What happens when one becomes identified with the mind after experiencing meditation?

When one is distant from the mind, one is in a state of meditation; but suddenly or gradually one is identified with the mind again; one has fallen asleep again. This is very frustrating. Can you say something about this?

This is frustrating, but don't get frustrated. Rather, whenever you see that you are getting identified with the mind, remember again, make yourself alert, shake yourself a little bit. Rather than putting energy into frustration, put energy into remembrance. Remember again, again you will be alert, and the mind will be far away. It is going to happen again and again, you will fall asleep again and again and again, and you will have to bring yourself out of it. Don't start getting frustrated. It is natural, take it for granted, it is natural, you have lived with the mind for so long and you have lived identified with the mind for so long that it is natural that you forget again and again. But even if for moments you become alert, aware, mindful, feel fortunate, because there are millions of people who live their whole life and not for…

Unless the rainbow has happened inside, just changing the colour of the clothes is absolutely absurd. So remember it. In the beginning it is difficult; one tends to fall into the old pattern and one starts talking to the mother, to the father, in the old way. One starts making old gestures; old body language again erupts. You have got your body from them, you have learned all your body gestures from them. Their very presence is provocative. You have lived in your mother's womb. You are part of their being -- extensions. When you are close to a parent, suddenly you start vibrating in his tune, and of course he is more powerful and he is going to remain more powerful. He is more experienced, more settled, more authoritative. You immediately start following his rhythm. That is very unconscious. You start vibrating in his rhythm.

All that we do here is to help you to put the mind aside. All the meditations are nothing but devices to put the mind aside. And once you have got even just a glimpse of your inner light, then things become very easy. Then you know that the light is inside. And then to put the mind aside is not difficult because now you know there is no risk -- it is worth putting it aside. Only in the beginning is it difficult because you only know the mind. You have been identified with it, you think you are the mind so to put it aside feels very dangerous. It feels like committing suicide, because it is you! But you are not it. It is just a deep-rooted misconception, a wrong calculation. You are simply making a mathematical mistake. Two plus two are four, and you are putting five.

While breathing, a support… The mind has the habit that it needs some kind of support. If there is no support at all, the mind will die. In that very death you will experience samadhi. When the mind has completely died, becomes utterly empty, then you will discover the self. So the mind wants food to keep itself alive. It demands a support—let there be some support. If you keep chanting Ram-Ram, the mind is very pleased; there is no problem. If you keep singing bhajans, the mind has no difficulty.

He said, “Even if life has been spent in scriptures, those lines are utterly useless. The lines should be these: There is no mirror of the human mind at all—where will the dust gather? Whoever knows this truth knows dharma.” He said, “There is no mirror of the human mind—where will the dust gather? Whoever knows this truth knows dharma.” And the master accepted him, and that rice-pounder became the head of the monastery thereafter. With the gradual practice of meditation it will become evident to you: there is no mind. The mind was an illusion. That dust upon it was a second illusion. There is no mind. And when you come to know that there is no mind, you will be filled with a transcendent experience. Only that experience leads a person into religion. And that experience becomes possible by awakening in your actions. So for these three days…

Osho, if the movement of life is circular—like day and night, like months and seasons—does it mean we, too, keep merely repeating ourselves again and again?

Strive! Buddha’s last words at the moment of farewell were: Ananda, be ceaselessly engaged in effort! Do not be negligent even for an instant! Do not let even a trace of sloth settle within! For a little sloth, and much is lost. Keep toiling until you awaken; until then, do not grant yourself any rest. Tireless effort! You will have to strike again and again; only then will this darkness break—because you have been maintaining this darkness for so long. Your state has become rock-like, inert. The crust has grown very strong. The soul is hidden within; the spring is within; but the doors are closed. By striking, the doors will break. By striking continuously, the doors will break. Even if the blows are gentle, they must be unbroken. Water falls—gentle blows—and rocks are split. Let the stream of your remembrance fall upon the mechanical rocks within you. If not…