Dhyan Darshan #4

Both have to be done. Because without looking toward me, you cannot see me. You must look toward me. But not only “toward,” because “toward” is a very big thing; much else comes with it. Look toward me, but look at me.

Keep your glasses on. In the night experiment there is no need to take off your glasses—at least those who are seated certainly don’t need to. Those who are standing can take them off. So those who have difficulty seeing, who cannot see from a distance, should stand near me, close to the stage. Those who are seated need not remove their glasses.

There are many sciences. Physical science may perhaps not agree. But spiritual science has always agreed—and it is with spiritual science that I am speaking here. The approval of physical science carries little weight, because it knows only these two eyes. From working with these two eyes, one discovers that a third eye, between them, can be activated; of this physical science knows nothing.

Therefore, naturally, if a father is digging the earth and sowing seeds, his son may ask, “Why are you spoiling these seeds by throwing them into the soil?” Because he knows nothing—that these seeds can sprout. He also does not know that when one seed breaks, a thousand seeds will be born. He knows nothing of what will happen by planting a seed in the ground.

Physical science is, in many ways, a child—very new. Its understanding is not that deep. It is extensive, yes; not intensive. So physical science knows a great deal about our two eyes, which spiritual science does not concern itself with. But spiritual science knows something else of which physical science has no inkling—that is the third eye.

Even so, slowly, physical science too has begun to incline in that direction. Ordinarily, if you, without any spiritual resolve, keep your eyes open in the same way for forty minutes, the eyes will be harmed. Mind you, I am speaking conditionally. If you, without any spiritual reason, without any spiritual resolve, keep your eyes open for forty minutes, the eyes will be harmed. But if, with a spiritual resolve, to awaken the dormant energy within, you keep your eyes open not for forty minutes but even for four hours, there will be no harm. Because that inner resolve begins the work of opening the third eye. If that resolve is absent, the process of the third eye opening does not begin. And when the third eye begins to open, your two eyes will only benefit, not be harmed.

It was also asked whether it is possible that, through this experiment, weak eyes gain in power.
Not merely possible—certain. But if someone undertakes this experiment only to strengthen weak eyesight, harm will result, not benefit. That is purely a by-product; it cannot be kept as the aim. Keep your attention only on the inner resolve in meditation. If that resolve is deep, even a blind eye can see. Many times this has happened. The lame have walked; the deaf have heard. But that inner resolve must be very deep.

Yes, if a deaf person is meditating only in order to hear, he will not hear. It will depend on how great the inner longing is. Meditation is not for small desires—though small desires do get fulfilled through it. But do not bring them in the way. No harm will come if the resolve is deep. And even if the resolve is not deep, no harm will come, because if the resolve is not deep, your eyes are not going to remain open for forty minutes—they will close. They can remain open only through resolve. To keep the eyes open for forty minutes can happen only through deep resolve, through will-force. And one whose resolve has that much strength—no harm will come to his eyes. And if there is not that much strength of resolve, the eyes will close earlier. Let that worry go.

That too is a process of meditation. But perhaps it wouldn’t be right to say it is; it would be right to say it was—now it is not. Once it was. No religion has ever been born in this world without a deep process of meditation at its source. Not a single religion could arise without it. But, gradually, all meditative processes become rituals, mere rites and ceremonies. People begin to perform them in a merely formal way—formal. Now, since a man is a Muslim, he goes on Hajj; not for meditation, not for God. Because if meditation and the divine are really in one’s heart, there is no need to go to Mecca; it can happen on this very patch of earth. The need to go to Mecca arises from being a Muslim; it does not arise from meditation. The need to go to Kashi arises from being a Hindu; it does not arise from meditation. The need to go to Girnar arises from being a Jain; it is not for meditation.

And here is the amusing part: if a Jain is living in Mecca, he will come to Girnar; and if a Muslim is living in Junagadh, he will go to Mecca. Sheer madness. A Muslim of Kashi will go to Mecca, and a Hindu of Mecca will come to Kashi. Utter madness. If the concern is meditation, it can happen anywhere. No corner of this earth is deprived of the divine. It can happen in Mecca, in Medina, in Bombay. And one who has no understanding of the process of meditation will not find it in Mecca, nor in Kashi, nor even on Kailash.

Therefore the real question is to understand the process. The primary process at the heart of Hajj was meditation. All pilgrimage places arose out of meditation, and so did all religions. But then it all gets lost. And those who are religious by birth—by birth—there are no people more falsely religious than they. Yet we all are religious by birth; we have no other basis for being religious.

Can one be religious by birth? If we start making someone educated by birth, that day you will understand—the son of an educated father becomes educated by birth, the son of a doctor becomes a doctor by birth—then you will see what danger would descend upon the world. But Muslims, Hindus, Christians are becoming religious by birth. The father was by birth, and his father was by birth. If one’s immediate father had been a doctor, perhaps by living with him a person might learn a little. But someone’s father died fourteen hundred years ago, someone else’s five thousand years ago, someone else’s ten thousand years ago. And the farther back the father died, the more one thinks one’s religion is that much more precious.

All the processes of religion are related to meditation. But it is more proper to understand meditation directly rather than to get entangled in those processes.

When you have a headache, how do you recognize it? When your stomach is hungry, how do you recognize it? When the body is ill, how do you recognize it—and when it is healthy, how do you recognize that from within? In exactly the same way, no inner event can remain unknown. Kundalini too is recognized. Those who have known have said a few things; they are symbolic, and finally they don’t mean much, because in each person there will be differences—subtle differences. Still, a few outward indicators can be understood. Real understanding will arise from within when the event happens.

For instance, we have seen fire: a flame always moves upward. Water always moves downward. Leave water unsupported and it settles into hollows; leave fire to itself and it is lost in the sky. It is the nature of fire to rise; it is the nature of water to descend.

Kundalini is like fire; its nature is to move upward. When some energy within you begins to move from below upward…

It is asleep; that is why it was given the name “kundalini,” as if a snake were sleeping coiled up, and when it rises the coils break and the hood lifts. When a snake rises with its full strength, it stands up on its tail. It is a miracle! For the snake has no bones, no backbone, no spine. Without a spine it can stand straight on its tail.

Just so, the serpent became the symbol of kundalini. Some energy lies asleep within, below the navel. When it awakens, it rises as if a serpent suddenly shoots up, and its hood reaches to the head. It is a symbol—only a symbol. When just such a force begins to rise from within, you will not need to ask; you will recognize it. There has never been any confusion about it.

They have asked one more thing: We have practiced concentration and vigorous breathing many times, but the kind of experience happening in your presence has never happened. Will such an experience be possible in your absence as well?

Certainly it will. Once you have had the experience, it cannot be taken away from you. It can happen anywhere, under any circumstances. If a beggar comes to know—even for a single moment—that there is a diamond in his pocket, he is no longer a beggar. Later he may even forget which pocket it is in, but still he is no longer the same beggar. Walking on the road he is a different man. And the one who has once known his diamond will find the way again. He will find it; it is not going to be very difficult.

The big question is to have the first taste. We do not search for what we have never tasted. And in a group, the taste becomes easier. My presence alone is not enough; the resolve of so many people around you is also present. All these people together, their collective resolve, create a psychic atmosphere, a special field. In that atmosphere you rise higher than the level at which you ordinarily are.

You do not know that if fifty people are walking fast and you are among them, you will start walking faster than you have ever walked—because fifty people create a rhythm on all sides, and you fall into their pace. The weakest person becomes brave among fifty brave men. He does not even notice when it happens. The resolve of fifty people and the power of their resolve create an atmosphere in which you are changed. In the company of the bad you become bad; in the company of the good you become good.

A human being, as you are now, is not a fixed thing—like a thermometer, you go up and down all the time. When the outer heat rises, you go up; when it chills, you go down. No person is fixed. One is always rising and falling with the surrounding situation. If bad people gather around, you immediately drop; if good people gather, you rise.

This is why I just spoke of the Hajj: Hajj or pilgrimage were once experiments to gather the good together—if all the good people come to one place, what they cannot do alone may happen collectively. Their combined resolve may create that air, that atmosphere, that magnetism in which what did not happen alone can happen among all. And once it happens, thereafter it can happen again and again. If I come to know once that I can jump six feet high, then I can jump even when I am alone.

So do not worry. It will happen even in my absence. But for now, do not worry about my absence; for these three or four days, be concerned with the presence. In these three or four days, allow as much as can happen through presence to happen fully. Then it will be possible.

They have asked one more thing: Is there any possibility that this will have bad effects on the mind?

It will have a very bad effect on the mind. The mind can only die. But there will be no bad effect on you. You can be at ease. The mind has to die; this is an experiment in the death of the mind. And the mind is your illness. You are asking as if a tuberculosis patient goes to the hospital and says, “Will your medicine have any bad effect on my TB?” It will! If it is not going to harm the TB, then there is no need to go to the hospital—then you should keep your TB safe at home. There will be a bad effect on the mind, not on you. The mind is your disease; it is not you. You want freedom from it—and that will happen.

I will be responsible! Certainly I will be responsible! The mind is to be slain. One has to be free of the mind.

Now understand two or three things regarding the meditation, then we will sit. If there are further questions, we will talk about them in the morning.

You understood the experiment yesterday. Therefore yesterday you could be excused if you did it slowly; today you cannot be excused.

This morning there was a lot of result. Friends who put in their total energy made the result inevitable. Tonight the result will be many times greater than that. But it is essential to put in total energy.

First, those friends who in the morning found themselves intensely dancing and jumping will stand on either side of me. Understand the whole thing first, then get up. Do not be afraid of standing. Those who found standing convenient in intensity—who enjoyed standing in the morning—will do the experiment standing.

Those who are sitting will remain in the middle. Tonight the lights will be on, so those who are standing should spread all around, leaving only the space at the back. We will keep the back space for the onlookers. Some friends come to watch; for them the space at the back is reserved—they may go and stand there or sit. Kindly, no spectator will sit in the middle. Otherwise we would have to move you from the middle, and that creates difficulty. If you want to watch, seat yourself at the back. Nor will spectators stand nearby; all who are merely watching should go to the rear so they can see comfortably from there. The lights will be on; they will be able to see fully.

A second request to the observers: do not stand anywhere else—stand at the back. And second, do not talk. Kindly keep watching in silence; talk afterwards, after forty minutes. Do not disturb others here.

Those who are standing, and those who will remain seated for the meditation in the middle, must keep their eyes open for the full forty minutes and keep looking at me. Let all your energy become the eyes, and let the eyes keep looking at me. For forty minutes do not blink. If tears begin to flow, if there is burning, do not worry about it. When tears begin to flow and burning sets in, that is precisely the right moment. At that time, if you miss even a little, the eyes will close; so put in your total strength and keep the eyes open. In that very instant there is a possibility that your third eye will become active—that is the moment. When these eyes tire and you do not give in but keep looking, the third eye becomes active.

Keep in mind, there is a law of the energies of life: whatever reserve forces we have come into play only when the ordinary forces we normally use are exhausted; before that they do not come into operation.

You may have noticed many times that if you feel hungry at eleven and you do not eat, ordinarily by twelve the hunger ought to increase—but by twelve it will lessen. By one it will lessen even more; it will not increase. Because the ordinary energy that works for hunger tried to do its job and it didn’t work, the reserve forces for nourishment are released, and they will fill the stomach.

If at night you are sleepy at twelve—yawning and troubled—and you keep awake for an hour and do not sleep, your sleep ought to increase. But no; at one o’clock you will find the sleep gone—you have become fresh as in the morning. Why? Because the ordinary forces tried to work and you did not yield, so the body gave itself the special energy it has for wakefulness.

Our body has reserve forces, reservoirs, for every power. That is why a man can live for ninety days without eating; the entire system of the body changes. After seven days hunger no longer arises, because the body abandons the normal functioning and begins to give from its reserves.

One can remain awake for so long, one can remain hungry for so long; one can run so far. But all reserve forces come into operation only when your normal, ordinary force has become useless.

So when your eyes tire and begin to blink, understand that the right opportunity has come. If you slip even a little at that time, it goes wrong. In that moment, apply your total strength. In a little while the burning will pass, the tears will be gone, the eyes will feel fresh, and you will find that something else within you has begun to see.

In this experiment, those friends who in the morning’s experiment felt joy through the breath, and who at night also feel to breathe, may breathe; they can stand outside or sit and breathe. Those who are seated will also make a little space around them, because the body may start moving. And if it moves, let it move. Exactly as in the morning’s experiment, whatever happens in the body is to be allowed to happen, intensely. If you feel like screaming, scream loudly. If you feel like shaking, shake vigorously. Whatever it is—laughing, crying, shouting—let it be completed. And the whole time, keep your attention and your eyes toward me. Whatever the body does, let it do; do not stop it.

I will remain silent for forty minutes. In these forty minutes, as you keep looking only toward me, many things may appear; there is no need to be frightened by them. And those who, in these forty minutes, truly keep looking with determination—inner connections with me will be established with them. If I wish to say something to them, I will be able to say it; it will be transferred to them.

And one more thing a friend has asked:
If, in your absence, we do something and something happens, then what?

If you now establish with me a connection of silence, then in my absence that connection can be made anywhere. But it can be made only if it is made here first; otherwise it is difficult. And it can be made—there is not the slightest hindrance in it.

In these forty minutes I will not speak in words, but I will speak from the heart and will try to convey that to you. If you consent, it will reach you, it will be understood, grasped, heard, recognized—deeper than words, clearer than words.

I will certainly make gestures with my hands. When I feel within you that energy is arising, and I feel that you are holding it back, I will signal you not to suppress it and to let it rise. When I signal, understand my gesture and allow your energy to rise fully. If at that moment crying comes, shouting comes, trembling comes, dancing comes—let it come; put your whole strength into it. These forty minutes can become unforgettable for your life. Since you have come, do not return empty-handed.

Those friends who want only to watch—though they are uncomprehending friends who have come merely to watch, yet there should be space even for the uncomprehending—let them go to the back. Those friends who wish to do it standing should come to either side, but spread out at a distance, all around. And no other onlooker, no spectator, should be standing here and there—let them go to the back. Among the friends who are seated, not a single person should remain sitting here who is merely sitting idle; let him move away—he could be harmed.

In a minute or two, quickly find your place.

Do not talk at all—there is no need for any conversation. Those who are watching, go to the back. No one who is going to meditate should go to the back. Observers, go to the rear. Those who will meditate, spread out on three sides—come near me, line up on both sides.

Do not talk; quickly move aside. And those who are seated, please check that there is a little space around you, so that if you sway and move you don’t bump into anyone. And at the back, even if someone does get bumped, don’t worry about it—keep your moving and swaying going. Friends who are standing just to watch will not speak for forty minutes; even that much restraint will be a great discipline, and they will gain a little from it. Just keep watching.

So shall I take it that you have chosen your places? Stand a little off to the side; those who are sitting there will be inconvenienced. Those who are standing, step a bit away. Those who are sitting, separate a little so you don’t get in between. Because if someone who is standing falls, or something happens, you will be hurt. Leave a little space. They will dance, they will jump, so it will cause difficulty. Leave a little gap between those sitting and those standing, so that no one falls. Today there is light, so spread out farther apart.

All right! Close your eyes for two minutes, join your hands and make a resolve; then we will enter the meditation.

Join both hands. Close your eyes. With the Lord as witness, make a resolve: I, with the Lord as witness, resolve that I will put my whole energy into the meditation. I, with the Lord as witness, resolve that I will put my whole energy into the meditation. I, with the Lord as witness, resolve that I will put my whole energy into the meditation. Do not forget your resolve; the Lord never forgets your resolve.

Release your hands, open your eyes, begin to look toward me—for forty minutes, resolutely! Much will happen. Whatever happens, let it happen.
(After this, the meditation experiment continued for forty minutes. With hand gestures, Osho kept encouraging the seekers to put in their total energy. After forty minutes of meditation, Osho begins to offer guidance.)
Take a few deep breaths and come back up. If your eyes don’t open, place both hands over your eyes, take a few deep breaths, then open your eyes.
Keep two or three things in mind. You worked hard in the experiment, but more can still be done. About fifty percent of you went deep. But the remaining fifty percent being left behind is not a happy thing either. Those who worked hard today, work even harder tomorrow. Those who did not, work hard as well.
The temple of the Divine is not far. But we become miserly even about taking a single step. And if we take one step, the Divine is always ready to walk a thousand. But we don’t manage even that one step. Drop hesitation, drop fear. Let go of worrying about what people will say. One who worries about what others will say can never set out in search of truth. One who frets that laughter might arise, or tears might arise, or dancing might happen—who is afraid to be even a little mad—cannot embark on the journey to the Divine.
In one sense, only those find the Divine whose thirst is so deep that they can be mad for it. Those whose thirst is not that deep—deep enough to go mad for it—should not even raise their eyes toward that journey.
I hope tomorrow morning we will undertake an even deeper experiment. In these five days, I would like that no one goes away empty-handed. Of course, if someone has already decided to live empty-handed, then it is beyond even the Divine’s power to fill your hands. Only those hands can be filled which are held out. But those who stand with clenched fists—their hands remain empty.
If there are any questions, I will speak with you in the morning.
Our night session is complete.