According to Osho, when bhajan ripens, only surati remains: an effortless, ajapa remembrance of the Divine that flows like oil—unbroken through waking and sleep. It is not mental repetition or worded memory, but a breath-deep, natural awareness beyond the mind’s fragments. In surati, remembrance is continuous, self-sustaining, free of motive, present equally in sorrow and happiness.
When devotion is complete, remembering the Divine happens by itself all the time, like breathing.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Osho, when bhajan is fulfilled, is what remains that surati?
So, first, this cannot be done by the mind. In the mind nothing is unbroken; everything is in fragments. This will happen only by going beyond the mind. Where the mind dissolves, there surati is born. Where the mind disappears, there the Divine arrives. So surati is not manan (reflection), because manan is a process of the mind. It is not chintan (thinking), because chintan too is a process of the mind. Surati is a very rare, extraordinary happening. You have asked: "Where the bhajan comes to completion..." Well asked: Where bhajan is completed. Where whatever had to be done has been done. There is doing in bhajan; in surati there is no doing. Where you have done all you could—prayed, worshipped, made offerings, sung bhajans, danced—whatever you could do, you did it all; and you did so much, so much, so much that slowly, slowly... As Paltu said yesterday:…
If another can hear it, it is not bhajan. What kind of bhajan is that which others can hear? Then you are doing it to be heard by others. Either your innermost knows, or the Divine knows; it is between the two. A third cannot hear—cannot. It is so subtle—it is a state of feeling. Bhajan is a feeling—anubhava—not an arrangement of words and sounds. Bhajan is grace. You are so brimming that even your walking has a dance in it, a fragrance, a glow. Full, you walk. Have you seen someone walking who has fallen in love? Yesterday he walked the same road to the same office with the same legs—but now something has changed. There is some new energy in the feet, some dance has entered. No ankle-bells tied, yet they tinkle within. He walks—he seems to fly; the pull of the earth does not touch him.
Akhanda bhajan means: an unbroken current; not even for a moment should there be a lapse in the remembrance of the Divine; you do not turn away; your eyes stay fixed on That; your heart runs only toward That; the stream of your consciousness flows only toward That—like the Ganges, flowing without interruption toward the sea—no gap, no obstruction, no barrier. Avyavritta-bhajanat. When there is no obstruction at all—bhajan! Which means: your ordinary acts must become arrangements for remembrance— Rise, in That! Sit, in That! Sleep, in That! Wake, in That! Until it is so, there will be interruptions. So take care: let the remembrance of the Divine not become one more activity among your activities—otherwise there will be breaks. When you get engrossed in other acts, you will forget God.
Osho, the bhakta saints have sung greatly of bhajan’s glory. What is bhajan?
He asked again, Look, I will forget; tell me once more. Then, as Moses, having taught him the second time, was leaving, the man ran after him and said, Just once—once more. Because I will forget; these are difficult words. And if I make a mistake—then great harm will be done. Till now I was ignorant; whatever I did, I did. But now, now mistakes will not be tolerated. Now I shall be in trouble. Where will I find you? That prayer was mine—there was no hindrance in it. Every day I would make it up afresh; I would do whatever needed to be done. But now I must proceed by a rule. When Moses, very pleased at having taught him the third time, went on his way, he heard from the sky a great, solemn thunder. God was very angry. And God said, Listen! I sent you into the…
See—keep sesame near a flower, the flower’s fragrance enters it; then its oil carries that scent—but only because it was kept with the flower. Find a blossoming flower somewhere—sit with it; do satsang; the fragrance will enter you too. And when you sit with the Supreme Flower of God— By the Guru’s grace, I have taken the Beloved in hand— then a fragrance arises that, once arising, never departs. However much you share, it keeps increasing. An eternal spring is found. As oil in the seed, so the flower’s fragrance enters the sesame. By the power of bhajan, body and mind are made pure. Paltu rose from the low to the high; none calls him low now. By the power of bhajan… by the glory of song. I did nothing else; only sang His song, did nothing else. Only danced dyed in His hue.