Shiva: The God of Meditation points to a path without preface—no intellectual scaffolding, no detours—only the immediacy of practice. In the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, the dialogue of Shiva and Parvati, Shiva is said to offer one hundred and twelve methods that turn the mind from its habitual journeys into past and future, plunging awareness into the living present. Osho emphasizes this radical directness: when attention falls wholly into the now, the mind—whose very fabric is time—stops. There is nothing to solve, only a pivot of attention.
This practice honors Shiva’s life-affirming Tantra: the senses are not enemies, but doorways; energy is not repressed, but refined into presence, love, and compassion. The meditation below embodies Shiva’s immediate approach: enter now, through sensation; remain fresh, unarguing, unadorned. Let thought pass without negotiation. Abide where the mind cannot follow.
Phase Instructions
First Stage: Immediate Turn to Now
Sit or stand with the spine at ease and the jaw relaxed. Let the breath move naturally. Without any analysis or preparation, place attention in the raw fact of this moment—contact points of the body, the rise and fall of the breath, the simple presence of sound. Each time you notice the mind leaning into memory or anticipation, do nothing to explain it; silently withdraw attention from the story and return to bare sensation now. Keep the eyes gently closed or softly open, unfixated. This is not concentration; it is a clear, relaxed pivot into immediacy, again and again.
Second Stage: Enter Through the Senses
Open to the five senses at once. Let sounds arrive without naming; feel temperature, weight, and subtle vibrations on the skin; notice taste in the mouth, scent in the air, light and shadow before the eyes if they are open. Receive everything as a single field, unedited. If labeling begins, allow the label to fade and return to the texture itself. The instruction is simple: stay with what is unmistakably present, continuously.
Third Stage: Rest Where Mind Stops
Notice the natural pauses—gaps between breaths, brief silences between thoughts, the stillness under all movement. When a gap appears, don’t reach for the next thought. Let the pause widen. Rest as the one who knows, not as anything known. If thought reappears, see that it is already past or future, and gently re-enter the living present through breath and sensation. Remain effortless, alert, and unoccupied.
Fourth Stage: Carry the Present into Movement
Slowly open the eyes (if closed) and allow small movements—stretching, standing, or a few steps of mindful walking. Keep attention rooted in immediate sensation: the pressure of the feet, the flow of breath, the play of sound and space. Let silence continue inside activity. Conclude with one unhurried exhalation, acknowledging the taste of presence. Through the day, return to this pivot whenever you notice time-thinking; enter now, without commentary.
Core Benefits
- Direct entry into the present moment
- Mind stops its habitual journeys into past and future
- Energy is refined into presence, love, and compassion
- Senses are used as doorways to awareness
- Thought passes without negotiation
What Osho Said About This Technique
Sutras: shiva replies:
1. RADIANT ONE, THIS EXPERIENCE MAY DAWN BETWEEN TWO BREATHS. AFTER BREATH COMES IN (DOWN) AND JUST BEFORE TURNING UP (OUT) -- THE BENEFICENCE. 2. AS BREATH TURNS FROM DOWN TO UP, AND AGAIN AS BREATH CURVES FROM UP TO DOWN -- THROUGH BOTH THESE TURNS, REALIZE. 3. OR, WHENEVER IN-BREATH AND OUT-BREATH FUSE, AT THIS INSTANT TOUCH THE ENERGY-LESS, ENERGY-FILLED CENTER. 4. OR, WHEN BREATH IS ALL OUT (UP) AND STOPPED OF ITSELF, OR ALL IN (DOWN) AND STOPPED -- IN SUCH UNIVERSAL PAUSE, ONE'S SMALL SELF VANISHES. THIS IS DIFFICULT ONLY FOR THE IMPURE. You were afraid in the city. Everywhere there were others present and you were controlling. You could not scream, you could not laugh. What a misfortune! You could not sing on the street and dance. You were afraid -- a policeman was somewhere around the corner, or the priest or the judge or the…Read the full discourse →
Question: BIJAVDHANAM ASNASTHAH SUKHAM HRIDAE NIMAJJATI SVAMATRA NIRMANAPADAYATI VIDYA-AVINASHE JANMAVINASHAH. MEDITATION IS THE SEED. JUST SITTING, RELAXED WITHIN HIMSELF, HE ENTERS SPONTANEOUSLY INTO THE LAKE OF SUPREME BEING. HE ATTAINS TO SELF-CREATION OR BECOMES 'TWICE-BORN'. ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE LEADS TO CESSATION Do not fight the mind. Do not suppress it. Do not order it not to think, for remember, this too is thinking. Even this much of a thought can keep the mind going. The mind will stir up a great deal of chaos, but don't fight it. Your reactions will show that you are still willing to give in to it, that you have failed to ignore it. Indifference is the key. Just watch. Say nothing. It is going to be difficult, for the habits are old and deep-seated. It has always been your habit to talk with the mind, to answer it back.Read the full discourse →
Question: SUKHA-ASUKHAVORBAHIRMANANAM TADVIMUKTASTU KEVALI TADARORHAPRANITESTATKSHAYAJ JIVASANKSHYA BHOOTAKANSHUKI TADAVIMUKTO BHUYAH PATISAMAH PARAH OM SHRI SHIVARPANAM SATU HAPPINESS AND SORROW ARE BUT EXTERNAL MOODS -- THIS HE KNOWS CONSTANTLY. FREED FROM THESE, HE ACHIEVES HIS ALONENESS. THE YOGI WHO IS ESTABLISHED IN HIS ALONENESS CEASES TO DESIRE, AND THUS ATTAINS FREEDOM FROM BIRTH AND DEATH. THE LIBERATED PERSON, FOR WHOM BODY AND MIND ARE NO MORE THEN CLOTHING, ATTAINS TO SHIVAHOOD. OM! THIS IS DEDICATED TO LORD SHIVA. Understand the technique. First, you have to sit quietly for ten minutes, but before you sit you have to purge yourself off all your restlessness by being totally active for five minutes; dance, jump, skip and run, whatever is required to satisfy your restlessness. It must be cleansed from every pore, from every part of the body; only then can you sit in silence for ten minutes.Read the full discourse →
Therefore, gradually freeing oneself from all that is seen, dissolving into the pure seer—this is chintavan. “Only that shramana is a meditator on the Atman...” And Mahavira says: only he attains meditation who practices chintavan—who sees, who experiences, who realizes: I am not of the other; nor are others mine. I am pure, awakened, knowledge-filled Chaitanya. “The Tathagata does not look into the meanings of past and future... ” “The Tathagata does not look into the meanings of past and future. Free of imagination, the great seer, as a visioner of the present, drains the body of karma and renders it feeble.” “The Tathagata does not look into the past and the future”—this is the definition of Tathagata: one who looks neither back nor ahead; who is sufficient in this very moment; who does not step out of this instant.Read the full discourse →
Sutra: devi asks: oh shiva, what is your reality? What is this wonder-filled universe?
WHAT CONSTITUTES SEED? WHO CENTERS THE UNIVERSAL WHEEL? WHAT IS THIS LIFE BEYOND FORM PERVADING FORMS? HOW MAY WE ENTER IT FULLY, ABOVE SPACE AND TIME, NAMES AND DESCRIPTIONS? LET MY DOUBTS BE CLEARED! LET MY DOUBTS BE CLEARED. The emphasis is not on questions but on doubts: LET MY DOUBTS BE CLEARED! This is very significant. If you are asking an intellectual question, you are asking for a definite answer so that your problem is solved. But Devi says, LET MY DOUBTS BE CLEARED. She is not really asking about answers. She is asking for a transformation of her mind, because a doubting mind will remain a doubting mind whatsoever answers are given. Note it: a doubting mind will remain a doubting mind. Answers are irrelevant. If I give you one answer and you have a doubting mind, you will doubt it. If I give you another answer, you…Read the full discourse →
Common Questions
It emphasizes living in the now, with no focus on the past or future.
The senses are regarded as doorways to awareness, not obstacles.
Thoughts are allowed to pass without negotiation, without being engaged with.
Energy is not repressed but refined into presence, love, and compassion.
It involves a direct, unadorned entry into the present, with no intellectual detours.