Osho on resting mind

Osho – Just become a child again – unlearn whatsoever you have learned. Drop verbalization. Listen to these birds with no word arising in you. Suddenly a wave of freshness passes through you; an energy arises in you which is not old.

This bird has never been there before and this bird is completely unaware of the past. He has never sung like that before. Today is absolutely fresh. He is absolutely and totally herenow. If you can listen without words, suddenly, as if a knife penetrates your being, the freshness of life will penetrate your accumulated dust – as if a ray of light penetrates darkness.

All around you, except for human beings, everything is fresh. Touch the tree, have a little talk with the river, look at the sky, watch the stars, lie down on the earth, relax, go to the sea, watch the waves infinitely coming and coming and coming… without any business, without any utility, for no purpose, simply a delight in energy… and by and by you will become aware that the dust is disappearing; your mind – mirror is getting cleaned.

Language and addiction with language is the root cause. Words and words and words – and your being is hiding behind. The more words gather, the farther away you are from yourself, and the more difficult it becomes to come back home – because there is a forest, a wild forest of words. It is almost like a maze, a chaos.

Life is fresh. Mind can never be fresh. If you understand this, then look at life without the mind. Put the mind aside. I am not saying throw the mind completely. It is useful. Use it. It is a biocomputer. Use it – but don’t be used by it. When it is needed, use it.

There are many, many situations where it is needed. You have to calculate; it will be needed. You have to remember the way to go to the station; you will need it. You have to remember many things and you will need it. So whenever it is needed, use it. Whenever it is not needed, put it aside, let it rest.

And if the mind is allowed to rest, two things will happen to you: life will become fresh and mind will become very very powerful. Your mind is simply tired. Twenty-four hours in use…. Even a mechanism needs to relax. Even a car needs to be put to rest. Even a machine gets tired. Ask scientists. The latest research says that even a machine gets tired, even metal gets tired. It needs rest.

And your mind goes on working and working, day and night. Awake or asleep, the mind goes on working. It gets tired, so it cannot function well. It is a constant grinding machine; it goes on grinding. If there is nothing to grind, then too it goes on grinding. It goes on chewing old stuff again and again and again.

Learn how to give rest to the mind. You will have a more powerful mind. You will have a more powerful memory. You will have more powerful logic and reason. And if you can put it aside, you will always be available to fresh life and the fresh life will be available to you.

When you come home, put the mind away. It is needed in the office; it is not needed with your children. Play with them. No need to be an adult. Become a person. No need to be a doctor with your wife. With a patient it is perfectly okay, but she is your wife; you need not be a doctor. With a friend you need not be an engineer, you need not be a businessman. You need not be anybody. You can simply be yourself… again a child playing on the shore, collecting seashells for no purpose at all. These purposeless moments will allow you to be fresh.

Source – Osho Book “Nirvana: The Last Nightmare”

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