Whirling Meditation

The japanese master nan-in gave audience to a professor of philosophy. Serving tea, nan-in filled his visitor's cup, and kept pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he could restrain himself no longer: stop! The cup is overfull, no more will go in. Nan-in said: like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you zen unless you first empty your cup?

In the night, just the opposite of the morning -- be completely unconscious; don't bother at all. The night has come, the sun has set, now everything is moving into unconsciousness. Move into unconsciousness. This whirling, Sufi whirling, is one of the most ancient techniques, one of the most forceful. It is so deep that even a single experience can make you totally different. You have to whirl with open eyes, just like small children go on twirling, as if your inner being has become a center and your whole body has become like a wheel, moving- a potter's wheel, moving. You are in the center, but the whole body is moving. Start slowly, clockwise. If somebody feels it is very difficult to move clockwise then anti-clockwise, but the rule is to move clockwise. If a few people are left-handed then they may feel it difficult; they can move anti-clockwise.…

By knowing oneself as the individual witnessing self of the intellect, and all its moods, and cultivating such feelings as "I am that," one should renounce any identification with all things except the self. After ceasing to follow others, one should create a distance with one's own body. Then one should stop following scriptures and give up one's identification with the self also.

WHEN A YOGI IS ROOTED IN THE SELF, HIS MIND IS DESTROYED BY FOLLOWING RIGHT METHOD, RIGHT LISTENING, AND HIS FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE, AND BY SEEING OTHERS AS HIS OWN SELF. HE THEN, CONTEMPLATES THE SELF, INSIDE THE HEART, WITHOUT GIVING AN EAR TO WHAT PEOPLE SAY, WITHDRAWING HIS ATTENTION FROM THE OBJECTS OF THE SENSES: SOUND, TOUCH, SIGHT, TASTE AND SMELL COLLECTIVELY; AND HE DOES NOT GIVE IN TO SLEEP OR FORGETFULNESS OF THE SELF. The word "witnessing" is one of the most significant words, particularly in Eastern spiritual alchemy. This word is a key word. So we must understand what witnessing means. We act, we do something, and the moment we do it we become the doer -- you walk, you become the walker. But there is one more possibility -- to remain a witnesser, to remain a witness. Walk, eat, or do whatsoever; don't be identified with…

Osho, in one camp I did five meditations. I don’t know at what moment what happened. After returning, for four months I continuously felt a strange kind of bliss within, and my body kept swaying like a pendulum. “Om Anand” began to arise from my lips of its own accord, and I felt an intoxication that I still feel. And during bhajans, kirtans, discourses, or even just seeing others meditate, my body starts to sway. Also, after emotional excitement or a little exertion, the body begins to sway. Kindly analyze this condition, guide me for future practice, and shed light on the possibilities.

Bhagwandas! Meditation pours a wine into the heart. An auspicious sign has happened. You began to sway, you began to feel intoxicated. Embrace it. It seems there is still a little hesitation in your mind about accepting it. You are a bit timid, a little afraid. You are doubtful—did what happened happen rightly or not? Am I perhaps going mad? When the first incident of meditation happens, it does feel as if one has gone mad. Who knows what they kept thinking, endlessly, in their hearts, their heads bowed a long while over my funeral bier. Among them lay hidden someone’s secret of love— whose tears, having risen to the eyelashes, had already dried. The boundary of the Beloved’s lane begins exactly there where your steps start to stagger. The Beloved’s domain begins where the feet begin to wobble. Your feet have wobbled. Good! With it, some restlessness will also…

What has been asked is: Where is the source, the fountainhead, of peace, of bliss, of amrit?

And remember, if such mastery comes over any part of the body, then gradually mastery begins to come over the whole body. The eye is the most precious, the most delicate, the most valuable part of the body. One who becomes the master of the eyes becomes the master of the whole body. Perhaps you have never thought that the most precious words in the world we have formed from the eye. Darshan—vision, philosophy—comes from seeing. Drashta, the seer, comes from seeing. One who has mastery over the eyes becomes the master of vision. For the eyes are the most restless part of the body. And if mastery over the eyes is attained, then no other part of the body can remain outside your mastery; they are far more inert. Therefore this forty-minute experiment with the eyes carries very deep meaning; its implications are far-reaching. Tomorrow, those friends who could…

SECOND STAGE Now we have to enter the second stage. Continue deep breathing, and let go of the body. Leave the body to do what it wishes to do. Let go of it. Let it take whatever asanas or postures it wants to take; let it form whatever mudras or gestures it likes. Leave it free to move and shake and whirl as it likes. If it wants to weep let it. Let go of the body completely. Continue deep breathing and let go of the body. Let the body fall down if it wants to fall down. And let it rise again if it wants to rise. And if it wants to dance allow it wholly. Let go of the body absolutely. Let it do whatever it wants to do. Leave it free. Don't impede it even in the least. Cooperate with the body. If it spins, let it.