Posts from Life is a dream. Auto-translated

Here it is:

This is not a condemnation, but rather a form of help, an outside perspective, from a higher level of awareness. It shows how one should not behave, as seen by people who have achieved self-awareness, and therefore point out our mistakes in behavior based on their own experience:

This word has a special meaning; remember: unconsciousness, unawareness, inattention – this is exactly how Buddha defines a fool.

This is not a condemnation, but simply the fact that a person who behaves unconsciously is a fool...

Who, if not Buddha, was certainly not a person who simply drifted along and did not seek the truth...

Awakening is the path to life.
A fool sleeps as if he were already dead,
But the master is awake, and he lives forever.
He observes. He is clear.

How happy he is! For he sees that awakening is life.
How happy he is, following the path of the awakened!
With great persistence, he meditates in search of freedom and happiness,
From the Dhammapada of Gautama Buddha

We constantly live completely inattentively to what is happening around us. Yes, we have become very efficient in doing something. Whatever we do, we have become so efficient in it that it no longer requires any awareness. It has become mechanical, automatic. We function like robots. We are not yet human; we are machines.

This is what Gurdjieff repeatedly said – that man exists as a machine. Many people were offended by this, because no one likes to be called a machine. Machines want to be called gods; then they are very pleased and swell with joy. Gurdjieff often called these people machines, and he was right. If you observe yourself, you will see how mechanically you behave.

The Russian psychologist Pavlov and the American psychologist Skinner are ninety-nine and nine-tenths percent right about man: they believe that man is a wonderful machine, nothing more. There is no soul in him. I say that in ninety-nine and nine-tenths of cases they are right; they only miss a small sector. In this small sector are the Buddhas, the awakened. But this is excusable for them, because Pavlov never encountered a Buddha – he only encountered people like you.
.......
Awakening is the path to life, says Buddha. Become more awakened, and you will become more alive. And life is God – there is no other God. Therefore, Buddha speaks of life and awareness. Life is the goal, awareness is the methodology, the technique to achieve it.
The fool sleeps...

Everyone sleeps, so by fool is meant each of you. Do not be offended. Facts must be stated as they are. You act in a dream; that is why you continue to stumble, continue to do things that you do not want to do. You continue to do things that you decided not to do. You continue to do things that you know are wrong, and you do not do things that you know are right.
How is this possible? Why can't you go straight? Why do you continue to deviate and go into dead ends? Why do you continue to be mistaken?.....

You have no clarity, you have no receptivity. You are not vigilant. You cannot see, you cannot hear – of course, you have ears that hear, but there is no one inside who understands what is heard. Of course, you have eyes that see, but no one is present inside. And so your eyes continue to see, and your ears continue to hear, but you do not understand anything. At every step you stumble, at every step you do something foolish... And yet you continue to consider yourself aware.
Discard this idea completely. To discard it is a great leap, a great step, because as soon as the idea "I am aware" is discarded, you will begin to explore and seek ways and means to really begin to become aware. Therefore, the first thing that must penetrate you is that you are sleeping, soundly asleep....
Osho

Criticism of socialism, Mahatma Gandhi, and Christianity made Osho a controversial figure even during his lifetime. In addition, he advocated for freedom in sexual relationships[9] and, in some cases, organized sexual meditation practices[⇨], which earned him the nickname "sex guru."

Could you provide more information about sexual meditations? A friend is interested.

Ideally, with illustrations. My friend asked for it.

For a friend

Could you provide more information about sexual meditations? A friend is interested.

There were no sexual meditations; it's all rumors:

"I wrote a book once... Not by myself, it was compiled based on my speeches. The book is called "From Sex to Superconsciousness."

Since then, hundreds of my other books have been published, but it seems no one reads them. At least, not in India. Everyone only reads "From Sex to Superconsciousness." And everyone is against it, everyone criticizes it. Articles and entire books continue to appear. Mahatmas express angry reactions. And no one mentions the other books; they don't even pay attention to them. Do you understand? It's as if I only wrote one book.

People suffer from terrible torments. Sex has become a festering wound that needs to be healed.

In my opinion, sexual orgasm provides the first glimpse of meditation because the mind becomes silent, and even time stops. For a split second, both time and the mind disappear; the person is completely silent and immersed in bliss. I say this... This is my scientific approach to the issue because humans have had no other way to understand that bliss arises when there is no time and no thinking. Except for sex, there has been no other way to realize that there is a path leading beyond the mind, beyond time. Obviously, sex provided the first insights into meditation. But the whole world criticizes me for telling people this truth.

No one has ever offered other hypotheses about how people discovered meditation. It's not something you can just stumble upon. You can't find it on the roadside in a ditch. How did people come up with meditation?

The whole world is discussing my views, denouncing me in every way possible, and all because I talked about the journey from sex to superconsciousness. By the way, no one explains exactly what I'm guilty of. But my book, which has been translated into thirty-four languages and has been reprinted dozens of times, is read by everyone, without exception! Among my readers, there are the most Hindu, Jain, Christian, and Buddhist monks! Just a couple of months ago, a Jain conference was held in Pune, and my secretary told me, "You know, Jain monks came, and they all asked for only one book—'From Sex to Superconsciousness.' They hid it in the folds of their clothes and left silently, so no one would notice."

But people have only one way to understand that there is a door, a path beyond thinking—to eternal silence. And that path is sexual orgasm. It may last only a fraction of a second, but that moment turns into eternity because everything around freezes, and you forget all your worries and troubles.

The book "From Sex to Superconsciousness" is not about sex at all. It's about superconsciousness.


I said that a person can go "from sex to superconsciousness"—and everyone is thrilled! Everyone only hears "from sex"; no one hears the continuation: "to superconsciousness."

This applies to both those who are against me and those who are for me. Everyone reacts the same way! People are generally alike, and friends are often not much different from enemies. It's natural that my opponents misunderstood me. But my supporters also misinterpreted everything, and that's completely unnatural. Opponents can be forgiven, but how can you forgive such supporters?

Once, I said that sex is stupid, and I was immediately bombarded with angry questions. One of my sannyasins wrote in a letter: "You had the audacity to claim that sex is stupid!" She seemed terribly offended. And I can understand that: if you lead a certain lifestyle, you don't want that lifestyle to be called stupid. If it's stupid, and you're doing it, then you're stupid too! And that's offensive. But I am forced to speak the truth, even if it offends someone, because that's the only way to make it clear that there is much more in life, something higher, more magnificent, that brings more bliss than orgasm.

Sex is just the beginning, but certainly not the end. And if you choose such a beginning, there is nothing wrong with that. The mistake is when you cling only to this and don't want anything more.

Just sit in zazen for an hour after having sex, and you will understand what I'm talking about. You will understand why I said that sex is stupid. Make it a habit—an hour of zazen after sex—and see what happens. Are you the master of sex, or are you a slave to love? If you control it, sex is not stupid. If you are a slave to sex, it is stupid—if only because each sexual act reinforces this slavish dependence; you strengthen your own chains.

Only meditation will allow you to understand what I'm talking about. These questions cannot be resolved with logical proofs. Only your own meditation can resolve them. You must understand and realize it yourself.

I have never taught "free sex." I taught the sacredness of sex. I taught that sex should not be transferred from the realm of love to the realm of law and order. If you love a woman because she is your wife, and not just because, your relationship becomes prostitution—even if it's legalized, it's still prostitution. And I have always been against prostitution, whether it's legal or not. I believe in love. If two people love each other, let them live together as long as their love lasts. But if love disappears, they should thank each other and part peacefully.

I have never advocated for free sex. The whole problem lies in the idiocy of the Indian yellow press, which reduced all my philosophy to these two words. I wrote four hundred books, and only one of them deals with sex. The other three hundred ninety-nine say nothing about sex; I talked about it in only one book—and even that book is not about sex. It's about how to transform sexual energy into spiritual energy. Essentially, it's anti-sex!

But critics have turned everything upside down and then started accusing me of their own distorted interpretation! They, however, have never presented me in my true light. I never thought that India was such a stupid country! A country where the philosophy of Tantra was born, where Khajuraho and Konarak were built—this country cannot be so stupid as not to understand my words! Khajuraho is a living testament. Tantric cults are my evidence. By the way, it is the only country where Tantra existed. Nowhere else in the world has anyone tried to transform sexual energy into spiritual energy—and that's exactly what I was talking about. But journalists are not interested in reality; they are only interested in sensationalism.
Osho

So, there won’t be any illustrations either…

Nebok has it. Nebok is a great guy.

No, I won’t show any more pictures to your friend.

Neyre, show it. Can you show it to me, and I’ll pass it on to her.

:smile06:

So, there won't be any more illustrations...

The search for paradise is a new search for childhood:smile26. Of course, your body will never be childlike again, but your consciousness can be as pure as a child's.
This is the whole secret of mystical ascension: to become like a child again, innocent, unburdened by knowledge, knowing nothing, yet aware of everything that is happening around, with great curiosity and a sense of mystery...

I don't have that feeling of wonder that I had in childhood. Why?

Answer: "This happens to almost everyone. The more knowledge you accumulate, the less capable you are of wonder. And parents, schools, universities, society – they all force you to become knowledgeable. All their efforts are aimed at giving you knowledge. Your inner space becomes so filled with knowledge that wonder disappears, there is no room for wonder inside you. A child looks at the world with astonished eyes. He is in awe, he sees something mysterious in everything. He is overwhelmed by small things, hence the bubbling joy, because his life is a constant discovery.

You become knowledgeable – society wants you to be knowledgeable. Knowledge is very necessary, knowledge is very useful. But wonder is dangerous, because the one who wonders will inevitably become either a philosopher, or a poet, or a mystic, and all three types of people are useless to society. Society wants machines, skilled machines – by giving you more and more information, filling you with information, society turns you into automatons, into robots. And the more you think you know, the more impossible it becomes to wonder – because if you know, how can you be surprised?

A small child may wonder why trees are green. But you are no longer surprised by this. You know that it's all about chlorophyll. Although, in essence, you don't really know that much. If you are asked the next question – why chlorophyll makes trees green, then you will have to shrug your shoulders. You have only slightly pushed the question aside. The more you know, the less you are amazed.

But at the moment when the feeling of wonder dies in you, religion dies in you, because at the heart of religion lies wonder and awe. Knowledge removes the veil of mystery from life, and religion exists only when life remains a mystery. Therefore, you will have to learn to be surprised again."
Osho

"In reality, proper education will never lead to that. It will give you knowledge, but it won't destroy your ability to wonder – that would be proper education. It will give you knowledge, but it will preserve your alertness so that no knowledge prevents you from continuing to discover. In reality, knowledge can make you wonder even more.

Albert Einstein's last words were: “I spent my life thinking about the mysteries of the universe. But now I know that the real mystery is the human heart.” The deeper I delved into existence, the deeper the mystery became. I am dying with a sense of wonder, I am dying in amazement.” But this is rare; it is the quality of a genius. A genius is someone who doesn't allow society to reduce him to a robot – that is my definition. Everyone is born a genius, but people very quickly start to compromise. And when they compromise, their talents disappear, their minds die. They continue to sell their souls for fleeting things, for useless things – useless in the ultimate sense; they may be useful here, but death comes, and they go with you.

If you can die like Albert Einstein – with a sense of mystery, filled with wonder, with a prayer in your heart, with poetry being born within you – then you have lived rightly and died rightly. And a person who lives rightly and dies rightly is a spiritual person. Albert Einstein has far more spirituality than the Vatican Pope and the Shankaracharyas – far more. Before his death, someone asked Einstein: “If you were to be reborn, and God asked you, I am sure you would want to be a great physicist and mathematician again.” He replied: “No, never! If I am given another opportunity, instead of being a physicist, I would prefer to be a plumber. I would like to live simply, anonymously, so that it would be easier to enjoy life, and no one would interfere. Fame, prestige, research – nothing will stand in my way, and then I will be able to penetrate existence more deeply.”

You say: “I don't have that feeling of wonder that I had as a child. Why?”
You must know too much."
Osho

All my life, I thought I would lift the veil of mystery from the Universe. But the opposite happened.

Did the Universe lift the veil of mystery from Albert? That's quite mean, isn't it.

Has the universe lifted the veil of mystery from Albert? That's quite low, I must say.

lol

What is innocence, what is beauty?

To live in the moment is innocence, to live without the past is innocence, to live without conclusions is innocence, to act from a state of not-knowing is innocence. And in that moment, when your actions arise from an extraordinary silence, unburdened by the past, from that amazing stillness that knows nothing, the experience that arises in that moment is beauty.

Whenever you feel beauty – in the rising sun, in the stars, in the face of a woman or a man – wherever and whenever you feel beauty, observe. And one thing can always be discovered: you were acting in the absence of mind, you were acting without conclusions, you were simply acting, acting spontaneously. The moment has overwhelmed you and has overwhelmed you so completely that you have been cut off from the past.

And when you are cut off from the past, you automatically become cut off from the future, because the past and the future are two sides of the same coin; they are not separate, they are also inseparable. You can toss a coin: sometimes heads comes up, sometimes tails, but these sides are inseparable. But the other side is always there, it is hidden behind.

The past and the future are two aspects of one coin, and its name is mind. When the whole coin is thrown away, that throwing away is innocence. Then you don't know who you are, you don't know what is, there is no knowledge. But there is you, there is existence, and the meeting of these two existences – your small existence meeting the infinite existence of being – that meeting, that merging, is the experience of beauty. Innocence is the door. Through it, you enter into beauty. The more innocent you become, the more beautiful existence becomes. The more knowledgeable you become, the more ugly and uglier existence becomes, because you begin to act from conclusions, you begin to act from knowledge.

In that moment, when you know, you destroy all poetry. In that moment, when you know and think that you know, you create a barrier between yourself and what is. Then everything is distorted. Then you don't hear with your ears, you interpret. Then you don't see with your eyes, you interpret. Then you don't experience with your heart, you think you are experiencing. Then all possibility of meeting existence in the moment, in intimacy, is lost. You fall apart.

This is what original sin is. And the biblical story of Adam and Eve, who tasted the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, is about this. As soon as they eat it, they have to leave paradise – not because someone drove them out, not because God ordered them to leave paradise, they fell themselves. Having gained knowledge, they lost innocence. Having gained knowledge, they became separated from existence. Having gained knowledge, they turned into ego. Knowledge created a barrier, an iron curtain...

You ask me, "What is innocence?" Tear the knowledge out of yourself! The fruit of the Tree of Knowledge must come out in vomit. This is the essence of meditation. Throw it out of your system: it is poison, pure poison. Live without knowledge, knowing that "I do not know." Act from a state of not-knowing, and you will know what beauty is.

Socrates knew what beauty was because he acted from a state of not-knowing. There is a knowledge that does not know, and there is an ignorance that knows. Become as ignorant as Socrates, and then a completely different quality will enter your being: you will become a child again, this is a second birth. Your eyes will again be filled with wonder, everything around you will amaze you.

A bird soaring in the sky – and you are delighted! Pure joy at contemplating a soaring bird – and you already feel that it is you who are soaring in the sky. A drop of dew falling from a lotus leaf, the sun illuminating it, creating a small rainbow around it – and this moment overwhelms you.

A drop of dew rolling off a leaf, at the boundary of meeting with infinity, disappearing into the lake – and you feel as if it is you who are flowing, as if your drop is beginning to slide into the ocean of divinity. In the moment of innocence, of not-knowing, the distinction between the observer and the observed evaporates. You are no longer separate from what you see, you are no longer separate from what you hear...
(Osho)

The approach of reverence can only come from deep within. People have completely forgotten what reverence truly means and how it is felt. Reverence means approaching reality with the heart of a child – not calculatingly, not cunningly, not trying to analyze, but full of awe and an inexhaustible sense of wonder… a sense of the surrounding mystery, the presence of the hidden, with the feeling that things are not what they seem. It means that the apparent, the visible, is only the periphery, that beyond the apparent visibility lies something immeasurably important.

When a child runs after a butterfly, they are in a state of reverence. Or when they suddenly find a path or see a flower – an unremarkable, ordinary flower, but the child stands before its wonder in deep amazement. Or when they see a snake: they are so surprised, there is so much energy in them. Every moment brings a new surprise. The child takes nothing for granted – that is the approach of reverence.

Never take anything for granted. By taking anything for granted, you become stagnant. The child disappears, the sense of wonder dies, and when there is no sense of wonder in the heart, there can be no reverence. Reverence means that life is so mysterious that it is impossible to fully understand it. It transcends understanding; all our efforts are futile. And the more we try to know life, the more unknowable it seems.
Osho