Enlightenment and The Journey To Wholeness

“Light will someday split you open.

Even if your life is now a cage.

Little by little you will turn into stars.

Little by little you will turn into stars.

The whole, sweet amorous Universe.” - Hafiz

After meeting Osho in 1973 in Mumbai, I went to his 10-day meditation camp in Mount Abu, reminiscent of the early enlightenment period that laid the groundwork for major philosophical advances. The name of the camp was Samadhi Sadhana Shibeer, which he translated as; ‘Camp for Inner Ecstasy and Enlightenment.’

In my innocence, I imagined that this meant I would become enlightened during those 10 days. I threw myself into the meditations he proposed with a frenzy of totality. After all, I came from USA pioneer stock, strong and determined people who had conquered the wild-west! Surely, I could conquer the supreme goal of enlightenment!

35 years and countless meditation, healing experiences, and jokes later, the divine portal opened. Invariably people may ask, “So how did it happen and what is the path to it?” Ha ha, there-in lies the mystery!

Myriad Paths to Spiritual Enlightenment

“You are life passing through your body, passing through your mind, passing through your soul. Once you find that out, not with the logic, not with the intellect, but because you can feel that life - you find out that you are the force that makes the flowers open and close, that makes the hummingbirds fly from flower to flower. You find out that you are in every tree, you are in every animal, vegetable and rock.”  - Don Miguel Ruiz (A Toltec Wisdom Book: The Mastery Of Lov

There are countless ways to reach Enlightenment; as many as there are individuals. The myriad ways people have attained this sublime state are really interesting and are certain to inspire seekers of truth. However, in a sense, it can also be discouraging because there is no one way, one path.

Some zealots may claim theirs is the only way, but certainly no enlightened being will ever say such a thing as “My way is the only way.” Enlightenment ideals, emphasizing individual freedom and equality, have influenced these diverse paths, showing that the transformative power of human reason alone can lead to various forms of enlightenment.

Some people may say, “Why would I want to search for Enlightenment anyway? What is the point of it?” This is a very valid point, and probably those who feel this way should not try to direct themselves towards Enlightenment, but rather direct their energy towards experiencing happiness in everyday life.

What is Enlightenment Thought?

“The one energy of heaven and humans is originally the same; but it is blocked by the physical body and cannot commune. Refine the body to the point where it merges with the spirit, and then you will know that matter is identical to true emptiness.” - Taoist Master Zhang (from the Purple Gem)

There are many definitions and it also depends on the perspective of the one who disappears into this state. However, there are a few things that can be said:

It is a space where the egoic mind evaporates and this person merges with universal consciousness. In this moment of transmutation, right and left hemispheres of the brain merge and all the ‘lights’ (communication system) are switched on in the corpus callosum, (mid-brain,) leading to genius.

It is also known as ‘the great death,’ because dissolving into universal consciousness mirrors death. Enlightenment philosophy sought to establish a foundation for human knowledge through reason and skepticism, exploring human nature and its implications on science and the individual’s place in the cosmos.

In my experience, there is a subtle veil which separates us from the non-physical dimension, much like John Locke's exploration of the nature and limits of human knowledge in his 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding.' In the moment of Mahamudra, the veil dissolves and the experiencer leaves life as we know it, shifting dimensional reality. The portal is made of both death and total orgasm in one unified flowering. And having said that, it is actually beyond words or concepts.

Here are some words used to describe this sublime state from various spiritual traditions.

1. The Yoga Tradition uses the word Kaivalya which means ‘Liberation’ (Liberated from the wheel of birth & death.)
2. The Jaina Tradition uses the term Kevala Jnana or Kevala Gyana, meaning spiritual awakening and true wisdom.
3. Buddhism uses the word, Nirvana. Gautama Buddha used this word to describe an inner state of perfect peace which arises from the cessation of the self (the ego)  In his discourse on the four noble truths, Buddha used the Pali language word Nirodha, which means cessation of the self. Nirvana literally means blowing out the candle and is used to describe the cessation of the causes of suffering as encapsulated in ego.

The four noble truths Buddha professed are:

1. Dukha (life is suffering)
2. Samudaya (suffering manifests due to craving)
3. Nirodha (the end of suffering happens when there is a cessation of craving, literally, a cessation of self)
4. Marga (a mystical path, which leads to the cessation of suffering.)

The Word "Enlightenment" in Different Practices

1. The Vedic Tradition uses the word Moksha. This word indicates liberation from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.
2. The Hindu Tradition uses the word Samadhi which indicates a state of dreamless sleep and yet, in Samadhi, the experiencer remains conscious. In Samadhi, one is merged with universal consciousness.
3. The Hindu Tradition uses the word Paramahansa (supreme swan) to indicate one who has attained to the Ultimate. The reason this word is used is because Mystics have noted that when someone becomes Enlightened, their brain literally changes shape and looks like a swan in flight.  The right and left sides of the brain meet through the corpus callosum (mid-brain) and all the ‘lights’ in the brain are switched on. In other words, those parts of the brain which were not being used are illuminated, giving rise to genius and direct connection with source.  
4. The Tantra Tradition uses the word Mahamudra, meaning the great gesture arising from the ultimate orgasm with the universe.
5. The Tibetan Tradition uses the word Sangyé, which indicates awakening from ignorance and purifying inner darkness. This inner darkness may include both mental and emotional entanglements. The ‘gye’ part of the word indicates blossoming like a lotus and opening to the true nature of reality. 
6. The Japanese Tradition uses the word Satori, indicating a sudden awakening to the true nature of reality (also known as enlightenment.) 
7. The Chinese Taoist Tradition uses the word Wuxing which means ‘Awakened Nature.’
8. The Gnostic Tradition uses the word Gnosis to indicate what they call the realisation of the ‘Organic Light.’ Gnosis is a Greek word meaning ‘to know the divine through direct experience.’ Gnosticism teaches that by following the wisdom of Gaia Sophia (the divine feminine earth) we will gradually merge with our true essence which is the source of creation. 
9. The American Indian Tradition uses the word Wakanya Wowanyanke to describe the enlightened state. It means ‘Great Vision.’ 
10. The Indigenous Kogi Tribes from Columbia use the word Mamos (meaning Sun) to describe the Enlightened Beings who guide their culture and way of life. The way they prepare these beings is really unique. Through divination, when a child is in the womb, they come to understand if this baby carries the potential to become a Mamos. If yes, from shortly after birth, the baby will be kept in isolation in a dark cave for up to 16 years. They meet only their own mother, who nourishes them and gives the child regular massage and a Mamos who becomes their spiritual guide. They eat only white food.
    It is said, within two years the child begins dancing in ecstasy. This is most likely because if one stays in the dark for extended periods, this person will experience DMT release which gives rise to visions of God and experiences of inner ecstasy.
    Eventually, when the young person is deemed ready, he or she will be brought outside into the light and the beauty of nature. This has such a profound impact that the person instantaneously becomes Enlightened. He or she will then become an inspiring wisdom guide in the Tribe.
11. The Polynesian People of Hawaii use the word Pono to describe a perfectly aligned state of consciousness. Their Tribal Wisdom Keepers are called Kahuna. The Kahuna specialise in either psychological and or physical based therapies to help people become aligned to Pono. Their world-view includes a profound understanding of each incarnated being having an oversoul who is there throughout one’s life. This immortal oversoul offers it’s ineffable presence of expanded consciousness as a resource. To be attuned to this immortal spiritual presence while going about daily life is to live  wholeness. 

Feeling called to the Path

The people who are gripped in their vitals to move on the path to self realisation and enlightenment are probably those people who have already been seekers in a past life and feel a yearning to continue where they left off.

For this reason, it is easier for some than for others. It all depends where your soul is already on the pilgrimage. Where you will be drawn to, and how you will choose to work on yourself is very connected to your karmic imprints. And of course, quantum leaps are possible!

Tips for Seekers

I offer here some tips, which may act as beacons on the path of scientific revolution. Enlightenment thinkers like Isaac Newton and John Locke contributed to a new way of thinking about knowledge and society, emphasizing reason and empirical observation.

Methods of Meditation help us to train the ‘secretary’ and to tune into and resonate with our true essence, the being. These methods align with the empirical approaches of scientific knowledge that emerged during the Enlightenment, promoting a comprehensive understanding of human nature through observation and experimentation.

In Deep Let Go the Magic Happens

“Sitting quietly,

Doing nothing

Spring comes

And the grass grows by itself.” - Basho Matsuo

After almost superhuman exertion, in meditation and other spiritual disciplines, the seeker finally lets go of all effort. It is through this deep let go that the magic happens. However, from my own experience and having heard of the experience of Osho and other mystics, such as Buddha, Mahavira, Milarepa, Jesus, Saint Theresa of Avila, Hafiz, Gurjieff, Pythagoras, and many more, it is first necessary to search with full totality. Having exhausted every possibility of method, discipline and understanding, finally the searcher collapses and it is then the sought appears. 

In that perfect moment when you no longer have any desire for any goal the supreme envelops you. One may think, “If that is the case, I will simply let go of all desire now and the jewel will be mine!” However, it doesn't work that way. Desire lessness only arises after trying everything. This is because incarnation itself is fueled by desire. Enlightenment is the supreme desire and so once we have exhausted that avenue of pursuit, the very ground of being implodes.

Osho says: “You are a Buddha, but you are not aware of it. Down the ages, this has been the way and I don’t see there is any other possibility. You will become aware of it only in utter silence. But the utter silence, a state of no-mind, a pure space, needs all your desires to be exhausted. So, it is a device - gather all your desires, make your life one pointed towards enlightenment; and I assure you, you will not find it! But without this, no one has found it either. One day, when you get frustrated, you say, “to hell with enlightenment!” - that is the day the miracle is going to happen. It happens always only in that moment.”

Male and Female Methodology

“The Yin absorbs the Yang; the Yang absorbs the Yin - this secret is so simple it goes unnoticed and undetected. Like all of nature it must fuse and intermingle with its opposite to achieve growth and potential. As a tree cannot exist without both sun and water, humans cannot exist without sexual energy. Immortality can only be achieved through the disciplined use of sexual energy.” - The White Tigress Manual (Secrets of the female Taoist Masters)

If a person is in a male body, the tendency will be to follow the path of meditation and witnessing. By sincerely following this path, it will eventually flower into love and compassion. If a person is in a female body she will have the tendency to follow the path of love and devotion. By bringing her totality to this path, she will eventually flower into meditation and witnessing.

However, as we all contain both male and female aspects, it is good for a female to also learn meditation and for a man to also learn love and devotion. Then, when it is the right moment for your flowering, you will slip easily and naturally into the opposite and become whole. 

The Value of Major Enlightenment Thinkers

“There are more fake guides, teachers in the world than stars. The real guide is the one who makes you see your inner beauty, not the one who wants to be admired and followed.” - Shams Tabrizi (Master of Rumi)

There are two types of people, those who need a Guru or guide on the path and those who don’t. Osho describes those who do not have any guru and who find the truth on their own, as becoming a ‘Master of Masters’, the beginning point of a lineage. This type of person discovers very early on in their search that life itself is the Guru. They learn the art of listening to the subtle indications life is giving as to how to follow the path to wholeness.

Another type of person relies on one or more guides to find their way. If the Guru is truly enlightened he or she will help the disciple to learn the art of listening to their own inner alignment to truth and ultimately to life itself. Eventually they will be able to find their way to the ultimate through the divine that is embodied in each and every aspect of living. 

This type of person begins by surrendering to the higher wisdom of the Guru and through this state of surrender, eventually is able to surrender their egoic mind and discover higher wisdom. During the turbulent years of practicing Sadhana, the Guru is like a lighthouse on the path. Without his or her wisdom, the seeker of truth may get lost into a quagmire of emotionality, confusion and egoic patterns.

The master key which unlocks the door to illumination is activated through gratitude, to the master and to the whole of life.

Letting Go of What is Not Yours

“Let this be your only touchstone - whatsoever makes you happy is bound to be true. Ananda, bliss, is the only criterion of truth.” - Osho

The art of remembering one’s true essence is a supreme discovery on the path. This involves letting go of what you are not and in this way discovering your true essence. The true essence of each being is already enlightened.

Once someone asked Osho, “You became enlightened at the age of 21. How did this happen at such a young age?” His answer was astonishing. I remember him saying, “I simply asked all the voices that were not mine to go.” He then went on to explain a profoundly effective technique for doing so.

Many people believe that ‘life is suffering.’ Where did this idea come from? If you look deeply within, you will find out that the idea of life as suffering came from others, from conditioned belief or from some miserable family member who passed their own suffering onto the child.

There is a renowned scientist named Candice Pert who studied the interplay between mind, body and emotions. She came to understand these three aspects within the human being are not separate but are working in synergy. In her book, ‘Molecules of Emotion’ she says: “Human beings are hard-wired for Bliss.”

When our body, mind, emotions and soul are in tune, the orchestra of life offers the music of bliss. A marvelous Sanskrit mantra is: ‘Sat Chit Ananda’ - Truth, Consciousness, Bliss. This mantra perfectly describes the state of being which is the essential nature of human beings.

The Art and Science of No-mind

“You may be engaged in several directions and work with enormous zest, yet remain inwardly free and quiet, with a mirror-like mind, which reflects all, without being affected.” - Nisargadatta Maharaj

The experience of No-Mind is of great importance when travelling the path. There is a saying linked to Christian beleifs which states: “An empty mind is the devil’s workshop.” Exactly the opposite is true. An empty mind where God resides!

There are as many ways and methodologies for entering no-mind as there are leaves on a tree. It is good to choose one of these methods and practice it as a series for a certain amount of time. Osho used to recommend trying a method for 3 days and if you like it, to continue for 21 days. If you are still getting benefit from it, continue the practice for three months.

Once you have extracted the nectar from that method, and you and the method have melted as one, you can let go of that method and choose a new technique. In this way, your journey continues to meander, flowing like a river to the ocean of your essential nature. I highly recommend Osho’s book, ‘Meditation, The First and Last Freedom’ to read his guidance about many different meditation techniques.

Mind is Our Secretary, Not the Boss

“Divine I am inside and out

And I make holy

Whatever I touch or am touched from.” - Walt Whitman (Song of Myself)

A little map is helpful to understand how to discipline the mind. I learned the explanation of this map from the genius inventor of Tachyon Technologies, David Wagner. By understanding it, we become empowered to make radical changes in our approach to spiritual awakening.

Our mind is basically a bio computer, which is designed to accumulate and store information. It is like a secretary who is designed to be in service to our essential nature, the being. In the right moment the secretary gives you the indication; “Winter is coming and you need to stack wood because it will get cold.” Or the secretary may say: “Remember the time you fell downstairs, and therefore you need to be careful when walking downstairs.”

The problem with mind arises when the ‘secretary’ goes berserk and begins hurling files on your desk at any time of day or night, reminding you about any manner of things that have no relevance now, or worrying about future events which also have no need of being brought to your attention at this time. 

The constant mind chatter about inconsequential things brings unnecessary stress to our whole biological system. Therefore, the ‘secretary’ needs to be trained to be quiet and calm unless it is needed for some relevant purpose. Methods of Meditation help us to train the ‘secretary’ and to tune into and resonate with our true essence, the being. The being is always in the present moment, so anything which helps us to remain in present moment awareness will help.

One significant fact is, that the body is also always in the present moment. So if you attune yourself to your body and bodily experiences as a consciousness practice, you will automatically be in the present moment and aligned with your being.

For example, Buddha’s method of Vipassana, where you witness the breath going in and out of the nostrils, is very effective. In Tantra, meditations utilizing awareness of various sensorial experiences are also profoundly transformative.

Dreamless Sleep Offers a Master Key

“We are instruments. Who is playing this instrument? The original sound is playing…We are making sound all the time, inaudible sound. This is what life is. When death comes, the sound stops and goes back to source.” - Kohrogi Sensei (Japanese Master)

Down the ages, mystics have sought the state which is called samadhi. It is a quality of being where the experiencer is in a state of complete no-mind and yet aware. Every night, we enter a state of no mind when we enter dreamless sleep, which can be called, ‘a small death.’

By going into this void state of being each night, we are ready for ‘rebirth’ waking up in the morning refreshed, with a clean, clear spirit, ready for the new day. If someone is unable to drop into dreamless sleep, they progressively go crazy. It is essential in order to maintain a life of equilibrium.

Down the ages, Yogi’s have worked on perfecting the art of dropping into this void space while remaining conscious. This is called Samadhi. In fact, the whole art of Yoga is designed to progressively guide one into Samadhi.

The art and science of Meditation is also aimed at achieving the state of Samadhi. In order to really understand this process it is helpful to  remember the 4 brain wave cycles. Beta, Theta, Alpha, and Delta.

• BETA (13-30Hz) (waking consciousness)
• ALPHA (8-12 Hz) (in-between waking and sleep, in this cycle creative visions or eureka moments of realization occur)
• THETA (4-8 Hz) (Dreaming Sleep)
• DELTA (less than 4 Hz) (dreamless sleep; in this state we are plugged directly into source. It is both a small death as well as the source of eternal wisdom.)

“Samadhi is “A soundless state of breathlessness, a blissful super consciousness state in which a Yogi perceives the identity of the individualized Soul and Cosmic Spirit.” (Paramahansa Yogananda)

Many times I have heard meditators exclaim, “I am so frustrated because I don’t know how to turn off my mind! While sitting in meditation, I am tortured by my mind which chatters incessantly!”

There is a basic flaw in this perception and understanding of meditation. The fact is, our four brainwave cycles continue all through the day and night, changing approximately every 20 minutes. This is the secret behind silent meditation retreats. In a silent retreat, in general, there will be at least 6 sittings per day of 40 minutes or 1 hour each time. 40 minutes covers 2 brain wave cycles while 1 hour sittings cover three cycles.

At some point during your retreat, you will certainly find yourself slipping into the Delta cycle, and yet, you are present in your witnessing consciousness. This is why there is more likelyhood of attaining Samadhi while in a silent retreat because you meditate many hours each day. If it so happens that you find yourself entering into the Delta Cycle while sitting in Meditation, you will then easily be able to drop into Void and Samadhi.

If you are meditating and the mind is in the Beta cycle, your mind will automatically be active. This is not a problem. The true meaning of meditation is ‘witnessing.’ All you need to do if the mind is in an active phase is simply to witness it as a detached observer.

Gradually, as you begin mastering the art of witnessing, you will be able to apply this talent to all life situations and through this, you will attain the ability of be a silent observer of all phenomena in life. The ability to witness brings supreme bliss, because you are thus liberated from shackles of identification and misery.

A disciple of the great Tantra Master Marpa asked him; “Master, what is it like to be enlightened? Please describe this sublime state of consciousness to me.” Marpa replied tersely; “I’m as miserable as before!” The shocked disciple asked; “if you are as miserable as before, why should I be making so much effort in daily sadhana, in austerities and meditation, hoping to attain this state of being?”

Marpa, smiling mischievously, replied, “The only difference between me and you is that I have the choice to be identified with misery or not.”

A Heart Based Life

“Each cycle of the universe in silence prays, welling up with the essence of love.” - From a Song of the Baul Mystics of Bengal

Our spiritual essence communicates most effectively through the heart, so techniques which help us to move from head to heart are very effective. In fact, recently scientists have discovered that the heart is a brain and that it is a superior brain to the brain in the head.

The heart brain receives its cues directly from source and these are then meant to be translated through heart based reality to the brain in the head. Indigenous people know this very well and many indigenous cultures have a heart-based system of life.

In our modern world we have ‘lost the plot’ simply because we tend to align only with the rational brain in the head and to ignore the signals coming from the heart. Enter into communion with your heart chakra, listen to heart wisdom and you may be amazed how many blessings begin showering on you from all sides.

Natural Enlightenment is Our Birthright

“All beings are, from the very beginning, Buddha’s.” - Hakuin (Zen Master)

“Only human beings care about past, present and future. The Giraffe doesn’t care about it, but just eats it’s leaves contentedly.” - Kohrogi Sensei (Japanese Master)

I have heard Osho speaking on how some indigenous cultures never come out of the enlightened state, meaning they retain their original innocence and wonder throughout their lives. For them, no spiritual sadhana is necessary because they live and breathe in oneness with nature, deepest gratitude and cosmic awareness.

Once, I had a marvelous session with a Shaman from a remote indigenous tribe who lives in India near the border of Nepal.  He told me that in their tribe, when a child is born, the tribe waits for the auspicious moment when a rainbow appears.

The moment the rainbow appears, a ceremony is done for the infant. The ties binding the child to the parents are cut and he or she is given to the rainbow, as its new parent. The child is expected to listen to the rainbow, not to its biological mother and father, for all the cues as to how to be a balanced human being.

When a girl reaches puberty, the same day as her first menstruation, she is placed in a dark room for three days. She is given food and drink, and left alone in the dark. After three days, when she comes out of the room, a marriage ceremony takes place.

She is married to a fruit. As fruits and the seeds of fruits are abundant, it is believed that through this marriage, she will never be without love. Abundance and juiciness is her first imprint of marriage. Afterwards, she may be with many lovers, and through the wisdom of abundance, she will choose those she wishes to live with.

It is interesting to note that in their culture, a woman will routinely marry four men and they all live together as one family. Men may also have more than one wife.

Such sensitivity and wisdom can only come from a heart-based culture where people live deeply in tune with nature.

The Shaman told me that unfortunately the old ways are slowly dying out. I hope someone will have the stamina, skill and vision to go and make a film about this tribe who have such fascinating ways of seeing and experiencing life and love.

Another tribe, called the Piraha, who live deep in the Amazon Jungle, have a language not linked to any other language on earth. A linguist missionary went to study them and to try and learn their language. He was also trying to convert them to Christianity. It took him some years of living among them to learn their language. He was amazed that they have no word for past or for future. They live entirely in the present. He said he has never in his life encountered people who live in such a supreme state of happiness. Rather than him converting them, they ended up converting him!

The Body is A Guru

“Time was when I despised the body

But then I saw God within

The body, I realised, is the Lord’s temple

And so I began preserving it with care infinite”- Thulasiram, (verse 725 by Siddha Thirumoolar)

By listening to the body attentively, we will certainly become tuned to our greatest capacity for harmony and wellbeing. Wholeness happens when body, mind, heart, soul and spirit, all work together as one synchronistic system. On the spiritual path, we need to give equal attention to the body as to the mind or spirit.

At one time, Ayurveda, Yoga and Tantra were all branches in one tree of life. Intelligent living includes a healthy sattvic diet, balanced forms of exercise, and intelligent patterning of the mind as well as the awakening of our full spirit based potential. There is much thirst in people to come back to the body as a foundation for a balanced life.

This is why Yoga and Tantra are spreading all across the world. They offer a sane and integrative approach to body-mind-soul balance. As we really dive into our potential, finally we will learn to reclaim what the ancients already knew. We will once again become devotees of the Tree of Life in all its splendor.

Excerpt from Osho’s Discourse about his Enlightenment

‘A Date with Death and God Simultaneously’

I went to sleep. It was a very strange sleep. The body was asleep, I was awake. It was so strange - as if one was torn apart into two directions, two dimensions; as if the polarity has become completely focused, as if I was both the polarities together… the positive and negative were meeting, sleep and awareness were meeting, death and life were meeting. That is the moment when you can say ‘the creator and the creation meet.’

It was weird. For the first time it shocks you to the very roots, it shakes your foundations. You can never be the same after that experience; it brings a new vision to your life, a new quality.

Near about twelve my eyes suddenly opened - I had not opened them. The sleep was broken by something else. I felt a great presence around me in the room. It was a very small room. I felt a throbbing life all around me, a great vibration - almost like a hurricane, a great storm of light, joy, ecstasy. I was drowning in it.

It was so tremendously real that everything became unreal. The walls of the room became unreal, the house became unreal, my own body became unreal. Everything was unreal because now there was for the first time reality.

That night another reality opened its door, another dimension became available. Suddenly it was there, the other reality, the separate reality, the really real, or whatsoever you want to call it - call it god, call it truth, call it dhamma, call it tao, or whatsoever you will. It was nameless. But it was there — so opaque, so transparent, and yet so solid one could have touched it. It was almost suffocating me in that room. It was too much and I was not yet capable of absorbing it.

A deep urge arose in me to rush out of the room, to go under the sky - it was suffocating me. It was too much! It will kill me! If I had remained a few moments more, it would have suffocated me - it looked like that.

I rushed out of the room, came out in the street. A great urge was there just to be under the sky with the stars, with the trees, with the earth… to be with nature. And immediately as I came out, the feeling of being suffocated disappeared. It was too small a place for such a big phenomenon. Even the sky is a small place for that big phenomenon. It is bigger than the sky. Even the sky is not the limit for it. But then I felt more at ease.

I walked towards the nearest garden. It was a totally new walk, as if gravitation had disappeared. I was walking, or I was running, or I was simply flying; it was difficult to decide. There was no gravitation, I was feeling weightless - as if some energy was taking me. I was in the hands of some other energy.

For the first time I was not alone, for the first time I was no more an individual, for the first time the drop has come and fallen into the ocean. Now the whole ocean was mine, I was the ocean. There was no limitation. A tremendous power arose as if I could do anything whatsoever. I was not there, only the power was there.

I reached to the garden where I used to go every day. The garden was closed, closed for the night. It was too late, it was almost one o’clock in the night. The gardeners were fast asleep. I had to enter the garden like a thief, I had to climb the gate. But something was pulling me towards the garden. It was not within my capacity to prevent myself. I was just floating.

That’s what I mean when I say again and again ‘float with the river, don’t push the river’. I was relaxed, I was in a let-go. I was not there. IT was there, call it god - god was there.

I would like to call it IT, because god is too human a word, and has become too dirty by too much use, has become too polluted by so many people. Christians, Hindus, Mohammedans, priests and politicians - they all have corrupted the beauty of the word. So let me call it IT. IT was there and I was just carried away… carried by a tidal wave.

The moment I entered the garden everything became luminous, it was all over the place - the benediction, the blessedness. I could see the trees for the first time - their green, their life, their very sap running. The whole garden was asleep, the trees were asleep. But I could see the whole garden alive, even the small grass leaves were so beautiful.

I looked around. One tree was tremendously luminous - the maulshree tree. It attracted me, it pulled me towards itself. I had not chosen it, god himself has chosen it. I went to the tree, I sat under the tree. As I sat there things started settling. The whole universe became a benediction.

It is difficult to say how long I was in that state. When I went back home it was four o’clock in the morning, so I must have been there by clock time at least three hours - but it was infinity. It had nothing to do with clock time. It was timeless.

Those three hours became the whole eternity, endless eternity. There was no time, there was no passage of time; it was the virgin reality - uncorrupted, untouchable, unmeasurable.

And that day something happened that has continued - not as a continuity - but it has still continued as an undercurrent. Not as a permanency - each moment it has been happening again and again. It has been a miracle each moment.

That night… and since that night I have never been in the body. I am hovering around it. I became tremendously powerful and at the same time very fragile. I became very strong, but that strength is not the strength of a Mohammed Ali. That strength is not the strength of a rock, that strength is the strength of a rose flower - so fragile in his strength… so fragile, so sensitive, so delicate.

Buddhas have a strength which is not of this world. Their strength is totally of love… Like a rose flower or a dewdrop. Their strength is very fragile, vulnerable. Their strength is the strength of life not of death. Their power is not of that which kills; their power is of that which creates. Their power is not of violence, aggression; their power is that of compassion.

But I have never been in the body again, I am just hovering around the body. And that’s why I say it has been a tremendous miracle. Each moment I am surprised I am still here, I should not be. I should have left any moment, still I am here. Every morning I open my eyes and I say, ‘So, again I am still here?’ Because it seems almost impossible. The miracle has been a continuity.

That night I became empty and became full. I became non-existential and became existence. That night I died and was reborn. But the one that was reborn has nothing to do with that which died, it is a discontinuous thing. On the surface it looks continuous but it is discontinuous. The one who died, died totally; nothing of him has remained.

Believe me, nothing of him has remained, not even a shadow. It died totally, utterly. It is not that I am just a modified rup, transformed, modified form, transformed form of the old. No, there has been no continuity. That day of March twenty-first, the person who had lived for many many lives, for millennia, simply died. Another being, absolutely new, not connected at all with the old, started to exist.

Religion just gives you a total death. Maybe that’s why the whole day previous to that happening I was feeling some urgency like death, as if I am going to die - and I really died. I have known many other deaths but they were nothing compared to it, they were partial deaths.

Sometimes the body died, sometimes a part of the mind died, sometimes a part of the ego died, but as far as the person was concerned, it remained. Renovated many times, decorated many times, changed a little bit here and there, but it remained, the continuity remained.

That night the death was total. It was a date with death and god simultaneously.”

Osho (The Discipline of Transcendence, Volume 2, Chapter 11. It has also been republished under the title The Buddha Said, Chapter 11. Watkins Publishing, London.)

Copyright© OSHO International Foundation

Author

Ma Ananda Sarita

Ma Ananda Sarita is a Tantra master, initiated into Tantra in 1973 by Osho. With over 30 years of teaching experience, she offers courses and retreats worldwide. As the voice behind this blog, Sarita offers readers a glimpse into the power of Tantra.