Inner Exploration

Inquire of the inmost, the one, of its final secret which it holds for you through the ages.

THE GREAT AND DIFFICULT VICTORY, THE CONQUERING OF THE DESIRES OF THE INDIVIDUAL SOUL, IS A WORK OF AGES; THEREFORE EXPECT NOT TO OBTAIN ITS REWARD UNTIL AGES OF EXPERIENCE HAVE BEEN ACCUMULATED. WHEN THE TIME OF LEARNING THIS RULE IS REACHED, MAN IS ON THE THRESHOLD OF BECOMING MORE THAN MAN. THE KNOWLEDGE WHICH IS NOW YOURS IS ONLY YOURS BECAUSE YOUR SOUL HAS BECOME ONE WITH ALL PURE SOULS AND WITH THE INMOST. IT IS A TRUST VESTED IN YOU BY THE MOST HIGH. BETRAY IT, MISUSE YOUR KNOWLEDGE, OR NEGLECT IT, AND IT IS POSSIBLE EVEN NOW FOR YOU TO FALL FROM THE HIGH ESTATE YOU HAVE ATTAINED. GREAT ONES FALL BACK, EVEN FROM THE THRESHOLD, UNABLE TO SUSTAIN THE WEIGHT OF THEIR RESPONSIBILITY, UNABLE TO PASS ON. THEREFORE LOOK FORWARD ALWAYS WITH AWE AND TREMBLING TO THIS MOMENT, AND BE PREPARED FOR THE BATTLE. BETRAY IT....…

What is turning inwards?

Now, what does it mean to turn inwards? Tao's question is significant, it is very relevant. What does it mean to turn inwards? It means seeing the futility of desire, seeing the futility of dreaming, seeing the illusoriness of dreaming. In that very seeing, desire disappears. In that clarity, desire cannot exist. And when you are with no desire, you are in. Not that you have to turn in. Not that first you have to stop desiring, then you have to turn in. The cessation of desire is the turning, the transformation -- what Jesus calls 'metanoia', the conversion. Suddenly another gestalt opens. It was there, but you were not aware of it because you were too much obsessed with the desire. The desire for money, the desire for power, the desire for prestige, does not allow your meditation to bloom. Because the whole energy goes down the drain in…

And a friend has asked: Osho, this matter of meditation—is it, after all, auto-hypnosis, self-hypnosis?

There is a great deal of similarity to self-hypnosis; at the final point the path diverges. For a long stretch there is a connection with hypnosis. All three stages are of hypnosis; only the witnessing state is not. That which must remain in the background the whole time—the witnessing: that I know, I see that the breath has come and gone; I know, I see that the body is trembling, spinning. I know, I see—this very sense is not of hypnosis. That is the difference. And it is a very fundamental difference. The rest is all the process of hypnosis. The process of hypnosis is very precious: if it is joined to witnessing, it becomes meditation; if it is separated from witnessing, it becomes stupor. If you use only hypnosis, you will become unconscious; if you also use the witnessing, you will become awakened. The difference between the two is…

Question: First question: Osho, Searching for you I have wandered who knows where. Neither heaven says a word, nor does hell open its gate. I look into every eye, feeling for your picture, and I have wandered who knows where. Are these just the gaps between breaths, or only distances upon distances? You too say nothing—your lips never open. How long must I keep walking, groping about in everyone’s heart? Where are you and where am I? Searching for you I have wandered who knows where. I could not meet you on the earth, nor could I fix your address in the sky. I searched everywhere for you and yet did not find you. Now, in searching, I set out after myself—who knows where I strayed. Ah, what is this? Your address is found: your image in my eyes, like musk that dwells within the deer.