Chapter title: The Magic is Here
3 December 1976 pm in Chuang Tzu Auditorium
Archive code: 7612035 ShortTitle: WHIP24 Audio:
No Video:
No
[Osho asks a visitor how long he has been here. The visitor replies that he has lost track of time.]
That's very good, mm? When one can really lose track of time, one has really arrived! Very good. Being here one loses track of time and space both.
Time is an illusion. Through the illusion -- and particularly in the West -- people have become too time-conscious. And in fact time is nothing but the mind -- the movement is just an idea. Nothing is going anywhere. The whole existence simply is; simultaneously it is.
Time exists because we cannot see clearly. It is just as if you look out onto the street from the keyhole.
A man is coming but you cannot see him. Suddenly he is there -- but he was before. Suddenly he disappears again -- he is still somewhere but your keyhole makes it difficult to see. Your keyhole creates the past, the present and the future.
Just a moment before the man was not there, so the person who has never left his keyhole will think that the man has appeared out of nothingness. That's what future is. And when the man has gone a little further from the keyhole you cannot see him, and now you say that he has disappeared into the past.
The past is that which you cannot see any more, and the future is that which you cannot see yet.
But the man was there, is there, will be there. It is your key-hole that has created time. If you can come out, then you will see that the past was also present, the present is also present, and the future too, is present.
Only the present is. Only now is. But remember the present is not part of time. The present is timeless...
eternal.
Time is a concept because we are looking through the mind. The mind is the keyhole. It is created... very limited. When the mind is dropped there is simply eternity... no-mind. Then the now is just eternal. The now goes on spreading to both sides, backwards and forwards. And in that now there is peace.
1/08/07
Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-
The whole effort of meditation is how to enter that now... how to drop out of time, and how to enter eternity. That is what meditation is all about. And one can get there because in fact one is already in it.
So my whole effort here is that by and by we drop these mind concepts, mind games.
Have you meditated before? What type of meditation were you doing?
[The visitor replies: Oh, several different types. The type I do now is on the breath -- similar to Vipassana meditation... lots of thoughts come too and I watch them. Then they slow down a bit so I watch the breath and the thoughts. Then also I feel things in my body -- forces. I'm just trying to be aware of everything, and just letting my mind slow down.]
It will be good if you proceed in a more scientific way. Vipassana is good, but your procedure is a little unscientific.
Scientific research divides mind waves into four types. Ordinarily in the waking state we are in beta --
they call it beta: too many thoughts, imagination, dreaming, reveries, plans, reasoning, logic... and it is a constant turmoil. Your mind is like a computer -- it is working, humming, and it gets hot. Any mechanism gets hot, and if it has to work continuously for twenty-four hours, it gets tired -- and you never give it any rest.
In fact you have completely forgotten how to give it rest, or nobody has taught you how to rest it. So even if you try, it continues its old habits -- thinking and going into thought, chasing this thought and that. It is almost like chasing your own tail, mm? -- it is very vicious. One thought leads to another, and that will lead to another, and it goes on unending.
This beta state of mind has a certain wave-length. They say it is fourteen to thirty-two cycles per second.
This is a state that is very feverish, trembling. Not that something is wrong in it -
- when needed it is very useful... it is a great instrument, but only when needed. If it goes on without any particular need for it, it is a very tiring process. Then it creates anxiety, stress, strain, and the ultimate result can only be madness.
So whenever a person is caught in the beta he is moving towards that -- and everybody is caught in it...
we are born in it. Because this state of mind has given many benefits to humanity, we have become addicted to it. The whole scientific process has come out of beta. All that you see around -- prosperity, richness, affluence, big beautiful buildings, asphalt roads, cars and aeroplanes and space travel and atomic energy --
have all come through the beta state. Of course it pays tremendously, so humanity is very much addicted to it.
From kindergarten, from school to university level, we teach only one thing -- the beta: how to use it more and more, how to be proficient in it, how to become
more logical, rational. The more logical, rational you are, the more you will succeed in this world, because this world is created by the beta state of mind.
Animals cannot compete with man because they live below beta. They have not developed it yet.
The whole civilisation depends on beta, so it is not very easy to get out of it. We are deeply involved in it, and there is a great investment in it. So if you really want to get out of it, you have to proceed in a very very scientific, methodological way.
The second state -- just below beta -- is alpha. Alpha is like twilight. In beta there are too many thoughts
-- you are awake but your waking consciousness is completely clouded by thoughts. In alpha, thoughts disappear -- you are still awake. It is like a calm lake
-- no ripples... a silver moon in a silent pond.
This second state has the range from seven to fourteen cycles per second. The first has fourteen to thirty-two -- the second has seven to fourteen. It is just below the fourteenth. Once you start getting to alpha, the first disappears and you enter the second state. Alpha is just below beta -- it is hiding in you. It is just a question of how to approach it. . .just a little right movement towards it. It is your treasure.
This second state alpha -- is the state of meditation. Thoughts disappear, thinking disappears, but you have not fallen asleep. You are fully aware... a deep peace surrounds you, and one's whole being is replenished, rejuvenated.
Each person needs it for at least forty minutes every day. It is a must. It you really want to be alive as a soul, as a spiritual person, it is a must. It is the food for the soul.
Below alpha is theta -- the third state. The range of theta is from four to seven cycles per second. It is the state of falling into sleep, becoming unconscious. You are slowing down so much that you cannot keep alert; the alertness disappears. In the first there are thoughts and wakefulness, in the second thoughts have disappeared -- only wakefulness, in the third the wakefulness disappears. You become sleepy... you start dozing.
1/08/07
Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-
And then there is the fourth state -- delta. The range of delta is from one half to four cycles per second.
It is the deepest sleep -- where everything is forgotten. It is the dreamless sleep -- what Hindus have called
'sushupti'.
These are the four stages, and you have to be very scientific in approaching them. My suggestion is that you start this way.… I call this meditation the alpha meditation.
It can be done without any beliefs. It has nothing to do with religion. You can be a Hindu or a Christian or a Mohammedan -- it doesn't matter; You can be an atheist, a Communist -- it doesn't matter. It has nothing to do with any belief -- it is simply a psy-chological procedure. But if you start this way, great will be the benefit and results will become more solid. Otherwise you can continue Vipassana and you will remain a little confused and fuddled. Sometimes there will be a few moments of silence, and then again thoughts will come.
Let there be a one year programme of meditation. For three months, simply sit. If you can sit in this posture, good, otherwise you can sit in a chair. If you can sit in this lotus posture, that's the best.
Sit in this posture, let your spine be straight, and put your left hand on the right hand, letting both thumbs touch each other. Mm? that will keep you alert. It gives a certain circulation to the body energy --
this touching of the thumbs -- and will not allow you to fall asleep.
When somebody is moving into alpha, there are two dangers: one danger comes from beta -- that you may not be able to drop thoughts, another danger comes
from theta -- that you may be able to drop them so suddenly that you fall asleep. So one has to avoid these two things -- sleep and thought.
This pressure will make your body energy move in such a way that you cannot fall asleep. This is also one of the best postures in which it is most difficult to fall asleep. Again, a straight spine is a protection against sleep. This is the whole protection so that you don't fall below alpha. If you fall below alpha, you will be asleep. The sleep will be good and you will feel very fresh, but meditation will be missed.
If your spine is leaning forwards or backwards, or you are in a chair and very restful, it is more possible that you will fall asleep because that is more a part of your habit. Whenever you drop thinking, suddenly you take a jump -- you bypass alpha -- and you go into theta and fall asleep. Every day you do that, so that is more natural and more possible. This posture protects you.
... You can use a cushion. The spine should be straight. You can make yourself as comfortable as possible, because comfort is not the ingredient. If you are uncomfortable, that discomfort won't allow you to fall into alpha; you will continue to think about the discomfort. No, it has not to be uncomfortable. It has to be comfortable, but not too comfortable -- comfortable as far as the body is concerned. So this is good --
you can use a cushion.
Then fix your eyes on your left hand... look at the left hand. If you look at the left hand continuously, that again stimulates your right side mind which is meditative. Your left hand is connected with the right side mind, and if you look at the left hand, your eyes and your left hand sooner or later fall in tune and an energy cycle arises, your right side mind starts functioning.
So this is tremendously helpful. This will help you to drop thoughts more easily. It will not be needed that you do anything, because the right side mind never thinks. It is the part from where you feel. It is the part from where you love. It is the part from where poetry is born -- not logic, not theology, not philosophy, not science. That comes from the left side brain.
To continuously watch is of tremendous significance. You need not gaze at it continuously, but just go on looking into it in a very empty way... just have your eyes on the left hand, and that will do the work.
Then start with an inhalation. Inhale deeply, and with the inhalation, say inside 'one', and then exhale deeply and say 'two', inhale again, say 'three', exhale, say 'four', inhale, 'five', exhale, 'six'. Go on up to ten, then again start from one.
If you lose count somewhere, then start from one, but go from one to ten. Inhalation -- one, exhalation --
two: do it in that way. The first ten breaths should be as deep as possible. From the second cycle you can relax and let the breathing be natural, silent and quiet -- but continue to count. Just by counting, within three months you will be able to attain to the alpha so tremendously... thoughts will disappear.
Thoughts will come sometimes but you are not to pay any attention to them. Neither have you to fight with them nor to acknowledge them. Just remain indifferent. Let them be there -- that is none of your business. Let them be there, and they will subside by themselves. You continue counting.
For three months, count this way, forty minutes every day. After three months, change your counting.
Only count exhalations. Exhale -- count one, inhale -- keep quiet, exhale -- count two, inhale -- keep quiet.
That is the only change that has to be made after three months. Then again after three months, drop 1/08/07
Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-
counting. So for three months, count inhalation and exhalation, for three months only exhalations, then for three months no counting -- just watch.
... Just watch the breath. Then for three months, forget watching too. This is how one should proceed --
very slowly, gradually. Within one year you will be simply surprised. Man is carrying such tremendous possibility.
But if you don't start from the very beginning, it will be difficult and more time will be wasted. This is my observation -- that many people start meditation, but they drop it because results are not coming, so they get fed up. So one should proceed very scientifically -- this is the procedure.
If you proceed this way, within three months there will be definite results, and then you can drop a little
-- half the process is dropped. You don't count inhalations -- now you are getting beyond the technique a little. After six months you drop counting completely -- you are getting even higher. Then drop everything after six months -- even watchfulness. You simply sit. Sitting silently, doing nothing -- that is what Zazen is.
That is the peak.
So let it be a one-year programme, and don't be in a hurry.
... Only once a day -- forty minutes will do. But if you have time and you can do it twice, perfectly good.
Mm? You can never do too much meditation. And what about your sannyas?
[The seeker replies: I think it would make life too difficult for me in the West to have to wear orange all the time. And I don't think that I could find a job, and I think it would cut me off from a lot of people -- a lot of my friends and family. It would make it harder to relate to everybody -- that's the main reason. Also I don't know that much about the movement yet to be sure that I want to be in it.]
These are not the true reasons -- these are rationalisations... think about them. These are tricks of the mind. Whatsoever you want to do, you find a reason for -- that it will be difficult to find a job, that it will be difficult to relate to people, that it will be hard on your friends. I have not seen it happen -- and I have so many sannyasins in the West. Neither is getting a job difficult nor relating -- in fact they relate better because they love more.
But there is something else inside.… You cannot simply say that you are afraid, so fear takes a garb, a rationalisation -- that this will be very difficult.
First you have to relate to yourself -- only then can you relate to anybody. Otherwise it is just a game that one goes on playing -- and a meaningless game. The first contact has to be with your interior, and then you will be able to relate with people.
Orange clothes cannot prevent you -- only one thing can prevent relationship, and that is if you are not related to yourself. The whole effort of sannyas is to make you capable of relating with yourself, then everything follows.
So think about it... brood on it. Those are not the real causes, because otherwise so many people couldn't do it. You are not the first Westerner here, mm? So that cannot be the reason. There must be some other reason -- some other fear. So find it and then encounter that fear.
And the second thing: it is not a movement; it is not a mission. These orange people are not part of any religion. They are not creating a church, and they don't believe in any dogma -- because I have none. They are related to me -- they are not related to each other really. They are not part of an organisation -- they are related to me. Just as the spokes of the wheel are related to the hub, so is their relationship to me. They are sharing something with me. It is a personal relationship.
It is just as Jesus' disciples were related to him -- they were not Christians; they were simply related to Christ. It was a personal relationship... a love affair.
Sannyas is a love affair. Somebody who has fallen in love with me and wants to share, wants to move with me for a little while if it is possible, wants to linger with me a little longer. It is not a movement at all, and it has nothing to do with any organisation; it is not organisational.
The approach is totally personal. I believe in individuals, and I don't believe in organisations. Each organisation has proved fatal to religion.
So these people are simply related to me, and they are not part of any movement. They are not fighting against any religion, any sect or any tradition, and they are not worried about the society. They are not trying to change the world -- they are not concerned with it at all. They are only concerned with celebrating with me for a few moments.
1/08/07
Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-
Think about it -- because one can miss that celebration... one can miss some great opportunity.
And whenever love knocks at your door, open the door and drop fear.
When I invite you to sannyas, it is simply love knocking at your door. You can say 'No' and I will say,
'Thank you' -- there is no problem about it. You can perfectly well say 'No' and be here -- but you will have missed an opportunity.
[The seeker asks: Is the taking of sannyas necessary for love?]
Sannyas is not necessary for love, but once you are in love many things become necessary. And if you are in love with me, you have to do many crazy things! (laughter) Sannyas is one of the crazy things. It is almost mad! And I have no rationalisation for it -- nothing. I don't argue for it... I don't say that there is any argument for it -- there is none. It is simply a crazy affair.
I am mad, and those who are mad would like to join hands with me. So if you are mad enough, you can take sannyas right now, otherwise you can think a little.
[Another visitor says: I'm a biologist. But I think one can be meditative about science too... ]
One can be. In fact a scientist can meditate better than anybody else, because when you have gone to one extreme, it is very easy to move to the other extreme. It is just like the pendulum of a clock: when it is going to the left, it is gaining momentum to go to the right. So when one becomes very very rational, one is gaining momentum to be irrational. And if a scientist really goes far into his scientific outlook, one day he will become religious.
In his last days, Albert Einstein started becoming more and more religious... started feeling more and more for religion. Only a mediocre scientist never
becomes religious. A mediocre man is one who never goes far enough. If you can go far enough in any direction, one day or other you will swing to the other polarity -- that comes naturally. A man who has been thinking very logically, is very logical, one day comes to see that logic itself is illogical.
If one goes deep into logic, one comes to a few axioms which have simply been accepted -- have been accepted with no foundation to them. The whole structure is very logical, but the foundation is illogical. If one goes deep into mathematics, one finds that mathematics is an invention of man. That's why it is so scientific -- because it has nothing to do with life. Mathematics is a purely human invention -
- that's why it is so pure a science, because existence does not interfere in it. But then become aware of what you are doing. You are playing a game! You invent your laws, you invent your premises, you invent your structure, and you play a game. And one who has been playing a game is one day bound to become aware that there is more than this game.
A biologist working continuously on biological problems is bound to become aware one day of asking himself; 'Who am I?' Because no biology can reveal it. Who is this one who is searching? Man can create many mechanisms, can create almost as perfect a mechanism as the mind, can create a beautiful computer --
but no computer can create a human mind.
One day this idea -- who are you and who is it inside you who has created such a perfect thing -- will arise.
There is an anecdote in Ramakrishna's life.… He was a very rare being... very simple, uneducated. A great logician came to see him who was very well-known all over the world. His name was Keshava Chandra Sen and he was famous for his argumentative-ness. He came with his followers and he was absolutely certain -- and rightly so -- that he would defeat this illiterate man.
He argued beautifully that there is no God. Ramakrishna listened to him very attentively, and he enjoyed it -- Ramakrishna enjoyed it tremendously. When Keshva finished, Ramakrishna simply jumped up and hugged him and said, 'So beautiful!'
Keshava was very puzzled. He said, 'What is the matter with you? I came to fight and argue with you, and you don't argue with me. Why?'
Ramakrishna said, 'In fact, looking at you and seeing such beautiful logic, seeing such beautiful argumentativeness, I have got more proof for God ! If there is no God, how is this beautiful consciousness, this beautiful mind, possible? You are proof, Keshava.'
Keshava relates in his autobiography that he became dumb! Suddenly all his logic disappeared. This man was tremendous! He had never thought that arguing against God would become proof of God, but 1/08/07
Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-
Ramakrishna had said that such beautiful intelligence would be impossible if there were no God.
The whole of scientific research is going to culminate ultimately in a religious upsurge in the whole world, because every scientific invention, every discovery, simply proves the infinite capacity that is hidden behind the human mind. Reaching to the stars simply proves that our hands are not small -- our reach is vast. We must be vast! Maybe we are confined to a very small body and to a very limited mind, but even with a limited mind we are doing so many miracles.
Just go on in your scientific work and start meditating, mm? There is no contradiction. In fact in life there is never any contradiction. Everything can lead to everything else -- it simply depends on you.
My observation is that people who are priests, popes, shankaracharyas, religious people, are the most irreligious people in the world because religion has not been a discovery for them. They have not worked for it, they have just borrowed it -- it is almost a business to them.
Scientists, poets, painters, musicians, who are not really in any way related to religion, are more religious, because religiousness is nothing but a capacity to wonder, a capacity to praise. And how, if you are looking into life, can you remain without praising it? How miraculous it is!
And praise becomes proof. If you start praising, one day it becomes the proof of
something hidden.
A wondering consciousness is all that is needed. An unprejudiced consciousness is all that is needed --
and the whole scientific training is for that... that one should be unprejudiced. One should not be a Hindu, should not be a Christian, should not be a Mohammedan. One should not have any concepts... one should not carry any a priori ideas -- one should experiment and see. One should believe in the fact and not in any sort of fiction.
Religion is something that is hidden behind the fact. It is not in the bible, it is not in the koran -- it is hidden behind existence. Behind every fact it is throbbing there.
So if you really go deep into the fact, one day or other you are certain to come upon God. You cannot escape!
So meditate here, and come next time for a longer time. Much is possible!
[A sannyasin returning from the West says he is confused because: I was with you in Bombay two and a half years ago. I find myself back here, but somehow the magic isn't there, and it feels odd that I'm back.]
Wait... the magic will come with a flood. It always happens The magic is there
-- you have simply lost the eyes that can see it. The magic is there -- more than before -- but you can see only that which you can see. You have lost some innocence.… And sometimes it happens that just by experiencing something, we become experienced and the innocence is lost.
For example, the first time you came to me, I was something new. Now you come with an expectation --
and that is destroying the whole thing. Now you have a fixed idea about me. And I am never fulfilling anybody's ideas -- never! -- because I go on changing.
I am not dead! When I am dead, you can have expectations from me and they will always be fulfilled because there will be nobody to change.
That's why whenever a person like Christ or Buddha dies, the religion grows by
leaps and bounds. It becomes a great force... millions of people join it. Why? Because now Buddha is predictable. Now you can have Buddha according to you.
When you came for the first time, you had no expectations about me. You were completely unknown to me, I was unknown to you. You had come with innocent eyes. Then there was magic!
This magic has nothing to do with me -- that magic has nothing to do with you. Whenever there is an innocent state of mind, the magic is there.
Look at a rose flower with innocent eyes and the magic is there. Look with eyes full of knowledge, and the magic has disappeared. Science has destroyed much magic in the world because science has given people knowledge, and people think that now they know. Nobody knows anything! That they know is just a false idea. Now they know what is what so the magic is gone, and with the magic, God has disappeared from the world. Not that He has disappeared -- how can He? He is there just in front of your eyes -- but you have become knowledgeable. That is creating the trouble.
Sometimes it happens that our eyes are clouded by our expectations. Then you look for something... you want to repeat some experience. You want me the way I was two years ago. How can I be? You come with your expectations, fixed ideas -- and nobody is ever going to fulfill them. I will go on changing -- I am not predictable. And if you come without expectations, suddenly you will find that the magic is there... more 1/08/07
Copyright Osho International Foundation 1994
Osho's books on CD-ROM, published and unpublished
Query:-
than before. It is always there But it takes a little time.
Just meditate, dance in the music group, sing, and forget your past. What happened two years ago, forget it ! Much more is going to happen. Don't cling to it. Don't ask for repetition, because life never repeats.
They say that history never repeats -- that's not right. History always repeats,
because history is made by fools, and fools are very repetitive. Politicians and generals and warmongers -- they are the most stupid people in the world -- they cannot do anything new, they simply go on repeating. But life never repeats...
life is pure eternity. Why should it repeat anything?
It will take a few days. Once your past experience has been dropped and you are again fresh and new, the magic will arise and explode in you. It is natural -- it happens to many people. Nothing to be worried about.
And confusion is part of life. Only dead people are never confused. They are certain -- but their certainty is worthless. Confusion is more valuable. It simply says that you are still alive... you are still growing. There is still possibility in you -- that's what confusion means. You would like to commit suicide. You don't want confusion -- you want certainty. Certainty means committing suicide, so once and forever, one is finished.
I am not going to give you any certainty. I am going to give you clarity -- not certainty. And this is the difference: certainty is against confusion, clarity is not against confusion. Clarity always finds a way through confusion -- it is not against it.
Certainty is against confusion, certainty never allows any confusion to take possession of you. It is so afraid that it simply avoids it, it escapes from it -- then of course one remains stupid and mediocre. I am for clarity, not for certainty. And each new confusion has to be welcomed, because each new confusion will bring a new challenge to you to be more clear, to have more clarity, to have more transparency.
I am not here to give you any belief -- hence I go on contradicting myself. I don't allow you any foothold because I don't want you to cling to any foothold. The moment I see that you are settling, I take the earth away from you. Of course you fall in a heap and you are confused. You collapse and you become angry --
you want to settle. Look at this !
The mind always wants to settle -- life always wants to love. Life is movement -- the mind is a stagnant pool. Life is river-like.
It is your mind that wants to remain in a stagnant state -- that is creating the
trouble. Life wants to move
-- so there is a struggle.
You are all for the mind, unfortunately. You should not be -- you should be for life. You should say,
Do a few groups here, mm? And make these four months here four months of tremendous engagement.
And wait -- the magic is going to happen to you. Just wait.…
Table of Contents
Chapter title: The Essential is One Chapter title: You are Freedom Chapter title: Search for the Undefined