Osho is asked to “Kindly shed some light on this uniqueness about your ashram.”
Osho, In many ashrams around the country, I have observed that the residents must compulsorily practice some discipline, regularly. But surprisingly, no such practice or discipline is seen here. Kindly shed some light on this uniqueness about your ashram!
Nothing is compulsory here! And discipline imposed from the outside is like shackles. If I have to ask you to meditate, it is a shame! Every morning, I am explaining to you what meditation is; I am giving you the taste of meditation; the flowing river of meditation is right before you – now do I also have to tell you to take a dip in the river, to drink from the river? It is your choice now. Is it not enough that I brought the Ganges right before you? Do I have to do this too? I have explained meditation to you; I have praised the Ganges in every possible way. Now it is up to you. Go your own sweet way. If you want to meditate, meditate. If you do not want to meditate, don’t. But I won’t tell you that you must necessarily meditate. Because the moment something becomes mandatory, it starts to hurt, starts to prick like a thorn. Don’t ruin something as magnificent as meditation in this way.
So you have asked, ‘in ashrams, a compulsory discipline is fixed, which has to be practiced regularly.’
No, here I do not have any rules, nor do I have any practice to give to you. All practices are of the ego. Spirituality does not have any practice. What I say is: Wake up! Waking up is consciousness! Waking up is meditation! Waking up is salvation!
You start living consciously, all 24 hours of your life will be suffused with meditation. Meditation is not something that you do in the morning and then are finished with it. Meditation is a river that should keep flowing within you. Meditation is the undercurrent that should remain constant within you; meditation is the thread that weaves all your acts into one garland. Just like when we make a garland, we weave the flowers through the thread; the flowers are visible, the thread is invisible – meditation should be like the thread, invisible but present. All the activities of life – standing, sitting, eating, drinking, walking, speaking, listening – all should be woven with the thread of meditation like flowers into a garland where meditation enters everything, spreads everywhere.
So meditation, for me, means awareness and witnessing.
And when I am no more, then certainly this nuisance will arise. Because some or the other Yoga Chinmaya will occupy this chair. This is the predicament… this chair will not remain empty. Someone or the other will start imposing discipline. The day discipline becomes the norm, that day, know that my relationship with this place has been severed. The day that rules are applied here, compulsory practice comes into play, that day, know that this is no longer my ashram, this has become a dead ashram, a corpse that has joined other dead ashrams.
It cannot happen while I am alive. I am living and I want to see you alive as well, not dead. I do not consider you a sadhak, a seeker. I consider you a siddha, the enlightened one. And I want you to accept your status as a siddha. I want you to be able to say: Ah, I bow to me.
Osho, Ashtavakra Mahageeta, Vol 3, Ch 24, Q 3
Disclaimer: As with all translations, there is the possibility of some slight deviation from the original discourse.
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