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Meditation is when you are not doing anything at all, when the mind is not functioning at all. That nonfunctioning of the mind is meditation—no chanting, no mantra, no image, no concentration.
People believe in the immortality of the soul not because they know but because they are afraid. The more cowardly a person is the more is the possibility that he will believe in the immortality of the soul—not that he is religious, he is simply cowardly.
you have an inner sky; it is also empty. Clouds come and go, planets are born and disappear, stars arise and die, and the inner sky remains the same, untouched, untarnished, unscarred. We call that inner sky the witness, the watcher—and that is the whole goal of meditation.
one day the tremendous moment arrives, the most significant moment of one’s life, when there is nothing left to be rejected. All the seen has disappeared and only the seer is there. That seer is the empty sky.
What is his God? Just a teddy bear. Out of his childhood fear, man has created a father figure who knows all, who is all-powerful, who is everywhere present; if you have enough faith in him he will protect you.
every religion believes, in the same way, that only they will be saved. It is not a question of the religion, it is a question of fear and being saved from fear.
A mature person should disconnect himself from anything that is connected with fear. That’s how maturity comes.
If it is based in fear, then drop it. If it is based in reason, in experience, in understanding, then it is not something to be dropped, it is something to be made part of your being.
One should not ask to be special, because existence does not accept anybody as special, superior or inferior.”
if you live sixty years, twenty years are lost in sleep, twenty of the remaining years are lost in education, this and that; the remaining twenty years—the job, the occupation, the family, marriage and divorce, and if you really calculate you will find there is no time to live!
The fear is not of death, the fear is of time, and if you look deeply into it then you find that the fear is of unlived life—you have not been able to live. If you live, then there is no fear.
Live more, and live more intensely. Live dangerously! It is your life, don’t sacrifice it for any sort of foolishness that has been taught to you. It is your life, live it. Don’t sacrifice it for words, theories, countries, politics. Don’t sacrifice it for anybody.
“Your nation is in danger—die for it!” Absolute foolishness. “Your religion is in danger—die for it!” Nonsense—it is your life, live it!
Meditation is nothing but a way to learn how to do a thing totally—
Nobody tells you how to live right now. The preachers, the politicians, the parents, they all tell you about the tomorrows.
this is the situation; teachers don’t know, professors don’t know, priests don’t know, but without knowing they go on pretending they know.
If you love your children, if you love your younger brothers, sisters, never tell lies to them. Be truthful, tell them, “I don’t know and I am searching.” Don’t postpone it for tomorrow.
A real humanity will not have any taboos—no taboo about sex, no taboo about death. Life should be lived in its totality, and death is part of life.
according to psychologists and their surveys, every man is thinking about women at least once every four minutes, and every woman is thinking of men at least once every seven minutes.
When you start thinking about it, it is not physical pain at all, it has become psychological.
you would like to be happy whenever she is with you, but when she goes away you don’t want the pain. If you are really happy with a woman when she is with you, how can you avoid the pain of separation when she is gone?
If you really want not to have any pain, then you should avoid all pleasure.
There will be moments when the hate part will be on top; there will be moments when the love part will be on top. Don’t be uneasy about it; it is natural and human.
When there is pain, be with pain, and when there is pleasure be with pleasure. Become so totally sensitive that each moment of pain and pleasure is a great adventure. If you can do this, you will understand that pain too is beautiful.
Death is not ugly, death is beautiful. But death is beautiful only for those who have lived their life unhindered, uninhibited, unsuppressed. Death is beautiful only for those who have lived their life beautifully, who have not been afraid to live, who have been courageous enough to live—who loved, who danced, who celebrated.
The first thing is that there is no need to survive in this world.
Never try to become settled anywhere. To be settled is to die; it is a premature death.
try to secure our lives—we start compromising, we start becoming more and more secure, safe, because of the fear. We become paralyzed, because the more secure you are, the more “safe” you are, the less alive you will be.
difference between a poet and a mystic. When the poet sees the rose, the rose is there outside the poet, and the poet is there outside the rose. When the mystic sees the rose, he is the rose.
don’t pay too much attention to fear because it becomes an autohypnosis.
If you trust in yourself you can trust in people, you can trust in existence. But if you don’t trust in yourself then no other trust is ever possible.
Your politicians, priests, parents, all are guilt-creators
Fear is the other side of love. If you are in love, fear disappears.
Holding the hand of your woman or man, why not sit silently?
At night sometimes, lying on the lawn, disappear into the earth. Look at the stars—just look, a pure look. Don’t start thinking about the names of the stars, the names of the constellations. Forget all that you know about stars, put aside all your knowledge, just see the stars.
next time make this the key: Whenever fear arises, that means you are somewhere near the block that has to be broken—just there, somewhere near the door. Knock hard and enter there. Be a fool and enter. Don’t try to be clever—be a fool, and much is possible.
go in spite of the fear. Trembling, okay; shaking, okay—go on!
first, drop the idea of dropping fear. Second, accept it; it is part of you. And third, watch it, observe it; try to understand why it is there and what it is.
If fear is there, note that fear is there and accept it. What can you do? Nothing can be done.
Suffering becomes evil only when it is simply destructive and not creative at all; suffering becomes bad only when you suffer and nothing is gained from it.
Suffering is there—encounter it, go through it. Fear will be there—accept it. You will tremble—so tremble! Why pretend that you don’t tremble, that you are not afraid? If you are a coward, accept it.
