Is no-thought the opposite of thought?

Suppose for two days one keeps to the line of thought; is no-thought its opposite?

No, no, no. Not at all an opposition. Take it this way: we stay awake through the day. The more awake you are in the day, it’s not that sleep will be difficult at night; rather, sleep will come that much better. Yet the two are contraries. You might say, “If I stay awake all day, how will I sleep at night? Waking is the opposite; sleeping is the opposite.” And still we know: the more you exert, the deeper the rest; the more you wake, the deeper you sleep; the greater the hunger, the more you will eat. About these so-called opposites, the mind moves like the pendulum of a clock. If you go to the extreme on one side and then relax, in a flash it will reach the extreme on the other side. Thought is for the outer world, and no-thought is for the inner world. Their…

Osho, I too have begun to feel that it is not valuable.

If you decide to do social service—uplift the “Harijan,” redistribute land, do this and that—and you think self-realization will result, you are mistaken. Self-realization will not come from that. You may become a good and popular person; you will taste a subtle pleasure of ego—and nothing more. You will enjoy the pleasure of being “a servant,” but you will not taste the joy of service. The pleasure of the role of “servant” is one thing; the joy of service is entirely another. But if you enter religious practice, which is utterly personal, then a day will come when that sadhana will transform your life into service. Now life is self-interest; then life will be service. In self-ignorance, life is self-centered; whatever you do, some form of self-interest is present. In self-knowledge, life is service; whatever you do, self-interest cannot remain. For me, religion is fundamental; its result will surely come.…

Meditation is akin to sleep. No-thought is akin to sleep. That is why the Hindu scriptures say samadhi and sushupti (deep sleep) have the same nature. Deep, dreamless sleep is like samadhi. The difference is small: in sleep you are not aware; in samadhi you are aware. But the quality is the same. The supreme sage is one who is in the same rest as you are in deep sleep—but he is aware. That is the only difference. He is awake while asleep; you are asleep while awake. He is utterly different from you. Some things are such that the moment you employ a method, you are in trouble. Understand this well. Goso said, “If you think, your tail will be entangled.” But they did not stop thinking; they became even more lost in thought. The more they thought, Goso said, “Look!

I don't understand—what is the difference?

Yes, there is a difference. You can be without thoughts; that is not the same as thoughtlessness. Being without thoughts can happen once in a while. The whole reason for that kind of thought-free state is simply this: a kind of numbness sets in—of the brain. Understand this difference. You are sitting, not walking; another person is also sitting, not walking. But he is paralyzed—he too is not walking. Both are seated. Yet I would say he is not really “sitting”; he is being made to sit. You are sitting. He is only paralyzed. Though both people’s legs look the same—he is sitting, you are sitting—no one could tell by looking who is truly sitting. You are sitting because you could also get up and walk. He cannot walk at all; so what is the point of calling it “sitting”? Do you get what I mean? I wouldn’t even say…

Osho, is there any practical process for being in the realm of existence beyond thoughts, in the void?

The way to thin them out is non-cooperation. Right now we are their makers—that is, we are the ones maintaining them. When we sit idle, some thought or other is running, because without our cooperation they cannot run. Withdraw your cooperation from whatever thoughts are running, and do nothing else; regard just this as samayik, as meditation. If all thoughts dissolve, you will feel no ego and no person within. You will know only being—only being will be known, in which the distinction “I am an individual” or “I am the whole” will not be felt. Only pure being will remain—pure existence. In truth, because of the thoughts accumulated upon that pure existence, we appear to be a person. This sense that I am “A,” you are “B,” you are “C”—the A, B, C we have pasted on—is our thought-power. We commonly say, “I will become liberated”—this is not quite…