The eighth question

Question 8

OSHO, A FEW DAYS AGO IN LECTURE I REALIZED THAT WHEN I AM RELAXED THE BODY GOES INTO A MOST COMFORTABLE POSTURE OF ITS OWN ACCORD. IT MUST BE JUST THE SAME WITH LIFE. IS THIS THE BEGINNING OF TRUST?

YES, MUKTI GANDHA, this is the beginning of trust, the beginning of yea-saying, the beginning of a great understanding that all that is going to happen is going to happen, and you are not to do it. You have to be alert and passive, you have to be watchful and receptive. This is the whole secret of life.

Small things need to be done -- if you want more money, the money is not going to come on its own; you will have to run after it. If you want political power, it is not going to come to you on its own -- you will have to fight for it, you will have to struggle for it. Small things are those which never HAPPEN, which never come from God. Man has to struggle and do them. And great things are those which if you try to do them you will miss. Great things happen only when you are in a total relaxation.

That's what must be happening. This is happening to many people who are here. You are not here just to listen to me: you are here just to BE with me. Talking and listening is just an excuse to be here. It will be difficult for you to sit still, silently for one and a half hours if I am not talking to you. If I am talking to you, your mind remains engaged and your whole being becomes relaxed.

This is a meditation! This is not a discourse. I am not preaching, I am not a preacher; and I am not teaching, I am not a teacher either. I have no philosophy to impart, no knowledge to transfer. It is a device; talking to you is simply a device.

This is another kind of meditation. I go on talking, your mind remains occupied with my words, and your whole being relaxes with me -- the real thing is that relaxation.

You say: A FEW DAYS AGO IN LECTURE, I REALIZED THAT WHEN I AM RELAXED THE BODY GOES INTO A MOST COMFORTABLE POSTURE OF ITS OWN ACCORD.

The body has great wisdom -- allow it. Allow it more and more to follow its own wisdom. And whenever you have time, just relax. Let the breathing go on on its own, don't interfere. Our habit to interfere has become so ingrained that you cannot even breathe without interfering. If you watch breathing, you will immediately see you have started interfering: you start taking deep breaths, or you start exhaling more. No need to interfere at all. Just let the breath be as it is; the body knows exactly what it needs. If it needs more oxygen it will breathe more; if it needs less oxygen it will breathe less.

Just leave it to the body! Become absolutely non-interfering. And wherever you feel any tension, relax that part. And slowly slowly... first begin while you are sitting, resting and then while you are doing things. You are cleaning the floor or working in the kitchen or in the once -- keep that relaxedness. Action need not be an interference in your relaxed state. And then there is a beauty, a great beauty, to your activity. Your activity will have the flavour of meditativeness.

Yes, Mukti Gandha, it is exactly so with your whole life -- this is the secret. But people go on making unnecessary efforts. Sometimes their efforts are their barriers; their efforts are the problems that they are creating.

There was a lot of confusion downtown during the big snow-storm. Mulla Nasruddin went over to help a fat lady get into a taxi cab. After rushing and shoving and slipping on the ice, he told her he did not think he could get her in.

She said, "In? I am trying to get out!"

Just watch.... There are things where if you push, you will miss. Don't push the river at all, and don't try to go upstream. The river is flowing towards the ocean of its own accord -- just be part of it, be part of its journey. It will take you to the ultimate. Go relaxed, dancing, singing, to God.