The
Art of Listening
- Extracts from Osho's Speech
The art of meditation
Is the art of listening
With your total being
"If one can learn how to listen rightly, one has learned the deepest
secret of meditation."
The essential function of the Osho talks is to provide an easily accessible way of
learning this art of listening. An opportunity to experience, "silence with no
effort," the key to bringing sharpened awareness to your daily life.
Whether you want to
listen quietly at home, or while commuting to work, or sitting in the park, never has
meditation been more simple, or more widely available to anyone anywhere.
Once you have selected an Osho talk, make yourself comfortable, relax and, in your own
time, allow your eyes to close.
The purpose of these talks:
“The way I talk is a little strange. No speaker in the world talks like me.
Technically it is wrong; it takes almost double the time! But those speakers have a
different purpose – my purpose is absolutely different from theirs. They speak
because they are prepared for it; they are simply repeating something that they have
rehearsed. Secondly, they are speaking to impose a certain ideology, a certain idea on
you. Thirdly, to them speaking is an art; they go on refining it.
As far as I am concerned, I am not what they call a speaker or an orator. It is not an art
to me or a technique; technically I go on becoming worse every day! But our purposes are
totally different. I donīt want to impress you in order to manipulate you. I donīt speak
for any goal to be achieved through convincing you. I donīt speak to convert you into a
Christian, into a Hindu or a Mohammedan, into a theist or an atheist. These are not my
concerns.
My speaking is really one of my devices for meditation. Speaking has never been used this
way: I speak not to give you a message, but to stop your mind functioning.
I speak nothing prepared. I donīt know myself what is going to be the next word; hence I
never make any mistake. One makes a mistake if one is prepared. I never forget anything,
because one forgets if one has been remembering it. So I speak with a freedom that perhaps
nobody has ever spoken with.
I am not concerned whether I am consistent, because that is not the purpose. A man who
wants to convince you and manipulate you through his speaking has to be consistent, has to
be logical, has to be rational, to overpower your reason. He wants to dominate through
words.
My purpose is so unique: I am using words just to create silent gaps. The words are not
important so I can say anything contradictory, anything absurd, anything unrelated,
because my purpose is just to create. The words are secondary; the silences between those
words are primary. This is simply a device to give you a glimpse of meditation. And once
you know that it is possible for you, you have traveled far in the direction of your own
being.
Most of the people in the world donīt think that it is possible for mind to be silent.
Because they donīt think it is possible, they donīt try. How to give people a taste of
meditation was my basic reason to speak, so I can go on speaking eternally; it does not
matter what I am saying. All that matters is that I give you a few chances to be silent,
which you find difficult on your own in the beginning.
I cannot force you to be silent, but I can create a device in which spontaneously you are
bound to be silent. I am speaking, and in the middle of a sentence, when you were
expecting another word to follow, nothing follows but a silent gap. Your mind was looking
to listen, and waiting for something to follow, and does not want to miss it –
naturally it becomes silent. What can the poor mind do? If it was well known at what
points I will be silent, if it was declared to you that on such and such points I will be
silent, then you could manage to think; you would not be silent. Then you know: ‘This
is the point where he is going to be silent; now I can have a little chit-chat with
myself.’ But because it comes absolutely suddenly.... I donīt know myself why at
certain points I stop.
Anything like this, in any orator in the world, will be condemned, because an orator
stopping again and again means he is not well prepared, he has not done the homework. It
means that his memory is not reliable, that he cannot find, sometimes, what word to use.
But because it is not oratory, I am not concerned about the people who will be condemning
me – I am concerned with you.
It is not only here, but far away...anywhere in the world where people will be listening
to the video or to the audio, they will come to the same silence. My success is not to
convince you, my success is to give you a real taste so that you can become confident that
meditation is not a fiction, that the state of no-mind is not just a philosophical idea,
that it is a reality; that you are capable of it, and that it does not need any special
qualifications.
With me, to be silent is easier because of one other reason. I am silent; even while I am
speaking I am silent. My innermost being is not involved at all. What I am saying to you
is not a disturbance or a burden or a tension to me; I am as relaxed as one can be.
Speaking or not speaking does not make any difference to me.
Naturally, this kind of state is infectious.
Because I cannot go on speaking the whole day to keep you in meditative moments, I want
you to become responsible. Accepting that you are capable of being silent will help you
when you are meditating alone. Knowing your capacity...and one comes to know oneīs
capacity only when one experiences it. There is no other way.
Donīt make me wholly responsible for your silence, because that will create a difficulty
for you. Alone, what are you going to do? Then it becomes a kind of addiction, and I
donīt want you to be addicted to me. I donīt want to be a drug to you.
I want you to be independent and confident that you can attain these precious moments on
your own.
If you can attain them with me, there is no reason why you cannot attain them without me,
because I am not the cause. You have to understand what is happening: listening to me, you
put your mind aside.
Listening to the ocean, or listening to the thundering of the clouds, or listening to the
rain falling heavily, just put your ego aside, because there is no need... The ocean is
not going to attack you, the rain is not going to attack you, the trees are not going to
attack you – there is no need of any defense. To be vulnerable to life as such, to
existence as such, you will be getting these moments continuously. Soon it will become
your very life.
Wherever you are – at home, at work, or on the way between the two – you can use
the presence of any sound, any noise, as an opportunity to move inside to a space of inner
silence and stillness.”
The inner revolution brings
freedom and the only way to make oneself go through the inner revolution is meditation.
Meditation simply means learning to forget all that you have learned. It is a process of
deconditioning, a process of dehypnosis.
The society has burdened everybody with thousands of thoughts. Meditation simply helps you
to come you of that world of thoughts, into a state of silence. It is a process of
cleaning your slate completely, it is emptying all that has been forced and stuffed inside
you.
Once you are empty, spacious, silent, clean, the revolution has happened, the sun has
risen; then you live in its light! And to live in the light of your inner sun is to live
rightly. In fact that is the only way to live. Others are only dying, just dying slowly,
moving in a queue goes on becoming shorter and shorter every moment, and any moment you
may be the first in the queue. In fact everybody is trying to be first in the queue; a
great desire to be the first everywhere.
The ordinary life is only called life – it is not. It is only so-called life. It is a
process of gradual death or to be more accurate, a process of gradual suicide.
The moment you become silent and aware and clear and your inner sky is full of delight,
you know the first taste of true life. One can call it god, one can call it enlightenment,
one can call it liberation; the experience of truth, love, freedom, bliss – different
names but the phenomenon is the same. |
Meditation
"Meditation is an Adventure, the greatest adventure human mind can make"
said Osho. No action, no thought, no emotion - just sheer delight. It is Awareness. It is
a flowering growth. Listening to the birds, rustling leaves, music or even traffic sounds,
brings in meditative peace . The sound of AUM as Shiva says: ‘Intone a sound as AUM
slowly. As sound enters soundfulness, so do you’ Sound can vibrate through mind, body
and soul. This is in tune with the sound and there exist harmony forming a deep affection
for the word AUM, the ultimate sound, the God which makes life beautiful and musical. Aum
is pure, sweetest sound. When there is noise, a person feels disturbed with with the sound
of AUM, if it is said with deep breadth in harmony to mind, body and soul, there is peace
and happiness within. Aum becomes mechanical and repeatation creates boredom but if it is
musical, harmonious than it is meditation. One needs to slow down and become alert. The
Mantras become helpful if one can feel the sound. With AUM, it’s the universal sound,
powers to bring in peace and there is harmony everywhere. The Essentials for Meditation is 'Freedom' & the essential
steps towards Meditation are:
Relaxed
state - No fight with mind, no
control of the mind, no concentration, just relaxing the Mind.
Watching
- Watch with relaxed awareness whatever is
happenning without any interference - watching the mind, silently, without any judgement,
evaluation.
Love is the fragrance of meditation. If you meditate, sooner or
later, you will come upon love. If you meditate deeply, tremendous love fills the heart
blend with kindness, new quality to your being, a new flame to glow. "Silence speaks
a thousand words" when there is love, touching own depths. Difference is that it is
not born out of mind but born out of meditation. It is a one thousand petalled Lotus
flower that blooms with fragrance. It is eternal, unconditional, not a relationship, pure
and genuine that surrounds life and fills with pleasure, the real essence of life.
Meditation + love is Compassion as defined by 'Buddha' Hence, meditating is flowering, a
growth which is always from total; grows out of totality with silence, sensitivity, love,
compassion, abiding joy, intelligence, aloneness and knowing real self.
Silence
: Silence is a reality. It is utterly positive. It is existential, it is not empty. It
overflows with music you have not heard before. This silence brings the truth, love and
thousands of other blessings. Meditate in silence brings love.
Growing
in Sensitivity: Meditation gives a great sense of belonging to the world. This will fill
love in heart and create friendship - with trees, birds, animals, mountains, rivers,
oceans, stars and humans and life grows richer making friends Its the attitude that keeps
your friendship bonds stronger each day with the awareness of meditative sensitivity in
you.
Abiding
joy: Joy of getting money, love, thing is short and not continuous. The joy is caused by
something will disappear, it will be momentary and leave you in deep sadness. Joy of
living is uninterrupted, continuous with the ultimate happiness through meditation.The
sudden joy for no reason, you cannot pinpoint why if somebody asks you 'why are you so
joyous? This is sheer joy, no reason at all, simply happy. This state becomes stronger
with meditation.
Intelligence:
Awareness so as to know what is demanded of you. Rediscovering intelligence through
meditation. Breaks all barriers in mind, brings freedom, spontaneity.
Aloneness:
Meditation means bliss in being alone. Inside journey, an absolute aloneness. Pure space,
no existence of anybody, anything. Everything is illusion, just aloneness, self being, an
awareness which becomes a song, song of meditation, a lone bird calling in distance as
heart fills with joy.
Real
Self: Meditation brings awareness of real self. Grows intuitive faculty. It becomes
clear what is going to fulfill you, what is going to help you flower. Different for each
individual, everybody is unique and so, seek and search for uniqueness is a great thrill
and adventure through meditation. Realising potentialities and being aware of self.
FITNESS
WALKING
Fitness is an
Attitude. The secret to keep fit as a fiddle is actually to enjoy exercising and burn away
the extra calories that produce bulky layer over the body. Fitness fanatics are the early
morning fitness freaks who walk, jog, swim or exercise in order to pump their weights down
and watch out their health. Some are regulars as some are just the freaks who are
conscious but cannot stick to the routine. Whereas the noble souls, the fitness failures
are the ones who are couch potatoes who don’t believe in torturing their body as
their minds swirl with other creative pursuits. Health centers mushroom with a promising
squeeze down to look slim and trim. Whatever the way, health is a prime concern and
Walking Fit is the best exercise to check those pulse rates, blood pressures, lungs, fats
and cholesterol level. The fatty, plump figures are shaped too soon with brisk walks with
an approach to right diet. Lifestyles that changed since many years have invited health
problems as people have sorted for modern facilities like Computers, television, vehicles,
machines and so on. Life is in the fast track lane and all one can sort for is the right
Attitude and right Fitness-for-life programme like Walking. A daily routine walk, at least 20 mins. is appropriate for young and old
to beat stress for healthy body, mind and soul. It is the safest exercise, improves
respiratory system, ideal for conditioning the muscles and check those unwanted calories.
Above all, Walking is inexpensive. It is said 2 miles per hour in slow pace in 30 mins
would burn 120 calories whereas brisk walking for 4 miles per hour would burn 210 calories
in 30 mins.
Aristotle, the Greek Philosopher wrote
‘Man alone, among all beings walk erect, because his nature and his being are divine.’
The World Health Organization defines a healthy body as one that is in a state of complete
physical and mental well being. When a person is healthy, one can meet any challenge but
Fitness allows a person to perform work more efficiently and with less efforts. Along with
Fitness walking, adequate sleep, food diet, habits need to be reformed and this also
influence the nature of a person.
WALKING FOR FUN
Isn’t it sad that city kids hardly go
for those dearly, cheery long walks-off to school, fountain gardens, long paths or just
anywhere about. Exercise is out and Activities are in.Karate is in, walking is out.
Scooter/car rides are in, cycling is out. Sure, this implies not for the Health conscious
freaks - The Health clubs are In & household chores are out. Fast food is in and
nourishing home made stuff is out.
Walking may be an X rated activity for many
but is an easy, rythematic and habit forming exercise to keep fit as a fiddle. It is a
perfect exercise for mind relaxing, weight loss, healthy body and mind, planning your day
and above all, keep yourself in good Mood. 20-30 minutes a day, four days in a week can
make wonders and make you feel on top of the world. But then, did you know that you have
been taking an average 10500 steps, at least 4 miles each day, amounting to nearly 4
million steps, 1500 miles each and every year! So, just walking in and around your house,
workplace, outings is not just that enough. The way you walk is important and above all -
"Stop that environment pollution" theme automatically is geared towards right
direction- Only if all start Walking.
Maybe, just for Fun! So, wake up those
lazybones before it’s too late.
MERRY LAUGHING
Along with Walks, equally important is
Laughter. Walking makes for a long life but Laughter is the secret of success as it is the
best medicine or a tranquilizer with no side effects. Laughter pumps out the extra energy
and stimulates the lungs for better functioning. Laughing aloud is like chasing away the
blues and a expression of feeling which is brought by seeing, remembering, imagining,
thinking, hearing and just be light hearted. The ability to laugh is the essence of love
which is immortal and has no grievances to trace stress or traumas as it leaves behind
trails of sorrows, worries or the sort. When a person laughs, it is sheer joy, delight,
amusement, calmness of mind and lightness of the heart. Laughter brings sunshine in life.
It builds up the mood, creates opportunities and invites friends. It is said ‘Laugh
and the world laughs with you, cry and you are alone’ Therefore, Think, Thank and
Laugh. |
PERSONALITY
ZONE
ilaxi