Who should understand when the mind has to cease?

When you ask us to understand something clearly, whom do you address to understand? Mind has to cease. Therefore, it is no use making the mind understand anything. Who should understand then?

Yes, mind has to cease, but it has not ceased yet. Mind has to be worked upon; an understanding has to be created in the mind. Through that understanding this mind will die. That understanding is just like poison. You take the poison. You are the taker, and the poison kills you. The mind understands, but the understanding is poison for the mind. That's why the mind resists so much. It tries and tries not to understand. It creates doubt, it fights in every way, it protects itself because understanding is poison for the mind. It is elixir for you, but for the mind it is poison. So when I say understand clearly, I mean your mind, not you, because you need not any understanding. You are already understanding. You are the very wisdom -- the pragnya. You need not any help from me or from anybody else. Your mind…

But Osho, as I understand it, there are certain subjects like chemistry, physics, or medicine where positive values are essential. What are your views about that?

Einstein was doing an experiment. He had failed seven hundred times, yet every morning he came into the laboratory laughing, ready to begin again. The young assistant with him was exhausted. “Is this old man mad? Seven hundred failures—and again he starts fresh!” The youth was tired; he said, “We should drop this now. How many times have we been defeated?” Einstein said, “Defeated? You’re crazy—each time we have won.” “Where have we won? Every experiment has failed.” Einstein answered, “In seven hundred directions we have searched, and we now know truth is not there. We have succeeded seven hundred times. Truth is being endlessly eliminated into nearness. Suppose truth will reveal itself on the seven hundred and fifteenth attempt; then fourteen more eliminations are needed. Then only that will remain; it cannot escape. Where will it go? We have searched seven hundred paths and found it absent. That much…

Question: OSHO, WHY IS IT THAT I CANNOT UNDERSTAND YOUR PHILOSOPHY? Beware of your mind! You have never thought about it as a drug -- it is a very subtle drug. And the society goes on drugging you from your very childhood. It becomes part and parcel of your life and it colors everything. Whatsoever you see, you see through it; whatsoever you listen to, you listen to through it -- and it is quick at interpreting for or against. Listening to me, if you are thinking about for or against, you will go on missing me. A drunkard accidentally found his way into a luxurious swimming club and was standing by the pool when he was approached by the manager. "Excuse me, sir, but we are forced to ask you to leave," the manager told him. "Why should I leave?" asked the drunkard.

For some moments Kach was speechless. Like a person who does not know what to do, he asked: "But how is the renunciation of the mind possible? Perhaps you too ask me the same question? Whoever is in search of peace, faces this basic problem. Whoever is engaged in search of truth and salvation has this curiosity. The mind itself is the obstruction. The mind itself is restlessness. What is this mind? Is not the desire to be something the mind itself? For a moment, kindly come out of sleep and see this truth. Is not the desire to be something, the race for being something, the thirst for being something, the mind itself? If there is no thirst for being something, where then is the mind?

A friend has asked: Osho, confusion and clarity—what is that mind filled with delusion, so tangled, the confused mind? And what is clarity of mind? And what does it mean for the mind to be cleansed, fresh, and pure?

This needs a little understanding, because it will be useful for meditation and also for the art of dying. His question is precious. He asks, “What is this tangled mind?” But a mistake creeps in here. We say, “tangled mind, restless mind, confused mind.” That is where the mistake happens. What mistake? We are using two words: “tangled” and “mind.” The truth is, there is no such thing as a “tangled mind.” The state of tangling itself is what is called mind. There isn’t a confused mind; mind is confusion. It is not that there is an unquiet mind; the very name of unquietness is mind. And when unquietness is gone, it is not that the mind becomes quiet—rather, the mind is no more. Understand it this way: a storm has arisen on the ocean, the sea is turbulent, and you say “a restless storm.” Someone will say, “Restless storm?…