What is the role of the mind as a servant instead of a master?

Beloved Osho, I have always heard you say, "stop doing. Watch." several times lately I've heard you say that the mind should be the servant instead of our master. It feels that there is nothing to do except watch. But the question still arises: is there anything to do with this unruly servant but to watch?

Prem Niren, there is nothing else to do with this unruly servant but just to watch. Apparently it appears too simple a solution for too complex a problem, but these are part of the mysteries of existence. The problem may be too complex; the solution can be very simple. Watching, witnessing, being aware seem to be small words to solve the whole complexity of mind. Millions of years of heritage, tradition, conditioning, prejudice -- how will they disappear just by watching? But they do disappear, because as Gautam Buddha used to say, "If the lights of the house are on, thieves don't come close to that house, knowing that the master is awake." Because the light is showing from the windows, from the doors, you can see that the light is on and it is not the time to enter into the house. When the lights are off, thieves are…

You have said that the proper relationship of mind to consciousness is that of the servant. How is the servant to be treated? Is it not to be mistreated? How am I to know when that is happening?

Remember -- if you are really a master you never mistreat the servant. That is one of the qualities of the master. You mistreat the servant only when you are not certain that you are master. That mistreatment is a deep insecurity. You try to mistreat to know whether you are the master or not. If you are absolutely certain that you are the master, you love the servant. You treat him as a friend, you respect him even. So only those who are suspicious of their own mastery treat the servants in a wrong way. A man who is absolutely certain, who knows he is the master -- then there is no problem. It is said of a Hassidic Master, Magid.... He went to see another Master. He was a little late. The lecture hall was full and the other Master was speaking, so he sat just near the…

Question: BELOVED MASTER, I AM REJECTING MY MIND AND CLINGING TO AWARENESS. Prem Shahido, mind has not to be rejected at all; if you reject it, it will remain. Rejection means repression. Anything rejected never leaves you; it simply moves from the conscious to the unconscious, from the lighted part of your being to the dark layers where you cannot face it. You become oblivious of it, but it is there, more alive than ever. It is better to face the enemy than to keep the enemy at your back; that is far more dangerous. And I have not told you to reject the mind. Mind is a beautiful mechanism, one of the miracles of existence. We have not been able yet to make anything comparable to human mind. Even the most sophisticated computers are nothing compared to it.

Question: Maneesha has asked: OUR BELOVED MASTER, LAST NIGHT I SAW FOR THE FIRST TIME THAT THE MIND NEED NOT BE INIMICAL TO MEDITATION. DOES WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT THE MIND ACCEPTING ENLIGHTENMENT ALSO APPLY TO ITS ACCEPTANCE BEFORE ENLIGHTENMENT, OF, FOR EXAMPLE, WITNESSING? CAN THE MIND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WITNESSING IS OFTEN MORE USEFUL THAN THINKING, AND SO JUST STEP ASIDE IN THOSE MOMENTS WITHOUT THROWING A TANTRUM? Maneesha, it is impossible. Enlightenment has to be first. As an experience mind can understand it, and seeing its gracefulness in action can become a friend to it. But before enlightenment mind can only believe, it cannot become a friend. Mind can only believe that there is enlightenment. At the most the belief is possible -- but belief is of no use. The mind has to experience enlightenment in function, not as a belief but as activity.

Beloved Osho, how does watching lead to no-mind? I am more and more able to watch my body, my thoughts and feelings and this feels beautiful. But moments of no thoughts are few and far between. When I hear you saying "meditation is witnessing," I feel I understand. But when you talk about no-mind, it doesn't sound easy at all. Would you please comment?

The small child rides on the horse with a servant riding on another horse. A tremendous desire arises in him when the road turns, just to have a look again back to the family house, its garden. The father must be standing there, the mother must be crying... but he remembers that the father has said, "Don't look back." And he does not look back. With tears in his eyes, he turns with the road. Now he cannot see his house anymore and one never knows how long it will take -- perhaps years and years -- until he will be able to see his father and mother and his family again. He reaches the monastery. At the gate of the monastery the abbot meets him, receives him gracefully, as if he is a grownup, bows down to him as he bows down to the abbot. And the abbot says,…