Osho on the Mind

Can the mind commit suicide?

THE MIND CANNOT COMMIT SUICIDE, because whatsoever the mind can do will strengthen the mind. Any doing on the part of the mind makes the mind more strong. So suicide is impossible. Mind doing something means mind continuing itself -- so that is not in the nature of things. But suicide happens. Mind cannot commit it -- mm? -- let me make it absolutely clear: mind cannot commit it, but suicide happens. It happens through watching the mind, not by doing anything. The watcher is separate from the mind, it is deeper than the mind, higher than the mind. The watcher is always hidden behind the mind. A thought passes, a feeling arises -- who is watching this thought? Not the mind itself -- because mind is nothing but the process of thought and feeling. The mind is just the traffic of thinking. Who is watching it? When you say,…

Osho, what will happen if the eastern mind meets with the western mind?

The officer-in-charge took pity on him and he said, 'I can understand your difficulty, but now only one thing can be done. That too is not regular, but for you I will make a concession. You can choose either the indian hell or the german hell.' 'But what is the difference?' the man asked. 'In the german hell,' explained the officer-in-charge, 'you spend half your time eating all the food you want, listening to music and disporting yourself with girls. in the other half of the time you are pinioned to the wall and beaten mercilessly. Your nails and teeth are pulled out and boiling oil is poured over you.' 'And in the indian hell?' 'In the indian hell you spend half your time eating all the food you want, listening to music and disporting yourself with girls. In the other half of the time you are pinioned to the…

Osho, is it possible for a man's consciousness to become like that of a newborn child?

Certainly. A lake is all quiet. Then waves arise, gusts of wind come—the lake trembles. When the gusts pass, the lake again becomes still, becomes a mirror again. The lake is pure. Leaves fall, it becomes dirty. The leaves will settle to the bottom; the lake will again be fresh and clear. When the child is born, the lake is still clear—there are no ripples, no leaves of thoughts, no waves of desire. Then everything becomes wave-tossed—storms arise, the mind trembles, the mirror is lost. Youth comes; everything turns stormy; nothing remains settled; the wild, tempestuous surges of great desires arrive. Then old age comes; all the rubbish, the stones, the ruins lie about. But what was there at the source is still there. A little understanding—to let the leaves settle; a little understanding—to let the winds of desire stop. The lake will become the same again; the nature of…

Osho, the mind does not settle in the crowd, and sheer loneliness also makes the heart panic. Is this a symptom of madness? Kindly explain.

A few things about solitude should be understood. Solitude has three forms. First: what we call loneliness. Second: aloneness. And third: kaivalya. Loneliness is negative. Loneliness is not true aloneness; the memory of the other keeps tormenting you—if only the other were here; the other’s absence hurts, a thorn pricks; the mind is entangled in the other. To outward eyes you are alone, but not within; inside, a crowd is present. Someone may find you sitting by yourself, yet you know you are not alone: someone comes to mind; your heart is set on someone; you are sending out a call to someone; weaving dreams of someone; a cry is going on within—if only someone were here, I would not be alone! You are not reconciled to loneliness. Far from joy, there is not even peace in it. You are restless, agitated. Soon you will find some entanglement: you will…

Osho, if the mind is dreamlike, then whatever is done through the mind will also be dreamlike, won’t it! Then is sadhana also dreamlike, and sannyas too?

Exactly so. Sadhana is a dream, and sannyas too. But there are differences between dream and dream. A thorn gets lodged in your foot; you use another thorn to remove the first. The second is also a thorn—remember that. One thorn is already stuck, so you take it out with another. Don’t imagine the second thorn is not a thorn—otherwise you’ll make a great mistake. And when the first thorn is out, what do you do? You throw away both thorns. You don’t wrap up the second thorn and put it in a safe, you don’t worship it. The world is a thorn. Sannyas is also a thorn. With one thorn you remove the other. Then both are useless. In the ultimate state, even sannyas is not. That Brahmin who asked Buddha, “Are you a deva, a gandharva, a human being?” forgot one thing; he should have asked, “Are you…

Osho, I have undoubtedly set out on the path, and the path itself is becoming the destination. But when I sit in discourse, my mind keeps collecting what you say so I can tell it to others. Why is there such eagerness in me to expound it before others—especially before my loved ones?

It is natural. Those whom we love—we want to give them what we have received, that in which we have known joy, in which we have caught a hint of truth. The taste we have savored, we want our loved ones to taste. We want to make them partners in it. Completely natural. Share! Whatever seems right to you, say it. Who knows—someone else may also find it right. Just keep one thing in mind. The eagerness to share is fine; insistence is not. Don’t sit on anyone’s chest saying, “I have accepted it, you must accept it too—because you are my wife; if you don’t agree with me, that’s not okay; or you are my husband.” Do not be insistent—non-insistence! Give full freedom to accept or not. But if a feeling rises in your heart, don’t suppress it either. If you feel joy, if you taste the essence, share…

Question: BELOVED OSHO, DOES PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPY HELP TO GO BEYOND THE MIND? Vijen, psychological therapy can help you to understand the mind, but it cannot lead you beyond the mind. Only one thing leads you beyond the mind and that is meditation. Meditation has nothing to do with psychotherapy, but psychotherapy can create a ground by giving you a better understanding of your mind to go into meditation. It cannot lead you directly into the transcendental, but it can be a help, just the way you prepare a garden. First, you prepare the soil, but that is not the garden. And just preparing the ground, removing the weeds, the grass, any wild growth, stones, roots, still it is not the garden -- this much psychotherapy can do. Now you will have to put seeds, give nourishment to those seeds, care and love and protection.

"in which way does the modernized original mind become identified with the dust of the past knowledge and experience?"

Religion starts when you become frustrated, totally frustrated, with the world of name and form and when the whole thing looks meaningless. It is! Ultimately it IS meaningless. This feeling of meaninglessness of the world that is created around name and form makes you uneasy. That uneasiness is the beginning of a religious search. You become uneasy because with this label you cannot become totally identified. The label remains a label; you remain what you are. This label covers you a little, but it cannot become your totality. And sooner or later you become fed up with this label. You want to know who you really are. And the moment you ask sincerely, "Who am I?" you are on a different journey; you are transcending. This identification is natural. There is another reason why it is so easy to become identified. This is a room. If I say to you,…