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FORGET THE OTHERS, REALIZE YOUR SELF
Neigbhorhood Flash
20th-26th August 2006
We often think that people are self-centered but to me it does not sound correct. My observation is that we are more other-centered than self-centered. We spend more energy and waste our time about what others are doing or have done than spending our time in creativity of our own It is only because we are jealous people. Why?
Osho explains this: Jealousy means ego, jealousy means unconsciousness,. Jealousy means that you have not know even a moment of joy and bliss; you are living in misery. Jealousy is a by-product of miser, ego, and unconsciousness. And not only about jealousy, remember about all problems – greed…
Somebody comes to me and says, “I am very greedy about money. How can I get rid of this greed for money?” it is not a question of money. Greed is greed. If you get rid of money you will become greedy for God; greed will still be there.
The night Jesus was saying goodbye to his disciple, one of the disciples asked him, “Lord, you are leaving us.
There is one question, and it is on the minds of all your disciples. In the kingdom of God you will be sitting at the right side of God himself – obviously, you will be his right hand. And who will be sitting next to you? Amongst us twelve, who will be the second to you? That is the most important thing in our heads. Please say something about it; otherwise, once you are gone it will be impossible for us to decide and we will be quarreling and fighting over it.”
Now, this is jealousy. Now, what kind of disciples has Jesus? As far as my observation goes, Jesus was not very fortunate about his disciples. Buddha was far more fortunate. Never in the whole life of Buddha has a disciple asked such a stupid question.
Remember, if greed is dropped about money, immediately it will take another object, it will become focused on something else.
Take responsibility, and then things start changing.
If you take the responsibility, if you think, “I am responsible, nobody else,” you will not be angry with the wife. You will not be fighting and nagging, you will not be nasty with her. You will start looking deeper and deeper. And in that very search you will become aware. That’s what awareness is, that’s how one become aware.
And when you are fully aware of your jealousy you will be surprised, you are in for a surprise: when you are fully aware of it, it disappears. It simply disappears, not leaving even a trace behind it.
Bring a little light inside. Meditate a little bit. Sit silently, doing nothing, looking inwards. In that stillness you will become aware of yourself and of the whole that surrounds you. That state is samadhi, and to know it is to know all, to be it is to be all.
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BE AUTHENTIC, BE BLISSFUL
The Times of India
25th August 2006
- Swami Chaitanya Keerti We are what we are, what we are meant to be. Yet we keep pretending to be what we are not, perhaps can never be. This is the root cause of our troubles, our suffering…
A husband may not feel loving towards his wife, but he has to please her to be comfortable at home, so he will exhibit love as a need of the moment. When he does this very often, it becomes his habit. The same is the case with wife. It happens all the time in almost all relationships. Out of compulsion, people have to pretend and show what they are not. This creates a split personality, leads to inner conflicts and one lives a life of lies. Such a life is seriously sick and lacks real happiness. How can one be happy when is living a divided life, the external in conflict with the internal!
Osho tells a symbolic story of Hitler who was suffering from deep depression and melancholy, which psychologists said was due to a hidden inferiority complex. All the Aryan psychologists were summoned. They tried but they couldn’t help; nothing emerged from their analyses. So they suggested that a Jewish psychoanalyst be called. Hitler was not ready at first to be treated by a Jew, but he had to yield since there was no way out. So, a great Jewish psychoanalyst was called. He analyzed penetrated deep into, Hitler’s mind, his dreams and then he suggested, “The problem is not much.
Simply repeat one thing continuously: ‘I am important, I am significant, I am indispensable.’ Let it be a mantra. Night and day, whenever you remember, repeat it: ‘I am important, I am significant, I am indispensable.”
Hitler said, “Stop! You are giving me bad advice.” The psychoanalyst couldn’t understand this. He said, “What do you mean? Why do you call this bad advice?” Hitler said, “Because whatever I say, I am such a liar I cannot believe it. If I say I am indispensable, I know it is a lie. I am saying it but I am a liar!”
Osho explains: “Out of lies, if you repeat something it will become a lie. Out of fear, if you do something it will become a fear again. Out of hate, if you try to love, that love will just be a hidden hate: it cannot be anything else- you are full of hate. Go to the preachers and they will say: ‘Try to love.’ they are talking nonsense because how can a person who is full of hate try to love? If he tries to love, this love will come out of hatred: it will be poisoned already, poisoned from the very source. And this is what the misery of all preachers is.”
Even the so-called teachers, educationists and moralists do not show us how to be authentic. They simply tell us to change our behaviour without going through the real transformation that takes place only through deep meditation. People become pretenders and hypocrites as they have to become what they are not. Enlightened mystics give us the science of the inner transformation and help us realize our true selves. We feel oneness of the inner and outer, the undivided self, the Advaita. For that, one need not seek psychological treatment, one should learn the Eastern way of meditation.
Be authentic and you will be in bliss!
(The writer is editor of Osho World magazine.)
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MEDITATE FOR INNER TREASURE
The Times of India
18th August 2006
- Swami Chaitanya Keerti
Existence pulsates with abundance. It embodies godliness. The Hindi word for god is Ishwar. The quality of godliness is Aishwarya. That is our inner treasure.
We carry within us an infinite treasure of spiritual wealth. There is a vast kingdom of godliness within us, immeasurable. To open this window of godliness, we need a password, and that really is ‘meditation’.
We are living in the age of computers and robots. Working constantly with these mechanical gadgets, we end up behaving mechanically. And to behave like robots is not human because we do not remain masters of our lives. Some other forces of unconsciousness control us. There is no human glory or grace in such existence.
Osho reminds us: “Bring a little more awareness to your existence. Each act has to be done less automatically than you have been doing it, and you have the key. If you are walking, don’t walk like a robot. Don’t keep walking as you have always walked, don’t do it mechanically. Bring a little awareness to it. Slow down. Let each step be taken in full consciousness.”
Lord Buddha used to say to his disciples that when you raise your left foot, deep down say “Left”. When you raise your right foot, deep down say “Right”. First say it, so you become acquainted with the process. Then slowly let the words disappear, just remember “Left, right, left, right…”
Osho recommends: “Try it in small acts. Eating, taking a bath, swimming, walking, talking, listening, cooking, washing your clothes…De-automatise all processes. Remember the word: de-automatisation. That is the secret of becoming aware. “The mind is a robot. The robot has its utility; this is the way the mind functions. You learn something; when you first learn it, you are aware. For example, if you learn to drive a car you are very alert. After all, it is so dangerous, you have to be aware. But the moment you have learnt driving, this awareness is not needed. Then the robotic part of your mind takes over.” And that’s when you lose consciousness.
Meditation means regaining consciousness, transcending the robotic mind. Such transcendence happens within the realm of our Inner Being, our consciousness. Osho says, “Mind opens outside; meditation opens inside. Mind is a door that leads outside in the world; meditation is the door that leads you to your interiority, to the innermost shrine of your being. And suddenly, you are enlightened.”
(The writer is editor of Osho World magazine.)
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OSHO
The Times of India
12th August 2006
- Ma Shukla, who runs an osho ashram in city, teaches meditation to many students
The search for happiness and accord is incessant. But in the trials and tribulations of progression from child to teenage and subsequently adulthood, myriad dilemmas emerge. And the youth is at sea. As the battle to quell internalized predicaments, it manifests itself externally, more often than not, resulting in perturbed mental states. Psychologists and counselors do attempt to resolve these dilemmas, largely related to the physicality of growing up. But a section of them in city have sought a higher approach to answer this constant query, called sex. A natural phenomenon, most would say. Ye, this naturalness, was never and is yet not, a very accepted part. Spiritual guru, Osho, known for his liberality of thought, seems to be providing succour to city students caught in the quagmire between moralities, right and wrong.
Ma Shukla, who runs an Osho ashram in city, teaches meditation to many students from Punjab University. During the course of this meditation, she discovers a large number of them are mentally absent. And on probing deeper, the youngsters confide in her. “The one common problem most youngsters are facing a of a depressed mental condition. I get a lot of students who come for meditation. And when I ask them what ails them, the common answers are, love, emotion and sex,” adds Ma Shukla. And for all those considering themselves culturally enlightened, Ma Shukla says her classes are a pointer in the reverse direction. “We think we are now in a more culturally modern environment. But we are still primitive. What else would you call those who shun a universe energy force like sex, deeming it unfit for discussion?”
While Osho’s outlook, (which is misinterpreted as being a philosophy propagating sex according to Ma Shukla), may apparently be the biggest attraction for these youngsters, this is not the whole truth. Varinder Singh Chandhok alias ‘Swami Amano Viram,’ a high court criminal lawyer, has been practicing Osho’s philosophy since 1984. He best summarizes the stage that leads most youngsters astray. “When I was in school, my classmates used to read pornography. And I used to read Osho. Frankly, even I ventured into this philosophy because of its misplaced liberality on sex,” laughs Viram. But eventually, what was meant to bog him, unchained him. “According to Osho, intelligence id trust in your own being, and to live in the moment. The vital universal energy is sex energy. If it flows downwards it becomes sex, and if that flows centrally upwards, harmonizing all charkas, it becomes love, compassion, sadhna,” he says.
As Ma Shukla teaches dynamic meditation, she says it can channelize this supreme energy, which son for crime and discord amongst youth. “The Osho commune has always been coming to the rescue of the youth, because that is the age of cluttered thought,” adds Viram.
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LET GO OF ANGER
The Times of India
11th August 2006
- Swami Chaitanya Keerti
All it does is turn on you and affect your health, your psyche. Meanwhile, he who has angered you has conquered you
A friend once asked the renowned Irish-Australian nurses Sister Elizabeth Kenny how she managed to stay constantly cheerful. Sister Kenny replied: “As a girl I would often lose my temper. But one day when I became angry with a friend over a trivial matter, my mother gave me the sound advice that I always remember. She said anyone who angers you actually conquers you.”
In a street in China, two persons were quarrelling and a crowd gathered to watch. People everywhere enjoy watching such scenes. They may be on for some serious business but when they see people quarrelling but they forget their work and start watching. Violence has such a great appeal. That is why all the violence, the blood and gore on television sells like hot cakes.
Well, one of the Chinese men was rather provoked and spat on the other person. Within minutes, the crowd of watchers had dispersed. In China, they believe that the person who spits on the other person first shows his weakness, because he gets provoked in a quarrel means that the other has been successful in conquering you. He has aroused some poison of anger in you, compelling you to spit. And the anger ultimately hurts the person who gets angry; the receiver of the anger may not really get hurt.
One really doesn’t have to be a scientist or a researcher to understand the ill-effects of anger on one’s health. One has only to be sensitive. The being of an angry person starts transmitting vibration s of anger and violence around him. Just standing close to such a person may make you feel nauseated. His very presence can be uncomfortable. On the other hand, when meditates, you feel uplifted and enveloped in a sense of comfort, of well-being.
Exhale deeply and vomit out your anger, not on others but in the emptiness around you. Deep cleanse yourself. The Atharva Veda says: Cast off anger from your heart, like an arrow from the bow, so that you may again be friends and live together absolutely in harmony.
Osho concludes: Tensions are our guests, we invite them. Relaxation is our nature, we don’t have to invite it. You don’t have to relax, you have just to stop inviting tensions, and relaxation begins on its own. In your very core, in every fibre, in every cell of your being, relaxation percolates and assimilates. This relaxation is the beginning of meditation.
(The writer is editor of Osho World magazine.)
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