Definitions Of Meditation

[Prabhaker]

Meditation Is Living Joyously

Meditation is rest, absolute rest, a full stop to all activity - physical, mental, emotional. When you are in such a deep rest that nothing stirs in you, when all action as such ceases, as if you are fast asleep yet awake, you come to know who you are. Suddenly the window opens. It cannot be opened by effort, because effort creates tension, and tension is the cause of our whole misery. Hence this is something very fundamental to be understood that meditation is not effort.

One has to be very playful about meditation, one has to learn to enjoy it as fun. One has not to be serious about it - be serious and you miss. One has to go into it very joyously. And one has to keep aware that it is falling into deeper and deeper rest. It is not concentration, just the contrary, it is relaxation. When you are utterly relaxed, for the first time you start feeling your reality; you come face to face with your being. When you are engaged in activity you are so occupied that you cannot see yourself. Activity creates much smoke around you, it raises much dust around you; hence all activity has to be dropped, at least for a few hours per day.

That is only so in the beginning. When you have learnt the art of being at rest you can be both active and restful together, because then you know that rest is something so inner that it cannot be disturbed by anything outer. The activity goes on at the circumference and at the center you remain restful. So it is only for beginning that activity has to be dropped for a few hours. When one has learned the art then there is no question : for twenty-four hours a day one can be meditative and one can continue all the activities of ordinary life.

But remember, the key word is rest, relaxation. Never go against rest and relaxation. Arrange your life in such a way, drop all futile activity, because ninety per cent is futile; it is just for killing time and remaining occupied. Do only the essential and devote your energies more and more to the inner journey. Then that miracle happens when you can remain at rest and in action together, simultaneously. That is the meeting of the sacred and the mundane, the meeting of this world and that, the meeting of materialism and spiritualism.

[Prabhaker]

Excerpts from ~ Meditation The First And Last Freedom - OSHO

Osho: What Is Meditation?

Meditation is not an Indian method; it is not simply a technique. You cannot learn it. It is a growth: a growth of your total living, out of your total living. Meditation is not something that can be added to you as you are. It can come to you only through a basic transformation, a mutation. It is a flowering, a growth. Growth is always out of the total; it is not an addition. You must grow toward meditation.

This total flowering of the personality must be understood correctly. Otherwise one can play games with oneself, one can occupy oneself with mental tricks. And there are so many tricks! Not only can you be fooled by them, not only will you not gain anything, but in a real sense you will be harmed. The very attitude that there is some trick to meditation – to conceive of meditation in terms of method – is basically wrong. And when one begins to play with mental tricks, the very quality of the mind begins to deteriorate.

As mind exists, it is not meditative. The total mind must change before meditation can happen. Then what is the mind as it now exists? How does it function?

The mind is always verbalizing. You can know words, you can know language, you can know the conceptual structure of thinking, but that is not thinking. On the contrary, it is an escape from thinking. You see a flower and you verbalize it; you see a man crossing the street and you verbalize it. The mind can transform every existential thing into words. Then the words become a barrier, an imprisonment. This constant transformation of things into words, of existence into words, is the obstacle to a meditative mind.

So the first requirement toward a meditative mind is to be aware of your constant verbalizing and to be able to stop it. Just see things; do not verbalize. Be aware of their presence, but do not change them into words. Let things be, without language; let persons be, without language; let situations be, without language. It is not impossible; it is natural. It is the situation as it now exists that is artificial, but we have become so habituated to it, it has become so mechanical, that we are not even aware that we are constantly transforming experience into words.

The sunrise is there. You are never aware of the gap between seeing it and verbalizing. You see the sun, you feel it, and immediately you verbalize it. The gap between seeing and verbalizing is lost. One must become aware of the fact that the sunrise is not a word. It is a fact, a presence. The mind automatically changes experiences into words. These words then come between you and the experience.

Meditation means living without words, living nonlinguistically. Sometimes it happens spontaneously. When you are in love, presence is felt, not language. Whenever two lovers are intimate with one another they become silent. It is not that there is nothing to express. On the contrary, there is an overwhelming amount to be expressed. But words are never there; they cannot be. They come only when love has gone.

If two lovers are never silent, it is an indication that love has died. Now they are filling the gap with words. When love is alive, words are not there because the very existence of love is so overwhelming, so penetrating, that the barrier of language and words is crossed. And ordinarily, it is only crossed in love. Meditation is the culmination of love: love not for a single person, but for the total existence. To me, meditation is a living relationship with the total existence that surrounds you. If you can be in love with any situation, then you are in meditation.

———————- oooOooo ——————–

Society cannot exist without language; it needs language. But existence does not need it. I am not saying that you should exist without language. You will have to use it. But you must be able to turn the mechanism of verbalization on and off. When you are existing as a social being, the mechanism of language is needed; but when you are alone with existence, you must be able to turn it off. If you can’t turn it off – if it goes on and on, and you are incapable of stopping it – then you have become a slave to it. Mind must be an instrument, not the master.

———————- oooOooo ——————–

Language must be dropped. I don’t mean that you have to suppress it or eliminate it. I only mean that it does not have to be a twenty-four-hour-a-day habit for you. When you walk, you need to move your legs. But if they go on moving when you are sitting, then you are mad. You must be able to turn them off. In the same way, when you are not talking with anyone, language must not be there. It is a technique to communicate. When you are not communicating with anybody it should not be there.

If you are able to do this, you can grow into meditation. Meditation is a growing process, not a technique. A technique is always dead, so it can be added to you, but a process is always alive. It grows, it expands.

[electroBeam]

9 hours ago, Shin said:

How to save time.

I slept 3 hours, and I'm not even tired, what the fuck is happening

some monks don't sleep at all

[Prabhaker]

Excerpts from ~ Osho, Philosophia Perennis, Vol. 2, Talk #5 

Osho ~ What is meditation?

“Meditation is a state of no-mind. Meditation is a state of pure consciousness with no content. Ordinarily, your consciousness is too much full of rubbish, just like a mirror covered with dust. The mind is a constant traffic: thoughts are moving, desires are moving, memories are moving, ambitions are moving – it is a constant traffic! Day in, day out. Even when you are asleep the mind is functioning, it is dreaming. It is still thinking; it is still in worries and anxieties. It is preparing for the next day; an underground preparation is going on.

This is the state of no meditation – just the opposite is meditation. When there is no traffic and thinking has ceased, no thought moves, no desire stirs, you are utterly silent – that silence is meditation. And in that silence truth is known, and never otherwise. Meditation is a state of no-mind.

“And you cannot find meditation through the mind because mind will perpetuate itself. You can find meditation only by putting the mind aside, by being cool, indifferent, unidentified with the mind; by seeing the mind pass, but not getting identified with it, not thinking that “I am it.”

“Meditation is the awareness that “I am not the mind.” When the awareness goes deeper and deeper in you, slowly slowly, a few moments arrive – moments of silence, moments of pure space, moments of transparency, moments when nothing stirs in you and everything is still. In those still moments you will know who you are, and you will know what the mystery of this existence is.

[Prabhaker]

Excerpts from ~ Osho, Ancient Music in the Pines, Talk #7

"What is meditation? Is it a technique that can be practiced? Is it an effort that you have to do? Is it something which the mind can achieve? It is not.  

"All that the mind can do cannot be meditation – it is something beyond the mind, the mind is absolutely helpless there.

"The mind cannot penetrate meditation; where mind ends, meditation begins. This has to be remembered, because in our life, whatsoever we do, we do through the mind; whatsoever we achieve, we achieve through the mind. 

"And then, when we turn inwards, we again start thinking in terms of techniques, methods, doings, because the whole of life's experience shows us that everything can be done by the mind. Yes – except meditation, everything can be done by the mind. 

"Everything is done by the mind except meditation. Because meditation is not an achievement – it is already the case, it is your nature. It has not to be achieved; it has not only to be recognized, it has only to be remembered. It is there waiting for you – just a turning in, and it is available. You have been carrying it always and always.

"Meditation is your intrinsic nature. It is you, it is your being, it has nothing to do with your doings. You cannot have it. You cannot not have it. It cannot be possessed, it is not a thing. 

"It is you. It is your being." 

[Loreena]

Meditation is the art of being aware. 

[Martin123]

@Prabhaker holy fuck dude what the shit. Have you ever considered actually embracing yourself instead of your idol?

 

Anway besides that.

I was recently pondering the question of why meditation sometimes serves the integration of the ego, and why sometimes it becomes a tool for stagnation, as well as why it is such a good catalyst at the beginning of our evolution.

 

What is it that evolves us as dormant souls the quickest? What is the particle that makes up our journeys into the light? In my humble opinion it is Love.

Meditation is the first step into love. It is the willingness to spend time with oneself, with ones emotions feelings and thoughts. The willingness to hit the "pause" on our chase, and enter a space of love. Within the space of love meditation is not always the best companion, but it is there to remind us our journey, and it is there to remind us that within the space of love nothing can ever be lost, everything can though be remembered.

 

Edited June 12, 2017 by Martin123

[Prabhaker]

11 minutes ago, Martin123 said:

holy fuck dude what the shit. Have you ever considered actually embracing yourself instead of your idol?

I don't live a life suggested by Osho, I live in isolation.

Still I need a master like Osho to keep me busy, as I can't remain unoccupied twenty-four hours.

[Martin123]

@Prabhaker But why insult those who you interact with on this forum by refusing to share your divine uniqueness with them, while instead hiding behind a man whose teachings are offered there for all curious eyes to see, yet yours are not on the table just yet.
 

[Prabhaker]

1 minute ago, Martin123 said:

hiding behind a man

I am not enlightened, only teaching of an enlightened master can help many people. Everybody can't be a spiritual teacher, teaching is a quality, it needs preparation , only enlightenment is not enough.

[Martin123]

@Prabhaker Are you really of the opinion that a fellow seeker cannot genuinely and helpfully relate to anoter, even better than an enlightened master in some situations, who perhaps could find it even difficult to remember what it is like to suffer? :-) 

[ajasatya]

3 minutes ago, Martin123 said:

@Prabhaker Are you really of the opinion that a fellow seeker cannot genuinely and helpfully relate to anoter, even better than an enlightened master in some situations, who perhaps could find it even difficult to remember what it is like to suffer? :-) 

AWESOME QUESTION ALERT!!!!

[Martin123]

@Prabhaker And another perhaps even more important point is, isnt our individuality uniqueness innocence and inner divinity the thing that is supposed to flourish? What better opportunity to open our heart to another than on a spiritual journey of 2 lost souls, where there one opens space for the other within their own heart.
Every heart is to be embraced, not just the one of the master. Every soul is to flower it its innocence, not just the one of a master. Every master is to be proclaimed and honoured, not just the one that you follow, but that within each and every heart, that is there and is waiting in his infinite wisdom until he is announced.

[Prabhaker]

1 minute ago, Martin123 said:

Are you really of the opinion that a fellow seeker cannot genuinely and helpfully relate to anoter, even better than an enlightened master in some situations, who perhaps could find it even difficult to remember what it is like to suffer? :-) 

Everybody is unique, everyone is at different stage.  Even if two persons are following same technique , problems will be different, result will be different.

An enlightened master know about you more than you know about yourself. He knows how to teach.

[Prabhaker]

2 minutes ago, Martin123 said:

What better opportunity to open our heart to another than on a spiritual journey of 2 lost souls

A blind man can't guide a blind man, at the most you can help another person to the level of your understanding, by chance. 

[Martin123]

@Prabhaker You are only a blind man because you say it is so. 

[Prabhaker]

2 minutes ago, Martin123 said:

You are only a blind man because you say it is so. 

I am blind but I have experience of more than two decades. From my experience I can say that only an enlightened master can be the best teacher. When I was not much experienced , I thought that I can teach others. 

[Martin123]

@Prabhaker I am not saying you should teach I am saying you should embrace your uniqueness. Not through endless copy pasta, but through intimacy of your innocence seeing its reflection in another. But lets not continue this. Let me just thank you for doing your best in trying to help others. It is amazing and gorgeous.

[Martin123]

1 hour ago, Prabhaker said:

I am blind but I have experience of more than two decades. From my experience I can say that only an enlightened master can be the best teacher. When I was not much experienced , I thought that I can teach others. 

Btw y u following Leo as well?

or are you not? And are all those following him fools?

[eputkonen]

On 6/10/2017 at 8:11 PM, Why? said:

There are so many definitions about meditation. List em below.

Meditation is not concentration...so the idea is not to focus your attention, which is concentration.

Meditation is not contemplation...so the idea is not to think about stuff, which is contemplation.

Meditation is practicing present awareness.  In Zen Buddhism, their seated meditation is called zazen...aka 'just sitting'.  They are just sitting...nothing else.  Just fully present and aware of what is as it is.  Not adding anything to it, not subtracting anything from it.  There are walking and moving meditations...that is practicing present awareness in motion.  Really, anything can be a meditation.  Mowing the lawn, for example. 

Of course, if you are truly present - 100% devoted to the experience of now - there really is no room for thought.  Thought is only about the past and future, never about now.  So when you are successfully meditating...there is no thought.