According to Osho, 'Be still and know' means a stillness born of alert awareness, not a forced or hypnotic quiet achieved by rituals, mantras, or sedation. Simply witness thoughts and sensations without suppressing them; in this choiceless clarity, knowing dawns. 'Seek the strength of no-desire' means dropping craving; when wanting ceases, energy integrates, peace deepens, and authentic intelligence flowers.
Don’t force quiet or chase things—just watch calmly, and real peace and clear knowing appear on their own.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, what exactly do you mean by saying "be still and know" and also "seek the strength of no-desire"?
BE STILL AND KNOW is one of the most fundamental sutras of the inner alchemy. But by being still is not meant that you have to force stillness upon yourself. A forced stillness is not true stillness. One can sit like a Buddha, almost like a statue, absolutely still, and yet deep down there may be great turmoil, a thousand and one thoughts rushing. There may be great traffic in the mind. The body can be forced to sit silently for hours, and you can also learn tricks to still the mind. For example, if you chant any mantra for hours, any name of God, if you simply go on chanting "Allah, Allah, Allah," it functions like a tranquilizer. Repetition of a single word or a single mantra creates a certain melody in your mind soothing, very soothing, very calming. And a kind of stillness will be felt which is…
Osho, what is Jesus’ idea about “Be still”?
Jesus’ idea is exactly what I am saying. Jesus is saying: Be still. The real meaning of “Be still” is: don’t try to be still—just be still! Yes, if you try to be still—bring in techniques, methods, processes—then right now you are not still, not quiet. So how will you become quiet? You decide to do something to become quiet, and by doing you think you will become quiet. The irony is that we are restless precisely because we are doing something. That is the very problem. What Jesus says—“Be still”—he is pointing to a very difficult matter. Mahesh-ji didn’t understand at all. In his haste he spoke as if somehow he could convince people that both say the same thing, that these two statements are one and the same. In that effort his mind was occupied the whole time. And where is the harmony between what he and I…
You say, Osho, don’t try to be something, to become, to attempt “becoming”—just be, just being. Please explain in detail how this is to be attained.
The very moment you ask how to practice it, you miss the understanding. Because “to practice” already means the effort to become something has begun. When I say, remain as you are, just as you are, the question of practice does not arise. Practice means you have started trying to be what you are not. So you have not understood. Any practice implies discontent; there is no fulfillment in being as you are. The mind says, let something more happen. A little money—let’s gather more. A little knowledge—accumulate more. A little renunciation—become a great renunciate. A slight taste of meditation—let’s manufacture the taste of samadhi. It is all the same; there is no difference. The issue is neither money nor meditation; the issue is the demand for “more.” So whether you ask for wealth you remain worldly, and even if you ask for meditation you remain worldly. Wherever there is…
Osho: To think is the nature of the mind. And if you don't think then there is no mind. A state of no-mind comes, then you know. That is nature, this too is nature; that is not against this nature which creates ignorance, creates unknowing, creates conflict. We have not known the total mind, we have known only the mind which thinks. If you transcend it then you know the total mind -- which knows. Thinking is one thing, knowing is quite another. QUESTION: THE NATURE OF THE MIND IS TO THINK, AND THEN IT CEASES TO THINK. WHAT DO YOU DO IN ORDER TO CAUSE IT NOT TO THINK? DOES IT NATURALLY NOT THINK? Osho: If you become aware of your thinking process, then the process by and by is dissolved.
Quieten your mind. Reflect. Watch.
NOTHING BINDS YOU. YOU ARE FREE. YOU ARE STRONG. YOU HAVE COME TO THE END. FREE FROM PASSION AND DESIRE, YOU HAVE STRIPPED THE THORNS FROM THE STEM. THIS IS YOUR LAST BODY. YOU ARE WISE. YOU ARE FREE FROM DESIRE AND YOU UNDERSTAND WORDS AND THE STITCHING TOGETHER OF WORDS. AND YOU WANT NOTHING. "VICTORY IS MINE, KNOWLEDGE IS MINE, AND ALL PURITY, ALL SURRENDER. "I WANT NOTHING. I AM FREE. I HAVE FOUND MY WAY. WHOM SHALL I CALL TEACHER?" THE GIFT OF TRUTH IS BEYOND GIVING. THE TASTE BEYOND SWEETNESS, THE JOY BEYOND JOY. THE END OF DESIRE IS THE END OF SORROW. When you have reached to your innermost core suddenly you become aware that all that you have been desiring was useless and what you really needed, what was your real nourishment, has been waiting for you inside you. Your search has to be inner,…