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The Book of Secrets
In this comprehensive and practical guide, the secrets of the ancient science of Tantra become available to a contemporary audience for the first time. Confined to small, hidden mystery schools for centuries, and often misunderstood and misinterpreted today. Tantra is not just a collection of techniques to enhance sexual experience. As Osho shows in these pages, it is a complete science of self-realizatoin, based on the cumulative wisdom of centuries of exploration into the meaning of life and consciousness. Tantra-the very word means "technique"-is a set of powerful, transformative tools that can be used to bring new meaning andjoy to every aspect of our daily lives.
1152 pages, Hardcover
First published April 15, 1974
1596 people are currently reading
13591 people want to read
About the author
Osho
4,302 books6,802 followersRajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain, 11 December 1931 – 19 January 1990) and latter rebranded as Osho was leader of the Rajneesh movement. During his lifetime he was viewed as a controversial new religious movement leader and mystic.
In the 1960s he traveled throughout India as a public speaker and was a vocal critic of socialism, Mahatma Gandhi, and Hindu religious orthodoxy.
Rajneesh emphasized the importance of meditation, mindfulness, love, celebration, courage, creativity and humor—qualities that he viewed as being suppressed by adherence to static belief systems, religious tradition and socialization.
In advocating a more open attitude to human sexuality he caused controversy in India during the late 1960s and became known as "the sex guru".
In 1970, Rajneesh spent time in Mumbai initiating followers known as "neo-sannyasins". During this period he expanded his spiritual teachings and commented extensively in discourses on the writings of religious traditions, mystics, and philosophers from around the world. In 1974 Rajneesh relocated to Pune, where an ashram was established and a variety of therapies, incorporating methods first developed by the Human Potential Movement, were offered to a growing Western following. By the late 1970s, the tension between the ruling Janata Party government of Morarji Desai and the movement led to a curbing of the ashram's development and a back taxes claim estimated at $5 million.
In 1981, the Rajneesh movement's efforts refocused on activities in the United States and Rajneesh relocated to a facility known as Rajneeshpuram in Wasco County, Oregon. Almost immediately the movement ran into conflict with county residents and the state government, and a succession of legal battles concerning the ashram's construction and continued development curtailed its success.
In 1985, in the wake of a series of serious crimes by his followers, including a mass food poisoning attack with Salmonella bacteria and an aborted assassination plot to murder U.S. Attorney Charles H. Turner, Rajneesh alleged that his personal secretary Ma Anand Sheela and her close supporters had been responsible. He was later deported from the United States in accordance with an Alford plea bargain.[
After his deportation, 21 countries denied him entry. He ultimately returned to India and a revived Pune ashram, where he died in 1990. Rajneesh's ashram, now known as OSHO International Meditation Resort and all associated intellectual property, is managed by the Zurich registered Osho International Foundation (formerly Rajneesh International Foundation). Rajneesh's teachings have had a notable impact on Western New Age thought, and their popularity has increased markedly since his death.
In the 1960s he traveled throughout India as a public speaker and was a vocal critic of socialism, Mahatma Gandhi, and Hindu religious orthodoxy.
Rajneesh emphasized the importance of meditation, mindfulness, love, celebration, courage, creativity and humor—qualities that he viewed as being suppressed by adherence to static belief systems, religious tradition and socialization.
In advocating a more open attitude to human sexuality he caused controversy in India during the late 1960s and became known as "the sex guru".
In 1970, Rajneesh spent time in Mumbai initiating followers known as "neo-sannyasins". During this period he expanded his spiritual teachings and commented extensively in discourses on the writings of religious traditions, mystics, and philosophers from around the world. In 1974 Rajneesh relocated to Pune, where an ashram was established and a variety of therapies, incorporating methods first developed by the Human Potential Movement, were offered to a growing Western following. By the late 1970s, the tension between the ruling Janata Party government of Morarji Desai and the movement led to a curbing of the ashram's development and a back taxes claim estimated at $5 million.
In 1981, the Rajneesh movement's efforts refocused on activities in the United States and Rajneesh relocated to a facility known as Rajneeshpuram in Wasco County, Oregon. Almost immediately the movement ran into conflict with county residents and the state government, and a succession of legal battles concerning the ashram's construction and continued development curtailed its success.
In 1985, in the wake of a series of serious crimes by his followers, including a mass food poisoning attack with Salmonella bacteria and an aborted assassination plot to murder U.S. Attorney Charles H. Turner, Rajneesh alleged that his personal secretary Ma Anand Sheela and her close supporters had been responsible. He was later deported from the United States in accordance with an Alford plea bargain.[
After his deportation, 21 countries denied him entry. He ultimately returned to India and a revived Pune ashram, where he died in 1990. Rajneesh's ashram, now known as OSHO International Meditation Resort and all associated intellectual property, is managed by the Zurich registered Osho International Foundation (formerly Rajneesh International Foundation). Rajneesh's teachings have had a notable impact on Western New Age thought, and their popularity has increased markedly since his death.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews
October 2, 2012
Vigyan Bhairav Tantra Revisted!
Vigyan Bhairav Tantra is much older than Osho, and definitely worth 5 stars. To be perfectly honest with you, I could care less about Osho and all the controversy that surrounds him, his life and his followers and the many misguided actions that took place in his name. What I do care about is the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra text itself. A text consisting entirely of meditation techniques written in India 5000 years ago in another language is nearly impossible for an average modern midwestern caucasion with no secondary language skills to decipher.
Making sense of these 112 techniques is exactly what Osho has done. He has taken these techniques and explained them in laymens terms. If you can read between the lines and extract the "Osho" out of what he is saying (and there is remarkably little to extract) and simply leave the techniques you are left with an extraordinary amount of information on meditation. Osho reccomends that you take each technique and try it for three days wholeheartedly. If you find that it seems to work for you or you feel better or different then try it for three weeks.
One thing I have found is that this book can be hard to read. It is basically a transcription of lectures given in person in 1972-1973 going through the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra one Sutra (passage) at a time. Four or five Sutras are examined and Osho explains the mechanics (so to speak) of each one. This comprises a chapter. Then the next chapter consists of a few questions asked by his audience about the previous Sutras and his answers to those questions.
The whole book is aranged according to the general type of meditation technique being described as is the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra. I've found that the book can be picked up and opened to any sutra and tons of information about that technique is immediately at ones fingertips. In this sense the book does not have to be read front to back. You can scan through the techniques until you find one that interests you, read about it, and try it for three days. And that is what truly makes the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra text remarkable.
Vigyan Bhairav Tantra is much older than Osho, and definitely worth 5 stars. To be perfectly honest with you, I could care less about Osho and all the controversy that surrounds him, his life and his followers and the many misguided actions that took place in his name. What I do care about is the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra text itself. A text consisting entirely of meditation techniques written in India 5000 years ago in another language is nearly impossible for an average modern midwestern caucasion with no secondary language skills to decipher.
Making sense of these 112 techniques is exactly what Osho has done. He has taken these techniques and explained them in laymens terms. If you can read between the lines and extract the "Osho" out of what he is saying (and there is remarkably little to extract) and simply leave the techniques you are left with an extraordinary amount of information on meditation. Osho reccomends that you take each technique and try it for three days wholeheartedly. If you find that it seems to work for you or you feel better or different then try it for three weeks.
One thing I have found is that this book can be hard to read. It is basically a transcription of lectures given in person in 1972-1973 going through the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra one Sutra (passage) at a time. Four or five Sutras are examined and Osho explains the mechanics (so to speak) of each one. This comprises a chapter. Then the next chapter consists of a few questions asked by his audience about the previous Sutras and his answers to those questions.
The whole book is aranged according to the general type of meditation technique being described as is the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra. I've found that the book can be picked up and opened to any sutra and tons of information about that technique is immediately at ones fingertips. In this sense the book does not have to be read front to back. You can scan through the techniques until you find one that interests you, read about it, and try it for three days. And that is what truly makes the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra text remarkable.
February 24, 2015
This book is full of blasphemy: it is the meeting of a misunderstood person and a misunderstood philosophy. Osho is probably the most misunderstood guru and Tantra is misunderstood because on surface it looks shallow and 'impure'. First thing I felt after finishing this book is that I would have lost out on some serious knowledge, insight and inspiration if I had listened to the popular opinion about Osho ('sex guru'). It is lazy labeling. I wonder ..how many people have ACTUALLY read his work in detail? Seriously, do you actually read stuff or parrot what others say?
This book requires a LOT of concentration but if you commit yourself to it, you will be a different human being. Tantra is extremely sophisticated and a highly intelligent philosophy. I always wondered about the violence that happens in our minds. Violence is not always physical. It is a crime to impose your will on others but why is it completely okay to impose your will on....YOURSELF? This might look like a stupid question. Why is it okay to curse yourself, abuse yourself and torture yourself to do something? If I am jealous and I force my mind to not feel jealous, then am I being violent? And most importantly, am I being authentic? Will power is fine but isn't the obsession with will power a subtle form of violence?
If I had to pick one lesson that I learned from this book, it would be this: It is easy to love the world because you will get praise for it. You will get awards for your love of humanity. But the most difficult thing in this world is to love yourself. Because no one will praise you for loving yourself (of course,you don't get praise for drinking water but you must drink it! Self-love is similar). Of course, this will be misunderstood (just like Osho and Tantra). There is a difference between self-obsession and self-love. Self obsession is torturing yourself for not doing things that you think you should be doing. Self-love is unconditional. Tantra is all about accepting yourself and others, unconditionally. People might ask: Oh, so if you murder someone, will you love yourself unconditionally? My answer: If I love myself unconditionally, I will never be in a situation where I would have to do such a thing. Because violence is a result of lack of self-love. Self-love can never lead to violence.
P.S. Osho's views on homosexuality (in this book) suck. But if you can ignore this view and read the whole book, you wouldn't regret this decision.
October 22, 2008
this is the longest book i have ever bothered owning or trying to read. for some reason, too, every time i open it, it tells me exactly what i need to hear.
October 18, 2007
this book is about tantra (not sex - that's kama sutra). tantra is about uniting of all of our experience (body, emotions, mind) for the pursuit of a greater purpose, such as spiritual fulfillment. the processes of tantra are highly psychological in nature, so if you like psychology, eastern yoga, esoteric metaphysics, or even just something new on the philosophical horizon, this book has it in concentration. personally, i have read this book 10+ times. this is one of my all-time favorite books.
September 22, 2011
This book, more than any other that I have found, provides simple practical techniques (112 of them) for breaking through the veil of illusion and entering truth. While the techniques are simple and profound, the author has written over 1,100 pages of commentary that provide context and insight. This is a very readable book. It is the right book for me now. Interestingly, many of its techniques are ones that I had practiced on my own without knowing from whence they came or why I was practicing them. You do not need to believe anything in particular for this book to work for you. It is both practical and insightful. All 112 techniques are listed in the back of the book with page references. Pick the technique that most calls to you and practice it for a while or follow the book sequentially from page 1. I highly recommend this book for those who are seeking transformation and a new consciousness. Enter into peace and love and joy...and be peace and love and joy.
January 24, 2011
Life changing.
December 17, 2023
This book is beyond 5 stars....!
No book has changed my perception on life, than this.
I open this book whenever I need 'inspiration' to keep going.... With whatever life tries to throw at me.
This book is beyond words....!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Tantra is the ability to experience the depths of the mind, without the mind... Words are not needed, only the courage to become 'more aware' of one's mind, is required... Only the courage to experiment with techniques is needed...
People can easily become opinionated because of the difficulty that arises, when 'words' are used to describe something, that is 'beyond' words...
It's all about being conscious of our consciousness, or you can say being aware of our awareness :) As you can see words are difficult, because words simply become a play :)
This is why in this book Osho explains that words do more harm than good, as he continues to explain the 'techniques'
Vigyan Bhairav Tantra means 'techniques to move beyond consciousness'... And to experience consciousness, to become aware of consciousness, words cannot be used because consciousness can only exist in the present... while words can only exist with the mind - and the mind cannot exist in the present; the mind can only exist in the past and in the future...
So to use words is extremely difficult, because words relate to our individual experiences. And when our experiences are different (which of course they should be, because no two people can experience the same things), the message we use with our choice of words to describe it, is also different - this is how personal opinions are formed :)
So Osho only describes 'techniques'. If the techniques are performed, the result 'happens' on its own... The result is simply a by-product... If we do the techniques regularly, an explosion happens, the result happens... An explosion of consciousness :)
It's like a light bulb, current flows in one direction to light the light bulb. If the current is made to flow in the opposite direction - the light bulb explodes. So it is with our awareness.
We live in a society that demands us to take our awareness out of our body - to our periphery. But with these techniques, Osho shows us how to take our awareness into our body - to our centre.
Consciousness and the mind are like two parallel lines that never cross. One can only exist without the other. These techniques are used to slowly quiet the mind, so we can become aware of our consciousness.
This is Tantra... Osho provides an absolutely, incomparable 'framework' for how to approach Tantra...
Also I might add that Osho has 'never' written a book in his life, this book like the many hundred others, are simply him talking... His talks have been turned into discourses :)
No book has changed my perception on life, than this.
I open this book whenever I need 'inspiration' to keep going.... With whatever life tries to throw at me.
This book is beyond words....!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Tantra is the ability to experience the depths of the mind, without the mind... Words are not needed, only the courage to become 'more aware' of one's mind, is required... Only the courage to experiment with techniques is needed...
People can easily become opinionated because of the difficulty that arises, when 'words' are used to describe something, that is 'beyond' words...
It's all about being conscious of our consciousness, or you can say being aware of our awareness :) As you can see words are difficult, because words simply become a play :)
This is why in this book Osho explains that words do more harm than good, as he continues to explain the 'techniques'
Vigyan Bhairav Tantra means 'techniques to move beyond consciousness'... And to experience consciousness, to become aware of consciousness, words cannot be used because consciousness can only exist in the present... while words can only exist with the mind - and the mind cannot exist in the present; the mind can only exist in the past and in the future...
So to use words is extremely difficult, because words relate to our individual experiences. And when our experiences are different (which of course they should be, because no two people can experience the same things), the message we use with our choice of words to describe it, is also different - this is how personal opinions are formed :)
So Osho only describes 'techniques'. If the techniques are performed, the result 'happens' on its own... The result is simply a by-product... If we do the techniques regularly, an explosion happens, the result happens... An explosion of consciousness :)
It's like a light bulb, current flows in one direction to light the light bulb. If the current is made to flow in the opposite direction - the light bulb explodes. So it is with our awareness.
We live in a society that demands us to take our awareness out of our body - to our periphery. But with these techniques, Osho shows us how to take our awareness into our body - to our centre.
Consciousness and the mind are like two parallel lines that never cross. One can only exist without the other. These techniques are used to slowly quiet the mind, so we can become aware of our consciousness.
This is Tantra... Osho provides an absolutely, incomparable 'framework' for how to approach Tantra...
Also I might add that Osho has 'never' written a book in his life, this book like the many hundred others, are simply him talking... His talks have been turned into discourses :)
March 15, 2010
As a Seeker you must learn a much higher code of conduct then just those taught to you as a child. This requires your willingness to integrate many points of view. What wisdom list of books would be complete without at least one more perspective about the divine? Start with your own great spiritual or religious tradition then read the Book of Secrets. Osho speaks fluently in the tradition of all great spiritual teachers - with love, kindness, tolerance and compassion. Tantra is teaching spirit from a non-dual perspective. Very challenging for most Westerners but a richly rewarding effort for greater self-knowledge, inner depth and consciousness.
August 19, 2019
The Book of Secrets: now this is a freaking catchy title, isn't it? What secrets are we talking about here and why 112 meditations? I thought meditation was just sitting and watching your breath. There can't be 112 ways of doing that. It sounds like those easy books like 50 Ways to Make Someone Fall in Love With You and 150 Ways to Become Rich, and shit like that. And what the hell is this page count? Over one thousand pages! You must be mad or have nothing better to do to waste your time reading all that. I could finish 5 books and get about 500 hundred likes instead. Why burn my time on this one right here?
This might be what someone would think when they looked for or stumbled upon The Book of Secrets. I don't blame them. The questions are understandable and unless you've delved deep into spirituality to know what Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra is and how important a text is for transcending the human experience, then there'd be no way for you to put the necessary effort and time to finish this monster.
However, even if you think that Tantra doesn't mean technique and it's all about sex (along with other misconceptions), then this is the perfect book for you. Written in an easy and down-to-earth language--as the whole book is basically lectures given by Osho regarding Tantra and its various techniques and applications--this collection of talks offers to the confused, overthinking mind the antidote to its misery, with each chapter slowly weeding out the parasites that have been installed while we were young and didn't know any better, when we accepted anything and everything because adults said so and because we were so eager to learn the world so we could, at last, enjoy it freely.
"We forget ourselves to know the world (when we're young)", Sri Nisirgadatta Maharaj had said in his book I AM THAT: an undisputed Spiritual Classic and one of the best rated books in here. "But then we have to forget the world if we want to know ourselves."
Every sensible person knows that the wisest thing one can do in this life is to know themselves. Know Thyself, as the ancient Greek sanctuary of Delphi had etched on its wall. But how can we do that? The Tao te Ching keeps saying that we should aim at losing stuff, taking out things and thoughts and concepts from our experience. This is the way towards THE WAY. A blimp rises higher the more sandbags you cut off; that's easy to understand. But our lives are a lot more complicated than that. So what kind of sandbags do we cut off so we can become lighter? And how do we know we're cutting a sandbag off and not something of utmost importance, like a rope, for example, something vital that holds the entire blimp together?
If you really trying to figure out the answer to this question. If you, in fact, know that beliefs alter our perceptions in ways that nobody in our immediate environment has ever warned us about, if you know that this human body is not just a piece of flesh and bones but a sophisticated creation that is run through and enveloped by all sorts of different energies and vibrations, and if you can accept that the mind is not identified with our brain but with whatever WE choose to identify it with through our attention, then this is the book that can, not only prove all that, but can expand on it and enhance it with such delicate and wise reasoning only TRUE SCIENCE can use, for, as Osho himself says in the book, Tantra is not a religion, nor another yoga or a form of meditation. Tantra means Technique. Tantra is Science. It is the Science of the human experience: the science that Truly matters and affects us. And here are its 112 ways you can apply it to your person. Aren't you lucky you've discovered this book?
As Sadhguru says, mind is a cutting instrument because we all want our minds to be sharp. So mind is a knife. I can't argue with the metaphor. If mind is a knife then this work right here is the whetstone, the one that will sharpen that knife in ways that can only accelerate your evolution and spiritual understanding, giving you the authority to KNOW which one is the sandbag and which one is the rope of the blimp that is your life. This is the book that can bless you with the power to CUT THROUGH, anything and everything that's dragging you down, not by making you take its words us a gospel--this is not a self-help cookbook written by some crazy Guru (as many people try to advertise), but a collection of talks that infuse spirituality with reason and sense. This is no new-age fluff. This is the real deal!
Humorous, light-hearted and adorned with a vast collection of anecdotes that have as protagonists Zen Masters and Sufis and Yogis and Mystics and Priests and all sorts of spiritual people, here comes a monstrous book that is as easily received as a baby. Because, let's be real, even baby monsters are cute, right?
So if you're thinking about reading this book, apart from everything I've said so far, I have just one comment to make. Read The Book of Secrets like a book you must finish expecting to be another self-help book you want to binge through or another classic to embellish your library, and you'll end up wanting to kill yourself--or rather, burn it to the ground because it'd indeed appear like a monster.
Read it like a magazine edited and presented to you by someone who knows what he's talking about when it comes to spirituality and the human experience, and this is the best book you've ever read. Then it'll surely become your baby. And then it won't be long before that baby grows up into a child: the inner one.
Namaskaram.
This might be what someone would think when they looked for or stumbled upon The Book of Secrets. I don't blame them. The questions are understandable and unless you've delved deep into spirituality to know what Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra is and how important a text is for transcending the human experience, then there'd be no way for you to put the necessary effort and time to finish this monster.
However, even if you think that Tantra doesn't mean technique and it's all about sex (along with other misconceptions), then this is the perfect book for you. Written in an easy and down-to-earth language--as the whole book is basically lectures given by Osho regarding Tantra and its various techniques and applications--this collection of talks offers to the confused, overthinking mind the antidote to its misery, with each chapter slowly weeding out the parasites that have been installed while we were young and didn't know any better, when we accepted anything and everything because adults said so and because we were so eager to learn the world so we could, at last, enjoy it freely.
"We forget ourselves to know the world (when we're young)", Sri Nisirgadatta Maharaj had said in his book I AM THAT: an undisputed Spiritual Classic and one of the best rated books in here. "But then we have to forget the world if we want to know ourselves."
Every sensible person knows that the wisest thing one can do in this life is to know themselves. Know Thyself, as the ancient Greek sanctuary of Delphi had etched on its wall. But how can we do that? The Tao te Ching keeps saying that we should aim at losing stuff, taking out things and thoughts and concepts from our experience. This is the way towards THE WAY. A blimp rises higher the more sandbags you cut off; that's easy to understand. But our lives are a lot more complicated than that. So what kind of sandbags do we cut off so we can become lighter? And how do we know we're cutting a sandbag off and not something of utmost importance, like a rope, for example, something vital that holds the entire blimp together?
If you really trying to figure out the answer to this question. If you, in fact, know that beliefs alter our perceptions in ways that nobody in our immediate environment has ever warned us about, if you know that this human body is not just a piece of flesh and bones but a sophisticated creation that is run through and enveloped by all sorts of different energies and vibrations, and if you can accept that the mind is not identified with our brain but with whatever WE choose to identify it with through our attention, then this is the book that can, not only prove all that, but can expand on it and enhance it with such delicate and wise reasoning only TRUE SCIENCE can use, for, as Osho himself says in the book, Tantra is not a religion, nor another yoga or a form of meditation. Tantra means Technique. Tantra is Science. It is the Science of the human experience: the science that Truly matters and affects us. And here are its 112 ways you can apply it to your person. Aren't you lucky you've discovered this book?
As Sadhguru says, mind is a cutting instrument because we all want our minds to be sharp. So mind is a knife. I can't argue with the metaphor. If mind is a knife then this work right here is the whetstone, the one that will sharpen that knife in ways that can only accelerate your evolution and spiritual understanding, giving you the authority to KNOW which one is the sandbag and which one is the rope of the blimp that is your life. This is the book that can bless you with the power to CUT THROUGH, anything and everything that's dragging you down, not by making you take its words us a gospel--this is not a self-help cookbook written by some crazy Guru (as many people try to advertise), but a collection of talks that infuse spirituality with reason and sense. This is no new-age fluff. This is the real deal!
Humorous, light-hearted and adorned with a vast collection of anecdotes that have as protagonists Zen Masters and Sufis and Yogis and Mystics and Priests and all sorts of spiritual people, here comes a monstrous book that is as easily received as a baby. Because, let's be real, even baby monsters are cute, right?
So if you're thinking about reading this book, apart from everything I've said so far, I have just one comment to make. Read The Book of Secrets like a book you must finish expecting to be another self-help book you want to binge through or another classic to embellish your library, and you'll end up wanting to kill yourself--or rather, burn it to the ground because it'd indeed appear like a monster.
Read it like a magazine edited and presented to you by someone who knows what he's talking about when it comes to spirituality and the human experience, and this is the best book you've ever read. Then it'll surely become your baby. And then it won't be long before that baby grows up into a child: the inner one.
Namaskaram.
June 15, 2017
My fav quotes (not a review):
• Life is like a river. There is no precharted way; there are no maps to be given to you which are to be followed. Just be alive and alert, and then wheresoever life leads you go with full confidence in it. Tantra is a trust — a trust in the life force. Allow it to lead you, don’t force it. Surrender to it and allow it to lead you towards the sea. Just be alert, that is all. While life leads you towards the sea just be alert so that you don't miss anything.
• You may have heard, "Look at the stranger as if he is a friend," but that is not possible if what I am saying is not possible. First look at your friend as the stranger; only then you can look at the stranger as at the friend. They are correlated
• So never say that "I am hungry." Always say within, "I know that my body is hungry." Give emphasis to your knowing. Then the discrimination is there. You are becoming old: never say, "I am becoming old." Just say, "My body is becoming old." Then in the moment of death also you will know, "I am not dying; my body is dying
• whenever you feel that something is wrong, first find out the cause in yourself. Don't go anywhere.
• We create an untrue world around us because of our projections, but if the reality asserts and the horse neighs from the stable, we ask, "Whom do you believe?" We always believe ourselves, not the reality that goes on asserting. It is asserting every moment, but we go on forcing our illusions. That is why every man feels disillusioned in the end. It is not because of reality. Every man and woman feels disillusioned in the end, as if the whole life has been a waste. But now you cannot do anything, you cannot undo it. Time is no more with you. Time has flown and death is near and you are disillusioned, and now the opportunity is lost.
• Why does everyone feel disillusioned? Not only those who are unsuccessful in life, but those who are successful in life, they also feel the same. It is okay if unsuccessfuls feel disillusioned, but even those who succeed feel this way. Napoleons and Hitlers and Alexanders, they also feel disillusioned. The whole life has been a waste. Why? Is the cause really in reality, or is the cause in the dreams which you were projecting? And then you could not project them and the reality asserted itself, and ultimately reality wins and you are defeated
• Always remember, no matter what you are doing, observe whether your center is involved in it or not, because if it is not involved it is better not to do a thing. Don’t do it! No one is forcing you to do anything. Don’t do it! Preserve your energy for the moment when something real happens to you; then do it. Don’t smile, preserve the energy. The smile will come, and then it will change you completely. Then it will be total. Then every cell of your body will smile. Then it will be an explosion — nothing painted.
• He could have accepted me; then I would have thrown all responsibility on his shoulders. But he refused, and he was the last man. There was no comparison. When he refused, I could not go to anyone else because he was the only shelter
• The moment you become obsessed with an ideal, you are closed
• The scripture is absolutely correct. But come forwards only those who have never sinned. Take these stones in your hands and murder this woman, but only those who have never sinned."
• One psychologist going to another to be analyzed? Psychology is just a profession. Buddha is not in any profession.
• Only the sky is still, fortunately, open to meditate on. Try this technique, it will be helpful, but remember three things. One: don’t blink — stare. Even if your eyes start to feel pain and tears come down, don’t be worried. Even those tears will be a part of unloading; they will be helpful. Those tears will make your eyes more innocent and fresh — bathed. You just go on staring.
• This has to be remembered for many reasons. Spiritual effort is the most contradictory phenomenon. Effort has to be made, with full consciousness
• In the beginning, if you only meditate on the open sky, not doing anything else, intervals will start appearing, because whatsoever you see enters you. Whatsoever you see stirs you within; whatsoever you see is pictured, reflected.
• You see a building. You cannot simply see it; something immediately starts happening within you. You see a man, a woman; you see a car — you see anything. It is not just outside, something has started within, the reflection, and you have started reacting to it
• Go on staring — as if you are trying to find the boundary. Move deep. Move as much as you can. That very movement will break the barrier. And this method should be practised for at least forty minutes; less than that will not do, will not be of much help
• It was so awkward to go up and down the drain-pipe the whole day. For three months, every day going up and down the drain-pipe — it was so awkward, and the whole neighborhood was laughing at me. But you had told me not to go up and down the stairs, so I had to find a way.’
• not doing anything about meditation — just being there and it happens; just sitting
• But this is the contradictoriness of things: if you don’t have a very developed ego, you cannot surrender. You can surrender only if you have a perfectly clearcut ego. Otherwise you cannot surrender, because who will surrender? So to me, both are half and both are in misery — east and west both. Because the east has taken egolessness, which is the end part, and the beginning part is missing.
• A borrowed knowledge won’t do; borrowed knowledge is useless. Unless it is your own experience, it is not going to change you. Others' experiences are of no help
• Science experiments with the object, religion experiments with the subject, but both are experimentations and both depend on experiment.
• So it happens, and I observe it daily, that a person who was living a very worldly life was not ordinarily so disturbed. When he starts to meditate, or to seek the religious dimension, he becomes more disturbed, more than ever. The reason is that now he has an even keener desire, more impatience. And with the worldly things, things were so real and objective that he could wait for them. They were always in his reach. Now in the spiritual realm things are so elusive, so far away, they never seem to be in reach. Life seems to be very short, and now the object of desires seems to be infinite — there is more impatience and then more disturbance. And with a disturbed mind, how can you meditate
• Cabby, do you know where I am supposed to be going?’ He said, 'No, sir. But I am going as fast as possible.’
• If you bring religion to the outer world, you will create chaos. In India we have created it — it is a mess. If you bring a scientific attitude for the inner, you will create madness — the West has created it
• Impatience is the shadow of desire
• Then meditation is not be practised really; it will start happening to you, because a non-desiring mind is in meditation
• How can you love when you are closed? You live in your prison, I live in my prison, and whenever we meet, only the prison walls touch each other and we are hiding behind. We
• Wherever beauty exists, ugliness exists; wherever ugliness exists, beauty exists
• The whole day, from ten to five, for seven hours, he goes on putting cold cloths on his head and on his stomach.’ But if there was a fan, this man would have felt that Vinoba is not spiritual. And somehow Vinoba is also agreeing with this type of attitude — that Vinoba’s seven hours every day are not important.
• Looking at a beautiful sunrise or sunset, you forget yourself. Then suddenly you feel that something has happened to you. You are not there; something greater than you is there. 'God’ means greater than you —
• Heads can argue. Hearts cannot argue
• When you don’t know what to do, do something.’ But this will not do as far as meditation is concerned
• You may have jumped out because of music, you may have jumped out because of a beautiful sunrise, you may have jumped out because a child was laughing.
• It is very beautiful and very simple. A desire arises. You are walking on the road; a beautiful car passes by. You look at it — and you have not even looked and the desire to possess it arises. Do it. In the beginning just verbalize; just say slowly, 'I have seen a car. It is beautiful. Now a desire has arisen to possess it.’ Just verbalize
• So the question is not of achieving; the question is only of discovering.
• Those bacteria can live eternally — because there is no birth, so there is
• If food is not available, two bacteria will come nearer and nearer and they will become one, their bodies will become one. No birth, no death. With sex entered birth; with birth entered death; with birth entered individuality; with individuality entered ego.
• If you are really in search it is not so easy. And you don’t need any witness. It is difficult and arduous; it may take even lives. And it is painful, it is a long suffering, because much has to be destroyed, much has to be transcended, long-established chains have to be broken. It is not easy. It is not a child's play. It is arduous, and suffering is bound to be there because whenever you start changing your pattern, all that is old has to be dropped. And all your investments are in the old. You will have to suffer
• With a real master it is difficult to be a disciple
• The old doctor said, 'Tickle the patient with a feather
• And truth is individual in this sense — that truth is truth only when experienced
• A Marx, a Lenin, they are fighting for economic freedom
• A Gandhi, a Lincoln, they are fighting for political freedom
• Economic slavery can cease, but then you will become aware of other slaveries — sexual, psychological
• When you are loved and you are in love, you don’t feel gravitation has any effect on you. You can dance, you can fly really. In a deeper way the body is no more — but this is in a limited way. The same can happen when you are in love with the total existence.
• Whatsoever the cause, but you have jumped out for a moment — out of the body. The body is there, but tossed aside; you are not attached to it. You have taken a flight
• Attachment is a question of attention. If you pay attention to the body, you are attached. The game finishes: suddenly you come back to the body, and the blood is there and the pain. And you wonder how it happened — when it happened and how it happened and how you were not aware of it.
• Man has become conscious. Man has become conscious of time, and the moment you become conscious of time, you are thrown out of eternity. Then you are in a hurry. So as man's consciousness evolves more, he is more hurried, he becomes more and more time conscious. Go to a primitive society: they are not time conscious. The more civilized a society, the more time conscious.
• And it is good, so don't be afraid of it, and don’t think that this passivity is not real. This is being said by your mind which needs and wants the feverish activity and the glow that comes through fever. Fever is not awareness, but in fever you can have a very unhealthy awareness, alertness. That is diseased; don’t hanker for it. Allow it to go, fall into passivity
• If the animal is satisfied then the divine is in discontent. If the divine is satisfied then the animal is in discontent. A part is always in discontent.
• Movement is pure, and then it comes back to you — virgin. As it left you it comes; it carries nothing.
• He has come to the midpoint, the golden mean. Secondly: it is very easy to move to the other extreme — very easy. If you eat too much you can fast easily, but you cannot diet easily. If you talk too much you can go into silence very easily, but you cannot talk less. If you eat too much, it is very easy not to eat at all — this is another extreme. But to eat moderately, to come to a midpoint, is very difficult. To love a person is easy; to hate a person is easy. To be simply indifferent is very difficult
• Religion basically means: for the divine against the animal — so every religion is part of the conflict.
• These techniques we are talking about will be of no use if your mind thinks there is no hurry. Then you can go on postponing and death will come first. That day will not come when you think there is a hurry, when you think that now the moment has come
• The minister said, 'The meaning is easy. Those fingers are symbolic of quotation marks. That sermon was not mine — it was borrowed.’
• Knowledge is gathered through this faculty. But knowing reveals two things: the known and the knower
• Buddha used to say that his path is a middle path — majjhim nikaya
• -Page 732
• "Bliss never happens through effort. Effort is always tension-creating; it gives anguish. Effort is always ugly because you are forcing something. Understanding is not an effort;"
• -Page 733
• "That is why in the old biblical language they have used the word 'know' for sex, for love — for deep love. It is not coincidental. In the Bible it is reported that "Adam knew his wife Eve, and then Cain was bom.""
• -Page 735
• "The leader became afraid — leaders are always afraid. They are leaders because cowards are there, and those cowards choose them. They are leaders of the cowards. If there were no cowards, there would not be any leaders. Basically, they are chosen by cowards, so they are leaders of cowards."
• -Page 736
• "The cat said, "I am a cat and he is a mouse. There is no other technique. I am a cat — that is enough. What is the use of any technique? Being a cat is enough. When I entered, it was enough that a cat should enter. I am a cat.""
• -Page 739
• "Accept dogs! Do not make a condition that 'If they stop barking, then I will sleep.' Just accept."
• -Page 767
• "Then go on with the sound. Be aware, alert. Move with the sound to the very end. See both the poles of the sound, both the beginning and the end."
• -Page 769
• "You are hearing an instrument — a sitar, or anything. Many notes are there. Be alert and listen to the central core, the backbone of it around which all the notes are flowing, the deepest current which holds all the notes together — that which is central, just like your backbone."
• -Page 773
• "The child is born, and he has started to be a politician. The moment he is related to the world, to the parents, to the family, he is in politics. Now he has to take care about his faces. He will smile as a bribery. He will try to find out in what ways he should behave so that he is accepted more, loved more, appreciated more. And sooner or later the child will find out what is condemned by the parents, by the family, and he will start repressing it. Then the false has entered."
• -Page 785
• "There is not going to be any harm. I am just walking, taking a walk, and I am not going anywhere — just walking. So there is no need of mind; I can be non-efficient."
• -Page 786
• "When Bosho was asked, "What is your meditation? What is your SADHANA, spiritual practice?" he said, "When I feel hungry I eat and when I feel sleepy I go to sleep. This is all." The man who was asking said, "But this we all do. What is special about it?" Bosho repeated it again. He said, "When I am hungry 'I' eat and when I feel sleepy 'I' sleep."
• -Page 786
• "Someone asked Buddha, "I want to serve humanity. Tell me how I can serve." Buddha looked at the man very deeply, penetratingly, with deep compassion, and then he said, "But where are YOU? WHO will serve humanity? You are not yet."
• -Page 835
• "Tantra says, acceptance will be followed by transformation, but do not make acceptance a technique for transformation."
• -Page 839
• "When you are fighting with yourself, there is no problem around you. When you are fighting with someone else, the society will create problems for you. When you are fighting with yourself, the whole society will worship you. It is good because you are not harming anyone."
• -Page 870
• "Allah will do - any word that brings your total breath out so that you exhale completely and you are emptied of breath."
• -Page 881
• "Massage the stomach to relax, and you will feel more fearless, less afraid."
• -Page 883
• "Toilet training is the first repression of the child and its natural spontaneity, but it seems difficult to listen to these psychologists."
• -Page 904
• "A vow can be helpful if taken in a very relaxed, deeply meditative mood. Otherwise you are simply showing your anger, your frustration and nothing else, and you will forget the vow within twenty-four hours."
• -Page 907
• "For example, the man is always on the woman — on top of the woman. This is an egoist posture because the man always thinks he is better, superior, higher — how can he be below the woman? But all over the world in primitive societies the woman is above the man. So in Africa this posture is known as the missionary posture, because for the first time when missionaries — Christian missionaries — went to Africa, the primitives just could not understand what they were doing. They thought it would kill the woman."
• -Page 919
• "The need is for love; it is not for food. But food and love are deeply related, so when the need for love is not felt, or is suppressed, a false need for food is created and you can go on eating. Because the need is false, it can never be fulfilled, and we live in false needs."
• -Page 924
• "Ordinarily, when you are in the sex act, there are four persons, not two, and this is a square: four angles are there because you yourself are divided in two — into the thinking part and the feeling part. Your partner is also divided in two; you are four persons. Two persons are not meeting there, four persons are meeting."
• -Page 941
• "Condemnation can only create hypocrisy. Then you try to pretend, to show, that you are what you are not. Hypocrisy means you are the real man, not the ideal man, but you pretend, you try to show, that you are the ideal man."
• -Page 977
• "Dissatisfactions are felt, miseries are felt, pains are felt. Whenever you suffer, you become the suffering. That is why the whole life becomes a hell. You have never felt the positive; you have always felt the negative."
• -Page 990
• "Tantra says in neither waking nor sleeping are you real. You are real only in between. So don’t be concerned with the waking, and don’t be concerned with dreaming and sleep. Be concerned with the gap; be aware of the gap. While passing from one state to another have a glimpse. And once you know when the gap comes, you become the master of it. You have the key; you can open that gap anytime and enter into it. A"
• -Page 992
• "Illusion means the inability to decide whether the thing is real or unreal. This confusion is MAYA."
• -Page 996
• "What are you doing when you are disciplining a child? You are forcing something which is not natural to him. You are asking and demanding something which he will never do spontaneously. You will punish him, you will appreciate, you will bribe him, you will do everything to make him social — to take him away from his natural being. You will create a new center in his mind which was never there, and this center will grow and the natural center will go into oblivion, into the unconscious."
• -Page 1000
• "Can you remember any moment in your life when you were spontaneous, when you just lived in the moment — when you were living yourself and you were not following someone else?"
• -Page 1001
• "The ego will be there just on the periphery, but you will be able to see it now. Like any other object, you will be able to observe it. And once you become capable of observing your ego, your false center, you will never be false again. You may need your false center because you have to live in a society which is false. You will be able to use it now, but you will never be identified with it. It will be instrumental now. You will live on your center, in your center."
• Life is like a river. There is no precharted way; there are no maps to be given to you which are to be followed. Just be alive and alert, and then wheresoever life leads you go with full confidence in it. Tantra is a trust — a trust in the life force. Allow it to lead you, don’t force it. Surrender to it and allow it to lead you towards the sea. Just be alert, that is all. While life leads you towards the sea just be alert so that you don't miss anything.
• You may have heard, "Look at the stranger as if he is a friend," but that is not possible if what I am saying is not possible. First look at your friend as the stranger; only then you can look at the stranger as at the friend. They are correlated
• So never say that "I am hungry." Always say within, "I know that my body is hungry." Give emphasis to your knowing. Then the discrimination is there. You are becoming old: never say, "I am becoming old." Just say, "My body is becoming old." Then in the moment of death also you will know, "I am not dying; my body is dying
• whenever you feel that something is wrong, first find out the cause in yourself. Don't go anywhere.
• We create an untrue world around us because of our projections, but if the reality asserts and the horse neighs from the stable, we ask, "Whom do you believe?" We always believe ourselves, not the reality that goes on asserting. It is asserting every moment, but we go on forcing our illusions. That is why every man feels disillusioned in the end. It is not because of reality. Every man and woman feels disillusioned in the end, as if the whole life has been a waste. But now you cannot do anything, you cannot undo it. Time is no more with you. Time has flown and death is near and you are disillusioned, and now the opportunity is lost.
• Why does everyone feel disillusioned? Not only those who are unsuccessful in life, but those who are successful in life, they also feel the same. It is okay if unsuccessfuls feel disillusioned, but even those who succeed feel this way. Napoleons and Hitlers and Alexanders, they also feel disillusioned. The whole life has been a waste. Why? Is the cause really in reality, or is the cause in the dreams which you were projecting? And then you could not project them and the reality asserted itself, and ultimately reality wins and you are defeated
• Always remember, no matter what you are doing, observe whether your center is involved in it or not, because if it is not involved it is better not to do a thing. Don’t do it! No one is forcing you to do anything. Don’t do it! Preserve your energy for the moment when something real happens to you; then do it. Don’t smile, preserve the energy. The smile will come, and then it will change you completely. Then it will be total. Then every cell of your body will smile. Then it will be an explosion — nothing painted.
• He could have accepted me; then I would have thrown all responsibility on his shoulders. But he refused, and he was the last man. There was no comparison. When he refused, I could not go to anyone else because he was the only shelter
• The moment you become obsessed with an ideal, you are closed
• The scripture is absolutely correct. But come forwards only those who have never sinned. Take these stones in your hands and murder this woman, but only those who have never sinned."
• One psychologist going to another to be analyzed? Psychology is just a profession. Buddha is not in any profession.
• Only the sky is still, fortunately, open to meditate on. Try this technique, it will be helpful, but remember three things. One: don’t blink — stare. Even if your eyes start to feel pain and tears come down, don’t be worried. Even those tears will be a part of unloading; they will be helpful. Those tears will make your eyes more innocent and fresh — bathed. You just go on staring.
• This has to be remembered for many reasons. Spiritual effort is the most contradictory phenomenon. Effort has to be made, with full consciousness
• In the beginning, if you only meditate on the open sky, not doing anything else, intervals will start appearing, because whatsoever you see enters you. Whatsoever you see stirs you within; whatsoever you see is pictured, reflected.
• You see a building. You cannot simply see it; something immediately starts happening within you. You see a man, a woman; you see a car — you see anything. It is not just outside, something has started within, the reflection, and you have started reacting to it
• Go on staring — as if you are trying to find the boundary. Move deep. Move as much as you can. That very movement will break the barrier. And this method should be practised for at least forty minutes; less than that will not do, will not be of much help
• It was so awkward to go up and down the drain-pipe the whole day. For three months, every day going up and down the drain-pipe — it was so awkward, and the whole neighborhood was laughing at me. But you had told me not to go up and down the stairs, so I had to find a way.’
• not doing anything about meditation — just being there and it happens; just sitting
• But this is the contradictoriness of things: if you don’t have a very developed ego, you cannot surrender. You can surrender only if you have a perfectly clearcut ego. Otherwise you cannot surrender, because who will surrender? So to me, both are half and both are in misery — east and west both. Because the east has taken egolessness, which is the end part, and the beginning part is missing.
• A borrowed knowledge won’t do; borrowed knowledge is useless. Unless it is your own experience, it is not going to change you. Others' experiences are of no help
• Science experiments with the object, religion experiments with the subject, but both are experimentations and both depend on experiment.
• So it happens, and I observe it daily, that a person who was living a very worldly life was not ordinarily so disturbed. When he starts to meditate, or to seek the religious dimension, he becomes more disturbed, more than ever. The reason is that now he has an even keener desire, more impatience. And with the worldly things, things were so real and objective that he could wait for them. They were always in his reach. Now in the spiritual realm things are so elusive, so far away, they never seem to be in reach. Life seems to be very short, and now the object of desires seems to be infinite — there is more impatience and then more disturbance. And with a disturbed mind, how can you meditate
• Cabby, do you know where I am supposed to be going?’ He said, 'No, sir. But I am going as fast as possible.’
• If you bring religion to the outer world, you will create chaos. In India we have created it — it is a mess. If you bring a scientific attitude for the inner, you will create madness — the West has created it
• Impatience is the shadow of desire
• Then meditation is not be practised really; it will start happening to you, because a non-desiring mind is in meditation
• How can you love when you are closed? You live in your prison, I live in my prison, and whenever we meet, only the prison walls touch each other and we are hiding behind. We
• Wherever beauty exists, ugliness exists; wherever ugliness exists, beauty exists
• The whole day, from ten to five, for seven hours, he goes on putting cold cloths on his head and on his stomach.’ But if there was a fan, this man would have felt that Vinoba is not spiritual. And somehow Vinoba is also agreeing with this type of attitude — that Vinoba’s seven hours every day are not important.
• Looking at a beautiful sunrise or sunset, you forget yourself. Then suddenly you feel that something has happened to you. You are not there; something greater than you is there. 'God’ means greater than you —
• Heads can argue. Hearts cannot argue
• When you don’t know what to do, do something.’ But this will not do as far as meditation is concerned
• You may have jumped out because of music, you may have jumped out because of a beautiful sunrise, you may have jumped out because a child was laughing.
• It is very beautiful and very simple. A desire arises. You are walking on the road; a beautiful car passes by. You look at it — and you have not even looked and the desire to possess it arises. Do it. In the beginning just verbalize; just say slowly, 'I have seen a car. It is beautiful. Now a desire has arisen to possess it.’ Just verbalize
• So the question is not of achieving; the question is only of discovering.
• Those bacteria can live eternally — because there is no birth, so there is
• If food is not available, two bacteria will come nearer and nearer and they will become one, their bodies will become one. No birth, no death. With sex entered birth; with birth entered death; with birth entered individuality; with individuality entered ego.
• If you are really in search it is not so easy. And you don’t need any witness. It is difficult and arduous; it may take even lives. And it is painful, it is a long suffering, because much has to be destroyed, much has to be transcended, long-established chains have to be broken. It is not easy. It is not a child's play. It is arduous, and suffering is bound to be there because whenever you start changing your pattern, all that is old has to be dropped. And all your investments are in the old. You will have to suffer
• With a real master it is difficult to be a disciple
• The old doctor said, 'Tickle the patient with a feather
• And truth is individual in this sense — that truth is truth only when experienced
• A Marx, a Lenin, they are fighting for economic freedom
• A Gandhi, a Lincoln, they are fighting for political freedom
• Economic slavery can cease, but then you will become aware of other slaveries — sexual, psychological
• When you are loved and you are in love, you don’t feel gravitation has any effect on you. You can dance, you can fly really. In a deeper way the body is no more — but this is in a limited way. The same can happen when you are in love with the total existence.
• Whatsoever the cause, but you have jumped out for a moment — out of the body. The body is there, but tossed aside; you are not attached to it. You have taken a flight
• Attachment is a question of attention. If you pay attention to the body, you are attached. The game finishes: suddenly you come back to the body, and the blood is there and the pain. And you wonder how it happened — when it happened and how it happened and how you were not aware of it.
• Man has become conscious. Man has become conscious of time, and the moment you become conscious of time, you are thrown out of eternity. Then you are in a hurry. So as man's consciousness evolves more, he is more hurried, he becomes more and more time conscious. Go to a primitive society: they are not time conscious. The more civilized a society, the more time conscious.
• And it is good, so don't be afraid of it, and don’t think that this passivity is not real. This is being said by your mind which needs and wants the feverish activity and the glow that comes through fever. Fever is not awareness, but in fever you can have a very unhealthy awareness, alertness. That is diseased; don’t hanker for it. Allow it to go, fall into passivity
• If the animal is satisfied then the divine is in discontent. If the divine is satisfied then the animal is in discontent. A part is always in discontent.
• Movement is pure, and then it comes back to you — virgin. As it left you it comes; it carries nothing.
• He has come to the midpoint, the golden mean. Secondly: it is very easy to move to the other extreme — very easy. If you eat too much you can fast easily, but you cannot diet easily. If you talk too much you can go into silence very easily, but you cannot talk less. If you eat too much, it is very easy not to eat at all — this is another extreme. But to eat moderately, to come to a midpoint, is very difficult. To love a person is easy; to hate a person is easy. To be simply indifferent is very difficult
• Religion basically means: for the divine against the animal — so every religion is part of the conflict.
• These techniques we are talking about will be of no use if your mind thinks there is no hurry. Then you can go on postponing and death will come first. That day will not come when you think there is a hurry, when you think that now the moment has come
• The minister said, 'The meaning is easy. Those fingers are symbolic of quotation marks. That sermon was not mine — it was borrowed.’
• Knowledge is gathered through this faculty. But knowing reveals two things: the known and the knower
• Buddha used to say that his path is a middle path — majjhim nikaya
• -Page 732
• "Bliss never happens through effort. Effort is always tension-creating; it gives anguish. Effort is always ugly because you are forcing something. Understanding is not an effort;"
• -Page 733
• "That is why in the old biblical language they have used the word 'know' for sex, for love — for deep love. It is not coincidental. In the Bible it is reported that "Adam knew his wife Eve, and then Cain was bom.""
• -Page 735
• "The leader became afraid — leaders are always afraid. They are leaders because cowards are there, and those cowards choose them. They are leaders of the cowards. If there were no cowards, there would not be any leaders. Basically, they are chosen by cowards, so they are leaders of cowards."
• -Page 736
• "The cat said, "I am a cat and he is a mouse. There is no other technique. I am a cat — that is enough. What is the use of any technique? Being a cat is enough. When I entered, it was enough that a cat should enter. I am a cat.""
• -Page 739
• "Accept dogs! Do not make a condition that 'If they stop barking, then I will sleep.' Just accept."
• -Page 767
• "Then go on with the sound. Be aware, alert. Move with the sound to the very end. See both the poles of the sound, both the beginning and the end."
• -Page 769
• "You are hearing an instrument — a sitar, or anything. Many notes are there. Be alert and listen to the central core, the backbone of it around which all the notes are flowing, the deepest current which holds all the notes together — that which is central, just like your backbone."
• -Page 773
• "The child is born, and he has started to be a politician. The moment he is related to the world, to the parents, to the family, he is in politics. Now he has to take care about his faces. He will smile as a bribery. He will try to find out in what ways he should behave so that he is accepted more, loved more, appreciated more. And sooner or later the child will find out what is condemned by the parents, by the family, and he will start repressing it. Then the false has entered."
• -Page 785
• "There is not going to be any harm. I am just walking, taking a walk, and I am not going anywhere — just walking. So there is no need of mind; I can be non-efficient."
• -Page 786
• "When Bosho was asked, "What is your meditation? What is your SADHANA, spiritual practice?" he said, "When I feel hungry I eat and when I feel sleepy I go to sleep. This is all." The man who was asking said, "But this we all do. What is special about it?" Bosho repeated it again. He said, "When I am hungry 'I' eat and when I feel sleepy 'I' sleep."
• -Page 786
• "Someone asked Buddha, "I want to serve humanity. Tell me how I can serve." Buddha looked at the man very deeply, penetratingly, with deep compassion, and then he said, "But where are YOU? WHO will serve humanity? You are not yet."
• -Page 835
• "Tantra says, acceptance will be followed by transformation, but do not make acceptance a technique for transformation."
• -Page 839
• "When you are fighting with yourself, there is no problem around you. When you are fighting with someone else, the society will create problems for you. When you are fighting with yourself, the whole society will worship you. It is good because you are not harming anyone."
• -Page 870
• "Allah will do - any word that brings your total breath out so that you exhale completely and you are emptied of breath."
• -Page 881
• "Massage the stomach to relax, and you will feel more fearless, less afraid."
• -Page 883
• "Toilet training is the first repression of the child and its natural spontaneity, but it seems difficult to listen to these psychologists."
• -Page 904
• "A vow can be helpful if taken in a very relaxed, deeply meditative mood. Otherwise you are simply showing your anger, your frustration and nothing else, and you will forget the vow within twenty-four hours."
• -Page 907
• "For example, the man is always on the woman — on top of the woman. This is an egoist posture because the man always thinks he is better, superior, higher — how can he be below the woman? But all over the world in primitive societies the woman is above the man. So in Africa this posture is known as the missionary posture, because for the first time when missionaries — Christian missionaries — went to Africa, the primitives just could not understand what they were doing. They thought it would kill the woman."
• -Page 919
• "The need is for love; it is not for food. But food and love are deeply related, so when the need for love is not felt, or is suppressed, a false need for food is created and you can go on eating. Because the need is false, it can never be fulfilled, and we live in false needs."
• -Page 924
• "Ordinarily, when you are in the sex act, there are four persons, not two, and this is a square: four angles are there because you yourself are divided in two — into the thinking part and the feeling part. Your partner is also divided in two; you are four persons. Two persons are not meeting there, four persons are meeting."
• -Page 941
• "Condemnation can only create hypocrisy. Then you try to pretend, to show, that you are what you are not. Hypocrisy means you are the real man, not the ideal man, but you pretend, you try to show, that you are the ideal man."
• -Page 977
• "Dissatisfactions are felt, miseries are felt, pains are felt. Whenever you suffer, you become the suffering. That is why the whole life becomes a hell. You have never felt the positive; you have always felt the negative."
• -Page 990
• "Tantra says in neither waking nor sleeping are you real. You are real only in between. So don’t be concerned with the waking, and don’t be concerned with dreaming and sleep. Be concerned with the gap; be aware of the gap. While passing from one state to another have a glimpse. And once you know when the gap comes, you become the master of it. You have the key; you can open that gap anytime and enter into it. A"
• -Page 992
• "Illusion means the inability to decide whether the thing is real or unreal. This confusion is MAYA."
• -Page 996
• "What are you doing when you are disciplining a child? You are forcing something which is not natural to him. You are asking and demanding something which he will never do spontaneously. You will punish him, you will appreciate, you will bribe him, you will do everything to make him social — to take him away from his natural being. You will create a new center in his mind which was never there, and this center will grow and the natural center will go into oblivion, into the unconscious."
• -Page 1000
• "Can you remember any moment in your life when you were spontaneous, when you just lived in the moment — when you were living yourself and you were not following someone else?"
• -Page 1001
• "The ego will be there just on the periphery, but you will be able to see it now. Like any other object, you will be able to observe it. And once you become capable of observing your ego, your false center, you will never be false again. You may need your false center because you have to live in a society which is false. You will be able to use it now, but you will never be identified with it. It will be instrumental now. You will live on your center, in your center."
March 14, 2007
Although I havent read many of Osho books, I have read his Autobiography [http://www.iosho.com/oBook/The%20Life...] (collection and excerpts of his lectures over the yrs about his life) and From Sex to Superconsciousness. One major difference in this book is that his goal in the book is very clear. Its not abstract in any way, its like math- clear cut and concise. He talks about the difference between Yoga and Tantra in the beginning and explains their differing philosophies in a simple, layman's terms. The book is about Tantric techniques of spiritual advancement. The word "Tantra" he explains, means "technique". Everyone is questioning of life's meaning, how to advance spiritually, what will it lead to etc etc. Osho stresses that the important thing to notice is that you have a doubting mind, not the doubts themselves. He further stresses that he is not going to waste time in clearing your doubts, he is just going to give you techniques which will help you to stop having a doubting mind. The effort has to be yours. There are 112 techniques. Whichever one suits you, do it. Its all in black and white- you work on it and you get results.
Ofcourse thats a simplistic view, and you might be sceptical of it, and for good reason. The attitude with which one approaches such techniques is ofcourse important. The beauty of the book though is that there are 112 techniques, which means that there is one for every kind of attitude. If you are restless and angry, there is a technique that you can use even then.
If you like Osho, buy this book. If you dont know him, read his teachings online if you are interested before you buy the book so that you have taste of what to expect. Dont read too much stuff about him written by others- lot of people misunderstand him- use your own judgement of his teachings.
A good link is [http://www.oshoworld.com]
Ofcourse thats a simplistic view, and you might be sceptical of it, and for good reason. The attitude with which one approaches such techniques is ofcourse important. The beauty of the book though is that there are 112 techniques, which means that there is one for every kind of attitude. If you are restless and angry, there is a technique that you can use even then.
If you like Osho, buy this book. If you dont know him, read his teachings online if you are interested before you buy the book so that you have taste of what to expect. Dont read too much stuff about him written by others- lot of people misunderstand him- use your own judgement of his teachings.
A good link is [http://www.oshoworld.com]
March 8, 2013
Book of the Secrets is a deep study of Vijñāna-Bhairava Tantra, a real classic of the Vedic Tantra lineage. If you have any real interest in Tantra (other than misusing it as a justification to get laid), you pretty much have to read this book. The hardback edition is out of print. Fortunately it is available online if you look around.
Rajneesh (Osho) is a self-made Enlightened being, and here he reveals many of his secrets—how he attained Enlightenment and what it all means. Plus he answers questions from his students, and many of the insights he reveals are extremely helpful.
Rajneesh (Osho) is a self-made Enlightened being, and here he reveals many of his secrets—how he attained Enlightenment and what it all means. Plus he answers questions from his students, and many of the insights he reveals are extremely helpful.
November 27, 2011
I picked and chose chapters of it that appealed to me and each one was creating drastic shifts in my perceptions and experiences but somehow the book failed to hold my interest for longer than 1 week. Perhaps I need a little more time to rest where I am before I am again drawn to return to it to continue my transformation.
November 20, 2008
This book is like a bible of meaningful thoughts and I turn to it whenever I need support.Anyone who is in search of truth can find something here.I use it as therapy,really helps and provides true wisdom and comfort.
December 29, 2011
amazes me this osho
there has a lot of wisdom ,and lots and lots of nonsense !!
there has a lot of wisdom ,and lots and lots of nonsense !!
August 4, 2012
Cannot finish at a stretch, all meditative experiments! 112 experiments of shiva+Buddha!
June 7, 2015
No Words To describe how important this man is in every human being's life and destiny ...
August 19, 2010
Up to page 200 or so now. A simply brilliant, clear, and practical close-reading of the Tantra Sutras (only 6 of which have anything to do with sex), plus long aleatory lessons from Osho. Both good for your soul and handy for your new project on Irigaray. Seriouly one of the best "esoteric" books I have ever, ever read.
June 19, 2014
This is the best self help book or whatever u call it . This is osho at his best . It's a must for everyone . Many concepts are around us and common it's just that we r so busy that we don't even realise these simple things which can change us for the good . Go for it
August 2, 2007
This book had more of an effect on the course of my life than any other book I've ever read.
July 8, 2011
Still reading...absolutely incredible teaching. Osho speaks truth...
November 30, 2017
Colossal collection of talks and lectures by Osho/Rajneesh during the 70s arranged around the topic of the Vijnana Bhairava tantra. The talks deal with practical points given in the tantra text, which are then expounded on (verbosely) by Osho. There's some interesting information presented, and Osho certainly has a good knowledge of teachings, teachers and approaches. However, in summary, there's probably too much information presented here and in the talks to be of any use for students. Further, he introduced his own vast array of practices, which were confusing enough on their own, without having to expound on further approaches in lectures such as this one. Some of the information related to Gurdjieff, Meher Baba, etc. is interesting, but again secondary to the actual text which was the topic of the talks. After reading massive Osho tomes, such as this one, I have the experience of then pondering, 'Why can't I remember a damn thing of what was said in those 1000 pages?'. This is probably because one page might broach about 20 different practices and pieces of spiritual advice (all generally). Likely, these talks and expositions were of benefit to those working with Osho in person, but are of limited value now for those seeking to efficiently use time.
March 13, 2020
Timeless knowledge, translated by a man who called himself Osho and became a victim of his own succes. In this book he needed a lot of words to explain simple things (it's a heavy weight book written in a tiny lettertype). Why did he want to explain the same thing in 10 ways? Did he look down on the averidge simple soul? There is a lot of interesting knowledge spread along the pages, but I don't have the patience to go through all this talk-talk-talk. His followers must have fell asleep while he was spreading his word.
December 28, 2015
This truly an amazing book. Detailed explanation on meditation techniques. It is from this book I understood that based on the individual different meditation has to be followed. I was able to find mine. Still doing it :) Thank You Osho
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December 2, 2010Read it in Portuguese
July 22, 2013
Definitely not an easy read... wit the challenges and struggles that I am facing currently in my life I am applying these meditations & tantras to my own life right now as we speak.
February 4, 2015
Brilliant! Osho's insights are impeccable as always.
September 14, 2020
کتاب کتاب بدی نبود علت اینکه رنک بالایی بهش دادم اینه که انگار بیشتر توی این کتاب اوشو داشت به حل مشکلات خودش با سیاستمدارها میپرداخت و اصن انگار که به لج اونا کتاب رو داده بود یا به صورت کلی مخاطب کتاب اونا بودن که البته به یک شخص خاص بارها اشاره مستقیم کرد خب برای من به عنوان یک مخاطب جذابیت نداشت راستش
اما با این وجود خیلی از قسمتهای کتاب رو هم دوست داشتم ولی در مقایسه با کتاب قبلی ای که از اوشو خونده بودم خب توقع بیشتری داشتم
سخنرانیها و سوال جوابها توی این دو جلد مطرح هست
من جلد اول رو تموم کردم فعلاً قصد شروع جلد دو رو ندارم شاید بعدتر اون گوشه و کنارا تورق کنم اون جلد رو
دیگه اینکه توی گودریدز پیدا نکردم نسخه فارسی رو که به کتابخونه اد کنم این هم فک کنم دو تا جلد رو با هم منظورشه
جالبه جلد دو رو دیدم ولی جلد یک رو نه
حالا اینو میذارم به حساب جلد یک بعدتر که جلد دو رو هم خوندم اونم با همون عنوان جلد دو اد میکنم
اما با این وجود خیلی از قسمتهای کتاب رو هم دوست داشتم ولی در مقایسه با کتاب قبلی ای که از اوشو خونده بودم خب توقع بیشتری داشتم
سخنرانیها و سوال جوابها توی این دو جلد مطرح هست
من جلد اول رو تموم کردم فعلاً قصد شروع جلد دو رو ندارم شاید بعدتر اون گوشه و کنارا تورق کنم اون جلد رو
دیگه اینکه توی گودریدز پیدا نکردم نسخه فارسی رو که به کتابخونه اد کنم این هم فک کنم دو تا جلد رو با هم منظورشه
جالبه جلد دو رو دیدم ولی جلد یک رو نه
حالا اینو میذارم به حساب جلد یک بعدتر که جلد دو رو هم خوندم اونم با همون عنوان جلد دو اد میکنم
December 11, 2024
What an amazing book . Ive already been doing some of the practice he is talking about without even knowing. I highly recommend the book . To me it is a Gold mine. I'll probably go back and read it again
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May 1, 2025Eis alguns trechos: “...Saber que tudo deu em nada é o começo de uma nova jornada. Saber que ‘tudo o que conquistei se perdeu’ é o início de uma nova busca por algo que não se pode perder. Quando a pessoa está completamente desiludida com o mundo e com todos os sucessos que ele pode oferecer, só então pode se tornar espiritual... Tem que te conciliar com seu inconsciente. E esta meditação com a escuridão absorverá completamente toda sua loucura. Prova-a. Pode prová-la inclusive em sua casa. Cada noite, permanece uma hora com a escuridão. Não faça nada; simplesmente olhe fixamente a escuridão. Terá uma sensação de fusão, e sentirá que algo está entrando em ti e que você está entrando em algo. Permanecendo, vivendo com a escuridão durante três meses, uma hora ao dia, perderá toda a sensação de individualidade, de separação. Então não será uma ilha; voltar-te-á o oceano. Será um com a escuridão. E a escuridão é tão oceânica, nada é tão imenso, nada é tão eterno, e nada está tão perto de ti, e a nada tem tanto medo e temor. A escuridão é a mãe de tudo. Pensa: quando não havia nada, o que havia? Não pode pensar em outra coisa que a escuridão. Se tudo desaparecer, o que haverá ainda? Haverá escuridão. Ao andar, ao comer, ao estar sentado, ao fazer algo, recorda: a escuridão te encheu, está cheio dela. Por fim, faça o mesmo com os olhos fechados e veja sua escuridão interna. Então abre os olhos de repente e sente-a fora. Deixe a escuridão interna o absorver. Tornaste-te um vazio infinito no que algo pode cair e não voltar. Agora é como um abismo. Muitas religiões usaram a luz porque é mais cômodo, mais fácil. A escuridão é difícil, mais incômoda. Se for aventureiro, valente, escolhe a escuridão. Se tiver medo e não quer seguir um caminho árduo, escolhe a luz. Ambas pertencem a um fenômeno que em um ponto se apresenta como luz, e em outro ponto como escuridão. Ao princípio te parece vazio; isso é só uma aparência, porque sempre estiveste cheio do ego. Em realidade, está sentindo a ausência do ego; por isso se sente vazio. Primeiro desaparecerá o ego, e logo desaparecerá a ausência do ego. Só então estará realmente vazio. E estar realmente vazio é estar realmente cheio. Esse espaço interno que se cria com a ausência do ego é o divino. O divino não tem que vir de nenhuma outra parte; já é isso. Não pode percebê-lo, não pode vê-lo, não pode tocá-lo, porque está cheio do ego. Impede-lhe isso uma barreira transparente do ego. Quando o ego cessou, a barreira cessou. Já não está a cortina. Não tem que vir nada; o que tem que vir já está aí. Recorda isto: que nada novo vai vir a ti. Tudo o que é possível já está aí, já é real. Assim não é uma questão de obter; é só uma questão de descobrir. O tesouro está aí, só que abafado; desentope-o. Se conhecer alguma vez o que é o vazio, amá-lo-á. É enlevado. É a experiência mais bela possível para a mente, para o homem, para a consciência. Não perguntará como viver com o vazio. Está perguntando-o como se o vazio fora algo como um sofrimento. Isso é o que lhe parece com o ego. O ego sempre tem medo do vazio, de modo que perguntas como viver com ele como se fora um inimigo. O vazio é seu centro mais íntimo. Toda a atividade está na periferia; o centro mais íntimo é tão somente um zero. Todo o manifesto está na periferia; o centro mais profundo de seu ser é o vazio não manifesto. Esse vazio é a fonte. Não peça que se encha, porque quando pedir que se encha criará mais e mais ego: o ego é o esforço por encher o vazio. E inclusive este desejo de que agora algo deve descender sobre ti - um deus, uma divindade, um poder divino, alguma energia desconhecida - é outra vez um pensamento. Algo que pense sobre Deus não será Deus; será simplesmente um pensamento. Quando não há nenhum desejo, nenhum futuro, e quando você não está, esse vazio é a existência mais plena. Nesse vazio, a existência inteira te é revelada. Volta-te ela. Uma vez que conheceste o tesouro interno, uma vez que te puseste em contato com seu centro mais profundo, então pode entrar em atividade, então pode fazer o que quiser, então pode viver uma vida mundana corrente, mas esse vazio permanecerá contigo. Não pode esquecê-lo. Entrará em ti. Ouvirá sua música. Independentemente do que esteja fazendo, a ação estará só na periferia; por dentro permanecerá vazio. E se pode permanecer vazio por dentro, atuando só na periferia, tudo o que faz se torna divino, tudo o que faz adquire a qualidade do divino, porque já não provém de ti. Agora vem diretamente do vazio original, um nada original. É como se você fosse só um instrumento da totalidade... A mente cria limites. Se não pensar, entra no ilimitado. Pode simplesmente fechar os olhos e imaginar que sua cabeça se tornou infinita. Já não tem limites. Continua e continua e não tem limite. Sua cabeça se tornou todo o cosmos, sem nenhum limite. Se você pode imaginar isto, de repente os pensamentos cessarão. Se você pode imaginar que sua cabeça é infinita, não haverá pensamento. O pensamento só pode existir em uma mente muito estreita. Se sua mente não estiver muito educada, resultar-te fácil imaginar. Se ela está educada, então a criatividade se perdeu, então sua mente é tão somente um espaço de armazenamento, um banco. E todo o sistema educativo é um sistema bancário. Vão depositando e jogando coisas em ti. Usam sua mente para a armazenagem; então não pode imaginar. Então, tudo o que faz é simplesmente repetir o que te foi ensinado... A felicidade é como a luz, a tristeza é como a escuridão. A luz vem e se vai, a escuridão permanece – é eterna. A luz surge algumas vezes, a escuridão está sempre presente. Se você penetrar na tristeza, sentirá todas essas coisas. De repente, vai perceber que a tristeza existe como um objeto, você está observando e testemunhando e, repentinamente, começa a se sentir feliz. Uma tristeza tão linda! – uma flor da escuridão, uma eterna flor de profundidade. Como um abismo que não tem fundo, tão silencioso, tão musical – não há o menor ruído, a menor perturbação. Podemos ir caindo e caindo nele, infinitamente, e podemos sair dele totalmente rejuvenescidos. É um repouso. Quando você fica triste, você acredita que alguma coisa ruim lhe aconteceu. Isso é uma interpretação que você faz de alguma coisa ruim que lhe aconteceu, e então você começa a tentar fugir disso de fato; você nunca medita sobre isso. A própria palavra triste lhe trás uma conotação errada. Trata-se de interpretação sua. Para mim, a vida em sua totalidade é boa. E quando você compreende a vida em sua totalidade, só então você pode celebrar, do contrário não. Celebração não está condicionada a determinadas coisas: ‘Quando eu estiver feliz, então eu celebrarei’, ou ‘Quando eu estiver infeliz, eu não celebrarei’. A celebração é incondicional; eu celebro a vida. Ela trás infelicidade – ótimo, eu a celebro. Ela trás felicidade – ótimo, eu a celebro. A celebração é minha atitude, não condicionada a aquilo que a vida trás. Celebração é gratidão por tudo que a vida lhe dá. Celebração é uma gratidão, um reconhecimento. Celebre, seja qual for a situação. Se você está triste, então celebre por estar triste. Tente isso. Apenas faça uma tentativa e você ficará surpreso – acontece. Você está triste? – então comece a dançar porque a tristeza é tão linda, uma flor silenciosa do ser! Dance, divirta-se e de repente você vai sentir que a tristeza está desaparecendo, que uma distância é criada. Pouco a pouco você esquecerá a tristeza e estará celebrando. Você transformou a energia... As pessoas que exigem a perfeição são muito desamorosas e neuróticas... Uma pessoa adulta é aquela que pode estar feliz consigo mesma. Sua solidão não é sentir-se solitário; seu estar só é meditativo... Mas nossa mente funciona de uma maneira totalmente suicida. Quanto mais desventurado é o presente, mais pensa no futuro e quer assegurá-lo. E quanto mais vá ao futuro, mais desventurado será o presente. Então está em um círculo vicioso. Este círculo se pode romper, mas a única maneira de rompê-lo é viver o momento presente tão profundamente que este momento se torne à eternidade em sua profundidade. O futuro vai nascer dele; seguirá seu próprio curso, não precisa preocupar-se por ele. Se começar a viver na insegurança e não pedir segurança, a ansiedade desaparecerá quando cessar essa exigência. A exigência está criando a ansiedade. Aceita a realidade como é, na sua total insegurança, e aprende a viver nela com um coração que cede, com um ego entregue. Quando está presente sua totalidade, não há necessidade de decidir, não há alternativa. E um iluminado é total dentro de si mesmo, vazio total. Isso não significa que seja indeciso. É absolutamente decidido, mas nunca decide. Tenta me compreender. A decisão acontece em seu vazio. Assim é como atua todo seu ser; isso é tudo. Se ele está caminhando e uma serpente cruza em seu caminho ele salta de repente; isso é tudo. Não decide. Não consulta a um professor e a um guia. Não vai consultar livros na biblioteca a respeito do que terá que fazer quando uma serpente cruza em seu caminho. Simplesmente salta. E, recorda, esse salto vem de seu ser total; não foi uma decisão. Seu ser total atuou assim; isso é tudo. Não há nada mais... O que é a preocupação? Há duas alternativas e não há forma de decidir entre elas, e a mente segue: um momento deste lado, noutro momento daquele outro lado. Isto é a preocupação. Preocupação significa que tem que decidir e está tratando de decidir, mas não pode decidir. Assim é que está preocupando-se, desconcertado, te movendo em círculos viciosos. Um iluminado nunca está preocupado. É total. Tenta compreender isto. Não está dividido, não está partido, não há dois seres nele. Mas em ti há uma multidão: não só dois; há muitas, muitas pessoas vivendo em ti, muitas vozes, uma multidão. Um iluminado é uma profunda unidade, é um universo... A palavra coragem provém da raiz cor - cor quer dizer coração -, portanto, ser corajoso significa viver com coração... Não procure explicações. E isto é o que chamo maturidade mental: quando alguém chega a um ponto em que olha a vida sem fazer perguntas, e se inunda nela com coragem e sem medo. O ego é um muro sutil a seu redor. Não permite que entre ninguém dentro de ti. Sente-se protegido, seguro, mas esta segurança é como a morte. A única forma de não ter medo é aceitá-lo. Então, a energia que se desprende se converte em liberdade. Mas se o condenar, se o reprimir, se esconder o fato de que tem medo, se te defender, se te proteger e se colocar na defensiva, surge a culpabilidade... Um homem realmente vivo sempre se sentirá inseguro. Que segurança pode ter? A vida não é um processo mecânico, não pode ser segura. É um mistério imprevisível. Ninguém sabe o que vai passar no momento seguinte. Porque se soubesse o que vai passar a vida seria falsa, tudo estaria escrito de antemão, e tudo estaria determinado de antemão. A coragem é arriscar o conhecido pelo desconhecido, o familiar pelo não familiar, o cômodo pelo incômodo, uma árdua peregrinação a um destino desconhecido. A gente nunca sabe se será capaz de consegui-lo ou não. É apostar, e só os jogadores sabem o que é a vida...”
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