Osho on Meditation

That’s my insistence too: that a sannyasin should not renounce the world. Your meditation SHOULD grow in the world. It should be part of the day-to-day existence. You should not become an escapist. Why?

THE ANCIENTS SAID, ‘WHEN OCCUPATIONS COME TO US, WE MUST ACCEPT THEM; WHEN THINGS COME TO US, WE MUST UNDERSTAND THEM FROM THE GROUND UP. IF THE OCCUPATIONS ARE PROPERLY HANDLED BY CORRECT THOUGHTS, THE LIGHT IS NOT SCATTERED BY OUTSIDE THINGS, BUT CIRCULATES ACCORDING TO ITS OWN LAW. EVEN THE STILL INVISIBLE CIRCULATION OF THE LIGHT GETS STARTED THIS WAY; HOW MUCH MORE, THEN, IS IT THE CASE WITH THE TRUE CIRCULATION OF THE LIGHT WHICH HAS ALREADY MANIFESTED ITSELF CLEARLY.

First, whatsoever situation you are in is a God-given situation; don’t reject it. It is an opportunity, an occasion to grow. If you escape from the opportunity, you will not grow. The people who go to the Himalayan caves and start living there and become very much attached to the caves remain ungrownup. They remain childish. They have not become seasoned. If you bring them to the world they will be shattered, they will not be able to bear it.

Just a few days ago one sannyasin came after three months of living in the Himalayas, and she said, “But now it is difficult to be here. I want to go back.” Now this is not gaining in maturity. Now the Himalayas will become her obsession, and whatsoever she is thinking is her meditation, her silence, is not hers; it is just a by-product of the Himalayan silence. I told her, “You be here for three weeks, and then you tell me what happens to your silence and your meditation. If it disappears, then it has nothing to do with you. And then it is better not to go to the Himalayas. Grow in meditation here! If you can be meditative here in the marketplace, and then you go to the Himalayas, your meditation will be enhanced a thousandfold. It is good as a holiday, but don’t cling there; always come back to the world.” Yes, it is good once in a while to move into the mountains, it is beautiful, but to become addicted, to start thinking of renouncing the world is utterly wrong — because it is in the storms of the world that integrity arises. It is in the challenges of the world that you crystallize.

Lu-tsu says, “Accept the situation you are in. It must be the right situation for you; that’s why you are in it.” Existence cares for you. It is given to you not without any reason. It is not accidental; NOTHING IS accidental. Whatsoever is your need is given to you. If it were your need to be in the Himalayas, you would have been in the Himalayas. And when the need arises, you will find that either you go to the Himalayas or the Himalayas come to you. It happens… when the disciple is ready, the Master arrives. And when your inner silence is ready, God arrives. And whatsoever is needed on the path is always supplied. Existence cares, mothers.

So don’t be worried. Rather, use the opportunity. This challenging world, this constant turmoil on the outside, has to be used. You have to be a witness to it. Watch it. Learn how not to be affected by it. Learn to remain unaffected, untouched by it, like a lotus leaf in water. And then you will be grateful, because it is only by being watchful of all the turmoil that one day suddenly, ‘the gods are in the valley’. You see the marketplace disappearing far away, becoming an echo. This is REAL growth. And if you can rightly be meditative in the ordinary occupations of life, there is nothing which cannot happen to you. The light will start circulating; you just be watchful.

Meditate in the morning and then keep close to your center. Go into the world but keep close to your center, go on remembering yourself. Remain conscious of what you are doing.

WHEN IN ORDINARY LIFE ONE HAS THE ABILITY ALWAYS TO REACT TO THINGS BY REFLEXES ONLY, WITHOUT ANY ADMIXTURE OF A THOUGHT OF OTHERS OR OF ONESELF, THAT IS A CIRCULATION OF THE LIGHT ARISING OUT OF CIRCUMSTANCES. THIS IS THE FIRST SECRET.

And when things arise, act, but don’t get identified in the act. Remain a spectator. Do whatsoever is needful just like a reflex. Do whatsoever is needful, but don’t become a doer, don’t get involved in it. Do it, and be finished with it — like a reflex…

Behave in an objective way. Take note of the situation, and whatsoever is needful, do it. But don’t become attached to the doing, don’t become worried about it, don’t think of the result. Just do the needful and remain alert and aloof and distant and faraway in your center, rooted there. But every early morning, orient yourself towards the inner center so you can remember it your whole day.

Two times are the best. The first best time is the early morning: orient yourself to the center so you can live on the circumference but yet with full remembrance of the center. And the second time is before you go to bed: orient yourself again to the center, so in your deep sleep also — even while you are dreaming, while you are unconscious — you can remain more and more, closer and closer to the center. These two times are the best. And if you can meditate these two times, you need not go anywhere else. You need not go to any monastery, to any cave, you need not renounce the world, and one day suddenly you will see blossoms showering on you and gods whispering in your ear. The whole existence celebrates the moment when one soul arrives home. What happened to Subhuti can happen to you. Aspire to it. It is your birthright, it can be claimed.

Source:

Listen to complete discourse at mentioned below link.

Discourse Series: The Secret of Secrets, Vol 2 Chapter #5

Chapter title: The spirit returns and touches heaven

31 August 1978 am in Buddha Hall

References:

Osho has spoken on ‘Meditation, Marketplace, World, Spectator,’ in many of His discourses. More on the subject can be referred to in the following books/discourse titles:

Osho has also spoken on similar topic in many of His discourses. Some of these can be referred to in the following books/discourse titles:

1. The Osho Upanishad
2. The  Search
3. Sufis: The People of the Path, Vol 2
4. Take It Easy, Vol 1
5. Ancient Music in the Pines
6. A Bird on the Wing
7. The First Principle
8. The Rebellious Spirit