I usually have a pencil and ruler with me while reading such books, just to mark words i might want to share or read again later. Usually it is like a few lines after every few page which catches my attention but with this book, i ended up having to underline something in almost every other page!! I almost gave up underlining them, as the whole book was filled with eye opening messages and breathtaking words, i couldn't decide which not to mark!
It was not A sudden clash of thunder but a series of thunder clashing over and over!
All my life, what i heard about meditation is, to quiet the mind, to drop the mind, to stop the mind, to be against the mind in order to find peace. And every time anyone tries to meditate their first complaints would include..."My mind wont stop thinking" and they get frustrated after trying forcefully to stop these thoughts from flooding their head. The more they try, the more difficult it becomes. And the whole effort of "finding peace" becomes a burden. Its almost like we were better off NOT trying to meditate. Well i am glad i didn't go that far, i never forced myself to meditate, i somehow felt that it will happen when i am ready and forcing will not help. But until i read this book i had no idea that the WHOLE approach to drop the mind is wrong! Before i tell you why please read this part from the book which left me speechless!
"No-mind is not against mind; no-mind is beyond mind. No-mind does not come by killing and destroying the mind. No mind comes when you have understood the mind totally that thinking is no longer needed- your understanding has replaced it
If i am to explain the above message in my own words, i would say its just like cooking :) why? If you really know cooking, then you would love cooking without a recipe, you just throw in a little bit of this and that and you will find yourself getting the ingredients needed automatically. Your hand simply moves to the shelves and grabs the spices needed, you don't stop to think...what next? You don't think how many spoons of this or that? Have you noticed that most people who can cook well will never measure the salt or spices using the spoons...they just sprinkle or pour in the right amount without measuring. Because you have understood the recipe so well you don't need to think...it comes naturally. Its less stressful and it becomes a joy to cook. But to those who can't cook. They will need to think of the dish at least a day ahead and then keeping the recipe with them while cooking. They are stressed about following the instructions, one spoon or quarter spoon...have i added too much salt or too little spice, have i missed out any ingredient. Your mind goes on and on worrying about cooking...and most of the times the dish doesn't turn up as it should be. And that's frustrating.
So just like that, we need to understand the mind first before we even sit to meditate. If we have no idea what the mind is, then how can we go beyond!
How do we understand the mind? Simply follow Osho's words. Just watch it. Watch the thoughts that pops up, let it be...let it happen...let it go as much as it wants. Stop forcing yourself to stop these thoughts...and gradually it will slow down by itself. Here's the part that explains it beautifully:-
"When something happens without any violence it has a beauty of its own, it has a natural growth. You can force a flower and open it by force, you can pull the petals of a bud and open it by force-but you have destroyed the beauty of the flower. Now it is almost dead. It cannot stand your violence. The petals will be hanging loose, limp, dying. When the bud opens by its own energy, when it opens of its own accord, then those petals are alive."
And another very important fact to take note is, people tend to feel guilty about certain thoughts that comes to them. They cant help having a certain thought which maybe considered "immoral" and they will feel bad for having such thoughts and feel they are not fit to be called "Pure" but the good news here is, our thoughts are not our true selves. Thoughts can be provoked by a million things we see, hear and experience but what we are at the core remains untouched. But we tend to identify ourselves based on our thoughts which is only on the surface of it...go deeper and we will see the real person! Here's a part that explains it:-
"And nothing is wrong-even if immoral thoughts, so called immoral thoughts, pass through your mind, let them pass; nothing is wrong. You remain detached. No harm is being done. It is just fiction; you are seeing an inner movie. Allow it its own way and it will lead you, by and by, to the state of no-mind. Watching ultimately culminates in no-mind"
That's good news, isn't it?? :) Ive read about watching the mind in many other books of Osho and have been doing just that for sometime. It is a slower process but it works wonders! You become a lot more relaxed, joyous and light. What happened to me is, the less i bothered about the thoughts that comes to my mind, the less the confusion about everything that happens daily got, and in that way, i safe my energy to do the things i love and i am able to go on day to day...moment to moment joyously. Let thought be thoughts. Let it not touch what we are within. What we are within is LOVE and nothing but LOVE...lets get there :)
