You get a quick taste of no-ego, then the ego comes back, but you’re changed; with practice you can move in and out of that silence until you go beyond both inside and outside for good.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
If ego evaporates in the fourth stage, then what happens after the fourth stage is over and one comes back from meditation?
The ego returns, because the whole mechanism is still there. It has not died; the whole past is still there. For a while you were not part of it, for a few minutes you transcended the mind, the ego. You were beyond it. You left the house; now you have come back. But you cannot come back as the same person who left it because you now have known something beyond. You cannot be the same again, but still you come back. The easier it becomes to go out and come in, the more likely it is that a new stage will begin in which you are neither out nor in: you transcend both. This is the culmination, because then you can be out when you want to go out and you can be in when you want to come in. You are neither in nor out; you transcend both.…Read the full discourse →
To my mind the real sanity is that which comes after the transcendence of madness. Then there is neither the question nor the answer. The mind becomes calm and quiet. Then the fourth stage is reached. It comes only when you have come to the peak, to the height of tension. Then comes Relaxation. Having gone through the previous three stages each for ten minutes, for the next ten minutes or more just relax, and remain just as you are, without doing anything, because you are tired completely--The policy of 'LET GO' is achieved as an automatic process. The fourth step is the moment of doing nothing. That I call dhyana, meditation. The first three stages are steps only, the fourth is the door. Then you are there without breathing or movement. Just silence! This fourth step comes of its own accord and in these moments comes Grace.Read the full discourse →
On the attainment of the fifth state, the mind of the seeker ceases, like clouds in an autumn sky, and only truth remains.
IN THIS STATE, WORLDLY DESIRES DO NOT ARISE AT ALL. DURING THIS STATE ALL THOUGHTS OF DIVISION IN THE SEEKER ARE STILLED AND HE REMAINS ROOTED IN NONDUALITY. ON THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE FEELING OF DIVISION, THE FIFTH STAGE, KNOWN AS THE SUSHUPTAPAD -- SLEEPING -- DRAWS THE ENLIGHTENED SEEKER INTO ITS NATURE. HE IS PERPETUALLY INTROVERTED AND LOOKS TIRED AND SLEEPY, EVEN THOUGH EXTERNALLY HE CONTINUES HIS EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES. ON THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THIS STAGE, THE DESIRE-FREE SEEKER ENTERS THE SIXTH ONE. BOTH TRUTH AND UNTRUTH, BOTH EGOISM AND EGOLESSNESS AND ALL SORTS OF MENTATION CEASE TO EXIST IN THIS STATE, AND ROOTED IN PURE NONDUALITY, THE SEEKER IS FREE FROM FEAR. AS THE ENTANGLEMENTS OF HIS HEART DISSOLVE, SO ALL HIS DOUBTS DROP. THIS IS THE MOMENT WHEN HE IS COMPLETELY EMPTIED OF ALL THOUGHT. WITHOUT ATTAINING NIRVANA, HE IS IN A NIRVANA-LIKE STATE AND BECOMES FREE WHILE…Read the full discourse →
Question: IN THIS SEVENTH STAGE, THE STATE OF VIDEHAMUKTI, LIBERATION WHILE LIVING IN THE BODY IS ACHIEVED. THIS STAGE IS TOTALLY SILENT AND CANNOT BE COMMUNICATED IN WORDS. IT IS THE END OF ALL STAGES, WHERE ALL THE PROCESSES OF YOGA COME TO THEIR CONCLUSION. IN THIS STAGE, ALL ACTIVITIES -- WORLDLY, BODILY AND SCRIPTURAL -- CEASE. THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IN THE FORM OF THE WORLD -- VISWA, INTELLIGENCE -- PRAJNA, AND RADIANCE -- TEJAS, IS JUST AUM. THERE IS NO DIVISION HERE BETWEEN SPEECH AND THE SPEAKER. IF HOWEVER ANY SUCH DIVISION REMAINS, THE STATE HAS NOT BEEN ATTAINED. THE FIRST SOUND 'A' OF AUM, STANDS FOR THE WORLD, THE SECOND 'U' FOR RADIANCE AND THE THIRD 'M' FOR INTELLIGENCE. BEFORE ENTERING SAMADHI, THE SEEKER SHOULD CONTEMPLATE ON AUM MOST STRENUOUSLY, AND SUBSEQUENTLY HE SHOULD SURRENDER EVERYTHING, FROM GROSS TO SUBTLE TO THE CONSCIOUS SELF.Read the full discourse →
SECOND STAGE Now we have to enter the second stage. Continue deep breathing, and let go of the body. Leave the body to do what it wishes to do. Let go of it. Let it take whatever asanas or postures it wants to take; let it form whatever mudras or gestures it likes. Leave it free to move and shake and whirl as it likes. If it wants to weep let it. Let go of the body completely. Continue deep breathing and let go of the body. Let the body fall down if it wants to fall down. And let it rise again if it wants to rise. And if it wants to dance allow it wholly. Let go of the body absolutely. Let it do whatever it wants to do. Leave it free. Don't impede it even in the least. Cooperate with the body. If it spins, let it.Read the full discourse →