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52
LISTEN
TO OSHO SPEAK ON THIS MEDITATION
"WHEN EATING OR DRINKING, BECOME THE TASTE OF THE FOOD OR DRINK,
AND BE FILLED."
We go on eating things; we cannot live without them. But we eat them
very unconsciously, automatically, robot-like. If the taste is not
lived, you are just stuffing. Go slow, and be aware of the taste. And
only when you go slow can you be aware. Do not just go on swallowing
things. Taste them unhurriedly and become the taste. When you feel
sweetness, become that sweetness. And then it can be felt all over the
body -- not just in the mouth, not just on the tongue, it can be felt
all over the body! A certain sweetness -- or anything else -- is
spreading in ripples. Whatsoever you are eating, feel the taste and
become the taste.
This is how tantra appears to be quite the contrary from other
traditions. Jainas say, "No taste -- ASWAD." Mahatma Gandhi
had it as a rule in his ashram -- "ASWAD: do not taste anything.
Eat, but do not taste; forget the taste. Eating is a necessity, but do
it in a mechanical way. Taste is desire, so do not taste." Tantra
says taste it as much as possible; be more sensitive, alive. And not
only be sensitive -- become the taste.
With ASWAD, with no taste, your senses will be deadened. They will
become less and less sensitive. And with less sensitivity, you will
not be able to feel your body, you will not be able to feel your
feelings. Then you will just remain centered in the head. This
centeredness in the head is the split. Tantra says do not create any
division within yourself. It is beautiful to taste; it is beautiful to
be sensitive. And if you are more sensitive you will be more alive,
and if you are more alive, then more life will enter your inner being.
You will be more open.
You can eat things without tasting; it is not difficult. You can touch
someone without touching; it is not difficult. We are already doing
it. You shake hands with someone without touching him because to
touch, you have to come to the hand, you have to move to the hand. You
have to become your fingers and your palm as if you, your soul, have
come to the hand. Only then can you touch. You can take someone's hand
in your hand and withdraw. You can withdraw; then the dead hand is
there. It appears to be touching, but it is not touching.
We are not touching! We are afraid to touch somebody because
symbolically touch has become sexual. You may be standing in a crowd,
in a tram, in a railway compartment, touching many persons, but you
are not touching them and they are not touching you. Only bodies are
there in contact, but you are withdrawn. And you can feel the
difference: if you really touch someone in the crowd, he will feel
offended. Your body can touch, but you must not move in that body. You
must remain aloof -- as if not in the body, as if there is only a dead
body touching.
This insensitivity is bad. It is bad because you are defending
yourself against life. You are so much afraid of death, and you are
already dead. You need not really be afraid because no one is going to
die; you are already dead. And that is why you are afraid -- because
you have not lived. You have been missing life and death is coming.
A person who is "alive" will not be afraid of death because
he is living. When you are really living there is no fear of death.
You can even live death. When death comes, you will be so sensitive to
it that you will enjoy it. It is going to be a great experience. If
you are alive you can even live death, and then death is no more
there. If you can even live death, if you can even be sensitive to
your dying body as you are withdrawing to the center and dissolving,
if you can live even this, then you have become deathless.
"WHEN EATING OR DRINKING, BECOME THE TASTE OF THE FOOD OR DRINK,
AND BE FILLED BY THE TASTE:"
When drinking water, feel the coolness. Close your eyes, drink it
slowly, taste it. Feel the coolness and feel that you have become that
coolness, because the coolness is being transferred to you from the
water; it is becoming a part of your body. Your mouth is touching,
your tongue is touching, and the coolness is transferred. Allow it to
happen to the whole of your body. Allow its ripples to spread, and you
will feel a coolness all over your body. In this way your sensitivity
can grow, and you can become more alive and more filled.
We are frustrated, feeling vacant, empty, and we go on talking that
life is empty. But we are the reasons why it is empty. We are not
filling it and we are not allowing anything to fill it. We have an
armor around us -- a defense armor. We are afraid to be vulnerable, so
we go on defending against everything. And then we become tombs --
dead things.
Tantra says be alive, more alive, because life is God. There is no
other God than life. Be more alive, and you will be more divine. Be
totally alive, and there is no death for you.

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