According to Osho, fatigue does not mean a lack of energy; in fact, energy is awakening. What’s getting tired are the senses—the doors through which energy flows—not the energy itself. Exhaustion arises from identifying with these doors. Remember you are the awareness within; let the tired senses rest, turn inward, and allow the rising energy to stabilize without forcing outward activity.
Feeling tired usually means your senses are worn out, not that your inner energy is gone—rest them and stay quietly aware inside.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, so in this experiment, fatigue does not mean a lack of energy?
No, not at all. The energy is awakening—the energy is awakening; the whole work is going on precisely to awaken the energy. Yes, the senses are getting tired. The senses are not energy; they are only the doors through which energy flows. This door is not me; I am other than it. I go in and out through this door. The door is getting tired, and the door is saying: Please, don’t go out through us—we are very tired. But where will you go? In the end you will have to remain inside. The door is saying: We are very tired now; please don’t go outside, because if you go, we will have to get back to work. The eye is saying: We are tired—don’t travel this way now. The senses are tiring. And their tiredness, primarily, is a great ally—in that sense. Fatigue due to identification.
Questioner: so in this meditation, tiring out does not mean lack of energy.
Not in the least. It is meant to awaken the energy -- the energy that lies asleep inside each one of you. And the whole work is meant to awaken it. It is true that the sense organs get tired; but the sense organs don't comprise the energy, they are merely the doors through which the energy passes. And you are not the door; you are something else. You merely pass through these doors. And it is the doors that get tired and ask you not to pass through them, because they are overworked and exhausted. Your eyes are refusing to be used. And the other senses say the same thing. So initially this process of tiring out the senses is very helpful.
A friend has asked: Osho, in the very first stage of meditation I feel completely exhausted within a minute or two.
No, you don’t actually get tired; the thought of being tired arises. The thought of tiredness is a big thing. When you feel, “I’m utterly exhausted,” if at that very moment someone were to come after you with a gun, threatening to kill you, you would discover you’re not tired at all. You’d run for miles, and the fatigue would vanish. What happened? You were tired, weren’t you? Someone is chasing you with a gun—how are you running now? In truth, we have no idea how much power lies within us. We live using only the small amount of energy that floats on the surface. When that little portion gets a bit weary, we conclude, “Now I’m tired; that’s the end of it.” The moment you feel fatigue, begin again with even more intensity. Within two minutes you will find the tiredness has disappeared and a great energy has surged…
But try an experiment. Close your ears, close your eyes, keep your lips sealed, and then touch someone. You will find that in your touching another kind of experience happens, as if a new electricity is flowing through touch. The power of the blind man’s eyes moves into the other senses. I say this because if our senses are not squandered outward, not wasted, their power flows into the inner senses. If we use the outer senses very prudently, without abuse... What we are doing is abuse. Walking down the street you are reading posters on the walls. If you did not read them, no one would work so hard to write them. Those who write know well that neurotics pass here; they cannot refrain from reading. They know that madmen pass; they will read. And if you think, "No, if I wish I will not read," try.
Right now I can say something to you about how to distinguish but that won't be right because whatsoever I say will become an intellectual understanding to you. And there is every danger that your intellectual understanding will make you repressive. The intellect is very repressive, dominating, dictatorial. That's how it has disconnected you from your own body. So first put that intellect aside -- that's what I am trying to say. Just put it aside. If it is saying it is lazy, it is lazy -- okay. But if the body is saying something, you are going to listen to the body and not to the intellect. There is one way to make the distinction -- through the intellect; that will always be repressive. There is another way to make the distinction -- through the body; that will never be repressive. The body is more wise.