The next morning, Misri says to her mother, “You know, Murli is very talented—he sings well, which you saw yesterday at the wedding. When he sang, everyone forgot the wedding and listened to him. I want to learn from him. So I will be gone for a short while and will be back home in 30 minutes.” Her mother replies, “Yes, Murli is a good singer. But he might not agree to teach you. Still, you can ask him.” Misri leaves home assuring her mother that she will be back before 10am.

So Misri and Murli meet. The clock strikes 10, then 11, then 12, then 1 and finally 2pm. Misri suddenly realises that she was supposed to be home before 10. So she runs home; it is 2.30. Love made Misri and Murli lose all track of time. When your heart awakens with such deep love, meditation becomes easy.

As of now, our love is for worldly things. We are so in love with them that we forget everything. When in the throes of worldly pleasures, our mind does not wander. This happens to ladies who play cards in clubs. They don’t realise when the hours fly by.

We have to divert this love—we have to remove it from the world and bring it to the Lotus Feet of the Satguru. When we give God so much love, meditation becomes as easy for us as eating food or drinking water. Now, we cannot meditate because true love for the Lord has not awakened within us. That’s why our mind keeps wandering. How can it be steady?

There is an easy way to meditate, which my Master, Gurudev Sadhu Vaswani, taught me. Take a flower and keep looking at it. There will come a time, when, on your own, you will go within; and then your mind will be focused on the golden flower that is within you. And meditation will not be difficult.

One day, a businessman came from a far away country to seek the blessings of Gautama Buddha. He brought with him a golden flower, which he offered as a gift at the Lotus Feet of Gautama. The Buddha took the flower and kept on looking at it. Two hours passed. When Gautama finally took his eyes off the flower, he looked at his disciples and told them that to learn meditation, one must take some flower and keep looking at it.

On another occasion, as Gautama Buddha was giving a sermon on meditation, he drew a circle on the ground. His disciples asked him: “Gurudev, why are you drawing this circle?” He replied: “I will be drawing a flower in the circle.” And he did. Then he asked his disciples to keep looking at the flower. “By doing this, your mind will become steady; your eyes will close automatically and you will see a golden flower within you,” he said.

The significance of this is that if we love anything, our mind remains concentrated on that thing; it becomes automatic, we do not have to put forth any effort. Only, we should be able to arouse such love within us. When we fall in love with someone, our thoughts revolve around the person all the time. Similarly, the love for God should awaken within our hearts. Then meditation will be as easy.

This was first published in the February 2012 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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The modern mind is bombarded with information not just from mainstream print and electronic media but social media as well. This creates a problem because there is no time to digest it. In the past, this was just the reverse. There was less information and more time to assimilate it – so, there were silent spaces in people’s minds. Today, our lifestyle has changed 180 degrees: much of the information remains undigested. It is as if you go on eating and stuffing your body. That which is not digested by the body will prove to be poisonous.

A really healthy person is one who takes 50 per cent of his/her time to assimilate their experiences. 50 per cent action, 50 per cent inaction – that is the right balance. 50 per cent mental activity and 50 per cent meditation is the cure for today’s men and women.

Meditation, need of the hour

Meditation is the dire need for contemporary life and also humanity.

What is meditation? It is nothing but a time when you can relax utterly into yourself, and when you close the doors of your senses to outside stimulus. You are alone in your innermost being, relaxed, at home. In these moments, all that has become accumulated is assimilated and that which is worthless is thrown out. Meditation functions like a double-edged sword: on the one hand, it assimilates all that is nourishing. On the other, it throws out all that is junk.

But, you ask, who has time to meditate? People have to manage so many things that everybody feels the day is not long enough. In these changed times the concept of meditation has taken a summersault. Now, people need meditation techniques that can be woven into their daily routine, which means they should be able to meditate while doing their job.

Sounds impossible? Not at all, if you do it the Osho way.

Osho has changed the whole structure of meditation and has created hundreds of short but effective meditation techniques for busy people. These techniques can be practised while you are working, talking, walking, or doing any kind of activity. Because, basically meditation is not an activity, it is being aware of your activity. If you are watchful of your acts at physical, emotional and mental level, you are in meditation.

Meditation techniques for the busy

Here are some delightful and effective meditation techniques by Osho—for people who have everything, but time.

Razor’s edge

This can be done while you are booting the computer, waiting for the elevator, and so on.

This is literally a one-minute meditation. Hold your watch in front of you. Look at the second hand, witness its movement and try to go on witnessing it. You will find that you can watch for 2-4 seconds – and, the witness is gone, some other thought has come. Then you will be a witness for 4-5 seconds and forget again. In completing one minute you will lose it two, four, or 10 times. If you practise it every day, the span of your attention will increase. If you can watch the second hand for 60 seconds, you will feel integrated.

Rub your ear lobes

When you are feeling sad, worried, or angry, hold your ear lobes and rub them hard; there is no need to pierce the ears. You will find a change in your state of mind.

Warm hands, cool head

Physiologists agree that if you work with the hands, you can change the energy that moves from the head. Your right hand is joined with your left brain whereas your left hand is joined with your right brain.

Try this: whenever you feel that there is too much thinking, and you cannot stop it, rub both your hands fast, make them hot by rubbing, and suddenly you will feel the thinking has stopped, the energy is moving in the hands.

This is the best medicine for people who cannot sleep—better than any tranquilliser. Just close your eyes and rub your hands, and feel them getting warmer and warmer. Support it by your imagination – see how they are getting warmer in your mind’s eye. When the hands are warm, the head becomes cool. Now, you can sleep like a baby!

Throwing the bad mood

Breathing is a powerful tool we have, and it can be used intelligently for managing our emotions. If you are in a bad mood –

• Exhale deeply; as much as you can, throw the air out. With the air, the mood will be thrown out too, because breathing carries the mood. And, then expel the breath as far as possible. Contract the belly in; don’t inhale for a few seconds.
• Then, allow the body to inhale deeply – as much as you can. Again, stop for a few seconds. The gap should be the same as when you retain the breath out. Exhale totally and inhale totally, and make a rhythm.

You will feel a change immediately coming into your whole being. The mood will disappear and a new climate will enter you.

Gibberish and silence

This is a perfect method when the mind is too stressed and you can’t think coherently. Close your eyes and begin to make nonsensical sounds. Just speak any language that you don’t know! Allow yourself to express whatever needs to be expressed within you. Let your body express the accumulated stress, too. Imagine you are emptying a garbage can. After 10 minutes, sit silently. The relaxation and silence that follow will be magical.

Talk telegraphically

For one day, talk telegraphically. Use absolutely only the necessary words, as if you are sending a text message. Use only the essential words. Your words will have more power as you will be uttering them consciously, and the impact will be deep.

Last updated on 23^rd September 2019

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