Osho's perspective on Time
When Osho Spoke About Time
Passages from the discourses where this theme comes alive.
Please Osho, what is time?
TIME has two meanings. One is chronological time, the clock's time. I cannot say much about it. You have to ask a physicist; only he can say something about it. That is not my dimension of work. If you ask the physicists, Albert Einstein and others, they will say time is the fourth dimension of space. But that does not make much sense, the mystery remains. The mystery remains as mysterious as it was before Albert Einstein. Saint Augustine is reported to have said, "I know what time is if nobody asks me; if somebody asks me then I don't know." Time is a mysterious quality. Everybody lives in it, everybody feels it, everybody knows it, and yet it is inexplicable. The physicist has come to a certain understanding -- that it is the fourth dimension of space -- but that too does not demystify it. In fact it becomes…
Osho, just one small thing: what’s the significance of the forty-eight minutes in this?
It doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t mean anything. Here it’s not a matter of minutes at all; just pausing for a while is enough.
A friend has asked: Here you keep time for us, so we know when ten minutes are up; at home, how will we know?
It doesn’t matter. Whether it turns out to be eight minutes or twelve instead of ten, there is no difference. Continue by estimation. In five or ten days your estimate will become steady. Our difficulty has arisen because we have made false substitutes; therefore the inner clock is not able to function. Otherwise, there is a biological watch within, and it does work. Why do you start feeling sleepy at eleven or twelve at night? If you get up at six in the morning, or at four, why does sleep break then? If you eat at twelve or one, why does hunger come exactly at one? What is the reason? There is a biological time; inside, a natural process is going on. Just as seasons change—there is no clock and no calendar anywhere—yet they change on time. Evening comes, morning comes; the sun rises and sets on time. In the…
You ask: “Are lust, anger, greed, and attachment merely shadows of time?”
Only desire is the shadow of time. You can call desire the shadow of time or time the shadow of desire. It is more accurate to say that time is the shadow of desire. If desire drops, time drops. If time drops, desire too drops. But your effort has to be to let desire drop—because at the very root is desire, the wanting: something is needed! As I am, I am not content; I must become something else! There is the seed of desire. What I have is not enough; I must get more! The world as it is will not do; it should be otherwise, in accord with my dreams. My mind is not delighted. If there is even a trace of discontent, desire has arisen. In the expanding of that desire, time also arises. It is better to say desire and time are two sides of the same…
"A moment is not a collection of parts; it is a seamless presence that exists only in the undivided now. In meditation, we transcend the mind's fragmentation and embrace the wholeness of existence."
"Trust your inner biological watch; with practice, your sense of timing will naturally align with the rhythm of your being."
"You cannot be sent back before the time, for it is not a matter of dates but of the fullness of your experience; only when your learnings have ripened will you be ready to return."
"Time is a psychological illusion; in deep presence, it expands, while in routine, it compresses, revealing the true nature of our experiences."
"Enlightenment is not bound by time; it is a shift in awareness available to you in this very moment. Board the train now—drop your excuses and awaken."
What happens when time stops?
outcome"When time stops, it is not time that changes, but the mind's incessant chatter, allowing you to taste the eternal now beyond the illusions of past and future."
What is the essence of time?
definition"Timelessness arises when desire fades, revealing the eternal now, while the outer clock continues its relentless march."
"The only real fear is of time itself, for it is the relentless passage that brings death; yet when you live each moment fully, even death becomes a welcomed mystery."
"Time is a useful convention for the mind, but in the depths of existence, only the eternal Now truly exists."
What is the nature of time?
definition"Time is not a ticking clock, but the rightness of the moment; trust the timing of your life and allow existence to unfold in harmony with its natural rhythm."
"Time is not a cosmic mystery but a human illusion; step beyond the clocks and embrace the awareness of the present moment."
"The significance of three o'clock lies not in the hour itself, but in your readiness to embrace the present moment; true awakening happens when you respond to now without delay."
"A single, sincere pause is more transformative than a prescribed duration; it is in the stillness that true awareness unfolds."
"In the face of an elastic time, urgency becomes a catalyst for transformation, compelling us to awaken to our responsibility and embrace immediate change rather than waiting for gradual evolution."
What is time?
definition"Time is a creation of the mind; when thought ceases, the present reveals its timeless essence, and in that silence, eternity unfolds."
Profound Quotes on Time
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