The Path of Self-Realization

This speech is a milestone in Osho's work, as it was when he first had his words recorded and later published. This speech became the first chapter of Osho's first published book. It is the introductory lecture to the Ranakpur Meditation Camp that he conducted in June 1964. The book, originally published in Hindi under the title Path to Self-Realization, was recently translated into English as the title The Perfect Way (The Perfect Way).

"Conscious souls,

First of all, please accept my love. That is the only thing with which I can welcome you to the isolation and seclusion of these mountains. In fact, I have nothing more to give you. I want to share with you the infinite love that proximity to the divine created in me. I want to distribute it. And the wonder of it is that the more I share that love, the more it grows! Perhaps true wealth is that which increases with distribution. The wealth that diminishes when it is shared is not true wealth at all. Do you then accept my love?
I see acceptance in your eyes and I also see that your eyes have become filled with reciprocal love. Love invokes love and hate invokes hatred. Everything we give comes back to us. This is an eternal law. So whatever you want to receive is what you must give to the world. You cannot receive flowers in return for thorns.
I see flowers of love and peace blooming in your eyes. I am in deep gratitude for that, now, we are not many here: love brings us together and makes many become one. Physical bodies are separate and will remain separate, but there is something behind bodies that is found in love, that becomes one through love. Only after that unity, of becoming one, can anything be said and understood. Communication is possible only in love.
We have gathered in this secluded place so that I can say something to you and you can hear me. This saying and this listening are not possible without a current of love. The doors of the heart only open to love. And remember that only when one listens with the heart and not with the head does hearing happen. You may ask me, 'does the heart also hear?' and I will tell you that whenever hearing happens, it is always through the heart. The head never heard anything. The head is a deaf stone. And this is also true of speaking. Only when words come from the heart are they full of meaning. Only when words come from the heart do they have the fragrance of fresh flowers; if not, they will just be aged and withered, they will be artificial - plastic flowers.
I will pour out my heart to you, and if your hearts allow me to enter, there will be a meeting and a communication. And then, in that moment of encounter, what words are unable to express will be communicated. Many things unsaid will be heard in this way - that which cannot be put into words, that which is left between the lines, will also be communicated. Words are very powerless indications, but if heard in complete peace of mind and in silence, they become potent. That's what I call listening with the heart.
But usually, even when we listen to someone, we remain filled with our own thoughts. This is 'false listening'. So you're not a shravak, a listener. You are just under the illusion that you are listening, but in fact you are not. In order to 'hear correctly', it is necessary for the mind to be in a state of observation, completely silent. When you are just listening and nothing else is doing, only then will you be able to hear and understand, and that understanding will become light and transformation within you. If not, then you are not listening to anyone but only yourself, you remain surrounded by a raging turmoil within you. And when you are involved in this way nothing can be communicated to you. So you seem to be seeing it, but you're not; you seem to be listening, but you're not.
Christ said, 'those who have eyes to see, let them see. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.' Was he saying that people had neither eyes nor ears? Of course they had eyes and ears, but the mere presence of eyes and ears is not enough to see and hear. Something else is needed and without it the existence or non-existence of eyes and ears is the same thing. That something else is inner silence and watching awareness. Only when these qualities are present do the doors of the mind open and something can be said and heard.
I hope that you will hear me in this way during the period of this meditation camp. Once you have learned this, it will become your lifelong companion. This will be enough to free you from trivial worries. You will be able to awaken to the great mysterious universe outside and you will be able to experience the eternal and infinite light of consciousness hidden behind the turmoil of your mind.
Seeing correctly and hearing correctly are not mere necessities for this field of meditation, they are, in fact, the pillars for an entire right living. In the same way that everything is clearly reflected through a totally calm lake with no waves, it is also true that the divine will be reflected in you when you become calm and still like the lake. I am seeing a great silence growing in you. Your eyes - the thirst for life that I see in you - are inviting me to say what I want to say. They are urging me to reveal the truths that I have seen and that have stirred my soul, because their hearts are eager and impatient to understand them. Seeing how willing and ready you are, my heart is also ready to pour out in you. In that peace that surrounds us, with the peaceful state of your minds, I will certainly be able to say what I want to say to all of you. If I had found deaf ears before me, I would have held back. Doesn't the light stay outside when she finds her house doors closed? In the same way I stand outside many houses. But it's a good sign that your doors are open. It's a good start.
Tomorrow morning we will begin our five day meditation experiment journey. In support of this, I would like to say a few things to you. For meditation, for the realization of truth, the soil of your mind has to be prepared in the same way that a person has to prepare the soil for growing flowers. So I would like you to understand some sutras, some key points.
The first sutra is: live in the present. During the days in the Field, don't let yourself be carried away by the mechanical flow of your thoughts about the past and the future. It is because of this that the living moment, the moment that really exists, is wasted and needlessly lost. Neither the past nor the future exists. One is just memory, the other is just imagination. Only the present is the living and true moment. And if the truth is to be known, it can only be known if we are in the present.
During these meditation days, consciously keep yourself free from the past and the future. Accept that they don't exist. Only the moment in your hands, the moment you are in, exists. You have to live in it, and live it fully.
Tonight sleep as soundly as if all your past has been put aside. She dies to the past. And in the morning, he wakes up a new man in a new morning. Don't let the one who went to bed wake up. Let that one have a good sleep. Let in its place wake up what is always new and always fresh.
Keep this living in the present continually in your remembrance all the time, and be alert that that mechanical thought about the past and the future does not come back again. For this, it is enough to remain attentive. If you stay alert, it won't trigger. Conscience destroys habit.
The second sutra is: live naturally. All human behavior is artificial and formal. We always keep ourselves covered by a false cloak and because of that covering we gradually forget our own reality. You have to drop that fake fur and throw it away. We gather here, not to act out a drama, but to get to know each other, to understand ourselves. In the same way that actors in a play remove their costumes and makeup and put them aside after the performance, in these five days you have to remove your false masks and throw them away. Let what is original and natural in you come out and live in it. Meditation only grows in a simple and natural life.
During these meditation days, know that you do not have to hold any position, you are not special, you do not have any status. Throw away all those masks. You are simply you, an ordinary human being, no name, no status, no class, no family, no caste - simply a nameless person, a very ordinary individual. You have to live this way. And remember that this is also our true reality.
The third sutra is: live alone. The life of meditation is born in complete solitude, when one is totally alone. But generally man is never alone. He is always surrounded by others. And when he's not in the outer crowd, he's in the inner crowd. This crowd has to be dispersed.
Don't allow the crowd to gather inside you. And as for the outside, live by yourself as if you were alone in this Field. You don't have to maintain relationships with anyone else. In the midst of these countless relationships you have forgotten yourself. All these relationships - in which you are someone's friend or enemy, parent or child, wife or husband - have so absorbed you that you are unable to know yourself in your own individuality.
Have you ever tried to imagine what you are, outside of all these relationships of yours? Have you ever shed the garments of these relationships and seen yourself without them? Distance yourself from all these relationships and see that you are not the children of your fathers and mothers, you are not the husband of your wife, you are not the father of your children, you are not the friend of your friends, you are not the enemy of your enemies - and what remains is your true self. That remaining entity is what you are in yourself. During those days you have to live alone in this being.
By following these sutras, your mind will come to a state, which is an absolute necessity for the understanding of peace and truth. Alongside these three sutras, I want to explain to you the two types of meditation that we will start doing from tomorrow morning.
The first meditation is for the morning. During this meditation you should keep your spinal column straight, close your eyes and keep your neck straight. Your lips should be closed and your tongue should touch the roof of your mouth. Breathe slowly but deeply. Keep your attention close to the navel. Be aware of the tremor you feel in your belly button due to breathing. That's all you have to do. This experiment calms the mind and empties the thoughts completely. From this emptiness one finally enters within oneself.
The second meditation is for the night. Extend your body on the floor comfortably and let all your limbs relax completely. Close your eyes and for about two minutes suggest to yourself that your body is relaxing. Gradually the body will become relaxed. Then for two minutes suggest that your breathing is becoming quiet and your breathing will become quiet. Finally for another two minutes, suggest that your thoughts are stopping. This firm suggestion will lead you to complete relaxation, tranquility and emptiness. When the mind becomes completely calm, be fully awake in your inner being and be a witness to that peace. This witnessing will bring you into your being.
You must do these two meditations. In fact they are artificial stratagems and you should not cling to them. With their help, the restlessness of minds dissolves. And just as we no longer need the ladder when we complete the ascent, one day we too will let go of these stratagems.
Meditation reaches perfection the day it becomes unnecessary. This state is real samadhi, lighting.
Now the night is late and the sky is covered with stars. The trees and the valleys have gone to sleep. We are also going to sleep now. How still and silent all this is! We too will merge into this silence. In a deep sleep, in a dreamless sleep, we go to the place where the divine dwells. This is the spontaneous, non-conscious samadhi that nature has given to us. Through meditation we also reach that same space, but with meditation we remain aware and alert. That's the only difference. And that's really a big difference. In one situation we go to sleep and in the other we become awake.
Let us now go to sleep with the hope that awakening will also become possible. When hope is accompanied by determination and commitment, it is sure to come true. It is possible that existence guides us along the way. That's my only prayer."

OSHO - The Perfect Way