Hypnosis

Beloved Osho, why is it difficult for some people to be hypnotized? Is it because we do not trust the person who is doing it to us, or are we not as receptive as those who can be?

He was immensely excited. He said, "Do whatever... but I want to be celibate before I die, because this is the only thing in which I have failed in my life. I have never failed in anything." He gave millions of dollars to the freedom movement. So all the leaders who became prime ministers, and presidents and cabinet ministers looked to him as a father figure. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who was the prime minister, told him, "It was okay not to give taxes to the British government, but now it is your own government." He said, "Remember, it does not matter to me which government it is. I can donate twice the amount that you think I should pay in taxation, but taxation? -- that I cannot do. And you cannot catch hold of me, because I don't have any books. Except for me, nobody knows how much money I…

Isn't the reverse the case? That a really intelligent person cannot be hypnotized?

A person of lower intelligence cannot be hypnotized; it is impossible. The greater the intelligence, the greater the hypnotizability. The more intelligent you are, the higher your I.Q., the more susceptible you are. A genius can be hypnotized very easily, but an idiot cannot be hypnotized at all. Your conception is wrong, but it's a prevalent mistake. What you are saying is wrong, it is absolutely unfounded, there are no grounds for it, but it is a very prevalent concept -- that people who can be hypnotized are not intelligent. It is absolutely wrong.

Is there some kind of hypnosis involved in the technique?

The moment a person begins to experiment with this method there is no question of belief or faith, there is no question of hypnosis. The contrary is the case: we have hypnotized ourselves into believing that we are normal and sane human beings. This is the hypnosis! The whole world is a great madhouse and we have hypnotized ourselves into thinking that we are sane, normal. But the insanity that is hidden in the background always tries to come out: it erupts, it explodes out of us in dreams. It explodes out of us when we are intoxicated. LSD or mescaline cause an explosion of madness, but the explosion does not come from the LSD or mescaline, and dreams do not create the madness either. Drugs or dreams just uncover your self, the authentic being that is within you. That is why, for a sadhaka, a seeker, it has been…

Beloved Osho, is there something that is a mixture of hypnosis and meditation? -- because in your presence I feel as if mesmerized and yet I am aware of everything around me too.

In my presence it can happen, a mixture of both... a silence that feels almost as if you are absent, and still you are alert about every small thing that is happening around. My presence is a totally different way of hypnosis and meditation together. It has never been tried. If you try only hypnosis then you cannot be aware of other things around you: you will fall asleep, deep asleep. You will hear the voice of the hypnotist, but you will not hear anything else. If you meditate you will become alert and you will hear everything around you in clear alertness, but you will not find the soothing softness, as if you are asleep and yet awake. And that's what I want to happen in my presence -- both together. I don't want you to be hypnotized; that's an old and crude method. I want you to be…