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"Meditation is rest, absolute rest, a full
stop to all activity – physical, mental, emotional. When you
are in such a deep rest that nothing stirs in you, when all
action as such ceases, as if you are fast asleep yet awake,
you come to know who you are. Suddenly the window opens. It
cannot be opened by effort, because effort creates tension,
and tension is the cause of our whole misery. Hence this is
something very fundamental to be understood that meditation
is not effort.
"One has to be very playful about meditation, one has to
learn to enjoy it as fun. One has not to be serious about it
– be serious and you miss. One has to go into it very
joyously. And one has to keep aware that it is falling into
deeper and deeper rest. It is not concentration, just the
contrary, it is relaxation. When you are utterly relaxed,
for the first time you start feeling your reality; you come
face to face with your being. When you are engaged in
activity you are so occupied that you cannot see yourself.
Activity creates much smoke around you, it raises much dust
around you; hence all activity has to be dropped, at least
for a few hours per day.
"That is only so in the beginning. When you have learnt the
art of being at rest you can be both active and restful
together, because then you know that rest is something so
inner that it cannot be disturbed by anything outer. The
activity goes on at the circumference and at the center you
remain restful. So it is only for beginning that activity
has to be dropped for a few hours. When one has learned the
art then there is no question : for twenty-four hours a day
one can be meditative and one can continue all the
activities of ordinary life.
"But remember, the key word is rest, relaxation. Never go
against rest and relaxation. Arrange your life in such a
way, drop all futile activity, because ninety per cent is
futile; it is just for killing time and remaining occupied.
Do only the essential and devote your energies more and more
to the inner journey. Then that miracle happens when you can
remain at rest and in action together, simultaneously. That
is the meeting of the sacred and the mundane, the meeting of
this world and that, the meeting of materialism and
spiritualism."
Osho, The Golden Wind
(This title is no longer available at Osho's request)
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