How can one distinguish between practicing asanas intentionally and them arising spontaneously during meditation?

Sometimes in the second stage of dynamic meditation I start doing asanas. I can't tell whether I'm doing them because I want to practice them or whether they are coming of their own accord. How is one to know the difference?

If you discipline yourself from without, there is every possibility that you will never come to know the unconscious. And the conscious mind is no mind at all, it is not life at all. It is just a utilitarian instrument developed because of society; it is not you. But because we have to live with others, we need certain things that can be known about us and can be relied upon: discipline, a particular character. The conscious mind exists because of the relationship between you and others. It is just a link between you and all those with whom you are related, but it does not help you in relating to yourself, in knowing yourself. I remember a story. King Ashoka sent his son to Ceylon to take them the message of Buddha. He met the king of Ceylon and asked him a question: "There are people in the world…

Osho, at the Nargol camp you said that yogic asanas, pranayama, mudras and bandhas were discovered in meditative states, and that in different states of meditation different postures and gestures arise by themselves, from which one can tell the seeker’s inner condition. Conversely, if those postures and gestures are done deliberately, the same meditative mood can be created. Then can meditation be attained through the practice of asanas, pranayama, mudras and bandhas? What is their importance and use in meditation practice?

Then, if it begins within, it can be understood. Suppose a seeker is sitting in meditation and I feel that his crying wants to burst forth, but he is holding it back. I can see that if he cries for ten minutes, a movement will happen—a catharsis, a cleansing. But he is restraining himself so that the crying does not come out. If we tell this seeker, “Now don’t hold back—cry from your side; cry,” then for two minutes he will cry as if acting, but from the third minute his crying will become right and authentic, because crying wanted to pour out from within and he was preventing it. His act of crying will not bring crying; it will break the suppression, and what was flowing within will flow out. Similarly, a seeker may be in a state to dance but is standing stiffly. If we say to him,…

What is your view about asanas?

As far as asanas are concerned… no, there is no need for you to do them. In this, many asanas will start happening through you. If you do these processes for fifteen or twenty days, many asanas will begin to happen on their own. In the camp, while doing it, someone even went into a headstand. Because when one lets the body go completely, if the body begins to do a headstand, what is one to do? And all these asanas evolved in just this way; no one deliberately devised them. In such a state the body starts taking many forms, making many mudras, many asanas. There was a woman in this camp just now… (inaudible.) Almost all mudras happen through her hands—practically all of them. As many mudras as are discussed in the scriptures, they all manifested in her. Haven’t the photos come to you from there? A movie…

Those who want to enter the domain of energy, those who want to go on a pilgrimage to the temple of the supreme energy, they will have to shed all fear, and if the body begins to tremble and shake or begins to dance, allow it to happen with ease and spontaneity. You will be surprised to know that all the techniques of yogic asanas -- body postures -- were discovered accidentally in meditation, in the various states of meditation. It is not that someone created them through thinking and deliberation. They were not created independently. In the state of meditation the body took different positions first, and then they were recognized as yogic postures. And gradually an association between the body and mind was revealed which said that when the mind is in a particular state, the body follows it with a particular posture of its own.

In the nargol meditation camp you said that the practices of yoga -- asanas, pranayamas, mudras and bandhas -- were discovered in the state of meditation. In different states of meditation, different postures are formed by the body from which the depth of meditation of the meditator could be told. Conversely, can the same inner state be brought about by forming the necessary postures? In that case, can meditation be attained by the use of various asanas, pranayamas, mudras and bandhas? What is their use and significance?

First came the experience of meditation. With the experience of meditation it was found that the body assumed many postures. Actually, whenever the mind is in a particular state the body takes an appropriate corresponding posture. For instance, when you are filled with love your face, your expression, is one way, and when you are angry your expression becomes altogether different. In anger you grind your teeth and clench your fists and the body is ready for fight or flight. When you are in a forgiving mood the eyes are soft and the palms of the hand open. When a man is filled with forgiveness his fists will never clench. Just as clenching the fist is a preparation to fight, opening the fist and spreading out the palm is an indication of freedom from the urge to fight; it is an assurance of protection. To clench the fist is to…