According to Osho, the 'points of light' you may see are not imagination but the release of subtle sensory impressions stored in the optic nerves. As the back-brain and nerves relax, these latent light imprints surface, just as inner sounds arise from stored auditory impressions. They are neurological residues, not mystical signs, and should be witnessed without attachment.
Those little lights aren’t magic or made up—they’re your eyes’ leftover light-memories appearing as you relax.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Is that imagination—or what are those points of light?
No, it is not imagination. Not even imagination. In fact, the very subtle impressions of our senses get stored. For example, in the optic nerves, subtle impressions of light are stored. So as the nerves at the back relax, those subtle points of light are released from there. As for the ear—now, the ear you see up here is not the real ear. The real ear is the inner mechanism, the subtle sense. In it, many impressions of sound are stored; the subtlest vibrations have been stored. So when they relax, many sounds will resound within—which sadhus and sannyasins take to be the Anahad Nada. Nothing is happening. Those subtlest stored impressions of the ear are being released.
5. Attention between eyebrows, let mind be before thought. Let form fill with breath essence to the top of the head and there shower as light.
6. WHEN IN WORLDLY ACTIVITY, KEEP ATTENTION BETWEEN TWO BREATHS, AND SO PRACTICING, IN A FEW DAYS BE BORN ANEW. 7. WITH INTANGIBLE BREATH IN CENTER OF FOREHEAD, AS THIS REACHES HEART AT THE MOMENT OF SLEEP, HAVE DIRECTION OVER DREAMS AND OVER DEATH ITSELF. 8. WITH UTMOST DEVOTION, CENTER ON THE TWO JUNCTIONS OF BREATH AND KNOW THE KNOWER. 9. LIE DOWN AS DEAD. ENRAGED IN WRATH, STAY SO. OR STARE WITHOUT MOVING AN EYELASH. OR SUCK SOMETHING AND BECOME THE SUCKING. The eighth technique: WITH UTMOST DEVOTION, CENTER ON THE TWO JUNCTIONS OF BREATH AND KNOW THE KNOWER. There is a slight difference in the techniques -- slight modifications. But though the differences are slight in the techniques, for you they may be great. A single word makes a great difference. WITH UTMOST DEVOTION, CENTER ON THE TWO JUNCTIONS OF BREATH. The incoming breath has one junction where…
Kalpana means imagination and deva means divine -- divine imagination. And that you have to remember: that your path will go through imagination. You have a tremendous capacity to imagine. If you can use it, it can be an immense help. If you don't use it, it can become a barrier. If one has some capacity, one has to use it, otherwise it becomes like a rock on the path. One has to step over it and transform it into a stepping stone. You have a very deep potentiality for imagination. So use it. Start three things. One is -- imagine yourself as happy as possible. Within a week you will start feeling that you are becoming very happy -- for no reason at all. That will be proof of your dormant capacity. So the first thing to do in the morning is to imagine yourself tremendously happy.
Image spirit simultaneously within and around you until the entire universe spiritualizes.
WITH YOUR ENTIRE CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE VERY START OF DESIRE, OF KNOWING, KNOW. O SHAKTI, EACH PARTICULAR PERCEPTION IS LIMITED, DISAPPEARING IN OMNIPOTENCE. IN TRUTH FORMS ARE INSEPARATE. INSEPARATE ARE OMNIPRESENT BEING AND YOUR OWN FORM. REALIZE EACH AS MADE OF THIS CONSCIOUSNESS. You are here listening to me. This very listening can become a transformation. If you are entirely here, this very moment here and now, if listening is your entirety, that listening will become a meditation: you will enter a different realm of ecstasy, a separate reality. But you are not entire. That is the problem with the human mind, it is always partial. A part is listening. Other parts may be somewhere else, or may be asleep, or may be thinking about what is being said, or arguing inside. That creates a division and division is a dissipation of energy. So when doing anything bring your entire…
Osho, if in your presence a person has an inner experience but later cannot, what is that? Would you call it a direction toward liberation or dependence?
There can be two kinds of reasons. In fact there can be many, but broadly two will do. - One: he may only be imagining, not actually experiencing. Even for imagination my presence gives support. Alone, even imagining becomes difficult. Imagination too asks for props. So in my presence he will be able to imagine more easily, and it will be easier to mistake imagination for experience. At home, if the same kind of thing happened, he might suspect it is only imagination. - The other, less frequent, possibility: you did not imagine; you actually took a leap. For a moment you jumped two feet off the ground; you lifted your head and saw a little higher. Then you fell back to the ground. That is possible too. Both can be useful. Even imagination is an indicator that you want to imagine—really, that you want to experience; that is why…