The following excerpts are from Osho’s discourses on Vigyan Bhairav Tantra. According to me if a seeker listens to just these discourses and finds the one technique that fits him/her, this lifetime would be fruitful. I have had these discourses and the book for several years, but started listening to them just a few days back … maybe this was the right time. My Master knows so I don’t want to feel sad or unhappy that I didnt listen to them earlier. Am thankful that I have started listening to them. It’s actually an overwhelming emotion as I listen to my Master explaining the dialogue between Shiva and Parvati. Thank you Master 🙏🏿.
The following excerpts are from the third discourse – Breath – A Bridge To The Universe.
On Breath –
“…The first nine techniques are concerned with breathing. So let us understand something about breathing, and then we will proceed to the techniques. We are breathing continuously from the moment of birth to the moment of death. Everything changes between these two points. Everything changes, nothing remains the same, only breathing is a constant thing between birth and death.
The child will become a youth; the youth will become old. He will be diseased, his body will become ugly, ill, everything will change. He will be happy, unhappy, in suffering; everything will go on changing. But whatsoever happens between these two points, one must breathe. Whether happy or unhappy, young or old, successful or unsuccessful – whatsoever you are, it is irrelevant – one thing is certain: between these two points of birth and death you must breathe.
Breathing will be a continuous flow; no gap is possible. If even for a single moment you forget to breathe, you will be no more. That is why YOU are not required to breathe, because then it would be difficult. Someone might forget to breathe for a single moment, and then nothing could be done.
So, really, YOU are not breathing, because YOU are not needed. You are fast asleep, and breathing goes on; you are unconscious, and breathing goes on; you are in a deep coma, and breathing goes on. YOU are not required; breathing is something which goes on in spite of you.
It is one of the constant factors in your personality – that is the first thing. It is something which is very essential and basic to life – that is the second thing. You cannot be alive without breath. So breath and life have become synonymous. Breathing is the mechanism of life, and life is deeply related with breathing. That is why in India we call it PRANA. We have given one word for both – PRANA means the vitality, the aliveness. Your life is your breath.
Thirdly, your breath is a bridge between you and your body. Constantly, breath is bridging you to your body, connecting you, relating you to your body. Not only is the breath a bridge to your body, it is also a bridge between you and the universe. The body is just the universe which has come to you, which is nearer to you.”
On the Human Body
“…..Man is a machine – a large, very complicated machine. You have many gears in your body, many gears in your mind. You are not aware of your great mechanism, but you are a great machine. And it is good that you are not aware; otherwise you could go mad. The body is such a great machine that scientists say if we had to create a factory parallel to the human body, it would require four square miles of land, and the noise would be such that one hundred square miles of land would be disturbed by it.
The body is a great mechanical device – the greatest. You have millions and millions of cells and each cell is alive. So you are a big city of seventy million cells; there are seventy million citizens inside you, and the whole city is running very silently, smoothly. Every moment the mechanism is working. It is very complicated. “
Am still thinking about the portion that I have highlighted above … if the human body has to be laid out as a factory it would require four square miles of land and the noise would be heard in a hundred square miles. Just understanding our body alone will convert an atheist to a theist and hopefully it also makes us aware of another truth – the human body is a part of nature, hence its complete, healthy and perfect.
Nature not only created our body but also put out foods that nourish …. except for human beings and their domesticated animals (cows, horses, camels, cats, pigs and DOGS), all other living organisms eat species appropriate food. You don’t see a Lion refrigerating leftover meat from a kill…. BUT we are happy to take out a slice of salami that was processed a year back from an animal that was killed in a factory, fearing for its life, microwave it and enjoy a “protein” rich sandwich.
That right there is a source of all the dis-ease we experience :(:(.
I guess in our own ways, we need to get back to being “natural”, in tune with Nature. Eat seasonal food that’s freshly prepared as far as possible. Use the refrigerator to store things that you cannot get fresh on a daily basis, but let them be in season. Don’t eat Mangoes in the thick of winter and don’t eat cauliflower at the peak of summer. Fruits and vegetables know when to grow, human beings need to re-learn when to eat them.
Lots to ponder over as always or just meditate :).
Thank You Master 🙏🏿
“Only breathing is a constant thing thing between birth and death.” A profound truth, spoken simply.