How can a person who has transcended the mind still act through it?

Why is the mind? It seems to be a very real part of our being. I would dig to function without it, but why, why is it there? Sometimes it seems that the mind screens out awareness, but also it seems that mind can be very practical, can help to do things. Does the mind have a place or is it something to be totally transcended?

'Why?' is a wrong question to ask. Things simply are. There is no why to them. The question why, once accepted, will lead you farther and farther into philosophy, and philosophy is a wasteland. You will not find any oasis there, it is desert. Ask the question 'why?' and you have started moving in a wrong direction; you will never come home. Existence is, there is no why to it. That's what we mean when we say it is a mystery, because there is no why to it. In fact it should not be there and it is. There seems to be no need for it to be there,, no reason for it to be there, and it is there. 'Why' is a mind question. And now you can be in a very great puzzle, because the mind is asking a question about itself: "Why is the mind?" The question…

Beloved Osho, lately, I feel that the longing inside to go beyond the mind and experience something more is growing. It seems like such a long process -- does it have to take a long time?

What are you doing? What goes on in your mind? What kinds of paintings do you make? What kinds of dreams come to you? What things make you jealous? What things make you infatuated? Just watch. You have been given, free of charge by your biology, a whole television set which needs no change of any batteries or any electricity; it runs continuously from the cradle to the grave. And who knows it may be running even in the grave. Brain surgeons have become aware of the fact that the brain can be taken out from your skull and put into a mechanical head. All that it needs is oxygen and blood for everything to run through the mechanical head exactly as it used to run in your head on your body. Your brain continues to function. It does not know that the man has changed. It goes on dreaming,…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, WHAT IS THE TRANSCENDENTAL? Meditation is just the opposite. It is awakening. It is becoming fully aware of your body, of your mind. And you have simply to be watchful. You don't have to repeat anything, because repetition means you have fallen into identifying with the thought process. Chanting is also a thought process. Repeating a mantra or a name of God -- Hindu, Mohammedan, Christian, it doesn't matter. You can simply count from one to a hundred and back again, from a hundred to ninety-nine, ninety-eight, ninety-seven, then go back. Go up, go down. Just climb the whole ladder up to a hundred and again come down. Four or five times you will be able to do it and then you will fall asleep. But the whole night you will have to do that, climbing up, coming down, climbing up, coming down.

Osho, you have said that liberation is not possible without going beyond the mind. In this context, kindly tell us whether the mind has any constructive use for a seeker or devotee, or not!

The very moment the mind is rightly recognized, meditation is born. The mind is the step before meditation. And do not stop at meditation either. For the one who stops at meditation will not reach samadhi. One has to reach samadhi. Samadhi means: the solution has happened; now no questions remain, no curiosity remains, no urge to experience remains, no lust for life remains—everything is quieted. Samadhi means: all the waves in the lake have become still; no ripple arises; the lake is perfect silence. Only in this state of samadhi is there union with Truth, with the Divine, with the Beloved. From the mind one has to move to meditation; from meditation, to samadhi. These are the three states. You are, for now, standing at the mind. If you clutch the mind and think this is all—you will weep, be miserable, suffer hell. That is why all the wise…

4. Suppose you are gradually being deprived of strength or of knowledge. At the instant of deprivation, transcend.

5. DEVOTION FREES. But either way one goes on worrying about the future. Buddha said, "There is no heaven and no afterlife." And he said, "There is no soul, and your death will be total and complete; nothing will survive." People thought he was an atheist. He was not, he was just trying to create a situation in which you can forget the tomorrow and can remain in this very moment, here and now. Then meditation follows very easily. So if you are thinking of death -- not the death which will come, or is to come later -- fall down on the ground and lie dead. Relax and feel, "I am dying, I am dying, I am dying." And not only think it, feel it in every limb of the body, in every fib of the body. Let death creep in. It is one of the most beautiful meditations.…