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Thoughts are existential, but the
mind does not exist. It is not a substance but a process that
cannot be controlled because there is no one to control it. The
process called mind generates thoughts. Again, thoughts are not
tangible and are comparable to electrons. Says Osho,
"Thoughts are passing through you, and they can pass
through you because you are a vast emptiness. There is no
hindrance, no obstacle. No wall exists to prevent them…You are
not a walled phenomenon. Your sky is infinitely open; thoughts
come and go. And once you start feeling that thoughts come and
go and you are the watcher, the witness, the mind is in
control".
Mind is nothing
but the absence of your presence. When you meditate you discover
that the mind disappears and a new perception manifests itself,
viz., your thoughts are not your own. You are a mere
resting-place for thoughts and not the originator. Since there
is no one to control the mind, and it disturbs one’s
consciousness through thoughts, it pushes one to the periphery
of consciousness. In order to move to the center one needs the
help of Yoga. "The whole of yoga is nothing but centering,
moving towards the center, getting rooted there, abiding there.
And from there the whole perspective changes". Patanjali
recommends Nirvitarka Samadhi for reaching the center. Thence
all logic disappears, scriptures become meaningless, sense
perceptions are unable to deceive you. Suddenly, the truth
becomes self-evident. There is no need to substantiate its
existence. A sense of ananda is experienced through
detachment, which the new perspective gives us.
Moving to the
Center deals with such
absorbing subjects as The Pure Mind, Going Beyond This Mind, The
Master Appears etc.
God or the truth
is within you. Osho terms this realisation as "the
flowering". He goes on to say, "…just a look, and it
is manifested. Not that it was hidden in a seed; you were not
looking at it". For experiencing this spiritual flowering
one has to dissolve the ego. "The ego can exist only while
you are asleep – metaphysically asleep, existentially asleep.
Open the eyes! First you disappear; then God appears…"
Patanjali advocates unhurried, step-by-step opening of eyes.
Comparing Patanjali’s method with Zen, Osho says, "He is
a great persuader. He persuades you out of your sleep. Zen
shocks you out of your sleep". However Osho himself prefers
the shock treatment as it gives quicker results unlike Patanjali’s,
which requires several lifetimes! If you find his admiration for
Patanjali and his preference for Zen contradictory, only someone
with a gift of the gab will be able to reconcile all this for
you.
The Ever-Present
Flower has some
interesting chapters like The Meaning of Samadhi, Attraction to
the Difficult, The Obstacles to Meditation etc. All three
volumes are commentaries on the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali
whom Osho describes as a rare flower and "the greatest
scientist of the inner. His approach is that of a scientific
mind: he is not a poet…those who enter into the inner world
are almost always poets, those who enter into the outer world
are always almost scientists".
Happy reading!
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ORDINARILY,
it is not possible to comprehend truth in its entirety. It is vast
and has countless facets. Yet it is possible to observe it in parts
and proceed to view it step by logical step. A part of truth is also
truth, though not the whole truth. Expounding on Patanjali’s
theory that the part is equal to the whole, and using the analogy of
sky and the pool, Osho says that although the sky is infinite it
gets reflected in a small, finite pool. That which we see is also
the sky, even if it is only a portion of the endless blue canopy.
The infinite cannot be divided. Therefore all divisions are false.
There cannot be an Indian sky, a Chinese sky and so on. But we
perceive it to be so. So, it is up to us how broad we want our
vision to be. When you stick to a particular attitude you become
finite. Get rid of all attitudes and you become infinite. In order
to comprehend the infinite, one has to change. How?
