Meditation: The First And Last Freedom (A Practical Guide To Meditation)

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“Meditation has a few essential things in it, whatever the method, but those few essentials are necessary in every method. The first is a relaxed state: no fight with the mind, no control of the mind, no concentration.

Second, just watching with a relaxed awareness whatever is going on, without any interference just watching the mind, silently, without any judgment any evaluation. These are the three things: relaxation, watching, no judgment.

Start with meditation, and things will go on growing in you silence, serenity, blissfulness, sensitivity. And whatever comes out of meditation, try to bring it out in life. Share it, because everything shared grows fast. And when you have reached the point of death, you will know there is no death. You can say goodbye, there is no need for any tears of sadness maybe tears of joy, but not of sadness.

Life in the twenty-first century moves at an ever-increasing pace, creating more and more stress for individuals. Just sitting directly in silent meditation is not as easy as it must have been in Buddha’s time.

Meditation: The First arid Last Freedom contains practical, step-by-step descriptions of a wide variety of meditation techniques created by Osho, including the famous OSHQ Active Meditations TM and the OSHO® Meditative Therapies TM, which deal directly with the tensions of contemporary life and leave us feeling alert, refreshed and energized. Osho also explains many ancient and beautiful techniques: Vipassana and Zazen, centering techniques, meditations on light and darkness, meditations on opening the heart.

In addition, Osho answers many questions about meditation including what it is, how to get started, and how to keep going on this inner journey of getting to know ourselves and fulfilling our potential

. “Meditation has a beginning, but no end. It goes on and on, for infinity, for eternity. Mind is a small thing; meditation makes you part of existence, It allows you the freedom of becoming one with the whole.

Osho defies categorization. His thousands of talks cover everything from the individual quest for meaning to the most urgent social and political issues facing society today. Osho’s books are not written but are transcribed from audio and video recordings of his extemporaneous talks to international audiences. As he puts it, ‘So remember: whatever I am saying is not just for yon... I am talking also for the future generations.

Osho has been described by The Sunday Times in London as one of the “1000 Makers of the 20th Century” and by American author Tom Robbins as ‘the most dangerous man since Jesus Christ:’ selected Osho as one of ten people along with Gandhi, Nehru and Buddha — who have changed the destiny of India.

About his own work Osho has said that he is helping to create the conditions for the birth of a new kind of human being. 1-Ic often characterizes this new human being as “Zorba the Buddha capable both of enjoying the earthy pleasures of a Zorba the Greek and the silent serenity of a Gautama the Buddha.

Running like a thread through all aspects of Osho’s talks and meditations is a vision that encompasses both the timeless wisdom of all ages past and the highest potential of today’s (and tomorrow’s) science and technology.

Osho is known for his revolutionary contribution to the science of inner transformation, with an approach to meditation that acknowledges the accelerated pace of contemporary life. His unique OSHO Active Meditations are designed to first release the accumulated stresses of body and mind, so that it is then easier to take an experience of stillness and thought- free relaxation into daily life.

Just as the science and technology that has transformed our outer lives has been largely a Western phenomenon, so the East has provided the main source of the science that can transform our inner lives.

Today, just like the light bulb, meditation is a universal phenomenon — one helps illuminate our outer world, the other our inner world.

But in the process of becoming universal, many misconceptions about meditation have arisen: that it is religious,” that it is about sitting in difficult postures, perhaps with your ankle found your neck with a holy look on your face to hide the discomfort, maybe even humming, or chanting some esoteric-sounding mantra.

If that doesn’t appeal to you, then this hook is for you.

Here meditation is made simple, ordinary, and the natural component of a contemporary lifestyle. And increasingly, an essential component too.

Meditation in its essence is the art of being aware, aware of what is going on inside you and around you.

Although meditation itself is not a technique, there are many methods here to help you learn this awareness, and as you acquire this knack, it can be your companion wherever you are at work, at play, wherever.

Most of us have been taught that in order to be successful in life we need to struggle, to fight, to focus, to concentrate. The trouble with this approach is that the more we struggle, the more tense we become. And the more tense we are, the worse we perform. The meditative approach is to understand that in order to be at our best, in order to give each moment our best — and to receive the best from each moment — we need to be as aware as possible. And to he aware we need to be relaxed.

Usually we think that in order to relax, we have to go out. Meditation offers another possibility: to go in to relax.

Such are the pressures of modern life that there has never been a more restless world to live in. Never have people been so tense. It is exactly for the modem mind that these techniques have been devised a contemporary approach to suit contemporary people.

If you are a high-energy individual, for example, for whom just sitting” seems impossible, then try the OSHO Active Meditations: OSHO Dynamic or OSHO Kundalini. Exert yourself to the maximum and let the relaxation follow on its own accord. Perhaps your pent-up emotions make it difficult to sit quietly? Or you feel too tired and lethargic to stay awake while trying to sit? Or perhaps you just want to move your body. Then again these active meditations are just for you.

The knack of remaining relaxed in the midst of our busiest day is what has been called ‘alertness with no effort the essential experience of meditation. So even if you are convinced you have absolutely no time to set aside for meditation, you’ll find plenty of techniques in this book that can be seamlessly integrated into your day.

Meditation is based on a simple understanding. That rather than fighting with darkness, which is impossible anyway, switch on the light. Rather than fighting with ourselves, trying to improve ourselves, trying to live up to others’ ideas of who or what we should be, we can start by simply accepting ourselves as we are now.

Osho often reminds people that if existence has invited them to be here, who else’s permission do they need to accept themselves as they are? Once we relax into this acceptance, once we stop pretending to be other than how we are, once we stop struggling to impress others — who are struggling equally hard to impress us once we stop trying to defend ourselves, justify ourselves.... Once we stop trying to hide our wounds, even from ourselves, but rather open them to the air and the light, the healing happens on its own.

In this hook you will read of calming the mind, of learning how this invaluable bio-computer can be your greatest friend and how to find the off button. When you need the mind, you can use it. When you don’t need it, you can let it rest quietly ready for when you need it again free from its endless chattering quality.

Someone insults you. Imagine being able to choose when and how to respond, free from the usual knee-jerk reaction to strike back, creating those endless vicious spirals in which our relationships can slowly drown.

And what of freedom? There is no greater freedom than to he that which we were meant to be. There is no greater freedom than to be free of others’ expectations, to he able to live our lives spontaneously, with awareness.

And the ultimate paradox of meditation is that when we finally learn to love ourselves in fact only when we can love ourselves are we able to share that love with others. But first we must start with ourselves.

This hook contains a wide range of techniques, approaches, and insights to help you on that journey. We are all individuals, and different methods suit different people. Here there is something for every type of modem mind, uniquely tailored for these hectic times. As Osho puts it:

The long drawn-out yoga practices will not do for the world; now people do not have days or even hours to spare. We need methods that yield quick results. If a man makes a seven-day commitment, by the end of that period he should begin to feel that something has happened to him. He should become a different man in seven days’ time So, I say, practice today and feel the result immediately. Now it is the jet age; flow meditation cannot afford to he slow it has to pick up speed.