Monthly Archives: June 2015

“I want you to accept yourself as you are. That’s how existence wanted you to be. You have not created yourself; naturally the whole responsibility goes to existence. And there must be a need for a person like you; otherwise, you would not exist. Existence needs you as you are.
The first principle of an authentic religious man is to accept himself as he is, without any judgment — and only from there does your authentic pilgrimage begin.”

~ Osho, Beyond Enlightenment

OM (ॐ)
”AUM”: this word ”AUM” is very significant – significant as a sign, as a symbol, as a secret key. So first we must decode it.

AUM has five matras, five steps. The first step is A, the second is U, the third is M. These are gross steps. When we utter AUM, A-U-M – these are three words. But utter AUM [long], and in the end the M resounds – ”mmm”. That is a half step – the fourth. Three are gross and can be heard. The fourth is half gross. If you are very aware, only then is it heard; otherwise it is lost. And the fifth is just never heard. When the sound of AUM vibrates and the vibrations go into the cosmic emptiness, when the sound has gone and a soundlessness remains, that is the fifth. You utter the word AUM, then A-U-M is heard very clearly, then a lingering sound of ”mmm” – half a step – and then soundlessness. That is the fifth. These five steps are just signs towards many things.

First, the Upanishads know that human consciousness has five steps. We know the three gross ones – the waking, the dreaming and the sleep. These are three gross – A-U-M. The Upanishads call the fourth turiya. They have not named it because it is not gross. The fourth is that in which one becomes aware of deep sleep also. If you have been deep in sleep, in a deep dreamless sleep, if in the morning you can say, ”I have been in a deep, deep sleep,” then someone in you has been aware and remembers somehow that there has been a very deep, dreamless sleep – but a witness was there. That witness is known as the fourth. But the Upanishads say that even the fourth is not the ultimate, because to be a witness is still to be separate. So when the witness also dissolves, if only the Existence remains, without a witness, that is the fifth. So this AUM is a sign for many things – for many things – for five bodies in man. The Upanishads divide them into anamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, vigyanamaya and anandamaya – five sheaths, five bodies.

This AUM is a cosmic sign. This is just a sign, but it is also a symbol. What does it mean when I say it is also a symbol? When someone goes deep into Existence, to the roots, to the very roots, then thoughts are no more there, the thinker is no more there, objectivity is no more there, subjectivity is no more there – but, still, everything is. In that thoughtless, thinkerless moment, a sound is heard. That sound resembles AUM – just resembles it. It is not AUM; that is why it is a symbol. We cannot reproduce it. This is the approximate resemblance. That is why it has been likened to many sounds, but it is always nearer to AUM.

~ OSHO – The Ultimate Alchemy

Psychologists have become aware that when people start becoming impotent, they start finding some sexual, phallic symbols. If a person becomes impotent then he wants some phallic symbol to replace it. He may try to have the biggest car in the world — that is a phallic symbol. He would like to have the most powerful car in the world; now his own power is lost, his own sexual energy is gone — now he would like a substitute. While rushing his car to the maximum speed, he will feel good — as if he is making love to his woman. The very speed will give him power. He will get identified with the car.
Psychologists have been watching the phenomenon for many years, that people who have a certain inferiority complex always become ambitious. In fact, nobody goes into politics unless he is deeply rooted in an inferiority complex. Politicians are basically inferiority complex people. They have to prove their superiority in some way, otherwise they will not be able to live with their inferiority complex.
What I am trying to point out is: whatsoever you miss within, you try to accumulate something outside as a substitute for it. If you don’t miss your life within, you are enough unto yourself. And only then are you beautiful. And only then you are.

~ OSHO – The Discipline of Transcendence, Vol 3

Man can live without knowing his center, but man cannot be without a center. The center is the link between man and existence; it is the root. You may not know it, knowledge is not essential for the center to be, but if you do not know it you will lead a life that is rootless – as if rootless. You will not feel any ground, you will not feel yourself based; you will not feel at home in the universe. You will be homeless.
Of course, the center is there, but by not knowing it your life will be just a drifting – meaningless, empty, reaching nowhere. You will feel as if you are living without life, drifting, just waiting for death. You can go on postponing from one moment to another, but you know very well that that postponing will lead you nowhere. You are just passing time, and that feeling of deep frustration will follow you like a shadow. Man is born with a center, but not with the knowledge of the center. The knowledge has to be gained…

~ OSHO – Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, Vol 1.

Meditation cannot be a fragmented thing. It should be a continuous effort. Every moment one has to be alert, aware and meditative. But the mind has played a trick. You meditate in the morning and then you put it aside. Or you pray in the temple and then forget it. Then you come back to the world, completely un-meditative, unconscious, as if walking in a hypnotic sleep. This fragmented effort won’t do much. Consciousness is a continuum. It is like a river, flowing constantly. If you are meditative the whole day, every moment of it – and only when you are meditative the whole day – the flowering will come to you.”

~ OSHO – A Bird on the Wing, Talk # 11