SeenNothin'\'et, Sessiqr7, March7, 1979.
Vol.III, Sessioqr
The Book of the Secrets,
15,March31, l9?3.
Ibid.

l.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
E.
9.
l0
'

LlSenlng to lhe SoundlcssSound

TheSecrcrof Secnts,Vol. l, Session13,August23, 1978.
TheOrangeBook,pp. 153-154
Ibid.
Vol.tr, Sessionll, January24, 19'13.
The Book of the Secrets,
Yoga:TheScienceofthe Soul,Vol. III, Sessicn6, March6,1975.
TheOrangeBo"k, pp. ml-202.
Ibid.,p. 191-192
Vol. II, Sessiooll, January24, 1973.
The Bookof theSecrets,
Ibid.,Session
9,Ianuary22,1973.
lbid.,Session
ll, January
24, 1973.

l.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Flndlng the SprceWthln

The Book of theSecrcts,Vol.fV, Session8.
Ibid.,Session
l.
Ibid.,Session
13.
The OrangeBookp.6243.
Yoga:TheScienceofthe Soul,Vol. III, Sessiqr7, March7,1975.
Tirntre:TlreSupremeUndentanding,
Session4, February14, lns.

l.
2.
3.

Enterlng Into Derth

TheRevolution,Sessisr9, February19, 1978.
Vol. [V, Session5.
The Book ofthe Secrets,
Vedanu--Sever
Stepsto Samadhi,Session15,January18, 1974.

l.
2.
3.
4.
5.

We3chlngwlth the Thlrd Eye

The HiddenSplendoq,
Sessicr19,March22,1987.
TheOrangeBook,p. 199-2ffi.
The Book ofthe Secrcts,Vol. I, Sessiqr5, October5,1972.
The Book of theSecrcts,Vol. [V, Session15.
TheSecretof Secrcts,Vol. I, Sessiqrll, August21, 1978

REFERENCES

THEMEDTTAflONS
l.
t

4.

5.
l.

2.
3.
4.
OBSTACLESTO MEDITATION

TO THE MASTER

-QTJESTIONS

GOING DEEPER:
LAUGHTER ANDTEARS
ANDTHEWATCHER
ON TIIE HILLS

Just Slttlng
TheBook of theBooks,Vol. I, Session9, June29, 1979.
Ibid.
TheOrangeBook,p. 114-115.
Instructionsornently in useat RajneeshMandir,Poqra,Indra.
RoorsandWings,Session10,June19,1974.
Rlslng ln Love: A Prrtnershlp ln Meditatlon
Sessiqr16,October18, 1986.
BeyondEnlightenmnt,
The Book of the Secrcts,Vol. V, Sessicr3,Iuly /7 , 1973.
The Book of theSecrcts,Vol. Itr, Session| ,Fe&,aaty22, 1973.
Ibid.

January27,1986,evening.
Light on the Path:Thlksin the Himalayas,
Vol. IV, Session3, November2, 1976.
The Disciplineof Transcendence,
January21,1986,evening.
J.
Light on the Path:Talksin the Himalayas,
4. The Psychology
of the Esoteric,Session2.
5. A SuddenClashof ThundcqSessim2, August12, 1976.
6. AncientMusicIn the Pines,Session3, February23,1976.
6, 1975.
7. Yoga:TheAlphaandtheOrnega,Vol. VI, Session6, September
8. The Book of the Secrcts,Vol. IV, Session8.
9. Ibid.
10. Ughr on thePath:Talksin theHi$alayas,Ianuary19, 1986,moming.
l l . TheRebcl.Session17,Iune 9, 1987.
l.

.,

l.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
ll.
12.
l.
2.

TheBook of the Books,Vol. IV, Session10,August31, 1979.

Session18,April 21,1985.
Beycrd Psychology,
TheTrueSage,Sessicr5, Ocober lE, 1975.
TheTantraVisiqr, Vol. I, SessionE,April 28, 1977.
Sessisr10,August25, 1986.
Upanishad,
TheRajneesh
Ah, Thirl, Session8, January10,1980.
Yoga:TheScienceof theSol, Vol.Itr,Session4, March4,1975.
Yoga:The AlphaandtheOrnega,Vol. IV, Sessicn10,April 30, 1975.
Sessicnll, March17, 1987..
The HiddenSplendoq,
TheGoldenFuulrc,Sessict19,May 21, 1987.
Saty"tn,Shivam,Sundram,Session7, November10, 1987.
Ibid., Session22,Novemberl7, 198'l.
Yaa-Hoo!TheMystic Rose,Sessicr30, April 21, 1988.
Poona,India.
Instruoions annently in useat Rajneeshdhem,

COMPLETE

LIST

OF MEDITATIONS

MEDITATION
Abdullah
Ascentof life energyI
Ascentof life energy2
Atisha'sheartmeditation
Aum
Beginningandendof sound
Carryout innerdarkness
Celebratinsdearh
Centerof 6und
Centerof thecyclone
Circleof love
Circleof love alone
Devavani
Dreammasterv
DynamicMeditation
Entertheclearskv
Enteringinto dearh
Feel'I am'
Feeltheabsence
of things
Findingthewimess
Findingtherealsource
Fromheadto heart
Gibberish
GoldenLight Meditarion
Gourishankar

PAGE
87
r29
135
81
t4l
150
124
r7l
147
90
197
20r
r43
6
33
155
r67
95
161
r76
88
7l
144
lll

r75

Heartcentering
Heartof light
Heartof peacefulness
HollowBamboo

r63

Includeeverything

158

79
ll3
75

COMPLETE

LIST

OF MEDITATIONS

MEDTTATION
Innercircle
Innerdarlness
Jet-set,a meditationfor the
KundaliniMeditation
LaughingMeditation
Lookingasa whole
Looking at the tip of the nose
Mandala
Musicasmeditation
Mystic RoseMediarion
NadabrahmaMeditation
Nadabrahmafor couples
NatarajMeditation
PrayerMedilation
Running,JoggingandSwimming
Seeingethericprcsence
Seeingwithin
Shakingin sex
SmokingMeditation
Throwingthingsout
To the very centerof being
Touchingas a fealher
Translucentpresence
Vipassana
Vipassanawalk
Watchingthegapin thebreath
Watchingthe gap in the marketplace
Whirting
Who am I?
Zazen

PAGE

107
r2l
160
43
53
105
180
44
r45
263
r39
140
47
74
5l
ll5
103

r99
55
68
98
178

rr7

59
6l
62
&
48
97
187

RAJNEESH

SOMEBIOGRAPHICALFACTSAND EVENTS
FROMTIM LIFE OF BHAGWANSHREERAJNEESH

His physicalcondition.His parents art of meditation.Throughoutthe

and friends fearcd He might not sixties,He traveledthe lengthand
r9 3 l
breadthof India as the "Acharya
live long.
(teacher)Rajneesh,"arousingthe
wasborn
BhagwanShreeRajneesh
wrath of the Establishment
wherin Kuchwada,Madhya Pradesh,
India,on December11, 1931,the TheUnivenity Yean
ever He went. He exposedthe
eldestson of a modestclotJrmerhypocrisy of ttre vested interests
chantwho belongedto the Jain re- 1953
and their attempts to obsfruct
ligion. He spent His first seven At the age of 21, on March21, man'saccess
to his greatest
human
yearswith His grandparents
who 1953,Bhagwanattainedenlighten- right - the right to be himself.He
allowedHim absolutefrccdomto ment,$e highestpeak of human addressedaudiencesof tens of
Here,He said,His frousandsof people,touchingthe
do exactlyas He liked, and who consciousness.
fully supportedHis early and in- outer biograhyended,and He has heartsof millions.
into the truth sincelived in an egolessstateof
tenseinvestigations
with the inner laws of
aboutlife.
at-oneness
life. Outwardly,He continuedto TheBombayYears
pursueHis studiesat theUniversi1938
from which He grad- 1968
Afier the deathof His grandfattre4,ty of Saugar,
He went.to live with His parcnsat uatcdwith First ClassHonorsin He settledin Bombay,living and
Gadawara,
in 1956.He wasAll-In- teachingthere.Regularly,He held
a town of 20,000.His Philosohy
grandmotier moved to the same dia DebatingChampionand won "meditationcamps,"mostlyin hill
lown andremainedHis mostgener- the Cold Medalin His graduating stations,whereHe inroducedHis
revolutionaryDynamicMeditation,
ous friend until she died in 1970. class.
herself
to
be
a
disciple
of
declaring
a techniquethat helps to stop the
hergrandson.
t957
mind by first allowingit to cathart.
Bhagwantaught at the Sanskrit Fmm 1970 He started initiating
1946
College,Raipur.A year latel He peopleintoNcoSannyas,
a pathof
philosophy
professor
His
first
Bhagwan expcricnced
became
at commitmentt,oself-exloration
and
satoriat 14 yearsof age.Over tre the University of Jabalpur.He meditation,hclpedby His love and
years,His experimentswith medi- gaveup this postin 1966in ordcr pcrsonalguidance.He beganto be
The intensityof to dedicateHimsclfentirelyto the called"Bhagwan"- "The Blessed
tation deepcned.
His spiritualsearchtook is toll on task of teachinsmodcm man lhe One."
TheChildhoodYears

BHAGWAN

SIIREE RAJNEESII

gapbctweenEastand "silent heart-to-heart

time-honored
communion"
West disappcarfor His listeners. while His body,now seriouslyill
His lectures,tapedand transcribed froma backcondirion,
wasresdng.
into books.fill hundredsof vol- He was takento the USA by His
umesand have been absorbcdby doctorsand caretakersin view of
hundredsof thousandsof readers. possible emc{gencysurgery.His
By thc late seventies,
Bhagwan's American disciples purchaseda
ashramin Poona had becomea 64.000 acre ranch in the Central
meccato modcrnseekersof truth. Orcgon desert. They invited
Indian Prime Minister Morarji Bhagwanthere- whereHe recovDesai,a dcvout traditionalHindu, eredrapidly.A model agricultural
thwartedall attempsof Bhagwan's commune evolved around Him
The PoonaYears
disciplesto movetheir ashramto a with breathtakingspced and imremotecomer of India wheretlrey pressiveresults,reclaimingovert974
would be able to experimentwil.h gMd and depletedland from the
On the twenty-firstanniversaryof applyingBhagwan'steachingsto desertand tuming it into a green
Bhagwan's
the ash- crcatea sclf-sufficicnt
enlightenment,
community oasis feedinga city of 5,000.At
ram in Poonaopened.Theradiusof livingin medilation,
love,creativity yearly summer festivals held for
Bhagwan's
influence
became
world- andlaughtcr.
Bhagwan's
friendsfromall overthe
wide. At the sametime, Bhagwan
world, up to 20,000visitors were
retreatedmore and more into the 1980
houscdand fcd at this new city of
privacyof His room,emerging
only An attemptwas made to murder Rajnccshpuram.
twice daily: lecturingin lhe morn- Bhagwan
at oneof His lectures
by a Parallclto therapidgrowthof the
ing and initiating and advising memberof a traditional
Hindusect. communein Oregon,large comseekers
in theevenings.
Althoughthe oificial religionsand munes sprang up in all major
Therapygoups combiningEastern churchesopposedHim in the East WestemcounlriesandJapan,supinsightinto meditationwith West- and in tie West,Bhagwanby then portedby their own independent
ern psychotherapywere created. hadovera quarterof a milliondis- businesses.
Within two years, the ashram ciplesworldwide.
Bhagwanhad by then appliedfor
eameda reputationas "ttre world's
permanent
residence
in theU.S.as
finest growth and therapycentcr."
a rcligiousleadcr,but was relused
Bhagwan'slocturcsencompasscdA NewPhaseby the Americangovemment;
one
all the greatreligioustraditionsof Rajneeshpuram,
USA
of the reasonsgiven was His vow
the world. At the sametime. His
of publicsilcnce.At thesametime
vast erudition in Westernscience 198l
tie ncw city was undcrincreasing
and thought,His clarity of speech On May lst Bhagwan stoppcd legal attackfrom the Orcgongovand dcpth of argumentmade the speakingand entcrcda phaseof emmcntandhe Christienmaioritv

1970
The first seekersfrom the Westarrived, among them many professionalpeople.Bhagwan'sfamebegan to spreadthroughoutEurope,
America,Australiaand Japan.The
monthly
Meditation Camps
continuedandin 1974a new place
was found in Poona, where the
teachingcouldbe intensified.

B}IAGWAN

SITREE RAJNEESII

He wassignedin under telling points in answcring thc

in'thestate.Oregon's
landuselaws, penitentiary
meantto protectthe environment, the name of "David Washington" question:Why wcrcn'tthc charges
becamea majorweaponin thefight andput intoan isolationcell with a brought againstHis secrctaryalso
againsta city thathadput enormous prisonersufferingfrom infectious brought againstBhagwan?Tumcr
effort into reclaimingbarrcn land herpes,a diseasethat could have said that the governmcnt's firsl
- in provenfatalfor Bhagwan.
priority was to dcstroy the comtheenvironment
andenhancing
fact a city which had becomean Justan hourbcforcbeingfinally rc- mune and that the authoritics
leased,aftera 12-dayordealin pris- kncw that thc removalo[ Bhagwan
ecologicalmodelfor theworld.
In October1984,Bhagwanstarted onsandchains,a bombwasdrscov- would precipitate this. Sccond,
speakingto smallgoups in His res- eredat the Ponland,Oregonjail in they did not want to make
idence,andin July 1985He staned which Bhagwanwas being kept. Bhagwan a mart}r. Third, there
giving public discourses every Everybodywas evacufed except was no evidcncewhatsoeverimmorningto thousands
of seekersin Bhagwan,who waskept insidefor plicating Hirn in any of the crimes.
Rajneesh
Mandir.
an hour.
In mid-NovemberHis lawyers
1985
urgedHim to pleadguilty to two TheWorldTourOn September14, Bhagwan'sper- of thirty-fourminor"immigration A StudyIn HumanRights
sonal secretaryand severalmem- violations" with which He had
management been charged,so as to avoid fur- December,1985
bersof thecommune's
pattern ther risks to His life in the hands Bhagwan's new secretary,His
whole
left,
suddenly
and a
illegal
of
acts committedby them of the Americanjudicial system. companion,His doctorand other
and entered westcrn disciples accompanying
light.
Bhagwaninvitedthe Bhagwanacquiesced
cameto
plea,"
plea
pcculiarto Him were orderedout of India,
"Alford
a
to
the
to
Americanauthorities
city
an
fully investigatethe matter.The au- the US judicial system,whereby their visas cancelled.No reason
thorit.ies
uscdthisopportunityto ac- He couldacceptlhe contendonof was given by the Indian governfight againstthecom- guilt while at thesametime main- mentfor thisunprecedentcd
acLion
their
celerate
"You
innocence.
He
was
fined
not
wanted
here."
mune.
His
except,
are
tain
join
Bhagwan
left
in
Bhagwan
was
hundred
dollars
and
to
them
thousand
On October29,
ar- four
Nepal,
not
Kathmandu,
where
He
rcrestedwithout a warrantin Char- orderedto leavethe USA,
to
lotte, NC. At the bail hearingsHe return for five years. He left by sumedHis dailydiscourses.
wasput in chains.The trip backto privatejet the sameday and flew
OregonwhcreHe was to appearin to India, wherc He restedin the Februzry,1986
Bhagwanwent !o Greeceon a 30cout- normallya fivehourflight- Himalayas.
A weeklater,the Oregoncommune day touristvisa,whereHe lived in
took four days.
the villa of a Greekfilm producer
For two of thosedaystherewasno decidedto disperse.
U.S. Attor- and startedto speaktwice daily.
trace of Bhagwan.Later He rc- In a pressconference,
vealedthat in the OklahomaState nev Charles Turner made three Disciplcsflockedto hearHim. The

BHAGWAN

SHREE RAJNEESH

Greek Orthodoxclergy threatened March7, 1986

the Grcek governmentthat blood BhagwanandHis groupflew to Irewould flow unlessBhagwanwas land,wherethey wercgiventourist
visas.They went lo a hotel near
thrownout of thecountry.
Limerick.The next morningpolice
March5, 1986
anived and orderedthem to leave
Police broke into the villa and ar- immediatcly.Howeveqthis wasnot
rested Bhagwan without warrant, possiblebecauseCanadahad by
shuntingHim off to Athenswhere then refused Bhagwan's plane
only a twenty-fivethousanddollar permissionto land at Gandcrfor
bribe could move the aurhorities refuellingon the intendedflight to
not to put Him on theboatto India. Antiguain theCaribbean.
This extraordinarydenial of the
March6,1986
right to rcfuelwasmadein qpiteof
He lcft in a privatejet for Switzcr- a bond from Lloyds of London
landwhereHis 7-dayvisa wascan- guaranteeing
that Bhagwanwould
celledby armedpolicemenuponar- not stepoutsidetheplane.
rival. He wasdeclared'personanon On the conditionthat therewasno
grata' becauseof "immigrationof- publicity that might embarrass
the
fensesin the United States"and authorities,He was allowedto remainin Irelanduntil otherarrangeaskedto leave.
He flew on to SwedenwhereHe mentscouldbe made.
was met the sameway - surround- During the wait, Antiguawithdrcw
ed by rifled policemen.He wastold permission for Bhagwan to go
He was"a dangerto nationalsecu- there.Holland,whenasked,alsorerity," and ordercdto leaveimmedi- fusedBhagwan.
ately.
a 'preGermanyhadalreadypassed
He flew on to England.His pilos ventative decree' not to allow
werenow lcgally boundto rcst for Bhagwanto entertlcir country.In
eight hours.Bhagwanwantedto Italy,His touristvisaapplicationrcwait in the First Class Transit mainedstalled- andin facthasstill
Lounge,but He was not allowed; notbeengranted15monthslater.
nor wasHe allowedto stayin a hotel ovemight.Instead,He and His March,1986
companionswere locked up in a At the last momenq Uruguay
andso,
small, dirty cell crowded with tumedup with aninvitation,
refugees.
on March l9th, Bhagwan, His

devoteesand fellow travelersflew

to Montevideovia Dakar,Senegal.
Uruguayevenopenedup thepossibility of permanent residence.
Howeveqin Uruguay it was discoveredwhy He wasbeingdenied
accessto everycountryHe tried to
enter- telexeswith "diplomaticsecret information"(all from NATO
governmentsources)mentioning
INTERPOLrumorsof "smuggling
charges,drug dealingand prostitution" conccmingBhagwan's
circle
had invariably precededthem l.o
their prospectivehost counlrics.
The sourceof these stories was
found to be the USA. Uruguay
sooncameunderthesamepressure.
lvlay14,1986
The governmentdecided to announceat a pressconfercncethat
Bhagwanhadbeengrantedpermancntrcsidence
in Uruguay.
That night Sanguinctti,
the President of Uruguay,receiveda call
from Washington,
DC, sayingthat
if Bhagwansuyedin Uruguay,currcntUS loansof six billion dollars
would be called in, and no future
loansgiven.Bhagwanwasrequested to leaveUruguayby Junel8ttr.
On thedayafterHe left, Sanguinetti and Reagan announcedfrom
Washingtona new US loan to
Uruguayof one hundredand fifty
milliondollars.

BHAGWAN

June19,1986
Jamaicaganted Bhagwana lO-day
visa. Moments after He landed
there,a US navyjet landednext to
Bhagwan'sprivate jet, and two
civilians descended. The next.
moming,thevisasof Bhagwanand
His groupwerecancelled,"for teasonsof nationalsecurity."
Bhagwanflew on to Lisbon via
Madrid,and remained"undiscovered"for sometime.A few weeks
later policemen were placed
around the villa where He was
resting.Bhagwandecidedto rcturn back to India the next day,
July28.
In all, twenty-onecountrieshad
either deported Him or denied
Him entry.
July29, 1986
Bhagwan arrived in Bombay,
India, where He settled for six
monthsas a personalguestof an
Indianfriend.In theprivacyof His

SHREE RAINEESH

His daily officersat Bombayairport,beganrchost'shome,He resumed

"knownto
fusingentryto Westerners
discourses.
followers
Acharya
Rajneesh."
of
be
4,1987
January
Bhagwanmovedino the houseat November6. 1987
the ashramin PoonawhereHe had After a 7-weekillnessin which a
lived for the majorpart of the sev- simpleinfectionfailedto respondto
enties. Immediately upon His any Ueatment,Bhagwan'sphysia generaldeterioraarrival, the police chief of Poona ciansdiagnosed
orderedBhagwanto leave on the tion of His physicalconditiondue
groundsthat He wasa "controver- to poisoning;
cona furtheranalysis
Duringa
sial person"who may "disturb the cludedthaliumpoisoning.
tranquility of the city." The order public discoune, Bhagwanstated
was revokedthe sameday by the tlratHe believedthegovemmentof
Him
Bombay High Court. The same theU.S.A.hadslow-poisoned
Hindu fanaticwho, in May 1980, duringthe 12 daysHe was in their
1985.
tried to murder Bhagwan by custodyin September
throwinga knife at Him during a
public lecture began making ag- February,1988
gressivethreatsabout forcing his At the time of writing, despitethe
of the
way into the ashram with 200 attemptsof the govemments
"fiee
in
in
martial
world"
isolate
Bhagwan
commandoestrained
to
Bhagwan
virtual
intemal
was
exexile,
thousands
of
arts unless
pelledfrom Poona.
discipleshavemanaged!o travelto
At the sametime IndianEmbassies Poonato be with fteir Masteronce
aroundthe world, and immigration again.

BHAGWAN

June19,1986
JamaicagrantedBhagwana 10-day
visa. Moments after He landed
ftere, a US navyjet Iandednext to
Bhagwan'sprivate jet, and two
civilians descended.The nexl
moming,thevisasof Bhagwanand
His groupwerecancelled,"for reasonsof nadonalsecurity."
Bhagwanflew on to Lisbon via
Madrid, and remained"undiscovered" for sometime. A few weeks
later policemen were placed
around the villa where He was
resting.Bhagwandecidedto return back to India the next day,
July28.
In all, twenty-onecountrieshad
either deported Him or denied
Him entry.
July29, 1986
Bhagwan arrived in Bombay,
India, where He settled for six
monthsas a personalguestof an
Indianfriend.In theprivacyof His

SHREE RA'NEESH

His daily officersat Bombayairport,beganrchost'shome,He resumed

"knownto
fusingentryto Westemers
discourses.
befollowersof AcharyaRajneesh."
4,1987
January
Bhagwanmovedinto the houseat November
6,1987
the ashramin PoonawhereHe had After a 7-weekillnessin which a
lived for the majorpart of the sev- simpleinfectionfailedto respondto
enties. Immediately upon His any fieatment,Bhagwan'sphysiarrival, the police chief of Poona ciansdiagnosed
a generaldeterioraorderedBhagwanto leave on the tion of His physicalconditiondue
groundsthat He wasa "conEover- to poisoning;a furtheranalysisconsial person"who may "disturb the cludedthaliumpoisoning.Duringa
tranquilityof fte city." The order public discourse,Bhagwanstated
was revokedthe sameday by the thatHe believedthe govemmentof
Him
Bombay High Court. The same theU.S.A.hadslow-poisoned
Hindu fanaticwho, in May 1980, duringthe 12 daysHe was in their
1985.
tried to murder Bhagwan by custodyin September
thrcwinga knife at Him duringa
public lecture began making ag- February,1988
gressivethreatsabout forcing his At the time of writing, deqpitethe
of the
way into the ashramwith 200 attemptsof the govemments
commandoesnained in martial "free world" to isolateBhagwanin
arts - unlessBhagwanwas ex- virtual intemalexile, thousandsof
pelledfrom Poona.
discipleshavemanagedto travel!o
At the sametime IndianEmbassies Poonato be with theirMasteronce
aroundthe world, and immigration again.