Bhajan

Osho, is the happening that occurs immediately after darshan what is called bhajan? Please explain.

Greed will whisper, “Pick a little from Narada’s aphorisms—so lovely! Pick a little from Mahavira—so profound!” But the chooser will be “you,” and you will pick what suits you. You will drop what doesn’t suit you. Yet what you drop may be exactly what could transform you. What you assemble will be artificial. Remember the word “organic.” A living form is organic—like a tree, like your body. Cut off a hand—it cannot live by itself; its life was in the organic unity. Pluck out the eye—it won’t see. One of Mulla Nasruddin’s eyes was glass. He used to oversee laborers, standing there; if he was present, they worked; if he left, they idled. One day he had to go and performed a “miracle.” He popped out his glass eye, put it on the table, and said, “This eye will keep watching—don’t try to fool me.” The workers were stunned; they…

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:…

Osho, is bhajan, like prayer, merely an act of thanksgiving?

Prayer is the seed; bhajan is the tree. Prayer is the unmanifest, bhajan the manifest. Bhajan is prayer dancing, prayer singing. Bhajan is prayer’s expression. If you want to see prayer, you will find it in Mahavira and Buddha; if you want to see bhajan, in Meera and Chaitanya. What is gathered within in Buddha and Mahavira flows outward in Meera and Chaitanya. What is still in Buddha and Mahavira rises into dance in Meera and Chaitanya. Bhajan is the articulation of prayer. Understand it this way: you are in love with someone. You can keep it inside; there is no need to say it. Even if you never say, “I love you,” it is fine; you can hold it within, guard it. Often women do not say they are in love; they keep it safe. It is—why say it? Being is enough. But sometimes love also expresses—sometimes in a…

Beloved Osho, is singing the song of the divine, like prayer, also an expression of thanks?

Prayer is the seed, bhajan, singing the song of the divine, is the tree. Prayer is hidden -- not expressed, bhajan is the expression. Bhajan is the dancing prayer, the singing prayer. Bhajan is the expression of prayer. If you want to see prayer, you will have to look at it in Mahavira and Buddha. If you want to see bhajan then you had better look at Meera and Chaitanya. Bhajan is the prayer expressed. What remains within Mahavira and Buddha flows out of Meera and Chaitanya. What is static within Buddha and Mahavira has started dancing in Meera and Chaitanya. Bhajan is the expression of prayer. You can understand it like this. Suppose you are in love with someone. You can just keep it to yourself, there is no need to say anything about it. It does not matter even if you do not say, "I love you." You…