[A sannyasin says: The other night I got very frightened. I was in my room lying on my bed, and for some reason I started thinking that I am not my body alone. The room stood out very strongly, everything in the room stood out strongly, but it wasn’t warm, it was cold.]
Osho – It was an effortless meditation. It suddenly happened and that’s why you got frightened. Now try it on purpose and consciously tonight. Be in the same room; lie down and start thinking that you are not the body, that you are separate from the body. The moment that you start thinking that you are not the body, everything will become very present and strong, because the warmth is within the identification with the body.
Suddenly you are in a strange land: only things are there, and your own body has become like a corpse – that’s why you got frightened. Try again tonight. Go in deeper and deeper, and don’t become afraid. If you become very afraid, take the locket (the locket, which is part of the mala all sannyasins wear, has a picture of Osho in it) in the hand and remember me. Continue the feeling that you are not the body, and by and by take the next step – that you are also not the mind.
Thoughts are there, but you are not them. You are the observer of both the body and the mind, you are a witness. Go on feeling it as deeply as possible. In the beginning it will look like death – it is. But soon you will see that a new sense of life is arising. The fear will disappear and instead you will feel a weightlessness. You will feel a new sort of freedom as if suddenly wings have grown to you and you can fly, and the whole world is yours.
But before you attain to that, fear will be there and it will become very very terrible. One has to pass through it. Now for seven nights do it, and become as frightened as you can – but don’t run away from it, don’t escape. Go deeper. You will feel like sinking, dying, suffocating. Take the locket in the hand and accept it, that it is okay.
To come to oneself, one has to pass through many fears. After the dark night there is the dawn, the morning. It has been good, you should be happy. When will you do it, at exactly what time? – so I can watch you.
[He replies:: Ten o’clock.]
Osho – Ten o’clock. Then be particular – exactly ten o’clock. And if you feel me there, don’t get frightened. (a chuckle) Mm? and don’t get scaredl
Source: from Osho Book “Hammer on the Rock”