What is the relationship between meditation and enlightenment?

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.

Osho, is it possible to grasp the poignant meaning of an enlightened one’s words without having attained meditation? Is there a deep relationship between essential knowing and the state of meditation? Kindly shed light on this.

Seeing a singer sing, you remember your own throat: a voice, after all, I have too. Seeing a dancer dance, you remember your feet: I have feet too—if I wish, I can also dance. Seeing a painter paint, you remember: if I wish, I too can paint. In just the same way, seeing a Buddha, you remember: if I wish, I too can attain Buddhahood. This very wishing—this is not the whole understanding—this is the beginning of thirst. A kind of light spreads. However it may be, every time passes by, The gist remains, but the heap scatters. In sorrow burns the heat of the Vaishakh sun, In such a season even the ocean recedes. All day long we journey through darkness, Come evening, a kind of light spreads. Every continuity breaks, friends, Sometimes such a moment passes. Some hope flashes forth as a ray, For a little while every…

Beloved Osho, what is the relationship between meditation and witnessing? In what way are mind and ego dissolved by them? Is surrender possible without attaining complete egolessness? To what extent are orange clothes and the mala helpful for meditation and witnessing? Also please explain the difference between witnessing, wakefulness and right remembering.

Then there are some who say doing has no attraction for them, but thoughts come rushing in waves. They are thinkers-they have no juice for doing. They have no interest in the outer, but great waves arise within, a great tempest. And they cannot be inside for a single moment without thoughts. They say, "If we sit silently more thoughts come. When we sit silently more thoughts than usual come. Just mention worship, prayer, meditation, and a great deluge of thoughts -- -armies -- come in wave after wave and drown us. What should we do?" The master says, "Drink meditation mixed in with your thoughts. Don't stop your thoughts, but when thoughts come observe them. Don't get lost in them, stand a little apart, at a distance. Calmly watching your thoughts, you will gradually attain witnessing. Add meditation to your thoughts." Then there are some who say, "We have…

I am not saying to do anything. Meditation is not a doing at all, it is pure awareness. But a miracle happens, the greatest miracle in life. If you go on watching, tremendous and incredible things start happening. Your body becomes graceful, your body is no more restless, tense; your body starts becoming light, unburdened; you can see great weights, mountainous weights, falling from your body. Your body starts becoming pure of all kinds of toxins and poisons. You will see your mind is no more as active as before; its activity starts becoming less and less and gaps arise, gaps in which there are no thoughts. Those gaps are the most beautiful experiences because through those gaps you start seeing things as they are without any interference of the mind. Slowly slowly your moods start disappearing. You are no more very joyous and no more very sad.

Beloved Osho, watching the mind, it seems to me there is an infinite ocean of thoughts. Meditation gives me more peace and grounding, but hearing you speak about enlightenment -- it seems to me far, far away. Can you give me some advice?

Dhyan Jashan, enlightenment is as far away as you are from yourself; hence the distance differs from individual to individual. You are certainly in a difficult position: first, you are a German, and nobody has ever heard of any German becoming enlightened. Only one of my German sannyasins used to become once in a while enlightened, and again he understood, "What am I doing? It is not for me," and he dropped the idea. That happened many times. Just now I have heard that he is washing dishes in a Zorba the Buddha restaurant. The person who told me about him had asked him, "What happened? You had become enlightened...." He said, "Forget all about it. Five times I became enlightened, and then I dropped the whole idea. I am feeling far happier washing dishes in the restaurant." What was happening was that whenever he would come here he would…