The first question:

Question 1

BELOVED OSHO,

IN THE FOURTH STEP OF THE MORNING MEDITATION, IN THE EFFORT TO KEEP THE BODY FROZEN OR DEAD, ONE TENDS TO BECOME TENSE. AS THIS IS THE STEP OF RELAXATION AND TOTAL LET-GO, HOW IS ONE TO RELAX AND ALSO BE FROZEN AT THE SAME TIME? RATHER THAN ECSTASY, IT BECOMES A TENSION.

A dead person is totally relaxed. He cannot be tense. A dead person cannot be tense -- or can he? He is relaxed because there is no ego to be tense. Only the ego can be tense. When in the fourth step I say be dead, it means to be so relaxed that you are just like a dead man. You are not to try to be frozen and dead. If you try, then you will get the reverse result. Do not try to be frozen; do not make any effort to be dead. Simply relax and be dead.

These are two different things. If you try to be dead, then your whole body will become tense. And when you are tense, you cannot be dead, you cannot relax. Simply relax the body as if it is no more, as if it has gone dead. Do not make any effort to make it dead. Simply relax, and feel that it has gone dead and you have nothing to do about it.

I have been telling you that even if you feel a sneeze coming, do not sneeze, do not cough. But if you feel an irritation in the throat, what will you do? If you try to prevent it, it will become more penetrating. If you try to block it, it will become more forcible because this is a sort of suppression. Then you will have to cough. If you feel a sneeze coming, what will you do? If you hold it, it will become more forcible, it will come out with a greater force.

But there is a way: if you feel that your throat is irritated and you want to cough, relax the throat. Do not prevent it. Simply relax the throat; be indifferent to the irritation. Relax the throat. Do not make it tense because tension will create more irritation. Relax the throat and be indifferent; feel as if you are not concerned. Within seconds the irritation will go. If you feel that a sneeze is coming, just be indifferent to it; do not do anything about it. Relax the part where you feel that the sneeze is hitting, and be indifferent.

In that indifference, out of one hundred times, ninety-nine times the sneeze will disappear. Out of a hundred times, there is only one possibility that the sneeze will come -- but that too will not disturb you because you are so indifferent that even if it happens you will feel that it is happening to someone else. You will be so unconcerned that even if it comes it makes no difference. You will remain unperturbed within.

And I am not saying to you not to sneeze because others will be disturbed -- no! And I am not saying not to cough because others will be disturbed. That is not the point. You will become disturbed. You will lose the whole point of the effort; the whole endeavor will be lost.

In the morning meditation, relax. After the third step, relax. One thing more which you should remember: when I say "Stop!" in the morning meditation, or when the music stops, do not make your body comfortable. Do not try to take a posture; do not lie down. Leave the body as it is. Stop then and there, even if it is inconvenient and uncomfortable.

You were jumping and the posture is uncomfortable: remain frozen in that posture, do not change it. The moment you hear that the music has stopped, you stop. Become dead. You can make your body comfortable, you can lie down, but this gap will have already disturbed the energy; this gap will have already changed the direction.

In the three steps you have created a vital force, a floodlike force. Now, just by making your body comfortable, you will have forgotten it and your attention will have become diverted. Do not do that. When I say, "Stop!" stop immediately, then and there. And do not try to deceive. Do not say to yourself, "No one is looking at me, so why not make the body a little more comfortable? It is no one's concern." Then you are deceiving yourself.

One thing more. In the second step, when you are expressing all the suppressed emotions, when you are going completely mad in catharsis, do one thing emphatically: contract your facial muscles and relax. Contract and relax. Your body is not as tense as your face is because your face is the focal point of all suppression. And your face is the most expressive; that is why the face becomes the most suppressive. It is through your face that you express or suppress. In the second step, go on expressing through the whole body, but remember also to make the face tense and relaxed, tense and relaxed. In that way, much suppressed emotion will be released more easily.

Relaxation is not something to be done, really; you cannot DO it. No one can do it because relaxation is against doing. You can simply stop doing and relaxation happens. So when I say "Stop!" when the music stops, stop completely as you are; do not do anything. You simply stop, stop all doing -- not even a single movement. Then a very deep silence will happen to you and you will feel the difference. You have been making yourself comfortable; from now on do not make your body comfortable.