Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life? QUOTES

1 " To err is human, to admit it is divine. It is absolutely human to commit mistakes. To admit, without any guilt—you are simply admitting your humanity by admitting your mistakes—brings a transformation in your being. Something of the divine, something of the beyond starts opening up. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

2 " This is what we go on doing. In each situation, watch. When you fail, it is God, it is fate, it is society, circumstances … a thousand and one names. But the simple phenomenon is that you don’t want to take the responsibility because it hurts the ego. But when you succeed, it is always you—it is never God, never fate, never circumstances, never your cunning strategies, no. It is simply you, your talents, your genius, your intelligence. It is always you when you succeed. Watch the ego, and don’t feed it. It dies if you don’t feed it. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

3 " Never compare. Comparison is one of the causes of keeping you tethered to the mundane, because comparison creates competition, comparison creates ambition. It does not come alone, it brings all its companions with it. And once you become competitive there is no end to it; you will end before it does. Once you become ambitious you have chosen the most stupid path for your life. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

4 " All these things are part of it: let-go, trust, surrender, love, acceptance, going with the flow, union with existence, egolessness, ecstasy. All these are part of it, and all these start happening if you learn the ways of relaxation. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

5 " Whatever has been said about you by others, simply drop it. It is absolutely crap. They don’t know about themselves; what can they say about you which can be truthful? And the opinions that you have collected from others … just try to watch from whom you are collecting your opinions. They are not from a Gautam Buddha, or from a Jesus, or from a Socrates; they are from people who are as ignorant as you are. They are simply passing on others’ opinions that have been given to them. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

6 " Nobody wants you to know that life is simply romance. And that is my crime—because that is my whole teaching, that life is nothing but romance. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

7 " Don’t do anything—no repetition of mantra, no repetition of the name of God—just watch whatever the mind is doing. Don’t disturb it, don’t prevent it, don’t repress it; don’t do anything at all on your part. You just be a watcher, and the miracle of watching is meditation. As you watch, slowly, slowly mind becomes empty of thoughts; but you are not falling asleep, you are becoming more alert, more aware. As the mind becomes completely empty, your whole energy becomes a flame of awakening. This flame is the result of meditation. So you can say meditation is another name of watching, witnessing, observing—without any judgment, without any evaluation. Just by watching, you immediately get out of the mind. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

8 " They are almost like mentally challenged children who go on playing with teddy bears even as they age. Your teddy bears can change their shape: somebody’s teddy bear is money and somebody’s teddy bears are women, and somebody’s teddy bears are men. But whatever you are doing—and you are feeling very happy that money is accumulating, that you have found a new girlfriend, that you are promoted to a higher position—you are utterly happy. Unless you are stupid it is not possible. A man of intelligence will be able to see without fail that all these small things of life are preventing you from the beyond. They keep you engaged here, which is not your home. They keep you engaged in a life which is going to end up in a graveyard. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

9 " What is gain to the ego is loss to the soul. What is a blessing to the ego is a curse to the soul. What seems to be of tremendous importance to the ego is just sheer stupidity to the innermost core of your being. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

10 " Love knows no judgment; it simply loves, as you are. It is your question, it is your life. How to live it? And if my love is truly great, it may change you without any effort on my part. Without judging you, there is a possibility of changing you. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

11 " But I don’t care if my whole kingdom burns down; it doesn’t matter—because before when I was not here, the world was here and the kingdom was here. One day I will not be here again and the world will continue. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

12 " Eat when you feel hungry. Drink when you feel thirsty. Go to sleep when you feel sleepy. Get up when you feel awake. And just forget everything else! "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

13 " And anyway by the time you are retired at the age of sixty there is nothing to do. Death seems to be a relief, not a danger. We have not been capable enough and human enough to provide a situation where our old people can have some dignity, some self-respect, some pride. We have not been able to find dimensions where they can contribute to the world. And they are experienced and certainly capable of contributing enough—enough for their self-respect, enough for them to live and not to feel like a burden. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

14 " in science concentration is needed; without concentration there is no possibility of science. It is not surprising that science has not evolved in the East—I see these deep inner connections—because concentration was never valued. For religion something else is needed, not concentration. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

15 " In Sanskrit we have a special word for meditation; the word is dhyana. In no other language does a parallel word exist; that word is untranslatable. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

16 " But start relaxing. Start from the circumference—that’s where we are, and we can start only from where we are. Relax the circumference of your being—relax your body, relax your behavior, relax your acts. Walk in a relaxed way, eat in a relaxed way, talk, listen in a relaxed way. Slow down every process. Don’t be in a hurry and don’t be in haste. Move as if all eternity is available to you—in fact, it is available to you. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

17 " You are asking me, “Why am I scared to accept myself the way I am?” Because you have not been accepted by anyone the way you are. They have created the fear and the apprehension that if you accept yourself you will be rejected by everybody. This is an absolute condition of every society and every culture that has existed up to now, that either you accept yourself and be rejected by all, or you reject yourself and gain the respect and honor of your whole society and culture. The choice is really very difficult. Obviously the majority is going to choose respectability, but with respectability comes all kinds of anxieties, anguishes, a meaninglessness, a desertlike life where nothing grows, where nothing is green, where no flower ever blossoms, where you will walk and walk and walk and you will never find even an oasis. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

18 " Tension means hurry, fear, doubt. Tension means a constant effort to protect, to be secure, to be safe. Tension means preparing for tomorrow now, or for the afterlife—afraid that you will not be able to face the reality tomorrow, so be prepared. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

19 " Our whole life is a fooling around. You can do it because you are not aware of how you waste time, how you waste energy; how, finally, life is wasted—you are not aware. It is going down the drain. Everything is going down the drain. Only when death comes to you, you may become aware, alert: What have I been doing? What have I done with life? A great opportunity has been lost. What was I doing fooling around? You were not sober. You never reflected upon what you were doing. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?

20 " Another thing is that he used to remember in the morning. Why the morning? The morning sets the pattern. The first thought in the morning becomes the door; hence all religions insist on at least two prayers. They say if you can be prayerful the whole day, that is the right thing; but if not, then say at least two prayers—one in the morning, one in the night. "

― Osho , Mindfulness in the Modern World: How Do I Make Meditation Part of Everyday Life?