What does the sound of flowing water signify during meditation?

By the use of techniques similar to the second technique you discussed yesterday, I hear some sounds like the flowing of a river or a stream. May I know what that sound is? If I have understood rightly, there should be no thoughts or sound, and there should be complete silence. Then what is this sound?

In the beginning, before silence happens to you, sound will happen. So this is a good sign. Words, language, verbalization, disappear; the second layer is of sound. But don't fight with it; enjoy it. It will become musical, beautiful, You will be filled by its music, and you will become more alive through it. When mind disappears, a natural inner sound appears. Allow it to happen. Meditate on it. Don't fight with it; just be a witness to it -- it will deepen. And if you don't fight with it, and don't create any struggle, it will disappear by itself, and when it disappears, you will fall into silence. Words -- sound -- silence. Words are human, sounds are natural, silence is cosmic. So this is a good sign. This is what is called nada, the inner sound. Hear it, enjoy it, be a witness to it. It will disappear.…

As you go deeper in meditation you will hear this music. Zen people call it the sound of one hand clapping. In India we call it nad; nad means: there is no instrument. There is nobody playing but still the music is heard. It is uncreated music, unstruck music. And this is our very being, but we are lost in the noise of the head and we cannot hear the still small voice within. The whole work of meditation is to move from the noisy head to the musical heart. And once this starts happening you are on an incredible journey. For the first time you will feel ecstasy arising in you, for the first time a subtle spiritual drunkenness -- one becomes a drunkard. Deva means divine, mouni means the silent one -- divine silence, and that has to be the key for you.

Osho, in moments of meditation or silence a sweet, drum-like sound begins to resound in my ears. In yesterday’s discourse, the moment I heard the words ‘anahat’ and ‘earthquake,’ that same sound started ringing in my ears and an earthquake shook my body. As soon as I left the discourse I burst into loud sobbing, and this state continued for a long time. Osho, would you graciously tell me what this is?

So there are distinctions among tears. Therefore don’t always think that if tears are coming, something is wrong, some mistake or lapse. And slowly you will begin to recognize that the taste of tears differs. You will know when tears flowed from peace, when from sorrow, when from happiness, when from bliss. The tears that have flowed in you are tears of bliss; flow with them; let them flow. They will purify and refine you. They will bathe you; they will wash your heart. Through those very tears, slowly all your impurity, all your blemish will be washed away. They will carry away all the dust. You will become pristine. In that pristine state God descends. In that pristine state you become a tirthankara—you rise to the highest a human being can rise. You have done what a human being can do. You have staked your all; held nothing back.…

Beloved Osho, when I close my eyes I often hear the sound of a tiny bell ringing within. Can you please tell us about hearing, meditation, sound and silence?

It is possible that hearing inside you a tiny bell when you enter into meditation may be related to your past life, particularly as a Tibetan, because for centuries in Tibet this has been the conditioning of the mind -- that when you enter meditation, you hear tiny bells. And if a conditioning has been continued too long, it is carried into new lives. But hearing the tiny bell is not meditation; it is just a conditioning. When you start entering into total silence where no bells are ringing, then meditation begins. The tiny bell rings in the mind, and meditation is a state of no-mind. Tiny or not tiny, no bell can ring there; it is utter silence. But many religions, particularly in the East... and the most prominent is the Tibetan religion which has used tiny bells. It is a significant technique but dangerous, as all techniques are:…

Beloved Osho, in the last two years, while in deep meditation I have been hearing a sound. It's a sort of ocean sound, like distant ocean waves. I call this noise my tone and enjoy it as a sign of the beginning of silence. But the other night I heard you say that we can hear our blood circulating. Is this what I am hearing? Can you give me any insights other than just watching, which is what I have been doing when I hear this sound?

Bodhinavar, it is not the sound of your blood circulating. The sound of your blood circulating can be heard only in an absolutely soundproof room; there is no other way to hear it. The sound that you are hearing is far more significant. It is the sound which the ancients in the East have called the sound of the universe, the sound of existence itself. They have named it omkar. It is the sound of Om, and if you listen carefully you will find exactly the word Om repeated again and again in the sound. Om is not part of any alphabet -- it is the only word in the world which does not belong to any alphabet -- neither does it mean anything. It simply resembles the sound of existence. When you are utterly silent you can hear it. The ancient seers and modern physics are very close on…