OSHO International Foundation presents

Osho: Meditation Is a Very Simple Phenomenon

When you are not doing anything at all --

bodily, mentally,

on no level --

when all activity has ceased

and you simply are,

just being,

that's what meditation is.

You cannot do it, you cannot practice it;

you have only to understand it.

And whenever you can find time

for

just

being

and drop all doing --

thinking is also doing,

concentration is also doing,

contemplation is also doing --

if, even for a single moment, you are not doing anything

and you are just at your center,

utterly relaxed,

that is meditation.

And once you have got the knack of it

you can remain in that state as long as you want.

You can remain in that state,

finally,

twenty-four hours.

Once you have become aware of the way,

of how being

can remain

undisturbed,

then slowly you can start doing things --

keeping alert that being is not stirred.

That is the second part of meditation.

First, learning how just to be

and then learning

little actions:

cleaning the floor,

taking a shower,

but keeping

yourself centered.

Then you can do complicated things.

For example, I am speaking to you

but my meditation is not disturbed.

I can go on speaking,

but at my very center

there is not even a ripple.

It is just silent,

utterly silent.

So meditation is not against action,

it is not that you have to escape from life.

It simply teaches you a new way of life,

where you become the center of a cyclone.

Your life goes on,

it goes on really more intensely --

with more joy,

with more clarity,

more vision, more creativity --

yet

you are aloof,

just a watcher on the hills

simply

seeing all that is happening around you.

You are not the doer,

you are the watcher.

That's the whole secret of meditation,

that you become the watcher.

Doing continues on its own level,

there is no problem...

chopping wood,

drawing water from the well.

You can do all small and big things.

Only one thing is not allowed

and that is: your centering

should not be lost.

That awareness,

that watchfulness

should remain

absolutely unclouded,

undisturbed.

Meditation is a very simple phenomenon.

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Source: 'From Misery to Enlightenment #2' Copyright © Osho International Foundation, Switzerland. OSHO ® is a registered TM.