Am currently listening to Osho’s discourses titled The Discipline of Transcendence. The following excerpt is from discourse number 2 titled, The greatest miracle. The transcript of the entire discourse is available on this link – The Discipline of Transcendence Vol 1: The greatest miracle.
Alone Vs Lonely
“..The zen master said, ‘I am sitting here alone with myself.’ This is the greatest miracle. To be alone is the greatest achievement. “
“..One feels always a need for the other. There is a tremendous need for the other because something is lacking within ourselves.”
“…Without the other we don’t know who we are, we lose our identity. The other becomes a mirror and we can see our faces in it. Without the other we are suddenly thrown to ourselves. Great uncomfort, inconvenience arises, because we don’t know who we are. When we are alone we are in very strange company, very embarrassing company. We don’t know with whom we are.“
“Nobody wants to be alone. The greatest fear in the world is to be left alone.”
“….Loneliness is absence of the other. Aloneness is the presence of oneself.
Aloneness is very positive. It is a presence, overflowing presence. You are so full of presence that you can fill the whole universe with your presence and there is no need for anybody.
If the whole world disappears this zen master will not miss anything. If suddenly by some magic the whole world disappears and this zen master is left alone, he will be as happy as ever, he will not miss anything. “
Meditation – Loneliness to Aloneness
“……Just sit alone sometimes. That’s what meditation is all about – just sitting alone, doing nothing, Just try. If you start feeling lonely then there is something missing in your being, then you have not been able yet to understand who you are.
Then go deeper into this loneliness until you come to a layer when suddenly loneliness transforms itself into aloneness. It transforms – it is a negative aspect of the same phenomenon. Loneliness is the negative aspect of aloneness. If you go deeper into it one moment is bound to come when suddenly you will start feeling the positive aspect of it. Because both aspects are always together.”
Becoming Deathless
“…Remember, death only separates you from others, it never separates you from yourself. Death seems so frightening because it will snatch you away from others – the wife will not be any more with the husband, the mother will not be any more with the children. Death only separates you from others. It cannot separate you from yourself; there is no way to separate you from yourself.
Once you have learned how to be with yourself then death is meaningless, then death does not exist. You become deathless. Then death cannot take anything away from you. That which death can take away from you, you have surrendered on your own accord.”
What more can anyone say ? The reason Osho is the Master of Masters is because there is no other human being in known history who has spoken about every other Master ….. Bhagwan Rajneesh has. Just listening to Osho is meditative.
Deeply grateful to science and technology that has brought Osho’s discourses right into our ears. Close your eyes and listen… the Master is here NOW.
Thank You Master. 🙏🏾