Osho Rajneesh Book "The Search"

The Search

BELOVED OSHO,

IN ALMOST EVERY LECTURE I HAVE THE TENDENCY TO GO TO SLEEP.

WHEN THAT HAPPENS, I WAKE UP WITH A SHOCK, OR RATHER IN A SHOCK, WHICH GOES THROUGH MY WHOLE BODY. IS THIS THE WHIP?

Not yet! Just the shadow of the whip. But it is still something: the shadow of the whip. If you are

a man of understanding, the whip will not be needed; its shadow will do. If you are not a man of

understanding, then sooner or later the whip itself will be needed.

Buddha has said that there is one type of man for whom just the shadow of the whip is enough. Just

like very, very intelligent horses: just the shadow of the whip is enough. Then there is a second type:

the sight of the whip is needed, the shadow won’t do – the mediocre mind. Then there is a third

type, lower, for which even the sight of the whip won’t do – unless you use the whip.... And there is a

fourth type also, the lowest; lower than that is nobody. Even hitting him with the whip, whipping him,

is not going to help. These four types are four stages of sleep.

It is natural to fall asleep while listening to me. That is a way of the mind to avoid me. Something

is happening here which is going to destroy your mind. The whole effort is how to demolish your

mind so that you can become new again, so that you can be reborn; how to help you to die so that

resurrection becomes possible. Only out of your death will life flame up, will life come to you.

The mind feels it! It is dangerous to listen to me. The mind creates many sorts of excuses to

be absent. Sometimes it goes on thinking, listening only on the periphery. Sometimes it goes on

arguing – whether what I am saying is right or wrong, agrees with you or doesn’t agree with you.

Then too one is missing. Or, if you stay long enough with me, then arguing will stop; then by and by

the mind will start falling into sleep. That is the last trick; then there is no need to listen!

But one thing is good: that you have become aware that you fall asleep. There are many who fall

asleep and don’t know. And the shock that comes to you is good. Use it! If you use it, by and by

sleep will disappear. Sleep is a trick to create a barrier between me and you. If logic does not work,

then sleep works.

And whatsoever I am saying to you is in a way the same truth again and again. So the mind can

say to you: What is the need to listen? You can have a little rest. The mind can say: These things

have been said many times before. But I am saying these things again and again to you because

you have not heard yet.

Somebody asked Buddha, ”Why do you go on repeating the same things again and again?”

He said, ”Because of you!”

If you hear me then there is no point in repetition, but you don’t hear me even when I repeat them a

thousand and one times.

The mind can create the idea that you can sleep, you can rest. The mind can even say to you that

this is very meditative, that you fall in sleep and everything becomes silent. Sleep is not wrong, but

there is a time to sleep. If you are sleeping here then one thing is certain: when you are sleeping

you are not sleeping.

There is a time to sleep and there is a time to be awake. And there is a time to be working, and there

is a time to be lazy and not working. Your life should move in an order, in an inner order. Sleep in

the night as deeply as possible so that in the morning you can become as much awake as possible.

If you have slept well in the night, you will be awake in the morning. If you have not slept well, then

you will feel sleepy. In the morning to feel sleepy is bad, because that simply shows your energy is

not functioning rightly, that your energy is not functioning in a healthy way.

Think again about your night and your sleep in the night – it must be disturbed by dreams. Some

disturbance must be there so that in the morning you are not fresh; in the morning you are feeling

tired. Either your sleep is not complete in the night, or you may be sleeping too much. That too is

dangerous. Six, seven hours sleep is enough. If you sleep more than that, then sleep is not paying;

on the contrary, it starts making you lazy.

The function of sleep is to make you alert, energetic, alive. But if you sleep more than needed, then

it is just as if you eat too much; then the food becomes poison. There is a quantity which is needed

for the body; more than that becomes a load on the body. It is destructive then, it is not life-giving.

There is a quantity of sleep that is needed. More than that, then you feel lazy, then the wheel moves

in the wrong direction.

Everybody has to find the right quantity of sleep and food for himself. That should be a basic for

any seeker, because much will depend on it. So either you are not sleeping enough or you are

sleeping too much. Hence, in the morning you feel lazy or sleepy. And while you are listening to me,

keep alert, keep yourself as much aware as possible – because even in that awareness, if you miss

what I am saying, nothing is missed, because at least awareness will be practiced. And basically

awareness is the goal.

And this is just a decision: if you want to be aware, alert, you can be. One just has to say to the

body and the mind, definitively: I want to be aware and alert.

Start being the master of your own self. Give rest to the body, but don’t become a slave. Listen

to the body’s needs, but remain capable, remain in control, remain a master. Otherwise the body

has a lethargy in it, and the mind has a repetitive, mechanical quality in it. Then it can become just

an everyday habit. You come to listen to me, you sit, and the body and mind start moving towards

sleep. Break it! Come out of it. 

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