Negative Mind

Osho, on the path of the negative mind, must we put aside all memories? Can we not retain at least some understanding that would encourage every fresh approach of the negative mind, or help us in the effort to know?

Nothing you accumulate can ever give a boost to the negative mind. It is like a man saying, “I want to be a beggar,” and then piling up wealth so that the wealth may support his beggary. Do you see my point? To be a beggar means to be without possessions. A man says, “I am gathering wealth so that when tomorrow I become a beggar it will be convenient to be a beggar.” That is upside down! Negative mind means this: “I know nothing,” and that this state remains continuous. Whatever I come to “know” will become an obstacle to it, not a support—because it will lessen it, diminish it. Gradually we forget that we know nothing, and we accumulate so much knowledge that it becomes a problem. There was a Muslim fakir, Bayazid. He was passing through a village at dusk. All day he had met no one;…

Remember: memory is others’ knowledge; knowledge is one’s own knowing. So science is memory, and religion is knowledge. Memory will not do. I have seen it—visited many ashrams, met many sadhus—they all make people memorize scriptures; they run schools of scripture. Those who gather around them become parrots by rote. They start repeating. Ask them anything—an answer is ready for everything. Those who have not a single answer of their own collect the answers of others and begin to give them. It satisfies the ego, but no one attains knowledge. So let me say the first thing to you: knowledge is not memory. Therefore, even if you memorize someone, even if you learn scriptures, agamas by rote, the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Gita, the Koran—commit them all to heart—it will make no difference. They will only become a burden; they cannot become your liberation.

I am negative, I am not a positive mind. I am totally negative. I will negate what you say, but I won't say anything as my position, because to me a positive mind cannot become a vacuum, cannot become vacant, cannot be a nonentity. A positive mind can never be; only a negative mind. A mind which comes through thinking to be negative, negates everything. When you negate everything then the mind becomes a vacuum. This is my position. (Laughter) QUESTION: CAN YOU TELL US HOW YOU MANAGE TO GET AN UNOCCUPIED MIND -- BECAUSE THAT IS THE FIRST STEP FOR YOUR EXPERIENCE, YES? Osho: I try to understand the occupied mind. My own mind, occupied constantly -- I observed it. The very observation of the occupied mind makes the mind unoccupied.

Quieten your mind. Reflect. Watch.

NOTHING BINDS YOU. YOU ARE FREE. YOU ARE STRONG. YOU HAVE COME TO THE END. FREE FROM PASSION AND DESIRE, YOU HAVE STRIPPED THE THORNS FROM THE STEM. THIS IS YOUR LAST BODY. YOU ARE WISE. YOU ARE FREE FROM DESIRE AND YOU UNDERSTAND WORDS AND THE STITCHING TOGETHER OF WORDS. AND YOU WANT NOTHING. "VICTORY IS MINE, KNOWLEDGE IS MINE, AND ALL PURITY, ALL SURRENDER. "I WANT NOTHING. I AM FREE. I HAVE FOUND MY WAY. WHOM SHALL I CALL TEACHER?" THE GIFT OF TRUTH IS BEYOND GIVING. THE TASTE BEYOND SWEETNESS, THE JOY BEYOND JOY. THE END OF DESIRE IS THE END OF SORROW. When you have reached to your innermost core suddenly you become aware that all that you have been desiring was useless and what you really needed, what was your real nourishment, has been waiting for you inside you. Your search has to be inner,…