Osho - The Perfect Way

ISBN: 978-0-88050-611-3

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The Perfect Way is also available as a print edition ISBN:978-1-938755-98-9

The material in this book is from a series of talks by Osho,originally published in Hindi as SadhanaPath. The complete OSHO text archive can be found via the onlineOSHO Library at www.osho.com/library

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eBook ISBN: 978-0-88050-611-3

Introduction

It is a hot summer day in the early 1960s and a group of peopleinterested in meditation have gathered in a secluded retreat in the hills ofRajasthan, India. Few, if any, can imagine they are participating in an eventwhich will prove to be the first seed of a revolutionary experiment in theflowering of human consciousness one which will eventually transform thelives of millions of people all over the world.

Osho, the man around whom these people have gathered, was at thattime a professor of philosophy at Jabalpur University. This first meditationcamp in Ranakpur, Rajasthan, became a model for the evolution of his work overthe following years.

I want you to become a participant in the bliss I amexperiencing as the result of my awakening, says Osho in these talks, whichbecame his first published book. And so I have decided to call you.... Pardonme if my call disturbs your sleep and disperses the fog of your dreams.

In his dream-breaking, Osho carefully guides us through the mazeof our own minds, through our process of creating thoughts, toward a zone ofsilence. His genius is in full flight. And the subject couldn't be moremysterious nor important: ones own self. He unravels fundamental questionsabout what meditation is and how one can begin and sustain a life ofmeditation. He does this with a precision, thoroughness and compassion that canonly come from a master one who knows, and is able to convey what he knows.He points us as far as one can with words toward the inner world of the self,of our being.

Osho, himself, has spoken of this book on several occasions. Whenthe second prime minister of India traveled to Russia, a copy of The PerfectWay was in his hands. And when someone who had been seeking his whole lifestumbled upon The Perfect Way at the age of ninety, he commented, All mylearning of the scriptures was futile, only this small book is enough.

To be without thoughts is meditation, Osho says. When thereare no thoughts, it is then we come to know the one hidden by our thoughts.When there are no clouds, the blue sky is revealed.

This book is page after page of blue sky.

Chapter: 1
Prologue: Invitation into Light

I see man engulfed in a deep darkness. He has become like a housewhere the lamp has gone out on a dark night. Something in him has beenextinguished. But that which has been extinguished can be relit.

I see as well that man has lost all direction. He has become likea boat that has lost its way on the high seas. He has forgotten where he is togo and what he is to be. But the memory of what has been forgotten can bereawakened in him.

Hence, although there is darkness there is no reason for despair.In fact, the deeper the darkness the closer the dawn. I see a spiritualregeneration for the whole world on the horizon. A new man is about to be bornand we are passing through the throes of his birth. But this regeneration needsthe cooperation of each one of us. It is to come through us, hence we cannotremain mere spectators. We must give way for this rebirth within ourselves.

The approach of that new day, of that dawn, is possible only ifeach one of us fills himself with light. It is in our hands to turn thatpossibility into an actuality. We all are the bricks of that palace of tomorrowand we all are the rays of light out of which the future sun will be born. Weare the creators, not just spectators. It is not only a creation of the future,it is a creation of the present itself, it is the creation of ourselves. It isthrough creating himself that man creates humanity. The individual is the unitof the whole and it is through him that both evolution and revolution can takeplace. You are that unit.

This is why I want to call you. I want to awaken you from yourslumber. Dont you see that your lives have become utterly meaningless anduseless, totally boring? Life has lost all meaning and purpose. But this isnatural. If there is no light in mans heart there cannot be any meaning in hislife. There cannot be any bliss in mans life if there is no light in his innerbeing.

The fact that we find ourselves overburdened with meaninglessnesstoday is not because life in itself is meaningless. Life is infinitemeaningfulness, but we have forgotten the path that leads to that meaningfulnessand fulfillment. We simply exist and have no contact with life. This is notliving, it is just waiting for death. And how can waiting for death be anythingbut boring? How can it be bliss?

I have come here to tell you this very thing: there is a way toawaken from this bad dream that you have mistaken for life. The path has alwaysbeen there. The path that leads from darkness to light is eternal. It is therefor certain, but you have turned away from it. I want you to turn toward it.This path is dharma, religion. It is the means of rekindling the light in man;it gives direction to mans drifting boat. Mahavira has said that religion isthe only island of safety, the anchor, the destination and the refuge for thosebeing swept away by the rapid current of the world with its old age and itsdeath.

Do you have a thirst for the light that fills life with bliss? Doyou have a longing for the truth that unites man with immortality? If so, Iinvite you into that light, into that bliss, into that deathlessness. Pleaseaccept my invitation. It is simply a matter of opening your eyes, and youinhabit a new world of light. You dont have to do anything else, you only haveto open your eyes. You just have to wake up and look.

Nothing in man can really be extinguished nor can he lose hisdirection, but if he keeps his eyes closed the darkness spreads everywhere andall sense of direction is lost. With closed eyes he is a beggar; with open eyeshe is an emperor.

I am calling you to come out from your dream of being a beggarand wake up into your reality of being an emperor. I wish to transform yourdefeat into victory, I wish to transform your darkness into light, I wish totransform your death into deathlessness. Are you ready to embark upon thisvoyage with me?

Chapter: 2
Listening with the Heart

Conscious soul,

First of all, please accept my love. It is the only thing withwhich I can welcome you in the loneliness and seclusion of these hills. In factI have nothing else to give you. I want to share with you the infinite lovethat closeness with existence has created in me. I want to distribute it. Andthe wonder of it is that the more I share it, the more it grows! Perhaps realwealth is that which increases with distribution. The wealth that decreases bysharing is not real wealth at all. Will you then accept my love?